Don't Fear the Reaper

56) DEATH FUELS MY ANGST WRITING SO GET LOCKED IN MFs

A/N: quick note, I wrote this before I realized that I think Nico actually met Akhlys in a Death Trance vison... so pretend it actually happened in Tartarus

Bruce sat by Nico's bedside for days, waiting for him to wake up. The surgery had gone well, and Dr. Thompkins said he would make a full recovery, but apparently the whole ordeal had been a lot on Nico's body, so they chose to keep him under so that he would have more time to heal. Plus, while he was unconscious, he couldn't object to them usually godly foods to help him recover. On the 3rd day they had finally decreased his sedation, so it was really just a waiting game now.

"Figlio di puttana," Nico's groggy voice said, his eyes still closed. (son of a bitch) 

Bruce instantly sat forward in his chair, placing his hand a few inches away from where the son of Hades' hand lay. "It's okay Nico. You're okay."

Nico's eyes peaked open, squinting at the man in front of him in confusion as he lifted his head. His head lulled every which way, as if his neck were made of nothing but jello, as he looked around the room in confusion. "Fuck... still here."

Bruce let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, you're still at the manor. Seven broken ribs, paradoxical movements of the chest wall, and a right side pneumothorax isn't enough to get rid of us—though it was a valiant effort."

Nico, now fully awake, though still heavily loopy from the drugs, just rolled his eyes as his head lulled to look at the man. "I meant still alive, dumb-dumb, not in the manor."

"Oh," was Bruce's intelligent response. "Well... yes, you're still alive. Alfred and Dr. Thompkins worked very hard to keep you that way."

"Shouldn't've bothered," Nico slurred, eyes half lidded and dazed. "Easier to let me die."

Bruce furrowed his brows, looking at the boy in poorly masked shock. He knew that Nico didn't really want to be alive, the boy's father had told him that much, but to hear it spoken so casually was a different thing. "Well... I'm glad we did it. You got hurt protecting the others and-"

"That's the thing," Nico cut in, turning on his side a bit, his face slightly smushed against the pillow as he looked at Bruce. "It always hurts. Every time, I do the good thing... I... I fight for them and I die for them— but there's no good. It always hurts. I win their wars, I kill their enemies, I do all the things and..." one of his hands gestured vaguely at nothing. "Hurts."

Bruce didn't know what to say. It wasn't like he could say that it wouldn't be like that with them considering he had just gotten hurt protecting them, but he couldn't in his right mind agree with the statement. "I promise you that we won't force you to get hurt for our sake again. I know that this wasn't something any of us could have handled on our own, so you had to act, but we'll work on it. I will talk with Cass and Damian about increasing their training so that-"

"Won't help. Mortals can't understand it, not until they live it," Nico said, turning back to stare at the ceiling. "They need to go to Camp."

"Camp?" Bruce asked. He knew there was some sort of place that the demigods congregated, but 'Camp' sounded ominous. Was it some sort of militia?

"Camp Half-Blood..." Nico said, an almost wistful look filling his delirious eyes. "It's... it's where I'm from, I guess. There's no where that I would even pretend to think of as home, but that's as close as it gets."

"What is it?"

"Summer camp," Nico said plainly, as if it were obvious.

"Okay... well, it's not summer, so I guess they'll have to-"