Nico's Return

Apollo

Reyna's POV

"Nico!" I scream, rushing to his collapsed form. 

I look around, and my eyes fall on Will, a look of horror etched on his face as he still holds the knife to the baby's neck. I stand, my eyes narrowing in pure rage. I slowly walk toward him, unconsciously pulling a dagger from my belt. Will pulls the knife away from the baby, and falls back on his hands. I continue to walk toward him until I am standing directly above him. I bring the dagger toward him until the point is against his chest.

"What did you do?" I whisper.

"He-he said he loved me," He mumbles, dropping his gaze.

"Liar," I say, raising my voice. 

"I- I'm not lying. He swore on the river Styx he loved me," He tells me.

I pale even more, dropping my knife from his chest. Oh gods, Oh gods no. I sit down, I can't do this. Nico, oh no. I bolt up, and rush over to him. I kneel beside him, shaking him. I grab his hand, trying to give him strength, something.  I feel sobs start to rip through my body as I try to get him to wake up. I stop and just lay my head on his chest, sobbing. I start to hear screaming, and I feel another person rush beside me. I see Hazel holding her brother's head in her lap, stroking his hair. She is shaking her head and I see tears streaming down her face. We both stay there for what feels like hours until I feel someone trying to pull me away. I look up and see Thalia, as I shake my head, refusing. Tears are running down her face too. I stand reluctantly, and pull her into a hug. We cry into each others shoulders. We break away as we hear screaming again and see Frank trying to pull Hazel away from Nico's lifeless body. She is kicking against him but soon gives up and just cries as he carries her away. Percy walks up and lifts up Nico, silent tears streaming down his face. He carries Nico away and I see Annabeth tightly gripping Zoe, holding onto the baby like her life depended it. But her life didn't, Nico's did. Will is currently being pulled along by Jason, a couple fresh bruises decorating his face. Jason is shaking, but tries to hold it together. We all walk silently to Camp Half-Blood, Hazel is in no position to shadow travel us back . We walk for hours and by the time we get back, night has fallen. We walk into camp and the other campers see Annabeth and Zoe first. They erupt into cheers.

"Oh my god," says a single undefined voice as Percy comes into view, Nico's corpse now paled. 

Everyone is silent, and suddenly I can once again hear whimpers from Hazel as she drops to the ground. Fresh  sobs escape my lips as I fall down too and crawl over to her, hugging her. We rock back and forth. I can hear people begin to react. Screaming and crying erupts around us. No matter what Nico thought, everyone at this camp loved him, so much. After hours, people retreat to their cabins, holding on to loved ones for support. Soon, it is just me left, Thalia tried to pull me away, but I refused. I am sitting on the ground, when I decide to stand. I begin screaming, at the world, at myself, at everything.

"Why? Why was it him? Nico didn't deserve it, what did he do to you?" I scream.

"Miss Reyna?" a small voice asks from behind me. 

I freeze and turn around, I see Addy standing there. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to stop the tears. I walk over to her and kneel down. "Yes sweetheart?" I ask, knowing what is going to happen.

"Why are you crying? And where is my Daddy? People keep telling me they are sorry and I don't understand," she tells me.

I wipe away my tears, and hold her hands. "Well, you know Bianca?" I ask and she nods.

"She was named after Nico's sister, who, um, who died. And uh, Nico, went to go be with her now. He didn't want to, he wanted to stay with you, but, he couldn't. He had to go. I am so sorry sweetheart," I try to explain. 

"So he isn't coming back?" she asks, tears welling up in her eyes.

I shake my head and she starts to cry. Her tiny arms wrap around my shoulders and I hug her back. She starts to cry loudly into my shoulder and try to blink away my tears. After an hour or so, she falls asleep in my arms and I carry her into the Hades cabin then lay her down. I quickly escape the cabin before I wake anyone. I wander around the grounds of Camp Half- Blood until I find myself at what I believe is Zeus's fist. I climb onto the rock and sit down. I sit in silence for many more hours, no more tears left. It is nearly morning, and that is what I am dreading. That means this isn't some sick dream. I sigh, not wanting to go back camp. I lay down on the rock, holding my eyes shut. I hear a voice behind me for the second time that night, "Reyna Ramirez-Arellano."

My eyes shoot open and I quickly climb down from the rock to face the god of death himself. 

"What happened to my son?" he whispers.

"He-he is dead," I say, my voice cracking.

As quickly as he appeared, he is gone. The sun begins to come out and I turn to it rising in the sky. I hate the sun like I have never hated anything before. Apollo brought Nico to us, and his son took him away.