"Be quiet!" he hissed, to no one in particular. He held his arms close to his chest, squeezing; silently pleading the darkness to stay away. Just for once he wished it'd stop. He hasn't slept a wink in three days- and with his responsibilities as the councilor of cabin seven, and the best healer, he had to have his head on straight.
As the night went on, he found himself pleading the Earth to either swallow him whole, or to just stop. He hated how it seemed to taunt him. "Make up your damned mind!" he sat up shouting, startling a few of his siblings, most of which drifted off to sleep agian instantly.
"W-Will?" Ellie said lowly. He'd startled her out of a deep sleep. Ellie was a brand new camper. This was her second day. She was incredible with musical instruments. She played with such passion that you'd think she was famous. Shockingly, her amount of skill couldn't make her feel any better about being on stage. She had a terrible time dealing with crowds.
"Ah, shit- Sorry Ellie. Bad night." Will said, with a small smile. His perfectly white and aligned teeth shown in the dark, almost seeming sinister. By no means was that true though. "D-Do you need anything..?" she hesitated to ask him. She was painfully shy, even though she was instantly glued to Will's hip. Will smiled to himself. "Nah. Thank you, Ellie. You should get back to sleep. I'm sure Chiron will have a few things to toss you into tomorrow." he chuckled, slightly pitying her.
He remembered being a new camper. It was a long time ago- but it was Hell for even him, being quick to talk to any, and everyone. Despite Ellie feeling dreadfully worried about Will, she listened to her big brother, and slowly drifted off back to her dimi-god dreams. Which will also knew were Hell.
No rest for the wicked, huh dad. Will thought to himself. He laid on his back and stared at the ceiling, for what seemed like hours. So annoyed with laying there and letting his eyes dry out from not blinking in attempts to make himself tired, he gave up. "Time for a walk I guess."
Meanwhile in cabin thirteen, Nico sat there talking to what appeared to be no one, but Nico being the son of Hades, he heard all the voices that rattled around in the underworld. He heard voices of recently fallen demigods, which is what's keeping him awake right now. A voice had ripped though Nico's mind, louder than all the others. He didn't know this demigod, but they were afraid of what would happen. So Nico being Nico, he helped his fallen comrade.
His voice was hushed and kind. Soothing, like a soft lulaby. "I know it's kinda scary down there, but from what I'm seeing- you have nothing dark in your heart." Nico said truthfully. "But, it's not my right to pass judgement."
The spirit seemed to fade which seemed to make Nico relax. He stood up and stretched. As he stretched, a mop of disheveled blond hair passed by his window. Curious he went out side and tracked down the owner of said blond mop. Nico's cabin was a bit secluded from the others, which he preferred it that way. It was odd for a camper to wander over here, and at this time of night at that.
He finally found the person who'd passed by his window. "Will Solace, Son of Apollo." Nico said, seeming to shimmer out from the darkness next to Will, who jumped as Nico said his name. "Gods almighty, Nico! Way to give me a damn heart attack." Will hissed loudly at Nico.
Nico smiled. "You're around my cabin, you should expect to be startled by something. Lucky it was me and not Miss O'Leary. She may have eaten you." Just then there was a monstrous howl from the woods. Nico looked up. "And speaking of- seems she's found something to play with."
Will swallowed harshly. He understood Miss O'Leary was Nico's pet now that Percy and Annabeth had gone off to New Rome to go to college. But the thought of her showing up in the dead of night; Will just might have wet himself. Nico laughed a little bit, his voice slightly cracking here and there, "Your face. You've gone pale!" Nico said pointing to Will's now reddening face. Will scowled at Nico, "N-No! I'm Pale cause I can't sleep!" Will blurted out the truth, instantly regretting it.
Nico no longer laughed- instead he looked closer at Will. Nico could see his normally sickeningly bright aura was dimmer than normal and had swirls of gray. "What's bothering you Will?" Nico said looking deeper. "I- I just cant sleep. That's all. Over tired. Stressed? Hell, I've been working for three days straight. The last quest was a flop and two of the three campers were literally almost dead when I got to them! The third..." His voice trailed off.
Suddenly Nico understood. The spirit earlier- It was the third camper. "Will, there was nothing you could have done. We're demi-gods. This is our life." Nico said looking at the ground. "I-I should be able to fix it all." Will said pitifully as tears streamed his cheeks. They silently fell to the ground. Nico had no idea how to deal with this situation. He could hardly deal with the dead sobbing demi-gods, let alone one that saved his life, that's of flesh and blood, standing right next to him!
"W-Will. You can't defy death..." Nico said, as gently as he possibly could. Will gave him a glare. "Yes, because that'd be bad news for your dear daddy wouldn't it!" Will bit curely. The ground seemed to be creaking. "Excuse me?" Nico retorted, stunned. "Y-You heard me!" Shut up Will! "Your damn dad takes all the lives I bust my fucking ass to save!" Common You Damn Idiot! "Y-You! It's like you want them to die!!" Gods Damn it!
"ENOUGH!" Nico yelled and the ground below him cracked. Will-stunned, stepped away from him. Nico covered his mouth as a sob broke through his fingers. Will had never seen Nico cry, and now that he had, he never wanted to again. Voices seeped up from the crack- voices of fallen demi-gods; voices of their friends. Will's ears were filled with screaming please for survival, begging him to help them, to never let them die, not like this. Will began to reach
for them, sobbing that he was sorry. Just as he was about to grab a reaching hand, Nico covered his ears and pulled him up from the ground.
Will, no longer able to hear the please of the dead, broke out of the trance-like state; he looked at Nico's tear stricken face. "You Must Not Listen" Nico mouthed to Will. Nico's eyes seemed to darken. Will fearing for Nico, covered his ears too.
Nico however didn't need his ears covered. His eyes had darkened so much, Will could no longer bear to look at them, he felt like he couldn't breathe. He felt like a flame being snuffed out.
