Too Late

Chapter 6

~ Nico ~

Will stared at him, "How?"

Nico shrugged and Charlie smiled as she left the room, "Skill." She called over her shoulder.

Will smiled at Nico and wrapped his arm around him, "Good job, death boy."

"Don't call me that, sun kid."

The son of Apollo's smile didn't waver, "It's better than duplo boy and lego man."

Nico nodded, "Agreed."

* * *

The waves lapped against the shore, back and forth in a strangely hypnotizing pattern. He stared into out at the water, hoping for an answer. Just one. It had been almost two months since he'd gotten the note from Leo, two months since Piper and Jason had left, and yes, of course, two months since he'd started dating Will.

And these two months had been the best two months of his life. He'd woken up wanting to live, wanting to breath and keep moving. He'd never wanted anything that much.

Nico watched as another wave crashed into the beach. The camp was so quiet. So many people had left. Percy, Annabeth and countless others, even Travis Stoll had left for college in new Rome. Even the Apollo cabin felt bare, everyone had been gone one moment, back the next and in a few hours they would all be gone again. It was going to be strange having no one around, cabin seven was usually crammed but soon it would be practically empty.

He looked up at the sky, hoping to see something that would make him smile, like a medal dragon or something carrying Leo Valdez. But no, nothing. He wasn't that lucky.

Nico tried to concentrate, but his mind wouldn't stop. He hated days like this, where Will had to be in the infirmary. Sure it was for a good reason, but somewhere in his mind he wanted Will to stay with him all the time. That way his mind would stop wandering, going back to his memories of Bianca. Her smile, laugh, her voice. Everything was so different from then.

He sighed, even the stupidly loveable son of Apollo who he called his boyfriend was acting differently. Will had been so quiet lately. Nico wished he could sense emotions better, the way Will could, that would make everything so much simpler.

He heard footsteps, he turned and saw the green eyed daughter of Apollo. He really didn't want to talk to her right now, he didn't need anyone to tell him what to do and he had a feeling that she would, she was like that. He pretended to ignore her until she sat down beside him, "Hey." She muttered.

He didn't say anything.

He didn't want to.

She didn't seem to care.

Charlie studied him, "Thanks for helping me, it... it meant alot..."

"To who?" He snapped, he didn't mean for the question to come out harsh, but it did.

"Me," She put her arm around him, the way a mother would, loving and caring, "To Will, and especially to Abigail."

Nico didn't say anything, he just shrugged off Charlie's arm.

"You're running away again."

"No I'm not, I'm right here."

She shook her head, "You're running from your emotions... and it's my fault." Her tone was soft but bitter. She looked so sad, so broken.

Nico tried to think of something nice to say, "If I stop running, will you feel better?"

A small smile appeared on her face, but quickly faded. "Nico, I really am sorry... for making you help her... I wasn't thinking. I... I was trying to help... but all I did was cause more pain..." Her voice sounded so full of sorrow. It struck something inside of him, she blamed herself for his feelings. "That's all I ever do."

He took her hand, "Charlie, stop it." His voice came out harsh, like he was telling an order. He cleared his throat, "Sorry... but you need to stop blaming yourself, it's not your fault."

"That goes for you too." She muttered.

He couldn't help but smile, "This deal goes two ways."

She grinned but he could tell it was forced, "Sounds like a plan, but..."

He covered her mouth, "You did the right thing, and now is not the time to dwell on emotions. Right now we need to find out what is causing these..." He paused, wondering what he should call them.

"Murmurings?" She volunteered.

Nico shrugged, "Why not."

"I have a few ideas."

"Okay, let's hear them."

She shook her head, "I can't. I'm sorry."

"Why not?"

Charlie's entire body tightened, as if she was in pain. "I just can't Nico, you understand, don't you? Somethings are just to painful to relive." She took a deep breath, then in a quieter voice, "Especially this."

* * *

Nico stared at the top of Will's bunk, the son of Apollo had just left to go tend to someone else who'd endured little Harley's big idea.

Nico thought about what he'd done that day. He's brought someone back from the brink, managed to make Charlie upset and spend almost no time with his boyfriend because the youngest son of Hephaestus had some very strange views on what was fun.

He glared at the top of the bunk as two people entered the cabin, Kayla and Austin. They smiled at him and continued their conversation. He didn't mind, not in the slightest. Until Austin sat down next to him and passed him an envelope, "It's from Charlie, she asked me to give it to you."

"Oh, thanks." He managed, he felt hollow. But he didn't know why.

After Kayla and Austin left once more, Nico gently opened the letter. Two pieces of paper fell out, one was a really bad drawing of a skeleton, it was captioned I've been making a ton of puns lately. A skele-ton. He flipped it over, on the back Charlie had added, Pretty humerus right?

He stuck it in his pocket and unfolded the other piece of paper, it was letter.

A letter he was going to read.