Solangelo One Shots

Outside of the Tree

Me, bringing back your childhood nostalgia with a fairy au and also loading it full of angst. Also, I have some announcements, so read the a/n below for those!

Nico's POV

"Tell me again how you broke it?" Will sighed, wrapping gauze around my arm. I winced, almost yanking it away from him before he tugged it back over to him, finishing with gauze and beginning with the tape. 

"I went outside of the tree," I muttered, avoiding his piercing blue eyes. 

"And what happened out there?" 

"A bird knocked me out of the air."

"This is why I always tell you not to go outside of the tree," Will lectured, his hand hovering just beside my wing. "Bad things always happen to fairys when we go outside of the tree. And you're sure your wings are alright?" He brushed a hand against the papery surface and I turned away from him, sliding off of the stretcher and standing up.

"I've told you, they're fine," I snaped. "Can I go now?" Will gave me one last once-over, and I could see the crease between his brows deepening. 

"Yeah, you can," he said. "I would say I hope I won't see you here again but knowing your recklessness, you'll be here a few hours ago."

I didn't look at him as I stormed out of the infirmary, earning a few concerned looks from the other healers. Sun streamed through the holes poked in the thin branches we lived inside, warm on my back. I passed kids playing in yards, parents watching them in cute little acorn chairs that seemed to be everywhere I looked. I could feel their gaze on me as I marched back to my house, parents leaning down to talk to their children once they thought I was out of earshot. I knew what they were saying. Don't be like that Nico Di Angelo they would say. You'll get yourself killed one day if you act like that Nico Di Angelo. I didn't care what they said about me, what they whispered about me behind my back. Once I found Bianca after all these years, they would know I was right.

I slammed the door to my house, cursing as my arm gave a throb. I didn't want to say that Will was right about anything, especially not about my behavior, but maybe he was right about taking it easy for a few weeks. I flopped down on my bed, reaching over to the bedside table and picking up the twig frame, a time beaten photograph sitting inside. Even after three years Bianca's smile still shone through the picture, her beautiful black hair swept over her shoulder and her shimmery wings glinting the light that was making her glow like an angel. I smiled at the image and although it had been three years since I had seen her, talked to her, I felt like I was with her again, still young and happy. I could still remember that stormy summer day, when Bianca had stared out at the world beyond the tree and had turned to me, her face alight with hope. I'm going to do it, Nico she had said. Even though they all tell me that it's dangerous, that it's only for the strongest trained professionals that there are, I'm going to go beyond our tiny world. That had been the last thing she had said to me, the last I had seen of her before she had disappeared. The memory was making me sick so I set the picture back by my bed, burying my body underneath the covers, staring up at my bare ceiling. I could feel a tear coming to my eye and I blinked it back, dabbing at it with the sleeve of my shirt. Somewhere outside of the tree Bianca was still alive, trying desperately to get back. I needed to get her back.

I ran into Will the next morning. He was walking out of a coffee shop with a friend, laughing about something and holding a hot cup in his hand. I tried to duck away from him but I heard him calling my name and I turned around, groaning inwardly. He waved goodbye to his friend, jogging over to me. "Hey, Nico!" he grinned. "Hows the arm?"

"Fine," I shrugged, averting my eyes. His smile dropped clean off of his face. I did that to him a lot. 

"You're doing okay, right?" he asked. "You're not thinking about going out there again, are you?" I didn't say anything. "Nico, you of all people know how dangerous it is out there, right? We're too small for out there. Remember that time some high schoolers thought you were a mosquito and almost knocked you out of the sky? You barely got away. And remember that time it hailed? And the time that frisbee came flying at you? You broke your arm yesterday, shouldn't that do something to make you realize that you can't go out there anymore?"