He Loves Me?

6

Nico woke again in the middle of the night. Nightmares. This one was one of the worse ones, and he was surprised that he hadn't screamed. How easy it would be if he could just slip into the shadows, away from pain and into darkness. But Will had said no. What did Will know anyway? Why was he even thinking about him? As the moon peeked into the window, it highlighted the certain son of Apollo's golden hair. Nico cursed under his breath. What was he doing here? But the shadow of the moon was big enough. He let out a sigh of relief as he slipped silently into the world of black, feeling the darkness embrace him like an old friend as he wrapped himself in the skin of night.

........................

Will stirred, shifting his head as he stretched and yawned. It was still night, something had woken him up. He casually looked over to where Nico was sleeping. He started. The bed was empty, the sheets crumpled and the pillows undisturbed. Silent as a cat after it's prey, he slunk out of the infirmary and crossed the Pavilion to the Hades cabin. Even before he opened the door he could sense that Nico's dark presence wasn't there. He shook his head and sent out a prayer to Apollo to look after the boy.

........................

The darkness had turned sour. Nico felt as much, something was wrong, he had less control over his body than he thought. He looked down at his hands, blackness was seeping out from them. Forcing his mind to remain his own, he jumped one last time. A safe place, he thought, take me to a safe place...

Someone called to Will. He spun around.

"Nico?" He called.

The sound of footsteps and heavy breathing filled his ears.

"Will!"

The figure came closer. Stepping into his vision revealed it was Kayla, his sister.

"You'd better come quick, it's Nico."

Will was running before Kayla even had a chance to catch her breath.

-x-x-x-

Nico was collapsed on the floor of the Apollo cabin. Will got down on his knees and felt the boy's pulse. There was none. Immediately, he called for Penelope. She too got down on her knees in front of Nico. She tilted his chin up to meet her mouth and breathed out. A kind of golden mist gathered around Nico's throat. Will looked at him hopefully. Nothing. A strangled gasp escaped him as he dared to hope for a miracle, dared to hope for the boy who seemed to think no one would care if he left.

There was no pain. Just infinite, breath-stealing blackness. Not the kind that was easy to slip into, easy to lose himself in just for a while. But the kind that strangled and squeezed nightmares from the deepest part of your brain. Memories were dug up, so many memories. Tartarus, Cupid, Bianca. Black tears escaped his eyes. Bianca, he thought, I could see Bianca again. Finally, he could tell her that he was truly sorry. He breathed in the darkness and tried to think of Bianca. But a certain healer invaded his thoughts. I tried, he wanted to whisper to Will, I really did. He attempted to give himself up, but annoyingly, something wouldn't let him. He tensed in frustration and tried to severe the connection. But the connection was too stubborn. Suddenly, as if he was leaping out of water, everything came to light. His head was hurting, clutched between the hands of a certain son of Apollo. He was white faced but grinning. Will pulled Nico into a hug, and before he even registered what he was doing, Nico hugged him back. A small smile escaping his lips, he gripped the boy of sunshine and breathed in the smell of home.
..................
Will looked at the sleeping boy. He and Kayla had carried him back to the infirmary, as he had fallen unconscious in Will's arms. But he'd been useless. Stupid, useless Will. He could barely breathe when Nico came back, but he was very much aware of his aliveness when Nico hugged him back. All he could do was hug the broken boy tighter.

"Will?" Called a groggy voice. "Will!" He sounded panicked. "I can't see! What's going on?!"

Will swooped down over him.

"Welcome back Death Boy."

"Why is the sky black? And don't called me Death Boy." He added.

Will looked at him sadly, the boy in black and white.

"I don't know." He whispered.

Nico stared at him. Stupid. Useless. The words echoed around Will's head. He didn't know, for once in his worthless life he didn't know. Looking guiltily at Nico, he was surprised to see an expression of acceptance on his face.

"That's alright." He whispered back. "I'm back now."

a/n sorry a bit of a long chapter, but it was an even longer wait.
-L :)