Til Death Do Us Part {Solangelo}

Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Five days. Five days and Will had still not returned.

Nico, Austin, and Kayla had not moved from the son of Apollo’s side. Piper and Reyna, who Jason had contacted to help, had tried time and time again to coax them away, but they refused to go. So they sat and waited.

And waited

And

Waited

Still, Will had not returned.

Though Kayla and Austin slowly began to slowly lose hope, the persisted next to Nico’s side since it had been obvious the son of Hades’ faith never wavered.

And so they remained.

Then a week passed. Then another.

Will’s body began to decay, and Austin dragged his weeping sister  away the previous week with tears in his own eyes.

Yet Nico remained.

Hazel had cautiously made her way over to her half brother, sitting next to him without holding her breath as she had always been accustomed to the smell of death.

“Hey Hazel.” Nico whispered, his throat scratchy from not having spoken since Will’s siblings left his side. She greeted him back slowly. He immediately exhaled through his nose.

“He’s not coming back is he?” Nico whispered softly to his sister. She bit the inside of her lip and shook her head, softly telling him Will has been long gone since they found his body. Tears began to gather in his eyes as he took in a shaky breath. “I kept praying to Hades to bring him back, and a few days ago I thought his hand twitched, but it's been a week, Hazel. A whole fucking week and Dad’s ignoring me again.”

Hazel grasped his hand that was not intertwined with the rotting corpse and Nico leaned into her, the tears now cascading down his face. His face rested upon her chest, and she wrapped her arm around him with her free hand. She told him he, their father, would respond eventually with a good explanation, though she knew that was not the case.

Along with Nico’s prayers and messages, she had been ignored as well as the multiple pleas of getting back to Nico, even to bring Will back, as impossible as it was, but no one, nothing responded.

“I-I-I loved him.” Nico sobbed softly, still trying to keep it all in, but Hazel had unintentionally had opened a floodgate that was held back by the simplest art of repression. As Hazel heard this, she couldn't help but let out a tiny gasp.

She wasn’t blind, she figured that Nico loved the blond, but never once did he admit it, and Will said it to him constantly. Nico always just reddened and told Will to shut up, Will kissing his cheek and grinning like a mad man when doing so.

“H-h-he's all I h-had, and ev-everyone I love l-leaves. Ha-Hazel, I don’t w-want to lose you too. You n-need t-to stay aw-way from me--”

Hazel hushed him immediately, tightening her grip on her brother and telling him to hush his mouth. That they were siblings and she would be there for thick and thin, not matter the consequences. He was quiet for a long time after that as his sister rubbed his arm soothingly.  

“I l-loved him s-so m-m-much.” he said after a while, sniffing. “N-now h-he’s d-d-d-de--” Nico couldn't even finish, because at that exact moment, the hand in his tightened its grip.