The Solangelo Adventures

Chapter 2: Loss

Will Solace, the son of Apollo, died.

Nico stood at the burial site, alone. It was about four in the morning and the air was cooler than usual. He heard whispers in his head telling him that he did this. That he stole the life of the one guy who actually seemed to like him, to care about him. The person who looked past all of his darkness and saw the light inside. Will Solace.

Nico looked down at his Stygian black iron sword. He still didn’t understand how it had managed to pierce Will and take his life. But it had. Nico hurled the sword away from him as far as he could and cursed into the lonely night air.

He yelled and screamed until his voice couldn’t make another sound. He couldn’t undo do this.  Not even being the son of Hades himself would help him now. Nico now felt truly alone. No one really understood him, and the one person that might have was now gone forever. Will was probably in Elysium, and Nico doubted he would ever be allowed in there after all he had done.

 In despair Nico searched for his blade. He crawled around for what seemed like hours before he finally found his sword.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Nico thought, “I can’t go on living a life where everyone I care about dies. And this time it was my fault.”

Nico raised his sword and pointed the blade towards his neck.

“It won’t be that bad,” Nico thought, “I’ve been to the Underworld before. I know my way around. At least I won’t be hurting or bothering anyone anymore.”

Nico closed his eyes. He drew the blade down in a fast, sweeping motion and…

“Wake up Sunshine!” yelled Coach Hedge.

Nico bolted upright and smacked his head against a tree.

“Owww,” Nico whined.

“Had a nightmare?” asked the Coach.

“A nightmare doesn’t even begin to describe it,” said Nico in a barely audible voice, though Nico was relieved it had just been a dream. “Is Will still…”

“Alive? He’s still breathing, so I’d say that’s a good sign,” said Coach Hedge, “But whatever you did to him with that blade was pretty bad. It’s taken some major amounts ambrosia and nectar to keep him alive. Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t burnt up just from that.”

“I don’t even know how I stabbed him,” said Nico close to tears, “One second he was holding me down, the next he was on the ground with my sword through his side.”

“Well, whatever happened, I think you should go see him,” suggested the Coach.

“No. He’s not even awake. And if he were, he would probably hate me. I can’t…”

“Kid, he’ll understand. Just go see him. Remember, you owe me for saving your life after you almost faded into nothingness a week ago.”

“Fine,” Nico complained. It was no use arguing with Hedge so Nico decided he would just go make a quick stop by Will in the infirmary.

When Nico arrived at the infirmary, his heart was beating so hard that he thought it might explode right out of his chest, not figuratively speaking. Nico asked one of Will’s siblings, who was helping to run the infirmary, where Will was. She eyed him warily but told Nico to follow her and led him to the room where Will was being kept. She reminded him not to take very long and then left.

Nico opened the door and stepped inside. As soon as he entered the room he was engulfed in a sea of warm air that felt so good it almost made him smile. The walls were painted a golden yellow and the air smelled of rich, sweet caramel. But Nico’s mood soon changed as he looked down at Will.

Will lay on a bed, his breathing light and shallow. His usual glow replaced with a sickly shade of grey. They had managed to remove Nico’s blade from his side, but where the blade had once been was a large open gash that seemed infected and swollen. Nico could no longer see Will’s stunning blue eyes or his amazing smile. He could no longer hear Will’s sweet voice. Will lay motionless on the bed, and Nico could feel him slipping away.

Nico collapsed alongside Will’s bed and rested his head gently on Will’s chest. It was no longer warm and inviting like before but cold and lifeless. Nico cried, his tears soaking Will’s chest. Nico had now lost another person he cared about. But Will was different than all the others. He was basically a complete stranger who had decided Nico wasn’t that bad of a guy and had tried to become friends with him. And the scary thing was Nico had wanted to be friends with him too, more than friends even.

“But I pushed him away,” Nico thought aloud. Nico stood up from his chair and leaned over Will’s head. “I’m sorry,” Nico said as he gently kissed Will’s forehead. Nico turned and headed for the door.

Nico reached for the door handle but froze as he caught a glimpse of blue in the corner of his eye.

“Nico,” Will said weakly as his brilliant blue eyes fluttered open.