Three Days Together ✔

8 ~ Shadows

Nico slumped to the floor and slipped unconscious. He felt the bark of a hellhound, the ground parting as the skeleton soldiers went back to the Underworld and then everything went silent. At least the monster was gone.

He knew the shadows were taking over, but the Italian had no energy left to fight them. So, he closed his eyes. Nico didn't remember what happened next, but he felt a warm pair of arms pick him up.

He didn't know who it was, but it didn't matter. He was nearing death, he could feel it. The Underworld was closer and closer, its cold and dark aura seemed to flow from Nico. It embodied him, seemed to pull him back to his roots. To the place he called home.

***

Nico didn't know how much time had passed, but there was something almost stopping him from achieving death. He knew his soul was just a sliver away from completely leaving his body, but it wouldn't leave. If he could sigh as his body tethered between life and death, he would.

Nico heard someone say... 'I love you'? Someone loved him? He knew Hazel did, Reyna did, Jason did. But this voice, it sounded so familiar yet so odd. Like Nico would burst into flames or melt into a puddle at their voice. 

A puddle... He thought back to what Will had told him once, 'Without melting into a puddle of darkness, di Angelo.' 

Gods, Will.

Nico could see his face, his gorgeous face. He could picture his beautiful features, his light freckles. His golden hair, blue eyes, always sparkling with mirth and joy. He wasn't sure as two how long his eyes remained closed or as to how long he thought about the son of Apollo. The son of Apollo who brought the skeletal butterflies along with his sunshine-y demeanor. 

Now, Nico di Angelo's soul no longer tethered between the sun and the shadows. Now, Nico felt himself come back to the place which was truly home.

Now, the boy had chosen the light over the dark. He had chosen the Land of the Living. 

And our hero woke up.