The Infirmary

Will's P.O.V.

Will could not believe the nerve.

Nico had shadow traveled them to the middle of the infirmary, legs promptly giving out once they had arrived at their destination. Will had helped him slide down the wall to sit, and was now thoroughly annoyed.

Nico's skin was incredibly pale yet again, his veins clearly visible. The area under his eyes were now a dark purple and his eyes themselves were glazed over.

"What, exactly, were you thinking?" Will was fully aware he was scolding, arms crossed and all, but he really couldn't begin to care.

Will noticed that the infirmary seemed to be eerily quiet considering the amount of monsters that had been outside. Maybe there was something wrong? Nico slumped forwards slightly, blinking hazily. Yeah, there was something wrong, Will thought, finally giving up and crouching next to him, Nico just put himself in danger.

That didn't seem to be a particular issue for him though, Will reconsidered, just a tad spiteful.

"Hey, Nico," Will started in a low tone.  Nico's eyes adjusted to look at him but it seemed more like he was looking through him, exhaustion laced into each feature. "We need to get you fixed up. Can you stand?"

Nico had let out a sigh and was trying to push himself up off the floor when the doors to the infirmary flew open. Children of Apollo sprinted into the room with varying types of injured campers. The infirmary was suddenly a hub of commotion. Nico let himself fall back against the wall, waving a hand dismissively.

"I'm okay. Go do your healing stuff," Nico reassured, in the most unreassuringly way possible. "I might take a nap."

"Nico, you can't take a nap right here," Will advised, trying to sit Nico back up as he started falling to the side. "We can get you a bed, alright? And then that way we can check up on you and know if something goes wrong. There's no reason to stay on the floor."

"No, I'm good right here."

"You really shouldn't just sleep right here."

"No, really, I'm goo- can you stop trying to sit me back up? I'm dizzy."

Will had been trying to get Nico to not lay down, but quickly moved back at that comment. Nico had squeezed his eyes shut, taking in deep breaths.

A shriek rang through the infirmary then, the doors flying open with more of the injured. Will finally looked around. They were understaffed. He could see the stress radiating off of his siblings, and Will realized with a sinking stomach that he really did need to go help.

A cold hand fell on Will's arm, and he looked down at Nico in worry. "I'm fine, go help," Nico tried again, with a reassuring smile. "If anything goes wrong, you'll be the first to know. I'm not sure I want to stand right now anyways."

Will looked into Nico's eyes. They were earnest, but drained. Nico was so tired, Will knew this, but he also realized that if he didn't start helping with the rest of the injuried, there really wouldn't be a place for Nico to rest. The beds would be filled. Additionally, the ratio of healers to injuried was already disproportionate. It would only start to even out once the fighting was over, when his siblings ran in with their weapons and threw them in a pile to the side in order to help. Will knew all of this, but he wasn't sure he wanted to acknowledge it.

"If I'm not the first person to know, Nico, I swear," Will muttered, standing up. "Be careful." Nico gave a small nod in response before Will ran off to go help.

Healing during a fight wasn't exactly the worse thing - if Will was being honest. It was after the fact. Once all of the fighting was over and done. Will grimaced as he bandaged a particularly nasty cut on a son of Hermes leg, thinking about the next wave of campers bound to come in next.

Will found himself glancing over at Nico no matter what he was doing. They were trying to heal campers with minimal wounds as soon as possible, which meant that the front area of the infirmary was filled with campers receiving some form of first aid. Luckily for Will, there hadn't been much worse. There was one camper whom he had to stabilize, but afterwards Kayla had whisked him off to a room for additional care.

As the time went on, Will's sense of panic regarding Nico's condition begins to increase. Nico was still sitting up, but Will wondered if he really should be. The boy's eyes were blinking slowly, unfocused. With each glance, Will noticed that Nico's lips were turning paler. After a longer period between glances, Will realized with fear that Nico's skin was beginning to take on a blueish hue.

This was not the definition of fine that Will had imagined.

Frantically, Will tried to finish up attending to his current patient, shoving ambrosia in their hand. It was just a simple cut and they had already cleaned it to avoid infection. Now it was time to help Nico, whom Will had let sit along for far too long.

Will froze.

Kayla slid to the ground just in time to catch Nico's head from bouncing off of the ground. Will watched in worry as Kayla readjusted, her face intense as she tried to talk to Nico. Nico, however, seemed completely unresponsive, blinking frantically as he looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly, he grabbed her hand, and both Kayla and Nico had sunk into the shadows on the wall.

Will's heart almost stopped in his chest.

The nerve.