Solangelo

Chapter Ten

Nico was awake, eyes red rimmed from exhaustion and tears. He was so tired that the glass of water he was drinking shook in his hands and when he put it down, it almost fell off the nightstand. The pencil in his hand shook as he drew. He didn't know what he was drawing yet, but he drew.

He looked up and saw Will, jumping out of his skin. "Nico?" The iris message had taken Nico and his self depravation by surprise. "I'm sorry if I did anything to make you leave, I really am."
"I had to leave, Will."
"Oh, hey Nico, I'd suggest getting your ass back to camp because Will has something to say." Cecil's voice in the background broke some sort of spell and Will turned to say something to Cecil but Nico didn't catch it. Will wanted Nico at camp. He wanted him to be there.

"Can you come back, Nico?" Will's eyes were desperate and Nico was weak so he nodded, getting up. "No shadow travelling."

Nico smiled at him, waving a hand through the iris message in a goodbye. Then Nico ignored him. He melted into the shadows, his power enhanced by the underworld. That was one of the worst mistakes he could have made.

Will was returning to his cabin. Nico was coming back. And that was when Nico fell out of a shadow, passing straight through a tree on his way. He was coughing a little and when he looked at Will there was panic in his eyes. That panic was mirrored by Will as he took in what Nico had done. "Nico!"

Cecil was the first one to react, "Will you're a doctor!" Nico was fading fast. Will snapped out of it, trying to hold onto Nico but it barely worked. Then Nico opened his eyes a little and Will got a hold of him, picking him up gently. He carried Nico who was fading to the infirmary and placed him in the room he still hadn't had cleared out since Nico's stay, humming the entire time.

He hummed a hymn to his father through it all and only when a tear landed on Nico instead of onto his arms as he held the fading boy, did he realise it was working. He hummed louder and louder and Nico became more and more solid. He wasn't conscious, though. That scared Will but he knew that was the best he could do right now.

Nico was trapped in his own mind, banging at the mental walls to let him out as behind him, the memories gathered, waiting for him to give up and face them.

Two days later, Nico was still asleep. Coach Hedge said it was normal. That this happened after Nico exerted a lot of energy but Will was still worried.

Nico was lost in his memories, holding the ones of Will close to his chest but he didn't run. Instead he stood through the memories, hearing himself scream, feeling the river Pleghton's water in his throat and the arai all circled around him, begging for his attention.

On the third day, Nico stirred and Will was there immediately, a glass of nectar was pressed to his mouth and he drank as Will gently held the back of his neck, angling his face up so he wouldn't choke. It tasted like Monster Punch. The energy drink Will had given him. Will was looking at him with concern as he slowly sat up. 

He realised he was crying as Will brushed a tear from his face. Two days. That was too long to be in Nico's head. And he was scared. He was scared and vulnerable and crying and shaking because, even though he hadn't faced all of his demons, that's how they made him feel. The need to scream in pain and feeling like he had no mouth to scream with.

It broke Will to see Nico like this. He had seen what a few hours of Nico's nightmares could do but now he saw what three days had done. Nico shook against Will and Will wrapped his arms around Nico, trying to help him as best he could.