KEY
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UNDERLINED/BOLD= Story of the chapter
1. Birth; 2. Enthusiasm; 3. Love; 4. Hate; 5. Triumph; 6. Feel; 7. Wrecked; 8. Soft; 9. Cold; 10. Without;
11. Inspiration; 12. You; 13. Confused; 14. Affection; 15. Joy; 16. Horror; 17. Acceptance; 18. Sympathy; 19. Holding; 20. Defeated;
21. Pride; 22. Knife; 23. Overwhelmed; 24. Depressed; 25. Adoration; 26. Worship; 27. Zeal; 28. Light; 29. Exhaustion; 30. Obsession;
31. Rage; 32. Empty; 33. Anger; 34. Fury; 35. Delight; 36. Submission; 37. Infatuation; 38. Anticipation; 39. Pessimistic; 40. Jolly;
41. Grasping; 42. Agitation; 43. Calm; 44. Astonished; 45. Loneliness; 46. Lust; 47. Longing; 48. Tender; 49. Hard; 50. Rebirth;
51. Amused; 52. Broken; 53. Abused; 54. Tranquil; 55. Composed; 56. Glad; 57. Stress; 58. Serenity; 59. Colorful; 60. Coping;
61. Boisterous; 62. Placid; 63. Tired; 64. Bliss; 65. Neglect; 66. Fine; 67. Question; 68. Energetic; 69. Noble; 70. Disgust;
71. Lively; 72. Power; 73. Pity; ; 75. Satisfied; 76. Thankful; 77. Hyper; 78. Goosebumps; 79. Worthless; 80. Remorse;
81. Degraded; 82. Revenge; 83. Fulfilled; 84. Shame; 85. Graceful; 86. Shining; 87. Content; 88. Feelings; 89. Pleased; 90. Relief;
91. I; 92. Zest; 93. Tears; 94. Building; 95. Optimistic; 96. Thrilled; 97. Dealing; 98. Reflect; 99. Embarrassment; 100. Death
My fault.
Shaking, Nico walked from the palace gates to the throne room and knelt before the king.
My fault.
"Nico, what are you doing here?" A rhetorical question, as Hades had no doubt in what his son wanted. The boy was skinnier and paler than normal- a side effect from his guilt-stricken wandering the Fields of Asphodel for many hours every day for weeks looking for that one son of Apollo.
"Father, I- I want him back. Please. Please bring him back." He pleaded, barely able to get the words out. My fault.
Hades sighed. "You know I can't do that. There are rules.'
Tears that had been forming in the corners fell to his cheeks. "I- I need him." His words were a hoarse whisper. Its my fault.
"I would if I could, Son. I cannot bring him back. I am sorry."
Sniffling, Nico nodded. He wiped his nose with his sleeve and wiped his eyes. "I- I understand." All my fault.
Hades stood and pulled Nico up into a hug. It was odd. Awkward. Neither man had ever been very affectionate. Especially not toward one another. In fact their relationship had always been rocky at best. And now he was comforting Nico.
"You are my son. If I was allowed, I would send him back, if only to make you happy."
"May I see him?" Nico asked, afraid if an answer. "B-because I went looking for him. I couldn't find him. I thought you've hid him from me..."
His father should've been offended. Should've dented it and punished him for not having faith in him to be better than that. At least, that's what he would've done back in the old days. But times had changed and so had Hades.
Nico's fears were with reason. He had been treated poorly in the past by his father and step-mother. He'd been forbidden from seeing his mother and sister's ghosts. On multiple occasions, Hades had stated he wished Bianca had made it over Nico. (Of course that was never true. He had just been frustrated and missed his daughter. Not that was a proper excuse.) Nico's fears were not unjustified by any means.
"Of course you can." He pulled away, hands remaining on his son's shoulders. "Why don't you go to your room? I'm sure you'd like your privacy with him."
Nico sniffed and pulled away nodding. He walked to his room, slowly. My fault. My fault. My fault. Tears continued to fall.
When he entered, Will was already there, sitting on the corner of the bed. His tan skin had become ashen grey, though his blonde hair seemed to retain it's golden, sun-like qualities. His eyes were still clearly blue, but a few shades duller. Nico's eyes drifted unwillingly to his temple. An abnormal, sickly dent was above his left eye. The wound was deep and there was dried blood trailing down to his chin. Shards of bone and Stygian Iron were embedded in that side of his face. My fault.
Worst of all, the look on his face. Nico thought that anger, or even fear, would've been better. He was prepared for those emotions. He was not prepared for the unconditional love that was emoted.
Nico's feet led him over without him telling them to. "Will, I- I'm-" He reached up to touch the wound, but hesitated as if it'd hurt him. "I didn't mean-" He looked away, entire body shaking. "I'm sorry."
Will stood, not hesitating to wrap the son of Hades in his arms. "You have nothing to be sorry for."
"It's my fault."
He shook his head, "You weren't in control."
"But I was."
"You didn't know it was me."
"I still did it."
"It's okay, Nico." Will said, stroking his hair softly. "It's okay."
Slowly, Will sat down again, bringing Nico with him, trying to reassure him.
It almost worked.
With his eyes closed and Will's soft voice, he could believe that he'd wake up from this awful nightmare any minute.
But when they moved back, Will resting his back on the headboard and Nico curled up on his side with his head on the other boy's chest, reality struck him hard.
The calming thump, thump, thump, of Will's heartbeat was nowhere to be found. Panic set in and he clutched the blonde's shirt tightly. His breaths became rapid as he tried desperately to hear or feel a single beat. Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes, and before he knew it, sobs wracked his whole body. Soft hands were in his hair, stroking it soothingly, and a voice tried to calm him again, but it sounded like it was at the other end of a tunnel.
Nico couldn't begin to fathom how Will didn't blame him. It was his sword in his hand that had delivered the blow. Nico had the emotional trauma to prove it.
He'd just woken up from a nightmare, sweating and panting, sword in hand. It wasn't abnormal for this to occur. Especially after a dream where he'd been fighting tooth and nail for his life. His real body often mimicked what his dream body did. Just before fully waking, a monster had been shaking him and trying to force him down. So naturally he reached for a large blunt object and smashed the monster's temple then threw it off of him.
He dropped his sword and rubbed his face, sitting up. He licked his chapped lips and frowned when he tasted something other than salty sweat. It tasted metallic. He felt for a bloody nose. Nothing. Then he noticed the dark red running up his arm and staining his pajamas and bed sheets. He looked at his sword. The hilt was shattered and stained red. What did I hit?
He got up and tripped, and looked to see what it was. It horrified him to see that it was a who. Someone had attacked him.
He rolled the body over, and let out a blood curdling scream that prompted several campers to rush over, their own weapons in hand.
Nico stumbled backward, right into Jason. "Oh my gods..." His hands fisted his own hair and fell to the ground. "I-I didn't mean it." Guilt and horror for what he'd done only built inside him as he watched other campers take the boy away. "I- I killed Will..."
There wasn't any doubt to anybody in camp that Nico had killed Will. But nobody doubted that it was accident. Of course nobody blamed Nico for what happened. Well, nobody except Nico.
No matter how he looked at it, he could only put the blame on himself. Will had obviously broken curfew to check on Nico. But he wouldn't have if Nico hadn't mentioned his chronic nightmares that morning. Nico's idiotic decision to explore Tartarus had been the cause of his nightmares.
This what made Nico's brain repeat. My fault. My fault. All my fault. on an endless loop, and this is what he thought about as he continued sobbing into Will's chest.
Will's loop of "it's okay's" became white noise to Nico's ears as is thoughts shifted to simply it's not okay.
The son of Hades cried and cried and cried with no signs of stopping. It's not okay. He thought. It won't be. Not as long as I'm alive.
I'm alive guys! Unlike Will, I am alive.
Sorry for the hiatus. A combo of school, writer's block, and this new thing called a "social life" (?) kept me away.
Please review! Flames always accepted.
-Kat Fish