Hi, so I finished writing this last night meaning the story is complete and I won't give up on it- yeay! (if it's good...)

This is one of the most serious stories I've ever writen, and I'm not a doctor and I've never been in a hospital, really, so please forgive me if I get something wrong, but do tell me so I can make it better.

If you give me a flame I'll make s'mores and I might even share.

For those who know me from Fanpop I try to post once a week so you get to wait, you all have time to catch up and the story lasts.

And... Pretend that the Heroes of Olympus never happened (except for Leo)

D/A: I am not Rick Riordan unless I am very confused.

Dedicated to Terry Fox, who's the reason we're getting closer to a cure for cancer, and to my friends because without them I'd be... Just there...

I

November 28

Nico walked into Sarah's room.

"Hey baby," he said. "It's me."

She turned her head to look at him and smiled. Tired, exhausted, forced smile. She was lying in bed; that couldn't be good. Sarah liked to be up and about or at least sitting up somewhere.

He walked in, kissed her and sat down on the foot of her bed, holding her hand after slipping his schoolbag off his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I'm late, but my math teacher had to force me to see a tutor person who's not going to help, and I missed the subway," Nico said. "How's your day been?"

"Sitcom reruns, Ken-kens and coughing up blood." Sarah said.

"Oh."

"Yeah, you're my highlight over blood and grocery-store puzzle books. You should be honoured, you even beat the 'treacherous' level ones."

"Don't you just white-out the real numbers and change them for something that works?" Nico asked in an effort to keep up the good mood Sarah was trying to project.

"What's your point?" She asked. He grinned.

"That's my girl."

"That's my guy." They smiled at the inside joke but Sarah started coughing and covered her mouth.

"No- it's okay, Angel. Honest, I'm fine. No throwing up, I promise." Sarah said. She gave him a smile. Tired, exhausted, forced smile that Nico didn't buy. He knew Sarah's smile like the back of his hand. It was a toothy grin with crinkled eyes and it shone brighter than anything that Nico knew about. Sarah had an easy smile, but lately nothing much could bring it out of hiding. Nico hated that.

"Nico! Fantastic to see you!" Someone said. He turned around to see Dr Squirt.

That wasn't his real name of course, but Sarah had been arranging squirts –jujubes filled with artificial fruit juice- on the chair next to her bed during the first or second day of her stay, and he'd come in and sat down. Sarah hadn't bothered telling him he had fruit juice and eau de gummy on his lab coat. Everybody in the oncology unit had completely forgotten that he was really Dr. Emile James Labrador Ph.D.; he was now Doctor Squirt to everyone- even to his mother, so Nico had been told.

"Hey Dr. Squirt." Nico said. He was a guy in his early thirties, with hair in a cross between brown and blond that stuck up, rectangle glasses that were always half-way down his nose unless Sarah had pushed them up, and smile lines at his eyes.

"How's your day been, young man?" He said shaking Nico's hand enthusiastically.

"I went to school, Doc. How great can it get?" Nico asked. Dr Squirt chuckled.

"School's important Nico, if you want to have something between the ears. Did Sarah tell you about the new artwork we got in the lobby?"

"Umm… No."

"It's really quite something. Sarah, I'll steal your boyfriend for a minute to show him, can I?"

"But I'm taking the stethoscope hostage until you give me Nico back." Sarah said. The doctor reached for his neck and Sarah held it up. Doc Squirt shook his head and Nico grinned.

"Okay Sarah, you win." He said.

"Yeah, but, I didn't notice anything new coming-" Before he could finish the sentence, Doctor Squirt dragged Nico into the hallway. They walked for a bit before stopping, a fair bit away from the doorframe because Sarah could not be trusted not to want to eavesdrop.

"Actually Nico, we got no new artwork. But I couldn't bear telling you in front of Sar…"

"What's wrong?" Nico asked. "Well, more wrong?"

"We've discovered that her tumour has spread," He said. "To her lungs. Hence the recent blood coughing, if you've heard about it." Nico's head felt fuzzy, like cancerous tumours was a new concept. But it wasn't.

Sarah was packing up her things in the Hermes cabin. A few of her siblings had even given back what they'd stolen from her over the years she'd been here. This was bad; children of Hermes had no regrets.

"Sarah what's wrong? They told me you were leaving…" Nico said, peaking through the open door. She looked up at him. She had fluffy light brown hair that was so much fun to flick it should've been illegal and elfish features. Any other daughter of Hermes, but she was pale. Her blue eyes were hallow like she hadn't slept, her shoulders slumped, and she had definitely lost some weight recently, Nico could tell. Her appetite had gone downhill and she was throwing up a lot.

"Yeah Nico, I'm going to the City." She said.

"Why? You hate school! I thought you were having way too much fun here with your siblings?"

"I am. But… There's something I need to tell you." She said.

The kids inside the cabin looked at Sarah with different looks. Worry. Pity. Unease. All of them were things that the children of Hermes weren't known for.

Connor Stoll got up, stretched his arms over his head and said,

"Guys, let's go put rubber spiders in Cabin 6, and mount a camcorder this time. Sarah, we'll see you at supper."

"You've got it Con-man." Sarah said. The kids left the cabin pretty quickly, but not as enthusiastically as they should've seeing what they were off to do.

She sat down on her bunk and patted a spot next to her. Nico sat down and she was chewing on her lip. He'd never seen her do that. Never seen Sarah so uncomfortable, she was always at ease in the stickiest mess. Either by talking herself in and out of it, calming herself down by plotting revenge or figuring 'yeah okay, I did deserve it'. She was flexible that way, but not right now.

"What's wrong? You know you can tell me anything." Nico said taking her hands.

"I know, I know, Nico… It's just really hard and really messed up and I don't know how. But… You know how I've been really messed up lately?"

Nico knew. Sarah woke up with pounding headaches, which sometimes trapped her in cabin 11 for the day. She'd had gotten worst at fighting, tripping on falls she should be able to catch and stumbling on flat surfaces. Sometimes she got up from bed and she was so dizzy Nico or Chris or someone had to spin her back around and lie her back down. Carried her once.

"Yes," Nico said. Sarah launched herself in the story of how Chiron had made her go see a doctor after taking one good look at her.

Nico knew why. Since she'd started getting the terrible headaches Sarah had gotten moody, full of angst, and reckless. She'd kept on joking and pulling pranks when she felt up to it, but the pranks were getting more serious and more risky. She was the only one to have followed Connor and Travis in a near suicidal toilet-paper-raid in the Big House, and the only camper to ever spike the kitchen's supply of fruit punch while it was still in the kitchen, with the harpies all around. They'd gotten dangerous, even.

And then that Doctor Something-foreign-that-rhymes-with-armadillo had called it a brain cancer, a tumour with a name that Nico had taken forever to figure out -even if he'd risked Googling it, asked Annabeth, asked Chiron, asked the doctors, even read about it- and she was going to stay at the hospital for the time being that chemotherapy lasted and that she was going to miss her siblings and camp and the store and ticking off the nymphs and her friends and him.

The whole time Nico was just stiff all over, and he felt like he was a bowl of ice cream sitting in the sun, slowly melting away, not believing what he heard and refusing to believe it, but that caught his attention.

"What do you mean 'miss me'?"

"Nico, I'm going to be at a hospital in Manhattan. You live here."

"I want to go," Nico said.

"To the hospital?"

"No, to Manhattan. I want to stay with you while this all happens." Nico said.

"Nico, don't do it for me." Sarah said, "Honestly, you'd have to tell Chiron you'd want to go back to school and he'd see right through it…"

"I'll make it happen."

"Nico, don't do it for me. I'll be out by the next summer." She said.

"I'm not doing it entirely for you. Think that I'm going this 7/8 for you, but 1/8 for me because I'd go insane being away from you for so long, and in the dark."

"You're always in the dark, Hell on wheels." Sarah smiled. That was one of the last times he'd seen her crinkled smile, during either chemotherapy, radiation therapy that followed or during the explanations as to why they couldn't operate on Sarah and so on.

Nico's heart sank deep. Deeper than it had since he was 10 years old. He got the most horrible feeling inside of him, like doomsday was coming early.

"There too?"

"Yes. And nothing's going to change it, Nico. We caught it too late- it's too advanced for surgery, which she's not strong enough to survive anyways- and radiation therapy isn't working any better than chemo did. We're keeping her on treatment and praying for a miracle but... This is just one of those times when you could do everything in the world but you need to expect the least."

"No…" Nico said.

"I'm sorry Nico," he said. "Sarah's terminally ill."

The world was yanked from other Nico's feet. No; he wished that would happen, the world just stayed all around him and he couldn't deny it or tell Doctor Squirt he was wrong or anything. He had to look the man in the eyes and between the honesty there, and looking at Sarah weak but still pulling through; he had to admit that Dr Squirt was right. He staggered and caught onto the wall. He just stared at the floor, with his head to the wall for a few seconds. This couldn't be happening…

"Does… Does Sarah know?" He asked sliding his head up.

"Of course. But she probably wouldn't tell you. She'd joke to the end, that girl." Nico's stomach shrunk on itself and tightened and twisted until his insides felt hollowed out.

"Yeah. That's Sarah."

Doctor Squirt gripped Nico's shoulders.

"Don't hold it against her, Nico," he said. Nico nodded.

"I can't. It's in her nature." He said. The hand tightened.

"I'm sorry. I truly, truly am. You should go back to her."

"Yeah… Yeah I should."

Like a sleepwalker- slow, heavy, only half –there- Nico went back into Sarah's room. She took a look at him and the fake smile melted.

"Oh- you got the talk, didn't you?" She asked. Nico nodded and sat down on the chair next to her bed.

"He didn't think you'd have told me."

"Probably not," Sarah admitted. "I spend very much energy, concentration, creativity and resources to make you smile, Hell on wheels. It's a bit totally against the very core of my nature." Nico smiled. Tired, exhausted, forced smile and Sarah didn't buy it. She rubbed her thumb on his.

"It'll be okay."

"Says who?"

"Says me, Corpse breath." Sarah said.

"You say a lot of things Sar."

"Okay, just because it turns out that tiny gnomes high-fiving each other inside wires isn't how electricity is transferred doesn't mean that everything I say is automatically a lie."

"No, it's the fact that you said that Gandalf was gay that threw us off." Percy said at the door. They turned to look at him. He had car keys in his hand and a sly smile on his face. He was wearing a hoody with the sleeves pulled up to the elbows.

"Gandalf- Dumbledore- Merlin's pants, don't hold it against me, I just got confused!"

"I see that. Maybe steal some brains, next time?"

"Percy, I don't need to know your to-do list." Sarah said. Nico smiled. She had a quick tongue and she said it like it was. Always had, still did it now. It was sick to Nico how someone could be terminal while still being… themselves.

Of course she wasn't all 'herself'. Some things were new- coughing, wheezing, fatigue, throwing up, coughing up blood. But that had nothing to do with anybody- it was just cancer.

"Nico, I'm working extra tonight, so if you want a ride back home, it's now or you sleep here." Percy said.

"I hear the floor's comfy." Sarah said. "'Course they don't let me try it."

Nico was torn between wanting to be with this beautiful girl- whom he loved and treasured- or to go home and take some time to process everything and make sense of what Dr Squirt had said. All those un-Sarah terms. Terminal. Death. Cancer. Ill. Nothing to do.

He turned to Sarah.

"You won't hate me forever if I leave you to your Ken-kens?"

"No, but get me another book while you're out there, will you?" Sarah asked.

"I'll bring it to you tomorrow after class." Nico said. He bent down and kissed her.

"Have a good one, babe."

"You too Angel." Sarah smiled and it was a crinkled smile.

Nico followed Percy out of the hospital room and his face fell considerably. He ran a hand through his hair. He breathed 'oh man…' to himself but Percy apparently didn't hear.

They crammed in the elevator with a girl with an IV and her father, got out of the hospital and walked to where Percy had found parking.

In the car, Nico leaned his head back against the headrest of the shotgun seat and he rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands. Like he was trying to rub away a stain on his eyelids that made him see the world totally fake and different.

"Doctor told me you were going to get some bad news. I thought you might want to get bailed out early." Percy said, pulling into traffic.

"Thanks Percy." Nico said. He propped his elbow on the side of the car and held his head.

"She's terminally ill," Nico said finally. "They say that radiation and chemo won't work anymore and that lung cancer's too far for surgery to help." Percy bit his lip.

"Yeah, I had a feeling that was it."

"It doesn't even look like it's bothering her." Nico said. "She seemed so calm about it."

"Nico, she might've known for a while. Maybe even before the doctors told her there was nothing left to do." Percy said.

"Still… Wouldn't it bother her?"

"It might. I don't know Sarah as well as you do, but children of Hermes generally drain everything out with jokes. That's what Connor did when Travis was in a comma and that's what Travis did when Katie dumped him."

"I thought they were together?" Nico asked.

"It's an on and off thing." Percy said. The son of Hades thought about that. Yeah, Sarah was a great liar. Not Chiron, not Connor, not Travis nor Nico could really tell what was going on in her head. Thankfully she was very straightforward and open about it 99.9% of the time. And she had pulled some jokes today- but then again that was Sarah anytime, anyplace.

"I don't know. My brain can't think right."

"You need caffeine and sugar, my friend." Percy said. "I swear it helps." Nico was pretty sure he could accomplish Mr D's mission of trying to get drunk with coke, but it wouldn't change anything. It was like the world was slightly out of tune with him. The group of girls laughing as they got out of an apartment building, the couple making out on the sidewalk, the two guys shoving each other and laughing like idiots near the fire hydrant, the couple sharing an IPod and swaying back and forth- not the same world as Sarah was dying in.

"Nico, I'm not Sarah so I can't tell you what she's feeling right now, but it won't help if you're falling to pieces."

"Percy; if Annabeth was dying, would you keep it together?" Nico asked.

"Maybe for her sake. But behind her back I'd be smashing everything I owned and going hysterical." Percy admitted.

"There." Nico said.

Percy found a spot to park in the lot near the apartment building –finding a parking spot for that apartment required an amazing sense of parking karma- and they walked inside. It was late November, and that awkward time of the year where everyone wanted it to snow because it was late November for crying out loud, but not really because that would mean heating bills and slippery sidewalks and struggles to find two matching mittens in the morning, punks throwing snowballs left and right. Oh, and summer vacation had long since worn-off and people just wanted Christmas vacation to show up already.

Nico bumped into some guy who yelled;

"Watch it, punk!"

"Hey, give the kid a break!" Percy snapped back, protectively. "Common, let's take the stairs Nico."

There was nobody there and Nico was fortunate. He didn't want to hide his face from them, and he knew the fact he was about to cry was spelt out all across it.

"Annabeth's there by the way." Percy said as they got on the floor.

"Oh yeah?" Nico was used to seeing Annabeth around the apartment; she lived alone in a college dorm and tended to come around to Percy's apartment, because everybody came around there at some point. Nico didn't mind. He only hung out at the apartment when he was exhausted, visiting hours were over at the hospital, to eat, or to do homework- the last 2 of which Annabeth was great for (her stepmom was a private chef- Annabeth was a quick learner). Plus it was only out of a mix of family love and an inability to say 'no' that made Percy a source of legal tutor, food, and shelter right now. He could easily have said no to Nico, so generally the later listened to Percy when he was telling Nico something serious to do or not to do. But this time he wasn't sure he wanted Annabeth around.

"Yeah- she's working on something and they're doing construction on her dorm building." Percy said. Nico nodded, and Percy opened the door.

Annabeth was sitting in the living room, bent over a sketching pad in intense concentration, some blond curls trickling down onto the paper, flopping back down when she pulled them away. She looked up at the door when she heard the door open.

"Hi Seaweed brain!" She smiled. She was wearing jean shorts, tennis shoes and a baggy NYU hoody.

"Hey Nico," she said.

"Hey," Nico said. He ran – well, not exactly ran, it was more of a speed-walk- across the room and down to his room. Yeah; he had his own room too, another plus of Percy's place.

Sure it wasn't as cool as the Hades cabin, but Nico had never found a place as cool as the Hades cabin anyways. The place had dark blue walls and he'd plastered them with posters from various punk bands. There was a low bed in the corner, a dresser, a desk and a bedside table. Nico closed the door and collapsed on his bed.

Bad idea.

There was a picture of he and Sarah in better times tapped on the wall. There were actually lots of pictures of Sarah and the other people at camp who didn't think he was too much of a freak. Or did and just accepted it. But Nico's eyes seemed to immediately go for the pictures of Sarah- from the time they were both 12 and became best friends at Camp, to the last summer they'd spent together at Camp. Even there you could see a trace of Sarah looking different. Paler, thinner, with pockets under her eyes. Her smile crinkled a little less.

He turned to bury his face in his pillow, the only thing who really couldn't remind him of Sarah in some way. But he didn't need reminders and he knew tears were tricking down his face.

He'd known that cancer didn't always end with recoveries and happy times.

He'd known that things could quite easily do wrong.

But had he ever expected it? No.

Did anybody ever expected it? Nico doubted it.

Sarah may be a daughter of Hermes, but she had a drop of sunshine somewhere inside her. She could make you smile anytime of the day, any day, anytime of the week. Whether she had a joke, pulled a prank on someone in front of you, or pulled a prank on you. Or sometimes it was just by being quiet and holding your hand and being there.

Nico had no idea why out of all people going around camp that day 5 years ago, Sarah had said hello to him, but she had. And he'd been way happier ever since, whether it was because she'd thrown a water balloon at that annoying Aphrodite girl who told Nico he'd look good in brighter colors, or because she'd made a joke or brushed her fingers against his when the Hermes mob (you try making a line with those people) and Nico parted ways in the dining pavilion.

The idea that maybe by August he'd be back at Camp without brushing fingers terrified him. The idea he'd be anywhere without it terrified him.

Nico sprang up and starred at the wall.

Oh. My. Gods.

Nico di Angelo was afraid of death.

For the first time in his life he was afraid of death. Afraid of his source of power- afraid of his father! Afraid of the reality that hummed in the air around him, afraid of what he'd seen a million times…

There was a knock on the door.

"Dude, you hungry? We're got pizza… Veggie pizza with extra cheese, just for you…" Percy taunted. Nico was planning on saying no, but common, extra cheese.

"Yeah, give me a minute." Nico called. He swung his legs off bed and checked his reflexion in the mirror. No red eyes, he rubbed his cheeks a bit- okay, he was fine. He joined Percy and Annabeth in the kitchen and sat down at the table. Annabeth was telling Percy about a job opening her teacher had told her about.

"I just thought you'd like working in an aquarium." She shrugged, taking a bite of pizza. Nico dug in and the cheese was still warm and gooey- just the way pizza was created to be eaten.

"I'm already working all the time at the pool, I don't know. But that does sound cooler than telling little kids not to run in the pool area and whatnot."

"You're just suggesting that because you hate having girls flirt with him when they see his abs or whatever it is that's attractive about him." Nico said. Annabeth made a face but Percy laughed.

"Not entirely, but that's another bonus, see?" Annabeth said. She smiled at Nico.

"How was your day?" Annabeth asked. "Did your math quiz go well?"

"It was okay," Nico said. Compared to the rest of the day, that had been like winning the jackpot.

"Any homework tonight?" She asked.

"I've got one English project due sometime. I forgot what it's about but I wrote it somewhere. I think I can handle it." Nico said. Annabeth had nothing more to ask him, Percy already knew that Nico wasn't in a talking mood, or anything that had the letter g-o-o-d in it and stayed quiet.

Nico finished his pizza fast, threw the crust on Percy's plate because he always ate it and put his plate in the dishwasher before sealing himself back into his room.

Nico knew that Chiron was really worried about two children of the Big 3 living in the same house (unlike Percy and Nico were), and that if Nico didn't at least pretend that he was risking his life in New York for more than just Sarah –a reason that would expire soon enough, and then he'd have to find another reason to stay away from Camp- Chiron wouldn't let him stay outside of Camp. And so the only reason he could find; school. He had to at least try, as much as it killed him.

So he opened his English binder and looked at the sheet where he'd written down his homework.

Transmitting emotions to the reader is part of any good writing. Convey the following emotions based on one of your memories. Each emotion must have a text between 1 paragraph and 1 page long. Write double spaced, spelling and grammar will not be taken into consideration but extra credit may be given and give each text a title. You will have to read your text to the class and they will rate how you transferred the emotion on a scale of 1-5. Presentations are due on December 11th at third period.

-Happiness

-Anger

-Sorrow

Nico threw the binder and his pencil, which smashed against the wall and fell to the floor, open with the papers bent, and the crayon actually snapped. Damn it the whole world was against him! The whole world was looking at his face and laughing and pointing and dancing up and down. He already knew Sarah was dying. He already knew he was angry and devastated and whatever the stronger form of sad was. He knew that things would never be the same and it was hard enough as it is.

"Damn it!" He said staring up at the ceiling. He buried his face with his hands and just cried. At some point he fell asleep, and demigod dreams didn't bother him, just this once.