Author's notes: Hey guys, sorry, I know it's been awhile, I have just been really busy but I'm probably gonna be even busier in the coming days. I'll try to see if I can find a way to balance my classes (and I signed for more classes even during the weekends because I'm crazy like that) and writing. I hope I can because writing is very important to me and I don't want to give it up no matter what. I'll probably have to reduce my reading time and sleep time just for that to work.

Loving You 'Til It Hurts
"Sometimes stepping away from what you desire the most, is the best action to take: because it gives the process the momentum to take its own course."
― Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana
By LDJE

Dark skies and heavy rain met the Apollo medics as they got closer and closer to the scene. The ground was muddy and it made their movements difficult as they ran through the trees, hair plastered to their eyes and forehead from the rain. Thunder rolled above their heads and the shadows around the forest seemed longer and darker, the air cold. Will rubbed at his arms for warmth, goose bumps rose on his skin. He was starting to regret his decision to wear his usual comfortable get-up of khaki shorts and short-sleeved shirt.

Suddenly a familiar dark-blond head entered his vision. Justin waved at his incoming siblings. "The situation's getting worse, Percy and the others are out of control." He said as he jogged beside the Apollo cabin counselor. "I thought I'd meet you guys to explain the situation, and also, visibility in this rain is crap."

"Have any idea on what made the Big Three's kids lose it?" The ground rumbled dangerously and everyone stumbled. Percy's doing probably, being the son of the earth shaker.

"We talked to one of the Hecate cabin's members." His brother said, "Apparently they'd been plotting a new attack spell, the design was centered around Lou Ellen's pig balls and the Nike's children's competitiveness. Since our side got Zeus and Hades, their main plan was to hit Jason and Nico with them, so that they could fight it each other and then they'd win the flag. Since Nico and Jason thought the attack ball-things were just harmless pig balls, they sliced at them and just as the Hecate cabin planned, the spell activated. Unfortunately, Percy suddenly came out of nowhere and got hit too. All three of them went berserk as a result."

"I can't believe the Athena cabin approved of such a reckless plan!" One of Will's sisters commented, "I mean, having two of the Big Three's children fight it out is a disaster waiting to happen!" She said, "And of course, Percy gets dragged into it as always, now look what we're dealing with!"

"The Athena cabin didn't know about that plan." Justin said with a shrug, "The Athena cabin and the Hecate and Nike cabin had been at odds lately, so no one told them about the Nike balls. They've been at odds since that magical quiz show Mr. D hosted a few days back. You know how the Nike cabin gets at losing and the Hecate cabin really wanted that spell book prize thing."

"Well, what's done is done." Will said as they ducked and slowed down, approaching the creek. Lightning flashed in the sky, and the ground seemed to be trembling a bit. "We have to deal with the situation ourselves. Has Piper and Annabeth been called to the scene?"

"They're probably on their way." Will nodded in approval.

Then Austin said, "Well, I guess Annabeth and Piper can handle Percy and Jason, but who's going to get Nico under control?"

The head of the Apollo cabin tried very hard to keep his expression neutral. "Piper's charmspeak can handle things from there." He said instead, "The only thing we need to worry about are the injured."

At those words, Apollo's medics spread out the trees, heading immediately to the injured. They helped dragged them to the safety of the forest borders as Will stepped out into the clearing and saw for himself what was happening.

If there were any doubts about how powerful the Big Three's children were, they were all gone now.

Will could feel the hair at the back of his neck rising at the power in the air, not just from the electricity and cold too. The three children of the oldest gods were standing in the middle of the creek, eyes on each other. If you looked closer, you could see a strange violet haze in each of their eyes, blinding their common sense and rationality. The air around them was thick with desperation to defeat each other. The waters of the creek were churning alarmingly, rising fast. It was starting to look more and more like an ocean. The clouds in the sky were heavy and dark, rain continued to pour down and thunder boomed alarmingly. The ground around the creek was cracked, and white things, which looked suspiciously like bones, were poking out. There were several skeletons fighting their way to Jason and Percy, but they were dispatching them easily, although the bones kept reforming.

The creek water kept forming into tidal waves, trying to swipe Jason and Nico from their feet. Jason, hovered above to keep away from the water while Nico stepped into shadows reforming at the most unexpected places to strike the son of Poseidon. Percy parried the attacks quickly, Jason tried to hit the two other demigods with stray bolts of lightning, the skeletons were trying to grab at his feet.

No normal demigod could come near them, not unless they wanted to be vaporized.

Behind Will, he could hear the awed murmuring of his fellow demigods. He, himself, swallowed at the atmosphere. He steeled himself and started directing his siblings towards the injured. He turned to Clarisse who was close by and refusing to leave unlike the others.

"I can take them on by myself!" Clarisse said as she tried to stand up. But it seemed like the hit to her head was more troubling than she thought, because she swayed on her feet.

"Don't even think about it, Clarisse." Will said, walking up towards her, pale blue eyes narrowed. The daughter of Ares turned to him and frowned.

"Are you saying I'm weak, Solace?"

"I'm not saying you are," Will said in an indulgent tone. "But I'm sure someone as strong as you can tell, right? Those three, they're all in a level of their own right now."

A frown marred the other teen's face but she didn't argue, "Tch. Just 'cause they're dads are big shots doesn't mean they get to do what they want."

The blond smiled, "They didn't really have a choice, you know. From what I heard this was all just a spell gone wrong." He reached out and directed her to sit down on a wet tree stump nearby, "Now, did you have someone treat you for your head injury?"

The daughter of Ares' grudgingly gestured to one of Will's siblings who had been there when the incident started. After checking with his own healing, Will turned to question a child of Hecate about the infamous spell ball that caused everything, when a familiar blonde daughter of Athena and brown-haired daughter of Aphrodite came through the trees.

"Percy!" Annabeth was quick to call out. Athena's children, Drew, and a few Ares kids surrounded her and Piper. She probably put the team together, so as to minimize any damage around the other campers, in cases the Big Three's children reacted negatively. "Seaweed Brain, get a hold of yourself! You don't have to prove anything here!"

Percy's eyes had snapped towards her as he growled, voice rough and he spoke like two people were speaking for him, "They disrespect my father and me, I will show them that the sea is stronger than the earth and the sky."

The waters churned, creating a whirlpool around Nico while a wave tried to swat at Jason. Shadows drowned Nico before the water could and he reappeared on dry land.

"My father and I have been disrespected more than you! His rightful throne and place taken away from him! You will suffer the consequences!" Nico said just as the darkness around them thickened, pierced only by the lightning in the sky as the temperature dropped in a worrying level. Skeletons climbed out form the dirt, making a few campers shriek when it caught them by the ankles.

"My father is the god of all gods and the king of the sky!" Jason spread his arms, and the wind howled, "You shall show me the respect I deserve, cousins or not!"

The campers braced themselves against the strong wind, cold, and rain. Annabeth pursed her lips as she exchanged looks with Piper. The daughter of Aphrodite had a grim look on her face but she nodded and stepped up. She gestured to Drew who copied her, albeit hesitantly.

"You know what to say," Piper said to her sister who huffed. "If we do it together, it'll be stronger. Now, on three." She looked right at Jason as she counted, "One, two… three!"

"STOP!"

Everything seemed to freeze in that moment. All the campers within hearing vicinity froze in whatever they were doing. Almost everyone was stopped dead in their tracks, eyes wide as they automatically looked at the two sisters.

The high waves of the creek dropped in a great big splash, before slowly receding. The lightning in the sky didn't continue, and even the dark atmosphere was frozen. The sons of the Big Three were like statues, stopped in their fighting stance. Percy and Jason could barely move but Nico shifted suspicious eyes at the daughters of Aphrodite.

Seeing that the three were temporarily paralyzed, Piper stepped up, looking at Annabeth who lowered her hands, having used it to cover her own ears so as not to have been affected by the charmspeak. Piper nodded at her as they both carefully stepped up to the three.

"Jason, come down here." Piper ordered quietly and the blond son of Zeus followed her instruction, landing a few feet in front of her. Annabeth turned towards Percy.

"Percy?" Annabeth said carefully, hands held up to show that she didn't mean any harm. "Seaweed Brain, Jason and Nico aren't enemies." She said firmly, stormy grey eyes locked with sea green ones which had a strange violet hue, probably effects of the spell. "Okay?"

Percy opened his mouth, eyes clearing momentarily. But no words came out of his mouth and his face look conflicted, the violet hue clouding his eyes again.

"She's right." Piper said automatically, her eyes carefully on Jason. She watched the violet haze lifting a bit from his sky blue eyes. "You guys were hit by a spell to fight each other. This isn't really who you are, you don't fight like your dads, you're friends."

Annabeth nodded, and deciding it was safe, reached out to hold Percy's hand. The son of Poseidon twitched and everyone watching them held in their breaths. "Percy." She said seriously, "Please…"

Piper reached out her own hands, cupping Jason's face, "Jason, snap out of it." She turned to Percy and Nico, "Everyone snap out of it."

And just like that, the violet haze from their eyes vanished and everyone within hearing vicinity could finally move again.

Two very confused teens stared at Piper and Annabeth, as though seeing them for the first time. Percy took a step forward but almost stumbled, Annabeth was quick to catch him. Piper took Jason's arm and draped it around her shoulder when he slumped to the ground.

Will let out a breath of relief when the rain finally slowed into a drizzle and the creek receded. The night sky wasn't so dark and foreboding anymore. The blond ran up to the two pairs, "They probably exhausted their powers, the spell must have held back their exhaustion and it's hitting them hard now, a backlash." He explained to Ananbeth and Piper. Will turned back and gestured for Justin and Austin to check up on Percy and Jason. The blond turned to take care of a certain son of Hades, "Nico-"

But then pale blue eyes widened when he saw the dark look on Nico's face, his dark eyes filled with a violet hue. The younger teen raised his hands and a wave of bones rose from the ground and aimed towards Percy and Ananbeth's vulnerable back.

"Watch out!" Will shouted, pushing the surprised pair away from the danger. He let out a grunt when the attack grazed his side.

Piper turned immediately, barely dragging Jason, her eyes wide with surprise. "Nico! Stop!" She desperately called out in charmspeak. The son of Hades' movements hesitated for a few seconds but then he raised another hand and called forth more skeletons to attack the campers.

The Ares and Athena children Annabeth had with her, pulled out their weapons and started fighting against the skeletons, keeping them away from the Apollo cabin and the injured. Two of Ares' children ran to help Annabeth drag a weakened Percy away.

Drew and a child of Athena went to take Jason while Piper tried to face Nico. The son of Zeus raised a hand, wanting to help but his arms felt heavy and he had to be dragged away with Percy. The daughter of Aphrodite ducked away from the skeletons, making her way to Will's side.

"Snap out of it, Nico! This isn't you, it's just the spell!" Piper shouted frantically as she tried to help Will up. The son of Hades sent an annoyed look her way, flicking his wrist and summoning a seven feet skeleton her way.

"I-I don't understand-" Will said, taking out a small dagger from strapped on his belt, "Why isn't he snapping out of it?"

Piper pursed her lips, dodging as Will tried to stab the skeleton attacker. "Nico's always been able to resist my charmspeak, more than anyone. At first, I thought it was because he was a child of one of the Big Three or something. I mean, they're powerful, right? So maybe Nico's just immune or something. But then-" She shoved at the skeleton, making it lose its balance as Will tackled it and slammed the blade up its ribs, breaking it to pieces.

"But my charmspeak's power is dependent on how a person is attracted to me." She explained. "The more attracted, the more potent. But Nico- well, at first I was curious to why he can ignore it but then Annabeth told me about Nico's crush on Percy and suddenly it made sense, you know? Girls can look at me and think, 'oh she's pretty, I wanna look like her' so I can charm them. Guys look at me and they can be like 'she's hot, I wanna date her' and I can charm them even more- but Nico doesn't fall on any of those categories. I can yell 'stop' at him but it'll only make him pause for a few seconds. I can yell at him to 'snap out of it' but he'll just snap back into the spell."

"And Jason and Percy, the only two who can possibly match him in this state, can't help." Will pursed his lips, "Clarisse has a concussion, most of the people here are injured- what do we do?" He asked, eyes locked at Nico's pale form, directing even more skeletons at the vulnerable campers.

Piper looked at Will curiously, studying the expression on his face, "Well…" She said carefully, catching his attention. Pale blue eyes snapped towards her, "You can always try to heal the spell out of his system."

The son of Apollo blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah," Piper said, pushing the son of Apollo to the side as a skeleton came up to hit them. She did an impressive kick, reducing it to pieces. "No one can defeat him with their sword or powers, I can't charmspeak him out of it. The only choice is for you to heal him from the spell. Flush it out of him like it's a virus, which in this case, it is."

"But it's not-"

"It's our only hope." Piper said firmly and Will wondered if she laced her voice with charmspeak then too, since he found himself internally agreeing. "I can give you an opening, then you can give it your whole Apollo healing thing, or maybe even just numb him or something, I know your cabin, I know that being human antiseptics can come with the whole healing package. What's important is that we need to stop him but without hurting him. Don't you agree?"

The blond turned his pale blue eyes to the son of Hades, his hesitation slipping from his face to be replaced by grim determination. "I-" He sighed, "You're right."

Piper smiled, "Of course." Then she took a deep breath and gave him a sharp look, "We only have one shot at this."

Will nodded and to Piper's surprise, he held out his hands which began to glow. Usually in the morning light, the healing powers of the Apollo cabin were barely noticeable, but in the darkness of the night, it stood out and the warmth and comfort it exuded made Piper have more confidence with her plan.

The daughter of Aphrodite exhaled and turned to catch Drew's eyes. She whistled sharply, catching several people's attention. Drew looked at her, an eyebrow raised and Piper inclined her head at Nico, holding up three fingers to count down. Her sister pursed her lips, but nodded.

Piper's fingers went from three, two… one.

"Nico di Angelo!" Powerful voices echoed in the forest, the son of Hades looked up blankly, "STOP!"

The skeletons around them froze, allowing everyone to hack through. Nico's hands twitched but didn't move and he frowned. Will took this as an opportunity to run forward, trying to ignore the pain on his side as he dodged and hit stationary skeletons, breaking them to pieces, their bones sinking back to the ground. Nico turned towards him.

The son of Apollo grabbed at the shorter teen's arms, Nico looked blankly up his face and like always whenever the he's caught the gaze of the other, Will finds himself short of breath.

But the eyes were wrong.

Instead of the dark, secretive eyes he'd gotten used to, there was no spark behind this Nico's eyes. His gaze was blank, filled with a violet hue that made Will recoil.

His hands' grip on the other's biceps tightened, their warmth rising as he tried to focus on flushing the spell out of Nico's system. The son of Hades froze, as though he could feel what was happening, and he struggled, trying to break free. He tried to kick at Will's legs but the son of Apollo held firm, eyes narrowed. His breath caught when Nico's knee caught him at the side, body folding forward at the unexpected blow. The sudden breath of pain seemed to make Nico pause.

Will closed his eyes, feeling the spell swirling in Nico's system. The inhaled spell was in his bloodstream and Piper could be right. He could just flush it out like it was a virus from a cold. Feeling hopeful, he leaned against the shorter teen. Nico grunted at the action but he tried to raise one hand despite Will's grip.

A shout to his back made Will's eyes snap open. He turned his head to look behind him and saw that the skeleton armies were moving again. One of the skeletons clawing up the ground had grabbed hold to one of his siblings. Piper and Drew looked exhausted from the power the used behind their charmspeak, they'd reverted back to fighting off the army instead. Everything was in Will's hands now. The blond willed his healing faster.

But then someone grabbed Will by the ankle and his breath caught in his throat. He looked down and sure enough, a bony hand had him by his right ankle. Another one shot out and grabbed him by his left. Nico's struggles were beginning anew and he was actually succeeding in pulling away bit by bit.

Behind Will, the battle cries of the demigods were raging on. Some were calling back up and the temperature around them kept dropping. Will shivered and tried to hold on.

"Nico."

He was unable to help but utter the son of Hades' name. Pale blue eyes were pleading when dark ones met his.

"Nico, please."

Nico yanked one of his arms free. Will reached out and grabbed him by his sleeves, the other arm struggling to get free too. The blond pulled, making the shorter teen step forward.

"Nico, snap out of it."

Dark eyes with a violet hue, narrowed at Will. Nico used his freed arm to hit him on the side, Will's breath caught in pain. He instead used the other's actions against him and pinned Nico's arm under his own. Pale blue eyes met blank dark ones.

"I know you're stronger than this." Will pleaded, "So, please snap out of it. The Great Ghost King can't possibly be beaten by some amateur spell by the Hecate cabin, right?" He said with a pain-filled grin. The grin became something softer as Will reached out and tangled his fingers on the hair at the back of Nico's neck. "Right?"

The tender gesture made Nico freeze, eyes widening in surprise. The violet haze in his eyes flickered and Will could feel the spell slowly dissipating. He wasn't the only one fighting it off, he could feel that Nico was trying too.

Pale blue eyes slid closed as Will pulled Nico forward with his restrained arm, momentarily forgetting about the rest of the campers. He softly touched his forehead with the shorter teen. He could feel the other's heartbeat as though it was his own.

The sounds of battle were being drowned out by Nico's heartbeat, and Will could feel the warmth in his hands growing stronger, spreading throughout the son of Hades, cleansing him of the spell.

"I believe you can break through this, Death boy." He whispered, quietly. "So please come back, Nico."

A pulse of light seemed to spread throughout the forest, the whole skeleton army falling to pieces and being swallowed back by the shadows.

Nico choked on a breath, "Will." He said, eyes widening before he slumped forward into Will's arms.

The son of Apollo carefully caught the unconscious teen, the skeleton hands holding him disintegrating with the rest of the army. The forest didn't seem so dark anymore, the temperature went back to normal. The light drizzle of rain finally let up, but Will could feel his blond hair plastered to his forehead and the dampness of his wet shirt clinging to him. He held up Nico and turned warily to look at the other campers who stared at him with wide eyes.

There was silence.

"Oh, Will." He heard Kayla say, breaking through the tense atmosphere.

Will averted his gaze to the side, ashamed at being caught so emotionally vulnerable by his siblings and friends. So much for his most well-kept secret.

Will cleared his throat, trying to revert everyone's attention solely back to himself, "Mark, take Nico to the infirmary." He said to one of his younger siblings who hurriedly came forward immediately. The son of Apollo allowed him to take Nico away before he turned towards an unconscious Jason and Percy, "Percy and Jason too, and all the ones with major injuries. I want the rest of the Apollo cabin to go through the rest with minor injuries. Once you're treated, it's back to your cabins and lights off. Everything else can be dealt with tomorrow." He referred to the Hecate and Nike cabin's failed spell.

The crowd began to disperse, a few people looking back at Will and whispering. The son of Apollo's shoulders slumped dejectedly as he ran a hand through his wet hair.

A hand landed on his shoulder and Will looked up to meet Clarisse's eyes. Annabeth and Piper were there too.

"It'll be fine, Solace. It's not the end of the world." Clarisse said, patting his shoulder. Will gave her a wan smile.

Annabeth sighed, crossing her arms, "Instead of gossiping, everyone should be thanking you for saving them." She smiled, "You manage to flush the spell out of his system, I'm impressed."

"It was all Piper's idea. She was right about the spell just being another virus, it wasn't supposed to be there." Will answered humbly, "Besides, it's you and Piper who managed to stop Percy and Jason, so I think you guys are the real heroes of the day."

"Nope, we were just really lucky." Piper said with a smile, "Percy and Jason chose to listen to us and that made a difference. You're the one who got the spell out of Nico's system and you'll have to do the same with Jason and Percy later on. I'm sure my charmspeak only managed to temporarily stop the effects."

"Right." Will nodded, he looked around at the slowly dispersing campers. "I'll have to send a few of my siblings out to do some cabin check-ups for the ones with minor injuries while the rest are busy in the infirmary." He sighed, "It's going to be a long night."

"We'll help out as much as we can. Especially the Nike and Hecate cabin since, this all started because of them." Annabeth said, giving a passing child of Hecate the stink eye. The girl gulped, having heard the conversation and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, we should get going then." Clarisse said, "I have to check up on my brothers and sisters and see if they're all right." She and Piper lead the way out of the forest, conversing in low tones. Annabeth purposely slowed her steps so that she could be walking beside Will.

"You know no one cares, right?" The daughter of Athena said, stormy eyes giving a side glance at the quiet blond. Will gave her a confused look, "That you like Nico." She clarified.

Pale blue eyes widened before Will's gaze slinked to the ground. His shoulders were tense, "I never-" He took in a sharp breath, "I don't really care what other people say and I've known everyone here for a long time, so I know they don't really care who likes who."

Annabeth gave him a thoughtful look, "Then I don't understand why you look so defeated."

The two of them stumbled through the forest path, Will gave a pain filled grimace at the rough way. He held a hand to his side. "You know why." He sighed, "I don't exactly want Nico finding out about-" He pursed his lips and shook his head, "Knowing our camp and how fast gossip spreads, it won't be long before everyone knows. And then, it won't be long before Nico knows."

"Would it really be such a bad thing?"

Will gave her a hesitant smile, "You know how it goes, I don't want anything to change. We work out the way we are right now, barely friends, at most acquaintances. I don't want to make him uncomfortable." I don't want him to runaway again. He left unsaid.

Annabeth gave him a searching look. He always did feel like sometimes, she could see right through him, right into what he was thinking.

"I don't think that's only your decision to make." Annabeth said carefully, "You never really know what might happen."

"But like I said, I don't want Nico to feel uncomfortable." The son of Apollo said, looking at Annabeth, "You've known Nico for awhile, you know he leaves when he's scared, hurt, or confused."

"I know you're thinking about Nico's crush on Percy. It's true that it may have been his reason for keeping away a few times but, Will," The daughter of Athena argued, "People change. Nico more than anyone else."

"But not enough, right?" Will said with a small smile, "I just-" He kicked at a stray pebble, "I don't want to be the reason he'll stay away next time."

Annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder, "You won't be." She squeezed in reassurance, "It'll turn out for the best, Will, trust me."

The blond just gave her a small smile, "Thanks." The four of them finally came to the camp cabins.

"I guess we should check if everyone from our cabin is okay too." Piper said to Annabeth when Clarisse left for her own cabin. "We'll come by later and see if we can do anything to help, Will."

"I'd appreciate that." The blond said with a nod, "I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Don't push yourself too much." Piper said with a small wave before turning to head towards the Aphrodite cabin.

"Remember what I said." Annabeth told the younger teen who merely smiled.

"Of course." Will lifted a hand to wave at her before jogging towards the infirmary. Annabeth watched the son of Apollo's retreating figure for awhile before sighing.

She wondered if he really did believe in anything she said.

Author's notes: I know Will may seem a bit harsh but he is sort of justified I guess. Nico does keep leaving and I guess he's tired and at the same time scared of that happening again.

This story is finishing up fast, my next update will definitely be Forget Me Not Black, so keep hanging around guys. Once again, I'd like to thank Bailci for being there to review my works and go over them (if the plot is okay and stuff or if it's too fast or not), it's really a pleasure to receive your feedback on them! I have only a few friends in tumblr you see XD

Now my fingers are slightly swelling from some unknown allergy. Itchy, haha.

So, sorry again for the late update and thank you to everyone! I keep receiving alerts and reviews despite taking a while to update!