Chapter Text
In a little more than an hour, dinner at Camp Half-Blood would have started and Will Solace was hunched over at a desk, scribbling down the infirmary storage count. There were no patients filling the beds tonight and everything had already been cleaned and sanitized, so it was hard to keep himself distracted from nothing. The bell on the door jingled a tune as Clarisse and Chris Rodriguez walked right to Will, Clarisse snatching the papers right under Will's hand.
“Hey I kind of needed that! I'm taking inventory right now and I'm trying to figure out what it would cost to get the Romans to give us some of that unicorn stuff for the camp,” Will tried to reach and grab his notes back but Clarisse just moved her arm farther and higher away from him.
“Nuh-uh Solace your bunkering in here again man, there's nothing to do here!” She puffed out and scrunched her nose, “listen, Chris and I got all this Roman stuff handled, and you're gonna take a nap before dinner, because quite frankly,” she paused and patted Will on the shoulder, “you look like as if Blackjack kicked you in the eyes, go rest up kid we got it handled, you’ve done enough work here for a kid who isn’t being paid should be anyway.”
This got Will to crack a small smile and made Chris produce a small laugh, Will sighed and knew not to do this dance with Clarisse; besides he could use a good nap anyway.
He stood up and rolled his shoulders back, “yea your right, I think a nap would do me wonders right about now, but promise me you're actually going to take stock and not just make out in the closet please?” Chris went red in the face and Clarisse barked out a laugh, “hey no promises on that last one but we’ll get the work done, right Chris?” She slaps his back and Chris nods, “No worries here Solace, I'l to try to make contact with the Mercury kids and see what they can ship over, making a deal and whatnot.”
Will smiles, he was glad he can rely on his friends to help kick him out of the infirmary when he goes down is ‘overworking rabbit hole’ moods, he’s also learned to stop resisting when Clarisse once had to knock him out with a punch so he could get some sort of sleep.
“Thanks guys I really needed this, see you at the campfire?” The couple nod and soon Will see’s himself out the door, yawning his way back to his cabin for a short nap before dinner starts.
As Will walks back, his mind thinks of his shady friend, in a literal sense. Nico Di Angelo, the son of Hades. As the thought of a nap reminds Will of Nico. He then thinks about how Nico would give a slice of his opinion on him taking a nap, saying something along the lines such as “a nap can cure all,” or, “told you so you wannabe doctor.”
Will smiles at the thought of how Nico became someone very special in Will’s life. Since Nico decided to stay at camp, they two have grown close, to the point where they hang out everyday and even sit at the same table with a fibbed doctor's note Will had written. As Will entered his cabin, he immediately booked it to his bed and took off his hearing aids and kicked his flip flops off. Not even opting out to change into comfier clothes, he knocked out on his pillow, entering a deep sleep.
In his dreams he was in a forest, one of the most lush and green bounds of nature he has ever seen. The Earth around him made small but pleasant noises, small winds hitting leaves, the rippling water of the river he walked along, and the small pads of the grass he walked along barefoot. Will continued along the river, shocked that he could hear inside his dreams for once. The water was clear and he could see the small rocks and pebbles underneath, but as he continued walking, enjoying nature and its melody around him, the river started to turn a brown rusted color. Whispers started to surround Will as he soon realized the water around him was turning crimson. An acapella of nature sung around Will almost like it was luring him deeper in the river, and soon he stepped foot in the murky waters, and he continued to walk in the river till it was up to his thighs when he saw a glow in the water. The chanting got louder and soon a melody of strings played in Wills mind, he reached deep in the waters to pick up what glistened in the water.
What he found was a golden lyre, solid with cut-in details of Greek swirls and many other designs carved into the instrument. Soon Will felt the heavy pressure of the lyre burn into his hands, the wind picking up, and the sky turning a dark gray, the warm melody nature once produced soon turned into groans and booms from the sky. Will plucked a note on the lyre and a scream filled his ears.
He frantically looked around to see where the noise came from, but instead he saw a tall man with dark brown curls that covered his face, but that's not what distracted Will. The man's limbs were covered in red scars and stitching as if he had been pulled apart and sewed back together, his chiton was rippled and soaked in blood and the look in his eyes was filled with sorrow. Will approached him with caution and before he could speak the man wrapped his hand around Will’s neck, throwing him into the water as he tried to reach for the lyre in Will’s hands.
Before he felt his breath leave his body, Will woke up in his bunk in a cold sweat, hugging a lyre as his body shocked up to sit up. Will was drenched in the rusty water and sweat as he coughed up water, he felt disassociated with the room around him, was he still dreaming? Quickly Will ran out his cabin and realized the time, it was dinner so all the campers had been at the pavilion. Will quickly made his way towards the building, not even having time to calm himself down from his dream.
Soon he saw Chiron and Mr. D, they moved their mouths but Will couldn't hear a word they said, he had forgotten his hearing aids. So Will approached the two immortals and immediately Chiron could see the panic in Will’s eyes. “William my son, what's wrong? Why are you drenched?” Chiron’s mouth moved but Will couldn’t focus on his lips, a panic filled his mind and he couldn’t breathe again. So Will stood staring at the centaur with tears in his eyes, clinging to the lyre in his hands trying to breathe.
Soon Will felt a hand on his back and Chiron was signing to him, Breathe kid, breathe in, hold it, breathe out. Will copied Centaurs breathing and moments he became steadied, wiping away the tears from his eyes. Will hadn’t realized that his fellow campers were now staring at him, and his brother and sister, Kayla and Austin were now by his side.
Chiron patted Will’s shoulder to get his attention and started to sign again, Will, are you alright now? He pointed to Will and motioned his hands flatly on top of another. Will just took another deep breath and started to sign his dream.
Will explained the sounds of nature, the bloody waters, the man who choked him out, and finally the lyre he held in his hands. Will felt like crying again after remembering the feeling of drowning, he rubbed his throat and swallowed his breath. Before Chiron could reply A thud came from the Apollo table, where Rachel’s hands slammed against the table and stared directly at Will. Her eyes and mouth spewed green smoke that swirled around her, a prophecy was being given.
In death's domain his reign shall end,
As the Musicians rage shall gain an army until he makes amends.
The son of Apollo with his lyre shall play,
To find his muses and to make the musician pay,
Or the child of the gods will strike his revenge,
Leaving Hades' child alone with the dead.
Rachel’s head falls back as Will’s little brother Jerry grabs her before she hits the ground. Will stares at the centaur, what did she just say? Chiron didn’t move, he just stared at Rachel and the rest of the campers. Will tugged at his jacket. Chiron, please what did she say! Will signed and tried to speak to get his attention, his voice came out as a crackled yell, having zero ideas on how he sounded. Mr. D faced Will and sighed, go get your hearing aids billy, we have a lot to discuss. The God moved his hands to his ear, making a hook gesture.
Will nodded, not even caring to correct Mr. D about his name, and quickly ran back to his cabin spotting the hearing device on his bedside table. He slid on the aid over his ear and soon he heard the beeps it produced as a sign of the hearing aid doing its job. Will had also changed out of his soaked clothing, putting on a fresh pair of shorts and a tie-dye hoodie. Will stared at the Lyre in his hands, it felt hot in his hands but he had a sudden urge to pluck at the strings and to play a melody. He resisted the urge, not knowing if the object was cursed or not and soon he was out the door and back in the pavilion where Chiron, Mr.D, Nico, Jason, Annabeth, and Percy stood waiting for him at the entrance.