Chapter Text
Prologue.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I’m drowning.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“No way out” a voice says
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“You will die here” he hears as he is pushed by a wave, as if the voice had slapped him aside.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“This is where you belong”.
Before he can say anything else, he is pulled under the surface of the water and everything goes dark.
Nico woke up with a sharp gasp, drenched in sweat as if he had really been swimming in the waves of the River Cocytus.
That made it worse.
Nico puts his head between his hands, trying to remove the memory of his dream, breathing deeply to steady his heartbeat. Nico had hoped that his nightmares would stop after defeating Gaea, but they had only gotten worse.
He looked outside. The sun was rising. He decided it was better to not go back to sleep.
He does this nearly everyday. He always seems to wake up at the crack of dawn due to the nightmares, he takes a shower, then he sits on the roof of his cabin to feel the cool morning breeze and try to think about nothing.
Of course, that’s hardly ever the case.
Nico didn’t know what was worse, his thoughts eating him alive while he was awake, or the nightmares that seemed all too real. He only sighed at the thought, and stepped outside.
As per usual, he sat, perched on his rooftop, staring into the distance. The sun was slowly creeping itself above the horizon, Nico just watched and breathed in the clean air.
Will Solace, on the other hand, woke up at dawn everyday for as long as he can remember. He always supposed it was an Apollo thing. However, it didn’t seem to affect his siblings. He woke up the moment the sun showed itself in the sky, and felt like passing out the moment it disappeared. And unlike Nico Di Angelo, he wasn’t one to sit around and think. He was a busybody, he always made his way to the infirmary and take inventory, right after he would get out of bed.
Afterwards, he would cut bandages, at least 70 of them a day.
Next, he would refill the water bowls of the pegasi.
Then, he would go to the Arena to make sure the sparring dummies were ready for the day’s lesson.
Lastly, he would make his way back to the Apollo cabin to shine the chariot, then it would be time to wake up his brothers and sisters.
This had become routine for him, unspoken rules, a way to keep his body active without having to disturb anyone else. So today, just like everyday, he went on his merry way and did the things that nobody ever told him to do, but did anyway.
Nico saw Will do this while he would be sitting on his rooftop, and he always thought that it was so typical of Will to do. Will was always helping others even if nobody asked for help, of course he would wake up early in the morning and contribute to the camp.
Like the sunshine boy he is, Nico thought.
Nico always assumed that Will never saw him, his cabin was blocked by a few trees and was never touched by the sun. So, as much as he would hate to admit it, he would watch Will Solace every morning as far as he could see. He didn’t want to, but it would keep his mind off of things.
But today, whilst he watched him walking back towards the Apollo cabin, Will had suddenly stopped. Nico raised his head in curiosity, that was previously resting upon his bended knee. Will turns around cautiously, like he knew he was being watched.
Nico didn’t worry, it was too dark for Will to see him.
Plus, he’ll probably just think I’m one of the gargoyles of the Hades cabin.
But, curiously, Will faced the Hades cabin, somehow made eye contact with Nico and flashed him a smile.
Nico nearly stumbled off the roof.
“Didn’t know you were an early bird!” Will shouted as he made his way closer to the Hades cabin.
Nico didn’t know how to respond. He felt a bit embarrassed. How did Will see him? Can Nico actually be seen as clear as day? Has Will seen Nico sitting here before?
As Will came to a stop in front of the cabin, he smirked “But it seems like you’ve known that I’m one for a while"
Shit.
Nico tried to hide his blush, hiding his face behind his arm. “D-don’t get ahead of yourself, Solace. I don’t get up this early in the morning to gawk at you.”
Will laughed. “Never said you did.”
“Whatever” Nico muttered, hoping that Will couldn’t hear how he was saying it with a grin.
Will put his hand in his pockets, turns around, and begins his return to the Apollo cabin to wake his siblings up.
“Get down, Nico. Breakfast should be starting soon.”
Nico checked his watch. Breakfast was going to start in 15 minutes. He looked back up at the Apollo head counselor, to make sure that he wouldn’t know that he had just gave in to his orders, again. He was still walking towards his cabin, so Nico made his way down.
Nico had been taking more orders from Will than he would like.
“Oh, and Nico-” Will turned around and gave Nico another smirk as he said “You have a check-up today. Don’t be late, okay?”
He didn’t give any time for Nico to respond. He just started walking back to the Apollo cabin as if he didn’t know how much his words affected Nico. But he did, and he liked to tease the son of Hades.
What even Nico hadn’t realized,
Is that, at least for now, he had forgotten about his dream.