Don't Fade Away: A Solangelo Fanfiction 2

Chapter 51: Voices and Glowsticks

When Nico was actually able to fall asleep, the nightmares always woke him up.

Nico had always had nightmares. Most demigods do. But not very long after Jason died they got worse. And Nico wasn't able to control them anymore.

Tonight, it was the Labyrinth. No company but a malevolent spirit that was manipulating him. No feelings but pain and anger and sadness. No ideas on his mind but bringing Bianca back. Slowly losing his mind in the Maze, being tortured by it and brainwashed. Nothing to do but go on, for his sister's sake....

Nico woke up screaming and crying.

Will was awake instantly. "Hey." He said sleepily, wrapping his arms around Nico.

He stopped screaming, but tears were still running down his cheeks.

Will kissed Nico's forehead, still holding him tightly. "It's okay. It was just a dream. You're not there. You're safe now. I'm right here." Will told him in a very soft voice.

"I'm sorry for....for waking you up." Nico sobbed.

"No, don't apologize. I told you that before. That's why I sleep here now, remember? It's okay. I'll wake up a million times if it means I can make you feel just a little bit better."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Now, do you want to talk about it?"

"It was the Labyrinth...."

"Yeah?"

Nico shook his head frantically. "I'm sorry, I can't."

"That's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

This was the third nightmare in a row that he had had that was like this. The first night was watching his mom die and last night was Tartarus.

"Nico, do you want to see if Mr. D can help you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said a few days ago, he's the god of mental illnesses and madness. He can give you advice and stuff." Will explained.

"Why would he help me? He doesn't care about the campers."

"I think he likes you. You're the only person that he actually calls by their correct name."

"There is no reason why he would want to help me." Said Nico.

"Let's just give it a try, okay?"

They tried to fall back asleep, cuddling. Before they were able to, however, Nico noticed a bright light that shone through his eyelids. He opened his eyes to see where it was coming from, and screamed, pulling away from Will.

The light was coming from Will.

The light was Will.

Will's eyes whipped open, and then he was screaming, too.

"What the fuck?!" Nico shouted.

Will was sprinting to a mirror and when he saw himself he screamed again.

"Why in Hades am I glowing?!" He shouted.

"How am I supposed to know?!"

"How do I turn it off?!"

After a while of freaking out, somehow Will was able to make the light turn off.

"How did you do that?" Nico asked, awestruck.

"I don't know! I was just thinking about how you needed some light in your life, some brightness, and I just started glowing!"

"I assume this is a child of Apollo thing?"

"I've never heard of a child of Apollo having a power like this!" Will said.

Unexpectedly, Nico started giggling. Not just laughing, but giggling.

"What?!"

"You can glow! My boyfriend is a glowstick!"

Will crossed his arms and pouted like a little kid. "Don't make fun of me."

"I'm not, sunshine. I think it's really cool." He walked over to Will.

"Then why are you still giggling?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting it."

Will sighed. "Gods dammit, dad. Why would you have to go and give me a power like that? How is that helpful at all?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't know, maybe we'll be somewhere dark, and we'll need light."

"And how often is that going to happen?" Will rolled his eyes. "Anyways, let's figure this out in the morning, okay? It's pretty late."

After Nico had fallen back asleep, he thought he was having another nightmare about Tartarus. But he was wrong.

He heard a very familiar voice calling out to him in the pits of Hell. Asking for help. He couldn't put his finger on it....

He woke with a start, Will's eyes wide in front of him.

"I was literally just about to wake you up." He told him.

Nico sat up. He was sure he had a disturbed look on his face.

"What's up? Another nightmare?"

Nico nodded.

Whose voice was that? And why was it calling to him? It stressed him out that he couldn't figure out whose voice it was, even though it sounded so similar.

The next day, Will and Nico sat thinking in the Apollo cabin, Austin and Kayla standing next to them. Rosemary was out of the Cabin.

"Guys, I can glow." He had told them when he walked in.

Both of them were confused, so Will explained what had happened the night before, leaving out the details about Nico's nightmares.

"You just.....started glowing?" Kayla said, her eyebrows raised.

"Yep."

"I've never heard of that being a child of Apollo's power before." Austin said, amazed.

"That's what I said!" Exclaimed Will.

"Can you do it again?"

Will squeezed his eyes shut.

"What are you doing?" Austin asked.

"I'm thinking about my body glowing."

Sure enough, a couple of seconds later he started glowing brightly.

Will looked almost as surprised as the first time. "This is just weird."

"No, it's cool!" Said Kayla.

The five of them spent the next couple of hours figuring out Will's newly discovered power, and learning how to turn it off and on. They even figured out how he could glow in different light intensities!

All Nico could think about was how adorable Will looked, lit up like that.