The Sun Without Stars Solangelo

The Escape

Will's POV

Will hadn't expected a lot of things in his life: he hadn't expected to get a boyfriend, to enter hell itself with said boyfriend, or to leave hell without said boyfriend. He really should have asked his father when he was still mortal how to get a hold of some prophetic abilities because surprises sucked.

The split second before the ground itself fell under his feet, he was convinced that everything was going to end in their favor; after all, he had the son of Hades by his side, for Hades' sake! This had to be some kind of ploy on Nico's end that would save the four of them. 

All that went through the window (if there are any windows in Tartarus) when he fell a couple hundred feet into the frigid, wailing waters below.

What hit him first wasn't the cold, though--it was the screams. The souls begged him to join them in their eternal agony, tugging at his body suffocatingly, submerging him in the depths with their battering waves of suffering. 

Well, at least someone wanted him. He couldn't say that about Nico who had quite literally sent him falling to his death.

You were such a burden that he threw you off a cliff! Hilarious!

You were supposed to bring him back.

He'll never leave and it'll be your fault.

Those two words struck his chest so deeply Will felt he might choke to death.

Your fault.

Your fault.

Your fault.

Their echoes were so etched into his body that, when Bob pulled himself from the body of water (if it could be called water), Will stood, unmoving.

Bob, too, seemed unsure of how to continue, glancing helplessly at the clifftop, racked with a sense of powerlessness that should have been foreign to a titan; however, when the ground before them pooled in inky liquid and a figure appeared, he reached for his broom that had somehow found its way back to his side.

From the depths, a human silhouette appeared, revealing itself to be the goddess who had had remained glued to Nyx's side, but had otherwise remained rather docile. Nemesis, seeing the massive broom pointed at the bridge of her nose, raised her arms in surrender. 

"I'm not here to bring you back to Mother. She has set off the balance, but I fear there is nothing I can do to amend the situation. I must warn you, though, that when she commences her search for you two, the situation will not be in your favor." Her voice was rugged and her vowels cracked: a sign that she, too, would be better off on the surface if she didn't want to be drained further by Tartarus' environment.

Nemesis tried to step towards Will, but Bob stood in her way, tense and ready to fight back if necessary. The goddess took the hint and stepped back, her head bowed in what was most likely meant to be a gesture of retreat but made her seem as though she were glowering, her gaze remaining on Will.

 "Will, I understand that you want to go back but you don't belong here. Nico still has a chance to escape later, but your time here runs thin. Very thin," she muttered, her fingers tapping her leg in impatience as she glanced back. 

Will didn't need to be told twice. The underworld most definitely wasn't meant for someone of his origin, and every cruel aspect of this hellhole had made that evident.

But Nico belongs with me.

"Nico doesn't belong here either, though! I can't--I won't abandon him!" Tears welled in his eyes, blurring his surroundings. Bob nervously switched his weight from foot to foot, afraid that someone might hear them.