Sunshine Through the Clouds

Nico--Stupid. Monsters.

Something shifted in the shadows.

It wasn't something big, probably just a cleaning harpy, and Nico dipped his head back down. However, he didn't see much sense in continuing his breakdown, especially out here. He wiped his eyes better with the corner of his shirt and kicked himself off the railing. Down below his feet, the dried-dead grass crunched under the weight of his shoes. It disturbed him, how one little bad day could result in so much death at his hands. He was determined to make it right.

Nico closed the door to the Hades cabin behind him and sank onto his bed, considering. The curtain was open, and he could keep his view of the now dark sky undisturbed inside. He remembered how he and Will had sat in here not many days ago, talking. That was a nice memory. It made Nico smile, to think of Will like that. Being Responsible Doctor Solace, making sure Nico was okay. It also did wonders to Nico's heart, how much Will had cared for him.

He had less than a full day until Will would be back to his normal shenanigans: Heading up the infirmary, making sure Nico ate enough, hiding his adorable southern accent. Yes, adorable. Will was cute beyond levels that weren't even fair, and Nico didn't even try to keep himself from thinking it. He kept twisting the charm around his wrist and thought even more about Will.

He'll be back tomorrow, he told himself, and I can go back to admiring him up-close. Perfect.

Nico rolled his eyes as his inner mind. He does not admire Will, thank you. He's just really cute, okay? That's exactly what an admirer would say.

"Shut up," he muttered to himself. Right outside his window, a rock pinged off the glass and made him nearly jump out of the room. He leaned over to look out and saw nothing, just the darkness, then leaned back down. Wait.

A sound like claws scratching on dirt skirted outside. Nico tiptoed out the front door and curled himself down so that he was barely sitting on his toes, observing the camp in front of him. That shadowy figure was back. It was walking with its spindly-looking body along in front of the cabin, almost like it didn't notice Nico. Come to think of it, it probably didn't.

He uncurled his legs and inched along behind it, careful not to make any sound. If it stopped walking, he'd dip into a shadow by a building, ready to shadow-travel away. When it turned around, he went as hidden as possible in the darkness. As he got closer, he could see feathers on its skinny arms, almost like...No it wasn't that. Couldn't be.

Nico kept following behind as the creature turned by to head towards the amphitheatre. Why? He didn't stop and stayed as close as he could without raising suspicion. This time at night, nobody was out except for the cleaning harpies. The lava wall normally emitted a light and soft glow from here, but it provided nothing to fight the pitch-blackness. The creature crossed the trees behind the amphitheatre and started making its way towards the dark wall.

He'd found it; The thing that had been damaging the wall.

The stars provided a little bit of light, just enough to reveal dark red feathers along its body and legs. Oh, gods...That was what it was. Nico couldn't believe that one of the harpies was behind this, but it certainly was. It flew across the rest of the way and dipped inside the wall, scratching away. Nico ran after it, no longer caring if his cover was blown.

"Hey!" He yelled. The harpy looked up and hissed at him, but went back to scratching at it. Nico didn't want to kill it, but if he had to, he'd at least have a sword. He summoned his trusty weapon out of the darkness and ran the rest of the way to it. The harpy held up its feathers to block his blows, but he was faster. He got his sword caught on its skin and pressed it up against the wall.

"Why have you been doing this?" He asked, unintentionally lowering his voice.

"Nobody can stop me," Was the only reply given. Nico found himself raising up his sword, but the harpy was quicker. It slashed at his shoulder and made a deep gash, spilling blood out of his sword arm. He switched arms and didn't hesitate this time, sinking his blade deep into its chest. The harpy crumpled to dust.

"Nico?" A familiar voice called from what seemed like a million miles away. He didn't have the time to see who it was. His shoulder was burning, and he had to stumble down to stay awake. A girl with red hair and an oversized t-shirt ran up to him, a bow slung over her shoulder. He should know her, right? Of course he knew her.

Nico tried to stay up and awake as Kayla ran her hand over his shoulder, which made him flinch. It hurt more than he liked to admit.

"Oh gods, that's bad," She muttered, spinning around, "Nico, try to--"

Her voice was cut off when Nico's head hit the ground and his eyes hit the darkness.

A/N: Sorry, folks, but I *kind of* lied.  I'm posting this and then the finale approximately two minutes after.  I'm really not sorry.  I hope you guys enjoy both this and the last chapter.  Please comment or hmu on Tumblr if you have any fic suggestions, because I'm always down for (almost) anything!

Chapter title art is not my own: https://revereix.tumblr.com/post/180715282001/solangelo-for-the-soul-commissions