You're My Type

Back to the Infirmary

Nico walked back towards Will with an amused smile on his face. He had removed a huge weight from his shoulders, but now there seemed to be a new weight positioning itself. He almost seemed to drift back towards Will, his recent encounter had left him in a rather euphoric state. He was beginning to realize that these last few weeks had opened up doors that Nico never planned to unlock (other than The Doors of Death that is.) The experience had left him dumbfounded, in all of his life feelings like this were unthinkable, never mind shareable, and he had a lot to think about. In his trance Nico had failed to realize he was standing right beside Will.

" Hey there!" Will exclaimed, "going somewhere?" He waved a hand in front of Nico's face snapping him back into reality. "What was that all about?"

"Oh uh," Nico took a moment to compose himself, he brought is tone down and replied, "it was nothing I'll tell you about it later." though he wasn't sure he would.

"Alright," Will paused suspiciously "C'mon then Death Boy you owe me three days"

"Right behind you" Nico huffed rather annoyed by the circumstances, but understanding of the cause. He was still quite confused by Will's attitude towards him. "Friendly face." "Help out a friend." These were just not words Nico was used to hearing in reference to him.

As he walked behind Will his head began swirling with thoughts once again. He had never once been able to think the way he was now. He came to the conclusion that the three days trapped in the infirmary would be a perfect opportunity to work through his current feeling of disarray. He hadn't felt anything like this in quite some time, he felt... hopeful. As if for the first time in years, things were beginning to go his way.

They reached the infirmary and Will led Nico to a private room blocked off from the rest of the infirmary patients. The whole place was filled with a 'near death feeling' Nico was glad he had a room to himself, otherwise it would be very difficult to keep himself sane.

Will gestured to the cot in the middle of the room and Nico positioned himself there. Will took out a clipboard and began checking off little boxes, on the form. He asked Nico a few questions, then told him to take off his shoes and jacket. Nico did what he was told and lied down on the bed.

"I don't know how you wear that thing," Will continued working as he spoke, "it's like a million degrees outside." Will barely looked up which made Nico mildly uncomfortable.

"I don't know. I guess I don't really notice." Nico spoke with his eyes fixed on Will, nervously wondering what he was writing. Will began talking him through his assessment which eased Nico's anxiety significantly. He moved on to run some routine tests of Nico's vitals and then told him what kind of things he'd be looking for over the next few days. This conversation, while very professional, seemed quite passive aggressive given that Will had just made a very big deal of Nico not coming to visit. After a few minutes Will left to work with other patients leaving Nico alone.

It was still fairly early in the day and Nico didn't have much to pass the time, in the last few years he had hardly stayed in the same state, or even country, for three days, never mind the same room. He knew it would be difficult for him, but he also knew it was important. 

Meanwhile, Will was far more fast-paced. He was speeding back and forth mending wounds, testing progress, handing out ambrosia, advising other healers, he hardly had a spare moment all day. However, this wasn't a new experience to him. Every battle the demigods faced left him drowning in work, even though he had been through this before it had never been to quite this scale. He was a very talented doctor, and he knew how to keep himself focused and attentive, but this time around every spare thought was of Nico.

Will simply didn't understand why it hadn't crossed Nico's mind that with everything going on, he could use a friend to support him. He really thought he had gotten through to Nico! He thought that finally he had given Nico a reason to stop getting so wrapped up in his own self-doubt and actually consider the other people in his life. Will wasn't merely annoyed that Nico hadn't stopped by, he was hurt that his friend wasn't thinking about him. But time goes on. Will had far more pressing things to worry about for the time being.

Hours had passed quickly for him and he was nearly finished for the day. The sun had set and the doctors were making their rounds getting the injured campers ready to sleep. Will had just finished up changing the bandages of a camper who had gotten a nasty gash across his stomach, and began making his way to the room in the back corner of the infirmary.

He knocked on the door and entered. Nico turned to sit on the edge of the bed as Will crossed the room. He was hoping Will would be less upset now but the truth was that he couldn't tell for sure that he was upset at all. Maybe he was just very professional when it came to his patients, but Nico had a feeling that wasn't it.

"That's all for today." Will said skimming Nico's pages once more. He put the clipboard under his arm and looked forward at Nico, "The most important thing now is that you get some sleep." Nico thanked Will, who responded with a gentle nod, and watched as he left the room. After that he just turned off the lights and let himself drift off.

Of course, being a demigod, "drifting off" doesn't seem like quite the right phrase. When you're a demigod sleep is not as simple as that, not quite as peaceful. Most nights demigods' subconscious minds plague them with horrifying nightmares, memories, or visions. Throughout the last few years Nico had managed to decrease the number of nightmares he had using one very effective method, avoiding sleep for as long as possible. Tonight however, there was no avoiding it.

All of a sudden Nico was standing, Will at his side beside the catapult. Octavian was stood on it rambling on about being remembered as the "savior of Rome," he was yelling and as much as Will and Nico had tried to reason with him, it couldn't be done. He heard Octavian scream "Goodbye Gaea! Goodbye Jason Grace the traitor!" and as he lifted his knife and brought it down on the cord, everything froze. Time stood still and Nico could see everything, Michael stood in front of them with a smug look on his face, and beyond him were legions of roman campers at war with the campers of Camp Half-blood. He could see the thunder clouds surrounding Jason in the sky and Festus just beyond them. All around him he could see people he had once known, bloodied and angry but underneath it all, they were afraid. He was surrounded by pain, destruction, and fear but the worst part of all of it was when he turned to see Will's face. Frozen still Will had his eyes fixed on Nico, he looked so shocked and afraid. A voice ran in Nico's head, "Octavian don't!" Will's words echoed. "We can't allow you-" the echo was cut short by a harsher sound.

"Will, we can't stop him" His own words cut through his head like the blade of his stygian iron sword. He felt like a monster. Will was looking at him like a monster. The echoes faded and he was left in utter silence. Just as Nico had settled into the looming shame and silence there was a crack in front of him. Octavian's head shot up and looked him directly in the eyes.

"You could've stopped this, but instead you let me die-"
*CRACK*

Will's head shot up.

"Because of you I watched a man die-" and soon enough Michael and all of the other campers began overlapping each other.

"You just let him die-"

"I watched him die-"

"You might as well have murdered him yourself-"

"His life was in your hands and now he's dead-" And with that the rope snapped and Nico watched as Octavian shot towards the sky, and as the explosion sounded, a voice boomed.

"Nico... Nico... NICO"

He shot up from his infirmary cot dripping with sweat. Will was standing over him a worried look on his face, and a strong hand comfortingly on Nico's shoulder. Will sat on the bed and put his arm around Nico who was still breathing heavily.

"Hey, it's okay. You're okay. It was just a dream." of course it wasn't just a dream, but Will's words were still comforting. He breathed deeply and rested himself back down.

"Sorry I woke you." Nico said softly.

"Hey, don't worry about that," Will replied in a warm tone, "I'm just glad you're okay."