The Elysium Project (Solangelo AU) (Completed)

XVII

Mystery

Will

It was just another gray-skied day in Elysium. Nico was walking out from his room, and ran into me.

Except he ran through me, as if I was air.

"Nico."

He was silent, as if he didn't hear me.

When did I become a ghost? Am I dead?

I plopped down on the couch, and saw tears on his face, and his emotion was blank, as if he had none.

"Nico. Are you okay?"

"Why did you save me." He absentmindedly replied. "You had a life, and you threw it away."

"Nico, you'll be fine. I'm here."

"Why did you save me, Will?" He yelled and started breaking down.

I put my arm around him, and started stroking his back.

"Nico, I'm here. I'll protect you. Just breathe." I tried to snap him back to reality.

"I loved you, Will."

"I'm alive. You're safe here." I could tell he was hallucinating that I died.

I started quietly singing an Old World sing to help calm him down, the lyrics about being safe.

He started replying back quietly, mumbling through tears.

He faced me. "Thank you, Will."

"You're welcome." I stroked his hair and he leaned into my shoulder.

"You died in the car crash trying to save me. I was at the funeral."

"I'm here now. Nobody's funeral is happening." I soothed as he cried into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered in between tears.

"Sorry for what, my sky full of stars?"

"For taking up so much of your time with this."

"Please don't apologize for things you can't help. It makes me feel bad."

He stayed quiet, resting against me. Then, he got up and wandered off.

"Nico? Where are you going?"

"On a walk. I need time to think."

"Okay."

I let him go peacefully, and scrolled through my Tap absentmindedly.

~~~

I looked up as the door clicked open. Nico ran in, his face and arms bloody and bruised. He instantly ran to his room, and closed the door.

"Nico!" I jumped up and ran to his room, and figeted with the doorknob. It was locked.

I slumped down, my back against the door. "Nico, what happened."

"It doesn't matter." I heard a murmur.

"Yes it does, what happened." I reiterated, more stern than last time.

"I'm fine." His voice was shaky, as if he was recovering from something.

"I'm not moving until you tell me what happened."

"So be it, then."

"Just let me in. You obviously aren't okay. Let me in. I can help you."

I sat there, for a while, as I heard pacing back and forth in the room, combating the noise of the rain that started to fall.

"Please, star. What happened to you."

Silence. Why does this always happen to him. Why never me. I would willingly take his pain.

I wish there was a definite answer to what was wrong. I spent hours looking it through. It's not any sort of identified medical disease, like schizophrenia or post-tramautric stress disorder, and I wish it was identified, so there could be a better treatment.

I layed there against the door, and from the weight of the other side, he was laying there too.

I nervously traces circles on the floor with my finger, and circles turned into words. Song lyrics, the song that I always thought of him as.

You're a sky, you're a sky, full of stars,
such a heavenly view,

The words sitting there in the faint layer of dust.

I felt a tear fall down my face, hoping he would respond to me.

~~~

I hear the door click, and it gave way behind me, to Nico opening it. All the blood was washed off, but he was still bruised everywhere.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"Yes." He sat down on the bed and I joined him.

"What actually happened?"

"I was distracted, and fell off the second story balcony."

"What was it this time?" I asked.

"I woke up and you were gone. You left me with nothing but a note saying that you hated me."

I rubbed his back, something that my mom did to me when I used to be nervous or sad as a child.

"I guess I was disproved by how long you waited just for me to talk to you."

"I'll help you get through this. I promise."

~~~

I was laying on my bed, still awake.

I tapped on Percy's icon.

"Dude, it's like 1:30 in the morning. WHT are you calling me."

"Its actually 10:42 pm."

"Beside the point."

"I was lonely."

"You have your boyfriend."

"He's resting. So what's up?"

We talked on and on, without exhaustion. It reminded me of when we were teenagers, trying to climb the wall and crashing at Leo's house when we were too tired to do anything else, drunk on adrenaline, stupidity, and a prayer.

It's hard to believe that was less than a year ago, when life was that simple.

I thankfukly just had a stroke of genius for the next chapter, so, I'll hopefully get that out soon.