Sell Your Soul For Love

Chapter 13

"They said you can go home tomorrow," Hades said as he walked into Nico's hospital room, having come at least once a day since the incident. "We'll immediately start trying to-"

"It's impossible to 'purify' me," Nico mumbled, having fallen down a deep hole since he found out what Will did. "Please don't waste your time trying."

Hades sat next to him, frowning. "You don't get to make the choices here, Nico. We all care about you. So you're going to do this, for us."

Nico rolled his watering eyes. "I just want to be left alone."

"I'm sorry but you can't," Hades replied bluntly. His eyes softened after a minute, however, his hand moving to Nico's forehead. "Son, you need to think about us now, okay? Not that bastard."

"I fell in love with him." Nico's voice was so emotionless Hades felt a piece of himself break. "I fell really hard and I'd do anything for him. Anything would have made me happy. Except...except...."

"He took too much from you. He took what he wanted and left you a broken mess. He deserved everything he got. That's not what love is supposed to be like, Nico." Hades repeated the words unknowingly that Hazel had told Nico not too long before.

"What do you mean, 'he deserved everything he got'? What did he get?" Nico looked up at the older man. "Is Will okay?"

"He's alive if that's what you're asking." Hades suddenly became uncomfortable. His big hands were clad in gloves, one petting Nico's hair comfortingly and the other at his side. Nico had never expected to think of them broken open at the knuckles or stained with blood, but he found himself asking Hades that night.

His father didn't even try to deny it.

That night, for the first time in a couple days, Nico let feelings come back to him. He thought about everything that happened, how everything had gotten so bad, and realized the root of all his problems. It was Will Solace.

The day he got out of the hospital, he was sleep deprived and upset but felt whole for the first time in months. He finally understood everything, even if that included the ugly truth. Will, the way he was, wasn't good for him. Not at the time. Nico needed to grow mentally and so did Will. They both had a lot to learn before even seeing each other again. And Nico accepted that. He just wished he still had a soul to go on in life with.

Nico refused to go in his room, too many memories of the demon. The living room was the same, but with the memories of Will Solace. After a week, they all decided it would be best if they moved out. Started over.

They bought a small, cozy house near their parish church. Nico's room was on the first floor and he found himself surprisingly comfortable with being paralyzed. With drawing he also realized he had a real knack for taking photos and capturing memories. He made sure to capture the time he spent with his family, with his parents and Hazel. He took pictures of them at church and when they went on picnics and the time spent in their new home. Wistfully, he hoped he'd be able to take the pictures with him when he went to Hell.

In another month, his new bedroom's walls were full to the brim with pictures of his family. When the last patch of white wall was covered up, he agreed to start talking to the priest.

They met every Tuesday and Thursday around noon. They'd eat lunch together and talk. Nico liked it better than a therapist because he felt like he could actually be honest, that this priest was actually doing it out of the kindness of his heart, not to be paid. His parents had offered to pay him but he declined, instead insisting that they got to church every Sunday. If not them, at least Nico.

Nico was lucky that he got the priest he had. He didn't agree with the church but he did have some faith, now. He believed God loved everyone, so some things he couldn't agree with. God wouldn't hate gays if he loved everyone, for example. The church contradicted himself so he did what he himself believed. He believed in God and that God loved him and everyone around him. He could live his life based on what Jesus said and those simple truths. God first, others second, yourself first. That's what he would live by, not what the church taught. He could feel a little rebellion in his heart but he finally knew it was a good rebellion, that it was for a good cause. Nobody could get hurt by it.

Two months after Will left him, he finally found it in himself to forgive Will and to forgive himself. Maybe he was finally growing up. One day, maybe he could be with Will again in a positive relationship.

But Will also needed to change.