Death's Son (And All Its Perks)

Chapter 27

The moment Nico stepped in front of Almaji, Will stepped into view of what was happening. He had heard Almaji's scream and had come immediately, but Nico was quicker.

Will saw everything. He saw the moment Nico was stabbed through the chest, saw the blood that splattered against Almaji and the tree.

He saw the moment Nico died, the moment the breath left his body.

Anger had filled him, anger in the deepest form in the needs to protect your family. He killed that monster━he would never remember how━but that monster was dead before it could hurt anyone else. He made sure of it.

As Will watched the golden dust sink into the soil, he heard Almaji's sobs and the sounds of his terrified breathing. He didn't want to look, didn't want to see Nico, but he turned and kneeled down next to the boy to hug him. As he snuck a look at Nico, his heart sunk when he saw those dark eyes, unblinking, dull, stolen of life.

Almaji helped him carry Nico back to camp that day, and he never thought twice about that the small boy was missing a glove.

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Nico's heart had been fighting, beating when there was barely any blood left. Until his final breath, he fought until he had no fight left in him, and then he fought a little more. But some things are inevitable, no matter how hard you fight. And his death was. His heart finally stopped, his blood emptied out, and his eyes went dull to the world. He could see no more, hear no more, speak and feel no more. His body was nothing. From dust to dust, ash to ash.

As his spirit left his body, as his vision blackened into nothing, he saw those Fates. He saw them spinning a web he had never seen before, a web that had seemed perfect. It was his story, his story and all its twists and turns. They had known all along what would happen, known all along that Almaji would be taken by Camp Half-Blood and that Percy wouldn't fall into Tartarus. They had known all along...

And had made sure Nico knew he would never get away with trying to deny the Fates.

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Will worked in the Infirmary until his hands bled from stitching and the sun set, and he continued on from there. After the last monster was killed, those healthy enough stayed on watch while everyone else tried to help with the damage. The bodies were put to the side until the injured were taken care of, which took all night in the shining moonlight. To try and lift the spirits of the injured, his siblings would sing old and new tunes alike. Some would go for a reenactment of Frozen, while others sang the words to the new Hamilton soundtrack. It kept them all awake until the coffee started to brew.

Percy and Annabeth popped in from time to time when they were off of guard duty but didn't stay long. They didn't know who was among the dead and were scared to look. But Nico's absence had been noticed by everyone.

"Will," Percy finally greeted as he walked up to the son of Apollo, who was busy stitching up a large gash on an Ares camper. "I have a question if you don't mind."

"Shoot it." Will's tired eyes were wide with caffeine and its aftereffects as he glanced up at Percy, his hands not stopping for a minute. "And can you check Almaji for me?"

"Sure," Percy had to keep himself from plugging his ears as Frozen came back on the singing list. "But my question. Couldn't Nico have taken all the monsters out in the first minute?"

Will was silent for a minute, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I had thought so, Percy..." A tear made its way down Will's cheek. "I thought so..."

"What happened?" Percy's heart sped up. "Where's Nico?"

Will looked up at him, his eyes shattered with pain and grief. "With the rest of the dead. They're all being flown over to Camp Jupiter, now. Hazel will have to do the death proceedings, now.

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Almaji fixed his gloves the best he could as he stared at the meal that had been placed in front of him. The eggs didn't look as good as they used to, the bacon reminded him too much of how it was actually made. The toast was burnt and no butter had been spared for it. Every inch of it made him want to puke more than the thought of all the bodies around him. He sat in the back room of the Infirmary with them, that the only place he could go to be by himself.

"I'm not hungry," Almaji told himself before pushing his plate by the nearest of the dead. Megan Campbell, daughter of Apollo. "You can have it if you want, Megan."

He looked back down at his gloved hands, tears starting to pour from his eyes. "Nico...I miss you...Nico..."

He kept to himself, hidden away from the living. It was the easiest thing, then.