A Beautiful Demise [Solangelo]

2. "Normal" Is Not In A Demigod's Vocabulary

Will woke up in the infirmary back at camp. He rolled his head to the side, looking up to see Kayla standing over him with a clipboard.

"You're awake! Finally!"

Will tried to sit up, but a sharp prick of pain ran through his arm. He winced and looked down to see an IV.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Not sure. When I came to, you were unconscious. You stayed like that for hours, so we had to call Argus to come pick us up."

"How long have I been out?" Will asked, reaching up to take the clipboard from his cabin-mate. "Three days?!" He read. His eyes skimmed over the rest of the information. Normal coma symptoms. "I was in a coma for three days?" 

"Four actually," Kayla corrected. "I was fixing that now. You've been out for four days as of two minutes ago."

Will groaned, his head falling back into the pillow.

"When are you going to let me out?" He asked.

"We've got to make sure you're alright first. We still don't know what caused you to go into that coma."

"It was the goddess," Will said. "She was saying something about killing me and how greek demigods are always wanting what they can't have. Stuff like that." Kayla's eyes widened. "What? What's wrong?"

"There wasn't a goddess, Will," Kayla gingerly took the clipboard back and flipped the page, writing notes, looking up to check the IV. "Peleus ran off for some reason and Chiron sent you, Laurel and I to find him. That's when we ran into a couple of hellhounds."

"No, there was a goddess. We were on a quest to find a stone that..." Will trailed off. The memory was foggy, like a fading dream.

"Probably just a coma-induced dream," Kayla assured him. "I'll go let Chiron know you're awake and you're okay." Will nodded.

"Can I at least take this out?" Will asked, pointing at the IV connected to the drip.

Kayla sighed. "Yeah, okay. But do not leave the bed. You're on bedrest for the night." She started walking out but Will called after her. 

"Hmm?" She turned.

"Did we find Peleus?" Will asked.

"Yup," Kayla nodded. "He's back to the tree now."

"Good." Will gingerly took the IV out of his arm, wincing slightly. He reached over and grabbed a cotton bud, pressing it on the tiny blip of blood in the crook of his elbow. The infirmary was empty and the sun was setting outside, letting a warm blanket of orange light cover the room. Will spent the next couple of minutes staring off into space, trying to figure out how a couple of hellhounds could knock him into a coma. He wasn't used to quests, but he wasn't that bad.

"Heard you knocked yourself out," a voice said from next to him, causing Will to jump. He turned to see Nico Di Angelo standing next to the bed, leaning casually against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" Will asked, unable to hold back the smile that came with seeing the son of Hades.

"I got back to camp yesterday and all anyone could talk about was the fact that the best doctor at camp was in a coma." Nico shrugged and started playing with the flowers that had been placed on the bedside table. "How'd you manage it?"

"Not sure," Will admitted sheepishly. "I think there was something to do with hellhounds but it's all been confused with a coma dream."

"Well it's good that you're awake."

A small, prickling feeling crawled itself up Will's neck and gave him a sudden overwhelming sensation of nausea. He must have made a face, because Nico looked a little worried.

"Hey, you alright? You've gone pale."

"I just— oh gods," Will sat up quickly, clutching his stomach. He was going to throw up. He hunched over himself but a moment later, the sensation subsided. Just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. He slowly straightened up, worried that any sudden movement would make the nausea come back. But he seemed to be fine. He looked over at Nico, who looked very uncomfortable. Nico noticed the curious expression Will made.

"I don't like sick people. They're a lot harder to deal with than the dead," Nico explained with a frown.

"Sorry," Will apologised, "I just felt a bit nauseous... which was weird." There was nothing on his chart to suggest nausea.

"I don't know, aren't you supposed to be sick?" Nico asked. "Nausea's a... symptom of sickness."

"Very specific." Will smirked.

Nico's cheeks were dusted with pink, made obvious on his pale skin. "I know basic first aid, not any of the complicated stuff."

Will gave a little laugh. "Well, anyway, enough about me. How are you doing?"

Nico shrugged in reply. "I don't know. Hades sent me on a simple quest to retrieve something for him. Which was boring to say the least."

The same prickling feeling crawled it's way up from Will's stomach. He groaned, clutching his midsection.

"Hey," Nico said quickly. "Do you want me to find that girl? The one who was taking care of you?"

"Kayla?" Another round of nausea caused Will's head to spin. "Yes please." The next second, Nico was gone. A few moments later, Kayla ran back in, grabbing Will's chart from where she left it near the door.

"What's going on?" She asked quickly. Will wondered where Nico was, but remembered what he'd said about sick people. Then something came up Will's throat and he started coughing. Kayla placed a bucket on his lap and after a minute of painful hacking, that something fell into the bucket.

Will's slumped back into the headboard, exhausted. Kayla cursed.

"What?"

"That's not normal," she said and held up the bucket. Flower petals. Will had coughed up beautiful, dark purple petals.

"What the—"