The Secret Singer

Italics - voices

*Two days previous*

The sky was red and the clouds looked like they were about to rain blood. Will ran across the bumpy ground, dodging the Hell Pods (as he and Nico called them), trying to remember how and why he was there again.

The Stymphalian birds were chasing him across Tartarus's pimply body and Will was running out of breath. He knew that it wasn't good to run fast in a toxic aired environment because it would increase the amount of toxin that he breathed in, but he would rather die of air poisoning than being pulled apart by the birds that caused his fear of pigeons. 

He looked over his shoulder to see if there was a chance he could catch his breath before the birds caught up with him, but when he turned his head he realized that there was nothing there. Confused, Will turned back to the direction he was just running but jumped back when he found himself on the narrow bridge over the pit of Tartarus. 

Will looked over the old stone bridge into the deep hole. Voices called out to him as he looked into the abyss, telling him to jump in.

Join us

You belong here

Just jump

"No," Will said to himself.

"Jump, Will," 

Will looked up. There was Nico, his boyfriend, standing in front of him. He was worryingly calm for someone on a tiny bridge over a never ending pit.

"Just jump Will," Nico soothed. "You belong in the darkness."

The voices called out again but this time Will recognized them. They were the voices of the ones he couldn't save.

You let me die

You made it worse

Why didn't you save me? 

"No. . ." Will said louder. "No, you told me not to listen to them."

"Just let yourself fall, Will," Nico said, reaching out a hand.

"You said it wasn't my fault!"

"It was always your fault, Solace."

"No," Will said more firmly. "You aren't Nico."

He put out his hand and blasted the not-Nico backwards with light. Not-Nico tumbled backwards, hitting his back and head on the hard stone bridge. When the boy sat up, Will saw blood dripping from his nose, a lot more than Will had intended. 

After Will and Nico's journey to Tartarus, Will had started practicing his new found plague and sickness powers. He had become pretty good at making them less critical and more minor illnesses. He must have lost focus just then, because Not-Nico looked like his nose was cut off, not having a little altitude nose bleed like Will had intended.

"Shit!" Will ran over to the bloody boy and started to assessing the damage. Even if he wasn't Nico, he was still a person that was hurt. 

Not-Nico reached out his hand and despite the black haired boy trying to get him to jump into a black hole a few seconds ago, Will reached out too. As soon as their hands touched, Will felt the pulling sensation of shadow travel and shut his eyes tight.

The pulling sensation stopped and Will suddenly felt really sticky. He tried to open his eyes but to his horror, he found couldn't. He tried bringing his hands to his face, to take off whatever was preventing his eyes from opening, but he felt like he was moving through honey. Really sticky honey.

"Will. . ." a voice called out to him. 

It was Nico.

Will tried to use his powers to sense if Nico was okay, but he seemed to be caged in by something. He tried again but something was blocking him from his boyfriend.

"Will. . .!" The voice sounded scared.

Will tried to open his mouth but when he did, he began to choke of some kind of sticky liquid.

"Will..."

"Will...!"

"WILL!"

Will woke with a start. Nico was leaning over him but his form was blurry from the tears in Will's eyes. They were in the Hades cabin, on Nico's bed. Will hadn't been in Tartarus, it was only another nightmare.

"Will, what happened?" Nico asked.

Instead of answering, Will grabbed his boyfriend's neck and hugged him close as he sobbed into the younger boy's shoulder. Nico held him tightly as he cried, petting his hair and rubbing his bare back.

"You're safe Will," Nico whispered. "I'm here and I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Will hiccupped and felt something wet land and trail down his back. He backed away from Nico to see his boyfriend crying too.

"Nico...?" Will began.

"I. . ." Nico started to wipe away his tears, "I just saw you in the pod and I couldn't get to you and you started to choke..."

So that's where he was at the end of his dream. Will hugged his boyfriend and they held each other for a few minutes, crying and whispering comforting words through choked sobs. 

Ever since Tartarus, Nico and Will had dreams of the place. The memories still fresh a year later. Recently, they had found each other in their dreams. They would basically have the same dream and could communicate with each other in it. At first it was shocking and weird but it also gave Will some comfort. Even in his darkest dream, Nico was there with him. 

There had been a time when Will had only worried about Nico's dreams, when Nico was the only one who'd been to Tartarus. Now they both woke in cold sweats and needed each other as comfort. Will had even started seeing Mr. D with Nico and the director was surprisingly understanding.

"You were in my dream," Will whispered. "You wanted me to jump into the hole of Tartarus."

Nico pulled out from the embrace and put his pale hands on Will's cheeks. "I would never want you to do that."

Will smiled, "I know, I told Not-Nico that."

"Not-Nico?" he laughed.

"Well, it was you but not you so, Not-Nico."

The two boys laughed for a good, it had become a way to get over the dreams and become awake to reality. 

"I'm guessing we aren't going back to sleep?" Nico asked.

Will looked out the window right by the bed. He hadn't realized it before, but it was still dark outside, probably only around 3 in the morning.

"I sure hope not," Will sighed. He had always liked to sleep but after Tartarus, he had come to dread it every night.

"So, what do you want to do?" Nico asked.

"I kind of just want to lay here for a bit," Will said laying back down on Nico's bed with one hand behind his head and the other on his stomach.

Nico smiled, "Me too."

Nico settled down next to him and Will put a comforting arm around his boyfriend's back.

Suddenly there was a pop and a little black kitten with antennas, goat hooves, and a bunny tail appeared on Will's stomach.

"Ciao, Impaurito," Nico greeted. Nico had decided to name all of his cocopuffs after their emotion in Italian and sent them all to the Underworld castle, although they could shadow travel to Nico if they felt that emotion in him or someone near him. Will had visited the castle a few times and Hades always said he wanted them gone, but Will had seen the god cuddling one in front of the green fireplace so they mustn't be that bad.

Will petted the kitten/bug/deer/bunny and it purred at his touch, sending Nico and Will into laughter again.

***

Will laced his fingers with Nico's as they sat at the Apollo table with Will's siblings. The Apollo kids had adopted Nico into their family and he was a valued member of the Infirmary team. Nico had a way of talking to people that could calmed them down and he was always very chill and collected when there was a high stakes situation. His knowledge of plants (thanks to Persephone's forced lessons) was also very handy. Nico had also been teaching the campers sword play and become one of the favorite counselors so people trusted him. 

Will and Nico had also been practicing their new found abilities, with Nico summoning his cocopuffs and teaching them how to fight and Will giving monsters colds. For Will, it was kind of nice to be good at something other than healing.

"You working at the Infirmary today?" Kayla asked Nico. There were very few kids left for the rest of the year but that didn't mean the Apollo kids got to take a break.

"No," Nico replied, "My employer wants me to work this weekend."

Nico had gotten a job somewhere in San Francisco shortly after Tartarus, working for some company. Will didn't ask about the details, he just knew that it meant more time away from Nico.

"Dang, we're going to miss you in the there. Especially Colby and Liyla," Kayla joked.

Everyone at the table laughed. Colby and Liyla are six-year-old twins of sperate godly parents (don't ask, Will didn't know), Demeter and Hermes. They had grown very fond of Nico over the past three months. Constantly asking him questions while he's teaching, asking him to play with them at any chance they could get, sneaking into the Infirmary to hang out with him, and even learning how to play Mythomagic. Nico said he didn't like them that much but Will could tell he liked playing with them too. Nico and his dad seemed to have a lot in common.

"Well, speaking of those two," Will butted in. "We should pack up your stuff, Neeks, before they find you and tie you to a chair."

"Alright," Nico said and the two stood up from the table and walked towards the Hades cabin. 

They walked in silence which Will usually didn't mind, but today it made him sad because it reminded him about the fact that Nico was leaving and he wouldn't be able to talk to him for three days. He had been working for months but Nico had always come back at the end of the day to sleep with Will and help him in his nightmares, but tonight he would be gone. 

They stepped into the cabin that Will had grown to call home with Nico, and realized that he would either have to move back into the Apollo cabin for the weekend or sleep in there without his boyfriend.

Will helped Nico pack the black suitcase he had summoned with clothes, a toothbrush, some ambrosia and nectar (incase a monster attacked him), and some extra weapons. Although Will tried to be supportive and smiled while they packed and zipped up Nico's bag, he clearly didn't disguise his sadness well enough. As soon as they had put Nico's stuff by the door, he turned to him with a soft gaze he usually didn't use often with people, unless it was Will.

"What's wrong Will?" Nico asked.

"Nothing," Will replied, smiling.

Nico sighed, "let me rephrase that: Will, you are sad. Why?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Hey, we made a deal," Nico reminded him, "I don't lie to you about my feelings and you don't lie to me about yours."

Will sighed and looked away.

"I really want to be happy for you," Will explained. "I know you are going to have fun doing whatever you're doing..."

"Playing music," Nico filled in.

"Yeah, and I don't want to ruin it with my mopey-ness, but it's hard to picture a day without you."

"Will..." Nico walked over to his boyfriend and squeezed him tight.

"I will have fun," Nico whispered, "but I will also be missing you everyday."

Will hugged him back and let his tears silently fall onto the smaller boy.

"You should take this time to focus on yourself," Nico suggested, "You don't need me."

Will let out a shuddering breath. He knew he did have a life without Nico, but he enjoyed everything more with him there. The last year and a half, Nico had been by his side. He had been there when Apollo first came to Camp. He had been there when his dad came back and needed their help to over throw Nero. And of course he had been there in Tartarus, when Will had felt the most hopeless. Now he would have to step into the Infirmary without Nico's hand in his. He would have to work on patients without Nico's soft voice in the background as he soothed a hysterical camper.

"At least we can see each other in our dreams," Nico pointed out.

Will pulled back and laughed. "Oh yes, we will see each other in our Tartarus dreams."

The two laughed and Will couldn't help but think how he was going to miss Nico's velvety, deep chuckle. Yes it was only three days, but to Will it would feel like a life time.

***

Nico had left several hours ago and to avoid going to sleep, Will was tirelessly working in the Infirmary. There were three campers in cots sleeping, one had fallen off the lava wall, and the other two had been apart of a nasty prank by the Hermes cabin. All of Will's siblings had retired for the night, all saying the same thing as they checked out. "Make sure you get some sleep Will."

He knew they meant well, and he hadn't told anyone except Kayla and Austin about his nightly nightmares but it made him kind of hate that sentence. Why did he have to get sleep? A normal human can last days without sleep. Now he knew how Nico had felt for the last five years.

He was just triple checking the two Athena girl's hives when someone came up behind him.

"You working late?"

Will turned his head around to see Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing a few paces behind him.

"Yeah," Will laughed shyly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"You're missing Nico?" she asked kindly.

Will turned around and leaned up against the cot behind him. "It's not just that. I have nightmares every night and I'm afraid they will be worse without Nico here."

"Why does Nico being there make such a difference?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Even though I have had nightmares before, I was always comforted by the fact that Nico would be there when I woke up. Now I'll just wake up alone."

"Well, you could always sleep with your siblings."

"It's just not the same."

Rachel nodded, "That makes sense. You went through something really traumatic together, why wouldn't you want to stay close?"

Will thought back to the patients he lost. He and his cabin had always grieved a lot for those campers they couldn't save, and he had to admit, it was nice to have people who understood his pain. 

Then he thought about Nico. Nico had gone through a lot with other people too. He had the Lotus Casino and coming back in a different century with Bianca and was forced to declare his love for Percy with Jason. But now both of them were gone.

"C'mon Will," Rachel said, beckoning him. "I'll walk you to your cabin."

Will sighed and resigned. It wasn't healthy to have an inconsistent sleep schedule.

The two friends walked out of the Infirmary in comfortable silence. They strolled slowly to the cabins, looking up at the stars covering the sky. It was almost midnight so the sky was a dark black, almost reminding Will of his dream.

"Annabeth IM'd me an hour ago," Rachel brought up quietly. "Said that there's a concert she wants to take me to tomorrow night."

"That's fun," Will said with a smile.

"If it's good, I'll take you later."

"Alright."

The two stopped walking and Will realized that they had walked to the Hades cabin. Funny how once there hadn't been a cabin 13 and now Will felt more at home in it then his own cabin.

"Rest up, Will," Rachel said with a pat on his shoulder.

Will nodded to his red haired friend and she started walking away, probably back to her cave. A small surge of guilt struck him as he realized that she mustn't sleep very well either, being the Oracle and all. He shouldn't complain to her about his sleeping problems. 

'Stop Will," he told himself, 'Rachel is your friend. You should tell her stuff like that."

Tiredly, Will opened the cabin door and walked inside the dark home. Without turning any lights, Will walked to Nico's bed in the back left corner, took off his shirt and pants, and laid down on the mattress.

He usually tossed and turned a bit before falling into the darkness of sleep but that night, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out. And for the first time in a year, Will had no dreams of Tartarus, just happy memories of him, his siblings, his mom, his friends, and Nico.