Out Of The Shadows: A Solangelo Fanfiction Chapter 17: Deja Vu

   When Nico came to, he was in a very familiar place. In a hospital bed. With a certain son of Apollo looking down on him. 

   “What am I doing here?” Nico asked, trying to sit up. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and winced.

   “Don’t try to sit up. It’s better to keep still. Do you remember what happened?”

   “We were climbing the lava wall, you fell and I shadow traveled you to safety, I blacked out from using too much of my power, I saw my dad and told him I wasn’t ready to die, then I woke up in your arms before passing out again.” Nico recalled.    

   Will dropped his clipboard. “You…what?”

   “Get your words out like a big kid, Solace.”

   The son of Apollo shook his head, flabbergasted. “Your father visited you? You were between life and death and you said no?”

   Nico nodded. “So, do you happen to know what the blinding light I saw was?”

   Will grinned. “Actually, that was me. Chiron told me that I blasted a strong brilliant light that vanquished the darkness inside of you. So you should be okay to use your powers unless you constantly overdo it again.”

   It was Nico’s turn to be shocked. “You…you stopped my body from fading?”

   He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yup, pretty much.”

   “How in the name of my father?!”

   “I have no idea how I did it. You were about to die, Nico. I was scared.”

   “So, how long was I out for?”

   “8 days.”

   “What?!”

   “Yep. It’s September 22nd.”

   “What’s happened since I’ve been out?”

   “Oh, nothing much. Everything’s normal, activities are still being done, including the lava wall. Apparently people have died on that thing before.”

   “Really? Why am I not surprised?”

   “Yeah. Look…I’m really sorry. It’s all my fault you’re in here. If you would’ve died, I would never have been able to forgive myself.”

   “It’s not your fault, Will.”

   “Yes it is! If I could only be stronger.” Will clenched his fists. “I’m so weak I can’t even climb the lava wall…”

   “Hey, you are not weak! You’ve climbed the lava wall probably a hundred times! It was just one time that you messed up. Everyone messes up.”

   “Well, that one mess up killed you!” Will yelled.

   Nico froze. “What…what are you talking about?”

   Will looked at him as tears fell down his face. “You were dead, Nico! You were gone! Your heart stopped beating. You went still! The shadows had almost completely eaten you away!”

   “Then you are even more extraordinary than you think.” Nico said. “You brought me back to life! No demigod has been able to do that since your brother Asclepius did it when he was still mortal!”

   Will looked down at his hands. “But what if I couldn’t bring you back to life? What if you had died? I would have to carry the guilt of someone I care so much about dying because I fell off of a rock.”

   “If it was a few months ago, you would have done me a favor.”

   “What?” Will’s head whipped up and he met Nico’s gaze.

   “Will, I’ve been ready to die since I was ten. If I had died, I would have gladly accepted death’s embrace. I was drowning. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t suicidal. Well, maybe a little, but I would have never tried to hurt or kill myself. But once my sister died, I had nothing left to live for.”

   Will looked at him sadly. “I’m so sorry.”

   “No, that’s not my point. Now it seems like I’m making this about myself.”

   “So what changed?”

   “Hmm?”

   “You said that a few months ago you would have been fine with dying. What about now? Why didn’t you let yourself die?” Will asked.

   Nico knew the answer to that right away. It was because of Will. But Nico answered differently. “I guess I have friends now that wouldn’t have liked it if I died. And I have a home to stay at.”

   “Well, I’m glad you don’t want to die anymore.”

   “Just know that I don’t regret what I did. I would do it again, even if it killed me, in order to save you.”

   Will stared at him. “Why would you do that? I know that I would do the same for you, but it’s not like you go around saying things like that to people.”

   Nico blushed. “U-um…You’re my friend. Plus, you’ve helped heal me multiple times. Without you, I would be dead right now. Twice.”

   “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

   “Are you fine now? Not blaming yourself anymore?”

   Will sighed. “I guess I can’t change your mind that it was my fault on this one.”

   “That’s right. You seem to be catching on.”

   “So anyways, you seem to be doing a lot better than when you came in. After you passed out, I had to carry you in here. You’re super light, you need to eat more.”

   “Well lucky for you, I’m starving. My powers tend to do that to me. You should have seen how much I ate when I was travelling with Hedge and Reyna.”

   After eating a huge plateful of food, Nico looked over at Will. “Why are you still here? There’s no patients beside me, and I’m fine staying here. I’ve eaten.”

   Will looked at Nico with his beautiful bright blue eyes. “Because I’m your doctor, and I’m not leaving your bedside. Now go to sleep, doctor’s orders.”