Out Of The Shadows: A Solangelo Fanfiction Chapter 16: Fading

   It was September 14th when Nico died.

   It was an average day at Camp Half-Blood. The sun was out, the last bit of warmth before the cold months came. Nico and Will were still doing camp activities together. Everything was peaceful.

   “Okay, guys. We’re going to climb the climbing wall now!” Will announced to Kayla, Austin, Brooke and Nico.

   Austin groaned. “But I’m still tired from the last time we climbed!”

   “I know. The climbing wall sucks, and I don’t like it either, but we have to do it today.” Will told him. “Alright! Brooke goes up first, followed by Austin, then Kayla, then Nico, and I’ll take up the rear.”

   Nico and the others nodded. Nico remembered when he first arrived at camp and saw the lava wall. He was so excited at seeing all of the dangerous and cool things at camp. He had jumped up and down and asked Percy if it was real lava.

   Brooke began to climb. She made it six feet up before she had to dodge an incoming drip of lava headed her way.

   “Watch out, Brooke!” Kayla called as Brooke dodged.

   In the next 20 minutes, the three Apollo kids plus Nico were on their way up the lava wall.

   Nico turned around and looked at Will who was many feet beneath him. “It’s okay to come up now!” He yelled.

   Will stuck his thumb up and began climbing.

   After a couple close calls with the lava, and almost losing his grip a whole bunch, he had almost made it to the top. But then he heard shouting coming from below him.

   He looked down just in time to see Will’s fingers start to slip off of the ledge he was holding. Like Percy had let go of the ledge he was holding onto before him and Annabeth fell into Tartarus. It was very likely the two of them would’ve died from the fall alone. But with Will, he knew that fall would be fatal if he didn’t do something. Now. He couldn’t lose him. So Nico made a choice.

   Just as Will’s last fingers slid off of the ledge, he shadow traveled. He was lucky enough to be in a shadowed place on the lava wall. As he reappeared, he was right next to Will, and they were plummeting fast. Nico grabbed onto him and shadow traveled again, landing on the ground.

   “Nico!” Will yelled as he pulled out of his grip. He didn’t see why Will was making such a big deal. Then he noticed that his own fingertips were gone. Will tried to grab him, but his fingers went right through his arm. He tried again, getting a grip on him.

   “Nico, stay with me, okay? Stay with me.” Will’s eyes were full of tears. “You’re so stupid, di Angelo! I said no underworld-y magic!”

   “But…but you would have…died.” Nico gasped.

   “Then you should have let me die!” Will cried. At this point, campers were forming a group around them with concerned faces.

   The shadows were crawling up his hands. Will’s concerned face was getting blurry, and he could barely understand what he was saying.

   The shadows were going up his wrists when he blacked out.

   When Nico opened his eyes again, he saw a river. Charon was there. “Ah, young Nico. How unfortunate. Do you have any coins?” Just before Nico opened his mouth, his father appeared.

   “Hello, father.”

   “My son.” Hades said. “Do you know where you are?”

   Nico nodded. “I’m in between life and death.”

   “Good. I told you that your trip around the world transporting the Athena Parthenos was most likely going to kill you. Though it didn’t happen then, your powers were still the death of you. I have already prepared your room. Are you ready?”

   “Actually, no. I don’t think I want to die.”

   Hades raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’ve been ready to die since you were 10. Since Bianca died. What changed?”

   “There’s-There’s somebody.”

   Hades’ confusion turned into a smile. “Oh?”

   “I’m not ready to die yet, father.”

   As he said that, he could hear a voice coming from far away. “Nico, I can’t lose you, I can’t!” His father smirked, and then disappeared. The river disappeared and he was faced with a blinding light. When he opened his eyes again, he was back on the field where he had shadow traveled himself and Will. His body was no longer fading, the shadows were completely gone.

   When Will noticed that his eyes were open, his expression turned from grief stricken to overjoyed. All of the other campers, including Chiron, were watching, shocked. Will hugged him tightly, and that was the last thing he remembered seeing before he passed out.