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Nico watches Percy walk away from him, and towards the campfire, settling next to Annabeth then carefully wrapping his hands around her. Nico sighs, wishing that it was him Percy was walking to instead of Annabeth.
Before he could wallow in misery any further, a voice behind him speaks up.
"Before you... Depart, I think there is one more person you should talk too." He turns around and sees his older sister Bianca, her ghostly form glistening in the moonlight.
"Who?" Nico tilts his head to show confusion, but really, Nico knows who Bianca is talking about, but he isn't so sure if it's a good idea to talk to him. What if he was mad at Nico for running away and leaving him?
"You know who it is." Bianca says, as if she read his mind. Nico stays silent. She sighs, before adding, "He won't be mad at you, if that's what you're worried about."
" You don't know that."
Bianca just sighs again, before turning and walking deeper into the forest.
Bianca leads him to a familiar clearing, the clearing where he and Will used to go to so they can have lengthy chats without being interrupted, whether it's about myth-o-magic or Star Wars or about Nico's nightmares, this was where they went. Nico longs for a day where he can talk to Will like that again. As much as he hates to admit it, he misses camp half-blood. He misses Will. Not that he would ever tell another living, breathing soul that he did.
Due to the dark of the night it takes him a moment to understand what he was seeing, he can just barely make out a silhouette curled up on the foot of a tree, Will. His face is hidden behind his hands and blonde curls, his knees brought up to his chest in an attempt to appear smaller.
Nico's heart breaks at the scene.
Of course. How could he have forgotten? He vaguely remembered recognizing the name on the last shroud he recited rites to, a golden shroud with a sun embellished on it, the name Lee Fletcher below it.
How could the gods be so cruel?
"Bianca?" Nico whispers in his sisters ear, careful to not disturb the weeping boy a few feet away from them, "Can you..."
"I'll give you two space. I bid you farewell, dear brother." She says, "But before I go, I have a question."
"Okay... What is it?" Nico asks skeptically.
"Him." She jerks her thumb towards Will's weeping figure, "What is he to you?"
Nico's mind goes blank at her question.
He blinks at her, "Well... Uh," Nico starts, mouth suddenly dry, "We... He— He's my best friend." He answers, even though he personally thinks that the word best friend isn't enough to describe His friendship with Will. Which is strange, considering he has only spent time with Will for only a week, before he ran away.
So why does he feel like he's known Will for years?
A silence fell between them as Bianca's eyes dart between her younger brother and the boy behind the tree.
"I see." She says after a moment of silence, snapping Nico out of his thoughts. Nico looks up at his sister and finds her smiling down at him with an undecipherable expression, as if she knows something he doesn't, before turning around walking away from him without another word.
Nico watches her leave, again.
When she was just about to disappear into the trees, she hesitates, stopping and looking back at her brother, "Goodbye Niccolò, and... and I'm sorry. I wish I was a better sister to you." She adds. And before Nico could reply, she dissipates into ghostly wisps, joining the gentle breeze.
Nico tips his head back and takes a slow deep breath, blinking back tears, before turning around to walk towards the tree that Will was hidden behind. Nico stops directly in front of Will, but the boy seemed to not notice the others presence, his face still buried in his arms, knees brought up to his chest in an attempt to appear small and invisible.
"Will," Nico whispers softly, squatting down to pry Will's hands away from his face. When he did so, a soft light surrounded them, light coming from the golden, luminous tears streaming down Will's cheeks. Will looks up at him and gasps, sitting up straight.
"Nico," Will breathes, looking at the boy in front of him with wide eyes, Will pulls his hands away from Nico's, instead reaching up to cup Nico's face. His hands were damp with shining golden tears, but warm nonetheless.
Normally, Nico would've flinched away at the sudden physical contact, but this was Will. It was different. Will's touch was different. It was warm, soft, comforting, right.
"You — you're — alive?" Will asks in a shaky voice as a new wave of tears pool in his blue eyes.
"Yes, I'm here. I'm alive." Nico whispers, blinking away the tears that formed in his own eyes. He reaches up to gently wipe the tears away from Will's face.
"Nico?" Will whispers, still staring at Nico like he can't believe that he's right in front of him.
"Hm?" Nico hums, moving his hands from Will's cheeks to comb through his knotted hair. It was longer then when he last talked to Will.
If he remembers correctly, he had talked to Will just before he ran away. Will asked him to go canoeing with him, Nico promised that he would after he talks to Bianca.
He didn't get to do either of those things.
"Can... Can I hug you?" Will whispers.
"Of course." At his words, Will sat up and tackled Nico into a hug, making them topple over, Nico ended up flat on his back, Will on top of him, arms around his neck and his face pressed against Nico's shoulder blade. Nico slowly shifted them so that they were both laying on their sides. Will's limbs were tightly wrapped around Nico as if he was afraid Nico would disappear. Nico started to comb through Will's golden curls as he felt tears on his shoulder, likely leaving a wet pool on the fabric of his t-shirt.
Not that Nico cared. Not when Will was crying.
"I saw you earlier during the battle," Will said through sniffles and hiccups. "But I thought you were an— an illusion or something."
"I thought you— I thought you were dead."
Nico stops playing with Will's hair, instead opting to wrap his arms around Will.
"I'm not dead. I would never do that to you." Nico says firmly. "Here," He brings Will's hand to his own chest, "You can feel my heartbeat right? You can feel me breathing right?"
"... Right."
"See? I'm alive." Nico says as he kisses Will's head, his hair tickling Nico cheeks.
"I missed you." Will mumbled against Nico's shoulder. "So, so much."
"I..." He felt a lump grow in his throat. The last and only person that had ever said that to him was Bianca.
"I missed you too." Nico whispers. And he did, he really did.
He feels Will shift in his hold, when he looks down at Will he sees his watery blue eyes staring back at him.
"Are you staying?" Will whispers, hand curling at Nico's t-shirt, his blue, blue eyes shining in the moonlight. "Here at camp?"
"No." Nico admits, voice barely above a whisper.
Will deflates. "Oh."
"I'm sorry." Nico hurriedly adds. He doesn't want to see Will upset, not again. "I just... I want to — I need to learn more about my past, my mother." He explains, hoping Will would understand "And I can't do that here... I need to..."
"I understand." Will says, because of course he does. He always understands. "When are you leaving?"
"...Today."
"Okay." Will says sitting up. "But before you leave, I want to give you something."
"Okay..." Nico says slowly, eyes narrowed at Will, "What?"
"Wait here. I'll get it from my cabin." Will says as he stands up. He turns around to look at Nico. "Don't leave yet. Please?"
"Okay." Nico says. He watches walk away towards the way to camp, occasionally looking back at Nico as if he was scared that Nico would run away again.
So he didn't, Nico stayed there, laying in the grass and eyes fixed at the sky. He couldn't really see any stars, except for a few that looked like a girl holding a bow. The only sounds are the rustling of leaves and the music coming from the campers singing at the campfire.
He doesn't realize time is passing, nearly falling asleep before he heard the sound of a twig snapping. He turns his head to the source of the sound and sees Will walking back towards him.
"Hey." Will says when he gets close enough to Nico. He seems to be holding something in his hand.
"Hey." Nico replies, standing up and brushing the leaves and dirt from his jeans.
"Here." Will holds out a hand, on his palm a shining black stone and a black coloured friendship bracelet with a yellow stone strung in the middle.
"What's this?" Nico asks, picking up the bracelet and curiously inspecting it.
"A bracelet. Duh."
"Dork." Nico says, slightly laughing, "I mean the cheese looking thing in the middle?"
"Oh! That's a sunstone, not a cheese. It brings light into dark places, like me." Will gestures to himself, then smiles. "So you have a piece of me wherever you go. I made that bracelet a few years ago when I was visiting my mama."
"And this?" Nico points to the black stone.
"An obsidian," Will says, gently grabbing one of Nico's hands and placing the stone on his palm. "Silena gave it to me, she said that it helps process emotions and experiences and in letting go. She gave me two, she said to give one to you when you come back."
"Thank you." Nico says. Will just smiles at him as he took the bracelet from Nico's hand and ties it on the other, the one holding the obsidian.
"Nico?" Will says suddenly. Eyes still on Nico's hand, his fingers tracing Nico's veins.
"Hm?"
"Just... Remember. You'll always have a place here at camp." Will looks up at him, a stern expression on his face.
Nico blinks in disbelief. "But—"
"Even if you don't believe me yet. You do, truly have a place here at camp. With the other campers. With me." Will says firmly, holding one of Nico's hands with both of his. "Okay?"
"...Okay." Nico says, even if he doesn't quite believe Will. Will beams at him. Nico felt his stomach doing a backflip, but he didn't know why.
"...So I guess this is goodbye?" Will says, letting go of Nico's hand (which were suddenly cold now that Will wasn't holding it) and fixes his gaze at the ground, not looking at Nico in the eyes.
"Yeah... Wait no, not goodbye," Nico says, Will looks back up at him curiously, "Saying goodbye implies that we'll never see eachother again. But we will. We will see eachother again. I promise."
"Pinky promise?"
"What are you, a child?" Nico says, laughing slightly.
"Uh, yeah?"
"Dork," Nico whispers, shaking his head. Even though his head is lowered, Will can still see a ghost (ha!) of a smile. He smiles too.
"See you." Nico says, turning around.
"Nerd," Will replies, now fully grinning. Nico looks back at him, a full smile gracing his lips. Will wants to hug him, to beg him to not leave camp again, to not leave him again, but he doesn't. He just grins at Nico.
"See you." Will says.
And with that, Nico walks into the trees and disappears into the shadows.