Chapter Text
“Are skeletons considered undead?”
“Technically, when I do it, they’re reanimated.”
“What happens if a reanimated skeleton falls apart?”
“They pull themselves back together.”
“What if they pull themselves together with another skeleton’s bones?”
“Then… they’re friends.”
“Do zombies really like to eat brains?”
Nico’s pencil paused mid sentence as he glanced up from his notes. “You know what, Harley, I haven’t thought to ask one.”
“Well you should,” the eight year old nodded vigorously, his own sheet of math problems long forgotten. The kid could assemble only gods knew what out of only a couple of wires, a few dented sheets of celestial bronze and sheer will power, but even he had to practice his multiplication tables.
They were working in the Big House school room, a general low murmur of other conversations floating around them, the mid November chill frosting the windows. Chiron was at the front reviewing one of yesterday’s lessons with a few Demeter kids. This morning was one of the rare occasions the centaur gave all the grades a free period. They had full reign to work on whatever assignments they’d procrastinated on, ask for some help, or get a head start on their personal studies - just as long as they were doing some form of learning. Across from Nico, Malcolm had his nose buried in Ryden's “Introduction to Cosmology” and Will was practicing sutures in a slab of pre-wounded silicone, his tongue peaking out of the side of his mouth as he focused. While Nico had planned to use the time to continue his literary analysis of Fahrenheit 451, Harley had decided it was a great opportunity to pick Nico’s brain about the undead.
“I just might next time I see one.” Nico said, “Don’t you have time tables to review?”
Harley made a face, “I already did like ten thousand of them yesterday. I don’t want to do any more.”
“Well you’ve got to do something productive.”
“I am.” Harley straightened as he looked pointedly at Nico, “I’m learning about undead.”
With an amused huff, Nico flipped through his notes, trying to find the reference he’d flagged tying the themes of mass media to the start of radio’s prevalence in the 1920’s. “Do you want to learn about book burning instead?”
“What? No! Who burns books?”
Nico bit his tongue to keep from retorting, Nazi Germany, apparently .
He was finding he enjoyed reading what Chiron told him modern schools called ‘the classics’ even though about half of them came out sometime after Nico was born. It was such an interesting way to learn about the world, about history, by studying how the current events were reflected in media. Nico often wondered what it would have been like to live through them and whether or not he would have the same perspective on those events as he did now, with the wisdom of modern reflection. When he finished Fahrenheit 451, Will insisted he read A Brave New World - because it was a classic and science fiction. (It was also technically as old as Nico, which amused Will to no end.) The son of Apollo was determined he could make a sci-fi fan out of Nico eventually.
The original sci-fi nerd in question perked up as there was a knock at the door, looking past Nico to greet at the newcomer, “Rachel!! You’re back!”
Nico spun in his seat to see Rachel Elizabeth Dare grinning as she leaned against the door frame, “Hey guys! It was so quiet around camp I figured I might find you all here.”
“When’d you get back?” Will asked, waving her toward the empty chair next to him. “I thought you’d be in New Rome for a while.”
“Yesterday.” Rachel pulled a hair tie off her wrist, wrapping it a few times around her explosion of red curls until they made some kind of messy bun behind her head, “I felt like I was becoming more hindrance than help over there and dad wanted me back before the holidays,” she scoffed, “as though we’d actually spend them together.”
Will snorted, “At least you’re just in time to enjoy a wonderful New York winter.”
“Exactly,” Rachel elbowed him, “but at least I’ll have your company while I suffer.”
“Nah, I’ll be in Texas. Mom’s on a break from tour for a few weeks.”
“Seriously? I am so jealous.”
Nico looked between the two of them, his curiosity getting the better of him, “When’d you two become such close friends?”
“Me and Rachel?” Will asked, “Being the oracle essentially makes her an Apollo kid. Even if I can’t understand why she’s taken on that role voluntarily.” He gave Rachel good natured nudge with his shoulder as if this was a long standing joke. He turned back to smirk at Nico, “Don’t worry, she’s like a sister. You have no reason to be jealous.”
“I-“ Nico cleared his throat in surprise, “I’m not jealous.”
“Nico and I are dating,” Will told Rachel, “Dare I say…” His eyebrow quirked up mischievously, “boyfriends.”
Rachel turned to look at Nico with new appreciation, a grin spreading across her face, “Really?”
“Yep. He’s head over heels for me.”
Nico slumped in his chair and propped up his notebook to hide the flush rushing to his cheeks.
Harley, the traitor, called out with delight, “Haha! your face looks like a tomato! He’s right, you liiiike hiiiiim.”
“ Harley -“
Rachel’s laugh rang across the table, “That, I did not see coming. Good for you, Solace.”
She and Will dissolved into more giggles, distracting enough of their neighbors to catch Chiron’s attention, “Mr. Solace, Ms— uh, Dare… Welcome back. Please keep your distractions to a minimum. There will be time to catch up with each other at lunch.”
The table as a whole muffled their giggles, Will, Rachel and Harley all very amused by Nico’s struggle to keep his complexion a normal color. Malcolm hadn’t even glanced up from his book.
When they made their way out of the Big House to head to lunch, Will and Rachel immediately fell back into comfortable conversation. Rather than follow Harley as the eight year old skipped down the hill, Nico tagged along at Will’s side, quietly taking Will’s hand when he offered it.
“How’d it go with Ella and the translation?” Will asked, picking up what must have been a months old discussion with the oracle, “Did it help like we hoped?”
Rachel gave a noncommittal shrug, “I think Ella and Tyson have the Sibylline books covered. She could be an oracle herself, the way she can recall those pages. But there wasn’t anything for me.”
“There was really nothing?” A small note of concern danced through Will’s tone.
Rachel shook her head, “I hoped that maybe seeing the prophecies written down would help me find some connection again, but it’s like the oracle has just gone silent.”
“We haven’t heard anything from dad either. He’s been unusually quiet for months.”
“What do you mean, he’s been quiet?” Nico asked.
“Being the god of prophecy, he usually gives us kids little hints or visions every so often,” Will explained, “They’re usually inconsequential stuff- what’s for lunch that day, a guitar string is going to break at the campfire- but they were kind of comforting you know? Like a reminder he was there. But ever since this summer…”
“Things were weird for all the gods this summer” Rachel said, reaching over to give Will a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “This trouble I’m having with the oracle is probably completely unrelated.”
“We don’t know what happened after Gaea.” Will insisted, uncharacteristic irritation flashing across his face, “All the other gods - everyone else’s parents - seemed to go back to normal, but my dad does the complete opposite.”
Will’s hand tightened unconsciously around Nico’s,“Rachel, he just vanished. He didn’t used to be this absent. He - ” Will caught himself and swallowed down the rest of his sentence as they made it to the dining pavilion. Austin and Kaleb were waving to them. They looked just as excited to see Rachel as Will had been. “Never mind.”
Rachel gave Will a sympathetic glance before her expression shifted into a cheerful greeting for the other Apollo children. She called to them as she broke off from Nico and Will to head toward the table. “Hey you two! Long time no see!”
Nico studied Will a moment longer,”Will, are you-?”
“I’m fine.” Will said quietly. He blinked as though recalibrating something in his head before he cleared his throat. “Anyways, meet up after lunch as usual?”
“Um, sure. Yeah.” Nico squeezed Will’s hand before he let go to head reluctantly toward his own table.
Will smiled as he turned away to join his siblings. Any trace of his earlier irritation was gone.
Over lunch, Nico watched him curiously from the Hades table. There was more on Will’s mind than he was willing to let on, more bothering him than he wanted to talk about - at least with his siblings within earshot. Just the glimpse into some of those deeper concerns made Nico yearn for a chance to ask Will more about it, to better understand the boy he was so fond of.
But no, Nico had to go sit at his own table. Alone.
While Rachel, as an honorary Apollo kid, got to go join the others - Nico’s friends - at their table. Nico liked Rachel, and he knew there shouldn’t be any reason to feel anxious about her being so close with Will, but after seeing how she clearly knew a side of him that Nico didn’t, it was hard to ignore the flash of jealousy in the back of his mind.
As he sat stewing over the fact that his parentage was causing him to be involuntarily solitary yet again, Nico’s eyes scanned the rest of the pavilion. Harley was talking animatedly with Nyssa, his arms held out in front of him like a zombie. He was probably retelling all that he had ‘learned’ from Nico that morning.
With his frustration already stirring just beneath the surface, it took barely the thought of a zombie for Nico’s powers to react. From behind him, there was the soft thud of dirt and shuffling of feet and then- a low groan.
Lacey over at the Aphrodite table was the first to notice, letting out a quick yelp as she jumped up from their bench pointing into the trees. This clearly got the attention of many more tables.
Sherman reacted next, eager for some kind of fight. He was halfway across the pavilion when Nico finally looked back to see that he had - without meaning to - summoned zombie. It was stalking toward the pavilion, looking - to Nico - lost and aimless, but to the others, it must have been an unsettling threat. He watched as Sherman slashed his sword across the creature’s chest three times, wincing at the squish of undead flesh hitting the ground with the final swipe. The poor zombie didn’t deserve that.
“Are there more?” Sherman asked, immediately scanning the trees. The rest of his cabin were in varying degrees of standing, ready for more enemies to appear out of nowhere.
“I don’t see any.” Connor concluded, having stood from his table to get a good view of Sherman’s quick - and unnecessarily violent - action. He chuckled, “Think you had that well in hand, Yang.”
“If there are undead making it through the labyrinth now…” Sherman muttered, eyeing the perimeter.
“He probably just wanted to say hi.” Nico muttered.
Sherman spun around to the Hades table, “What was that di Angelo? Did you have something to do with this?”
“Me? Of course not.” Nico then deliberately shut his mouth and tried to look as baffled as the rest of them. Despite feigning innocence, Nico's gaze caught Will staring at him, lips quirked up in amusement. Nico ducked his head in an effort to keep a straight face. At least he had one thing over Rachel.
“Right. As if I believe that,” Sherman retorted, ”I’m watching you.”
Nico failed to hold in a snort of laughter, “Good, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two.”
Sherman glared at him as he went back to his table leaving Nico alone yet again.
After the first accidental incident, Nico had difficulty ignoring the temptation to add a little spice to his meals. At first it was just little things that only he noticed, a mouse here, a squirrel there. If he couldn't have human company, he didn’t mind a few necromantic friends. After a week or so he started to push the boundaries a little.
Once, he sent a gaggle of rats scurrying under many of the tables, much to the Demeter cabin’s ire and the Apollo cabin’s amusement. Nico had caught Will sharing a grin with Austin as he pointed out the tiny friends before they’d made it under foot of the members of cabin 4. Miranda was about to go on the war path to eradicate them all from camp- and therefore her crops- until she realized they were skeletal and couldn’t do more damage than overturn some soil. More than just Sherman had glared at Nico then and he’d had to hide his laughter behind his hand as he muttered his apologies.
Another time he’d be entertaining himself by thinking back to Hazel’s powers, wondering if he could manipulate rock with the same finesse she did. With a slightly careless flick of his wrist he’d opened a crack in the floor right underneath Laurel’s foot as she made her way to the central brazier. She’d recovered with the grace befitting a well trained demigod, but the scowl Will had thrown his way made Nico resolve to save the earth powers for outside of the dining pavilion.
The new pastime gave Nico a new outlook on his solitary time in the dining pavilion. He would still prefer to not have to be sitting at a lonely table by himself, especially the more he saw Rachel come and go from the Apollo table like she owned the place, but at least this way he was entertaining himself while also getting in a little more training of his powers. It was a win win.
Though he would deny it if ever asked, Nico also liked that it gave him a method to interact with Will even from afar. When Rachel visited camp again near the end of November, he couldn’t help the urge to, well, be a distraction.
The son of Apollo had been in what looked like some intense but good natured debate with the oracle, waving his fork around like it was a conductor's baton as he talked, when he was interrupted.
Will jumped as he felt the tapping of boney fingers on his shoulder, nearly falling into Kaleb’s lap. Nico instructed the skeleton to wave as he stifled his own laughter from the other side of the pavilion. Will immediately glanced in his direction as if to ask, What are you up to now??
Nico shrugged and pointed toward the head table, Should I?
Will’s shoulder shook with quiet laughter as he waved, Why not?
With an impish grin, Nico summoned a few more friends, instructing them to make their way stealthily around the perimeter of the pavilion. Once they’d gotten adequately spread across the area, Nico let them loose.
Two skeletons, closest to the Ares table, hopped onto the surface and started dancing, kicking plates out of their way as their hip bones wobbled precariously around their spines.
A zombie poised behind Harley, growled in his ear, causing the eight year old to jump, his scream turning into delighted laughter as he realized what was going on.
Another skeleton had made it to the Athena table, scooping up a pitcher of juice and gulping it down through it’s dislocated jaw. The liquid cascaded through it’s ribs and splashed onto the floor before it reached for another glass to do it all over again.
The campers were all caught by surprise, quickly dissolving into chaos that mimicked the undead around them. The Ares cabin tried to swipe at the skeletons giving them an impromptu show, but missed as Nico’s friend’s dodged out of the way with spins and hip thrusts.
The other tables had their own hands full with either trying to keep zombies away from their meals or trying to quiet down the delighted calls from a few other campers - like Harley - who had started to call out their own orders to the party crashers. Nico was more than willing to instruct his minions to follow their requests.
The best part was the sound that came from the Apollo table. Austin and Kaleb were openly cackling, cheering and clapping along with the performance on top of the Ares table. Rachel was chuckling, occasionally clapping along. Will was clearly trying to hold it together under the guise of being a responsible head counselor, his eyes twinkling as he hid his grin behind his hand. Eventually though it was too much and he too let out a burst of laughter, clear and full in a way that filled Nico’s entire body with warmth.
Nico couldn’t hold in his own laughter any longer as he watched his collection of zombies continue to wreak havoc across the dining pavilion. He was miming a tiny bow in the direction of Will and his siblings when stern voice rang across the tables,
“Mr. Di Angelo!”
Nico stilled, eyes wide. Chiron was scowling at him. A zombie froze behind his hindquarters, hairs from the centaur’s tail falling from its deteriorating fingers. “In my office. Now.”
“Shit.”
***
Nico fidgeted with the skull ring on his finger as he waited in the chair across from Chiron’s desk. After insisting that Nico ask his ‘friends’ to depart, Chiron stayed behind in the pavilion to make sure things got cleaned up before joining Nico in his office.
The place was littered with books. Not only were there full bookshelves with textbooks, reference books and even novels, but all other available surfaces had stacks of books at least four high. Various trinkets were placed around the room as well, spoils of battles or quests too inconsequential to need to be stored in the attic. Tucked between a few books, Nico thought he saw one of those photos they took on thrill rides, right at the most exciting part. This one had the words ‘Tunnel of Love’ running along the bottom of it and featured a pair of familiar looking preteens.
Nico was just considering trying to pull it out to get a better look when Chiron rolled in. As he made it to the other side of his desk, he let out a restrained breath, “This has gone too far.”
Nico stayed silent, waiting for more.
“If your powers were not fully under control,” Chiron continued, “that would be one thing, but this is the fourth time this week. You cannot keep terrorizing the other campers.”
“I’m not terrorizing them,” Nico argued, “It’s not my fault that Elijah wanted to sniff Valentina’s hair and ended up losing his nose. Can you imagine how traumatic that was for him? His nose just fell off!”
“Nico.” Chiron did not look amused, “I cannot let this slide. I’m afraid I’m going to need to-”
Whatever punishment Nico was about to receive - a month of cleaning the pegasi stalls, supervision duty for the rock wall, or gods forbid dusting and cataloguing the musty attic - was thankfully cut short by a quick urgent knock at the door. Instead of finishing his thought, Chiron gave Nico a stern glance before looking up, “Yes?”
Will opened the door, out of breath and face red. Nico gave him a quizzical look as he shuffled inside . What was he doing here? Come to watch him be reprimanded?
“Yes Mr. Solace? Is this urgent?”
“Yes?” The question in his voice was not convincing. Will swallowed and tried again, “Erm, It’s relevant. I have to tell you something related to uh…” He glanced at Nico, “the incident this afternoon.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.” Will dug a slip of paper out of his pocket. “You see, Nico’s not well.”
Nico scowled at the other boy but Will winked at him before continuing, “He has an untreated condition. It’s my fault, really, for not addressing it sooner.”
“And how is this related to the zombies this afternoon?” Chiron asked dryly.
Will unfolded the paper and set it on the top of one of the stacks of books on Chiron’s desk, “Nico has a mood disorder. He can’t control it.”
Nico was about to open his mouth to argue that he did not and he can to until he caught a glimpse of what Will had written on the note -
Patient: Nico di Angelo
Condition: mood disorder, uncontrolled powers
Recommended treatment: shared company during all cabin specific activities: meals, chores, competitions, etc.
treatment required daily to prevent future episodes
can be administered by the Apollo Cabin
Instead he nodded along, “Oh yes. Absolutely no control over it. If I’m alone I get overwhelmed and there’s no telling how my powers might behave. I wish I could reel them in, or prevent it, but I just can’t seem to do it.”
Nico’s eyes darted up to Will’s in silent confirmation that they were on the same page.
Pulling the note toward himself, Chiron scanned it as Will continued, “I suggest we start treatment immediately. If he has company, I think Nico could have great success in keeping things under control. My cabin would be more than willing to include him at our table, we are the healers after all. It’s kind of our responsibility.”
The detached expression on Chiron’s face made it clear he knew exactly what they were doing. Will was not subtle. But it was also clear he didn’t have the energy to argue. He sighed and turned his focus to Nico, “Will this… treatment… prevent further zombie attacks?”
Nico nodded eagerly as Will rocked back and forth on his heels trying to suppress a grin.
Chiron passed the note back across the table with a final placid look, “See that it does. You may join the Apollo cabin starting tomorrow morning. And Mr. Solace?”
“Hm?” Will froze.
“I trust there will not be other … conveniently timed diagnoses… in the future. Is that correct?”
Will nodded, his ears turning red, “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Then you are both dismissed.”
Both boys were up and through the Big House front door before Chiron could settle back into his chair.
***
Once out in the crisp air, Nico leaned against Will’s arm, laughing, “Thanks for bailing me out.”
“Of course” Will grinned down at him, his own laughter fogging the air between them “Being head medic’s got to have benefits sometimes. And as funny as your friends are, I think we reached the end of the rest of camp’s tolerance.”
“You think they’re funny?” Nico had guessed Will found his antics entertaining, but he’d never actually heard him admit that they were funny. In fact, funny was nowhere near the top 100 words someone would use to describe him. By now, Nico figured that just wasn’t a word that applied to him.
“Yeah” Will laughed again, “They’re hilarious.”
Nico was glad the cold was already making his cheeks flush. “So you don’t actually think I have a mood disorder?”
“Oh, the jury's still out on that one.” Will winked at him, “but it doesn’t matter. I didn’t need a hint from my dad to know that actually getting to hang out with friends would be an effective way to improve the situation.”
Will wrapped his arm around Nico’s shoulders as they followed the path toward the lake, the moonlight reflecting off the surface in small glinting waves. It was a quiet night, most of the other campers had retreated back to the warmth of their cabins as soon as dinner was over, so they had the lakeshore to themselves. Nico leaned in closer to Will’s warmth, his own thin sweater not quite enough to stave off the cold. He’d still not gotten a replacement coat, but if he could just stay nestled next to Will like this whenever he went outside he wouldn’t need one.
“About that -” Nico said carefully, as they started to follow the curve of the shore around the lake, “The hints from your dad.”
He felt Will stiffen slightly, “What about them?”
“I just… I just noticed that they seemed to bother you, like something was on your mind.” Nico explained, “and I don’t know, I just wanted you to know you could… talk about it. With me. If you wanted.”
Will was silent for a beat, staring out over the lake as they slowly walked. Nico was afraid he might have been too direct. If Will had noticed how he’d sent his own words back at him.
“But I guess it’s okay if you don’t.” Nico tried to backtrack, “I mean, if you trust Rachel more than me with that kind of thing-”
“It’s not that.” Will interrupted him gently. He sighed, “Rachel just knows all the history. She became the oracle at the same time I became head counselor. We’ve kind of always been in it together.”
Nico waited as Will took a moment to gather more of his thoughts. He blinked a few times as he stared up at the moon. “I’ve been able to talk to her about what it was like before. Kaleb and Austin - they’ve never really had a normal to compare to. Austin remembers a little bit of what it was like when I had to take over the infirmary -” Will let out a soft laugh, but his breath got caught on the raw edges, “-Kaleb never even got to meet Lee. I didn’t want to give them any reason to be concerned. For them, this is normal. But Rachel, I don’t know, I needed to talk to someone about it. About how strange it is that he’s been quiet.”
Will swallowed and took another slow breath,”I’m starting to get worried, Nico. What if I don’t ever hear from him?”
“It’s that abnormal? This silence?”
“Yeah.” Will let out in a brittle laugh, “I can’t help but wonder, what if we did something wrong? What if he really was supporting Octavian? And then we- we just-” Will faltered, coming to a stop as he focused on the point where the lake washed across the pebbled shore.
“We didn’t kill him, Will.” Nico said.
“We might as well have.”
“No. It’s not the same. What happened to him was his own fault.” Nico came to stand in front of Will, searching his face for the usual spark of optimism, but it was buried under anxiety and shame. No, not buried, it was more like the shroud Will usually used to hide these heavier emotions from the outside world was sheer and frail, letting Nico have a glimpse of the tangled knots underneath.
“But we stood there and did nothing.” Will’s breath shook, “He’s dead because we didn’t do anything. What if - what if I offended my dad because I didn’t do everything I could to save someone?”
Nico wiped away a stray tear making its way down Will’s cheek, “Octavian wasn’t supposed to be saved.”
Will looked at his feet, another few tears falling to the ground beneath them.
It broke Nico’s heart to see Will so torn up over the death of someone who only six months ago was a direct threat to Will and his friends, his family. Even the cruelest of intentions didn’t stop Will from having compassion for someone else, for wanting to prevent the loss of life. It wasn’t something Nico could relate to. He’d been hardened by his experiences, learned that sometimes violence was necessary to protect the things - the people - he loved. But that was just it - Will loved everyone, to an extent. He could never bring himself to use violence. Anything besides trying to heal and ease pain was against his very nature. Though it stirred up a self consciousness in him, an awareness that he could never match that level of altruism, Nico adored Will for it.
“It’s stupid, I know.” Will muttered. “He was cruel, I shouldn’t be upset about it…”
“It’s not stupid.” Nico said softly, “But it’s also not your fault. There’s no reason your dad would have to be offended by what you did - or didn’t do.”
“Really?” Will sniffed as he looked up at Nico.
“Yes. You were - and always have been - exactly what a descendant of Apollo should be.” Nico smiled at the way the cloudiness began to clear from Will’s eyes, “All that and more.”
Will let out a heavy breath, his shoulders sagging, “Okay.”
The anxiety wasn’t gone, but it also wasn’t folded away again. Will had released some of it, shared it with Nico, to make the weight he was carrying a little lighter.
“If you’re worried there’s something bigger going on,” Nico said, a hint of levity creeping into his voice, “I’m sure we’ll hear about it eventually. It’s never quiet around here for long.”
An unexpected pulse of laughter escaped Will’s lips, “You’ve got that right.”
“And when we do.” Nico continued, taking Will’s hand, “I’ll be here.”
“Thank you.” Will squeezed Nico’s fingers, tugging to pull him into a hug, “Things don’t seem so bad if you’re here.”
Nico snuggled his face into Will’s shoulder thinking of the way he felt at home in Will’s presence, every day that was made brighter because Will was in it. It was more to himself than to Will, just barely above a whisper, when he said, “I’m nothing compared to you.”