Battling Demons: Book 2 [COMPLETED]

Chapter 4: Confrontation

Will's POV:

A faint beeping noise aroused him from his sleep. As the noise became louder, he noticed other things. There was an IV in his arm. He was in a hospital bed. Why was he in the infirmary? Oh. He remembered that he had drained himself to healing Nico. Nico! His eyes flew open. He turned to see if Nico was sitting next to him, but the chair was vacant. Will felt a twinge of disappointment that he wasn't there, but also an immense amount of worry.

He had just wanted to heal Nico at the time he had passed out and was unsure of his boyfriend's mental state. Will needed to find him before he did anything drastic. He sat up, pulling out the IV. He put his feet on the floor and stood. The infirmary was empty except for him. He made his way to the infirmary door, but before he reached it, Kayla walked out of the bathroom.

"He lives. You know that you keep scaring the crap out of me when you drain yourself, right?" She said, crossing her arms.

Will felt sheepish for a second. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Why did Nico need you to heal him anyway?" Kayla asked.

"Because he had ravaged his thighs and arms," Will said harshly. He then tried to calm himself. He wasn't mad at Kayla; he was mad that Nico had started to hurt himself again. "He's been cutting again."

"I knew it," Kayla said under her breath. Will furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "He was avoiding the subject when I tried to talk to him. We- we might have had a little confrontation."

Will raised his eyebrows. "I thought I asked you to look out for Nico, not confront him!"

"I was worried about you," she said. "I just lashed out at him."

"That's not what he needs right now, Kayla," Will said.

"I don't know what he needs. He's been avoiding me," Kayla admitted.

Will laughed bitterly. "Well, what did you expect? It's Nico, that's what he does. Which is why I asked you to keep an eye on him."

"I'm sorry, but it's hard to keep track of him all the time," she said feebly.

"I know, I know," Will placated. "But- Kayla, he's just gotten so bad. His wrists and thighs were worse than I had seen them in a while. He's been skipping his sleeping draughts, so he is exhausted. And I have no idea when the last time he ate was."

Kayla looked horrified. "I didn't- I didn't realize it had gotten so bad. I'm sorry, I guess I couldn't handle it."

"How did no one else notice? How did you not notice?" His voice raised into a yell. He took a breath and lowered his volume before speaking again. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about him," he admitted. "I don't know how to help him. He won't talk to me. And even when he does, I just feel so out of my depth and I don't know how to help him!" He started pacing around the infirmary, getting worked up. "He needs help, serious help, that I shouldn't have expected you to provide; I can't even provide it. I might- I might have to go to Chiron or someone else because this is beyond me. Something is seriously wrong, and I don't know if I can help him..."

"Giving up on me?" A voice from the shadows uttered. Both Kayla and Will jumped, as Nico slinked into the infirmary.

Will felt like he got caught red-handed. "How much of that did you-"

"Enough," Nico cut him off. "Enough to know that none of this was Kayla's fault."

"I wasn't..." Will defended.

"And enough to know that you have given up on me." Nico continued. "Maybe now you will understand why I cut myself."

"I have not!" Will asserted. "I have not and will not give up on you."