not about angels - solangelo au

Chapter 21

It was so fast, I barely knew what happened. One second, Octavian had his hand raised, and then Will was laying crumpled on the ground.

"What did you do?" I almost yelled, rushing over to Will's body. He didn't move at all. I pressed two fingers against the vein in his neck and exhaled in relief when I felt the slow flutter of his pulse.

"I took care of the problem," Octavian said, dropping his hand. "Angels are the problem. I'm clearing the world of filth."

"Filth?" I asked, standing up. "We're supposed to work with the angels. Not kill them all. We need them."

"Maybe you do," Octavian sneered. "But I'm not weak, like you or this angel, I'm strong and-"

He stopped talking when I pulled my knife from my belt and stabbed him in the stomach.

"You-" he stammered, face contorting with pain. "You stabbed me."

"You deserve it," I snarled, letting go of the handle.

Octavian brought both hands to the hilt of the knife and coughed, blood coming out of his mouth.

He looked at me with a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes. "I can't believe that you'd-" He coughed again, falling to all fours.

"I'm going to die," he said, eyes wide, his voice becoming even shriller as he panicked. He desperately tugged on the knife, which only caused more damage. I watched his blood drip onto the ground.

His face hardened with anger, and pain. "At least you'll be thrown in jail. You murdered another demon! There aren't many crimes-"

He coughed again, and closed his mouth, rolling onto his side, hands wrapped around the hilt of the dagger. I listened, barely even remorseful in my anger, as his uneven, shuddering breaths eventually stopped.

Looking at the two of them together made me realize how they could almost look similar. It was like they were the same person, except that Will was infinitely more attractive. And Octavian was dead.

Dead. The reminder that Octavian was dead pulled me back to rational thinking, and all the consequences of my actions came flooding into my mind.

Octavian was right, for once, I thought. They'll put me in jail for sure. What am I going to do?

I looked at the two figure motionless in front of me again. Firstly, I figured I had to wake Will up and get him to an angel healer or something. I kneeled beside him again and shook his shoulder gently.

"Will," I said. "Will. Come on, wake up. We've gotta get you to a doctor."

He didn't move. I rechecked his pulse. He was alive...why couldn't he wake up. Dread filled my heart. What did Octavian do?

I began to pick up Will, not even sure where I was going to take him, when I hear Reyna's astonished voice from behind me.

"Nico?" I left Will where he was and turned around to face Reyna, realizing that my hands were speckled with blood, and Octavian was dead next to me.

"Um," I said. "Look, this isn't what it looks like-"

"'Not what it looks like?'" Reyna's voice was scarily quiet. "Nico, what did you do?"

"I-I just lost control," I stammered, knowing that there was no way I would get out of this. "Octavian tried to kill Will, and-"

"And you killed him," Reyna said, walking over and gingerly touching the knife embedded in Octavian's stomach.

I didn't reply. Nothing I could say would fix anything.

"I can't just forget this, you know," Reyna said, her tone changing to one of resignation. "I'll have to bring you in to Hades."

"I know," I replied, a dead weight in my stomach.

She let go of the knife and turned to me, eyes angry. "Why'd you have to go and do something stupid like this?!?"

"I-" I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing how crazy my next sentence would sound. "I think I love him. Like, actual love."

Reyna shook her head. "It's too early. You can't know for sure."

"Trust me, I know."

She sighed and stood up, regret filling her face, pushing out all the anger. "I've got to go talk to Hades. I'm really sorry, Nico."

"Saying that I'm sorry, too won't make anything better," I said. It wasn't a question.

"No," Reyna replied, and shadow-traveled.

I gripped Will's hand in my own.

_______________________________________________________

What's wrong with Will? What'll happen to Nico? Will they ever be together? So many questions.

That was incredibly awkward, but Octavian's dead, so that's cool. I dunno when the next update's gonna be, I might have to think for a week or two, but it should definitely be before mid-October. Hope you didn't die of a stress-induced heart attack from last chapter's cliffhanger.

xo - romanticxchemicals