Percy Jackson, The Missing Hero.

25. Will Solace.

"What happened?" Percy asked, at a loss of what else to say. He knew it would be bad, he had guessed Will had passed at some point in his absence, but he was unsure how or when. "Gods Nico, that must have been terrible." He added, pulling Nico forward into the warmest hug he could give, wincing when tears started to soak the shoulder of his t-shirt.

"I wasn't even gone for a week and he was fine when I left him. I felt so guilty that we'd left things unresolved so I decided to go back," Nico sobbed and all he could do was comfort him. "Even when we argued about me going, he was always worried about me making it back in one piece, the thought didn't even pass through my mind that one day I'd come back and... Apollo was just standing in my Cabin when I stepped out of the shadows and I cracked a joke about him being the wrong bundle of sunshine I wanted to see. Then I saw the look on his face and I knew something had happened.He just looked at me and told me that he was so sorry, there had been an accident and Will didn't make it."

Nico had pulled back from the hug before he had mentioned Apollo's name, picking at a stray thread on the blanket so he wouldn't have to meet Percy's eyes as he explained the rest.

"Neeks, I would have come back in a heartbeat if I had known," Percy assured him. There was a sentiment of resentment rising in his chest towards Chaos, blaming him for not being here to comfort Nico. And for being the reason Nico was absent from Camp in the first-place - though, the blame for that mainly rested on Nathan's shoulders.

"You couldn't have done anything." Nico shook his head. "None of us could and that's the worst thing about it."

"It's okay." Percy comforted before rethinking the sentiment. "Oh gods, no, that's the worst thing to say to people."

Nico let out a wet laugh. "Mom loved him. I took him home a few weekends here and there because he used to say he missed home-cooked food and, well, he lived here all year. Which, of course you knew."

"Yeah, I remember him being here a lot," Percy responded, remembering a much younger Will being one of the campers present in the winter that Nico and Bianca had been discovered. "He was always with Lee and Michael, the three of them were nearly as inseparable as the Stolls."

"It wasn't fair, what happened." He stated softly. "Even my dad was furious about it, and not just because he was my boyfriend."

"What happened?" Percy asked gently, he didn't want to push too hard.

"In all honesty, I never asked for the full version of events," Nico admitted. "It was bad enough that he was gone, I didn't need a step by step account of how it happened."

"I can imagine." Percy nodded in understanding.

"Have you ever seen what happens when a demigod breaks an Oath on the Styx?" Nico asked bitterly.

"No." He stated. He'd seen many things during his time at camp, but could barely recall if he had ever seen the aftermath of a broken Oath, despite being the product of a broken Oath himself. "I know it's bad though... But Will wouldn't?" Percy blurted out, frowning.

"Will didn't." Nico shook his head. "Someone else did."

"Who?" Percy asked, his mind going to Nathan instantly.

"After you left, there were still a few weeks of Camp left. Grover heard from a few other Satyrs that they'd met demigods in places like Disneyland and some resorts, so obviously arrangements were made for them to come to Camp. By then, people had started to get tired of Nathan, so when new Campers came in, he was attracted to them like a mosquito to a blood bank," Nico explained, grimacing. "Some of them hated him, but some of them loved him. One or two of them he actually knew from school, so you can imagine what they were like. Most of Nathan's lapdogs arrived after you left, with some exceptions, but Tanner was one of the demigods that arrived late that summer."