Alone Again (Percico/Pernico AU)

Chapter 32

I hate school, thanks.😂 also, this chapter sucks bc I have no inspiration🙃😂

{TRIGGER WARNING: chapter contains implication(s) of suicide and violence}

"Things get fucked up instead."
*****

The first thing Nico did was call the detention facility. The line was busy, yet he continued calling until someone accepted his call. He requested to talk to any of the inhabitants, and ended up with Percy on the phone, thank the gods.

"How's it going down there?" Nico asked with slight hesitation.

He heard a sigh come from the other end. "Well, I can't get Clarisse or Connor to calm down, I can't talk to any workers because they're 'busy,' and I can't even call the fucking hospital to see what the deal is. So, I'd say fantastically, how about you?"

"Waiting for Frank to get here and take us to the hospital."

"Tell Frank he's appreciated by me."

"Will do." Just then, Reyna's phone dinged from across the living room.

Reyna looked at the text before raising her eyes to Nico. "He's turning onto the street, let's go wait outside."

Nico nodded, returning to the former conversation. "He's here. I gotta go. I'll try to call again after I get there." The brown-eyed boy sighed. "Bye, Percy."

"Good luck." And with that, Percy ended the call. Nico returned the landline to its original spot before following Reyna out the front door and down the stairs. They waited in silence at the door for a few moments before seeing the familiar mini van that Frank drove around. The two climbed in the middle section behind Frank and Hazel.

"Why is everyone going? Does anyone even know Travis?" Nico asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

Reyna nodded with a sigh. "It's a long story."

"That no one has told me yet," Hazel interjected for the passenger seat.

Frank threw his hand up. "I second that."

"You'll find out eventually," Reyna reassured, unlocking her phone and texting Annabeth about the situation.

The remainder of the ride was devoid of speaking, aside from Frank and Hazel's occasional whispers to each other. After what seemed like forever, the four finally arrived at the hospital. Nico always hated hospitals, especially since the last time he was in one. They just contained a shit ton of sickness, death, and misery. Plus, he hated being reminded of his visit about two years ago.

He'd been so confused that day. His father was there, surprisingly. Nico had been rushed by Hades di Angelo, silence flooding into both of their eardrums. Silence that confused Nico more than he already was, and silence that temporarily stopped all of the boy's troubles.

But an untroubled life can only last so long.

So the perfect way to spend his free time, right?

Returning to the problem at hand, things only made Nico's day better. After being told they had to wait because Travis was in the ICU, receiving no further contact from the juveniles, and realizing he had homework, Nico sighed to himself every five minutes at most, annoyingly less spaced out most of the time.

And everyone was just slightly annoying.

*****

Percy was struggling immensely at trying to be the mom friend. That was always Connor's role, but he was all kinds of emotional and just simply not put together. The two sat on the bed, Connor currently sleeping on Percy's shoulder (which took excessive effort to achieve). On the other end of the spectrum, Clarisse was sitting in the empty bunk, cursing under he breath. She'd been in a few heated debates with a few officers until Percy, quite literally, dragged her away from the situation.

That same routine went on for about twenty minutes before there was silence.

Silence that spoke more curse words than Clarisse ever could.

Silence in which you could almost hear Travis's boisterous voice.

Silence that was all too familiar with Perseus Jackson.

And silence that could've convinced someone that everything was okay.

But silence can only last so long.

**time skip to two days later bc writer's block**

Everything was going by too fast for Nico to grasp even a single thing. Yesterday, things were relatively calm. He'd tried and failed to visitTravis, called Percy about the boy's non-improving condition at the facility so he could update Connor, and moved on with his ratchet life.

Life went totally haywire the next day, though. Nico went to school, just like he did every weekday. Arriving home with Jason, however, his daily schedule was changed.

At the hospital, meet me there.
~Thalia

*****

"Connor, please come eat," Percy shouted down the corridor, approaching the Stoll door. Getting no response, he sighed and opened the door.

Only to see the worst possible scenario.

Connor Stoll stood in the center of the cell, gun in his hands with a broken expression on his face. He looked up at the new arrival and gulped.

Percy, as usual, didn't take a moment to consider the consequences of his actions before he leapt at the armed male in an attempt to take away what could've been the end of the younger Stoll's life.

"Percy, I need this!" Connor sobbed at the taller boy, struggling to regain his escape.

The green-eyed boy didn't respond, instead continuing to pull away the weapon. He refused to let another person die on his watch. After blaming himself for his mother's death and nearly everyone blaming him for Gabe's and Bianca's, Percy didn't think he could handle the burden of another death without soon being in Connor's mind set.

Footfalls came rushing from the hallway, most likely hearing the commotion. The two vaguely heard voices from the corridor as they continued to fight. Maybe if they'd gotten there sooner, the situation could've been stopped. And they almost got there in enough time to save him. However, when Connor's hand finally shifted to grip the gun better, everything froze.

The shot was fired.

If this chapter seems terrible, it's because I have writer's block and literally lost my plot line. I hope you appreciate the happy chapter ending🙃😂😂