Bring Me Back to Life

Chapter 1

Will's POV

The night Leo came back, he set the camp on fire.  Metaphorically, of course.  Well, also literally too; he was the one who lit the bonfire.  After all, the return of the Leo Valdez meant a large bonfire celebration. And who better to light it then a guy who could literally shoot fire out of his hands? 

I plastered a smirk on his face as Leo shouted, “ARE YOU READY?!”  I cheered along with the rest of the demigod crowd as the son of Hephaestus flashed his usual impish grin.  His hands slowly began to smoke, and at the right moment, they set aflame.  I cheered and accidentally dropped my Sunny D bottle in excitement.  A familiar chuckle emitted from behind him, and Will whipped around.

It was Nico.

He picked up my drink as Leo placed his hands on the jumble of sticks.  I suddenly felt as though thousands of rays of sunshine were beaming on me.  I must’ve been blushing furiously.  

“Umm… dude,” I heard someone say.

I must’ve been drifting off, because I looked up to see Nico’s dark eyes stare into mine.

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked.

“Oh uh… sorry I didn’t mean to.. uh…”

I must’ve been going crazy. I kept stuttering; finishing a sentence was probably one of the last things I was going to be able to accomplish today.  Nico looked at me, probably thinking I was being painfully awkward.  It was good that Percy jumped in or else I would’ve totally confessed some things that are meant to be secret.

“Nico!” Percy pushed through the crowd with Annabeth by his side (which wasn’t surprising).  They looked madly in love, and for the first time, I could tell that Nico wasn’t bothered by it.  After Nico had confessed that he had a crush on Percy, he ran straight to me.  Even though we had only known each other for like, two days, we seemed to be able to tell each other everything.  

“We have an idea.”  Annabeth nodded her head up and down excitedly.  “We want the seven to say something special to Leo.  You know, now that he’s not dead.  Even though you aren’t one of the seven, you were still there.  So...will you?”

Nico looked at me sadly. “Well, are you sure? I mean, we didn’t really get off on the best of terms when we first met each other.”

Percy shook his head and said, “Of course! Leo would tell me all the time on the ship that he felt bad for you sometimes because you wouldn’t really talk to anyone. He also had said that he’s tried countless times to talk to you or at least say hi but he never did because he was afraid you would tell him to go away.”

“Right,” Nico replied in angry tone. “Because I’m the one who scares everyone away. And don’t look at me like that; I saw your face when I told you -

“Told him what?” Piper and Jason walked over to where we were. Piper looked confused but Jason soon figured out what was going on.

Nico just shook his head. “Forget it. I should leave. No good for me being here anyway.”

“That’s not true!” Percy yelled as Nico started walking to his cabin. He started to run after him. “NICO!”

After what happened, I got really concerned. Was Nico okay? Where is he? Why am I so concerned about him? It's none of my business about where my friend went.

My friend.

The words suddenly felt like strangers to me. I started to think: When Nico came to camp, I did my best to make sure he was alright. I made him spend time with me in the infirmary. And most importantly, I helped him get over his crush on Percy.