Shelter (Solangelo)

Chapter 4

Nico slowly comes back to himself, an enormous domed ceiling swimming before his eyes, fading in and out of focus, and giving him the sensation he's looking at it from underwater.

A thundering sound reaches Nico's ears, but he can't feel his body enough to try to turn his head, and settles for staring straight upwards. Reyna's face rises before his eyes, and it's such a welcoming sight – safe, I'm safe now – that Nico is ready to close his eyes and slip into sleep.

"Don't you dare, Nico!" Reyna says, her eyes fierce. They seem to draw his attention like a magnet, fixing him in place. "You're more shadow than substance. Keep your eyes on me. As soon as I can touch you, I'll lend you some strength. Just don't even think of fading!"

He hears her, but finding the will to pull himself together proves harder than he wants to admit. No matter what he does, he messes things up. He'd been ready to make a go of it at Camp Half-Blood, to try to live a life for once – and then Will Solace happened – and he's just no good with the feelings Will forces him to face.

He thinks Reyna must have found a part of him to hold onto, lending him her strength. He hears the same whispering voice in his head that he'd heard when Reyna had delivered the Athena Parthenos. You are not alone. You are a part of the Olympian family. The gods have not abandoned you.

He licks his lips, feeling them for the first time in gods knows how long. He has no idea how long he's been here, pooling in a shadowy mess on the Senate House floor. Reyna smiles down at him and it's enough. He feels not-quite-whole again, but put together enough to speak. The swimming focus of his vision stabilizes.

"How long?" Nico rasps. He swallows. Reyna helps him sit up, and then takes a seat beside him, her arm around his shoulders, giving him some support to lean upon. "How long was I out?"

"I don't know. I was coming in to prepare for a Senate meeting and you were just here. Let me know when you can stand. I want you to be seen by a physician.”

Just what I need, another physician.

"Right." Nico remains silent for a long time, and Reyna doesn't push him to talk.

~*~

It's nearing noon when Nico is left alone in another damned infirmary. He sighs. He's been poked, prodded, and even X-rayed. He feels a bit like an owl with his feathers askew. He settles back on the hospital bed – this one only has one pillow – and even though he feels like he's falling apart at the seams, the scent of Will on his T-shirt is a source of comfort he doesn't want to talk about.

He lifts the front of his shirt up over his nose – probably making him look like he's trying pull off a gothic-bandit style – and breathes deeply, closing his eyes and thinking about what ifs.

And then Hazel enters the room.

"What are you doing?" she asks, giggling.

He pulls the front of his shirt back down and pushes himself up on his elbows, then winces – his arms don't feel quite as well healed as they had before he shadow-traveled. He lies back down again. "Hey," he says, holding out an arm toward her.

She rushes over and gives him a big, squishy, bent-over hug. The feel of her bouncy curls against his cheek – the scent of freshness, of growing things that clings to Hazel – makes him feel like he's home again. It's odd, though having more than one place to call home isn't such a hard pill to swallow. Hazel pulls back and finds a chair, then brings it over to sit beside him.

"So, you wanna tell me what you're doing here? Reyna says you nearly faded entirely." She's not smiling any longer. Reunion's over, now to get down to brass tacks.