Archive of Our Own ^beta

deep down, nico knew that he and will were safely back in the land of the living, he knew that this might just be nyx playing tricks on him (again), and he knew that he’d let his mamma and bianca go.
but everything felt so real.
his mamma, the gorgeous maria di’angelo, was standing in front of him with her hand reaching out to touch his face. he could almost feel the warmth of her fingers, the softness of her well-kept hands. bianca was sat behind her on a plush chair. something in the back of nico’s mind registered that they were probably in the lotus casino – he recognised the furniture in the room and that ridiculously rich-looking wallpaper that he’d spent the majority of his life looking at – but he couldn’t find it in him to care. his family was back with him and they were all safe.
“i’ve missed you, amore mio,” maria glanced back at bianca, “we both have.”
nico smiled and leaned into his mamma’s hand. tears came to his eyes before he could stop them. his mama’s hand felt so lovely resting on his face. warm and comforting and nostalgic, something he hadn’t felt in, well… decades.
“mamma,” he practically sobbed. maria only continued smiling.
“i love you, my sweet boy. you’ve done so well."

bianca moved forward, reaching out to grab nico’s hand. “yes, you’ve done amazing, mio amato fratello,” nico sighed and gave his sister a watery smile, “but it wasn’t enough.”
nico cocked his head to the side, his mamma’s hand moving away from his face and leaving a cold shadow in its wake. “what do you mean?”
the two women in front of him continued smiling. nico thought it was starting to look strange. “mamma?” he asked cautiously, “bianca? what do you mean?”
“your boyfriend, nico,” bianca said, “your night light, your love, your will. why didn’t you save him on the path over Chaos?”
nico almost laughed. “i- i did save will. i stopped him from falling, i grabbed him when he slipped.”
the landscape around them began to change.

“no, my love, you let him fall. remember? you weren’t strong enough.”
“you failed him. even though you promised you wouldn’t.”
“he trusted you. nico, how could you?”
bianca and maria’s voices began to change. they were becoming more sinister, deeper, distorted in a way. nico was only becoming more confused. he’d saved will. before his boyfriend fell off the path, nico’s arms were around him and will was pulled into his chest. will was alive. will was safe.
was he?

his mamma’s hand reached out for his face once more. nico looked up at her with tear-stained cheeks and watery eyes. maria grabbed his chin gently, looking into his eyes.
“why don’t you take a look for yourself, caro?” she pushed his head to the side, where bianca was pointing down.
down, into a dark pit of nothingness. into chaos. and the worst part?
the sound of someone slipping on gravel.
nico turned around as fast as he could to see will behind him, falling.

“will!” he yelled, reaching out, “will, no! mama, bianca, help!” he found himself crying again, watching as his mamma and bianca did nothing. his boyfriend, the love of his life, was falling into a pit of despair and nothingness, and no one was doing anything. fuck, nico himself wasn’t doing anything. all he could do was sit and watch as the one person he felt he could truly be himself around slipped away from him – literally – to a place where he could never follow.
he let out a gut-wrenching sob, turning around, wanting nothing more than the comforting warmth of his mamma.
but his mamma and bianca were leaning. leaning to opposite sides over the abyss that was chaos.
“no!” he screamed, scrambling up onto his feet and running, no, sprinting over to where his family was stood. he wrenched his arms out to either side, catching his mamma and bianca’s hands. their bodies felt like they were made of lead, pulling him down with them. his arms ached, his head was throbbing, and everything felt like it was going wrong. bianca and maria were supposed to be safe in the underworld, and yet here they were hanging over the edge of chaos. nico could have been sure that will was safe at camp half-blood, but now that he’d seen his boyfriend fall, slip out of his hands and away from him forever, he couldn’t be so sure.

maria and bianca slipped further out of his grasp, and he screamed again. it was a tormented scream, one full of anguish and pain, releasing every negative emotion nico had ever felt. all of the annoyance, frustration, and hurt he’d felt over the last few months was let out in that one scream.
unfortunately, so was his energy.
his mamma slipped first. nico began sobbing hysterically, frantically reaching for her, for the first person he’d loved and the first one he’d lost. he yelled, screamed louder than he ever had before.
then bianca fell. nico had the misfortune of looking at her as she descended. her smiling face would haunt him forever. he curled up into a ball, silently screaming into his knees. his bianca, his mamma and now his love were gone forever. nothing would ever be the same again. nico didn’t think he could ever be happy, ever love, again.

nico gasped, sucking in more breath than he intended and coughing hard as a result. tears were streaming down his face as he sat up, hyperventilating and shaking.
“woah, nico, darlin’, whats going on?”

nico practically snapped around to look behind him. there on nico’s bed, resting on his elbows with an incredibly concerned look on his face, was will solace.
“oh, gods,” nico choked out, flinging himself at his boyfriend, “will- will, oh.”
nico felt arms come around him and a hand intertwining itself with his presumably messy hair. “talk to me, hon, what’s happened? why are you cryin’ so much?”
but nico couldn’t talk. he was more distressed than he’d ever been before. all he could do was cling onto will with his head above his boyfriend’s heart, listening to the rhythmic thump that reminded him that will was alive. he simply shook his head and will laid back down, holding nico in a protective way.
after a while, when will began to realise that something potentially traumatic had happened in nico’s dream and his boyfriend wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon, he began humming. the song was Italian – it had a name that will couldn’t pronounce – and was one that nico had admitted his mother had enjoyed listening to. upon hearing it, nico lifted his head off will’s chest and looked at hos boyfriend with watery eyes and red cheeks. will hated to admit that nico looked rather adorable.

“hi.” will said quietly with a smile on his face.
“hi.” nico replied. his voice was scratchy and his nose was blocked, but at least he wasn’t sobbing into will anymore.
“are you okay? d’you wanna tell me what happened yet?”

nico took a deep breath and sat up, detatching himself from will and holding onto his boyfriend’s hand instead. “mamma. and bianca. i talked to them again but they- they said some stuff. said i’d failed you and- and shit like that. it started off so good. i was so glad to be with them but then all of a sudden we were back there. back in tartatus. above chaos. and- and you were there. you fell this time. you fell all the way down and I couldn’t do anything except watch. it was like torture. but then I turned around and, will, they were falling too. mamma and-“ nico’s voice broke, and will’s hand moved back to nico’s back, drawing gentle circles “-mamma and bianca fell too. i was holding them. I tried to pull them back up, i swear i did, but-“
“nico,” will said softly, pulling nico into an embrace, “it was a dream, darlin’. you told me yourself, you let maria and bianca go. they’re safe and happy in the underworld. and i’m right here. i’m never leavin’ you. unless you want me to, ‘course, but you love me too much for that.””
nico smiled a little, snuggling further into will. “i do love you. my big strong night light.”
will laughed, throwing his head back. “i love you too, ghost king.”

the two of them curled up together in will’s bed. nico was still sniffling and will knew it would be a while before he was fully okay again, but for now they could at least get some more rest.

“will?”
will hummed in response.
“you’re glowing.”
“well, you’re the one who said i’m your night light.”
in the dim light radiating from his body, will saw nico playfully glare at him. “idiot. stop glowing, i cant sleep because of the light.”
“anything for you, o’ grumpy one.”
“shut up.” nico grumbled, shoving his head into will’s chest.