IV

Nico suddenly felt all the hope he had drain out of him as Octavian walked to him with his smirk still plastered on his face. He stopped right in front of Nico and Nico was ready to hear all the insults he had ready for him, but no one said anything at all for a second. Just the sounds of his own breathing.

Then soon enough after the silence a loud sound of flesh hitting flesh was heard...yep Octavian slapped him. Hard. Hard enough for him to hit the floor with a thump. Every body in the hallway cleared knowing exactly what was gonna happen next.

Soon no body was around just Nico and Octavian with his minions surrounding him.

"So I guess you finally learned your lesson huh di Angelo?" Octavian spat at him.

Nico couldn't even try to fight back, he felt so numb that all he did was stare up at the ceiling trying not to cry. This was it, he was done, he didn't want to be here anymore, he wanted to go home, see Hazel, or at least get out from under Octavian's shadow but he knew he couldn't.

No matter how hard he tried to move or yell or scream, he felt himself trapped.

He didn't know where to turn to get away but he did anyway, only for Octavian to grab him by the collar and pull him back up.

"You're going nowhere." Octavian growled.

Nico could feel tears welling up in his eyes, he hated this, he hated being weak, he hated feeling like this.

But he also knew that if he fought back it would end badly him  so instead he remained quiet, tears slipping down his cheeks. The pain in his cheek grew more unbearable every second. Finally Octavian released his grip and let him fall to the ground.

Once again his world came to an abrupt stop. Octavian stood there smirking down at him, not even blinking. Then suddenly he took Nico by the arm and dragged him across the hall. Nico's eyes widened in fear, he had never been dragged anywhere before. Octavian then pushed him forward until they reached the bathroom door.

Nico watched as Octavian opened the door and shoved him inside. Octavian slammed the door shut behind him and locked it. His entire body shook when he heard the lock click into place. What now? He thought. All he could do was stare at the wall while he waited.

The first thing Octavian said was "Why can't you just die?" Nico stared in disbelief at the door. Don't you think I've tried? He felt his tears coming to the surface once again. This is why he hated bullies! He cried silently to himself.

Then after what seemed like hours the door handle started turning and then the door opened slowly revealing Octavian's tall figure standing behind the door with an expressionless mask on his face. It wasn't fair; this had to stop right now. Before Nico even had time to react Octavian had grabbed him by the neck and slammed him onto the floor. Nico struggled against Octavian's grasp.

He soon seemed to be losing consciousness but Octavian let go  blacked out completely. After he did Nico's vision began fading and he became very light headed.

The last thing he remembered before everything went black was Octavians laughing at him. He soon left after verbally abusing him.

What had he done to deserve this, he hadn't hurt him, he hadn't killed anyone he loved, he hadn't even talked to him before until last year at the Welcome back ceremony.

Maybe, it's because of the girlfriend incident, but that wasn't the case. Nico had asked so many times but he got was, 'Because you exist'.

{Will's Pov}

I finished talking to Percy and turned back to Nico, only to find him gone. How didn't I notice he left. I looked around frantically until I checked the whole school but still no sign of Nico. There was one place left....the bathroom.

I walked over and found the door lightly opened, so I entered only to find Nico on the floor a mangled mess.

I rushed to him and knelt beside him, putting my hand on his head as if that might help calm him down, but he only seemed to tense up even more. As soon as his eyes fell on me his head snapped to look at the door.

He jumped up and backed against the far wall looking like he might faint or pass out. His chest rose up and down rapidly and he was shaking slightly. It was clear he was scared but still fighting with himself about something. I put my hands on his shoulders as if trying to comfort him and I spoke in the softest voice I could.

I asked "What happened?" but he didn't answer. In fact he didn't even seem to register that I spoke. Suddenly he raised his arms and wrapped them tightly around himself as if trying to protect himself.

I continued speaking hoping that would make him more responsive "Nico. Talk to me, please, tell me what happened. Please!" My words seemed to have the opposite effect because instead of talking, he began crying hysterically. His cries were filled with terror and sadness as if someone had taken hold of his heart and squeezed it tight.

I pulled him close to me and whispered reassuring words but nothing changed. We sat there for the whole of free period and I intended to stay until lunch. That was unti I felt his shoulders ease up and his breath even out. He was asleep.  I gently ran my fingers through his hair and softly kissed his forehead. I knew that the moment I got back to class I would find out exactly what caused this but right now, I wanted to take care of Nico first.

{Nico's POV}

My head hurt like a bitch, I massaged my temple as I took in my surroundings. The last thing I remember was Will coming into the bathroom and asking me what was wrong before that everything went blank. I was pretty sure I felt him kiss my forehead but that could just be a trick of the mind.

I got up and stumbled out of the stall as fast as possible trying to avoid running into anyone else. When I stepped outside the doors of the bathroom I immediately saw Will. He was leaning against a wall, holding his head in his hands and looking absolutely miserable. At the sight of him my heart dropped. He looked up at my approach and straightened up.

He smiled sadly and asked "Are you okay?" but I could sense the underlying meaning behind his question. He knows something has happened to me.

I nodded and proceeded to make my way to class, and of course he followed close behind. We didn't talk until we went to our next class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon class was over and it was time for lunch, I decided to go to the nurse's office to just rest my head and hope time passes since I didn't feel all that hungry.

Once again my body ached and my stomach was protesting. The thought of food sent a pang of anxiety through my system. If they found out I had skipped classes and skipped food then they would punish me severely, which wouldn't sit well with me.

I entered the nurse's office and said hi to Mrs Ruby, she asked why I was skipping lunch and I just shrugged and said I wasn't hungry. She just frowned at me and took out her phone, the sound of her keyboard taping echoed in the once silent room.

A few minutes later Will came bursting through the door with a tray of food consisting of an Apple, a sandwich and a carton of milk. He set down the tray and sighed. "You really should eat Nico" he said.

I didn't reply.

I didn't want him to see how weak and pathetic I was acting, I knew he'd try to convince me otherwise.

I simply replied "I'm not that hungry, I'll eat later." But he was not backing down until I ate. He was getting frustrating.

I just sighed and gave into the fact that I had no choice. He placed his palm on my forehead to check my temperature and I flinched away from the contact.

"Don't touch me." I said coldly.

He just chuckled and said "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

I crossed my arms and said in my most sarcastic tone "Oh yeah? Well maybe if you kept your hands off of me I would actually be able to sleep soundly at night!"

That was definitely not the best choice of words I could have chosen to use but at that point my patience was wearing thin. So much for staying strong and ignoring my problems.

A flash of hurt swept over his eyes, but was quickly replaced by one of his sunshiney smiles I suddenly felt like a horrible person. I just shook of the feeling and reached for the sandwich but my wrists started to hurt like heck.

I let out a gasp making Will turn to me in worry, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" I just shook my head and grabbed a hold of my wrist and realization dawned on his face.

"Oh, your wrists....did you use that ointment I told you to use."  He  raised his eyebrow waiting for my response.

After a couple seconds of silence I finally responded "Yeah..so?" Will looked concerned.

"It seems to have worn off now" I answered quietly. Will then moved closer to me and inspected my wrists. It was true the bruises were starting to fade but some areas had already become swollen.

He then picked up a roll of gauze and bandage from the box on the side table. Carefully he removed my wrist from his grip and began wrapping it up. I watched in astonishment as he did this without any hesitation. Why didn't he say anything before? Did he know something about this?

"Wow, Will you're really good at this. Are you perhaps studying to enter med school." Mrs Ruby asked in astonishment. He just said because his mother and father are doctors they taught him everything he knows.

Since my wrist were still swollen he feed me. As embarrassing as it was, I didn't really care. It's not like I had a choice, I couldn't push him away without hurting myself so I had to give in.