Hello! Here's a really quick and short update. I just had the idea and wrote it down. I hope you like this chapter even though it's only like, 650 words. I don't own any characters of fanart that appear in this fanfic.

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Will POV

Will knew he’d made a mistake the second he saw what his house looked like, and his panic only rised when he realized Nico was nowhere to be found.

“No, no, no, no…” he muttered under his breath as he fumbled to get out his phone. He checked the news, and his suspicions were only confirmed at what he saw.

The headline of the news article was titled, “Three Teenage Boys Disappear In The Middle Of The Day; Could The Infamous Sea Monster Be back?”. Just dandy.

He ran outside his house, looking wildly around the neighborhood in search of the familiar head of black hair. Though he knew his search was useless; you can’t find someone who doesn’t want to be found, especially when that person is Nico.

Just as he turned a block he ran right into some of his friends, who all had the same worried and scared expressions on their faces. Although, Will assumed his friends had fears about something contrary to him.

“It’s him isn’t it?” Hazel asked, her normally shining gold eyes dull.

“I-I mean, it might not be him, it could be kidnapping, or just bad people,” Will said, although he knew he was lying to his friends as well as himself.

“Do you know where he is?” Annabeth asked, her gray eyes flashing, as if she were ready to prove a point. Will mumbled a quiet no. “I guessed as much. It’s most likely him, we should’ve never had trusted him. If only we’d had a better plan…”

“Hey! It’s not his fault! It’s just something he can’t control,” Will defended, his face hardening.

“Will, how would you even know that?” Cecil asked, an eyebrow raised.

“He told me,” Will stated confidently.

“And how do you know he wasn’t lying?” Jason replied.

“I...I just know, alright? But if we go find him…”

“No, no way. That’s how this all started in the first place. It put all of us in danger and I’m not putting any of my friends at risk, including you,” Percy said, as if taking on the unofficial role of team leader.

“I know you think he isn’t all that bad, but for once, just think. Snap back to reality, if you got hurt I’d never forgive myself,” Lou said, her gaze hardening.

“I know but-”

“Will,” Reyna said, her stare cold. “I know you care about him, but he is a murderer. He’s done terrible things. You can’t really just expect us to forgive him? Much less half the town, where a majority of people lost a loved one because of him.”

Will wanted to argue, to say it wasn’t his fault, but he started having doubts himself. Nico had constantly asked Will if he was scared of him, and the blonde would always reply no with confidence, but now...he wondered if was just lying to himself.

Had he always done that? Tried to hide how he really felt? He always thought he was brave, never as scared of the so-called “sea monster” as everyone else, but now he was wondering if that was all just a wall he’d built. Was...was he scared of Nico?

But last night, when Nico had woken up screaming, he hadn’t hesitated to help. Will didn’t look at Nico as a monster, as a supernatural being, but as a living creature. With feelings, and fears that were as valid as anyone else's. Insecurities, hobbies, thoughts and ideas that were no different than his. If he’d really been scared of Nico, would he have helped Nico that night?

If he were really scared of Nico…

He wouldn’t run off and go find him in the last place Will could think of.

So that’s exactly what he did.

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I know, I know. It was really short. But no worries...

'Cause it just means that next one will be really long (hopefully)!

I hope you enjoyed this quick little chapter, and thank you so much for reading! <3