I'm sorry this took so long :( I had stuff to deal with stuff... But I am really happy/sad to be concluding this story and I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who reviewed :) You are the reason I kept continuing through! So thank you, from the bottom of my heart!

Now without further ado...THE LAST CHAPTER!

Nico raced home, blood roaring through his ears. Oh gods where was Will? When Hazel opened the door, a hopeful smile on her face, it vanished as quickly as a puddle on a hot day. "Oh no," she whispered.

"Will's mom is calling the police. I gave her the names of all of Will's friends, but I don't think he's with any of them."

Hazel pushed her unruly hair from her face and stamped her foot in frustration, "Where could he be then?"

Nico licked his lips and said, "Can you call Frank? I might know of a few places, but we'll need a ride."

The children's hospital. No.

The local college library. No.

Slamming his fist into the side of the building, Nico swore and pressed his head to the cool brick wall. Not at the archery range either. He was out of ideas. Where the hell could Will have gone for three days? Did he leave the city? As Nico forced the panic from his mind, one last place materialized in his head.

Did it hurt you at all when you fell from heaven di Angelo? Because it sure hurt me when I fell for you.

"The waterfall," Nico breathed.

Frank gunned the engine, and they were all flying down the highway, mouths set in grim lines. Hazel glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Nico staring broodingly out the window, dark hair falling into his face. He had seemed so much more content since he and Will became friends and Hazel wished with all her heart that her brother would finally get the happy ending he deserved.

Nico already had the door open as Frank parked in the gravel driveway and Frank and Hazel had to scramble to keep up with the Italian as he wove through the forest. The sun was slowly starting to fade and Nico knew he needed to get to the waterfall before it became too dark to find the faint trail. Nico pushed past the ferns to the top of the waterfall, Hazel and Frank close behind. Will had to be here, Nico couldn't think of anywhere else. He stuttered to a halt, staring in horror at the scene below.

Hazel's piercing scream shattered the serenity of the forest.

(A/N: I was seriously considering leaving it here for a bit...but I thought that was too mean HEHE)

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Nico thought he was going to throw up. His best friend, his...boyfriend, was sprawled at an unnatural angle at the base of the waterfall. Scrambling down the rocks, Nico knelt by Will, constricted sobs building up in his throat. Will was laying face down in the coarse sand, his arm bent awkwardly beneath his body. Dried blood strained the area by Will's head and Nico could see a small gash running across his forehead.

He couldn't tell if Will was breathing.

Frank knelt down beside Nico as Hazel hovered behind them. Frank slipped his fingers beside Will's neck and gave a weak smile. "He still has a pulse. But he needs immediate medical attention."

As Hazel dialled for an ambulance, Nico rocked back and forth on his heels, too afraid to touch Will. Afraid that Frank had made a mistake and that Will was dead and gone, and that it was all his fault. He blinked rapidly as Frank wrapped a strong arm over his and Hazel's shoulder. When the Frank left to lead the paramedics to the secluded area, Hazel gave Nico a firm hug.

"He'll be okay," she whispered, but the uncertainty in her voice made Nico's blood run cold. How long had Will lain there? it made him sick to think that if Hazel hadn't convinced him to go to Will's house yesterday, Will might have been dead by now. He completely shut down, watching numbly as the paramedics lifted Will onto a stretcher and carried him away. It was only due to Hazel and Frank's support that he didn't collapse at that moment, but when Will disappeared from view, Nico started to panic.

"I have to be with him!" Nico shouted suddenly, racing towards the ambulance. He banged fruitlessly on the closed doors, until two paramedics pulled him away.

Frank put an arm around him. "We'll follow behind the ambulance." Nico nodded, eyes fixated on the ambulance as it wailed away.

Beeeep Beeeeep Beeeeeep

There was a dull throbbing in Nico's head as he sat beside Will. He barely heard the doctor as he murmured to Hazel, Frank and Will's family. "Overexertion" and "exposure" were thrown around quite a bit, but Nico was waiting for the words "Going to make a full recovery."

He didn't hear them.

"His body has gone into a temporary shutdown," the doctor explained to Mr and Ms Solace. "It was its way of protecting itself when the Will fell down. We're trying to slowly wake it up. Too quickly and there could be adverse neurological effects, memory loss for example. However, if we can't get Will to wake up soon..." he trailed off, Hazel stifling a sob. "He will literally run out of energy and completely shut down."

Nico wouldn't leave Will's bedside, gently brushing Will's matted hair from his face robotically. Hazel wrapped an arm around Nico and gave a squeeze. "Nico, we should go home," Hazel whispered.

"Not until Will wakes up," Nico muttered hollowly, eyes haunted.

"Nico, the doctors are going to try to restart Will's body in an hour. You'll have to leave."

Nico shrugged Hazel off of him. "Then I'll relocate to the hallway. I'm not leaving him, Hazel," his voice cracked. "Not again."

The nurses eventually relented to having Nico stay in the cafeteria as Will went into the neurological unit. He sat motionless under the harsh white light, hands clasped in front of him, as he stared unseeingly at the wall. Hazel wanted to stay with him, but he sent her home to explain to their parents.

If Will died, Nico was almost certain he would too. Not just from the grief, but from the guilt as well. He closed his eyes and allowed a singular tear to slip out. Please Nico thought Please let him be okay.

"Mr. di Angelo?" Nico started, turning to see the doctor standing the doorway. His face was grim. Nico's heart plummeted, and he struggled to stand up. "Will's body has started functioning again, but we're waiting to see if he has suffered any brain damage. You may wait in his room until he wakes up."

One hour. Nico fiddled with the edge of Will's bed sheet and made idle conversation with his dad.

Two hours. Nico put his head on the side of Will's bed, exhaustion threatening to yank him into unconsciousness.

Three hours. Nico was startled awake from his light nap at a sharp gasp from Will.

"Will," Nico whispered. The blonde boy turned his head to Nico.

There was no recognition in his eyes.

Slumped against the wall outside Will's room, Nico wept brokenly. The doctor, after doing careful testing, had confirmed that there was no significant brain damage.

"What do you mean, no brain damage?" Nico screamed. "He doesn't remember who I am!" The doctor shook his head.

"Give him time, he should remember everything eventually."

Everything in Nico's body pushed at him to run away. Get away from the reminder that he had screwed up his one shot at happiness. Stay away from the boy who had stolen and shattered his heart. But he wouldn't. Bianca wouldn't have wanted him to do that. Hazel wouldn't want him to do that.

Will was sleeping when Nico slipped into his room a few hours later. It had taken a while to pull himself together and to report to Hazel. He had watched Will's family talk to Will and then leave the hospital, and certain he and Will wouldn't be interrupted, settled in the chair beside Will. Nico didn't want to wake Will; he needed his rest. Yet, every part of Nico wanted to shake Will and demand that he remember him. He would rather deal with Will's anger, his hurt, anything but the polite indifference in his eyes.

As Nico watched the time slowly tick by, he began to sing softly.

You, you got me
Thinking it'll be alright.
You, you told me,
"Come and take a look inside."
You believed me,
In every single lie.
But I, I failed you this time.

Nico bowed his head and began weeping softly in the darkness of the room. If Will never recovered, it would be his fault. Nico wasn't sure if he would be able to go to school and watch Will laugh with everyone else, not knowing what he and Nico used to have.

And it feels like tonight.
I can't believe I'm broken inside.
Can't you see that there's nothing that I wanna do,
But try to make it up to you?
And it feels like tonight,
Tonight.

"I never felt like this before.
Just when I leave, I'm back for more.
Nothing else here seems to matter.
In these ever-changing days,
You're the one thing that remains.
I could stay like this forever."

Nico looked up and met Will's blue eyes. The eyes that he had fallen in love with the first time he had seen Will. The eyes that glowed with warmth when he looked at Nico. The eyes that had been filled with fear and desire after their first kiss. The eyes that now shone with recognition.

Nico snuggled up against Will as they watched the sun rise, their breaths making little clouds in the crisp early morning. Will wrapped an arm tightly around Nico, massaging his shoulder absentmindedly. Nico reached up and brushed a hand along Will's jaw. "You alright?"

Will smiled down and pressed his lips to Nico's forehead. "I'm with you. I'm more than just alright." Nico traced his eyes over Will's face and his brow furrowed as he passed his gaze over the half-healed scratch on Will's forehead. Giving him a disapproving look, Will brought his other hand up to smooth out the frown. "I'm fine."

Nico looked down. "I don't think I'll ever fully forgive myself."

"Hey now," Will said sharply. "It was my fault for being a player and for being overly sensitive. I should have listened to your side of the story before going AWOL." His eyes softened. "And besides," he gently brushed his lips along Nico's, "If you had never faked a terminal illness, I probably wouldn't have had the guts to hang out with you. In some roundabout way, everything worked out."

As the sun lit up the sky, Nico curled closer to Will, humming in appreciation. Maybe Will was right, Nico thought, maybe fate just had a funny way of making everything work out. Nico's lips curved up in a soft smile.

There was a word for that, wasn't there? A word to describe how the best things coming right out the blue. A word that turned lies into love. A word that meant Nico would never have expected that he'd be content in the arms of someone who he thought was a player. A word that was the sheer dumb luck that Will Solace had fallen for him too.

Serendipity

I hope the last chapter wasn't too rushed :/ And I hope you all enjoyed it! Again, thank you for all the wonderful reviews (please leave one last one for the final chapter?)

For those who are still eager for more Solangelo, I started another multichap called "In Defence of Love," a law AU and am working on an angsty one-shot similar to "And You Let Them Go"

Over and out!