Hello people! Yet another HOO fanfic- I think my Riordan obsession is coming back full force. This time, it's something a little different. Anyone who knows me knows that Leo Valdez is my demigod crush/true love/obsession. Only problem is, I can never figure out who to ship Leo with. Then my friend suggested Leo x Bianca, and this idea was born. It's nothing romantic, but then, I don't really know what it is. :)

Next chapter of On Their Feet will be up soon. Till then, please review, and enjoy!

Leo had no idea where he was.

Though, judging by the sidewalk paved with human skulls, it wasn't anywhere very nice.

He scrambled to his feet, looking around wildly, and not believing what he saw. A gigantic black castle loomed overhead, silhouetted against a dark sky filled with hundreds of floating objects. Leo appeared to be standing in some sort of garden next to the castle; surrounded by dying trees and grotesquely positioned statues.

Eyes wide, Leo gaped at his surroundings. "What the hades?"

What the- Hades.

Oh holy harpies, this was bad.

A soft sliding sound came from behind Leo, and he turned on his heel, hands reaching for his tool belt. What happened next was pretty embarassing.

Leo turned, and came face to face with the nasty end of a bow and arrow, the tip not more than an inch from his nose. Then... okay, he may have let out a girly shriek- but could you blame him?

Leo leapt backwards, away from the sharp point, pulling a large screwdriver from his belt. "Who are you?" he asked, deepening his voice slightly in an attempt to regain some of his masculinity. Obviously, the person behind the bow didn't see him as a threat, because she lowered her weapon with a small laugh, muttering something that sounded like 'boys'. Without the bow in front of her face, Leo got a good look at her for the first time. And boy, was it ever a good look.

In front of him was a girl, maybe a couple years younger than him, wearing an oddly familiar silver outfit. She had dark brown, almost black hair, and a slender build. She was pretty, in an understated kind of way, but her olive skin seemed pale and drawn. She carried herself with a quiet confidence, but it didn't quite work. It seemed almost like she was confident in herself, but everything around her was infinitely out of her comfort zone.

Leo could definitely relate right now.

"Who are you?" she asked in a clear, controlled voice, one hand still on the bow. Leo thought about pointing out that he'd asked the same question, but decided against it.

"I'm Leo Valdez. Super sized mcshizzle." He attempted a winning smile, but the girl looked at him expressionlessly.

"Team Leo?" Leo tried again, to no avail. He gave up. "Tough crowd."

The girl sighed, slinging the bow over her shoulder. "Why are you in the underworld?" She took a step towards him, then stopped: Leo was gripping the screwdriver in front of him, eying her cautiously.

"Not so fast." Leo said, trying not to show how shaken he was at the news that yes, he was in the land of the dead. "I think it's my turn to get an answer." The girl looked almost wounded that he didn't trust her, and something inside of Leo felt bad for treating a girl like that. All the same, he didn't drop his weapon. If there was one thing he'd learned from Camp Half Blood, it'd been that if you woke up in the underworld with a creepy girl staring at you, it probably wasn't good. Heck, she was probably some kind of monster in disguise.

Raising her hands in a gesture of surrender, the girl met his eyes. "I'm Bianca DiAngelo. Daughter of Hades, hunter of Artemis."

So that was why the silver clothes looked familiar- wait a second. Bianca DiAngelo? "You're dead." Leo blurted. It would have been really easy for her to take that in the wrong way, but Bianca merely narrowed her eyes at him. Leo blinked, not believing his eyes. "I mean... you're Nico's sister. Bianca."

Instantly, Bianca's whole expression changed. In a second, it went from suspicious, to happy, to looking like someone was twisting a knife in her gut. A weight seemed to be on her shoulders, one that Leo was sure went far beyond this meeting.

She nodded, then stepped closer, eyes searching his. "How do you know him? Is Nico okay?" Since she'd come closer, Leo felt cold, as if he'd stepped into an invisible freezer.

"Shouldn't I be asking you all the questions?" he quipped. "I mean... you're dead. You know everything, don't you?" Bianca frowned slightly.

"It's not like that."

Attempting to keep the sudden flood of questions out of his voice, Leo looked at her intently. "So, uh... what is it like?" With a tired look, as if she'd heard his question too many times, Bianca looked straight at him.

"Who was it, for you?"

Leo wished he didn't know what she was talking about. "My mom." he said, looking at the ground. Then he looked up again, because he was pretty sure a skull was grinning at him. Bianca was nodding in an all-too-understanding kind of way.

"You remind me of Percy. You all want to know what it's like, if it's the same as the movies. Not for yourselves, but for someone you love who died."

She looked at him for another second, then seemed to dismiss him. Leo was all too used to seeing that look in hot girls, but this time it seemed somehow more wrenching.

"Good luck on your quest, Leo." Bianca said, turning to walk away.

"Wait-" Leo gasped. He couldn't let her walk away. Or float away. Or whatever it was dead people did. "Please." Leo pleaded, as she walked towards the castle. "This isn't a quest. I'm not even dead; I don't even know why I'm here! I just... I need to know. Is she okay?" Some of his desperation must have leaked into his voice, because Bianca had stopped in her tracks.

After one heart stopping minute of silence, her head bowed. "She's fine."

"How do you know?"

"Because, we're all fine. It's not good or bad, it's just... just nothing." Bianca still wasn't looking at him. "She'll have peace. That's all you can ask."

"Why are you so unhappy, then?" At his words, Bianca whirled on Leo, eyes flashing.

"I wonder why. My mother was killed, along with a hotel full of people, by my crazy uncle; my brother and I were trapped in a new hotel for around fifty years; then we finally got out and guess what? I died." Her voice broke on the last word, and though he'd never seen her before, Leo knew that she wasn't an angry person. Even now, as she had been almost yelling at him, the anger in her voice was laced with a deep, irreparable sadness. Leo felt the urge to hug her. Not even in a flirty Leo way, more in a 'it's okay, I'm here' kind of way. He would've done it, too, had he not been worried about overstepping some boundaries. Eternal maidenhood, and all that.

Gods, his luck with girls was really horrible.

Bianca looked down, averting her eyes. A faint blush was rising to her cheeks, as if she was just realizing the outburst she'd had. "I didn't-"

"Get a chance to live." Leo finished, cutting her off. "It's okay."

Bianca sat, with a loud sigh, on a carved stone bench. Leo took a seat beside her, looking at her warily. Bianca chewed on the end of a lock of her hair, then met Leo's eyes. As if realizing what she was doing, she sat up a little straighter, meeting his gaze.

"I was supposed to die. It had to happen, not just for the quest, but for everything after. For some reason, I wasn't supposed to have a life. That's it."

Leo nodded slowly. "Sounds like you're convincing yourself."

"No." Bianca responded immediately. "I joined the hunters. I went on the quest. I knew the risk. I was convinced a long time ago."

It was quiet for a long moment, then Leo shook his head, a frown furrowing his brow. "You sound like you've... accepted it. Like you understand it. So why did you get mad? Why do you seem so sad?" Bianca looked at him, and pursed her lips like she was in deep thought. Her eyes pored into his, and Leo tried to diguise some of his curiousity. A wistful smile appeared on Bianca's face.

"I think," she said, "It's because you're so alive." A light seemed to come into her eyes. "You dwell far too much on those who are gone, yet on the inside, you have this... this life that just burns so brightly." Leo looked at her wordlessly, lost in what she was saying.

She looked at him, and said, simply, "Don't worry about us, Leo Valdez. You have a chance to live." A silvery tear ran down her cheek, and then Leo, without thinking, pulled her in, hugging her tightly. At first, Bianca stiffened under his grip, but after a moment she relaxed slightly, even hugging him back. Then she pulled back.

Leo was embarassed to see that he was crying, but Bianca didn't seem to care. Unable to help himself, he asked, in almost a whisper. "My mom... is she okay?" Bianca opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted. "I mean is... is she sad? Like you?" Leo tried his hardest to disguise the weakness in his voice, but the tears choked him up halfway through. Because this- this conversation, this garden, all of it -it was all impossible. None of it was supposed to happen, but the fact that it had was the cruelest twist of all. The fact that this was the closest Leo was ever going to be to his mom again, and she was still lifetimes away.

Eyes shining, Bianca looked at Leo. He stared at her, hoping for a comfort that they both knew she couldn't bring him. When she spoke, her voice was slow and careful, as if she was choosing her words as she went along.

"We're not unhappy, Leo." Bianca sighed, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "We're just dead."