A/N: This isn't my best piece, but I needed to write this so I could get the feel for writing back since I haven't done it in a while. I blame school.

Enjoy.

I could see them- it almost felt as if I was with them, sweating and panting and fighting a huge monster despite the setbacks. I quickly recognized two of them- a girl with chocolate-colored skin and wearing green cap- my sister Bianca- and a boy with black hair and sea-green eyes. Percy.

"Crazy idea time," he said.

Bianca glanced at him. "Anything."

"I just saw a maintenance hatch on its foot. There may be a way to control the thing. Switches or something. I'm going to get inside."

Bianca's eyes enlarged considerably. "How? You'll have to stand under its foot. You'll be crushed!"

"Distract it. I'll have to time it just right."

Something flashed in her eyes- it disappeared so quickly that I wondered if it had been there in the first place. Her jaw became firmer than usual.

"No. I'll go."

Percy paled. "You can't. You're new at this. You'll die!"

"It's my fault the monster came after us. It's my responsibility. Here-" she handed something to Percy, "if anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him . . . tell him I'm sorry."

Then Bianca di Angelo took off. She ran toward the monster, not stopping even when Percy screamed her name, not even when I screamed it with him . . .

"Wake up! Man, wake up already!"

I opened my eyes. The desert junkyard was replaced with wooden walls, large bunk beds and sleeping bags carpeting the floor. The huge monster was replaced with a camper staring at me. I groaned, shuffled myself into a sitting position and kneaded my eyes.

"Are you all right?" the camper said after a second. Now that I was somewhat awake, I recognized it as Sam, a child of some minor god. "You were yelling 'Bianca, no!' in your sleep."

I furrowed my eyebrows, the dream slowly coming back to me. It was the same one I'd had for a few nights in a row. It unnerved me . . .

But it was a dream, right? Dreams didn't mean anything. And even if it did, I didn't know how it ended. Bianca was most likely victorious.

Already I felt the tension slipping away from my muscles. I offered a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a dream."

Before Sam could say anything, the door was flung open, allowing the chilly wind into the cabin. "Guys, they're back!" a female camper said.

My heart swelled. "They're back?" A smile grew, and suddenly I was fully awake. "Bianca's back?"

Sam and the girl looked at each other, their faces falling into a somber descent, as if they'd suddenly aged ten years. After a few seconds, the girl tore her gaze from him and to me.

"Get dressed and go to the Big House. She's waiting for you."

I stared at them for a moment. Why'd they look so sad? Was something wrong? I blinked rapidly. Oh well. The important thing was, Bianca was here! She hadn't been killed, or captured, or . . . or . . . she was back!

I threw on my clothes and dashed outside. The crunches the snow made after I stepped on it was somehow uplifting. In fact, the whole camp- the twelve cabins, the forest, and the dazzling snow that blanketed everything- just seemed so amazing all of a sudden.

I arrived at my destination, knocked on the door and subsequently tumbled into the room.

There they were! Percy, Grover, Chiron, a blonde girl I managed to pinpoint as Annabeth, and . . . and . . .

Wait a minute . . .

Anxiety boiled in the pit of my stomach. "Hey, where's . . . where's my sister?"

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Hey, Nico." Finally Percy stood up. "Let's take a walk, okay? We need to talk."

I nodded and exited the Big House, Percy on my heels. He shut the door behind him with a big exhale. His hand lingered on the doorknob, as if afraid to leave its safety.

"So where's Bianca?" I asked again.

Percy's hand left the handle. He walked down the steps of the porch and gestured for me to follow him. I did.

He took a deep breath. "She's gone."

"Huh?"

"Nico . . . Bianca's dead."

. . . What?

I tried to say something, but I couldn't. There was something large and uncomfortable stuck in my throat, forbidding me to speak. Bianca's face appeared in my mind. And now I would never see it again . . .

"We came across a huge, machine-like monster. As we were fighting it, I spotted a hatch. I was about to go in and stop Talos, but Bianca did it instead . . ."

His words became a blur. I kept walking. It was the only thing I could do now that every part of me was just so numb.

My sister was dead. She had sacrificed herself-

Why?

Why would she sacrifice herself for people she hadn't known for long? Did she even think about me during her final moments?

My stomach knotted.

I bit my tongue, a feeling of prickly dread washing over my skin. Yes, Bianca was dead. She was being judged this very moment.

I should have realized that the dreams were true.

"She wanted you to have this." Percy pressed something into my hand similar to the way Bianca had given it to him.

It was a Mythomagic statue. It had long black hair, waxy skin and was dressed in black. It looked similar to me-

Suddenly I understood. I understood why I had the nightmare about Bianca's death, why I knew she was being judged, why I had a ringing in my ears every time someone near me dies-

I was the son of Hades.

Just a few hours ago I would have treated the discovery of my parent with sheer happiness. But now that I knew who my parent was- well, I didn't feel anything. It was as if something inside me had died, like a flower wilting.

I hung my head down, allowing a few tears to drip before blinking them away. I was a son of Hades- so what? The news didn't matter in the face of my sister's death.

My bones seemed to be vibrating even though I was perfectly still. My mind drifted, and gradually Percy's promise to keep her safe came to mind.

"You promised you would protect her."

Why didn't he protect her? Why didn't he stop her and go in there himself?

"Nico, I tried. But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. I told her not to, but she-"

What a load of crap! "You promised!"

He didn't stop her. He didn't protect her. He's the reason she's dead, the jerk!

I looked up and gave Percy the most murderous stare I could muster. I could feel my entire body shivering as the monster of rage clawed itself out of my body. "I shouldn't have trusted you. You lied to me. My nightmares were right!"

Percy was confused. "Wait- what nightmares?"

I wasn't paying attention. I needed to do something to get my anger out- anger at Bianca for dying on me, anger at myself for being stupid and not realizing this sooner, and most of all, anger at Percy. So I threw the Mythomagic Hades as far as I could. "I hate you!"

Percy may as well have been on his knees. "She might be alive, I don't know for sure-"

What an idiot. "She's dead." I closed my eyes. "I should have known it earlier. She's in the Fields of Asphodel, standing before the judges right now, being evaluated. I can feel it."

"What do you mean, you can feel it?"

I couldn't answer, because suddenly there was a noise, a noise that seemed out of place-

I opened my eyes to see four skeletons. Four walking, grinning, armed skeletons.

I gasped, almost taking a step back. Fear closed around me like a fist. What the . . .

It was Percy! My heart burst into flame. Bianca's death wasn't enough for him, was it?!

"You're trying to kill me! You brought these . . . these things?!"

Percy's eyes widened. "No! I mean, yes, they followed me, but no. Nico, run. They can't be destroyed!"

Like Hades I was going to listen to anything he said. "I don't trust you!"

Percy spun around and began fighting the skeletons. Within a matter of seconds it was apparent that he was struggling despite his skill.

"Run, Nico!" he managed to say. "Get help."

"No!" I clamped my hands over my ears. I wanted to shut Percy out, shut the skeletons out- I wanted to shut the entire world out.

But the attempt was useless. Every one of them was still stuck in my head, making everything worse, adding to the sweat on my already sleek forehead and disorienting my surroundings-

"No! GO AWAY!"

Suddenly the ground shivered under my feet. It trembled, trembled- until it split like a shark's mouth, the tongues of fire lapping upwards. The hole devoured all four skeletons, then it abruptly closed again, leaving a twenty-foot tear in the ground in its wake.

It took a few seconds to realize that I did that.

Percy stared at me as if I'd just transformed into a hideous monster. "How did you-"

Did that matter? "Go away!" I yelled. "I hate you- I wish you were dead!"

I spun on my heels and jetted towards the forest. Soon a stitch dug into my ribs, but I didn't care. All I could think about was Bianca, and Percy, Bianca and Percy and Bianca and Percy and Bianca-

I stopped once I was a good mile or so into the forest, and hopefully past Camp Half-Blood's boundaries. I was out of breath and my face was so red it might as well have been on fire.

The forest was silent. The snow gently drifted to the ground, settling on the ground, on the leaves, on my nose. The icy cold wove their way into my pores, and my teeth began to clatter.

Bianca . . .

I rested my head in my hand, willing tears to come now that I was alone. But none came- despite feeling as if I was punched in the gut a thousand times by an Ares camper, I didn't cry. When they still didn't come after for a good minute, I looked up at the sky, blinking rapidly so the snow wouldn't get into my eyes.

For a moment, I considered going back to camp. After all, Bianca was gone. Who else was there to take care of me? But on the other hand, I was a son of Hades. I would be kidding myself if I thought they'd actually accept me.

My throat hardened. No. There was no way I could go to camp.

So what next?

I gradually lowered my head again and took a deep breath. There was no way I could live without Bianca.

So what if I could . . . maybe . . . bring her back?

It was ridiculous, almost laughable. But I was the son of the King of the Underworld. Perhaps I could pull a few strings.

I closed my eyes, muscles stiffening. That was it. I would bring Bianca di Angelo back, no matter what the cost.

I began walking once more.