Ch.1
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Leo Valdez hated Camp Jupiter. Maybe tensions had gone down a bit since the last war ended and Gaea was defeated, but by no means did that mean the freaking war zone was a place for Greeks. Especially not Greeks who may or may not have attacked the camp with a giant flying ship. It totally wasn't Leo's fault, but some of the nasty glares he was getting definitely said that the overly violent Romans thought otherwise.
"Calm down, Valdez," Leo muttered under his breath, giving himself a little pep talk as he moved farther and farther away from the newly repaired Festus and closer to the Principia. He really had nothing to worry about. Frank and Hazel were the Praetors now, and they were his friends. He wasn't under immediate danger of death and/or dismemberment.
Still… Rachael had cornered him back at Camp Half-Blood and practically ordered him to head cross country to the stupid Roman camp. Between that and the fact that the guard at the entrance to Caldecott tunnel joyfully volunteered to poke out his 'ugly Greek eyeballs' with a spear, Leo felt that his worry was perfectly legitimate.
Leo turned onto the main street and let out a sigh of relief when the fancy Principia came into sight. The big, bank-like building was beyond intimidating, but knowing that Hazel was inside was somewhat comforting. Well… and Frank, but the beefy Canadian still made him uncomfortable. Leo figured it was the burning stick thing. One second of no control, and boom. Leo could end Frank's life.
"Ella is nervous. The girl makes Ella nervous."
Leo started at the familiar voice, frowning slightly when he saw Ella the harpy perched on a statue in front of the Principia, muttering to herself about something or another. She visited Camp Jupiter every few months to see Hazel and Frank, so her presence itself wasn't that surprising. Leo just thought it wasa bit odd that she'd choose to hang out in the busiest part of camp. She usually wasn't a huge fan of crowds.
Whatever, thought Leo. It doesn't really matter what she's going on about, as long as she doesn't start blabbering to me-
"Oh! Ella sees elf. Elf is nice to Ella-"
Ah. Crap.
"Ella-" Leo started. He turned around to tell the harpy that he obviously wasn't an elf- hell, he'd even grown to a very respectable five foot nine- but the bird cut him off before he got the chance.
"Shortly before the ultimate fight, To earth shall return Hades' angel of white-"
"Whoa, whoa. That's just a little random. What are you talking about?"
"To embark on a quest to find a godly friend…"
"Quest? Did you just say quest?" Even though things had been calm for a couple years, Leo wasn't exactly eager to go running back out into the world of questing. Gaea's little party had given him all the adventure he could ever ask for, and the idea of being forced out on some other journey was about as far from appealing as possible. "Because I think you're mistaken. There's nothing else that can possibly be quested for, not after Gaea-"
"And battle with giants 'til the bitter end-" Leo blanched. Giants? "Choices will be made and many will suffer. And the angel will reunite with either father or brother."
Damn, damn, damn. Suffering and battling giants and something about Hades. Shit, that sounded depressing. Depressing and terrible, and-
Ella let out a small squawk and flew away.
The stupid bird prophesized about some huge, miserable-sounding quest, and then she flew away. Leo cursed. He was going to have to have a talk with Tyson about his flighty girlfriend and her big mouth. Of course, Tyson would probably just drool and say, "Ella pretty," but at least Leo would get to take his frustration out on someone.
Either way, Leo wasn't stupid. He knew that it would be dumb to keep a quest to himself. With a frown on his face, he rushed the last few feet towards the Principia, chanting the prophecy under his breath so he wouldn't forget it.
Unfortunately, when Leo burst into the fancy building and opened his mouth to demand an audience with the high and mighty praetors, they were already occupied. A girl, maybe a year or two younger than Leo, was standing in front of the cluttered table and looking at her feet. Both Hazel and Frank stared at her like she was a ghost.
"I need to talk to you," Leo blurted, figuring what he had to say was more important than anything to do with the girl.
Hazel and Frank's eyes both flew to Leo, and the startled girl whirled around to face him. Leo's eyes almost bulged out of his head when he got his first good look at her. She was creepy. Her eyes and hair were both the color of super dark chocolate- like as dark brown as something can get without being black- and her skin was white. Not porcelain white, but corpse white. Almost like it used to be darker but had gotten all of the color sucked out of it. Her features were pretty, he supposed, but there was an aura of scary around her that made it incredibly hard to notice.
There was only one person Leo had ever met to whom he could compare the girl; Nico di Angelo. Nico was a relatively okay looking dude in Leo's opinion- although Leo had to admit he wasn't exactly an expert on the attractiveness of other guys- but people steered clear of him because he was so terrifying.
That's what this girl was. She was totally harmless looking, and yet… she scared Leo, who'd faced giants and rogue earth goddesses and extremely butt-hurt narcissists named Narcissus.
"What are you doing here?" Frank asked.
"We can't talk right now," said Hazel.
Leo shook his head and tore his eyes away from the scary girl. "It's super important." He took a deep breath. "Rachael told me she had a feeling that something big was about to go down in Camp Jupiter, so I flew over on Festus to check things out; I was just on my way to tell you about it when I ran into Ella."
"The harpy?" asked Hazel.
"Uh-huh. And you'll never guess what she told me."
"That you're an elf?" That was Frank. Of course.
"Frank," Hazel snapped. She frowned at Leo. "And unless she spewed out an extremely important prophecy, we really don't have time to hear it. We got a… a strange visitor just an hour ago, and-"
"It was a prophecy," Leo cut in. He raked a hand through his curly hair and swallowed hard. "A bad one. She mentioned fighting giants, and people suffering, and… well, she kind of talked about your dad."
The room went dead quiet. Frank's eyes were huge, Hazel looked like she was about to throw up, and the girl didn't say anything, just studied her feet like they were the most interesting things in the world.
"Do you remember the prophecy?" Hazel finally choked out.
"I think so," said Leo. He cleared his throat. "Shortly before the ultimate fight, To earth shall return Hades' angel of white. To embark on a quest to find a godly friend, And battle with giants 'til the bitter end. Choices will be made and many will suffer, And the angel will reunite with either father or brother."
Hazel's expression would've been funny if the situation wasn't so messed up; her jaw dropped to the floor, her eyes went wide, and she actually brought a hand up to her heart, like southern belles did in old movies whenever they got scared. For some reason, the prophecy even got a reaction out of the pale girl. Her eyes were widened even bigger than Hazel's.
"A-angel of white?" the girl stuttered. She had a pretty voice, for being so terrifying. Quiet and musical and easy to listen to. "Are you sure?"
"Yup," said Leo. "Which I think is kind of crazy, since Hades is definitely more of a black kind of guy, but I'm sure that's what Ella said…"
"Bianca di Angelo," Hazel whispered in realization, her eyes fixed on the girl. "Bianca means white… and di Angelo is 'of the angels'. You were dead and returned to earth… and you're Hades' daughter. Hades' angel of white. That… that prophecy-"
"Wait," Leo butted in. He swore that he heard Hazel say 'Bianca di Angelo'. As in the dead girl that Percy had told him about. The one who'd gone off to be reborn, who was gone forever. "Bianca di Angelo? Is this happy coincidence or something, or is that Mister Scary Ghost King's sister?"
"It's her," Frank said. He paused. "Or at least we're pretty sure. She can't remember anything except for her name, but there probably aren't very many half-bloods named 'Bianca di Angelo' around. Especially not ones who look so much like Nico."
"She can't remember anything?"
The girl shook her head and answered for herself. "I woke up at the Wolf House, and Lupa said that I'd taken a memory potion… and that's all I really know. Everything else is a blank."
Leo blinked. Holy Hephaestus.
He said the only thing he could think of. "We have to tell Nico."
"Leo-" warned Frank.
"Don't 'Leo' me. He has to know. He like… he's been so screwed up since he got out of Tartarus, and this would help him out so much, but-"
"But she doesn't remember him," Frank interrupted. "And you heard the prophecy. It said, 'the angel will reunite with either father or brother.' So either she'll reunite with Pluto… or Hades or whoever, and die, or she'll see Nico after the prophecy is fulfilled. So why get his hopes up if it might not make any difference?"
"Frank," Hazel said. Her lips turned down into a frown, and Leo wondered if this hadn't been what they were talking about when he barged in. "Nico should know."
"Come on," said Frank. "Think about what would happen if Nico learned that his sister is alive, and then she gets sent back to the underworld before he even has the chance to see her."
Hazel didn't look convinced, but then Bianca softly spoke up, "He's right. It would be best not to say anything until the prophecy is fulfilled… Maybe I'll even have my memory back by then, so I can recognize my brother when I see him."
"Well. Okay then." Hazel didn't look pleased, and Leo knew it was because she was the only one who had a personal relationship with Nico. She knew exactly how happy seeing his sister again would make him, and Nico really needed something like that. Leo almost cracked- he hated seeing Hazel unhappy- but even Bianca agreed it was best to wait. Begrudgingly, he kept his mouth shut. "But what are we going to do about the quest?"
"Usually the person who receives it picks two people to go with them, and then the group sets off ASAP," Leo volunteered. "Or at least that's how things roll at Camp Half Blood."
"But the quest is about Bianca," said Frank. "If we did things like you Greeks do, you would be considered the leader."
"Well… then let her pick." Leo shrugged. "I'm cool with not being in charge. I mean, as long as I get to tag along." Honestly, he really didn't want to go at all, but he had a gut feeling that he was supposed to. Even Apollo must have agreed; or at least Leo supposed that the sun god was the one who gave Rachael that hunch to send him off to California.
"I think Frank and I should go," Hazel argued. "The prophecy was given out at Camp Jupiter, and if you and Bianca both go, that's two Greeks on the quest. It doesn't make sense."
Everyone looked to Bianca for her opinion, but she wasn't looking at them anymore; her eyes had returned to the floor. For a daughter of Hades, she sure seemed to have confidence issues. Leo wondered how she was ever going to lead a quest.
"Well…" Bianca bit her lip. "Frank is the son of Ares, or Mars… whoever. And Hazel is Pluto's daughter." She looked at Leo. "What about you?"
"Hephaestus," he said. Knowing that Mars and Pluto definitely sounded more legit, he quickly added, "I got pyrokinesis from him. I mean, I can make fire shoot out of my hands. And I'm good with machines, too. If you bring me along, transportation and technology would all be a piece of cake."
To his surprise, Bianca smiled. She had a weird smile; a quirky little grin that seemed to be fake and genuine at the same time. It was oddly cute. Her teeth were white and straight, and her nose crinkled a little, making her look not quite so scary.
Cute. Huh. Maybe Bianca wasn't quite his type- he usually went for beautiful, immortal, and totally out of his league- but she was definitely adorable in a creepy, angel of death kind of way. Although Nico would be a terrifying overprotective brother to run into. Oh, and hadn't someone said something about Bianca being a Hunter of Artemis? Although she had died, so maybe that didn't apply anymore…
"I want Leo with," Bianca announced, tearing Leo away from his thoughts. "I had a dream before I left the Wolf House, and… everything was dark. Like, all of the lights were going out everywhere, and the whole world was turning black. So I think it'd be good to have someone along who can make fire."
"Awesome!" Leo said. He took a couple steps forward and held up a hand for a high-five. Bianca stared, and Leo frowned. Nico didn't understand the concept of high-fives either. Poor kids. They were born before all the cool stuff was invented. "Aaaalrighty… how about a handshake instead?"
Bianca looked at him like he was crazy, but did extend her hand. Leo took it and made a face as soon as his skin touched hers; she was cold as a corpse. Hazel didn't feel like that, although Leo supposed that was probably because she was a daughter of Pluto, not Hades. Pluto was mostly associated with riches, while Hades was Mister Death himself. Hence Hazel's gold-summoning and Nico and Bianca's icy paleness.
Personally, Leo thought Hazel had gotten the better end of the bargain. Then again, Nico could control skeleton warriors and managed to get the title 'King of Ghosts,' so maybe the death thing was just a little beast.
After a second, Bianca let go and frowned at him. "You're hot."
Leo smirked. "You aren't so bad yourself, chica. Angel is definitely the right word-"
"Leo," snapped Hazel.
"Sorry. Habit. Anyhow, who's going to be our third quester? Hazel? Franklin? I know some Camp Half-Blood homies I could send for-"
Bianca ignored Leo and looked at Hazel. "Who was the boy who led me here? The one who'd been guarding the gate?"
Leo frowned. The boy guarding the gate? If Bianca had come an hour before, Leo figured they would have ran into the same guard, and, well… he still hadn't forgotten the way the guy gleefully offered to poke his eyes out. It looked like he'd been serious, too; the spear had been raised and everything. By Leo's judging, the dude at the gate definitely wasn't someone he wanted watching his back while he slept. Hell, he'd probably be as dangerous as any giants they were scheduled to face.
"Austin Dupois?" Hazel looked at Frank. "It isn't Austin's shift, is it?"
"Um… I think it is." Frank looked at Bianca. "Why would you want Austin?"
"Yeah," said Leo. "Why would you want Austin? El es un poco loco."
He also couldn't help but remember how 'good-looking' this Austin character had been; tall and strong, with bright blue eyes. Girls liked bright blue eyes, even if Leo had thought they were extremely creepy. If it was the guard he was thinking of, well… Leo cringed, imagining another quest like his last one. The 'Prophecy of Seven' it had been called. Ha. More like the prophecy of three clingy couples and the awkward seventh wheel. Now this quest was already shaping up like it was going to be 'Bianca and Scary Guard Guy' plus the cumbersome, unwanted elf on the side.
Leo just hoped they didn't get to the 'making out' phase while he was still around. That had the potential to be beyond uncomfortable.
"Call it a funny feeling…" said Bianca.
"Austin would be useful," Hazel said slowly, like she was coming around to the idea.
"Which one is Austin?" Leo asked. "He isn't the one who was guarding the tunnel when I stopped by, is he? Because he tried to kill me. Too violent, that one is-"
"Violence is good on a quest," said Hazel. "And Austin is… special." She nodded. "If you can get Austin to go with you, then go ahead. He's trustworthy enough, I suppose. Just… make sure you keep him under control. Leo is right. He is a little violent."
"I don't like Austin," Frank said, as if that would make a difference.
"I'm going to go talk to him," Bianca said. She looked at Leo. "You can come, too. I mean… if you want. Since we're all going to be going on the quest together."
Leo thought this over. He could either stay and watch Frank and Hazel make lovey eyes at each other, wander the streets of camp and pray no bloodthirsty Romans were in the mood for Greek stew, or follow a scary daughter of Hades to talk with a random, spear-wielding, Greek-hating Roman demigod.
So many wonderful, wonderful choices.
"Er... I guess I can come with you?"
He said it like a question.
"Alright." Bianca sent a strange smile at Hazel and Frank- a shattered glass smile that kind of reminded him of Nico's eyes- and told them, "I… I'm sorry that I made things so complicated. I really wish that I could tell you what's going on."
"It's okay, Bianca," said Hazel. "But if you remember anything, please let us know."
"I promise I will."
Then she turned to leave. Leo gave the two Praetors a lazy salute, rolling his eyes when Frank said, "Don't be late for Evening Muster!"
"Yes, Mother!" Leo called over his shoulder.
Then Bianca and he left the Principia to find the third member of their quest.
xxx
Author's Note-
This is my first Percy Jackson fic, and I'll admit I'm unsure of what kind of response it's going to get. It is an entirely new storyline, involving a unique and separate quest with a totally different set of characters than one would generally expect to see in a fic like this. I do have the story plotted out, but it isn't all written yet. If people seem to enjoy it, I'll continue. If not, I'll likely delete it and try something else.
Anyway, please review and tell me what you think, and if anything is confusing, let me know and I'll try to clear it up.
