Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson
She was dead.
It wasn't really that he liked her in that way at all, really. He had been to busy searching for Annabeth to really try to like her much. But she was gone.
He remembers the promise to Nico, saying he wouldn't let Bianca out of his sight. That he would protect her; make sure she, if no one else, came back alive. He remembers the pleading in the little boy's face. He was so innocent, so vulnerable, so naïve. He was so alive, unlike the boy who now stands before him, confusion spread across his small, yet harsh, face.
Yet he remembers his sister Bianca, as she took the vow of the Hunters. The uttermosts shock that he experienced; still numb from the loss of Annabeth. The di Angelos were practically the reason Annabeth was gone, and now, it all seemed pointless to the fact that he had just loss one of them to a group of middle school girls in ski parkas. And he remembers her, hidden under a silky curtain of black hair. Her own defense wall to shield her timid face; from the war raging on the inside of her and the world around.
But she was different after she took that oath and left camp. After the Oracle had the nerve to speak to Zoe about a quest, he had been enraged. Why not him? Wasn't saving a friend just as important? When he followed them, Thalia, Bianca, Zoe, and Grover, he became part of that group to save the goddess Artemis. With much bickering, of course. Mainly by Zoe, who seemed to be the only one to seem to have an extreme problem with his presence.
But he had also been able to see the small sparks of warmth start to bubble inside of Bianca. The smile that she gave him every once in a while, despite her sacred vow. The frozen, hard core of her melted away to leave a happy twelve year old girl who would stay that way forever. Immortal and invincible. And that day, when Pan's presence blew through that town in New Mexico, he thought of how easy she was to talk to. Her happiness radiating off of her, straight foreword and simple. Yet her life is such a intricate and thorny timeline of memories. Some not remembered. Some misunderstood. And some so clear she could see them as if she was there, but not know where in her life story the memory fit in.
And he remembers that night; as she reached down to grab the action figure that would make her brother feel most happy, she puts herself and everyone around her in danger. And as she gives her life for Percy, everything happens so fast and slows at the same time. As she goes in to stop the prototype Talos, she disappears. The surroundings become a blur. Yet everything is so crystal clear, because time goes by and she does not reappear.
She is gone. She is dead. She has vanished from the face of the Earth without a trace left behind to mourn. And as he sees the action figure lying there on the ground, he feels the empty spot left in his soul where she used to be, filled up with heart wrenching guilt. Nico would never forgive him.
And it turns out he doesn't. Even when Bianca tells him its okay, there is still that nagging dread embedded in his mind. All Nico sees in Percy is the boy who is responsible for the death of his sister. In Nico's mind Percy could have done something to keep her from dying, to save his last remaining family member. But he says forgives Percy. Though even if he says that he does, Percy sees Nico standing in front of him. And what he sees is a boy who is lost, confused, and alone.
