"Luke. Wake up!"

Bianca di Angelo is the only friend I've made here on Elysium. We live in a house together, but nothing is going on between us. Nothing I swear! Apparently if you become the host of Kronos everyone will hate you for it. Bianca tells me things about my friends at camp. She was only there for a brief time before dying, but she met Thalia, Percy, Annabeth and Grover. She told me Thalia is doing well, and she didn't age all those years as a tree, so that means she was just about 16. She says her brother Nico helped overrun my army in the war last year, must be some kid. She's a daughter of Hades, but don't think she gets any special treatment around here. Sure, she lives on Elysium which is better than almost everyone else in the Underworld, but, she never even gets to visit her dad in his palace. How cruel is that?

My dad, Hermes, has been here once to see me. The visit was very brief. He told me that he was very disappointed in me, but I was still his favourite son. What kind of logic is that?

"Luke, I need to tell you something. My dad called me to the palace." Bianca sounded very scared of what could happen, but she also seemed proud that she had been summoned to her father's palace.

"Well, isn't that a good thing Bianca? I mean, finally your dad wants to talk to you! Don't worry about Persephone. She's just miserable to be here, I'm sure she doesn't care that you are the result of her husband cheating on her."

"I never really thought of it that way Luke. I never thought about Persephone until now. Thanks"

"That's- that's not what I meant! It will be fine, don't worry about it."

"Thanks, goldie."

She'd been gone for almost two hours so naturally, I was starting to worry. Now, let me tell you something about the Underworld. Try to leave Elysium without Hades's permission and that's it, you don't get back in. It really is simple as that. Quite sad really. I mean 'Oh I'm Luke and I killed myself to stop Kronos from taking over the world and I dropped my shiny new nickel outside of Elysium, oh no! I'm just gonna step outside to grab it...' and BOOM! That's it, Fields of Asphodel for the rest of eternity for you. Doesn't seem fair, does it? Moral of the story, never drop your shiny new nickel.

Upon Bianca's return to our house, she looked even paler than usual. She seemed to be worried about something and pretty scared. I wasn't really sure if she wanted to talk about it, so I didn't ask.

"Luke, can I talk to you?"

Well, I guess that settles it.

"What's on your mind B?"

"I talked to Nico.. but this time it was different. It wasn't like the times he had summoned me. He brought news from the camp. Percy and Annabeth became official after the war-"

Fine by me. Percy is a good guy and Annabeth is an amazing girl. Glad to see she moved on.

"-and now Percy is missing. Annabeth is devastated and she's searching everywhere for him. There are these new kids, Jason, Piper and Leo. They're apparently really powerful. Jason came from a Roman camp. Can you believe it? Another camp. Jason and Thalia are brother and sister too! Nico says he's been to the Roman camp and he even has a sister there named Hazel. Amazing isn't it? It gets better. So they think they have a lead on where Percy is. They think he was sent to the Roman camp and Jason was sent to the Greek camp like an exchange. So now they've located the Roman camp and they're going over there. Nico says Percy is there for sure. He's seen him. On top of that, there's a new prophecy. Something about seven half bloods and it's some huge deal! SEVEN! I'm pretty sure it's Percy and these new kids! What do you think?"

Wow. Does Bianca ever love to gossip.

"And one more thing..." She sounded a lot less happy this time.

"My dad says I should be reborn and try for the Isles of the Blest. He said I'm leaving tomorrow."

And just like that, my best friend in the whole Underworld, Bianca di Angelo was leaving. I thought we would literally spend eternity together. Fall in love, get married, do all the things that a dead person living on a tiny island can do, and then try for rebirth together. How could Hades do this to me? I mean it's not like I tried to kill him or anything. Well, I guess I kind of did... but that's besides the point. I promised I'd never fall in love again like I did with Thalia. Bianca changed me. I loved her. Now she was leaving. She would be gone tomorrow and I would be here forever. I don't want to be reborn. I think the Isles of the Blest is much more lonely than Elysium if that's even possible. How does rebirth work? Will Bianca remember me when she comes back?

"Luke? Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah! Wow, rebirth! You're going to be with Nico again!"

"It... it doesn't work that way. I'm going to be a totally different person. I'll be the same soul, controlling my new body, but I don't know if I will have memories. I could be born in Antarctica while Nico is up there in New York. I'm scared, Luke." Bianca broke into tears. This was my last chance.

"Bianca, you made that pact with the hunters right?"

"Luke what does that have to do with anything?"

"But now you're dead so the pact is kind of... broken?"

"I guess so..."

Before she could finish, I grabbed her and pulled her in close to me. I kissed her and held her for hours. She cried into my shirt even I shed a few tears.

"I love you, Bianca di Angelo."

"I... I love you too, Luke Castellan."

We lay down to sleep in my bed. When morning came, Bianca was called to the palace to go through the rebirth process. It was the first time I really cried since I lost Thalia that day on half blood hill.

"Bianca, remember me, okay?"