Well, look at that. I finally got off my big, lazy butt and submitted a story to FF. Amazing. I should get some sort of award for this.
This is a one-shot dedicated to Bianca di Angelo, the poor girl who died in the third book of the PJO series. Why did Rick Riordan have to kill off so many people? It was like Harry Potter all over again...
*EDIT* Well, I've edited the story a little and added a small bonus chapter. Re-read it if you want, read the bonus if you want. There's a question I've written at the end of the bonus chapter, so make sure to go see that after reading, please.
"Distract it. I'll just have to time it right."
"No, I'll go."
"You can't. You're new at this! You'll die."
"It's my fault the monster the monster came after us. It's my responsibility. Here. If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him… Tell him I'm sorry.
"Bianca, no!"
But I wasn't waiting for Percy. I charged the monster's left foot, towards the hatch that lead to my friends' survival.
How could this have happened? It was just a tiny figurine. Hades. The only reason I recognized it was because Nico was always raving about how it was the only god statue he didn't have in his little Mythomagic collection.
It was lying on the ground, facing up as if it was calling out to me. I picked it up and turned it over my hands a couple of times, imagining my brother's reaction if he found out I brought a present for him. "Wow, Bianca, thankyouthankyouthankyou!" he'd say. I smiled. As annoying as he could be, I really did love my brother. Without another thought, I slipped it in my pocket.
It was the worst mistake I had ever made.
Now my friends were fighting for their lives against a defective automaton the size of a skyscraper, and I had just embarked on what was most likely a suicide mission. Inside the robot. Which was the grossest place I'd ever seen.
Really. If you had thought that the outside of the defective Talos was dirty, it was as shiny as a brand-new penny compared to the inside. By the time I reached what I thought was the left knee, I was covered in grime, spider webs, and what I can only hope was rust. Eww.
I was about halfway up when I realized that I had no idea what to do. Up until now, I had just been climbing to the top, avoiding getting my clothes caught in gears and the occasional confused rat. My brain whirred as I tried to think. This is what I came up with:
1) The ladder I was climbing most likely led to whatever was controlling the robot.
2) If I seized control, I could stop the robot.
3) If I could stop the robot, my friends would be safe.
4) But what would happen to me?
I shuddered when I thought of the possibilities. Whoa there, my brain said. Don't think about that. Think about, um, Nico! Yeah, Nico! He's waiting for you to come back alive, so hurry up and shut this overgrown chunk of metal down already!
For some reason, the last thought gave me strength. Rung after rung I pulled myself up, barely able to hold on as the robot shook and trembled. Before I knew it, I reached the head, which I recognized as the control room the second I laid my eyes on it.
The monster must have had security cameras installed in its eyes or something, because two massive screens showed flickering images of what was going on outside in front of the room. The room itself was pretty small. Its walls were curved and looked like they had wrinkles embossed into them, reminding me of a brain. Despite my current situation, the last thought made me grin. For all its size, the robot had a very tiny brain.
Right in front of the screens sat a long table with a complicated-looking array of button and wires, complete with a chair that looked like it had come straight out of a scene in Star Trek. I sat down on the chair and looked at the controls. Only then did I realize that I had no idea how to command the robot to stop moving.
I buried my face in my hands and rested my elbows on my knees. After we had come so far, was this the way it was all going to end?
The sound of explosions made me lift my head, and I looked at the TV monitors that connected me to the chaos of the outside world. Things were looking bad for my friends. Unless I figured out the controls and fast, Talos was going to stomp my friends into bloody smears on the desert floor.
I scanned the buttons with new determination. I was not going to give up, and my friends would survive.
So I did the natural thing.
I slammed my hands down on as many of the buttons as I could reach and prayed that I wouldn't end up squishing my friends on accident.
A sudden SLAM that knocked me from my chair told me I had succeeded. I looked up at the screen and saw somebody cheering for me. Percy. I smiled in gratitude.
My happiness was short lived, however. The floor began tilting dangerously. A split second after I realized I was falling, I was thrown from the floor and hit my head against the wall with a painful crack. I tried to stand up, but I was too dizzy and the robot was unstable.
The screens flickered out completely. Sirens wailed from somewhere in the ceiling, and a prerecorded voice of a woman said, "Warning. Robot malfunctioning. Destruction is imminent. Warning. Warning. Warning. Warn-"
The woman's voice and the sirens cut off suddenly. The room grew uncomfortably hot, as if somebody had tossed it into an electric oven.
My stomach twisted in fear. I felt sick. I didn't want to die. Oh please don't let me die, oh please-
There was a painful, ear-splitting shriek of metal on metal, and the robot lurched sideways. I slammed into the table this time, and cut myself on the wires. Talos gave me no time to recover. He started running, bouncing up and down with every stride and tangling me deeper into the cords. I couldn't get out, no matter how hard I struggled. I think I screamed, but I couldn't tell. More metallic shrieks covered up all the noise I made, one after another, each one followed by a horrible CLANG. I had no idea what was going on. It was pitch black, I had no way of getting out, and I was terrified.
So very terrified.
Every swear word I ever learned during my short, miserable life tore itself out of my throat. Images of the people I loved flashed through my head. Zoë. Percy. Thalia. Grover. The hunters.
Nico.
Nico.
Oh gods, how would I ever be able to apologize to him? I was such a horrible, selfish sister. How could I have left him like that?
Before my mind could form another thought, a deafening screech louder than all the rest echoed in the room, and the world plummeted.
As the head whistled down to the ground, I realized the horrible truth. The screeches I had heard earlier were the sounds of the robot's body parts sliding off as it broke apart. The joints of the neck must have had come loose when the automaton hit itself on the head. And now I was plummeting to the ground at a hundred miles per hour, with no way out of my prison.
One shall be lost in the land without rain.
There would be no homecoming for Bianca di Angelo. I was going to die.
I hit the ground with a sickening CRUNCH. Two sides of the room crumpled like a tin can, crushing the lower half of my body. Debris and wires cut into my face and my arms. I could feel blood pooling around my body. I was dying, losing too much blood. I couldn't even feel the pain anymore.
A large rip was torn into the wall above me. My vision was getting fuzzier and fuzzier, but somehow I managed to turn my ruined body so I was staring into the night sky.
The moon was so beautiful. The stars burned my eyes. I tried to lift my arm, but it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. I was so tired. So very, very tired.
My mind wandered, and I found myself thinking about my brother. Oh, Nico, I'm so sorry. I'm so selfish. I'm so sorry for leaving you. I love you. Can you ever forgive me?
As my life drained away, I clung onto one last image of my brother. Please, I begged silently, though I didn't know who I was begging to. Please, let me see my brother one last time.
"Goodnight, sis!"
It was my brother. Wearing those ridiculous blue pajamas that were too big for him. He beamed at me and waved, the same way he did at our first night in Westover Hall. I hung on the image until it faded away along with my heartbeat. Before peace washed over me, I smiled one last sad smile and whispered my final words.
Just two.
Want to take a stab at what those two last words were? If you can't figure it out, I marvel at the size of your brain. Or rather, the lack of it.
Raise your hand if you loved Bianca! Now, put your hand down. You look silly, waving your arm around like that in front of the computer.
Review, please! Tell me what you think. I don't care if you believe it's really good or if you think it sucks so bad you'd like to hunt me down and kill me. (Just tell me why you think it's bad.) Constructive critisim is equally appreciated. This is the first time I've ever written a story for FF, and if I get no reviews I will go emo and start cutting myself.
That was a joke.
Is there anybody who would like to volunteer to be my Beta reader? (Or at least teach me how to use the Beta thingamajigee.) I write a wide range of stories in my spare time, and once in a while I might upload a story onto FF. If that happens, it would be nice to have a skilled editor who is willing to be very patient with me.