As she stumbled into the camp, she wondered vaguely what her fate may be. Her body was quickly tiring and her limbs were giving out. She knew the direction she was supposed to be going, but now where she was going. The creature pursuing her was gone. At last, her limbs gave out on her and she landed face down in the soft grass.
She woke in an entirely new place. She felt... enclosed... She was surrounded by- walls, her mind provided. And a roof was over her head. She was still studying her environment when a boy walked into the room. He was bright. To her, he resembled a day spent in the sun; sun kissed hair and skin and bright sky blue eyes.
"Hey," he said as he knelt down next to where she was laying. His voice was soft and soothing. Similar to the grass she had fallen asleep in. "My name is Will. What's yours?"
A moment passed before she realized that her was addressing her. "I don't have one." She answered.
The boy, Will, seemed to grow...angry? Happy? Sad? Concerned. Emotions in people was such a frustrating thing to learn. "What do you mean, you don't have a name?" He took a small purple cylinder made of metal shone a light directly into her eyes, muttering to himself. "Not a concussion, another cause then." She wasn't sure what he was talking about, but the spot dancing in front of her eyes was annoying. "Well, um, Miss? Do you mind if I do any further examinations to check if yo are okay?"
She shrugged. She wasn't sure what examination meant, but Will didn't appear to be dangerous. He made her do strange things like sticking out her tongue and touching her toes. She had to hold a strange metal stick in her mouth until it made a shrill beeping noise. He continued his examination until he stepped back looking satisfied, but even more confused.
"I need to take you to Chiron. Maybe he has an idea." He held out his hand to her and she stared back at him, unsure of what the gesture meant. "Come on," he said patiently, "I won't bite." She reached out to his hand and he took it in his own. "Sorry if you don't like what you're wearing. Piper insisted on getting you into fresh clothes. Hope you weren't fond of that dress you were wearing, the Aphrodite cabin burned it. Really though, I have no idea what she was thinking when she put you into that pink shirt, I told her that you seem more like a green-blue kind of person..." He went on for what seemed to be a really long time, ranting about colors. She wasn't really interested in what he had to say, but she was fascinated by how passionately he spoke about everything. "... and the Nico had the absolute nerve to tell me that it doesn't matter! Can you believe that? Honestly, sometimes I don't even know why I'm in love with that boy! Actually, no. That's a lie. I know why. I just don't understand..."
They stopped at a door that she supposed was the way out of the place. They stepped out and she was greeted by the sight of a creature who was a man from the torso up, but a horse the rest of the way down. He had a kind, gentle face, a short-ish beard and curly brown hair. He faced her and she saw that he possessed the oldest eyes she had ever seen. "Hello, my dear girl. I am Chiron, the director of Camp Half Blood. Who might you be?"
She was about to answer, but Will spoke for her. "She doesn't know."
"Doesn't even know her name?" The centaur asked. Even when Hera erased Jason's and Percy's memories they still knew their names... The river Lethe, perhaps?"
Hera... Something about that name seemed awfully familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out why.
"I was just about to bring her to the Hypnos cabin, they're pretty good with that kind of thing." Will said.
"Very well," Chiron replied, "check her in with me after."
"Will do, sir." Will replied. Again, he took her hand and was leading her off to another place. She was glad to be back outdoors.
As they were going along, they came across a boy that reminded her of a shadow in an already dark night. Initially, he gave off the sort of vibe that told her she should turn and walk the other way, but when he saw her and Will he smiled in a way that evaporated her doubts. Will released her hand and took the dark boy's instead all the while smiling as bright as the sun. "Nico," he said, "I would introduce you to this sweet girl right here, but she says she doesn't know her name. We were just heading to the Hypnos cabin, would you like to come along?"
Nico regarded her carefully and suddenly the trust she had for him faded. "You don't know your own name?" He asked.
"I don't have a name." She replied. "He keeps telling people I don't know it, but I never had one to begin with."
Nico studied her with caution; any look of trust was gone. "What do you mean you never had a name? Where did you grow up? Who raised you?"
"I don't know. Three days ago, I woke up." His interrogation was starting to unnerve her. The three days she had been awake had consisted of her following the instinct telling her to go here, but people seemed to ignore her. She was getting a little more attention than she was accustomed to.
"Woke up? What do you mean 'woke up'?" Nico's interrogation was really beginning to upset her. If she knew, she would tell him but she didn't know. She didn't know what or who she was, she didn't know where she was from, she didn't know who these people were, she didn't even know what she looked like. How could they keep asking her questions about herself, when she herself didn't even know who she was?
"I don't know." Her eyes began burning and began spilling over. A strange tight feeling began to press on her lungs. There was a strange pain in her ears, as if there was too much pressure building up in her head. Nico's expression changed almost instantaneously. He was no longer scowling or supporting the look of suspicion, but instead there was a look of apology and of sympathy.
He released Will's hand and came over to her in one quick stride and wrapped his arms around her body. She was startled at first, terrified even. But there was something about the way his arms were around her that made her feel safe and secure. She leaned into his small frame and let the tears start flowing. She didn't understand the emotions she was experiencing, but it seemed like Nico did; and i was enough for her.
Will, on the other hand, was almost in shock. His sky blue eyes as round as saucers, his mouth hung open, and he seemed unable to speak. The other people around them all seemed to be experiencing similar reactions but not as strongly as Will. "Nico... You just hugged her... Actual human contact from anyone else besides your sister and me, and you hug her..."
Nico just shrugged. "She needed it and I'm starting to warm up to her. What's wrong with that?"
"But what about me?! What if I need a hug, huh?" Will seemed about ready to explode from his disbelief.
Nico chuckled. "Well I'll hug you then. But for now, lets just help her out. Not knowing anything about yourself has to be hard. Come on," he told her, we have a cabin to visit.
The cabin was comfortable. It was the only way to put it. She felt her worries slipping away and her thoughts becoming less and less focused. The beds looked much more comfortable than the ground she had been sleeping on for the past few days. She was just going over to the first bed, when Will let out a ear-splitting whistle. The adrenaline coursed through her body from the shock of the sudden noise. Nico, standing on her other side, turned his glare on Will, who just gives him a sheepish smile in return. "Sorry, it was all I could think of to snap her out of it. That and it takes nothing short of Gaea's rising and a train being derailed to wake Clovis up. "
Nico just rolled his eyes. A boy, presumably Clovis, was just waking. Nico calmly strode over to Clovis and pushed him off the bed. Will was trying (and failing) not to laugh at Nico's impatience. "Clovis! Wake up! We need your help."
The boy dragged himself up off the floor with some difficulty. He looked of her and groaned "Another one? You'd think that was enough... Okay." He directed his focus on her, "What is your name?"
Before she could answer the question that had already been asked too many times, Nico spoke up. "It doesn't matter, Clovis. Now will you help us or not? Clearly you have already guessed why we came."
"Yeah, I'll help out. Come," he gestured to her "sit her."
No sooner than she had sat in the chair, she had fallen asleep. It felt like only seconds later when she was being pulled back to reality. Will and Nico were arguing with Clovis."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Are you sure?"
"No, that's not possible."
"Whats wrong?" She finally felt alert enough to speak. "What's wrong with me? Did you figure it out?"
"Yes," replied Will sarcastically. "Clovis has found the most perfect reason for you not any memories.
Nico just glared. Clearly happy with the current situation.
"Clovis," her voice was weak. Her resolve quickly evaporating. "What is wrong with me?"
He looked directly at her. Studying her with a new found interest. "You don't remember anything simply because there is nothing to remember. Your memories weren't erased or stolen. It's as if you were born three days ago..."
Nico and Will looked ready to argue, but she stopped them. "It makes sense, you know. When I woke three days ago, everything felt so new and bright and terrifying. I would imagine that is how a newborn child would feel. I have to learn to be human. I woke knowing how to speak but I don't know a lot of things still. I am still learning many things. I woke only knowing speech and thought and the way here, but not where I am or why I should be here."
The three boys stood around her in shock, as if she had said something profound. She didn't feel like she had said something special, but apparently, she had. Nico was the first to speak. "I guess that means you need a name then."
A name? She hadn't thought of that at all. She didn't even know any names to begin with. Will seemed to pick up on her frustration. "Come on, we need to take you back to Chiron." And they turned heel and left.
Thy arrived back at the Big House not soon after, but were met with an unexpected visitor. Nico and Will saw the mysterious woman and instantly bowed, but she didn't. The woman was regal, beautiful and haughty all at once. And something was so painfully familiar about her that made her want to cry.
Chiron stepped out of the house and scowled. "For what cause did you come to pay us a visit, Queen Hera?"
"I've come to see that my daughter is in good hands, that is all." Hera turned and smiled at her. "My, my, you have turned out even more beautiful than I could've hoped for, my dear girl. How are you?"
She could feel all eyes on her. She felt like turning and running away, but there was nowhere to hide. "I'm doing fine." She answered.
"Good. Now I imagine that you would want some explanation, would you not?" She nodded. "Darling, you have been years in the making. I wanted you to be my perfect child. The only one who was not a disappointment. I made you regal and perfect, but for the longest time, you've been missing a certain piece. That was the part that took me a while to find, you know. You needed a soul. I didn't want for you to be a goddess or a monster as my other children or creations had been. I needed to find the soul of a hero. The only problem had been my brother, Hades, but finally he allowed for me to have a soul that chose to be reincarnated. He told me that the soul was special was special to him and made me promise to care for her as well. I didn't name you or give you any false memories. You have great potential, my girl."
When she was done giving her speech, she turned to Nico. "I expect you to take good care of her, my boy. It isn't every day that you get to be with the reincarnated soul of a lost loved one." And she then disappeared with a small *poof* leaving behind the soft smell of perfume and silver ring.
She looked around at the people surrounding her. Nico had tears rolling down his cheeks and Will had his arms wrapped the boy's thin frame. Chiron looked as if he was preparing to fight. She didn't understand who or what she was. What she did understand, however, was that she wasn't right. She was put together by a goddess. She was unnatural. She was just a used soul put into an empty body. What was worse? She was the soul of someone who had been dear to Nico's heart. She was a horrible reminder to him of someone he lost. She was an abomination, a freak. Hera didn't even care about her creation enough to name her.
Overwhelmed by the suffocating feelings that surrounded her, she ran.
She found herself in the heart of the woods. She ran until her body gave up on running any longer. It was dark. Dark enough where she couldn't see her hand even a few inches from her face. Her body ached and she was mildly aware of the bleeding scratches she had gotten from running through thorns and the bruises from running into trees.
She laid on the ground, thankful for the layer of moss growing on it. She felt something within herself snap. For the first time in her short life, she cried. She sobbed until her lungs felt like they were about to burst and her body tired. Eventually she ran out of energy to even cry. She was scared, hungry, dehydrated and alone. She felt hollow.
She fell asleep to the sound of the trees rustling their leaves and trying to calm her. A blanked was placed on top of her and she snuggled into it. She faintly heard singing but was unsure of where it was coming from.
She dreamed of two young children. They were going along the path hand-in-hand. A young boy and an older girl. Each was fairly pale with raven black hair. They weren't exactly happy, but they at least had each-other. Suddenly, the two children were met by a fork in the road. The girl released the boy's hand and followed the path without him. The boy was left all alone. "Bianca!" He yelled, "Bianca, please come back!" "Bianca! Bianca!"
"BIANCA!"
She was met by the sight of sunlight being filtered through the leaves. She watched as the breeze shifted the leaves causing them to have a kaleidoscope effect of the world. She began to take in deep, calming breaths. Every night her dreams had featured the two children, and every night her dreams of the two had become progressively worse.
"Bianca!" There it was again. That name being called over and over again. She could easily hear the desperation in the voice. Calling ot to her over, and over, and over again. Suddenly, she saw somebody burst into view. For a moment, she was so startled by the sudden realization of exactly who the boy in her dreams was. It was Nico.
He saw her and ran straight to her. He practically fell to the ground where she sat and engulfed her in a hug. Just saying "I'm sorry, Bianca, I'm so sorry." Eventually he stopped, released her, and sat on the ground next to her. Nico's eyes were red and his breath came in deep, hungry gasps, as if he had just ran an entire marathon full sprint.
"Nico, I'm not Bianca. I wish I was, I really do." Nico looked at her with a hurt expression. "But I'm just not, okay. I'm a monster. A useless creation with a borrowed soul. Bianca's soul should've gone to somebody who could actually be somebody. Not to me."
"No." Nico replied. "You are not a monster or a useless creation or just a borrowed soul. I'm sorry for calling you Bianca. I, of all people, should know that reborn souls aren't their past selves. I'm just... I'm just... what I mean is...I don't know. I believed I would never see her again, but here you are, proving to me that sometimes the fates are kind. Wait," He paused for a moment and began digging through his backpack. He pulled out a spray bottle, a small flashlight, and a gold coin. The three items held no specific use to her until Nico spoke again. "I need to make a call. Here, can you hold this?"
He passed the flashlight to her and started spraying the water into the beam of light; effectively creating his own personal rainbow. She wondered what making a pretty little rainbow had to do with "making a call" but she decided not to question her friend's fascination with rainbows.
He picked up the coin again and said, "Oh Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Will Solace." He flicked the coin into the rainbow and it promptly disappeared. She was greeted by Will's shining face. "Hey Will."
There were so many things she wanted to ask Nico like; who the heck is Fleecy? Or does Will have a rainbow of his own as well? She decided not to ask.
Will gleamed at them. "Good, I'm glad you found her. You gave us quite the scare there, Jenny."
"What? My name's not Jenny." She was genuinely confused and turned to Nico as askance, but he just rolled his eyes. His face seemed to say just go along with it.
"Well, since your staying with us now, we need to find you a name, Rosie."
"Definately not that one."
Will just laughed as his image faded.
They had called a counselor meeting as a way to introduce her to the cabins and to explain to the others what she was. As horrible as the idea sounded at first, she was actually thankful for it. She was also thankful for Nico and Will doing most of the talking for her. As they told her story, she observed the other campers. There were a few in particular who stood out to her.
There was the couple who could make even holding hands seem scandelous. The girl had curly blond hair and terrifying storm-gray eyes that seemed to be glaring solely at her. The boy was handsome. He had black hair like Nico, but all similarities ended there. His sea-green eyes couldn't focus on one thing for very long. One moment he was lookin at her the next Nico then at his girlfriend's hair and then on the campers around him and so on.
She tore her eyes away from the couple and focused on another camper. The girl was easily the prettiest person alive. Her skin was perfectly tanned, her long, choppy hair braided with feathers and her eyes a thousand different colors. Despite her stunning beauty, her posture was slumped and she was stuffing her face eating a round cracker with orange-yellow stuff from a can. She had the appearance of someone who either didn't know her own beauty or she did and just played it down a lot or simply didn't care at all.
The boy next to her was somehow even more hyperactive than the first. He couldn't sit still and was always fidgeting. His hands were everywhere, it seemed. They tugged on his curly hair, scratched the side of his head, emphasizing his elvish ears he tapped on the table and pulled random objects from the tool belt around his waist. He was scrawny, but not so much that he appeared to be weak.
She noticed that many of the kids here were acting similarly to the green eyed boy. Demigods, Will had told her before the meeting, tend to have ADHD and dyslexia. She didn't know what that meant, but she was sure she was picking up what at least one of those words meant.
As they continued talking, she could feel the eyes of the other campers on her. Especially those of the gray eyed girl. No matter how hard she tried to focus on other campers, she still felt the girl's eyes on her. She scooted colser to Nico and took his hand as a way to steady herself. He looked startled, but he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. As odd as it may seem, she was begining to see Nico as a brother. Just as he was in her past life.
Will finished telling her story and a rough looking girl in red called out, "So where are we keeping her? She can't stay in the big house for the rest of her life and she sure as Hades isn't staying with my cabin."
"The Hera cabin?" One camper asked.
"No." To her surprise, it was both the feather girl and the blonde girl. They glanced at each other and the feather girl nodded quietly. The blonde spoke up." The Hera cabin was only built for honorary purposes, not for housing. Also, it gives me the creeps. Remember the last time we went in there, Piper? Rachel?" The feather girl, Piper, nodded. As did the redhead with wild hair and very colorful clothing who was presumably Rachel. "Needless to say, that cabin is bad on all accounts."
"Well, where will she stay then?" Asked a girl wearing a green shirt and pants with spots of dirt and grass stains. A thoughtful and awkward silence filled the room.
It was Nico who actually spoke up. "She can stay with me." Everybody in the room turned to stare at Nico. Some, including the green eyed boy and the hyperactive elf, had their mouths hanging open in a surprisingly comical manner. Apparently, Nico usually didn't do things like this. He didn't waver. "Obviously nobody else wants her to be in their cabin and she is like a sister to me, so I don't see the problem."
Somebody called out, "But what about the 'no non-sibling boys and girls alone in a cabin' rule?"
Will snorted and Nico rolled his eyes in an extremely sarcastic manner. "Oh please, I have a boyfriend. Isn't it pretty obvious that that particular rule doesn't exactly apply here?" At that response, Will, Piper, a girl with dark hair and green eyes, the blonde, the green eyed boy, and the elf all burst out laughing. She didn't understand the concept of a "boyfriend" or why Nico's statement was so funny, but she decided to add it to the list of things she would have to ask him later.
Chiron turned to her, the amusement clear on his face. "Do you wish to share a cabin with Nico, then?" She nodded. "It's settled then. Good day, demigods."
With that, the campers all stood and dispersed. Leaving only Nico, Will, the blonde, the boy and herself.
What did you think? Should I continue? How do you like it? This is a fun story to write and I hope it is just as fun to read.
Can anybody help choose a name for her? Leave your suggestions in the reviews, and if somebody comes up with a really good one I'll use it.
I really love getting feedback and I hope to hear from you guys, as any suggestions, feedback, and constructive criticism can always help me to make my writing even better.
I'll check in later, but bye for now! ;D
