For MissingMommy, I hope you like it.

Word Count: 858

I really do need to do more for this fandom.

...

Who wants to bet I'll ignore it for months?

Just as they were about to leave the junkyard, Percy managed to spot Bianca bending down. It wasn't only because of the promise he had made, but that certainly made him additionally cautious as far as the new Hunter was concerned.

What was she doing? What could she possibly have seen that was worth whatever would be coming if they disturbed it? Given all the things Percy has already see or heard of, he really didn't want to imagine it.

"Bianca, no!" Percy sprinted towards her as best as he could in the heaps and heaps of random things that were lying around. "No!" he yelled. "Don't!"

It was lucky that the two of them weren't very far away from each other, because Percy just barely managed to arrive before Bianca touched whatever she wanted to pick up.

She even straightened a bit, giving Percy more time, which was good.

It sounded like Zoë, Grover, and Thalia turned around at the noise that he was making, but Percy has no time to check if that's really the case.

"Bianca, whatever it is that you're picking up. Please, just...don't," he pleaded.

She looked oddly pensive as she replied. "Nico has been searching this figurine for ages. It's the only one he's missing."

Percy nodded confidently. "Then we'll get it for him."

"Yeah, sure," Bianca scoffed. "It's not like my brother was trying to do the same."

"We'll ask the Hermes cabin for help if we can't do this alone They're good with things like that. There have to be other, safer ways than picking something up here. We've been warned against disturbing it and you can bet that that means that nothing good is gonna happen if you do."

"Are you sure?" she whispered. She looked less determined now, which certainly was a step in the right direction if nothing else.

"Yes, I am." Percy took a deep breath. "Look, I've promised Nico to take care of you-"

"I can do that myself!" Bianca protested before he had a chance to finish his sentence. "I don't need anyone else to do it for me!"

"I know," Percy assured her. "You are a strong independent woman who doesn't need a man to support her, you wouldn't be a Hunter otherwise from what I've gathered. But Nico wouldn't let me go until I did and I intend to keep my promise. Being able to protect yourself doesn't mean you can't accept help and advice."

"You do?" Going by the expression on Bianca's face, not many people had believed her when she had said that.

"Of course. You and Nico are still alive and in one piece. That's another big part of why he asked me to help you, I think."

Bianca frowned, but she also straightened completely, even taking her eyes of whatever Mythomagic figurine it was that she had seen. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm guessing that you're pretty much the only one Nico has and vice versa. He can't stand the thought of losing you forever." Percy took a step closer towards her. "I know that I couldn't cope when my Mom was taken by Hades a couple of years ago. Or now with Annabeth." Huh. He hadn't realized that before he had spoken the words, but that didn't make them any less true.

"You may be onto something there." Bianca sighed. "I know that I can barely even stomach the thought of Nico dying. It's just-"

"Wrong," Percy finished her sentence. "Like the world shouldn't be allowed to continue existing."

Bianca nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Percy stayed silent for a minuted before he asked her. "Are you coming?"

"Yes," Bianca replied with a deep breath. "Yes, I'm coming."

And indeed she was moving towards him, not even sparing the pile another glance.

"Which figurine was it anyway?" Percy questioned as the two of them made their way towards the rest of the group.

"Hades," Bianca replied. "It's apparently quite the rare figure."

"Huh." Some part of Percy insisted that this was horribly ironic. It was the instinctive part of him, the part he usually trusted, which was kind of weird. Was it possible that the Di Angelos were his cousins?

Percy shook his head. He'd focus on that later. For now he had a trash pile to

It was only later, when all five of them left that junkyard and the area that could be considered 'the land without rain' that they understood what they had done.

"You saved my life," Bianca suddenly exclaimed without prompting.

"What do you mean?" Zoë questioned. "What has that boy done for you?"

"Back on the junkyard," Bianca explained. "I- I was about to pick something up. Percy talked me out of it. 'One shall be lost in the land without rain', wasn't it? I'd say we're out of that. And we're all still here."

"You mean that I beat the prophecy? I can't have done that," Percy denied. "I'm just an average kid."

"Loathe as I am to admit it," Zoë replied. "I think you might be more."

"You hear that, Kelp Head?" Thalia teased. "You're special."