Despite Nico being an evil maniac, I was upset when Warren left her behind while he was rescuing Sienna from the maze. I hope she survived but if she did, we're not going to see her for a long time since Persephone Swales-Dawson has done a goodbye video. Because of this, I decided to start my first ever Hollyoaks story. Nico became one of my favourite characters in a love-hate sort of way. She's a crazy, evil little demon but still behaves like a child (Persephone herself is actually nineteen but she looks sixteen) and it's because she's a combination of a murderous monster and a lonely little girl that I find her interesting.

I think Persephone is an underrated actress since she got a lot of abuse from jerks on facebook. Hating Nico is something I can understand, but I feel like people use their hatred of the actual character as an excuse to insult Persephone herself. I think she has really developed her acting skills throughout her time on Hollyoaks - when I started watching again after a long break from the show, I didn't think she was very good but she definitely got much better as time went on - and I'm actually a bit sad that she's left. Persephone's nowhere near as good as Anna Passey (Sienna), at least not yet, but I see quite a lot of potential in her. She's a hell of a lot better than Lysette Anthony (Marnie), who is more than three decades older.

"Sienna, I love you," Warren said as he sat beside her on the hospital bed. Sienna gave him a very unnerving stare. Her eyes showed no hint of emotion. If she wasn't sitting upright, Warren might have thought she was dead.

"But I hate you," she said calmly, "You left my little girl to die."

"There was no time to go back for her," Warren protested.

"Then why didn't you save her first?" Sienna asked. Her voice had no trace of emotion but Warren would have preferred it if she had screamed at him. He opened his mouth to reply but she held up a hand, "Don't answer. It's because you wanted her dead."

"Sienna…"

"Don't pretend you didn't," Sienna hissed and this time her voice shook slightly, "You thought she deserved it. She was just a child."

"No, she was a monster," Warren said. Sienna slapped him so hard that she knocked him off the bed. Warren had no idea that she was so strong.

"Don't call her that!" Sienna screamed and Warren ironically felt his confidence returning now that she wasn't bottling up her emotions.

"Why not?" he snapped, rising to his full height, "You know it's true. Tell me one redeemable thing about Nico."

Sienna glared at him but didn't respond.

"Sienna, I know she was your daughter and I know you loved her," Warren began, speaking more gently now, "But she's killed more people by the age of sixteen than most criminals do in their entire lifetime. Hell, I've killed people in the past and even I find that disturbing. I don't understand what you saw in her."

"She was my daughter," Sienna snapped.

"You wouldn't have loved her if she wasn't," Warren fired back.

"Well, she was," Sienna said, "You don't understand what it's like to have a mother's instinct to protect her child. To spend every day wishing you could be there for her. I spent years separated from her Warren and that ache never went away until I had a chance to hug her again. And now…" She stopped and choked on tears. Warren sat down beside her and tried to hug her but she pushed him away. Warren waited until she had calmed down before speaking again.

"You're right. I don't know how that feels. But I do know what it's like to lose a child."

"Maxine's child wasn't even born," Sienna snapped, "It doesn't count."

"Maybe not, but it still hurt," Warren said, "I've never had any parenting skills but I was hoping I could develop them when Maxine gave birth. I hoped I could make up for the mistakes I made with Joel." He paused, "Sienna, I'm sorry that you lost your daughter. I really am."

They sat in silence for a while.

"Are they sure it was Nico's body?" Sienna asked at last. Warren hesitated.

"They said it was a body," he said, "But no, they didn't confirm it was Nico's. But the chances of her getting out…"

"I don't care how small they were," Sienna interrupted, "I won't believe that she's gone until I see her body. I want to see the one they dragged out of the fire."

"And what if it is Nico?" Warren said quietly, "Do you really want to see your daughter's charred corpse?"

"I have to know," Sienna insisted, "And if it is her, I'll make you pay for abandoning her."


Sienna and Warren stood side by side as a man pulled back the sheet covering the corpse. It was charred almost beyond recognition and the hair had been burned away. Sienna stared hard at the body.

Then she started to smile.

"It's not her," she said, then giggled hysterically, "Warren, it's not her! She's still out there! My little girl's still alive!" She turned to him with a crazy look in her eyes, still smiling like a lunatic. Warren felt even more disturbed than he had when she blandly stated that she hated him. He knew Sienna was a bit unhinged but he had never seen her like this before.

"Calm down, Sienna," he said, then spoke to the man who had pulled back the sheet, "Have any other bodies been brought in?"

"Yes," he said and Sienna's crazy smile fell, "Joe Roscoe." Sienna's smile returned.

"And that's the only one?" she said. The man nodded. Sienna was shaking with relief and excitement, "Then she must be alive. Warren, we need to find her."

"And where do you suggest we start looking?" Warren asked. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to find Nico, especially since he'd seen evidence that the teenager had tried to kill her mother, but if it made Sienna happy, even if it was a crazy kind of happiness, he was going to help her.


Nico was in agony. She had barely managed to free her leg and get out before the entire maze collapsed but she'd had to jump through a wall of fire to do so. Her hair had been almost completely burned away and her skin still felt red hot. She was sure the leg that had been trapped under the maze wall was broken. She had to crawl through the forest as she was physically unable to stand upright. Every little movement sent a flare of agony through her scorched body.

Nico collapsed against a tree, too weak to go any further. She could still see some of Hollyoaks' buildings in the distance. If anybody came looking for her, she would have little chance of hiding.

She stared up at the sky and thought back to how she got into this state. Her mother's last words to her before Warren dragged her out of the burning maze were that she loved her, but she must have been lying, right? She wanted her to be locked away like an animal. Predators weren't locked away for killing their prey so, why should she?

Then she remembered how Sienna had begged Warren to get Nico out first. She must have just wanted to die knowing that her little "incest freak" would be locked up. That's what Nico had thought while she crawled through the forest, but now that she was too exhausted to do anything but think, another hazy thought floated into her head.

My mummy loves me.

Nico shook her head to get rid of that thought and groaned in agony as it sent waves of pain through her burned body. Her mother had done everything she could to get Nico out of the maze but she had also said she wanted to get her "help". Sienna's idea of "help" must have included a set of handcuffs and a police car. Nico hated the thought of going to prison. She wondered if death would be preferable. She had a feeling it would be coming for her soon. There was a dark shadow moving towards her as her vision started to fade.

Nico's last thought was that she'd always expected the Grim Reaper to be taller.

I've got a vague idea of where I'm going with this story but I'm not sure how it's going to resolve itself yet. At the moment, I'm focussing more on some of my favourite Hollyoaks characters (Nico, Sienna, Warren etc) and their interactions than the storyline. I hope you guys like it, nonetheless.

One more thing. Can someone please add Nico to the character choices? I don't know how to do so myself.