Bianca di Angelo sat crumpled in a ball inside the machine. A single thought echoed through her damaged skull: I should have died. Somehow, Bianca had lived. After a lot of complicated thought, she had concluded that because she didn't technically fight Talos, but control it, she had survived. Bianca would have much preferred death because she knew there was no way of her going anywhere. Sometimes she would here rustling and think someone had come to save her. No one did. She would live forever, but forever in pain. Without anyone caring for her, there was no way of recovering, no way of getting back to her friends, back to Nico. She cringed, remembering what she had assumed were her last words: "Goodbye, Nico. I'm sorry I had to go." And her voice had trailed off, another reason for her to make the assumption she had died. Then, she woke up. I was a terrible feeling once she realized where she was. Bianca remembered everything about the event even more vividly than she saw it to begin with. In short, Bianca was amazed and thrilled when she heard voices drawing nearer and nearer, and finally the creaking as two people entered Talos.

"Hello?" one called into the darkness.

Bianca tried as hard as she could to reply and it came out as a sort of pathetic, low growl.

"Someone's in here, right? You said you sensed a presence," another voice whispered.

Bianca weakly reached for her silver bow, even though she was hoping there was no need for it. "Please, be safe," she murmured.

Without warning, a flashlight shined down on Bianca. "Hello."

"Hi," she croaked back quietly. She examined the two people carefully and realized that they had swords at their sides. Of course they're half-bloods. They wouldn't be here if they weren't. So, I'm safe. They're saving me! Bianca thought excitedly.

"We're going to take you outside, now," the taller of the two said.

They picked up Bianca suddenly and took her outside the place she was supposed to die.

She yelped and asked, "So, are you guys from camp?"

"Camp Half-Blood?" the shorter, bulkier one snarled, as they dropped Bianca down on the sand.

Bianca stared into the blinding sun. "Yeah," she agreed, not noticing the tone used, because the stunning change in environment caught her off guard.

"We don't go there. We are servants of the Titan Lord. Do you go to Camp by any chance?"

"No," she stated plainly, hiding the fear from her voice.

The boys looked mildly interested. "Really?"

"You don't believe me, do you?" she said to them. Bianca had learned to stall in her short life.

"I don't recognize you." The short boy turned to his accomplice. "Do you, Chris?"

"I don't," replied the tall Hispanic boy, clearly confused. "Who are you?"

"Bianca di Angelo," she said, voice quavering.

The boys broke into whispers.

"It's not very polite to whisper."

They glared at her, went bac to whispering, and looked back a moment later. "Let's rephrase the question. You have a minute to tell us everything that you think we'll find useful. If you don't tell us, we'll see if you're still alive."

"I have a brother named Nico—"

"Why is this important?" Chris cut in.

"I'd appreciate the whole minute, thank you. I don't know either of my parents. I'm an unclaimed demigod, apparently. Nico is, too. I guess we're supposed to be powerful. Weird things happened this week, like—I don't have time to explain. I'm on a quest. Recently, I took the pledge to become a Hunter of Artemis." She paused thoughtfully. "That's it, I don't really know what's important to you."

"Powerful, eh?"

"That's what Grover said, anyway. He's one of the members on this quest I was telling you about. By the way, do you know how that went? I think it's over by now," she tod them. She noted how much more talkative she was in stress-filled moments.

"Grover the satyr? And, missy, we aren't here to answer your questions," he growled.

"Yeah. Grover Underwood," she said hesitantly.

"He says you're powerful. And Thorn said he suspected the same thing. I, on the other hand, don't think so. That goat isn't the most reliable source. An traitorous monster isn't either," the bulky boy mused. "It looks like the odds aren't in your favor today, kiddo. Sorry," he mocked finally.

"Kill me, then," she said boldly. "It's not like I'll live anyway."

"Ah, but, sweetheart, you know the rules: you have to fall in battle. You have to put up a fight. I know my running you through with this sword right here would hurt quote a bit, but if you just stood there, I doubt that would count as dying in battle."

She glared at Kronos's men. Then, she grabbed her bow, pulled an arrow from her bag, and notched it, aiming it right at the jerk that reminded her so much of the bullies she had faced in school. It flew toward him, getting him right in the chest. It was most likely fatal.

"You're next, Chris," she said angrily, suddenly more confident. Is that what happens when you face death, you become one-hundred percent more sure of yourself? "If I have to fight you, I'll fight you bravely."

The arrow was set, and ready to soar at its victim. But it didn't. It missed its target by nearly a foot. Bianca di Angelo had been stabbed.

"I guess it's for real this time, Nico. Goodbye." Her voice cracked on the last word and she was finally gone.

Bianca could swear she felt her brother's dark eyes watch her soul pass to the Underworld and into Elysium.

A/N: Well, it's a four and a half day weekend from school. Sometimes you don't even get that long for Thanksgiving! Anyway, I would feel really terrible if I didn't write something. And this came. I don't really like the way I portrayed Chris, but we can either say he was really bad then, or there are a lot of Chrises on Kronos's side. If you want my rant on why i chose to write about this then I'll condense it into: because I felt like it, this question has been bugging me forever, and my friend, who has seen the light of PJO tells me first thing in the morning Wednesday: "Bianca's gone!" Yes. I sort of like this. Bianca may be kind of OOC. I'm not that great with keeping character IC, but 'm working on it. I was reading this to myself and realized that I kind of slaughter "so" and "yeah" sometimes, but that's another thing I'll work on. In addition to things to practice: making things longer while keeping them intersting! Yep. This isn't exactly the longest, but I know I couldn't make it that much longer without making this horrible. I guess that's the end of my way-too-long author's note. Thanks for reading!
-Lexi