AN: Sorry for this, there was a problem with the story, anyway, I'm only updating to fix some minor mistakes in this chapter, spelling and grammar mostly, hope you enjoy the story anyway.
Second life here I come." Bianca said to herself as she looked at the milky white water in front of her.
She cast one more look back at Elysium. It had been her home for nearly three years, therein lay part of the problem. Children of Hades didn't experience Elysium in the same way other half bloods did, as far as she knew, her siblings didn't experience the Underworld in any way the same as other half-bloods.
Everyone else lost track of time, enthralled by the perfection that was Elysium. Everyone else slowly forgot what it meant to live, slowly lost themselves to the passage of time, she saw it with all the newly deceased. They came in worrying about the problems of the world above, but after a few weeks, had forgotten all their problems.
But children of Hades, it seemed, were immune to the effects of the Underworld. It seemed ironic, the daughter of the lord of the underworld wanted to leave her fathers house. At first, she had wanted to wait for Nico to come, but she was impatient. At least that was what she told herself, but she knew why she wanted to leave, she was afraid.
Not of her brother or anything. No, she loved Nico, nothing would ever change that. In truth, she was afraid of him dying. He was always so full of life, so full of happiness, to see that go away… It had been hard enough to see him when he called her soul back to the mortal realm, he looked so tired, so forlorn, so depressed.
What scared her the most though, was the chance he would never make it to Elysium, she hated that doubt, but she knew what he had been planning. He was going to try and bring her back, and whether he was their father or not, Hades was a god above all else. So, she would take that option away from him.
"Enough." She whispered to herself, "just jump in, let it all go away."
"Something bothering you dear?" A female voice asked.
Bianca looked up and found herself staring at a woman, she had milky white skin and white hair, but she looked young, really young, like six or seven. She was wearing a white chiton and had a pair of sandals on. Her eyes were milky white, and swirled like the river before her, Bianca knew who this was, Lethe, the river.
"Well?"
"I don't… I… I'm scared."
The girls smiled sadly, "it is quite terrifying, losing all your memories. You're not the first to be anxious."
"Does anyone just…"
"Walk away?" The girl looked at her river with a small smile, her eyes seemed to fog over even more, "of course."
"What… what does it feel like?"
The girl smiled, "surprisingly pleasant. Hmm, the best way to describe it, is just falling asleep. No pain, just… peace."
Bianca stared for a minute more, the girl sat with her, silent. Finally, the girl spoke again: "It is a big choice, but I know you will make it." Bianca looked at her in confusion, "you're a daughter of Hades." A small smile again, "all children of the Underworld seem happy to get away. If you want, we can talk for a bit, give you time to decide."
"Thank you."
"Anything you want to know?"
"Why… why are you so young?" The girl stared at her, "sorry if your offended, I just… I mean I was a hunter of Artemis and she wanted to stay young to stay in touch with us… I didn't think there'd be many other gods who like being so young."
"You'd be surprised, many of us do. There's Hebe, but she's pretty obvious, Hestia, she prefers her eight-year-old form, cupid occasionally goes into baby mode for party's. But that wasn't what you asked, was it?"
Bianca waited for a moment, expecting the goddess to explain, but she just stared at her expectantly, before motioning with her hands. The demi-goddess frowned, while the child-like goddess stared expectantly, eventually Bianca gave up and asked, "are you going to keep going?"
"Sorry, keep going with what?"
"I asked you a question."
"Oh, sorry dear, not exactly the best at remembering these things, what was your question again?"
"Umm," Bianca felt embarrassed, of course being the goddess of the river of forgetfulness wouldn't have a good memory, "why are you so young?"
"Thank you dear, sorry about that, memories just sort of… flow away." She paused for a moment, "why am I so young? Well, I suppose this is when my sphere of influence goes away." Bianca looked confused, "well, you don't remember much from when you were young do you? Though I suppose it isn't fair on you, you've already been for a visit once." She hummed, "well, most people tend to forget their childhood, normally, you can never remember anything from you were three, but in actual fact, it is more six or seven. Very few people can recall anything with any accuracy from that age."
"Okay."
They sat in silence once more, Lethe dipped her feet in the water and kicked a little but was mindful not to splash Bianca.
"Are you still not sure about going for a swim?"
"I… want to… but…"
"You don't want to forget?" The girl giggled, "seems a bit contradictory, but that is what a lot of people want, I don't let them of course. No one who goes into my bank ever comes out with their memory intact. Well… come to think about it, there was one boy… a few years ago… or was it months."
Bianca looked confused, "who was he?"
"You know… I'm not quite sure. I think he was a hero, he came with two others, a son of Hades and a daughter of Zeus if you'll believe it. Most of the time I would forget theses sort of things, but children of the big three acting nice to one another… that sort of thing stays with you, even after a few hours." She paused and scrunched up her face in concentration, her brow furrowed. "He was a son of Poseidon… I think. What was his name?"
"Percy?" Bianca looked surprised.
"Yes!" The girl jumped up, before a look of confusion came across her, "how did you know?"
"He was… a friend." She smiled. "Where the other two Nico di Angelo and Thalia Grace?"
"You're pretty good at this, such a shame you'll forget."
Bianca frowned.
"Oh, right, you're still not sure."
More silence. Finally, Bianca managed to find the courage to ask another question that had bothered her almost as much as Nico's fate. "I… do you know what happened to my mother…" For an awful moment she forgot her name again, but it came back, to her relief, "Maria… Maria di Angelo? Where… where she went?"
"I'm sorry, the name sounds familiar, but I don't remember much about her, there's so many of you mortals, it's hard to keep track." She chuckled but Bianca turned away, looking back at the river.
The girl walked over to Bianca and put a hand on her elbow, she may have been going for the shoulder but was about a foot away from being able too reach it. She put a comforting smile on.
"You'll remember her." She gestured to the river, "I'll give back your memories before you lose the rest of them, you'll remember her."
"What?"
"It's important to forget what you can't remember."
"You'll… I'll…"
"Yeah, and you know what, I have something you might enjoy, since you'll forget… you should get some closure, and I have just the thing…" She stuck her hand in the river and began rooting around, looking for something, "where is it? Aha!" She pulled out a small white flower.
"What's that?"
"A poppy." Bianca looked even more confused. "Hypnos gave it to me a couple millennium ago, he's such a sweetheart, a bit dozy, but he means well. Anyway, it's been soaking in my waters for a while. I haven't ever felt the need to use it, but I suppose you might want to."
"What does it… what does it do?"
"To be honest, not much, but I think it's more what we can do with it that's important." She giggled to herself before holding the flower up to Bianca, who took it gingerly, making sure that it wasn't covered in the rivers waters. "Sniff it."
"What?"
"Sniff it."
"Why?"
"I assume you've experienced demi-god dreams?"
"I… yeah."
"Well, this will let us have a bit of control of what we see. Sniff it, then walk into the water, I'll let you see your memories and, if Hypnos holds up to his promise, we'll see into a future."
"This… this lets us see the future?"
"No, no, a future. The fates are pretty stingy when it comes to showing THE future. But, we will get to see what will probably happen… maybe. I haven't tried it before."
"But… why not…"
The goddess gave her a melancholy grin, "and see what? Nothing happens here, all I'd see are the dead coming and going. It gets old after a while. BUT. You were up top, spent a lifetime up there, regardless of how tragically short that is. AND, you have your brother, a son of Hades to view the world through, so long as this works. We'll see what will happen to him. It won't go particularly far, only a couple years or so, but we'll-"
"Sorry." Bianca waved a hand at the little goddess before looking between her and the flower in her hands, "so… you'll let me see… then I'll forget?"
"Yes," the river's expression softened, "no mortal can know too much of the future, lest they try and change it, even the dead… well, you of all people know that dead men can talk."
Bianca was silent, staring into the pale poppy, "I'll… I'll do it."
"Great. Now, take a whiff and hop in."
Bianca put her mouth to the flower and inhaled its sweet scent, immediately she felt exhausted, like she'd run laps around the fields of Asphodel. Her legs buckled, and she faintly felt someone direct her into the water, and soon found herself submerged.
"Well," the river said, her voice reverberating around her, seeming to be everywhere but with no source, the entire river hummed as she spoke, "time for a trip down memory lane."
Bianca's world suddenly turned white, and she was blind for a moment. She closed her eyes and tried to cover them with her hands, but it didn't help, light was everywhere, she couldn't escape it.
"Sorry!" The goddess yelped, and the lights disappeared, she opened her eyes and found herself floating in what felt like the river, "sorry, forgot to turn the brightness down." She smiled awkwardly, "most people come in here for a couple seconds, they don't really need to worry about the lights, so sorry." She smiled apologetically. "Anyway, on with the tour."
The world seemed to wash away, the waters shrinking until Bianca found herself standing outside a building, it looked familiar. She looked around instead of the roads she had been used to there was a large canal, boats drifted down, the light of the moon reflected of the water and cast a beautiful glow everywhere.
"We're in Venice." She said.
"Yes." She turned and found the goddess of the Lethe smiling beside her. "What a beautiful night, and a rather pretty river." She eyed the canal with a grin.
"Yeah… I remember this place."
"Of course, you do, this was your home for a short time, look." Bianca turned and saw two children playing just outside the hotel.
"Nico." She whispered when she saw him, he was so young, four or five, and he was grinning up at the girl beside him, herself.
"You are so cute." Lethe said with a grin, Bianca didn't agree.
She remembered that dress, she hated it, but Mamma had her wear it every Sunday, just because they didn't go to church didn't mean they didn't dress their best. Her eyes widened. She remembered! She could remember it now, the hot days, and the cool nights, playing with Nico, going to market with Mamma… she could remember.
"And that's Nico." Lethe said, "a bit smaller than I remember, but I suppose he has time to grow." She smirked at Bianca.
"He's four."
"No, it's his birthday today." The Lethe gestured to the side, Bianca followed her gaze and saw her, Mamma. She was wearing a velvet dress that went down to her ankles, a black bonnet over her head, in her hands was a cake, five candles dotted around it. She remembered the bakery, Mrs Moretti always gave them spare chocolate if she had any when they walked past her shop on the way home. Her and Mamma were old friends, so Nico and she were welcome when they passed.
"Mamma." Bianca whispered, her mother's smiling face, so like her own, brown eyes that glittered like jewels when she laughed. Tears dripped down her face as memories came to her, she remembered Mamma, how had she forgotten.
"It's not your fault you forgot." Lethe said, solemnly looking at her, "I took these memories from you. If you're angry at me…"
"No… it's just…" Bianca whipped the tears away, "seeing her is so…"
The river smiled.
"I remember that day." Bianca said, "Mamma took us out on the canal, taught us how to steer. Nico tipped the boat somehow." She giggled, "when we dried off, Mamma took us to the bakery, she bought Ciabatta, Nico's favourite, on the way back she told she forgot something important. She went back in and came out with something hidden under a cloth. All the way home me and Nico asked what was in it."
Lethe smiled, "what was it?"
"The cake." In front of them Nico blew out the candles and laughed happily, "that night we stayed up late, just watching everyone drift by on the canal, eating the cake and laughing."
"That sounds nice."
"It was great."
Young Bianca munched away on her cake, getting it all over her face, Nico giggled at her. Mamma took out a napkin and wiped away the cake and kissed her daughter on the cheek.
"She looks like a lovely woman."
"She was. She was the best." Tears fell again.
The night went on, and they watched the family of three laugh and smile, until Bianca noticed something.
"Who's that?" On the other side of the canal, a man was standing, looking at the three of them, he was pale, with black hair and a smart suit on. He had a fedora in one hand, and a cane in the other. He smiled at the scene in front of him.
The river smiled, "I know he's changed his look, gods know he couldn't pull of that stupid fedora, but no one wanted to tell him I think Persephone gave it to Cerberus when he was..." She shook her head and looked at the confused girl, "sorry, back on track, surely you'd remember your father."
Bianca was wide eyed, "he… father?"
"Yes," the river smiled, "he cared for you, all of you, I've seen your memories, a lot of the time, he was there, in the background, watching." To most people this would be unsettling, but Bianca knew a bit about the gods, they weren't allowed to be a part of their children's lives. Hades at least tried.
The memory started to fade, Bianca turned and found that her young self was starting to doze off, Nico was already asleep. Mamma lifted little Bianca, but the girl made discontented noises.
"Posso camminare, mamma."
"Certo, mia grande ragazza."
Mamma lifted Nico and gently steered the young girl away, bringing her inside, the memory faded away.
"That was nice."
"Yeah."
"Where too next?"
The whiteness melted away and they found themselves in front of another hotel. She remembered what happened here, "not here." She whispered.
But the world focused into reality, her and Nico were outside, they were arguing now, it wasn't anything important, but she remembered is vividly. Nico wanted her to play with his toy soldiers, but Bianca didn't want to, she ended up calling his toys stupid.
The argument ended though, Mamma showed up and separated the two. She brought them inside and told them to play over in the corner, she had to talk to someone. The duo ended up playing a game of tag, the argument long forgotten, off to the side, a man, Hades, approached their mother.
"I don't want to see this." Bianca said, but the memory continued, unabated.
She didn't hear what they were talking about, her younger self not caring about what the adults were talking about. Until, she felt something in the air, the scent of ozone descended on them and the air seemed agitated, Hades yelled something, and the word faded to black. She felt their mother's soul leave.
"Stop." Tears fell down her cheeks.
When the world came back, Hades was holding Mamma's corpse, a Fury hovered nearby. Hades spoke, but Bianca didn't listen, both older and younger Bianca could do nothing but stare at their Mamma's corpse. Her face scared and burned, her body limp, her eyes closed, never to open again.
Bianca fell to her knees and wailed, while younger Bianca couldn't comprehend what was going on, her older counterpart knew perfectly well. That was the last she'd ever see her mother, she'd had her memories of her back for a few minutes, only to lose her immediately.
The world faded to black, before the familiar white emptiness of the Lethe reappeared.
"I'm sorry." Lethe said.
Bianca didn't respond.
The next memory came in, the final one she had lost, she was on the banks of the Lethe, a fury, Alecto dipped Nico in, and then her.
Then the world came back once more. Bianca didn't move.
"Sometimes things are best left forgotten." Lethe said, rubbing Bianca's back, "and remembering will be painful. But if you forget it all, the good and the bad, you have nothing, and isn't the good worth the bad?"
"Considering I won't remember it anyway, what's the point." Bianca cried.
"Closure. That's what you wanted isn't it?"
Silence.
"Your mother was a wonderous woman, and maybe she still is…" A new memory appeared, but this one Bianca didn't recognise. "This is one of mine."
They were on the banks of the Lethe, watching the souls of the dead enter the river. A sobbing woman came to the bank, where Bianca had been when she was brought there by Alecto, and where she stood as she contemplated new life.
"I told you the name sounded familiar." The Lethe whispered.
Bianca stood up and looked at her mother's sobbing form.
"She… she was h-here?" Her voice cracked.
"Yes, I didn't remember until now, but seeing her face in your past reminded me." Lethe stepped forward and stood at Bianca's side, staring at the woman. Maria fell to her knees and stared at the water, trembling sobs escaping her. "She stayed in Elysium for some time, waiting for you, a mortal life time I think. Her memories were of you and your brother, even here, you were all she thought about."
Bianca brought her hands to her mothers, but they just went through.
"She's not real, just a memory." Lethe said sadly, "she loved you very much. She's still alive in the mortal world, I'm not sure about her name, but Eileithyia – she's a sweet girl, comes to visit sometimes, I help her, give her the souls for new children, she helps decide where they go – sorry, well Eileithyia came back after she sent your mother on her way. Said she ended up with a lovely family, a dad named Jim, and a mom named Laura I think… don't remember their last name though… might have begun with a 'J' I think… Jameson? Johnson?"
Bianca turned to the goddess, her eyes dripping with tears, but a soft smile on her face, "thank you."
The goddess returned it, "now come on, we've still got more to see."
The scenery, as if on que (it probably had been) changed, morphing to visions of a hotel. Slowly the life she remembered played out in front of her, the lawyer bringing them out of the hotel, their trip to Westover hall and the year of torturous studies there.
Finally, they came to the dance.
Her and Nico standing at the side, Nico playing Mythomagic, Bianca half-heartedly joining in, just to avoid everyone. She looked up and saw a trio of people she hadn't seen before talking to Grover, the weird kid who walked with a limp and seemed to develop a cold every time Dr Thorn entered a room.
Nico looked up too, she turned to him and shrugged, maybe they were late comers, or maybe they were exchange students or something. Before they could think about the matter any further, Dr Thorn came, growling (literally) at them to follow him. They didn't get to respond as he just grabbed their wrists and dragged them away, her hat fell off in the confusion.
From then on things just got worse, Percy appeared and tried to save them, only to get poisoned. They were eventually rescued by Thalia and Annabeth, and then rescued again by the hunters. Oh, they looked so… free. The slightly younger Bianca saw them and just felt so… amazed by them. When Artemis called her to ask her to join she almost said yes immediately. But her lady told her not to answer in haste and gave her until Percy told her about the great stirring to think about it.
They watched Apollo drive them to camp in his chariot, and saw her meet all the hunters, her new sisters. She tried to explain to Nico, but he didn't seem to understand. They watched as she had a good night's sleep interrupted by a panicked Zoe and learned of her lady's fate. Capture the flag flew in, the hunters winning, but their pride being overshadowed by the prophecy.
The quest passed in a matter of minutes, the Nemean lion, the drive, Ares and Aphrodite, until they came to Talos.
"It was a brave death." Lethe said, "you truly deserved your place in Elysium."
"I was selfish… I couldn't let Percy die because of me, I saw a chance for my redemption and I-I took it." Bianca whispered the last part.
"You are not selfish, the opposite actually."
"You don't-"
"Shush, it's time for the next scene."
"But I'm-"
"I told you, it looks like we get a little sneak preview." Lethe said with a conspiratorial smirk.
They watched Nico, his reaction to her death and eventual flight from camp.
Bianca felt tears prick her eyes, "it wasn't Percy's fault." She could tell it was tearing Nico up inside, his hero had failed him.
She could tell that her brother had a crush on Percy, he could hide nothing from her, and knew about him being gay. She never judged him, she couldn't, but knew he was sensitive about it, he had never told her, and thus she never got the chance to say she didn't care who he liked. And he wasn't subtle about liking Percy, at least to her eyes.
The memories went on, skipping huge segments, she knew generally what had happened from the dead who made it to Elysium. Her father also sent updates on occasion, not that anyone could know, he sent his subjects never in person, but he always gave her updates on what mattered most: Nico.
His lack of contact in the past month aside, she knew everything that had happened to Nico up until now, so she wasn't surprised when she saw him fight in the battle of the labyrinth. Nor was she surprised when she saw him bring Percy to the throne room, his escape and eventual dip in the Styx.
"She's always so grumpy." Lethe muttered.
She watched the battle of Manhattan, and saw the demi-gods win. It was one thing to hear about it from those who fell, but another to see it. She watched her father fight alongside the demi-gods, his army breaking apart Kronos ranks, and Nico beside him.
"Such a busy day that was." Lethe said sadly, "a few foolish demi-gods thought that if they went through here they could go straight back to the fighting, didn't seem to realise they would return as babies." A sad chuckle, "children of Ares."
Even though she expected the scenes to stop now, they kept going. They were now standing in the fields of Asphodel, Nico angrily storming through. She didn't know what was going on, but her brother was angry.
"Why?" He asked, anger and pain in his voice, "I could have brought her back… but she's gone."
Lethe turned to her with a sad sigh, "this is the immediate future it seems. By the looks of it, soon your brother would have been able to bring you back."
Bianca stared at her brother's wrath for a moment, before a sad chuckle broke out, "I should have been patient."
"It's for the best." Lethe said, "you had a good run, and ended on a high note."
"Right."
Nico finally stopped his rampage, and just wondered aimlessly for a while. Bianca watched sadly, she had caused this, this pain in her brother, unintendedly, but it was still her fault. Finally, her brother stopped in front of one of the spirits, Bianca frowned, there was something different about this one.
Nico felt it too it seemed. He looked at her for a moment, she was definitely a her, blurry, like all spirits, but a young girl.
"You're different," he said, he paused for a moment. "A child of Pluto." Bianca felt pain, like she'd been stabbed, he wasn't going to… "You remember your past."
"Yes," the girl said said. "And you're alive."
Bianca's eyes were wide, she was terrified, was he…
Nico was studying her, and she studied him.
"I'm Nico di Angelo," he finally said. "I came looking for my sister." Bianca felt a sob coming. "Death has gone missing, so I thought… I thought I could bring her back and no one would notice."
Bianca finally let more tears fall, why had she been so impatient?
"Back to life?" Hazel asked. "Is that possible?"
Why didn't she wait?
"It should have been." Nico sighed. "But she's gone. She chose to be reborn into a new life. I'm too late."
Now she would never talk with her brother again. Never get to tell him she loved him.
"I'm sorry."
The girl, her sister, almost sounded like she was talking to Bianca.
He held out his hand. "You're my sister too."
Bianca sobbed again.
"You deserve another chance. Come with me."
She fell to her knees and sobbed, this pain was worse than when she saw her mother die, one thought screamed through her head, even more painful than losing the chance to see her brother again: "He's replacing me." She whispered and sobbed.
Small arms rapped around her, the little goddess brought her into a hug.
"He's not." The goddess said.
Images appeared, not full pictures, but pictures of this girl and her brother, him bringing her to the mortal world, showing her new things, teaching her about the differences and answering her questions.
"He's not replacing you."
The girl, Hazel, was brought to a camp by Nico, she didn't recognise it, but figured it was the roman camp, it wasn't a big secret here. He introduced her and set her up with the legion. But he left. He came and went, but always coming to visit his sister when he could.
"He loves you too much."
Nico brought her a book, an old copy of 'the hobbit' Bianca gasped. She had been the one to read that book to him. Back when they were children, they found out they couldn't read well, so they decided to try and read together, this was before they knew what dyslexia was, Nico thought she was amazing because she could read slightly better. Their mother saw them one day, struggling through and offered to read to them, but Nico insisted that she was the one to do it. The way he looked at her, with awe, reverence, so innocent, believing she was the greatest. She loved it.
"Can't you see what he's doing?"
She managed to make it through that book, and eventually managed to get Nico to be able to read on his own with it. Even then, he still asked her to be the one to read it. She watched as he began to read the book to their sister. The book was battered and old. Her copy, the original copy she read to him all those years ago.
"He's not replacing you."
The two of them were shoulder to shoulder on the top of the temple of Pluto, the sun giving them the light to read. Nico slowly began reading, and Hazel tried to keep track with him, but was struggling, after a few minutes, Nico noticed. He smiled at her, and then put his finger under the word, a quirk she developed teaching him, Hazel was following a bit better now, and for the rest of the book he couldn't keep the smile off his face.
"He's copying you. Even now, you're still his teacher."
The image faded and a new one came, this one of Nico with a reel of photos of the two of them, she remembered taking it while they were on their way to Westover hall, both of them kept a copy on them at all times.
"His idol."
The picture zoomed in and the real-life memory of taking it came, they were in one of those photo booths, neither had seen one before so the decided to try it out. The first picture was them looking around the booth in confusion, by the second, they figured it out and looked in the camera, but they were blurry, the third was perfect, and in the forth they both decided to pull silly faces.
"His sister."
The tears still fell, but now they weren't out of sadness.
"Thank you." Bianca said, rubbing her eyes.
"You're welcome." Lethe said, and tightened the hug for a second before moving apart.
Bianca smiled at the goddess, and they went back to looking at the images. The next ones went in flashes, not showing much.
"Oh," Lethe said, she looked at Bianca with a wince, "you won't like this next bit."
She saw flashes, Nico fell. If she had a working heart it would have stopped, he was in the Underworld, but he was falling in a pit.
"Where?" She asked.
"… Tartarus."
"H-he…"
"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to watch."
The next images were so fast they barely made them out, a lake of fire, a woman weeping, twin giants. Bianca felt her horror grow with each second. They finally found themselves in a jar, it was so dark she could barely see, but she found her brother, barely breathing.
He looked like he was meditating, pomegranate seeds in front of him.
"He's alive." Lethe said.
"B-but h-he-"
"Watch."
They saw the giants tip him over, but he wasn't moving. Bianca looked as frozen as he was, until she saw him breathe. The images skipped again, people were fighting, there was a flying boat and a big statue. Finally, they stopped when they came to Nico at the edge of a pit, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were dangling down, Nico tried to reach them but couldn't and they fell.
More images, completely unreadable, she saw Nico with several people she didn't recognise, a girl, and a guy with a baseball bat were prominent, she had weird looking dogs. He was shadow traveling with a big statue, and looked weak, tired. Each time he travelled it looked like he was losing more and more, like he was dying.
Finally, he stopped after falling into a coma. The images skipped more, he was with Pegasi, the statue being carried as efficiently as swallow assisted migrating coconuts.
Finally, the images skipped some more, there was battle, Nico argued with a blonde boy, the boy telling him not to hurt himself. She liked him. They fought alongside the blonde-haired boy, Nico shot him glances during the fight, Bianca smiled despite herself.
Finally, the images stopped, Nico with the blonde boy. The blonde boy looked annoyed.
"So, where were you?" He demanded.
"What do you mean?" Nico asked.
"I've been stuck in the infirmary for, like, two days. You don't come by. You don't offer to help."
Bianca smiled, she really liked this boy, and so did Nico it seemed.
"I… what? Why would you want a son of Hades in the same room with people you're trying to heal? Why would anyone want that?"
"You can't help out a friend? Maybe cut bandages? Bring me a soda or a snack? Or just a simple How's it going, Will? You don't think I could stand to see a friendly face?"
Bianca and Lethe giggled at Nico's face, they just couldn't help it, he was just so… dense.
"What… my face?"
"You're so dense, I hope you got over that nonsense about leaving Camp Half-Blood."
"I–yeah. I did. I mean, I'm staying."
"Good. So, you may be dense, but you're not an idiot."
"How can you even talk to me like that? Don't you know I can summon zombies and skeletons and-"
"Right now, you couldn't summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, di Angelo," the boy said. "I told you, no more Underworld-y stuff, doctor's orders. You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary. Starting now."
"Three days? I–I suppose that would be okay."
"Good. Now-"
The image cut out and the world began to fade to white.
"Oh," Lethe said, looking surprised, "it looks like the flowers lost its effect. Do you want to-"
"No." Bianca smiled at the goddess, "I've seen enough, he's…"
The Lethe smiled, "I understand."
They were silent for a moment, there was nothing around them, just and endless sea of white.
"Thank you." Bianca finally said. "For…" she took a deep breath, "for giving me closure."
A few tears escaped her.
"You're welcome, it's nice to have someone to talk to." Lethe said, "even if you won't remember it." She smiled sadly. Once more, they fell to silence. Lethe watched the demi-goddess, she watched her try to mentally prepare herself and smiled sadly.
Finally, Bianca spoke: "I… I think I'm ready."
Bianca looked Lethe right in the eye. "Good." She finally said.
Bianca felt tired all of a sudden, her eyes drooped, and the world blurred, the girl in front of her fading. She felt her memories slowly disappear as she drifted off:
She felt her mind slowly disappear, with it, her name vanished, her mother forgotten, the Underworld gone, her friends vanished, the hunters faded.
Eventually she was left with only one thought:
Nico.
Seeing him happy with Will, that recent memory slipped through her fingers.
Him falling to the pit escaped her grasp.
She relinquished the memories of his pain at losing her.
Him and Hazel reading drifted.
Westover hall, and their time their vanished.
The Lotus casino, the dream that it was went to the river.
The time they spent with their mother fell to the current.
Finally, she was left with only one memory:
Her and Nico smiling, ageless, timeless, the image was fuzzy, she couldn't remember how old they were, but they were happy.
And they were together.
Finally, she disappeared from the picture.
All she could remember was Nico.
Nico's smile.
She fought to keep it, kept it close to her heart and held tight.
She didn't know who she was.
She didn't know anything.
But she knew he was important.
So important.
She needed to remember his smile.
That was all.
She could forget everything else.
She didn't care.
"Take it all."
"Take everything else."
"Just don't take him."
She felt the current soften, sadness flowed through it, she couldn't remember what that meant, but she could feel it.
She held on tighter.
She refused to let the current have it.
He was hers.
He was all she had left.
His smiling face.
The current gave a final tug…
Nico…