Okay. To start this off, I am SO SORRY for not uploading yesterday. I was out the entire day, and when I got home I was so tired the first thing I did was sleep. I really hope you guys aren't mad. I truly didn't mean to do it, and as compensation, I spent a good 15 minutes making sure this chapter was as perfect as possible.

On a happier note, I'd like to thank FestusLives, for his two reviews that really made my day. You've been the nicest reader I've had so far, and even though this story is in honor of Stygian stapler and JPBBX ftw, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to you. I really hope you like it :)

Nine was the age of discovery

Maybe Life had finally matured and realised it couldn't keep up a drunk nothingness forever. Or maybe it wanted a more interesting story.

Whatever the case, it ended that chapter as soon as it had started it. That was the only logical explanation to what happened, because apparently wasn't as deep as they thought. It probably wasn't if some annoying lawyer had managed to break it so easily.

He'd just burst in, wearing a tailored suit and an angry, serious expression, briefcase and wallet in hand. And before they knew it, Bianca and Nico were whisked out of there into a world Nico had nearly forgotten.

He must have remembered something really messed up, though, because last time he'd checked, phones and laptops and screens and social media and the hundreds of strange things he wasn't used to had never existed. Bianca had been just as confounded as he had been- the first word that escaped her lips was Oh, Dio; Oh, God.

It was pretty much how he felt, summed up in one sentence.

After a couple of weeks spent navigating through electronics and learning how to interact with normal humans again (Phones proved to be the hardest part. Something you could use to call others- and it was portable? Nico couldn't remember any of his past life, save for a very pale man with dark eyes, but he knew that wherever he came from, these must have cost a fortune), understanding what things such as Hollywood, YouTube, and Cartoon Network meant, catching up on the latest songs, and basically doing everything normal kids did, the lawyer temporarily caring for them apparently decided he was done with that.

"My orders are that you two go to boarding school."

"But sir, we enjoy it here-"

"Don't give me any of that. It's not a discussion, it's a statement."

And so the matter was decided. They would continue the education they'd missed out on for a month.

Their new school was called Westover, and it was in Maine.

Luckily, the next year wasn't as bad as it could have been. Westover was strict but fancy, and as long as you followed the rules you could have an okay time. Nico was secretly thankful for the enforced hours of silence- the one week of 'getting with the times' had not been enough. Sometimes people would go around saying stuff that made no sense.

Stuff like, "OMG, that is so sick!"

"He is so hot!"

"RANDOM DANCING!" (They'd break out into the silliest moves after this one)

"Look, she's got a D Cup. She's so freaking lucky!"

Nico had no idea what OMG meantor how something could be 'sick'. He didn't understand why this particular guy was warmer than others, according to the girls (Nor did he understand the small feeling of attraction he had towards said guy. No heart, you're male. Stop)*.He'd never heard of random dancing, and he certainly didn't know what a D Cup was. They also kept mentioning Taylor Swift, Hannah Montana, and Katy Perry (Especially the girls), people Nico had never heard of. And the movies, ugh. Too many stories and actors and relationships to keep up with. If wasn't so hell-bent on fitting in, he would have just said screw this, I'm out, and probably gotten a light slap from Bianca for that language. Life became hard.

Speaking of Bianca.

They'd became crazy close through this, way too close for a brother and sister- Nico had the strangest feeling they'd been like that once. Almost everything they did, they'd now do together, and Bianca never missed a chance to show him that his love for her was reciprocated. It was weird being in a world where an actor's lunch was more important than your grades, but they lived in it together. Even if they had their differences- Mythomagic bored Bianca, for example, and she still wouldn't believe him when he mentioned the driver with the ram horns- he hated when she'd started caring about her appearance like it actually mattered what people thought of her, or when she decided she'd rather sneak out with her best friends than do school. Luckily, it was like the difference between peanut butter and jelly. A good difference. Put them together, and the result was always great.

But even a bond that deep was still fractured by school. To start with, Nico was fairly sure he'd never heard of anything such as a moon landing. That was another impossible thing to do. And the stuff about planets and chemicals and algebra- weren't they, a bunch of ten year olds, far too young for that? Every single time something like that happened at school, Nico would recall simple fractions of what his old life felt like, and he was certain that the stuff they were learning was normally taught to older kids.

Another issue that was, in Nico's perspective, worse, was his lack fo friends. People often laughed at him and told him he talked funny- kind of like Shakespeare, as if he was all old (Which made no sense. Nico had never used the words where art thou in his life), and even more for a foreign accent he couldn't help. Apparently, it was Italian, even though Nico didn't have even a whisper of evidence that he'd been to Europe before. Combined with his lack of knowledge about current events, that just made him a target for taunts and bullies.

Even worse, Nico had trouble reading and sometimes accidentally muttered in Italian, which attracted a even more bullies (Luckily, they finally stopped four months later. Maybe it was because of the pale, dark eyed man that had allegedly materialised behind Nico the moment they tried to annoy him, although Nico swore he didn't know such a person). Bianca was punished more than once for impulsive inappropriate behavior and often reprimanded for her fidgeting and sudden movements- and especially her trouble paying attention in class- even though she swore up and down that she couldn't control it. They were nearly suspended a few times, Westover was so strict, but the same lawyer always returned without fail and convinced the military school to let them stay.

So, counting out that dangerous one eyed man they'd met in the alleyway, their countless near expulsions, the bullies, school in general (And a few more things), it was a pretty good life. Nico was actually pretty happy to have left the Lotus Casino (He'd finally learned the name). He'd made a pretty good adventure of his life so far, even if he could barely remember anything before the last two years.

They'd been at school for nearly a year now, and Nico was starting to get acquainted with other kids- a miracle after he'd spent those first few months mocked. Bianca encouraged it, teaching him about what she called the rules of hanging out with people who want for hang out with you. That was okay. It actually saved Nico's butt more than once, since he tended to say the stupidest things when he got nervous (Maybe because one of his friend's friends was kinda handsome. He wasn't sure, and didn't want to be, because what the hell, Nico? A male, again?)*

He hated those thoughts. Nico certainly didn't go to church now, but he felt like he'd been there once before- no idea where the feeling stemmed from- and he was fairly sure that his attraction to makes was just wrong. He didn't want to tell Bianca for fear that she'd hate him or mock him, and besides, she was his best friend. He'd never do anything to change that, not in a thousand years.

Part of being best friends was that, occasionally, they could break the rules and have fun together. Bianca was a pretty bad influence (Or a good one, depending on how you looked at it), and soon, they were building snowmen or stealing food from the kitchens in the middle of the night. It was incredible, how relaxed Nico was about breaking the rules and how nervous he was around people. Then again, other people weren't his sister.

As if to prove that point, one time Bianca had sneaked him out of his dormitory at one in the morning to watch shooting stars.

"Make a wish, Nico," she told him.

He opened his mouth to say it, but then she shook her head. "In your head, dummy! It won't come true if you say it out loud!"

He rolled his eyes and sent his thoughts to the sky. He knew exactly what he wanted. Bianca may have been the best, but he was still bored with the repetitions they made every day here.

I want a real adventure, like in the books. I like life and all, but I wanna actually do something. Please make it happen as quick as you can.

He wasn't even sure if you could plead with the sky, but Bianca looked pretty sure of herself, and she was almost always right. So he gave it his best shot.

Then they hugged each other good night and went to bed, each wondering what the other's wish was.

Neither knowing that way up high, three old ladies with scary expressions and a love for knitting were laughing and imagining just how they could make this wish come true.

*To start with, I'll say I have absolutely nothing against LGBT. I fully and happily support the LGBT movement, and these parts were purely because it fit cannon. In real life, I'm a lot more supportive.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and sorry again for being late. I love you all. Bye :)