A/N: So, Bianca's back, and just when Nico's fucking off to Alaska too. Here we'll see how Bianca came back, as well as what Samson and Laila was doing with the body in the coffin. Then we'll learn all about what they were up to with Hades hiring them. A slight change from canon here, but it's fanfiction. That's what you're supposed to do.

With Annabeth, spring 2011

"Percy shut the fuck up!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

I slap him hard across the face while Bianca watches the whole thing, munching on her cereal and watching me kick Percy's ass.

She comes around my side and stands over Percy who is still screaming like a maniac. Gods she looks adorable in her skeleton pajamas. She pokes his side with her spoon and swallows a big mouthful of cereal.

"Hi Percy, what's wrong? You uh, keep screaming."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"…Percy?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"PERCY!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

She punches him across the face and he finally stops screaming. Percy rambles out randomly, pointing between Bianca and I.

"I-she-you-alive!?"

"Uhm, yeah? It's a… long story. So… surprise? I'm back but I shouldn't be. Yay!"

She does a little jazz hand move with her spoon hand, the other still cradling a bowl of cereal. Percy's mouth opens and closes like a fish.

"Annabeth, can you tell me what the fuck is going on?!"

"Language Percy! We have a child here!"

"Hey! I'm not a kid!"

"Look, we need to get you healed first and I can explain everything. You're still poisoned remember?"

Bianca gasps and swallows another bite of her cereal, "You're poisoned?! Oh my gosh are you okay?!"

Percy flinches back into the sofa as she gets closer, causing her to frown and pout. Percy averts his eyes away and frowns, eye brows scrunched in displeasure.

I grab Bianca's shoulder and start leading her to the drapes of Samson's Van, "Come on Bianca, let's go meet Samson."

I glance back at Percy, my eyes telling him 'we'll talk about this later.'

We pass through the drapes leading into the Van and Bianca gasps as she realizes we went from being in a living room to being in the front area of a vehicle.

"Wow!" She says, and Samson glances at us in the mirror. His eyes widen and the van swerves violently into oncoming traffic.

Bianca screams as Samson swerves back onto the right side of the road.

"Samson, what the HELL!"

He cowers in his seat and nervously taps the steering wheel, "Sssssorry."

I cough into my fist and present Bianca to Samson, "Anyways look, you brought the dead back."

Samson glances back at us excitedly, even bouncing in his seat as Bianca lauds at him, bouncing on her feet just like my brother.

"Hi mister! I'm Bianca, thank you for violating the laws of nature to rip me from Elysium and throw me into the body I had died in earlier after rejuvenating the mummified corpse back into a normal form during the crisis when Thanatos was missing therefore making this a legal act because it was chaos and no one could really punish you since lots of people have already been resurrected and suffered no repercussions!"

Samson and I look at Bianca weird as she smiles a big ol' grin at him, "Did she… was that one take?"

"Uh, yeah. Looks like it, anyways, tada. How close are we to the sea now?"

"Just a few more minutes and we'll be there."

Bianca sits in the passenger seat and buckles in like the cute responsible little adult she is.

"Why're we going to the sea?"

"Percy's a Son of Poseidon. Water, especially salt water will heal him. He's been poisoned, but even just tap water helped him fend off the poison. Sea water should push him over the edge and cure him completely."

"Phew, that's good! Hey, changing the subject, but where's Nico? Laila told me he was here before she went to her room to watch cooking shows while eating ice cream. She gave me these pj's though… they're really comfy."

"SHE LEFT YOU ALONE!?" Samson screams, and Bianca covers her ears from the volume. He clears his throat and continues the conversation, "Anyways, Nico he's… left somewhere. Percy and him had a disagreement, Nico shadow traveled somewhere and we haven't been able to get back in contact with him."

"Oh," Her voice is plain, her happy expression turning sour and far too neutral for a twelve-year-old, "I… see…"

The mood in the van turns gloomy, the temperature even seeming to drop around us. Bianca stews forlornly in her seat as she gazes down in her lap, her eyes going distant as she becomes lost in her depressive thoughts.

"Hey, Bianca? Let's go hang out with Percy for a minute okay?"

She nods and walks with me back into the living room. Percy perks up when we walk in and takes in Bianca's dark aura.

He gives me a questioning look and I point my head at Bianca. Percy sits up against the arm rest on the couch and makes some room for Bianca, "Hey, seats open. Let's talk for a minute while we drive to the beach."

She smiles lightly and makes herself comfortable on the couch across from Percy. I sit down on the loveseat and let myself get comfortable as Percy and Bianca reconnect after all their years apart.

I lean back in my seat and think back to when Samson first showed me what was inside the coffin, when he showed me just how amazing in all the wrong ways he is.

Days ago

Her body is still, skin an unearthly white and her hair contrasts it with its true black color. Her hands are crossed in her lap over torn black clothes; in a morbid way she's beautiful, almost reminding me of a still life piece in a gallery or something.

Samson has his hands on the table as he leans over the coffin, his shoulders are tensed and his gaze is hard in thought as he stares at the corpse of the young girl on the table before us.

"Samson…who… who is she? Why do you have the corpse of a little girl?!"

He huffs in frustration and combs his fingers through his hair, "This… is a project I've been forced into. Annabeth, this here is the remains of Bianca di Angelo, and I've been tasked by Hades to help Laila bring her back to life."

My eyes go wide and I scan over the body again, taking in more details then before. Soft features, face dotted with freckles, small pointy nose with a mostly unnoticeable blemish hidden just behind her nostril, an average girly face with smooth looking.

She looks just like Nico if he were a girl. This really is his sister, his currently deceased sister that should've been far into reincarnation according to all things Nico.

"How does-how is she here right now?! Bianca died years ago, and her spirit should've long since been dipped in the river Lethe and sent on her way rebirth! She looks like she's still alive right now if it wasn't for the fact that she's as still as a statue!"

"Yeeaaaaahhhh… She's uh, not dead anymore."

"…What? Explain!"

"Look I-," He sighs heavily runs his hands down the side of his face frustratedly, "Months ago during the war against Gaea Thanatos was chained up and nobody could die right? Well, Hades used the tumultuous time and hired Laila to recover Bianca's body and rejuvenate it back to a state suitable for possession. Because Bianca's spirit had a valid body in the mortal world, it was automatically forced into her body as the Doors of Death were open. That's why Nico couldn't find his sister when he went to search for her, ending up saving Hazel instead."

I look back to the body and reach out and touch it hesitantly. She's cold, deathly cold.

"Samson, I don't think she's… here. Feel her skin, she's like a corpse."

"Yeah, according to Laila her spirit hasn't properly taken control of the body, essentially leaving her in a constant state of dying. That's why she's being stored in this coffin, Stygian iron is counteracting the speed of her spirit dying as Children of Hades receive a regeneration boon like Percy does with water. But this leaves it moot point, she's trapped in a constant battle of life and death, but that's where I come in."

I raise an eyebrow as my brother stands a little taller, looks like stroking his ego helps him quite a bit with his frustrations.

Gods is he so hauntingly familiar to mom.

"Hades… hired/forced me to help Laila in bringing Bianca back for good, Alecto had me sign a contract ensuring my success or I'd be thrown into Tartarus for illegal immortality. I've come up with a potential solution to ensure she'll be back in her body forever onwards, but it's incredibly risky. There's a good chance she'll die and her spirit will be trapped in Elysium once again. Annabeth, you know that we can't…"

"…We can't tell Nico… If he saw what you're doing, what his father is doing, he'd try and put a stop to it. He's a Child of the Dead, and this is a violation of death. If you fail to bring Bianca back and he knows, I think there's a good chance he'll explode and end up seriously hurting himself."

I put my fist to my chin and think over the situation as a whole. This here is an opportunity for Nico to regain the one person he misses the most, but there's a very high chance Bianca will be within his reach yet die anyways. If he just… doesn't know and Bianca dies, nothing will change. But if he does and she dies, I don't think he'll ever be the same again.

"We can't tell him, not ever. Not even Percy, I don't think he could handle it if she dies again. Samson, you must help her. If you can bring her back for Percy and Nico, I'll forever be grateful towards you."

He nods once, face determined, "I promise I'll succeed."

Back to the present

I'm pulled out of my flashback by the cheerful giggling laughter of Bianca and Percy. Gods they both laugh like little girls. Bianca has an excuse, Percy doesn't.

I lean back in my seat and watch them in content, feeling pleased that Percy's so happy. Even with his generally cheerful attitude, Percy's eyes have always held a darkness in them for a long time since the Titan War.

It's like he's had a heavy weight on his shoulders since he was just a boy. But now, now he's genuinely happy to have an old friend back.

Percy's bedazzling Bianca with the tale of his time in Rome all the way to the defeat of Gaea, recounting tales with splendor and glamour; Bianca stares at Percy as he boasts about the adventure, eyes wide with stars in them as she's completely enamored with the story.

A smile forms on my face and I can't help but feel elated.

This is nice, everyone's happy! Well… we're still missing our other Child of Hades. I hope Nico comes back soon, he needs this reunion. His happiness has been and sporadic and swift. A proper sister is what he needs now, and Bianca can fill that void far greater then Hazel can and likely ever will given their current relationship.

"Tell me about Lupa! She sounds cool!"

"Oh man she really is! She's a huge wolf with the softest fur ever. She may seem scary but if you're strong she'll love you like a mother."

"What if you aren't strong? Or you're missing your legs or something?"

"Let's uh… skip past that for now… Anyways you're cool too! You used your bow like a pro!"

She blushes and scratches the back of her head sheepishly, "Yeah-uh… I'm… not… good anymore. I don't have Artemis's blessing anymore, so I can't fight worth nothing anymore."

"Oh… well who cares! I'll teach you how to fight!"

"N-no that's okay! I'm actually going to be Samson's apprentice! Daddy talked with me when I was in a coma, he said Samson's going to be my mentor from here on out. He said Samson will take care of me and make sure I'm safe forever!"

That's… new. Samson's going to freak now that he's got an apprentice without knowing about it. He'll be fine, I'm certain he'll love Bianca.

Speaking of which. Samson pokes his head through drapes, "Hey we're at the beach. Let's get aqualad into the water before he dies of poison."

"Hey! I'm at least Aquaman!"

Bianca looks around at us confused, "Wait, what's Aquaman?"

We ignore the question and Bianca helps me drag Percy towards the front. Samson takes over for Bianca and tells her to put actual clothes on. She disappears back into his home and we drag Percy outside and across the sand.

Samson and I toss Percy into the waves unceremoniously. He plops into the water and floats on the surface, a big smile on his face as he sighs happily.

"Ahhhhh, that's the stuff!"

Samson drove his van onto the beach, people point at us but most of the fathers on the beach whistle appreciatively at the van. I can't blame them; Volkswagen Buses are a cool vehicle and my brother has a very nice one.

When it was in the mechanics Samson had them repaint the whole thing. Now it's a blueberry blue with white decals.

My brother puts his hands on his hip and gazes out across the beach, "Hey, you guys want to have a beach episode?"

I look out across the beach. It's gorgeous, the sand is a nice white and the sun is nice and toasty. The beach isn't too crowded, but I'm pretty certain Samson is using the mist to keep people away.

"Yeah, that sounds nice right now."

As it turns out, Samson's wardrobe has just about every type of clothing for all kinds of bodies. From boys to men, and girls to women he's got everything.

We all got dressed up for a beach fanservice scene and gathered up some towels and what not and set up a nice cozy spot on the beach. Percy's still floating contently on the water, I roll my eyes and toss a bottle of sunscreen at him.

The bottle bonks against his and he cries out indignantly, "What the hey Annabeth?!"

"Shut it Seaweed Brain! Now grab that bottle and help me out, someone's gotta put it on my back!"

He scampers out of the water and Bianca giggles, "He's pretty excited, isn't he?"

"He's a boy, he's just happy he gets to touch me."

"A bit too much if you ask me."

I jab Samson in his ribs and glare at him, "Leave him alone, Percy's a good dork!"

He rolls his eyes and walks past me, throwing a towel down and plopping his rear on hit. Something silver glints in my eye, and I see it's the hair clip Percy threw on the table earlier.

Bianca plops down next to him and looks at the clip curiously, "Oh! That's a Hunters clip! They turn into bows, or at least they should."

I put my towel down next to them and lay down on it. Percy comes to a sliding halt next to me and starts slathering sunscreen all over my back. I punch his leg roughly and he winces, "S-sorry, I'll just… wipe some off."

He scoops up the globs off my back until a reasonable amount is left, then he starts spreading it out. I turn away and look at my brother as he explains the workings and science of a bow to Bianca who listens intently.

Even though I can't see him, I can practically feel him blushing crazily with a nervous smile.

The hair clip in Samson's hand turns into a thin longbow sans its' draw string. He spins it around in his hands, examining it while angling it so Bianca can see. He runs his hand along the length of it, light silver energy smoking off his fingers.

"What's that you're doing," Bianca asks, gazing down with curious eyes as Samson runs magic along the bow, "Are you fixing it or something?"

"Partly, there's some weak curse on it and I'm removing it." The bow glows silver suddenly before returning to normal, the metal now much more polished and cleaner than before. Samson takes his finger and takes it from one end of the string notch to the other, a silver string of light following it.

He takes his hand back and the silver light fades, leaving a regular bowstring in its place. The bow turns back into a clip and he hands it to Bianca. Her eyes widen comically, and she gasps as she takes it into her hands, "W-what? Really?! Thank you!"

"Of course. I'll need to find a quiver to enchant for you, but it's better then nothing. Besides, every demigod should be armed with at least three different kinds of weapons."

She places it into her hair and latches herself onto Samson, wrapping him in the biggest hug her little arms can muster. Samson flinches back in surprise but reciprocates with a light hug himself.

Bianca pulls away, eyes puffy with small tears as she sniffles happily. Samson's eyes widen as stutters worriedly, "O-oh fuck! Shit is it still cursed?! Are you okay?!"

"No! No! I'm just happy silly! I was only a Hunter for a few days, but it meant so much to me! I'm just happy to have this bow, it reminds me of my old one!"

Samson sighs in relief and relaxes his shoulders. Bianca wipes the wetness from her eyes and scooches up next to him. He gives her a side-eye glance, but still smiles softly. She yelps as he ruffles her and punches his shoulder as she voices her complaints, only to receive laughter in response.

I chortle at their theatrics, and Percy does the same.

"They're adorable, aren't they, Wise Girl?"

"They are, it's sweet. I'm happy for her, I think she's treating him like an older brother or something. Thankfully she's his kid sister it seems. I'm glad they're getting along, they'll be good for each other."

And that's something I believe wholeheartedly too. Samson is a very neutral person, but I've seen that same forlorn and far off look in his eyes before in others. He's hurting inside. Samson's keeping his pain inside, locked in a box that's slowly seeping into his psyche.

Losing everyone he knew when he was young in the sixties weighs heavy on his mind. All his friends have long since passed away. His brothers all died in his arms and he was ripped from his time and thrown into the modern era.

But Bianca? She's old school just like him. She's an adorable little kid that clearly looks up to him, and he obviously loves having someone to fawn over and take care of.

Maybe he's even treating her like she's his daughter? He is a mature and married individual after all. If that's the case, then perhaps she's seeing him as… a father?

That's actually kind of sweet, they'll be good to one another.

We all relax on the beach for a few more hours, letting the warm and comforting sun wash away our sorrows and fears. And for the time being, we were just people. No worries about life threatening quests, no fears of time limits and lives on the line.

Just… family enjoying our time in the sun. That of course makes it all the more sad when we had to pack up and continue the quest.

At the end of this, we are demigods after all.

Percy clutches is stomach and groans loudly, his face sleek with sweat as I place a cold damp cloth over his forehead.

I sigh and get up off our bed and close the door to our room. We've been on the road back home for the past few days, and Percy's been sick the entire time.

As it turns out he's still suffering the aftershocks from Ladon's poison. It started only a few minutes after we left the beach, and he's been sick with a fever the entire time after.

Thankfully Samson was to diagnose him with just a fever and feebleness. He isn't dying, but he's sure to be bedridden for a good while. I almost had to physically force Laila to help us out, but the fear of death via dagger to the throat did the work good.

I make my way to the living room and head through the drapes into the van. Bianca's passed out in the seat, and Samson's focused on driving the van on the highway. The sun's heading downwards, night starting to stretch across the sky.

"Hey Annabeth, need something?"

"Sort of. I'm mostly curious about our next course of action. We're heading for the Sea of Monsters and we're without a boat or our resident Son of the Sea. We could ask Lord Poseidon for help, he's got a sweet spot for Percy."

"Let's… not involve the Olympians if we don't have to. I own a wharf out in the Boston Harbor, and if my old friends haven't been killed then my boat should still be there. If not, we'll go with your plan, I'm just not too keen to be involved with the Olympians if I can help it."

Makes sense, we aren't really sure what his relationship is with the Olympian council right now. For all we know he could be blasted to bits by lightning and thrown into Tartarus for good measure.

"You own a boat? What is it, a fishing boat or something?"

"Think a little bigger. Like, two-hundred feet bigger."

"Hera's sake, you have a yacht?! How in the world did you get something that big?!"

"Oh, it's not a yacht, it's a corvette actually. It's a gift from Queen Amphitrite, she gave it to me with a naiad crew as a reward for helping her out with a loose sea serpent she accidentally unleashed on the world."

"…You've received a palace, a vintage magic van and a warship as gifts?! How in the world do so many people like you so much they give you all these things for free?!"

"How the Hades am I supposed to know?! These things literally just happen to me, I don't even ask for any of it!"

Bianca groans tiredly and weakly waves her hand in the air, "Mmm… shut up…sleeping…"

Samson rolls his eyes and pulls us off the road and into the parking lot of a small drug store of some backwoods town. He wakes Bianca up and she rubs her tired eyes before getting up and heading back into Samson's house with us. She excuses herself to her room just as Laila passes by her and approaches us, a notepad in her hands and a frown on her face.

"Ugh, we've got a problem nerd. I can't make the cure for seaman's sickness."

"What? You're a witch, potions are supposed to be your specialty!"

She rolls her eyes and spins the notepad around and shows it to us. I read down the list of items, "Hydra's blood, Centaur hoof, Drakon dung, and liquidized goblin liver? Is this what we need to help Percy?"

"Yup, poison from an elder monster like Ladon isn't easily curable. You need rare stuff and these are what we need. Big problem however, the pharmacies that sell this stuff are run by your psycho wife. She controls the flow of magic ingredients in the world, so you're going to have to steal it from her."

Samson sighs deeply and rubs his temples with his hands, "I… see. Where's the nearest pharmacy then?"

Laila's answer is one that makes a pit form in my guts. It has to be that place, the actual worst hive of scum and villainy in the entire continental USA.

"We've gotta go to Chicago."