Chapter 12
I'll be your friend
O-O-O-O-O
The Perytons were a godsend. They had to be. The five flew over the treetops and mountains, the forest rendered to a blur as the winged stags flew them to their destination.
It was the greatest experience of Bianca di Angelo's life. She couldn't remember much of her early life, but she was absolutely sure that she had never once been as happy as she was right now. Flying through the air with the wind whipping across her face as the world faded away beneath her, she felt free. Unburdened by anything that would try to hold her down.
"WOOOOO!" The rookie Hunter couldn't help but let out a whoop of excitement as the questing party tore through the skies. The cold wind lashed at her face and tore the cries from her mouth, but she didn't care. Right now, she was untouchable. She was on top of the world, with a feeling of ecstasy that couldn't be matched. This was the reason why she joined the Hunters! To live out her own dream, live out her own life, to finally see everything there was to see and take hold of her own fate for the first time!
But all dreams must come to an end.
"Th-Thalia! Ahead of us! Do you see that?!" Percy cried from his Peryton.
"NO I DON'T!" glancing back at the daughter of Zeus, Bianca was surprised to see her practically strangling her mount in a chokehold from how tightly she held on to it. Her eyes squeezed shut and she had curled up as best she could on the Peryton's back to make herself as small as possible. Was Thalia… afraid of heights?
Bianca turned back from Thalia to catch a glimpse of whatever was getting Percy so worked up when-
DEATH
Those words came first, searing into Bianca's mind like a branding iron. The wind came next, slamming into their winged mounts like a solid wall of stone, sending the stags and their riders tumbling through the air. The storm followed after all of that, drowning out all noise in a ceaseless roar of wind and rain.
"-land! -nca w- -ee- -o lan-!" Bianca could barely make out Zoe's shouts over the roar of the storm. But judging by how the campers had regained control of their Peryton's and were diving towards the ground, She had an idea of what she was supposed to do. Grabbing hold of the out-of-control monster's antlers like a steering wheel, she jerked the downwards, forcing the Peryton into an emergency landing.
As the ground grew closer and closer at an alarming rate, the rookie realized that she had not quite planned her landing out as thoroughly as she would have liked to. Just before the Peryton smashed into the barren earth below, Bianca threw herself clear, tumbling and rolling across the ground in a crash that should have by all means killed her.
Groaning as she pulled her bruised body off the ground, Bianca began to dust herself off. It was a miracle that she somehow didn't break anything, but she was definitely going to be feeling that for a month. Around her, her companions seemed to be doing the same, all in various states of pain from their own forced crash landings.
"What in the world-?" Above them, spread across the desert, was a malevolent black storm. The clouds were thicker than any smoke or stormcloud she had ever seen, blotting out the sun completely as they rumbled with thunder. "What is this?!"
Percy cursed slightly under his breath. "Zeus. He said he'd zap me if I tried stepping into his domain again. I guess that still applies when I'm on a quest to save his daughter."
Thalia's face twisted into a scowl. "Typical. Willing to risk his children because of his pride. At least we might have an idea of what 'one will perish by a parent's hand' means, huh?"
"I don't get it though," Percy wondered. "A storm large enough to cover a desert? That seems like a bit overkill for just me, right? It's almost as if…"
"...As if he was trying to get more than one of us. Yeah." Thalia concluded. "Oh gods, I really am boned. And not even by beef-boy."
"Well, you won't have to worry about that, hopefully." Percy sighed. "Seeing as he helped us and all… for some reason."
"Well, on the ground we should be safe; come, let us continue our quest." Zoe said.
"Do we have any idea what direction to go? I kind of got spun around in the air." Bianca asked.
"Indeed," Zoe pointed off into the distance. "Hearken. There lie the mountains from whence we came. We had already been flying west before being thrown from the sky, therefore west is…" Turning around to point opposite of where the mountains were was-
FAILURE
DOOM
DEATH
-Hills of metal a short ways away. Bianca shook the stray thoughts that shot through her mind as she peered closer to the metal wasteland before them.
"What is that junkyard doing out in the middle of nowhere?" she asked.
"I'm not smelling any monsters inside, but…" Grover shuddered. "I'm getting really bad vibes from that place. Like a giant curse or something." And it did feel cursed. The way the scrapped broken pieces of abandoned machinery clumped together to form a landscape was uncanny. Something that was so clearly unnatural presenting itself as natural.
Thalia sighed. "Fan-friggin-tastic. A giant cursed junkyard that has no way around it. How wonderful of dear old dad to smack us down right before we crossed it."
"Well, no use in complaining now. There is a road over yonder that leads through it. We should aim to traverse this land as quickly as we can."
The questing party wandered through the metallic wasteland, climbing over broken appliances and torn scrap metal. Mixed into the heaps of junk were many interesting artifacts, ranging from marble statues, human-like models, transforming weapons, and what looked like a defunct laser cannon.
"Geez," Percy panted as he tugged at his shirt collar in the heat of the desert. "If Zeus was going to keep those damn clouds over our heads, the least he could do was send some rain our way." Above them, dark thunderclouds still hung, as if daring the Demigods to suddenly grow a pair of wings and challenge the God of Thunder in the skies. Oh well. At least they blocked out the sun.
Bianca stopped for a moment to pick up a little trinket that caught her eye. It was a tiny figurine of a Greek god, and it looked somewhat familiar. It was like one of Nico's Mythomagic figurines, but it looked a bit different.
"Hades…" She murmured to herself as she read the name of the figure off of its circular base. That was the God of the Underworld, right? One of the "big three" so to speak, alongside Percy and Thalia's dads. Bianca rolled her eyes. This was probably one of those limited edition figures that Nico was always crying about not being able to get. She always had to go with him to get his cards and figures. Of course she did, he was ten. She always had to go with him everywhere. She had to hold his hand when they walked down the street so he wouldn't run in front of a car. She had to order his food at restaurants. She had to tell him not to yell indoors or teach him how to tie his shoes or do his times tables. She had to do everything for him!
Immediately guilt overtook her heart. Did she expect him to do it himself? A little boy? But she didn't want to spend her whole life chained to her sibling, only ever doing what was best for him. And now… now that she finally had an excuse she was leaving him behind. She didn't need his forgiveness. It wasn't her fault she wanted a life of her own. But… maybe she could at least assure him that she didn't hate him.
As she made to pocket the Hades figurine for Nico, she heard Zoe call out to her. "I would recommend against that. Everything in this junkyard is here for a reason."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Zoe gestured around them. "Look around. What do you see? Nothing but ruined machines and broken tools. I would wager that this place belongs to Hephaestus. A place where he can safely store all of his failed creations."
Percy scoffed as he clambered over a broken refrigerator. "I think Hephaestus could stand to do a little bit of recycling then. Seriously, the amount of Celestial Bronze in this dump could arm Camp Half-Blood for a century."
Zoe shook her head. "That is exactly what I mean." She sighed. "This is where all of the things that were too dangerous to be reused are sent. Things that were better off thrown somewhere remote and far away where hopefully no one would find them."
"Like nuclear waste…" Grover shuddered.
Bianca looked at the figurine in her hand. What was she supposed to do now? Tell Nico why she was ditching him in the care of strangers? Tell him about how she felt he was dragging her down and made her feel miserable?
"God damn it…" With a grunt of frustration, she chucked the Mythomagic figure over a hill of trash and turned around to rejoin the party.
"It's just a toy…" Percy awkwardly consoled, a bit apprehensive of Bianca's sudden change of mood. "You can just buy one after the quest."
"Just forget it." She huffed. In the distance behind them, there was a tiny plink! as the figurine landed in debris. "It's not important right now."
Klick! Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The entire group froze as they heard the sound from behind them. Bianca grimaced slightly at the idea of having accidentally triggered a bomb with her throw. As the Demigods turned to the hill of scrap that the figurine had been tossed behind, something else met their gaze as it crested the metal hill.
A mannequin.
Or rather, half of a mannequin. It dragged itself forward using its arms, with its legs having been completely removed, only ripped wiring hanging out of its waist.
Then suddenly, as if possessed by a demon, the mannequin lunged forward at the party, propelling itself at great speeds with awkward, jerky movements. Instinctively, Thalia impaled it through the chest with her spear, but it continued to claw at her, pinned to the ground but still very much alive. Percy darted forwards to assist, slashing the mechanical abomination's head clean off with a stroke from Riptide.
"What the hell?!" Thalia exclaimed as she yanked her spear loose from the inert mannequin's body.
Then, around them, the junkyard came to life.
Marble statues segmented, revealing metallic joints that allowed movement. Toy soldiers the size of men began to move. Over the hills came metal spiders, metal snakes, metal bulls, metal lions, and metal peacocks. An oven transformed into a six-foot-tall robot with a cannon for an arm. And every single one of them was making a beeline for the only non-mechanical things in the junkyard.
"Holy shit." Thalia whispered as the tidal wave of mechanical monsters poured towards them.
"RUN!" Zoe shouted at the Demigods as she took off down the road. "Fight them as you escape!"
"You know, I can't help but notice that we've been doing a lot of that this quest!" Percy shouted as they followed the veteran Hunter. As the party sprinted away from the horde pursuing them, more metallic foes leaped out from the debris around them. Percy slashed them away with his sword, Thalia stabbed with her spear and bashed with her shield, Grover kicked with his hooves, and the two Hunters fired arrow after arrow into their attackers.
"Shit, there's more up ahead!" Thalia cried as a horde of machines spilled onto the road before them. "These fuckers don't go down easy! They don't have the same vital points other monsters do!"
"We don't have to kill them." Zoe snapped. "We just have to get away!"
Suddenly, a robot dressed in Spartan armor lunged at Zoe from the top of a hill. Time seemed to slow for Bianca as she drew her bow and-
Name: Scrapping designation #2391498, model Hoplite
Fatal weaknesses: Neck unprotected by armor and hosts connection between main computing terminal and body
Path: Raise bow by 100 degrees from current position; knock arrow and draw bow; release bowstring in 0.102 seconds
DIE
The mechanical warrior smashed to the ground, an arrow piercing clean through its neck. On Bianca's right, a mechanical leopard lunged from its hiding place, ready to tear her to shreds. It was too close to shoot with a bow-
Name: Scrapping designation #40305, model Panthera
Fatal weaknesses: Battery shifted to the right; damage will shut it down
Path: Allow it to approach within 3.45 feet; half-crouch by 1.53 feet; allow it to approach within 1.4 feet; stab knife downwards at a 45-degree angle
DIE
-So she stabbed her hunting knife into its right flank. The machine shuddered slightly, then its eyes went dim as it froze up. As she took off running again, one machine, a marble statue with horrifying spider legs, broke free from the tide of enemies behind them and began to swiftly gain ground on her.
Name: Scrapping designation #1240, model Galatea
Fatal weaknesses: Unstable, volatile core in abdomen
Path: Raise bow to level; shift aim to the left by 5 inches; knock arrow and draw bow; release bowstring
DIE
The stone and bronze monstrosity seized violently as her arrow pierced its stomach. Then, in a flash of light, the statue exploded, obliterating the machines behind it.
Name: Scrapping designation #3293059258, model Pandora
Fatal weaknesses: Facial recognitio Explosions
DIE
Name: Scrapping designation #25, model Khalkotauroi
Fatal weaknesses: Excessive fuel consu Explosions
DIE
Name: Scrapping designation #285320, model Aletheia
Fatal weaknesses: Te Explosions
DIE
Name: Scrapping designation #3920, model Sefar
Fatal wea
DIE
Name: Scrapping designation #90233, model
DIE
Name:
DIE
DIE
DIE
DIE
DIE
DIE
Her movements were impossibly quick and inhumanly graceful. They were not the movements of a girl who had joined the Hunters of Artemis less than a week ago. They were the movements of a genuine demon thirsting for blood.
DIE
Her knife was a bronze flash as it sliced cleanly through a mannequin's head.
DIE
Mid-leap, she shot an arrow that glanced off a sheet of steel into a mechanical bull's eye.
DIE
She landed atop an abomination with a cannon for a mouth and Gatling guns for arms. Digging her blade into its brain, she forced it to open fire on its brethren.
DIE
DIE
DIE
But at last, the end was in sight. They had finally reached the end of the junkyard. The metal monsters that plagued them had either fallen too far behind in their chase or had been slain. A miracle, one that would not have been possible had Bianca been an unskilled rookie like she should've been.
"Oh, thank the gods!" Grover wheezed as the group stumbled for the exit gasping for air. With the danger gone, the adrenaline coursing through their veins had finally begun to wane.
"I think it was the gods' fault we ended up in that mess to begin with," Thalia remarked bitterly. "Seriously, what the hell was that?! What the hell is Hephaestus making?!"
"Hopefully something we'll never have to see again. And Bianca," Zoe said, turning to her junior. "That was some remarkable fighting skill you displayed there. I'm quite shocked that someone as new to combat as you could fight with such prowess, but I am impressed nonetheless."
The praise from her seniors made Bianca feel warm on the inside. "Oh, I mean it wasn't all that much really."
"Nonsense," Zoe dismissed as she waved away her humility. "You went above and beyond what was expected of you, and that deserves to be recognized. Take pride in your accomplishments, do not cheapen them or allow another to claim them as their own."
"Yeah! You kicked some serious can out there." Percy added. "It was less like you were fighting and more just straight-up killing them. I don't think I saw you block or dodge a single time, you just went straight for the throat before they could do anything."
Bianca's smile faltered slightly at Percy's compliment. That was what she was doing, wasn't it? She just followed the paths her mind played out to her to find the quickest way to kill every single one of those machines. That wasn't just combat skill, that was… something else.
"Hey guys, I hate to interrupt your little pep talk, but we should probably keep moving," Thalia called out to the two Hunters and the son of Poseidon. "We're not out of the woods just yet, and that's assuming those freaks can't leave the junkyard. We should head out before any stragglers catch up with us."
Zoe shot a glare at the girl, but sighed and made to follow. She was right, it wouldn't do to just keep loitering around this dump until another mechanical monster came by.
"A~L SYST*MS ONLIN3: EN6AGI*G SE-URI~Y PR0T*COLS"
But it seems like it was too late for that. The road beneath them rumbled and hills of metal scrap tumbled away as something impossibly huge stirred beneath the wasteland. Rising from the sea of debris like a colossal sea monster, a giant made of bronze stood up to tower over the Demigods. Easily two-hundred feet tall and armed with a sword longer than a school bus, it would have made even the Minotaur and Laistrygonian giants look like ants in comparison to it.
Having fought monsters of great size and ferocity for so long, there was not much that could genuinely scare Zoe Nightshade. Force her to retreat, yes, but not scare her. But this? This literal colossus inspired terror within the immortal huntress that she had not felt in a long, long time.
The questing party did not exchange words as they scattered. No sooner did their group split up and run did the bronze giant bring its sword crashing down on their previous location, utterly annihilating the area. The Demigods fled from it in all directions, sprinting for cover, sprinting for a vantage point, or just sprinting away. Not a single attack had been launched against it, but the heroes knew for sure that they stood no hope of defeating it, defective or not. It was an insurmountable force of nature, as unruly as an earthquake and invincible as a mountain.
All except one of the Demigods of course.
Bianca di Angelo darted from cover to cover, keeping out of the giant's line of sight as she circled around it. There was no way her party would be able to outrun that thing, not with the massive strides it could take. If they were to try and hide, to wait for it to give up, it was clear that it would only send the towering metal guardian into a frenzy until the land around it was devastated, killing them via collateral. That meant that there was only one solution.
DEATH
Nothing was invincible. She wasn't a mythology buff like Nico was, but everyone knew the story of Achilles' heel. She just had to find an opening, any sort of weakness she could exploit. She already had the tools to do so, she just needed that voice inside her head to speak up again…!
Name: Olympia Security Corporation security enforcer prototype, model Talos
Fatal weaknesses: Head contains automated and manual control systems; vulnerable to high electrical discharge; incomplete armor plating on body provides footholds
Path: Climb
Bianca burst from her cover as the giant- a prototype Talos, was distracted by the arrows of her fellow Hunter. She pathed out her climbing route on Talos' back, mapping out which cracks to grab ahold of as she leaped onto the giant's heel and began to scale it.
"Bianca!" Zoe screamed, mortified. "What are you doing?!"
"Trust me!" Bianca hollered back. "I have a plan! Just keep this thing distracted before it notices me!" Without waiting for an answer, Bianca pulled herself from crack to crack on the giant's broken plating like an expert rock-climber. At this point, she was running off of pure adrenaline and the guidance of the mysterious voice, ushering her to reach the bronze colossus's head. She heard the plinking of Zoe's arrows as they bounced off the seemingly invulnerable Talos, and felt the giant jerk and twist as it changed directions to pursue Percy, Thalia, and Grover whenever it spotted them. Fortunately, the giant seemed to be deaf, or else it would've probably picked up on her grunts as she climbed up its back.
"Thalia, can't you shock it?! It's made of metal, and it probably has a bunch of vulnerable wiring or something!" Percy shouted to the daughter of Zeus. He was right, Talos was definitely weak to electricity, magic or otherwise, and having someone who could call down lightning bolts or shoot electricity by their side should have been a ticket to victory.
"I-I can't!" Thalia cried. "This storm- it's blocking out my powers!"
Percy looked up at the dark clouds still overhead and snarled. "Really Zeus?! Of all times, now?!"
Bianca paid them no mind. She kept climbing, even though her fingers began to whine in protest. She was almost there. She had reached the shoulder blades. Just a bit further- she had reached the shoulders. She could stand now. Before it could turn its head and notice her, she lunged and grabbed onto the solid metal facsimile of hair. She clambered on top of its head and heaved a sigh of relief. She had done it! She had climbed the giant and reached the head. It felt like she had scaled Mount Everest, and she felt just as accomplished.
Now what?
She frantically looked around Talos' head as a sinking feeling began to form in her stomach. The neck, the head, the eyes- all of them were protected by the same plating that covered the rest of its body. There was no weak spot here. There was no way for her to break into its head and access the controls.
No, no, that couldn't be the case. There had to be a reason she was up there. The voice- it told her to climb. That climbing was the way to its fatal weakness.
No… weaknesses, plural. The controls in its head, and elec-
"Oh." She whispered to herself, as the black clouds above began to roar.
Name: Bianca di Angelo
Fatal weaknesses: Fire, scorpion stings, dehydration, drowning, crushing, bleeding to death, impalement, decapitation, crushing, neck-breaking, bullets, submerged in acid, turned into corn, volcanic eruptions, starving, heatstroke, trampled by horses, trampled by elephants, trampled by humans, giant robots, plasma cannons, evaporation, nuclear radiation, molecular dismemberment, one week of eating Persephone's pomegranate seeds, head trauma, drawn and quartered, stabbed in the back, Gorgon blood, witnessing true divine forms, frostbite, hypothermia, Gilbert, bludgeoning, punched by the Minotaur, sat on by a cyclops, mauled by a Grizzly bear, becoming Polyphemus' bride, organ removal, syphilis, telefragging, Hydra venom, molten lead, molten celestial bronze, molten imperial gold, molten jolly ranchers, crucifixion, asphyxiation, run over by an eighteen-wheeler, guillotines, the electric chair, lightning strikes, prophecies, divine punishment, Zeus
Path: Adhere to the prophecy
DIE
It was night when Bianca woke up again.
Or at least she assumed it was night, judging by how cool the air was. She couldn't quite see the sky from beneath all of the junk she was buried beneath.
It was strange. She couldn't move her body in the slightest, which was to be expected seeing as she got struck down by lightning from the heavens. That felt… familiar, in a way. But despite being struck by lightning, she didn't feel any pain. Maybe that was just a side effect of losing all feeling in your body.
But why did she even still have a body? She should be dead. She doubted Zeus would have taken half measures judging by how powerful that blast of divine electricity was. She should be in the Underworld, not still trapped under metal scrap in the already ruined ruins of Hephaestus' junkyard. It was like… her soul chose to stay behind in a dead body. She could hear the creaking of the metal hills settling in the night breeze in the distance, but she couldn't hear the sound of her own breathing.
There weren't any voices around, or the sound of someone climbing through the wreckage. Her friends were gone, most likely continuing their quest. Hell, she didn't even know how long it had been since Talos had been felled. A few hours? A day? A week? Was the quest already over?
Had they… left her behind? Did they just give up after a few hours of sifting through the junk? Just thrown her away as if she was no better than the trash she was buried beneath?!
Guilt immediately lanced through her heart as she thought that. No, it wasn't their fault. They had a quest to complete, and they couldn't waste their time looking for someone who was dead by the command of the Fates. She was as good as dead, seeing as she couldn't move her body. A soul hastily bound to an unmoving corpse. She wondered if they would at least come to finish the search after the quest was over… or whether she had truly seen her only friends for the last time.
Oh gods… Nico. She would never see him again. She would never be able to explain to him why she left. She would never be able to apologize. She would never see him grow up to where he might forgive her. He would never know, and he would live and die never knowing.
Maybe this was her punishment for that. For leaving behind her only family. Maybe it was what she deserved for choosing herself over Nico.
But why? Why was it wrong to want to live her own life? Why was it wrong to want her own friends? Why was it wrong to think about herself for once?
She gave up her bond with Nico, and that sacrifice meant nothing in the end. She would never be able to know the camaraderie of the Hunters and forge friendships she made on her own terms. No one was there to hold her hand when she died. It wasn't fair. IT WASN'T FAIR!
Suddenly, in the distance, there was the scraping and clattering of metal as scraps tumbled down a hill. Someone was here, and they were coming closer. The footsteps were even, meaning that it was an actual person rather than a mechanical abomination. It was only one person, so it couldn't have been her friends, but it was someone.
Closer. They were getting closer. Closer. Closer-!
And then they passed by. They weren't looking for her. Why would they be? They were just passing through.
Help.
They wouldn't find her. They wouldn't dig through the metal hills to unearth her body and save her.
Help me.
They wouldn't even forget her; they never knew she was there to begin with.
Somebody help me.
She would be alone again. No one there to comfort her damned soul.
Please, somebody, help me.
She couldn't do anything. Her body was dead. Her soul was worthless. She had no bonds, no friends, not even any family anymore.
Please.
There was nothing left for her. No past, no present, no future.
PLEASE!
She was truly alone.
SOMEBODY HELP ME!
As if responding to the final, desperate plea of a damned girl's soul, the dead, unfeeling body responded.
"Hel-p… me… some-bo-dy… h-elp… m-e…"
A wheeze. That's what it was, the air being forced from her lungs, vaguely interpreted into words by the power of a human soul. But it was enough.
The footsteps stopped, as though whoever they belonged to had superhuman hearing. They began to approach again, getting closer and closer until they were directly over where Bianca laid. Clatters and bangs ensued as the person began to toss aside debris, digging down towards her. A dim glow began to filter down to her as more debris was cleared away, until-
Stars.
So many stars. With no other light for miles around, the stars glimmered with light that could match the day. And imposed over the background of a starry night, the Minotaur stared down at her.
Despite the hell the monster had put her and her friends through over the course of the quest, Bianca didn't feel any sort of fear towards the Minotaur. Maybe it was because she was already dead, or because the red eye that shone from behind the rend in the bull-shaped mask no longer held the same resentment or rage she had seen in it before. Instead, there was a dim glow of weariness, surprise, and even a glint of sympathy from his gaze.
He reached down and gently scooped the Hunter's broken body from the cramped pit she lay in. Even if she had no feeling in her body, she could tell he was trying to handle her as delicately as possible, as if he feared she would crumble into dust like a monster would. As he lifted her out and her body was bathed in starlight, she realized why.
Her limbs, most of her torso, probably part of her face as well, had turned into bronze. Whatever magic resided in this landscape of metal had begun to convert her corpse into part of it.
Setting her down on the side of a hill, the Minotaur crouched down and stared her in the face. They two looked each other in the eyes, unblinking, waiting for the other to speak up first. He spoke first.
"Why aren't you afraid?"
Bianca was surprised at how normal his voice sounded now. Aside from the slight warbling of pitch from his voice echoing in his own mask, there was nothing that set his speech aside from an average's persons.
"I'm… n-ot… afra-id… of… you. No-t… whe-n… I'm al-rea-dy… dead." Though his voice was normal now, her voice was a rasp, a puppet imitating a living human's speech.
"Aren't you afraid of dying?" He asked.
"No-t… re-ally…" That was true. For whatever reason, she didn't feel all too bothered about the actual fact that she was dying. Or already dead. It felt… natural. "I'm… not… afraid… of death."
"Then why were you calling out for help?" He asked softly.
Good question. If she didn't care about being dead, why did she call for him?
"I… didn't want… to die… alone." She wheezed. She was acclimating to speaking through a corpse. She didn't know how she felt about that. "I'm not scared… of dying. But… I don't… want to be alone… anymore…"
A shudder wracked through her corpse, and for a brief moment, Bianca regained sensation in her body.
"I never… had any friends growing up. None… that I can… remember." Though her death had already come and gone, at least she could be offered a confession on her deathbed. To relinquish the strifes she carried in life as she passed on. "I wanted to know… what it would be like… to have friends. Someone… who would look out for me… accept me… treat me like an equal…"
"I know what that's like." The Minotaur spoke sympathetically. It was almost comical how soft his voice was, compared to the massive frame that blotted out stars.
"I… gave up my brother…" She whispered. "I left him… behind… to find new friends…" Her body shuddered again. It was as though it was regaining life or small attributes of it at least. The sorrow in her soul triggered her tears to fall even though that bodily function should have long since ceased. "I hated him… I thought he was holding me down… but I loved him too. I loved him… and hated him… so I left him behind. I… didn't want him… to grow up with a sister that hated him. I wanted him… to be happy… and grow up big and strong… so I chose to be selfish… and acted for myself. Maybe… I felt like… I was holding him down… maybe I… hurt him… so he wouldn't… have to suffer anymore… but… he'll… never know that. He'll never know… that I loved him… that… I only hurt him… so he wouldn't hurt anymore. And now… he'll just keep on hurting."
The Minotaur had stiffened as if what she said struck a particular chord with him.
"Haaaa… haha… hahahahaha!... and… what do I have to show for it?... I'm still alone… I have no friends… no one to tell me it's going to be all right… no one… to hold my hand while I die-"
"It's alright." He took her unfeeling metallic hand in his own. "It's going to be alright. I've never… had any friends either. So, I'll be your friend, right now."
"Ha… haha… that… would be… nice…"
The Minotaur turned away for a moment, climbing down to the bottom of the hill. Then, like a man possessed, he began to fling away the metal scraps that covered the ground, burrowing his way through the junk until he hit the earth. Not just the road, but real, dusty dirt. Possibly the only patch of soil in the entire scrapyard. Then, climbing back up the hill, he scooped Bianca up and brought her down to the patch of dirt, laying her upon it. There was just enough room for him to crouch down beside her. It felt… nice. The ground was hard and dusty, but it felt like a burden she never even noticed had been lifted. Like the curse that was turning her corpse to unfeeling metal had ceased. A safe zone from the malevolent magic of this unforgiving land of twisted bronze and steel.
And laid down on her back, she could now fully appreciate the stars above them. Some glittering brightly like jewels, others dimly and clumped together like wisps of luminous sand.
"It's so… beautiful…"
"They are." Asterios agreed.
But Bianca didn't hear. She didn't hear anything anymore. But she knew that in the end, her friend held her hand as she died.
Cing Krimson's Qringe Korner: Aha! Seven days is shorter than eight days, I didn't break my promise!
This chapter turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated, (EDIT: Holy shit, "longer than I anticipated" my ass, this is the longest chapter I've written to date!) so apologies. Then again, I already finished 75% of it less than a day after the last chapter went up…
You know, in ye olde Percy Jackson and the Olympians fandom, Bianca can be quite a divisive character. On one hand, there are those that simp for her by virtue of her being a Hunter (Calm down guys, she's 12.) On the other hand, there are those that hate her by virtue of her being a Hunter. (Again guys, she's 12. I don't think someone who's barely gone through puberty can be the radical misandrist that some of y'all portray the Hunters as.) Then on the third hand, because I'm built different, there are those that despise her for abandoning Nico to join the Hunters.
And you know, I felt that was a bit unfair. Yes, her decision was definitely selfish and reckless, but, for the third time, she's 12. She shouldn't have been responsible for being Nico's foster mother, she was just as in need of a foster mother as he was. 2 years isn't a very large age gap. She basically had 0 friends (that she could remember) and has been shown to be a bit fed up with the hyperactive young Nico's antics. I can't really blame her for desperately seeking a way out that let her make friends on her own terms, and I wanted to illustrate that side of her. The little kid who just wanted to be free.
That, and a mild parallel between the di Angelo siblings and Asterios/Ariadne.
So the next chapter will be the big climactic final battle… for arc 1. However, I'm also handling a lot of schoolwork right now. It's the final stretch of my final high school year, so you know, this is some really important work I'm doing. I won't be able to write for a bit while I finish that up, but it shouldn't take more than a week before I can get back to writing, and another week for me to finish the chapter. And after that, summer vacation! I can write all I want as I dread the impending approach of university.
So until then, ciao! Keep enjoying The Bull of Heaven!