CHAPTER SUMMARY

Bianca goes home.

BEGINNING NOTES

Word Count: 2967
Content Warning: Violence (mild)

Hey guys! Sorry for the break, but between the holidays and moving to NYC (!) I've had absolutely no time for, like, anything.

And all the characters are owned by Rick Riordan.

Credits at the end.

K, Bianca, time to wrap this up.

You got it. I'll be quick.

I was terrified when I stepped up into the archery range for the championships. All I could hear was the roar of the crowd chanting my name. Curse of being from a famous family-they all knew who I was even if my name wasn't displayed in lights. I hadn't been following social media, but I'm sure I'd been trending at some point.

I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. I was on TV and in front of thousands of people. I wasn't a superstar, I was just Bianca, the shy girl from the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Zoë and Coach Artemis watched me from the sidelines. I shot them a nervous look. Coach Artemis smiled at me encouragingly. Zoë had a grim expression on her face (like always), but she nodded to me. Zoë had gotten a perfect 20. There were three other schools with a perfect 40, but none of them had gotten a bull's-eye. If we wanted a chance at winning, I needed to get a perfect 20 too.

You can do this, I thought. If I was going to the Olympics, I had to get used to competing in front of a huge crowd.

I stepped up to the target and notched an arrow. The skirt of my brown dress fluttered in the wind. My hair and green hat flew behind me like someone had pointed a fan at my face. My hair was out of my eyes for the first time in a very, very long time, even though all I wanted to do was hide behind it. It felt like a encouragement from Mamma up above, like she was telling me I could do it, that I didn't have to hide anymore.

I grabbed my first arrow. My hands shook as I notched it. The roar of the crowd was deafening.

Think of something else, I thought.

I closed my eyes and I was back in our apartment in Venezia. My family was sitting around our T.V. Mamma had streaks of grey in her hair. Papà had his arm around her and was smiling. Nico was crouched on the floor, watching me with an intense expression.

My family back together again. Home. All of us the way we used to be. That would always be my dream, no matter how far I ran. But I didn't long for it anymore. Instead, it filled me with strength. We would always have each other; they would always be the fire in my heart. If we could get past the plane crash, I could do this.

"Shoot straight," Nico whispered in my mind's eye. He always told me that before every competition. It was his way of telling me to break a leg.

I said it in real life, too.

I opened my eyes. Wind was pushing slightly to the right. I adjusted my stance. There was the target, 70 meters away. I pulled back the bowstring and fired my first arrow. It hit the inner circle, slightly left of the bull's-eye X. I took another deep breath and notched my second arrow. I adjusted my stance and fired.

Bull's-eye.

The crowd screamed. On the screens above me, the perfect 20 flashed with a single star signifying the bull's-eye. The world spun around me. Half-Blood High rose to the top of the leaderboard.

I was the only one who got a perfect 20 and bull's-eye. Because of me, the Half-Blood Hellhounds won for the first time in their history.

Coach Artemis put in two week's notice the next day. The three of us found an apartment near the Golden Gate Park, which had the best archery range in San Francisco. She pushed Zoë and I hard that summer and in September, we went to our first professional competition. You need a 70 meter round of 605 to qualify for the Olympics. It's... a long process. I'm around 200 now, and Zoë's about 230. For a year of training, that's pretty good.

I thought about calling home constantly, but every time, I couldn't get myself to dial. Soon, a year went by.

I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw a sponsored post from TMZ. The title said, "An Insider's Look at the Wedding of Hades di Angelo." I paused. I didn't read the article, because TMZ is trash, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the headline. It was already the beginning of June. Papà and Persephone were getting married in a month.

Suddenly, it hit me how homesick I was. I'd set out to find a life and dreams outside my family, and I'd done that. I wanted to go home. I needed to go home.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed. "Nico?" I said. "It's Bianca. Tell Papà I'm coming home for the wedding."

I would've gone right then and there, but Zoë and I had a competition July 20th. I booked a flight for July 22nd. I spoke to Nico every day after that. We had a lot to catch up on.

And that brings me to today. Nico was saying a few days ago how he'd gotten into sound mixing, and I kept thinking about last year. It all feels so long ago, but also like it just happened. I don't think either of us had time to process it all. So, I joked that we should make a little exposé podcast as a way to talk about things without getting all serious. Nico figured out how to record together through the internet, and we decided to do it.

I mean that's kind of obvious.

So, guys, this is the twenty-minute version of-how long have we been recording?

Including yesterday... 'bout seven hours.

Geez.

You're telling me. Papà, the next time you need a sound engineer, remember I cut seven hours of content into under a half-hour. I deserve a medal.

Wait until you actually do it to start bragging.

Fuck you.

But, yeah, here's all the things that neither of us could really say. It's my confession, I guess, the bad things I did and why, and, most importantly, why I ran.

Sprinkled in with bits of my love life and eternal torment! Don't forget about that!

Ha ha. What I'm trying to say is... I hope this will make you understand that it wasn't personal, and that I had to. I hope this'll help you guys forgive me.

Congratulations, Papà, Persephone. You're going to be the greatest power couple there ever was.

Okay, we're done. I gotta finish packing, so I'll ttyl.

Dude, you're leaving tomorrow and you aren't done yet?

Shut up.

You know you love me.

Yeah, Nico. I do. See ya.

Bye.

*recording ends*

Bianca X-d out of the window and took off her headphones. The apartment was too quiet without Nico's voice in her ear. Coach Artemis and Zoë were spending the day at the archery range, training, like always. They wouldn't be back until Bianca was already asleep. Papà said the private jet would be ready to go around five a.m., and she wanted to be in the sky as soon as possible. Originally her family was going to meet her, but with everyone arriving for the wedding that wasn't going to happen.

By this time tomorrow, you'll be back home.

If only the sun would set faster.

She put on her usual trash music to fill the empty silence. Every time she let herself think, she got homesick again.

Bianca got on the plane the next day at 5 on the dot. She quickly buckled her seatbelt-no shock, planes made her incredibly nervous. The first time she'd flown to San Francisco, the adrenaline of what she'd been doing kept her calm. Every time since, whenever Coach Artemis had flown them to a competition, the terror of crashing set back in.

The plane landed a few hours later at an airport about an hour from her mansion. When she stepped off the plane, Jules-Albert was standing there with his bag. He quickly explained that Papà wasn't able to get away. It took a little while for her to understand (she hadn't used sign language in a year and was a little rusty) but when she figured it out, she had to bite her lip to keep from crying. She wanted to see her family so badly.

She stared out the window the entire way home. Now that she was completely awake and without her music, she started to reflect on the recording. So much had happened in the last year... and Nico still seemed bitter about it all. All those times he said he wished he hadn't done a certain thing, and when they'd gotten to the part about Bianca running away... she couldn't get his comments out of her head.

And the stories. Hearing everything he went through the second she left... the recording had gone from joking and fun to dramatic and serious. She'd been practically speechless. Guilt was setting in now. Nico was right. She'd left in the worst way possible, and he was the one who'd paid for it.

Bianca lowered the privacy barrier in the limo. She tapped Jules-Albert on the shoulder-his sign to stop the car. He pulled to the side of the road and put the emergency lights on. He shot her a questioning glance.

"I want to walk around a bit. I'll call you when I'm ready to go home," she said as she signed. He let her out of the car.

It was a nice day, if a bit cloudy. Still, Bianca was shivering. Nico's stories were sucking the life out of her. She took a deep breath of the fresh air. At least it was less claustrophobic out of that limo.

She decided she'd walk the same direction Jules-Albert was driving until she figured out exactly where she was. She threw her headphones on and blasted the first podcast in her feed. Dear Hank and John usually made her laugh, but she couldn't get into it today.

She was halfway through it when she finally came across civilization. She knew the area, but she couldn't place it. She wandered around the streets until she came across a very familiar alley. Alabaster's alley, where Nico would meet him to buy drugs. She was in the slums. The Titan's territory.

Her heart raced with fear. Papà had spent the last year trying to stuff the gang out as revenge for what they did to Nico. With the best private investigators money could buy, multiple arrests had already been made. If she came across a single gang member, and they knew who she was, she was dead. And of course they'd know who she was, every archery tournament she'd done in the last year was televised and covered on social media. She was becoming a bit of a rising star-Hades di Angelo's olympic daughter.

I have to find an address so someone can pick me up.

Her phone didn't have enough of a signal to pull up her Maps app. Without it, she had no idea where she was, and couldn't call for the car. She speed-walked around the streets, looking for some store or numbered building. Why didn't all buildings have numbers displayed? It was so annoying!

Finally, she came across a store. "The Junkyard of the Gods," she read aloud. It looked like either a thrift store or a pawn shop. She could never tell the two apart.

A bell rang when she opened the door. "How can I help you, ma'am?" a man said. Bianca recognized the accent. It took her a second to place it, but then she realized-it was the man who'd driven her to LaGuardia airport! What was his name?

"Dr. Thorn!" she greeted him. "Do you remember me?"

"Bianca di Angelo," the man said with a smile. "Yes, I remember. Your earrings sold very well."

"I'm glad," she said. "I'm waiting for my ride, is it all right if I chill for a bit?"

"As long as you don't steal anything," he joked. Bianca forced herself to laugh. Now that they were face to face, he was freaking her out a little. He was a greasy man with two different colored eyes. He kept leering at her... was that supposed to look friendly?

She decided against the limo because it would attract too much attention. So, she pulled out her phone and prayed she'd have enough bars to text Persephone to come and pick her up. She still had that same beat-up Volvo she'd driven before she'd gotten engaged.

QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD

Hey, can you pick me up? I'm at this pawn shop called the Junkyard of the Gods. It's at 1050 Highland St.

What are you doing in the projects?

Went for a walk, took a wrong turn. Don't worry, I'm safe. Just come and get me.

I'll be there in ten minutes. Bianca, five minutes back home and you're already headache. ;)

Worse than Demeter?

Oh, no one's worse than her. But you're getting close.

Bianca pursued the back of the store. There were a bunch of little statues. On closer inspection, she realized they were from Mythomagic, that game Nico was obsessed with when he was a kid. It had been so long since he'd touched that game, but he still had it in the back of his closet.

That's when she saw it. Sitting right in the center of the gods and goddesses was the Hades figurine. The only one Nico didn't have, the one she and her parents had spent months looking for in Italy. It was right there.

I need to get that for Nico. I have to make this all up to him. It's perfect.

She felt around for her wallet.

Shit. I left it in the limo.

She shot a quick glance towards the counter. Dr. Thorn was reading something. And she was all the way in the back of the store; he wouldn't notice if she just... borrowed it?

I'll come back and give him the money later. Besides, I made him a shit ton with those earrings.

In a flash, she grabbed the Hades figurine and stuffed it in her bra. She used her phone camera as a mirror. Completely inconspicuous.

QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD

I'm here.

"Thanks!" Bianca called to Dr. Thorn, and she ran out of the store. She was home free.

Persephone grinned at her when she slid into the front seat of the car. "I'd get out and hug you, but I want to get out of here before someone recognizes us."

"Yeah," Bianca agreed. They sped down the road a little faster than was legal, but who was going to know? They spent the rest of the ride home catching up on everything, how training was going, all the crazy things Demeter had gotten up to, wedding plan woes, all that good stuff.

Bianca was ready to burst with happiness when Persephone pulled into their driveway. She was buzzing with excitement. Home. She was home.

She bolted out of the car. Standing there was Papà, Nico, and Hazel. Bianca ran into her father's arms, shouting, "Papà!" He hugged her back, hard. He was too choked up to say anything. So was she.

"Group hug!" Hazel cried.

"Ah, Haze, you know I hate-" Nico started to say, but Hazel pulled him in anyway.

"What the hell," Persephone said with a laugh, and she joined in too.

As soon as she got inside, Thalia tackled her to the ground. "The bitch is back!" she shouted.

Luke laughed. "The traditional Thalian greeting," he joked. Bianca took a look at him. He seemed so different now that he'd spent time in jail. He'd only gotten out the week before, but the change was enormous. He'd taken a paid internship in D.O.A. Recording Studios until he could find something more to his liking, even though by Papà's own admission it paid almost nothing. He even brought their daughter Elizabeth to work with him so Thalia wouldn't have to worry about paying for daycare. He really had become the guy Thalia always swore he could be. Bianca was eternally grateful for it.

"Bianca di Angelo is back in the house!" Rachel announced. She, Jason Leo, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Piper, and Will were all standing there with grins on their faces. Bianca squealed and laughed as she hugged each of her friends. Then, she ran over to Sally and gave her a hug, too.

"Let's get this party started!" Leo shouted.

"Let's get a neat gathering of friends started," Persephone corrected.

"Got it!" Will told her. "I'll keep these rapscallions in line."

"Could you be any more of a dork?" Nico teased, but he was smiling.

Bianca turned to him. "I have a present for you," she said, "but don't ask what it is. You'll get it after the wedding."

Nico groaned dramatically. "I can't believe you'd torture me like that. My own sister!"

Bianca kissed him on the cheek, teasing. "Just one more day, mio caro fratello. Tell them I'll be down in a sec, I want to throw my stuff in my room."

Bianca hummed as she skipped up the stairs. Her room was exactly as she remembered it. She made sure to hide the Hades figurine in her nightstand drawer in case Nico came snooping around.

She took a moment to sit on her bed. She stared at the picture of Maria on the top of her nightstand. "There's no place like home, Mamma," she said with a contented sigh. "Everything's perfect. It almost feels too good to be true."

She didn't give the sentiment much thought, though. She was too busy racing back to her friends.

END NOTES

Raise your hand if you caught my Little Women reference? I know, I know, I'm a dork.

This week's beta commentary:
STORY: I said it in real life, too.
JOJO: awww
MELODY: Nico's a teddy bear deep down
JOJO: nico's a teddy bear like a quarter of a millimetre below the surface he's just in denial
LUNA: Nico's a teddy bear period. He's just to busy being a dumb-ass to admit it.

Credits:
Author: Melody Rose (Tumblr bianca-the-huntress)
Beta Readers: Jojo (Archive of Our Own bannedfrompencils), Luna Rain (Tumblr peppermintlove1), Oli (Tumblr paradoxicalpsychic)

Please comment so I know what you think! See you next week!

COMMENTS

Thank you to Eventide66 and SaltyGiraffe664 for favoriting this story!

AquaEclipse

KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!
Let the ship sail on! Supportive siblings and all coming with the package!

!

Mumudem208

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THEY KISSED THEY KISSED THEY KISSED
IM CALLING THE POLICE ON YOU
FOR NOT DOiNG IT SOONER
*throws slipper at you*
AND THIS POOR EXCUSE FOR A CHAPTER
THIS AINT LITERATURE
IT'S ALL THE ANGST AND MISERY AND SOLANGELO IN THE WORLD DISTILLED INTO ONE TOXIC MIXTURE.
HOW COULD YOU MAKE SUCH GREAT CHAPTERS! ITS AGAINST THE LAW
*sobs hysterically in the corner with extra large bowl of ramen*

I'm glad you enjoyed it XD

.horizon

I been seeing this story keep on coming into the main page of pjo fan fiction but I never clicked on it. It seemed like something that was a good idea but fails in like the first few chapters. And solangelo is not that great in my opinion so it seemed out of my interest. This morning I decided to screw it cause I was bored and read the first chapter. Well let's just say I might of binge read it and possibly lock myself in my room as I devoured this story. So yeah great story and you got a new follower.

Well, I'm glad I've got you in my clutches ;)

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Solangelo kiss! Finally! Aaaaaagggggghhhhhhhh!

Yay!