So uh, Bianca's issues are not the same as Nico's, she's not terrified of being outed because she's fine with gay relationships- her issues are more... complicated. She's got a lot of confused messed up feelings and she has lots and lots of guilt for those feelings and she hates herself for abandoning Nico too, even if it turned out well for him in the end.
Replies:
Undeath9087: I hope you like how I went with it-and you'll have to wait and see my dear.
Weirdhead: Being a dick as usual lol.
ArachnidHiveMind: It did feel very good to write lol. And yeah, Nico is badass.
Drizzle: You shall have to see.
MKDemiGodzilla-Warrior: You shall have to see.
DrizzleRain: Thank you! And you'll have to wait and see what I have planned.
To say that Bianca was unhappy would be an understatement. She had a... complicated relationship with romance, to say the least, even if she'd gotten skilled at hiding her emotions over the years. And Eros- Cupid. Whichever form they'd be dealing with, that wasn't a nice thought for her, especially around Jason of all people- not that she disliked him that much... not really- well, it was complicated and it just... it wasn't fair.
And Favonius was smiling. "Very good Bianca Di Angelo. I'm glad to see you again by the way."
"Uh... what?" Bianca frowned, "I have never met you before."
"You've never seen me." the god corrected, "But I've been watching you. When you came here as children- and since. For a time I thought your brother would be the one who would return to look upon my masters face- but no. No he's faced his demons. You however have not. And your demons are of your own making."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Bianca's voice was sharp. "Shut up."
"Bianca-" Jason looked worried, "What's he talking about?"
"It's nothing-"
"Nothing?" Favonius cried the word, "Nothing? You still say it's nothing, when guilt tears you apart, when you fear that you cursed yourself, when the one you forsook for love is in-"
"Shut up!" Bianca screamed the words, drawing her sword fast enough that it shocked Jason. "Shut up! We're here for the sceptre! That's all! Tell us where it is."
"Ah…" Favonius nodded sadly. "You thought it would be as easy as facing Diocletian's ghost? I'm afraid not, Bianca. Your trials will be much more difficult. You know, long before this was Diocletian's Palace, it was the gateway to my master's court. I've dwelt here for eons, bringing those who sought love into the presence of Cupid."
"We're not seeking love." Bianca's voice was almost desperate, but Jason was looking thoughtful.
"You mean like Psyche, Cupid's wife. You carried her to his palace."
Favonius's eyes twinkled. "Very good, Jason Grace. From this exact spot, I carried Psyche on the winds and brought her to the chambers of my master. In fact, that is why Diocletian built his palace here. This place has always been graced by the gentle West Wind." He spread his arms. "It is a spot of tranquility and love in a turbulent world. When Diocletian's Palace was ransacked—"
"You took the sceptre," Jason guessed.
"For safekeeping," Favonius agreed. "It is one of Cupid's many treasures, a reminder of better times. If you want it…" Favonius turned to Bianca. "You must face the god of love."
It wasn't fair. Bianca wanted to scream. "Your master's a cruel bastard." she snapped the words, and she meant them.
"Bianca-" Jason's expression was very confused and concerned, "I- whatever's about to happen-it can't be that bad can it?" and Bianca felt a rush of shame, looking away.
"It- I'm selfish." Bianca shook her head. "I don't deserve.." she trailed off, shaking her head. "I brought my issues on myself but that doesn't mean I want to face Eros."
"What are you so ashamed of Bianca?" Jason frowned. "Please it can't be that bad-"
"I will do it." Bianca gritted her teeth.
Favonius beamed. "Excellent! Would you like a snack before you go?" He plucked a green apple from his basket and frowned at it.
"Oh, bluster. I keep forgetting my symbol is a basket of unripe fruit. Why doesn't the spring wind get more credit? Summer has all the fun."
"No thanks." Bianca wasn't in the mood for fruit, "Just take us to Cupid."
Favonius spun the hoop on his finger, and Bianca almost screamed as they dissolved into air- she'd never felt anything like it and she never wanted to again as they were carried into the sky above Split. Together they raced over the hills, past Roman aqueducts, highways, and vineyards. As they approached the mountains, Bianca saw the ruins of a Roman town spread out in a valley below—crumbling walls, square foundations, and cracked roads, all overgrown with grass—so it looked like a giant, mossy game board.
Favonius set them down in the middle of the ruins, next to a broken column the size of a redwood.
Bianca shuddered as she reformed- it felt horrible, and Favonius was speaking. ""Yes, mortal bodies are terribly bulky," The wind god settled on a nearby wall with his basket of fruit and spread his russet wings in the sun. "Honestly, I don't know how you stand it, day in and day out."
And Bianca did her best to ignore him as she looked around. The town must have been huge once. She could make out the shells of temples and bathhouses, a half-buried amphitheater, and empty pedestals that must have once held statues. Rows of columns marched off to nowhere. The old city walls wove in and out of the hillside like stone thread through a green cloth.
Some areas looked like they'd been excavated, but most of the city just seemed abandoned, as if it had been left to the elements for the last two thousand years.
"Welcome to Salona," Favonius said. "Capital of Dalmatia! Birthplace of Diocletian! But before that, long before that, it was the home of Cupid."
The name echoed, as if voices were whispering it through the ruins.
Bianca swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest.
"Oh he's not like that." Favonius' words were directed at Jason, who flinched.
"You can read my mind?"
"I don't need to." Favonius tossed his bronze hoop in the air. "Everyone has the wrong impression of Cupid…until they meet him."
"Can we just get this over with?" Bianca asked, her chest feeling tight.
"ah, I can't blame you for being nervous Bianca di Angelo. Do you know how I ended up serving Cupid?"
"Yes I know." Bianca swallowed hard, taking a deep breath, "You and Apollo both loved the same mortal." she said slowly, "And you killed him in a fit of jealousy. And you fled because Apollo was furious and he'd have gotten revenge-"
"And Cupid offered me his protection." the god finished, "I'd done a terrible thing, but I'd been driven mad by love, so he spared me, on the condition that I work for him forever. Love often makes us do things we regret-"
"I never-" Bianca shook her head, "I never killed anyone-" no. She'd never done that- but that didn't stop that shame from curling in her belly.
"That would be my cue." Favonius stood. "Think carefully Bianca di Angelo. Perhaps you may find that the truth will set you free. And that your curse is of your own making- and only you can break it."
Then the wind god disappeared in a swirl of red and gold. The summer air suddenly felt oppressive. The ground shook and Bianca saw Jason draw his sword.
"So-" the voice was strange- it felt like it was whispered into Bianca's ear as someone rushed past.
"You come to claim the sceptre." there was no one there, no one visible anyway, and Bianca swallowed hard, straightening up.
"C-Cupid." her voice wavered, "Where are you?"
The voice laughed. It definitely didn't sound like a cute baby angel's. It sounded deep and rich, but also threatening—like a tremor before a major earthquake.
"Where you least expect me," Cupid answered. "As Love always is."
And Bianca cried out as something slammed into Jason and hurled him across the street. He toppled down a set of steps and sprawled on the floor of an excavated Roman basement.
Bianca raced after him. "Stop it!" she grabbed Jason's hand, pulling him up. "Gods are you okay?"
Jason nodded, "Yeah, just sucker punched."
"Oh, did you expect me to play fair?" Cupid laughed. "I am the god of love. I am never fair."
"I know." Bianca spat the words, blinking back tears, "I know-"
"You hate yourself-" the voice was harsh, "You hate yourself, you think that you cannot be loved-"
"What is he talking about?" Jason demanded, and then his sword was moving and Bianca forced back a scream when he deflected an arrow a moment before it could hit her-and she was being dragged along up the steps, yanked to one side as another gust of wind toppled a column that would have crushed her flat.
"Is this guy Love or Death?" Jason growled.
"Ask your friends," Cupid said. "Frank, Hazel, and Percy met my counterpart, Thanatos. We are not so different. Except Death is sometimes kinder."
"We just want the sceptre." Bianca's voice was pleading, "Please- please you want me to be honest-" her heart felt like it was being ripped apart. "Then fine I'll be honest-"
"Will you- will you be honest at last- be honest with yourself?"
"I don't deserve love!" Bianca yelled the words, "I don't deserve it. Because I abandoned Nico! Because I was young and selfish and I left him behind and when I was going to go back and try and find him I changed my mind because a pretty girl asked me to join the Hunters of Artemis." Bianca's voice cracked. "Because I was so selfish- and she was so beautiful and I'd never seen anyone like her before and I didn't even know what I was feeling until it was too late." she was sobbing- but the attacks had stopped, at least for now.
"That is not all." Cupid's voice was firm, "Be honest at last."
"And she didn't even- she was already in love- she was already in love with Lady Artemis. And I hated that I hated it but- but I'd made my choice- and then- and then almost a year later I met another girl and- and she was so beautiful but- but the next time I met her- I'm pretty sure she'd have killed me if Lord Apollo had arrived and- and I knew then, I knew then that I was cursed. Because I left Nico. I was selfish." Bianca couldn't stop her sobs as she spoke. "Because only I could get a crush on a girl and abandon my brother to run off with her. And she was already in love with someone else- she was so in love with Lady Artemis and- and how could I ever compete with her? But gods I loved her so so much, she was- I don't have the words. And then when I found a new girl who I got a crush on it turned out she hated me because she was the big sister Nico actually deserved." and she could see a look of shock on Jason's face at her words.
"Everyone I've ever even liked has loved someone else or hated me. I don't- the crush on Percy- it didn't last. I- I love her as a friend now but- but when I first saw her I thought- I could barely even speak- not that she noticed. She made an impression and I- I remember wishing that she'd join the hunters- that she'd come back and say she changed her mind. Because she was beautiful and fierce and she was everything I wanted to be. Everything I could never be. And she still is. I'm not in love with her but I admire her. I wish I could be her. Somehow she always does the right thing- I've never known her be selfish she's better than me-"
"Bianca-" Jason shook his head, "You- that doesn't mean you don't deserve-"
"You're not finished!" the blast of wind sent Bianca flying backwards, and she cried out in pain as an arrow struck her shoulder.
"I- I failed everyone I ever cared about! I failed Nico, I failed Percy-" her voice was unsteady, "I failed Zoe. By the gods but I loved her so much. I never said a word- what was the point but I loved her so much. From the moment I saw her I loved her. But she loved Artemis. And she always will. It'll never be me. And I needed- I needed to figure out who I am, who I really am so I left the hunt-" she was avoiding looking at Jason. "I wanted to find myself- I told myself I wouldn't let myself- I would focus on me. I'd try and fix my mistakes. I wouldn't fall in love again. And then I found Hazel. And-" her voice cracked, "And I took her to Camp Jupiter and- and it happened again. I fell for someone already in love with someone else and- and it always happens. Always. Maybe I do it to myself- maybe I just can't love someone who could love me back." her gaze met Jason's. "You don't even know how much I hated you when I first met you. Before Juno stole your memories. How selfishly happy I felt- and how terrible I felt right after- because it hurt her-"
"Reyna." Jason's voice was stunned. "You're in love with Reyna."
