A/N Thank you all for reading and all of your support! Constructive criticism is appreciated along with the flattering compliments I've gotten so far. I'm positively flabbergasted by positive response I've gotten and all of the people who have favorited this story or put it on their alert list! Thank you! Thanks to Anime Princess, Poseidon93, iscreamdrizzle, ., Aurora di Angelo, Arielle, and xXxrouxXx for your reviews.
Thanks!
Miette
**Disclaimer** I do not own that which is the intellectual property of Rick Riordan.
"Do you think she's one of the seven?" Piper asked, pacing in front of Bunker 9 while she and Jason waited for Leo and his siblings to arrive.
"I honestly don't know. She is quite capable of holding her own, she's powerful, a good fighter, but I just don't know. If you'd ask me before she came here to name who I thought from the Schola would make up the rest of the seven, Bia would not have been on the list."
"Well, as of right now, it's looking like you, me, Leo, Annabeth, Percy, that leaves two more from the Schola. Maybe Bia, and?"
"I don't know! Ok, Piper! I just don't know." Jason had his head in his hands. Now that Bia had appeared at Camp Half-blood, his feeling that he needed to be at the Schola had come back in greater force. He felt like he was missing something, though a few more memories and details had been triggered by Bia's presence.
"I'm sorry, Jason, I'm just trying to think out loud."
"I know, Pipes," Jason put his arms around Piper's waist, "I'm not angry with you. I'm angry with myself, with this whole situation, with Juno just meddling in all of our lives. I'm really hoping Bia isn't one of the seven. Not that she's not capable, it's just that she's still so young, and so many bad things have been happening to her, recently. She should just stay here, make friends, get to know Nico if that's what they're going to do, and help bridge things between the Schola and Camp Half-Blood."
"It will work out. Do you want to try and think of who could be the last person? Or, two people," Piper quickly edited her words.
"Sure," he hugged Piper tightly, and then returned to his previous seat on a boulder a the entrance to Bunker 9. "There is a daughter of Pluto at the Schola, Dakota, she's amazing, an almost scary fighter, and her power over the forces of the underworld. Plus, a child of, what do they call them here? The Big Three. That would put her in the category of one of the most powerful of the demi-gods."
"Who else? I'm thinking the seven are probably very different demi-gods who will all complement each other in a way."
"That makes sense, there is Reyna, she's a daughter of Mars—Why is Bia with them? Pluto take whomever…"
"Oh hush, I'm sure there is a reason they've brought Bia."
"Yes, they think she's the sixth demi-god of the prophecy."
Leo, and a couple of his siblings came into the clearing in front of Bunker 9 accompanied by Annabeth, Bia, and Rachel.
"Jason Grace, you keep your complaints to yourself, I know what that look on your face means and no one cares. I'm confident that Bia is one of the seven."
"Is that you or the Oracle speaking?"
"Both." Rachel's tone left no room for farther discussion.
Jason looked between Annabeth and Piper for support and seeing none in the faces, sighed resignedly.
"Bia."
"Jason, I want to be a part of this. Both Mamma and Queen Juno have said I have a large part to play. If I am one of the seven, or even if I'm not, I need to be aware of what's going on. Don't you say anything about me being young, or not a fighter, or a homebody, or whatever sort of comment or excuse you're going to come up with. You were never like this before Mt Tam! You were protective, sure, but nothing like this before the whole thing with Andy and you-need-to-STOP."
Everyone else in the clearing had become interested in innocuous things, such as the ground and their fingernails about halfway through Bia's speech. Though she'd quickly slipped into Latin, everyone could tell from her heated tone, though they couldn't understand her words, that she and Jason were having a serious disagreement.
"You will listen to me. I am your Legatus legionis, and you will respect what I have to say. Bia you have to stop this—"
"Tu claude! That does not matter here! You have no rank here, nor do I! I do not have to listen to you especially when you're being, you're being… go bhfuil tú á dúr!"
"Umm," finally Annabeth decided the two Romans had been yelling at each other enough, "was that last bit Irish?"
Jason and Bia both rounded heatedly on Annabeth before processing what had just been going on.
"What?" Bia was breathing hard, as though she'd been running.
Jason looked from Bia to the others, who still pretending to ignore the fight, and laughed. "It could have been Irish. That's how you know you're really in trouble with Bia, when she starts in at you with the Irish."
"Did I really?" Bia laughed. "My mortal family is Irish, as a baby, Aither brought me home to be raised near his parents and sisters and their families, I lived there till I came to the Schola."
"Yes, and she still drops into Gaelic when she's really irritated. Anyway, to why we're all standing around here, now that Bia and I have given you some entertainment." Jason saw that Leo's sister, Nyssa, was trying to hide a smile.
"Sure thing," Leo turned to the entrance and, summoning fire to his palm, opened Bunker 9 with his usual flourish. He enjoyed the shocked look on Bia's face, she being the only one of their party yet to experience Bunker 9.
"Oh my gods…" Bia followed the others into the bunker as though in a daze. "This place is amazing!" Her slow steps carried her through the bunker, in a large circle around the front room. With reverent fingers she grazed the drawings and plans all over the table tops. She raised her eyes to the plans hanging on the walls and the banner hanging down from the ceiling. "Guys, Leo, Nyssa, this is amazing."
"Wait till you see the best part!" With a glance at Leo, Nyssa led Bia into the second room, which Leo had discovered with some help from his father.
"Wow…" Bia's eyes were the size of saucers as for the first time in waking life they viewed the ship she'd seen many times in her dreams. "Leo, it's…" Then she glanced around and it occurred to her that they were still in the ground, in an almost incomprehensibly large room in the ground, but in the ground none the less, "How do we get it out?" She felt like she was asking a silly and obvious question, perhaps like when the Nati were in a particularly rambunctious mood and refusing to settle paying no heed to their lessons.
"I thought you'd never ask," unnoticed in the presence of the Argo II, Leo had slipped farther into the room and was now standing by what looked almost like a circuit box from a house. Leo opened the box, and flipped a switch within, "Open Sesame!" He unnecessarily stated as he turned back to his audience. With a barely audible groan, the roof of the cavern began to open, the vast opening was more than large enough to accommodate the flying Argo II.
"Well, I suppose that will work." A large smile spread Bia's lips as she took in the site before her and the people around her, maybe things were going to work out.
Bia and Nico together around camp was becoming a familiar spectacle. Sometimes the pair would be accompanied by Jason, Piper, Leo, Annabeth, Grover, Juniper, Tyson, Nyssa, Rachel, or any combination thereof. What was noted by everyone, especially the children of Aphrodite, was that the son of Hades more relaxed and open demeanor. Whether Nico and Bia were practicing archery, or sword, play, or another 'arts of war' as Bia called them or comparing and contrasting Greek and Roman culture, it appeared to everyone that Nico had a weight lifted from his shoulders.
"I'm worried," Rachel sat with Piper in the shade given off by the Aphrodite cabin and the angle of the sun, "when you guys leave, Nico will crash back into old Nico, even worse."
"I don't know, Rachel, they are quite fond of each other, but I don't think it's even that."
"No, Chiron told me that when Nico first came here, he was nothing like the boy we met. He was much more happy and carefree, but right after he and his sister found out they were half-bloods, she joined the Hunters and then died on a quest. Apparently after that he went all dark and stormy. Not that I can blame him. I mean he was what? 10? His sister was the only family he'd ever known, his memory was screwy from all the time they spent at the Lotus Casino, that would mess up any kid."
"Yea, I see what you mean, it doesn't matter if he likes Bia that way or not, if she gets hurt after they've become friends it's really going to hit him. One of my sisters told me that his sister's name was 'Bianca'. Isn't that sort of funny? Bia? Bianca?"
"Yea, that is an odd coincidence. Bia said her full name is Biatryz, spelled some crazy way, her dads way of combining his Irishness and her moms Romanes within her name."
"Ugh, and I thought my dad was playing a cruel game when he named me."
"Yes, well, I like your story about your name with your grandpa."
"I'm glad you do. Come on, it's time to pull Annabeth away from her IM with Percy and into some useful activity."
"Useful activity, says the daughter of Aphrodite, not speaking to ones true love? Don't let your mother hear you speaking thus!"
Bia cursed as she felt her arm twisted up behind her and Nico's blade pressed to her throat, his chest pressed against her back. "Yield."
Nico laughed and lowered his sword, stepping back. He kept his grip on her wrist, though he loosened it, a moment longer.
"You are quick, Nico." Absentmindedly, Bia ran her finger tips over the spot his blade had grazed.
"I've got to be if I want to avoid Persephone when she's trying to turn me into some sort of a flower or plant."
"She doesn't!"
"Only when I annoy her and she's pissy about something. Usually it has something to do with my dad not paying her enough attention, and then I say or do something that irritates her." Nico shrugged, "Last winter she turned me into a poinsettia and mailed me to Percy." Nico shook his head, "The look on Mr. and Mrs Blofis faces when I turned back into me suddenly after a few days."
"Mr and Mrs Blofis?"
"Percy's mom and step-dad, they're really cool. Mr Blofis just sort of rolled with it when they told him about the whole demi-god thing. They actually helped during the Battle of Manhattan. Mr. B is pretty impressive with a sword and Mrs B is probably the nicest mortal you could ever meet. She can see through the mist, too, which is sort of cool."
"That sounds useful for the mother of a demi-god. Though, in a way, the mist sort of is what protects them. I don't know if I would want to see through it if I were a mortal."
"I think it's kind of a moot issue, Bia," this response earned Nico a strike to the side with the flat of Bia's sword.
After that, it seemed as though Camp Half-Blood and it's residents were running a sprint to the as yet unspecified date when the Argo II and it's passengers would begin their quest
A/N Thankies for reading! The next chapter should be up soon, it's nearly done, I wrote these two together, but they wouldn't fit as one long chapter, so as unexciting as it was, I decided to post this one... Things begin to get going in the next chapter, look for it soon! :-D
Thanks!
Miette