Note: Brace yourself.

IT'S YOU AND ME AGAINST THE WORLD

The di Angelos had bad luck with traveling. It was a very adamant fact.

They took forever to get anywhere and motion sickness was unavoidable. It was worst with flying though. There had only ever been on one flight, but no one really talked about that; too many bad memories.

Yet despite their horrible history with road trips and the like, the di Angelo siblings found themselves loading onto one of their father's sleek, black, overly-expensive cars.

"But Daaad, we love visiting the offices with you," Nico whined, picking at his father's silver cuff links. "Really, we do!"

"Nico, you know why you have to go," Mort Sedah told his son, exasperation creeping slowly into his voice. "There are a few people here I don't want you two to meet. So you and your sister will be going off to the summer house for a little vacation while I sort things out."

"But it's November!" Nico exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the sky.

Bianca thought about the situation. She was twelve after all, a whole two years older than Nico; Dad couldn't pull the wool over her eyes. "Nico come on, you're just cold and sleepy. The sooner we get going the sooner you can take a nap in the car. Go and help the driver load our suitcases or something."

"It wasn't my idea to wake up at 6:00am this morning," Nico grumbled.

Bianca watched her little brother make his way to the car's trunk before turning sternly to face her dad. She was sure she knew why he was being so cranky. "Is this about me talking to Percy yesterday?"

Mr. Sedah rubbed his temples, wondering how someone that young could be so perceptive. "No Bianca, it's just some trouble in the business."

"Dad, you deal with dead people, what kind of trouble can they give you?" Bianca pointed out impertinently. She gasped and slapped a hand to her mouth. Ohhh, why did she have to go and say that? Now she'd probably get grounded once they got to wherever they were going.

The CEO of Riposi in Pace looked at his daughter with mild surprise. Bianca was always a shy girl, too quiet to be noticed half the time. She'd always taken care of Nico and followed her father like a good, obedient girl...ever since the accident anyway. If she started getting stressed about the situation, so would her brother. And Mort Sedah certainly did not need hysterical children to deal with.

"You're right Bianca," Mr. Sedah sighed, bending down to her level. "That Percy boy is part of it, but there are bigger things going on. Things I don't want you and your brother involved with."

The girl stood quietly, looking eye to eye with her father. She had a strange feeling about all this; it told her that here was the safest place. She and her brother were supposed to stay with their dad. That was how families worked.

"Bianca!" Nico's voice rang out, cutting into Bianca's thoughts. "There's this funny dent in the car!"

"A dent? But the car's brand new," the driver commented, slamming the trunk shut after loading the last of the luggage. "A new model, the Talos they call it."

"It's a funny dent too!" the ten year old emphasized. "It's like a weird triangle thing..."

"It doesn't matter," Mr. Sedah said. "I'll have it fixed later. You two need to get going if you're going to make it to the house before lunch."

"Ok," Bianca said, relieved she didn't get chastised. She herded her kid brother to the car doors, glancing at the odd triangular dent as she nudged him along. It was almost as if someone had carved it in, like a signature. "Nico, stop minding dents. We gotta go, say bye to Dad."

Nico pried himself away from his dent and walked back to his dad, who was still bent down to his children's level. "Bye Dad," the boy said with a hug.

"Bye Nico, Bianca," the adult reciprocated, pulling his daughter in. Straightening up he added, "drive safe."

"Bye Dad," Bianca echoed, still feeling uneasy about leaving. "See you soon."

And with that, the di Angelos piled into the car. Nico sprawled himself over the back seat while Bianca watched her dad grow smaller and smaller in the distance, that strange feeling growing worse by the second.

They say when you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes. Well, as their Talos skidded on the asphalt and flipped over itself, Bianca could only think of snapshots. Unimportant, everyday things flicked through her mind like a disjointed cartoon: Nico asking to go into a 7/11 to see if there were any Mythomagic cards left, their dad telling them not to play in the coffins, that one time she'd accidentally broken an urn.

Then came more recent things: the old lily scent of Dad's weird cologne as he'd hugged them both that morning, watching the scenery shift from city to countryside on the freeway, the surprised expression plastered onto Nico's face as the car's breaks failed.

CRASH

They had finally stopped moving, crashed into the railings that bordered the roads.

At first there was silence. Bianca stared haplessly, still strapped to her seat by her safety belt, at the driver's seat in front of her, too shocked by the bloodstains to even move. Then slowly, she heard ringing in her ears and the faint sound of someone calling out her name. Snapping out of her stupor, she swung her head to where she thought the sounds were coming from and almost retched.

Laying in a crumpled heap on the upturned car's ceiling, was Nico. There was blood in trailing from his head, making his hair stick together in sticky clumps.

Frantic, Bianca flailed, trying to get to her brother's prone form. More of her hearing returned, and she wished she'd stayed deaf.

"Bianca?" Nico called, over and over again, each time weaker than the last.

Remembering her safety belt, Bianca unlatched it and let gravity bring her down. Her trembling limbs did little to cushion her fall as she landed ungracefully next to Nico. She scrambled into a crawl, ignoring the dull throbbing the adrenaline was quelling. Pulling herself closer to him, Bianca whispered his name, too scared to touch him. "Shh, it's ok Nico, it's ok. Don't worry, people are coming, we'll get help soon."

"Bianca...," Nico repeated, interrupting her slew of reassurances. "I hear mom."

Memories assaulted Bianca's already traumatized mind. The terrifying feeling of falling through the sky, knowing nothing would catch you when you landed. Mom's furrowed brow as she strapped oxygen masks to their faces. Nico asking if mom was going to get one too.

Worst of all, the pallid colour she'd turned once the plane had performed its emergency landing.

Bianca found herself seeing that same colour on Nico.

She put a hand to his face, straining to feel the warmth under his skin that meant her little brother was still with her. "Nico, no matter what, don't go to her. You've got me don't you? And Dad! Please Nico, you don't need to go yet."

So many times in her life, Bianca had wished her brother would just shut up. She'd give anything to take that all back now. He could talk about Hades' best stats for all she cared. Bianca couldn't help herself, she dragged Nico's body towards herself, resting his head on her lap.

No matter what they said to each other, no matter what they did to piss the other off, it had always been just the two of them. Stealing biscotti from the cookie jar, playing hide and seek in Dad's office, holding hands during Mom's funeral...

Voices, Bianca heard voices. "Nico, Nico hang in there! Can't you hear them? They're getting help! We're going to be ok Nico...we're going to be ok."

The car doors gave a groan just as Nico gave a shuddering breath.

Note: Early update for Christmas! Happy holidays my dear readers! Updates will be sporadic during the break, but definitely expect at least one a week. Ahem, reviews = update = finding out what happened to the di Angelos