Author's note. I don't promise this story makes sense. I don't promise anything. I only wrote this because of Nico di Angelo, who is favorite Percy Jackson character. I don't know why; something just draws me to his character. So here's to Nico di Angelo, and to sad moments in life which we hate and love, all at the same time.

I recommend listening to Blinding by Florence And The Machine while reading this :)

Nico's blank stare bore through the stars overhead, silhouetted against the night sky. The newest constellation, the Huntress, gleamed back at him brightly. With the gray clouds swirling past it, it seemed to him as if the Huntress, with her bow and arrow, were actually sprinting across the night sky. Zoe Nightshade—that was her name. Percy had told him she had died fighting her father, Atlas, but he wouldn't tell him the details. Not that Nico wanted to know exactly.

His mind eventually wandered over to his sister, Bianca. He vaguely wondered what she would have been doing right now, if she were still alive. Running around with the Huntresses, most probably. Never staying at one place for more than a night. But maybe, she'd have visited Nico at camp every once in a while as well.

He frowned. He hadn't realized how much he missed her. He missed their usual banter. He missed their laughter. He even missed their arguments. He just missed her.

And why wouldn't he? She was his sister. She was his friend. She was his companion.

She was gone.

Miserably, Nico raised a half-empty can of Coke to his lips and gulped down the rest of its contents, throwing the container aside nonchalantly. It gave a muted clank as it collided with a tree trunk, and an indignant yelp of a young girl resounded simultaneously.

Surprised, Nico glanced over his shoulder.

"Who do you think you—oh." It was Juniper, rubbing her arm in discomfort as she stepped out from behind a juniper tree. The dryad would've gotten angry, but as she beheld the sad expression on his face, her features softened. "Nico. What's wrong? Why aren't you with the other campers?"

He turned back to face the sky. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. It's just… crowded commons area, you know? Needed some space."

"Yeah," she said, understanding. "Lots of new campers this summer, huh?"

Nico nodded soundlessly, entering his celestial trance again.

"What are you thinking about?" Juniper asked softly.

He didn't answer for a while. In fact, she thought he hadn't heard her. But when she was about to repeat the question just to be sure, he sighed and turned back toward her.

"Bianca," was all he said, his eyes betraying the emotionless façade he wore.

Juniper's shouldered dropped, along with her smile. She didn't know Bianca too much, but she'd heard about her death, how she sacrificed herself so the team on the quest could continue on. Juniper plopped down beside Nico on Zeus's Fist. For a moment, they sat side by side, not knowing what to say. Eventually, Juniper cleared her throat. "I think it's time you knew," she said.

Nico looked up at her, intrigued. "Knew what?"

"The day you and Bianca got here," she began, "Bianca broke away from the Huntresses and went off for a walk down here. I bumped into her. Literally, bumped into her. She was so distressed, Nico. Mostly about you. She loved you. She did. But she had to be a Huntress, for reasons beyond your knowledge."

He snorted. "Thanks for that. 'I think it's time you knew. Oops! Figure it out yourself!'" he said, his voice shooting an octave higher in a bad imitation of her voice.

Juniper smacked his head with her hand.

"Ow!" he yelped.

"I was going to tell you, you know," she said. "Geez, what's with you and jokes?" Juniper shook her head in mock disapproval, but a small smile snuck its way back onto her face as she continued: "Nico, Bianca joined the Hunt because she didn't want to be a part of the Great Prophecy. She didn't want to complicate things. But she left you, knowing you'd be alright. She knew Percy would turn sixteen before—"

Nico's head snapped up. "Wait, she knew about the Great Prophecy?"

Juniper waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, but that's not important. Someone told her—Chiron, Artemis… who knows. But the point is, she joined the Hunt to avoid being tangled up with the war. She wanted Percy singled out, because she knew, without a doubt, that if he were in fact the hero of the Great Prophecy, he would be able to handle the temptation. Because he was a better person than Bianca—those were her exact words."

"You should be telling Percy that, not me," Nico said, kicking at the pebbles on the forlorn ground. "Bianca always admired him. Everyone does. He's much better than all of us—that much was proven last year in August."

Juniper couldn't help chuckling. "You don't get it, do you?"

He scowled. "Look, if I wanted to be confused, I would've gone to the Big House to see Rachel busting some clairvoyant rhymes," he spat. Frustrated, he got up on his feet and marched away toward the commons area, where he could see a Will Solace leading a sing-along around a bonfire. Through the flames, he thought he could see a little girl, frowning back at him, as if wanting to speak to him.

Oh, come on, Nico thought sullenly. Is there no privacy?

He blinked back tears, wishing he could be anywhere but here. Nobody understood him. Nobody got how lonely it was for him in his cabin, empty except for a single bed he'd built himself. Nobody understood how much he wanted Bianca to hold him, like she did so long ago, reassuring him with comforting whispers.

She was the mother he never had, and now didn't have.

Nobody got that.

Just as he broke through the clearing, Juniper called out to him. He paused in his tracks, but didn't turn around. The cold night air seemed to be turning his blood into ice as he struggled with himself. Everyone at camp perceived Nico to be a dark and hard person. But the truth was, he wasn't. He was just as tender as everyone else—just as weak. Maybe even more.

"Nico," Juniper called out. "Do you know why Bianca knew you'd be alright?"

His stone features softened as he peeked over his shoulder. "Why?"

By now, the dryad's eyes were brimming with green tears. "Because she knew you were strong enough to resist the temptation of joining Kronos, too. Stronger than her. Stronger than all of us."

Juniper swallowed down her fear as she dared to say the next line.

"She knew you'd be a hero."