Chapter 50: Decision Made

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Bianca puts her foot down.

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“No. I’m not going.”

The incredulous looks she receives at that pronouncement, Percy included, are almost enough to cow Bianca into submission. And maybe if she was doing this for purely selfish reasons, it would have been. However, she actually has a solid secondary reason for why she should stay with Percy… and it’s the exact same excuse she used for the night before with Sally Jackson.

Except… it’s not just an excuse, is it?

Holding her head high, clenching her jaw, Bianca looks Charon right in the eye. Well, right in the sunglasses, but same deal.

“Yesterday, after Percy retrieved us from the Hotel, we were almost immediately targeted by cannibals less than an hour later. Monsters who wanted to eat me and Percy… and my brother. But if I understand correctly, they never would have gone for Nico in the first place if not for me and Percy. Am I right?”

“It’s ‘Percy and I’, sweetheart.”

Flushing at the correction, Bianca still refuses to back down. She steps up to the tall dark-skinned man and does something she never would have been willing to do under normal circumstances… she pokes him in the chest.

“Am. I. Wrong?”

This close, she can see Charon’s eyes behind the tortoise-shell shades. He looks down at her and she looks back at him, unwilling to back down on this. Finally…

“You’re not wrong, no. Coming of age sets the monsters after those of demigod blood. It’s well known that reaching the age of majority puts you at risk. You brats are lucky that the age of majority has evolved so much over the millennia. Back in the day, you lot were hunted years before eighteen, but these days everyone thinks of anyone below eighteen as kids, at least here in the West. Makes the Mist protect you for a little while longer than it used to.”

Interesting, but also good to know. Swallowing thickly, Bianca goes for broke.

“Then it makes sense that I should stay with Percy. He’s a proven warrior who can deal with any monsters that come after us. And he can train me to fight too. Meanwhile… Nico should go with you, somewhere safe. So that he’s not in harm’s way by being near me anymore.”

Charon’s jaw clenches and Bianca thinks she’s hit the nail right on the head with that. She’s been wondering about it ever since Percy pulled them out and told them everything he told them. She can’t… remember much. Something happened, something that robbed her and Nico of a lot of their past before the Lotus Hotel & Casino.

But she knows enough now to know that it wasn’t just a coincidence they’d entered the Hotel only a week after Bianca turned eighteen. Something must have happened. Something to do with her. She’d came of age and drawn the attention of something or other, and she supposed their father had had no choice but to stow her and Nico away to protect them at the time.

It was just a theory of course, but judging by Charon’s reaction, Bianca felt like she was on the right track. Of course…

“Bianca?”

Nico’s voice sounds a little forlorn as it sounds from behind her. Immediately, Bianca spins around and takes a knee in front of her younger brother, looking him in the eye as she grasps hold of his hands. She’d known he wouldn’t be happy about this, for obvious reasons… but she also knew it was the best path forward for them both.

“Nico… I’ll still make time to see you when I can… and we’ll find a way to communicate, even if it’s long distance. But… I’m putting you in danger just by being around you. So long as we’re apart, you’ll be much safer. And that isn’t going to change any time soon.”

“But…”

“I know it’ll be hard. But you need to go with Charon. Let our father keep you safe until you turn eighteen and can join me and Percy at… wherever this Camp place is. I’ll be waiting for you there. I promise.”

Tears well up in her little brother’s eyes, and Bianca has to quickly pull him into a huge, otherwise she doesn’t think she’d have been able to go through with this. She holds Nico tightly for quite some time as he clings to her back, sobbing into the crook of her neck. But eventually, his tears die down and she pulls away, pressing a kiss on his brow.

“You’ll be strong for me, won’t you?”

Nico wordlessly nods and Bianca gives him a smile before rising to her feet and turning back to Charon. The tall man has a frown on his face, but in the end, when he lets out a defeated sigh, she can tell she’s already won.

“… He’s not going to be happy about this.”

It’s obvious who ‘He’ is, but Bianca just scoffs.

“Well maybe if he has something to say, he should say it to me himself next time.”

To her surprise, there’s a faint rumbling under their feet at that, causing her eyes to widen and Charon to sigh again.

“Careful, sweetheart. Daddy loves you, but even his love has it’s limits. Alright kid, come along. Your sister has made her bed. Now she’ll have to lie in it.”

Charon offers out a hand to Nico, and after some urging from Bianca, the younger Child of Hades steps forward and takes it. There’s a brief pause and Nico hesitantly waves goodbye, with Bianca smiling encouragingly and waving goodbye back. And then… the two leave, and she finds herself without her little brother by her side for the first time in her entire memory.

It’s… both freeing and heartbreaking at the same time, truth be told. On the one hand, Bianca loved her brother with all her heart. On the other hand, she hadn’t realized how much he had come to feel like an obligation until he’s walking away from her. It’s like a weight off her chest that she hadn’t even known was there.

Of course, she still can’t help but be self-conscious of how the others now think of her. Turning towards them hesitantly, she bites her lower lip and ducks her head.

“I… hope it’s okay that I invited myself along to continue traveling with y-you all…”

She’s half-expecting anger from Percy (for ignoring his advice) or disappointment from Sally (for abandoning her brother). So truth be told, Bianca is a little surprised when Sally’s arms close around her, the older woman pulling the Daughter of Hades into a big hug.

“Oh darling… of course it’s okay. You’re more than welcome to stay with us until you and Percy can head on back to Camp. I know how hard that must have been… but I think in the end, you made the right call.”

Bianca flushes, Sally’s support meaning more than she could ever know. The tension finally leaves Bianca entirely, and she relaxes into the other woman’s grasp for a moment. It was nice… like something she hadn’t known she needed.

Finally though, they pull apart and Bianca looks to Percy… who grins at her, much to her shock.

“Heh, sticking it to your old man might come back to bite you in the ass down the line, but honestly… I’m here for it, Bianca. You’ve got my support, no matter what.”

Bianca flushes and smiles a small smile at that, her heart fluttering at Percy’s praise. Of course, before she can start blushing too hard, Sally interrupts the moment by cuffing Percy on the back of the head.

“Percy! Language, young man!”

Percy just rolls her eyes, which prompts Bianca to giggle at the Son of Poseidon’s irreverence. If only his mother knew everything they’d gotten up to the night before, but contrary to Bianca’s initial assumptions, it seemed she did not. Otherwise, crass words would probably be the least of Sally Jackson’s worries…

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Bianca standing up to Charon and putting her foot down like she had was not something Percy had been expecting to happen, truth be told. Given it seemed likely that Hades knew he and Bianca had spent the night together, which in turn precipitated Charon’s arrival, Percy had honestly just figured he should be happy the Lord of the Underworld wasn’t going to try and do anything else to him for daring to deflower his daughter.

That was why he’d recommended that Bianca go along with Charon and hadn’t really put up much of a fight to keep her. But then she’d surprised him… surprised everyone really, by putting up the fight herself and not backing down. She’d poked CHARON of all people in the chest! That had taken some balls of steel, no doubt.

After that, they’d started heading back towards the East Coast and Camp Half-Blood. It was still a month or so out before he could return and take Bianca with him, but better to start traveling that way anyways. Every night, Bianca would continue to insist that she and Percy room together on the opposite side of the hotel from Sally and Tyson whenever possible. And every night, Percy found himself sleeping with the Daughter of Hades, despite knowing full well at this point that it was against the God’s wishes.

In the end though, time passed, they made good time, and finally… Percy and Bianca said goodbye to Sally and Tyson after promising to keep in touch, before Percy found himself leading the Daughter of Hades to Camp Half-Blood for the first time. Honestly, as much as he loved his mom… it kind of felt like coming home.

To be fair though, when the Camp’s Director was literally the Goddess of Hearth and Home, Percy supposed it would feel like that. And finally, he would have a chance to warn Hestia about Hera and any of her schemes. He could hardly wait.

Indeed, as he and Bianca crest the hill to arrive at Camp Half-Blood’s borders, Percy is in high spirits… until he sees the state of things from on high and his eyes widen in dismay. The Camp’s borders are being attacked by monsters… more monsters than Percy has ever seen before.

They’re being held off, but from the look of things they aren’t expecting to be held off forever. It’s like they’re expecting the borders to fail. But that should be impossible, right? Camp Half-Blood is Hestia’s Domain. It’s under her protection. Breaking the borders shouldn’t be possible…

“Shit. Bianca, stay close, we need to sneak past them.”

Maybe if it was just him, Percy would rush on through and damn the consequences if he got hurt. But he wasn’t going to risk Bianca’s life, even if he HAD taken up training her to fight in the past month just like she’d suggested.

Instead, he tries to find an opening, hoping to slip around the myriad multitude of different monsters currently testing the Camp’s boundaries. In doing so, he finds himself staring at Thalia’s Tree at one point, horrified by the sight of it. Annabeth had told him all about it last year, and about the girl who had died to create it. She had been so close to Camp Half-Blood. So close to safety. But in the end, she hadn’t made it.

In her memory and honor, Zeus was said to have grown a pine tree from the place she’d died, right next to the borders of Camp Half-Blood. That tree was honestly gorgeous the last time Percy saw it, with this otherworldly quality that made it all the more beautiful.

… But not anymore. The needles were all yellow and many of them had fallen off entirely, forming a circle around the base. But most damning of all was the puncture hole in the middle of the tree’s trunk, oozing out virulent green sap.

Even the monsters were giving the dying tree a wide berth, which allowed Percy and Bianca to use it to sneak into Camp, though Percy was careful to keep Bianca away from the needles just in case. The tree had been poisoned from the look of things. But why? Who would do such a thing and for what purpose?

“Percy!”

Once they make it into Camp proper, they quickly run into Annabeth, thankfully. Percy can’t help but surge forward, pulling the blonde into a big hug. It’s so good to see her again, and judging by how hard she hugs him back, she’s happy to see him too. When they pull apart, he gestures to Bianca.

“Erm… Annabeth, this is Bianca di Angelo, a demigod I met about a month ago. Bianca, this is Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena.”

Annabeth spends a moment eyeing Bianca up and down, while Bianca fidgets a little bit, no doubt suspecting that she’s face to face with her ‘competition’. But finally, Annabeth’s face stretches into a grin.

“A pleasure to meet you, Bianca. Percy has impeccable taste, as ever.”

Bianca’s eyes widen at that, her face going red as Annabeth’s teasing proves to be super effective. Percy would be more amused, but…

“Annabeth, what’s happening? The edge of Camp is covered in monsters and Thalia’s Tree…”

At the mention of the tree, Annabeth’s smile drops and she looks downright crestfallen.

“Right. As you’ve likely already guessed if you saw it, Thalia’s Tree has been poisoned. Nobody can figure out what it was poisoned by or come up with a cure for it… but we’re pretty confident that it was Luke who snuck back here to do the deed under the Crooked One’s orders. Unfortunately, when Lord Zeus made Thalia into a tree, he was also trying to help out Lady Hestia a bit.”

At Percy’s look of confusion, Annabeth sighs and explains.

“The tree is magical and tied directly into the borders of Camp Half-Blood. It’s part of what allows Lady Hestia to leave the Camp from time to time without always being here to maintain her Domain and the protections. However, that’s turned out to be something of a double-edged blade, because now that it’s been poisoned, Hestia HAS to be in Camp in order to keep the protections from failing entirely.”

Percy perks up at that.

“So Hestia is back?”

Annabeth nods, her face scrunched up in worry.

“Yeah… she’s at the Big House. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, Percy. Those monsters you saw on your way in are making it all but impossible for most to get to Camp this year. The one place where our kind can be safe, and it’s pretty much been turned into a death trap.”

Taking a deep breath, Annabeth continues on.

“And… the monsters wouldn’t be here attacking in great numbers if they didn’t think the boundaries were going to fall entirely at some point. The current theory is that when Thalia’s Tree fully dies, the poison will make sure that even Hestia won’t be able to maintain her Domain here for a while, and Camp Half-Blood will cease to exist.”

Percy frowns.

“… I need to talk to Hestia. I’ll go see her in the Big House then, and we’ll figure this out.”

“I’ll come with you.”

But Percy is quick to shake his head.

“No. I mean… please show Bianca around for me, yeah? She’s… she’s staying in my cabin for now, so you can show her there. I’ll catch up with you both later.”

Annabeth gives Bianca an assessing look at that, while Bianca blushes but holds her head high under the other girl’s gaze. Finally, the Daughter of Athena nods.

“… Alright. Talk to you soon, Percy.”

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[X] Switch to Hestia POV - 63%

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