Buon Natale, Bianca

Sorella Mia, ti Voglio Bene.

The woods surrounding Camp Half-Blood were deadly silent that night. The leaves that stuck to the trees were trembling, but not by wind.

There was a small sniffle that broke the natures silence. It came from a little 10-year old boy named Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades. Who knew if he knew that, though. Or if he cared. All he cared about was his big sister.

Nico slumped down onto the grass, leaning against a tall tree, his hands placed on the ground.
The grass slowly died, as if Nico's touch was poison.

And it was.

He wanted to let out a wretched scream that would surely wake the gods who were all the way up in Olympus, but he figured a monster would find him easily.

The monster in question is Percy Jackson.

Nico looked up to Percy in so many ways. He really thought that Percy Jackson was the coolest, most heroic boy he'd ever met.
But now Nico was convinced Percy had gotten Bianca di Angelo killed, which made Percy the scariest monster in the forest.

That was only if he was in the forest, anyways. Nico didn't know if Percy would go so far from the comforts of Camp Half-Blood just to track down a 'useless', 'annoying' Demi-god like himself.

Nico weakly reached his hand out, and grabbed a medium-sized rock from beside him.

He moved away from the tree, and set the rock down in front of it. Digging into his pockets, he found a marker. On the rock, he wrote:

"BIANCA DI ANGELO
TI VOGLIO BENE, MIA SORELLA."
(I LOVE YOU, MY SISTER.)

Nico looked around and tried to pick a flower, but as soon he touched it, the flower drooped into a gloomy, dark state. The once brightly colored yellow petals became deceased and rotten.

Nico frowned, but put the flower on the rock anyways. He dug into his pockets again, and found a little Artemis figurine that went with his myth-o-magic set.

He assumed Bianca would want Artemis near her memorial, since she seemed to be the goddess Bianca worshipped the most. Nico set the figurine on the rock.

He looked up to the stars. "Did she put you up there?"
Nico watched the constellations pass, waiting for his sister, in hopes she'd live forever in the stars.

But he knew no matter how hard he looked, he'd never find his sister in the stars. He'd never find his sister again.

Nico looked down at the memorial, and then up at the tree. He grabbed the sharpest stick he could find, and stood up. Maybe 3 minutes later, Bianca's name was carved into the tree. This was her tree now.

Nico hugged it.
A little part of him still expected Bianca to walk into camp side-by-side with Zoë, Thalia, and Percy.
A little part of him expected Bianca to run up to him and give him the warmest of smiles and the tightest of hugs.
And a little part of him expected Bianca to be alive.

Nico let the tree go, and sniffed. His tears fell off his face, the little droplets of grief hitting Bianca's memorial.

"è questo Natale?" (Is this Christmas?)
Nico's voice trembled, his lips quivering. His breathing was heavy, and he sniffled some more.
"This isn't what you described."

He let out many childish, verbal cries.
"I'm so sorry."

Nico looked down to his feet.

"If I had followed on the quest.. and didn't blindly trust Percy.."
He leaned his head on the tree.
"Maybe I'd be leaning on your shoulder instead of a tree."
Nico looked up to the moon, the small Artemis figurine that was lying at the base of the memorial for Bianca glistened and shimmered in the moonlight.

He looked down. "Percy Jackson.."
Nico scowled at his name.
"Everyone thinks he's a hero, Bianca. He got you killed.. and as soon as he got back from camp, he tried to lead me to the same fate!"
Nico trembled a little bit.

"I don't even know how he summoned skeletons.."
He was being extra careful not to touch the tree with his hands.
"You were right, though. This isn't cool."

Nico took out his pack of Myth-o-magic cards and started to rip some of them up. Once he got to Dionysus, he paused, staring at it, contemplating its fate.

He pursed his lips and teared the Dionysus card in half. It had been one of his favorite cards.

He only spared two cards: Hades and Artemis. He set the Artemis card next to the memorial, and some dark pull inside of him made him set the Hades card down there as well. Nico wasn't sure why.

He took out a hair elastic from his pocket, and set it on the rock.
"In case your braid gets messed up."

He leaned down and kissed the memorial.
"Buon Natale," ("Merry Christmas,") he whispered.

"NICO! NICO DI ANGELO? HELLO! COME HERE!"
Nico knew that voice. It was the scary monster who got his sister killed: Percy Jackson.

Nico rushed to get up and stammered a little bit, trying to make a quick decision on which direction to run. Once he figured it out, he sprinted as fast as he ever had before. He wouldn't let himself be caught by the monster again.

Grover walked up to the memorial, just in time to not notice that Nico was there only a few minutes before.
"Annabeth? Percy? Come here.."

The two Demi-gods walked over to Grover. "What?"

Percy noticed the tree first, then his eyes narrowed down to the rock.

"Oh, Nico.."