Fate Withstands

Chapter 34

Nico threw the duffle bag over his shoulder before turning to the door of his cabin, a smile gracing his lips when he saw Will waiting there. "You're sure you want to come?"

The question held more than he thought. It was time for peace, the peace of settling down without quests and wars. But here he was, making his own without a prophesy or oracle, making his own with only a quick word to Chiron and the collection of some money out of the camp's savings.

It was time, time to bring his sister to this world of peace he forged for himself out of his own blood.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Will leaned against the doorframe, his own bag in hand. "Cross country road trip with my boyfriend. Why wouldn't I sign up?"

Nico rolled his eyes as he joined Will at the door. "Don't get too happy. You know we're going to run into monsters."

"Which is why I brought my first aid kit," Will said.

Nico held onto Will's hand for a moment, gray going so well with tan, his eyes on the rising sun above them. "Bianca's going to love it here."

"Defiantly."

Nico looked up at Will, cursed how short he was compared to his boyfriend. "We should get going soon."

Will nodded, laying a kiss on Nico's head before exiting the cabin. Nico followed to Half-Blood Hill, his eyes on the sky above them. There was oranges and blues and pinks and reds, red like the blood around the edges of his fate. But it was beautiful.

"Did you really trust the Stoll's to get a car?" Nico questioned as they stopped by Thalia's pine, enough distance from the dragon for their safety.

"They were told to rent one," Will said. "But they're probably going to use the term 'borrowed' and keep the money for themselves."

Nico snorted. "You know it."

Soon enough a car came to a stop in the street below. The Stoll brothers got out with twin grins, giving the keys to Will before disappearing in the camp with bags covering their arms.

"Can you even drive?" Nico asked.

"I drove a motorcycle once," Will said.

"This isn't a motorcycle." Nico started the descent down the hill. "Come on, we'll try not to die by car crash."

They didn't, thank the gods, though that would be an end Nico would have been fine with. Going with his boyfriend, his love, back home...going together would have been the perfect ending to a brutal life.

Once they got on the highway and the sun moved across the sky, the peace had taken over Nico's chest. Will drove with the windows down, his hair blowing in the breeze, singing whatever country song came over the radio at the top of his lungs.

If that was the end of Nico's story, he wouldn't be upset. If it all ended here, if nothing else was worth telling, he'd take that happily.

But it wasn't. Because the Fates hadn't cut his string just yet.

They stopped somewhere off of 1-81 West at a cheap motel that looked ready to sink into the earth. Taking some money from their fund from camp, they got McDonald's and a room and collapsed on the bed.

"I'm so tired..." Will groaned as he rolled onto his back. "Driving sucks."

Nico laid beside him and stared up at the ceiling. "Will?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm...so happy...so happy... Maybe the Fates like me, after all." Nico grinned. "They really do, Will. They let us get together and stay together and we're on our way to get Bianca."

Will faced Nico, his smile mirroring his. "I don't think I've ever seen you so happy."

"I've been soaking in it," Nico kissed Will before laying back. "Maybe I'll get my hopes crushed, who knows. But right now I feel happy. I've been through..." He frowned. "I've been through so much hell. And I just...I'm taking in the peace when I can."

Will ran a hand through Nico's hair. "I'm happy to see it."

"Do you think it'll last?" Nico asked.

Will shrugged. "We'll see."

"Yeah, we'll see..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It lasted until they got to Las Vegas. The city was full of broken dreams and false hopes and marriages too young too fast. All the lights were fake.

"If I'm not out before sunset, come get me," Nico reminded. "I don't want to get stuck in there."

Will pulled him into a hug. "Okay."

"And stay safe as you wait," Nico said. "Be careful of monsters. I won't be here to help you fight."

"I'm aware."

"Okay...I'm going to go in." Nico detached himself from Will and stared up at the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Bianca was in there somewhere, waiting for him to come back from a war that had been over for forty years. She thought they would eventually go back home, see nonno and all the other boys that went off to fight and maybe even her old boyfriend if he survived.

But none of that was going to happen.

"Good luck!" Will called as Nico walked up to the front doors, as he took one last look at the sun before walking into that time capsule.

There were hundreds of people in the building, so many souls in so many bodies out of time. He could feel them all, could point them out, could mentally skim through them until he found his sister's.

And there she was in his radar, Bianca di Angelo, a soul still so strong after so many years. Nico found her in a room on the second floor, the door propped open and a fan blowing a slight breeze.

Bianca was sitting on the bed, around nineteen and still as old fashioned as she was when he had last seen her. Her hair was just like their mother's, dark and thin and flowing down her back. Her eyes were as dark as his, as their father's. She was wearing a white dress that went down to her ankles, and as she stood up, he noticed the glint of an ankle bracelet.

"Bianca..." he breathed. "I finally found you."

Silence. The snap and laugh of fate. Blood red vision as his heart stopped working.

Bianca di Angelo stood there, yes, but she stepped back instead of stepping forward to her younger brother. Her voice, armed and dangerous, sent dread filling his stomach. "Who are you?"