Heroes of Olympus: Endgame

Chapter 3

      Nico sat in a chair around a few people. He barely knew them, but he listened nonetheless.
"I went on my date today," a woman said, "first one in five years."
Nico looked to her,
"How did that go?" he asked. She shrugged,
"Pretty good, we talked. Talked about my job, her job, how much we miss the Mets... She cried right before the salad was bought to us."
Nico chuckled,
"What about you?"
"I cried," she murmured, "during desert... But we're going out again next week. So..."
Nico nodded,
"Good, that's good. You took the first step, and didn't know where you would land. That's the first little steps we have to take," and he looked down at his locket. A picture of Will was in it. "I went into the Lotus Casino, and when I came out, the world was completely different. But you gotta move on. The world is in our hands now. We have to take care of it, otherwise," he closed his eyes, "Chaos should've killed all of us."
      Nico threw his backpack down onto the chair. He sat down at his desk, and placed his face in his hands.
"You okay?" Leo called out. Nico looked up,
"Yeah, just, therapy."
Leo sat down,
"Who would've thought that gloomy Nico di Angelo would run a therapy group," he said grinning. Nico rolled his eyes,
"Yes, ha ha, the irony is very clear to me Valdez."
Nico sighed, "How have you made it dude? I mean, you've gone five years without Calypso. I, it's hard not having Will there. Not being able to..."
Leo nodded,
"I just have to remember, that she's in a better place. It's not easy, but I know that she's away from here," and Leo breathed out deeply, "and I can live with that."
Nico sighed,
"You know, at the very least, Will died in the battle. Not in the Snap. At least we know he went to the Underworld."
Leo sighed,
"Dude, you're a son of Hades, shouldn't you be able to talk to him?"
Nico shook his head,
"I'm completely cut off from talking to the dead. It's been that way for five years now."
Leo nodded, and looked outside. Camp Half-Blood's strawberry fields shined in the light. Campers roamed the outside, and Nico looked back. Leo looked down,
"I used to have nothing," the son of Hephaestus murmured, "I used to just be an orphan. But then I came here, I found this family, my friends, and..."
Nico nodded,
"You know I keep telling everybody they should move on," and he looked Leo in the eye, "some do, but not us."
Leo nodded,
"I understand bro, I miss them. Everyone does, but what else can we do?"

      She stumbled out of the building in a daze. She looked down at her hands. These shouldn't be her hands, these were her old hands. She stumbled over to a random person, grabbing them.
"Excuse me, sir," she said, "can I borrow your phone?"
The man looked at her a little strange, but fished into his pocket and handed her a smartphone. She knew that she shouldn't be using a phone. It would be a homing beacon to any monsters, but she needed to know. She opened the camera and put it on selfie mode, after tampering with it a little.
"No, no, no," she murmured, "this isn't right."
She looked back to the man,
"Thank you!" and handed him the phone. She stumbled through the streets of New York. This wasn't right, she was supposed to be reborn. She remembered going to the Lethe. She pondered what to do for a minute, as she rubbed her temples. An overload of everything she had missed hit her. She looked around, New York did seem a little more empty. Pondering what to do for a moment, she reached into her pocket, and pulled out a roll of money. She fingered through the bills, bringing up just enough to get to Camp Half-Blood. She ran to the side of the road, stumbling a little, falling against a light pole. She balanced herself, and began to frantically hail a cab. It took a minute, but a cab stopped next to her, and she stumbled in.
"Where to?" the cab driver asked. She didn't know how she knew it, but she gave the address for Camp Half-Blood,
"And step on it," she declared. She handed him the entire roll of money, he took it, fingered through it, and pulled away. She pondered what was happening, she took a moment to sort through everything in her head. The last thing she remembered, was her dad saying,
"I'm sorry, but you need to go back. Save them."
She knew everything that had happened since she died, as if she had lived it. She saw the war with Kronos, Gaea, and Chaos. She saw everyone losing. The cab driver pulled up to the side of the hill, and she stumbled out.
"Thank you," she murmured. She began up the hill, and she began to notice how tired she was. She stumbled onto the other side of the border, Peleus perking up, but then returning to his slumber. She started down the hill, and she heard a few murmurs as she passed.
"A Hunter-"
"Here-"
"All alone-"
She ran towards the Big House. She had to get the information to whoever was there. She stumbled up the stairs, tripping, and cursing. She stood, stumbling over to the door, and began to rapidly knock on it.
"Hello! Let me in! Someone! Let me in!"
She heard someone mumbling on the other side, and waited patiently. Then the flattering of locks, and Nico threw open the door.
"Can I help y..."
His face went ashen as he stared at her. His hands started to shake as if he saw a ghost. Which, in a way he had. Leo yelled from behind him,
"Nico, who is it?"
Nico opened his mouth,
"B..." he didn't say anything more, just stuttered, "B... B... B..." over and over again. She reached forward and put her hands on his shoulder,
"Nico, I promise you it's really me. I'm not quite sure of everything myself, but I am here, and I'm here to help. So let me in."
Nico gulped, nodded, and stepped to the side in a bit of a daze.
"Leo, this is my sister," he murmured, "Bianca, this is Leo, my friend."

Leo watched Bianca pace back and forth. He had to admit, her and Nico were a lot alike. Both had the same color hair and eyes, and neither were good at sitting still when nervous.
"Bianca," Nico said, he was still a little shaken up, but he had composed himself. Bianca looked at him,
"Sorry, it's just, I'm thinking through this. It's all just piling on top of me, and I'm trying to process everything."
"You said you could help?" Leo asked, jumping straight to the point. Bianca nodded,
"I have a way we can bring everyone back," she said, "at least I think so."
Leo raised an eyebrow,
"And that would be?"
Bianca paced back and forth,
"Have either of you ever studied time dilation?"
Leo shrugged, remembering Annabeth,
"Only to make conversation."
Bianca nodded,
"Nico, the Lotus Casino, it dilates time. What if we could take advantage of that? What if we could alter the time flow, and come out at a different point in time."
"A time machine?" Leo asked. Bianca pointed at him,
"A time machine! Exactly! Look, it's probably crazy, but the time we spent in the Lotus Casino, it's just sticking out to me. Do you get me?"
Nico shrugged,
"I don't get that kind of stuff," and he turned to Leo. Leo rubbed his temples,
"It's very theoretical. Time travel is something not even mortals, using advanced modern day technology have cracked. It's possible, but it's not my area of expertise."
Bianca paced back and forth,
"So who's is it?"