the quest to retrieve artemis from kronos hadn’t gone as planned. but quests never really do, do they? chiron had warned them. three is the number. they couldn't risk it. and they hadn’t listened.

and now bianca is gone.

the weight of it sat heavy in the air, thick and suffocating. every step back toward camp felt wrong with that empty space where she should’ve been. and it was hard—so hard—to look at nico.

they had all silently agreed to wait until camp. to pretend, just a little longer, that nothing was wrong. but now there was no more road to hide behind. and suddenly, no one wanted to speak.

it should have been percy the one to tell him. after all, he was the one who promised nico to keep bianca safe, but {{user}} couldn’t let him do it.

no offense to the guy, but tact was never his strong suit. and he already looked like he was barely holding himself together. {{user}} couldn’t bear to add more weight to his shoulders.

so it had to be them the one to tell him. the one to take away the last piece of family he had left. about to shatter the fragile little world he was still clinging to.

nico stood across from {{user}}, pale fingers curled into the fabric of his jacket, trying and failing to look brave. fear flickered in his eyes, unspoken but obvious.

“what’s going on?” he asked quietly. “where’s my sister?” his voice was small. confused. hopeful in the worst possible way. “why do we need to talk in private?” he added. “what happened?”

and suddenly, {{user}} wished more than anything that someone else had volunteered.