Chapter Text
Howling ghosts they reappear
In mountains that are stacked with fear
But you’re a king and I’m a lionheart
Black hair. Olive skin. A scattershot of tiny freckles on her nose. The kindest smile he had ever seen in his eighty-five years of life. And black shadowy eyes. Looking into them was like staring into a mirror. She had his exact same eyes.
Standing in front of her on the living-side shore of the Styx, Nico couldn’t believe how young his sister looked. She hadn’t changed a bit. ‘Of course she hasn’t’ he reminded himself ‘she’s been dead, like, the whole time, you moron’
They were of the same height now, despite Nico being a boy and six months older. He guessed McDonald’s and spending time in the Underworld didn’t help with body development.
He finally found his voice.
“How clever of you dying that way, sis. We could have used some of your help during the war”
Bianca didn’t bother answering his surely rehearsed sarcastic remark and hugged him tightly. They both started laughing madly. Tears of joy stained Nico’s eyes.
“I missed you”
More laughs. And even more tears.
“Don’t you dare go away from me again”
“Don’t you dare come rescue me ever again”
Tears. Laughs. Italian curses, because they always fit.
When they finally detached, Bianca examined his face carefully.
“God, you’ve grown so much. I mean, look at you, I’m sure you’ve got a crowd of girls at your feet, huh?” Nico giggled awkwardly at that “But you look so pale, little bro. What happened to you?”
Nico diverted his gaze for a moment before looking back into those familiar eyes.
“Nothing, just… sunlight doesn’t reach the same way down here, you know?” He smiled, realizing his choice of words “I mean, you sure know”
After hugging her again to make sure this wasn’t just another cruel dream, he took her hand and started walking towards the surface.
“By the way, I’m the older one now”
“Woah, this is New York?”
Bianca looked totally stunned as she and Nico emerged in the fifth Avenue during a late summer afternoon. She gazed at the blue lights, the colossal buildings, the racing cars, the crowds of weirdly dressed people, her mouth agape.
“Yeah, just a normal 21st century city, I’m used to it” her brother explained nonchalantly, trying to brag.
“And Olympus is right there” he pointed at the tallest of the buildings. “I’ve been there a bunch of times, I’m always welcome, kinda helped saving the place and friends with Hestia and all…” he let that information sink in before turning abruptly to the left “Oh, and there…” he pointed towards the base of a grey building “... I defied Kronos himself, you know? Then I summoned an army of skeletons and literally saved Percy’s ass”
He kept rambling excitedly on and on about the recent battle, switching story every few seconds and recounting all of his achievements. But most of all he talked about Percy. He didn’t even seem to notice all the times he repeated how cool, powerful and brave the guy was, how he had saved everyone’s life during the battle.
He looked ten years old again, ranting non-stop about whatever came to his mind. Bianca just laughed and ruffled his hair.
They reached Bryant park and sat under a tree. Nico stopped talking and just relished under the setting sun in Bianca’s company.
His sister took big intakes of breath, as if enjoying the novelty of breathing fresh air again, as fresh as New York’s air could possibly be. She looked serene, and happy, and so alive .
He couldn’t believe his luck when he discovered that Thanatos, guardian and bringer of death, had been captured by some giant in Alaska. His first thoughts had been for Bianca, for as long as Hades didn’t acknowledge her being alive, he was totally allowed to take her back. Well, maybe allowed wasn’t the right word, but able to he totally was.
Now the main problem were the unkillable monsters that were escaping freely from the Underworld. But that was a problem for the demigods of the prophecy, his father had told him so. No one knew who those kids were yet, but then again, it was not Nico’s problem. He had his sister now.
As selfish as it sounded, he couldn’t keep himself from thinking that he had done enough for the time being. He’d talked Percy into swimming in the Styx, talked Hades into joining the war, proved to demigods at Camp Half-Blood that he was on their side by summoning the entire Trojan army and, finally, talked Bianca into coming back with him, which had been as difficult as any other war task. He realized then that he had spent months talking idiots into doing intelligent stuff. Fine, so convincing people was one of his talents, good to know.
Still, there was that little matter about the Doors of Death his father had mentioned once or twice during their last conversation, the same one where Hades had revealed to him the existence of a godsdamned Roman camp and the details of a crazy plan Hera had in mind. He knew those stupid Doors had something to do with him because his father had been too vague about them. He wondered if he played a part in some prophecy as well.
But now wasn’t the right time. Gods, Bianca was there and breathing . He turned towards his sister and leaned his head on her shoulder. She ruffled his hair.
It was then that Nico noticed how some people were staring at Bianca weirdly, so he brought his head up and flipped them off.
“Nico!” His sister slapped his hand down and sent apologetic looks at the group of New Yorkers.
“They were looking wrong at you”
Only two seconds later did he realize how impulsive his action had been, those people could have easily been monsters. But they just looked offended and turned away, some of them muttering “kids these days..” Nico scoffed at that.
Then he understood the cause of so many curious glances: Bianca was still dressed like a hunter of Artemis.
He got up and grinned widely “We’re going shopping”
He took his sister’s hand and pulled her up, before waving her to follow.
“Where are we going?”
“Geez, an Italian fashion shop of course”
As they stood in front of the fifth avenue’s Gucci, Bianca started laughing uncontrollably.
“Seriously? Wasn’t this like a famous bag shop back in Florence?”
“Not anymore” was Nico’s simple reply as he entered the shop.
The employees looked them up and down. Bianca’s clothes had burns and mud stains on them. Nico was wearing his usual black jeans, black t-shirt and black high-top converse and the fact that his black hair was messier than usual surely didn’t help.
The Hades siblings made up for a great show among all the poshy clients in the high signature shop. But for some reason no one dared speak to them. It was the deadly aura, Nico guessed. Amplified now that they were two.
“Try this” Nico handed his sister a black jersey dress with a flowery print. Luckily they were not dandelions. Nor lotuses. Woah, Nico realized he had quite a rocky relationship with flowers. On the dress there were elegant black poppies.
“Cool!” Her sister grabbed the dress, but as soon as she saw the price her face went as pale as her brother’s “Where exactly do you expect to find $2,980, genio?”
“Come on, dad’s got a ton of gold and gems down there, silly” he said, examining a leather aviator jacket “And I’m glad you think I’m a genius”
“Won’t he get… annoyed if we spend all this money, though?” Bianca gazed at the dress uncertainly.
“He owes me one for the Titan war” Nico shrugged “And I’m his favorite son, so he won’t care”
“Hey!” Bianca punched him jokingly on the arm before Nico grabbed the aviator jacket and rushed to the shoes section.
“Don’t you already have a jacket like that?” His sister asked him when he stopped in front of a pair of black high top sneakers.
“Yeah, but it’s getting old and I like this one better”
“But they’re identical!”
“Shut up and try these” Nico gave her a shoe box.
Inside were the coolest ankle boots Bianca had ever seen.
“If you insist…”
Ten minutes later they were both paying at the cash, wearing their brand new outfits. The cashier stared at them suspiciously as Nico left on the counter two matching black hoodies and grabbed a stash of $100 bills.
The total amount rose to $13,970.
“Tu sei pazzo” you are crazy Bianca told him as they exited the shop looking like a pair of royal siblings. Which they in fact were.
“I’ve been told so” Nico grinned.
As they strolled along the blue lights of Manhattan, Nico dawned on the fact that his sister hadn’t eaten a single meal for years. He turned to her, kind of worried but smirking “Are you hungry? Cause I know a place”
“Lead the way”