You are Italian/ know how to speak Italian. Take your pick. ;) You're also a child of Apollo. Plus, you're ALREADY dating Nico. Don't own the song!

Don't play the music just yet. I'll tell you when.

You had been having an ordinary day so far. You'd gotten up late (normal), scrambled to help for cabin inspections (normal), got an okay score (normal), and took your shift in the infirmary.

All the normal people were there: Conner and Travis Stoll, who had put a tarantula in Annabeth Chase's bunk, Leo, who had accidentally created an explosion in Bunker Nine (yes,he was immune to fire, but he wasn't immune to flying debris), and Clarisse, who had gotten a cut on her shoulder, but was still only persuaded to come to the infirmary by Chris, who tagged along just to make sure she actually went, although Clarisse growled threats the entire time.

But then one unlikely boy stumbled in, face even paler than usual, hunched over, wheezing for breath.

"Nico!" you scrambled over. Grabbing his free hand, you led him over to the first bed. You pried his other hand away from his stomach and gasped. Something poisoned had stabbed him in the stomach, possibly damaging some vital organs. "Kayla!" you yell.

She turns and assesses the situation. "I'll get Will!" She ran out as quickly as you'd ever seen her go.

You ran to the cabinet and grabbed the ambrosia and nectar, along with a clean roll of bandages. "Please, Apollo, let this work."

You poured some nectar on the wound, wincing as Nico tensed up in pain. "C'mon Neeks," you muttered, "you can't die on me now. Not now, not ever."

Kayla ran back in, closely followed by Will, who's suntanned face turned ghostly at the sight of Nico. "Do you know what did this?!"

You closed your eyes. "He's lost consciousness, so he hasn't told me anything... but I think that it's a claw mark... poisoned. I think..." You moistened your lips. "I think it was either the Chimera or a Hydra."

"Styx."

Will muttered the hymn to Apollo that you haven't been allowed to learn yet. The one that he used to save Annabeth Chase in the Second Titan War. But nothing happens. The black tendrils snaking from the wound still remained as prominent as ever. "Why isn't it working?!" you frantically whispered.

"Why isn't it working?!"

Will turned back to face you, exhausted, dark circles starting to show under his once cheerful eyes. "I don't... we can't solve this, Y/N. There isn't anything we can do. All we can do is keep him comfortable until he passes."

You shook your head. "You have to solve this, Will. Please. Will, please." You put all of your effort into that final 'please.'

Slowly, Will reached for you and pulled you into a brotherly hug. "I know you love him, Y/N. But... it's his time."

Will's footsteps sounded heavily across the creaking wooden floorboards as he exited. As his golden hair got caught in the blazing warm sun, he turned back, his face in shadow. "Y/N, just watch over him, okay? Make him happy before..." His voice cracked. "Before he's gone. I'll go get the rest of the Seven, but it may take awhile for Hazel and Frank."

And Will disappeared, leaving you to the dark depths of your soul.

∞•∞•∞•∞•∞•∞

Nico shivered. You reached over for his hand. It was ice cold. You looked around the infirmary, but in the heat of summer, no one had thought to put any blankets in here. Nico's pack. You grabbed his pack, which was splattered with monster gore and his own blood, and rooted through the bag for a blanket.

A small, old book thudded to the floor. Nico murmured, but didn't wake. Once you had located the blanket, you settled it over Nico, tucking it in. "Love you, Ghost King."

You turned your attention to the small, battered book. On the inside of the cover were the words This Book is Property of Bianca di Angelo. In smaller letters underneath, it read DON'T LOOK.

Overcome by curiosity, you read the first few pages.

Dear Diary,

Today a lawyer took us to a new hotel. It's a nice hotel, with swimming pools and movies and such. Nico is very excited, because the store sells the 'Africanus Extremus' pack for that Mythomagic game that he adores.

I've promised him that we'll get it, but I'm not sure where we'll get the money. I'll figure it out, though. Anything for my little brother.

Oh, Nico's coming to drag me down to the store to look again. I'll be back later, diary.

~Bianca

Smiling to yourself over this happy Nico that Bianca seemed to remember, you flipped forward.

Dear Diary,

After a month in this hotel, the lawyer has come again. She took us out to attend a new boarding school, called Westover Hall. It doesn't sound that great, but Nico is so, so excited, so I'm happy for him.

Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to be a sister to Nico, not a mother.

As we approach Westover Hall, everything looks so... different. But I guess that my memories are a little fuzzy after not seeing the outside world for a month. This place looks like an evil knight' castle, like in those stories I used to tell Nico about.

The lawyer is telling us to get out of the car. See you later, diary.

~Bianca

And the page after that read:

Dear Diary,

Nico has nightmares now. I don't know why. He keeps waking up fitfully, and I was unsure about how to lull him back to sleep. So I made a lullaby based off of a classic Italian one, the one that Mama used to sing to us. I'll write it on the last page. I wish I could show Mama my song. I miss Mama.

But we've made a new friend. His name is Grover. He's kind of fidgety, and he cannot walk that well, but he's nice, and he loves enchiladas. He and Nico get along well. He always seems to be scared of the teachers, Dr. Thorn in particular. Yes, these eyes are creepy, but he's just a teacher. What can he do to us?

Oh, Nico's woken up again. I'll sing him Soldatino and hopefully he goes back to sleep peacefully. Wish me luck, Diary.

~Bianca

You turned the page. Within the first few lines of the lyrics of the lullaby, you'd recognized it. It was a classic one, and maybe it'd help Nico. You took a deep breath and began to sing.

Nico POV (play music now)

Close your eyes

I know what you see

The darkness is high

And you're in ten feet deep

A sweet voice was singing to me, piercing through the hazy fog of pain and bringing back so many sweet memories, of my big sister and I.

But we've survived

More terrible monster than sleep

And you know i will be here, to tell you to breathe

Bianca used to always sing this song to me when I got a nightmare. She had rewritten an old Italian lullaby, and it worked, letting me enter the realm of sleep without any night terrors.

Tu sei il mio soldatino (you're my little soldier)

la ragione per cui vivo (the reason i live)

non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)

io vegliero su di te (i'm watching over you)

She always included Italian, the soothing flow of the words lulling my gently to rest.

stumbling lost

The last choice of all that you meet

It's the cost

Of ruling those 'neath you feet

And when we got odd looks in Westover Hall, while rumors circulated around us, she seemed untouchable, not bothered by the sideways glances.

Once, when I asked her, she shrugged and said, "It's the price you pay for being different."

"But," she continued, eyes growing serious, "different is good, mio caro. Different is good, no matter what anyone says."

Paths you've crossed, and trust you're trying to keep

You're exhausted

Listening for a voice that can't speak

Ma nico mio caro

But when she joined the hunters, it seemed that she didn't want to be different anymore. She wanted to fit in with these silver-parka wearing girls, and she left me behind.

And then she left on the quest... and I made Percy promise to keep her safe. He promised.

He promised.

And then he came back without my sister, without the one who'd been by my side almost all of my life. Without. my. sister.

And then I was stuck, wanting so horribly to get her back, constantly trying to listening for the voice that wended its way through my dreams, whispering the words of this very lullaby.

Tu sei il mio soldatino (you're my little soldier)

la ragione ho vissuto (the reason i live)

non ti scordar di me (don't forget me)

io vegliero su di te (i'm watching over you)

And at Geryon's ranch, I was so angry. She'd contacted her killer to protect me.

But some part of me realized that she was just trying to watch over me. Some part of me tried to say that the reason she'd sacrificed herself, the reason she'd gone into Talos, was not entirely to save Percy Jackson.

Some part of me said that the reason she sacrificed herself... was me.

So you run

Through shadows you roam

seams undone

By the love you thought you could own

And my crush on Percy... I just couldn't face it. I couldn't live with it, so I just ran, pretending it was because I was a son of Hades, although that had some part of it. But really, the shadows and I were one, hiding, fading into the background, unnoticed by all.

Except one.

but he's just one

Of many that you might call home

And maybe someday, the bitter will fade from your bones

Fade from your bones...

And it turned out that maybe Percy wasn't the one for me. It was a cheerful, sunshiney daughter of Apollo, with beautiful H/C hair and E/C eyes that I got lost in.

So I accepted the fact that I was not the one for Percy. The bitterness left me over that, because I found Y/N. I found my home.

Home is where the heart is.

And soon, a new verse from my comforting lullaby came into my dreams:

eri il mio soldatino (you were my little soldier)

ora un principe oscuro (now a dark prince)

ma anche per te, c'e una luce (but even for you, there is a light)

che ad un'altra vita ti conduce (that leads you to another life)

My lungs filled up, and I could not breathe. I struggled at first, but then accepted it, knowing to give in to the inevitable. As the grey haze of pain gave way, slowly, to the black haze of oblivion, I could feel Y/N's hand in mine.

Y/N... I hoped she would be okay.

But then Bianca was standing before me, hand reaching out, beckoning, gentle smile upon her face. I could move without pain, and I reached out with my hand and took hers.

So the last heartbeat was pounded, the last breath exhaled, and the last word spoken to my one true love:

"Goodbye."

∞•∞•∞•∞•∞•∞

So that when the Seven pounded in, they found a cold corpse and a girl who was not crying, a girl who had too much grief to cry.

A girl who's voice cracked only the tiniest bit when she announced,

"We need a shroud."

Silence reigned in the room, but finally, as the disbelief finally went away, it was replaced by the insurmountable grief, the crushing realization: Nico's gone and he won't ever come back. He's lost to you. He is gone.

Those three words pounding into her head over and over again, gouging scars deep into her heart, a heart broken beyond repair. A heart destined to never love again, for she realized the crushing truth. Love had destroyed her utterly. Never love again, Y/N. Never.

Soon, the girl's E/C eyes filled with tears, the crushing realization snuffing out the light that she had carefully kept for so long, as she choked out, sobbing,

"A shroud for the son of Hades."

Fin.