"Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you are."— Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Somewhere in the Wilderness
"Percy?"
It was Bianca's voice, but why was she coming to speak with him in the dead of night after an exhausting day with a near-death experience for the both of them? Zoe probably wouldn't be all that pleased if she found out, as the 'girl' was still pestering Bianca to join Artemis' Hunt and to make matters worse, Phoebe's watchful eye was always on him, regardless of any action he took.
From those factors alone, Percy was incredibly pleased Bianca had decided to delay her answer, it meant he had a chance in convincing her to stay with Nico along with the rest of the Demigods at Camp Half-Blood.
"Yeah, Bianca?"
His reply was late due to his thinking, as was his sitting up in response to her calling, so much so that the girl had already begun walking away.
"I'm not interrupting your sleep, am I? We could talk in the morning if that's better, I just couldn't sleep after today…" Bianca's voice trailed off softly, no words needed for him to understand what it was the younger girl wanted to discuss.
Percy rubbed the small amount of sleep that'd accumulated in his eyes and gave a welcoming smile as he patted the ground beside him.
"You're not interrupting, I wasn't sleeping all that well either" — Percy grabbed the waterskin beside him, taking a swig and offering it to Bianca who refused while taking the proffered seat — "Anyway, I have a feeling I know what you'd like to discuss. In case you feel the need to do it again too, don't apologise, there's nothing to say sorry for; Nico's lucky to have you as his sister."
Bianca's face coloured at his praise at the same time she began to look away, only this time, she didn't commit to the act, this time, she kept her eyes staring into his rather than shyly breaking contact as she'd done countless times before.
That act alone made him think maybe every effect Artemis' band had on the girl weren't all that bad, but he still didn't want her to leave even if they'd made her more confident in herself. It should be her decision to make with no outside pressure convincing her their way was better, though he knew his way was.
"Thank you, Percy, Grover's always said you were very nice — he almost never stopped talking about you until you joined the quest with us."
Percy's smile grew at her words, the boy bowing comically (or as much as one could while seated) and vowed to sing Grover's praises more so than he already did… only while his friend wasn't present though, he couldn't have the aluminum can-eating pal of his getting too big-headed.
Bianca giggled and slapped him lightly on the shoulder before pulling out the figure they'd escaped with. "Thank you for letting me keep it after we took care of that… thing. I didn't think anyone would let me since it'd been all my fault that yo- that I, that we almost di-. You know what I mean, I can't say it for some stupid reason, I still feel the adrenaline going through me as if I were still there."
He almost reached out an arm to rub the girl's back or give her a one-armed hug, but he wasn't certain they were alone even if the surrounding area was silent. Artemis' hunters may glow somewhat at night, but for all he knew, they may very well have means of camouflaging so well that they'd be invisible to him — it wouldn't be the craziest thing. No, that'd have to be Phoebe's fear of him kidnapping Bianca if they were alone as they were now or Zoe's extreme hatred towards him on account of Gods only know what.
Thus, he stopped himself from doing anything physical in favour of grabbing a snack out of his backpack, a candy bar he'd stowed away during one of their stops, and held it out for her.
"Here, you can have it. There's no need to be embarrassed or angry, like I said earlier. You did what any good, what any great sister would do. Nobody can get too mad either, at the end of the day, nothing came as a result of our time in the desert."
Bianca took the candy bar and, while unwrapping it, spoke up.
"I'm not angry, embarrassment isn't something I've felt a whole lot of since my time around the fire with Phoebe and Zoe either," — Bianca bit into the bar, chewing slowly while gazing up at the stars above and swallowing after nearly thirty seconds — "I was scared," her tone was drained of all the confidence it had earlier, in its place was shame and a general feeling of melancholy; he'd felt that way before, he bet others in the group had too, but this was Bianca's first time out… Artemis' group shouldn't have pushed for it so much and Thalia shouldn't have agreed.
Percy didn't respond immediately, he let the girl enjoy the night sky and the snack he'd provided. He could tell his presence was calming to her too, especially so with how she snuggled closer to him, almost leaning fully against him now as she took the final bite that remained.
Only when that happened did he speak up.
"I was scared too," Percy admitted, "everything happened so fast; the stomping of its foot, tackling you out of the way… I wasn't sure if I'd broken a promise I'd made to somebody. That's not the first time I've been scared either, I could think of so many times I didn't think I'd make it, but I did. I guess what I'm trying to say in my own seaweed-brain way is that it worked out, don't be upset about it, just learn from it."
Bianca watched him well after he'd finished speaking, the silence dragging on so long that he thought he'd messed up somewhere until she smiled widely at him, tucking a strand of her loose hair behind an ear as she did so.
"Thanks, Percy."
"For what? You helped me too."
"How?" Bianca questioned with a confused expression on her face.
"Talking with me. Phoebe and Zoe won't unless there's a reason, Thalia's always near them, Grover usually gets distracted a lot. Don't tell her when we find her, but before you came along, Annabeth was the only one who was fun to talk to and wouldn't get distracted," Percy replied and leaned back, gazing up at the stars just as Bianca had been doing… it was strangely calming.
"I won't tell her, I promise" — Bianca laid down beside him, looking up at the skies and resting her head against his shoulder — "Could you take another promise?"
Percy turned his head to look at the younger girl, but her eyes were strictly glued to the sky.
"What is it?"
"Don't do anything reckless like you did today? I don't think I could handle being the reason why you didn't go back to your friends and family."
"I can't do that."
Bianca finally turned her head to look him in the eyes, her freckles illuminated by the moonlight and her expression vaguely annoyed.
"Why not?"
"You're one of my friends now, you'll have to deal with me doing whatever I can to help you."
Bianca didn't say anything in response, she just went back to looking at the stars, and when she thought he wasn't paying attention, looking at him.
Camp Half-Blood
They'd done it.
Artemis was saved, Annabeth was saved, the gods decided not to kill him, and the Ophiotaurus was allowed to live.
Everything had gone well, but the prophecy had claimed its lives as it always did; Phoebe and Zoe were gone, Thalia joined the Hunters.
What mattered the most to him was he got his friend back, and he'd kept the promise Nico had extracted from him — Bianca came back to Camp Half-Blood alive, well and as the newest member of it. As a result of that, he'd gotten to witness Nico's huge hug that the boy had given to Bianca, he'd gotten one for himself too along with a tearful thanks that she'd come back fine.
Hades' figurine surprising the boy was the icing on the cake, Nico had run off right after getting it to go play with the rest of his figures, leaving Bianca alone with Percy on the outskirts of the party.
"We did it."
Percy echoed her words. "We did it."
"Could we go for a walk? It doesn't feel right celebrating with the rest of them, they don't know what happened and I don't want to bring the mood down," Bianca asked him with a sad, reminiscent smile on her face.
Undoubtedly she was thinking about the fallen from their quest, though the gore and hardships they'd faced likely made the memories all the worse in hindsight.
"Yeah. Let's go down to the shoreline, we could watch the waves and walk on the sand."
Percy loved watching the water, walking on the soft sand was just an added benefit of being near his natural element too. It wasn't like Annabeth would notice his absence either, or Grover for that matter, the both of them were thoroughly swamped with people wanting to hear their stories as well as the victories they'd been party to.
Bianca surprised him by grabbing his hand and leading him away from the general noisiness of the party in favour of the least-walked trail that led vaguely in the direction of the water. Just as before when they'd been laying and watching the stars above, she was illuminated by the moonlight so much that he wondered if Artemis had made her an honourary hunter without making it known.
Either way, Bianca's braided hair, lack of a hat, newfound confidence thanks to the fallen girls and the strut she'd gained after fighting so many a creature was a far cry from the girl he'd initially met; the one that'd hide her hair, look away from him and wince when danger was present.
She'd do wonderfully at Camp Half-Blood, he knew i-
"Ow!" Percy yelped, jumping up to grab at his feet while Bianca drew the dagger from her waist.
"What is it?" Bianca's voice whispered right beside him, her head darting all around to take in every direction.
Percy pointed down at the ground and kicked a small metal caltrop away, a piece that'd gone an inch or two into his foot thanks to whatever idiot had left it on the path. "I stepped on that."
Bianca sheathed her dagger and crouched down next to him, gently taking hold of his foot to examine it, though that didn't stop her from laughing a retort when she determined the wound was far from serious.
"How'd you fail to see that?"
She washed her hands off with the waterskin around her waist, the small amount of blood easily sliding from her dainty digits.
"Uh… I was looking at a tree."
No way would he say the real reason.
"Uhuh," Bianca stepped in front of him and gazed upwards until their eyes locked on one another's, "Am I a tree Percy?"
"What?" He retorted straight-faced.
Bianca laughed not unkindly and poked his chest.
"You were looking at me, not the trees. Don't try to say otherwise either, Zoe taught me how to tell when a boy's looking at me, she said it'd keep me safer," Bianca's expression turned sad again, her mentioning of the girl she'd gotten closer to obviously being the cause.
Percy figured he'd agree and change the subject quickly, or, if that failed, crack one of the countless jokes he'd heard during his time at camp.
"Alright, you got me. I was looking at the bit of mashed potatoes on your face and debating whether or not I'd tell you it was there."
Bianca squeaked and turned away from him, rubbing at her face for nearly thirty seconds until she slowly turned around to face him.
"There's nothing on my face," Bianca stated with so much confidence that all he could do was nod, but that only served to make the girl's eyes narrow.
Percy took a step back when he saw her hands go behind her back.
"There's about to be something on yours!"
Bianca threw a melted Reese's cup at him, the chocolatey-peanut butter mixture smearing on his face.
In response to that, he did what any sane boy would do to the now running away girl.
He gave chase.
AN-
I don't know why.
Honestly, I dunno
This is a bit short,so I'm writing another Percianca one shot.