Chapter Text
Nico di Angelo was alive, but his sister wasn’t.
Two years had passed since her death, two years in which he could not stop wondering what his life would be like if his sister were still alive, what he could have done to avoid her death and how he could bring her back to life.
Two years of grief and pain.
His life had never been the same again, but not everything was bad, good things had also happened, like his other sister, Hazel, nothing else good came into his mind.
Although Hazel was brilliant and he adored her with almost all his heart, Hazel wasn't like Bianca.
Therefore, he was now locked in his room sitting in front of a Ouija.
It was not the first time that Nico tried to contact with Bianca in the beyond, he had already tried to resurrect her with rituals of dubious origin and every time he had failed miserably.
The last time had been just a month ago, on the anniversary of her sister's death, it was always a tough day, when Nico missed her the most, he did not hesitate a second to scratch his hand with the knife, but an hour of prayers and an excuse of bondage later, it turned out, nobody came out of Bianca's grave.
Now, Nico, contrary to what his father might say or think, wasn't crazy.
There was something in him, a feeling even before his sister died, that tied him to death.
Maybe it had been there since his childhood, when he watched tutorials on YouTube about how to contact the dead, or maybe he discovered it in his teenage years when he got up for three nights in a row at three in the morning to lock himself in a bathroom and try to invoke Bloody Mary, he had not felt fear, only a huge curiosity towards the beyond and although no evil entity appeared in the mirror to eat his soul, he felt a cold presence behind his back.
"You are a medium," had his kind of friend, Jason Grace, told him just a month ago, when they first met.
Well, Nico didn't know if Jason Grace could be called his friend, after all, Jason was dead.
He had met him in a strange way, (although there was no normal way to meet a ghost), he was sleeping under a tree in Central Park when he noticed something ice-creamy passing through his chest.
He opened his eyes.
He found himself face-to-face with blue eyes, blue eyes that at the same time had no colour.
The boy was blonde, and his hair waved with the cold January wind, nothing that shouted, “I am dead”, yet Nico knew what he had felt, that boy had just passed through him.
“Excuse me?” the blonde boy apologized, although it was rather a question; his confused expression observed Nico perplexed.
"Did you just pass through me?" he asked to the boy, angry at his interrupted sleep. His expression changed from confused to an open-mouthed face, he wore glasses which with one finger he placed correctly over his nose.
"Can you see me?" the boy asked in a tone that hid a little hope under his astonished voice.
Nico looked at both sides, to anybody who saw him would seem strange to see him speaking with apparently nothing.
He merely assented with his head, the boy sat next to him under the shade of the tree, his presence was cold, but it was not an uncomfortable cold, nevertheless, Nico appreciated his personal space, so he moved away a little.
He had come in search of a quiet nap and now he was talking to a ghost, he had not told him that he was one, but Nico simply knew it.
"You are psychic," the ghost said, whirling with curiosity, "Your energy is different from the others, I can feel it,” Nico didn't hear these words; he had disconnected in « psychic ».
“No, I'm Nico,” he said, ripping out a little bit of the grass on which he was sitting; this interaction was making him nervous, and there was something else deep in the back of his mind.
The ghost laughed, Nico stared at him until he stopped, a grin remained in his face.
"Of course, I am Jason Grace," he offered his hand for a greeting, Nico, stared blankly at the hand and Jason took it away, but he kept talking. "What I mean is, you are a medium," he concluded with a small smile, as if he liked the fact that Nico was a medium.
Nico knew he was a medium, no one had ever confirmed it to him, but he could imagine it with all the paranormal things he had experienced.
But that wasn't what he was thinking, not at all. He was thinking about the fact that he was talking to a ghost, and if he was talking to Jason Grace, who was dead, why couldn't he talk to Bianca?
He was angry, supposedly the only thing he had of special was his ability to connect with the dead, yet, no trace of Bianca, he arose without saying a word and started his way towards his home.
Jason's ghost followed him all the way, he didn't say anything, it was just a presence in his shadow, Nico wanted him to leave, but he waited until he got to his room not to set up a scene on the street.
“You can go now,” he pointed to the window of the room; it was not as if the ghost was going to worry about how to get out.
“Why? Nico, you're a medium, it's a great skill, I can help you use it,” Jason spoke quickly, he seemed desperate for Nico to accept his company, but Nico wasn't a social person, he didn't relate to anyone other than his sister and much less accepted ghost offers.
“Jason, go away,” he said with a cold tone and a penetrating gaze, anyone would have gone away and wouldn’t have come near never again, that was what everyone else used to do.
But not Jason, Jason just refused with a movement of his head and with a funny smile sat down in his bed.
"It's not like you can throw me out," he said in a mocking tone, almost as if he was trying to provoke Nico; he had neither the energy nor the desire to try to throw the ghost out of his house, so he crumbled and sat with his legs crossed on the floor of his room, an unpleased frown in his face.
"Well, Jason, show me,” he said with his eyes fixed at his forehead and his arms crossed, he wanted Jason to see his dissatisfaction with the situation, but it seemed to motivate him even more.
••
There was Nico now, sitting in front of a Ouija, Jason, the traitor, had decided not to honour Nico with his presence that day, establishing that he had a ‘ghostly social life' to maintain, and Nico did not want to ask what activities did the ghost participated in his free time.
He was about to begin with the activities in which he participated in his free time when he heard a rather strange insult, it came from the bottom floor.
He immediately ruled out that it was Hazel, she was the only one in the house, but she never spoke insults.
That left him with no other choice.
He could ignore it and continue with his paranormal activities, but his instinct told him to go down.
Obviously, it was a very bad idea, it could be a murderer, a thief or something worse, he had watched horror movies, he knew that going toward unknown noises never ended well.
Still, he went downstairs and opened the kitchen door.
"Scabby sea bass, open the fuck up!" shouted someone an insult he did not expect to hear directed at his refrigerator.
She was a girl, it was definitely not Hazel, her skin was brown, but not of colour as her sister's, her hair was smooth and was gathered in a fishtail.
Her expression was of pure rage as she struck his refrigerator with a hand.
She wasn't armed and she didn't seem like a threat to him (although he couldn’t say the same for his refrigerator).
“Why are you attacking my fridge?” he asked slowly; it was eleven o'clock in the evening, not a decent time for Nico to deal with this.
The girl turned towards him, her brown eyes were full of rage, she was taller than him and Nico almost trembled, but he looked better at the girl's eyes, they were just like Jason's, they had no colour.
She was a ghost.
He could have deduced it from her clothes anyway; she was wearing a white blouse with overwhelmed sleeves and with open shoulders, black skinny jeans alongside black boots.
Honestly, she looked like a pirate, and it was most likely that she was one, only the pirate hat was missing.
“I was trying to open it,” she said now more calmly, not even surprised that Nico could see her.
Nico slowly approached the refrigerator, the girl crossed her arms and took a small step backwards, leaving Nico space to touch a small button on the fridge side.
The door opened with a robotic noise, Nico turned to study the expression of the girl, her arms were still crossed, and her face was serious, but her eyes looked astonished at the fridge, it seemed like she was studying it.
She glanced with approval towards the machine before turning and head towards the stairs, he followed her, he should have asked her what she was doing at his house or something of the style, but it was eleven o'clock in the night, all the lights were off and the only light left came from
the moon and he was too tired to think clearly, so blame him for following a ghost to his own room in his own house.
There was another presence in his room, he could notice it by how his heart began to beat faster the closer they came.
The moonlight that slipped into the room was reflected in Bianca's long black hair.
She was there, Nico could see her clearly, her olive-coloured skin, her large brown eyes, her barely visible freckles and the same clothes from the day she died.
Because Bianca was dead, but now she was standing in her room.
"Bianca?" Nico murmured, he wanted to shout, to cry, and to say many things, but the only thing he managed to form was her name, he could notice the familiar burning in his eyes, which indicated that he was crying.
Bianca smiled and hugged Nico.
Nico had never touched a ghost, Jason had tried many times, but Nico preferred to refrain from physical contact.
Still, when he hugged his sister, he didn't want to separate, Bianca wasn't cold, her touch was soft and almost indetectable, it was like going in pyjamas, you know you're wearing it, but you don't notice it.
“You have grown a lot,” she said with a little laugh, separating herself from the hug and looking Nico in the eyes.
Her eyes, shining in different shades of brown, were full of colour.
Nico's mind did not stop to think about that detail; however, he concentrated on Bianca's ghost in front of him.