Author's Note: I'm so sorry! Time flies by so fast! I can't believe it's already May...of 2017! Gosh. I haven't updated this story in such a long time that I had to reread the whole thing just to understand what I've written so far.

Thanks to anyone who's still reading this story, and thank you to anyone who's reviewed or favorited or followed it! I can't believe this story has more than 50 follows! Thank you so much! Oh yeah, and thank you so much for all the arena ideas! I loved all of them, but I'm probably not going to be able to use a few of them in this story… And I was wondering if maybe I could use some of those ideas in another story or something? I just love them so much. Please tell me if it is okay to use your ideas!

And to clear some things up, if the character has the same name as a character from the book, the character is that character (this is probably the most confusing sentence I have ever written). Meaning, Bianca is supposed to be Bianca from the book (though obviously some things are changed since she's not Nico's brother...sort of) and Zoe is Zoe and Atlas is Atlas and so on and so forth. Sorry if it was confusing…

And I'm sorry for the long Author's Note! Anyways, I don't own anything, so...on with the story! (Finally)

"We need food."

Percy looks up from doodling on the dirt, startled as he comes face to face with Zoe's scowl.

"Uh...I get that that's a problem, but why do you look so angry?"

"Stop drawing on the ground, Percy. It's a really convenient sign telling anyone that passes by that we were here!"

"I was going to erase it after I finish my masterpiece!"

Percy cowers behind a sleeping Bianca as Zoe narrows her eyes further, and grudgingly erases his drawing of Bob the Friendly Giant (funny how precisely he can imagine Bob in real life: wild Einstein silver hair, long beard, and silver eyes, looming in his 20 foot figure with a broom in his hand).

"So...what about the food?"

Zoe rolls her eyes as she drags her backpack over and plops down besides Percy.

"There's not a lot of food in my backpack, and the only thing Bianca has is the knife some Career threw at her head."

She shows him the pack of crackers, frowning.

"This won't last us two days."

Percy reaches over to his own backpack and gestures to the dried fruits and biscuits helplessly.

"I only have these, and I got this backpack pretty close to the Cornucopia. Either I lucked out, or no one has food. I can't decide which one is worse."

"They're both really bad. It's not like we can hunt for food here."

Tilting his head slightly towards the ceiling where he hopes the cameras are hiding, he gives Zoe the most serious face he can conjure at the moment.

"Well that's a shame. It would be a rather boring show if we all died from starvation."

"I don't know about you, but I like boring," Zoe says, her face incredulous, "If you want entertainment, please ask for it when you're miles and miles away from us. I did not ally myself with you in hopes of getting a flashy death."

Her tone sounds as sarcastic as it has ever been, but Percy can still see the fear in the rigid way she sits, and suppresses a sigh as guilt sets in again. It's just too easy to forget that Zoe is only twelve. Most of the time, Percy's convinced that Zoe has the mind of a grandma (what twelve year old says stuff like "wiser" and "admittedly"? He's only ever heard his neighbor use words like that, and his neighbor is at least ninety years old). Technically, Percy isn't much older than Zoe, but he figures the two years between twelve and fourteen are kind of a big deal. He probably would've fainted from fear during the countdown if he were still twelve.

"I wasn't asking for entertainment. I'm the kind of guy who brings entertainment himself. I was merely stating my opinion."

Percy takes a biscuit out of the plastic bag and bites into it before making the most outrageous face he could, hoping to get some reaction from Zoe. She simply raises her eyebrows at his antics, but he figures that's a lot by Zoe standards, so he sits back, satisfied.

"You know, I'm starting to think this is a new form of torture. They feed us luxuriously for a whole week, and all of a sudden all we get are some tasteless, stale biscuits and some crackers."

"Don't forget the dried fruits," Bianca calls out sleepily from where she is snuggled comfortably in the sleeping bag, "they tasted...so much…better with those fancy cheese."

Zoe and Percy share a smile as Bianca stifles a yawn and clambers out of the warm blanket. In the past few hours only, Percy has found that Bianca has that soft, older-sisterly kind of feel to her that makes it really easy to like her.

Oh yeah. Percy has also found that he starts liking people way too easily. He's come to consider Zoe a friend, and Bianca is slowly but surely making her way into his heart. And he sort of maybe likes Annabeth (though perhaps, you know, not as a friend…), and Helen and he left on good terms, so that's already four people he has a problem with the whole "dying" thing. He knows that he's just making things harder for himself, but it's not like he can help it. If circumstances had been different, he would've wanted to be friends with everyone.

Which, he figures, is the problem with him.

"You guys should be more careful. You get so loud when you're arguing, and you argue all the time."

Bianca neatly folds the sleeping bag and stuffs it into Percy's backpack before taking a biscuit herself and chewing it thoughtfully.

"You're right. This is stale. I wish I could give you guys the biscuits they make back home. It tastes so good, with the freshly made milk and butter and stuff." She absentmindedly plays with her necklace and continues with a dry laugh, "Not even two days in, and I already miss home."

Percy opens his mouth to say something to comfort her, but his words die on his tongue when Bianca moves her hand away from her necklace. He had noticed that she wears one, but the pendent on the necklace had always been hidden under her jacket. Now...now, he can see the pendent, gold and shiny on the silver chain, a figure of a man dressed in silky clothes with a slight frown tilting his lips… He doesn't realize he's reaching for the pendent until Bianca backs up, looking uncomfortable, and he blushes bright red in embarrassment.

"Sorry! I didn't...I wasn't…"

Bianca smiles awkwardly but neither she nor Zoe say anything about it, which Percy is immensely thankful for. Honestly, he has no idea what came over him. All he knows is that he's seen that tiny statue somewhere before, and the sight of it fills him with guilt and dread.

"One shall be lost in the land without rain..."

"Huh?"

Zoe and Bianca stare at him again, and Percy distractedly shakes his head. Something's going to happen soon, he can feel it. The sick weight of resignation settles in his stomach, as if his body knows what will happen, even though his brain is left in the dark.

Images of gold flash behind his eyes, but it dances from his grasp before he can fully understand them.

"Are you okay, Percy?"

He pushes these strange thoughts out of his mind, but he finds he can't look at Bianca in the eyes.

"Yeah. Sorry. I just...don't really get a good feeling about this place."

It's true, actually. They've turned several corners since he noticed Bianca's necklace, and the darkness of the tunnels seems to have become thicker and more intense. Sand piles on the marble floor and crunches beneath their sneakers. For a second, he thinks he hears something, but when he stops to listen, the sound is gone.

"Honestly, I feel like we're stepping right into a-"

The ground shakes violently, cutting Percy off, and he topples over, crashing into the floor head first. For a second, his vision is blurry and when he shakes his head to clear his sight, sharp pain laces up his skull. Before he can check though, the sand on the floor blows into his face, distracting him and blocking his view further. He coughs, certain he's got enough sand in his mouth to create a desert-and he's swollen much more sand than he needs to in a lifetime. He struggles to sit up, and once he does, he sees that cracks have begun to travel up the walls, chipping away at the surface and snaking towards the ceiling.

"We need to get out of here!"

Easier said than done. The ground shakes so much that he can't even stand up; running is completely out of the question. And something tells him this is something that's affecting the whole arena, and if that's true, there is nowhere to run.

The cracking sound is the only warning he gets before a huge chunk of the ceiling falls to the floor, and he only barely manages to roll out of the way. He stares at the thick debris in front of him as he fights a shudder that runs through his spine.

If his reflexes had made him react a millisecond later, he would've been squashed into a Percy pancake.

Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you, Percy thinks, I'm so freaking glad I have ADHD.

He pauses, confused, since as far as he is concerned, ADHD is not a word he knows or has ever even heard, but he doesn't have time to dwell on it for long, since more of the ceiling starts to crumble. For a split second, he hears a scream, and he realizes he can't see either of the girls from where he is crouched. He opens his mouth to check up on them when the quake slowly subsides, and he stands up with some difficulty as it comes to a complete stop.

The world sways for a moment and he grabs onto the wall for support as he blinks the dark spots out of his eyes. In the chaos, he'd forgotten about his head, and once his vision clears, it escapes his attention again because he sees that the tunnel is pretty much destroyed. There's more open sky than ceiling above, and he can hardly see the floor anymore because of all the debris. A few yards away, Zoe and Bianca are struggling to stand, and relief is clear on their faces that that is over.

"Are you okay?" He asks, running his eyes over both of them. They're covered in scratches and he's pretty sure there'll be some bruises later on, but they look relatively uninjured. He's pretty sure it's a miracle that they're all okay, and thanks his lucky stars that they are.

"We're fine," Zoe replies, but she narrows her eyes when she sees the way he's leaning on the wall, and even though he quickly lets go of it and straightens, she steps towards him, suspicious.

"What about you?"

Percy laughs a bit, running his hand through his hair, but he stops and hides his hand behind his back when he feels something wet.

"Perseus…"

He grimaces when Zoe says his full name, and grimaces even more when Bianca grabs the hand he hid.

"Percy! You're bleeding!"

"Oh, uh, really? That's funny. It's not so bad though. I'm totally fine."

He shrugs, smiling as Bianca fusses over his injury, scolding him for being so clumsy. It's kind of a nice feeling, as if she's the older sister he never had, but the feeling doesn't last for long.

"Shh!"

Zoe's warning effectively shuts them up, and in the silence, they can hear voices approaching their tunnel.

Percy pales slightly when he recognizes Luke and Annabeth's voices.

"We need to get out of here, now."

He's not sure if the other two can tell who the voices belong to, but they offer no resistance to his suggestion.

"Shoot. Percy, the tunnel's blocked!"

He turns around towards Bianca, who tries to pull the debris free from the passage before giving him a panicked shake of her head. Zoe nocks an arrow and aims towards the other side of the tunnel, ready to shoot the moment the Careers appear, but she glances back to Percy, unease written clearly on her face. Percy grabs the hilt of his sword to join Zoe, but pauses before he draws the weapon, an idea forming in his head.

"We...we can still go up."

Ignoring the incredulous looks on his allies' faces, he scrambles up the biggest pile of debris before hooking his fingers on a crack on the wall, pulling himself up little by little. The ceiling must've been pretty high, since it takes a while before he reaches the top, and by the time he does, his head is thumping in dull pain, but he looks down and sees that the Careers haven't reached the tunnel yet. He reaches down, offering an arm to Zoe who had begun climbing right after Percy did, and he just manages to grab her hand before her foot slips on the wall. He winces at the pull of her weight on his arm before holding her with both hands and trying to pull her up. Zoe is really light-really, she is-but he's not exactly the strongest guy around, and he struggles a bit and adjusts his position as he drags her up and onto the flat surface.

"Thank you," Zoe breathes, and Percy nods in reply before turning to help Bianca.

But when Percy looks down again, he sees that Bianca is climbing down instead of up and can't help but give a harsh whisper despite wanting to remain unnoticed.

"What are you doing?"

"My necklace!" Bianca cries as she jumps the last few feet before rushing off to where she had been when the earthquake had started. The pendant glints gold in the sand in front of the debris that blocks the rest of the tunnel, but there's piles of rocks and ceiling blocking her way, and she struggles to get through the mess.

"Leave it, Bianca! There's not enough time!"

"I have to get it! It's my brother's!"

You have to promise to keep my sister safe.

An image of Nico flits through his mind, his eyes rimmed in red and screaming in anger. Percy doesn't get why he's thinking of his cousin now, but he doesn't really have the time to get it, so he shouts the first thing that comes to his mind.

"Your brother won't be happy if you're dead!"

"I need it!"

Percy scowls, prepared to jump off and slap some sense into Bianca, but Zoe's desperate hand stops him from going any further than the edge. Just as he turns to rip her hand away, a knife buries itself into the wall right where his head would've been if he had been climbing down. He stares at it in shock for a moment before cursing under his breath and ripping the knife from the wall, and the Careers-Sirius and Crystal from District 1, Annabeth, Luke, Helen, and surprisingly Jade and Pompeii from 7, as well-turn the corner into the tunnel.

"Well, well, well. Look what we found here!"

Luke's voice oozes with mockery, and Bianca clutches the pendant tightly, her whole body heaving with frightened gasps.

Percy knows he can't get down there in time, and he's right.

The spear enters Bianca's chest seconds after he throws his knife.

His aim isn't perfect, but Zoe's arrow flies true. It buries itself into the throat of Pompeii while Percy's knife just barely scratches Sirius' shoulder. He hears Jade scream her brother's name as Pompeii claws at the arrow that penetrates his neck, but the rest of the Careers don't seem to care too much, barely sparing them a glance even as the cannon goes off, signaling his death.

But it doesn't matter. Zoe is crying-at least, Percy thinks so, since he can feel her tremble as she shoots at the Careers. Bianca stays standing for a few moments before crumpling down, her face frozen in confusion at the wooden handle sticking out of her chest.

The Careers can't get close to Bianca as long as Zoe continues to shoot, and they don't try too hard to do so, either. They don't have an advantage as long as they are on the ground, and they're in no hurry to kill Percy and Zoe. With an exaggeratedly annoyed sigh, Luke turns around, and the rest follows after him, laughing. Jade tries dragging Pompeii's body with her but screams in anger and runs away from it when Zoe shoots into his body again.

Percy climbs down the moment they're gone, but it's way too late to help her in any way. Bianca curls around the wound, coughing as she struggles to breathe, and while she turns her head towards them when Percy and Zoe reach her, she seems to look right through them.

"Tell my brother…"

"Shh, don't talk. You're going to be okay."

It's an obvious lie, and it seems to pain Zoe to say it. Bianca shakes her head and opens her hand, pushing the pendant to Percy.

"Tell him I said sorry."

Percy hesitates but picks it up with one hand and grasps Bianca's hand with the other.

"But your brother-"

"It's not your fault, Percy. It's not…"

Bianca struggles to meet his eyes, and when she does, her lips curl up in a small smile. Her whole body relaxes before her eyes glaze over, and the cannon goes off a little after that. Zoe furiously rubs at her eyes before deciding it's useless and hugging Bianca, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. Percy swallows shallowly, grasping tightly onto the statue that digs into the palm of hand, pleading-praying-that Bianca would just open her eyes and it would all have been a nightmare.

.

It doesn't work.

Bianca di Angelo is gone.

Additional Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed that. That took so much time to write XD

Anyways, just wanted to say that the pendant on Bianca's necklace is the Mythomagic Hades statue that Bianca picks up in The Titan's Curse. I was worried that that wasn't clear enough in the story, so I wanted to mention it, just in case it was confusing.

Thanks for reading!