Nico Needs More Love

Bianca

It started out like any other day.
We were all making dinner and milling around, casually talking about that day.
It was me, Nico, Piper, and Jason. Hazel, Frank, Percy, Annabeth, and Reyna were all coming in from New Rome in an hour, so we were making a celebratory dinner in Mrs. Jacksons house.
I was cutting tomatoes when it happened. There was a crash, and a large thud. I ran to the source. Piper had gotten there first.
Next to a pile of broken glass laid Nico, clutching his head and sobbing. My heart dropped. Something was wrong.
I ran over to Nico's side while Piper stroked his back and charm spoke to him.
"Shhhh, it's ok, Nico, you can relax." She kept telling him, but he wouldn't snap out of it. I kicked some glass out of the way for a space to kneel down, and Jason came in.
"Oh, Gods." Jason said, fear in his voice as he stared helplessly at Nico's whimpering body.
I tried to check Nico's pulse, but he wouldn't let me grab his hand.
"Jason, help us clean up this glass!" Piper said, accidentally using charm speak. Jason dropped immediately and grabbed some glass, cutting himself.
"Shit, sorry! Will, you stay here, I'm going to get Mrs. Jackson." Piper cried while running out of the room.
Great. Now Nico was having a panic attack and Jason was bleeding.
I told Jason to go wash out his cut, carefully, in case there was any glass in it.
"But, Nico-" he started, then stopped after seeing my expression. I think he understood that Nico was safe with me, and left the room.
Nico continued to rock, and I tried to speak to him, but nothing was working.
"Nico, what's wrong? Can you respond? Are you ok? Are you in pain?" None of my answers got a response.
Piper returned with Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Blofis, and they started to clean up the glass.
There was a knock at the front door, but none of us noticed until we heard Percy and the others calling out in the house.
Finally, they found us.
"Guys! We're back, what's going.... On? Oh shit." Percy faltered when he and the others came into the room and realized what was happening.
Hazel gasped, and Reyna immediately rushed over.
"What's wrong with him?" She said, looking at me angrily.
"I-" I was cut off when Nico mumbled something. We all stopped.
Nico mumbled again, and this time he stopped sobbing.
He looked up at Percy.
"Bianca doesn't have a grave." He whispered.

•••

20 minutes later, Nico was wrapped in a blanket on the couch, mug of tea in his hands, but he wasn't drinking it. He stared numbly at the fire, alone.
Percy pulled us aside and explained.
Apparently, this was the 6th anniversary of Nico's sister, Bianca's death.
I remembered hearing something about Nico having a sister, and her dying, all those years ago.
Nico had been at camp for about a week, while Percy and some others were on a quest to find Annabeth. I heard Bianca died on that quest, but at the time, we didn't know or care much. She was a huntress. There was no memorial at camp, no burning. We didn't even know who her godly parent was. After that, Nico had left, and nobody was around to remember her but Percy and Grover, and they wouldn't talk about it. Now, 6 years later, on the day she died, Nico was having emotional trauma.
I felt horrible. All this time and I'd never known.
Nico and I had been friends for two years, and maybe even more, but I'd had no idea, and never even given it much thought. He never talked to me about these things, and I didn't ask. Now he was suffering for it.
Hazel, who had been next to me that whole time, sniffed. I turned, but she wasn't crying.
"Nico told me about Bianca. She's been reincarnated. I didn't know that she didn't have a grave, though. All spirits should have proper burials and rituals, anything else just isn't..." She fought to get the words out. Frank put his hand on her shoulder, and she squeezed it.
I looked back to Nico. Reyna was sitting with him on the couch. They weren't talking, just staring at the fire. For some reason, that bothered me.

•••

Dinner was nothing short of awkward. We all sat down, except for Nico and Reyna. They were still on the couch. The meal was sad, as everyone realized there was nothing we could do for Nico except for be there for him.

Ok so this was depressing.
Some pointers:
This is from Will's perspective. Usually I write in Nico's POV, but I wanted to emphasize his breakdown.
This is a few years after the Giants war.
Also, Mrs. Jackson and Paul moved into a house a bit closer to CHB, in case any half bloods needed help before they could get to camp, and also because they needed the peace and quiet.
It should also be noted that Nico doesn't EXACTLY know how Bianca died. Nobody had he heart to tell him she was crushed to death and burnt up in flames.
Oh, and Jason's hand got all wrapped up, don't you worry about a thing.