Let's see, I have a latin test, a US history AP test to study for, an English project to present, and a creative writing piece I have to edit and send in to be published in a school magazine for a grade.......or I could just not.

One Little Regret

Bianca didn’t have a thing against EarthLand. She just prefered the quiet calmness of the Isles of the Blessed, and the free time to do whatever she wanted. It wasn’t that she hated everything to do with this job.

(It was just a really sucky job.)

She sat on the stone bowl that held in the water of the fountain. The garden around her was empty except for the occasional otherworldly animal. The trees grew fruit Bianca didn’t know the name of or even liked. Being dead had made her picky on the foods she ate. She was hungry and bored and mostly annoyed. She hated this job.

But Zoe had asked very nicely, and Bianca had never learned how to say no to the older girl.

The stars were getting higher in the sky, creating alien constellations. Which wasn’t a surprise, it was an alien world after all. Bianca didn’t belong here, though she would love to pretend to, if she could just exist outside the realm of the garden gates.

“It’s just for a few days!” Bianca mimicked to the trees, “It’ll be easy and fun--Yeah right.” She grumbled leaning back to stare at the night sky. She was missing movie night at Ethan and Luke’s apartment for this.

If she had known time moved differently here, she might have at least brought a coloring book.

The stones was warm to touch, which was weird to a girl who had been dead for so long she had forgotten what warmth felt like. Once again: alien everything. She couldn’t wait until Zoe got back and they both could kiss this fountain and this world goodbye.

Bianca absent-mindedly drew a smiley face on the stone wall beside her with a bored finger. The moonlight made her body glow in the reflection of the water. Just when she thought she was going to pass out of boredom, she heard it.

Footsteps.

Cautious, large footsteps, on the path. Bianca stood up, light on her feet, eyes darting towards the curved path. There was a chance that it was Zoe, but the Huntress had said she would be gone for at least a bit longer. Plus they weren’t suppose to be seen here. Something about ancient laws and sorts. If she hid now no one would ever know she was there, would they? Bianca ducked behind the opposite wall of the fountain, keeping her breath even and eyes peeled through the lazy darkness. With one hand on her dagger she watched a massive form lumber around the curve and into the clearing.

For a moment she thought it was Luke, and her mouth was partially open in a disconcerted greeting when she recognized how off the proportions were. Luke was indeed tall and had that same scar on his face, but he was a swordsman, with light feet and a tucked gait. The monstrous form was built, yes, but more for a hand-to-hand combat and oppression with brute strength. Also the form was wearing some type of cape-- Luke hated capes. He claimed they were too easy to get choked in.

Bianca ducked lower, hoping her ghostly glow didn’t give her away. The gods must have been within hearing range because the other man didn’t even glance her way.

He set down a light bag and leaned towards the fountain. Bianca frowned. She wasn’t sure what he was doing but she felt her muscles tighten. If he tried to take a drink from the fountain should she stop him? Should she warn him? Zoe said not to be seen, if she could help it. But did this guy, whoever he was, know what dangers ran in the water here?

“The Fountain of Misery,” The man said. Bianca started. His voice was low and even, with the compelling undertone of a leader, but his heart wasn’t in it. In the reflection of the moonlight, Bianca could see the pain in his eyes.

Regret.

So he did know of the dangers of the fountain. Zoe had said the mortals of this world had heard stories of the fountain, but no one came here. That’s why it was the meeting point for them. The mortals knew a single drop could whisk their souls off to the Underworld faster than their bodies could hit the stone pavement, which sounded about as much fun as listening to Luke lament the fact that there are no good soap operas on Underworld TV. Not even Bianca could mess around with the water there without a chance of her soul being ripped to shreds. So she was confined to the garden, not to leave and not to touch the water.

“Fountain Protector,” Bianca had dubbed herself. “The highest honor a ghost can receive.” The title lost some of it’s glory by the end of the first day. The garden was smaller than her room back in the Elysium, but it was the only place that she could exist without the threat of magic unraveling her soul completely.

Zoe was a different story. Bianca was ashamed to admit she hadn’t been paying attention when the older girl had explained things but she thought it had something to do with Lady Artemis making her a constellation and voodoo moon magic. Zoe was off to go kick the butt of some non-law abiding spirit thing and Bianca was there to make sure no one took any water from the fountain.

Now she watched anxiously as the man before her peered into the depths of the waters that connected this world to the Underworld. Bianca bit her lip. Maybe he would just go away? She really didn’t know what he was here for. He didn’t take out any vial or container so he wasn’t trying to take water and he was too close to break the fountain without feeling the repercussions of the water exploding everywhere.

The man sighed, seeming to not find what he was looking for in the greyish waters. Bianca didn’t know what he expected to find. It was just water from the River of Misery in the Underworld, purified by the rift between worlds. There was no answers in the waters.

(Maybe if there had been Bianca wouldn’t be so bored)

The man sighed. Then he narrowed his eyes and reached a hand out towards the lethal waters. Bianca felt her heart leap into her throat. She could see his eyes, those brilliant blue dulled by a past he could change, a choice he made. Bianca had seen those eyes before. He was really going to do it. He was going to kill himself. With water.

(No doubt Ethan would have burst out exclaiming what a lame way to die that was. Bianca was not Ethan)

“Hey!” The words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop herself, “Hey, Don’t!”

She stood up, which at her full height was barely up to his shoulders. The man jerked back from the water, giving a surprised yelp. Given other circumstances, Bianca might have found it funny, but she couldn’t bring herself to laugh now.

“Who are you?” The man demanded. He stepped back, squaring himself as if he was going to fight her.

Bianca planted herself between him and the fountain. Wind whistled between the trees, covering the alien world in a familiar stillness. The calm before the storm. The silence before a fight. The last time Bianca had been up against an opponent taller than her, she had died. The weighty feel of that made her sick to her stomach, but she refused to back down.

“Who are you?” She shot back, “Why did you come here?”

He looked at her, moonlight turning his pale hair paler. Something crackled around his shoulder, quick and flighty with a brilliant flash of light. The air smelled like ozone.

Bianca couldn’t forget that smell. She couldn’t get the smell off her no matter how many times she had bathed or she changed perfumes or Ethan told her she smelled nice. That lingering smell was always in the stale air, a warning or a curse. If she thought about it too long she felt the rivers of living light charging through her blood.

And she felt the pain that had come with her death.

“Who are you?” He asked again, but this time it sounded like a threat. A very plausible threat. Just because she was dead, didn’t mean Bianca didn’t feel pain. She was not a fan of pain.

She leaned away, keeping her palm on her dagger but not drawing it. They weren’t going to fight. Bianca was not going to fight this man unless he tried to break the fountain.

“My name is Bianca Di Angelo.” She said, cursing that her voice wavered. She was a Hunter of Artemis, or at least used to be. She wasn’t supposed to back down from anyone, yet here she was getting upset over a little lightning.

(It was not a little lightning)

“What are you doing here?” She asked him.

He looked her over, as if assessing her magical abilities. She knew what he was probably seeing: A small teenage girl, with a pinprick of a dagger, and a slight glow, and magic ability so latent it would probably be missed by him. Not that her earth breaking, skeleton raising power would do any good in a garden the size of a closet and burial ground free. Really, what were the odds?

“Look, touching that water kills people.” Bianca tried, “It’ll sweep your soul right from your body. I’m pretty sure it’s painful and stuff.”

“You think I don’t know that, kid?” He grumbled like thunder. “Get out of my way.”

“I’m not…” Bianca swallowed hard, watching him for a sign of that awful yellow light, “I can’t watch you do something like that!”

“I said Move, kid!”

Bianca stood still, tense. She planted her feet firmly in the ground, feeling the earth underneath her sneakers. “No.” Oh, where was Zoe when you needed her? “I don’t care who you are, I’m not letting you.”

Lightning flashed around his body again so bright and powerful the hairs on her neck and arms stood on end. The sky cracked open letting loose a roar of thunder, loud enough to burst her eardrums. Bianca was retreating before she could stop herself. Her body backed against the stone wall of the fountain, knees buckling into the rough edge.

And like the strong female hero that she was, Bianca slipped backwards completely off balance.

“Oh shit--”

Then she wasn’t falling. She was upright, held in place with a single hand on her shoulder. The unnamed man stood in front of her, nearly a full two heads taller than her own, keeping her steady with a single movement. That same hand could just as easily push her back and drop her into the fountain, that would whisk away her soul for all eternity.

“Are you okay, kid?” he asked.

“Why did you ask my name if you are just going to call me kid?” She managed.

He let out a sigh. “What are you even doing here? Isn’t past your bedtime?” He stepped back, bringing the fringes of his cloak with him. Bianca glanced nervously at the water again; she still felt too close to the man to feel like she was safe.

“Just how old do you think I am?” She grumbled, “And I could ask the same of you! What the Hell are you doing here? You know, other than trying to kill yourself.”

The air burst with that yellow light, making Bianca jump a little. The man regarded her, with a curious expression.

“Laxus.” He said.

“Lock what?” Bianca sat on the stone wall again. “Look I reall-”

“It’s my name, kid.” He interrupted, “Laxus Dreyar.” He watched her closely for any reaction, but Bianca only shrugged. She didn’t know enough of this world to know if he was notoriously good or bad or mediocre. All she knew is he had the same look in his eyes that Luke got when he was thinking about the past too often. The same one that Ethan got. The same look that Bianca recognized in her own eyes sometimes.

“I heard the water gives you answers to your regrets. A way to fix them.” He said. His intent stare landed on the moon’s reflection in the water. The fountain gurgled.

“It’s just a fountain.” Bianca said, “All it does is kill people.” She watched him again for any sign of his electricity, for any feel of that stinging heat. “...but you knew that already. When you saw the water, you knew.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Kid.”

The wind let loose a quiet breath, ruffling the trees. The calmness was back, but it felt sad. Or maybe that was just Bianca projecting herself into the scenery.

“Maybe I do understand,” She looked back at the sky, counting the foreign constellations, but not seeing any of them. Her skin was alight with the memory of white hot static, the burning of flesh and the smell of ozone. The new fear that had taken root in her heart, because she put it there. Bianca had taken the mini figurine to give to a brother she couldn’t apologize to.

She was best friends with the same two idiots who had tried to overthrow the gods. They had their reasons, good ones. But they were both still paying the price even in their afterlives. People refused to talk to them, most went out of their ways to avoid them. Occasionally some even went as far as to vandalise their apartment, to throw things at them in public, to pretend like neither of them deserved to be there more than they did.

Bianca had seen it all. She’d seen Luke tear his hair out every time someone made a move against him or Ethan. She’d seen Ethan’s eyes go cold when she got hurt in riots. She’d heard the stories of exactly what they had done exaggerated until she herself didn’t remember the real truth.

Bianca had heard everyone tell her she was better off without Ethan and Luke. She’d heard the words from Luke’s mouth himself.

Maybe she did understand why someone would want to kill themselves.

Maybe a little part of her understood better than the despondent man before her.

“Where are you from, kid?” Laxus asked. He sat on the ground nearby. His cloak puddled around him thick and black, like blood in the night.

Bianca surprised herself with a laugh. “Nowhere you’ve heard of.” She shook her head, images of the hunt, of Westmoore, even the vague memories of the Lotus Casino didn’t bring back a feeling of belonging. Had she ever belonged anywhere? “Nowhere anymore,” She looked back at Laxus, “You?”

“Nowhere,” He admitted. “It’s been a long time, but…” He seemed to drift off in thought for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh, “I made a mistake, and I hurt people I cared about. I can’t go back.”

“I have a friend who did that.” Bianca whispered, “He looks like you, kinda. Same hair, same eyes...he’s even got a similar scar, you know?”

Laxus glanced at her again, “Did he hurt you?”

“Not directly,” She thought again. “He didn’t mean to hurt anyone. He just wanted our parents to pay attention.”

the water gurgled and Bianca sighed, thinking about what exactly Luke and Ethan were doing right now. Probably watching Usual Suspects and throwing popcorn at each other. Or they could be getting into a fist fight with Michael Yew again. Or they could be being thrown into Tartarus at this very moment. Her anxiety flourished for a minute but she shut it down immediately. She had to believe that they were fine.

“Did they?” Laxus asked. At her blank look he elaborated, “your parents. Did they pay attention?”

Bianca smiled softly, “They were always paying attention. Once Luke did what he did….well they paid attention more.”

Laxus was quiet, with a pensive look on his face. Bianca got the feeling that she was privy to an expression he didn’t normally use. “I wanted my guild to be stronger,” He said, “I didn’t want them….not like Lisanna. I didn’t even know her that well, but afterwards I…” He took a long deep breath.

“It’s okay,” Bianca said softly. It sounded hollow coming off her tongue. What else was she suppose to say?

“It’s not though.” He said, fiercely, “I forced them to fight each other. My own guildmates, because I thought they were too weak. I thought...maybe if the only the strongest could be apart of the guild then maybe...I’d never have to worry about losing one of them again.” His anger dissipated as soon as it had come, flushed out with a weary helplessness. “I didn’t realize they were already so strong.”

“You didn’t want to worry about not being strong enough for them.” Bianca said. “About being there for them every time they were in danger.”

“I couldn’t…” Laxus whispered.

“...handle being in charge of them.” She said. “and you can only worry if you were being selfish?”

“and no matter what way you twist it, I’m still in the wrong.”

“You hurt the people you wanted to protect.”

“I betrayed them.” Laxus gripped the fringes of his cloak, “I betrayed my team. I didn’t want to hurt any of them but I…”

“You took the only way out you could see.” The words breathed out between them.

The night wind brought scents of summer into the garden. The star twinkled their little lights without a care in the world. The deadly water gurgled again to the song of hidden crickets and rustling leaves. For once Bianca couldn’t smell the burning ozone.

Suddenly Laxus jerked his head up. The moonlight bathed his face and that eery calmness exploded in a flash of yellow around his head. Bianca stood up, tense. He looked to be in pain, conflicting emotions spilling out of his blue irises.

“What is it?” She asked, trying not to be afraid of that electricity even it if wasn’t directly aimed at her.

“I can hear them.” He said, solemly, “My guild mates…. They’re in trouble.”

“Then go help them.” She told him, smiling.

He seemed to be surprised by her suggestion as if he never would have come to that conclusion himself. Bianca found it hard not to giggle a little. Look at her, giving advice to someone clearly years older than her.

“But I was kicked out.” Laxus told her as if that mattered.

Bianca walked over to him, until her shadow had fallen over him. Her legs were shaky, her breath sharp. “You are going to get up and you are going to go help your guildmates whether they want you to or not. You know why?”

Laxus shook his head, eyes wide as if she was some monster straight from Tartarus.

She batted the side of his head, surprising even herself, “Becuase, you idiot, you are their friend. No matter what happens. No more of this moping around! Get up and go!”

He blinked at her.

“Oh sorry,” She blushed, “Did I slip into Greek again?”

“Uh no,” He said, “You...you’re alright, kid.”

“Alright?” She repeated, confused.

He smiled at her and stood up. “Don’t stick around here, kid.” Laxus told her, “It’s past your bedtime and your parents have got to be worried.”

Bianca cried out indigently, but before she could come up with a proper insult, thunder crashed overhead and a light so brilliant that it blinded her exploded from the sky. Heat singed the tiny garden for a millisecond. Then it was gone, taking the massive man with it.

Bianca let out a pent up breath. Around her had returned to the normal of the garden. She could almost believe nothing had happened at all if it weren’t for the forgotten pack the Laxus Dreyar had left behind.

“Not bad.” A voice called to her.

Bianca caught sight of Zoe almost immeidately, joy springing to her face. The wisened huntress leaned against a tree eating some fruit or other. Her silver parka was dotted with dark stains either dirt or blood; she didn’t seem bothered by the idea of either. Her hair was pulled back in it’s usual deadly braid and her dark eyes glimmered with intensity.

“Did you get what you went out for?” Bianca asked.

The huntress held up a tiny vial with a green liquid inside. She strolled to the fountain and uncorked the bottle. With a simple twist of her wrist all of the green liquid dropped into the Waters of Misery. It seemed to spread until all of it was turned the murky green and smelled vaguely like pineapple pizza. Then all at one the fountain stopped gurling and the water stopped moving. It was a normal uncared-for fountain in the middle of an uncared for garden in the middle of a secret place in an unfamiliar world.

“Done,” Zoe said, “Mission complete.”

Bianca glanced between her and the poisoned fountain, “That was it?”

“Yes.” Zoe smiled one of her rare thin smiles, “That was all. Was it worth gaurding the fountain after all from big scary men with powers over lightning?”

Bianca blushed deeply, “You saw all of that, didn’t you?” She rubbed her arms nervously, “Sorry, I know you said not to be seen and stuff but he was going to-- I just couldn’t stand and watch! Come on Zoe--”

Zoe patted her head, “You did fine, Bianca.” She took another bite of the fruit, “You should, however, learn to take thy own advice.”

“My own advice…” Bianca trailed off.

“Let’s go home.” Zoe said.

She glanced one last time towards the sky, and the tiny stars that glittered almost like fairy dust. Bianca wondered absently if there actually were fairies in this world. Were there any in hers? Maybe there were, and maybe one day she’ll get to find them. She wondered about Laxus, and if he would be alright. She knew he would. He’ll help his friends, and he’ll fight for them, and they’ll forgive his mistakes just like one day Nico would forgive hers. She smiled and wondered vainly when their conversation of regrets and mistakes had become about her rather than about Laxus or Luke.

Then Bianca took Zoe by the arm and they both slipped into the shadows between the worlds.