The Rebirth

Much
Much Much Later… The third Fate snipped the golden string, rolling the remains up back into its tidy ball.
A blanket of silver, darkness, sharp colors, and a base of gold lay out in front of them.
She was waiting for him.
His breath would’ve sharpened, if he wasn’t dead. Thousands of different layers had fallen over her- three of which being a small 12 year old dressed in jeans and a silvery jacket with pale olive skin and silky black hair; a tall sixteen year old girl, with wild curls entangling their way down her back, a mismatched shoulder, and lovely bronze skin; and a gray-haired woman with bright blue eyes.
Her three different deaths.
But he only saw one.
“Bianca,” his hand shook as he placed it over his mouth. He closed his eyes,his head moving rockily from side to side. He gave a short chuckle. “I’ve almost forgotten…”
His mind reached for something and he startled. He looked at her closely. “How?”
She looked at him, a smile as sad as it was sweet. “Don’t you remember your research? The information you found out back in the day?”
“You only remember,” he stated, staring. “If you are touched by the magic of Isles of Blest. You have to be Reborn three times. But that means-”
Bianca smiled wider, presenting herself, her hands open at her sides. “Reborn thrice, brother.”
He continued to look at her, amazed. For him, they were outside Elysium’s gates. Which was true, yes, but this also is and is not the case for Bianca. She was Bianca, outside of Elysium’s gates, and she was also Delia, outside of Elysium’s gates, and she was also Elena, outside of Elysium’s gates, and she was also Elena, outside the path to God, and she was also Elena, talking outside the doors beyond Osiris, and and she was also all different ages all at once, and she was also all of these layers combined, and she was also more than all of these layers combined.
It was so confusing, yet so simple- she was all her experiences, all at once, in different versions of reality.
And that was the way it should be.
“How?” Nico managed again, his knees wobbling, his smile lighting with disbelief and curiousity and excitement.
“You’ll understand. We have all the time in the world, now, brother. You’ve waited for so long. You’ve been forced to move on. And now you can move on… to peace. Inside the walls here, there’s peace. And you deserve it.”
Nico looked through the gates. She watched, patiently. One ghost was allowed in, passing through them to get to the doors. Nico continued to think.
“Will I change when I go through the doors?”
“Yes,” Bianca said. “It’s a good change, I swear.”
“Can you tell me, out here, when I’m still unchanged- who were you, when you were reborn?”
“You’ll see when you go On, but you were never meant to find me. It’s lucky you had Daniel, who stopped you from continuing even further. I was Elena Maya Rodriguez. I died at age sixteen. I was born with the gift of Sight.”
Nico winced.
Bianca waited for him to speak.
“That’s not fair,” he shook his head. “It’s not fair. You died young twice. You never got your normal life. You never got your happy ending. You never got mar- at least, I’m guessing you didn’t get married at sixteen.”
“Oh, Nico, but that’s not true. I never had a normal life, yes. But I did have a happy ending. I was lucky enough to have my happy ending in my first life, long before my second or third. My other two… I guess I was just paying my price.”
It took a second for that to sink in. Stupidly, Nico hadn’t even- ever- considered the thought that Bianca was on her third, not second life. He alway assumed that her first life had been with him.
“That’s a horrible way of looking at it,” Nico disagreed with her statement, croaking. “You deserved to have happiness in every single life, not just one.”
Bianca laughed. “I guess so. But some people don’t ever get any happy ending. We’re very lucky, Nico, being children of Hades and being happy the way we were.”
“You weren’t. Not when you were Bianca. You died before you could, remember?”
“I’m not sure about that.” She smoothed his hair back, now a balding gray, like she used to do. She could see him as an old man, yes, but she also saw the little ten year old she left behind. “I was happy with you.”
The little ten year old broke out into a grin. She smiled softly back.
He’s lived a good life, she thought proudly. And he’s had a good husband who will join him soon.
“I think I’m ready,” he stated, just as another spirit passed through through the Gates. He and Bianca started slowly walking up.
“What was your first life like? Did you ever have any other brothers, in your other lives? Were you a demigod?”
“You’ll see, Nico. But… as for my first life… let’s just say I’m waiting for someone. Not a brother. But someone.”

Notes

so close to the end guys