Isabella, Tartarus survivor

I'm Isabella (ft. Leo and Calypso)

"Leo." She murmured under her breath. She turned suddenly and went to kiss him, but Leo turned his face away. Calypso blushed deeply. "I am sorry. I didn't-"

"No, don't, it's... it's OK." He pushed his hair out of his face and gave Calypso a jokey smouldering look. "I'd want to kiss me too." Calypso laughed again, a sweet sound. She pushed him on the chest playfully.

"Come on then." She gestured to Festus. "Help me up."

The next thing I remember was blinking awake. "Issy?" Nico's face appeared in my vision.

"Hmm... yeah?" I asked, blinking the sleep out of my eyes.

"You're awake! Will, she's awake!" He called to a person behind him. The tall blonde guy I recognised from the battle came running over.

"Hey," he grinned, "She's looking much better! And her energy levels are closer to normal." I blinked hard and shook my head.

"What's going on?" I sat up and looked around. I was lying in a bed in a room filled with more beds. "Fratello, where am I?" (A/N- 'Fratello' means brother in Italian.)

"This is the hospital ward Issy." He explained, then hastily added "But don't worry, everything's alright."

"Fratello?" Will asked, his brow furrowed. "Nico, she's your sister?"

"Uh-huh." Nico grunted in response.

"Is she like Hazel? Did you-"

"No." Nico said bluntly. "It's a long story." He turned to me. "You can finally introduce yourself." He told me.

"Um, okay. Hi. My name's Isabella." I told Will.

"Will." he replied, giving me a smile. "So how are you related?" He asked.

"Nico's my brother." I explained. Will rolled his eyes in an 'I guessed that' way.

"Yeah, but I'm guessing you're not from the same time period." He said.

"Oh, no, we are." I said.

"Issy's my twin sister." Nico said. Will's eyebrows shot up.

"No way!" He exclaimed. "Wait, but how come you didn't come with Nico and Bianca?" He asked, lowering his voice slightly as he said Bianca's name. I winced at hearing it, her death still too painful for me to think about properly.

"I wasn't sent to the Lotus Casino. Hades sent me on errands for him instead. He said that some prophecy said... uh... 'a double-blooded daughter of the underworld, will save two existences and peace will unfurl.' He said he couldn't let me out of his sight, that I was too important. I guess he thought I was the child of the prophecy. But I fell into Tartarus. That's where I've been. I only got out when Percy and Annabeth found me." As I mentioned Percy's name, he came running in, Annabeth close behind me.

"I heard Isabella was awake." He called, and his eyes fell on me. "Isabella!" He ran over. "How you feeling?"

"Percy, you can call me Issy. Isabella's a mouth full."

"Thank the gods. I was wondering that." He laughed.

"I'm OK. I've been better, but what can you do?" I shrugged, and Percy smiled. "How long have I been here? How many days have I missed?" I asked.

"Three weeks." Annabeth grimaced.

"Three weeks?" I repeated incredulously. "What? How? I wasn't that ill!"

"Issy, you were in Tartarus for seventy years. You were ill." Nico said. I felt my shoulders slump. "So what happened? What about Gaia?" I inquired.