This is after the battle with Gaea is over. No slash or romance. Just Friendship.

Nico

I didn't lie to Jason when I told him I was leaving. I meant it and now that everyone is safe from Gaea, the giants, and angry Romans, it was time for me to go. Nobody will accept me, I thought, I'm just too different. Jason's wrong. Nobody will understand.

I packed a few things from Cabin 13. Not much really, some clothes, Bianca's old green cap she always wore. The Hades figurine was safely in my pocket. I felt a bit guilty that I was leaving Hazel without saying goodbye but I didn't want anyone to change my mind. I had to get away from here as fast as possible. I looked at my cabin one last time before heading out. Then the door opened and in came Jason.

"There you are. Why aren't you celebrating-" That's when he noticed the brown backpack slung over my shoulders, "What are you doing?"

"I already told you what I was going to do, Grace," I said coldly, "I was leaving forever, remember?"

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Di Angelo," He said blocking my way to the door, "But you're not going anywhere."

"So what? You're going to stop me?" I snorted.

"Okay so maybe I can't stop you, but you won't make it that far when I tell the others and we come searching for you."

"Why do you care so much?!" I yelled at him. He had no right to tell me what to do.

"Because I consider you my friend, even if you don't think the same about me and friends look out for each other."

"Just get out of the way!" I shove past him, but he manages to wrestle me to the ground. "GET OFF ME!"

"You can't run away from your problems," he says, looking dead-serious.

"I can't if you don't let me!"

"We can work this out," he insists. I stop struggling because I know he's too stubborn.

I sigh, "Look, I get that you want to do the right thing and help me out, but I just need to go."

"No, you don't." I can't argue with this guy. The only way to escape this is to just shadow travel, but first I had to get Jason off me. I sigh like I'm defeated.

"Fine, but I'm not going to the celebration." Jason smiles and gets up.

"It'll be fun. Come on, give me your hand," he extends his hand towards me. I take it, get up, and shove him harshly only for him to end up on the floor again.

"What the-"

I run into the nearest shadow and travel who knows where because I was rushed and couldn't form the picture of the place I wanted to go. When that happens, usually I end up in someplace random. The last time it happened, I ended up in the middle of a pool party somewhere in Tennessee. They called the police but I got out of there in time before the authorities arrived.

Now here I was, shadow travelling blindly. I finally find myself laying on grass. I feel dizzy but I manage to get up. I'm in some kind of park. Little kids were screaming and running all over the place, with parents or older siblings running after them. Families were having picnics, people were walking their dogs, and kids were all over the playground area.

Nobody seemed to notice that I had just popped out from the shadows of the woods behind me. I wasn't exactly sure where I was, but I knew that Jason and everyone else would be searching for me, so I had to lay low for a while until they gave up and assumed I've gone to the underworld. To be honest, I didn't want to go back there. My father wasn't that cruel to me anymore but he wasn't the typically loving dad and Persephone still wasn't too fond of me. I was about to make a run into the woods when I saw a little girl, just three feet away from me sitting on the ground, staring at me with her big hazel eyes.

I looked at her a bit confused. She didn't look intimidated by me, which was odd since I practically radiated death. She couldn't of been more than six years old with light brown hair that went all the way to her shoulders. Her bangs almost covered her eyes. I realized that we'd been looking at each other for at least a minute. I broke eye contact and started walking into the woods.

"Wait!" I heard a voice behind me. If I hadn't been so surprised, I would've ignored whoever it was. I turned around and saw the same little girl.

"What?" I asked, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

"How'd you do that?" she asked me.

"Huh?"

"You just came out of that tree. How did you do that?"

"None of your business," I said and continued to walk, but the girl followed me.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere."

"Why are you going nowhere?"

"Because."

"Because why?" The little girl was starting to get really annoying. She asked too many questions. Then I remembered when I used to do that.

"You know what?" I stopped walking. "Where are your parents? You shouldn't be here alone."

"I don't have parents. The agent people said that I have to stay with Kevin and Carol. They're my new parents until who knows when, but I snuck out because Zack hates me and he won't stop being mean to me," She told me while pouting.

"Who's Zack?"

"That's my new brother, but he says that I'm stealing Kevin and Carol from him."

"Okay, well, I'm sure you and him can work it out now go away."

"But I don't want to go back yet!" She complained, "And you haven't answered my question yet." I continued to walk faster with her hot on my heels, but I figured that if I ignored her long enough, she'd leave me alone and go back to whatever she was doing.

"By the way, my name's Laurel. You know, like the tree. What's yours? I'm six years old and my birthday's in April 27. How about you?" Laurel rambled on. It was like this for 10 minutes until I couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, that's enough. Look, Lauren, I-"

"It's Laurel. LORE-L" She interrupted.

"Whatever. I have to find somewhere to spend the night and I can't have a little kid following me around."

"You can stay with me!" She suggested.

"No way. If I go with you, your family will call the police and then I'll end up in an orphanage."

"Kevin, Carol, and Zack aren't my family. You don't have parents either?"

"No, I don't." I said sadly. "The point is that it's getting dark and Calvin and Taylor-"

"Kevin and Carol."

"Yeah them, will be worried so you should go home."

"Where are you going to go?" She asked.

"I don't know yet."

"I know. There's a shed that we barely go in. You can stay there. Nobody will notice."

"As much as I like the idea," I said sarcastically, " I don't think so."

"Please! I want to help you! Please, Please, PLEASE!" She continued on saying the same word over again. This girl has strong lungs, I thought as I covered my ears.

"Alright! Fine, I'll go, but only if you shut up." I tell her.

"Yay! Come on, let's go," She says excitingly and drags me by the arm out the woods and into a neighborhood.

We jumped the fence into a huge backyard with a pool, a huge maple tree in a corner with a tire swing and a patio.

"Are you sure this is where you live?" I ask Laurel.

She nods, "Yeah, it's this way." She's still holding on to my hand. I've tried to pull it away several times since the walk but, for a six year old, she has an iron grip. We hurry to the farthest corner of the backyard where a small shed is. It's definitely old and worn down. The white paint is peeling. I open the creaky door. There's not much inside. Some gardening tools carelessly tossed in here to be forgotten but it doesn't look too bad.

"I guess I could stay here for tonight." I said. "But just tonight."

"Where are you going after this?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. So where am I?"

"My house. I thought I made that clear to you."

"No I mean what state?'

"You don't know? Well that's weird. We're in Virginia."

"Oh," I sit down on the cold floor, "I need to go farther."

"Are you running from something?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"What?"

I don't really want to tell this little girl. She wouldn't understand. I remembered what Jason said, "My problems."

"Okay. I'll go back inside," Laurel pointed at the house, "Goodnight...uh, what's your name?"

"Don't worry about it." I tell her. She looks like she wants to argue with me, but she just leaves. I watch her as she opens a little window that probably leads to the basement and slips inside. I don't even know why I'm here, but I don't see why not. The shed looks okay for now. I close the door all the way and get ready for an uncomfortable sleep.

This is my first Fanfic so it might not be very good. Review are appreciated and Thanks for reading. :)

-Angela R.