Chapter two of Bent is Not Broken
Disclaimer: Characters not mine blah, blah, blah. Lynn and Clay are mine, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea.
"Look."
Lynn said, looking all of them in the eyes. "I'm not downplaying the
things you guys have went through. I've been in all your heads for a
while." She looked awful, like someone had sucked the happiness out of
her.
"You've all went through emotional pain. Very severe emotional pain. And
yes, you have all felt physical pain when you've gotten wounded."
She looked at them all one by one- as if she could stare in to their souls.
Jason shivered.
"But most of it is nothing-nothing at all compared to what Clay and I went
through. Have you ever have someone deliberately cut a knife into your
arm, in the most painful and sensitive part? Have you ever been forced to argue
with the person closest to you who's going to get tortured?"
Jason wanted to vomit at those words.
"I managed to take the first two days. The first day was the knife- which
in all honesty was one of the worst. Most people are more afraid of a knife
than a gun, because a knife is so much more personal. He always smiled at me
when he did this, and his eyes were the prettiest shade of blue." She was
talking about the kidnapper in an almost sentimental kind Of way.
"The second day was bad, though. He must have done his homework, and
I have always been deathly afraid of needles. The second day, the torture came
in an injection form. It was a big, thick needle, the kind that hurts like hell
when it goes in." Jason saw her relieving the memories.
"I convulsed and spasmed, and yes, screamed. I couldn't help it- the pain
was unbearable. I remember Clay holding me, hugging me, even though we were
only friends. I remember my head being in his lap , the pain lasting for hours
and hours before I blacked out."
Lynn sucked in a deep breath.
"He took the third one. After that, things were pretty evened out."
She began to move to wards the projector.
"Are you sure...?" Nico asked her quietly.
"Yes." Lynn told him. And she hooked up the phone to the screen
again. This time, she went to the very last video.
"This one never got posted on the Internet." She told the group.
"I had to download it on my phone from his computer."
"Are you going to go in another room again?" Jason asked.
"No." She told him. "I see this every time I blink, every time I
close my eyes, so it won't matter to see it once more."
She clicked the play button.
It was Lynn and Clay, and compared to the first video, the changes were
drastic. The imprisonment had been maybe a month and a half- and they looked
awful. They were covered in blood, Clay's chest was bare, as they had torn up
his shirt to make bandages. Every inch of skin had some sort of injury, and the
same was true for Lynn. Burns, cuts, lesions, and so much more. Both each had
blood matting their hair. Jason wanted to curl into a ball because he knew this
is what Hell looked like. It was a gray room made of cinderblocks,
shackles around their wrists preventing them from reaching the only door.
The black haired man in a ponytail walked in, the same odd smile on his face
like before.
"Change of plans." He said, and the two figures froze. "I will
give you ten minutes to figure this out."
Lynn and Clay stared at him.
"One of you will die, and one will live. Your time starts...now." He
walked straight back out.
Clay and Lynn turned to each other in shock.
Then they both started to speak at once.
"Me! I... Will...NO!" Tears were streaming down both their faces.
They grabbed at each other and kissed.
What?
Lynn paused the video.
"Funny thing, life is. He was my first boyfriend, my first kiss. Two weeks
in, that was when it first happened. Turns out we'd both had a crush in each
other since sixth grade. We could've had so much more time together..."
Jason knew what was coming next when she pressed the play button again.
The kiss was long and hard, when Lynn broke it off." Lets not talk about
that right now."she said.
They sat
against the cold stone wall, hugging and occasionally kissing.
"I love you." She said as the man walked in.
"I love you too."
"Have you made your choice?" He seemed coldly amused.
"ME!" They both screamed at once, then proceeding to give the other a
dirty look.
"I'll make it for you, then." He threw the knife, and it impaled Clay
in the chest.
Lynn gave a guttural scream and crawled over to him. He was dead, his
eyes glassy.
"I came into my powers too late." She'd said.
Lynn let loose another, deeper scream, and the darkness in the room seemed to
be drawn to her shackles. They exploded in a burst of darkness. The man was
crawling backward, obviously terrified, as Lynn stood over him with a sharp
price of a shackle in her hand.
She stabbed him in the throat with it.
Then the video ended. They were all shocked and had nothing to say. Suddenly,
Lynn spun around as if she'd just thought of something.
"Have you talked to Clay?!" She whispered desperately.
Nico nodded silently.
"Can you bring him here?!"
"No."
"Why not?! What did he say to you?"
"He moved on... To be reborn. He said... He said that he didn't want to
hurt you anymore."
Lynn's eyes broke. "He's gone...I wanted to... See him just one more
time.."
She collapsed, sobbing into the deck.
Nico put his hand in her shaking back. Jason knew that if anyone could
understand it was him. He'd lost his sister the same way.
And the air was still except for the shaking body of Lynn Rugsmire
Lynn ran to Coach Hedges room, slamming the door behind her. Nico sprinted
after her.
He was pounding on the door when Jason walked by.
"Lynn! Let me in!"
"No!" She screamed back. "GO AWAY!"
"Why?" Nico asked as he slumped against the door.
"Because I want the right to wallow in self pity and If you come in I'll
feel bad about your life."
Nico sighed and walked away. Jason knocked on the door.
"I SWEAR NICO," she shrieked. "IF THAT IS YOU, YOU WILL BE
TAKING SOME MORE UNEXPECTED TRIPS TO CHINA!"
"Uhm, Lynn it's Jason."
"Oh," she said and opened the door, looking surprised.
"Come in."
It was filled with martial arts posters and DVDs.
"Hey," he said uncertainly. "I can help you wallow in self
pity."
She smiled, weakly, but it was still a grin. "My life freaking
sucks."
"I know." He told her.
"You've seen the obvious reasons. But there were other, more subtle ones
as well."
Jason's mind about blew. "What?"
She looked as if she was arguing with herself. "I'm going to trust you,
Jason Grace. Since Nico told you about his feelings, I suppose it's only fair
you know mine."
Jason's head was reeling.
Seeing his face she said "No, I'm not gay you idiot. It's much worse. It
started when I was ten... I didn't understand them. I kept having dreams about
blood and death. It was worrisome, but not overly so. Not until when I was
eleven, my friend cut herself and I imagined more blood. Lots more." Lynn
seemed shaken.
"I became obsessed with crime shows, psychodramas. I found every one there
was and watched them. I took online collage classes on psychology, passed every
one. I did an insane amount of reading. Nothing helped."
Jason felt sick, like he was going to throw up. She had the crappiest life in
existence.
"It's gone away, since I volunteered."
It hit Jason suddenly.
"That's why you did it..."
She smiled, though it was more of a sneer. "Yeah, I figured I should do
one good thing before I die."
They sat
there silently for a few minutes when she started to speak again.
"Though it may seem insignificant compared to other things, there's
another sucky aspect to my life."
"What?"
"I still love Clay, always will. But he's dead. So my heart went searching
for someone else. The person closest to me."
"Oh...OH!"
"Yeah." She smiled grimly. "It found Nico di Angelo."
"Why haven't you told him?!"
"C'mon Jason, I thought you were
smarter than that. " she leered at him. "It would kill him. He can't
give me the love I want... Ever. So why hurt him by telling him that? Better I
should suffer alone. He's got enough problems in his own love life."
Jason still had trouble digesting that. "You're in love... With him?"
"Yep. I fell in live with someone who's gay. Told you, my life's pretty
damn bad."
"And if you tell him, I swear to gods you'll regret it till the end of
your days."
They walked out a few minutes later, tired and frustrated.
Lynn was calmed down now.
"That's strange..." Coach hedge mused.
"What?" Leo asked.
"All demigods have a distinctive scent from their parent, even when the
realms are very similar. But Lynn- she smells exactly like him." He
pointed to Nico.
Everybody turned.
"Are you sure your dad is Thanatos?"
"Positive." Lynn said, without missing a beat.
"Hold on...You smell faintly of her." He pointed, this time at
Annabeth.
Lynn froze, her eyes as big as dinner plates.
"Oh gods." She looked sick.
"What?" Nico asked, instantly putting her arm over his shoulders to
support her.
"I knew it." She gasped. "He was always so smart, too smart for
his own good. He spouted off random facts and was top in the class damn it
no.."
"Who?" Coach hedge asked.
"Clay."
She didn't even let that sink in before adding something else. "Let's go
see your father, Nico."
"What?" He looked shocked.
" I know what happened."
His eyes lit up with understanding. "OH! Those legends... Crap..."
They shadow trade away before any one could stop them, leaving behind the rest
if the group sitting there in total shock.
Nico felt the shadows whistle by, until he and Lynn landed with a thump on the
rocks of the underworld.
She was steaming mad, and this honestly scared Nico. A lot. Last time he had
seen her this mad, she had stabbed a guy in the throat with a sharp price of
metal.
Though now she was only armed with a kitchen knife, Nico felt certain that his
dad was in trouble.
She yanked Nico through the crowds of the dead. They seemed drawn to her,
though after she hissed "Go away" they fled the fastest Nico had ever
seen.
She brazenly walked into Hades throne room.
Hades saw her; and became angry. After all, she was intruding in his throne
room.
"WHO IS THIS?" He boomed. "ETERNAL PUNISHMENT AFTER I FRY YOU TO
A PULP!"
Lynn didn't appear the slightest bit frightened, and it was contagious.
Nico didn't want to cower in front of his father anymore.
Meanwhile; Lynn was so angry that her eyes were a silver color; like an glowing
shadow.
Her choppy hair blew in a wind only for her, and she snarled at Hades.
"Care to explain to me what the hell is going on?"
Hades then recognized her, because is anger instantly dissipated,
something like fear replacing it.
"What...? How?"
"I just want some damn answers. Quit being a jerk and give me some."
She drew her ordinary metal kitchen knife. Though he was twenty feet taller,
and dressed in the bones of the dead, it was hades who looked afraid.
"You weren't supposed to know..."
"KNOW WHAT?!" She screamed like a madwoman, obviously knowing parts
if the story.
"That you were a halfblood." He whispered, ashamed. "It
should've worked."
"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU CARE?!" She screeched. "YOU ARE NOT MY
FATHER!"
"That I am not." Hades said, composed again. "I did it to
protect you as well as the world. I'd don't know what went wrong.."
"Don't pretend you care about me. Look how you treat your own son."
She sneered, gesturing to Nico.
Hades saw him for the first time and jumped. "NICO? How did you know about
her?" Now he looked truly afraid.
For the first time, Nico spoke up. "I know what you did, father. I know
you did exactly what you weren't supposed to do. You masked her scent, and
powers, and she would've remained a mortal, but for her dreams."
"WHAT DREAMS?"
"We've been dreaming about each other since we were ten." He
said calmly.
"DANMIT." Hades screamed, knocking over a few skeletons.
"What?" Lynn asked.
"Some god has been tampering with fate... The consequences for that
are enormous."
"But isn't that exactly what you did... When you enlisted the help of
Athena to mask their scents."
Lynn appeared at a loss for words.
"What?" She whispered hoarsely. "But they hate each
other..."!
"Yes," Nico said. "But they had a common goal. Athena had
a child a well...
Lynn fit the prices together.
"Oh gods. Oh gods."
"WHY?!" She screamed, out of control once more.
"Because you were dangerous. And we didn't want to kill both of you. You
have powers that you can't even dream about, Lynn. Both of you, including the
child of Athena. I wanted to check up on you, but that would've broken the
mask."
She didn't appear to be listening.
"SO IT'S YOUR FREAKING FAULT." The shadows whistled around her
creating a black vortex, her eyes the same glowing silver. "HE'S DEAD
BECAUSE HE COULDN'T USE HIS POWERS." Her knife started glowing. "I
WOLN'T FORGET!"
She screamed, guttural and primal, before disappearing into the shadows.
Nico followed her, tracing Lynn's path.