Chapter 2: Reflections

Lily's POV:

It's been three years. Three horribly long years. Three devastating years since I walked into the sickbay met by only an empty bed. Faint traces of its former occupant were evident, but nothing suggested that Bree just got up and left. She simply disappeared. I hate myself every day for it.

Today would be her 13th birthday.

Bree's POV:

Yo. Nice to see (?) you again. Welcome to modern day Bree-time (ish). The most entertaining live-action show you'll ever see featuring a now thirteen-year-old girl and her really hard to imagine crazy adventures.

Now, you're probably all wondering 'where the Hades were you for the past three years?' I'm not going to answer that question. At least, not right now. So deal with it. Right now, I'm about half a mile away from Camp Half-Blood. Took me a good long while to finally get out here from California. Shit. That was probably a major clue. Well, whatever.

So, I'm going to fast-forward about 20 minutes (I walk slow, OK?) until I get to camp. So I can cross the border since I do have godly (ish) blood in me, but I saw that there was now a weird gold sheep body on the tree with an even stranger golden dragon. Weird.

I half walked half fell down the hill (I was tired. So leave me alone, yeah?) and sorta just collapsed in a pile at the bottom. Just my luck, everyone was leaving the dining pavilion at that time. There were some murmurs going around, and I lifted my head up as much as I could (which wasn't very much) to show that I was alive and somewhat lucid.

Suddenly, a really loud screech met my ears and I think if I had been standing I would have been tackled. "Bree," the voice was sobbing my name over and over again.

"L…Lily?" My voice was cracked and hoarse. What a lovely way to reunite with my siblings. Why no, I haven't been taking care of myself these past three years! I think Fred might literally murder me for that one.

"Bree, oh thank the gods you're alive!" She dragged me into a semi-sitting position and literally yelled at Fred to "get over here." Wonderful. Nothing like a son of Apollo having to see his extremely malnourished, close to death little sister.

"NO! No…I'm fine. Really." I pushed myself upright, using all my strength not to lean on Lily.

Two kids pushed through to the front of the pack, they both looked really familiar. One of them, the boy, had dark hair, nearly black, with eyes that were captivating and swam with emotion. It would have been easy to drown in them if they were truly the oceans. The girl, however, had blonde hair that glowed golden in the sunlight. Now that she wasn't covered in dirt and about to fall over, I could see just how strong she really was. Her grey eyes identified her as a daughter of Athena. I gulped, seriously hoping they wouldn't recognize me.

"Who are you?" The boy demanded.

I glared at his tone. He was much too haughty for his own good. "I'm not your enemy."

"That's not what I meant. Who's your parent? Why are you suddenly here?"

I sneered. He was seriously getting on my nerves. Perhaps it was just exhaustion though. "My mother died three years ago. She was the champion of the muses. And don't demigods usually appear like this?"

The girl butt in, her tone calmer, but with a harsh undertone, "If your mother was mortal, then who's your father?"

"Hades." Only, I heard gasps and saw golden-lit shadows reflecting on my battered skin and clothes. I groaned, falling to my knees in defeat. "Why? Why does he have to make everyday miserable? I'm living in my own personal Tartarus." I think I may have started crying, but I wouldn't ever admit that.

"Kronos…" The boy breathed.

"No! No! It's not true! Well, not entirely true. Please! Listen to me!" I was half sobbing, half gasping. My grip on sanity was loosening and I knew that I had to keep holding on or I would lose the little control I had left.

"Why should I listen to you? You're titans spawn."

"So was Zoe! Zoe Nightshade! You travelled with her. I saw you there. On Mt. Orthys. I was there too. A prisoner. See?" I showed them my wrists and ankles were chaffing was still evident. "My hair!" I exclaimed. "It was black before. Like yours." My long locks were now closer to a dull silver-grey after my adventures on the west coast. I hate that place.

There was still distrust. No matter what I said, no one would ever believe me. I finally got back to the one place I might have fit in, and I've become an outcast.

Fifteen minutes. That might be a new record.

Draco: Well, that was depressing.
Me: What? You expected this to be a happy story? Bree's got a pretty tough life ahead of her. I feel bad.
Draco: YOU created it!
Me: Oh. I guess I did. But I don't control what happens. You've been in my head. I don't control anything.
Draco: That place...It was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen...
Me: Stop being so melodramatic.

Until Next Time! Samsstars