"Feelin' like a freak on a leash, Feelin' like I have no release, How many times have I felt disease? Nothing in my life is free, Sometimes I cannot take this place, Sometimes it's my life I can't taste, Sometimes I cannot feel my face, You'll never see me fall from grace,"

Freak On A Leash by Korn

Percy tip toed across the hall trying not to make himself known. He cringed as one of the boards creaked, "Please don't wake up..." He whispered under his breathe. His plan was simple, go into Annabeth's room, and lie with her for a little while. A nightmare had stricken him wide awake, and in fear that she was in danger. So for his own sake, a little bit of time cuddling with her would ease his mind.

He continued making his way as soft footsteps descended the stairs. Percy froze as his hand quickly went to his pajama pants pocket where just like always Riptide was. A black figure appeared, "Nico?" He questioned as the boy stepped into the moonlight from the porthole. His face was red and his jaw clenched at the sight of Percy. "Dude, what were you doing up there? It's the middle of the night." Percy questioned.

"Nothing, now goodnight." Nico said quickly as his face grew even redder. Nico walked past Percy, his shoulders strong and an intimidating air coming off of him.

"Okay, night." Percy blew it off, for it wasn't the first time Nico had done something strange. Heck, most of what Nico did, Percy didn't understand.

Percy continued to tip toe to Annabeth's when another set of footsteps came down from the stairs. This time Percy didn't call for them. Instead he creep-ed farther into the shadows trying not to be seen, which was difficult with his red plaid pajama pants. The figure walked down the hall and right when it came near him, he grabbed it's arm quickly.

A jerk was felt, and then a small knife was pressed to his throat, "Percy?" A small voice said after a few seconds as the blade was lowered. "Gods, you scared me half to death..."

"Sinatra, why were you up stairs on the deck?" Percy asked as the girl stepped into the light. Her hair was black and her eyes now blue. He had to admit it was scarier but it seemed to fit her more than the brown hair did. But she did look more like her mother which was off putting to say the least.

"Nothing..." Sinatra said as she tried to make her way back to her room. Percy grabbed her bicep and pulled her back.

"Nico said the same thing to me." Percy deadpanned, "Wait, why were you up there with Nico?"

"We just-uh-needed to talk," Sinatra stammered.

A smile grew on Percy's face, "I don't buy it! He was all red when he came down, kind of flustered also, and you're the same way! What were you doing with Nico di Angelo?"

"It's nothing..."

"I know what happened..." Percy said as his smile fell.

"You do...?" She asked quietly, her voice shaky.

"Of course I do!"

"Look, it's not what you think we just-"

Percy quickly cut her off with disbelief, "You like Nico di Angelo!"

"I-what?" Sinatra shrieked.

"It's okay, I won't tell him, or anyone else. I know you've only been around for a couple days, but as soon as you, Annabeth and I showed up, Nico has been acting weird- well weirder than usual... It's like he has a crush on somebody." Percy said as if he was putting the pieces together in his mind.

"Yeah, he has a crush on somebody all right... you." Sinatra mumbled, the last word almost inaudibly.

"What did you say?" Percy said.

"Oh, nothing."

"You said he likes someone! That must be you, huh?" Percy's smile grew larger, "Aw! Well trust me, he's been looking at you a lot!"

"Not for the reasons you think..." She muttered inaudibly again.

"Well your secret is safe with me, no one will find out. And here I was thinking Nico di Angelo never liked anyone in his life." Percy snorted.

He saw the girl open her mouth but shut it quickly, as if she had something to say.

"Listen... On another topic, I'm happy people didn't veto you off the ship... You seem cool, and I was where you were at one time. But I had Annabeth... I can't imagine what it's like going alone, that sounds like a really lonely road..." Percy placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.

"Wow that sounds like an old Green Day song, now that I think of it..." Percy said with a small chuckle.

"Who?" Sinatra questioned.

"Oh... Right... You missed the whole Green Day craze...I will get you caught up..." He promised, "Wait that means you don't know who Justin Bieber is, or the song Call Me Maybe!"

"Who is Justin Beaver and why should I call him?" Sinatra questioned, as Percy laughed.

"Goodnight Sinatra, get some sleep." He gave her shoulder one last squeeze, "Oh and you might need to sharpen that knife you stole from dinner, that butter knife won't do you much." He winked then, walked his way to Annabeth's room.

He entered the room and saw a small heap under a comforter with blonde curls sticking out of the top. A smile crossed his lips as he watched his sleeping girlfriend. Slowly he made his way over to the bed and pulled back the duvet just enough to kiss her check.

She stirred and sat up in bed, her eyes groggy and her hair in her eyes, "Percy?" She questioned, "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I would come give my wise girl some company." He lightly pushed the hair out of her grey eyes.

"In the middle of the night?" Annabeth asked, dazed. Then he could see the light bulb go off in her head, "Nightmare?" Her dazed look turned into an alert one. Percy nodded, as she pulled the covers up and let Percy climb in.

She leaned on her elbow and looked at him, "What was it about?"

"It was stupid..." Percy said, a smile on his lips. He couldn't help but smile when he looked at her.

"Obviously it was something, if it wasn't you wouldn't have woken me up at this hour."

"Just another dream about... losing you," Percy muttered.

"Well hate to break it to you, Seaweed Brain, but you're stuck with me," She smirked at him. "Let's get some rest," Annabeth leaned down and kissed Percy lightly.

"Wait I have something else to tell you," Percy began to talk about the events in the hall.

Twenty minutes later Annabeth was asleep in his arms, as he stared at the ceiling, feeling safe, content, and for once not in danger. He was in heaven with the one person he loved more than anything.

oooOOOooo

The next morning Sinatra woke up to the sound of laughing, she rose from her bed and looked at the light shining through the window. A small smile crossed her lips as she swung her legs over the side of her bed and rose. She didn't take the time to check to look in the mirror, for her new appearance only made her nauseous.

Slipping on a pair of shorts Hazel and Annabeth brought her, she looked at the stack of clothes trying to decide of a shirt to wear. She looked down at the shirt she wore yesterday, the black t-shirt that smelled familiar. The shirt that belonged to Nico. She pursed her lips and picked it up off the ground. She brought it to her nose and sniffed as she closed her eye, the shirt smell made her think of funerals. She could picture the casket with the corpse inside, and the flowers surrounding it. She also got a sense of a earthy tone, and a small amount of musk. She didn't know why but the sent was intoxicating to her, it reminded her of how pure things could be. It reminded her of the days she spent in Tartarus, and well the time she had actually spent beside Nico.

They had pretended not to know each other, and now Percy Jackson had this idea that Nico and herself had a crush on each other. When in truth Nico couldn't stand the thought of her.

This made her head spin, as she thought of the way he betrayed her in Tartarus. She quickly slipped the shirt over her head just so he could see that she wasn't afraid to wear his shirt, and that she wasn't afraid of him.

He was the only one who knew who she was, he hated her. But he would rather have someone hate her then act like they liked her because they were afraid of her, and thought at any moment she would snap and kill everyone.

She sighed and left the room, and followed the sound of laughter until she entered the main area where everyone was eating breakfast together. She entered and everyone stopped laughing and looked to her, "Morning Sinatra!" Leo said happily as he scooted over and patted a chair beside him, "Come sit down and have breakfast."

Sinatra shifted from foot to foot then sat beside Leo. She looked around, her hands folded on her lap as everyone continued to eat. A rough, warm hand took hers, she jumped and looked down to see a tan hand interlocked in hers. She looked over to Leo who was smiling slightly then pulled his hand away. In her hand was a tiny piece of paper.

She looked at Leo once more who nodded at the paper, signalling for her to read it. She looked down slightly and opened the paper to see almost unreadable hand writing, "I fixed your scythe into a sword, come and get it from my room after breakfast." She looked over at Leo who was smiling widely and eating a piece of toast.

The rest of breakfast was spent by discussing upcoming war with Gaea. Sinatra tried to not get sick as she listened but was able to hold her breakfast down. Leo had left early and went to his room.

She hurried away from breakfast and made her way down the hall and quickly knocked on his door. He opened it with a wide smile as he leaned on the door slightly. He was about an inch shorter than her but she found him cute. "May I come in?" She asked.

"Well of course you can," He stepped out of the way, and shut the door behind her.

The room had a tiny bed, and the rest was full of pieces of metal, parts, work benches, and tools. "Let me get you that scythe." He walked over to his work bench and lifted it up. She gasped at it's beauty, it was now a four foot long, gleaming sword, not the dirty, dented scythe.

He held it out for her to take. Once it was in her hands she examined it, it's weight was balanced perfect, it's handle now re-wrapped in a clean black leather. The blade straight as an arrow, sharp, and glowing. On the blade she noticed a small inscription in Greek, "Backbiter."

She read the inscription aloud, "Yeah, um... Percy was telling me that was it's original name, it's a celestial bronze and tempered steel. Never seen anything like this, it can kill mythological creatures and humans... It took forever to get back to a blade straight..."

"Leo... How?" She questioned as she examined her new weapon.

"Well... I spent all night but it was fun working with." He admitted as he rubbed his neck shyly.

"Where is your forge? How did you accomplish this?" She asked.

"Well I have one in my workshop, but most I just used my hand-flames."

"Your what?" She quizzed.

"You didn't know?" She shook her head as he held out his hand and a small flame erupted in his palm.

"No way... That is amazing, how big can they get?" she asked as she stared into the tiny fire.

"Well let's see shall we," Leo said with a cocky smile, "Step back."

Sinatra waited as the boy spread his hands and fire began to blaze. She attempted to step back but was too late. Fire hit her midsection, burning through her shirt and scorching her skin. A cry of pain left her lips as she crumbled to the ground. Luckily her shirt wasn't on fire, but the pain was blazing.

"Sinatra!" Leo yelled as he dropped to his knees and stared at her. His eyes were wide and full of shock, "I-I" He began. He placed his hands on her midsection only making her yell again, "I'm so sorry!" He pleaded as tears welled in his eyes and as he ran his hands through his hair, "I didn't mean too!"

Sinatra's vision was blurry from the burning flesh on her, but she managed to lift her and enough to take Leo's. She couldn't talk, only moans of pain. She gripped his hand tightly as she heard footsteps running down the hall.

Her vision tunneled as she heard the door open and an audible, "Shit!" Then she past out.

oooOOOooo

Nico was on the main deck, looking over the side. He hated this ship, these people, having to be around Percy and having to see Sinatra again.

He knew as soon as he saw her that it was her. He had to play it off like it wasn't hoping she wouldn't recognize him, but of course she did. She was like a bad penny, constantly showing up.

He gripped the railing tighter at the thought of her. She knew his secrets, he was vulnerable in Tartarus, lonely and scared. And here she was, a girl who would listen, a girl who understood the Hell of being a child of a hated god, a girl who stuck her neck out for him, a girl who would sleep beside him and keep him company, a girl he hated.

He hated this whole ship, he felt trapped, he knew he was looked at as a freak. His whole life he was thought of as a freak. Some-days he thought it would be easier killing himself, but he had seem the Underworld and decided it wasn't worth it.

Nico was just so sick of feeling like everyone thought he was a bomb ready to explode, and that all he was was a freak show.

Suddenly someone came up beside him and leaned on the bar beside him. He glanced over to see a tall, brown haired, green eyed boy. Percy. He cursed under his breathe slightly as he looked away.

"So, we need to talk," Percy finally said.

"About?" Nico snapped, refusing to look at him.

"A little birdy told me you have a crush on someone," Percy said in a sing songy voice.

Nico's heart stopped as he looked at Percy in horror, staring daggers at him. He had no words, he was embarrassed, ashamed, he just wanted to die, but not before he killed Jason Grace.

"It's okay man, I'm not telling anyone... Well I told Annabeth."

"You what?" Nico growled.

"I had to, she's my girlfriend," With the word girlfriend, Nico's scowl deepened. "Look, I hope you get to be with your crush someday."

"You do?" Nico asked in shocked voice.

"Yeah man, everyone deserves to be with who they love." Nico stared at him, "Heck Sinatra seems pretty cool, I don't see why you wouldn't wanna date her."

"Sinatra?" Nico snapped, his heart plummeting.

"Yeah, she told me last night," Percy said giddily, "Don't be mad, I saw you two walk down from the deck and I knew something was up, so I just assumed it was because you two like each other and she said it was."

Nico's blood boiled. He turned on his heel and stormed for the stairs, "Don't be mad!" Percy called as he ran after him and grabbed Nico's shoulder.

Nico's skin tingled as he jerked his shoulder out of Percy's grip, "Let go of me, Jackson." He commanded as he continued down the stairs.

Once he was at the bottom of the stairs, he heard a scream he only knew to well, Sinatra. He hated his father for doing this to him, he picked up speed and ran down the hall to Leo's room where her screams were heard. He busted through the door to see Sinatra on the floor, in his black shirt, with a burn mark going through the middle, red smoking skin visible through the shirt. Her hand was being held by Leo as he sobbed over the girl, "Shit!" Nico said quickly as he dropped to his knees and placed his hand on her forehead. She was alive.

"What happened?" Frank yelled from the door.

"She has four minutes to live, get some ambrosia!" Nico yelled. He put one arm behind her knees and his other around her shoulders and lifted her limp body. He was shaky, he was scrawny and weaker than usual. But he managed to carry her to the infirmary. He laid her on one of the two beds that was in there and placed his hand to her head again.

Frank was behind him, and Reyna and Percy just entered, "Get me some scissors." Everyone looked around frantically, "Never-mind!" he stated annoyed, he pulled out his sword, pulled up on her black shirt that was originally his and with a clean slice, cut the black fabric in two and carefully peeled it away from her flesh. He tried not to focus on the fact that he had just exposed the girl.

Frank quickly grabbed a clean white sheet from the other bed and covered up Sinatra's chest. Nico sighed in relief.

Reyna quickly took over, "Percy start giving her nectar, Frank I need gauze and solution to clean the cut." She instructed. "Nico, I need you to hold her head up for Percy and give me a reading on how close we are to losing her."

Nico cursed as he knelt beside her and wrapped his arm around the back of her neck to prop her head up, and placed his right hand on her forehead. She was fading fast, but as Percy gave her more nectar she began to get better.

After a while she was stable, her burns cleaned out, nectar poured in them, and wrapped. Reyna claimed these burns were the worst she had ever seen. And that it could have easily killed her if Nico hadn't reacted as he did. 'Great, I could have gotten rid of her,' Nico thought.

He looked over to the girl whose whole torso was wrapped in white gauze. Her hair now darker than his, and her skin just as pale. She now would always look sick and dead, just like he. Another sick thing they had in common. The others left and he was alone with her. He walked over and looked down at the slumbering girl, "Valdez couldn't have hit you in the heart could he?" He asked, not expecting a reply. "Curse my father, he's the reason I haven't killed you. After I escaped Tartarus he told he that one day you would escape and I was to be your protector. The only way for me to pay after I promised on Styx to get you out of there." He scowled and turned to leave only to have a hand grab his wrist.

He turned and looked down to see her eyes open slightly, she pulled on his wrist and made him place his ear close to her lips, "All hail the Ghost King, the guardian of the weak and tattered girl from Tartarus," She mocked, repeating the taunts he had made at her expense.

He jerked away and pulled his arm from hers, "I only have to save you three times, then my debt is payed." He exclaimed, "This is one. Two more, and then I will be the one who kills you." He spat as he walked out of the room. He climbed the stairs to the deck. She was a chaotic, bitter, hurt, teenager, who has lost anything and would do anything to get what she wanted. Nico hated her, but knew when he looked at her it was like looking in the mirror.

AN/ Please tell me your thoughts, and thank you for reading 3