Hey guys, merry Christmas ( I know it's a bit late). Sorry I haven't updated sooner, I've been caught up in the festivities. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, it was really hard to write and I hope I did the characters justice. Anyway please review and enjoy and thanks for the support:)
We'd only been flying for an hour, when Percy called everyone for a meeting in the Mini Mess Hall. I sat round the small table in between Annabeth and Piper, waiting for Percy to begin.
"So Annabeth and I were thinking about what Chiron said. We've already told each other some of our deepest darkest secrets, but we thought now would be a good time to let everything out. Now's probably when we're going to be interrupted the least." Percy began. My heart rate increased slightly at the thought of confessing my problems.
"What's this about confessing sins?" Leo asked confused.
"In order to enter Apollo's garden our souls have to be pure. Chiron thought it would be best to confess the darkest things on our conscience. I understand that it's difficult, but you all have to remember it's for Camp Jupiter, we don't really have a choice." Annabeth explained to Leo.
"So who's going first?" Frank asked nervously.
"I guess I'll start." Percy offered. Everyone nodded in agreement, no one really wanted to get the ball rolling.
"I have already told Annabeth this, so don't think that she's going to flip out." Percy warned. "Anyway, before the Titan War I had a crush on Rachel. The reason was because deep down I had feelings for Annabeth, but I was too scared to admit them. It didn't help that she constantly defended Luke, and I almost found it easier to be around Rachel, then battling about what I felt towards Annabeth. But I love Annabeth and to be honest I don't know what I'd do without her. She kept me going in Tartarus and she's the only thing I remembered when Hera took my memory. She's what kept me going, she keeps me going. If I lost her I don't know what I'd do. In fact if I was responsible for anyone on this ship getting hurt, I don't know what I'd do. I guess it's because I have a fear of not saving people. I have to help my friends, because without them I probably wouldn't even be here. "
Everyone was silent. Taking in what Percy had said. But the silence was soon broken by Annabeth passionately kissing Percy on the lips.
"Uh guys, Camps to save, secrets to admit too." Jason reminded them. They broke apart slightly red with embarrassment.
"I uh, guess it's my turn." Annabeth mumbled, still a little embarrassed.
"Well uh, as you probably know I always want to do the best I possibly can. The only reason I went on the mark of Athena quest, was to please my mother. I thought I could do something that so many people had failed at before. So, when Percy started hanging out with Rachel, I knew I had feelings for him because I became jealous. I was no longer the best. I have to always be the one with the knowledge, to know what to do, but sometimes I find it hard. I just don't want to disappoint anyone. Especially you Percy. When you went missing all the knowledge I had disappeared and I couldn't cope. It also left me when Luke turned to Kronos. I never loved Luke. When I was younger, I may have had a crush on him but he was the one who saved me. He brought me into this life. Yet I couldn't save him, even with all my knowledge." Annabeth stated. Percy brought her into a one-armed hug. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Piper smiling. Sometimes her Aphrodite side really showed.
"What happened to Luke wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault. He cared for you Annabeth. Even at the end when Kronos was taking over, his care for you overpowered him and it was what saved everyone." Percy comforted her. Annabeth stayed silent for a while. Eventually she nodded, her face filled with a determined expression.
"I guess it's my go." Jason said next.
"I never loved Reyna. I may have thought I did, but I was stupid and I didn't even know what love was. I guess I just wanted to belong somewhere. You see, deep down I've always been jealous of you Percy. You've always belonged, you have a family, a camp that loves you, people who look up to you. My mum went mad and she's now dead. Thalia thought I was dead and is now in the Hunters, so I don't see her as much as I would like to. I was supposedly praetor of camp Jupiter, but even now I don't belong there. I guess what I'm saying is, I want a home. A proper one." Jason said quietly. Everyone was shocked at his secret insecurity. No one had ever seen the vulnerable side of Jason, everyone just knew him as a strong leader.
"You know camp Jupiter don't hate you. Whenever I'm there, there's always someone talking about you." Frank reassured. Jason just nodded weakly.
"Jason, you shouldn't feel like that. I know that whenever I'm with you, I feel safe and like I'm at home." Piper smiled holding his hand.
"Someone get me a bucket." Leo joked, the majority of the room gave him daggers. "Sorry, picking moments has never been my strong point."
"You don't say." Nico smirked.
"Boys concentrate, I guess I'm going next." Piper said.
"This is going to sound awful, but I guess I've always resented my dad in some ways. I hate to admit it but he annoys me. He never appreciates our heritage and I'm the only one he tells Cherokee tales to. Apart from that though, I feel like he's slightly ashamed of his heritage. I feel like it's important to embrace who you are and where you come from, but it's hard when your own father is ashamed. I've always tried to be myself, that's the only way I'm happy, but he's only ever been someone else. Sometimes I just wish he'd retire and leave behind the Hollywood lifestyle he lives, maybe then he could spend more time with me. Maybe he could start acting more like himself." Piper sighed. It showed that even when people apparently lived the 'dream life', with a movie star dad, it didn't always mean they were happy.
"He loves you a lot Pipes." Jason said softly.
"Yeah, I know." Piper replied half-heartedly. Sometimes to believe things, it is better to be told them by the person you want to hear it from.
"Anyway I think it's my turn." Frank spoke up. "This is going to sound weird, especially seeing as it's coming from me, but sometimes I hate where I come from. I mean my Dad's the fricking God of War. Uh please don't get angry at me Dad, but I hate killings things. It makes me feel unclean and like I have an essence of evil inside of me. Yet, both my parents, even my ancestors, were all soldiers of some sort. I hate wars, I resent them. War took my mother away from me. Sometimes I wish I didn't come from such a war obsessed family. Sometimes I wish that my Mum hadn't gone off to fight, maybe then she'd still be with me. Maybe then I could lead a normalish life." Frank stated. His confidence grew the more he got into it.
"Frank your mum may have still been alive but it wouldn't have gotten you out of the prophecy." Annabeth said gently.
"You're not evil. Don't you ever think that! Frank Zhang you are the kindest, most gentlest person I know. Don't you dare think for a minute that you're some bloodthirsty, emotionless warrior because you are not. You are perfect and I love you." Hazel said angrily. Frank looked shocked at her outburst, in fact everyone, including me was.
"You got told Frank." Leo laughed. Yet again the girls stared at him. "Yeah I know, wrong moment. If it makes it any better Frank, you aren't some bloodthirsty beast. You are more like a little panda."
"A panda? Really repair boy?" Frank moaned. For a split second I saw a flicker of pain flash across Leo's eyes, when he heard the nickname. However this pain was soon replaced with laughter.
"Yes a panda, my dear Frank." Leo laughed.
"Guys, are you going to do this every time someone says something." Jason moaned. Leo and Frank both apologised to everyone simultaneously.
"I think I'll go next. Frank, Leo, please don't take any of this in the wrong way." Hazel said nervously.
"The reason I may have liked Leo a little bit when I first saw him, was because he looked like Sammy. The reason I liked Sammy was because of his lack of seriousness and his sense of humour. They made me forget that my mum resented me and that I was the village freak. All because of my mum people hated me. All because of my mum I was given a curse I didn't ask for. All because of my mum, I died. I'm glad that I stopped my mother from going to the Fields of Punishment, but all those years I spent just hovering around, I longed for something more. I'm glad Nico found me, I'm glad I got a second chance. In my first life I didn't really feel like it was mine, but now I'm no longer controlled. I'm happy." Hazel smiled. I couldn't help but smile too. Percy briefly told me about her coming back from the dead, and it was nice to see someone happy after years of hardship. Frank smiled at her and squeezed her hand tightly.
"I think it's still a bit weird you fancied my bisabuelo. But it's great that you're happy and all." Leo said, desperately trying to save himself.
"Seeing as you have so much to say, why don't you go next Leo." Jason suggested.
"Fine, but can I just say that everyone's been diving pretty deep, might need to get out a snorkel soon. Except from you Percy, you're covered." He joked, Jason just glared at him.
"Jeez, tough crowd. Anyway where do I begin on the trĂ¡gica vida de Leo." Leo said dramatically.
"Leo, in the nicest possible way, could you please get on with it." Piper moaned.
"Okay, okay, but I'm not comfortable with this and I don't really know where to begin." He said a little less confident.
"It's hard for everyone, but just think of Camp Jupiter. Start wherever feels right." Percy suggested. Leo nodded and took a moment to think. After a while he took a breath and began.
"I hate fire sometimes. I despise it. I didn't ask for this power and a lot of the time I don't want it. All it's ever brought me is pain. I mean what idiot thought they could give someone the gift of fire. Its can so easily destruct towns, cities, people. Everyday I'm scared that if I sneeze I'll kill someone. I've already lost control before. I killed my Mum. Please don't say it was Gaea's fault, because if I hadn't been so easily wound up she would still be alive. I hate myself every day for what I did to her. Every time I smell smoke it reminds me of what she suffocated on. I don't care that I spent most of my childhood running away. I don't care that my Aunt hated me. I don't care that I'm the seventh wheel, the repair boy everyone relies upon. I deserve to be an outsider, I deserve to be forgotten about or not cared about. Nothing I'm feeling could compare to the pain that I put my mum through." Leo said quietly. He looked down the whole time. Piper and Hazel had tears in their eyes and Jason, Frank, Percy and Annabeth were pale with shock. Nico didn't look overly surprised. I was pretty stunned. I'd just found out why there's such sadness in his brown eyes. Why he's shows flickers of hurt every so often. He covers his pain with humour. Leo looked up, his eyes were slightly shiny but after looking at everyone's reactions he tried to cover it up.
"I also love Miley Cyrus." He joked, trying to break the tension a little.
"Leo, why didn't you say something." Piper demanded.
"Pipes, honestly you don't need to worry about me. I'm okay. Can we just not talk about it now? Besides, I believe its Adriana's turn to confess." He replied, dropping me straight into it. I would have corrected him about calling me Adriana, but after what he just admitted, I didn't think it would be a good time.
"I, uh, I've uh never felt comfortable. Not really, except from when I'm around Phoebe, Annie or my mum. I hate being so socially awkward sometimes. I don't mean to and sometimes it can come across as rude, but I guess I find it hard to trust people. I guess it's down to a lot of things really. Friends who've turned on me, my mum's boyfriends who've been complete dicks to her and me. I hate it, I try to be me, but something always holds me back. I guess that started on a school trip a couple of years back. The school had been given funding so they decided to take us on a trip to Washington to see the White House and stuff. My mum was reluctant to let me go, but in the end agreed. Anyway I was sharing a room with three girls who I thought were my friends. During the third day, there was an incident. One of the girls told the most popular and bitchiest girls on the trip that I didn't like them. Anyway that group of girls confronted me, screamed abuse at me and turned nearly the whole school on me. Ever since then I haven't really had the same confidence. My mum got me through it though and now it's my fault that she's dead. If she hadn't always tried to protect me, maybe she'd still be alive. If I got home a little bit earlier, maybe it could have been me instead of her." I stammered. My eyes were watering just thinking about my mum and those memories, but I heavily blinked; refusing to let them fall.
"Ade, you can trust us. Believe me when I tell you that we've got your back. No one's going to turn on you like those girls did." Annabeth smiled. I nodded, not trusting my voice.
"What you just said got me thinking. Maybe your mum did something similar to what mine did. For years she dated smelly Gabe. I never knew why until I found out that it protected me. His scent masked my scent from monsters." Percy told me. It just made me feel worse. My mum was only putting up with those horrible men for me.
"That's actually quite a smart observation, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth smirked. Percy rolled his eyes back at her.
"Nico, I guess your next." Jason said carefully. He gave him a knowing look which I couldn't quite decipher.
"Jason, please." Nico stated fiercely. Everyone was shocked at Nico's reaction. He was naturally very secretive, but everyone was sure he'd co-operate.
"Come on Nico, people wouldn't judge you. It would be better if this came from you. If you won't tell them, I will." Jason replied, holding his ground.
"What's going on?" Hazel asked confused.
"That's for Nico to tell you." Jason continued to push.
"Jason you can't make me do this." Nico said weakly.
"Okay, but they need to know. Guys Nico's secret is.-"
"No Jason! Fine! I'll tell them." Nico spat angrily. I jumped a little, the guy could be pretty scary.
"I didn't choose any of this! I'm ashamed of how I feel, it's unacceptable. Bianca was the only one who understood me and she's dead. I looked up to you Percy, you were my favourite game, brought to life. So when you took my arm, looked me in the eyes and promised that you'd keep Bianca safe, I believed you. As you can imagine when you told me she was dead I felt angry, betrayed. But still, I couldn't let those skeleton warriors hurt you. I hated you Percy, but most of all I hated myself. I left camp because I couldn't be around you, or her. I was running from my powers and emotions. I didn't choose who I was, I don't choose how I feel. How I feel is unthinkable. I couldn't be around you and Annabeth because it hurt. Because, because, I loved you Percy." Nico's voice was like broken glass. As soon as he spoke the last sentence he ran out of the room, a few tears leaking out of his eyes. Percy looked shocked, in fact the whole table did, excusing Jason.
"I don't know about any of you, but I think that's the bravest thing I've ever seen." Jason stated.
"I-I, never knew. If he told me, we could have talked. Sorted things out. He felt that he had to leave camp because of me." Percy stammered.
"How did you know?" Piper asked Jason, everyone was secretly dying to know.
"When we went after Diocletian's sceptre, we bumped into Cupid. He forced Nico to confess, it was horrible. I felt everything he felt, is feeling. He's so ashamed, he hates himself so much. I told him that we'd all support him no matter what, but he wasn't ready to tell you guys." Jason informed us.
"You were right, we will support him no matter what." Annabeth spoke up.
"I think he needs to hear it himself." Jason advised.
"I'll go talk to him." Percy offered.
"It's probably best if it came from you." Jason nodded. Percy got up swiftly and left the room.
"Uh, if you don't mind, I have to go and check the engine. Wouldn't want us crashing." Leo excused himself getting up.
"Wait Leo, I thought we were going to talk." Piper said.
"Sorry Pipes, it'll have to wait." Leo replied quickly, before running out of the room.
"Maybe we should all just take some time." Annabeth advised, she too got up and left the room. Piper and Jason followed, holding hands, soon followed by Hazel and Frank. I just sat alone in the Mini Mess hall, unsure what to do. I wanted to talk to someone, anyone. Without even realising what I was doing, I got up and walked down to the Engine Room.
