Lily woke up the next morning how no teen ever should; with the sun it her eyes. He growled and rolled over, but knew she couldn't get back to sleep, so she jumped up and got a shower. After fumbling with it and finally figuring out how to turn it on, she actually enjoyed it. The hot water felt really good, soothing her scars, and cleaning off literal eons of pain. She couldn't help but think of her conversation with A.I. the night before. It was weird; she had assumed he was either a total goof-off or genuinely 100 percent insane, but he had almost seemed… normal. Like he understood her pain. The look in his eyes, it was so angry and hurt and concerned all at once. She never thought that he would be capable of showing such genuineness. Once she was finished, she dried off and wrapped herself in a towel, then walked over to the sink, and saw Ayhna had woken up as well, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Water's still hot." Lily informed. Ayahna nodded, stumbling her way to the shower. Lily rolled her eyes. She tried to remember back to when A.I. had first rescued them, and caught them up with the times. She snapped her fingers, remembering they had something called a hair dryer. She grabbed up the weird, almost gun shaped device.

"How does this thing…" She began. Suddenly, she accidentally slid the button to warm. She freaked out and dropped it when it came whirring on, but got used to it pretty quick. She dried her hair, loving how it felt. She got dressed back into her clothes, Ayahna washing all them the night before. The hotel, as they found out it was called, was actually way nicer than they originally believed, and the person at the desk, who turned out to be studying archaeology, accepted their payment of drachma without hesitation. Lily stepped out of the room, and began walking towards where they had come into the place. It was an open arcade area, that connected to the pool and hot tub room. She saw A.I., sitting in the hot tub alone, listening to his music. She almost walked right by, but noticed something that stopped her cold. All over A.I.'s back were scars, just like hers. She walked into the room, hearing him humming along to Detroit Rock City by Kiss. When he saw her out of the corner of his eye, he paused his music, smirking up at her as he got out of the tub. Lily was very surprised he was… ripped. She had never seen him shirtless, and always assumed he was just a twig. He was actually really well built, but she wasn't there to observe his muscles.

"Sup, Lil?" He asked, still smiling, sloshing over to his towel, ruffling it through his honey blonde hair. He snapped his fingers, and was suddenly dry. Lily looked confused, so he explained.

"This is me… 10 minutes into the future." He explained.

"And you can time travel?!" She exasperated.

"Only about 20 minutes either way. But trust me, it is very dangerous to mess with time. But enough about that, what brings you in here?" He asked curiously.

"Your scars." Lily stated. She was never one to pull punches, but could see A.I.'s smirk disappear.

"Yeah… I've got a few here and there. And there. And there." He pointed them out.

"You never told anyone about you. Now I'm starting to think you're avoiding it." Lily prodded. He shrugged.

"Not much to tell. Mom has a baby with a Titan in return for a favor, and King Athens doesn't like it at all. Thinks the kid is a freak, even among half bloods. The kid never becomes a part of the family, his own siblings hate him, and his 'father' abuses him for even existing. So, one day, the kid decides he's had enough, and runs away. First night alone, a monster finds him and runs him through with a spear."

A.I. instinctively touched a scar on his left side, his face contorting in pain.

"Had to cauterize that one… anyways, boy keeps running, until he finds his true calling; mercenary work. Gets caught, meets his new friends, the rest is history." A.I. stood up, cracking his back, smirking for no good reason. He picked up the Ipod, putting in an earbud.

"Wanna go get breakfast? I'm starving!" He admitted. But before he could turn away, she grabbed his arm, A.I. stopping cold. She could feel him tense up, like he knew this was coming.

"What aren't you telling me?" Lily asked concernedly. He turned and looked her in the eyes, his golden orbs seeming more dim than usual. For a moment, he considered telling her that he was going to end up dying in her arms, but decided against it.

"It's nothing, Lily, seriously." He reassured. She growled and rolled her eyes, pushing past him.

"Fine, let's go get some breakfast. Hopefully there's some guts to spill today, I'm getting bored." She grumbled, storming out of the pool area in a huff, A.I. right behind. He placed an earbud back in just in time to hear the beginning of High Voltage by AC DC. He reached into a now-dry pocket in his new trunks, feeling for his drumsticks.

"Crap. Where did I put those?" He whispered to himself. Lily cleared her throat, a coy smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth.

"Looking for something?" She asked. He smiled brightly, waking over.

"Thanks, Lily. Don't know what I would do without these bad boys!" He exclaimed, twirling them both at mach speeds before air drumming away. As A.I. headed to get changed and Lily headed towards the breakfast hall, he was finally left alone with his thoughts. Talking about his past always made him uncomfortable. He got to his room, opening the door and putting on his clothes. He threw on his jacket last, observing himself in the mirror. The jacket, though a bit faded, still looked great. He looked closer with a frown, noticing a rip in the arm, probably from that fight with the gorgon. He snapped his fingers, and the coat slowly became less and less worn, and more like when he had first gotten it at the store, until it looked brand new. Little things were ok to mess with; spilt milk, a stain on a shirt, removing a dent from a car. These were all small, mundane things that, although they really got under the Fates' skin, they wouldn't do anything about. It was big things, like saving a person from getting his by a car that they wouldn't stand for, and to be honest, A.I. understood why. He had see first hand the drastic alterations that one life can cause, and let's suffice it to say the Fates were pretty ticked at him for a while. Shaking that off, he headed down to the hallway to the wafting fragrance of breakfast food, when he accidentally bumped into one of the room service ladies.

"Sorry about that, miss." He apologized, but was frozen in place when he saw her face. Tan skin, with freckles splotched on her cheeks and nose, and those vibrant blue eyes he would never forget. He was suddenly thrown into a memory… one that he was still haunted by.

A.I. couldn't remember much… her face looking frightened and sorrowful… him, looking up and promising to return to her. Then, the part that really blurs; Tartarus. The land beyond the fates, beyond time. He was there alone, only able to go back in time to just before the tiny hole closed shut. He remembers being on a mission… he couldn't remember what or for whom, but what he did remember, he tried not to. The suffocating toxin he would come to call air, the reeking stench of death and sulfur poisoning his lungs, the incessant heat… gods, the heat. He had only one hope; find the fabled secret escape route out of this place. He remembered drinking out of the "river", burning his lungs like acid, and tasting like stale sweat and hopelessness. People could say what they wanted about the Underworld; this place was the true hell. He had trekked for days, then weeks, then months, years… walking until his feet bled… and then continuing. Time slurred together as he felt as though he were under some sort of mind altering drug. The only way for him to stay alive was to turn back time whenever he was almost dead; be it by starvation, dehydration, or the unkillable beasts roaming the lands. This took a toll not only on his body, but in his mind. He remembered clearly sitting underneath a primitive shelter he had constructed, and bursting out into laughter for no good reason at all, and he couldn't stop. His mind had stretched thin, rewinding time and reliving the same empty stomach aching, the same dry lungs and cracked lips, the same death over and over and over…. Many times he almost gave up, hoping that some random creature would just end him already. But, having reversed time to stay alive so many times, and since this place had no Fates to hold him back, his body had adapted to survive that place. Every time he would die, time would reverse and he was still there, still trapped. And yet, he still laughed his was through the place, years of searching. Having reversed time so often, his body was still 15, but his mind was more like 20. He remembered the holy, blessed, unbelievable day when he saw a monster disappear through a tiny "hill". He had found it. He remembered staggering over to the same spot, falling through. The first thing he remembered was the air. He sucked it in greedily, chuckling as tears rolled down his face. He rested for a long while, lying there and sleeping for 2 whole days out in the woods. He found his way to a river, greedily drinking up the water… real water… until his throat hurt. He sat up and realized something horrific: He couldn't remember. His past was a blur, remembering bits and pieces, but he couldn't recall much of anything past his mother and a few choice memories of getting beaten. Yet still he laughed, his mind having been forever broken. He had found his way to a town, and began to heal. After awhile of working on the docks, his mind had healed as much as it ever would. He was functional, and that was the best he could hope for. Time reset as A.I. apologized, remembering someone with the same face as this lady was connected to his time in the Pit. Lily was right; A.I. was avoiding telling her his origin. Because A.I.'s origin story came from the depth of Tartarus.