Title Of Mohawk Braids and Thieves
Rating M
Warnings Violence, language, mental health issues, psychological torture, underage drinking, and some questionable humor.
Disclaimer See chapter one. I don't own the songs Solara sings.
Notes I'm so sorry that this is a day late. I was having an anxiety attack all morning yesterday, and by the time I got off of work, I had no desire to do anything except sleep. Also, to everyone who I told that some of their answers were going to be in the next update, yeah, sorry, make it the next one.

Huge thanks to jymmie00, AFireflyInSerenity, Tashio, Wynterfox89, Azulish, and daria081 for reviewing, following, and favoriting. You guys are the best! :)

Songs Solara sings:
It Ends Tonight by All American Rejects
Stars by Skillet
Coat of Arms by Jonathan Thulin
Graveyard by Jonathan Thulin

Chapter Ten
and it's like the fog has lifted

About ten minutes in Annabeth got tired of her bitching and told her to just take her clothes off so that she'd dry off faster. Solara just shrugged and did as suggested. She wasn't as cold as she thought she'd be, but wet jeans would always be uncomfortable, and wet skinny jeans were just double the amount of annoying. So she sat in the boat in her bra and panties and laid her wet clothes out as much as she could. She also tossed a clean shirt over Percy's face just in case he woke up before she got dressed again.

"So, why were you moved into cabin three?" Annabeth asked her.

Solara looked up from digging in her bag. "Percy didn't tell you?" she asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "And neither did any of the year-rounders, they all said that when Poseidon claimed you, you wouldn't tell them why."

"It wasn't their business," Solara said, "And I was actually kind of irritated with the way things had happened... Not that I wasn't grateful for getting out of cabin eleven, if only so that I could actually sleep in a bed again, but um... I have a soul-mate as it turns out." She shrugged at Annabeth and was about to go back to her bag when she spoke again.

"But that isn't –"

"Triton," Solara said, "Triton and I are platonic soul-mates, and because Apollo, daddy dearest, wouldn't claim me, Poseidon did."

"Why didn't you..." Annabeth trailed off and shook her head.

"It wasn't their business," Solara repeated, "I'm not ashamed, but can you imagine how everyone would treat me after they found out? They'd have acted like I was going to destroy everyone if they so much as looked at me weird." Solara shook her head. "I didn't want that, and if the price I paid for that was just a diluted form of that paranoia, then I'd happily deal with that."

Annabeth nodded slowly. "I can kind of understand that," she said.

Solara mentally scoffed at that. Annabeth might be able to imagine a situation like hers, but until you live it, your imagination just doesn't cut it. "Why ask me anyway?" she asked and pulled out a dry pair of skinny jeans from her bag.

"I was curious," Annabeth admitted with a shrug.

Solara snorted and then shimmied into her jeans. This was the last time she ever got dressed in a rowboat, it really was harder than what she was making it look. "Of course you were," she muttered and snatched the shirt off of Percy's face. She pulled the shirt over her head and glared at Annabeth. "It really isn't your business either, if I'm going to be honest here."

Annabeth sighed. "You really don't like it when people ask you semi-personal questions, do you?" she asked.

"Not really," Solara said, "But I'm a very paranoid person who's been stalked for the last three years in my sleep... Dammit, I wasn't actually going to go there." She shook her head to stop Annabeth from saying anything. "The titan Lord of Time," she said sarcastically, "He's become obsessed with getting me on his side... as if I were stupid enough to do that." she choked back the 'again' that should have been on the end of that sentence.

Annabeth nodded, but she didn't say anything, which Solara was happy about. She had kept all the secrets she did for so long, and now here she was telling a lot of people a lot of different things. Things that she had usually kept to herself.

If she jumped again, she wasn't sure that she'd handle it well.

"How many times have you done this?" Annabeth asked a few minutes later.

"This war?" Solara asked in an attempt to stall, "Or this... adventure?"

"This war."

"Oh," Solara nodded and tried to think of something that wasn't overly sarcastic to say. "This would be the fifth time." She looked away from Annabeth, she really hoped that she wouldn't continue down this line of questioning.

"Why do you..." Annabeth trailed off awkwardly.

"Jump?" Solara finished for her, "I honestly have no idea. I have a theory, but I don't actually know, and there isn't really anyone for me to ask."

"Keep trying," Annabeth said, "I was going to ask why you keep trying."

Solara's gaze snapped back to Annabeth. "Because I care," she said, "Because it's the right thing to do. Because if I don't, then I jump anyway. Because of the crushing sense of guilt I get when I try to walk away." She shrugged at Annabeth's shocked look. "Pick one, hell, pick all of them, but the end result doesn't change. I'm still here, I'm still fighting, and maybe I don't know how to do anything else, but I choose to stay... and I choose to keep trying, because as much as I might say that I want to walk away... I never can, and a part of me never wants to."

"Have you ever been able to change anything?" Annabeth asked.

"Some," Solara said, "But it ended in more deaths than there should have been,so I'm never doing that again."

Annabeth winced and nodded. "Fair," she said, "So you've always gone on this 'adventure' then?"

"Okay, so I'm attempting again," Solara admitted, "But last time..." She sighed and shook her head. "If I told you how I tried the first time, then you'd never trust me again... If you even trust me at all now."

"You loved him," Annabeth said, then she glanced over at Percy to make sure that he was still out. "Luke," she clarified, "You loved Luke, and you thought that you needed to help him –"

"And I was wrong," Solara cut in, "I thought that by staying with him, helping him, was the way that I could stop the jumping, but it didn't... and all I was left with was a mountain of guilt that turned into depression and PTSD." She sighed again. "I am going to say this once, and then I'm never going to say it again... I regret doing everything I did when I chose that side, because I turned myself into a monster when I did that, but I can't regret my reasons. I'll admit that not all of them were good, or even right, but I can't regret them." she shrugged at Annabeth's shocked look. "They call us 'heroes'," she said with a sarcastic smile, "But heroes don't truly exist... and maybe if they do, then I certainly wouldn't be one of them."

They both fell silent after that. Annabeth because she was busy thinking about everything that Solara had said, and Solara because she didn't want to have to talk about anything else. Confessing everything she had had made her twitchy. Triton had been one thing, because she had known that while he might have been disappointed in her past choices, he also had known that she wasn't going to make the same choices again. She hadn't had to worry about his reaction, because he'd never turn his back on her. She hoped that Annabeth continued to see that she was on the same side as her.

A little while later Percy woke up. He groaned as he tried to sit up so Solara pushed him back down.

"Rest," she said, "Your head was hit pretty hard."

"Tyson?" he asked, but he stayed down so Solara was happy about that.

Solara and Annabeth traded looks.

"I'm really sorry Percy," Annabeth said and shook her head. "He may have survived," she said after a few minutes, "Fire can't kill him."

"Solara?" Percy asked looking at her.

She sighed. "Anything is possible," she said not looking at either one of them. She knew that Tyson survived, but watching that boat explode had made her doubt what she knew. How could anyone or anything survive that?

Solara shook her head and shifted so that she was lying down. She knew that Percy and Annabeth would wake her up once they were close to Circe's island, so she wanted to sleep a bit. The other two seemed to know what she wanted to do, and neither seemed to want to talk anyway. She fell asleep pretty quickly, so at least she didn't have to deal with her thoughts going in circles for very long.

*~S~*

Solara woke a few hours later to Percy gently shaking her shoulder.

"There's an island up ahead," he said when she opened her eyes.

"Fantastic," she said and sat up with a groan, "I'd kill to get out of this boat, it's way too small for three people for longer than four hours."

Annabeth snorted. "You got that right," she muttered.

Solara smothered a laugh as they waited for the current to drag their boat into the harbor. She also put the now empty thermos into her bag along with the baggie of ambrosia. She thought about taking the bottle of multivitamins, but she figured that with Circe's magic, it would be better for them to be more accessible than what putting them in her bag would make them.

Finally the boat made it to the docks and they were able to get out of it. Solara sighed in relief when she was finally able to stand up and stretch her legs. She stood behind Percy and Annabeth as they talked to the young woman who had been waiting for them to get off of the boat.

"First time at spa," she said cheerfully as she wrote on her clipboard.

Solara tried to keep the disbelieving look off of her face, but when Annabeth's glance turned into a glare, she figured that she failed. Not that she cared all that much, the other two would figure out that they weren't staying soon enough. Gods, she hated quests, why was she here again?

Oh, right, to help.

Fat lot of help she'd been so far.

Solara sighed, squeezed her eyes shut, and pinched the bridge of her nose. She wasn't sure if those thoughts were hers, the magic that saturated the island they were on, or if they were because her mads were leaving her system. If there was only one important thing that Hermes had forgot to pack for her, then it just bloody well had to be her anti-depressants. Then again, it had looked like Hermes hadn't actually packed anything extra in her bag.

'Dammit,' she thought as she followed behind the others, 'That damn spell that Hecate put on my bag. I forgot the even a god couldn't get into my bag without my permission... and my pills were on the nightstand.' She shook her head slightly, so she couldn't blame anyone for not having her pills. That was fine, she didn't want to be pissed at Hermes anyway.

Solara blinked an shook her thoughts away when they finally got to where Circe was. She was having difficulty focusing on what was going on around her, and she hoped that she'd get to take another nap soon. She found herself leaning on Annabeth for support as they were being given a tour of the spa after Percy had been taken by Circe for 'personal help'.

Wasn't he going to get turned into a guinea pig? She couldn't remember.

The next thing she knew she was in a room with Annabeth and they were getting changed into sleeveless dresses. Annabeth's was white with gold embroidery, and hers was a dark green with more gold embroidery. Solara stuffed her clothes into her bag and gestured for Annabeth to do the same. She muttered that Hecate had made it for her during a previous jump and that it was bottomless when Annabeth hesitated.

Then they left the room and were pushed into chairs, and then were practically attacked with make-up and hair products. Annabeth looked vaguely uncomfortable, but Solara was digging her nails into her palms trying to keep calm. It hadn't felt like much time had passed, but she knew that time could pass differently in magic heavy, or monster infested areas. She wondered if that was the reason that the side effects of going off of her pills were hitting her faster than she thought that they should have.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked her quietly when they were on their way back to Circe and Percy.

"'Okay' is relative," Solara muttered, "And a useless term because it can mean different things to different people."

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine."

"I haven't had my meds since we left camp," she muttered, "And the meds I'm on are not just ones that you can stop taking. They wean people off of meds for a reason."

"Why weren't they in your bag?" Annabeth asked.

"Because aside from being bottomless, my bag is spelled so that no one can get into it without my permission... Not even a god," she added when Annabeth looked ready to point out that Hermes wasn't exactly powerless. "He probably didn't know about the pills. I keep my bag travel ready, and I keep my pills in my nightstand drawer."

"What do you keep in your bag?" Annabeth asked changing the subject.

"Clothes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, some soap, tampons, ambrosia, an extra dagger, a few water bottles, and some food stuff." She grinned at Annabeth's shocked look. "A couple of oranges, maybe an apple or two if I know that I'm going to eat them soon, but mostly different types of granola and protein bars. Also some Fiber One cookies because I have a serious sweet tooth."

"Wow," Annabeth muttered looking slightly impressed, "You really embrace the boy scouts motto."

Solara rolled her eyes and snorted. "I needed to," she said, "But I was actually a girl scout if you must know... Girl scouts are cooler, and we have cookies."

"Delicious cookies," Annabeth agreed.

"They are, aren't they?" Solara smiled over at Annabeth.

Annabeth nodded seriously, but they fell silent after that.

A few more things were pointed out to them on their way, including the library, which impressed Solara as much as it impressed Annabeth. As cool as it was, she still wanted to get off of the island. So she dragged Annabeth out and reminded her that they needed to meet back up with Percy. Annabeth willingly followed her out after that.

"You turned my brother into a guinea pig?" Solara asked slightly annoyed once they made it back to the room that they had left Percy in with Circe. "Allow me to express my rage about that."

Circe gave her a patronizing smile. "You'll be happier without needing to worry about him," she said, "You both could stay here and learn sorcery."

"Magic's not really my thing," Solara muttered, "I can light things on fire, but that's about where my talents end."

Annabeth elbowed her sharply in the ribs. Solara took the hint and kept her mouth shut. Then Annabeth began to sweet talk Circe. She somehow got Circe to give them a minute alone with Percy to say goodbye. Circe locked them in the room with no way to escape, but she did leave them alone.

Solara flinched when the door slammed shut behind the sorceress, but she immediately began looking around Percy's clothes. She darted over to where she saw the edge of a pant leg sticking out from underneath the loom. She pulled out the bottle of multivitamins, and it took her the rest of the minute they had, but she got the cap off and poured some of them out into her hand. She handed one to Annabeth and had just put one into her mouth when the door opened again.

Solara let Annabeth confront Circe, and she stayed silent with both hands behind her back. She edged backwards towards the cage that had the guinea pigs in it, and prayed that no one asked her what she was doing. Thankfully they were busy staring at Annabeth who had her knife at Circe's throat. So when she turned suddenly and dumped her handful of vitamins into the cage, no one could stop her.

She quickly backed away knowing that the cage was going to explode.

"No!" Circe shrieked, "Those were the trouble ones... You have no idea what you just did!"

Solara ignored her and she pulled Annabeth up and over to the side. They watched the cage explode, and suddenly Percy was back to normal, along with several pirates. She blinked in surprise at the pirates, but they paid no attention to her. Other than answering Annabeth when she questioned who one of them was, they ignored them and went after Circe and her attendants.

"I was not expecting that," Solara muttered and walked back over to her bag. She had dropped it when she had grabbed the bottle of vitamins. "Either way though," she said and turned back around to look at Percy and Annabeth, "We should probably get out of here."

"Agreed," Percy said.

Annabeth pulled the rest of the gold from her hair and threw it to the ground. She nodded her agreement, and then they ran for it.

"What ship should we take?" Solara asked when they reached the docks.

"That one," Percy said, pointing to a large wooden ship with sails.

Solara shrugged and ran behind Percy and Annabeth. They were climbing up the side when the pirates caught sight of them. "Crap," she muttered, "Climb faster," she called up to the others. Another minute and they were standing on the deck staring at each other uselessly.

"Now what?" Solara and Annabeth asked at the same time.

"Mizzemast!" Percy said suddenly.

Solara and Annabeth traded looks. Solara had to admit that as much as she trusted Percy, she was wondering if this was a brief break from reality. Not that she blamed him, their lives were currently sucking. Then the ship responded, the rigging and sails were moving on their own. She looked back over at Percy mildly impressed.

"Okay, this is pretty cool," she told him with a grin.

"It really is," Annabeth added.

Percy grinned back at them, and the ship lurched away from the docks just as the pirates got there.

*~S~*

"One of the few to visit Tartarus, and escape with your life."

Solara sighed and sat down on a rock facing away from Kronos. "Yep," she said, "And you keep dragging me down here... Is it really any wonder that I hate you for that alone?"

He snorted and came over to sit down on a rock directly in front of her. "I don't care about your feelings," he sneered.

"I noticed," she muttered.

"Why were you down here?" he asked.

"Nope," she said, "If you want to know, then you'll need to go digging through my memories again... Except you can't, can you?" Solara smirked at him. "I figured that out by the way. You can only fuck around with my memories that have been blocked, and the others you can't mess with."

"A side-effect of you being a jumper," he said calmly, but she heard the edge of anger in his voice, "I assure you, were you normal, you would not stand a chance against me."

"Probably," Solara agreed, "But I'm still not telling you anything."

"Why were you down here?" he asked again.

"Because someone pushed me down a hole," she said sarcastically.

"Interesting," he muttered, "That was the truth."

Solara shrugged. "It's not information that you can use."

Kronos shook his head, or at least that was what it looked like to her. Shadows were hard to read. "Maybe," he said, "But I'm more interested in why you just told me."

"It was your son," Solara said, "In a universe where jumpers made him more paranoid that he usually is, and then I got stuck down here with you." She glared at him. "I'll admit, I'm only telling you this because you can't use it. Even if you tried to get someone to tell your kids about this, the only thing it would tell them, is exactly what not to do."

"You were on my side," Kronos said.

"I wasn't," she said, "I got out before this all started."

"You were," he insisted, "Maybe not for the reason that I would have liked, or even wanted, but you were on my side during your stay in that universe."

Solara glared at him. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, "I mean, you know that there is no way that I'd choose you."

she got the feeling that he was smirking at her. "But you did once."

*~S~*

Solara woke with a gasp.

It took a few minutes, but she eventually calmed down enough to look around. She was laying in a hammock in the crew's quarters. She glanced over to Annabeth laying in another hammock next to her. She groaned and rolled out of the hammock, and then she stumbled her way up to the deck.

"Hey," she muttered to Percy when she saw him, "Tell me something, how in the bloody hell did you get Voldemort to leave you alone?" She walked over to where he was at the helm, and leaned against the railing that was closest to him. "No, really," she said when he looked at her in confused surprise, "How do I get him to leave me alone already?"

"Kro –"

"No!" she said quickly, glaring at him, "Haven't you learned by now? Names have power, and if you say it here, then that only gives him more power."

"How?" he asked.

"This entire area is flooded with magic," she said, "The more magic in an area where names are invoked, them the more power behind the invoking." She shook her head in irritation, "And now I'm really pissed that you never saw the orientation film." She looked back over at him. "Now, Voldemort?"

"He left me alone," Percy said, "After trying to have me killed."

Solara frowned. "Damn," she muttered, "That doesn't help."

"Is he talking to you in your sleep?" Percy asked.

"Yep," she said with a sigh, "And he won't leave me alone. I thought he was going to after what he did to me last year." She shrugged and shook her head. "But nope... He's still trying to get me to tell him what's going to happen during this war."

"So there is going to be an actual war?" Percy asked.

"Of course there is," Solara scoffed, "Given the people involved, there was always going to be a war."

Percy nodded, but before he could say anything Annabeth came up on deck. Percy looked at her as if silently asking if she wanted to keep the conversation between them. She nodded and smiled at him gratefully before she walked far enough away so that Percy and Annabeth could talk in private.

Solara leaned against the railing and looked out over the water. It was late, or early depending on how you looked at it, and even though the moon was bright, for her there really wasn't enough light to see by. She could just barely hear the hum of Percy and Annabeth's voices, and a part of her wondered what they were talking about, but she got the feeling that it was none of her business.

"Now I'm on my own side, it's better than being on your side. It's my fault when you're blind, it's better that I see it through your eyes. All these thoughts locked inside, now you're the first to know." This song was kind of depressing to her, but with her moods the way they were right now, at least all she was doing was singing and not anything else.

"All American Rejects?" Annabeth asked as she walked up and leaned against the railing next to her. "That's kind of depressing."

"Probably," Solara agreed.

"Percy went to lay down for a bit," Annabeth said, "He's pretty sure that the ship will keep going on it's own while he sleeps."

"Useful," Solara said, "You ever get envious of all of the powers that kids of the Big Three can have?"

Annabeth snorted. "More than I'd like to admit to," she said with a small grin, "Don't get me wrong, I like my mom, but it'd be kind of cool if I could throw lightning like Thalia could."

"Or heal yourself by jumping in water like Percy can?" Solara asked.

"That would definitely be cool," Annabeth said.

"It'd be cooler if he could heal others with it like Katara could," Solara said with a grin.

Annabeth nodded. "Oh yeah, that would be awesome."

One of the funnier lines popped into her head, and she burst out laughing. "And this is Katara, my flying sister," she said when Annabeth gave her a confused look.

Annabeth laughed as well. "My first girlfriend turned into the moon," she said when she had calmed down a bit.

"That's rough buddy," Solara finished.

They managed to look each other in the eye for about five seconds before they cracked up laughing.

"It is my firm belief," Solara said when they both had calmed down, "That that show is pure gold."

"It wasn't bad," Annabeth said.

Solara gave her a brief judging look. "I am not Toph," she said, "I am MELONLORD!"

"Okay," Annabeth laughed, "It was great! But we should probably stop so that Percy can sleep."

Solara snickered and nodded. "Sounds fine with me."

They walked back over to the helm just in case they had to steer the ship themselves. They talked a bit, not really about anything in particular, it was just so that they had something to fill the silence with. They eventually ran out of safe topics though, and neither wanted to go into anything heavy so they lapsed into silence.

"Do you know any happy songs?" Annabeth asked about ten minutes into their shared silence.

"Sure," Solara said, "But most of them are Christian though."

"Seriously?" Annabeth asked, shocked.

"Yep," Solara nodded, "The others are from musicals."

"Huh," Annabeth muttered, "You don't look like the type to listen to Christian music."

Solara grinned and began to sing. "Your love has called my name. What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear? Your love has called my name. What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear? If you can hold the stars in place, you can hold my heart the same. Whenever I fall away, whenever I start to break. So here I am lifting up my heart. If you can calm the raging sea, you can calm the storm in me. You're never too far away, you never show up too late. So here I am lifting up my heart, to the one who holds the stars. You're the one who holds the stars." She sighed. "Okay, that was more hopeful than happy, but that's close enough, yes?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Close enough," she agreed, "It was good too."

"Thanks," Solara said, "I think that John and Jen sang it better though."

"Original artists?"

"Yeah, the band's called Skillet."

"Got another song?"

Solara laughed. "Yeah," she said, "I've got all of the songs." she thought for a minute before one popped into her head. "Got one, it's still Christian, but not as obvious."

She cleared her throat and began to sing again. "The air is cold tonight, there's gunpowder in my eyes. This is the eve of battle, yes. I left my other life behind, all I can see is the front line. This is the eve of battle." She tossed Annabeth a grin, the part of 'I left my other life behind' really fit her situation. She then decided to skip to the second verse. "The drummer boy's getting ready. I'm trying to keep my hands steady. This is the dawn of battle, yes. I've never been this afraid. Forgot my family and my name. This is the dawn of battle." Solara again decided to skip the chorus. "Every second counts as the clock ticks back and forth. Time is running out, tell me do you know for sure, who you are, 'cause you only have one life to live. You only have one life to live." Now it was time for the chorus, and at the last second she added in the pre-chorus as well. "Is this real? This cause that I'm fighting for. Am I real? I don't know anymore. What do I stand for? Am I left, am I right? Am I up and down, am I east, am I west? Do I wear the crown, is my creed worth dying for? What do I live for? Can you tell on my face what my heart beats for? Do the words that I speak show it to the core? Does my glow outshine the stars? Can you see my coat of arms?" Solara was slightly out of breath towards the end, but she was grinning. She honestly loved that song, and it fit her life so well that hearing it or singing it comforted her.

"Wow," was all Annabeth said, "I mean... wow. Just the emotion that you put into that. It was amazing."

Solara laughed. "Again, the original artist was better."

"I doubt that," Annabeth said, "But I'll agree for now."

"Want to hear something else by him? Solara asked, "It won't be as positive, but still a great song."

"Sure, the silence here is creepy."

Solara snorted, but began to sing again. "Love is but a word that you use against me. I've licked every wound, trying to rid myself of all this residue. You left a trace I can't erase, and time and time again. I fell for it." Again she skipped to the second verse. "Time heals every bruise, or so they say. But I'm left feeling used. Trying to bargain with the sense that I have left. You shot a hole, I can't ignore and time and time again. I fell for it. Can you tell me when we both began to fall? Do you lose any sleep over this at all? Now you tell me that it's time to move along. Well I'm gone, now I'm just another headstone in your graveyard. Can you raise me from the dead, and lay my heart to rest, so that I can love again?" She repeated the last line a few times before she sang the chorus again.

"Again, all I can say is wow," Annabeth said.

Solara laughed again at that. "Thanks," she said, "But I'm pretty sure that half of that is due to the song choices."

Annabeth shrugged. "Does it matter? You still earned that 'wow'."

Solara smiled at her. "Thanks," she said.

They talked for a few more hours after that. Solara gave a mini, personal concert towards the end. Then they realized that they were getting close to the Sirens. Annabeth told Solara that she wanted to hear their song, while Solara thought that she was insane, she agreed to help her. They woke Percy and told him the plan. He agreed reluctantly, but he got up and helped them all the same.

Solara and Percy stopped up their ears with candle wax, and then they tied Annabeth to the mast of the ship. Solara was really uncomfortable watching Annabeth tied up as she was, and she turned away from her before they even got into range of the Sirens. She could see Percy shifting uncomfortably out of the corner of her eye, and she knew that Annabeth could now hear the song.

Eventually Percy looked away from Annabeth as well. That was their first mistake.

The second was not disarming Annabeth so that couldn't cut herself free.

Solara glanced over at the mast first. Her eyes widened when she saw an empty mast and cut ropes lying on the floor of the deck. She darted over to Percy, and gestured to the mast when she got his attention. She watched his expression change from shock to horror, and then he turned back to her.

"Stay here." She wasn't sure if he was mouthing the words to her, or if he was actually saying them, but she guessed that in the end it really didn't matter. "I'll go after her."

Solara nodded quickly, and the next thing she knew Percy was diving off of the side of the ship. She ran over and gripped the railing tightly. She knew that Percy would save Annabeth, but waiting after seeing at least one of them dive into dangerous, trap infested water was not her idea of fun. She tried to keep her breathing steady as the ship kept sailing past the island, but she only relaxed after she saw Percy and Annabeth break the surface.

She went over to where the ladder was and helped Annabeth back up, and then turned back to help Percy as well. Once Percy was back on her side of the railing she went over and sat next to Annabeth. She held out a hand to her to let her know that she was there to help her. She had expected Annabeth to maybe hold her hand, or even lean against her, but Annabeth shocked her by throwing herself at Solara and wrapping her arms around her. Not one to deny a hysterical person some comfort, Solara just wrapped her own arms around Annabeth and hugged her back.

Annabeth calmed down a few minutes later and pulled back. She looked Solara in the eye and mouthed 'safe' at her.

Solara nodded and pulled the candle wax earplugs out of her ears. She had actually found the lack of sound really weird, and she hoped that she never had to do that again. The wax had also just plain felt weird when it was in her ears.

"Feel awkward?" Annabeth asked with a weak smile.

"Little bit," Solara said.

"You okay?" Percy asked as he walked over to them and sat down facing them.

Solara would have gotten up and let them talk by themselves, but even though Annabeth wasn't hugging her anymore, she was still leaning against her. So she listened awkwardly as they talked about what the sirens had made Annabeth see. She snorted in amusement when Percy confused hubris with hummus, but she kept silent until Annabeth asked them if they too wanted to start everything over, and build it better than before.

"Me ruling the world would be bad," Percy said shaking his head.

"Haha, nope," Solara said when they both looked at her, "I've screwed up with this war four times already... there is no way any sane person would leave me in charge of anything for longer than an hour."

Percy snorted in amusement. "Tell us how you really feel Solara," he said.

"Everything would be on fire ten minutes into that hour," she said mock-seriously, "Then what would we all do?"

"Well," Percy said with a grin, "I'll make sure that I'll take some fire eating classes before then."

The three of them laughed at that.

"In all seriousness though," Annabeth said when they all calmed down. "You guys are lucky your fatal flaw isn't hubris."

Solara raised her hand. "Stubbornness with a dash of Personal Loyalty," she said unafraid and unashamed of the fact.

"I wasn't aware that stubbornness was on the list," Annabeth said.

Solara shrugged. "It's on my list."

"No," Percy said, "I get that... Stubbornness works for her, because of the jumps."

"Thanks," Solara said dryly, "You fill my heart with warmth because of your words."

"I don't know Percy," Annabeth said, a joking tone to her voice now, "I think that Solara's sarcasm is her fatal flaw."

Percy snickered and nodded. "You're probably right," he said.

"Rude," Solara huffed, but she wasn't actually mad. If joking about her sarcasm helped Annabeth, then she'd deal.

"What's my fatal flaw?" Percy asked a second later.

"No idea," Annabeth said after Solara shrugged uncomfortably, "But every hero has one."

"Learning to control that part of you is actually harder than figuring it out, or even admitting that that's what it is," Solara added.

"So do you feel wiser?" Percy asked Annabeth.

"I don't know," she admitted, "But we have to save camp, and if we don't stop Luke..."

No one wanted to add to or finish that thought. Then they all stood up to hopefully ignore their thoughts of what was going on. Solara saw Annabeth's eyes widen, and she turned to look where Annabeth was staring.

"What the hell... we made it," she muttered.

"Time to save Grover, and get the fleece," Percy said.

"Agreed," Solara and Annabeth said.

End Notes Longest chapter so far! It comes in at 6.1k, hope you guys liked it. :)

The chapter title comes from the song 'I See the Light' from Tangled.

Please leave something friendly on your way out. :D