Changing Fate

Disclaimer: PJO and the characters are owned by Rick Riordan, not me.

AN: Hey! Thanks for the reviews! I have 37 now! (: I hope to have 40 by next update.

Can you believe it's chapter 10? I only started this on the 17th of December. Hope you've enjoyed the story so far. All will soon become clear... (;

Chapter 10- A fortunate turn of events.

"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people." ~Carl Jung

Third Person POV

It had been accomplished. Ethan had gotten rid of Percy Jackson. He should have been proud of himself, should have felt satisfied. But he didn't feel satisfied or proud, he felt restless. Something didn't seem quite right. There was something wrong and he couldn't quite figure out what it was. He didn't know whether it was something in Jackson's history or something he couldn't remember. Ethan felt like it was staring him in the face but he was blind to it. He'd felt like that a lot lately. Like all these things were on the tip of his tongue or the edge of his vision but he couldn't quite summon them up. He found himself pacing back and forth a lot and muttering like a crazy person. He had thought that dealing with Percy would bring an end to his confused, angry feelings and desperate need for revenge. If anything, he just felt more perplexed. The past few weeks had almost been for nothing. Sure, he'd gotten his revenge, but what had that achieved? He wasn't even sure why he'd wanted revenge in the first place. He was determined now that he'd get his memory back and figure out the mess in his head. He'd run out of plans. The only one he had to go by was his original, no matter how flawed it was. He had to hope that he could find a sacrifice that Mneymosyne would actually take. He'd bide his time, watching and waiting for the crescent moon and for the right person to come along. That was his only hope, he didn't know of any other way. He'd go through all the people in New York City to find a sacrifice who would help get his memory back. There were no rules, only experimentation. He didn't care how long it took, how many monsters he had to fight, how many people had to die, he'd get his memories back.

Ethan watched as the sun rose. A new day. A new beginning. There would be no more blind ambition. He'd be careful from now on. He'd plan, double check, triple check if he had to, and he believed that would lead him to success. The morning passed normally, he plotted and researched, locked up in his dark office. The room was dim and cramped with bookshelves covering the walls. The shelves held various volumes of Greek mythology and legends with paper sticking out of random pages. The room was cluttered, the blinds drawn. Papers were stacked high and pens were strew across the floor. The walls had photographs plastered all over them. Some were of Percy, Annabeth or the nurse he'd used as a sacrifice. Others were of Greek mythological monsters or titans. There were also charts and maps and blueprints. Ethan spent almost every waking moment in this room letting his desire to know about his past consume him. He was enthralled by piecing together the different parts of his knowledge. As you can imagine, it frustrated him when he heard his doorbell ring. This was out of order. Nobody bothered him. He was the secretive, mysterious neighbour that people hardly ever saw, the one who people doubted existed. The one everyone stayed away from. He grunted his annoyance and dropped the book he'd been studying to go see who his mid-morning visitor was. Being his ever-thorough self, he made sure he locked the office behind him. Ethan threw open the door, ready to bark rudely at the person who had dared to disturbed him, and almost gasped at the person standing in front of him. Blonde hair, wide gray eyes, fierce expression, it was Annabeth. She was the last person he expected. Then it all came back to him. The apologetic note, the address. He'd almost vomited at how sincere he'd had to be. He pulled his face into a kind expression.

"Annabeth!" he smiled widely,"You came!"

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and unsure.

"Can I come in?"

Ethan let the young woman into the house and sat her down on the couch.

He took a deep breath and readied himself to begin his long, pre-rehearsed apology speech "Thank you for coming so quickly-"

"You don't have to apologize, Ethan. You can't hurt me that easily. I'm not a china doll." Annabeth spoke bitterly, the kind of bitter that is on the edge of hatred. The kind of bitterness Ethan appreciated.

"You seemed distraught-" he started.

"I was distraught, but not angry. Not at you."

"Why are you here, then?" This woman was starting to confuse Ethan. She wasn't like your usual girl. She was complicated, troubled, a puzzle to be solved. Ethan liked puzzles.

"I've realized things in the past few days..."

Ethan pulled out his best acting skills, "Is everything okay, Annabeth? You know you can tell me. We've been through a lot together."

Annabeth looked at him strangely. He smiled wider, panicking on the inside that he'd said the wrong thing. He had no recollection of his past experiences with Annabeth, all he remembered was that Percy loved her. She shook her head like she was trying to clear it.

"I don't need you sympathy, Ethan. I don't deserve anyone's sympathy."

"So, why are you here?" Ethan let some of his impatience through without meaning to and he saw something undefinable flash in her eyes.

"I don't... I'm not actually sure." Annabeth said, frowning. She blinked a few times and winced like she was dazed.

"Are you okay?"

"I feel a little strange..." she mumbled

"Perhaps you should head home."

The woman chuckled dazedly, "Home?"

"You're homeless?" For someone who was usually good at predicting things, Ethan hadn't seen that one coming.

"Not exactly. I just can't go back home right now."

"Do you need a place to stay?" he asked, praying she'd say what he wanted.

"I don't know that I'd feel comfortable intruding..."

"Really, it's no problem. It's the least I could do."

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"It's fine." he told her. It was fine, more than fine, it was great. Ethan wondered if she knew she was playing right into his hands. She actually wanted to move in with him. Damn, how stupid could you get? He wasn't complaining though, this unexpected turn of events could work in his favour. It pleased him a little more beyond that, but he didn't quite know how.

"Thanks." No, thought Ethan, Thank you.

"No problem. You're welcome anytime."

Annabeth sat on the couch and fiddled with the zip of her duffel bag. Ethan sat silently across from her, studying her while she wasn't paying attention. She was pretty, you had to be a fool to miss that. Shining hair, angelic features and those intelligent gray eyes. They didn't sparkle like they had before she'd known about Percy's death. They were troubled and stormy. She was still stunning, but more in the way the pieces a broken vase may be stunning. Each of the pieces may still have a lovely pattern on them, but they just aren't whole, they don't quite show the complete picture. For some strange reason, he felt the desire to see the parts whole again...

He had to give her credit for keeping her head high and putting on a brave face. She was never one to give up. Ethan still saw through it all, saw how forced her smiles were, how hard it was for her to hold her composure, how much effort she put into laughing convincingly. Yes, this woman was shattered inside. He didn't feel sympathy, that wasn't something he felt. After all, sympathy led to regrets, and regrets led to remorse, and remorse led to giving in. He wasn't giving in, he'd killed Percy Jackson for a reason- sure, he might not have known quite what that reason was- but it was still a reason and he refused to let himself regret what he'd done.

"Uh... Ethan?"

Ethan blinked and brought himself back to reality. He realized he'd been staring at Annabeth. That wasn't like him, he was usually cool, calm and collected. He didn't get lost in his thoughts and stare at pretty girls like a fool. He could have slapped himself, what was wrong with him?

"Sorry, Annabeth, I was... lost in thought."

"Yeah, I could tell." he lip twitched up in the corner because she was amused. Ethan felt like and idiot, she must think I'm a joke. Wait, why did he care what she thought of him? She was a tool, she was there to be used and thrown away, not thought of like a friend- or more that.

"I'll- I'll go, um, make up the spare... Uh... bed." Ethan stuttered, wishing he could getbthe words out properly. This was business, nothing else, so why did he feel so tongue tied?

"Alright." her eyebrows were raised slightly, like she was slightly shocked but also entertained. For a few seconds she didn't look as broken as before. Despite himself, Ethan felt a little pleased. Dispelling the feeling, he marched out of the room quickly. When he was in the spare room, he closed the door behind him. He put his hands to his temples and made circular motions. What was going on in his head? He held the heel of his hand to his forehead, he felt like an idiot. Generally, he could string sentences together smoothly and influence people with his charm. With Annabeth around, he found himself tripping over his words and struggling to think straight.

"I'm just tired." he mumbled to himself. He had been staying up till all hours in his study. This was all just exhaustion, his brain just needed a rest. He'd sleep all this off and tomorrow he'd be all business.

The bed was already made, he noticed, and so he walked back out into the living room. Annabeth was gazing out the window and the sky. The clouds were gathering and the sky was turning gray, a similar gray to her eyes. She turned around when she heard his footsteps.

"It's done already?" She asked curiously.

Ethan scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Uh... Yeah."

Annabeth looked at him expectantly when he didn't go on.

"Are you going to show me to the room or what?"

"Oh- right. This way."

Soon enough, she had dumped her blue duffel bag on the black bedcovers and flopped down on the mattress.

"So, hope it's all okay. I have work to do... Uh, i'll leave you to it." Ethan said, once again kicking himself for his inarticulateness.

"What kind of work do you do? I thought you lost your job at the hospital?"

Ethan could have smashed his head against a wall. Of course, he'd written in his letter that he didn't have a job yet.

"I work off the computer, you know, boring stuff. Kind of complicated, I won't bore you with it. You mightn't even get it."

"Try me."

"Uh... I help program the databases to assist in the reboot of antivirus applications and digital bluetooth programs." Ethan told her, rattling off all the computer jargon he knew.

"Right..."

"Yeah, very complicated. Takes a lot of time, you know? That's why I have to start straight away."

Ethan walked as fast as he could away from the awkward situation, leaving a slightly mystified Annabeth sprawled on the bed. Things were getting a little complicated.

Yay! Chapter 10 is done!

What did you think, was it a little unexpected?

Somehow, I really enjoy writing Ethan's chapters. He's the bad guy, does that make me a little twisted? Though, I thought Ethan seemed a little more normal in this chapter... if your definition of normal is confused, strange and ever so slightly evil.

Next chapter, we'll meet a few 'new' characters and see what Annabeth thinks of staying at Ethan's house.

Please let me know your thoughts, and just wait and see what happens.

I have lots planned... Hee hee hee. (god... I sound like and evil pixie when I laugh like that...)

Bye (:

P.S. Chap 11 will be longer, I promise.