A/N- c'mon people. If you read this story at all, review and please answer the question- Do you want a quest? And how's the story doing? Here's chapter 11. It will contain at least one POV change. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- I'm running out of creative ways to do this, so I hired Malcolm! Take it away, Malcolm!

Malcolm: smartone101 does not own the characters of this story, nor does she own the word a, or the word the, or-

Smartone101:you know I hired you because I thought you'd actually do a competent job right?

Malcolm:-or the word or, or the word-

Smartone101: Whatever. On with the story.

Chapter 11: Letting it all Out

Michael's POV

I walked into the Athena cabin to get Khristi for the campfire, right? So I go in there and she's sitting on the bed, holding a CD case and crying. For a minute I just stood there and stared. Khristi didn't seem like someone who would cry often. I guess there's a first for everything. So, I'm standing there, looking like an idiot, trying to think of something to say. I hear myself saying, "Khristi?" and I mentally face-palm myself. Is that the best thing you could think of to say? Really? She raised her head and looked at me. Her eyes were red.

"Michael?" I nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"I…um…was coming to see if you were going to be at the campfire," I said lamely. I dropped my guitar case and came over and sat on the edge of her bed. "What happened?"

"You know how, right before we left Olympus, Apollo told me to look on my bed?"

"This is what was there?" I asked. She nodded. I picked up a post-it note that had been on the bed by her. "What's this?"

"That was the note Apollo left." I read it over and managed a quick smile. The note was a haiku. Typical Apollo.

"What does it mean?" I asked. Apollo's haikus will occasionally have some meaning in them, even if most of them are so stupid I almost crack up. Khristi handed me the CD case. On it was a photo of her and a smiling boy who looked about my age. He had wavy-ish black hair, light tan skin, and smiling hazel eyes. He and Khristi were sitting on a park bench beside the ocean. Se looked younger, maybe 12 or 13. "Who's that?" I asked.

"That was Lucas," She said. A tear tracked it's slow way down her cheek. "He was my older half brother. His mom- my dad's wife- died when he was born. A couple years later, I showed up on the doorstep from Mount Olympus. We were always so close." Two more tears dropped into her lap. "He played the guitar," she pointed to the guitar leaning against the bench. We'd sometimes make up songs together. Or we'd just sing our favorites. We made this CD together a couple years before he went to Kuwait. He was in the army. They said he was in the safest place there was over there, that he'd probably come home to us after four years. But he didn't. He didn't. We never saw him again." More tears. I wasn't sure what to say. What do you say when someone tells you that their brother died? I thought.

"I'm sorry," I said. That was a stupid thing to say, my brain said, you idiot, it's obvious that you're sorry. Then I said the first thing in my head, "What songs are on there?" motioning in the general direction of the CD.

"That's the thing. I don't remember. The day I heard the news, I got mad. I don't' know what at. I think just life in general. I grabbed the first thing I saw and threw it. It went out the window. I realized I'd thrown Lucas' CD. I went down there, but I didn't' find it. It was the only CD we'd made together. It was pretty much the last thing of his I had. I've always remembered him, but we hadn't had any pictures of him or anything and I was starting to forget him and pushed his memories to the back of my mind. Then, seeing this,-"

"-they all came back in a flood," I finished. She nodded, "Do you think you'll be coming to the campfire?"

"No," she was starting to calm down, "I think I'll stay here. I'll probably listen to this, if there's anything left to listen to. This must have some scratches after falling out my window, and who knows where it's been since then." She reached over, picked up the case, and opened it. "Not a scratch," she said. There was a short pause, where I realized that I'd unconsciously put my hand on hers. I pulled away. "Are you going to the campfire?"

"Well, I was going to. I'm not sure I will anymore. Would you mind if I stuck around and listened to this with you, or would that be.."

"Intrusive? No, not at all. You can stay."

We sat there for a minute or two. Khristi took a deep breath. "You ready for this?" I asked, picking up the CD.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I put the CD into the computer and got it started.

-it's a random page break-

Khristi's POV

I took a deep breath as Michael got the CD started. This had so many memories. My memories. Lucas' memories. Our songs, that we'd worked on for so many hours at night, and songs that just summarized how we felt, or who we were. Our dreams, in their own way, were in there. Then the music started, and I relaxed. I forgot just how beautiful Lucas' voice sounded, I thought. I remembered how when I was little I'd thought Lucas had stolen an angel's voice. I closed my eyes. A couple tears leaked out, then no more.

A couple songs had gone by when I heard some notes twining around Lucas' voice and his guitar. They were unfamiliar at first, until I realized that it was me playing the flute Lucas had given me for my 10th birthday. "Who's playing the flute?" Michael asked, interrupting my train of thought.

"Oh, well, that was actually me," I said. I could feel my cheeks heating up a little.

"How old were you?"

"I was…12 I think. Maybe 13." I replied

"Hmph. For a 12-or-13 year old you weren't half bad."

"Thanks." We sat there in silence for a while. Then I spoke, "Are you sure you don't want to go to the campfire? You can if you want to."

"Nah. I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Khristi. I'm fine." We listened to the rest of the songs in silence. Just as the last one was finishing, I felt Michael's hand on mine again. This time, I didn't pull away. Then a voice completely interrupted the music.

"Hey! Michael! What are you doing in here?" My eyes snapped open and our hands jerked apart. I looked up and saw my older brother Jonah. He looked a little upset. Oh, boy. Here it comes, I thought. Jonah was a little um…overprotective… of his younger siblings.

"Jonah. Calm down. It's okay," Michael said.

"What -exactly- were you two doing in here?"

"Well, Jonah, first of all, it's none of your business," I said, feeling a little angry, "But if you absolutely have to know, we were listening to music. Nothing more."

"Couldn't you have just come to the campfire and listened to music there? The rest of the Apollo cabin was there."

"Do I have to go into excess detail? I found a CD of music that my brother made. He's dead. Michael came in to see if I was going to the campfire. He saw me crying, and ended up hearing the whole story. He decided to stick around and listen to the music. Satisfied?"

" I guess. But let's hope your little friend here remembers next time that two campers from different cabins aren't supposed to be alone in the same cabin. Of course, he's never been one for rules." I was starting to get a little mad. Michael and Jonah were having a full out glaring war. I suddenly remembered that Michael and Jonah had never really gotten along. It was something about rules… Oh, great. What did I just get myself into?

"Um…well, I guess I'd better go," said Michael. He jumped up and practically ran out of the cabin. I couldn't' help but sympathize. The wrath- er, over-protectiveness of Jonah was not something anyone would want to stick around for.

Jonah gave me quite an inquisition on exactly what had conspired before he would let me go to sleep. He should be a police interrogator. I thought as I fell asleep, the last chords of Lucas' songs still echoing in my mind.

A/N- there's chapter 11. There probably won't be much more about Lucas because I don't want this getting all angst-y. By the way, was that too angst-y? How was it? Should there be a quest? Your opinions matter, so REVIEW!

-smartone101