A/N: So this chapter has a request, a part of this chapter is in, drum roll please, PERCY'S POV! This was a request from HopelessyRomanti. I just want to thank all of you guys for the continued support, if it wasn't for you guys always asking for more, I would have stopped writing this forever ago. So thank you so much.
Percy's POV
"What just happened?" Annabeth asked looking at me from her spot on the ground.
"We lost him." I said simply. I stood up and put my hand out for Annabeth to take. I helped her up and pulled her into a big hug. I kissed the top of her head. "We'll get him back though."
"It's not that I'm worried about." Annabeth said hugging me back.
"What are you worried about?" I asked looking down at her.
"I'm worried abou-"
"How could you Olivia! Scott is my best friend, you know what he meant to me, and you wanted to see him go instead of that moron Charlie!" Ray screamed.
"Hey! Charlie is one of my best friends! Look, we both knew the risk we were taking when we agreed to do this together. We knew that someone was going to be lost. You can't get mad at me for this Ray." Olivia attempted to say soothingly.
"That's not the point Olivia, the point is, you would rather worry about your friends then mine." Ray said.
"Scott was my friend too! The thing is Charlie is my best friend, and nothing is going to change that! He's been a better person to me then you ever have, and you're supposed to be my brother!" Olivia yelled, but the look of regret came over her face instantly.
"Take it back." Ray looked at her, but Olivia was too flustered to say anything. "TAKE IT BACK OLIVIA!"
"NO! You've known you were my brother for years, before I even met the band, and they've been more of a family to me then you have ever been! You only started treating me differently when you found out we were twins. You realize, you're half the reasons for the scars we share! These cuts on our arms, half of them are because of you. You know I only stopped when I met the others. They took me out of my shell, and whenever I thought it would break, there you were to push me back in! When you found out you were my twin things were great, and even when you made fun of me, it didn't matter cause I knew that was fake, but what you did to me before, will never go away. Ever. So yeah I chose Charlie, cause he means more to me then you do."
Ray raised his hands as if he was going to slap her, and when his hand went down, Wen was there to catch it, "Back off." He said simply. He pushed Ray back, and just glared at him. Tears were in Olivia's eyes. When Ray started to walk off Wen pulled her into a big hug and just let her cry, not trying to stop her. "Cry, just cry, you need it. Just cry."
Ray walked over to where Mo sat clutching the unconscious Charlie's hand. He pulled out his sword. In an instant I clicked my pen and ran over and stepped in between them. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." I said.
"Yeah, and why not." He said looking me dead in the eye.
"Cause you know I could beat you." I said. I swung my sword.
"Ray, just stop. Hurting them isn't going to solve anything remember." Christine said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Fine, but I'm leaving." Ray said putting away his sword.
"No you're not. If Olivia gets injured, so do you, and without the help of a Hermes child, you can die, and vice versa." Christine said.
"Fine, but only because I do not want to die." Ray walked towards the truck and got in the pit, not in his usual spot in the flat bed.
"That." Annabeth said, walking towards me arms crossed over her chest, "I'm worried about that."
Charlie's POV
The pain was excruciating, yes I use big words. My head was pounding, it felt like someone was taking a hammer and chisel, and was trying to dig a hole in my skull. The pain didn't stop even when I blacked out. I could hear voices though, and see shadows. I heard Olivia's fight with Ray. I never knew all of that. The poor girl seemed so happy and carefree but a little secluded. The whole time she was putting up an act, but not really. That poor secluded hurt girl became the happy, song writing, carefree Olivia we know and love, and it was all because of us. Not Ray, but us.
I felt rain on my face, well at least some feeling was coming back. All I felt was two drops and then nothing else, then two more drops. I heard muffled sobs, and a familiar voice, Mo's. "Charlie. Come back."
My eye's opened, a little shakily, no matter what anyone says my eyelids did not flutter open, they were shaky. "Hey Mo."
"Charlie?" She looked down at me, her little bit of mascara, now on her face. Her other hand came down and rubbed my cheek. It felt so natural, having her like this around me. I don't know why it took so long for us to get like this, but it didn't matter. We were like this now.
"What happened?" I asked looking around. My head was still pounding, and by the looks of it, I was on the ground.
"Janus, remember? He told me I had to choose between two people that had a place in my heart. It was either you, or Scott. And I chose you. I wasn't going to lose you." Mo said clutching my hand tighter.
"Thank you." Was all I could manage to say.
"Guys, Charlie's awake." Mo said. She started helping me up off the ground, good thing too cause I wasn't sure if I could pull myself up.
Everyone ran over as fast as they could. They all asked questions as fast as they could. "Okay first, my head is killing me, so just give me a minute. Second, I need to give someone something." I started to push myself up with as much strength as I could muster, which wasn't much. When I finally got up, Stella had been biting her lip to stop herself from laughing, I walked, or stumbled, over to Olivia and gave her a big hug. "I heard your little fight with Ray. Thank you." I said.
"It's me that should be thanking you guys. Things have been really tough since after my dad got in jail, and then Nancy died, and then Grams got sick, and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you guys." Olivia said hugging me back. But one thing caught my ear, and apparently everyone else's as well.
"What do you mean Grams got sick?" Stella asked. I pulled away from the hug and went back to stand with Mo.
"Well um, I've been meaning to tell you guys this, but whenever the subject comes up something happens, and then the whole conversation is done with." Olivia was looking down at her hands, twiddling her thumbs.
"What's going on Olivia?" Mo asked from behind me.
"Grams is um… She has leukemia." Olivia said looking up at us. Wen instantly put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"What! Why didn't you tell us?" Stella asked, rubbing her hand up Olivia's arm in a soothing way.
"I did. Remember that one band practise when I came in crying?" Olivia asked.
(A/N: Imma do a flashback all Italic printing for the next little while means flashback. The flashback is going to be in Olivia's POV, but after that we're going back to Charlie's.)
Olivia's POV
I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. I had been home from school all day, but how could I not tell them. I had to see the band. I had to tell them what was going on.
I checked my phone. 5 messages. 2 from Wen, 1 from Charlie, 1 from Mo, and 1 from Stella. Had to say I wasn't surprised.
I sent a joint message.
To: Wen, Charlie, Mo, and Stell.
Are you guys together?
To: Olivia, Charlie, Mo, and Stell
Where have you been? We've been worried sick!
To: Olivia, Wen, Charlie, and Stell
OLIVIA! You couldn't text us back?
To: Wen, Charlie, Mo and Stell
Sorry, didn't have my phone. Now are you guys together?
To: Olivia, Wen, Charlie and Mo
Yeah, we're at my place.
To: Olivia, Wen, Mo and Stell
Olivia, is something wrong?
To: Wen, Charlie, Mo and Stell
I'll tell you when I get there. Be there soon.
I grabbed my lace jacket from my closet, and slipped on my grey knee high boots with the heels. I walked out as slowly as I could. Before I left, I went to check on Grams one more time. She was still sound asleep. I didn't want her to wake up and wonder where I am, so I decided to leave a note.
Gram,
Went over to Stella's to talk with the band about what's going on. They need to know too.
Love,
Olivia
I grabbed my keys from the key bowl and hopped into the old car. I drove the fifteen minute ride to Stella's house. I tried to keep myself calm, but a lot can happen in fifteen minutes. By the time I got to Stella's, I was balling. I parked the car in the driveway, and just started pounding on the steering wheel, until I accidently hit the horn, but I didn't care. I just kept hitting it and hitting it. I heard running footsteps coming towards the car, but I just wanted to be alone, so I could cry. The door opened and Wen was knelt down, trying to get a hold of my hands.
"Olivia, Olivia look at me. Olivia, come on. Shhhh, look at my Olivia." He finally got a grip of my hands but I kept thrashing.
"No, leave me. Grams. Grams." I kept repeating Grams for a number of minutes.
"Okay, Olivia, Olivia, what about Grams? What's going on?" He kept saying, rubbing the back of my hands with his thumbs. I couldn't see anything through my tears, but I could make out the figures of my four worried friends.
I stopped thrashing, and just sat there silent for a minute looking at them, until I broke down and cried, falling into Wen's arms, which slowly turned into everyone's arms.
"Let's get you inside." Wen said. I nodded, cause it was all I could do.
Wen shut the door of the car, he walked forward, still holding my hands in his. I got inside, and Mo and Stella took me to the bathroom to wash my face. Neither of them pestered, they just wiped away the smeared makeup, and the messed up hair.
When everything was done, there was tea sitting on the table waiting for me. "With honey, just how you like it." Mrs. Yamada said rubbing my back as she walked away.
"Thank you," I said, but it came out barely more than a whisper.
I sat down in between Wen and Stella. They were the toughest of all five of us, and I needed a rock right now, two wasn't that bad an idea. "Olivia, what's going on?" Mo said looking up at me from her spot on the floor in front of my feet next to Charlie. She rubbed my knee soothingly.
"It's Grams." I said quietly. Wen and Stella exchanged a look, and I already knew what that meant. With how quiet I was being, they were worried I had lost my voice again, but if I did or didn't, it didn't really matter right now. "She's sick." I said, a little louder.
"Well, she is 70 Olivia." Stella said a little soothingly, "Same thing happened with my grandmother."
I shook my head, tears forming again. "It's not that kind of sick Stella." I said looking at her.
"Okay. Then tell us. What's going on?" She wiped a tear from my cheek.
"Grams has been complaining about a lot of joint pain. I kept telling her she needed to go see a doctor, but she kept saying it was cause she was getting older and older, and that she just needed to lay off the sewing."
"Okay." Wen said.
"Well this morning, just as I was about to bike to school, Gram was yelling for me. I dropped my helmet and ran to her room. She had fallen while getting out of bed to say goodbye to me, and she couldn't get up. I helped her up, and while I helped her up, I noticed that her knees looked a little funny. So I took her to a doctor."
"Of course." Charlie said.
"We went to the ER and told them what was going on. They gave me a wheelchair and I wheeled her into the room and we waited for the doctor. When he came I told him what I saw, how her joints looked off. He took a few x-rays and said that they would have to do further tests."
"Oh no." Mo said.
"They came back and told me the news, and well um…" I started crying again.
"Hey, we're here." Charlie said rubbing my knee.
"She uh, she has leukemia." I said.
"Oh Olivia." Mo said quietly.
"The doctor said that there was a really unlikely chance that she'd survive." I said crying again. I felt Wen's arm go around my shoulder and squeeze lightly. I put my head on his shoulder and just cried.
"Well they don't know Grams like we do." Stella said.
"Yeah, if anyone will survive cancer at age 70-something," Charlie said.
"83" I corrected.
"83," He repeated, "It'll be Grams." I smiled.
"Yeah Liv. Grams is a fighter." Stella said.
They each hugged me, Wen even started humming More Than a Band in my ear. I smiled for the first time that day. I was glad they all were there for me, but Grams wasn't the only thing I was worried about. The band has no idea about who my father really is, so if Grams were to die, then there was a likely chance I would become a year rounder.
Charlie's POV
"Right, but Olivia you said that the she had beat it. That it had gone away." Mo said from beside me, she was clutching my hand, trying to keep her composure.
"It came back. And I kept trying to tell you. We actually saw the doctor the day before the hydra attacked on my lawn. I was going to tell you that day even, but then we had to get to camp, and then we had to go on the quest. One thing just piled after another, and it just got lost in the shuffle." Olivia said.
"Well she'll beat it again." Stella said rubbing Olivia's arm.
"No. The doctor said that it's even more aggressive then it was before. All the chemotherapy could kill her faster than the cancer." Olivia said.
"Oh. Olivia, what are you going to do?" Mo asked.
"That's the thing, there's nothing I can do. Grams has decided to not to the chemotherapy. She said she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life like that." Olivia had started to tear up.
"Well then she won't. When we get back we'll take care of Grams. Make her comfortable." Stella said.
"There's another problem. I might not come back." Olivia said.
"Wait what?" I asked looking at her in disbelief, "No we promised we all get back from this."
"No. Grams is my one living legal guardian. If Grams dies…" She couldn't finish the sentence.
"You'd become a year rounder." Annabeth said. I turned to see her Percy and Grover standing next to Stella, I had forgotten they were even there.
"What's a year rounder?" Wen asked looking Olivia.
"Oh, Olivia." Annabeth went and gave Olivia a hug. Olivia clutched onto the brown haired girl as if for dear life.
"What's a year rounder?" Wen asked again.
Olivia opened her mouth but Annabeth squeezed her arm as if to tell her that she would explain. "A year rounder is a camper that lives at camp all year long. I was a year rounder at one point. Lived at camp for 5 years. If Olivia's legal guardian dies, then she has nowhere else to go, and then she has to live at the camp." Annabeth explained.
"But that's not true. She does have somewhere else to go." Mo said, "Olivia, you know my parents adore you, if you need it you could come live with me."
"But that's two demigod's in one house. Curry may be able to block the smell of one, but two is highly unlikely." Annabeth said.
"We have a guest house on the farm." Wen said.
"Or you could stay with me." Stella said.
"Or even me. My parents have been trying to fill Tommy's old room." I offered.
"Well it's either live with one of you, live at camp, or live with my moron of a step-father. I'd rather take the first option." Olivia said.
"But Mr. D won't allow it." Grover said.
"Who's Mr. D?" I asked.
"He's the camp director." Grover said.
"I thought Chiron was camp director." Mo said.
"No, Chiron is activity director, but he would be a better camp director then Mr. D would ever be. He doesn't give a crap." Percy said.
"And why wouldn't Mr. D allow Olivia to live with one of us?" Wen asked.
"Because it could be dangerous." Olivia said looking down at the ground, "Mo, your dad owns an Indian Grocery store, and you're mom cooks a lot of curry. Wen your dad bought a horse farm. The smell covers up your demigod scent. Charlie, your drums in your garage, and Stella's constant guitar playing is sensitive on a monsters ears. You have ways that can protect one demigod, but two is too strong of a scent."
"Look, we don't care. We're not losing you to the camp or your moron of a step-dad." Wen said.
"HEY!" We all turned to see a very pissed of Christine and Ray sitting in the truck. "If you guys are done gossiping, can we go? Or in case you guys forgot, there is a half man, half bull going to terrorize your city." Christine yelled from inside the truck.
Annabeth, Percy and Grover hopped in the front with the others, and we took our usual spot in the flat bed.
No one said anything. Grams has leukemia, Olivia might not come back home with us, and we might lose our families to a half bull man. This is not the summer vacation I wanted.
A/N: So thank you guys for reading and supporting another chapter. Don't expect some thing of me thanking you and then saying I won't continue the story, because you know what, I love you guys, and I love all the support I have gotten from all of you, and I really want to finish this story. I am so sorry that this took so long to be put up. This is the longest chapter I have ever written.
HPSlyth7Lovegood
