Promise me

"I owe you" Keith muttered to Martika as they passed the borders.

"No, we owe you, Keith" Martika said. "You helped more than we did"

"I'm not supposed to be here" He finally muttered. "I promised myself never to return"

"You've been here?" Martika asked. He nodded. That would explain the reluctance to enter camp grounds, she thought.

"When I was six, I came here. Promised myself I'd never be back, after I left." He said. "It's so different from before"

"Yea, it is. I'll go get Michael, he could help us out" Martika said.

"That boy?" He demanded. "The short one, helping her?" She nodded.

In the pale light, she saw him lift his upper lip as if to scowl.

"You don't like him, do you" She asked.

"I never said that" He said abruptly. "I just don't trust him when he's around Zoe"

"Oh.." She muttered.

"I'm happy someone can care about her when I'm not around, it's just..." He faltered, knowing what he was leading too.

"What? What is it?" She asked.

"Nevermind"

"I'll go get Michael then" Martika muttered. As she ran to the Apollo cabin, Keith hauled Zoe into the forest. The sun had just setted and obscured everyone's sight of the woods. But when Keith was about to rest his head down, a voice startled him, making him act instinctively, growling at whatever was coming at him. When the object came into view, it was a mere demigod. He was still growling, remembering a time where a Gorgon disguised as an injured little girl and nearly slit his throat.

"Hey doggy" She cooed. "Calm down, you're hurt"

Only now did Keith realize how badly the hellhound tore up his front right leg. He still growled, as if to not notice. She stepped forward, reaching a hand out to his forehead. Wrong move, he thought, and bit the child's hand. She screamed attracting the few demigods around. He didn't bite hard nor did he use his natrual death shake, for he knew she didn't know better. He was only trying to tell her to back off. But when the dmigods heard the scream, they took action, starting with Will. Will already had his bowstring pulled directly at Keith's head. Keith was away from Zoe, trying to not attract atention to her by lunging toward them, scaring both the girl and the other Half-bloods.

"Shoot him" Some of the Ares cabin replied, dissapointed they had no weapns at the moment. As Will's finger released the string, Keith was ready, He had sidestepped and ran left as the arrow made a loud 'clunk' noise against a tree's solid bark.

"Get him" Will announced to the other's as he reached for another arrow. One of the campers had a dagger and lunged into his direction. Will aimed the arrow at his head, releasing where it hit him in the left shoulder. He stumbled and took to the ground, struggling to get up, but with his right leg mangled, it was nearly impossible.

The demigod whipped out the dagger and was ready to strike, but a voice stopped them. The voice eminated from someone Keith recognized almost immediately.

"Half-bloods!" Chrion announced. "Stop it now"

"Chiron," Will exclaimed. "That mutt attacked Kayla"

"He is just another demi-god, calm down," he muttered. Behind him, Michael and Martika was running up to the scene, Michael sitting back on his heels checking the wound on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Martika asked, while Michael looked at his brother dissapointedly. Will just smirked, while Michael shook his head.

"He deserved it" Michael heard Will mutter before leaving to help Kayla. Michael loved kayla, but would never do that to a demigod like Keith. Then again Will didn't know he was a demigod, and thinking he was a hellhound is a simple misunderstanding. Keith was uncomfortable though, especially without that sense of trust with him, he felt vulnerable to his touch.

By the time they reached Zoe, Keith was barely concious, shaking his hed fro time to time trying to keep himself from dozing off. He was badly shaken up that he couldn't protest when Michael had asked to carry her to the infirmary. Martika had to help Keith on the way there, making sure he was fine.

Leo was sitting on one of the beds grabbing a bandage to wrap around his injured arm.

"Hey, that's Keith, isn't it?" Leo asked. Martika nodded.

"Hey, Martika, can you get the nectar from the cabinet?" Michael asked while setting Zoe down onto the bed. Keith had found the strength to freeze at the door, not daring to go inside. The wave of memories flashed before him, engulfing him in sheer terror. He was so wound up in the memories that he nearly jumped when someone layed a cold hand on his head, massaging it into his ears. He looked up and saw his old mentor. Chiron.

"Old memories, huh?" He replied softly. "The only place that remains the same, pretty much"

Keith smiled, "Yes"

"Hey, Michael, there isn't enough here, is there anymore, somewhere?" Martika said.

"Yea, there is in my cabin, here, I'll go get some, just grab the bandages and ambrosia from the side table over there" Michael explained, pointing to the table near the cabinet.

"Thanks" She muttered rummaging through the drawers. Michael ran out passing Keith and Chiron, and faltered remembering Will inside. He sighed and entered the cabin. will stared in dismay when Michael opened the door. Michael sighed and looked through his chest for the bottle of nectar he used in case of emergencies.

"What are you doing here?" Will demanded. "I'd thought you' be with that mutt, or his sister"

Michael didn't respond, causing Will to step closer to him, towering over him.

"Kayla was looking for you, she ran off to the place you were last seen" He announced smirking as Michael grabbed the bottle. Michael ignored him, resulting into Will putting a hand on his shoulder. Michael instictively swatted it away.

"Stop it" He warned.

"What are you going to do about it?" Will asked. "Listen, don't blame me for shootin him, he hurt Kayla"

"Whatever," he muttered, nearly tripping over the suitcase on the floor as he left the cabin.

"Michael" Kayla yelled, running up to him as he entered the infirmary.

"Hey, Kayla" He replied, hugging her for a bit before noticing the bandaging on her hand.

"Michael did you finish packing for your trip yet? I wanted to spend tomorrow at the cabing with you tomorrow, that's why" She replied smiling at him.

"Trip?" Martika asked, utterly confused.

"Oh, I didn't tell you? I was going to see my mom for a week or two" He muttered. Leo's eyes widened large and cold, remembering what Zoe had said. How long had she said yesterday? A week? That wasn't enough time, not for her, nor anyone really.

"What?" Keith snarled, knowing the exact same thing. Chiron looked away.

It was so quiet, that no one had noticed that Zoe was awake, until Leo mumbled, "Way to go, she was awake."

"Zoe..." Michael muttered. She looked at him warily, not understanding what was going on.

"I don't think she knows what I said" Michael responded. Keith stared at Zoe, cold and hard, trying to read her emotions. No one but him noticed the quiver of her bottom lip, signaling one thing. And when he asked her telepathecally, she responded almost immediately.

'I understand your thoughts too, I know what he meant, and I don't like it one bit' she said raggedly.

After a long silence, Keith spoke up, "It's too late, she already knows"

A bit confusing, even to me, but basically I'll give you the summary. They bring her back to camp, and this whole time, Michael has been planning a trip to see his mom(which I'll explain later) and they all had no clue except for Kayla and his cabin. Keith has been to camp before when he was about six(he's seventeen now) and had too many bad memories there. Leo, Keith and Chiron know about her time left, and is shocked to hear that she won't be able to say her last goodbyes to him, because he'll be at his mom's place. And the details about the quest will be announced in the next chapter along with a Michael and Apollo confrontation, possibly with Artemis, and the details to the ending of the whole story.

Sorry if that's confusing...

Enjoy and Review,

~Percabeth17~