Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: Chaoshime, Insanity is my second name, MelRose520, mavk4444, cindella204, EPICThunder, Metue, Athenagal22, ixdookiie, DemigodLove, biancadiangelo0703, booklover51089, Alexandra Nightshade, ILove2Write13, LOVEPercabethOrElse, mimigem634, XX TEARS DON'T FALLXX, LivingInACupcake, PJO Rocks My Socks, SouthAmericanGirl, XxBloodThornxX, 3 words FAB., HiThereSmiley, Hedley is Amazing, .Squirrel, boxtoplad999, weluvwaffles2218, Greek-AC-Thalassa, Lizabeth666, soul61, storyteller1425, candy0304, SeaweedBrain113097, Kaleidoscope Heavens, ShadesOfGrey97, Regina de Morte a.k.a. Mezza, SoccerGirl8, Thalico-freak-99-Hecatejewel, C-Nuggets N.L, The Artemis

I'm so sorry for the exceedingly late updating. Lately though, I've had major writer's block with this story and no drive to write this. Hopefully, I'm starting to get it back. It also didn't help that I've spent a lot of my writing time toying around with two original story ideas. Since none of you probably care about any of what I just said; on with the chapter!

I don't own PJO.

Annabeth POV

Even though everything went well with the letters, everyone seemed to be in a bitter mood the next day. Clarisse was annoyed because of how many times her relationship with Chris got brought up last night as if it were some miracle she could get a boyfriend. I understood her anger, but it was quickly putting the people closer to her in a bad mood. Travis still refused to return Katie's sandals and he gave them to Connor to wear just to piss her off, and it was certainly working. Nico was in a sour mood for some reason and I could see him venting to Percy from across camp. And everyone else was walking on eggshells trying to stay out of the fighting.

I wasn't careful enough and got a bit of Thalia's bad mood at only about ten in the morning. We were taking down our tent and it was obvious she was pissed off just by the way she was handling all the tent equipment; growling in frustration when it was stuck and even throwing the tent poles to the ground once or twice. When she violently ripped the tarp out from under the tent, I couldn't bite back a comment.

"Let's try not breaking the tent," I snapped, maybe a little too sarcastically.

She shoved the tarp in my direction. "Fine, then you do it."

"Someone's grumpy," I grumbled.

"Well sorry for having a shitty night," she shot back.

"And that gives you the right to be a bitch because…?"

For a second, she gave me a glare deadly enough that I thought she was going to deck me. Then she took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm herself down.

"You're right. I'm sorry," she apologized half-heartedly.

Since the program wasn't in a hurry to leave, not many others had even started collapsing their tents yet. So I sat down on the grass and patted the spot next to me, motioning for her to come join me. With a sigh, she complied.

"So, why was last night so shitty for you?" I asked.

She gave me a look that made it evident that she didn't want to talk about it, but she knew I wouldn't let her get away with that. "Everything was fine until I woke up at about three in the morning. I don't know why I was up, I probably had a nightmare and just don't remember it. Anyway, so I left our tent to go get some fresh air and ran into Nico. All was fine and well until he brought up the whole scenario with him and Luke. I told him that I hadn't made up my mind and that him pressuring me wasn't helping. He got mad and started yelling about how it wasn't fair that I was leaving both of them hanging like that."

I shifted nervously, not wanting to slip out a comment.

Thalia noticed this though. "And I know I am leaving them hanging, but it's not like I asked for this. Neither of them are making it easy by bringing it up every other minute. They don't understand that I just need time to think. Of course, Nico just decided to screw with me even more."

"What'd he do?" I kind of suspected the answer, but I was sort fearing it being true.

"He kissed me," she explained, proving my guess correct. "I shoved him, telling him that he didn't get to scream about me being confused one minute and then mess with me even more the next. He shot back that that's what Luke always does and I let him get away with it."

"Ouch," I remarked.

She nodded in agreement. "So I told him to stop acting like he understood everything about me and Luke, and I sort of cussed him out a bit. He told me I was getting defensive of Luke, leading me to calling him some more choice words before we stormed back into our tents. And now the bitch little bitch isn't even being subtle about going off about me to Percy."

I looked over to where Nico was still talking to Percy, gesturing furiously. Percy looked extremely uncomfortable and even shot me a glance that screamed 'Help me'.

"Have you talked to Luke since this whole thing?"

"No," she replied. "But what the hell do I even say to him on the matter? Your good friend kissed me while we were having a shouting match about which of you I should choose? Something tells me that that wouldn't go over well."

"Well, I think you should talk to one of them," I suggested. "If you're not ready to swallow your pride and talk to Nico yet, then go talk to Luke."

She rolled her eyes. "You're a lot of help."

"At least I'm willing to help," I argued.

"True. So how are things with Percy?"

I was somewhat surprised, yet also happy that she asked. "They're great actually. In fact, he mentioned quickly to me earlier that he wanted to talk to me later. I'm not sure about what, but he didn't seem upset with me so it's probably a good thing."

"Have I mentioned that I envy that you relationship seems so uncomplicated?"

"No, you haven't," I laughed and patted her head, much to her dismay. "Don't worry. Things will get better for you. And things between Percy and I are sort of complicated, I just don't let it get to me."

She seemed to really take this into account before pointing to our right. "Well, here he comes now. Good luck with whatever he wants to talk about."

Before I got the chance to ask what she was talking about, she left swiftly and the next I knew Percy was sitting on the other side of me and wrapping and arm around my waist. I leaned into his side, and we just sat like that for a couple of minutes. It had been a habit we had fallen into. We both just liked sitting in each other's company that way.

"So…" I broke the silence at last. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He ran his free hand through his short dark hair. "Well, I actually wanted to ask you something. But please don't get mad about it."

"Why would I get mad?"

"It has to do with your past."

"Oh." I know; what an intelligent answer. "Well, how about you ask the question and if it really bothers me I will just politely decline answering it."

He nodded. "I can live with that. I know this is none of my business, but I really want to know. How did you brothers die? They were young so it's not like they were driving and got in an accident, or they got wrapped up in gang stuff, and even though it's a possibly something tells me they didn't die of an illness like cancer or something."

"You're right. It wasn't any of those things," I told him. My mind was working a million miles a minute, trying to figure out a way to explain this. Since I didn't feel like giving my whole story either it was even more difficult.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It's just that especially since Travis brought up the letter again last night and I can tell it really upsets you, I just wanted to know. I wanted to be able to help you when you're so bummed about it."

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"You're rambling."

He blushed a little. "My bad."

"It's okay," I assured him. "And I intend on answering, I'm just trying to figure out how to put this."

"Take your time."

I most certainly did. It was hard to focus on the topic, especially while trying not to start crying again over it. I was taking long enough that at one point Thalia even returned and finished packing up our tent, shooting us a cautious look.

"I guess I'll start by saying that part of the reason I get so upset about it is because I partially blame myself for it," I murmured and this seemed to only trigger his curiosity further. "Two girls I killed had boyfriends that hated me even before that. So when they found out, they wanted revenge. They kidnapped my brothers months ago. I hadn't been positive my brothers were dead until my dad sent that letter. If I hadn't killed those girls, they might've still been alive."

Even though I hated to, I let a few tears slide down my cheeks. Percy pulled me into his lap and wrapped his other arm around me as well, bringing my face to rest against his chest.

"You can't blame yourself," he said, rubbing my back gently. "It's not like you knew for sure that would happen. Besides, those girls must've really deserved it if you killed them. And it's not your fault their boyfriends decided revenge was the best way to handle things. The fact that they went after kids is just sickening anyway."

"All of that sounds convincing to you," I told him. "And it should make sense to me too. But when you're the one dealing with the guilt, it's not so easy to think that way."

He simply nodded, unable to think of a response.

Pretty soon, Chiron called for all of us to head to the bus. Reluctantly, I got up out of Percy's grip. Only a couple seconds later though, he was on his feet and intertwining his fingers with mine. We probably really seemed addicted to each other.

"One other thing," Percy said, though now he seemed a bit more nervous. "I want…I want to tell you my story."

Quite a few different emotions hit me at once when he told me that. The one that seemed to filter through the most though was shock. "Not that I don't want to know your story, but why? What brought up the random change of heart?"

He sighed. "I have a feeling that Chiron's punishment is going to relate to it in some way. And if he decides to involve you in it too, I'd rather you not have no idea what's going on. It's about time I told you anyway."

"Sounds good. I'm assuming you didn't plan on telling me on the bus though."

"Not really. And actually, I won't be sitting with you. Nico doesn't want to sit by himself, with Luke, or with Thalia because of the spat he got in with her last night so he's kind of practically forcing me to sit with him."

I chuckled. "Fair enough. So I guess story time will have to wait until tonight?"

He shrugged. "I guess so. At least this gives me more time to work on my story-telling skills. Or else I would probably just confuse you about two minutes in."

"Understanding what you're saying would certainly be a good thing," I choked as we parted on the steps of the bus.

Is it sad that getting to hear Percy's story has pretty much become the equivalent to winning the lottery in my life?

I really need a new hobby or something.

Even though you're all probably getting tired of hearing me prattle on about this, voting for the Veritas starts on August 31st. The link is on my profile so you can copy and paste it in your browser. For those of you who think story deserves the award for the Best AU, I hope you'll go and vote for it. I hope to post another chapter by then and I'll probably include another reminder. Thank you all for your support.