Disclaimer: As usual, PJO universe belongs to Rick Riordan. This humble and longish story belongs to me, with some help along the way.

Author's Notes: I'm glad that Zero liked the last chapter. Kuddos! Sorry, Nik if you are mad because Mer died. It was something that had to be done. So close to 50 chapters! 16,910+ views.

49. After the Storm (Small collaboration with Zero Son of Seven)

Once her body stopped living, I hugged my legs burying my head on my knees and cried. I didn't care that I was soaked to the bone. I thought… I was hopeful of saving her. I thought it was possible, but I was terribly proved wrong.

For at least 5 minutes, I stayed there just rocking myself until the rain stopped.

"TJ?" asked Ewan concerned.

"How could you?" I said weakly still not believing what had just happened.

I looked up and the sky was staring to clear away and the moon was rising in the horizon. It was turning out to be a pretty night just as many before when I thought of my sister looking at the moon. Everything felt incongruent like the sky was mocking me and I was probably right. Zeus sent his son after my sister. Then everything hit me with enough force to knock me down. I looked to Ewan. Right now, he was the personification of all my fears and pain. He killed my sister and the threat.

"It was my quest, my job" said Ewan weakly trying to defend his actions. His face showed all the remorse of the world but at the same time a small speck of pride. He just saved camp and became a hero under everybody's eyes, especially Lana's.

It was too much to bear. I stood up so fast and grabbed him by the collar. I heard Lana gasping by our side.

"You kill my sister! You kill her! Why?! Just because Zeus orders it!?" I roared ready to strike.

Ewan pushed me away and yelled angry and upset "Do you think it was easy for me? She was your sister! You are my friend, but my father gave me this quest. I couldn't say no!"

"Yes, you could" I spatted even if I didn't believe my own words.

I threw a punch and Ewan caught my fist. He roared "Don't defend her. She killed a lot of Demigods! She almost killed you, Taylor and Lana!"

"She didn't know what she was doing!" I said jumping on Ewan throwing punches.

Lana tried to pull me off Ewan but I wasn't the same boy that she met once. Escaping her grasp was easy as I kept punching Ewan and blood start to flow from his wounds, his nose and his mouth. Half his body was covered in mud mixed with his blood. He wasn't fighting back and it only infuriated me more. I know I should have stopped but I wasn't myself. I grabbed my knife and without thinking a single second I stabbed him on his shoulder. I heard Ewan screamed in pain. I hesitated. I wanted to stab his heart but I couldn't. I had Lana's pleas in head. I looked to her and she was crying her eyes out yelling me to stop.

"Don't defend him. He killed my sister, the only person that ever made sense in my life!" I said looking at Lana.

Lana gasped and pleaded in hot tears "Please, TJ, just don't. You are not a killer. You are not" she stopped. I could tell in her eyes she wanted to say that I wasn't like Mer, but I felt like I was.

I raised my knife once again. This time I was aiming for the heart. However before the knife could reach him, a strong hand caught my wrist, stopping it just before the knife reach Ewan's skin. We stared at each other. I didn't know I was holding my breath until I saw Ewan gasp. He was as surprised as I was.

"TJ, let him go" said the voice and it was Taylor. I turned my head and I looked at him. There was dry blood on the back of his head and shirt where probably he was hit by Clovis. His face was eerily calm. He pulled me out of Ewan giving him time to stand up again.

"You agree with him, Taylor?!" I roared "He killed Mer".

Taylor gave me a sad smile. He said "It doesn't matter what I think" and he rubbed his teary eyes with his other hand "It won't change anything. Ewan is your friend".

I felt betrayed and I threw Taylor to the ground with a judo flip. I rushed to Ewan with one single thought: killing him. I wasn't myself. I never felt such anger. I was furious to the world, to the Gods and the Fates for allowing my sister to die and mostly Ewan for doing it.

Lana clashed her sword with my knife. She looked deathly sure of stopping me, of defending Ewan. I couldn't feel more betrayed and I pushed Lana away. I heard her crying as she hit the ground and the typical TJ would have stopped and checked on her, but I didn't.

"I forgive you" said Ewan as I rushed to him. That should have stopped me but it was something else that did it. I felt a hit strong enough to crack my skull in half and I was knocked down unconscious.

When I woke up, I was looking up to the dusty ceiling of the infirmary. My head throbbed and pounded like crazy. If this was the headache people felt after drinking alcohol, I was never going to drink.

Before I could try to stand up, I saw Taylor in the threshold looking at me. He had a sassy yet sad smile on his face.

"Hey, what's up, man?" he said and sat on the bed next to me.

"Hey, Taylor" I said and I moved my head and body up but…

"Don't try to get up!" said Taylor and I realized why. I had my wrists, knees, chest and ankles tied to the bed.

"What is the meaning of this?" I said looking around with wide scared eyes.

Taylor took my hand and just said weakly "Just a precaution. Chiron ordered it"

I gasped surprised and stammered "But… What happened?

"What do you remember?" asked Taylor neutral, really professional.

"I..." I said and I felt everything rushing to the head. The memories of the last 24 hours came to me. I felt dizzier than before. Taylor held my hand as my head kept spinning. It took me a couple of minutes to finally say "It really happened?"

"Yes, Mer is dead" said Taylor and sighed heart-brokenly sad.

"I almost killed Ewan. How..?" I said horrified of what I almost did.

Taylor smiled weakly and said "Sorry, I knocked you down with my hilt"

I looked at him and I said "That's okay… Thank you, I guess... If you haven't stopped me, probably I would be facing Zeus"

"Probably" murmured Taylor.

"What happened after?" I asked feeling a little better that I was stopped. I was glad that Taylor did it. To my shame, I wasn't going to stop until I killed Ewan.

"Everybody woke up after midnight… it's morning already. Lana and I told everything we knew" said Taylor.

"Ewan?" I asked.

"Resting in his cabin… Chiron sent him there, probably fearing of you jumping at him once up if he was here" said Taylor.

"Maybe Chiron was right about that" I said deadpan.

For seconds almost a painful minute we didn't say a thing, this was a new personal record for Taylor. I was waiting him to say a sassy remark or just a joke to lighten up the mood but he was silently looking at the floor.

"Dad, Claire, Aida, the rest? Where is Mer?" I asked breaking the silence.

Taylor sighed and I knew this was bad news. He said awkwardly fast as he scratched his head so nervously "Well about that… Hermes came. You know, doing Zeus' will. He took Mer's body to Olympus. Your dad just stormed behind him… He hasn't returned"

"My sisters?" I asked.

"Aida and Claire, I guess they are probably at Calypso's with my family and Em probably mourning. Maybe Juniper and Hazel are also there.… my mom has been crying for hours, well, all girls are a crying mess" said Taylor looking to his feet.

"Is anyone else hurt by Mer or Clovis?" I asked.

"No… well" said Taylor awkwardly "Not exactly"

"Taylor, let him rest!" said Em loudly from the other side of the room. I haven't noticed she was here too.

"Em" I said and she walked all the way to me. Taylor stood up to give room to his fiancé. Em sat next to me in Taylor's spot.

"Hi, TJ. I'm…" said Em weakly trying to sound brave but she was fighting in vain the tears in her eyes.

"Don't say anything" I said "You don't have too"

"Maybe it's better. I don't know what to say anyway" said Em weakly rubbing off the tears of her eyes.

"Where is Sean?" I asked "How did he take it? The news about Mer?"

"On the other bed, if you think you went animal on Ewan, well, Sean was deathly serious too" said Taylor trying to make a joke that right now it wasn't funny at all.

"Taylor!" scolded Em and punched her fiancé's arm.

I raised my head as up as I could and I peeked on the other bed when Sean was covered on bandages and bruises. He was sleeping.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Lana happened" said Taylor with a strangely proud smile on his face "All that training back in the summer definitely paid off. She fiercely stood between Ewan and Sean and she stopped Sean. I never thought how really dangerous Lana could be. Sean didn't have a chance"

"Hey, you are talking about my brother!" said Em defending his younger brother.

"Sorry, Em, but if it wasn't for my mom's charmspeak, Sean could be a lot worse" said Taylor and I wanted to ask what happened but Em looked like she needed a distraction.

"How is your mom?" I asked.

"Crying her eyes out like the rest" said Em and Taylor held her hand "Dad is coming as we speak"

"How are you?" I asked and she started to tremble in tears. Taylor hugged her from behind.

"I just… I can't believe it… TJ, I thought… we were so close of having Mer back… Clovis… he was going… to fix everything" said Em between sobs "I was going to have my sister back".

"Em, Clovis…" I said and Taylor looked at me. He saw right through me and he shook his head. He silently pleaded me to stay quiet.

"Yeah" I lied. I couldn't crush Em's feelings with the truth. Did she really need to know what really happened right now? I would tell her but not today.

"Get some rest" said Taylor patting my leg "Let's go, Em. Your mom must be looking for you"

Em looked up to her fiancé and nodded in tears. She leaned to me and kissed my forehead so sweetly sad that I felt like crying any second. She said "I will talk to Chiron to remove your straps"

"No rush" I joked lightly making Em just smiled only a little.

They left me alone with unconscious Sean just two beds away from me. I thought that maybe some silence would give me peace but I was restless and sad to no measure. I tried for maybe one hour not to cry and I almost accomplished until I felt asleep. I dreamed of Mer dying and I woke up in tears. The most nerve-wrecking part was that I couldn't wipe my eyes.

One hour later, I was getting really hungry and hoping for anyone to come in, so I could ask for food. I thought of yelling, hoping for guards outside the door to come in and feed me. Then I saw the door opening and Aida coming in.

"Juniper sent me" said Aida carrying a tray of steamy delicious food "She thought you would be hungry"

"You have no idea how much" I said and I tried to stand up but I couldn't.

"Yeah, Chiron said I can let one hand go if you promise to play nice" said Aida teasingly and probably trying to make me laugh.

"Sure, whatever" I said rolling my eyes "I'm so hungry"

She put the tray on the other bed and released my right hand. It was a little tricky but I managed to semi-sit down on the bed. Aida placed the tray in my legs and helped me to eat. That was embarrassing to have my sister feeding me like a child. As I ate, she said nothing and the silence was kind of nice.

Once I was done eating, she took the tray and put it on the other bed. She sat next to me just like Taylor and Em. She silently took my wrist tying it up again. I didn't complain. I knew she was just following orders.

"Where were you? Taylor and I looked for you" I asked as soon as she was done.

"That idiot Hypnos' son knocked me down and kept me tied inside a closet" said Aida barely amused. I giggled and she spatted at me "It's not funny"

"Not for you" I said and she laughed softly along with me.

I stopped laughing and Aida looked at me seriously. I heard her sighed nervously and I knew she was going to say something I definitely didn't want to hear.

"TJ, I don't want to be the one to say it" started Aida.

I interrupted her saying "Then don't"

"I think everything was a setup" said Aida and looked away.

"A Trojan horse? Calypso mentioned the same, remember?" I said.

"Yes" said Aida weakly unable to meet my eyes again.

I moved my hand to reach hers but the tie could take me so far. Aida saw what I trying to do and held my hand. I said "She was real. It was her. I know it"

Aida said sadly almost upset, not to me but herself. She said "TJ, Mer died last year when she disappeared" I knew she was trying to convince herself.

"Don't say that!" I said trying to stop the tears coming down my eyes. I was angry by her words as true they could sound.

"Don't believe me, but you know it deep in your heart! Face the truth! They fool us!" yelled Aida upset "We put Camp in danger and we almost died for a lost cause! She was gone from the beginning"

"Shut up!" I yelled to the top of my lungs. I was mad at my sister. I was so furious that I had only one thought. I want to hurt her just like Ewan. I looked at her ready to jump and I just wasn't myself. I roared "Go away!"

Aida looked at me with hurt and left upset. I didn't know if she saw my intentions. As soon as she was out, I was relieved. I was scared of hurting my sister. I looked up and I felt short of breath. I was starting to hyperventilate. Maybe camp was safe for now, but not me. Whoever did this to Mer would come for me and I would end up as their puppet just like my sister.