Sup guys! I think i'm updating early HAHA(think)

Been real busy these few days :/ I always say that, but its kinda true HAHA

This chapter...hm, i'm trying to improve by using metaphors and more vocal, but i don't think this chapter has any metaphors at all HAHA maybe i wrote one but forgot

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! it's more like a filler(I have so many fillers) But since it has a bit of emotion...oh well, what can i say, i like to harp on emotions and prolong stories :/ i dunno why

Enjoy! PLEASE R&R! I'll cya guys soon! :)

btw, having lots of competitions soon. Cadet world cup this thurs, sat and sun, cadet championships next sat, plus CA starting this friday, so all in all, i'm in a really hectic and cramped life currently .

Cya in hopefully a few days! :)

Nico's POV

The click that signaled the shutting of Percy's door rebounded off the walls of the humongous house, causing an eerily unsettling atmosphere to descend upon us.

I could tell that we were all stunned into silence, if our comically open mouths had anything to say about it. My brain was still trying to process the mystical, depressing 'tale' I had just heard.

My eyes shifted to Thalia Over the past few days, she had been the one who was hell-bent on making Percy the guilty one and Micheal the victim. However, after hearing the whole story from Rachel's Diary…she was still trying to wrap around the idea that Micheal could be that much of a bastard.

Frankly, I, too, was trying to wrap my mind around the idea that Micheal would do such an inconceivable, utterly despicable act that hit the limits of betrayal of trust and friendships.

Was the Micheal that was described in this book, really the Micheal we all thought we knew. The kind, fun-loving, thoughtful Micheal?

As I mulled over it, I slowly began to realize why Percy had never told the rest of the group.

Partially, I think, it was because some small, tiny little speck of his heart still wished to regain the friendship and closeness the three of them had in the past.

However, I think the bigger part of why he never tried to tell us was because he knew we would never believe him. Okay, maybe Grover and I, and maybe Thalia would have believed him if we saw the Diary, but the rest of the gang had already been bewitched by Micheal, had been manipulated to think that Micheal was too nice to ever do something so disgustingly wrong.

As I stared at Thalia now, looking at her quavering, electricity-like blue eyes, I could tell that she was slowly starting to believe Percy, slowly starting to accept that Micheal was a pure son of a bitch and Percy was the victim.

I felt a little angry at her. I still remembered when, five years ago, Thalia was the outcast in the school. The scary one. The unapproachable one. The spunky, devilish one.

Everyone had avoided her. No one could see past her well-designed façade. No one but Percy.

When he had gone up to Thalia, we all thought he was insane, and that the moment he sat close to her, she would pick up her knife and stab in right in the face.

We had all been surprised when all she did was, after a few words with Percy, stared at him as though he was an angel sent down from heaven to help her.

The next day, Percy introduced her to us. After a few days of accompanying us, she slowly began to open up to us, and we slowly got to learn more and more about her hidden personality.

And in the end, we all ended up liking her, and accepting her as part of the family.

Grover was biting the nail on his thumb- something he always did when he was nervous. I could almost see the gears in his brain moving to try to make sense of what he had just heard.

Annabeth, on the other hand, looked as calm and collected as ever. I was a little taken aback at how fast she had recovered. I know she hadn't been arund when all that had happened, but with all the rumors spreading literally everywhere, she would have some opinions right?

Furthermore, she seemed to have more suspicion than us about what had happened before he had read the diary.

"So," I croaked out, finally able to find my voice. "What are we going to do?"

"The question is," Annabeth spoke up immediately-as though she had been waiting for someone to say something first. "Do you believe the story? That's the first and foremost question that needs to be answered- as well as the most crucial and vital one."

Her voice was calm and steady. Her eyes were firm, and her body posture was one of confidence. She was observing each and every one of us, analyzing, appraising us, trying to judge whether we believed the story we just heard or not.

Her eyes shifted, first, to mine. She stared at me right in the eye. Those stormy, gray, piercing eyes that seemed to stare right into my soul, that seemed to go past every spiritual or emotional border that usually blocks out normal people from seeing through us.

For a brief moment, I compared her to the Annabeth that I met two years ago.

That girl from two years ago was gone. Not a single trace of her was left behind in the girl I was staring eye to eye right then. Not even a speck of tat girl remained.

The girl in front of me was anything but shy or timid. Over the years, she had grown, gaining confidence, growing out of the multitude of nearly unbreakable walls that she had put around herself, becoming more open with her opinions and thoughts, becoming the intimidating, calm and quick-witted girl sitting opposite me right then.

I nodded, almost imperceptibly. She nodded back, and shifted her eyes to Grover's who, after taking a few awkward seconds to force himself to move, nodded too. She finally rested her eyes upon Thalia's.

We all turned to look at Thalia. Her face was rested in the palms of her hands, and her body was quivering. I could hear the soft sobs coming from her, and my whole body ached to just go up and embrace her, comfort her and tell her in a soothing voice that it was all right.

But, of course, it was not all right. We needed to see Thalia's response before we could do anything. Annabeth wanted to see if everyone here could believe Percy, that every one, after seeing the physical evidence, could believe him.

But, there was a deeper reason to that. Annabeth more or less knows about how Percy had treated Thalia so well. As I observed Annabeth, I noticed something.

She wasn't wondering whether Thalia believed Percy or not. She was waiting for…for something.

"What about you, Thalia?" Annabeth asked in an even voice. It wasn't accusing, and yet it wasn't soothing. It was merely a question.

"I…" Thalia's shaky voice rang out, causing us to shift our utmost attention to her. "I…I'm such a fucking, ungrateful, stupid bitch…." Vulgar words poured out of her as she shook even harder. Grover and I were stunned silent as her sobs grew even louder.

She had never admitted to a wrongdoing…and she certainly had never admitted that she was ungrateful and bitchy and stupid…this was the first time she had ever done that.

I saw Annabeth shift, and gave her a quick glance. She had leaned back slightly, and her face was expressing something close to approval.

It struck me that perhaps that had been what she was waiting for. She had been waiting for Thalia to admit, to say the words out loud, to finally be responsible and admit her flaws, her mistakes.

"Yes, you were," Annabeth's calm voice caused us to stiffen. Jason, Grover and I all snapped our necks towards her, wide-eyed. I bet we were all thinking the same thing.

"Is she making a death wish?"

To our utter bewilderment and surprise, Thalia didn't get up and kill Annabeth. Instead, her sobs softened, and she finally looked up. Her face couldn't have looked any worse for wear- her eyes were puffed and really red-rimmed, tear tracks with tears still streaming down them were all over her cheeks, and a little bit of mucus was leaking out of her nose.

And yet, her eyes, which we all had thought would be insecure and filled with remorse, guilt and grief, were filled with determination, with a fierce fire that we doubted could be extinguished easily.

"But I will stop being one," Thalia said. Her voice was still shaky, but it held no more self-pity. "It…its time I repaid the debt. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't make up for everything…but…there must be a starting point…"

"We're both the same, Thalia," Annabeth said, her voice almost inaudible. "We both owe him, and we failed him," Annabeth's voice was wracked with well-hidden pain. I looked at her questioningly, but she didn't answer- she didn't even bother to notice.

"There's only one way we can repay him, even though it may never be enough," Annabeth continued, and her eyes were starting to tear. "And that way…is to always support him when he needs it."

"Because very rarely does he need support. But, when he does, it's when it really matters to him."

Thalia and Annabeth looked at each other, and I could tell that a mutual understanding had been made between them. Annabeth's words were like a bullet to my heart.

It was true. Percy never needed help before, never asked anything from the others before. Percy had helped with many things in the gang- Beckendorf's and Silena's getting together, Leo's trauma with his family, Chris's cutting problem and many more.

But never had any of us managed to return the favor, the countless precious favors he continuously gave us.

And when we had the chance, most of us, instead, decided to go along with Micheal, forgetting about everything we owed him.

If it had been me, I would have given up on the gang already. I would have walked out on them, or at least scream and shout at them at the unfairness of it all, of how they betrayed him for a worthless, conniving scum.

But, he kept it all in, and went to the only person who he knew would not condemn him.

But, that person, whom in the past, he had given his entire heart to, was incapable of giving him the solace and comfort he needed.

He had been that lonely. To have no one but a girl who had been- and still was- in coma for years to find comfort.

How lonely must that have been?

Suddenly, the image of how I had seen him when we had walked into the hospital room- his hand clenched tightly to Rachel's, his face buried in his other arm as he slept beside the unmoving body, sitting on a chair beside the bed with not a single soul to comfort him about his brother's betrayal and his beloved one's suffering.

I looked to the closed door Percy had disappeared to. Even now, even after telling us, he was still alone. He couldn't bear to see our reactions, as he thought that we would not believe it…or at least, he was uncertain that we would believe him. Even after everything he had shown us, told us.

It showed how much trust he thought everyone had in him.

None at all.