Disclaimer: Yes, I'm editing stuff. Big stuff still stay the same, but there are some minor details I changed.

Pairings: No suspense, its endgame Percico.

Warnings: It long. Also, Percy's angry.

Summary: Percy tries to hold it in, in varying levels of success. He's not as fine as anyone thinks he is. (Alternatively, he really just wants to get home and present his lovely pineapple but somewhere along the line he's forced to be an accessory to murder. There are also socks involved. Fate is weird.)

buy one murder, get one free pineapple!

The rest of the school year flew by, and no one seemed to think anything was out of the ordinary.

Except, of course, me.

The remaining months of my school year weren't pleasant at all either, after the incident at the museum. Unlike what I'd originally thought, dread still filled my stomach every time I thought about my battle with Ms. Dodds. The fear-ridden feeling wouldn't leave me alone, and it made me twitchy and paranoid all the time.

I got into the bad habit of looking back every time, to see if anyone was about to attack me. I reacted first, think later to threats that weren't really threats. It got so bad that I nearly nailed Grover in the head with a spoon. He forgave me because apparently, he could tell I was twitchy, but I tried to keep a little distance between us in fear of hitting him again.

My grades started to slip bit-by-bit after that. I was too unfocused and anxious and on high alert for something that it was starting to annoy my peers, especially Nancy.

It likely didn't help that I kept bringing up Ms Dodds, hoping at least one person would confirm she was there, but everyone else seemed convinced Ms Kerr - a perky blonde woman - had been the one that had been teaching us ever since. Several people would look at me weird whenever I mentioned Ms Dodds. It got so redundant that I almost believed she was just a figment of my imagination.

Almost. If I hadn't caught Grover. Like I said, he was a bad liar.

Speaking of Grover, I hadn't had a proper conversation with him as finals crept just around the corner. I was getting too antsy and I guess that made me a little hot-tempered most of the time. So much that when some teacher asked me about my 'incompetence', I'd somehow snapped, slipped into Italian, and shouted a lot of things that should have been left unsaid.

I was sent to the headmaster's office. Suffice to say, I was not welcome to Yancy's education as soon as I finished this year. Which was fine. Absolutely.

My heart betrayed my thoughts, and I found myself getting wistful every time I watched kids play in the yard outside of Yancy's dorms. Despite everything, Yancy had kinda grown on me. Not the people, not really, but what drew me into this place was its...normality. It wasn't forced, wasn't that special.

And somehow, that made all the difference.

Perhaps I'd been infected with too much insanity to be utterly relieved at this kind of thing, but despite that Yancy was so tranquil and peaceful that it found a way into my soul and etched itself there, creating a little sanctuary of momentary peace.

All the same, I missed Vongola. It didn't matter how much I was beaten up by Reborn or uncle Kyoya, it didn't matter how terrified I became if all of my friends suddenly turned blood thirsty. It wouldn't even matter if Byakuran would somehow think of a way to make our lives into some degrading version of hell. Vongola was like a family to me. It was my home.

Maybe it was for the best. I'm the heir to the greatest criminal syndicate in the world. Sooner or later, I would slip, and the people around me would be affected. It would be safer if I just didn't involve myself with civilians too much.

It left a bittersweet taste in my mouth, the thought of leaving Yancy for good. I thought about Grover, who, even if things were a bit strained between us ever since Ms Dodds, was the one kid that had my back and stood by me throughout the year. Mr Brunner, who wasn't really the best at giving me the support I needed, but still tried to and was entirely genuine and well-meaning about it.

Out of all the other classes, his was the one I would miss the most. It was always so engaging, even if I could never tell the difference between Polydectes and Polydeuces. He'd have us in Roman or Greek costumes and made us race to the board and write down the name of this goddess or that hero. His class was the fun one.

Although exam week was getting closer, I couldn't be bothered to care much over the other classes. I mean, I could learn more during summer under my tutors who didn't try to tell me things I already knew and trusted me to be able to keep up with their lessons. To them it didn't matter whether or not I was dyslexic, as long as I proved I learned something, they considered it as good as any. They tended to focus more on my lateral thinking ability - or so I was told.

In reality, the only subject I genuinely studied for was Latin, Mr Brunner's class. It wasn't just the fact that I liked Mr Brunner that I favored his class over the others, but I kept getting reminded of the question he'd asked me at the museum. Why would it be a life-death type of thing? Would it involve me fighting for my life somehow? Because of those thoughts, I got nervous, and started to read up more on mythology, with emphasis on Greek. I couldn't tell why, but I felt a little safer when I did.

It was still frustrating how I still mixed up several names, like Chiron and Charon and Athena and Artemis, but somehow I managed. Conjugating Latin verbs were...Look, I know I'm multi-lingual, with at the very least 4 languages under my belt, but even I have a hard time differentiating Greek names. Especially if they're written down. God help you if a t suddenly became an r and vice versa.

I sighed and turned over from my flat position on the bed. I rubbed my eyed with a fist, fighting the urge to yawn. My book was splayed on the sheets, the pages crumpled from overuse. I was tired, and the three-hour Latin exam was tomorrow. After that, I was free to go back home.

My thoughts shifted to Mr Brunner. From the very beginning he's always expected me to be more than the others, as if I was something special. While I was flattered by the attention, it made me feel a little like an outcast, I guess you could say. Having learned from my mom, I appreciated normalcy whenever it was available. To make me feel special didn't quite sit well with me, especially when I had no idea what made me special in the first place.

The guy always pushed me hard. I was used to that, but I can't help but feel like there's something he wants from me. Something I don't know how to show him.

Staring at my Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology textbook, I made a decision. I sat up and picked the book off the soft material of my bed and left my room.

I wasn't ostracized for asking help from a teacher, but it always made me nervous. Would they turn me away, laugh at me, or would they take the time to guide me through what I was supposed to be doing? I hoped Mr Brunner would do the latter. Maybe he could give me a few tips on the exam, then at least I could leave him with a high score as a parting gift before I disappeared from Yancy forever.

I headed downstairs to the faculty offices. The rooms were mostly dark and vacant, but there were a few lights on that alerted me to the fact that there were still some teachers adjusting grades and checking over exam questions. I was about to knock on Mr Brunner's door when I heard him ask a question, judging by the tone. He seemed to be talking to someone.

Now, normally, I'd never eavesdrop on someone like Mr Brunner, considering I never had any reason to, but the voice that answered changed my perspective on the matter.

"...Percy's worrying me, sir."

Grover.

My hand was three inches away from knocking on the door. That didn't sound good. Especially if it was about me, and Grover was talking to an adult about it. Granted my behavior was getting worse, but I didn't think that would warrant Grover to talk behind my back like this. Worried? Why?

I carefully pressed my face on the wall beside the door.

"...can't leave him alone this summer," Grover was saying. "A Kindly One in the school is already too much! It was just a hunch before, but its only a matter of time before they do it again - I mean, they know about Percy now -"

"And rushing things will not help us here," replied Mr Brunner. "Percy needs to mature a little bit more."

Despite the situation and the worrying state of events, I was a little miffed that Mr Brunner thought I wasn't mature enough to handle - handle whatever it is they were trying to hard to hide from me.

"He won't have that kind of time. The summer solstice deadline is -"

"Going to have to be resolved without him, Grover. If what I've heard from him is correct, he has enough on his plate to handle, assuming he wasn't joking about being a target for all his life."

Shit. So he HAD heard me mutter. I prayed no one from Vongola would hear about it. Knowing Reborn, though, that's a far fetched dream.

Grover was silent for a few moments. I assumed he was gaping, because that was pretty normal for him. "But sir, he saw her-"

"Given his behavior regarding being attacked, I doubt that he would think any different. And even so, the Mist will provide enough cover for him to think it was merely someone else." Uh, yeah, no. Usually when I'm targeted there's gunshots, bombs, and colorful flames. There's no way I would've thought that encounter was one of those. His comment about the 'Mist' bothered me, though. He doesn't know about flames, based on his reactions whenever I brought up subtle references to the mafia.

So what was he talking about?

Grover sniffed. Wait, was he crying? "Sir...you know I can't fail my duties again..." he responded in a pained tone. His emotions were plainly heard by the way he spoke. "I can't let it happen, or else - "

"That wasn't your fault, Grover," Mr Brunner tried to reassure kindly. "She was more that what I expected; I should've paid more attention. But for now, let's focus on keeping Percy safe and sound until next fall. Just hold on for a few more months, alright?"

"If you say so," replied Grover dejectedly. Footsteps came near my position. Crap. I scrambled away from the door as fast as I could. In my haste, I knocked over a piece of wood leaning on the wall. I cursed silently and dashed to the other side, keeping low and staying as quiet as possible.

The tension was thick as a shadow loomed ominously just where I had been standing. It sounded like feet, but it wasn't human. It sounded like a horse's steps. They made a clop-clop-clop noise; like some kind of muffled wood block. The shadow was taller that I expected. Had someone else popped up? Bringing a horse?

Whatever it was, I didn't dare take a peek to see.

I was frozen solid when the shadow grew bigger and closer to where I was, touching my fingertips, when in retracted, getting farther away and to the other side. A bead of sweat slowly made its way down my neck, disappearing into my shirt.

After a few moments, Mr Brunner spoke again. "Nothing," I heard him murmur. "My nerves have never been any more accurate since the winter solstice."

"Same here," Grover said. "But...just now, it felt like - "

"Head back to your dorm," Mr Brunner told him. "Didn't you have Math as your next exam?" I peeked over a bit to see Grover pale, his shoulders sagging.

"Oh no..."

They walked away, and I was alone in the hall.

I trudged up back to the dorms myself, my mind still stuck on the conversation I'd just heard.

"Hey," Grover greeted me, bleary-eyed. "You gonna get through the test tomorrow?" I didn't answer him. I couldn't, even if I wanted to. I was still trying to comprehend the bits of information that was handed to me unintentionally.

"Are you okay?" Grove asked me, concern obvious in his features. "You don't look to good."

"I'm -" I swallowed quickly. "Just tired, I guess." I didn't lie.

I gave him a single glance before turning away and getting ready for bed.

My thoughts were still whirling around what I could understand of what happened at the faculty rooms. Something had happened, there was some kind of deadline for it to be resolved. It happened on the winter solstice. Just by the word solstice had me wanting to believe it was just some fantasy novel.

But I'd already seen colorful fire, illusions, different dimensions, the like. If Grover and Mr Brunner thought that I was in some kind of danger, then I'd better step up my game.

The next day, after I'd finished the Latin exam, Mr Brunner pulled me aside, giving my migraine a worse impact due to all the letters that were swimming in my head. I'm pretty sure I'd misspelled at least half of them.

I didn't get any notion that he would out me for eavesdropping, so I let the tension in my shoulders go a bit. My intuition was strangely silent this time, anticipating.

"Percy," he began, wiping his brow with a handkerchief. "Do not be discouraged. Leaving Yancy might be good for you," he said earnestly. Despite what he thought was an assuring tone, I only felt humiliated. It didn't help when Nancy smirked at me and faked teary expressions to the delight of her friends, snickering at me.

I didn't answer him, grimacing and clutching the strap of my bag tighter.

"It's just..." Mr Brunner rolled back and forth, as if looking for what to say. "I don't think Yancy was a good fit for you. It was only a matter of time."

It was hard not to feel offended, because as nice as Mr Brunner was trying to be, his words stung. My eyes grew warmer, moistening my eyelids.

Here was my favorite teacher telling me, within earshot of the whole goddamn class, that I wasn't cut out for a school like Yancy. Perhaps he was trying to make me feel better by telling me I was meant for something more than Yancy, but I realized he was absolute shit at finding the right words to say at times like these. In situations like these.

"Of course," I found myself saying, averting my eyes and glowering at a poor potted plant next to me. My hands shook, clenching into fists.

"No, you don't understand, Percy - " Mr Brunner cuts his own words off. "Oh confound it all. What I'm trying to say...you aren't like any of them, Percy. That's nothing to be ashamed of," he told me. Silence greeted us, with my eyes slowly shifting back to Mr Brunner.

"Thanks, sir," I say softly. "That's the best way to tell a child they're not some kind of freak, right?"

If I was any of the other students, I would have been whispering and noticing the dark shadows that fell over the top half of my face. At this point, I could give less of a shit about them.

"Percy - " Mr Brunner called. I was gone before he could finish. My eyes burned as I turned away, ignoring everyone as I stomped past them.

After the last day had passed, I shoved everything I owned back in my suitcase, and called for the family driver. I ignored his worried questions ('Signore Perseus, your mother has given you time to yourself, don't you wish to -' 'Just get me home, Antonio.' 'Of course, Signore.') and told him to book a flight back to Italy.

It turned out, though, that Vongola had transferred their base of operations temporarily here, in New York. I'd been told that my mother and Yuni had another...prediction, so to speak, my mother confirming it over a quick text and an apology for not telling me sooner.

So I shrugged it off, thinking it wasn't that unusual.

A group of guys were chatting and joking around as I passed by, and one of them grabbed my forearm and asked me where I'd be headed off to for the summer. I debated telling him that I was about to head to Italy before my family traveled to New York, but I decided it wasn't worth the risk and told him; "My family's having this huge meet-up just a few rides away. I'm just waiting for the family driver to pick us up."

He smirked and gave me his fist. I bumped it with my own, and went on my way.

I'm pretty sure I left students gaping when a limo drove into the pick-up spot and addressed me. They must've thought I was some nobody from nowhere. Which, I admit, was my fault entirely, with the way I presented myself. I blame mom. She was always so...simplistic, if she chose her own wardrobe. Even when she cross-dressed!

I was regretting not giving Grover a warning that I was leaving, but it turned out I didn't have to when he came rushing after me, panting. He thought I was taking a bus, like I'd always do, but today was a special occasion so I couldn't. Since I was fairly sure our destinations were close, I let him in.

I'll admit, I was feeling a bit vindictive.

"Thanks, Perce- oh my gods!" Grover shrieked, pressing himself at the edge of the seat when Mia, the escort, threateningly pushed the side of her hand against his neck.

"Who are you," she spoke, accent heavy in English.

"I - I'm just, I mean, Percy! Help me!" Grover looked in my direction. I watched him amused as I adjusted in my own seat across the one he was trying to reach. Mia glanced at me at the corner of her eye and rose an eyebrow, but didn't move, despite my lackluster reaction and Grover's familiarity with me. Bless.

I let him sputter and fidget for a few more moments before I gave mercy. "Mia," I said, my words switching over to Italian. "It's fine now. Thanks for indulging me." She shook her head and relented off Grover.

"Honestly, young man. Signore Reborn is a bad influence on you." I gave her finger guns in response. She rolled her eyes and shut the door after Grover warily took his seat.

I chuckled in response. "I mean, what else did you expect?"

Poor Grover looked hopelessly lost. We were still talking in Italian, so I could understand the confusion.

"Grover," I say, and he jumps. "Y-yeah?" He...honestly looked like a scared animal, and not in the funny way. I patted his back in what I hoped was a reassuring manner.

"Dude, its alright, they won't do anything," I told him. He nodded hesitantly.

The car (is this even a car, I wonder) pulled a right. I got comfortable, pestering Grover over how he did on the tests. It all seemed normal and I hoped it stayed that way. A few minutes passed, and Grover and I were touching the subject of where we were going to stay.

"Wait, Perce, where are you going to study next?" Grover asked, tilting his head in question. I leaned back with my arms crossed, the though never really making itself known until now.

"I honestly don't know," I answered truthfully. "Though I'm pretty sure I'll be home-schooled or sent to another boarding school."

Grover looked at me funny. "Perce, I think you told me you were kicked out from most boarding schools," he said slowly, as if speaking to a child. I shrugged. "Yeah, well. The boarding schools I'm sure my family's sending me to next are schools specifically known to handle cases like me."

He flinched as I said that. Given the circumstances, I guess he thought I was saying that with some kind of grudge, which I understood. With how my last months at Yancy went, it would seem that he still thought I wasn't looking forward to it.

I really wasn't, but not for the reasons a normal person would think. The boarding schools I mentioned were specifically mafia-based. Even if they had the top-notch educations around, the people there were mafia. There was no guaranteeing that it was a regular run of the mill school.

Mafia school was a cess-pit of underground politics. Insulting the wrong people ended up with a considerable body count. Survival of the fittest was the motto literally everywhere. Cheating was encouraged in certain aspects as long as you don't get caught. It was mayhem at its finest.

The worst part about it was in any of those schools, I was sure to be elevated to 'elite' status, due to my position as Vonogola's sole heir. Not to mention the potential ass-kissing other mafia heirs would do to get on my good side with additional favors.

(That, and my crazy cousins were bound to be there hijacking everything I did in there. Between me and my mom, I think I'm the only one sane left, because as much as mom denies it; she's just as deluded as the rest of them.)

Either way, it made my school life really uncomfortable. That's why I didn't argue with mom when she and the others decided to send me away to a civilian boarding school.

Grover nodded, but it didn't seem like he actually believed me. I don't know why I was fine with it, but I was. I guess Grover worrying about me touched my heart more than it should have? It wasn't like I was gay, though.

Even if I was gay, Grover wouldn't be my type. I'm not saying it to be mean, I just don't think I'd date Grover romantically. He was my best friend, but that's all I ever see the two of us being.

I decided to switch to another, more regular topic of interest, namely, video games. I rummaged through my bag for the handheld console, hoping to take turns with Grover.

The car suddenly swerved to the left, leaving me to slam to the right side of the car's interior. Mia cursed, catching Grover before he could have the same fate I had and buckling his seat. She, with a surprising amount of balance, reached over to me as well. She buckled me up just before the driver took another hard left.

"P-percy!" Grover whimpered, reaching out to me. "What's going on?!"

I took a peek out the window, my left hand finding the handlebar on the car's ceiling. I yelp back a little when a sharp pang hits the glass. "Someone's shooting at us!"

"That was quite obvious, Signore."

"That was for Grover, Mia! Cut me some slack!"

Grover stared wide-eyed at me, as if he didn't believe what was happening. "What?!" He shrieked, holding onto the belt strap tighter. I nodded grimly.

"Yep. Happens once in a while," I said casually.

Grover's voice went a pitch higher. "Once in a while?!" I understood why he was so freaked out. What kind of student gets chased like its some kind of movie? Me. I am the student that gets chased like some sort of action movie. It is me.

Didn't really make my situation any better though.

"I'd tell you not to worry, but uh," I say awkwardly. "I'm guessing this isn't something that should be brushed off?"

"Of course not!" If Grover said that he could reach a higher pitch, I would believe him. My ears were still ringing from how high he screeched that. What was his throat made of?

Grover began mumbling rapidly, turning into a rather impressive sheet of white despite his browner color. "Oh gods, this wasn't supposed to happen, not what I signed up for-"

We both yelped as a bullet made a hard sounding ping against the window, making a tiny crack

"I mean I said I knew I was expecting this but I didn't mean it literally!"

I wondered what about all of this he signed up for, and I suddenly remember that one scene the night before the exams, when I caught Grover talking to Mr Brunner. Was this what he was worried about? He didn't seem like anyone from allied Families. Was he?

No, he was a pretty bad liar, an actor even more so. What ever he was worried about, it was probably something else.

(Looking back, I really wished it was Mafia instead. The mess I was involved in now was like dealing with multiple levels of Iemitsu.)

Bullets pelted the metal of the car, making Grover whimper in his seat. He was pretty resilient, most people would be screaming bloody murder right about now. Props to him. (His loyalty was one of the things I'd be ever-so-thankful for.) Me, on the other hand, I was pretty calm. Sure, there was my usual sense of urgency, and my worry because Grover, my civilian friend, might get hurt, but I trusted my bodyguards. They beat me everyday during training, and I was told that I was a menace. They can handle this. I'm sure of it.

I squashed down the urge to crawl into a fetal position. It's fine, I told myself. You've been in this kind of situation before.

My heart pounded. I wondered if it would end soon.

I decided distracting myself was a pretty good solution. "Hey," I called out over the noise, trying to shift as close as I could with the seat-belt around me. Mia had brought out her trusty rifle - I got that as a gift when I was a kid, she was my favorite okay? - and opened a window just enough to fit the tip outside. She started firing in rapid succession.

"Y-yeah?" Grover replied, shaking (though that could be because of the car going on a bumpy ride thing, I dunno). "You're gonna be okay. Just trust me."

Even if I don't trust myself, I didn't say.

I have no idea if that actually worked, but Grover nodded gulping. Mia took down a few smaller cars steadily nearing us with a few shots. Go Mia, I cheered internally. Go kick their metal asses!

"When we get to the checkpoint," she told the both of us in English. "Take cover underground. Inteso?" She didn't look away from the line of fire. Its not like she could. I gave her a verbal confirmation, prompting Grover to follow, albeit with a bit of a stutter. "Good. We're almost there. We're sorry for the mild inconvenience, Signore Underwood."

How they knew Grover's name, I'll assume they hacked into some computer file. I almost laughed outright hysterically at the 'mild inconvenience' comment, because from what I could tell of my friend's constipated looking face it was anything but mild. Such is the life of an heir, I guess. Its never normal that 'crazy' becomes the norm and a boring, uneventful life would be seen as an exotic-looking culture from another planet.

Grover and I didn't say anything after that, preferring to watch Mia's rhythmic clicking of the gun's trigger, systematically shooting each car with enough precision to make a lot of delay. Finally, it looked like the back-up had the attackers handled. No one got seriously hurt on our side, which was good.

All the tensions in my body bled out, and I checked on Grover. Luckily, he looked fine, if a little green.

My pounding heart gradually slowed down its beating as the car pulled over to a relatively empty-at-the-moment market. Mia finally let Grover and I look around while they fixed some damages to the vehicle's engine.

The marketplace was very clean, which had me surprised, but then again I've never been to an open market before, just supermarkets and stuff. I mean, the black market, sure, but it was very different from the regular market.

"I think I'm going to puke," Grover groaned, hunching over. I patted him on the back sympathetically.

"Sorry. That comes with the territory." At least, I'm pretty sure it was, if he was talking about the car trip. He nodded uncertainly at me before his face puffed up and he turned to a nearby trashcan.

"Oh...now that's a lot of vomit." And not the good kind. (Yes there is a good kind, it's called word vomits and they're amazing.) While I let Grover empty out his lunch of the day, I looked around to observe some of the vendor's stalls.

There was a lot of items for sale, like mangoes and pomegranates and the rare bananas even. They looked very delicious, could I maybe steal one?

My eyes slid over to a stall that was set a few feet away from the rest, just short of being isolated. On three chairs were three ladies and...a huge pair of socks. No, really, there was a pair of big-ass socks being knitted right now. The middle lady was holding a basket filled with colorful, assorted yarn (they looked familiar, somehow) with two identical strings of color stretched out for use of the left and right placed ladies. They were both knitting a sock each. On their stall was another assortment of food, and I was pretty hungry right now.

"Finally," I heard Grover behind me sigh in relief. "Perce, can you - hey, Percy? Where are you -" I didn't pay him attention because that pineapple looked very quaint right now. I had to have it. For artistic purposes. And maybe scientific ones. My shoes thudded across the gravel, crunching the floor as I raced to the other side. That pineapple looked very juicy. Maybe mom and I could have one each. It should be fine. My mother wanted some stress relief, anyway.

"Hey, uh," I pointed to one of the bright, innocent looking pineapples. "How much is one of those?"

(Grover paled for the third time since the whole chapter. "What is he doing," he hissed, panicked. His eyes darted around for the escorts Percy originally had with him. Where were they?

Hang on.

Where was the car? Wasn't it here like a minute ago?)

The three ladies blinked at me strangely in sync. It was creepy, but my mom dealt with Mukuro and look at that, she's fine!

(A few miles away Tsuna sneezes, scattering some of zir papers. Zir eye twitches. It's been a bad day. Hayato didn't control himself, Takeshi wasn't any help, Ryohei was not there to do damage control - surprisingly he became one of the most tamest guardians ze had - and Lambo was out with the Varia. Kyoya was Kyoya, and Reborn very wisely avoided zir.

"Oya, oya, Tsunayoshi, I have returned," Mukuro Rokudo chooses this unfortunate time to come into zir office. "Unfortunately -"

He didn't manage to get another single word out because the moment the Don hears 'Unfortunately' in his sentence ze shot right out of their seat, grabbed his neck, and very impressively decked zir mist guardian.

Right out the window.

It's been a bad day.)

The ladies didn't answer, but that was fine since I saw the price up on one of the large signs on the top of their stall. Leaning in to get one of the most nicest pineapples I can find, I notice a sharp object in the middle lady's basket. It was a pair of scissors. Large ones. What even...what was that? Why have a pair of such heavy-duty scissors? Were they weapons? Torture items? Scare tactic?

I pulled back because I really wanted to ask them about it, but then suddenly the answer hits me. "Are you gonna use those scissors to cut those?" I pointed to the scissors. They didn't answer, again, only blinking. This was starting to get weird.

Assuming that they were going to cut it, I held out my hand. "I could cut it for you, if you want." What. What am I doing. My intuition is deadly silent, instead of a humming background noise. What was happening? Why do I suddenly get a chill?

It felt like all the outside word noise drowned out, and I could only hear myself, my breathing, and the three old ladies. It was strange, because I swear I heard the slow rustling of the yarn, unwinding from inside the basket right to the knitting needles held by the ladies on either side. The ladies themselves - I don't know why, but they...the air around them was...it was humming with something. I don't know what it is, but it definitely wasn't flames.

I stopped looking at their hands, the basket, the scissors - my eyes shifted everywhere, I didn't know where to look. I focused on their faces, which for some reason held tiny little quirks of the lips if I squinted hard enough. Were they laughing at me? Why? I bet I could lift those scissors no problem. As big as it was, it wasn't that heavy-looking.

I told them this, and they started chuckling in sync. "Of course, Perseus di Vongola," the one on the far right nodded her head, the thin curtain of hair following her movement. How did she know my name? The true one? With the correct pronunciation too?

(I had a grand total of three names. One, Perseus Jackson, the American alias. Pronounced pur-see-uhs, hence, Percy. The Italian version, Perseus di Vongola, pehr-say-uhs, and it signified my status in the family business. The heir. And lastly, my birth name - Sawada Ienari. Mother went ahead and gave me the name from the shogunate we descended from, which was all fine and dandy.)

They were hinting at something. I couldn't figure out what what. "O-kay...I'm not going to ask how you know my name," I stated bluntly as they handed me the scissors. Hm. Good weight. One of them nodded. "We know many things."

"So does everyone in my life, apparently," I grumble irritably, carefully positioning the scissors on the colorful blue string presented to me. Huh. This felt like cutting off a life stri-

Oh.

Fuck.

My hands snapped the blade shut as I realized the metaphor, both newly formed ends gliding down gently.

(Grover was pale white as a sheet of paper.)

How was I supposed to feel about this?

"Did you just make me kill someone?"

...fucking wow, Percy. Yes. Ask someone if you just killed a guy by cutting off yarn. That definitely bodes well for your sanity. Sure. I was an idiot.

They definitely looked amused, if the laughter in their eyes didn't give it away. The one on the left took the scissors from me, handing it to the lady in the middle. She, in turn, reached behind her and grabbed the pineapple I pointed at, and handed it to me.

"Free of charge," she said, eyes twinkling in mirth. Oh god.

I walked back to where Grover was, dazed. "Per-Percy?" He hesitantly approached me, hand lightly touching my shoulder. "Are you alright, dude?"

I turned to stare at him numbly, fingers playing with the thorns of the newly received pineapple.

"Did I just get conned into murdering a guy?"