Chapter 45: Definitely Still In Love

Disclaimer: Since I'm such a jerk… I don't think I retain the rights to own anything….

Percy's POV:

I pulled the trigger.

Luke pulled the trigger.

Nico pulled the trigger.

My bullet hit the Luke's arm, the force was enough to interfere with his aim, causing him aim at Nico's sides, which in return caused Nico's shot to shoot harmlessly through the couch next to Luke.

Nico crumpled to the ground clutching to the gun wound on his right side. I heard him mumbled a curse and was assured for a second that he's at least alive. I only had the strength to turn my head to see Luke's good hand grabbing Nico by the collar. "You think you know everything about me Di Angelo?" Luke sneered, the pain on his shoulder obviously bothering him.

Despite his weak state, Nico managed to push Luke off and grab his gun, pointing at Luke who was sprawled on the floor, defenseless. "I know enough to say that you are the dumbest, most twisted guy I've ever met."

I could stand up now, but all I could manage to do was stand still. I was a bit scared; my life hasn't been this crazy for a while and to just suddenly be thrown back into a scene of guns and death wasn't really helping my sanity.

Nico stared at Luke for a second before putting his gun down, "I'm only letting you go this once-"

"What? You don't have the guts to kill me?" Luke shot back.

"No, for all I care, I could kill you without a second thought. I'll tell you this once." Nico coughed, clutching his sides, "You report to Kronos about your findings and you will put the lives of million at risk. Let's just say you don't care about the lives of millions, but Kronos will aim for all the agents, and one of those agents is Thalia."

"She is dead!"

"Oh yeah?!" Nico yelled before wincing in pain. "You know what?! She actually went back to your mom's hospital to visit you a year after she disappeared, but no, you were gone. So yes, she's dead; at least through your eyes she's dead. But to me, she's very much alive!"

"Who are you to her!?"

"Her fucking fiancé you asshole." Nico spat.

Luke just sat there staring at Nico.

From the distance I heard sirens, "Cops." I warned the both of them.

Nico turned to Luke, "The next time we see each other, I won't be as lenient."

To be honest I was thankful that Nico didn't kill Luke. As much as I hated the guy's guts, I didn't want to see him die.

Nico looked over at me, "Can you stand?" He asked me.

I managed to lean on the table without falling, "So and so."

"Help me up." Nico said as I cautiously made my way over to help him up. "Cover it up." Nico commanded pointing to the wound on his side. Nico leaned on me, "Come on let's go."

I stared at Nico, "And him?"

Nico struggled to turn back, "You might want to get going before my team gets here. You got around 2 minutes."

"Why are you doing this?" Luke suddenly asked.

"I'm not doing this for you. If anything, it's because Thalia still cares for you."

With that said Nico and I made our way to the lobby. Nico was obviously in need of immediate medical attention, but he told me to stay low and not attract any attention.

"Your friend okay?" A cop asked as we got out of the elevator.

I looked at Nico, who had his eyes closed as his aviator jacket covered up the bloody wound. "Yeah, he's just got a bit of a hangover." I tried for a weak smile, hoping that it looked convincing. "Completely knocked out… uhh… girlfriend broke up with him yesterday."

I felt Nico's fist punching my sides. Somehow I managed to stand up straight and refrain from strangling him.

The cop looked convinced.

As soon as we were out of prying eyes I carefully put Nico into his car, "We have to get you to the hospital." I placed him in the passenger seat and took off his aviator jacket to take a look at the wound. "Oh gods…"

Nico groaned, "Seriously Percy, I'm fine. Just get me to my house."

"B-but-"

"It's fine." I looked over at Nico; I could tell he's trying to keep it together.

"The hospital is down the-"

Nico gripped the handle on the door as he grab his jacket to cover up the wound, "Percy, I mean it!"

"You're fucking bleeding!"

"If you take me to the hospital… I swear to god, I will-"

"What? You can't even stand up properly. None of us have any medical experience-"

"Percy, shut up, I know what I'm doing. If you don't take me back to my house we'll just be here arguing until I lose all my blood." Nico warned me.

I sighed and had no choice but to oblige to his wishes. I didn't waste another second, within fifteen minutes of speeding through the freeway; we pulled up in front of Nico's house.

I began as I turned off the engine. "You owe me an explanation."

Nico sighed, "You're going to ask about Luke."

"Well obviously!"

Nico grimaced in pain, "Two words, Thalia's boyfriend."

I noticed he didn't say ex-boyfriend… but he said it like he wasn't sure whether or not Luke is still considered as Thalia's boyfriend. "Wait aren't you-"

"Percy… I'm dying here… are you really going to question me about Thalia's love life?" Nico asked, his voice straining as he bit down the pain on his sides.

I stayed quiet and decided to hold it against him later, "Come on, get on my back, let's see what we could do about that gun wound."

I'll admit, I freaked out a bit, I had no idea how to take care of a gun wound. As soon as I placed him down on the bed, Nico was almost knocked out. It was almost like he couldn't stay awake any longer and simply just fainted as the blood continued to seep through his shirt. Nico had obviously fainted from the shot and immense loss of blood. I had no idea how to get the bullet out and Nico wasn't awake enough to direct me how to do it. The only thing I managed to do was stop the bleeding for a little bit, but with the bullet still lodged in his body, I wasn't sure if it would help.

Fortunately… or unfortunately, I knew someone who probably deals with these types of injuries on a daily basis.

"Hello?" A voice said over the phone.

"Thalia! Thank the gods. It's Percy-" I could tell she was ready to hang up. "Thalia, I know you're mad at Nico, but I need your help. He won't go to the hospital or anything-"

"Hospital?"

"He got shot-"

"Try to stop the bleeding, I'll be right there." The line went dead. Within five minutes the doorbell rang.

"Thanks for coming Thalia." I said as soon as I opened the door.

Thalia didn't even greet me before storming into Nico's house and up into his room. "What the hell did you guys do all morning?!" Thalia glared at me as soon as she saw Nico's condition.

I didn't know whether or not I should mention Luke so I went with the safe answer, "Nothing."

Thalia grumbled a few unpleasant words before taking off Nico's shirt to take a closer look at the wound. "Go get me a few towels, it's in the first cabinet to the right of the restroom." Thalia ordered me.

I nodded and within a few minutes came back up a stack of white towels just in time to hear a scream of pain. I stepped into the door to see Thalia had dislodged the bullet from Nico who had miraculously woken up from the pain. Note the sarcasm.

"Why the hell are you here?!" Nico yelled at Thalia, trying to bite down his pain.

"To save your life asshole." Thalia retorted it back with equal anger.

"I didn't need you-"

"Sure and if you die?"

For a second Nico looked surprised, but nevertheless his next words were filled with anger. "Since when did you care?"

"You think I really cared? This is all an act Nico." Thalia retorted back before she could stop herself. "Everything we did was an act, how is this any different?"

I could tell Nico was ready to punch a wall, but his current situation restricted him from doing so, "Obviously it's not! Get out of my house!"

"I'm saving your life!"

"Well I'm obviously still alive!"

"Thanks to me!"

"I don't need-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I yelled at the two of them. For a moment I'm just plain annoyed with their argument. "I called Thalia here! Now do you want to close up that gun wound or no?"

Nico, for once was at lost for words, but decided it's best to let Thalia do her job. "This doesn't mean anything."

"Obviously." Thalia agreed as she grabbed a towel.

"You guys are better suited as a couple." I mumbled.

I don't know if the two of them heard me, but suddenly there was a tension in their air as if they are both considering my words.

~PAGEBREAK~

After a few hours, Nico was in a deep sleep, but Thalia had managed to stop the bleeding and his wound doesn't seem as serious anymore. Thalia carefully changed the huge bandage wrap around Nico's wound and finally decided to sit down in a chair next to him.

"You can leave now." I told her as I walked into the room, noticing that Thalia had pulled up the covers for him.

Thalia's attention snapped towards my direction as if she didn't expect me to be there, "I'm fine." She insisted.

I decided it's better not to push Thalia about Nico, "How's Annabeth?" I decided to finally man up and ask.

"She's doing better. Well ever since she found out that her mother is alive-"

"What?"

"You should really learn to keep your phone away from Annabeth." Thalia pointed out. I bit back a curse, suddenly remembering that I didn't have my phone. Being so caught up with this mission, I completely forgot about my phone. "You know it doesn't hurt to pay her a visit. She's doing better, true, but still being completely bitchy and depressed."

I stayed silent.

"She's not mad at you, if that makes you feel better."

I knew if I kept talking about Annabeth, I'll be tempted to call her. Apologize to her and probably become the totally lovesick Percy. Even now, just talking about her for a little bit was making my confident waver, so I decided to change the topic.

"You know Nico's not mad at you either." If there's anything that I'm doing right, it is trying to fix Nico's and Thalia's relationship. The guy spent almost half his lifetime with this girl and they are both throwing it away just because of some dispute over my case. It's obvious that both Nico and Thalia cared a lot about each other but for some reason…

"I know, I'm not that dumb." Thalia retorted back as if she's implying that I was much dumber than her. "He's just great at holding grudges and one of those grudges is his mother death's-"

"And Luke?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Thalia narrowed her eyes, "What did you guys do today?"

"Promise not to kill me?"

"I'm not promising anything." Thalia assured me.

I sighed. It was the best offer I was going to get. I tried to tell it to Thalia as vaguely as possible, hoping that Nico wouldn't skin me alive for telling her this. Thalia listened attentively and on some occasion looked over at Nico as if she would've punched him if he wasn't already in so much pain.

"Nico also mentioned that Luke was your boyfriend." I added in after I told her how Nico got his wound.

Thalia stayed silent for a second, glancing over at Nico, then turning back to me. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear Percy. Our relationship… it's a bit complicated."

"I can see that." I sarcastically replied.

"Hey! It's not like you have a right to talk." Thalia pointed out.

"Then what's your excuse?" I shot back almost immediately.

"Does it help to say that we're not exactly dating?" Thalia pointed out, her voice suddenly got lower.

"Well obviously, you made it clear that you broke up with Nico-"

"No." Thalia looked up at me. Her electric blue eyes seem to be filled with an unexplained emotion. "We never broke up."

"But-"

"How could a couple break up when they never dated to begin with?" Thalia mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

I let her words sink in for a second, I was curious but I knew not to press her any more. For some reason I had a feeling that even if I questioned her, Thalia wasn't going to be giving up information that easily.

A comfortable silence passed between us. I have to admit that I was a bit wary of Thalia when we first met, considering that every time she saw me, there was always a threat of killing me. Looking at it now however, Thalia isn't that bad, rather she's just a bit stubborn.

"We're not really different you know…" Thalia began. "I mean sure, we're similar in our personalities… not really something I'm proud of." Thalia remarked.

"Don't worry I'm not really a big fan of our similarities." I retorted with equal sarcasm.

Thalia gave me a look, "I mean aside from that, our lives aren't much different."

"What do you mean?"

Thalia scoffed, "False relationships, death of our love ones' parent, and blessed with the most rotten luck."

"Geez… I never took you to be so optimistic." I replied full of sarcasm, but at the same time noting her seriousness.

"And you wonder why I hate you so much." Thalia retorted back. "It's like you are deliberately trying to piss me off."

"You can't really blame me, ever since I got a bit friendly with Annabeth, you've been accusing me of hurting her and to make matters worse… you are constantly trying to break us up."

Thalia glared at me, "You really don't understand anything. You're like a magnet for trouble, and frankly Annabeth already has enough trouble in her life. If you are involved with her, she'll be used as a bargaining chip… and then BAM! Thousands… no millions of lives at risk. I tried to get her away from you in the beginning for that reason. You were obviously crazy about her, I could immediately tell-"

"What are you? Aphrodite?" I grumbled.

Thalia smacked me. "Obviously not. My love life is pretty much a wreck too." Thalia sighed. She didn't have the heart to say it, but I knew she was talking about Nico. "But anyone in their right mind could tell that you cared for her much more than a sister or friend for that matter. The same thing could be said for Annabeth."

"Then why did you even considering mending our relationship the other day?"

Thalia scoffed, "Did you not see Annabeth's reaction and mood when you left? She was moody, bitchy, and worst of all, she threw a book across the floor."

I looked at Thalia dumbfounded. She acted like the action of Annabeth throwing a book is almost impossible. "Throwing a book." I repeated with fake enthusiasm. "Scary indeed. I do it all the time."

Thalia snorted, "Well I wouldn't be surprise, but this is Annabeth we're talking about. Let's just say I just wanted my old friend back when I convinced her to just end her childish behavior and faced you like a real person. The of course this stupid asshole-"She pointed towards Nico sleeping form. "-decides that it's the perfect time to break you guys apart."

I didn't noticed it before but Thalia was much softer than she let on. I could tell she cared about Annabeth as if she was her younger sister. I could tell Thalia would rather die than admit that she had those so called 'weak human emotions'.

I suddenly laughed at the thought of Thalia being completely sentimental.

"What?" She glared at me.

I bit down my laugh, "Nothing, just imagining you with actual feelings."

"Shut it Kelp Head." Thalia glared at me once again.

"How about this… once you come to terms with your feelings for Nico-"

"I do not have feelings for him." Thalia insisted.

"-I'll promise to never cause Annabeth pain again." Of course I would do this without any encouragement, but it seemed like the most suitable thing to say at the time.

"I already told you, we are not dating."

"Obviously not, but it's so obvious that Nico cares for you." Thalia looked like she was about to argue but I continued. "Just like how you could see my affection for Annabeth, I could see Nico for you. In my whole entire life with the guy, he has never laid eyes on any other girl… that is… aside from you. He is the prime grudge holder, yet he forgave your dad from killing his mom purely because of you-"

"You don't know the whole story Percy. Nico had other motives of fake-dating me." Thalia insisted.

"I actually don't care for the whole story. All that really matters right now is that Nico's been a brain dead zombie for the past few days. You guys may not have dated, but you have spent more time together willingly than an average couple. I know Nico better than anyone else and if there's anything I noticed it's that he definitely cares for you. Just like how you would kill me if Annabeth is ever in danger. I can assure you that I will make your life a living hell if you cause Nico any sort of emotional pain."

I meant every word of it. I didn't care that Thalia was a girl, Nico was the closest thing I've had to a little sibling (that is considering that I never knew my other half-siblings on my dad side) and there was no way anyone was going to hurt that annoying little shit.

Thalia stared at me in a new light, almost as if she's amazed at what I just said.

"Just think about what I said." I stood up from my chair, "Are you going home?" I asked a bit eager to change the subject.

Thalia just shook her head, "I'll stay here with him." She finally decided.

"Suit yourself." I walked towards the door. "You know… you're not half as bad as I thought you would be." I admitted.

"Don't flatter me Kelp Head. Getting on my good side won't change my opinion of you on Annabeth." Thalia grumbled. "She may still be in love with you… but that doesn't mean that I won't be keeping an eye on you."

I just shrugged and closed the door behind me.

I smiled to myself. The best news I've heard all day.

'She may still be in love with you.'

I grinned. "Good." I said quietly to myself. "Cause I'm definitely still in love with her."

Annabeth's POV:

"Gods, it's like he disappeared off the face of the planet." Emily exaggerated as she dragged me from store to store.

It's been a while since I've last seen Percy… okay honestly it's only been a few days… but that's a pretty long time in my opinion. "You know… it's Percy-"

Emily narrowed her eyes at my hesitant answer, "Are you sure nothing happened on the cruise?"

I laughed hoping nothing was to obvious, "Nope, nothing… nothing at all."

"So that time you asked for my help-"

I mentally cursed, I should've known that Emily would've brought that up one way or another. "Emily, it's nothing."

"You're his girlfriend, shouldn't you know where he is?" Emily asked.

"Oh did I forgot to tell you? We broke up."

Emily looked at me for one second. She opened her mouth. She closed her mouth. For a second she looked so much like a fish that I was about to call her out on it when Emily started laughing like crazy. "You're funny, I just saw him yesterday and he assured me that you guys would get married and live a long happy life."

I stared at Emily, "Percy said that?"

"Well the exact line was 'Do you think Annabeth ever love me, but you know it's practically the same thing." Emily shrugged. "More of a question if you ask me but-"

"Did he say anything else?"

"Yeah, well he didn't exactly say it, but anyone in their right mind could see that you have him wrapped around your fingers."

Despite being on bad terms with Percy I smiled.

"If anything…" Emily smiled. "Ask Connor, he has a whole collection of Percy's embarrassing moments, especially the one where he acts like a love sick guy."

I raised an eyebrow, "You've been hanging out with Connor a lot."

Emily shrugged, "He's the only one willing to hang out with me, since my best friend is busy smooching with my half-brother." She gave me a look. "Long story short, we have Percy's whole confession of his undying love to you."

I stared at Emily, "You are one cruel sister."

Emily grinned, "Half-sister, my friend." She pulled up a nice looking shirt, "How's this one?"

I groaned, "You are going to max out the credit card." I reminded her.

Emily nodded towards the shopping bags I'm holding, "I wouldn't be talking Annie, you're enjoying this as much as I am."

I simply grinned… well it was a good distraction from Percy drama, "Here, this shirt looks better."

~PAGEBREAK~

"So you're still living at his house?" Emily said disapprovingly. "You remember what I said about hormones-"

"Geez Em, I've living here alone!" I tried to explain to her for the millionth time that her brother and I have broken up.

"Really convincing Annabeth." Connor added with a similar grin.

I turned around and glared at Connor who had decided to interrupt my day out with Emily, "And who invited you?"

"Well technically Emily was supposed to be hanging out with me, while you're out chilling with Percy. See… Percy won't be on my case of working and you won't interfere with lessons for Emily. It's a win-win situation." Connor shrugged.

"Lesson?"

Emily sighed, "Apparently this guy here believes that I need some lessons on dating."

"Oh please! If I hadn't showed you how to flirt with that poor guy in the restaurant, you probably would've never gotten his number-"

"Of which you crumpled up and threw away in five seconds flat." Emily pointed out.

Connor simply shrugged with a small smile but immediately changed the subject, "So where is Percy?"

I glared at him, "Ask me one more time and I'll give you a trip to the emergency room."

Connor held his hand up in surrender and smiled, "Well… since I'm pretty sure that Percy trusts you." Connor reached into his bag and pulled out a folder. "This is what Percy told me to find out. Considering the amount of bribery I went through, tell him that he owes me a vacation."

I hesitated for a second before accepting Connor's new information.

"So my job is done and Emily is hanging out with her true best friend now." Connor said as he put an arm over Emily's shoulder to steer her towards the door.

"Connor dammit, let me go." Emily struggled against the younger Stoll, who quickly released her from his grip. "You sure you'll be okay alone Annie?"

I glared at her, "Considering that I am now currently pissed at you, yes I would very much like to be alone."

Emily laughed and turned to Connor, "Looks like we're free to hang out for the day."

Connor fist pumped and grabbed Emily's hand as he pulled her towards his car. "BYE ANNABETH!"

With that Connor and Emily were out of my slight and I was left alone… with some new information.

~PAGEBREAK~

"ARGH!" I was tempted to throw Thalia's laptop across the room.

Of course I was wary to keep an eye out for Thalia's return, but she hasn't been home for almost an entire week and I was taking advantage of that. Hopefully I can take in as much information as possible from ransacking her room and hacking into her computer.

I couldn't understand anything. It didn't help that Thalia had messy handwriting, but the complexity of all these notes that she had no her computer. I could spend decades looking over these terrorist act and still have no idea how they relate to one another, but here… Thalia Grace was able to see through these lines of deception.

I don't get it!

I slammed her laptop down and grabbed the papers that I had just printed out.

DING DONG!

I smiled and opened the door to see a familiar face. "Clarisse!"

"Don't act like we're best friends, I barely know you." The brown haired girl grunted.

I wasn't good friends with Clarisse or anything, but at this moment, she was the only one with the connections. "You're Percy's friend, so you're mine as well."

Clarisse laughed, "Oh please, I'm anything but friends with that mental Kelp Head."

"Mental?"

"Yeah, there's a reason why he's always having panic attack in the car." Clarisse explained. "Past trauma if I recalled correctly during his time in therapy."

"Therapy?"

"You're just full of questions aren't you?" Clarisse grumbled. "So where's Prissy?"

"He's not here obviously." I retorted back.

"Well then, this is none of my concerns, I think you wasted your time calling me here." Clarisse started to turn away from the door.

"Wait! Don't you want to know about Silena…?" I asked hesitantly. I knew I was playing a pretty high card. I wasn't really sure if the name Silena held any significant, but it was obvious from our first encounter, Silena was someone important… especially since she was related to the accident as well.

Clarisse stopped and slowly turned around. "Five minutes."

I raised an eyebrow, "I have a feeling it's going to take a bit longer than that." I warned her.

Clarisse thought about it for a second before motioning for her husband to come in. "Tell my mom that we'll probably pick up Caden a bit late today."

Finally after Chris and Clarisse got settled down on the couch I brought out a few papers for her to analyze. "What do you want me to do exactly Chase?" Clarisse said after examining the papers.

"Tell me what it means."

"What makes you think I would know this shit?" Clarisse asked, her voice filled with suspicion.

"Your major. You may have graduated last year, but I remember you mentioning your major was in relation with war tactics, offense but you cover defenses as well. If I remember correctly you landed a job in the Pentagon."

Clarisse looked at me in surprise, "You really did your research, I'll give you that, but whatever goes on in the Pentagon is none of your business-"

"I'm just asking for some information-"

"Which obviously doesn't concern me-" Clarisse began before her husband interrupted her.

"Clarisse, hear her out a bit." Chris tried to tell his wife, who immediately glared at him. "I mean… Annabeth is a smart girl, she's not going to use it against innocent people."

Clarisse sighed and gave in, "Fine… what do you want?"

I smiled thankfully at Chris. I will never understand how he was the only one to be able to get Clarisse to change her mind. "Connor apparently gathered this information for Percy." I gave her the envelope that Connor had given me earlier that day.

Clarisse snatched the envelope out of my hands and tore it open. "Hmm…" Her eyes stared at the piece of paper as if trying to decipher a message. After a moment she placed the papers down and turned to me, "Looks like I wasn't any help… this right here has no relation to my own job. I only deal with war planning, defense and offense. This…" She gestured towards my papers. "… is not covered in my area of expertise."

I looked down in disappointment, the only person with the resources that would be willing to help me. Not exactly the best person ever, but Clarisse was someone that probably won't betray you. "I get it-"

"But… " Clarisse began. "It's not that hard to understand I guess."

My head shot up. "So could you pinpoint all the key points?"

Clarisse sighed, "I really don't understand how this relates to Silena at all." She grabbed a pencil off my table and traced a line over the paper. "This would be the route that would not be under surveillance, some people may say that the vents are the safest, but that's only after you disable to the security cameras within the vents. So basically the safest entrance for someone with minimal skills like yours would be to go through the loophole in their surveillance." She pointed to an area on the map.

Clarisse continued explaining all the traps and defense of the place. Clarisse turned over the packet and looked at me. "I don't really know what you're doing Chase, but this is a pretty tight security." She warned me.

"There's a lab located within the premises. I don't really want to know what they operate in there." Chris said with a grim look. "I've seen these marks before…" Chris looked intrigued for a second before sharing a look with Clarisse.

I couldn't tell if I had imagined the fearful look in Clarisse eyes or not…

"Like I said before, none of my business. I did my share of the job, however if you find out anything about Silena; I should be the first one to know." Clarisse warned me.

"Clarisse there's more highly trained solders than Annabeth don't you think-" Chris began before Clarisse quickly cut him off.

"There is no way I'm letting any of my soldiers into that hell hole." Clarisse glared at the papers then slightly glared at her husband before turning back to me. "I already said it before; this is not part of my job. Whatever Prissy wants to do, it's his job and you-"She gave me a look. "-should not be trying to get into any more trouble."

"Aren't you supposed to be helping out?"

Clarisse scoffed, "This is a trivial matter, I only deal with the big wars Chase."

"It's a terrorist group." I offered.

"No proof, a government agent can't just kill anyone without given proof." Clarisse said emotionlessly.

"Then Nico and Thalia-"

"That's different, they don't really hold any government position, instead they are trained spies. My job follows the rules, whereas their jobs are to find loopholes within the rules."

"I don't see the difference." I said stubbornly. "This is as much of the government's responsibilities."

"No it's not." Clarisse shook her head. "I have a status to maintain. If words get around that a government agent has a permit to kill anyone how do you think the public will handle the news? Soon it'll not only be a terrorist group, but a society where there are no boundaries to killing anyone."

"Don't you guys have evidence of this group?!"

"It's implications, but not solid evidence. Even though I would've love to kill the person who caused my friend's death… it's not positive yet. I don't want any innocent lives lost Chase."

"Clarisse… maybe Annabeth is right." Chris began. "I mean, what if-" Clarisse shot him a look. "Clarisse-"

"I don't want to hear it." Clarisse shut her eyes stubbornly.

I glanced between the married couple. "What are you guys talking about?" I asked curiously.

"As if it's any of your business-" Clarisse began before Chris cut her off.

"Hey Annabeth, you mind grabbing the files you found on Thalia's computer?" Chris asked me with a weak smile.

I raised an eyebrow before standing up, understanding that he wanted some time to talk with Clarisse alone. "Yeah, I'll be right back." I walked away from the living room and into Percy's old office where I had left Thalia's USB device. Despite knowing that Chris wanted some time to talk to Clarisse alone, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation as I stood in the next room.

"I think I might know this guy." Chris insisted. "I wasn't exactly part of his group… but I was tempted-"

"You don't even know if it's the same group!" Clarisse glared at him.

"The map, Clarisse! I was a bit crazy in the head but I would remember the designs of that place anywhere!" Chris looked almost distressed as if talking about this brought a black hole to his easy personality.

"You don't even know for sure." Clarisse insisted.

"I know enough." Chris insisted. "Did you know that Silena and Beckendorf died because I was so damn stupid!?" Chris was beating himself up. I tried to wrap my head around this conversation. Everyone was apparently blaming themselves… was this some sort of common trait between Percy and his friends?

"You didn't even know that Kronos was involved." Clarisse insisted.

There's that word again. Kronos. I vaguely remember Nico mentioning it, Thalia mentioning it and most importantly, it was constantly repeated in all the files I've stolen from Thalia's computer.

"I could've stopped them. I could've slowed them down or something, instead I gave them information." Chris's voice was near hysteric now as he continued. "Information, all because I thought-" Chris's voice broke down completely.

"Just stop," Clarisse said, her voice filled with concern as her husband got more distressed. "You're going to-"

"Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?" Chris said quietly. "Almost like Kronos knew the connections I had."

"Chris just calm down. Even though you finished with the therapy years ago, you could still-" Clarisse began.

Therapy? I wondered before remembering that Percy mentioned meeting Clarisse and Chris in a hospital.

Chris took a deep breath, "I know, I know, but look at it this way. I know the place like the back of my hand." Chris shuddered as if he didn't appreciate his good memory. "It's a hell hole for sure, but I know where everything is. If anything, Percy needs our help right now."

I dared to peak a bit to see Clarisse shake her head furiously, "Hell to the no. I don't care. You are not going back in there, not after what had happened the last time."

"It's okay, I'm fine now and we're-"

"I mean it Chris. End of discussion." Clarisse said stubbornly that even I could tell that nothing was going to change her mind.

Chris looked at the map for a second, a look of fear passed over his face. "Clarisse-"

"I mean it Chris." Clarisse said, her voice slightly wavering. I knew that Clarisse had a soft spot for Chris but it was almost like she was also scared of that place, or at least what it holds for her husband.

Chris finally decided it was a good time to shut up. He placed an assuring hand on his wife, "I got it." He gave Clarisse a slight smile. "We won't be going in there." Chris said after a while.

I waited a few minutes before stepping out, already knowing what they were going to say.

Chris and Clarisse said their goodbyes (Well it was mostly Chris) and I was stuck here, debating on my own thoughts of the conversation I've just heard.

For some reason I could only comprehend one thing…

If this place could cause someone like Clarisse to waver… I pressed my hand against the files Conner gave me… oh gods…

What is Percy thinking?

I know… I know I've been pretty crappy with updating, but obviously life gets in the way and schist. Of course I blame the House of Hades… I'm on like post depression right now…. I feel like schist. If you guys read HoH and read the misery scene (does this count as a spoiler…?) … you'll know what I mean. Just seriously read it. The first series gave me hope… but this second series is like pain after pain… It's just too much… Rick really has a knack for making his readers question themselves… let's just say I've been doing a lot of reflection. I don't know why, but I just felt so unsatisfied with the House of Hades….

Okay aside from my post depressing schist going on, I have a legit reason to not update, I've been getting home really late because of Marching Band (people who's in sports and such probably understands, and my band director is hella serious about Marching Band so yeah… I legit come home at like 10 at night on some days maybe even later because of work and marching band…

I'm just really stressed out sometimes too…

Read if you want, I just feel the need to rant out anonymously..

My best friend's not really helping, I feel like he's trying to make it worse… He knows how much House of Hades mean to me (I know stupid… but whatever works with my life…) and I warned him that I'll be out of it for a while. But It's not just House of Hades, but rather all the character reflections on HoH that made me think of life schist. I don't know… my best friend he's just like… we've been friend for a long time… over a decade by now actually and tbh I'm really proud of it and he knows it. Instead of being happy and all that, he says stuff like "oh man, I knew this person longer than you, we don't hang out everyday, but I knew her longer than you" and I'm just like "cool, that's cool." It was okay at first, but now he's just repeating it and it's just making me feel bad… am I suppose to feel bad or something? I don't know… sometimes I feel like I can't trust him. I know he loves to joke, but sometimes I feel like he jokes a bit too cruel, he's like testing my trust in him. I believed him when he told me stuff then he goes around contradicting himself… I even know anymore…

Some of you guys probably know how much I can't stand hugs… just for some stupid reason that's sorta personal for me. My best friend knows this… yet we had this Free Hugs day at school today and he dared me to wear a sign with Free Hugs and it's a dare… I don't fucking back down from dares and he knows it. I don't know it's just my thing. Call me weird if you must, but I have a motto that I follow… I don't like being a coward. I don't like hugs. It's just me….

Anyone else having a shitty day?

Anyways, If I don't update before Halloween, Happy Early Halloween… :)

Song: Believe- Skillet
My music's been pretty depressing lately… blame it on the House of Hades… I have an actual playlist call the Schist in Hades.

If you guys have any songs to recommend to me, just review/pm and I'll look them up. Anything similar to Skillet, Three Days Grace, Linkin Park, The Script, One Republic…. I just really feel like these type of songs right now for some reason…..

Agent Astro Zombie