Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the series PJO or HOO.

AN: This story has been a brainchild of mine for ages, I hope to see it through. Thanks for all those that have supported me and given my ideas feedback. The main idea for this story actually came from a section of my psychology course at university- the part about parent/child relationships. With a lot of the characters in PJO, I can't help but wonder how their parentage/or absence of parentage (for some) will have affected their emotional development.

Anyhow, that's my random babbling done for another chapter.

Please leave a fav or a comment if you like my writing! Thanks.

-H.

-o-

Ever since Monday, all the national news platforms had been broadcasting the death of Hades di Angelo, a wealthy real estate mongrel who had been attacked whilst cruising in his limousine and then died when a grenade caused the vehicle to explode.

Hazel fully understood why there was such a media storm, especially considering the suspicious circumstances under which the rich bastard died. Well, if you call them suspicious. With people that high up on the social ladder, there were probably heaps of deep dark secrets that could have ruined them. When the family of the dead man claimed that they wished for private investigations, it just confirmed her distain for such people.

So, whilst she understood the intentions of the news, she didn't give a damn. It gave her chills just seeing the pictures of that wrecked car, with fire and plumes of smoke still coming from it. It was a sad way to die, no matter who it was.

Hazel hitched her schoolbag further on her shoulders with a sigh and looked away from the 'educational' morning news programs that the school liked to put on for the show- just in case any council representatives were walking through the corridors. There never were any.

She thought that maybe if the school board actually sat down and considered how they might really help the students, they could come up with something better. Something as simple as providing some breakfast for kids who didn't have parents to cook them meals in the morning could help half the people here. Herself included.

And where would they get that funding? Easy. They can start by selling those televisions.

Education wasn't, and would never been, a big priority in The Bronx. No one really visited this area of New York, and if there weren't tourists around then the government didn't need the allocate money to hide the ugly truth here.

It would be unfair to say that everyone at her school was in circumstances as difficult and complicated as hers, but most here were from low socio-economic backgrounds and lived in squalor. These were kids that often went to bed hungry and too often dropped out before they finished middle school. Not only because they couldn't afford the fees, but often because they didn't see education as some sort of golden key to a better life, as the well-off in society so often claimed.

The kids here didn't want to see news programs about some guy who'd died whilst riding in his limo- not when most of them might never even own a car.

The kids in her class had dead, tired gazes all day. Sure, there were kids that just had a streak of maliciousness. But most of those that didn't do their homework couldn't because their power had long been cut. The kids who were late? They couldn't afford to take public transport. The kids that slept in class? Possibly because they were tired from the night shifts that they had to take to feed their family.

Every semester some faces would disappear and perhaps one unlucky person might transfer in. But the losses were always more than the gains. Sometimes you'd still see a kid who dropped out hanging out near the bins after class, in the dimmed light of twilight, trying to sell some cigarettes.

Sometimes they sold even more sinister things.

More often than not, you'd never see those kids again. Hazel wanted to believe that it wasn't because of drug overdoses, or suicide or some other sinister cause. Maybe they just moved away. Maybe their families decided enough was enough, and just magically pulled some money out of their asses and moved away to some better place.

"Hey."

She turned around. It was Reyna, mouth moving as she chewed gum, as usual, her purple ear piercings spiking out in all different directions.

"Whoa, you scared me."

"Sorry."

Reyna wasn't really the type of person to say much. She liked to chew gum and said that she liked to stay quiet because it helped her think. But Hazel knew better. People at her school almost always had something terrible to hide about their past and she knew better to pry. Not to mention, Reyna was probably her only friend in the entire world, and despite the fact that they'd never even been to each other's houses, their friendships had been going strong ever since Reyna transferred into her class almost four years ago.

For the last few days, Reyna had looked stressed, and she spent a suspicious amount of time talking on her mobile phone. When Hazel had asked, Reyna just gave one of her usual frowns and mumbled something about 'family stuff'.

Hazel felt like there was something that Reyna wasn't telling her from the tone of her voice, but there was a degree of possibility that she was just being paranoid. After all, the one time that she'd tried to ask Reyna what family members she still had in her life, her friend launched into a full-on family tree explanation.

The details went over her head, but the conclusion was that Reyna's family was complicated. She could swear that there was even some incest involved.

They were standing in one of the back hallways where the graduating class had been allocated lockers. Hazel swore under her breath as she realised that whilst her attention was diverted, she missed the second number- now she was going to have to start the whole combination again.

Reyna was pressing buttons on her phone again, her fingers moving at the speed of light on the glowing screen. Reyna was one of the only students in the school that had a smartphone, though it was a 'shitty Chinese knock-off' it was still better than nothing. Over the years, Hazel often wondered how she'd managed to still keep that phone, instead of having it stolen by older kids.

In her short-sleeved shirt, Reyna's arms showed impressive muscles, making Hazel wonder once again why Reyna chose to be friends with her. Her friend was pretty, smart and athletic and could have easily won over the popular kids at the school, and breezed through school as the queen bee.

When she had asked Reyna this same question, though worded differently, many years before in a moment of vulnerability, her friend had simply shrugged and said that popularity would have gotten boring after a while. I like hanging out with you, Reyna's voice replayed in her head, because you're so real- not like those fakers.

But sometimes Hazel still worried that Reyna was going to walk past her in the corridor and then she'd waddle up to the popular white girl groups and hang out with them. Instead of staying with Hazel, the loser black girl with no other friends.

"Hurry up, Hazel. We should get to class. The first period's Mr Menzies and you know how he'll turn beet red if we're late again."

Reyna's words brought her out of her momentary worrying trance. The other kids around them were also beginning to move, perhaps finally realising their potential lateness. Stirring themselves out of the misery that was their constant companion.

"Yeah, sure. Just let me get my maths book." Hazel had only just shut her locker and hoisted her bag over one shoulder when she heard what sounded like someone pulling party poppers in the distance. Silence descended as people veered their heads towards the sound also. Reyna froze beside her. Hazel cocked her head and waited for the hum of conversation to resume.

But it didn't.

Instead, there was a short shrill scream that cut off abruptly. More shouts and screams followed. Hazel was dimly aware of more banging sounds and suddenly Reyna was at her elbow with a tight grip on her upper arm.

"What's happening?"

"Ditch your bag, we've got to go."

"Where? Are those party poppers?"

Reyna swung her bag off her shoulders as the screams in the corridor grew more numerous. "I wish," she muttered as she fiddled with the zip. People started to run, moving and milling about haphazardly in all directions, getting in each other's way and tangling together like seaweed.

Suddenly, something whistled quite close to her head and Hazel yelped and ducked down out of instinct. Nothing good ever came from things flying near one's head. It struck a locker on the other side of the corridor, making a significant dent. Hazel heard people shout in alarm behind her, and turned to see a boy collapsed onto the ground, clutching his shoulder and groaning.

"Hazel!" Reyna was dragging her up, "Are you ok?

"Oh my gods! Was that a bullet?!"

If that was been her head.

"Ahh!" A girl cried out, "Help! Someone call the police!"

There was a shooter, Hazel realised numbly- someone was gunning students down at her own school. The horror that she had witnessed again and again on the news was happening right before her eyes and she had no idea what to do about it. She wasn't sure if there was anything she could do anyways.

While her peers streamed past her, shouting and shoving, she found herself rooted to the spot. She wondered why it was that her legs didn't take her into a nearby classroom for cover, or lead her to make a run for the outside world, and didn't have an answer.

Reyna was tugging on her arm now- maybe she was going to leave her and run if she didn't break out of this trance right now. Hazel blinked the haze of fear-tinged disbelief out of her mind and looked at her friend. Reyna had an expression of alertness and readiness on her face that it almost scared her.

She also had her phone out.

Hazel was about to say that this was no time to be making phone calls, no matter how urgent and important family was, but Reyna was speed dialling and pulling her behind some lockers for cover at the same time.

"Principal is under threat. There are gunmen at the school. We need a vehicle for transport immediately." Reyna calmed said into the phone. There was a voice on the other side, sharp and urgent. Reyna hung up and met Hazel's confused glance.

Why was the principal in danger?

"I will explain everything." She lifted a single finger to signal for silence, "But not now. For now, we've got to get out of here."

A girl ran past them, "They're coming! Hurry up!" Her eyes were wide with panic when Reyna grabbed her shoulders roughly, "What do you want? Let me go!"

"How many of 'them' are there?"

The girl shook her head and struggled in Reyna's grip, "I don't know- maybe five? At least three! Please, let me go!"

Hazel watched as her friend released the poor girl and couldn't help but let her shock show plainly. "What are you doing?" She hissed at Reyna, eyeing the rapidly emptying corridor nervously. Without her noticing, the school fire siren had started to ring. Only it wasn't the normal fire alarm, but a similar one with a longer note.

Lockdown.

That meant that all the classrooms would now be closed to them, regardless of how loudly they knocked, how much they pleaded. The only options would be to go all the way around to the front office, which may still be open for police officers to take charge of the situation-

Suddenly, a massive forced pushed her onto the ground. Sprawled on the ground, Hazel blinked hair out of her eyes and gasped at the scene before her. Reyna, her friend of four years, had just tackled her behind some lockers with an athletic ability that would have made her a force to be reckoned with on the rugby field.

The spot that they were standing at was peppered with bullet holes. "Stay calm," Reyna said. She pulled a handgun out of her school bag.

Wait. What?

Hazel blinked hard. Maybe she was hallucinating. But no. Reyna actually was holding a firearm in her hand. And not only that- she looked like she knew how to use it. She watched as Reyna casually pulled a latch back on the weapon and fired some shots towards the direction where shooters were approaching from. She thought she heard a cry of pain.

"We can go through the bathroom window and get outside. I've got a car waiting for us at the front entrance."

"What?! Why do you have that?"

Who was this girl? Had the whole world gone insane? Hazel tried to recall a moment in their friendship where Reyna had acted in a way that suggested she was a crazy gun wielding psycho who carried a weapon to school. But she didn't have time. Reyna grabbed her arm and pushed her into the open corridor. "Go! I'll cover you!"

For a moment she hesitated. Should I even trust her? But then adrenaline coursed through her blood. Whatever- whoever Reyna was, she wasn't the people trying to kill them both. She shuffled over the other side of the corridor quickly, trying not to shriek when some bullets flew over her head. It felt like they were very close, and maybe one was going to hit her at any moment. But she just had to trust that Reyna had got it covered.

More shots rang through the building. Glass shattered and fell with twinkling sounds that could have ironically been musical.

She had just pushed open the door of the bathroom when Reyna was behind her. "Come on! Come on!" Reyna shoved the door back on its hinges and pulled Hazel up with the hand that she wasn't holding the gun in.

"You get through the window first."

Hazel wasn't really sure if she was capable of clambering up through a window that was at shoulder height. But Reyna, seeing the hesitation, shoved the gun through her belt and put her hands together. "Come on, I'll give you a leg up. Don't worry, it's completely safe."

Completely safe, my ass.

Hazel hoisted herself up onto the window sill, trying to ignore the way that her arms were shaking. When Reyna gave her an extra shove to help her get over the window, she nearly tipped over completely and fell the bushes. While it wasn't a time to be graceful, Hazel collected herself and glanced back to see Reyna vault over the windowsill like she had been practising for years. Which for all Hazel knew, she could have been? If she could wield a gun like it was an extension of her arm, then perhaps she was some kind of secret ninja in training.

But she didn't have much time to ponder that. Reyna gave her a shove and then started to sprint towards the direction of the front gate, "Come on!"

Hazel took off after her friend. Scratch that. She wasn't sure what Reyna was to her anymore.

"Where's the guys that were shooting?" She shouted after the other girl's retreating back. "Did you kill them?"

Reyna didn't even look back. "Now's not the time for talking. Hurry up!"

Hazel wasn't sure what to do. Should she follow her ex-friend the possibly deranged murderer or go back and risk death? Luckily, it seemed that the decision was made for her, for in their rush they had seemingly reached the school gate in no time.

As promised, a large shiny black car was waiting for them. Reyna opened the back door for them both and pushed her inside. Hazel struggled for a moment, but then a stray bullet hit the car relatively close to her hand. Giving a yelp, she clambered into the car with Reyna following close on her heels.

Once inside, the sunglassed driver gave her a respectful nod and slammed on the brakes. The car sped off like the devil himself was on their heels. Maybe he was.

Hazel fought to control her jumping heart, which was bumping around in her chest so much that it felt like it was going to fall out. "What was that!? Who are you? Stop the car, I don't even know where we're going."

The driver hesitated, but a stern nod from Reyna and he turned away, once again focused on driving. It was weird to see a grown man take orders from a girl in a dusty school uniform, but Hazel was slowly getting used to weird in this out of control world.

Reyna slotted another piece of gum into her mouth and stored the gun away in some compartment. "I want to tell you what's going on. But it's not my story to tell. Just wait."

-o-

Well, what is Reyna going to tell Hazel?

I guess we will see next chapter…