(A/N) I know I know. Long update. Guilty. Yeah. I know it's a little short, but the writer's block has really been bothering me. I'm just not that into this story anymore. I don't want to discontinue it, because, as you know, Iwovepizza never quits, but I don't want to give you guys crappy writing either; you don't deserve it. PLEASE review about your thoughts so far, and be honest. If you think you'd be able to continue this story for me, I would be beyond glad, because I'm just not sure if this is meeting you're expectations.

Disclaimer: I think you guys probably know by now.

Nico POV

"What are you doing here?!" I spat at Exodus, who was groaning on the ground, clutching his bleeding nose. For a horrific moment it looked as if it was Percy that was writhing in pain on the floor, but then he opened his eyes, revealing blood-red irises with flecks of black. This wasn't Percy, it was an animal wearing his face like a mask. That's when I realized two things. One: Frank and Reyna were standing awkwardly off to the side, not handcuffed or chained or underfed, mind you, but they didn't make any attempt to help Exodus off the floor, nor did they rush to help me. Two: one of my hands was cuffed to the bed. Great.

"What am I doing here!? What are you doing here?" Exodus snarled, but it was really hard to take him seriously due to the fact that he was clutching his bleeding nose, and therefore his voice sounded comical and nasally. Frank and Reyna both clapped their hands over their mouths in order to prevent themselves from laughing, and I outwardly snickered. Exodus rolled his eyes and stood, blood still dripping down his face, though he really didn't seem to care.

"Where are my friends?" I demanded, my gaze venomous. Exodus, on the other, hand, didn't seem at all fazed by my hostility, and that was just making me more annoyed. He exchanged a glance with both the Praetors and returned his focus to me.

"Well if we'd left you there you would've died so…" he purposely let that comment hang for a few moments and then continued, "I can assure you that your friends have safely exited the tunnels without dying in the darkness."

"How can I trust you?" I spat coldly. I whirled on Frank and Reyna, though neither of them showed any sign of being somewhat surprised. "And why are you working with him?" I make a wide gesture towards Exodus. "He killed our friends. He's a worm thing-"

"Excuse me, I am not a worm, thank you very much. I am a Dragonborn-"

"Crawler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Big deal. I'm still waiting for an answer from the Praetors. Now shut it." I snapped.

"Now shut it." Exodus mimicked, grumbling to himself and crossing his arms. But there was something sinister to the movement, a small glint in his eyes that seemed to be growing by the second. It sent shivers racing up and down my spine as he regarded me with those dark, merciless pits that he called eyes. He wiped the blood off of his face with his hand, which, by the way, only smeared it disgustingly across his cheek, and sat down with a huff. I turned my attention to Reyna and Frank, who were conversing in very hushed tones.

"He swore on the Styx to bring us home and to get out of Percy's body." Reyna explained. I frowned; that didn't make sense. Is Exodus was so power-hungry and evil, why would he ever want to give up the son of Poseidon's strength? Out of the corner of my eye I saw Exodus covering his mouth to keep from laughing. What was so funny? At that moment all eyes went to him, and he quickly composed himself; the blood on his face complimenting the color of his eyes.

"Being a human is a lot of work." he replied curtly, but I heard the waver in his voice. He was lying, and the Praetors seemed to pick up on it as well. There was also something else, a cold undertone that I didn't understand at first. I arched my eyebrows and Exodus seemed to shrink back even more into his seat. "I don't know, okay?" Reyna coughed. "And I didn't want the Praetors to kill me." he added quickly, though I could tell he was genuinely annoyed.

"But we'll kill you anyway if we remove you from Percy's body." I snorted and drummed my fingers impatiently on the mattress. Exodus ground his teeth together and all at once his eyes flashed murderously, but the look was gone as soon as it had come, replaced by that dumbfounded and fake look of his. "Oh, by the way, where's that Python friend of yours?"

"Uh…we aren't on the best of terms right now." he said slowly and carefully, as if he said too much the snake dude was going to drop from the ceiling and kill us all. He seemed genuinely wary; the wariness of someone or something that was truly afraid.

"What do you mean by that?" Frank asked curiously. I wondered why he hadn't turned into a mouse or something and snuck out of Exodus' lair, but then again the tunnels outside had no oxygen whatsoever. They needed Exodus to escape just as much as I did.

"I have the right to keep my own secrets, and you can't kill me because you need me to get out of here. Besides, you swore on the Styx not to slaughter me." the parasite cried indignantly.

"Well I didn't swear." I replied, giving my best sadistic smile as I examined my knuckles, which were covered in Exodus' blood.

"You're handcuffed to a bed, and just to let you know I have hidden the key and the bed is nailed to the floor." Exodus snorted and I cursed in Greek. I'd thought that would work, too. That's when something began to nag in the back of my mind.

"Wait a minute, if we're at the end of the tunnels, how come we're not suffocating right now?" I asked quizzically, knitting my brows together.

"Dude. There is, like, an entire room filled with plants and artificial sunlight. It's like a freaking jungle in there. There are even banana trees growing in there." Frank explained. "The oxygen they produce is filtered through these corridors and therefore all of us who are not freaky-ass parasites aren't choking to death."

"I am not freaky-ass. That is bullying!" Exodus said defensively.

"And killing other people just for the fun of it is murdering!" I said, mimicking him. The parasite pursed his lips, all of the humor leaving him.

"Well now Percy is gone and I supposed that you would hunt me down for the rest of eternity just to get your kelp head back, so I decided 'what's the point?'" he hissed, his anger flaring. The two Praetors shuffled nervously and all of a sudden became interested in their shoes. Exodus continued, "I am a defect, a disgrace to my kind. We do not have pity. We do not surrender. And yet here I am, succumbing to the demands of you. I have no idea what is wrong with me and all I know is that it started when Percy disappeared."

"Percy was already long gone. So you're saying you were…semi-kind like this when you killed Annabeth and Travis?" Reyna interjected.

"No! I was pure then. I was doing my duty like I was supposed to. Percy had always been inside my head, slamming on the inside of my skull and demanding to be set free. For all of those months I was helpless; splitting headaches, migraines, ringing in the ears. It was all part of the package. Then I finally managed to push Percy to nothingness and now I'm alone in my mind, but I'm all of a sudden kind and righteous." he snarled at the ground, his red eyes glinting. He whirled on us, his expression twisted and hard; an expression that I should have never seen on Percy's face. "There is something wrong with me." That's when I was able to put the pieces together. Exodus' split personality, his sudden mercy, his bursts of anger. They all made sense now.

"Percy never just disappears like that." I snarled. "He didn't go away; he merged with your mind. Now you and Percy are the same thing." The realization hit me hard in the face, like a brick that belonged in one of Jason's fan-clubs. "And now you can't have one without the other. You can't separate Percy without killing Exodus and you can't separate Exodus without killing Percy. If we try to tear them apart, they'll both die." My voice hitched and the room lapsed into silence. Reyna and Frank's expression of utter shock and horror made my heart snap, but worst of all was Exodus.

He was smiling wickedly, his black pupils but tiny dots within those red irises of his. He smiled, and the blood from his nose had smeared to look as if a permanent smile was carved into his face, like Jeff the Killer or the Joker. "So I am still part me?" he asked, mostly to himself. "That must explain why I crossed my fingers behind my back when I swore on the Styx." There was a chorus of gasps and shouts. The Praetors charged towards him, but he held up his bloodstained hands. "You Romans are patrons of honor. You didn't cross your fingers. You thought you didn't hear thunder rumbling after my promise because we were underground, but you did hear rumbling after your promise. You were so caught up in your victory that you didn't even notice."

"You traitor!" I screeched. Exodus held out his hands.

"How can I be a traitor if I was never one of your kind in the first place? Ta-ta for now, I have a special appointment with Python. We may not be on good terms, but we're still allies." and with that, he sashayed out and slammed the door behind him, locking it from the outside. I couldn't help but notice the bloody handprint that he'd left on the inside of the door.