A/N: Happy New Year to all of you who have an exciting life and are out partying and celebrating and to all of you who have no life, like me, and are sitting in their living room alternating between Tumblr and FanFiction while watching Harry Potter. Just wanted to thank fowlsprincess6138 for the motivation I needed to continue this. On with the story!

Hazel POV

"But maybe if we just - "

"No."

"Can't we at least talk - "

"No."

"But don't you think we should - "

"I said no, Leo. Now leave me alone."

I rushed through the forest and Leo stumbled behind me, constantly tripping and cursing. Klutz. Honestly, he was worse than Frank.

A sharp pain hit my side and I nearly fell. Tears threatened to spill over my eyelids. It just didn't seem real. Frank Zhang couldn't be gone. He was my hero, praetor of the Twelth Legion. Why did he have to go? Furthermore, why was he the first to go? Things shouldn't have happened like that. Frank was too powerful to be overtaken just like that.

I was a mess these days. Frank was gone, my children had run away, my brother had disappeared from my life years ago, my mother was dead, and my father was somewhere underground, passing judgement on the Underworld. The closest thing to family I had now was Leo Valdez, and I pretty much felt like punching him in the face.

"Hazel, I don't get it. Just yesterday you were saying we should stick together. Now suddenly you won't look me in the eye, and you're yelling at me for absolutely no reason. What happened? Why do you hate me so much?"

Last night pounded through my head like a bad rap song. If only that dream had never happened...

"What's happening?" I screamed. "Where am I?"

Gray clouds swirled around me and I flew through the air, unable to see a thing. My blood boiled and my stomach churned. I clawed through the mist with my hands, feeling nothing but vapor.

Suddenly I caught something. Another human hand clasped mine. I flinched, then the mist cleared to reveal the owner of the hand.

Queen Marie Levesque. My mother.

"You," I whispered. Remembering the storm around me, I raised my voice. "What are you doing here?"

"To tell you what's really going on. Yes, Frank Zhang is a powerful being, and yes, he is strong and brave. Why did Ouranos choose to dispose of him first?"

My vision blurred. "What are you talking about?"

"Everything happens for a reason, Hazel," she murmurmed, reaching out to stroke my face. "You died for a reason. Nico brought you back for a reason."

"I don't understand," I shrieked. "What was the reason this time? Frank didn't deserve that any more than Jason or Annabeth or Leo did!"

The clouds thickened, and Marie began to lose her grip on me. "What do you think, my dear? You've always wondered whether you made the right choice when you chose Frank. Perhaps, all these years later, you were wrong."

We lost contact completely and my mother went spiraling away into the wind. I screamed, but it was no use. The raging storm was too strong. Slowly I began to fall, gaining speed until I woke up.

I refused to believe it. Something like that couldn't be true, right? Dreams hardly ever made sense.

Demigod dreams are different, though, said a voice in the back of my head that sounded suspiciously like my mother. Everything happens for a reason.

"Stop it!" I yelled.

Leo stumbled yet again before saying, "Stop what? I didn't even do anything! That's kind of the point, Hazel."

Shoot, I said that out loud, didn't I?

I turned around and looked Leo in the eye at last. The brilliant brown of his irises brought back memories that I didn't want to think about.

Leo pointed a finger at me. "Wait, are you still mad about Collin? Because we were drunk, and for the record, I'm pretty sure you started it."

Only Leo could say something like that at a time like this. I resisted the urge to start fanning my face like I used to do all those years ago.

"No, Leo," I said. "I just...I can't talk to you right now. Do me a favor and never look at me again." With that, I whirled around and continued my trek to who knows where.

What if that dream was right? What if I had made the wrong choice when I married Frank? I had always questioned myself on that subject. Sure, Frank was amazing and I loved him to death, but I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that still loved Leo too. Stupid Repair Boy, getting in the way of everything.

Leo put a hand on my shoulder, and I stopped walking abruptly.

"Look, Hazel," he said. "I could be here all night trying to figure out what I did to you, but whatever it was, I'm sorry."

"Don't you get it?" I shouted. "It's all your fault! It's your fault that Frank is gone, and it's your fault that I have no idea what I'm doing!"

I couldn't do it. I couldn't look at him. Looking into those soft and innocent coffee brown eyes would only make me feel more guilty.

"My fault?" he exclaimed, his voice drowned in confusion. "How is it my fault? I didn't even do anything!"

I took a shaky breath. How did I get myself into messes like these? I shook his hand off my shoulder and began through the forest once more, breaking into a run this time.

"Hazel!" he yelled. I wanted to plug my ears shut. To hear his voice only made things worse. I feared that if I stayed in his presence any longer, I would fall in love with him all over again.

What if it's too late?

"Hazel Levesque!"

He grabbed my hand this time, and I was forced to turn around. A single tear ran down my face.

"Listen to me," he said. "I'm sorry for everything I've done, and I promise I won't ever say or do anything hurt you again."

I just shook my head. "Leo..."

"Although," he continued, "I still don't know what the heck I did."

I smiled slightly, then pulled away from him. "It's okay," I said. "But for now, just...leave me alone, okay?"

"But - "

I ran off. This time, he didn't follow me.