Secrets Spilt like blood in a war

A/N: Hi, lovely readers; sorry it took so long to update. It took FOREVER! Warning; this is a really long chapter; and guess what?! You get to learn more about Lacy.

Disclaimer notice: I don't own Annabeth or Jason; I do however own Lacy.

Enjoy and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. I'm starting to think no one actually likes the story...oh well. Please review and make my day:) thanks all!

"So; tell me about yourself," I figured if I was to be travelling with her I may as well get to know her. That sounded soppy. I may as well get to know her weaknesses and help her overcome them. That's better.

"No." Lace replied simply.

I kept on walking, but turned my body side-on so I was facing her. She didn't even acknowledge me. She just kept walking like she had been for the past five hours.

"Okay, I just sprung your ass from a detention camp, possibly saving your life in the process. I don't even talk to people often and admit it; there has been an awkward silence since we escaped. This is my first attempt at conversation and you don't want to talk to me?" I say; exasperated.

"Yep, that pretty much sums it up."

My mouth falls open in disbelief. What. The. Hell.

"Did I do something wrong?" I press, not willing to endure at least another two hours walking in silence. Wow, I actually wanted to talk. Complete non-Annabeth-like behaviour.

"Yes." She says in confidence; obviously choosing to stick to the short, annoying answers. She really knows how to piss me off.

"Well…." I continue.

"Well….I'm not in the mood to talk about it." The most words she has said in five hours. Wow, what a chatterbox.

"Fine." I turn on my heel and start walking the other way. Please fall for it, I pray. I sneak a glance over my shoulder. Nothing. No screaming for me to stay, no running after me in defeat. No movement regarding me whatsoever. Just Lacey's stubborn-as-ever figure threatened to leave me behind.

"GOODBYE. I HOPE YOU LIKE SURVING ON YOUR OWN! THERE ARE LOTS OF UNRELIABLE PEOPLE OUT THERE!" I shout.

"I know; I've been walking with one for the past five hours!" She howls back, matching my ferocity, maybe even dominating it. Grrrrr…

"Yeah, well; I don't need you either!" I stutter, desperate for a comeback. "I...I don't even like you!" Wow, that was the best you could come up with? I don't even like you? I face-palm myself. Harder than I expected; actually.

"Ow!" I whisper to myself, in complete agony. My hand immediately shoots up and clutches my forehead, while the rest of my body decides it wants to dance. Or attempt to. I do this weird, spasm-type dance thingy. If sometime in the future some smart-ass scientists discover how to clone; remind me to never to get on my bad side. I feel retarded. I wonder what I looked like. I would never know. No one else would either. Unless….I snap my head up, to see Lacy with her hand covering her mouth, obviously attempting to hold in her laughter. This was humiliating. I narrowed my eyes, warning her to back off, but this only caused her to lose it, and the next thing you know she is doubled over in absolute fits of giggles, and I couldn't see her clearly from this distance, but I could have sworn I saw tears streaming down her face.

"Yeah, yeah. Ha ha. Big deal. It didn't hurt that much anyway." I manage to force out, not wanting to be the butt of a joke for the rest of my life.

"…You…Y…You punched ( breath) yourself (breath) in the…in the….th….." and with that she barked in laughter for five minutes straight.

Damn.

Damn damn damn.

I sigh, in frustration and decide to go along with it. If she was going to spill the beans I would have to suck up to her. My body shivers in disapproval. I grab Lace by the wrist and start walking; dragging her along with me. Fortunately, she has managed to tame her laughter somewhat; still randomly snorting and making funny noises though.

She looked up at me with big blue eyes, and I glance down. She was smaller than I thought. Because I had never really looked at her before; I suddenly noticed a big scar trailing from her earlobe to her forehead. An idea struck me, 20 questions. Then I could find out about her scar and why she hates me. I smile in confidence.

"Let's play a game. 20 questions?" I say; breaking the silence. NO ONE can resist a game.

"No."

Seriously; the short answers again? But I wasn't bothered with going the trouble of convincing her, so I shut up. About five minutes later a thoughtful expression suddenly crossed her face, and she seemed to make a decision. I smile to myself. In 3. 2. 1…

"Okay, fine. I want to play." She says, right on cue.

"Well, I mean we don't have to; just a silly idea I had."

"Don't push it."

"Got it."

"You go first."

"Umm, okay. Um…What's your favourite colour?"

"Green, not bright green though, like…" I stop and think for a second, "like the grass in summer. Green and lush. *Pause. Why you have an ugly scar down your face?"

"Jeez, no need for subtly. Umm…it's a long story and I kind of don't want to tell you especially because you're basically a stranger and what if you don't like the story and it's really boring or grosses you out or something because it's actually not that interesting (*scratches her nose) and I would much rather want to hear about you I'm no one important and you're like freaking superwoman so let's just skip that question?"

She finished her babbling so it sounded like a question; and I knew she was nervous and lying at the same time. If someone touches their nose it normally means they are lying. True fact.

"Just answer the question."

She takes a couple of deep breathes and mutters something unintelligent. Then she starts talking.

"I didn't exactly have the best parents. Um, they kind of dumped me. Just decided I was too much trouble. They told me I we were going on a car trip and I got pretty excited. We were riding along in the car in the middle of no-where in summer and it was super-hot. They were talking about how lucky I was to have such good parents who provided me with food and a house and shit. I agreed at the time, because; well; it hadn't happened yet. They pulled over and told me to take a bathroom stop in the middle of no-where with no cover and no trees or anything. I didn't need to go, but they said if I went something big would happen. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I guess I figured it was just a 'coming of age' thing or something. I was so stupid. As soon as I got out of the car, they just left. Just drove off ignoring my screaming and shouting. I ran after them and just kept running. I ran until I collapsed. I kept yelling that they forgot me and to come back. Even when I couldn't see the car anymore, I was just screaming that they forgot me. I waited and waited for hours. Convincing myself it was all a misunderstanding and they would come back any moment. After about four hours I thought I understood. I thought it was a dream. So I pinched myself for about forty minutes non-stop." She lifted up the sleeve of her shirt, revealing a huge dent in her arm. It looked like the skin had been scraped out. Viciously.

"Yeah, well, I was pretty upset. They didn't come back. I was pretty delirious too, kept seeing spiders, and fake pools of water. I was found by a man, he was riding a horse; I think. By that stage I was dehydrated and had blood running down my arm, and I was severely sunburnt and my feet were bloody and raw. I thought he was another illusion, like the water and the spiders. I laughed and told him he couldn't fool me and I wasn't falling for it this time. I started rambling about unicorns and fairies and horses, all stuff little girls liked. He must've realised I was in pretty bad shape, because he picked me up and put me on his horse. He gave me water and I passed out. I don't really remember anything until later on. Just the faint memory of a house and a really nice lady. Then I think they took me into a town and enrolled me in the orphanage. I was really depressed at that stage. The nurses there were worried about me; apparently it was unusual for a child my age to have depression. They called up someone and told me I had been adopted."

She took a break and looked at me, as if willing me to not say anything yet. I think my mouth was hanging open. I shut it abruptly and simple nodded.

"They weren't normal; I knew that from the beginning. From the moment they walked in and took me away. The man was looking at me as if I was fresh meat; and the woman seemed nice enough, but she kept twitching. And her eyes would frequently roll back in her head. I was terrified; but sure as hell I knew I had to go. It was two weeks before things really started to get weird. They fed me the same meal every morning, afternoon and night. Black beans, mash potato, and lizard blood. Of course I didn't know it was lizard guts until later on. She told me it was homemade apple juice or something. One day I was playing hide and seek in the kitchen by myself and I saw her squeeze the poor reptile into my cup. She was brutal, pulling the creature back and forth, squishing it and bashing it against the rim of my cup. I threw up all over the floor tiles, and she looked at me and smiled. I ran outside and fainted. That night she gave me the cup and I refused to even put it near me. Bad move on my part. They said if I didn't drink it they would slice open my hand. I thought they...th…they were joking." She had slowed her walking pace, but there was no way I was telling her to hurry-it-up. I was intrigued. In a very, very disturbing way.

"The man grabbed a steak knife, and said I had to drink it. I would've killed myself right then and there if I could. H…he stabbed my hand. Straight through the middle. I didn't make a sound for I while, I was in shock. Then I screamed for ages, and my voice had actually changed. It's a bit croaky."

It seemed the story was getting harder to tell. She was barely coping; I could tell. Her eyes were misty and she looked so alone. I grabbed her hand. We both looked down in surprise. I would never do that. That was something that she would do. The old Annabeth. Lace looked at me gratefully, and squeezed my hand. I didn't let go throughout the rest of the story.

"I grabbed the cup and drank it. It was the most horrible thing I've ever done. I still have nightmares.*shivers. Um…that night they said I needed an operation. I tried to run, but they caught me and locked me in the toilet with the cockroaches and rats. I know this sounds weird, but, animals give me strength. Even bugs and rats. I felt like they were talking to me. I swear; I'm not making this up."

"I know."

"So I would not show fear. I decided if they wanted to torture me and stab me, so be it. I would not make a sound. It was hard. Very hard. But I didn't even whimper. For two days they stabbed me, shot me, snapped my bones, pulled my fingers, scratched me. They broke me." She whispered, barely audible. She looked at me; as if telling me I had to believe her. As if she needed someone to see her as she was.

"You don't have to keep going, if you wa…" I started

"NO!" she screamed, jolting me and making me jump.

"No." she tried again, managing to say it normally; "I've come this far."

She was not Lace any more. She was tough and strong and determined. Let me change the previous statement.

She was Lace.

She had finally pulled off the mask covering her face. And she looked beautiful.

"The night of the….operation, I wasn't ready. Whenever they tortured me; they always managed to miss the major body parts, so as not to kill me. This time though, they targeted my brain. They tied me to a metal table and said I was going to be reborn. The man said the woman was an example. I remembered back to all the times she twitched and her eyes rolled back in her head. I didn't want to be like her. I struggled but nothing worked. I was desperate. It all rolled around to nothing. He cut me open."

At those four words I shivered and nearly begged her to stop. I didn't want to hear how she nearly died, how they hurt her. But I stopped myself just in time. She had to actually go through this. And I was queasy just listening. I realized she needed to do this. To move on. So I shut my mouth and tried to stay strong. For Lacy.

"I was still awake, and I had no drugs or anything to stop the pain. I broke my resolve at that moment. I screamed and screamed. I pleaded and begged. I was disgusted with my weakness and cowardice."

I looked at her with a certain respect. She just called herself weak and a coward. Absolute bull-shit.

"Don't be an idiot," flinching at my choice of words, "You are amazing; and don't ever forget it. Understand me?"

She just nodded, as if not actually listening to me. She had taken to tracing her scar with her middle finger and looked like she was in her own little version of hell.

"That's it. They didn't get to finish though. The police stormed the house and they fled. I passed out from loss of blood. Next thing I know I show up in the orphanage, I stole a piece of bread; and you know the rest.

It looked like a huge weight had been lifted off he shoulders. I don't remember it; but she was slouching and her head was always down. Now her head was raised up to the setting sun, alighting her features. She wasn't beautiful; she was absolutely stunning.

"One day you're going to meet a man, and he is going to realize how beautiful you really are." I believed this with all my heart and I needed her to too.

"I wasn't always weak; you know. I was strong. I still am; I just don't show it. I didn't want anyone to know about my past, so I hid it. I changed everything about myself, so I could forget. I never did though. They always returned to me in my sleep, the most vivid and cruel nightmares you could ever imagine."

I remember now. I remember the tossing and turning back at the camp. I remember the screaming. I pulled her in for a hug and she started sobbing.

"Let it out; then it's over." I reassured her. Lace cried for about an hour, and I never let go. We had stopped walking and sunk to the ground. After a while she stopped, and wiped her eyes. I was unfamiliar with emotions, but I'm pretty sure that the look that passed over her face was freedom.

"You know, I don't think we can finish our game." I joked, wanting to move on from the depressing subjects. My stupid, stupid curiosity.

She laughed. I mean; really laughed. And we laughed and laughed, needing to let go.

Clap, clap, clap.

I spun around, startled. We were in the middle of no-where. I jumped in front of Lace, a protective look passing over my facial features.

"What a stunning performance. Very touching. You have a right to remain silent and follow me willingly, or I promise to drag you after me; but not-so-willingly." He said in an amused tone. Did he hear all that? How long was he listening? How did he get here? How in the actual hell can he find that very violent story funny? And most importantly; why do I get the feeling I knew him? Who was he? I prioritised.

"Who are you?" I questioned.

"I am the son of Jupiter. I'm a child of Rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion. I slew the Trojan sea monster, I toppled the black throne of Kronos and and destroyed the Titan Krios with my bare hands."

"My name is Jason Grace."

A/N: Please review. I'm open to any idea's. Do you think he should go to the Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood? Thanks.