A/N: I happily present: Unraveling. Part Two in my little Complicated saga. I don't have much more to say than enjoy!

P.S. Fanfiction wasn't letting me put it up :( Sorry about the wait.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I do not on 'In One Ear' by Cage The Elephant.

The answer was elsewhere.

That was where I really, really needed to be at the moment. I tapped my head consu- my eldest sibling, Will, on the shoulder and asked the predictable question of could I leave the cabin. He gave me the usual answer of being back before dinner. Eager to be out of the shining, bright, almost choking air of Cabin Seven I practically ran to the door. But first, per usual, CG brushed by me and asked me to say 'hi' to Mathias who I was- as usual- off to meet. It had all become so routine.

It was the same stroll to the broken pier on the lake. Water didn't bother me anymore, now that I knew there were other things to fear. The same sneer from Sara as I passed my old home of Cabin Eleven, and me smiling wryly at how she'd 'love to see me fall' but I 'was already on my back '.

When I arrived at the pier the naiads scurried away like I expected, but Mat wasn't there yet. He wasn't waiting for me while he was practically drooling over one of his perverted novels. So I sat there and waited but I didn't want to stay too long because it was early winter and I wasn't willingly to be out late. There were too many things hiding in the dark.

I was just about to leave when someone grabbed my shoulder.

My body reacted first- stomping on the inside of their foot, grabbing the offending wrist and twisting it behind their back. Then I spotted the glasses. I dropped his arm and stepped away, shaking almost as bad as Mathias was. He rubbed his arm and looked down at me. Dark brown eyes were locked onto eyes shades lighter but Mathias was the first to look away. It was pretty clear he wasn't expecting an apology and I couldn't bring myself to offer one anymore. So I didn't.

"CG says 'hello' or 'hola' or 'bonjour' or whatever the hell it is where he's from," I said quickly.

"Oh," Mat's blush was practically luminescent," tell him 'Salutations, Comment avez-vous été?' for me, alright?"

I tried to repeat the phrase but the words didn't roll off my tongue the same graceful way they did with CG and Mat. I waved a hand at him, "You can do it yourself," before he could object I added, "I heard Stacey from Aphrodite had her eye on him. I'm pretty sure he's holding out for you but who knows how long that will last?" I teased. And if it actually hurt Mat, too bad. I refused to be their mediator any longer.

When Mat didn't answer- just kept on staring ahead in horror at the very thought- I changed the subject, "You were late. How come?"

That snapped him right out of it. He fished something out of his pocket and presented it to me with a mischievous shine in his eyes. It was a person. More specifically it was me. So of course I shrieked and dropped it. Mat cried out, "Wait," before I could stomp of it like I would a bug.

He snatched it out of the way of my foot and gestured for me to sit besides him again.

"It's an automaton. Or at least a prototype of one," he explained, "See?" His twisted the... doll's arm and I flinched involuntarily. The mini-Aline clacked to life, gears making her eyes and jaw crack. It looked as if she was waking up. The automaton rose and began walking around, quite clueless.

Suddenly Mat called out, "Cyclops!" My hand immediately flew to my necklace but there was no apparent threat. Actually, to my amusement, the doll had pulled a whip identical to mine out of somewhere and was still searching for the monster.

"That's really amazing," I said, astounded.

"Thanks," Mathias said. He was practically glowing with pride.

"What is it- she for?"

"Well," Mat reached for my replica, "they're designed to fight," the doll bit his hand when it got to close and Mat winced, "and they can. I just have to make a lot more on a lot larger scale."

"They'll be amazing," I assured him. A secret sort of smile still on his lips, Mat held the doll around the waist and gently switched it off. He handled the automan- which looked exactly like me from the now long and plaited dark hair to the scars and bony elbows- the same way he'd handled me during the month I'd been back. Cautiously but gently. Like I was a doll. Like I would attack or break any second.

I didn't want to do either but I wasn't sure I could help it by now.

"It's getting late," I said abruptly. In truth, the sun was barely touching the tops of the trees but one glance at my expression and Mat didn't argue.

"Okay," he said simply, "We should head back." He put my automan in his coats pocket. Camp may have had a godly weather control but that didn't mean some of the cold wasn't sneaking in as winter approached. I bit my tongue before I could ask Mat if he was going home for the holidays. I almost forgot he didn't have one to go back to. And I couldn't leave Camp Half Blood, a 'doctor's order'.

"So how have you been?" Mathias asked reluctantly. That was another 'order' issued to him by my pseudo-doctor and self-righteous little sister Kayla. The evil little ginger had insisted it was part of my road to recovery. Strange for her to say when I had refused to tell them exactly what I was recovering from. And Mat knew not to expect an answer, so I didn't give one. Instead I asked him about gears and cogs and screws and other such things that the Hephaestus kids enjoyed talking about. I could tell he also appreciated the change of subject.

Dinner, evening activities, and campfire was a blur of people, noise, and other things I didn't enjoy at the moment. A clamor of fleeting glances and whispers behind hands: isn't she that one girl, I heard her prophecy, did you know, did you see what she did, totally on medication...

I shook my head and chuckled; if only they knew how much of those rumors were true. I caught one trio of younger girls looking back and forth at the Hades table and me. I bit my lip and turned toward Nico slowly. He had his head turned, looking outside, and his black hair covered most of his profile. It looked like almost of the wounds I'd inflicted had mended, but there was still an unhealed one visible on his neck where his scarf had slipped. I bit down on my lip harder at the sight of the angry gash and I subconsciously pulled down my sleeves to hide my scars- old and new. That's when he turned back and looked at me. In a split second, eyes like day met eyes like night and we looked away just as quick.

This is how it had been since the night I got back, the night they were burning my burial shroud and Nico stormed away swearing I wasn't dead. The night he found me alive- but at a breaking point. And when he'd tried to put me back together I did the same thing to him. How he could forgive me and how could I forgive myself? So this was our song and dance: steadily avoiding each other until one tried to approach and the other skirted away. Chiron and Kayla and Thalia agreed that being around Nico wasn't good for 'my recovery'.

They didn't seem to realize that he was frickin' instrumental. Everything seemed to revolve around him now- from my fears to my guilt. I needed him to forgive me, I needed to forgive myself, and still, for all the times he'd antagonized me when we had met, I needed to forgive him. It was this huge, endless, crazing cycle I couldn't find my way out of. How could I hope to make things better when it didn't look like we'd ever be on speaking terms again?

So instead of telling even Mathias or talking to Nico, I put on a smile for the world and kept my distance. Because from far enough away, everything looks perfect.

But if anyone bothered to look close enough they'd see the hollows under my eyes and how that smile was a bit too strained and how much I was lying to to everyone including myself. No, my 'caretakers' didn't need to worry about sending my sanity over the edge. Right now my worst enemy was right here.

Because how long would it be before I broke myself?

So this isn't my best takeoff, there's a bit of turbulence. But let's see how it goes, hmm? As a belated birthday present, leave a review?