I decided to write this chapter sooner than expected because I have a snow day! And I'm updating from school! :P This chapter has lots of Alton/Cyra in the beginning. Annabeth and Cyra help to plan Sally's wedding to "Paul Blowfis" while watching her struggle to stop thinking about Poseidon. Please remember that Cyra cannot do anything until the wedding because that is the only day that the real Dolus will show up. The wedding will be in the next chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I'm don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Enjoy! It's a Chinese New Year present for those of you who celebrate it!

I really can't recall what happened in the complete darkness. All I can remember of that dark time is searching for something to hold onto and finding someone's firm grasp on my hand. It was painful. Agony. I was freezing slowly. Not burning hot, but freezing little by little. I had almost lost the will power to live before I heard Alton's three words. As cheesy as it sounds, it truly gave me something to look forward to in life. So I fought.

After struggling for who-knows-how-long, I could feel heat flood through my body. It so warm and comfortable that I wanted to hold on to it for as long as possible. I felt a head still gripping mine tightly so I opened my eyes. I knew it now. No matter how much I hated to admit it, the pain that Alton left me with was going to kill me. It kept me up many nights, fighting to keep tears from falling. I couldn't help to think whether or not Aphrodite enjoyed seeing my pain.

The first thing I saw was Apollo. It was hard to miss a God when he was in his giant form. From the looks of it, he was about to leave. I hastened to try to sit up, but moved my left arm and fell back heavily onto a bed in a cabin in Camp Half Blood.

"Don't move yet. Give yourself two minutes before trying to get up," Apollo grinned, shrinking back to normal size seeing my attempt to get up again.

"Thank you, Lord Apollo," I said formally dipping my head a little. "How could I thank you?"

The smile on Apollo's face broadened. "By taking care of my son. Try not to kill his ears when you scream. I'm going to have to pull your hair out if you make him deaf. Goodbye!" I gave the God of the Sun a huge smile before turning my eyes away when he resumed his true Godly form.

I had also realized that now I was back to reality, I could hardly just ask Alton to kiss me again. And now that my brain was restored, the paranoid and pessimistic part kept telling me that he was lying when he whispered "I love you". Sometimes I wonder if I should just listen to my senses and ignore my brain, but I looked at the ceiling once I saw that only Alton was in the room. I tried sitting up again and freed my hand gently from his.

"Annabeth dropped in ten minutes ago, just to see how you are," Alton said casually. He still had no idea that I heard him when he declared that he loved me. In fact, I really think that it was a dream.

"Um, cool," I said awkwardly, "So, how long have I been out?"

"Two days." Something caught in his voice. I reflexively looked at him, my heart pounding. "Look Cyra, I realize that your life has been rough. And I know that I'm not making it better in any way. But," he breathed, "But please don't just shove me out. I can't help loving you."

I drew my legs to my chest and hugged them closely, trying to stop my heart from throbbing. I wanted to trust him, to give myself over to him, to hug him. But I couldn't. There was something that kept me from standing up and embracing him: the possibility of more pain. "I- I can't." I whispered lamely. "I really want to Alton, I do. I want to laugh with you and be with you... But how do I know that you won't abandon me again?"

"I understand," his faced had turned blank as he looked away from me. It reminded me of Poseidon's features (when I was looking through his memories) that last day. Something in it died. Sally had bit her bottom lip as her Poseidon disappeared looking pained and pale. Alton stood up, "I'm sorry for disturbing you. I'll send Annabeth in to take care of you." He ran a few steps to the door. And I decided in that instant that I couldn't let him just walk away like that. Gingerly placing my feet on the ground, I tested my weight, standing up. He paused at the door and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"No wait," I gasped, taking a few steps toward him. He jerked the door open, but I got there before he could slip out of my life forever. I threw my arms around him, ignoring my protesting left arm and held him close. "Don't leave me again. Please. I sound so hypocritical, I know, but if you walk away today, I'll go crazy. Please, Alton, stay." My heart had finally won out over my mind. Why the hell did I reject him in the first place? What pain could hurt more than watching walk away?

He didn't relax under my embrace. In fact, he didn't even turn. I clung on to him for another minute, but when he didn't react, I stepped back feeling like my world was falling. Why didn't I just die when I had the chance? I looked away waiting for the door to slam shut. I didn't hear a slamming door, though I heard it creaking slightly as it shut close. The tears I was holding spilled over. Oh, who cared who saw me like this? I shut my eyes and sank slowly to the floor. I noticed that Annabeth must have helped me change into jeans and a t-shirt while I was unconscious. Someone had just sunk to the ground beside me. That surprised me, I knew that no one had entered the room, I would have heard. I looked up to find Alton right there, next to me looking at me critically.

I should have been angry and furious, but I couldn't. He pulled me close to him and I began to cry. All the tears that I didn't allow to show for the past ten days spilled out.

He sighed, "You know, you should really learn to keep your eyes open. Do you really think that I could have left you after you begged me to stay? Well, I suppose people are right to say that 'common sense isn't very common'," he joked stroking my hair. I continued to whimper into his shirt. Did I ever mention his muscled chest? He held me more tightly when he realized that I hadn't stopped crying. I felt vulnerable as he rocked me back and forth. Finally, after the hiccups subsided, he tilted my face up toward his. And I knew that I was in love at the age of 15 thanks to Aphrodite. I found that I didn't mind in the slightest as he leaned down to kiss me on the lips with a gentle passion for the second time.

Planning for the wedding in the following months was quite boring. Annabeth and I mainly went around shops looking for white shoes or something. I decided to check into a hotel, despite Sally's persistence for me to stay, two weeks before 'Blowfis' was supposed to come back to NYC.

"But Sally," I whined, "That one looks awfully sea-green!" I said pointing to the heels she was trying on. "Try these!" I handed her a pair of emerald colored shoes. Green had many meanings, or so I've checked online. In her mind, I was probably trying to wish her good luck, but to me, I was suggesting misfortune. Those two things were polar opposites.

"But I like that color. It reminds me of the sea," she whispered. After I got back from Camp, hand-in-hand with Alton (might I add), she spilled her feelings about Poseidon out. She'd sniff sometimes, and I was absolutely positive that she was remembering Poseidon. Confessing was the fact she stilled loved Poseidon was quite painful to think about.

Once, before I moved into a hotel, Annabeth and I were sitting in Sally's kitchen, Annabeth working on the remodeling blueprint of Olympus while I looked over depressed looking wedding cakes, I heard Sally mumbling in her sleep. We didn't realize that she had fallen asleep on her couch looking at wedding dresses.

Anyways, she had whimpered pitifully, "No, I do love you, I truly do. Don't walk away! No! No!" There was no doubt who Sally was dreaming of. I could even see her nightmare as she sniffed, "But you promised me that we'd be together no matter what. Please? At least one more dance before you leave?" No being able to spend one more minute listening to my friend's mother sleep talking on the sofa, I stood up rather quickly and shook her awake.

So here I was, trying to force the sea-green shoes back to the store manager. I was going to try to make this wedding as not related to the sea (or the God of the Sea) as possible. At this point, I still had no idea how I was to interrupt a wedding and I had only 12 days left. All the major pieces of the wedding was complete, we were just finishing up buying shoes and foods and wines.

I had invited Alton, Percy, and Annabeth to the diner in my hotel to eat and discuss random procedures for the wedding. Percy hadn't really reacted to the fact that his mom was in love with his dad. At least, he wasn't showing it. All he said was, "Mom's old enough to make her own decisions and whatever makes her happy will make me happy."

Sally had kindly made me and Annabeth her bridesmaids. Her Maid of Honor was a friend she had in college. Alton was one of the groomsmen, and Percy was acting as Sally's relative that was to say what her late father should have.

I rubbed my forehead as I plopped down on one of the beds in my hotel room. I had told all of my friends about my meeting with Dolus and the fact that I was apparently fifteen. I didn't mention the part about Poseidon and Sally and the apple of Aphrodite . Everyone seemed to take the news badly. Percy and Sally were convinced that Dolus were after me and they would keep muttering to each other about the possible reasons why. At least the two Jacksons loved each other. Well, that brought another problem. I sighed, again, just as a knock on the door alerted me to Alton's arrival.

"Hello," I said, smiling despite my buzzing brain. He took my hand and touched his lips to it. I blushed, closed the door, and led him to the sofa and snuggled into him.

"Hello to you too… I know that expression, what are you thinking about today?" Alton asked, concerned and a little amused. Well, I thought, I had been voicing more problems as the wedding drew closer.

"Do you think its right for me to break this wedding up, to Sally I mean. Because you and I both know full well that she'll go to Poseidon. The chances that she'll be granted immortality are like 9 in 10. And when she does become a Goddess, she'll have to watch Percy die. I mean, wasn't that the reason why she refused to let him build her a castle in the sea in the first place?"

"Hm," Alton pondered. I could tell that this question got to him too. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. He smelled like the steam given off of hot chocolate. It calmed me a little. "I see where you're coming from. You're right, I mean in the end, Percy is what Sally would die to save. Actually, she did die to save him once. It's her choice. Our job is to crash a wedding-"

"Then what? Suppose we get Sally out alive, then what?" I interrupted looking up at him, desperately. We had no plan that had anything to do with what happened after we steal Sally.

"Go to the sea! Duh!"

Alton rolled his eyes, hugging me close to him. "For Apollo's sake, Cyra, you can be so… worried over nothing. I'd be happier if that worry were saved for me," he pretended to pout. I sighed. Typical Alton, way to be self-centered. I grinned up at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulled his face close to mine. Then, I stuck my tongue out and stood up. "What was that for!" he said mocking anger.

"I was worrying that I might give you Mono," I smirked, laughing.

He raised an eyebrow and in a flash, I was trapped in his arms. "Not that kind of worry, silly," he whispered in my ear. I shivered before he leaned down to kiss me. The way his lips moved against mine was comforting as I relaxed into the kiss.

Knock knock knock.

Damn it! Couldn't Annabeth and Percy arrived a few minutes later? I didn't mind the door and continued the kiss.

"I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE! OPEN UP… WITH YOUR CLOTHES ON, PLEASE!" came Annabeth's voice. I went crimson in the face.

Alton's lips twitched upward into a smile. "Coming. Wait, let me find my shirt…" I smacked him hard the chest. "Ow! What was that for?"

I went quickly to open the door finding a bad tempered Annabeth holding Percy's hand. Oh no, I had a feeling that Annabeth was going to start with the "talk". Before she said anything however, I quickly said, "He was joking, no worries." She relaxed a bit.

"Let's eat!" Percy said, cutting into the awkward silence.