Okay, be mature while reading this chapter. Please, no flames. Review but don't mock me for this or anything.

Chapter 16

Lucius

I had walked into our cabin, still laughing from the underwater trick Percy had showed me. My laugh had been wiped from the sight I was greeted by.

James stood in the room making out with my girlfriend. And she was letting him! When James turns around, my look of horror quickly changes to one of hate.

"I can explain!" James says quickly, putting his hands up in defense.

"I don't want it." I say, after a minute of glaring at him.

My eyes shift over to Phoenix. She looks desperate for me to understand, not guilty. Phoenix takes a step forward, so that she's standing in front of James.

"Phoenix…" I sigh. My heart feels like its going to explode. I'm dripping wet, but can't feel it. Instead I feel like I'm drowning. "It's over."

Without a second glance back, I walk calmly out of the room. I slam the door and then I run.

I run through the rain. It might be my imagination, but the rain seems a little lighter than a few minutes ago. My silent tears blind me as I run. It's dark, so no one else is out and I run without worry of people seeing me cry.

Before I know it, I'm in the forest. My tears still streak down my face. Impulsively, I punch one of the trees. My knuckles crack and I know without a doubt that my hand is broken.

I barely pay attention to the pain. I don't scream out or anything. I just stand there and punch the tree over and over again.

Finally the pain overwhelms me. I sink to the ground and weep silently.

Suddenly I hear a rustle. I notice that I'm in a dry clearing. I cover my head with my arms in case someone comes across me. If it was a monster come to eat me, I would welcome it. Dying would be better than living with this aching heart.

A girl comes into the clearing. I can't see who it is through my blurry eyes. She rushes over to me and drops to her knees.

The girl doesn't touch me, but she just weeps along with me. I don't know why. After a few minutes, I stop crying; curious as to why a random stranger would be crying with me.

I wipe my eyes with my sleeve and the world comes back into clarity. A dark haired girl kneels right beside me. She looks up at me with eyes darker than the night sky. Her face is streaked with tears and is puffy red from crying.

My heart crumbles. I gather Phoenix in my arms and comfort her as she cries. She wraps her arms around my neck and sobs into my shoulder as I lean against the same tree I had been punching.

I lay my broken hand on her back uselessly, and use the other to stroke her hair. As she begins to calm down, I mutter nonsense into her ear; telling her it would be all right.

I was a fool. I couldn't break up with her; even if I wanted too. She was too dear to me. I would have to ask her what happened and see what she said.

Once Phoenix is no longer crying, I lean her back so I can look in her eyes. I remember the first day we had met; when she had been so mad at me she had nearly killed me with her powers. Chiron and her had discovered that she could wipe away a persons emotion and memory by staring into their eyes. She had practiced with a squirrel and it had died. She had come crying to me that day. We had practiced again and found that if she took it far enough, she could kill whatever she stared at.

I knew she would never look at me that way again though. Softly, I take my healthy hand and cup her cheek.

"What happened?" I whisper.

She swallows and begins. "J-James came to understand why I d-didn't like him."

She pauses and I feel my anger beginning to melt at her stutter. I couldn't help it. I loved her stutter. "I t-told him we c-could be f-friends. He l-liked that and then t-took a picture of me s-smiling."

Huh. I'd have to remind myself to get a copy of that picture. A tear trickles down her face, and I wipe it away as she continues. "H-he k-kissed me then. I-I-I pushed him away, but he h-held on. I c-couldn't get free."

Now that she mentioned it, I do remember him holding on to her tightly. She had just been standing there, like a statue.

Her head falls onto my shoulder as she continues. "He knows n-now that we'll n-never be t-together. He just w-wanted t-to s-see-"

I cut her off by placing my lips on hers. My dry lips on her soaking wet ones are like magic. I kiss away all the tears on her face, slowly, softly and gently.

When I'm done, I look at her. She gives me an innocent smile. "Can you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive." I tell her softly.

She sniffles. "I love you Lucius."

My heart leaps at those words. Now that I understood what had happened, I couldn't be mad at her. She was the perfect girl for me, and the only one I'd ever loved.

"I love you too Phoenix." I reach up to take her face with both my hands, but my broken hand protests.

I grimace and let out a small painful whimper. She looks at me in worry. Then she looks at my hand and notices that it's broken.

"Oh my gosh, your hand!" She cries as she takes it gently.

Her fingers feel like cool velvet on my skin. Without a word, she takes off her black shirt and wraps it gently around my hand. The bleeding stops and the pain disappears a bit, but I can't stop staring at her.

"That should hold till you get to a doctor." She says as she ties it in a knot. Then she looks up and sees me staring at her. Her face turns an adorable red and she smiles. "What?"

I pull her close to me. "You. You're amazing, and I love you."

Her gaze softens. "I love you too." She repeats.

I lean in to kiss her. She pulls me down closer to her, and kisses me fiercely.

My head becomes dizzy quickly. We kiss with passion, not caring that anyone might stumble in here. Though we were both confident no one would find us.

Her kisses are so sweet to me. I kiss down her neck, down her shoulders. Her bare skin beneath my fingers is a miracle that I never want to end.

We're wrapped close to each other. Impulsively, I take off my shirt and toss it aside. She seems to love it. Her hands trace my chest and I can't help but let out a low moan against her lips. She smiles in our kiss, and I hold her closer.

We shrug out of our pants. Her legs intertwine with mine and her hands are tangled deep in my hair. We're lying on the ground and we pause to take a deep breath of air.

I look into her eyes. They were shining and full of love. We were eighteen and on top on the world in that moment. She smiles and kisses me lightly on the nose.

"You sure about this?" I ask her, still gasping for air.

"Yes." She whispers.

I lean down and kiss her again, deeply. Our tongues mingle, both of us going fast paced. I unhook my mouth from hers and kiss her neck. I trail kisses down her front and down to her underwear. Slowly, I move back up to kiss her on her chest.

She helps me take her bra off, and then with whispered 'I love you's'; we let human nature take over.