Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 13

The 3 cousins were talking throughout the noise of the motorcycles. Nico and Thalia's main goal was to get Percy cheered up again. They did not want a depressed guy in their home, destroying everything blocking his way.

While all the cousins were talking, Percy kept on driving through the lane when the green light came on. He drove on while Nico saw a truck coming towards them. But it was a red light for the truck. The truck didn't stop.

"Percy stop!" Nico yelled out.

But it was too late. The truck came driving towards Percy and Thalia. Closer and closer, until...

"Percy brake! There's a truck!" Thalia screamed at him.

Percy couldn't hear her due to the noise. But that didn't mean he couldn't see. At the last second, he saw the truck and protected Thalia by going in front of her and taking all the impact for her.

The truck braked at the last moment but it made matters worse. By braking, the end of the truck hit the motorcycle Percy and Thalia were in. Thalia was protected, she only felt a few bumps, but Percy had it the worst. The truck hit him at his side, and he only had time to widen his eyes before taking the full impact of the truck.

It felt as if the scene went in slow motion. Percy's head fractured against the motorcycle and went unconscious immediately. His leg stuck out in the wrong angle, and it seemed that he had broken a couple of ribs. He was bleeding heavily. Thalia looked away with a few tears coming down her face while calling 911 hurriedly. Nico came running towards them while fingering the driver angrily.

The ambulance came quicker than Nico thought possible and hurried Percy into a stretcher. Thalia and Nico wanted to come too but the workers were being too stubborn.

"We're his only family, we need to support him!" Thalia protested, fighting the temptation to punch him.

The worker raised an eyebrow, for what could be disbelief. "Mother?"

"Murdered."

"Father?"

"Disappeared."

"Siblings?"

"None."

"Any family left?"

"Right here."

"Get in then."

Thalia and Nico didn't smirk like they usually would. Instead they both rushed in the ambulance and sat next to Percy while the workers in the ambulance tried to patch him up.

Thalia held Percy's hand tightly while the doctors did electrical charges.

"1-2-3, hold him steady!" The doctor yelled.

Percy shook as the charges went through him. Nico waited for him to possibly wake up. Please Percy, he thought sadly. I need you... No homo.

But Percy didn't wake up. And even though they had just arrived at the hospital, Nico was starting to lose a bit of hope. He tried to stay strong, but images of Percy's death haunted his eyes. He wiped his eyes and no more tears came out. He would stay strong. For himself. But most of all for his cousin.

Thalia stayed by Percy's side all the time before they brought him to the emergency room. Now she had to wait in a chair along with Nico. She was feeling guilty and a bit angry. Why was he too loyal, she wanted to scream. Why did he have to save me? He could be dead because of me...

Nico placed a hand on Thalia's shoulder as if he knew what she was thinking. But in truth, he was just guessing.

"You want to sneak in?" Nico asked her as if he did it all the time, which he actually does.

Instead of looking shocked, Thalia nodded numbly, and was in truth a bit scared to see Percy. What would he look like? She wondered. He would probably look better, this is a hospital after all...

"You don't have to you know." Nico continued, looking at Thalia's expression.

"It's fine, let's go." And suddenly, Thalia was feeling confident again.

Thalia didn't want to make Nico anymore depressed than he already was. She could see him trying to be strong. But she could see that he was actually breaking down inside.

Thalia tried to smile a tiny smile but it turned more into a grimace. Nico didn't even bother with smiling. What was the point?

"Go, when I say go- not yet Nico!" Thalia whispered-yelled.

"You said go."

Even at a situation like this, Thalia had to do a face-palm while rolling her eyes.

"Go." Thalia said after a few seconds.

Together, the two cousins sprinted down the corridor, up the main floor where they held Percy. Thalia recalled the room number and looked left and right. It took a while before they found it, although they would prefer if they found him sooner. There were loads of sick people that they did not want to see.

"What's the room number again?" Nico asked, trying to catch up with Thalia who was far ahead of him.

"246, and keep up will you." Thalia sounded a bit annoyed and frustrated.

If she wanted a competition... Nico mused, and ran to keep up with Thalia.

"Shh!" Thalia whispered and screeched to a halt beside Nico, who was already there, making lots of noise catching his breath.

"Why?"

Thalia didn't reply. Nico looked beside him and she pointed a shaky finger towards the window with the shutters a bit open. She turned away after the first two seconds of looking. She had seen enough.

Images flashed in her mind quickly. Two seconds was enough to get her shaking. She wished she couldn't recall the memory of two seconds. But she did. And it all came tumbling back to her.

Percy looked worse than before. His face was bruised and bloody. His scars from Gabe at his face looked terrible. Gashes and stitching were in his face and he looked like one of those puppets on strings: sewn together by stitches. His face was full of them. His nose was broken and Thalia couldn't help but think it was Voldemort.

That was only his face. He had whip lashes from Gabe, loads of them, spelling out a few words: Bastard, bitch, monster, freak... There was the entire alphabet of blood in there. The truck had destroyed his ribs completely, and if he would ever recover, he could be paralyzed for all they know. Which they don't.

And then there were the legs, and the arms. Fun for Gabe was written out in blood. He had perfected his blood letters, and was now a natural torturer. What had they done to him? Thalia wanted to cry out as she relived one more memory.

How Percy saved Thalia. She could remember every single detail, every single expression on his face. How determined he was to protect her, keep her safe. She stumbled back a bit as she tried to keep those memories at the back of her head.

"Come on, let's go back." Thalia said while dragging Nico behind her.

"I haven't seen him yet!"

"Trust me Nico, you don't want to."

A/N: I don't think I did well for the crash, but I tried my best. Annabeth will come too. Is this enough drama for you? Thank you for all the support!