I sat on the edge of the bench whilst the football game kept on playing, I didn't move a muscle when the crowd leapt up cheering when their team scored a goal, and even Percy had trouble keeping up with the crowd and putting that fake smile he uses when he is trying to hide his pain. Most of the demigods are familiar with this smile, as he used it all throughout the titan and the giant wars. He used it only when he was trying to cheer everyone else up. But this time it wasn't working.

What have I done? My thirst for revenge killed Piper, it might not have been my hand, but it would never have happened if I did not go after him. I thought that maybe my life would have been happier if it was done, that my curse would have been gone for only a little bit. Until my illness took over. But at least then I would have had a few weeks of happiness, letting the demigods around me know that I was not the jerk that they all thought I was.

But no, it could never have happened. As the curse isn't even real. I fought the urge to spit in disgust at this. Seven years. Gone. Out the window. They hate me for nothing, no, they hate me for who I really am, don't they? If I spent so long ridiculing them, embarrassing the fellow demigods so much that I actually laughed at what I was doing then surely that is who I have become? Despite the faith that Annabeth had placed in me I failed her. I failed everyone.

"Will!" I heard someone say and then a hand on my shoulder and a gentle shake. I glanced up to see Frank looking at me with a slight frown and the others were looking at me strangely, and I realised that Frank must have been saying my name a lot, but I zoned out enough to not hear him.

"Yeah?" I asked, even to me my voice sounded weak, tired and strained, I didn't like it. It's like the wall, the mask, I have made around me has crumpled in a matter of hours and I am just a tired old person ready to die. I guess I am; I guess I am ready to die; I am already on my death bed. Not like anyone would care.

"Want some food?" Frank asked gently, as if he wasn't quite sure how to treat me, I could tell there was a part of him that wanted to hate me, to yell and beat me because of what happened with piper, but then there was another side to him that held him back, saying that it wasn't my fault. That I am not the person that he thinks I am. That I am on their side. That I am not going to hurt them.

I'll certainly try not to hurt him. Ugh. I hate this. I hate them feeling sorry for me; they act as if they know about the 'curse' even though they don't. But they have no idea. No idea what has happened to me, why I did everything that I did. And I do not plan to tell them. Actually, I might, I'm not sure. It is a possibility. I guess I do owe them the explanation.

But not now, I don't want to do it now. I want to be ready, ready for their reactions.

"We know about the curse." Leo suddenly blurted out and quickly covered his mouth when he realised what he just confessed and the others just looked at him incredulously whilst my head snapped towards him and my facial muscles tightened together as I looked at him.

"What?"

"I uh…." Leo trailed off unsure what to say and I jolted to my feet storming towards him, and though Frank tried to step in front of me but I pushed him away and snatched Leo's shirt and shook him a few times and repeated the question, but there was a hint of fury in my usual controlled voice.

"Will, we found out about your curse. That's it." Percy said placing a hand on my shoulder and I stiffened and turned my eyes on him, my hands still clenched in Leo's shirt and they all look at me with wide eyes.

"How?" I asked, trying to calm myself down, my voice slow and slightly shaking but they averted their eyes and we stood in silence for a couple of minutes until Jason, who had been silent for most of it, hell he didn't even move a muscle when I grabbed Leo, spoke up.

"We do not blame you William, for anything, even P-p-piper," He said struggling to get her name out of his mouth but he coughed as if trying to cover it up and continued, "And knowing about the curse now, it helps…it helps for us to be more there for you…I mean, you've never had anyone for the last seven years…it was always just you, dealing with that pressure. I do not hate you. Not even for her death. I respect you now, because now that I know why you did it, to protect us…I could never have done it, to isolate myself to make sure no one was hurt. I couldn't have done it. I need these people, I need people to be there for me, I need friends, everyone does…but you managed to ignore that need, the need for people, the need to talk your mind to someone. And I know I shouldn't be doing this in the middle of a stadium but I need to get this off my chest, because I have been thinking about it a lot and…gods…I'm sorry, sorry for believing that you were a spy…for both of these wars I was with you. Thinking you were a coward, because you aren't one, hell you're one of the bravest heroes I know. And that's saying something."

At the end of the speech, I let Leo's shirt slip through my fingers and I ran a hand through my short black hair, well actually it's grown a bit so it sticks up in place now and I am constantly pushing it back. I need a haircut. Ugh.

I slowly turned to Jason and offered my hand to him and he took it and stood up and I clenched his hand in my own, my eyes staring into his light blue eyes and I looked away about to say something when I heard a voice that belonged to none of the demigods near me.

"How touching…but unfortunately I have to break this heart-warming moment apart."

I whipped around, my sword already in my hand as I saw the tall buff man with a bald head but a black beard stare at us, and I knew him instantly. It was the man who pressed the trigger to kill my dad. Hell, I'm running into the people I've been looking for the past seven years in a couple of days. How ironic.

After a few words spoken between him and the others a low chuckle escaped my lips and people looked at me weirdly and I twirled my sword around and looked at him with a dangerous look in my blue eyes. "You should never have showed your face."

"But I did, and now I must take you, William, back to your father."