Hello! So yeah, I finished House of Hades in less than a day. It was absolutely the best one yet. Though, I might have to adjust the story a bit now that I've read it. It happens. Oh yeah, I'm going to be doing a chapter for Happily Ever After before I come back to this again. Check that one out too. Ok, so you should probably know by now that I'm not Rick (though I did predict the Nico thing). PJO and HoO belong to him. Oh, and I guess I should say that I don't own the songs that the chapter names are taken from. So far that's Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens (this chapter name is original). This chapter is a happy one by the way. Ok, Story time.

Broken

Chapter 3: Solitario

Leo

I was actually expecting more of a fight from Percy. I knew it was a hard time for him. Hell, it was a hard time for all of us. Annabeth was taking it much harder than most of us. Then again, I guess there's a good reason. I mean, Percy meant so much to her. I'm pretty sure that she liked him from the beginning. Even before I met him, she never shut up about him. Seriously, it was kinda annoying.

Then there was the whole Nico thing. I'm gonna be honest, I'm really put off by it. I just- why would he attempt suicide? There was no reason. Unless… Was it Percy? I mean, we all knew about it. Nico made it obvious. But did Nico try something? Moreover, was that worth ending your own life? Was anything, really? I know that's not exactly fair. But seriously, why would anyone end their own life?

I was thinking about that when we visited Nico. I tried to look at him, you know? Tried to see what pushed him so far. I guess he caught me staring, cause the was a moment when he looked at me with this bewildered look on his face. Yeah, that was awkward. I looked away really quickly. Luckily he ignored it. Might have given him the wrong idea. Not that there's anything wrong with all of that, it's just, I don't exactly play for his team. That sounds really bad, doesn't it? I don't know how to fix that. It's weird, but give me any mechanical problem, there's no problem. Speaking though; not my strongest suit. I'm working on it though.

But yeah, you might be asking why I took so much interest in this whole thing. Well, I asked myself that a lot as well. I don't know, I guess I felt guilty for not seeing it all coming. I mean, I really should have known about Nico. And I figured Gabe was a bad guy, but I never even dreamed that it could be as bad as it was. Looking back on it though, it was obvious. And if I just could have just gotten my head out of my ass, I could've done something, you know? Instead I feel like I ignored them. I guess I was trying to make up for it.

I started out by trying to comfort Annabeth. She was traumatized from the ordeal. It wasn't hard. I mean, I basically make people laugh for a living, you know? It's, like, my thing. I kinda just hung around her and acted normal. I was used to pretending I was happy.

After the trial (which, let me tell you, was definitely interesante. The prosecutor was uno tonto del coro. He tried to say that Percy was lying about getting abused.) Annabeth wanted to see Percy. I thought that was going to be it. I mean, they always cheered each other up before. Nico was with us. Again, that was uncomfortable. But in the end, he didn't come out. Or he came out a different exit. It was almost like he was avoiding us. But, why would he do that? And if he was avoiding us, why was there no backlash? Why did he want to talk to Nico if he was one of the people he avoided?

More than anything, why had I gone in this deep? I mean, I knew that not many people would do the same. In fact, I could tell you for a fact that before I met Jason, (who introduced me to the group) I hadn't ever met anyone that would. But maybe that was it. Our group was that group that would do anything for each other. Thinking back to it, everyone was trying to help out. Even Zhang was helping (by hanging around Hazel mostly, but he was very supporting towards Annabeth, I'll give him that). Hazel and Piper were always talking to Annabeth, trying to talk her through it. Jason was visiting Nico at least once a week (which was weird cause Nico always creeped Jason out). I think that, however horrible it was, in the end we were going to be closer for it. All of this was passing through my mind as I left the hospital. I guess that's why I wasn't paying attention. I guess that's why I plunged headfirst into a girl with long black hair. A girl who would, in time, change my life.

Percy's mom had picked him up, so I was walking back to mar car when she came around a corner. She was holding a full cup of coffee; so of course, it spilled all over both of us. "Oh, mierda. Lo siento." I stopped myself. I really need to stop slipping into Spanish."I'm so sorry. Ah, mierda."

She just glared at me. Ah, so she was one of those girls. I met plenty of these girls at school. She opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it before anything came out. She took a very long, and honestly way too dramatic, breath. "You spilled my coffee," She took another breath and looked down, then way far up, "all over my dress."

I guess she was too busy to notice the steam coming from my own clothes. And I really liked that jacket. "I'm really sorry. Do you have, like, a napkin or some-?"

She cut me off with a sigh. "A napkin isn't gonna get the stain out."

"Yeah, I know. Look I'm really sorry."

"Sorry won't get me back this dress." She snapped.

I glared at her. I really didn't want to apologize again; in fact, I wanted to set her on fire. But then I thought of something my mother told me. I was about 5, and she told me to "kill 'em with kindness". And so, I just took a breath. "Look," I told her, "my house is like three minutes from here. We have this stuff that gets out stains. It's a miracle worker. So if you want, I can go home and get it for you."

"Great," she said, "take me there."

I raised an eyebrow. "How about I go and you stay here. I don't even know you."

"Exactly," she said, "How can I know that you'll come back?"

Even though I was a little insulted, she did have a point. "Ok. How about I give you something important of mine, so I have to come back to get it." I rummaged through my pockets and pulled out a sphere. "Take this."

She looked at it with confusion. "What in the world is that thing? And how is it so special?" she asked.

"It's an Archimedes Sphere. It's basically any gadget known to man in one device. As to why it's so special; my dad gave it to me. Or at least, I think he did."

"Wait, you don't know."

"It's a long story and I really don't feel like telling a complete stranger." I held it closer to her. "Take it."

"No."

"Why not? I mean, don't you have to be somewhere in the hospital? That's why you're here, right?"

"Actually, I'm here to see my sister, and I sure as anything can't do that with a giant coffee stain down the front of me. Besides," she looked down, "I know how much something like that can mean to a person." I took the time to actually look at her. She looked about sixteen years old, same as me. She actually didn't wear a lot of makeup, oddly. Usually girls like her, in my experience, had a face full of the stuff. Her dress, minus the coffee, was also different. It was one of those dresses that might have been homemade and were very simple, but really elegant at the same time. I can't really explain it any better then that.

"Ugh, fine," I said. "But at least tell me your name. I can't let some girl whose name I don't even know in my car, not to mention my home."

"My name is Calypso Nightshade." She said. "And yours?"

"Leo Valdez." I said.

"Alright Leo Valdez," she said, "Let's see how much of a miracle worker this stuff really is. To your house."

"Alright then." I said as I led Calypso to my car. "To my house." I let her into the car and went around to the driver's seat.

Calypso Nightshade I thought to myself as I entered. "Oh, and if you try anything, like if this is some sort of rape/kidnapping plot, I can and will destroy you," she said cheerfully "ok?" Ay dios mio.

To be continued…

So yey, a chapter that isn't morbid. And it's longer then I usually do. I actually really liked writing this chapter. Leo is really one of my very favorite characters. And the little bits with him cursing in Spanish, it just makes me happy. But yeah, if you didn't like it, or if you did, post a review. Tell me who your favorite character/narrator is so far. And like I said, check out HEA on my profile. I think it's pretty good. Review that too. Seriously guys, the more reviews I get, the better the story is gonna be. Oh, and if anyone's interested in Beta-ing this, just tell me. So yeah, make good decisions. Peace!