I updated Max's story! It's not much, but it's a nice chapter! IT HAS MAVA!

And I've found what Clarisse's son was called- Daniel Rodriguez! Sorry for constantly calling him 'Clarisse's son', but I couldn't remember his name for the life of me!

Oh, I've got school tomorrow- I'M NOT HAPPY! NOT. HAPPY.

Crystal took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, opening her eyes and staring at the door in front of her.

"Sure about this?" Nico asked. She nodded, her voice useless to her right now. "What if he freaks?" She didn't respond, grabbing the door handle and defiantly twisting it. She steeled her nerves and entered.

Alvie looked at her instantly. She caught a glimpse of his normal silvery grey eyes, but then the irises faded red. She sensed Nico move behind her and his cold hand rested on her shoulder. "That's a warning thing, Annabeth reckons." He told her quietly. "He's angry, but he's curbing it. Don't push it." She gave a single, curt nod. Nico squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and dropped his hand, backing away and closing the door behind him.

He was still staring at her, almost expectantly. Did he really think she'd come here to stir even more trouble? She was in enough trouble as it was- take the Hades cabin for example. Completely trashed and she hadn't even started clearing up.

"I didn't want to." She croaked. She cleared her throat and repeated it, her voice firmer and clearer. He looked away, clearly not believing her. Crystal felt despair and anger boiling to the surface, but she put a lid on it, clenching her fists and speaking louder. "You can ignore me all you want, I deserve it. But it's high time I told you the truth." She took another deep breath- she was doing that a lot lately- and breathed out slowly. She opened her mouth to tell him, when a chill coiled in her stomach. The curtains were wrenched closed by an invisible force and the lock in the door clicked, the handle clattering to the floor. There was a thud outside and a startled caw from Madam shortly followed by scratches on the door. Any noise outside was quickly muffled by the storm clouds swirling like smoke over the door, seeping across the walls until everything was covered.

They were in a storm cloud.

Crystal looked back at Alvie, bunching her jaw stubbornly even though everything inside her was screaming with icy terror and that she had to find an exit.

He was on his feet now, staring at her almost challengingly.

There was nothing familiar or comforting about him. The grey eyes were gone, now a dangerous ruby red. That adorable shyness had disappeared; replaced with laid back shoulders, clenched fists and a defiant look highly uncharacteristic of him and alien on his features. The golden cloak about his shoulders could, in the right light, possibly soften that frosty look on his face, but they darkness of the storm covering every inch of the room cast shadows over his face, his red eyes seemingly glowing.

Dark Alvie, Nico had called him.

That name fit. Perfectly.

Crystal folded her arms as the coldness in her stomach started piercing the rest of her body, numbing her fingers and toes and creeping up her limbs. She tried not to shiver or hunch her shoulders against the cold, wanting to look bold and prove that she wasn't scared of him when, in actual fact, she was petrified.

Her heart hammered so fiercely in her chest; it was like it wanted to get out. Breathing was laborious and uneven, each breath shaky and sending out swirls of vapour. She had to stop herself from showing any signs of feeling the cold or fear and tilted her chin up in what she hoped was an act of rebelliousness. "Stop it." She told him, speaking as determinedly and as plainly as she could. "This isn't you. I don't know what happened to you, but it's taken my Alvie from me and I don't like it."

Lightning snapped to her left, startling her and enticing a scream from her. "I said stop!" She exclaimed, once her shock had subsided. She moved away from where the lightning had struck, but only for shards of ice to hurtle from the opposite wall of storm clouds towards her head. She dropped to the ground (cloud?) and looked pleadingly up at him.

It was no use. He was oblivious to most looks, whether he was himself or not. "Can't we just talk about this?!" Crystal exclaimed, despair gripping her insides almost as horrifically as the cold settling into her bones. She couldn't help but shiver now and it was only made worse when it started raining.

Alvie simply pulled his hood up and he remained in a dry spot while the bitter cold wind drenched her. She pushed her hair from her face and glared at him.

OK, so maybe he didn't want to talk.

There was always Plan B.

She ran straight at him, surprised at how easy it was to run on clouds. He didn't move until the last second, stepping aside. His fingers brushed the small of her back and she was struck with a heat so intense, it blasted the cold away and left her weak at the knees, lightheaded and drowsy.

There was no way she could reason with him. There was no way she could fight him.

What was she going to do?

Tears pooled in her eyes as she lay amongst the storm clouds, rain targeting every bit of her. She felt hot and cold all over, inside and out, and it was disorientating enough to jumble her thoughts.

She just felt like curling up and crying.

But she was Crystal Watson. She was stubborn to her name.

Pulling herself together, Crystal pushed herself to her feet. He was still standing there, inspecting her as he would a museum artefact- more curious than interested, with an under-layer of wariness and anger.

She made no attempt to grab him or tackle him. "I did what I had to. They… they threatened to kill you all." He turned his head slightly, a sign. He was listening. "It might have been Strike, I don't know for sure." She drew a ragged breath and tried to rub warmth back into her arms. "I shouldn't even be telling you. If they find out, they'll kill my family and your family." Her tears warmed her cheeks slightly, but she ignored them. "I never wanted to hurt you. Ever. I'd love nothing more for us to be us again, but I can understand if you don't want to."

Still, he said nothing.

Crystal sighed. Well, it had been worth a shot. "I want to go now." She told him. "I'm cold and soaked and I want to go." He met her gaze, just for a second, but it seemed that his eyes were more grey than red. It was hard to tell with that hood up and casting shadows over his face.

She blinked tears away and the room was back to normal. There was no trace of storm clouds or rain or lightning and the door handle was back in place. The curtains were open, sunlight spilling feebly onto the floor. The lock clicked open and Alvie turned away, sitting on the bed.

Crystal stood for a minute, watching him carefully. She felt like she should say more or do more, but she didn't know what.

In the end, she left, closing the door quietly behind her.

"What'd you say to him?" Nico asked, biting into a cheese and ham pizza slice. He had been startled to see her soaking wet and freezing cold. She had only told him Alvie had caused a 'little storm', but there was clearly more to it than that. Instead of pestering her though, he had given her his jacket and walked her back to the Hades cabin where she showered and put on some warmer, dryer clothes.

"What I told you."

"So, you stuck to the plan?" She nodded, miserably stirring her chicken soup about in the bowl. Nico sighed. He wasn't good with all this emotions stuff. It gave him a headache, but he did try. Sometimes.

He reached into his pocket and slid half a dozen drachmas towards her. "Talk to your mom later." He told her. "She always gives you the best advice." Crystal stared blankly at the coins for a moment, before looking up at him and giving a grateful smile. "And eat. She gives death threats too."

"Normally decapitating you and mounting your head on a wall, but that's just Mom. She's not insane, she's just… creative."

"Very creative." Nico agreed. He motioned at the soup bowl insistently and she realised he wouldn't let her leave until she had eaten it all.

She was halfway through the bowl of soup when she realised an awkward silence was washing over her and her father. She glanced up and saw that he looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how. She decided to start a new topic and ease that awkwardness.

"Have you and Mom thought of any names yet?"

"Um… Personally, I like Adrian, but she likes Nico Junior or, uh, Zacharias."

"I like Alexander. Or Alex." He nodded, giving a small smile of approval. "You could call him Donald."

"Is that a McDonalds jab?"

"No, not at all." He glared at her, unimpressed. She tried for a sweet smile, but he only rolled his eyes at her. "Hey, did you know Adrian means dark?" He looked at her. "I was looking at names and meanings the other day and I've just remembered. Fitting that you like that name."

"I will drown you."

"And then have Mom on your case. Either you're brave, stupid or really stupid."

"Oh, aren't you funny?"

"Hilarious." She replied casually, smirking coyly. He wrinkled his nose at her, returning to his pizza. She smiled. "I win."

"Who said it was over?"

"I did."

"Well, I'm the parent, so no, no it's not." He froze. "Parent..." He repeated, apparently testing the word. "Still weird."

"Better get used to it- you'll have two kids in a couple of months." He grinned down at his food. "Oy, so you do smile?"

"Shut up." A clatter behind them and somebody shouting Ancient Greek insults broke their playful banter. Crystal turned in her seat to see Clarisse trying to get around Percy to throttle Alvie. News of Alvie driving Daniel to the brink of insanity had spread like wildfire, but had obviously gone straight to Clarisse. As far as Crystal knew, Daniel was under Chiron's care while he tried to talk Mr. D round into healing him like he had healed Chris all those years ago.

Piper, Annabeth and Leo were trying to stop the fight before it broke out, but Louisa was no help. Obviously, Percy wouldn't hit a woman, but that wasn't a problem for his sister. Piper used her charmspeak to try and calm people down while Annabeth and Leo directed Percy and Louisa away. Piper laid the charmspeak on pretty thick- Louisa- but it had very little or no effect.

Nico jumped up as Louisa lunged free from Leo's arms. One second he was one side of the pavilion and then he was the other side, colliding with Louisa and pinning her to the floor. She fought against him, shouting profanities while two of Clarisse's siblings restrained her and tried to get her away from pummelling Percy.

Crystal felt eyes on her and glanced around Percy. Alvie was watching her, but there was no redness to his eyes. Just grey.

That was good, right?

"What is going on?!" Chiron demanded.

"You know full well!" Clarisse shot back, snapping her arms away from her siblings and glaring at the centaur.

"Is this really how to handle it? Louisa, be quiet, please." Chiron rubbed at his forehead with his fingertips, clearly signalling he had a headache. Did centaurs get headaches? "Clarisse, we talked about this."

"I don't care if his son is a psychotic freak!" Percy and Annabeth glared at her, but they had more sense not to react.

Crystal didn't.

"So, it's alright for your stupid ass son to throw his weight around and pick on those who have enough on their plate?" Clarisse rounded on her.

"Crystal-" Nico started, but it was pointless. The girl was just like her mother. "Gods dammit…" He grumbled. Louisa managed to get a hand free and shoved him away, but Leo and Percy caught her before she did anything else.

"Your son is a bully, just like his wretched mother! He had it coming to him and I'm glad he's suffering 'cos that's all he's given others! Suffering and hurt! He's a filthy, back-stabbing, self-centred, annoying little toe-rag and I don't give two stuffs if he gets better or not!" Clarisse had faded a funny shade of red in anger and was trembling from head to foot, ready to rip Crystal limb from limb with her bare hands. Crystal glared at her, her head back in defiance- or stupidity, she wasn't sure- but she would not back down to bullies. Not now, not ever.

Clarisse took one step towards Crystal and, out of the corner of her eye; Crystal saw a flash of scarlet.

Alvie threw out his hand and Clarisse was thrown back like a discarded rag doll, crashing into a marble column and crumpling to the floor.

A stunned silence fell over the pavilion, Chiron looking from Alvie to Clarisse and then at the others assembled there in the problem. Percy and Annabeth were staring at their son, completely bewildered and concerned, while Leo and Piper padded towards Clarisse and poked her. Louisa had stomped out in a huff- she had wanted to kick Clarisse's ass, but there was always someone that beat her to it…

The only one seemingly unfazed by all of this was Tobias. He was still eating his cheese burger while he studied everything around him.

He broke the silence a few minutes later, looking at his father and stating a single word:

"Loco."

YES! All made up on the spot! With Crystie! Kind of…