A/N: Disclaimer : If PJO were mine, I'd put at least one Bioshock or Dark Souls reference. Praise the sun, would you kindly?

~0~

Thanatos Wants A Vacation

~0~

Ray never ran this fast and this long before in his life. Adding the fact that he also had to run all zig-zaggy and stuff to not get crushed by falling debris or get shot by Lunatic, he was getting tired very quickly. He mildly wondered something about the psychopath behind him. It was obvious that the guy never held a gun before in his life, so why the madman didn't just let the thing stay in a sword form and chase after Ray or just zap him with another lightning bolt and be done with it was beyond him.

As Ray kept running, he noticed that the halls were empty. It was odd… did everyone run away the moment they heard the sound of alarm and/or gunshots? Even though he was relieved, he was also a bit weirded out by the lack of burning and panicking kids running through the hallways.

A loud, resounding 'CRACK!' turned Ray's attention upwards, just when a huge chunk of the ceiling (burning too, of course) fell. It fell right on top of him.

He was already thinking, 'Oh, fiddlesticks.' when he heard Lunatic letting out a roar all of a sudden. A strong gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and pushed the debris away from Ray.

Lunatic could control wind. Why not? Now Ray was just waiting for the moment when Lunatic shoots laser beams out of his eye sockets/fire eyes. Still, he was about to sarcastically thank the guy, but then he realized that the guy pushed it, so it blocked the only exit.

Jerk.

Ray skidded to a halt and turned around to face Lunatic, who was grumbling something under his breath as he arrived at last.

"Finally!" Lunatic complained, stretching until a 'pop' was heard from his back. "Will you now accept your death?"

Ray clenched his fists, hoping that his shaking wasn't that visible to Lunatic. "What do you think?"

Lunatic shrugged. "I thought you would be crying and kneeling on the floor."

"Do I look like I'm crying and kneeling on the floor?"

Lunatic's mouth turned into a straight line. "Why won't you just accept the fact that you won't live to see another day?"

Lunatic was talking. Or was this what people call monologuing? Good either way. Ray hoped that he kept talking until he could search for a way to escape from the burning place. Maybe Percival sensed something was wrong (if the burning building wasn't a clear indication) and got some help.

Ray was on his own for now. Maybe he could try jumping out through a window? No, no, Percival told him that real glass could tear your artery, not like movie-glass that shatter on impact. Maybe- maybe he could trick Lunatic into shooting the glass instead?

"Because I don't want to die?" Ray asked back. His voice barely shook, despite what he actually felt. His mind went into overdrive, thinking about possibilities on how the heck could he survive this encounter.

Another part was thinking if Lunatic was one of the 'weird things' in his life. Not many people could do the things Lunatic had done.

"Makes sense." Lunatic agreed. "But you're going to die anyway, no matter you want it or not."

"Look, just why are you trying to kill me?"

"Didn't I tell you? You were born into this world."

Ray gave him a blank look. "And why is that a bad thing?"

"Why? Because my broth-" Lunatic stopped himself. "I mean, my uncles and my fath- uh, my old man... made an oath. They swore to never have any more mort- children."

Ray's eyebrows furrowed. The way Lunatic kept stuttering was weird. "And where do I fit in?"

Lunatic gave him a steely look. "Your uncle- I mean, my uncle- GAH- is your father. He broke the oath. So you must die."

Ray looked surprised. This guy? This... beefy, crazy, gun-loving, Godzilla of a man was his cousin? Seriously, how old was he? Ray was just nine. This guy looked like he was in his mid-thirties. And mom looked like she was still pretty young too- come to think about it, mom looked younger than this guy!

"Wait... so... this means you're my cousin," Ray said, buying more time.

Lunatic paused. "I... guess?"

"So... doesn't that mean you're not supposed to be born, too?"

Lunatic shrugged. "It doesn't apply to me."

"Why?"

"Why? Because I'm a go- I mean, because... I was born before that oath was made."

"And that makes you immune to the effect of the oath?" Ray was very confused.

"Yes!" Lunatic snapped. "Stop asking any more questions! DIE!"

Lunatic aimed his demonic-looking double-barreled shotgun (Ray couldn't help but think... just how cool that thing looked) with one hand at Ray. But instead of shooting, Lunatic raised his free hand and opened his fist.

Blinding light filled Ray's eyes.

The next thing Ray knew, he heard a huge 'BANG!' and then the light was swallowed by darkness.

~0~

Sally gasped when she heard the explosion inside the building.

After Mr. Brunner told her about the burning school through the telephone, Kristen had said that she was having a some sort of panic attack. Then again, having children as demigods, she would be surprised if she wouldn't.

When Sally finally regained her senses, she realized that she was inside Kristen's car, on the backseat, with a worried, tear-stained Percy staring at her from the passenger seat. Kristen then told her that they were heading to Yancy.

Sally was truly lucky to have Kristen as her boss.

After arriving at the school, she heard the explosion. Children and adults alike were running around the area, crying and screaming, respectively. The school itself was engulfed in inferno. Firefighters and medics were busy rushing left and right, with police officers either asking the survivors about what happened there or helping the firefighters rescue students from inside the school.

Thankfully, she didn't see anyone got hurt too much, just some bruises here and there. But this event would surely make the children traumatized. But try as she might, she couldn't find her son. Mr. Brunner wasn't anywhere nearby, too.

"M-mom? What's going on? Where's Ray?" Percy asked, voice shaking. His sea-green eyes she always adored were filled with fear and confusion.

"I... I don't know, honey." Sally told him the truth. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. "Let's go. We have to find your brother."

Percy bit his lip and nodded. Kristen offered to search on the other side of the school, so they went their separate ways.

As Sally ran, holding Percy's hand as she did, screaming Ray's name, the feeling in her stomach came back with a vengeance.

She felt like crying, but she held strong.

~0~

Kristen trusted her demigod instincts. And they were telling her to go to whatever the Hell caused that explosion, so she followed through. One of her friends' son was in there, so she'd do whatever it takes to help him. Besides, she could see that Sally's a tough woman.

Anyone that could attract one of the Big Three themselves`had to be more than meets the eye, after all.

Kristen shuddered involuntarily as she entered the burning building. Poseidon himself... she didn't want to think what those kids had to endure as sons of one of the Big Three. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, and even she would rather wish that she was born a mortal instead.

Kristen shook her head. She had a kid to save.

Using her bronze sword, Kristen broke down a burning door and walked in, covering her mouth instinctively with a handkerchief to prevent smoke from entering her lungs, how useless it might be. Granted, the smoke wasn't that bad, but better be safe than sorry.

The halls were red, and for a moment Kristen seriously thought with dread that the entire hall was coated with blood. Then she realized that it was just the fire. Not... exactly more reassuring, but it was better than blood.

Windows were shattered, ceilings were crumbling, and the walls were torn down. Not to mention the heat... It was like a dragon suddenly got upset and wreaked havoc in this school. She really wished she was making a metaphor, but nope. Demigod life, man. It sucks.

Kristen strained her ears as she ran. The only thing she heard were just crackling flames and muffled screaming from outside. Oddly enough, no one was inside the buildings, and she didn't hear any screams from inside the building. Even though she was glad, an oddity was an oddity.

"RAY!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, then covered her mouth with her handkerchief again. After a moment, she shouted again, "RAY JACKSON! SHOUT BACK IF YOU HEAR ME, KID!"

'Yeah... this is stupid,' she thought. 'I should've let the mortal firefighters deal with these sorts of things.'

But now, here she was. Was it pride that guided her here? Pride that she thought she could save a young child from a burning building? Stupidity? Maybe. Heck, she barely even knew Sally's kid, so why was she here?

She turned around, but before she exited the building, a scream stopped her from her track. The scream... it came from inside the building.

Kristen instantly turned around again and ran to the source of the scream, her bronze blade slicing through everything standing in her way, be it falling pieces of the ceiling or the fallen walls. That voice sounded... familiar.

~0~

The only way Ray could describe the pain was... not that painful.

He heard the weapon being fired, and then felt the pain in his stomach. But it wasn't that painful- at least, not as painful as he expected. It was just like getting hit by something heavy, at a pretty slow speed.

Of course, the initial impact wasn't as painful as he'd imagined.

But then... well, what followed... wasn't that painless.

It was unbelievably painful. Ray felt as if someone stabbed him with a huge, jagged, burning knife then twisted it around and around again. The smell of burnt flesh hit his nose, and the stomach part of his hoodie jacket felt sticky and warm.

Then, a some sort of liquid filled his mouth. But it entered from inside his throat. Something... weird. It smelled like metal.

God, it hurt. He remembered screaming until his throat was sore, but then it turned into a wet gurgle as more of that metallic liquid dripped down from his mouth.

As Ray's vision returned, the pain multiplied several times when he finally lowered his eyes to the source of his pain.

His eyes widened.

His stomach…

Something rose from his throat, and Ray instinctively cupped his mouth as he coughed up more of that warm, metallic liquid. He looked at his hand, and was terrified to see it completely drowsed in red substance.

Dimly, he realized he had fallen to his knees. Lunatic hummed as he observed the damage he had done to Ray's stomach the way you'd stare to an interesting animal at the zoo. Lunatic seemed unfazed by all the blood splashed around, by the school building that slowly crumbled around them, by the choked whimpers of the dying boy kneeling on the floor. In fact, Lunatic seemed amused.

It was only then, in the first time ever in his life, Ray felt absolute fear. He wasn't just scared- he was terrified. He wanted to run away and hide- he wanted to lay down and cry- he- he- God, he wanted to scream.

The nickname 'Lunatic' couldn't have been more accurate.

"Interesting," Lunatic mused. "You're still alive. Why, I'm pretty sure all of your internal organs are ripped to shreds by now."

After his condition was put in words, Ray realized just how bad it was. He wanted to puke. But it disappeared as fast as it came, and he wouldn't be surprised if the bile flowed through the gaping hole in his stomach.

"I suppose I must fix that," Lunatic suddenly said, aiming the shotgun at Ray's face. "So... anything you want to confess before I pull the trigger?"

Ray choked in his own blood as he stared, fearfully, at the barrel of the weapon.

"No it is, then?" Lunatic asked. And then he shrugged. "Farewe-"

With a burst of golden liquid, something poked out of Lunatic's chest. It was bronze, and looked like a huge knife. A sword?

Lunatic's face went from shock, then to an annoyed snarl as he turned around and swiped his shotgun to whoever (literally) backstabbed him. The attacker, a young woman, instantly pulled her sword again and jumped back, evading the gun and glared at the man.

She caught sight of Ray behind Lunatic and Ray could see the woman's face turning into a shade of green.

Of course, Ray was way more surprised at Lunatic more than anything. Other than the fact that the guy seemed to have golden blood of all things, he just got backstabbed and acted as if a mosquito just bit his back.

Who... who was this guy?

"Demigod..." Lunatic growled. "Leave us be. I have no business with you."

"There is now way in Hell I'm going to let you kill a kid," the woman retorted. "Just who the heck are you?"

The man paused for a moment, pondering that question himself, as if he forgot who he was. Then a somewhat guilty smile appeared on his face, and he aimed his shotgun to the woman.

"I'm Ares," the man said, "God of War."

As the woman's eyes widened, Lunatic- no, Ares, summoned another blinding light that engulfed the room.

~0~

On reflex, Kristen rolled out of the way after the light blinded her vision. Just like she expected, another gunshot was heard, and a wave of heat passed through the left side of her body. After successfully dodging the bullet, she kicked the floor and charged at Ares. The Olympian merely sidestepped her and landed a punch in her gut.

Okay... maybe she should've trained to make sure she wouldn't be rusty all these years. As the breath was knocked out of her, Ares turned around to face- who she really hoped wasn't- Ray.

Seriously... the little guy's stomach was... her face paled again when she remembered the sight. And to top it off, she felt more nauseous. She was far from a medic, but even she knew Sally's son wouldn't be able to survive such a wound. That was, if he didn't die from blood loss in the first place.

To prevent from puking in the face of a war god, Kristen stood up, albeit shakily, and charged again.

In a heartbeat, Ares' shotgun melted into lava and reformed into a gigantic sword with a ruby-eyed skull as its hilt. He swung the blade in a wide arc.

Kristen responded in kind. The impact shook her to the very bone, and just like that, she knew that she was overpowered. And since her skills with her sword had pretty much dwindled out all those years, she knew she was outmatched too.

Then the only thing left for her to use was her brain.

Kristen jumped back, readying her sword in a stance Chiron taught her, a lifetime ago. Ares' blows were powerful, yes- almost too powerful. She could use his own blade against him, and when he was stunned, she could pick up the kid and hightail out of there.

Thud.

Said kid fell to the floor, face first. Blood pooled around him, and his black hoodie seemed to be darker. Kristen really hoped he was still breathing.

She grimaced. The kid wouldn't live to see another day, that was for sure. At the very least... at the very least, she could bring his body to his family.

And if the kid was indeed Sally's son... well, she would be more than happy to give the woman a whole week off and still give her pay.

"We both know you cannot defeat me, brat," Ares sneered, cutting her from her thoughts. "Stand down. I have no quar-...I have no business with you. And I really don't want to piss off your mom by killing you."

Kristen's eyes widened.

"Do you take me for a fool?" Ares' lips twitched upwards slightly. "I know you are a daughter of Aphrodite, punk."

Oh, she was shocked. Kristen was very shocked, alright. But she wasn't surprised at the information Ares had- no, she was surprised at something else.

"The way you speak..." Kristen whispered, eyes now narrowing.

"You have any problem with how I speak, demigod?"

The way Ares spoke. It was... and that light, too...

She was a camper really long ago, so she had been to Olympus several times. She met various gods and goddesses there, including Ares.

How could she be so dumb? Ares always made people angry around him, but now, standing just a few feet in front of him, she wasn't angry. She was scared, definitely, but not angry. Even seeing the near-death child on the burning floor near them, she wasn't angry. She was terrified.

And the way he spoke. She heard Ares speaking in Olympus and to his kids. She could tell that this Ares rarely said things like 'brat', and those stutters... it was as if this Ares was about to use some big words, but thought better of it, and refrained from doing so. He spoke with authority and expected others to follow his orders.

Someone… someone was pretending to be Ares.

"You... you're not Ares, are you?" Kristen whispered, as realization struck her.

That was the wrong thing to say.

'Ares'' face darkened, and the grin disappeared. It happened in the blink of an eye, but Kristen was certain, that a streak of lightning erupted from his hand and collided with her chest.

As her world went dark, the only thought that passed Kristen's mind was, 'Who is this guy?'

~0~

Ares glowered at the young woman as she laid there on the floor, her entire torso charred and smoking.

Bah, he knew he shouldn't speak. The way the idiot spoke was too brash and had an underlying tone of 'I'm gonna beat your ass up if you say something stupid or I say something stupid and you rub it in my face,' and was just something he couldn't do. And he knew he should've never used his powers here. There were eyes everywhere, and if Poseidon found out…

Growling, Ares approached the young woman, and pointed the shotgun at her face. Of course, the probability of her surviving that attack was already low to begin with, but he just had to be certain.

After the gun reloaded itself with magic, he realized something.

Aphrodite was going to hate him for what he did.

...well... he could always make it up to her one way or another.

BANG!

Nodding to himself, he turned around to finish what he started. Only to stop in his tracks.

Standing above the Jackson seaspawn was a figure, wrapped in an oversized black robe, leaving no sight of either legs or arms, with a hood covering his face as the unknown entity looked down. The figure looked up to stare at him, and the figure's eyes widened.

The man, he instantly knew, was another god. The thing that gave him away wasn't his golden eyes with his dark skin, no. It was his wings; shimmering in blue, black, and purple, which sprouted the moment he was surprised.

He opened his mouth, about to ask who was this man, but the new god beat him to it.

"Ares?" the god asked, eyebrows scrunching in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

So... this god knew him? But the only deity that went along well with him other than Aphrodite was... "Thanatos? Is that you?"

The god nodded, but he still looked befuddled. "It is me indeed, old friend. What are you doing here, if I may ask? Last week, you said you were going to Las Vegas."

Oh great. What made him friends with Thanatos again?

Hm... if he recalled correctly, didn't he rescue Thanatos when he was shackled for the first time? The God of Death was captured once, so no one could die. That didn't sit well with him (read : angered him immensely), so he searched for where Thanatos could be, and succeeded. Thanatos had been grateful ever since, he mused.

"No, I... changed my mind," he said, frowning. He should've known. "I have some... unfinished business here."

"Truly? But... weren't you just at Locus Casino a few hours ago?"

Ares shrugged. "It's... a sudden thing. You know how it goes. My fath- my old man needed me for something, and... yeah."

Thanatos smiled and nodded in understanding. "Of course." Then he motioned at the two bodies on the floor, blood still pouring from their wounds. "And what of these? Are these your doing?"

"Yes."

A smirk bloomed on Thanatos' face. "Of course it was you. This level of brutality can only be achieved by you and not anyone else, no?"

A weary smile appeared on his own face. "Ah ha... yeah... anyway, what-"

"Freeze!" a voice shouted.

He sighed. Could this day be any worse? He turned around grumpily, facing a group of policemen who had their guns aimed at him, followed closely by a group of medics and some firefighters. So the mortal law enforcement has arrived at last. Took them long enough.

"Drop that gun!" the policeman that seemed to be in command yelled. "I said drop it! We have you surrounded!"

He let out another frustrated sigh, then glanced at Thanatos who watched them with an amused expression. Hm... if Thanatos was here, standing above the bodies, then he was done. He had no more business with the mortals any longer, so he might as well leave.

He summoned a small metal ball, then dropped it. He nodded at Thanatos.

"See you later, God of Death."

The smoke grenade released its contents, unleashing a thick black curtain all over the place.

~0~

Thanatos grinned and nodded back at his friend just before the smoke bomb exploded. Exactly like he thought, after the smoke cleared, Ares was nowhere to be found.

Thanatos chuckled. No matter what Ares said, he had a flair of dramatic exits just like his father.

Shaking his head and his mirth, Thanatos looked down at the bodies, ignoring the mortals as they rushed forth and moved past him, while the policemen scattered to find Ares, which he knew was a futile attempt. Both bodies were damaged quite brutally, but of course, he had lived as long as Ares, so he was somewhat used to gruesome deaths caused by the God of War.

Thanatos moved his gaze to the smaller of the two bodies- the boy with torn out stomach. He wasn't dead yet, but he was close. The only thing preventing him from finally dying was the god himself, or at the very least, the medic that tried to stem the blood and force oxygen into his lungs (key-word on 'tried').

Thanatos lifted his hand, and a white flame-like sprite flew forth from the boy's body, and into his hand. He was ready to take the child's soul, but then a surge of memories hit him like a huge pomegranate to the face from one of Lady Persephone and Lord Hades' fight.

~0~

Thanatos stood on midair, right outside the eleventh floor of a hospital room. Inside the room itself, adults were crying, and two in particular were hunched over the bed, mourning the loss of their young child, screaming and sobbing how life wasn't fair.

No, Thanatos agreed. Life wasn't fair, indeed. And, with that, neither was death. He was always interested in seeing these mortals. They knew it was a fact that nothing was fair in this world, and yet they seemed bewildered whenever something unfair happened to them. What an interesting bunch.

"So the kid's time is over?"

He looked to his side. Another god- obviously- stood there. A flowing green robe latched on to him, littered with golden designs that resembled a clock. The god himself looked ancient but tough, with a hardened face and long, gray hair down to the base of his neck. The arm that held a huge golden scythe was wrapped by at least five watches, each one ticking and showing different times than each other.

The way he spoke made him sound younger than he appeared, it seemed.

"Yes." Thanatos nodded. "I just took his soul."

"Huh. Was it painful?" the god asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Thanatos answered. "I made sure of it."

"Really? Groovy."

Thanatos waited for the green-clad god to speak first, but he just stood there staring at the family inside the room. Thanatos raised an eyebrow, and looked at the family too.

They were still. The parents stopped screaming.

Thanatos noticed something else. He couldn't hear anything. Looking around, he saw that the mortals below froze mid-step, pausing as they were talking, or just stopped entirely. Around the two gods, the wind stopped blowing, and birds were frozen as they flapped. Thanatos himself lost grasp on anything in the world- he couldn't feel anyone living, nor anyone dying. Nothing existed, and yet, everything did.

Thanatos finally realized that the god beside him wasn't any ordinary being. And not just that, the god was waiting for him to speak. So he coughed to his fist, and faced the other god, who stared blankly to the room in front of them.

"I am Thanatos," he introduced himself, bowing slightly. "If I may ask, who are you?"

The god stared at him for a few moments. "...Ah. Mine apologies. I hast forgotten mine office. 'Tis good to meet thou,God of Death, and I am Chronos, God of Time."

Thanatos jolted when the god said the word 'Kronos', but then he stopped when he finally concluded with 'God of Time'. "Er... Kronos with a K or a C and an H?"

"A C and an H." Chronos flexed a hand. "Didst I startle thou? No surprise. The Titan of Time doth hast the like name as I, so I am wont seeing people being frighted of me."

And now the god was speaking as if they were living in the medieval times. Was this Chronos really the Chronos? To think that a Primordial God would grace him with his presence... the Primordial Deities rarely dealt with them. Not even the Olympians. The fact that one of them appeared before him and not Lord Hades was baffling, to say the least.

"A... are you...?" Thanatos stuttered. He was afraid, to be honest. If the Primordial God of Time himself was standing next to him, freezing the entirety of Manhattan (or perhaps, even the entire world...) did that meant his time had come to an end? He knew, in the end, even Death must succumb to time. He wasn't afraid of a final rest, for what kind of deathgod would he be if he planned to subvert his own? No, he was more afraid of what his master would do if his most trusted servant suddenly kicked the bucket. "Am I...?"

"Óchi, min anisychéis. Tha értho gia sas, se éftheto chróno."

And now he was speaking Greek. Thanatos held back a sigh of relief. At least, he knew it wasn't time for him to die yet.

Chronos stilled for a moment, then he shook his head. After that, he tapped the blunt side of his golden scythe to his forehead. Moments after that weird display, the ancient god turned to look at him, sighing.

"Sorry for that," he muttered. "I always forgot what age is this, and kept changing and changing languages based off my current memories. I apologize if thou were-" Chronos paused- "...I apologize if you were confused."

"Thou want not to worry." Thanatos smiled at him reassuringly, bowing more deeply. Lord Chronos was really humbler than he had expected, apologizing to a lowly minor god such as him."Luckily for me, katalavaíno óla. Also, I'm sorry, but I do not speak slangs."

Chronos hummed, but he didn't look surprised. Either he already expected him to speak those languages, or he already saw and/or knew that he would speak like that, Thanatos reasoned in his mind.

"Anyway." Chronos exhaled. "I came here to see you to ask you something. A favour, to be frank."

Thanatos looked intrigued. "What can I do that a Primordial God cannot?"

Chronos glanced at him- powerful, glowing golden eyes swirling. "It is not something that you should do, but instead, something you should not do."

Thanatos went silent for a second. "You want me to spare someone?"

Chronos turned back to the world entrapped in eternity. "That's right, bucko. And if you spare him, I can give you something you want.

"A time off."

~0~

Based on what Lord Chronos described to him, the boy with ripped internal organs did fit the description. And the name that the dying soul held- Regulus Jackson. It was the name that Lord Chronos told him not to kill yet.

By Olympus, he still could not believe it. A Primordial Deity talked to him. Him!

Thanatos was hesitant. Not about taking the soul of a child (Olympus knows he did too much of it already. Mortals are truly dreadful beings), but going against his own rule. Death spared no one- no matter the age, the gender, the cause of death. Death was fair, yet at the same time, it was unfair.

But going against the wish of Lord Chronos? He would be practically asking to be excommunicated and executed.

Lord Chronos did mention that he was going to speak to his master after speaking with him, so he supposed Lord Hades had nothing against not taking the boy's soul. After all, Lord Hades may be bitter, but he wasn't stupid. One wrong thing to say and Lord Chronos may just erase Lord Hades- or even the entire kingdom- out of time and history, which means he was cast out of reality itself.

Resolving himself, Thanatos nodded, and lowered his hand.

"We need help!" one of the medics shouted behind him. "Her lungs are ruined, but her heart's still beating!"

Ah. Of course. There was one more soul to take.

Thanatos pushed the white sprite of Regulus' soul back into his body, then trudged to the woman's broken form.

He, after all, had a job to do.

~0~

The clouds darkened.

Even before it happened, Percy was deathly afraid, and overwhelmingly confused. It was just like a nightmare came true- no, it was exactly like his nightmare, all those years ago. All the fire, the screaming, the people... though to his relief, it looked like no one was on the ground yet, with a white cloth covering their bodies.

But Ray was still missing.

Percy followed his mom all over the place, but he just couldn't find the strength to yell Ray's name, despite his mom kept shouting all the time, either calling for Ray or just helping someone escape. He just didn't want to know if his drea- no, nightmare would come true. He didn't want to imagine Ray on the ground with a cloth covering his face.

And then, the sky went pitch black.

It was so sudden. One second, the firefighters were pretty much struggling uselessly to keep the fire from spreading, and the next, thunder boomed, and rain started pouring down.

However, even if the fire were gone, there were still the injured that needed to be brought to the nearest hospital. Firefighters switched from carrying hoses to stretchers. Police and news reporter crew (that arrived a while after the police were called) helped too, and slowly but surely, the people on the school grounds either went to the hospital or went home.

But still no sign of Ray.

That was, until a group of frantic medic kicked the door open, catching all the attention of the remaining people, and hurried to the last remaining ambulance, all carrying stretchers. One was (Percy shuddered) covered in cloth, and the other wasn't, but there was an oxygen mask on their face, and instead of covered in cloth, was covered by blood and soot.

But the second body was small, compared to the other one. And the clothes that the figure wore... wasn't that...?

It was mom realized who the second body was first.

"Ray...?"