Lara didn't get too much sleep that night, nor did she get much the next several following her discovery of Percy's proverbial skeletons. She had immediately telephoned Richard to discuss what she had discovered, only to be laughed off her mobile. Richard had, apparently, already been made aware of Percy's previous apparent transgressions from Percy himself. According to Percy, and backed up by the United States government, all of the charges related to the bombing and car theft had been dropped. Additionally, investigators had ceased their investigation into Percy and his mother, and had officially dropped them as suspects in the investigation into the disappearance of Gabe Ugliano. An investigation, which as of five years ago, had officially been designated as unsolved and filed away.

It was all neatly taken care of, too neatly for Lara to be strictly comfortable with. She simply could not shake the feeling that there was more going on than could seen. It wasn't that she necessarily wanted Percy to be a deranged serial killer, far from it, however there was simply a feeling in her gut that she was right about this one. Lara trusted her instincts, always had and they had very rarely led her astray and she was certain that her instincts were right with regards to Percy Jackson.

Lara's instincts were telling her that something was off about Percy Jackson. That there was an awful lot more going behind the kind and gentle veneer of a simple historian. She had done her best not to allow her thoughts to show whenever they worked together. She had tried to maintain a professional and kind demeanor. Thankfully, it appeared as though Percy was not the most observant of individuals. Either that, or she was a better actor than she had given herself credit for.

She observed his attitude and his mannerisms more closely as they worked and she noticed a couple of interesting things about the man. There was a cautiousness about him that Lara had not observed in their initial meetings. For instance, she noticed the way he seemed to scan a room when entering. His eyes would dart from one corner to the next, as though expecting an eldritch monstrosity to leap from a shadowy corner at any moment. His eyes lingering for just a few moments on each door and window, as though planning his escape.

Then there was the way in which he always positioned himself with his back always to a wall, never to an open doorway or window. There was a stiffness to posture at almost all times. His muscles coiled and ready for any eventuality. He would start somewhat at unexpected noises. One morning, she had accidentally dropped a pen to the ground, but the way Percy had reacted, one would have thought she had thrown a live grenade into the room.

It was curious.

If Lara had not known better, she would have sworn that he had spent some time in the military. His actions were not inconsistent with the memoirs she had read of soldiers returning from active combat with shell-shock. But he had never served in the American military. She knew that for certain because she had phoned the military records department in St. Louis and they had never heard of Percy Jackson. She supposed it was possible that he had suffered someplace else. Lara was not so naive as to believe that there was no suffering in the world. But she had seen people who had grown up in tremendously difficult environments, and they did not share the characteristics shared by Percy.

He didn't make sense and it was beginning to infuriate her.

Unfortunately for her, things were progressing quickly with respect to their journey and she had less and less time to worry about the enigma that had suddenly appeared in her life. In the blink of an eye, the day of departure arrived. They had arranged to have their equipment shipped via cargo-plane to Greece, and Lara met up with Percy at Kings Cross, where they boarded their first of the many trains they would be taking.

After parking her car, Lara spotted Percy waiting patiently in front of the entrance to the station,

"Morning," greeted Lara brightly. In spite of her reservations about the man, she couldn't help her good attitude. She was about to embark on a new adventure, and she was flushed with the intoxicating sensation.

"M-morning," yawned Percy, taking a sip of coffee, "It should be illegal to be that happy this early in the morning,"

"You've been getting up before six for the last two weeks," snorted Lara, as she shouldered her bag and began walking inside,

"At least then, the damned sun had risen," grumbled Percy, as he absently passed a cup that Lara hadn't seen to her,

"Oh, thank you." She said, surprised, by the kind gesture, "But I don't drink coffee,"

"It's tea," grunted Percy, as he shifted his bags again and threw his carry-on over his shoulder, "Green with three scoops of matcha, a splash of cream and two sugars."

Lara stopped where she was, and watched in bewilderment as Percy walked ahead of her and into the station. Dawning comprehension and mounting horror washed over her. Percy, as it turned out, was infinitely more observant than she had given him credit for. She felt her chest thunder as heat crept up the sides of her neck. In order to hide her concern and worry, she took a quick sip from her tea and hurried after him.

They made their way through check-in and boarded their private carriage without incident and soon enough, they were lurching forward and thundering through the English countryside.

"You know," said Percy, "I always thought the whole trains thing was kind of a fiction. Something you only see in Harry Potter or something."

"Is your entire understanding of English culture built on Harry Potter," sighed Lara as she perused a book on ancient Greek poets.

"Pretty sure the world's entire understanding of England is built entirely on Harry Potter," said Percy cheekily, and Lara rolled her eyes, but had to hide her smile behind her book.

"So, are you going to ask?" Said Percy, and Lara's shoulders stiffened slightly. Peering over the pages of her book, she looked at him. Percy was staring out the window at the passing landscape, his eyes drooping somewhat from drowsiness.

"Ask what?" Said Lara, doing her best to appear innocent,

"Please don't do that," sighed Percy, "I know I'm not the brightest bulb but I'm not stupid. If you really did look me up then you saw the police records. We said at the start that if we're going to be working together then we need to be honest with one another, so just ask the question."

Lara hesitated, she didn't like being called out so clearly and abruptly. But her curiosity eventually won out, and she closed the book and laid it flat on the bench beside her.

"All right then," she said, "What happened?"

"Going to need to be a touch more specific," snorted Percy,

"The bombing in St. Louis," clarified Lara. There was plenty she had questions about, but she was undoubtably the most curious about the bombing of the St. Louis Arch.

Percy sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

"A very unfortunate case of being at the exact wrong place at the wrong time." He paused, rubbing tiredly at the stubble on his cheeks,

"I had…run away from home you could say. I was traveling west with a couple of friends I'd made and we'd stopped at the arch, I know it's touristy as all hell but she really wanted to see it. She was always something of a freak for archeology," a wan smile appeared on his face before it disappeared.

"Couldn't really say what happened after that though." He continued, "I don't remember much of it, I just remember there was a blast of something and a hell of a lot of smoke. I guess eye witnesses said they saw me pull something from a bag but I don't remember doing anything of the like."

"And the FBI?" Asked Lara,

"Looked into it for a bit, but they cleared me and my friends pretty quickly. Unfortunately, someone had already spoken to the local papers and new stations and wouldn't you know it, modern media made a devil out three twelve-year-olds who were in the wrong place at the wrong time." There was a pinched expression on his face, and he was refusing to look at her. She wanted to say that she believed him, as there was a genuine bitterness and sadness in his expression, but there was just something about the way he refused to meet her eyes that told her he still wasn't telling her everything. Still, it was clearly something that still stuck with him a fair bit. And even if he was leaving out details, he had a point about the American authorities. If they had seriously considered children to be behind the attack then she was fairly certain they would have figured it out. Kids weren't exactly the most subtle.

"Besides," continued Percy bitterly, "What possible reason would a kid have for blowing up the St. Louis Arch? Easier and more convenient ways to get attention or whatever."

Lara didn't say anything. She didn't know if there was anything necessarily for her to say. But still, Percy had offered her the opportunity to ask questions, and she would be loathe if she didn't take advantage of it.

"And your step-dad?" She asked, and immediately regretted it. Percy's expression grew dark, and if Lara squinted, she could have sworn that his eyes were glowing in the early morning light. Lara jumped in surprise as a sudden crack of thunder roared overhead as lightning forked across the sky. Lara was momentarily distracted from her conversation as she stared out the window in confusion. She had thought that it was supposed to be a clear and sunny day today. Shaking off the strange weather, she turned her attention back to Percy.

He looked furious, though Lara was quite certain that it had nothing to do with her. Still, Lara though she should say something.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, "Clearly it's a…touchy topic and you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

"I appreciate it," said Percy, "He's not something I particularly want to talk about. I will say this though, I didn't kill him and I didn't steal his car. Those charges were dropped and that's all I'm really willing to say on the matter."

Lara nodded her understanding and allowed the matter to drop entirely. Clearly there was a story there, and Lara was doubtlessly curious, but that seemed like an incredibly personal story and she and Percy were nowhere near close enough to be able to share that kind of story. They had only known each other for a few weeks after all.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence, after which Percy appeared to have fallen asleep. Lara inwardly cursed herself for even speaking up about it in the first place. She hadn't meant to make things uncomfortable between them, but her own curiosity had gotten the better of her.

The trip went on with little fanfare for the morning, stopping briefly in Paris to board their connecting train, before barnstorming through Eastern France towards the German border and Strasbourg.

"So I've been looking into possible locations for us to go," said Percy in the early afternoon, pulling Lara from her work on her laptop,

"Yeah?" She asked, inwardly pleased that he was speaking to her again,

"Egypt is a possibility," said Percy,

"Egypt?" Asked Lara skeptically, "The Greeks made it to Greece?"

"Around the seventh century B.C., yeah," said Percy, "Pretty sure Herodotus visited there some time in the fifth century, and it's where the Greeks got most of the papyrus that they wrote on. I wouldn't be surprised if Sapphos ended up around there at some point. Could have been there at some point to oversee getting supplies or even to buy her papyrus?" He sighed and rubbed through his hair,

"Either way, it wouldn't hurt to keep it on the list."

"I'll add it to the list, anywhere else of interest?" Asked Lara,

"Macedonia and Persia most likely," muttered Percy, looking carefully at a map sprawled out across his lap,

"I don't know how to break it to you Percy," teased Lara, "But the Persian Empire has been gone for millennia. Perhaps you mean Turkey? Or even Syria?"

"Okay," chuckled Percy, "No need to be a smartass. Cairo actually was once part of the Persian Empire too, but I'm thinking further east. Somewhere around where Alexander and his armies marched maybe?"

"That's certainly a possibility," nodded Lara, "The Persians and the Greeks were at war with each other for centuries. It wouldn't come as too much of a surprise if at some point some of the poems had made their way to the Empire."

"That reminds me," said Percy, "I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"Go ahead," said Lara,

"How long do you plan on making this little excursion?" Asked Percy,

"How do you mean?" Said Lara,

"I mean, how many pages would you need to find before you felt as though you were satisfied with this?" Asked Percy,

"I don't know," said Lara. "Truth be told, it has been on my mind. I've done a fair bit of research, and I found that it's not known just how many poems Sapphos wrote, and we don't know how many are lost. I feel like if we could even recover two or three of her poems, that would be enough to satisfy me. These poems have been lost for millennia, to have even been able to bring a handful back for the world to see and enjoy…I think I could be proud of myself for that."

Percy nodded at that, a strangely relieved look on his face.

"Why do you ask?" said Lara,

"No reason in particular," said Percy, shifting around in his chair, "Just trying to figure out just how far along we want to go with this."

Lara knew that was a lie, but she let it slide again. Percy's motivations for doing this were truly none of her concern.

Night fell as they were traveling through Hungary, and they separated to change into their evening wear. Lara had been unable to book separate quarters for the overnight haul south, which unfortunately left Percy and Lara bunking in the same room. She hadn't been entirely pleased, but it wasn't the worst situation in the world. She wasn't particularly worried about Percy trying anything foolish, and even if he did, she believed that she was more than capable of defending herself should the need arise.

But she didn't think it would come to that. Percy seemed to her, as strange as he was, to be the respectable sort. He had been kind enough to step out into the loo to change, giving her the room in order to change.

She was just tucking herself into bed when the door to the room opened and Percy stepped in.

"You a night reader, or can I turn off the lights?" Asked Percy,

"No you can turn it off," said Lara, tucking herself into her cot as Percy shut the lights off. She then became very intimately aware that Percy was tugging his shirt and shorts off before he climbed into bed. A heat crept into her chest and spread up to her neck and she forced herself to turn around to look at the wall as she screwed her eyes shut.

She felt utterly ridiculous. She was a grown woman. She'd been intimate with men before, had had relationships before, and yet here she was, feeling like a small schoolgirl again all because of an admittedly handsome man that was in naught but his underwear in the bed beside her.

Tugging her blanket more snuggly around her, Lara did what she always did when her mind felt too occupied to sleep. She began to recount pages from her father's journal in her mind, starting from the beginning and working her way page by page until she had drifted off to sleep.

She was never typically one for dreaming, or at least she didn't have dreams that she remembered. But that night was a bit different. It was as close to an out of body experience that she had ever had. She was looking in a cave of some sort, she didn't know where, and the darkness of the cave was penetrated only by the small red gloom of a single road flare sitting on the floor of the cave.

There were figures in darkness. Their faces obscured by the glare created by the flare. They were speaking, their voices barely audible over the hiss of the flare.

"Another bleeding dead-end. McAvoy, is it your intention to drag us through every fucking cave across the bloody continent?" The first voice, male, had a distinctive northern English accent.

"I warned you when we began that this wasn't going to be easy, did I not?" The second one, also male, sounded slavic. He had a deep and penetrating voice, but also calming and soft.

"You asked me to find something that may no longer exist. Working off of little more than an ancient and decrepit photograph of a page of fading papyrus with text that nobody on the planet reads or understands. You are asking me to make wine of fucking water." The second man was clearly agitated, but even agitated his voice was soft and peaceful.

"I'm paying you a bleeding fortune for this," said the first one, "You told me you could find the fucking pages, and what have you got to show for it? Cave after fucking cave in the middle of fucking Macedonia!"

"I told you that I would make inquiries and would begin looking." Corrected the second man, "I never said I would help you find the documents."

The first man threw his hands up in the air, and stormed off in a grumbling huffing. Stomping away from the light. The second man sat in silence for a few moments, before letting out a soft sigh and leaning down and picking up the flare. For one brief moment, his face was exposed for Lara to see. He was bald, with dark tanned skin that was weathered from a hard life outdoors. He had only one eye, the other completely gray and covered with the thin sheen of a cataract.

However before Lara could get more than another glance at the man, she was woken abruptly by a loud scream. For a moment, she thought it was coming from the man in her dream, however as she jolted awake and the cave and the man and the red glow disappeared from her vision, she realized what the source of the screaming truly was.

It was Percy.

It sounded like someone was carving chunks of flesh from his arm, or was being forced to watch as everyone he cared for was brutally murdered right in front of him. He was prostrated in his bed, convulsing violently and thrashing about his bed. In his torment, he had thrown off the covers and the light from the moon peeking through the window illuminated the shimmering layer of bright sweat staining his back.

Lara vaulted smoothly down from her bunk and tried to grab Percy around the shoulder and force him awake. But when she wrapped a hand around his broad shoulder, his arm snapped out and snagged her arm, clenching down so tightly that Lara couldn't help but let out a squawk of pain.

Thankfully, her shout had apparently been loud enough to wake Percy from his slumber and his eyes snapped open. His eyes were wide in confusion and panic, and he looked around wildly for a moment. His eyes were dilated, unseeing. They might have been open, but Lara would have been shocked if he was seeing much of anything at that moment.

She tried to say something, anything to draw his attention away from whatever nightmarish hells cape he was trapped in. But she couldn't. She tried to open her mouth, but her throat was too dry, and no noise could escape her.

Thankfully, before anything more could happen, Percy's eyes narrowed as he seemed to suddenly become aware of his surroundings. Like her wrist suddenly became violently hot, he let go of her and pressed his back against the cool wooden wall of the cabin. His chest heaved up and down, sweat dribbling down from his forward and pooling into a small river on his cot. He was shaking rather terribly, and in spite of the throbbing in her wrist, Lara was overcome with worry for the poor man.

"Percy," she said softly, speaking as gently and soothingly as she was able, "Percy are you with me?"

Percy closed his eyes, and heaved in a gulp of air, his body shuddering once more. He didn't seem able to speak at the moment, so he simply nodded his head. Naturally, Lara didn't quite believe him, so she reached down and picked up his discarded night shirt. Ignoring his state of undress, she dabbed the fabric around his chest and his back, soaking up the mess. He closed his eyes, and didn't push her away or ask her to leave. Climbing onto his bunk, she pulled her knees up to her chin and stared at him.

He didn't say anything, he simply sat there in silence as his eyes remained closed. A few minutes passed, and Lara couldn't keep her thoughts to herself any longer,

"Percy…what was that?"

"I don't…" Percy began as he took a shuddering breath and shivered again, "It…"

"If you say it was nothing, I might genuinely hurt you," said Lara, and in spite of how terrible he was clearly feeling, Percy laughed,

"I suppose I deserve that," he muttered, his voice hoarse. He fell silent again, but Lara didn't press him. If he needed time to compose himself, then that was fine, but she wasn't about to go back to bed until she had some answers, which she knew that Percy knew.

"Night terrors," said Percy softly. So softly, in fact, that Lara nearly missed him saying it entirely.

"Seemed a bit more than that," muttered Lara, absently rubbing at her wrist. Percy's eyes darted over to her, and looked at her wrist. He released a slow breath and leaned his head back against the wall of the cabin.

"Fuck," he whispered, gently smacking the back of his head against the cabin wall. He opened his eyes and looked her way, "I'm so sorry about that…I didn't mean…It wasn't…"

"It's okay," said Lara gently, "You didn't do it on purpose, you were caught up in whatever the hell that was. I get that, but I think I deserve an explanation,"

Percy's nostrils flared, and he brought his knees up to his chin as he wrapped his hands around the back of his head. He muttered something in what sounded like Greek to Lara, but was too soft for her to hear.

"I can't…there's too much that I can't…"

"You don't have to tell me everything," said Lara quickly, "But I think I deserve some kind of an explanation, and you might feel a little better if you talk about it,"

"No you're right…" said Percy, "I-I hurt you…I'm sorry about that…It hadn't happened in a while and I didn't think about it…I'm so sorry,"

"…" Lara almost sighed but she knew that Percy didn't need that at the moment, he needed some patience and understanding. Not pity. Not faux platitudes.

"Apology accepted," said Lara, "I don't need everything, but just talk a little bit. It'll help, I promise."

Percy gulped again, and nodded, "I was…I was seventeen. I was in a bad place…a really bad place." He paused, and his body shivered again. Lara reached out and grabbed the blanket and drew it up a little closer to Percy, who encircled himself in it, clutching it as tightly to himself as closely as possible.

"My girlfriend at the time and I ended up someplace rough…with some really bad people…"

"Where were you?" Asked Lara, but Percy shook his head and Lara let the matter drop,

"The things we saw…what we had to do just to survive…" He shivered again, "I started going to therapy for it when I was in college, thought I'd worked past it but…sometimes all of the memories come flashing back." He frowned and then added in an undertone, "I guess being this close to Greece is bringing it all back."

Lara arched an eyebrow at the unintended admission, but didn't press him any further on the subject. She didn't think he'd meant to say that out loud and didn't want to press her luck any further. Just when she thought she'd gotten some answers to the man, mire questions popped up. Percy reached down beside and grabbed the sweaty shirt that Lara had used to clean him up and threw it on. He then threw the blanket off of him and hopped off the bed and grabbed his trousers. Throwing them on, and began lacing up his trainers,

"I need to go for a walk," He said, "Clear my head a little. I'm so sorry for waking you and hurting you but…"

"Apology accepted, and please don't stress yourself out over it," said Lara, climbing out of the bed herself. Percy didn't respond, but instead opened the door to the cabin and strode out of the cabin. Lara watched him go, her mind racing. After a few moments, she let out a soft sigh and climbed back into bed herself. Though it likely would have been an exercise in futility trying to go back to sleep, she was wide awake now, and her mind was racing with so many thoughts and ideas that she knew that she'd be awake the rest of the night.

She rolled back over in her bed and gazed at where Percy had been laying a few minutes previously.

What the fuck was going on with Percy Jackson, and just who exactly did she sign herself up to adventure with?

AN: So this marks the end of the pre-written chapters I have for this! Thanks for the tremendous reception this story has received, your love and support for this story means a lot, and I'll definitely be getting back to it soon because it's a lot of fun to write! Shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week

All My Love,

LilDB