Malachi laid in the infirmary bed, bored out of his mind. His stomach churned in a way that made him nauseous, his vision was spinning, and his mouth felt dry.

Basically, he felt awful.

It all began about a week after they arrived back to Camp, after the battle with Atlas. "They" being Matt, Harper, Sera, Talon and Malachi.

Levi...was in that group. But he didn't make it back, he didn't survive.

Malachi had mixed feelings about Levi, he had been possessed when they first met, but even in his own consciousness, he didn't really like the son of Nemesis. At the time, he had been a cruel, delusional person, but he did sympathize for him, at least his love for his sister.

Then everything changed, he seemed to have done a complete one eighty. When Malachi entered the field near that mortal farm, he didn't expect Levi to be among Matt, Harper and Talon. But yet, he was, and in the end, he went out honorably, at least in Malachi's eyes.

Malachi felt guilty, and extremely uncomfortable being back in Camp again. He felt like an intruder, a bad guy, like he didn't belong here anymore. His deeds had stripped him of his rights to be a Camper.

Yet they welcomed him with open arms. They didn't know, they had no idea of the things he did. Matt had some inkling, as he could feel the immense guilt, but he would never know the true extent.

And Sera.

Even if the entire camp hated him, it wouldn't hurt as much as Sera's distrust, as much as her being scared of him.

It broke Malachi's heart, to see her look at him, questioning how she felt. He knew that was the case.

Malachi had plotted what he might say, how he might apologize or at least assure her that he wouldn't hurt her. Then...he got sick.

It had happened in the evening, nothing out of the ordinary. One minute he was walking, then, his stomach twisted, and he felt a burning throb swell in his throat, and vomit erupted from his mouth.

It was bright green and disgustingly stringy. It looked just like the ambrosia that Ouranos had fed him for months on end. Right there, Malachi knew what the problem was.

Logan Barnes, son of Apollo, along with some of his other siblings, soon found out what was going on too, and gave him the diagnosis. The treatment? Essentially...wait until you throw it all up.

Yes, Malachi had to wait until it was all out of his system. If that didn't suck, then he didn't know what did.

Fast forward to now, it was dark out, dinner had been over for a few hours now, and it was the middle of the night. Logan had checked on him one last time for the day, and after he confirmed that everything was good, he went to sleep.

Malachi did not. He couldn't. Thoughts kept piling on in his brain, regrets, hopes, and just general contemplations of where everything was going next.

He knew his father was tricky, but it was beginning to become dreadful. It seemed like every step they took, Ouranos was already ten ahead.

Malachi sighed and attempted to close his eyes. But before sleep could overtake him, he heard the door to the infirmary creak open.

His head moved, and he raised an eyebrow. Had Logan forgotten something? No, that was half an hour ago. He would've already come back by now.

He heard the door creak again, and the slight snapping of the wood hitting the doorframe. It had closed.

"Who's there?" He said, just above a whisper. It was half demanding and threatening, but half curious. He didn't know if it were a threat or not.

But then he heard a feminine, familiar voice. "It's me, Kai."

"Sera?" He said, a gasp. What was she doing up so late?

He could not see her, so he reached over and fumbled around with the lamp next to his infirmary bed, eventually finding the switch, he flicked it and dim light shone, unmasking Sera's features.

She looked unbelievably cute, dressed in white pajama pants and a blue version of the standard Camp T-shirt, her hair flowed behind her like snow. It was so white and fluffy; it might as well have been a source of light on it's own.

Malachi had to admit, his heart always leapt when he saw her. Back on the Island, when they were just getting to know each other, it raced, and his body would react in ways he had never experienced before. For years, he never knew why, but after some conversations with an annoyed Talon, and a lot of thinking, he finally discovered his feelings for the girl.

Even if they were no longer together, he doubted the feeling would ever go away.

Sera stood there, halfway from the door to the bed. She fiddled with her fingers, not looking at Malachi. "I-I couldn't sleep...s-so I thought I would come and check on you. I-Is that okay?"

Malachi controlled the vigorousness of his nod, keeping it slow. "Of course." He scooted over in the bed and patted the spot next to him.

Sera walked over and sat down on it, her legs over the side, but her body turned to him. She still wouldn't look at him, she was nervous about something.

"What's wrong?" Malachi asked.

Sera thought it over, trying to come up with the right words. Something had been bothering her all right, she'd gone to bed about an hour ago, but didn't sleep a wink. She tossed and turned, her mind constantly drifting to the boy in front of her. She was sad at how their relationship had fallen, ever since their capture at Mount Othrys. She longed to fix things, for it to go back to the way it was, but she never knew what to say, or how to bring it up. She was scared, if she was being honest, at what he might say, at what might happen. Malachi was her first and only boyfriend, so she had never experienced a breakup before, let alone how to fix it.

"I-I've been troubled." She said, gesturing between both of them, "by...th-this. What happened."

Malachi was unsure of what she meant; he'd hoped she meant their relationship. "You mean the...parting?" No that wasn't the right word. Use what Talon called it. "I mean the breakup?" He corrected himself.

She nodded, "Yes. I have had time to think about it and...I-I'm sorry, Kai. I regret doing what I did. This past week has been the worst of my life, being apart from you. I have...m-missed you."

Malachi smiled somberly, "I have missed you too. And do not blame yourself for what happened, not for one second was it your fault. It was...all mine." He looked down at the bed sheets. "You did the right thing in getting away from me. I had become something entirely different, I had become my father's tool. I don't blame you for breaking up with me."

"At first I-I would have agreed, but now I realize that it was your father. He made you do those things. He's the one that has tortured us so and created this gap between us." She finally looked at him, seriously. "I blame him for everything."

Malachi gripped the sheets with his fist, crumpling it. "My father is the worst scum imaginable. He's pulled the strings of everything, and he still got away, yet again."

Sera had no words to say to that, she agreed fully. Malachi had suffered just as much as she did at Mount Othrys, and she had finally realized it. Heck, she thought her father was bad, but Ouranos...

"Let's forget about him, though." Malachi said, changing the subject. "How are you holding up? Are you okay?"

She chuckled. A sweet, melodic sound to Malachi's ears. "You are asking about my condition? It should be the other way around."

Malachi shook his head, more serious than ever. "I will be fine. I have been through worse. I want to know if you are okay."

The intensity at which he spoke was enough to make Sera stop laughing and her ears to turn red. He said it like it was a dire issue, as if her health and mental stability was the most important thing in the world to him. He wouldn't rest until he knew she was okay.

"I-I am okay. Just a nightmare or two, but nothing that I have not been through before, as you said."

"You should not have to endure such things. Me, I am different, I deserve it. But you..." He stopped on that, and felt an anger towards the fates, towards the universe itself for dealing this sweet, kind girl such a horrible hand at life. "...You do not deserve what you have been through. If I could take it all away, I would, my lo-"

Malachi stopped himself, nearly clamping his mouth shut. He had forgotten about the breakup, and nearly called her "my love." It was such a habit, that it had come out naturally for years. He really couldn't help it.

But if Sera was upset about it, she sure didn't show it. In fact, she smiled tenderly. "You know, I remember you saying something similar several years ago."

"Saying what?"

"That you wished you could take my pain away and put it upon yourself."

"I said that?"

"You do not remember?" She furrowed her eyebrows, "We were outside of Fort Incendiary, Talon was on one of his missions, so you and I spoke. I think you were injured at the time."

The memories came flooding back, and Malachi recalled the exact event, the exact words of the conversation held so many years ago. Fort Incendiary had been Talon's invention, a hut of a base for their little group of outcast and rebels. Gods, that was so long ago, and held such fondness. Malachi wondered if the fort was still there, even after all this time. Probably not.

"I remember now. You were tending to my wounds, and the twins were asleep. There were a few more, were there not? Willow, Eric and...ah, what did Talon use to call that boy with the slingshot?"

Sera held back a laugh, "Hoghead. Yes, he was quite the character, a lot like Talon himself. Do you remember the face paint?"

"And the animal hides? Yes, I do." Malachi laughed. He hadn't thought about those people in a long time, which...made him sad. They were his friends, fellow Incendiaries on the Island, lifelong comrades. He used to talk to them all the time, eat with them, laugh and celebrate with them, and now, well, he didn't.

His face fell, and he looked at the laughing girl before him. With a burst of confidence, he reached out and grabbed her hand, the one closest to him.

She looked up in surprise, eyebrows raised.

"Sera, my feelings for you have not changed since those days. I still love you, with every fiber of my being. I...I'm sorry for what I did, for what happened. I understand if this doesn't change anything, but I just want you to know."

There was a moment where Malachi thought Sera was going to pull away and shake her head, confirming once and for all that things really were over.

But then, she threw herself at him, and hugged him tightly.

"Oh Kai, I love you too." She said, in an audible sigh of relief, like she'd been waiting for those very words to be said for weeks. "Please, let's end this and go back to the way we were!"

Malachi chuckled at the display, but even while she was displaying a child-like demeanor, he was barely containing his own scream of victory and relief.

He hugged her back, reveling in the unworldly amazing scent of her hair. "I'd like that."

She pulled her head back just enough, to where their eyes were merely an inch apart.

"From now on, we stay together, always." She whispered, "Your father can never get between us again."

"Never again." Malachi affirmed.

They smiled at each other, and leaned in for a kiss.