The silence surrounded them like a thick fog, deafening every thought except for the one Percy now repeated in her head like a mantra to keep her stabilized.

'This is real. This is real. This is – '

"Well, this is getting creepy now," Thalia declared. "Why're you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" Percy's words slurred together, and her eyes widened, making her sound like a drunkard.

"Where did you go? And why?" Percy questioned, trying to subside the hate she felt towards Thalia on the first day – but no. That wasn't Thalia's fault. Other demigods in the camp would kill for a chance to quest, and all this 'drama' surrounding her unwillingness to quest was her fault alone.

Now it was Thalia's turn to look like an alcoholic. Her face soured as if remembering something horrible – and this expression looked like how Percy did, bent over the sink in the bathroom, sweat dripping down, long drags of breath that felt like hellfire – and the whips, those fiery whips, those –

No. Down it goes. Deep under the consciousness. This was the reason Percy was tired all the time – taming a raging sea of emotions saps your energy. But right now, pushing in all that emotion felt like

"Somewhere," Thalia whispered back, "Dark. Not nice. I know where we'll go. We can reach. We just need time, Percy. You just need time."

And it burst. That bubble burst. Everything she'd ever felt came cascading down like a bunch of memory orbs, shattering against each other, almost tainting everything red. Blonde. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and the best, most comforting smile the world got yet never deserved.

She missed him so much. It felt like acid, spreading through her veins, burning her up from the inside. And in that moment, all she could see was… him. Behind the trees, laughing. Riding on the clouds, excited. While Thalia's voice faded into the background, Luke's voice became more dominant. The rounding of the syllables, the honey-like voice, and the gods of Olympus, she missed him.

Just one last chance. Just one last chance to tell him that she loves him and that they'll live together and die together one day. No gods, no quests, no maniacal business.

And Luke was in front of her. Spiky black hair, for some reason – and even some piercings. But that didn't matter because all there was right now was her and Luke, Luke and her.

And suddenly it felt as if the world had gotten drunk and tilted upside down, all topsy-turvy. His lips were so soft, they were so alive – just charging with electricity. They felt perfect, they revived Percy's dead heart and left her wanting more.

But he pushed her away. Electricity sparked on his face and brought Percy back from that heady, painful feeling, and she realized what she had just done.

Luke was dead. Luke was dead. Luke was dead, and she'd kissed Thalia instead, caught up in her emotions.

"I'm –

Thalia ran away from the campfire, into a random tent, eyebrows singed with the lightning she just summoned, and tears like big fat globules of crystals falling profusely.

"-sorry." But Thalia never got to hear it.

And so, Percy sat there, staring up at the sky, which was slowly morphing from a rich blue to a dusty vermillion red. Her forehead ached, and Percy never knew whether it was from the sin she just committed, the memories rushing and flooding through her mind, or the assault of lightning.

If the night before wasn't a mess, the next morning certainly was. While Percy lurked in the shadows of the tents, not wanting last night's fiasco to be figured out, Lisabelle took it upon herself to hover around her, still possibly thinking that her cover of being the mole wasn't blown. Again, who allowed her to roam free like this? She could very well be the reason the quest was currently going off the rails.

And Thalia was there, amid everyone surrounding her, quite understandably so because she just spawned out of nowhere and disappeared for those few days. But then their conversation took a turn. Percy could see from their faces that they were talking about something undesirable. Was it about the monster she met right before she was whisked off to another multiverse?

What? Just because Percy tried to forget everything that ever happened to her doesn't mean it worked.

And she was about to get closer when –

"Hey, Seaweed Brain."

Percy's blood boiled with another rush of memories. "Shut up, you don't have those rights anymore," she commented, still trying to listen in.

"Why are you ever so mean to me?" Lisabelle whispered to her in a way that she knew irritated Percy and she perfectly well knew why Percy was so "mean" to her.

"Just doing to you what you did to me that day," Percy off-handedly said, trying to get closer inconspicuously.

And Lisabelle touched her cold, lithe fingers to Percy's waist, turning her around to face her. She would have stabbed her in the eye if it wasn't for Percy's reflexes which blocked the blow in a split second with her sword whipped out in record time. The clang that followed caught the attention of the rest. Lisabelle's expression suddenly changed from slightly disturbed to extremely scared, making her look like a victim Percy was bashing up for no reason, like a heartless bully.

"Percy." Grover's voice was sharp and clear. Although she'd heard his "angry" voice many times before, in the context of those Satyr Council Members Thingy, she'd never been on the receiving end of it. And the gods of Olympus, it was scary.

"Percy. Control yourself."

Percy realized where this was going. Bianca was now comforting a puffy-eyed Thalia, and Zoe was behind Grover, somewhat surprised by how Grover was taking the lead.

"Persephone," this incited quite a few looks of surprise, considering how Grover was one of the only 4 people she'd trusted with her full name and how easily he was using it now. "We all know you've been through so much – "

"No, you don't!" Percy shrieked. She knew very well where this was going. He was going to tell her to calm down, they weren't going to talk for months and then he was going to leave her dying just like Luke did.

"Percy. Let me speak."

"No! Don't you dare tell me to calm down because I'm okay now, I swear on everything that I have I'm okay now, please don't leave me, please!"

Percy was suddenly on the ground, shielded away from Grover, rocking back and forth, tears just flooding out.

"Percy," Grover's voice took a softer tone. "We all know you've been through so much; you've died for Olympus' sake. But you can't just – do what you're doing right now because all of us, we've had enough."

Percy was done too. Done with the world. It hurt so much more to be alive than to be dead. She wanted to feel that utter numbness yet again.

"We've had enough of you acting drunk and crazy and almost killing us all, okay? Look what you did to Lisabelle right now – "

"That was all her," Percy mumbled. "She started it."

"And you can't just go around kissing random people, okay? I don't to fight with you on this – "

"I'm sorry, okay?! I miss Luke so much it hurts so bad, and I thought kissing him was going to make it all okay, but it didn't, it didn't, it didn't, I've hurt so many people that I love but I want Luke back, I want him back," and Percy sat on the ground, crying, vulnerable and open while everyone watched her.

Suddenly, a rotten smell took over the air, fanning their cheeks in a sprightly dance. A chill took over the air, and Percy sensed impending doom.

Then Bianca spoke - her voice not quite at all as soft as before.

"They're coming. Run."

-X-

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year! What do you all got for your New Year resolutions?

I'm trying to show Percy's response to unchecked trauma here, you remember how a long, long time ago she saved Grover from that Minotaur and broke down because of all the stress? I'm trying to show how it happens again, and her response to it being finally breaking down - although I'm not quite sure it's described nicely.

To ayden762: Thank you so much for reviewing! Percy is still being hunted because although she isn't the only Big 3 child anymore, her scent is still quite strong. Also Zeus is just a hypocritic needy bitch. Also, thank you for catching up on that! Poseidon is kind of an asshole here because (a) His position as a god would be threatened and he is not allowed to interfere with his children (he does throw all these rules away and turns Percy into a tree later) (b) Zeus is doing it all behind Poseidon's back. While he was moping around, Zeus went and tried to kill Percy, and Poseidon obviously has no link with her because again - bro wants to keep his position as a god and doesn't want any fight with Zeus.

Thank you all so much for reading!

AarBeaZ, out :)