"Pax Two, how am I supposed to trust you as one of my spies if this is what you do when I call in a favor?"

Pax squirmed.

He was often uncertain whether or not Mercedes was joking. Her dark eyes tended to be a mask of seriousness, leading others to believe she had no sense of humor. Pax knew better. Or he thought he had.

"What did I ask you to do?" she asked.

They were standing in the last spot he'd seen her before going to Tartarus. As much as he tried to convince her and the others that Tartarus had been a picnic and that they should seriously consider the touristism possibilities, Luke's amnesia and everyone's injuries said otherwise. Once Pax was okayed to walk around the ship, he was immediately called into the spy barracks.

"What did I ask you to do?" Mercedes asked. Her hair was swept back by a beige hijab today. Pax could see a pin poking out of the right side of the material and wondered if she'd put it on in a hurry. He loved teasing her when one of her pins—either the one on the upper side or the one at the base of her chin—was visible.

Today was not a good day to tease her.

"What did I ask you to do, Pax two?" she said again when he gave no response.

After a few days bed rest, this was not the reception he had been expecting. He had hoped for balloon animals that he could pop them around the unsuspecting. That's what Matthias would have given him. As far as Pax could tell, Matthias hadn't been allowed to see him. No one had.

Pax had been grounded. Why bother escaping your homicidal, psychopathic family if you're just going to get grounded by a slightly less homicidal, psychopathic family? he mused.

Today was also not a day to ask that question.

"Why bother—" Pax started to say despite that conclusion. When he caught sight of Mercedes' dark eyes, he looked down at his combat boots. "I never agreed not to go," he said.

The last few days of bed rest, he'd been working on something for her. He had it in his jacket pocket, making the whole thing bulge like the least conspicuous puppy smuggling. Pax twisted the fabric in his hands.

"Lies are an intent to deceive, not just a statement of untruth. I will not work with someone who bases their interpretation of orders off technicalities, especially when they know those interpretations are erroneous, Ajax."

Ajax. Not Pax Two. Not Pax. Now, Pax understood why Mercedes said to guard his name. He'd started to attach a mysticism to it and enjoyed thinking of when Alabaster would say it. Hearing her say it like that was a whip to the face.

Pax wanted to say something. He wanted Mercedes to use her typical witticisms to tease him, to make him struggle to keep up with the conversation. He didn't like her speaking this straight forward or with such a harsh tone.

"I don't mind your evasions and deceptions when matters are trivial, and I don't mind when you do it to others. I, in fact, encourage you to become practiced with others. But, anytime it involves a mission or anytime it involves secret information you get from me, or anytime someone could die—"

"Banana peels are prevalent on the ship," Pax blurted, trying to keep his tone carefree. It came out a whisper and got quieter as he mumbled, "I could slip on one and die at any moment. Does that count?"

There was silence in the spy barracks.

Pax dared to glance up. He caught sight of Mercedes' hand. It was curled into a fist and shaking. Otherwise, she was eerily still.

Today, Pax realized, was a day to admit he had screwed up royally.

"Luke—or someone who has been feeding his memories back to him—now suspects me of leaking information about his trip to Tartarus," Mercedes said. Her clenched fingers eased.

Pax almost choked. He looked up at her eyes. "Did he give you any?"

"No, but he thinks I've been snooping through his files," she said, giving Pax a look that implied he was supposed to get what that sentence meant.

"But—but you wouldn't use that information for evil—"

She sighed. Pax remembered her saying that she had a lot of brothers. It was a sigh Axel often did around Pax. He wondered if it was an older sibling thing. "You and I know that Pax. I'm less worried about me. I'm worried about what they'll find if they start going through surveillance footage."

Pax puffed up his cheeks and popped them. "My training. B-but, we did that to simulate field experience in a controlled environment." His mind spun over the document's he had pulled from the captain's quarters. He was illiterate. It was guesswork. "You didn't have me—"

"No. You were mostly gathering receipts so we could figure out which brand Luke uses to get his hair that stiff. I figured I could use it as a good bargaining tool with Matthias," she said, "Any idiot with ears and a pension for listening to gossip could put together Luke, Jack, and Axel were going on a covert mission to Hell."

And that same person could easily find out that Pax and Lou Ellen had gone after them. No wonder Alabaster had caught up to them so quickly. All Mercedes had to do was check up on Pax's cabin, see his utility belt was gone, hear that Matthias and Alabaster hadn't seen him or Lou Ellen, and she'd know where they went.

But, how could she think he wouldn't go after his brother? She told him the when and where. That was basically like saying not to run after an ice cream truck when the ice cream was free and delivered with complimentary kittens.

Pax remembered the two favors she'd use to assure he wouldn't go anywhere. His indignation faltered. She'd nullified one of her favors by tapping his bell and used another to keep him here. She was right. If truth could be told through implications, so could untruth. He had lied to her. Pax often enjoyed jumping around the truth. He didn't like outright lying.

"I'll give you double the number of favors—" he said.

"Favors mean nothing if you prove not to honor them." She placed her hands on her hips.

That almost sent him to tears. Her hard stare might work as a Mortal Kombat finishing move. Pax swallowed, scared he might tear the hijab in his pocket if he gripped it any tighter.

"You need to earn back my trust, Ajax. That doesn't mean doing things you want to do anyway or following orders you would follow regardless. If you'll try to have a brain, you'll know it means the orders you don't like too," she said.

There was a long silence. Between the heat in his cheeks and the wetness of his eyes, he wondered if he could mimic the climate of Belize in this room.

She didn't move. He wondered if she'd turn her back on him in an abrupt fashion. Instead, those dark eyes bore into him.

Like she never wanted to see him again.

Pax took a step closer to her. He swallowed again, knowing that bursting into tears would make things worse. That's how it was with his Chiich, too.

"M-Mercedes, please don't make me go," he whispered. "I'll do anyth—"

Pax liked being around Mercedes. He wanted to impress her and become her number one spy. He enjoyed her goofy drills, the wry humor she pretended not to have, her smile—she didn't smile enough.

Right now, he was the reason she wasn't smiling. He wished he could burrow into a carnivorous rabbit's hole as an offering to the gods of regret.

He was shaking.

"Mercedes…" Pax whispered. "I'm sorry…" There was no way out of this. He had messed up big time. Apologies weren't enough. Maybe he really wasn't suited to be her spy in a field where they would need to trust each other so much.

Pax swallowed again, trying to look as adult as he could as the childish question came out of his lips. "Can I give you a hug?" he asked, taking a step forward. He couldn't leave the room like that. Mercedes wasn't just the spymaster. She was his friend. "Before I leave?"

Mercedes flinched, making Pax flinch. She didn't storm out or glare at him. The request choked her up for a moment. He'd taken another step, able to smell the coffee scent that clung to her hijab, before she could speak. "Don't think you can melt my anger by being a worse parasite than usual."

The words should have been angry, but her tone wasn't. It was cracking.

Pax hugged her, wrapping his arms around her arms and waist. This was a friend he always wanted to hug, but never had. It felt weird doing it under these circumstances.

She should have hit him or yelled at him. She didn't hug him back. What she did was far worse.

Pax could feel something wet splash onto his neck.

She was crying.

Pax had made Mercedes cry. [footnote 1] Sometimes, she acted so adult, he forgot she was only a year older than him. By going on a seeming suicide mission to Hades, he had made her worry. She really didn't think he was going to go. Now, he felt worse, the guilt deepening into a drowning pool with each tear. "Mercedes," he whispered into the material covering her neck. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I never disappoint you again."

Mercedes tried to clear her throat. She bent her head slightly. "You're a highly effective parasite," she mumbled. "Don't try to get yourself killed again. Unless I tell you to."

Pax nodded against the material.

"Also…"

She waited until he pulled back to look her in the face. The tears were gone, the only evidence a slight redness to her acne-flecked cheeks. Her gaze was hard. "Don't hug me. Unless I tell you to."

Pax immediately let go and took two huge steps backwards. He should stop there. He knew it. But his mouth was already moving. "Will that ever happen?"

"Ask me on a day that I don't feel like throwing you overboard and the only thing restraining me isn't paperwork," she said, folding her arms.

Pax nodded, taking another step backwards, recognizing that she was even angrier for crying in front of him. He had an older sister. He knew how that could go. "I'm going to go brainstorm ways to make this up to you," he said.

Her gaze narrowed. "Wise."

Pax sprinted out of the spy wing. Mercedes might have been acting like she was fine at the end, but he made a quick promise as he ran. "I swear on the River Styx," he whispered, "As much as I can help it, to never be the reason Mercedes cries again." [footnote 2]

Footnotes:

1: Is it bad that I laughed through writing this whole scene because of this gif? I'm not sorry.

2: *drum roll for Pax having bad luck throughout all of Traitors of Olympus*

Long Author's note:

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this never-ending romp through Hell! :D (Oh, gods, it's like a metaphor for current events.) Next week will probably be a break week for me, then we'll come back in June with a one-shot Luke story, Two-Toned Memories about why Luke didn't get to see Annabeth before she took Atlas' burden.

Also! For my dedicated readers that made it through this monstrosity: Are there any stories you want to hear about specifically that might have occurred in the last two books of PJO? Or stuff referenced in TOO that you really wanted me to cover? I can't make promises, but I wanted to get a feel for your interest. Things that will definitely be touched on in the upcoming shorts: Fluff between Pax and Alabaster, Mercedes, and Jack and Calypso. I intend to write the majority of the Slaughter of Mount Othrys and a segment of the Battle of the Labyrinth.

What I wanted to avoid: scenes already fully flushed out in the PJO series, just from another POV. (I can do a few paragraphs here for there, but less likely to do a full short unless I can find a really compelling and interesting angle.) Plot holes from PJO that are unfixable (I've been trying, man, but I am one talking head XD).

Review/comment/anon depending on which site you're on to let me know!