* Percy Jackson: Son of Chaos and Order

~ Chapter 14 ~

"How did we not know this?" Zoe asked, pointing to her and Luke who looked equally as upset.

"Yeah, we're supposed to know these things."

"That was a last-minute decision that I thought would have fallen through. It slipped my mind," Neander shrugged.

"Well, that's it. Make sure your cabins are ready for this next week," Neander said walking out of the Big House.

"Wait. Just this once, can we talk?" Annabeth asked, running after him.

"Fine. You, Grover, Rachel, Hazel, Jason, Piper, Frank, Clarisse, Reyna, and Will meet us at Zeus' fist in an hour."

Annabeth walked back inside the Big House happier than ever.

"Why are you meeting them?" Luke asked.

"We're meeting them so they can finally say what they want and leave me alone," Neander responded pointing at all of them

"Why are we going?" Beckendorf asked.

"Because you're my family. And you've been affected by them as much as I have," Neander told them.

They nodded and went to the cabin. They spent the next hour watching YouTube videos and joking around. When it was time to meet they all walked to Zeus' fist. Standing around in a semi-circle were Neander's ex-friends. They all looked guilty and sad.

"Say your spiel," Neander told them.

"I want to say I'm sorry. I should have known if anyone did that you were framed," Grover bleated.

"I should have trusted you," Rachel said.

Everyone else nodded.

"We know what we did was wrong. It shouldn't have happened and it won't happen again," Piper told him.

"Will you ever be able to forgive us?" Jason asked.

Neander had to stop himself from laughing, "And why would I do that?"

"We apologized. And we're sorry. We want to make up for the things we've done," Annabeth said.

This time Neander actually laughed along with the rest of the Elites.

"You apologized so you want me to come running back into your arms? Pretend like nothing ever happened and be the perfect couple again? The perfect friends again?" Neander asked.

Annabeth hesitated before nodding.

"This is how this is going to go. I gave you your chance to say what you wanted. Now, I'm going to tell you what I want and wanted," Neander said.

"I wanted to go to New Rome with my friends and girlfriend. I wanted to marry the girl of my dreams. After Marcus came I wanted my friends to tell me everything would be okay. I wanted them to walk in front of everyone and tell them all the reasons that everything being said about me was a lie. But, guess what I got, my friends, telling them that the rumors were true."

"Percy, we're so sorry," Annabeth cried.

"It's Neander now."

"And what do you want now?" Reyna asked.

"I want to move on. I want to leave those memories in the past. I want to be able to look at my new family and friends and make them proud. I want to not hurt them because of something that happened in the past. I want to keep helping people. I want to be able to ask for help when I need it. I just want to be happy. But because of you, that's not happening right now. So I want you to leave me alone so I can move on. You say you want me to be happy, then prove it. Let me be happy. Because either way, if I ever forgive you it probably won't be in this century," Neander said walking away.

"I told you to leave him alone. But being selfish is what you do best," Luke said glaring at the group.

"We deserve to be forgiven," Jason voiced.

"Deserve? Did he deserve to be treated how you treated him?" Bianca questioned.

"You say you want to be forgiven and you might, but it's for a selfish reason. The quicker you see that the better life will be for everyone," Beckendorf told them as the Elite team walked away.

Percy's ex-friends were left stunned. This wasn't what they expected. They were used to Percy being forgiving and helping whenever even if someone hurt him. They weren't used to this new Percy. They weren't used to Neander. He was not as forgiving as Percy was. He was not a pushover. He was stronger, smarter, and an overall better person. They wanted him to forgive them after breaking his trust. But what people don't understand is that once you completely break someone's trust, you most likely never get it back. And if you do, it's never fully. And that's something you have to live with forever. Knowing you hurt someone to the point that they break and become someone new.

Like a phoenix, Neander rose from the ashes of the person they burned into who he is now.

"Sorry works when a mistake is made, but not when trust is broken. So in life, make mistakes but never break trust. Because forgiving is easy, but forgetting and trusting again is sometimes impossible."

"Breaking someone's trust is like crumpling up a perfect piece of paper. You can smooth it over but it's never going to be the same again."

"Psychology says,

People change for two reasons:

Either their mind have been opened.

Or their hearts have been broken."

"Once you have really hurt someone, it will always be in the back of their mind even if they still have a smile on their face."

"Maybe, just maybe, two broken people could manage to create something whole." - Nalini Singh