Chapter One

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The war was over. Gaia was gone. Monsters were dust. People tried to move on. Forget. But nothing is that simple.

Two months on. Death still hung in the air, even if the bodies were cleared out and the blood was scrubbed from every corner.

It lingered. Hovering around the survivors. Taunting them of their losses and curses.

No matter how much they tried to forget. They couldn't. They never would.

He never would.

Percy gripped his raven hair as he stared at the mossy floor. The grass had grown back so quickly. Straightened out since the last battle here. So long ago, but yet seeming as if barely a day had passed.

Percy remembered her screaming. Crimson blood dribbling down her face until red met green.

He stared at the patch in the grass where her body had lain. His jaw clenched. Percy's emotions raged. It had been getting harder to control those lately, which caused his powers to go out of hand occasionally.

The sadness. Betrayal. Anger and regret.

He'd failed. Failed to see it coming. He should have. He should have stopped it. The signs were there. They had to have been. He just-

"Percy?" A soft voice asked. The owner of the voice placed a hand on Percy's shoulder. His hopes spiked.

Percy flinched. "Sorry, I-"

"It's fine. I'm sorry, I just thought you were..." Percy trailed off. He couldn't help the lost feeling that overcame him. Because that's what he was. Lost without her.

The frizzy-haired girl sat down next to him. Her golden eyes looked at her friend with worry. He hadn't been the same. She couldn't remember if he'd laughed or smiled since the battle.

"I can't do this Hazel. How do you cope? With losing Frank?" Percy's pained eyes turned to her. Fragile green glass held together by PVA glue.

Hazel placed a dark-skinned hand over Percy's folded tan ones as an unwanted image flashed in her mind.

She dropped to her knees as she spotted Frank's broken body in the form of a wolf.

"I- he - he saved me. I-I-I'm sorry-"

"Shh." Hazel soothed, gathering the frightened girl in her arms as a vicious sob wrenched from her body. "It's all right." She said. But it wasn't alright. Hazel could argue it wasn't fair, that Frank shouldn't have died. But what good would it have done? What would it have changed? All Hazel could do was accept it.

Accept and never forget. Except she would. And that was perhaps the most terrifying thought of all.

"Who said I'm coping? All I can do is keep going. It's what he would have wanted me to do. Besides, it's a nice thought, isn't it? Knowing that someone is waiting for you to come home to Elysium?" Hazel studied Percy's face, his oceanic eyes shifting with unreadable emotion.

"Yeah, but what if I don't get there? To Elysium? And to think, that no one will be waiting for-"

"Frank will. I will. All of those who fell will welcome you, Percy. And if not? Well, screw them." Percy laughed lightly.

"That's one way of putting it."

"Come on. Piper wanted to see me this afternoon. Tag along?" Hazel asked hopefully. Anything to try get the survivors guilt off his mind. Even if it wasn't all survivors guilt.

"Nah you go ahead. Wouldn't want to spoil girls night. I don't think I fit that category." Percy appreciated Hazel's attempt, but he didn't believe anything would help. And after all, it was the two girls night to just hang out and forget. Percy had no right to intrude on that.

"You sure?"

Percy opened his mouth to speak when his name was shouted from across the stony court. It was Connor.

"Chiron wants to see you. Says it's urgent." Connor relayed the message.

"Where is he?"

"Where else? Big House." Connor grinned.

"See? You go, Hazel. I have my own matters to tend to now." Percy tried to smile but it was easy to see it didn't reach his shattered eyes.

"Fine. Stay safe." Hazel said, a serious look on her face.

"I'll try." Percy managed a flicker of a smile, before standing up, brushing himself off and walking off with Connor.

He will heal. He has to. Hazel thought as she watched his retreating back.

~~~~

Hello, hello and welcome. Another shitty cover by me. Feel free to change itttttt.

Shameless self-promotion here, but go read my other stories, Kept Behind Enemy Lines (completed) Rescue Remedy (completed), Slytherin's Heir (ongoing) and Split Second (ongoing). If you already have, well then... I don't know, use your brains.

**EDITED**

Peace,

BTSWD
Borntosingwithdrama

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