A True Hero

Chapter Six: Elena

"Hey." she said not looking at me.

"Coming to check on me?" I asked.

"Sort of."

"I'm guessing the person you stopped was Percy."

I saw her nod, "yeah I wanted to talk to you because...I understand why you're so aggravated with Bianca's decision. Hades I hate what she did too."

"Why?"

She sighed, "Because I had a younger brother. His name was Jason. He disappeared on my watch and I still feel guilty. He's probably dead. My mother didn't do shit which is why I ran away."

"Oh...I'm sorry Thalia."

She took a shaky breath, "yeah well we've all got fucked up shit in our past right?"

I laughed, "yeah we sure do."

She looked at me, "Why do you care about her decision so much? I mean I get the whole adopted thing but..."

I looked at her confused on how she knew that, "Percy and I heard the whole conversation. He seemed pretty sad when you brought up having those mental problems."

I sighed, "yeah well, not something I like talking about. As for why I care...there was this kid. He was really young probably around Nico's age at the time. His name was Josh and he was so innocent I just wanted to protect him from the world. I took the responsibility of looking after him at school. He tended to get bullied a lot, he was autistic and the kids at my school well...they are assholes to put in bluntly. One day he didn't come to school, I called round and asked around trying to find out what happened. Turns out he...killed himself. Shot a bullet in his own head because of the shit my school put him through. And no matter how many times I protected him during school I couldn't do shit for what happened after. He was jumped almost everyday and when I got stuck at homeschooling I wasn't there to keep him safe." I started crying, "I couldn't save him Thalia."

"Hey...Elena look at me."

I locked eyes with her, "there is nothing you could have done to change things. That poor kid was going through a lot. It doesn't matter that you tried protecting him, he lost his own battle with the demons."

"I know but...I just thought that if I couldn't protect him. I can still protect Nico and care for him. So when his own sister abandoned him like that, I thought Nico would do the same thing that Josh did and I...I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened. I know I was being a bitch to Bianca about it and I feel terrible the poor girl is only like twelve but...I needed her to see that what she did will have major consequences."

Thalia nodded, "I know trust me I know...what she did will never be forgiven anytime soon. You were right about everything you said. Sure it came out bitchy but every once in a while you need to be."

I laughed, "yeah you're right-"

That's when we heard the screams of our friends. Thalia and I looked at each other and ran back to the front of the store. I saw that they were surrounded by the skeletons, Grover was on the floor, he was awake but he looked delirious. I ripped off my necklace and Thalia drew her shield. We ran into the circle and started slashing at the skeletons. I stood next to Percy, who had Riptide glimmering in his hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yep totally fine." I said slashing at another skeleton to stay back.

"Are you sure I mean-"

"Percy I love you very much, but can we continue this conversation when we're not fighting for our lives?" I asked.

His face went red, "Y-yeah we can do that." he stuttered out.