Nostalgia: Heroes of Olympus

○ R E B E C C A ○

"Come again?" Nico asked, his eyebrow cocked in confusion. Arlene didn't say anything but she nodded, the wheels turning in her brain. At first, I didn't have enough time to worry about how they would react when I was, you know, recovering from running for my life and seeing my dad's corpse, but now that they were starting to ask questions, anxiety started to fill in the crevices.

"It makes sense," Arlene muttered, her eyes glazed over. I smiled, thinking that she must have been entering her files. I directed my eyes back to Nico, who's face was unreadable. I used to pride myself on my incredible ability to read faces, but lately, everyone seemed to lock up their emotions. And I was worried. And angry. What did they have to hide that was so important that I couldn't know?

"So what you're saying," Nico began, "is you're being hunted by the sky? Like, Zeus the sky?" I couldn't help but smile at his plain, simple, ordinary mind. I had a...different thinking pattern than other people. Than "normal" people, you could say. I saw patterns where there weren't any, I could solve unsolvable problems, fix unfixable mistakes, and see the unseen. Basically, I was the female Sherlock Holmes.

"No fratello idiota," Arlene snapped. "She means the sky. Like, Ouranos the sky." After her extremely blunt statement (thanks sis) we rode on in silence. Random interesting fact time, I hadted tense silence. I'm the kid who would talk right on through the awkward silences in class because I couldn't stand them. Yep, I was that kid.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, my nerves bubbling up, ready to explode at a moments notice (thanks for the ADHD Mamma).

"Well if it's the sky that's hunting you, we should," Arlene began, but I raised a hand to silence her. Our minds were kind of similar so I could tell where she was heading. And I didn't like it.

"No," I stated, earning a confused look from Nico. There has to be another way, I thought, digging through my files. I could feel Nico try to converse with me, but he quickly gave up (smart). He turned forward and began to talk to Arlene. I suddenly became very aware of the arm he had looped around her waist. I glared daggers at the back of his head and made some unflattering hand gestures before calming myself. Truth be told, I didn't realize how angry I was until I saw the black aura around me.

"Rebecca, you should listen to your sister. Her plan doesn't sound all that bad," Nico reasoned, his attention on me. I stared at his face, then his arm around my twins waist, then him again. He quickly removed his arm and grabbed both of my hands in his.

"Her plan is crazy," I stated when he opened his mouth to begin talking. I had no interest in hearing what he had to say.

He is siding with her because he likes her instead of you. I don't know where the thought came from, but I was filled with a burning anger.

"How does Leo feel about this?" I asked Arlene, my voice laced with a dangerous venom. She turned her head to look at me. Her face was gaureded to, so I couldn't see her emotion.

"WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT!" I shrieked, tears running down my face. "STOP HIDING THINGS FROM ME! I'M YOUR SISTER! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR BOYFRIEND?!?" By now, I was in hysterics, rocking slowly back and forth. I let lose a guttural scream, followed by manic laughter.

They talk about you behind your back. The don't care about you. All they want is to see you fail. I'll love you. Do as I say and you'll make them love you. You could rule the world in fear. A voice kept shooting these thoughts at me. I was smart enough to know that these weren't my thoughts, but I didn't care. My anger slowly faded from sadness to pure rage. How dare they talk about be behind my back. How dare Nico try to throw me away. I wasn't garbage. They were.

"Nico, take the wheel," Arlene demanded, gracefully switching spots with Nico.

"Stop treating me like I'm worthless," he growled, beating me to yelling at Arlene. "I am NOT WEAK! I'VE BEEN THROUGH TARTARUS! I'VE SEEN THINGS YOU COULD DREAM OF IN YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES AND YOU'RE TRYING TO CONTROL ME?" I was shocked at his outburst. His chest rose and fell in angry breaths.

"Both of you shut up," Arlene ordered, her voice doing the weird buzzing thing. She turned to me.

"We are going to Mount Everest and we are going to solve your problem. And you," she said turning to Nico, "have every right to yell at me. I've been bossy, but that's my job. I'm her big sister and since dead is, you know." Her eyes misted with tears, but she slowly blinked them away. "It's my job to scare away anyone who is going to take her away."

The screaming voices dissapeared from my brain. I hugged Arlene, letting the words go unsaid and expressing my gratitude through my actions. She switched spots with Nico again, clearly trying to distract herself. It kind of stung. She hadn't asked anything about my random outburst which worried me.

"Don't take it personally," Nico whispered in my ear. "She really misses Leo and seeing us together is a painful memory that he isn't here and I am." I nodded. I could understand and still be hurt.

"How did he do it?" I blurted. Sometimes my filter turned off and whatever thought escaped first was the one that I said, no matter the current tone of the conversation.

"How did who do what?" Nico asked, inviting me to bounce ideas off of him. We had been together long enough for him to know that he wouldn't get much time to say anything.

"How did Ouranos get a body? Didn't the Titans chop it up all those years ago," I mused, pricing different facts from different files together.

"What if he regenerated it?" Nico suggested, herding me towards my answer.

"It's possible. I mean, he has had plenty of time to do it. Maybe it is another Kronos thing. He uses a human host until he gets enough energy to return to his original form or his hosts burns up. Whichever come first." By bow, it wasn't even a conversation anymore. It was more like me speaking my thoughts aloud in an empty room.

"I think you're on to something sis," Arlene called from the front. "Now you two lovebirds get nice and comfy. It's gonna be a long ride."