The Silent Child(Discontinued)

Story Time

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson, nor Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan does.

Thalia's POV

After Nich closes his eyes and his breathing steadies, I pull back as Atlanta gets to work on repairing his leg. Tanner walks up and reaches into Nich's pocket and pulls out a coin which he then puts in his own pocket. I look at Tanner but he just shrugs and sits down on the floor next to Nich's bunk. I sigh and decide to try to get to know Tanner a bit.

"So Tanner, how did you and Nich become friends?" I ask and Tanner smiles

"Well, we weren't always friends. In fact, I used to bully Nich, while not as much as others. One day, this kid named Jack, decided to steal Nich's stuff, which included his book that he was reading. When Jack took his book, he ripped it to shreds. We left after that, but I was feeling slightly guilty; while it was true that I bullied Nich, it was always in moderation, and I know that doesn't make up for the fact that I still bullied him but I was feeling guilty none the less." Tanner explained as he leaned back and I sat down and leaned against a bunk that was across from Nich's

"So how did you two become friends?" Atlanta said as she continued to work on Nich's leg

I noticed that most of the hunters had gathered around and was listening intently to Tanner's story. Even Artemis, who still had Nich's staff, sat down, with the staff across her lap, and listened to Tanner.

"Well, at lunch that same day, Jack, a kid named Dylan Macer; who like bullied Nich but was also feeling guilty, and I stopped Nich. Jack grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and I noticed that Nich was wearing a necklace. Apparently, Jack also noticed and forced Nich to give him it. Once Nich handed it over I looked at it and noticed that it was a black arrowhead with a strange symbol on it, which I now know is Vesta's symbol. Luckily that day was a half day, so after lunch, Nich ran home while Jack, Dylan, and I walked toward the local pawn shop to sell the necklace. On our way to the shop, I started arguing with Jack, I told him that selling the necklace was too far. Jack replied with 'You think I'm going to give this expensive looking necklace back to that weakling?'. At that point Dylan started to side with me, as the guilt was probably eating away at him. Jack just started to ignore us as he tried to get the shop owner, who was called Herman I think, to buy the necklace. Herman just kept refusing to buy it. That's when Nich's uncle Fred came in and tried to get the necklace back. At first Fred was polite but when Jack blatantly insulted him and refused, Fred decided to take it by force." Tanner said as Atlanta finished up with Nich's leg and sat down as well

"It seems that Nich should hate you." Phoebe stated and the hunters nodded

"He did at first, but when Fred got Nich's necklace back, Fred turned to Dylan and me and snapped his fingers. After which both Dylan and I got the urge to do whatever necessary to make it up to Nich. The next day at school, I noticed that Nich was holding a silver staff, I didn't think much of it until a few of the more aggressive bullies walked up to Nich and took his staff. At the time, I was talking to Dylan on what we were going to do to get Nich to trust us so we could become friends. However, when we saw this, both Dylan and I jumped up and bolted over to the bullies. I ran up to the guy who held the staff and threw a fist into his face. I grabbed Nich's staff and handed it back to him as Dylan and I stood protectively in front of him. The bullies tried to grab the staff but Dylan and I pushed them back, this continued for a few minutes before a girl with raven black hair and grey eyes walked up and glared intensely at the bullies. At first I thought she was crazy but then the bullies started to shrink away and left. Nich looked at Dylan, the girl, and I before starting to back away. I told him that Dylan and I weren't going to do anything to hurt him. Nich looked at me before nodding and walking up and holding out his hand to shake. After that, the girl introduced herself as Stacy, and I recognized her as one of the top students in the school despite being in the same grade as Nich, Dylan, and I, which was the fifth grade." Tanner continued before asking for some water which Atlanta nodded before standing up

While Atlanta was getting the water, I started to let his story sink in. I started to dissect Tanner's story and I found one detail out of place. I kept my mouth shut until Atlanta came back with a bottle of water which she handed to Tanner. Tanner nodded his thanks before taking a drink of the water, once he finished he cleared his throat.

"Sorry about that, my throat was getting dry." Tanner said before continuing "After that encounter Dylan, Stacy, and I became some of Nich's closest friends. Things were going great for the four of us until that bitch showed up. At first she was kind and thoughtful, Nich and her became a thing and I was happy for him. I thought Nich would forget about his best friends but he didn't and I was thankful not to be considered a third wheel. But his girlfriend tried to get Nich to start stealing and whatnot, which I knew Nich didn't like to do. Soon the girl started asking Nich to buy her things that were way too expensive. Nich, being the kind-hearted person he is, started saving up money and bought her a few of the things. While things weren't perfect, the girl hadn't done anything to hurt Nich so we relaxed a bit. That's when disaster struck; one day at school, a new kid came in a limousine. Nich's girlfriend said she was going to go meet the kid and Nich agreed. But when she didn't come back for about an hour or so I went with Dylan to try and find her. What we saw made our blood go cold, the girl was sitting on the new kids' lap and kissing the kid. Dylan and I made our way back to Nich and told him. At first he didn't believe us, after a few minutes of trying to convince him to follow us he relented and the four of us went to where Dylan and I found the girl and her 'friend'" Tanner said before taking a break to take another drink of water

Everyone was silent as Tanner finished his water. I kept thinking at how much Nich had gone through before Tanner cleared his throat again.

"When Nich saw his girlfriend cheating on him he stepped out and said one word 'Why?'. To which the girl replied 'You know I never really loved you right? I was just playing along so I could break you. My friends dared me and I did it, and honestly I don't feel sorry'. Nich just turned on his heel and left, Stacy, Dylan and I followed him and we tried to help him get through everything. That girl had led Nich on for two years before taking his heart and ripping it apart. Nich started to withdraw from the world, only speaking to Stacy, Dylan, myself, his parents, and Fred who had given me my coin the day we found out Nich's 'girlfriend' cheated on him. And I suppose you all know what the last straw was huh? Nich's parents, Jade and John died in a plane crash a few months after the breakup. When we got the message Stacy, Dylan, and I convinced our parents to get ready to move to whatever state Nich was in. Nich messaged me the other day and told me that he was at long island sound, so my parents bought a house near here and sent me off to central park to find him. Stacy and Dylan should be arriving soon, since now that I think about it, I believe Stacy and Dylan are also demigods." Tanner finished up as he leaned back and looked around

I looked around and found that the other hunters had looks of disbelief on their faces, whereas Artemis was looking at Nich with a small amount of sadness. Then I had a thought.

"How did Nich contact you?" I asked as I turned my head towards Tanner

"He has a phone that was given to him by the two-military personal that came to his house before the funeral." Tanner responded and I nodded

Artemis stood up and cleared her throat "Alright, everyone time for bed, Tanner, we will allow you to sleep in here since you're a close friend of Nich's but don't get any ideas, or I'll make sure you won't be getting any ideas again" Artemis said and Tanner smiled and nodded

"Of course Lady Artemis" Tanner said as he laid down on the floor next to Nich's bunk

I stood up with the other hunters as Artemis walked into her room with Nich's staff. I walked to my bunk and laid down before slipping into the realm of Morpheus.

A/N: Hey Guys! This will probably be the one chapter I will get out before I don't get any out for a while, after this however, I'll be a little slow on the chapters since I will be recovering. So Take care my friends and I'll do what I can do to keep getting chapters out.

~Major Nich