Puppets (Percy Jackson AU)

Hazel

So sorry for the late update! Oh, and do NOT judge Rachel right away. ;) Tell me anything that you'd like to see in later chapters! x

OFFICIAL PUPPETS IG: puppets_wattpad

[15]//HAZEL//:

Hazel wasn't sure how to comprehend everything.

"Bianca Di Angelo and Zoë Nightshade are dead." The sentence played over and over again in her mind, like a song on repeat.

Bianca, her beloved sister, and Zoë, Bianca's mature superior, were dead, and Hazel had helped. That was the worst part.

At first, she had sat there, stunned. Then she jumped up, frantically looking around for Bianca. When it finally hit her that no, Bianca wasn't there and wouldn't ever be, everything went black.

She had woken up to see Rachel hovering over her. "Haze? You alright?" The redheaded girl had questioned her.

Hazel swatted away Rachel's outstretched hand, and fell in on herself, crumpling. "It's all your fault! We killed them, and you know it!" She tried to scream, but through her tears, it came out a garbled mess.

"Ignore it," Rachel said to bystanders. "Her sister just passed on, she's a bit out of it." The people hmmed in sympathy and Rachel dragged Hazel away.

Now, Hazel was in her dorm. She faced the wall, sitting cross legged on her bed. If she turned around, she would see Zoë and Bianca's beds. If she saw the beds, she'd start sobbing and never stop. It was as simple as that.

One wicked part of her was voicing it's horrifying opinion. Now that Bianca's gone, Nico's your brother now. You have the one thing you wanted more than anyone else. A family. Congratulations, Hazel.

No, Hazel thought desperately. No, that's not right.

Yes, the voice replied vindictively. Yes, it is, Hazel.

There was a knock on the door and Hazel still didn't turn around. Then she heard the doorknob turn, and Frank Zhang's voice. "Hazel? You in there?" She didn't answer.

Frank stepped into the room. "Oh, Hazel." She heard his footsteps rushing over to her, and quickly, Frank's arm was around her shoulders.

"I don't understand," Hazel mumbled.

"It's ok," Frank said soothingly, patting her arm.

"That's it!" Hazel jumped up. "Understanding!" She rushed over to Rachel's easel, taking out the camcorder hidden within the paintbrushes. "Frank, I'm sorry, but I need to figure something out. I'll explain later."

Bewildered, confused, and disappointed, Frank disappeared through the door. Hazel flipped to the first video she saw and hit play. It was a summary of Rachel's first day at the academy the year prior. Hazel skipped some until she found what she was looking for.

"Listen, I have to stop these soon." Rachel explained to the camera. "Something big is about to go down, and things have changed. Miranda, Lacy, Drew, Hazel and I are going to do something major to Bianca and Thalia, assuming the plan goes in order."

The screen went dark. It sounded as though Rachel was sending these to someone. Hazel flipped back a few until she found who.

"Hey, L. So, merry Christmas!" was all Hazel needed. Someone named L.

Hazel grabbed the camcorder, shoving it in her pocket, and grabbed her own voice recorder that Rachel had given her. She turned the voice recorder on and went to find Rachel.

"Hey Rach." Hazel said once she had found R.E.D in the common room. "Listen, I want an explanation."

"On what?" Rachel questioned, pulling Hazel into a secluded hallway.

"Why we had to kill them." Hazel stated, her voice shaking with anger.

Rachel put her hands in a surrender position. "I told you I didn't mean to kill-"

"My sister." Hazel raged. "Want to know something? I have a ten year old half brother. Bianca's full brother. Ten years old, and his big sister is dead because of you."

"If you haven't noticed, you participated in the deaths too." Rachel said, her tone eerily calm.

"I was blinded by jealous. Exactly like you right now." Hazel pointed out, and then sighed. "Listen, Rachel, I just want an explanation on your drive to stop the stupid competition, and why you had to harm innocent people in the process."

"I want to be popular, Hazel. You know that." Rachel said, her eyes steely, placid.

"Popularity." Hazel laughed scornfully. "So you want to harm people to be popular?" Obviously, Rachel wasn't in a right state of mind to be explaining, not herself. But Hazel had gotten exactly what she needed.

"Thank you for your time," Hazel said joyfully, extracting the recorder from her pocket and waving it around with glee.

Rachel's face changed from peaceful to anger in a split second. "You bitch." She growled, diving at the younger girl.

Hazel squeaked, jumping aside and pocketing the recorder. She hadn't been expecting it, but it's what you get for being cocky and showing the recorder, she reminded herself.

Rachel grabbed her arm, twisting it up. Hazel kicked her, but Rachel wouldn't relent. Hazel thrashed a little, kicking off Rachel to get away and landing on her butt a few metres away.

Hazel stood unsteadily, but Rachel shoved her into the wall. The dark skinned girl kicked out as Rachel pinned her there and slammed her head against the wall. Hazel bit back from crying out as she kicked at the redheaded girl. Her head was pounding. She released her hand and punched Rachel in the eye. Rachel recoiled, dropping Hazel with an unceremonious thud.

Hazel's head slammed against the floor and her vision blurred. She struggled to sit up, but she had lost orientation of what way was up and down.

Then there was someone else there, Hazel could tell. "Get lost!" The newcomer barked at Rachel. Hazel heard retreating footsteps.

The person bent down beside her. "Haze? Are you okay? What happened?"

But Hazel's vision was tunnelling, and it went dark before she had time to answer Frank Zhang.