The Fourth Inheritor (A Percy Jackson/Chaos Fanfic) [Complete]

Chapter Eighteen: Or Not

Naturally, that was when everything went wrong.

Naudia decided to run out and get some more milk from the convenience store, and she promised to be back in time to read Diane a bedtime story. Chaos got a bad feeling then.

Ariadne smiled and told her to come back soon. The bad feeling got worse.

They said they loved each other, and Naudia gave quick kisses to the kids. The bad feeling was now a terrible feeling.

Diane happily waved goodbye while Sean smiled at Naudia, a green bean poking out of his mouth like he was sticking out his tongue. Chaos clenched his fists, knowing that he couldn't interfere. He couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't. He closed his eyes as the terrible feeling continued.

Thirty minutes later, Naudia was at the check-out of the nearby convenience store when someone in a ski mask came in. They had a gun in one hand and a small bag in the other. Chaos wanted with all he had to go there and stop what was coming. He couldn't. Not for the first time, he cursed the Fates. He cursed Eternity as well, for bringing him to Haven in the first place. What was the point of all he could do, if he couldn't actually do anything?

Thirty-five minutes after Naudia had left, the police arrived at the convenience store along with the paramedics. Injuries were treated, and most were questioned by the police. Two were not. Two were rushed to the hospital. One was the cashier, a young man who was brave enough to hit the silent alarm. The other was Naudia.

An hour later, Ariadne, Sean, and Diane were sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. Ariadne's face was tear-streaked, her eyes red, but she was trying not to cry now. Sean was silent, his jaw clenched and face pale, lips in a thin line as he too tried not to cry. Diane didn't know exactly what was going on, but her eyebrows were scrunched together and her lips turned downwards in an upset yet confused frown. She was the one to break the silence.

"Mommy, when is Mama gonna be here? She promised to read me a bedtime story," Diane asked the question so innocently that Chaos felt like his heart might literally break. Ariadne turned to look at her, tears no longer obeying as they fell once more. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Shut up!" Sean stood up suddenly, hands clenched by his sides, as he yelled at Diane. "She isn't here right now! She isn't coming back!"

Ariadne turned to Sean, standing up to put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged her off. Ariadne sighed a little but let him be. She knew how much he disliked hospitals after his parents' deaths, and this certainly wasn't helping anything. "She'll be fine, Sean."

Diane looked between the two of them, lower lip quivering. "Mama's gone?"

"No, sweetheart," Ariadne said. "She's just visiting with the doctors for a bit."

Sean scoffed at that but didn't say anything else. He just went to the other side of the waiting room to sit by himself.

Finally, well past midnight, the surgeon came out to talk to Ariadne. Diane was asleep with her head on Ariadne's lap, and Sean had moved back over with them, his head on Ariadne's shoulder. Chaos already knew what the surgeon was going to say. Naudia was in the ICU, but she probably wouldn't be much longer.