Going Under... {Q} (Avery/Deimos)

[Ryan Simons]

Do you wanna be somebody else?
Are you sick of feeling so left out?
Are you desperate to find something more?
Before your life is over
Are you stuck inside a world you hate?
Are you sick of everyone around?
With their big fake smiles and stupid lies
While deep inside you're bleeding

~Welcome to My Life, Simple Plan[/size][/font][/right]

Ryan had woken Avery up after an hour, give or take a couple of seconds. He said give or take since there was no way to measure time on this land mass. They didn't have a watch or anything. Ryan could of watched the sky; he had learned how to sort of tell time from celestial objects, but it was still clearing up from the storm. It was way to unclear for him to be absolutely sure of what time of day it was. Since he had promised Avery, he had resorted to counting Mississippi's. She probably trusted him. He still had no idea why she would, but it seemed she did. Despite Ryan having horrible issues about trusting, he had to trust Avery. Now, they both had to trust eachother with their lives. Before, Ryan had never trusted anyone, not even himself at times, but now it was all changing. Everything was just collapsing around him. All for the worse. He had picked Aria and Avery because he had trusted them a bit. He had just been to stubborn to confess that to himself. After the boat crashed, he had realized that he had come to trust them more and more. With each passing moment, his trust and even like for them grew. He had let Aria down, no way was he doing that to Avery.

Every time sixty Mississippi passed, he would draw a mark in the soggy ground and start all over again. Yes, he actually did know that there were sixty seconds in a minute and then sixty minutes in an hour. Courtesy of his limited education. He sighed and looked up at the sky. The worse of the storm was gone, and was now just lightly raining. Kath had told him that nature reflected a person's mood sometimes. The rain and gloom was defiantly reflecting his mood. Considering he hadn't moved much, his ADHD had actually sort of behaved. Ryan was beginning to think that his mind was to full of thoughts and emotions to be fidgeting around much. He was still tense and on guard, but his eyes were just sort of dull and the fire had completely died. Just as the water had extinguished Aria, it had, to an extent, destroyed him as well.

He had continued to look around for marigold, but had had no luck so far. What kind of forest was this?! At least Kath had always had a shed of herbs that were easily accessible. Ryan had begun to think she had found them in the forest between the houses. His arm had begun to throb a bit, but he just sucked it in like everything else. He could deal with injury. He had been ever since he was three. Besides, Ryan had no right to complain. He never had. Avery's head was probably much worse. She could of gotten a concussion. Ryan wasn't sure what the symptoms or anything was; he only knew that it was bad. His stomach twisted unpleasantly and his guilt started to eat at him. This was all Ryan's fault that they were in this whole mess. The horrible sense of guilt kept pounding through his veins. It was almost unbearable, but he just dealt with it. Just be strong, pretend nothing's wrong, you're fine... He'd never forgive himself, but he'd accept that he was fine after a while. He was completely and undeniably fine.... That would get through his head after a while. Ryan kept trying to find his edge to bounce back off of again, but kept failing horribly.

Having a small, informal burial for Aria hadn't helped much. If anything, it had just opened up the old wound again. He thought he had gotten it under control while Avery slept. The hour by himself for him to think hadn't been that good, but he had thought that he had gotten his emotions in check. That went straight out the window. It had been nice, but it had also hurt. Ryan thought he had kept it together well, sorta. He knew he was sort of going soft, but he really couldn't help it. His wall and mask had shattered into a million plus pieces and he had no idea how long it would take to piece it back. Avery had gotten in; she had gotten a one way ticket in. She was now, in his eyes, an actual friend. He'd never voice that though; he still did have his stubborn edge and that wasn't leaving. It was rather odd. He hadn't had a friend in a long... long time. He was finding that he actually really liked and trusted her, even though half of him was to stubborn to admit it to even himself.

After the small burial, Ryan tried to piece himself up enough to suggest they try and find some food and a water source. A human could survive tree minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food. Air wasn't a problem unless they went plunging into the ocean again. The boy gave an involuntary shiver. He was not going near any water for the rest of his life. The matter came down to food and water. Ryan would rather find both now than waiting until they were starved. Perhaps there were some coconuts in this place. They could serve as both food and drink. Coconuts or maybe some fruit growing in the trees. Even though his arm was still on the heal, he would and could climb up a tree to get them if need be. He'd rather get a scar on his arm rather than starve to death.

OOC: Hope this is okay ^^ Tell me if you want me to fix ANYTHING
Character Name: Ryan Simons aka Little Buddy
Mood: Upset, Guilty
To: Avery Reynolds-Daughter of Hermes
Deimos-God of Terror
IC Word Count: 962

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Sleeping had not been the most successful move of Avery's life, but at least she'd been able to get a reasonable nap in. It was a dreamless, shallow sleep - she had woken up the instant Ryan had shaken her shoulder. There had been a moment where her vision was fuzzy, but it had cleared up after a few minutes. Her head was still pounding - it wasn't likely that it was going to stop any time soon. The pain had lessened, and it felt like her head had stopped bleeding. She reached back to feel her head again, and the jacket sleeve Ryan had used to bandage her head was crusty with dried blood. She was lucky she hadn't died of blood loss, or blunt trauma to the head. It didn't sting as much as it had before, but there was still pain.

Gods, she wanted to be back at camp right now. Anywhere else other than this hellhole. Ryan was pretty much her only reason for not teleporting back to camp right now, and the knowledge that they had a quest to complete. And Aria. That too. Avery knew that just giving up, when they'd lost her, would be like an insult to her memory. No, they had to keep going, and Avery would help Ryan see this quest through even if it killed her. However, she wasn't completely ignorant. She understood very well that Ryan more than likely needed her to stay alive just as much as she needed him to stay alive. This was a situation that neither of them could afford to lose.

Once she'd woken up, Avery had decided to hold the makeshift burial for their little fireball. She'd been the one to do most of it - Ryan didn't look like he could do much without falling to pieces, so Avery had taken the initiative. It was something that she felt was right - something that had to be done. They didn't have much time to grieve for Aria, because there was a quest they needed to finish, but once they got back to camp Avery had plans to make sure that the daughter of Apollo was buried properly, even though they didn't have a body. She deserved at least that. Not just some flower buried in the ground.

Like Ryan, though, Avery was having a hard time keeping it together. She'd started crying a little during their little burial, after she'd said a few words. "I'm sorry we couldn't save you, little fireball," she'd said. "I wish we could have done more for you. I can at least promise that we'll never forget you." It wasn't going to be enough, nothing ever was going to be. Gods, if Avery could have done one thing, it would have been to go back in time and save Aria's life. Regrets like this were the worst thing to have on a person's conscience, she had decided, and nothing was ever going to take away the pain of knowign that she could probably have done something more, something to prevent it from happening.

Ryan had suggested that they try and find some food before they passed out. "Sounds like a good idea, little buddy," Avery told him, her voice rough from crying. She swept some of her blond hair away from her face, though it was a little difficult with the jacket sleeve in the way. But Avery didn't want to take it off - she was afraid of what they would find underneath. "And maybe we can find out what exactly we're doing here. Find out what exactly we need to do to get this quest finished and go home." Because right now, there was nothing Avery wanted more than to get home to her siblings, hug every single one of them, and maybe even hug Az.

Avery refused to think about him right now. She was on a quest, and she couldn't afford to think about whether or not she was developing a crush on the son of Thanatos. After all, there was no knowing whether or not she would actually die on this quest. Her chances of living were slim, and they had become even slimmer considering as she probably had some kind of concussion. She didn't have high expectations about her fate. The pair of them came upon a palm tree that had a coconut or two hanging down.

"Think you could get up there and get us some of those, little buddy?" she asked. She smiled apologetically. "Typically I'd volunteer, being a kid of Hermes and all, but... I don't know what heights will do to me right now."

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan had really hoped that Avery could of gotten more sleep. But she had said an hour, and he had stuck to that. He had no idea what he would of done with himself if he let her slip into coma, have to much blood loss or worse... it'd just be like Aria all over again. Just letting another quest member slip through his fingers... His fireless grey-blue eyes flickered over the daughter of Hermes. She looked awful, no offense to her. "How's your head?" he asked quietly, taking a look as she went to touch her makeshift bandage. Of course it probably wasn't, it still probably stung to Hades. Ryan had remembered instances where he had been bashed in the head with a staff. Head injuries were not pleasant in the slightest. He looked down at the remainder of his jacket. "Think we should switch out the bandage?" he asked. Ryan was okay with blood since he had seen so much of it, but he couldn't help a small twinge of guilt and slight panic at the thought of seeing Avery's head wound. Keeping the same dried blood as a bandage wouldn't really help. It could possibly just irritate it more. Plus, the cut needed some air every once in a while.

Every few minutes he kept glancing around to try and find marigold. They had bandages, now they really had to find a way to keep the infection out.... gah if they were all at Camp this would of never of... He sighed and glanced around again, rubbing his neck. Sure, he had said he hated Camp. Did he really mean it? Not really; not all the time, anyway. If he was honest with himself, Camp had to be the closest thing he had to a home. He had stayed there for only three years, versus being with Kath for nine, but Camp had treated him more like home. He twisted it up a lot and made it seem miserable, but it was much better than getting beat up for no random reason. Better than starving, better than staying in a room with no heat and alone all the time... It was true that he wanted to get out sometimes though. On his own time though; he did not imagine his departure from Camp being semi-forced and going with the responsibility for two other people's lives, one of whose he had already destroyed. His stomach rolled over at that thought.

Avery had done fine at the burial. He felt really bad that all he could do was just stare blankly and nod; he had let Avery take over, and some guilt was prickling at him for that. Ryan didn't think he could of said anything without just shattering his million pieces into billions. This was never going to be okay with him... ever. Avery seemed to of chocked up a bit; that was fine, she did better than Ryan would of. His eyes slightly had gone slightly blurry after he had seen her start crying out of the corner of his eye, but other than that, he had kept it together. He sighed. So many things he would of done, should of done, could of done... For one, he would of gone to find a monster to prevent him from ever entering Camp. Secondly, he would of gotten into a fight with Edmund... he would of also of saved his real aunt's life. Lila's life... if he could of. He was only three at the time, but he could dream. Ryan had always regretted killing Ed. From the moment he snapped at him to now.

He looked at Avery from the corner of his eye and then started into the forest. Good idea? He never came up with them. Taking them on this quest for example... Ryan just wanted to get Avery something to eat and drink before her her condition worsened. He was used to the cold, staying up and not eating. Wow, this had probably been the longest hours of staying awake in his life. He didn't feel at all tired, surprisingly. Then something dimly buzzed in the back of his mind and a goddess was shaking him uncharacteristically: "Ever kissed a girl? Baked chocolate chip cookies? Pulled an all-nighter, for fun? Ridden a bike? ANSWER THE QUESTIONS!" the voice screamed in his head. Nike... right. Oh shoot! His head shot in a different direction, the situation going out of his head for a moment. Nike... he had entirely forgotten. He knocked the side of a rock with his foot to make sure. Ryan half sighed in relief, feeling something hard separating his foot from the rock. The boy reached down into his shoe and took out a pocket knife. Thank the gods it was still in there. It was just as it was the day she had given it to him. Sharpie and all. He exhaled and put it back, just grateful that it was still there. All-nighter... that was what had triggered that thought of the goddess. Had he just pulled an all-nighter? If he had, it surely hadn't been for fun.

Before leaving the makeshift home, he had taken his dagger, his disk and (apparently) Nike's pocket knife. He had put them in his clothing respectively for protection and mostly out of habit. He had taken his staff more for support and for use as a walking stick. The only thing he had left back were his swords. He didn't really feel like fighting. At all. They then stopped at the base of a coconut tree. Well, at least they had found what he had in mind. He opened his mouth to say that he'd get it when Avery started to talk to him him. "Sure," he said, looking up the tree. "No problem..." he exhaled. The least he owed her and could do for her was to get her food and water. "No, it's fine..." Ryan didn't see why she was apologizing for anything; he should be... he probably start babbling and confessing like crazy in a few hours. Besides, she was in no condition to be climbing. Ryan sized up the tree and started to climb upwards. His arm hurt, but he really didn't care and just ignored it. All he was interested in was moving upwards towards the coconuts.

OOC: Ugh. Sorry for the wait... and the length *head wall* You know the deal, just tell me if you want me to change anything
Character Name: Ryan Simons
Mood: Sad, Upset, Guilty, Protective
To: Avery Reynolds-Daughter of Hermes
IC Word Count: 1,082

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery shook her head at Ryan's inquiries. "My head's fine, little buddy," she lied. "Let's focus on this quest first before we start worrying about my head being bandaged." Granted, her head was pounding a little, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been about an hour ago. The blood loss was making her feel a little dizzy and weak, but Avery knew she had to pull through. She was stubborn - she refused to die here on fromt forsaken island. It wasn't going to end like this. She had to stick around to protect her little buddy from whatever awaited them. Something told her that their quest was going to come to an end reasonably soon, but before they had the chance to go home, they were going to be faced with something big.

She picked up her hoodie when they'd left their little makeshift shelter, and shook it out to get the dirt from it. There was a blood stain, probably from her head, that stained a small portion of it, but Avery shouldered it back on anyway. There was no denying that she was actually really cold, and as soon as she'd put on that hoodie jacket, it alleviated some of that coldness. As she and Ryan walked, she made sure he wasn't looking before she reached her hand up into the bandage to pull one of her hairpins from her hair. She unclipped it into one of her trusty throwing knives, the only weapons she had at this point. There was no knowing what the hell else was on this island or whatever it was, and it never hurt to be prepared.

Ryan started climbing the tree, and so Avery took on the ever dutiful sentry position, her eyes flickering about at everything that moved. A bush rustling in the wind, a bug crawling on the grass, the usual stuff. Every few seconds though she'd realize that she was having trouble concentrating on one thing for too long, or she'd get dizzy, like her brain was incapable of focusing too hard on something. It was either her ADHD in hyperdrive or her head was in worse condition than she thought. Avery had assumed it was just a head wound - nothing too bad. She didn't like thinking that she actually had a legitimate concussion. It sounded a lot worse than just getting her head hit.

Ryan returned with two coconuts. One for him, and one for her. Avery knew it wasn't much, but it was all they could get right now. Both of them needed to take whatever they could get, and Avery knew that she probably needed the sustenance more, but she'd never admit it to herself or to Ryan. Avery sat down and leaned against the tree, careful not to rest her head on it. "Thanks, little buddy," she said with sincere gratefulness as she stabbed into the coconut with her throwing knive. She drank down the coconut milk almost greedily, and her stomach rumbled its appreciation. Avery pulled away and looked over at Ryan. "What do you think we should do after this? Look around for trouble?"

Trouble. It used to be Avery's middle name, practically, but right now she loathed that fact. She drank the rest of the coconut milk and cut her coconut in half and started carving out the actual edible part of it. "All we need are some lawn chairs and Florida weather, and this would be paradise, huh, little buddy?" Avery chuckled bitterly. She looked around, wondering what they needed to do to get out of here.

[Ryan Simons]

And you see the things they never see
All you wanted, I could be
Now you know me, and I'm not afraid
And I wanna tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man?
They can't break me
As long as I know who I am

~I'm Still Here, GooGoo Dolls[/size][/font][/right]

Ryan only half rolled his eyes at the Avery's answer. "Yeah, right..." he said in a grumble. He'd believe her head was fine when he convinced himself that he didn't kill Aria. Good luck with that... he thought internally. "Alright," he muttered back. He bit his tongue and refrained himself from going into it again. But then again, they couldn't really finish if she went unconscious from blood loss. The boy rolled his eyes. Avery, going around a gods forsaken land with barely any sleep and a head injury with no ambrosia or nectar? That was not a good combination for her, or anyone for that matter. Ryan really wanted to get Avery out of this place as soon as possible. The faster they could get out of here, the better. He really wanted to believe that they could just get enough strength to get back to Camp without any problems, but knowing demigod luck that would never happen. Add onto the fact that this was a quest, then the odds were completely against them.

Quests were supposed to be miserable, scar-for-life, killing off demigod strategies, weren't they? Ryan could honestly see no good coming out of this. Not one scrap of it. Then again, when did anything he do in his life yield a good result? They had lost Aria, had lost everything on the stupid boat, Avery was hurt and they were both washed up on some foreign shore only gods knew where. As they continued to walk, Ryan kept his dagger out. It was mostly out of habit and protection. He wanted to believe that he could fight if he needed to, but he wasn't sure. The demigod sort of didn't feel sure of anything any more. If the time came and he absolutely had to, he'd probably be able to snap himself together enough to defend himself decently and come out alive; as alive as he could, anyway. Then he remembered his mental promise to both of them and his stubbornness flared. Okay, scratch before. He would fight. He would come out alive and he would protect Avery to the end of his life.

The climb up the tree hadn't been that bad. Minus the fact that his arm hated him every nanosecond. At least one of his last activities before going on the quest had been the lava wall. As crazy of an activity as it was (like his training in his past home) it actually worked. Ryan could now climb; at least this tree climbing attempt had been easier than the one he had tried when he was younger. The tree didn't have lava shooting out of it, thankfully. Ryan wasn't that interested in getting another burn or getting cut up again for that matter. He wouldn't really care, but it'd be better if he didn't. On his progression down, he glanced a few times at Avery. Her eyes were sort of switching around like crazy. It could of been the ADHD... or her head. His stomach sank. He got back down with two coconuts and his cut up arm sort of shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't so much as to be noticed, but Ryan felt tremors going down it.

Avery took hers and immediately mauled it. With a dagger. Wait, a dagger? He gave her a double take. "Were'd you get that?" he asked curiously. "Oh, no problem," he said back, shrugging slightly. Ryan felt like he shouldn't really be thanked for anything. Ruining her life? Yes. For getting a meager coconut? Not so much. He wished it could of been something more sustainable. Ryan looked at his own and sort of felt sick to his stomach. He hadn't exactly been starving from the beginning. Ryan was used to not having much food and in all honesty, Avery needed it more because of her head. "I'm not hungry..." he said truthfully. He felt that if he did eat, he'd just throw it up. "You have it," he said, extending it towards her. Ryan didn't really have the energy to have a verbal argument over this; his mind was made up. Either she eat it or he'd just leave it. "If the so called trouble gets us out of this Hades hole, then yes," he half growled. He was not going to mark his or Avery's grave here. They were going to leave, alive, and make it back to Camp. They were, end of story. Hopefully.

Half, not even, of what Avery asked next made sense to him. From the sound of her voice though, she didn't sound to happy. "Uh-huh..." he said flatly, keeping a watch out as she ate; just as she had when he was climbing the tree. He wasn't that interested in what the things she mentioned were. They weren't going to help them here and they weren't going to bring Aria back. That much he knew.

OOC: Hope this is alright
Character Name: Ryan Simons aka Little Buddy! ^^
Mood: Sort of Stubborn, Protective, Guilty
To: Avery "Ave" Reynolds-Daugher of Hermes
IC Word Count: 846

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery used her dagger to cut open two more holes in her coconut, remembering having read somewhere that simply cutting open a coconut wouldn't work. Finally satisfied with the other two holes, Avery turned around towards the tree and smashed the coconut into two separate halves just like she'd read. Her stomach grumbled again at the thought of actually getting food into it, so using her dagger as a mixture between a spoon and a knife, she began carving up the actual nut part and started eating it. Whoever invented coconuts was a genius, and whoever figured out that you could eat it was also a genius. The tropics had it right - fresh coconuts were delicious.

"Huh? I've had this dagger for a while. It's more of a throwing knife - I have two more of them tucked in my hair as hairpins," Avery explained as she swallowed a bite of the coconut meat. She used her little weapon to cut/smash up more of the meat inside her meal, and she looked around to see if she could make anything of their surroundings. Wherever they were, they couldn't possibly be too far from New York, because they hadn't sailed far enough to be somewhere tropical or warm or whatever. It was actually fairly chilly out, with a breeze blowing. Avery was pretty glad that she had her hoodie jacket on, considering as it probably would have been ten times colder without it. Briefly, she wondered if Ryan was doing okay. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked fine on the outside, on the physical level, other than the fact that his arm was bandaged up.

But she was extremely aware that he was probably suffering on the inside, just as much as she was if not more. No matter how optimistic she appeared about the situation, the fact of the matter was they still had lost Aria and there was nothing that was going to change that. Thinking about Aria made Avery pause for a second, and she bowed her head and stared down at the coconut. At this point, she had realized that mourning the daughter of Apollo was not going to help anything about the situation they were in. There was always going to be a part of her that blamed herself for the loss, and Avery knew that there was probably a heck of a lot more she could have done to prevent it, and she was probably never going to willingly so swimming ever again.

"No, thanks, little buddy. I'm good on coconut over here," she said, blowing a strand of her blond hair away from her face. Her head still pounding a little bit and wrapped, but at least it was better than it had been. Avery carved up some more of the coconut meat and chewed on it as she contemplated what they were going to do. She couldn't remember the prophecy in its entirety, or what its exact wording was, but she knew that it hadn't been very clear on what they were supposed to accomplish. It had said something about starting a war, but that didn't seem plausible to her at all. What kind of war were they supposed to be starting, anyway?

"Funny, how fate seems to bring such different people together," came a foreign voice from their left. Avery whipped her head around and winced when that made her head throb a little. "It's nice to know you finally made it - but it looks like you failed to keep one of you alive. I suspected as much, though. I was surprised when I figured out it was you two worthless pipsqueaks that were going to start it all." This newcomer looked fairly short, wearing a leather jacket and dark sunglasses. He had a swagger to his walk, and there was something about him that screamed dangerous. Avery tightened her grip on her dagger and glanced over at Ryan. Looks like whatever this was, was about to go down.

OOC: Wasn't sure if that's how you wanted me to introduce Deimos - if you want me to change it just let me know.

[Ryan Simons]

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life

~Welcome to My Life, Simple Plan[/size][/font][/right]

Ryan watched Avery carving up, cutting and bashing the coconut out of the corner of his eye. To an extent, it almost amused him. Then again, the reason why she was doing it was no where near funny. Ryan silently cursed the ocean. O Mighty FishFace and his dad wouldn't be happy if they heard what was going on in Ryan's head, but no one really ever understood Ryan at all; externally or internally. He gave himself a minute to calm down and then glanced back at Avery for a moment as he heard a crack; it turned out to be Avery hammering the coconut into the tree and it splitting apart. At any rate, it looked like she was yielding fairly good results out of her methods. He looked down at the coconut that was still in his scarred hands and turned it slightly. A slight tingle went though his back, starting from the spot where it had gotten hit. After exhaling through his mouth, he glanced around and went back to being sentry.

A certain chill was around the area, Ryan wasn't sure if he was going insane or if it the weather was just cold. Insanity was sort of an option in his head right now. His head was going in a million or so ways, his arm hated him, and he felt sick to his stomach. He didn't have his jacket on, it was still tied around his waist from last night. He knew he wasn't helping himself that much, but he didn't care at all. Even though it was cold, Ryan just ignored it, sucked it up and dealt with it. It was his choice to keep his jacket off, not anyone else's. Ryan looked around, wondering where this gods forsaken land mass was on the continent. It didn't feel like this place was the tropics or anywhere near the equator, not with this chill going on. That, plus they hadn't taken the boat very far before... Then again, when he thought of finding coconuts, he thought of somewhere topical. Ah well, as always, his thoughts were wrong.

"Oh, alright..." he said, his grey-blue eyes flicking up to her hair for a moment. She had him in her hair, he had his in his clothing... concealed weapons, great. Aside from the staff that was resting on the ground, no other weapons were visibly on him. He dimly wondered how Avery was doing. Ryan had to faintly admit to himself that if she hadn't been there, he would of probably of gone off the deep end. She seemed so optimistic and all, even though Ryan knew that she was probably hurting. He was beginning to think that she had the right idea, sort of. He wasn't going to become Mr. Sunshine, but bashing themselves up and mourning wasn't going to bring Aria back and it wasn't going to get them off the island or wherever they were. Ryan sighed and started to try and pull himself back together again. He had tried last night, while watching over Avery in the tree. He hoped he'd be a bit more successful this time. He thought of the ocean. Water. Someone had to dump him in a body of water and force teach him how to swim, because he was not going to relive this again. Or so he hoped.

"Okay," Ryan nodded. "If you want it, it'll still be here," he offered, rolling the coconut from hand to hand. Avery needed it for her head and after all the hard work she had done, dragging him through half the ocean. He had honestly been hungry at first, and then, after getting it his stomach had started beating him up. It had happened after he realized that he had gotten two. He should of been getting three. Then he gave himself a mental slap. Yes, he should be beating himself up, but not until they got out of here. He had to focus his energy on helping and protecting Avery, since he failed at Aria. At this point, he had also forgotten half the prophecy. What the high hades were they even supposed to be doing out here? His arm continued to uncontrollably shake. Even though Ryan did his best to make it not noticeable, it wasn't really working. The harder he tried to make it stop, the harder it shook and the more noticeable it became. Stupid arm.... Ryan groaned internally, getting more and more frustrated with each tremor.

The fifteen year old whipped around to his left as a voice reached his ears, gripping the coconut in his good arm. He was on guard, as usual, but he couldn't help but feel unsettled; he had thought that they were alone on this land mass. He found yet another thing he was a failure at, look out duty. Why couldn't he just come to reality with it, live with it and stop trying to do things right? He'd always be a failure at everything. Every thing he did, he messed up. He glared at the newcomer and did the best to scrap himself together. "Who are you? What do you want!?" he demanded in a semi-weak growl. He automatically went on the offensive and moved closer to Avery. At the sight of the person, and at his words, Ryan felt himself getting his edge back. "And I didn't know that we ordered a small midget, unneeded comment on the side!" Ryan snapped back, sarcasm edging his voice and fire shooting back into his eyes. The new comer had just hit close to home. Way to close. Ryan had failed to keep Aria alive and he knew that. Just like Ed and Alex, he would always carry the knowledge that he killed them; that he once again failed, as a demigod, as a leader and as a friend.

Hearing it from a complete midget stranger who seemed to know everything just made it worse, by a ten fold. They didn't need it rubbed in their faces. Which posed a question. How did he know everything? Different emotions shot into his mixed god, mortal bloodstream. Gods only knew why, but it snapped him back together again; anger and stubbornness shot into the forefront of his mind. How dare this complete stranger just show up and rub the facts in their faces! All of the sudden, he was quite aware that he had a coconut in his hand and that it was in his good arm; he gripped it slightly harder than necessary and felt the rough surface of it graze his fingertips, but he didn't care. It was hard and it was a projectile, that was a good combination. He also had a dagger and disk, but right now, the coconut was the thing in his hand. Ryan glared at the man and without thinking, threw the coconut, hard. Right at the short man's head.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Avery tense and give him a slight look. All of the sudden, Ryan was getting the feeling that this was the 'big thing' that was going to happen. Hopefully that coconut would make contact, and they wouldn't have to deal with an aggravating small person.

OOC: No, no, that post was absolutely fine! Sorry about my word count, if you want me to change anything, let me know.
Character Name: Ryan Simons aka Little Buddy
Mood: Upset, Guilty, Protective, Angry
To: Avery Reynolds-Daugher of Hermes
Deimos-God of Terror
IC Word Count: 1,235

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery wondered how well she was doing, for a daughter of Hermes who'd had her head practically bashed in by a rock with little sleep. Here she was, eating the insides of a fresh coconut with a dagger, with a shirt wrapped around her head like some kind of messed up turban. She was on some forsaken island, or whatever landmass this was, without any idea as to how far Camp Half-Blood was and no means to get them back. Well, technically, she was able to teleport and could probably get them back that way, but Avery wouldn't do that unless they had no other choice. She wasn't exactly the best at it - only prime children of Hermes were skilled with teleporting. Not to mention just the idea of it made her nervous. Living at Camp Half-Blood had taught her to deal with a lot of abnormal things, but for some reason teleporting seemed to be pushing her limits.

She smiled warmly over at Ryan when he notified her that the coconut would still be up for grabs if she was still hungry. "I'm fine, little buddy. This will tide me over until we find something else," she said in reply, even though it was somewhat of a lie. Avery was ravenous. She was pretty sure she'd be able to scarf down three five-course meals and still have room in her stomach for more. But quite frankly, she needed to know that Ryan would have a chance to eat too, even though at this point it was obvious he wasn't going to eat anything.

Just with a quick glance though, it was obvious that Ryan wasn't doing so well either. His arm was shaky. It had to be either the loss of blood, or the fact the he too was in a great deal of pain. Gods, this quest was just getting worse and worse by the minute. And, of course, it looked like was was going to take another downward turn when another strange showed up, practically out of nowhere. Avery observed him with a critical, wary eye, tensing only slightly as she gripped her dagger tighter. Coconut breakfast time was over. Setting down the coconut subtly, she tried to look over at Ryan to try and tell him to keep his cool, but his little buddy had already thrown the coconut at the midget stranger after demanding information from him. "Calm down, little buddy. Roll with the punches. We've got to get through this."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Deimos smirked. It was so easy to rile up sons of Ares, and this one was no different. Before their very eyes, his leather jacket melted away from vision and revealed his long-sleeved shirt underneath. Casually, as if he did this every day, he rolled up the sleeves and smirked at the idea of what was about to happen. He had no intention of killing both of them, maybe one of them for sport. One of them had to survive though, he knew at least that. Someone had to be able and physically capable of making it back to camp in order to make the announcement he had planned. After all, this was their purpose. This was what their quest was about, as he'd decided. It was time to start this war. While he and his brother were still recruiting, and it was a slower process than they were expecting, they still had a force formidable enough to be known.

There was no point in keeping these stupid demi-gods in the dark any longer.

"Even though your tone of voice was rather angry and impatient, I'll answer your question anyway," he said with that menacing smile on his face. Looking down at his hands as he continued to roll up one of his sleeves, he continued, "My name is Deimos, demi-god, and I want to being Olympus tumbling down. So, unless you'd like to help me do that, one of you won't be of any use to me." But then his eyes darkened. Granted, he knew his normal size and stature had something to be desired, but that didn't mean he tolerated any stupid kids making jabs at him about it. Oh, he'd make them all pay. Scowling and ducking away with ease from the thrown coconut, Deimos growled to himself underneath his breath.

"Next time, demi-god, you might want to think of who you're speaking to before you make any comment about their size. You're beginning to tick me off."

[Ryan Simons]

One thing that Ryan was absolutely horrible at? Yet another fail in his life? Keeping his temper. It would be the biggest fail of his life if he ever even attempted to keep it in check. He had the patience and fuse as short as a baby flee. If one knew the smallest animal in the world other than a flee, they could substitute that. Until then, the tiniest animal that the fifteen year old knew of was a flee. It didn't take much to set him off; if someone offended him (which wasn't really hard to do) then they would get a reaction pretty fast. He knew that he really needed to learn how to keep his temper and emotions in check, but he didn't see that happening any time soon.

Drat! He had just told Avery that the coconut would be there if she wanted. Ryan gave a guilty look at Avery; it was even worse that the coconut hadn't even made contact. "Uh... I could get you another one if you wanted..." he grumbled quietly, his grey-blue eyes sliding over her face before snapping back to the stranger, fire sparking into them again. He began to size him up with a cynical eye. It wasn't to far up to go because of the height of the new comer, but then again, enemies were more than what met the eye. Either way, shoving the way his aunt/mother taught him, Ryan was not going to putting up with this crack. What the high hades was this guy doing here? Just to annoy them? Probably. In any case, if that was the strangers main focus, he was doing a pretty good job on Ryan. Well, at least that problem was solved in the fifteen year old's head. He could be totally wrong, and, like in most cases, he was pretty sure he was.

How did he even get here was another question that needed to answered. He just seemed to appear out of nowhere and seem totally unfazed about the entire situation. He had to admit, to a normal human, the situation was sort of weird and almost humorous if they didn't know the exact details. Avery was in this tight, bandana style, black cloth around her head and Ryan's arm was bandaged in shaking. Way he came? Ryan couldn't come up with an explanation for that one... unless... Oh great, if it was then this situation has gotten so much better... he thought sarcastically. Seriously, all Ryan wanted to do was to book a vacation here. All sarcasm intended, if he ever said that out loud. Which wasn't probable since he had no idea what a "vacation" was, no less how to "book" one.

His eyes slid over to Avery as she talked to him in a quiet tone. "Calm down" wasn't in his vocabulary; it never had been. On a normal basis he would of snapped at her as well, but his mind was sort of cracking in half, so he didn't. Avery spoke sense, all of the sudden, besides the fact that she practically saved his life, he was rather glad to have her as a quest partner. "Okay..." he half growled, slightly grudgingly; he felt his body tighten and his eyes were still scanning over the midget. Right now, Ryan was anything but calm. The words of "calm" and "peaceful" would be on the very bottom of the list of words that described him. He couldn't be calm for his life. Mostly because he had never been taught how. Ryan had lived his life on edge and always ready for a fight. If that stranger moved, forget the staff; Ryan's hand would either go to the pocketknife or his dagger faster than the midget could blink.

He narrowed his eyes. "So, you've come to give us a clothes showing and your muscles?" he asked dryly as the person's jacket melted and he rolled up his sleeves. Ryan's perception of someone rolling up their sleeves was that they were going to do something; his hand automatically shifted and a dagger slid into his palm, facing away from the stranger. "You'd better..." Ryan snarled quietly. He glared at him as he carried out his introduction. "Uh-huh," Ryan said critically. "Well, didn't something like that just go down two years ago because of the same reason? Well maybe you can remember with your immortal little brain. It was a great success," he growled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. There went his small effort of trying to calm down. It was impossible. He'd go with the roll with the punches and punch back; he wouldn't calm down.

Ryan shrugged and glared at Deimos. He didn't have much of a filter and he didn't care about who he was talking to. He treated them all the same, with the exception of one person, who was beside him. Likewise, he didn't care that he was making him angry. Whatever, Ryan had been putting up with people complaining about him since his birth. Deimos complaining about him and a demigod complaining about him were one in the same. Just because he was a god didn't make Deimos a special exception or anything.

OOC: OMGosh... I am SO sorry for that delay.
Character Name: Ryan Simons
Mood: Angry, Stubborn, Wanting to Fight
To: Avery Reynolds-Daughter of Hermes
Deimos-God of Terror
IC Word Count: 896

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

The arrival of some creep in a leather jacket that probably wasn't any taller than her shoulders was more than likely not a good sign. Quite honestly, Avery wasn't entirely sure how much longer she was going to last with her head pounding and feeling exhausted. Granted, if something were to happen, she was sure that adrenaline would kick in and she'd be fine. But, then again, she didn't know what was going to happen. It was very well possible that she was going to die here on this little forsaken strip of land, but Avery couldn't tell Ryan that. And she knew that she had to keep fighting, and she would. All because she was aware that chances of her surviving weren't good didn't mean that she wasn't going to do her damnedest to get back to Camp Half-Blood.

"Ryan, stop it," Avery growled, reaching for her companion's arm. He was out of her reach the minute she went to grab him from her position seated on the ground, and she cursed quietly to herself. Just the feel of this guy didn't seem right. There was something off about him, and even though she wasn't sure what it was, she could tell it was there. "Ryan, stop trying to tick him off. I don't know how well we'd do in a fight right now," she hissed now, using the palm tree behind her to pull herself to her feet. Actually, it was more along the lines of that she had absolutely no idea how well she'd do in a fight, considering that she probably had a concussion and all. She was pretty sure that fast and sudden movements were a big no-no when one had a concussion.

She glared at Deimos as best she could, but concentrating on him too long made her vision go fuzzy, so Avery just shook her head, winced when that caused her a little too much pain than was wanted, and hoped that they could pull through this with minimal additional injuries.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Deimos was strongly resisting the urge to laugh at this stupid boy and his ridiculously pitiful-looking companion. By the looks of it, she was probably going to die first if anything came down to a fight, so he promptly decided that it would be the boy, even though the kid irritated him, that would deliver the message to Camp Half-Blood. After all, it was time for the war to officially begin, and Deimos had the honor of announcing it. It would probably have more effect to send a dead body back to Camp Half-Blood with some message written in blood, but a live messenger would have to do. Maybe the blond who appeared to have some sense could be the dead body he sent back with his messenger. So he just smirked, biding his time. He wanted this kid to throw the first punch. That way, he'd have reason to start the war.

"More than a show of my muscles, as numerous as they may be," Deimos retorted, his cruel eyes calculating and cold. He would call his pet in soon enough - maybe it could finish off the girl so he wouldn't have to worry about fighting two demi-gods off at once. He didn't like uneven odds, unless they were in his favor. "And I'm perfectly aware that Kronos attempted to bring down Olympus. But he was a fool. I and my allies are much more powerful, as you are going to experience."

Deimos clenched his fists and smiled maliciously at the boy. "I want you to deliver a message for me demi-god. Originally I was going to let two of you go, but apparently you lost the third one of your party, probably by some careless mistake of yours, I have no doubt, so that means that only one of you can live today."

[Ryan Simons]

I'm a nightmare, a disaster
That's what they always said
I'm a lost cause, not a hero
But I'll make it on my own
I've gotta prove them wrong
Me against the world

~Me Against the World, Simple Plan[/size][/font][/right]

Calm? Calm. Calm! The very idea. How could Avery even- Gods darn it. Forget calm. Just forget it! The freaking Hades with it! Irritation and resentment were just starting to bubble and fester within him. Then again, he was used to that; it was how he mostly went about his life. He let to many things bubble and then never let anything out. The boy gave a slight growl, his bad arm clenching into a fist. He grimaced in pain but kept the tight fist. Giving into physical pain was not an option. Discipline. What didn't kill you made you stronger.

The words calm and Ryan would probably never fit together harmoniously. If it was ever put together, it'd most likely be awkward and very unfitting. It was mostly because the concept of being calm or pretty much anything with a positive connotation was as foreign to Ryan as almost every common knowledge things. The other part was just because it wasn't in his nature to be calm; he could even bet that Lila could confirm that when and if he ever saw her... she had known him for the first two or so years of his life. Ryan wasn't claiming himself as anyone's kid here, don't get him wrong there; it was his individual nature. It was his own; boosted by his upbringing, not given to him by his "parents", not to be identified with them at all.

Ryan's scarred right hand gripped his dagger's hilt. His right hand was his good hand. The dagger was going to go straight through Deimos' freaking-thick-skulled head if he made another wrong move. All the pompous midget was doing was making the fifteen year old more irritated and ticked by the millisecond. His head was going in a thousand of different directions, although it probably didn't hurt nearly as bad as Avery's. His left arm just felt shot and useless. It didn't help that he had recently gotten burns on his hand from the climbing wall before anyone stepped a foot outside of Camp. That, combined with having the arm cut open everywhere because of his knife didn't make the sensation pleasant.

His blue-grey eyes snapped to Avery, trying not to start snapping at her as well. He consciously knew that she spoke good sense. Ryan never made sense, ever, courtesy of his great education from his dear old mother. He probably didn't even have an ounce of logic in him. For probably the hundredth time, he internally thanked the gods that he had Avery with him. Now though, he was to fired up to make it make sense in his own head. Then again, even if he did stop to think about it, he'd still be too stubborn to stop. Forget pride being his fatal flaw, like most people were pegging him with; his was probably stubbornness. He exhaled, his attention going back to Deimos.

With his left arm pretty much useless and Avery's head in the state it was, their chances of winning in a fight were narrowing and narrowing by the instant. They were both sleep deprived, and probably going into post-traumatic-stress, grieving or whatever. Just as Avery had said, he wasn't sure how a fight would turn out; in his war calculating head... not that well. Ryan honestly had no idea why, but something had made him snap back to before the bathtub on the path to nowhere incident. One moment he was crying on the beach, the other he was almost ready to snap at Avery and throw a dagger at a tiny person's head.

The boy just rolled his eyes and tired his best to bite back another retort at the god. Ryan was just through with all of his carp. "Sure they are..." he growled quietly, his left arm continuing to shake. "Well, its great to disappoint you, but I'm not a mailman," Ryan growled. No way in Hades was he just going to deliver this god's messages. He was the almighty god, he could just pop up where ever he darn well wanted. Why doesn't he just do it? Stupid gods and thinking they could just use demigods as their freaking pawns...

Then the god said it. That was it. That was freaking it. Ryan had flipping had it with this guy! Just as about he was going to go dagger side out, his willpower just crumbled like dust. What Deimos said hit him hard in the face. Reality usually bashed him in the head a few times before it actually settled with him. Deimos was right... Ryan had carelessly and almost deliberately let Aria die. Half the fire in his eyes died and then he went closer to Avery at Deimos' last comment.

Even though they were both in a weakened state, Ryan had no doubt in his mind that Avery was going to keep fighting. She was just an awesome girl like that. Ryan also stubbornly planted an idea in his mind of how he was going to go about this. His idea said that he was going to fight this, right to the death. If they had to fight, then adrenaline and ADHD would probably keep them alive. He'd fight this if he had to protect Avery. If anything, Ryan owed her that; he owed her lots of things. If only one of them could go home, Ryan was going to make darn sure that it was Avery.

Character Name: Ryan Simons aka Little Buddy
Mood: Sad, Angry, Stubborn, Wanting to Fight
To: Avery "Ave" Reynolds-Daugher of Hermes
Deimos-God of Terror
IC Word Count: 933

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

The pounding in Avery's head was beginning to get worse. Before, it had just been a dull, throbbing ache, and eating what she could of the coconut had been a big help. But now that she was actually having to move around and concentrate on something, her head was beginning to protest. She had to have a major concussion to be dealing with this sort of pain, and honestly, that wasn't really something that Avery wanted to think about right now. She wanted to get home. She wanted to see everyone she cared about one last time - even that asinine son of Thanatos, Azrael. Because this daughter of Hermes was pretty sure that what was about to happen was going to be either a near-death or a death experience. She preferred it to be the former, but as long as she went down protecting her little buddy, and did enough to ensure that he got home safely, it would be enough for her.

Staggering a little as she struggled to maintain her balance, Avery reached up into her hair and pulled out one more throwing knife, which for now would have to serve as a type of dagger. The other she had was still grasped in her other hand. Avery had enough sense that, with the way Ryan wasn't able to control himself and was getting angrier by the second, this was going to turn into a fight. An ugly one, at that. She turned an ice cold glare on the midget called Deimos and growled, "If you think taking me down is going to be that easy, you'd better think again, little man, and you're not going to make Ryan do anything for you if I have anything to do with it." Of course, that was coming from a blond who had a bandanna wrapped around her head and was leaning against a tree for support. It wasn't exactly very awe-inspiring or intimidating, and she could see the calculation in the god's eyes as she spoke it.

She could tell that he knew just as well as she did that she was hardly in any shape to fight.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Deimos finished his looking over of the Hermes girl rather quickly. She really was of no importance to him - her death would be of no consequence. Maybe, if he was lucky, this boy would have enough sense to take her body back to camp, scare a few demi-gods in the process. It would only make his very crucial message all the more real for Camp Half-Blood. How he and his brother longed to destroy the one thing standing in between them and Olympus. In Deimos' eyes, Kronos had made a vital mistake. He'd chosen to attack Camp Half-Blood at the same time he attacked Olympus. This was not a part of the plan. They'd take down the stupid camp from the inside out, planting fear in their minds and letting them tear themselves apart. From what he'd seen, it was already working. But it was time to hammer in the final nail.

He knew there was suspicion wandering around the camp, and Deimos saw fit to end their suffering, at least in one sense. It was finally time to tell the camp precisely what was going on. That was the message he wanted the boy to take back. That war was being waged on Camp Half-Blood, and that every single one of those stupid little demi-gods, except for a few in particular who'd had enough brains to help out, would die a horrible death, probably according to their worst fears. Being the god of terror, he wasn't as specialized as his brother Phobos. His special ability was slightly different. While he was better at terrorizing larger groups of people, he could do one person at a time.

Deimos could sense the people that each individual person feared the most. With the Hermes girl, he could see that she was afraid of... huh. Pretty much everyone. When he tried to focus in on her mind to see who she feared the most, too many images popped up. People telling her that she wasn't needed, that she didn't matter, that they didn't love her... she was the typical insecure teenager. Boring. But the boy, now he was easier to see through. There were only a few people that he feared, and they'd be easy enough to "conjure" up.

He grinned maliciously at the daughter of Hermes. "Like I'd waste my time taking down some concussed, annoying little brat like you. I have other resources at my disposal to do it for me." He smiled and snapped his fingers. Seemingly out of the shadows came three monsters - an empousa and two giants of the smaller variety. "I'll be sure to send my messenger boy back with your body. Even if nobody will miss it." The horror in her eyes was what was priceless to Deimos. But before the boy would go rushing off to help her, as Deimos knew he would try, he vanished in a poof of yellow smoke and appeared in between the boy and the girl. Using his godly strength, Deimos shoved the boy away and raised an eyebrow.

"As for you, I've got some people who'd like to see you. Besides, I need to spare some time for my monsters to do their work on that worthless friend of yours. Then, we can talk about the message." Deimos smiled, but it was a cruel smile, and he snapped his fingers once more, and a mirage of different people appeared around him, people that the boy feared and despised the most. It was time to have some fun.

[Ryan Simons]

His arm was still shaking and getting angrier with each passing nano second didn't really help. This situation was just getting worse and worse; just like everything in his quest was going. His grey-blue eyes shifted to the side in the slightest, letting Avery come into his peripheral vision. The bandage seemed to be holding rather well and the bit of food that she had eaten should have helped. However, a head injury was a head injury. It could get better and then worse depending on what the person was doing. Even in a normal headache, having to concentrate hurt, having ADHD couldn't be of help much.

The fifteen year old calculated as much as he could in a few seconds. If things got really bad, Avery would be in the most direct danger, easily. Ryan's left arm was shot, but he could manage. They were both in bad condition, physically an emotionally. Taking something together was their best shot at coming out okay. Then again, Deimos seemed the calculating type, and Ryan got the feeling that, like everything else, this wasn't going to go in favor of the two demigods. A fleeting thought flashed though his head: Gods I wish you were here Aria... I'm sorry... Every nerve in his arm was in protest as he gritted his teeth and kept his muscles in a fist. The worse move was to make was the first, so as long as Ryan could keep himself semi-under control (it could possibly work out okay-ish. Like anything did for him and the rest of the demigod population?

The gods words weren't that assuring. Nothing about him was, from the short span distance of his head, right down to his feet. There was no way that Ryan was going to let Deimos hurt Avery; his anger flared. He was so dead if he did anything to her. So, so dead... That, and he wasn't going to deliver his freaking darn message. Behind him, the boy heard a slight sound as the daughter of Hermes took out her hair pin and flicked it into a dagger. It also sounded like she had rose to her feet, and was trying to maintain balance. Ryan wanted to help her, but if there was one thing that he had learned, it was never to turn your back on an enemy. Unless they were honorable and didn't shoot you in the back while it was turned. Deimos didn't seem very honorable at all though. Ryan smirked as Avery spoke up for herself, but was sort of, very concerned with the idea that she may get into a fight. His stomach sank. Great job idiot, he growled at himself. He was about to get them into a fight; one of the two only things he was useful at. Even though Avery was in bad shape, Ryan knew that she'd fight, he heard it in her words and voice; he was finally getting that they were both stubborn like that. They were going to be fighting to protect eachother, possibly to the death. Wonderful. 

Ryan glared at Deimos, his hand with the dagger twitched in the slightest. "She is not annoying!" he snarled angrily at the small stature god. Wait. Other resources...? That didn't sound good. Ryan's eyes widened slightly, making his body relax incase he needed to move fast. The god snapped his fingers. Wait...what? Then he saw them and the situation worsted by a tenfold: an empousa and two smaller giants. "No-" Ryan gasped as he realized what this was going to turn into, his eyes widening. He flicked the dagger back up his sleeve, took out Nike's pocketknife and turned out the nail file part. "No, I won't!" he growled, starting forward. Then it looked like Deimos had hit a nerve with her; Avery's face changed. He felt his own anger boiling up as well. Ryan didn't know facial expressions, but he remembered Kath remarking about his face once. If he had any idea on what his face looked like, it would have been what Avery looked like now. "Avery that's complete bull! Don't listen to him!" he roared.

He went to full on run to Avery and help her; before he could, there was yellow infront of him and he felt himself pushed backwards with great strength. Staggering, Ryan barely stayed on his feet from the force of the push. He stumbled and just managed to get his balance back. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he snarled at the god who was blocking his way, trying to get around the him and to Avery. Ryan knew Deimos wouldn't budge, but he could still stubbornly try. He glared at the god. "Who the freaking Hades would want to see me?" he demanded angrily, still trying to get passed him. Practically the whole world hated him and he had no family. Unless someone wanted to kill him, he had no idea who would want to see him for whatever reason. "MOVE!" he growled. His blood began to boil and panic fluttered inside him as the monsters advanced; no, they were not going to take her down. His stomach sank and he felt sick. Gods, he was just about to let Avery down as well... "I don't want to hear anything you've got to say!" Gee, that sounds familiar... "I don't want to hear anything about your flipping message!" Ryan growled at him. Another finger snap. Great. He was about to get monsters of his own.

Instead he got something different. They started out as a haze and then got solid rather quickly. Kath, Edmund, Alex and Aria...he started to feel sick again. This whole thing wasn't going well at all. He looked at Deimos, half confusion and half alarm entering his eyes. What sort of god was he again...? Right, he had never told them. "You let me die!" a voice shrieked accusingly. "I hate you!" Ryan grey-blue eyes rested on a small boy with a bullet hole through his stomach. "I didn't-I tried to...- I..." Ryan stammered, then just stopped, realizing that what he was saying sounded all wrong. No matter how he said it, Edmund was right... "Like-like I haven't heard that before," Ryan said, trying to keep an edge to his voice, but failing horribly. "But, then again, why should you care?" Edmund continued coldly, crossing his arms. "You’ve never cared. Your a son of Ares. Spreading war, hatred and violence is in your blood." Ryan looked at him, hurt reflecting in his eyes. Both Ryan’s willpower and strength were snapping and crumbling into dust. Clinging onto a thread of stubbornness, Ryan tried to glare, but didn’t get anywhere close to it. “I-I’m not-” he tried, his voice half cracking. Edmund glared at him. “THE HECK YOU ARE AND YOU ALWAYS WILL BE!” The demigod felt himself just going on a downwards spiral, and he got a feeling that it was long from over.

“Curse you to Hades Simons!”[/color] Aria’s voice vibrated around him. Ryan half closed his eyes. He was going to get it from all of them, wasn’t he? He felt himself go semi-lightheaded and started to feel sicker. He was never going to live all of this down. “Would it of killed you to even try saving me!?” she demanded. Ryan half opened his mouth, but the mirage cut him short. “Apparently it would of because you didn’t even try! I was two or three darn inches away from you. If you even gave a flipping drachma maybe I’d still be alive!” she yelled, glaring daggers at him. “I...” Ryan tried finding his voice but it wasn’t working as well as he had hoped. “You nothing,” she cut him off again. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FREAKING FAULT! I am never forgiving you for this, ever. You are so dead to me!”

There it was, right from her. It was all his fault, just as he had known it to be. He wasn’t going to accept it any other way, ever. What she had said was true...what both of them had said was true. He had killed both of them by omitting to do something. All Ryan could do was stare at them in terror, speechless. He couldn’t even think straight; he couldn’t tell himself that this was all Deimos messing around with him, couldn’t tell himself that Edmund would never say those things, couldn’t tell himself that they couldn’t possibly be here without being kids of Hermes. Last time he checked, none of them were indeed kids of that immortal. To Ryan, this was all very real...coming straight from the person. It was just rubbing the facts in his face and nailing the nail in the coffin. That it was indeed his fault and he had become nothing more than a killer and a total monster, destined to destroy and make everyone’s lives miserable.[/size][/font]

OOC: Speaking as Aria Hale with AB's permission
Oookay. You know the drill. Anything you want me to change, just tell me.
AB, I hope I posted up to par with Aria
Character Name: Ryan Simons-Son of Ares No One
Mood: Angry, Protective, Guilty, Slightly Panicked, Horrified
To: Avery Reynolds-Daugher of Hermes
Deimos-God of Terror
IC Word Count: 1,534

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery whipped around, assessing her options, despite the protesting in her head. She'd handled fights before, and the familiar rush of adrenaline she felt would surely be enough to keep her going, even if it was just for a little while. Avery pushed off the tree, looking over her shoulder. She was about to call for Ryan when she found that Deimos had already separated the two of them, and she cursed audibly and gripped both of her throwing knives, now daggers, as tightly as she could. She forced herself to focus, even though it made her head hurt more than anything. In irritation, Avery tore off the bandanna that Ryan had wrapped around her head. It would just be in the way and a potential obstacle.

The empousa clicked her tongue as she neared the daughter of Hermes, her red eyes calculating and cold, much like the god of terror's. "You're not even half a meal - your blood'ssss already been ssssspilt," she remarked, flicking some of her long red hair over her shoulder. Avery let out a huff of air and tried to give the empousa an attempt at a mischievous smile. "Well, then, I'm not really worthy your time, then, am I?" The empousa smiled a nasty smile as the giants both laughed. "I never sssaid I didn't want half a meal, daughter of Hermessssss." And with that, Avery's fight for survival began.

The giants advanced on her with their sterotypical clubs, and the empousa watched with amusement as Avery ducked and narrowly avoided their attacks. Avery swung around, and went to stab the giant in the leg, but every time she found she was too slow. Her head and dizziness were slowing her down too much. She let out a cry when one of the giants hit her in the back with the blunt end of its club, and she went down into the grass and barely rolled over in time to miss the killing strike that would have smashed her head into the dirt beneath her. Her head spun and as Avery got to her feet, she stumbled into a tree and held onto it for dear life as her head pounded and the world spun. She heard one of the giants roar in victory, and Avery used her instincts to duck at just the right time. Taking one of her daggers, she went for the giant's abdomen, and the dagger sunk deep into its flesh. The giant screamed its agony as it bled, and when Avery yanked her blade out, its form melted into the ground to the underworld, where she knew it would have to reform and come back.

The other giant snarled its frustration and before Avery could react, she was sent sprawling to the ground again. She hit her head once more on the ground, and Avery cried out again in pain. Usually she wasn't this much of a squealer, but at this point she was practically so far gone she barely could scoot out of the way this time when the club came crashing down. Her head was spinning even worse, and she could hardly concentrate on what was in front of her. She felt like a weakling, but there was nothing she could to to help it. Just like there was nothing that could help what Deimos had said before this whole thing had broken out. Nobody would miss her body. Nobody would miss her back at camp - what was she, anyway, other than an annoyance? All she ever did was play pranks, even during the Battle of Manhattan she hadn't been of much use. She hadn't even been a good enough demi-god to save Aria, and she could even go to her friend Ryan when he was facing a god instead of three measly monsters that she should have been able to fight on her own.

Avery cried out again when the club struck her in the stomach, but the blow wasn't nearly enough to kill her - it was just to wound her. She could feel the bruises forming all over her, and she was pretty sure that there were scrapes all over her where she'd fallen to the ground. Maybe this really was the end. But Avery refused to think that. Not when Ryan needed her. With a valiant effort, Avery stumbled to her feet and went at the giant in full force as the empousa just continued to watch.

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Deimos couldn't help but relish in what was going on around him. The cries of the Hermes girl behind him were simply amazing, and he could see the turmoil that was racing through her mind faster than Thoroughbreds at a racetrack. And the boy, oh, his mind was in a frenzy. So easy to be broken, the pair of them. So much anger in this boy, so much insecurity in the girl. They both viewed themselves as failures, one because so much bad fortune had fallen upon him and the other because, well, in reality, she had very little to boast about and nobody who demonstrated any sort of appreciation for her at camp. She feared so easily that it was plain to see that if someone ever showed her any kindness it was hard for her to believe it. The boy was practically the same way.

The images Deimos had conjured up were easy enough to keep strong. As long as the boy remained in the state he was in, he could keep this illusion going all day long. "You see, boy?" he called cruelly as he advanced towards the son of Ares. The images advanced with him, walking but not really walking, more like floating along the thin grass that was beneath their feet. "They've spoken. You're nothing but a failure, just as you're a failure to your friend who's about to die over there. The way I see it, the only way you can try to make things any better is to take her body back to camp with the message I have for you." His smile was cruel and menacing.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan was hating himself more than ever right now. Well, himself and Deimos if he could of been thinking straight. He heard every single one of Avery's screams... and it was ripping through him like a knife. Gods why couldn't they scrap him instead? This one day, however long it may have been, was probably going to rip him from the inside out. Ryan wanted nothing more than to shove these images away and go help Avery, but as much as he wanted to do it, he couldn't. They held him captive, like Kath had... like Camp had... like himself was doing still to this day. In the corer of his eye, a small slit that was not blocked by the fake images, he saw Avery scramble to a tree and hang on. She didn't look that good at all; sure she had adrenaline and ADHD, but still. He was failing her, like every single other person; the spirits were just happy the point all of that out, along with Deimos.

Forget about the entire "I Hate the World" shield he had been putting up his entire life. His life's philosophy was going down the drain in less than a few hours, starting with Aria going overboard. After Edmund talked, keeping to together went right out the window too. Not that he was doing great at that anyway. He had done it for an hour while waiting for Avery to wake up, then for a few minutes as sentry, but that was pretty much it. Every other moment, he wasn't that much together. Even though he knew he needed to keep his emotions in check in order to get off this island, he just couldn't. Especially not after the creep in the leather jacket made his appearance. Mourning for Aria wouldn't work to get them off the island either; he was doing a bit better at that. Even though he wad doing okay here, he would probably go full out crazy and guilt ridden once they got back to Camp... if they ever got back to Camp. What the spirit had just told him pretty much cemented that plan.

"Come on, Ryan, you've got to face the facts," an older boy said coldly. "Ed's right, you've never cared about anybody. You never even cared to try to find me when I dissapeared!" Ryan stared at him, compeltly shocked; half of him was still trying to get ove the idea that Alex was his mortal half brother. "I-I did... I-" Alex just cut him off. "NO YOU DID NOT! If you even gave a flipping darn and even tried, I may still be alive. Its exactly like Aria and Edmund, you do it once, you keep doing it! Starting at a young age and with Edmund, you've just become a compelte killer. Heck, I can bet that you don't even care much about that Hermes girl, because if you did, then you wouldn't of even brought her into a quest... would you?" he asked shyly. Ryan stared at him, not able to talk. Or, in all reality, he had sort of just given up; the logic and just the words were true... If this kept on any longer, he felt like he'd go on a break down or something. Then again, he shouldn't be complaining. He never had a right to complain. Avery was worse off , hurt and with three monsters. Alex rolled his eyes. "Right, forgot, no logic and practically no brian cells. Let me rephrase that. If. You. Did. Care. About. Her. Then. You. Would. Not. Of. Brought. Her. On. The. Quest! Haven't you seen how all the other ones have ended up?! Or are you too ignorant even for that? Why would you ever of thought that yours would be any different?!" The boy looked at him, hurt apparent in his eyes. "S-shut up!" Ryan snapped weakly. "I-I... I do... care about her.." he said quietly. "Do you? Or did you bring these two in for selfish resons?" Alex asked, smirking. "It yeilded such great results with Aria... didn't it?" he smirked. Ryan felt his mind go blank. Gods, he was right.. they all were.

He looked at Avery who had just gotten punched in the stomach and gave an invouluntary wince; half his body longing to run over to her. Then again, from what Alex had said, Ryan was beginning to loose trust in himself. As if he had a lot to begin with. "Not like you could help her, Boy. You could never help anyone for your freaking life. Not even yourself," a mirage of a woman said, smirking and looking at Ryan's mangled left arm. "You know you've been a let down; even I don't have to tell you that. Even since your birth," she said in disgust, shaking her head. "Unloved, unwanted. No one even cares about you; as you may already know. Not even me, forget about the silent oath at mother gives her child," she growled, rolling her eyes. "I-I'm n-not your..." Ryan tried talking again, but his voice broke again. Kath just rolled her eyes. "Yes you are. I can't believe I just called you that, but still, yes. Instead of you though, I actually owned up to it and let all my anger out," she said, smirking; scanning Ryan's body and resing her eyes on the concealed palces where all his scars were. "It was never enough though... never. Ed did a rather nice job though, don't you think?" she asked, smirking. The long scar on Ryan's back tingled slightly.

"You do realize, the whole point of me giving you to my sister was so I would never have to see you again! But no, I had to be stuck with you for a flipping nine years! But then again, as Alex said... very few brain cells, very few indeed." The knowledge that Ryan had gotten around a few hours ago that she was his mother wasn't exactly helping, but she had just told him heself; he was having an even harder time coming to terms that Kath was related to him than Alex. "Gods, I know I should of killed you long ago; that way you wouldn't be around to make all these people's lives miserable, but then again, this is rather fun," she said, smirking. "Surley if one night you... say dissapeared, no one would care, Boy. They might as well celebrate, I know I would if I heard that glourious news... and you know it," she cackled. "It's been that way your whole life." Ryan's pocket knife turned sword was just hanging useless at his side. If Kath attacked him now, or monsters or anything, he was leaving himself in the mercy of his ADHD.

He did one thing that he had never done when Demios and the others advanced on him. Ryan backed up; he retreated. That was one thing he had never done in his life. He didn't even register that he was doing it, Ryan was just feeling... he didn't even know, the predominate thing? Probably guilt and horror. He still wasn't thinking straight and didn't even register that the images were floating, not walking. Deimos just restated the main thing that the mirages said in a few simple sentences. He was a failure to everyone and a monster, the end. "S-she's n-not g-going... t-to... call of the monsters and take me..." Ryan tried desperatly, the world starting to blur and his face getting hot. Again, the message with Avery's body. "I AM NOT GOING TO DELIEVER YOUR MESSAGE!" he screamed; he was mostly saying that he wasn't going to deliever it because he was not going to do it with Avery's body with him. She was NOT going to die. He didn't know how or why, especially in the state he was in, but one small shot of anger, short temperedness and stubborness threw through his system. That one small shot made him do a very big no no. He rushed and then lashed out at Deimos with his sword.

OOC: o.O Ryan just committed a very SERIOUS no no
Character Name: Ryan Simons-Son of Ares No One
Mood: Upset, Guilty, Angry
To: Avery Reynolds-Daughter of Hermes
Deimos-God of Terror
IC Word Count: 1,396

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking

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