Drew tossed a smooth pebble across the lake, and watched as it bounced once along the smooth surface. He never liked skipping rocks. He enjoyed tossing them in to see how far he could throw them. His rocks never got that far.  He was never much of an athletically, strong person. He still managed to keep himself decent weight with his swordfighting and his never-ending feet. He shuffled the small pebbles in his hands and turned toward the figure that was coming toward him. He glared despite realizing who it was.  He had come to the lake to be by himself, and toss random rocks into the lake. He was just mindlessly thinking about things. In the past week, it had doubled from a few times a week to almost everyday. He had tried to think about Malia as little as possible. It hurt him to realize that he was the reason she was the infirmary. She was the reason he was hurting her. That weak and frail image will be forever burned in Drew's memory. It will be a constant reminder of all the terrible things he's put Malia threw. 

He clenched the pebbles in his hands in anger. He was the one who was hurting her. He felt more like a enemy then her friend. Friends were suppose to help, not hurt. Maybe it would be best if they kept their separate ways. He grabbed a slim, black pebble and tossed it into the lake.  He sighed. He knew if he left, he could never leave forever. if he tried, he would always come back because there was something about Malia that always drew him back to her, despite the consequences. Now that he thinks about it, this is the longest time he's been without her since he met her. He wrinkled his noses and shook his head. He pushed the thoughts away and tried to lock them in his personal memory palace. He tossed anoter rock into the lake. "I thought you were out training or something," Drew commented, turning up toward his twin. 

"Uh, well, I'm not. I came here because I'm worried about you bro," Christopher said, taking a seat next to him. "How are ya, Andrew? Doing okay?" 

Drew's mouth didn't so much as twitch. "Define okay." 

He thought for a moment, then responded, "You haven't broken down yet." 

Drew smirked. "Then, yeah. I'm fine." 

Christopher rolled his eyes and wrinkled his nose. "Have you visited Malia?" 

He looked away and fiddled with the rocks.  "...No. It's painful.." He murmured softly. 

"Why? Because she broke up with you? Y'know it wasn't her. It was our mom.. oh gods that sounds weird, but yeah, it was our mom. It wasn't her. She's still the same kind, beautiful girl you tell me about.  Don't beat yourself about that."  

"No not that, but on that topic, doesn't everyone still have some consciousness over themselves? What if this was what Malia really wanted in her heart, and Hecate was just acting upon it. What if it's better if we do break up? I mean, she is in the infirmary and is always getting hurt because of me. It's all my fault. Hecate just confirmed it was! It's all my fault. I brought Malia into this when she fell down that crack in the ground with me. I should have pulled her off. You know, I shouldn't have let penetrate my little wall. I shouldn't have been charmed by her beautiful looks, and sassy, yet kind attitude. Dammit! I would be fine lonely! " Drew took a deep breath, trying to let out all his anger. He felt so trapped between his own good conscious, and his desires. 

Christopher sighed and pat his brother's back. What could he tell him.. anything to make him feel better.. There was a moment of silence between the brothers when Chris finally spoke,  "Andrew, do you love her?" 

He kept his eyes trained on the water, and stared at his reflection.  "More than any girl I've ever met."

"Do you wanna protect her?" 

"Well yeah of cou-" 

Christopher cut him off and held up a hand. "You need to go protect the girl you love. The only way you can save her, and protect her is being close to her. How can you do that if you're so far away? So you were beaten, that just means you need to train more and you need some magic lessons from the coolest magic kid around, which is me." He winked and grabbed the rocks sitting in the palm of Drew's hand. He sifted through them. "You're an idiot. You know that?" He hit his brother on the head lightly with the handful of rocks with a gentle smile.  "Sometimes I wonder how you ever survived with out me." 

"I didn't," Drew said flatly.

"Well, you're living now so that's what counts." He helped Drew onto his feet and pat his back. "C'mon, now off to the infirmary." He pushed him in the direction at the opposite way of camp. 

"No.. Chris! You don't understand. What if this is what she wants.." 

"Shut up. I do understand. You never know till you get there, so  you're going to go visit the infirmary now, or I'm going to go flirt with that Aphrodite girl, if you don't, because, y'know, she is hot." He laughed off his brother's glare. "So go. I'll be following behind." 

"But-" Drew started protest. 

Andrew. It's been awhile since anyone has called him that name; Andrew Xavier Syrius. "Hey Christopher." He approached him slowly, pulling up a chair beside his brother. He ran a hand through his brother's dark hair as if to prove he’s actually there, and grinned down at him. "It's been awhile, hasn't it.” He kept the smile on his face and receded his hand. He couldn't help but remember Hecate's words to him while he was stuck on that mountain. It's your fault, your brother is in the hospital. It's all your fault. He thought you were better than him. He was always jealous of your talent and bravery. His smile soon faded at the memory. He would have to bring that up some other time, but for now, just let him be reunited with his only family. 

Christopher didn't flinch under the touch of his brother's hand. He merely looked up at his brother with envious and sad eyes. He pulled the blankets toward him and murmured into the sheets something that sounded along the lines of, "I'm sorry." 

Drew sighed. "Not now. Just focus on recovering. You can apologize all you want after you recover. Heck, we can spend all night blaming you if that's what you want to do. Right now, I just want you to get better so you can come back to camp with me. Yes, camp. Don't give me that look." He dismissed Chris' hard look with a shake of his head. "You need to go to camp." 

"I don't belong there. Because..." He let his voice trail off and he bit his lip.  

Drew forgot that his brother was unaware of Drew's knowledge of what Chris has gone through the past couple years. Talking with him felt like old times, like the brothers and best friends they were; he had forgotten the rest of the world and memories. "Because you were on the bad side," He finished with a nod. He ignored Chris' shock reaction. "They don't know that. They don't even know I have a twin. You can start somewhere new and become a whole, different person. No one will know you off of your past. You can start brand new. You don't have to be the same person you are, you can change, and for the better." He gave his brother a reassuring smile. He was sure to his brother would be a whole new person at camp, and that he would find his own strengths.

Christopher looked up at his brother with distant eyes, as if he was pondering something important. A small smile soon appeared on his face. "Thanks, Andrew," he weakly said to him with a strained chuckle. 

"No problem." 

With that reply, Drew's mind started to wander to his home back in New York. He was worried for the camp. He felt it was his responsible to protect them, to take care of them. It was his mother after all, and he felt responsible for her stupid actions. He closed his eyes for a moment. Malia, Rae, Hazel, Julian, Charley, even Brent.. he worried for all his friends back at camp. Gods, if he never got involved, if he just listened to Hecate.. then they wouldn't be involved and maybe life would be better. He placed his hands in palms and took a deep breath. Like Hecate said, it was his fault for everything. Everything always added up to being Drew's fault. 

And Malia. 

Gods, Malia. 

He figured it out. It wasn't that hard to realize what had happened once he heard what she did. She obviously was the one to wake Chris up. She wanted Drew to leave camp so he couldn't help in the fight to get them back. And now, Malia had to face Hecate again, without him.

His heart skipped a beat when he thought of her. When he last talked to Malia, she had sounded so scared and upset. He wondered if she was holding up okay, since they were supposed to be leaving this weekend for the quest. Honestly, he didn't want her to go. She was already a wreck, what was this quest going to do to her? 

He looked up at the ceiling. Chris had woken up yesterday. It felt so surreal, know his twin could move and talk after so long of being without him. His step-parents were in the room now, and they only allowed two visitors at a time. So Drew was stuck out here, lost in his own thoughts, waiting to see his brother for the first time in years.

Eventually, his step-parents walked out. He stood. "How is he."

"He'll be okay." his step mom said with a small smile. Drew nodded. "I'm gonna go see him." he said. They both nodded and sat down outside, probably to get lost in their own thoughts.

I thought I was going to go insane if I stayed there any longer.

Brent watched in the background for a while as the satyrs freaked out over Malia and Drew. It took hours before they could even lay down. But even now only the major wounds were covered up, and some nectar given to them. They've yet to have real food, but he overheard a satyr saying something about them not even being able to keep it down, they were so sick, which is why they stuck to the food of the gods. All of this just worried Brent out of his mind, and eventually he couldn't stand to stay in there anymore. He was scared for them. Sure, they were back at camp, but now they had a whole new issue of making sure they were okay, and would stay okay. Not to mention having to face the wrath of Hecate... eventually. That was something Brent wasn't looking forward to. Mostly because if she came back to camp for a third time, he was getting some of that wrath sent his way, and if he was, so was Rae. He knew she wouldn't just sit back while she got her revenge. And Brent didn't want her dragged into all of this. He wanted anything but that.