Percy dried his tears and smiled at the thought of his little sister.

He opened a case on the shelf of the cabin that he had kept all these years. He opened it and slowly, carefully, took out the book. He sat on the bed and looked through the pages, which were old and used, yet kept in the best condition.

Percy flipped through the pages, tracing the colorful pictures of the different sea life, tears dripping down his face once again.

~°~

Alice walked to the Thanatos cabin to check on her older brother figure. She knocked on the door.

A muffled "Come in!" Came from inside. The voice was very shaky, and Alice's heart lurched when she realized that Percy really was crying.

She slowly opened the door and braced herself for whatever was behind the door.

But she would never be ready for what she saw.

~°~

Percy heard a knock on the door. He wasn't even aware of saying, "Come in!" Until he heard the door open slowly, followed by a gasp.

He looked up and saw Alice. He furiously tried to wipe away tears, but it was no use as more came pouring out of his eyes. He dried his hands on the sides of his shirt and closed the book.

Alice stayed silent as Percy calmed himself down. After a few seconds, Percy got himself under control.

"Are you okay?" Alice immediately felt dumb when she asked the question. Wasn't the answer obvious?

Percy looked up at her. He smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

And Alice would believe that when hellhounds fly.

"Like I would believe that," Alice said, crossing her arms. But the thing is, if she hadn't seen him crying his eyes out a few seconds before, she probably would have believed him. "Someone once told me that the word 'fine' is used when someone doesn't want them to know how messed up they truly are."

Percy sighed. "When have I ever been okay?" He muttered under his breath. "Well, there was a time, long, long ago. . ." He sighed again.

Percy, though still in the body of a seventeen year old boy, seemed to have aged a thousand years. If you looked into his eyes, you saw sadness and pain, a haunted look, and much more Alice couldn't figure out. But his smile that he immediately covered it up with seemed as real as ever.

Or maybe it was never real. . .

Either way, Alice knew that she would never forget that look in Percy's eyes again.

~°~

"What's wrong?" Alice asked gently, walking over to Percy and sitting down next to him.

Percy just shook his head.

"You can always tell me anything," Alice said, putting a hand on his. "I'm your sister. You are my older brother. I will always be there for you, just like I know that you will always be there for me."

Percy's eyes shut tightly.

~°~ FLASHBACK ~°~

The girl with long black hair and sea green eyes was no older than eight. Percy was nine. They were looking through the book that the girl had given Percy, the girl tracing the sea life on each page.

Gabe lived with them now. He was their abusive stepfather that had just arrived that day. He hadn't abused either of them yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"Look at this fish!" Said the girl, pointing to an orange fish with white stripes.

"It's a clown fish," Percy replied, smiling at his younger sister.

"Clowns are creepy," the girl said.

"Clown fish aren't," Percy replied. The girl looked back at the fish.

"Do they tell good jokes?" The girl asked after a second.

The two children laughed together, but were interrupted by a knock on the door. They both stood up.

"Percy, get out here," came Gabe's voice from inside. Percy looked at his sister.

"Stay here, Astería," he whispered to her. "I'll be back soon." Then he yelled out to his stepfather, "Coming!"

Percy walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"What did you need?" Percy asked nicely.

"Did you leave your lunch dishes on the table?" Gabe asked angrily.

"Yeah," Percy answered. "I forgot, sorr—"

He wasn't able to finish when he was suddenly slapped in the cheek.

~°~ STILL FLASHBACK ~°~

A few minutes later, Astería was fixing Percy's cuts and bruises. Percy was shocked.

"Why would he do that?" Percy asked. "I was saying sorry. I would've done my dishes without him doing this."

Astería paused in fixing Percy's injuries to place a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Percy," Astería told him. "Some people are like that. Gabe is a mean bully. I wish mom were here."

"So do I," Percy said. "But she's at work. And I know enough about bullies to know that they don't do it in front of someone who can do something about it. They avoid the teachers; Gabe won't do that when mom's around."

"But we can't tell mom," Astería said, getting back to Percy's wounds.

"Why not?" Percy asked. "I thought you were supposed to tell someone when there's a bully."

"With kid bullies," Astería replied, "you are. But if we tell Gabe, he might hurt Mom too."

Percy's eyes widened. "We can't let that happen."

Astería nodded in agreement. "We can't. We keep this to ourselves."

Percy nodded back.

"But let's work something out. I can't let you get hurt either. He can only hurt me, not you."

Astería's eyes widened. "But Percy—"

"No, Astería," Percy said. "I will not let this monster hurt my family."

"Let me take some of it!" Astería cried. "If I forget to do my dishes, why should you get punished?"

"Because," Percy said, "I'm your older brother. I am not going to let anyone hurt you."

"Then let me help in some way!" Astería exclaimed angrily.

Percy looked at his sister, and he recognized the rebellious glint in her eyes. He and his mother had the same glint in their eyes at times. Astería was not going to give up.

"How about this," Percy compromised. "I take the punishment, and you can help fix the injuries like your doing now. Deal?"

Percy held out his hand to Astería.

"Deal." Astería grabbed Percy's hand and shook it, sealing the deal.

Astería finished cleaning up Percy's wounds, and Percy hugged her.

"I love you, Astería," Percy said. "You are amazing."

"I love you too, Percy," Astería replied. They pulled away from each other, and Percy stood up.

"We should probably go to bed. It's getting late," Percy said after a minute.

"Yeah," Astería agreed. "But can we finish that book first?"

Percy smiled again as he remembered that they were still children.

He picked up the book and brought it to his sister. They read through the rest of the books, tracing the pictures and discussing them and joking. Then Percy got up.

"Good night," Percy said, tucking his little sister in.

"Good night, Percy," she replied. Percy smiled and turned. He was at the doorway when Astería called out, "Percy!"

"Yeah?" Percy asked tiredly.

Astería was also tired as she talked. "You can always tell me anything. I'm your sister. You are my older brother. I will always be there for you, just like I always know that you will always be there for me."

~°~ FLASHBACK END ~°~

"No," Percy whispered, his voice barely audible. He opened his eyes. "Alice, no."

Alice tried to look him in the eyes, but Percy seemed to be avoiding them.

"You can tell me anything that's bothering you," Alice said, putting her hand on his again.

Percy suddenly started sobbing.

Percy curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth.

"Please no," he whispered. miserably. "Don't make me. Don't make me talk about it. Please don't. Please."

"Okay, Percy," Alice said, trying to calm him down. "I won't. You don't have to. Please stop crying. Please don't. You don't have to tell me anything."

She sat on her knees on the bed and hugged Percy.

"Percy," she said. "It'll be okay. You're safe. You don't have to tell me anything. Please stop crying. Percy. . ."

Percy calmed down after a few minutes, but his body still shook with occasional sobs.

"Alice," he said, his voice shaky. He unfurled himself from the ball and felt exhausted. Percy looked at Alice and wiped away some tears from her eyes. She hadn't even noticed that she had been crying too.

"I trust you," Percy said. "I always trust my sisters. That's not why I don't want to tell you."

"I know,"' Alice replied. "It's a painful topic for you. I can tell, and even if you don't want to tell me, I will still help you in any way I can."

"Thank you." Percy smiled again. "Thank you, Alice. Thank you, sister."

"You're welcome Percy," she said. "You're welcome. But first thing first; you look exhausted. Get some sleep."

Percy slipped under his covers without another word.

"Thank you," Percy repeated. "Like I said, we all have our secrets. Some of them would tear us apart if we shared them."

Alice didn't know what he meant, but she didn't mention it.

"You will understand eventually," Percy said. "Or maybe you won't. Hopefully you never do."

Percy was silent for a few seconds, and Alice almost thought he was asleep.

"You are nothing like your mother," Percy whispered. "But you are just like my sister."

He was asleep before Alice could say a word.

(A/N So how did you all like that special Christmas chapter?)

*Edited*