My chapter :)

Nico's POV

I narrowed my eyes at the mantis-like woman. "Who are you?"

The woman smiled, as twisted and cruel as a smile could get, her dark eyes glinting maliciously. "I'm madam Preston. I own this asylum, and many others across the United States. I hear you've grown attached to one of my subjects, hm?"

"He's not a subject," I snapped, glaring at her as I strode with a hostile, defensive position towards the desk that she stood behind.

"Oh, why of course he is! Just like everyone else in this asylum is. Even you." She tilted her head to the side. "You've proven to be quite peculiar. Helping our most prized subject escape from us without any real reason..." she studied me cautiously, like determining whether I had a disease or not. "Of course, since you've gotten rid of one of my subjects, you'll have to replace him, won't you? You are gay, based on what's been collected for data from you, and that's mental enough of a disease to allow..." she trailed off, clicking a pen that had somehow appeared in his hand. "Experiments to be placed upon you. Of course, you signed all the paperwork allowing me to do so." She held up the packet that I had filled out in order to take Percy out of the asylum, making me scowl.

"Fine print," she tutted, clicking her tongue. "Christy, secure him."

Without my realization, Christy had snuck up behind me. On command, she grabbed my hands and forced them behind my back, binding them together tight enough to make me grimace in pain through my desperate struggle to get out from the ropes that were getting tighter and tighter around my wrists. I tried to kick Christy, but since I couldn't see her she avoided me easily.

"The twine is infused with metal. Makes it stronger. Plus, if people try to break out of it, it simply cuts their flesh. Wire can be potent enough to cut bone, under the right circumstances, so I wouldn't bother trying to escape." Madam Preston or whatever turned and headed for the heavy iron doors to the left of the room, but ended up turning and going for the back, where I had never been before.

She unlocked a high secured iron door as he Christy shoved my forward, making me grunt as I was forced in front of the doorway. There was a set of old wooden steps leading down below the main floor that didn't seem like they'd even support my weight, but the mantis lady stepped down in front of us and headed down the steps, her heels clicking somehow threateningly against the rotting wood as she headed downstairs. "Christy-"

"Shut up," she snapped, jerking my bound arms in one direction, making an odd popping noise as I groaned in pain. That was probably dislocated. Great. I shut up after that.

We descended into the dark for a while before we reached even ground with cracked cement flooring and Preston began talking. "See, Nico... People who belong in mental facility treatments are... Abominations to mankind. It's always something wrong with our brain, our most vital organ. However, there are several ways that we can attempt to fix these mistakes." As we walked down the hall, a noise started to get louder.

Muffled screams. Groans of pain. Crying. She turned and unlocked another iron door that I hadn't seen before and pushing it open. As soon as she did that, all the noises were amplified by ten, overwhelming me with a heavy sense of dread and misery. "See, Nico, our brain often obtains these illnesses through trauma. So, why can't we fix it with trauma? Along the walls I could start to see the outline of cell bars. Coughing, crying, all of the miserable noises you could imagine were muffling all my senses. Suddenly, there were bodies pressed against the cells. Several of them, reaching out through the cell bars with desperate screams or cries for help.

Their bodies were covered in dirt and blood, their hair long and crazed. Every cell we went by, people reached out, pleading and crying for help. Preston ignored them like they weren't even there. Some people just sat in the back of their cells, looking too miserable to even move, catching my eyes with such a pained look in his that I had to look away.

"They aren't mistakes and your theory is false," I snapped, glaring at her back. "If anyone here has a mental disorder, it's you. Sociopathic tendencies, delusions... You're the only insane one here, Preston."
She stopped abruptly, standing in silence for a while before she turned to face me. "I am not a freak like these people. I'm trying to cure them."

"No, you're not. You're torturing them and enjoying the pleasure from it, sociopath," I growled, glaring at her murderously.

It happened before I could blink. There was a sharp stinging on my cheek and a loud sharp noise. I reached up to brush my fingertips against my stinging cheek and brought my hand away bloody. She had backhanded me across the face and her sharp, red-painted nails had raked across my face. I felt the hot, red liquid start to trail down my face and I growled. "Bitch."

She ignored me, nose stuck up in the air in pride and stormed through the halls. "Extra treatment for this one. He's got a lot wrong with him."

"Uh... Ma'am, I respect your orders and trust you, but no one has survived that in... Ages," Christy stammered nervously.

"Do you think I care? I'd prefer him dead. He can't be cured," Preston snapped, giving Christy a stern look.

"Just do it."

"Right away ma'am," Christy mumbled, forcing me down the hall and into a large gymnasium-like room. Filling the room were many machines, some of which I couldn't even describe. The only way to describe the room was 'medieval torture chamber'. Many of the areas were simply iron hospital beds with chains and shackles attached to the side. Others were obviously set up for Japanese Water Torture or other cruel torture techniques.

A lot of the time it was just whips with spikes or clubs or maces next to shackles meant to suspend someone mid-air or against a wall. The overwhelming smell of blood made me gag, and even Christy looked pretty uncomfortable.

Christy led me over to a chair hooked up to a bunch of machines in wires, shackles to keep my head, legs and arms in place. "An electric chair? Really? You're going to kill me?"

"I don't see why not. You have too much wrong with you to possibly fix," Preston sneered, keeping her calm posture and appearance.

"What, and you're going to do this without a diagnosis?" I grimaced in pain as I reached towards my phone in my back pocket, which I could only reach because of my dislocated arm, pressing the power button seven times. "You can't 'heal' me if you don't know what I have for illnesses. It's not right." I shrugged casually, acting as nonchalant as possible. "You want to heal me, right? Find the right treatment."

She visibly stiffened, before forcing out, "fine. Follow me," through gritted teeth. She headed across the floor, her heels clicking against the cement as I followed her as casually as possible. We walked into a room off the side and she forced me into a metal foldout chair with cheap, not-so cushiony cushion in it, making me winced as I landed aggressively in the chair across from an iron desk and a much comfier looking chair. I immediately wanted that chair, but I realized my life was kinda on the line and refocused my thought process.

Mantis sat down across from me, leaning forward and bracing he elbows on the desk in a very cliche, interrogative fashion. "Then let's test you for the standards, hm?"

"Fine."

"Okay. Do you feel stress before events that prohibit you from completing tasks or activities, or stress in general?"

"Nope. I'm pretty chill." I shrugged and leaned back in my seat. Of course, inside I was dying from anxiety, but whatever.

She scowled but continued. "Do you feel random, extended periods of deep sadness and worthlessness?"

Please. Extended periods of sadness? You mean my lifetime? "Nope. I'm a happy person." I smiled in the most obnoxious way I could manage; a really large, fake smile without showing teeth that crinkled up my eyes a bit.

She was obviously getting fed up with me, which I couldn't decide if it was good or bad. "Do you ever feel like-"

The door swung open, slamming into the door. Before I could even properly process that the door had opened, there was a gunshot, and the woman in front of me collapsed. Her head slammed into the iron desk, and a small puddle of crimson blood started to slowly spread from her head. I could do nothing but stare, my ears still ringing from the gunshot, before two arms grabbed me and hoisted me up, either dragging or helping me out of the room. Thalia, Percy, Jason and Leo were outside, as well as dozens of police officers and a handcuffed Christy.

Percy charged for me and hugged my tightly, leaving me both surprised and breathless, as his hug was very tight. "Oh god, you're okay," he breathed out, his hands fisting the back of my shirt desperately, as if scared to let go. He eventually did, although hesitantly, and ran his eyes up and down me. "Are you okay?"

He seemed... Normal. Well, as normal as Percy could be. He didn't seem to have any speech problems and he looked a lot less troubled. "Uh... Yeah... I mean, other than witnessing, you know... A women get shot..." I grimaced and realized it was a police officer that had dragged me out, who was now taping up the door. "What's up with you?"

He smiled slyly. "You didn't think I had gone THAT insane now did you? Nah, it was mostly a brain-controlling sedative that she injected into random people to get an excuse to put them in asylums and kill them." He shrugged like it were no big deal. "She's been wanted for over twenty years. Julia Preston." Percy sighed. "Or my step-dad crazy ex girlfriend."

"I have never been more confused in my life."

Percy laughed. "Yeah, reasonable. I'll explain once we get back. For now, we have some questions to answer."

Interrogation by the police seemed like it took forever with me, a little shorter with the others, but with Percy they took at least three hours until he came out, looking tired. "Okay, let's go to your place. I need a nap."

"I can tell. You passing out on the floor wasn't enough?" I teased.

Percy scoffed. "Shut up. That was mostly the sedative."

I couldn't help but smile. No discrimination, but I liked this Percy a lot better. And I was definitely glad that he was feeling better enough to actually have a sense of humor. My stomach and smile dropped. "Where's my mom?"

"You think we'd forget Mrs. di Angelo? The one who fed us starving teens every day after school?" Thalia scoffed. "She's save. She's waiting in the car."

I let out a sigh of relief. "You know, I think I need a nap to."

Percy laughed. "We all do."

I nodded in agreement. Eventually we were able to go, and I hugged my mom probably a little too tightly once we got the car, making her chuckle. "I'm alright hon. Luckily Percy over here woke up and knew exactly what was happening and was able to get you before Julia got there."

"Mhmm." Percy hummed quietly, wrinkling his nose at the snow as he got in next to me. "What was this again? I don't like it. It's cold."

"Snow. Wow, you really have been in there for a long time haven't you?" I asked, frowning.

"Yeah, everything I said was true. Uh... Including your sister..." Percy chewed at his bottom lip. "Gabe, my step dad... He killed a lot. But he had the entire town on his side because he gave away free stuff from his store, which was completely illegal, but he did it anyways and always got away with murder. Luke, Bianca and my mom were... Were the main three." Percy sighed.

"What about the fake you thing?" I asked, trying to ignore the sudden painful swell in my chest.

Percy looked confused for all but a moment. "Right. So Preston or whatever wanted to fake my death so that she could take me into the asylum for whatever reason, but someone found out I wasn't dead or something so she said that a look alike named Peter Johnson or whatever was killed and that I had been, 'held hostage,' by this made up guy, took me into the asylum, put out a stunt double that looks vaguely like me and... Yeah. Now he's somewhere in the world and I'm here."

I frowned. "That's... Very confusing," I admitted. "And I still need a nap. Wait, so you WERE friends with us when we were younger?"

"You don't remember?" My mom spoke up, frowning. "Oh Percy was the sweetest boy."

"Was," Percy emphasized with a slight snicker.

My mom rolled her eyes. "You're still sweet Perce, shush. We'll talk about it more after we nap, alright?"

"Everyone needs a nap," Jason agreed from the driver's seat with a yawn, pulling onto the highway. Leo and Thalia were crammed up front with them, the middle console flipped up into a seat.

"Don't fall asleep and kill us, that would he unfortunate after just getting out of a life threatening situation," Thalia snapped, making the rest of us chuckle. Percy looked the most exhausted out of all of us. As soon as his head hit the headrest, we was out like a light. His head rolled around for a bit before it eventually landed on my shoulder, his jet black hair tickling my neck. I focused on Will, thoughts of Will, but I couldn't help my attraction towards the attractive teen, childhood friend who was leaning on my shoulder. Sometime during the ride, my eyes drifted shut, and just before I want unconscious I could feel my head nuzzling itself into Percy's hair

Authors Note

Two more chapters? One for more explanation (what else needs to be explain, please tell me so I can try to come up with a solution [FallDown5 didn't have a plan which was hella annoying but whatever lol] and somehow break up Nico and Will in a happy way, and then one last chapter for Pernico/Percico/Nicercy 😘😂