Because I enjoyed the reviews so much from the last chapter (specifically jennasbluecookies 'I'm already terrified' comment), you get a new one :)

Chapter Quote:
"Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell."
~Joan Crawford
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Chapter 2: Couples Who Slay Together Stay Together

Luke wasn't at breakfast. It went unnoticed by everyone, even Silena, although she seemed rather preoccupied by something. Derek was half asleep in his food. Bryn sat by herself at the Zeus table, not wanting conversation, but that changed when two people sat beside her.

"Hello big sister," the twins greeted. A smile broke out onto her face as she smiled at her brothers.

"Hey you two," she said. "How was the trip?"

"Fine. Hallie told us to tell you hi. She went straight to the Hades cabin to take a nap," Bradley explained.

"I don't blame her. I hate mornings too."

"How are you doing?" Brady queried.

"I'm okay."

"Did you get any more sleep after we talked to you last night?" Bradley prodded.

"No, but it's not like that's anything new. I never slept before Tartarus and I don't sleep now."

"That doesn't help our worry about you."

"Not at all."

"I'm fine you two. It's nothing I can't handle," she assured.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Brady asked.

"Still sleeping. I'd go wake him up but after last night, I'd rather avoid him. Give him space."

"We'll talk to him," Bradley offered.

"He can't break up with us if he gets mad at us," Brady joked. It made Bryn smile.

"Tread carefully. He's still really bad off from Tartarus despite what he says. He talks in his sleep a lot. That's the only reason I have some inkling about what his dreams are about."

"We'll see you soon. Sword-fighting challenge later?"

"Deal. Just don't let your egos get too wounded when I beat you."

"We're used to being beat by you," Bradley remarked in amusement. The twins got up and headed to the Poseidon cabin. Bryn headed to the Zeus cabin to relax before her first training session of the day. Chiron had been going easy on her, Silena, Luke, and Derek ever since Tartarus. The girls were handling it better than the guys, but not by much.

As Bryn approached her cabin, a foul stench assaulted her nose. It made her gag. Holding her nose, she searched the surrounding area for what was causing the smell. It didn't take her long to find it. On the beach were a dozen, dead Harpies. She didn't like the weird bird creatures but she didn't want them dead. Bryn dropped down next to one, trying to figure out what had happened to them.

"Bryn?!" Brady called out. Suddenly her brother was next to her. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. I smelled something really bad when I was going to my cabin and I just found them... I just found them all dead like this. Go get Chiron. He needs to know about this."

"I'm not leaving you out here by yourself!" He argued.

"I'll be fine! I'm going to try and figure out what killed them. Go find Chiron, now!"

Reluctantly, her brother ran off to find the centaur. A few moments later Luke skidded next to her.

"Are you okay?" he demanded, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she replied, standing up to shrug off his hand. He stood up with her.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out what killed all these harpies. I mean who would've done it?"

"These look like sword cuts. My guess is it wasn't a monster."

"Are you saying it was a demigod?"

"What else could it be? Only demigods, harpies, and Chiron live at camp?"

Bryn rubbed her temples. "I'm not ready for another bloody Hannah."

Luke tried to pull her into a hug but she shied away from him, walking circles around the pile of dead harpies. Luke sighed out, "Did I do something?"

"I don't want to pester you," she said shortly.

"Since when have you ever pestered me?" he inquired, sounding genuinely confused.

"Oh you made it very clear last night that I pester you."

"Last night? I was asleep all of last night," he argued.

"I've seen you lie yourself out of a lot of situations but this will not be one of them Luke Jackson."

"Bryn, I don't know what you're talking about!" he exclaimed in exasperation.

"How can you-"

"What's going on here?" Chiro demanded, cantering up to the two demigods with the twins, Hallie, and other cabin leaders behind him.

"Just a couple's argument," Luke said.

"He means about the dead harpies," Bryn snapped. Her boyfriend flinched at her tone. Bradley and Brady raised their eyebrows in surprise. Turning to Chiron, she said, "I smelled something horrible and came to investigate. I found them all like this. Luke mentioned that it looks like the cuts were done by a sword."

"He'd be correct," Chiron agreed, walking slowly around the harpies, studying them. "Most likely a demigod. I doubt one of the dragons did this and the gods would not go on a rampage like this. They have tempers but not like this. They take stuff out on each other, not innocent harpies."

"Why would a demigod do this though?" Silena asked.

"A good question my dear to which I have no answer to. Cabin leaders, I want you investigating your own cabins. If you think someone is acting suspicious, report them to me."

"Sir, what are we going to do with the bodies?" George, the new leader of the Apollo cabin, piped up.

Chiron sighed. "They deserve a burial but I hate to waste a food source. Give them to the dragons. Bryn, call them. Four to Peleus, four to Drogon, four to Viserion, and four to Rhaegal."

The daughter of Zeus stood up. She made three lightning bolts strike in quick succession, the signal for the dragons to come to her. It was less than a minute before Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal appeared on the horizon, skimming the water. The campers backed up to allow the dragons to land but the Winchesters walked up to greet them. Drogon nuzzled Bryn.

"Hey big boy," she whispered, kissing him on the nose.

"Patrick, Joan, Mack, Jasmine, each of you take a harpy body to Peleus. Bryn, Bradley, Brady, when the dragons are done eating, take them and scout the entirety of the camp perimeter. Each of you take someone with you as back up."

"Silena, care to join?" Brady offered.

"I'm in," she responded immediately.

"Hallie?" Bradley queried. She smiled at him, giving him her answer.

"Derek, you're with me," Bryn said.

"All right," he agreed hesitantly. She saw him glance over at Luke, confusion etched on his face. The latter shook his head just slightly. Derek came to stand by Bryn. Once the rest of the leaders were gone, leaving just Silena, the twins, Hallie, Derek, and Bryn, Derek leaned in next to his friend and asked, "Trouble in paradise?"

"It's hardly paradise when your boyfriend doesn't want to be with you," she mumbled.

"What on earth do you mean? Of course he wants to be with you."

"That's not what it sounded like to me last night."

"What did he do?"

"It's not what he did, it's what he said. I'm worried about him because he won't tell me anything about the dreams he's having and when I told him the consequences of what would happen to him if he kept it bottled up, he got angry with me, saying, and I quote, 'if I'd knew that having a girlfriend meant I'd be relentlessly asked to share my feelings, I never would've gotten one.' Then he walked out."

"What in Hades' name is wrong with him? That doesn't sound like him."

"I don't know. He's playing stupid. He's saying he doesn't remember the conversation last night. Bradley and Brady said they'd talk to him but I don't know how far they got."

"That's weird what he's doing. Don't let it get to you okay? We all went through something we'll never be able to understand fully and the consequences of it could be worse than we know." Bryn bit her lip, not wanting to voice what she feared most would happen, but Derek knew her too well. "Hey, he's not going to break up with you. He said some crappy stuff to you last night but I do know he loves you. Very, very much. Come on, let's go see if there's any more dead harpies."

Bryn nodded. The two of them hopped onto Drogon who then pushed off the ground. The scouting didn't take long, and they didn't find any more piles of dead harpies. They reported their findings back to Chiron who was meeting with the other cabin leaders to set up new perimeters and new guard positions. Luke was braced against the table, staring down at the map of Camp Half-Blood. Despite being angry at him, she still loved him, and Bryn could still most definitely appreciate his muscles that were bulging in his arms right now. As if feeling her glance on him, he looked up at her. She studiously acted as if she was looking at the map as well.

"Bryn, Luke, Silena, Derek, you four I want on the beach. It's the easiest route of access for someone to slip past our wards into camp. Bradley, Brady, Hallie, since you three will be here a while, I want you three at the entrance. The others will be sporadically placed around the borders of the camp. Until we know what's going on, camp is going to be on high alert. Now go to your training sessions if you have some."

Bryn, Luke, Derek, Silena, Hallie, and the twins left the Big House. Hallie, Silena, and Derek went to go train in archery. The remaining four went for sword fighting.

"Hey, me and Bradley versus you and Luke," Brady suggested, nudging his sister.

Luke grinned. "This will be fun."

"You're going down Jackson," Bradley challenged, a gleam settling in his eyes.

"No mutilating my boyfriend," Bryn warned.

"But aren't you mad at him?"

"Just because I'm mad doesn't mean I want you two killing him."

"Thanks for that," Luke said.

Brady grinned. "You know, couples who slay together-"

"Stay together," Bradley finished.

"That is one of the worst lines I've ever heard come out of your mouth," Bryn groaned.

"I kind of like it," Luke admitted.

"Glad you like it!" Brady laughed. "Doesn't mean you're getting out of us trying to kick your ass."

"Damn it..."

The four demigods put on armor and elongated their swords. Luke and Bryn were on one side, the twins on the other. Bryn made the first move, slashing her sword at Bradley. He met her sword with his, grinning. Out of the corner of her eye she say Brady swipe his sword at Luke's legs; her boyfriend blocked the swing and kicked the Winchester twin in the stomach.

Bryn went in for another blow but then feinted to the right, spinning around her brother and kicking him in the butt. She backed up next to Luke, preparing for her brothers' next attack.

"So when are we going to finish our earlier conversation?" Luke inquired, swinging his sword over his hand.

"When you admit to me you remember the conversation," she countered, ducking as Bradley swung his sword at her head.

"But I don't remember the conversation!" Luke protested.

"How can you not remember it?!" Bryn growled. Lightning struck the ground, sending her brothers back. She rushed over, pulling a dagger to Brady's throat and putting her sword to Bradley's. Luke rushed over when Bradley tried to hit Bryn's sword away.

"Uncle?" Luke asked.

"Uncle," the twins groaned in unison. Bryn allowed her brothers to stand up. They asked for a rematch but she declined, saying she was going to go train some new campers. She heard Luke say her name but ignored him. When he was ready to admit what he said, she'd listen.

She approached some new campers who were sparring but neither were lasting long. As she started instructing them, she kept her eyes on her brothers and Luke, more so out of worry for Luke's safety since he seemed to be going up against both her brothers. They were only sparring with wooden poles but those things hurt if you got hit enough and hard enough. They'd taken their shirts off since they hot summer air was making them sweat. Bryn was tempted to take off her shirt and just walk around in her sports bra but she felt uncomfortable at the thought of it. Of course, she did appreciate seeing Luke shirtless. He looked good in everything, but shirtless was one her favorites.

"Bryn?" one of the girls snapped their fingers in front of her face.

She shook her head. "Sorry, got distracted."

"Well yeah, your boyfriend is hot," the girl remarked. Bryn couldn't help but smile. She went back to training the kids. This went on for an hour. Once training was done, she practiced at the archery arena, ran around the track a few times, climbed the lava wall, and grabbed a book from the library. Chiron had ordered some new ones and Bryn had only two left to read. Both were about monsters, modern and ancient. Since modern monsters were more prevalent in her life, she left the ancient monsters book for the last to read.

Bryn went to her cabin, putting the book on her nightstand and pulling out her laptop. She had a bunch of work to do for her parents. She started reading the business report of her company. It was over fifty pages which didn't appeal to her but it had to be done.

Halfway through the article, Silena poked her head into the cabin. "What are you doing?"

"Reading stuff about my parents' company," Bryn answered. "What's up?"

"Hallie, the twins, Derek, Luke, and I are heading to the city for dinner tonight. You're coming right?"

"I'd love to but I have so much stuff to do for Aurum Arms that I can't possibly go out tonight."

"Bryn, I know you're telling the truth but I also know when you're hiding stuff. What's the other reason you don't want to go? Is it Luke?"

"How did-"

"Oh please, the tension between you two at the dead harpies sight was blatant to everyone. All the people are gossiping about what's going on between you two and some Aphrodite girls are already planning on making a move on Luke."

"They need to back off," Bryn growled. Taking a deep breath, she said, "It's just he said stuff to me last night that he somehow doesn't remember but I don't know how because in a nutshell, it sounded like he was regretting asking me out. I'm mad that he's lying to me because I know what I heard, Silena. I know what I heard but he's adamantly denying it. But then he's also mad that I'm pestering him about his dreams and it's just because I'm worried about him that I'm asking but I fear if I keep prodding I'm afraid he's going to break up with me and you know, this is why I never wanted a boyfriend. Too much drama. I don't know how to handle these emotions. Fear in battle, sadness, anger, happiness, I know how to react to those. I don't know how to handle fear in love. It's not exactly like I have a lot of experience in the subject."

"Okay, first off take a breath. That'll help. Second, Luke is head over heels in love with you. Third, I don't think my brother meant what he said, especially if he says he doesn't remember it. I mean maybe he was sleepwalking. We're demigods. Stranger things have been known to happen than demigods arguing with people when they're sleepwalking. Look, Luke's miserable because he knows he hurt you and while I believe you, I also believe him. Talk to him tomorrow when you've gotten some sleep and when you don't have so much work to do. But you know, a break from the work would be good. You should still come with us."

"I'm going to stay, but thank you." Bryn smiled at her friend. Silena hugged her.

"All right, but it's not going to be as fun with you not there."

"Oh yes, because I'm such a party person," Bryn laughed. The Jackson girl rolled her eyes, half amused, half annoyed by the sarcasm. She left the cabin.

Bryn continued to work, only taking a break to eat dinner and shower. She fell asleep with her laptop on her lap, still playing music. She only woke up when she felt someone lifting it off. Luke stared at her with startled blue eyes.

"I didn't mean to wake you. I know I'm kind of the last person you want to see right now," he whispered.

She groggily sat up. "It's fine. Did you have fun?"

He shrugged as he placed the laptop on the floor. "As much as you can when you're an awkward fifth wheel. I got bored after a couple hours and hightailed it out of there. I'll, uh, let you get some sleep. Good night."

Luke kissed her on the top of her head before leaving. Bryn was so exhausted she just fell back onto her pillow and went back to sleep. At first she had relatively normal dreams, ones that didn't involve Tartarus, although they were still weird. But then of course the nightmares made themselves known. Abruptly the dream shifted and Bryn was back in Tartarus.
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She was paralyzed as she watched Luke, Derek, and Silena fight for their lives against the arai. Derek and Silena went down. Luke kept fighting. He was knocked to his knees by an arai. Just as it went in for the kill, the monster stopped, clawing at its throat. All of them were. Suddenly they exploded into thin air. Luke staggered up, his gaze turning to Bryn. But she barely recognized him. His face was contorted with rage, his eyes were no longer blue but a terrifying blood red. Her body still refused to move as he stalked towards her, eyes boring into her with the clear intent of murdering her then and there.

"Get up," he ordered angrily, snapping his fingers. The feeling in her body came back. Bryn slowly got up, staring him down despite her brain screaming at her to run as far away from him as possible.

"Luke, what-"

"I finally realized all my potential. I finally realized what I can do. It must hurt your rock hard ego to know that I'm more powerful than you." Luke placed his hand around on her throat. He wasn't just putting it there as a threat, but also as a stance of dominance: he was in control of this situation and he wanted her to know that.

"I don't care that you're more powerful than me. I care about the fact that this isn't you," Bryn breathed.

"Oh no, this is me. This is who I've always been, I just needed the right situation to show me that. So thank you for getting paralyzed and helping me realize my full potential." He grinned wickedly. "Still love me darling?"

"I do. And I'm going to save you from yourself," she declared.

He laughed. "Oh my dear Cat Woman, the only way you can stop me from being this way is to kill me. Do you have the guts to do that? I don't think you do."

Her body acted on its own accord. She had no control over it as her hand grabbed her dagger and stabbed Luke in the back, severing his spinal cord. She heard herself scream as she did so. Luke's eyes flickered to the familiar blue she knew, but they were terrified.

"Br-Bryn, what... what did you-" He stammered.

"Oh gods," she cried. Luke went deadweight in her arms. She went down to the ground with him. Cradling his face, she whispered, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"You- you killed me." Those were his last words before he slumped into her. She couldn't feel his heartbeat.

"Luke? No," she whimpered. "No, no, no, no..."

Bryn rocked back and forth, back and forth. She couldn't handle this. She couldn't do this.

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Bryn rocketed into sitting position, hyperventilating from the sheer terror of her dream. Bradley and Brady were sacked out in their beds. Not wanting to wake them up, she decided to go outside. Her legs felt like jelly as she stood. As quietly as she could, she exited her cabin. Her first instinct was to go to Luke but when she reminded herself of how she'd been treating him lately, she figured it was best if she didn't. Instead she went to the dock, sitting on the edge of it and staring into the water.

Her hyperventilating had ceased but she was still terrified. Bryn broke down crying. No dream, in her twenty one years of being alive, had ever made her cry. They'd scared, they'd made her angry, but never upset to the point she cried.

"Bryn?" Luke's voice asked. She lifted her head at the sound of her name.

"Hmm?" she forced herself to reply.

"What are you doing out here? It's dangerous out here. We still haven't caught the harpy killer." He started walking up to her. She turned her head so he wouldn't see that she was crying.

"Nightmare," she mumbled.

Luke sat next to her. "What happened?"

Bryn shook her head, trying to tell him she didn't want to talk about it. But when he placed his hand on her back, her resolve left. She started crying again as she explained everything that had happened in the dream. Luke pulled her body against his in an attempt to comfort her.

"Why didn't you come get in my bed when this happened?"

"I thought with us arguing, you wouldn't-"

"No matter what's going on between us, if you ever have a nightmare and need someone to talk to, you can always come to me. Always."

"I'm sorry I've been such a bitch to you."

"You have right to be from what I've heard. Both your brothers and Silena talked to me."

"Do you really not remember what you said?"

"I really don't. But from what I was told, I gave you the impression that I regretted asking you to be my girlfriend and I want to make it explicitly clear that I do not regret you being my girlfriend. What prompted me to say that in the first place?"

"I was asking you what your dreams were about. I guess I pushed too hard."

Luke tensed, pulling away from her. "It's not that I don't want to tell you the dreams, it's just I don't know how without you... without you treating me differently."

"Why would I treat you differently because of your dreams?"

"They're bad Bryn. You told me never to use a certain power of mine after Tartarus and I haven't, but in some of my dreams, I do, and I'm always..." Luke stopped himself. Bryn stared at him. His jaw was clenching and unclenching.

"You're always what?" Bryn whispered.

"I'm always killing... I'm always killing..." Luke rubbed his face. He couldn't get the words out. Bryn narrowed her eyes in on his hands.

"Are you killing random people or people you know?"

"Both. It's like I'm taking over the world. It's always y-" Luke choked up on the words.

"It's always me?" Bryn finished.

He nodded. "You. Always you."

"You're not going to kill me. And those dreams are not going to make me think any different of you. You're still my handsome, dorky, loveable boyfriend who would die for his family and friends."

"That- that's not all that happens. The feeling I get when I kill you in these dreams... it's not right what I feel. I'm always watching from third person, so I'm always looking down at myself and whoever the victim is but I feel what I'm feeling and what the Luke I'm watching is feeling and so while I feel mortified and terrified and heartbroken that I just killed my girlfriend, the Luke I'm watching loves it. He revels in the fact that he killed you..." Bryn placed a hand on his shoulder. She was shocked to find him shaking.

"Luke, hey, look at me. Tartarus nearly destroyed the four of us. The aftershocks of it are going to be worse than anything any of us can know or imagine. Your dreams are one of those aftershocks and I can promise you, the things that you are feeling are what you feel, not the Luke killing the people in your dreams. You won't kill me. No matter what happens, you won't kill me."

"How do you know that?" he asked in exasperation.

"Because I know you. You would stop yourself from killing me if the situation ever arose."

"I'm scared I'm slowly going insane. I'm not remembering conversations, I'm waking up in different places in the Poseidon cabin. For all I know I could've killed those harpies without realizing it."

"Don't say that. That's not true. You're probably sleepwalking."

"I hope that's all it is."

"What do you say we try and go get some rest? Let's go to your cabin though. Bradley and Brady still don't like the idea of you and me in the same bed. At least not when they're in the same room as us."

"I sometimes feel like they don't like me in general. Your brothers had a lot of fun whacking me with sticks earlier," Luke laughed.

"They called me after our conversation last night because they said their 'spidey senses were tingling' and felt something was wrong. Probably were a little mad at you," she admitted sheepishly.

Luke turned around. "You got so upset your brothers felt your emotions and called you?"

"Yeah. They'll be fine with you tomorrow when they realize we're fine again."

"No, Bryn, that's not right my words hurt you so much. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You don't remember it."

"Yeah but I hurt you..."

"And you didn't mean to. Don't beat yourself up about it." Luke mumbled something to himself but Bryn ignored it, taking his hand in hers. They went back to the Poseidon cabin. Bryn crawled into the bed. Luke sat on the side of the bed so he could take his shirt off. Bryn glanced over at him when she saw the long slash on his back. It wasn't deep but it had broken the skin enough that the wound had scabbed over.

"Luke, where did you get that?" Bryn inquired, lightly trailing her fingers over the injury.

"Get what?"

"This scratch on your back."

"I didn't even know I had one. It was probably when I was sparring with Bradley and Brady with the sticks. They got a few hits to my back."

"Next time wear a shirt. It's not that I don't like you without a shirt but you get injured more easily when you have no protection."

"You liked watching me workout shirtless?" Luke queried, grinning cheekily at her.

She lightly slapped his arm, trying to hide her smile. "I'm being serious."

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't hurt at all." Luke lay back on his pillow. Bryn turned on her side. Luke pressed his stomach against her back, draping his arm over her waist. Kissing her on the cheek, he whispered a 'good night' and an 'I love you.' She responded with the same sentiments. Luke fell asleep almost immediately. Bryn was soon to follow.
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Such a long chapter for my very deserving readers! Reviews would be lovely :)