Conversation's With Dead People

This story takes place after The Last Olympian, and before The Lost Hero.
It alternates between first person and second person, to give a different insight to Will's thoughts.

His breath was ragged, tears on his cheek as he turned restlessly. Will Solace had been having nightmares for days, each showing some tortured part of his past. But tonight, they were worse, darker, showing the worst moments. Of course it made it worse when the good memories also came bubbling to the surface....

My book dropped, and I sighed, bending to pick it up.
Late of course, because as I stooped, the denim clad legs stood in front of me, and got to the book first. I stood, looking into the eyes of Dani.
'Hey stranger. Long time, no see. Or speak. Or eye contact,' she said brightly, holding my English book to her.
Dani was most definitely the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Black hair, sea green eyes, tall. Feminine. Her outfit today was simple, skinny jeans with a white T-Shirt saying something I hadn't been able to read and worn out Converse. Now that she was closer than in the distance, I could see her top said "Keep Calm and Live Life", with a picture of what looked like a person dancing. Her hair was hanging loose, long and falling to her waist, a bandanna holding back her bangs. Pale and elfin, her face would have been plain but for her ruby red lips and black outlined eyes.
'Dani... hi,' I stuttered, watching my almost ex-Girlfriend/Girlfriend carefully.
She laughed, her head tilting to the side and her hair shaking.
'Will, have you been avoiding me? I know stuff has been going on. Stuff that we both know is nonsense. But avoiding me? Seriously? I don't care what that Daryl guy said, but we can still hang-out and all that stuff,' she smiled, blushing prettily and holding out my book.
I took it, slamming my locker door and walking past her. The corridor was almost empty, everyone on their way to class, and me myself supposed to be there to hand in my assignment.
'Hey! Hey Hey Hey! You ain't walking away from me,' she called, catching up with me easily.
'Dani, there isn't anything to talk about. Tomorrow night, Daryl is coming and taking me to that Camp he keeps on about. And you too if you stop being stubborn. That's it with us. Nothing else can happen. Nothing else will happen,' I muttered, my bag really heavy cause there had been no time to put my books in my metal locker.
Probably because the Spanish Inquisition had cornered me. Dani herself didn't have a bag. Most likely cause she never went to class.
'Daryl is an idiot. Greek Gods cannot be real. That's what he talks to you about, right? Hero's and Monsters, Gods and Titans. See I've done my research. You really believe that there's a Camp where you'll learn how to be the next great hero? Our Dad's cannot be Gods. It’s plain knowledge. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter. They ain't real Will.'
I stared at her, shocked. How real could you get, seeing his hooves? Seeing that ring turn into a dagger. She continued then though, and stood quickly in front of me, stopping my walking.
'I don't understand Will. Even if it is a massive joke, why would someone play it on us, knowing we both don't have Dad's? And if it is, by some small margin real, then how? How can there be Gods of the Sky, the Sea, and Wine.... We were doing so well. For so many years you were my Best Friend. Now you want to leave, when we're on the verge of being something more. Why?' her voice was soft now and her eyes full of tears.
I sighed again, and touched my spare hand to her cheek.
'I don't understand anymore than you do Dani. I just know, that its real. It has to be. The Lake. The day when we were playing by the lake, and a Woman who looked almost like a Vampire tried to snatch me, there's an explanation for it now. As for...us. We both knew there was a chance it wouldn't work out. Being friends for so long, well it meant that if we did end badly, we would never be friends again.'
She looked at me, lifting her head, and her eyes flashed angrily.
'You might not have thought it would work, but I did! I thought that you and me-' her voice broke, and her hair lifted slightly.
I stood my ground though, and put both my hands on her shoulders. This had happened before. Dani got angry... scared, maybe even embarrassed, and she would literally start to lift from the ground.
'Calm Dan. Calm. Shush Shush. I know you wanted it to work out. Okay, I do! And I wanted it to work out too! Dani, even if we were to have some small chance of getting together, you'd have to come with me tomorrow. Come with me, and we could work on this,' I got a small shock on my left hand, but the wind lifting her hair was dying, her strength and resolve crumbled.
'My Mom wants me too. She told me it’s the truth. But I can't believe a word she says anymore! Even if I did go, she'd be getting her wish and finally being rid of me. Will... if agreed to go somewhere, would you finally give us a chance?' she whispered, still crying.
I knew about her Mom. Ms.Rieu was a drunk, taking her anger at Dani's Father out on her only Daughter. She lied, cheated, stole... Ms.Rieu had gone downhill since Dani was five.
'Agree to come. Get out of your Mom's hair, and she'll understand why she needs you.'
'No. I won't go with Daryl. Even if he says he's a good guy, I don't believe him. Will, come with me. We can make our own way to Camp, cause he did tell us roughly where it is. We'll get there and on the way, we can explore, just like we used to when we were smaller. Please?' she batted her eyelashes, and my heart cracked.
How could I go with her? How could I not?
'But Daryl-'
'Daryl doesn't seem good Will. There's something dark about him. Please? Because I'm not trying to blackmail you, but if not, this is the last time we will ever see each other. I'm not going with him tomorrow.'
'... I have no choice then. Let’s go. We leave now, get some stuff and run. By any luck we can get a few miles ahead of Daryl before he starts looking for us.’
She smiled, and even though my choice had been taken, I found it the sweetest thing. Maybe this would work out. Maybe we'd reach Camp, and by then be happy. Now that I was about to spend any number of days with her, I found myself wanting to be with her. To bring her to Prom like she wanted me to. This would work. It had too.

'Will!' Dani's piercing scream reverberated around the room, only a little while away.
A few meters and a few doors at most.
We'd left Iowa, and when we arrived at Chicago without incident, we had relaxed. Ate, paying with the money we had both brought in case we got the chance to spend it. Got some cans of coke, with some chicken and stuffing sandwiches for later on.
Dani had been happy. She'd ate carefully, smiling the entire time, practically bouncing with joy at just being out of the stuffy town and with me. Or at least she said she was happy to be with me.
When we left, we'd gone through the tree's, hoping to find a path and such. Ate the sandwiches, drank the last of the coke.
That was when we'd found the massive house, and before I could do anything Dani was snatched from behind.
And that was how I had come to be standing in a dark corridor, looking for my one friend, and holding what looked like a bent sword with some runes on it. I couldn't read them all, but for some reason I knew half of them said "Light". Okay, so I was standing in a dark corridor holding a bent sword that was named Light. How ironic.
'No No! Please! Will!' she was crying, her voice breaking.
No. I couldn't let her get hurt. Not here. Not now.
Running, I tried every door. Locked. Locked. Locked. Wait. There was one open. The last door. It was ajar.
'No!' and the last scream came from it.
So that door it was. A few strides, a quick push of the door... Why was she tied and gagged? A small candle flickered on the windowsill of the boarded window. A chair was overturned, some other crushed weapons in a corner, a table. And Dani, gagged in a corner, her hands wrapped with rope.
The thing that had took her was smiling. She was crying. But it only had one eye. How- How was that? One eye, in the middle of its forehead...
'Will! Oh thank the Gods! I thought I'd lost you,' it said in her voice, sounding relieved as it advanced.
I glanced from Dani to it, and made yet another choice. So many of them lately. But this one was something that needed to be done.
Charging the monster, I acted on my instinct, swinging the sword. It hit the things arm, and kept going, cutting clean through. It screamed pain in each octave. But after what it had done. Made me think she was being killed...
'No fair!' it shouted, running from the room.
So easy. How was it that easy? Oh God...
But Dani was most important here. Falling to my knees beside her, I brought the sword up, the bent blade covered in red. Using the straight part, the part that had so crudely cut the arm that was lying on the ground from its owner; I cut the ropes, and pulled Dani to her feet.
She pulled the gag from around her mouth, spitting to the left, and turning back. Saying nothing, she stood on her tip-toes and kissed me. As in, she kissed me. Sure. In our time together, we had messed around. Gave each other kisses on the cheek. More than ten years, it was a joke. But this was different. It felt happier, it felt... real.
Then she gasped, pulling away and looking down.
'Will?' she had time to say before falling.
Blood was blooming on her once white T-Shirt, a sword clattered by her side. Covered in her blood. And the thing that I had hurt smiled, and stepped forward.
'Young Hero think he lose Cain that easily? Easily fooled,' it sounded younger than what it looked, like a child, unable to form sentences properly.
My breath was ragged. Dani...
'Young girlie was to be Cain's supper. Not so now. Taste bad when dead. Only fresh meat good.'
He had wanted to eat her? What?
But she wasn't dead. She couldn't be. Was that the flutter of breath in her chest? Or was it me hoping it?
'Lost sword half-blood. What you use to kill Cain now? Hands?' it breathed, coming closer.
It was right of course. I'd left the sword on the ground. But there were weapons in the corner. And Dani had to be allowed. The sooner I could get rid of it, then the sooner I could go to her, help her. This was my fault. All my fault agreeing to come with her. No. If I hadn't she would have pulled a stunt like this. She would have been worse off. The sword he had used couldn't have cut her further than an inch, surely. Then why is the blood on the front of her Tee too? No, don't think like that.
Backing up to the weapons in the corner, I forced a smile, keeping it distracted from my intent.
'Dani doesn't taste good. What about the Hero? He'd taste good,' I taunted, getting closer and closer.
'Hero is supper now. Hero should stop moving now so as to let good Cain eat him. Tasty Hero.'
There. Turning in a flash, I grabbed the first weapon that I could. A Bow? Okay. Arrows were beside it, and I quickly had them and turned around.
'What Hero expect with that? Shoot Cain? Takes talents to do that,' despite what "Cain" said, he sounded scared, almost worried about the weapons I held.
Notching an arrow like I had seen on the TV, I prayed.
Look Dad. Whoever the hell you are. Let this fly true. Just let me get back to Dani. Also, any God who oversees things like this, shooting arrows, could you help too? Just this once?
The thing laughed, still moving closer, but when I let the arrow fly, it looked shocked.
'Hero prays... for... nothing,' he said, before erupting into a shower of gold dust.
I ran through it, stopping by Dani before it had settled on the ground. On my knees in an instant, I turned her over and bent. Breathing. Oh my God there was breathing.
'Dani? It’s okay. I swear,' I muttered, pulling up her Tee to show me her wound.
Sticky with blood, it took a moment to pull up. What I saw made me stop. The blade had gone straight through her back and out her stomach. The wound was yellow, still bleeding. A wonder she wasn't dead.
'Will?' her voice was soft, like the day in the school.
Only this time it was weak, it was like she was running out of breath.
'Will? Wow. Well... done. You did good.'
I smiled through the tears falling, and put my hand on her cheek.
'I had to. I had to get back to you. Dani, hold in there okay? Your gonna be fine.'
She sighed, and shakily used her hand to push down the Tee again. Then she turned to me, and looked into my eyes.
'We both know that isn-isn't true. But it's not the en-end for you. You should leave,' a half-smile lit up the features of her face, and I held back a sob.
'Dani. I love you okay? Ten plus years, and you’re the only one who's like me. Who understands me. I've loved you since we went to the stupid Disco your friend held together, dressed as Zombies for Halloween. That night you were so pretty, because you had been having fun. Please Dani. Be strong and... Live. We can get to Camp. We can live there and fight and mess like we always have.'
You'd think I hadn't just bared my heart to her. Her faint laugh barely reached me, and she lifted her own hand to caress my face.
'I know. Jeez W-Will, how could I not be loved? I am awe-awesome. But I'm not reaching Camp. Not now. Will, I love you too. Always had, always will. Can you tell my Dad at some point... that I hated him. H-he left my Mom and I hated him for what he di-did to her. But not now, not now. I know he had too, because I understand what it’s like knowing you have to leave someone you l-love.'
She moved her hand to my shoulder, and with a squeak of pain lifted herself up. She paled even more, if possible, but pulled me down closer to her.
Putting her lips to mine, the kiss was like the last one. Real. Full of emotion, and full of pain and sadness. Like... she knew what was gonna happen.
One more shaky breath, and she let herself fall back to the ground, stopped from hurting herself more by my arms helping her.
'Your gonna be an amazing person Will. As in, I-I know your gonna be a Hero. Lead others and all that stuff. Wherever I'm about to go, I'll wait for you there. Okay? I will.'
Then she turned her head and seemed to sigh again. But it was her last weak breath leaving her body, and then she was gone.
'Dani... no,' I cried, and turned her head back to me.
Her eyes were glassy, empty. Looking at everything, but nothing. My Best Friend was gone, leaving me alone with a pile of Monster Dust and a broken heart.

'He should be back by now!' Silena was beside herself with worry, standing waiting for Beckendorf.
'He'll be back soon enough, seriously. Him and Percy are good fighters. They've trained for it, and all that,' my voice was dead-pan, and I almost regretted my words of comfort.
She had been waiting since Beckendorf had left on Blackjack to go get Percy. Pacing, laughing nervously, crying, everything that could be used to convey her worry had been done more than once, and right now I was the only one with her.
'Charlie wouldn't have gotten hurt would he? He's okay?' she ignored what I had said, and without even looking I nodded.
They were in love. Had no one ever thought about me comforting her? It was one of them things up on the list as a bad idea. I couldn't comfort her. Not when my own... well Dani.
Instead I hummed, and waited for her to stop and sit down. Which may take a while.
So a few more words and tears, and she sat softly beside me.
'Silena, calm down. They work well together. This is gonna be a piece of cake.'
Handing her a tissue then, I kept humming.
She took it gratefully, wiped her streaky eyes and looked at me.
'What are you humming Will?' she asked lightly, smiling ever so slightly.
'Me? Just a song I heard. Goes like "Winter years cold, and bitter" etc etc. Heard one of my siblings singing it a while ago,' lies. Dani had loved that song.
Called "Full of Grace". Perfect for her memory. And being claimed just gave me an excuse to be singing it. Apollo, God of Song, Prophecy, Poetry, Archery, Medicine and the Sun.
'It's pretty. And you don't need to lie to me Will,' her smile was more genuine this time.
Oh yeah. Aphrodite.
'Okay, so Dani liked it. So what.'
'It's sweet your keeping her memory alive. Just... it isn't good to dwell either. Love is beautiful, although I am biased. Just its also painful and hard in the wrong doses.'
She was right.
'The war will be hard don't you think? Luke and Kronos are strong right now,' I muttered, changing the subject.
Was that a blush? She certainly hid her face from me for a moment before looking back. What was that about?
'We're gonna win. How can we not with people like Charlie, Percy and Annabeth fighting. With the great archers we have from Apollo,' a nod to me for some reason, 'and the Ares Camper's. This is gonna be easy to win.'
She seemed doubtful though. And who could blame her. Her Boyfriend wasn't back when he should be, and the war was pretty seriously coming.
'Beckendorf will come back with Percy Silena. Any minute.'
She nodded and looked out over the Camp again.
'I know. I just worry, like anyone else would. We need everyone we can get at this point...' her voice trailed off, and I joined her vigil.

Michael was preparing his arrows, his bow already over his shoulders.
'Ready for this Will?' he asked absently, nearly finished from what I could see.
'Sure. In the "Totally not ready" way. This is so sudden,' I said slowly, watching him finish with the arrows and put them in his quiver.
Among them were his sonic arrows. Lucky him.
'Ah, your gonna be fine. I mean, how could you not be?'
I laughed, and watched him. Cabin Leader, coming through. If anyone was gonna get through this battle it was him. He'd make it, along with Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse.
'I don't really know about me. You will, surely. Protecting your Cabin and all that,' this time I sounded resentful, and I hated it.
Dani would love this. She'd be running around helping everyone, laughing at me and saying my armour was crooked. She'd have a sword, and be telling me that a Bow and Arrow was a dorky choice for a war. Probably she'd be wanting to go out now, start the battle on our terms. But because of a Cyclops, she would never get that chance.
'You're part of my Cabin too,' his voice was dangerous, low.
'You seem to have forgotten that Will. Actually, you haven't been a part of the Cabin at any point. It’s like you don't want to know your Family. Will, you would be my choice for Cabin Leader if something happens to me in this battle, but I need to know you want to be a part of something.'
Whoa. I'd been that bad? In all my time here, had that really been the truth of the matter?
'No Michael. I may be able to get involved and stuff, but I can't deal with Cabin Leader. You know that, so why are you even bringing it up? Your gonna get through this anyway.'
'I'm just saying that you could be my Co. As far as I know, that will bring you to Cabin Leader in the event of something happening with me.'
He was offering me the Co position? Just before going into a war?
'I'm flattered really, but I can't-' the look he gave me stopped that sentence, 'okay. So if I was your Co. What would I have to do?'
He smiled, and clapped me on the back.
'Look. I ain't forcing your hand in anything. But this will be good for you.'
Just then, he checked his watch, and laughed.
'On we go to war. See ya at the other side Will.'
And he was gone.

I would never see him again. Left with the Cabin Leader role. Had he known? Silena turned out to be the traitor. But such a sweet girl, she regretted it. Honored as a Hero. And so she should have been. And Dani. Dani had been locked away in my mind. There was time to grieve for her when there weren't jobs to do for the Cabin. In many ways Michael had been right. Dani's death wasn't my own. I could honor her by remembering her.

Will Solace woke with a start, and sat up straight. His last memory of the nightmares was Dani laughing in the Park, running away with the football.
Somehow he knew that was the end of them. Over the days of his dreams, he had relived moments with each of the people he knew who had died. Every one of them. The three last people had been Dani, Silena and Michael. The ones who changed his life around.
Taking a breath, he laid back down and turned his back to the wall. Finally he would get a good night sleep.
His last thought before sleep came to him was that he had truly been having Conversations with Dead People.

*EDIT: I just found out from Saph that the Max.Words is 3'000. Sorry to anyone XD I will TRY to cut it down, but its kinda all important to the story I wrote. If it comes to me having to bow out or something, so be it (: