Hey, guys! Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth. Or FanFiction, anyway. So, I did write the next chapter, which you can now read, and hopefully my writing skills have improved because when i went back and read what I've written...well, I know I can do better.

Anyway enjoy the chapter and leave a review if you feel like it :D And ideas and suggestions are always welcome.

PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT! Okay, I'll make this quick. I feel like I've written Bella badly. So, in the next few chapters, you will see her develop into a better version (in my mind) and I will write her more maturely than I have been. So far, she's been this giggling, happy-go-lucky kid, but after all that she's experienced, I don't think she would be anything like that. So, most likely I will rewrite it some day and make her better, but for now, I'm changing her slowly into the version I think she should be. Another thing is that I find it highly unlikely that she would hold out that long against Jason, who's on experienced sword fighter, without much training. As for the other characters, when I went back and read, I found them very OOC, so I'll have to fix that too. Hopefully, this will make the whole fanfic better, so I hope you keep reading.

CHAPTER 5

As her eyes opened the next morning, Bella was again confused by her surroundings. Every piece of furniture around her was a silvery shade, while the walls and floor where a dark grey. Bella didn't even get where they got the beds from. Did demigods just randomly show up at an IKEA and buy a ton of beds. Especially silver beds.

After rubbing her eyes and making sure she was really awake, she got up and dragged her feet with her into the bathroom where she dressed and brushed her teeth. She'd shower in the evening.

Breakfast went by quickly and soon the activities was in motion. Bella started with the lava wall with the Apollo cabin and went from there to sword fight with the Hermes cabin. As it was, she wasn't the only one from a different cabin there. Nico di Angelo sat in a corner as he waited for them to start, inspecting his black sword. Bella had never seen a sword like it before, nor did she really know Nico. They'd met once, briefly, when she was first introduced to the Senior Counsel, which was the day before, so technically there hadn't been any time to get to know him either.

"Yo, Isa!" Travis waved her over to where he stood with Connor and a couple of their siblings. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever show."

"I'm only a minute late." Bella rolled her eyes as she walked over.

Connor snorted, "Try five.*"

"Five minutes? I was not that late." She shook her head.

"Doesn't matter, we need to start." And so they did. While Travis didn't seem like he knew all that much about it at first glance, he was a pretty good sword fighter and instructed them well. After, it was time to try what he taught them out. They paired up in pairs; Travis went with Connor and Bella ended up with Nico, much to the other boy's dismay.

"Have you even tried sword fight before?" he asked, holding his sword up in front of him expertly.

Bella swallowed. Truthfully, she'd only barely tried it a couple of days ago. Sure, she had battled Jason in a game of Capture the Flag, but that was in the hype of battle and she was pretty sure she'd been high on adrenalin, which evidently made her better somehow. She prefered bow and arrows. "Well, not exactly..."

Nico sighed in exasperation. "Let's just get this over with."

Bella attacked first, going for a stab at his chest, which the other demigod blocked easily, and before Bella had time to recover, her sword lay on the ground and Nico's sword was pointed at her throat. She frowned and bent to pick it up. "Again." she said.

This time she waited, looking for weakness. Thing was, Nico either didn't have a weakness, or he hid it well. Either way, she couldn't find any. And then he attacked, quick as a snake pouncing. She barely had time to block and jump back to avoid another disarming. Nico was relentless as he continued to press her backwards, forcing her in defense. But she was tiring quickly and Nico seemed to only just start and before long, he'd managed to wrench the sword out of her hand and had them both pointed at her.

She stood there, motionless and panting, waiting for him to release her. He did and handed her back her sword before turning and walking away, apparently having had enough of her lack of sword fighting skills. Bella stared after him, dismayed. While she knew Nico di Angelo was a much better fighter than her, the way he'd so easily disarmed her alarmed her. If she was going to survive, she had to do better. Much better. She couldn't just rely on her bow and arrows to save her. While they were good for distance, they were not designed for close-combat.

She made a promise to herself then and there that she would not rest till she could at least defend herself for a while against Nico.

XXXXX

Later that day, Bella found Jason at the beach alone. He had an expression of concentration on his face, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. She sat down next to him silently and waited for him to notice she was there. Gazing across the sea, she lost herself in the calming sounds of the waves washing across the shore.

Something so simple and natural could be so reassuring. It was as if it not only washed over the sand, but also her. Taking with it all her worries and fears when it retracted. She could almost forget that they were in the middle of an upcoming war.

"Do you think they'll ever help us?" She almost didn't hear him.

She paused. Frankly, she'd wondered the same thing several times since she'd learned about this whole new world and the dangers they were now facing. The whole thing with the gods locking themself up on Olympus seemed ridiculous even to her. "They'll have to. Or we all perish."

This time, Jason looked over. "But what if they don't? What do we do then?"

"I don't know." Bella answered truthfully. "I guess we fight. Until our last breaths have left our lungs. Until we can't go on any longer. We fight. Not for them. Not for humanity. Not for the Earth. We fight for ourselves. Because it's the only thing I'm sure about anymore. Myself." She stared at the waves, blinking away unshed tears. She didn't mean to get so sentimental, hated it in fact, but somehow, right then, she didn't want to pretend anymore. She didn't want to pretend that everything was okay. That she could handle everything that came her way. She didn't want to pretend that she didn't feel alone. Because she did; she felt so alone even when surrounded by people trying to be her friends.

But Jason was there. Jason, who'd welcomed her to camp without question, sat right next to her. She couldn't show weakness. Not now, not when there was someone with her. Bella wished she could trust him. She wished she could trust them all, but her mind told her no. They would just leave her, just like everyone else. And while she deep down hoped, however stupid that was, that they wouldn't, she couldn't stop the nagging feeling that, in the end, she'd be left alone. She needed to be able to stand on her own feet when that happened. She needed to protect herself from ever getting hurt again. It was the only way she'd be able to survive.

Jason nodded and looked down at her, him being much taller than her, even while sitting down. "We'll always be here for you, you know."

Bella smiled and put her head on his shoulder, not looking at him. It was a sweet thing to say. But she'd heard it before. First from the Cullens, then from Jacob. They'd all lied. They left her and she was always alone. Even her friends from school left her when she was at her worst. When she needed them the most. But this was different. It felt different. She had a new home now; a new family. So why was she still reluctant to believe them? They hadn't done anything for her to not trust them. And that was the case; she didn't trust them. And she wasn't sure she wanted to. Giving someone your trust meant giving them the power to destroy you. And Bella refused to be destroyed again.

Sure, Bella had had fun while at camp, there was no denying that. The campers were great, friendly even, and she could feel herself getting sucked into something she wasn't sure she could escape. She had been so happy to have friends again that she hadn't stopped to think about the consequences. And now, when she did, she realized that friends was just another thing that might destroy her. She'd read, once, that to love was to destroy, and to be loved was to be the one destroyed. She hadn't believed it then, naive as she'd been only years before, but now she came to think that maybe, just maybe, there was some truth to it after all. Because she was fairly sure she had been loved, and that love had destroyed her.

But sitting there, with her head on Jason's shoulder, she felt calm, protected. But she knew it wouldn't last, so she whispered only one sentence. One sentence consisting of only six words, but the meaning was as clear and powerful as daylight.

"I wish I could believe you."

Again, I'm very sorry for the long wait and I hope it was worth it.

Thank you all so much for commenting, favouring, and adding to alerts.

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- thiskittenhasclaws2