Hello everyone! :D

I mentioned in the last chapter of The Stranger Within that I was thinking about starting a re-write of Pain and... HERE IT IS! :D

There will be mature elements involved: self-harm, abuse, drugs, alcohol, everything that was in the original. There will also be more explanation about the camp they attend and everyone's stories will be written differently.

I hope you enjoy the re-write as much as you loved the original :)

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.

PERCY'S POV:

My hand was shaking. The blade pressed against the skin of my wrist. I bit my lip, breathing heavily as I ran it across my wrist. There was a slight dark line. I did it again for good measure. I watched the blood come into contact with my skin, dripping onto the floor after rolling down the side of my arm. I stared at the marking on my arm and swallowed the lump in my throat.

This was the taste of freedom.

I sat on the floor, my eyes latched onto the scars that laid on my arms. I dropped the sharp blade out of my hand. Pink scars over-lapped each other and my skin was white underneath. The pain hardly bothered me. I've been cutting myself since I was fourteen, and it's been three years. I just celebrated my seventeenth birthday a few weeks ago.

It's been three years since I started creating marks on my arms to get rid of the unforgetful pain that will always be attached to me.

I bit my lip, grabbing the blade again and pressing it against my right wrist. I was right-handed so my left arm was more mutilated than my right. I threw the sharp object into the box of valuables- what I liked to call them, and glanced up, concentrating on the white ceiling as the pain subsided. I leaned my head against the edge of my bed.

A few minutes later, I pushed myself off the floor and walked into the bathroom after making sure I was capable of walking without passing out and rinsed the blood off my wrists. The water turned pink for a minute before being washed away. I turned off the sink and grabbed a towel off the rack, softly drying my hands and arms.

I stared at myself in the mirror after finishing the task. Jet black, messy hair with sea green eyes. Beautiful eyes gone to waste. That's what my foster mom would say. My skin wasn't tan anymore like it used to be when I was younger; instead it was more pale. It was probably from the blood loss. There was a knock on my cabin door and I reached over, grabbing a black hoodie and throwing it over my head as I walked towards the door.

Standing in front of me was the greatest friend in the world, Annabeth Chase. "Hey, are you ready to go to the bonfire?"

"Yeah," I said.

"What were you doing?" she asked raising an eyebrow. Annabeth seemed interested on what I did. We were best friends, closer than most siblings. We only had each other.

I shook my head. "Nothing really. Just reading a book."

Her eyes widened with excitement. "Oh, what-"

"Not a book you would be interested in," I said grinning and shutting the door behind me. Annabeth had a strict nonfiction rule. If it wasn't nonfiction, she wouldn't read it.

We walked towards the bonfire, side by side. Annabeth and I have been friends since we were fourteen. She was the only one who hadn't betrayed me. She was the only one who enjoyed hanging out with me alone. None of our other friends, who were only friends with me because of Annabeth. The only one who enjoyed hanging out with me beside her is Nico. We call each other long-lost cousins because of our resemblance. He had black hair like me, but his eyes were dark brown.

The sad thing about Annabeth and I's relationship is she doesn't know I cut myself. If she ever found out, I don't know what would happen between us.

Since we're gonna be talking to each other often, I'll be honest with you. Annabeth is the most gorgeous girl I ever laid my eyes on. She had blonde, curly hair that reminded me of princess curls. I remembered when we first met and I had blurted it out. I couldn't look at her for days. I still remember this girl named Clarisse who shouted it out to everyone. Anyways, back to the present. She had these eyes that reminded me of storm clouds. A pretty shade of grey.

Annabeth is the kind of girl you don't want to mess with. She didn't care what people thought about her. She would put you in your place without hesitation. The best thing about her is her personality. She's beautiful, confident, intimidating, funny, sarcastic- can sometimes be annoying, I'll admit- but I'm glad to have her as a friend.

When we got to the bonfire, I sat next to her on a tree log that surrounded the large fire. She called over Grover and his girlfriend, Juniper. They only attended camp throughout the summer.

Wait a second, maybe I should explain the camp we go to. It'll help you keep up with the story.

The camp is for kids from the ages of ten to eighteen that's dealing with trauma or abuse or grief. It's a healing sanctuary, Annabeth calls it. It's a home. You can stay year-round or go live with someone throughout the school year. Many leave to attend regular school. Annabeth and I don't ever leave. For kids who stayed year-round, they had classes.

And the best thing about this camp was that you didn't have to explain why you were attending. No one was allowed to know, unless you decide to tell them. The only person who knew just a hint of your story was Chiron, the camp's director. He didn't ask why, unless you wanted to talk about it. He just knew enough to understand why you were here.

I started attending when I was fourteen, when my foster mom started seeing signs that I was being physically and verbally abused at school, and after I tried killing myself over it (and other things), she enlisted me into this camp right away.

Okay, back to Annabeth. I trust her, don't get me wrong, but I'm afraid if I tell somebody that someone might overhear and everyone will know what happened. I didn't want to take a chance of that happening. I didn't want to be treated differently.

"Hey, why were you guys late?" Juniper's question interrupted my thoughts. She took a sip from the drink in her hands. The bonfire had already started.

Annabeth pointed at me. "He was reading a book again."

"Again?" Grover said.

I held my hands up and shrugged. "I'm getting into books. Is that a crime?"

"No," Juniper replied sweetly. She was a nice girl, but liked to get into people's business. "I just have a question. Last year you said you hated books-"

"People change," I retorted before she could finish her sentence.

Annabeth rested a hand on my shoulder. "Guys, just leave him alone. If he likes books, then just let him be."

"Hmm," Juniper muttered but changed the subject. "Can you believe that this is our last week together before going back to school?"

Annabeth nodded. "I know. Junior year?" She nudged me with her shoulder. "Only two more years until graduation."

I stared at the fire that was slowly growing. "Mm-hmm."

"What kind of classes are you taking?" Juniper asked my best friend. Juniper was attending college this year and she was interested in what classes the high schoolers were taking.

Annabeth grabbed a stick from the ground and broke it into tiny pieces. "Well, of course the usuals. I'm thinking about taking some extra art classes to work on architecture. I haven't decided on what else." She glanced over at me. "Percy's going to take some classes on- what was it again?"

She was trying to get me into the conversation. I appreciated it, but it wasn't needed. I liked being separated from certain conversations. "Piano classes. I've been playing the acoustic for a while and I wanted to try something different."

"You can play acoustic?" Juniper inquired.

Annabeth answered the question. "He's played for me once. He's amazing."

"I didn't know you had a talent," Juniper muttered under her breath, but I heard it.

"I don't really share it," I replied staring at the fire again.

"I'm hot," Grover said removing his jacket. He glanced over at me and saw the black jacket that I was wearing. I mentally rolled my eyes. Here comes a gazillion questions... "You aren't hot?"

I shrugged, shaking my head. "Not really. I'm not sitting that close to the fire."

"Neither am I," Grover retorted. "I was just wondering if you were hot-"

I gritted my teeth. "Are you always a nag? I mean, like seriously!"

"Geez," he grumbled, raising his hands in a surrender motion.

Annabeth tugged on my hand. "Percy, let's go to the drink table. I hear they have blue Coke. Your favorite."

I was about to protest, but the look on her face told me otherwise. Mentally sighing, I allowed her to pull me off the log. She dragged me in the direction of the drink table, but instead took me closer to the cabins. Annabeth then turned around, crossing her arms above her chest. I slid my hands into my shorts pocket's and stared at her with a blank expression.

"What is your problem?" Annabeth asked, after realizing that she wasn't going to get anything out of me.

I scoffed. "My problem is they always nag me about everything. It gets annoying after a while."

"I've talked to them about it, but-"

"They don't listen," I muttered glancing down at the ground and my eyes focused on a large stick underneath my shoe. I broke it with slight pressure.

Annabeth took a step forward. Her finger appeared on the bottom of my chin and she pulled my head up, giving me access to her eyes. Her grey eyes searched mine, looking for anything that would explain my odd behavior. "Percy, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"Who says I have anything to talk about?"

She shot me a look. "You trust me?"

"Of course," I answered honestly. "I trust you more than anyone."

She smiled at my response. "So you know you can tell me anything?"

"I do."

Annabeth took a hold of my hand and laced our fingers together. It was a normal gesture. We were affectionate with each other. "And you know how people are here, especially the ones who don't attend during the school year. Most of the year-round campers know how you act. Grover and Juniper are..." She stopped to search for the right word.

"Nosy," I stated.

Annabeth rolled her eyes but nodded. "They're like that because they're not with you every day."

"I know, but it still gets annoying because they ask me constantly," I said glancing back at them sitting on the log and enjoying the bonfire.

She sighed. "I know the feeling."

I turned my head back in her direction and smirked. "Like you have something to hide, Wise Girl."

"Maybe I do," Annabeth said in a teasing tone but her expression told me she wasn't kidding.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you're not telling me? I thought Annabeth Chase didn't keep secrets!" I gasped nudging her with my shoulder while pushing past her.

She laughed, following me up the hill to the cabins. "Every girl has their secrets, Seaweed Brain."

"Yeah, says the one who wears owl-covered shorts to bed," I called back.

Annabeth laughed again. "What does that have to do with what I just said?"

I shrugged, chuckling. "Nothing! It was to be funny."

"Har-har, you're so hilarious!" Annabeth said full of sarcasm. When she caught up with me, I casually threw an arm around her shoulders and poked her in the side with my free hand, doing it just to annoy her. I stopped when Annabeth shot me a dirty look.

We chatted the entire time while we walked towards her cabin. In about each cabin, there was about ten-fifteen campers. I was special because I got a cabin all to myself. The reason for that was because my foster mom recommended it to Chiron. He was happy to oblige. When we first met, I could tell he knew I was a kid with a story and secrets. My foster mom had told him that my parents were serving a life-sentence (which they were) and she couldn't take care of me anymore. It didn't really bother me because I was used to her not being there. She had a pretty busy job.

All right, enough about me. I'm not telling you my life story anytime soon. We just met.

We stepped onto the deck of her cabin and were talking about school starting soon. There weren't many campers who stayed so the classes were pretty small. I liked that because that was less people to socialize with. Annabeth spun around on the balls of her feet and held out her arms. I laughed before stepping forward and wrapping my arms around her petite figure. She told me a while ago that she loved my hugs, so I took the advantage to hug her tightly.

For some strange reason, whenever I hugged her close or looked at her for a long period of time, I always heard this voice in my head saying she's the reason. She's the reason why you can't leave, but it may just be my imagination.

"Hey, are you and your boyfriend almost done?" I looked up from where my head was resting on her shoulder to see one of Annabeth's cabinmates leaning against the doorframe of her cabin, watching us amusingly. "I need help to figure out these equations our teacher gave us for the summer."

"Yes, Kristen. We're just saying good-bye," Annabeth replied then added, "And he's not my boyfriend!"

"Or am I?" I teased raising a suggestive eyebrow.

She laughed before releasing her arms from around my neck. "I'll see you in the morning, Percy. Good-night."

"Night, Wise Girl," I whispered shoving my hands into my jacket's pockets and walking back in the direction of my cabin. The bonfire was still going on, but I passed it, slipping my hood up onto my head to hide myself from others. Besides Annabeth, most campers considered me a pariah.

When I reached my cabin, I locked the door and stripped out of my jeans, leaving me in my boxers and T-shirt. I ran a hand through my messy locks, yawning loudly. I fell onto my bed, staring at a blank spot on the ceiling. The light from the fire reflected into my cabin since it was closest to the water (where the bonfire was always held) and I could see the nasty-looking scars on my arms. I pulled the covers over me and snuggled into the mattress, slowly drifting to sleep.

"I hate my life," I muttered staring into the bathroom mirror. "No one wants me here. No one cares!"

The blade was pressed against the blue vein on my skin. I needed to get out of this pain. I had to end my life; right here, right now. There was no one left in the world that cared about me. There was no one who would miss me. My foster mom was busy with her job and my parents were gone.

I pressed the tip of the blade against it, the blood starting to show. I pressed harder. Salt-water filled my eyes. The blood started to drip down my wrist.. This was it. My life was going to end. About ten seconds later, my knees gave out from underneath me and I collapsed onto the floor, blacking out after my head collided with the hard tile.

I thought it had worked. Sadly I was wrong. I woke up in the hostipal a few days later.

I awoke from the nightmare, sitting up as fast as I could. I remembered that day vividly. The day I almost succeeded committing suicide. The day my foster mom found out what I was up to and enlisted me into the camp.

The day where I thought I was done with life.

What'd you think?

If anything doesn't make sense, then you can PM me and I'll explain.

If you read Pain, Percy's story is told but his story is not the same. There will be more details- not in graphic terms, like description. He's mentioned a few things that will tie in with his story: foster mom, his parents serving a life-sentence, and he's a kid with secrets.

We never got to Annabeth's story, but hers will be different.

I haven't decided if Thalia is going to be in it because when I wrote Pain, I had no idea where I was going with that relationship. It was getting confusing also, so this story will be different. The chapters may have some similarities, but it'll be written better and it will make sense.

Question: are there any characters from the HoO series you would like to see? I'll try my best to mention them, but I don't know if they'll play a major part.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and look forward for more! :D

-HunterofArtemis32