A/N: Hey, this is something I have been working on for a long while now because when I read through the original, I never felt that it was good enough. So this is the re-write I promised to some of you, and I hope you enjoy the new, improved story!

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!"

"You do care…You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it."

J.K Rowling- Order of the Phoenix

Gathered together in the dust covered room, four teens sat in complete darkness, their heads hung and eyes lost as they gazed upon each other. Their bodies were positioned in a loose circle, hands and legs stretched towards each other but stopping just short of touching. Resting in the middle of their group on a dark purple cushion rested the only thing of value in the room full of stacked boxes and broken furniture, four rings delicately crafted from pure silver, each hosting gem stones that still managed to gleam in the room that was almost completely devoid of lights.

For a while, no one spoke and the muffled sounds of shouts and laughter echoed hollowly through the silence, sounding so distant that they could have come from a different world entirely instead of from the other side of a thin wall. It was almost as though these foreign sounds of cheer were enough to place a spell of false calm over the gathered quartet, allowing them to pretend that nothing had changed, but only until the youngest of the group, a boy clothed in the same mourning shades as his companions, shifted slightly, ghostly pale fingers beginning to tap out a slow rhythm on the panelled floor beneath them.

"It still doesn't feel right."

As if his words were a signal that they had all been waiting for, the three girls seemed to become animated once again, their dull eyes snapping up to face him with a myriad of emotions playing in their depths and managing to create a small spark that had long been absent. Nothing in their actions betrayed it, but this was an argument that they had held many times in the last few days and, by now, they were merely going through the motions of the discussion, neither side backing down, but not wanting the other to do so either. To lose this would be to let go of the past, and that was something that none of them were willing to do… not yet.

"It is a great honour, we should accept it."

The speaker was the eldest girl, the one with shoulder length brown hair pulled into a severe ponytail and a multitude of scars dotted across her face, though her flat tone belied the true feelings behind the phrase that had been repeated to them so many times that they could hear it every time that they looked upon the jewels, a phrase that had lost all meaning to them. What they had been offered was indeed a great honour, they all deeply knew this, each privately cherished the opportunity, and if they had been given this choice only a few weeks prior, it would have been accepted almost immediately, yet now the appeal had greatly faded.

"He should be here. This honour should be his as well… I don't want to take it without him…"

The last part of her sentence that had started out full of venom, was lost in a small sob that had finally broken through the dark haired girl's defences, her electric blue eyes growing misty with both pain and regret. Small shivers ran through her form until she was pulled into the arms of the boy and her last walls seemed to break down, the normally strong huntress finally succumbing to the horror and the grief of the last few weeks that she had forced herself not to face until now. Off to her left, the brown haired girl looked away, her own eyes gaining a suspicious sheen of their own, however, it was the reaction of the lone blonde in the room that was the most explosive of them all.

Slamming her already bruised and bandaged hands onto the floor, the daughter of Athena pushed herself to her feet, her storm grey eyes glinting dangerously in the half-light and a look of pure fury passing across her features, even as small tremors wracked her frame.

"No, he does that deserve this! Have you forgotten that he was the one who betrayed us to Gaia? That I saw him make a deal that would have cost us the war and our lives just to save his own skin, with my own eyes? Percy Jackson was nothing more than a traitor and a coward who deserved the death he received! I for one am going to take this; if we become the guardians of heroes then we can prevent anyone from doing what he did ever again!"

With this, the girl snatched the ring that pointed towards her from its place on the floor and ran from the room, the silver streaks running down her cheeks unseen by her companions to create dark spots on the dust covered floor as those left behind only shared a look between themselves. This was so unlike the hero they had known her to be, but the loss of her boyfriend had changed the daughter of Athena in several ways, and they had no idea how to deal with this new, broken version of their friend. After a while of just looking forlornly at the now open door, Clarisse merely shook her head, the long absent steel creeping back into her gaze, despite the lost look they still hosted.

"I still don't believe that he would do that. His fatal flaw was loyalty for Zeus' sake! There must be another explanation… one that makes sense!"

The others all nodded in response to the daughter of Ares' words, looks of pain flashing across their battle worn faces. It was with a sigh, then, that the huntress looked up at the one holding her beseechingly, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Nico… can't you find him and ask…"

Her words trailed off as she caught to flinch in her friend's features, his eyes screwing up as though attempting to ward of the words. As he began to speak, his two companions noticed that his normally pale skin had taken on a slightly green hue, making them both curious and apprehensive towards his answer.

"No. The way he… the attack that Zeus used… getting hit with the master bolt is enough to completely decimate the soul of any mortal stupid enough to get in the way of it… there wouldn't be enough of him left to ask, even in the underworld. The real reason for his betrayal died with him, and we're never going to find out what it was. Maybe…"

He trailed off at that, swallowing drily as the eyes of the two girls' cut into him, making his heart beat a little faster in trepidation.

"…Maybe we should just accept it as the way that Annabeth saw it and move on. Dwelling on this, any of it, will only serve to hurt us more."

As he finished, he diverted his eyes back to the rings before them so that he did not have to see the accusing glares from his friends that the proposal had no doubt earned him, tensing up slightly as he anticipated their violent reaction. However, the attack that he was expecting never came and he was instead answered by the unusually quiet voice of the girl in his arms.

"No… I can't accept it, not like that, but I think we should take the position. If we are guarding the heroes of the new age, we can stop this from happening again… stop the situation ever arising where someone would feel the need to do this kind of thing, from happening… maybe we could even find the truth eventually… if we keep looking…"

There were a few noises of agreement and, as one, they reached across and took hold of their individual rings, drawing strength from each other as they slipped the cool metal onto their fingers and a bright light engulfed them all.

With a sigh, the dark haired teen stepped away from the pool of water, allowing the image of the loft of his old home to fade as he moved back towards the small, hooded group waiting for him at the far wall, his movements slow and jerky as a steady stream of tears dripped from his eyes to the floor. Even from their position at the edge of the small, naturally formed cavern, the others could see the defeated set in the boy's shoulders and they could almost hear his depressed thoughts screaming out at them. Even though his cousins had sworn that they would believe in him (something they were not entirely sure that he had even taken note of in his depression), the love of his life, the one he had sacrificed everything to save, had so openly denounced him as a traitor that they could practically see him breaking apart in front of them.

Halfway between the viewing pool and the waiting quartet was another girl who had allowed her red hood to fall off of her shoulders revealing her dark curls and the warm brown eyes that fixed upon him in concern. Once he was close enough, she enfolded the black robed boy into her arms, allowing him to melt into her as the others approached, whispering words of comfort into his ear.

"You succeeded. They're safe. And now you can be sure that they will remain so. We will make sure that they do!"

"She's right you know; it takes real strength to do what you did for them. To have those you love the most see you as a monster is probably the most painful thing you could ever experience, but now you can help us keep the really strong enemies away from them!"

The speaker was a small figure covered in all white who ran up to join the comforting hug with her small arms, her bronze curls falling from underneath her cowl as she bounce forwards with the grace of a dancer, soon followed by the others until there was a small huddle around the boy, each of them offering support in their own way. The girl dressed in dark jeans and a golden hooded top reached across to run a hand through messy raven locks soothingly.

"Caring hurts kid… it always has. But it's what lets us know that we're still here. That we're still human."

With a humourless laugh, the boys head came up from its place on the brunette's shoulder and despondent sea green eyes fixed on hidden gold, faint tear tracks shimmering on his cheeks.

"I wish it didn't. I wish I never had to do this, that I wasn't the one who always had to make the sacrifices to keep them alive. And the fact that she believed the lie so easily… I gave everything to her and she sees me as a traitor so readily… why do I still care about her so much?"

The others sighed in response to the comment, each of them thinking about the correct way that they could answer that comment, before the only other male let out a short bark of laughter, the hand that was not resting on a gold clad shoulder moving up to run through pale blonde hair, shoving his blue hood down at the same time.

"Tha's love mate. It makes us sick, it makes us stupid and, most of all, it 'urts, but we can't choose t' not feel it. Still you're better off forgettin' about her y'know, girls are nothin' but trouble after all!"

That comment earned him a sharp slap over the head from the gold clad girl as the others rolled their eyes, attempting to hide their amusement at the sheepish look his grin had morphed into. But it had served the purpose he had intended and the atmosphere had been lightened once again, for all except the one who needed it most. Instead, the dark haired teen one shrugged and pulled up his black cowl to hide his face from the prying gazes of the others.

"That's the problem, I can't. Nothing I do works, I just can't forget her…"

"Then maybe I can help?"

The new voice that entered the cavern was as warm as it was sharp, full of authority and power, yet soothing for them all as well. As one, the gathered heroes knelt and faced the young woman who was now gliding into the room, the shadows melting around her and gathering once again after her passing like a crowd following a well-loved celebrity that had appeared before them.

"I can take your memories, and hide them… you would have no recollection of your mortal life if it pleases you. It is an extreme solution to be sure, but it is one I offer to all my adopted children, and would save you from much pain Perseus, and you too Piper, if you so choose to accept… however, it all depends on your decision in the end."

For a moment, there was absolute silence in the dark cave as the fighters not mentioned shared a look of resignation. They did not like that such a thing was even an option, but as their lady said, it would depend entirely on the decision of their newest siblings, and they would offer their assistance no matter what the two chose. To everyone's surprise, it was the daughter of Aphrodite who spoke up first, her eyes studiously looking at everything and anything that wasn't alive in the room as she answered.

"I-I think that I… would like to take that offer. Children of Aphrodite are only supposed to truly fall in love one… and without Jason I don't… I can't… please."

There was a shocked silence for a second at that, Piper had been silent enough in her grief that no one had known her emotions had run so deep, but now that she had said this, it wasn't all that surprising for them all, and they managed to recover themselves just in time to hear a soft 'please' from the one in the centre of their group.

With a defeated sigh and a heavy look of regret, the Lady Nyx bowed her head and acknowledged their decision.

"As you wish."

A/N: There you go, I hope you enjoyed this new version in the story, and I can't wait to hear your opinions (constructive criticism only please) Anyway, Question for you all... Do you want me to do the mini quiz at the end of these chapters like I did on the first version of the story? Yes or No? Anyway, catch ya next time!

Ella XxXxXxXxXx