“Please?”

“No.”

“Come on. You can't stay in there forever.”

“Yes I can.”

"But it's really quiet and peaceful outside!"

“So is the inside of my cabin.”

It wasn't really my choice to argue with them. I was actually having a good morning's sleep before a knock on the cabin door ruined it all.

The annoying bugs named Sehun and Chen were grinning at me when I opened the door. Of course the only rational thing to do was to slam it in their faces. And I would’ve had not the second bug stopped me.

“Not so fast, my dear Lian. We need you out of that cabin now,” he ordered. The first bug smacked him in the face, albeit gently. I rolled my eyes at their stupidity.

“That’s not how you convince people! Say the magic word!”

“I think you’ve known me long enough that I don’t say please.”

“You just did.”

I sighed in exasperation. There was no point of listening to them early in the morning. But it was a bad thing that they noticed that, because they went back to trying to persuade me.

“Wait, don’t go back in! We’re trying to save you from the horrors that might happen to you inside the cabin!” Chen

“Goodbye.”

And with that, I slammed the door close. Ah, peace at last.

I grumbled to myself as my feet trudged through the forest. Turns out, Chen had planted a stink bomb in the Hades cabin in hopes of taking revenge on Minhyuk when he outsmarted the annoying bug number two yesterday in a battle. I got out in time, though I can’t say the same for my half-brother who is still probably dozing off in the cabin.

And it was a good thing that Kai wasn’t in there either. For once, his late night…activities saved him from being dumped right after one date, not that it doesn’t happen to him even if he smells like a flower field.

My mind switched from pitying my brother to ranting in my head and thinking up of torments that Chen would receive. While I did so, something grabbed my foot which made me kiss the wonderful ground.

“Whoops, sorry. I grabbed the wrong limb.”

I turned to glare at the voice that I know so well. “Shut it Kai, you’re just as bad as those annoying bugs.”

The shadows around him retreated, and he raised an eyebrow. “What bugs?”

“Nothing, don’t mind it. So why are you hiding here?” I asked.

Kai shrugged before helping me get on my feet. I dusted off any visible dirt on my pants while he answered, “No reason.”

I didn’t press on. He’ll tell me when he wants to and it might not be that important anyway. “Okay, see you later then. Are you sleeping in the cabin tonight?”

“I might…” he paused, placing two fingers on his chin. “No, I definitely will.”

He might be hiding from his new ex then.

“Well too bad, if you want to sleep well you’re going to have to sleep in a girl’s bed. Our cabin smells like a skunk war,” I warned.

“Was it Chen or Sehun?”

“Both.”

“…I see.”

After what seemed like a century, I walked out of the forest and into the dining hall. What I found was most certainly weird. All of the campers there were giving weird looks, but it wasn’t directed at me.

It was directed at Gaea’s kid, Kyungsoo.

And I joined them. 

Why you ask?

The son of Mother Earth had a happy smile on his face as opposed to his usual scowl. That was a rare thing that only happens once or twice a year, depending on what happened around camp. Right now, things were going his way. No monsters in sight and no shenanigans being caused. Everything was calm and peaceful as the two bugs had said it was.

Kyungsoo hasn’t heard of the latest news about the cabins then.

I’m tempted to tell him and wipe that smile off his face, though someone or something else might already do that for me. But it wouldn’t hurt to let him enjoy these peaceful moments so let’s just leave him alone.

I sat at the Hades table, planning to sleep there when a demigod approached me.

“What do you want?” I asked grumpily.

"My table is already full,” he replied.

Sometimes I wish that our dining hall system was like Camp Half-Blood’s. You can’t sit on anyone’s table but your godly parent’s. Here, as long as the table isn’t full, you can sit anywhere you like. I hate that.

But I was too tired to even tell him off, and I unknowingly dozed off. It was a good thing that he didn’t interrupt my precious sleep. He probably just sat there and ate quietly.

Well…peace and quiet doesn’t last long when you’re a demigod, even if you just innocently slept somewhere because you’re too tired.

I was jolted awake by a shriek of ‘Chanyeol!’ by a person that will definitely be in my list of annoying bugs. Of course, I couldn’t really sleep properly now. Rubbing my tired eyes, I opened them to find who the offender was. And probably take a look at this Chanyeol guy while I’m at it.

The first thing I saw was a bright smile that was probably bright as the sun itself, and I don’t like the sun. I think his name was Baekhyun or something like that. He’s definitely going to the annoying bug list.

He sat down beside Chanyeol and started blabbering to him like I wasn’t even there. Chanyeol nudged him and pointed at me, and that’s when he finally noticed.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there! You’re just as quiet as your brother so you’re really hard to notice. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Baekhyun apologized over and over that I thought my ear was going to fall off from that.

“I get it. Just stop,” I interjected.

He sighed in relief, and so did Chanyeol. Baekhyun kept giving not-so-subtle glances here and there before he finally made an attempt at restarting the conversation.

“So…its Kyungsoo’s happy day…does it freak you out?”

“Not as much as the others, but I find it disturbing.”

“Okay…hmm…are you getting enough sleep? Because you know, your eye bags are too big not to notice.”

Way to state the obvious. He really at this.

Beside him, Chanyeol was trying too hard not to break out into laughter, biting his lip and all. I raised an eyebrow at Baekhyun’s antics. Trust me, when I’m wide awake, I would’ve been amused by him. Now, it’s just annoying and I’m cringing on the inside.

A few minutes later, Chanyeol couldn’t hold back any longer and burst out laughing. Great, another pair of idiotic people to keep me awake.

Minutes turned into hours, and by then I gave up on trying to get some sleep. These two blabbered about a lot of weird things; occasionally they would include me in their conversation to keep me from dozing off, but mostly I just listened to them. And I learned a lot of things from that.

Suddenly, a girl burst through the dining hall, carrying an axe.

“Kai! Come out and show your face, you coward!” she shrieked. “We’re not done talking yet!”

So that’s who Kai was hiding from. Well it’s his fault for dating an Ares girl and breaking up with her, so stupid. He and Minhyuk should really know the meaning of the word ‘commitment’.

“What did Kai do this time?” Chanyeol whispered.

“She was probably in love with him and he abruptly broke it off earlier than he usually does,” Baekhyun whispered back.

The three of us watched her as she slaughtered every piece of furniture in the dining hall. That doesn’t really look like she’s looking for him completely, more like venting out her frustration at innocent pieces of wood which probably didn’t even do anything to her while trying to see if he only blended in the background.

I feel so sorry for the furniture, and the guy who’ll end up either paying or making new ones.

The daughter of Ares marched over to where we were sitting. She smashed the table in half, which almost sent us flying. Of course, it’s naturally common sense to slowly back away from a bloodthirsty person who indirectly killed trees twice with an axe, but it was amusing to watch her.

She then grabbed my collar, her eyes screaming murder. “Where is your brother?!”

If looks could kill, I would’ve been on my way to say hi to my dad. But my annoyance and patience meter just went from 10 to 0, and I glared at her, making sure to radiate every ounce of fear that I could muster.

She dropped me, screamed ‘I’m sorry!’ and ran outside.

After that, I collapsed on the floor. I’m really exhausted, doing that took all of my energy; I could barely even stand or move anything.

Kyungsoo, who probably heard all the ruckus and cries of the broken wood, burst through the door and stomped over to where Chanyeol and Baekhyun were. The two whimpered as he interrogated them, the scowl already replaced happy smile he had earlier.

The son of Gaea growled and went after the culprit(s). The two sighed in relief once again, glad that Kyungsoo was gone.

I groaned out, before closing my eyes.

That was the best sleep I ever had, if you wouldn’t count the nightmares the came along with it. The reason why I refused to sleep at night was because of them. I had to become a nocturnal person just so the nightmares would become less scary and become more of a prophetic dream. During this sleep though, it was a mix of both. But I’m not going to tell you even if you asked nicely, it’s just too private.

“You’re finally awake,” a voice muttered. Blinking off the sleep, I slowly opened my eyes. What greeted me were a weird bunch of demigods. I couldn’t really tell who spoke since my brain was still in the middle of processing everything.

Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Xiumin, and even Kyungsoo were all standing beside the bed. The first four, I would understand, but Kyungsoo? What the heck.

“How long have I been asleep?” I asked, not really caring who answers.

“About three days or so,” Baekhyun replied. “I was mostly the one who kept an eye on you and fed you ambrosia. The others just barged in here whenever they wanted.”

“How are you feeling?” Xiumin asked.

“I don’t really know,” I said nonchalantly. “And I don’t really care.”

“Same old Lian,” he grinned.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “I’m just here to see if you were fine and ready to do your assigned tasks so when you’re ready, come see me.”

He turned around and prepared to leave when I called out.

“Have you heard of what happened to my cabin? Sehun and Chen planted a stink bomb in it. I’m not really sure if the smell is gone now, but just in case.”

The son of Gaea growled as he did three days ago and ran out of the infirmary. The revenge wasn’t as sweet as what I’d hoped, but it’s better than nothing.

“You should’ve seen his rampage, it was hilarious!” Xiumin giggled. The other two joined him.

“Really now-“

I was cut off by a disgusting smell -well I don’t want to know what it is- that filled my nostril. My natural instinct caused me to gag and cover my mouth and nose. Three demigods that were wearing gas masks entered the room, inching away from the person they were carrying.

It was my half-brother Minhyuk. He was pinching his nose, and I could see in his eyes that he wanted to cry. Whether it was from the smell or the fact that this happened to him, we’ll never know.

Bonus and deleted scene/s:

"There goes another girl," Chanyeol whistled. "That's like...the 7th this week."

I frowned. "You actually count his number of girlfriends?"

"Well...not really. I just guessed. Nobody really knows how many girls he dated; even Kai himself doesn't know. Not that he cares about them."

"...I see"

"I don't really like your brother to be honest," Baekhyun said.

"How so?"

"Well, I'm a bit jealous that he gets all the girls, but I hate the fact that he treats them as toys! Girls are delicate creatures that need to be loved and cared for! And it goes without saying that us men are too!"

He babbled on and on about romantic stuff, so I tuned him out. The kid has a point, but this love thing was just pointless. I mean it involves giving and devoting yourself to someone and you never know that they might betray you, like Kai does.

"What about you, Lian? What's your ideal type?" Chanyeol asked.

"No comment."

In the distance, I heard screams of torture and begging for mercy.

Ah...peace and quiet, and sweet satisfaction of revenge.