Dimitri couldn't decide who it was hardest to look at. His dear old father, who had raised him and taught him everything he knew, now just a massive doubt, and nothing more. His mother who he loved dearly, who would have done anything for him, whose smile was now painful to think about. Then there was Alannah. It had only been a day since they'd declared love for one another, and now he couldn't stand to look at her. How was he supposed to reveal what he'd known? That he'd walked her right into danger. All he'd thought about while he "slept" was mental images of him telling her what he'd learned. None of them ended well in his head. He'd thought about cutting the trip short somehow, but everyone would wonder why. And he knew he wouldn't be able to leave and never look back, here was everything he knew, and it's where he knew he'd always return to. A world where he didn't have that option was a dark one.<br/><br/>And so he chose to look at nobody, as long as he didn't have to. He mostly kept his head down, though it didn't help much. Things were very quiet, and probably awkward too, though Dimitri was too trapped to feel it. The only time he looked up was the occasional glance when they spoke, and anything said to him was answered with the quickest answer possible, nothing that would lead to more questions. Though, it was obvious to everyone that Dimitri wasn't himself, his guile wasn't well, and he was an even worse liar. He hadn't ever had to lie, much less be in any similar situation with his parents. He'd loved them fully forever, and now there was a barrier. Just to think about it filled him with all sorts of emotions, none of them pleasant. Everything that had gone wrong all boiled down from the same source.<br/><br/>Demigod blood.<br/><br/>He didn't have time to think about what he'd thought before Alannah spoke, he caught a glimpse of her in his peripheral vision. He didn't look away when she spoke though, he was caught in-between the desires and fears of Alannah, he knew she was only speaking in order to keep things going. He owed her a lot, but he couldn't even begin to explain it to her. Especially here, where he'd have to talk about WD13. Just thinking his dad might have even a little bit to do with something dark flooded Dimitri's chest with feelings he hadn't ever experienced before.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008040">"Ah, it's nothing! I couldn't really go around waking ya up when you're our guest."</span>Jillian replied, her smile was there, but it was very staged. Not that Dimitri took the time to look, it was already wrong enough that she didn't make a joke. He just knew that if he wasn't trapped in this, she would have said something like<span style="font-style: italic">I wouldn't want to disturb the two cuddlin' lovebirds now, would I?</span>Dimitri was simply lost in the thoughts and silence, he wanted nothing more than to be at the bottom of the lake once more. Nothing could touch him there.<br/><br/>It wasn't for another moment where the sound of another voice joined in.<span style="color: #0080BF">"Son, can I see you outside for a minute?</span>Herschel spoke, Dimitri only replied with a look. He wasn't even sure what he could say, he simply had no words.<span style="color: #0080BF">"It's about the crops. I wanted to see if you thought some of them looked a little sickly. My eyes aren't what they used to be."</span>He stood up from his seat first, giving his son a nod. Both of them knew it had nothing to do with the crops, and as he waited for his son to get up, Dimitri pushed his chair back. He turned to Alannah and pressed his lips against hers. It was the only sincere thing he'd done that morning, and he wasn't quite sure what had made that instinct happen, but the kiss had given him the courage to stand up and face whatever was waiting for him.<br/><br/>The struggle to stand up was hard enough, he'd rather sit there and stare at Alannah, and just pretend that yesterday hadn't happened. The talk of Lucy was hard enough to hear, now he had a whole new element of life introduced, simply identified by four characters. WD13 still rang in his head. Still, he stood, and followed his father outside, to the crop fields.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008040">"I hope he's not giving you too much trouble..."</span>Jillian said to Alannah, once Dimitri and his dad were gone.<span style="color: #008040">"I-I don't know what's happened to him in the time he's been gone. I was so happy to see he was still the same as ever when he came back. Now I'm worried that he isn't the same at all."</span>Her voice got more and more worried as she spoke, as she thought about how she'd raised him. She didn't cry, but she very much wanted to.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">--------------------------</div><br/><br/>Dimitri followed his father out, it almost felt like he was being scolded for breaking a lamp. His fondest memories were here, whether they be his childhood or young adulthood. At least then, he was certain that everything would be just fine. At the moment, he wasn't certain of anything.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080BF">"What's goin' on?"</span>Dimitri's father asked, once they were significantly far away from the house.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008080">"Nothing. Why would you think that?"</span>Dimitri replied, though not nearly convincingly enough, any emotion put forth was defensive.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080BF">"Son, I've known you for nearly two decades. And there isn't one time you've ever acted anything like this."</span>He said back, Dimitri didn't have anything to reply with.<span style="color: #0080BF">"At first I was thinking maybe she was affecting you. But I couldn't have imagined a more nice girl for you to have brought home. You were just fine yesterday, even happier than ever before."</span>He continued, Dimitri still couldn't reply with anything.<span style="color: #0080BF">"You're worrying us all."</span>He gave one final plead.<br/><br/>Dimitri looked away, he couldn't look at his father any longer. Instead he pretended to inspect the crops, though he didn't really do any inspecting, he knew they were already more than well tended to.<span style="color: #008080">"They don't look afflicted to me. They look just fine."</span>Dimitri said, more weak than ever before. He could almost feel daggers coming from his father's eyes now.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080BF">"Son, I'm just here because I care about you. I love you. So does everyone else in that house."</span>Herschel said, and Dimitri now felt guilt even, piled on top of everything.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008080">"I understand. I love you too."</span>Dimitri said, he didn't even think, he simply spoke, it was in his nature to love his father figure, though it didn't change that fact of what'd he seen.<span style="color: #008080">"I just saw some things while I was gone. And I'm just recovering."</span>Dimtri lied, the feeling was absolutely vile. He couldn't handle thinking about it, so he simply turned back and walked towards his home once more.