The woman had left Percy a while ago. And now he lay quiet. Just watching the rising smoke, his arms around his daughter who had fallen asleep amidst the shouts of police officers in the distance. His heart beating rapidly in his chest.

Until someone decided it was a good idea to start a motorcycle next to a sleeping baby.

"Hey kid it would be helpful if you'd please stop running away, I told you to sit on the bench, it's hard for me to find you in this smoke. I'm going to take you down to the station with the police officer okay? I'm sorry kid-," Steve stopped talking, his blue eyes finding their way down to the screaming child in Percy's grasp, he blinked in confusion.

Percy stayed silent.

Steve looked at the crying child, to Percy, than back to the child, suddenly noticing the resemblance between the two children. His eyes suddenly widened and his cheeks started to take on a salmon pink hue, still smeared with delicate flakes of ash.

"Is she-she yours?" He stuttered in a flustered manor not unlike Hazel would have, in a situation similar...

Hazel would have...

But Hazel was gone.

Her voice joining the wails, calling, screaming.

It was all his fault.

He slowly closed his eyes, waiting to embrace the screams.

Fade away.

But he couldn't.

Because he had promised.

Slowly Percy glanced down at Kailiope brushing tufts of her perfect curls away from his beautiful girl's forehead. Her eyes blinking open under her long lashes, as she quieted down her screams. Her sea-green eyes almost a exact replica of her fathers. But hers still shone with an Angelic sparkle of innocents. Sighing Percy let his shoulder sag as he glanced to Steve, nodding his head.

Steve looked like someone had spray painted his cheeks with strawberry sauce.

Percy stood cradling the child to his chest wiping the soot that fell from his hair to her cheeks as he walked to Steve who was recovering from his embarrassment. The man's ash covered hands, wiping themselves on his brown leather jacket.

Are we going? Percy glanced back at Steve, the look he was giving was obvious.

"Um...yah, well we can't take the girl on the motorcycle...uh you can, uh, you two can go in the police car." Steve replied smoothly. Percy blinked his shatters eyes lacking emotion as he glanced at the nearest police man who had overheard their conversation and was starting up a car.

And Percy was silent.

But hollow screams echoed in his ears as he sat back against the seats of the automobile, the wispy ghost of the flickering flames still dancing in his eyes.

It was just another memory.

A ghost of what once was.

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