Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**So I decided after getting some feedback that I'm going to write this story! I want to apologize again for the misconceptions about this story, I don't mean for this to be a dark story, it's just starting out that way, I promise it will get better.**

**WARNING: If you get depressed easily, or are in a sad mood, I don't suggest you read this story until I get several chapters in. The beginning that I have planned isn't happy, and the story won't start to get happy for a few chapters**

**Well, I hope you all enjoy my first Fan Fictions **_**From the Ashes**_**, please review and let me know what you think about the story, character building, grammar and such. If you have any suggestions, let me know!**

Percy been dating Annabeth for nearly a year now and it had been the best of his life! He had spent the day alone in his cabin thinking about all the adventures he and Annabeth had been through together, and how they had come to be the couple that they were. While he was laying on his bed pondering, he caught a glint of light off the wall and looked at the shield-watch that Tyson had made for him. He remembered all they had gone through on their adventures and mishaps they had when they traveled though the Sea of Monsters to save Grover and find the Golden Fleece. He couldn't help but smile when he remembered Annabeth saving him from a future as a Guiney Pig on Circe's Island.

They had been through so much together and he wanted to do something special for their one-year anniversary, and he had been thinking about what he should do for days.

It was time for Percy to start his usual activities. He got up and decided to try practice sword fighting in the arena with the Athena cabin to try to clear his mind, and apart from the Ares cabin (who hated his guts) they were probably the cabin that was the most difficult to fight against.

When he got there, he found that the one person who he was excited to see wasn't there. "Where's Annabeth?" he asked Malcolm, but he didn't seem to know either. Percy shrugged it off, deciding she was probably on her own researching more about architecture.

As the day went on, he realized that he hadn't seen Annabeth anywhere. He checked her cabin and found that she wasn't there either. She must've gone off on her own for some reason. He decided it would be best not to go searching for her if she wanted to be alone. As Percy went back into his cabin, he laid down on his bed to think. He stayed there through dinner because he wasn't hungry and he needed to think of something to do for his anniversary. After a few hours his mind was wandering, thinking about everything he had ever done with Annabeth, his mom, his friends, really any adventure or trip he had ever taken. Then it hit him. He could ask her to come to Montauk with him! He had never been there with anyone but his mother, and technically Grover was there for a few minutes (long story) but that doesn't count. He decided that he could ask her to take a trip to Montauk for a few days for their anniversary and show her everything he had loved about the place even though he hadn't been there in years.

In a way, Percy thought of this as a way to share a piece of his heart. He loved going to Montauk with his mom, and hoped that Annabeth would see what it meant to him to share a piece of himself with her that had been for only him for so long. As he drifted off to sleep he was grinning, unable to stop thinking about all the adventures he had had there before, and hoping he could relive them with Annabeth. Now, all he had to do was think of a way to tell her. . .

**Well, that's chapter one! If you have any suggestions, criticism (constructive only please), or ideas for me to use, let me know! And since I'm new, if you have any ideas on how I can transition the story a bit more smoothly, tell me. I obviously need a bit of work on that. I'm hoping to make future chapters longer, but I won't be filling them with random things just to take space. Thank you all for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**I'm back already! Because of the short chapters and the fact that I want to get into the deeper part of the story, I want to get a few chapters out relatively quickly. I'm hoping that with reviews and practice I'll be able to do a better job of writing these stories, for your enjoyment as well as mine. I'll also try to do a better job of using line breaks to keep the story in pieces instead of long paragraphs. This will also probably be a relatively short chapter because it's just Percy trying to get an idea of how to ask Annabeth, and if I have the time and motivation I may add one more chapter later tonight**

Percy's POV

I'd been awake for a while now, but I just couldn't force myself out of bed. I laid there with my hands twitching from between my chest to my sides to anything they could do to let my nervous energy out, and my ADHD wasn't helping. I still hadn't been able to think of a way to ask Annabeth and I'd been laying here thinking about it for hours.

After a little longer I decided that it wasn't like we were a new couple, I would just ask her, but that didn't stop me from at least making sure it was while we were alone somewhere that we could talk, just the two of us.

I left the cabin and started looking around for my friends or Annabeth, but I still had no idea where they were. It was nearly time for breakfast so I figured I would see them soon anyways. I went into the forest alone so I could sit by the water and just be alone for a while as I try to think of a place that I could ask her to go with me.

Soon after I sat there, I heard the horn signaling breakfast so I got up and started walking. I made the decision to ask Annabeth by the stream in the forest, because people rarely went there and I knew it would give us some time alone and I would be able to talk with her without interruption.

When I got to breakfast, I saw Annabeth eating with her siblings, but she looked kind of out of it today. I wonder if she had a bad night? Maybe dreams, they were pretty common among demigods. I got my food and ate alone at the Poseidon table like I usually did, and I was about to stand up when Grover came and sat by me.

"Hey Percy." He said.

"Where have you been for the last few days, I haven't seen you around?" I replied.

He answered "You know, just around. I've been spending a lot of time with Juniper lately because I haven't seen her for a while."

We kept talking for a little while, but mentioning his girlfriend made it difficult to get my mind off of Annabeth.

By the time he stood up to leave I looked at the Athena table and saw that Annabeth was already gone.

"That's odd," I mumbled to myself, "she usually at least comes to tell me good morning."

I wanted to go find her but I had to go to archery. I didn't see the purpose, I was a terrible shot and I knew I wasn't improving. I decided that I would find Annabeth later and get her to come talk to me, and maybe figure out the reason she was acting so strangely for the last few days.

After I finished training in archery, sword fighting (which I actually was pretty good at), climbing the lava while and Pegasus riding, I went to my cabin and took a shower. I changed into some nicer clothes. I wore my regular jeans but also a button-up dress shirt because I figured it was kind of a special occasion and I wanted to look nice for Annabeth when I asked her.

I found her on her way to her cabin and I quickly stopped her.

"Annabeth, can I need to ask you something." I said, but she wouldn't make eye contact with me for more than a second, looking at the ground or her hands.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I want us to be alone to ask you, I don't want anyone interrupting."

She started to say something but stopped herself.

"Ok, where are we going?" She asked.

"Just follow me."

I lead her through the woods and to the creek where I figured nobody would overhear us so we had some privacy.

"Annabeth, our one year anniversary is in a few weeks and I want to ask you if you would go on a trip to Montauk with me, just the two of us." I said.

She was staring at the creek and said "I don't know Percy, I need to think about it."

I wasn't really expecting that, so we sat quietly for a few minutes until we heard the horn for dinner. She got up and started to walk away, but I grabbed her hand and quickly asked "Annabeth, are you alright? You've been acting kind of acting strange for the last few days."

She quickly replied as she pulled her hand away "I'm fine," and she walked towards the pavilion.

What had I done wrong? Did I say something?

I sat there alone for a while until I decided that I wasn't hungry and started going back to my cabin where I could be alone for a while.

I got there and didn't even bother taking off my clothes before laying down on my bed.

My last thought before I fell asleep was "What did I do wrong?"

**And that's chapter two! I hope all of you enjoyed reading this, even though it had the crime against humanity that is my attempt at dialogue in it. Hopefully I'll put out another chapter later tonight. Please review and tell me any ideas or tips to help me continue writing this story!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hey guys and thanks for all the support I've been getting! I want to give a shout-out to everyone who has reviewed or sent me a message so far, thanks to ****percy81511, ****Bloodsteel 45, ****HTTYD-PJATO-ROTG-41185****, I Need To Change My Name, and daughtersoftheowl, you've all given me support in writing my first story that I hope people are and will enjoy. Thank you to all of you, and all of you who just read my stories too, it always makes me smile when I look at the stats on my story and see how many people have read it. Thank you all.**

**Enough of that though, I know the real reason you're reading this, the story. So without any more delay, R&amp;R and here is chapter 3 of my story!**

Percy's POV

I woke up after a night of barely any sleep. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to get myself to wake up.

I walked over to the fountain in the back of my cabin and dunked my head under the water in the salt-water spring.

Immediately I felt more awake and I decided to get ready for the day. Since I had gone to sleep in the same clothes as yesterday, so I showered and changed into a new pair of jeans and a new Camp shirt.

Everything seemed to be good until I remembered why I couldn't sleep last night.

Annabeth…

I couldn't stop thinking that I'd done or said something that had made her not want to be around me, but after racking my brain for a few minutes I couldn't think of anything I had done.

I decided it would be best if I left her alone for a while, since she was obviously in no mood to talk to me.

I went to breakfast and found that everything was the same as it usually was, everybody was sitting with their cabins eating breakfast together. Annabeth was with her cabin, and I saw her glance at me but she looked away. I needed to find out what was wrong.

I got my breakfast, blue pancakes and eggs, and muttered "help me dad," while I scraped an offering into the fire. I walked over to my table and sat down alone and started to eat.

Nothing eventful happened so I just went to my activities after I finished eating my food.

The rest of the day went as they usually do, nothing bad happened, no monsters were seen (except the usual ones in the forest, but that's beside the point), and everything was normal. And I hated it.

None of my friends were around or they were busy so I was alone the whole day because I usually spent it with Annabeth. Jason and Piper were always together and Leo usually hung out around them, nobody has seen Nico for a couple weeks, Frank and Hazel were at Camp Jupiter, and Annabeth wasn't talking to me.

I felt more alone that I had at Camp for a long time, and I didn't know why.

Everyone ate dinner and after the Campfire we all went to our cabins for the night.

I fell asleep to a sleep that was better than yesterday, but completely dreamless.

The whole next day went the same as the one before, activities, meals, the campfire, all of it. I never realized how few close friends I had at Camp until Annabeth stopped talking to me.

For the second night in a row, I went to sleep and saw nothing again until morning.

I woke up and immediately decided that I was sick of this and I needed to confront Annabeth about what was going and whether she was going to go with me to Montauk.

After the morning's activities I found her walking back towards her cabin with some of her siblings and she was turned away from me talking to her brother Malcolm.

I had to jog to catch up to them, and I grabbed Annabeth's shoulder, turned her around and immediately said "We need to talk." She didn't really reply, she just waved Malcolm on to go with their siblings back to the cabin and waited until they were out of earshot.

Once they were gone she looked at me with a blank expression and asked "What is it?"

I was surprised by how monotone her voice was, as if she either had no emotions or was hiding them from me, which I wasn't used to, at least not from her.

I answered "You never gave me an answer and you haven't even talked to me for several days, and I want to know what's wrong."

She started to reply but I cut her off and said "I want to be alone with you while we talk about this."

She nodded and I lead her down to the canoe lake. We sat down on the docks and I looked over at her and asked "So what's going on lately? You haven't talked to me in two days and you've hardly even looked at me."

She looked out over the lake, thinking, but she didn't answer.

"You never told what you meant about our trip to Montauk either, and I need to know Annabeth," I said, getting a little irritated after her ignoring me for two days. "Our anniversary is in two weeks."

When I mentioned our anniversary she looked away from the lake and away from me

"I can't go to Montauk with you Percy." She said.

I quickly replied "Why not? What did I do that's making you so upset? I always try not to be rude, I try to treat you like you're the best thing that's happened to me, and I don't understa—"

She cut me off saying "Percy, it isn't anything you did."

I looked at her confused "What is it then?"

She looked at me with a sad, slightly guilty look in her eyes "I… I found someone else Percy, and I want to be with him."

**And that's it! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even if I did leave it at a little bit of a cliffhanger. I hope you're all enjoying my story so far, but the next chapter is where it gets a bit dark. Please don't stop reading because of that, it will lighten up, the next chapter is just where I'm planning on starting some more character building and starting to go into the feelings of the characters. So Thank you everyone who has made this far! You're all amazing and I hope you've enjoyed. Please review or PM me if you have any suggestions for what I should do with this story, but keep in mind I have the whole plot written down already, so I can twist things, but I almost certainly won't change the whole story because of a suggestion, even if it's a great one. That was chapter 3, and I hope to see you guys in the next one!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello everyone, how did you cope with being down for several hours? I've only know about this site for a few days and I feel like I'm going through withdrawal and I'm bored of waiting and checking so I've decided to start writing chapter 4. I hope you all enjoy it!**

**A heads up for all of you, this is where the story gets really dark. I'm just giving a warning because I don't want someone to read this chapter and have nothing after it to see what happens because it gets pretty depressing.**

**I hope you can all push through this chapter for the story, thank you to all of you giving me support and reading my story, this has been a really fun experience for me to write my own story!**

**Last thing, I was reading through my old chapters and noticed several grammar and spelling errors, and I'm sorry. Several people have been wanting me to update quickly so I didn't proofread as thoroughly as I should have, I'll try to do better about that.**

**And now, without any more delays, Chapter 4**

Percy's POV

I was speechless.

My brain seemed to shut down and I wasn't able to think for a few seconds. When thoughts returned to my head they were a jumbled, undiscernible mess. I couldn't look at Annabeth, and I stared at the lake below my feet.

How had this happened to me? Where had we gone wrong?

These thoughts were swimming through my mind as my reality seemed to collapse on itself.

I jumped into the lake.

As I broke through the surface of the water I heard Annabeth call my name, but I ignored her. I wasn't in any state for reasoning and I didn't want to see anybody so I sank to the bottom of the lake and stayed there, trying to comprehend what had happened to me.

I had done everything for her, I had left camp and followed a quest to rescue her, given up eternity with Calypso for her; I even gave up immortality among the gods to be with her.

And she took what I gave and stabbed me in heart.

I could barely stand it, I wanted to cry, yell, scream, anything to get the emotions I was feeling to leave, but I couldn't, all I could do was sit at the bottom of the lake with my head in my hands. I felt like a piece of my heart… no, my soul had been ripped from me.

The one person I'd ever loved enough to give anything for had replaced me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I was at the bottom of the lake for hours. I could sense fish curiously swimming around me, and occasionally a naiad wondering what was wrong, and what happened to the Son of the Sea God.

I acknowledged none of them.

Eventually I passed out on the floor of the lake for a restless night of sleep.

I'd like to say that a night of sleep had helped my emotions, but if anything it had made them worse.

I couldn't shake the feeling that I was alone and I'd lost the only person I cared for, who I thought had cared for me.

She led me on and betrayed me.

I wanted to feel angry, I could cope with anger, hit something, break something, and then I could make it go away by letting out my anger, but I couldn't get angry. I could only feel sadness and complete lack of joy.

Annabeth had meant everything to me, and I would have given up anything for her, and I did.

I finally forced myself to walk to shore.

When I surfaced there was nobody there, and when I looked at the dock Annabeth was gone. I wasn't surprised, but there was something on the dock. I walked over to it to see it was a necklace I had given her on our six month anniversary.

That was my breaking point.

I picked it up and clenched it in my fist choking back tears. I couldn't keep this up and I knew it. I needed someone to talk to, but there was no one. I needed someone to be there for me, but there wasn't anybody. I was alone.

I went to my cabin and sat on my bed.

I pulled out a notepad that Annabeth had given me a few months ago, insisting that I should start writing down our adventures.

I flipped open the notebook and looked at what was there. I had written everything I could remember, and every detail about it. The first time I arrived at camp, our quest to retrieve Zeus's Master Bolt and save my mom, our quest to save Grover and retrieve the Golden Fleece with Tyson, the quest lead by Zoe to save Artemis that I had snuck on to save Annabeth, Annabeth's quest through the Labyrinth where she had kissed me for the first time and Calypso's Island, and finally the missions and battles to protect Olympus from Kronos. I had even written down the first real date that I had taken Annabeth on because I considered it to be an adventure.

I read these, all of them, and tried to get comfort from the memories, but it only made it worse, forcing me to remember how much I loved Annabeth. I knew no matter what I did I would never forget her.

I can't take the pain, this has to end.

I looked at my nightstand and opened the drawer. Inside I found a knife that I kept there in case of emergencies.

I almost smirked thinking that after this, I wouldn't ever have another emergency, another problem, another pain… or another loved one lost…

I stood in the middle of my cabin and held the point of the knife to my stomach.

I said to myself "I'm sorry everyone, but I can't take this."

Before I could hesitate I plunged the knife into my stomach and fell to my knees.

As I touched the ground my eyes were clouded with pain, but I saw the door open and heard Nico's voice say "Percy, where—" and then he saw me as I fell over onto the floor.

"Oh my gods Percy!" he yelled and kneeled by and pulled out the knife and tried to stop the bleeding. My vision was going darker but I thought I could hear someone crying, it sounded like a girl's voice.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was a reflection of light off of blonde hair above me…

**That's it for chapter 4, and I'm sorry that this chapter is so dark and depressing. I hope it doesn't make any of you sad seeing this, but I promise it will get happier! Just stick with me on this! Thank you to all my great readers! Please review or PM me if you have any ideas or suggestions and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**I'm back again guys! I have a campout tonight and then I have work most of the day tomorrow so I want to put out a chapter early today to hold everyone off who's reading it. I might get another chapter out late tomorrow night.**

**I apologize for the dark ending on the last one, but it was important to the story and the plot that I have written out, and I hope you'll stay with me as the story progresses.**

**I've kind of been losing a bit of motivation for this story though, because it seems like it's being abandoned. Only 12 people have read Chapter 4 and I don't know if anyone even wants this story to continue, so please PM me, or leave a review, or something to let me know if you want me to continue writing.**

**And now, without more delay, Chapter 5!**

**Percy's POV**

The first thing I was aware of as I regained consciousness was the feeling of sheets over everything but my face. I was slowly regaining feeling, I realized how tired I was, the parched feeling in my mouth, and of the course the severe ache in my stomach.

My stomach… I remembered my last moments before I had blacked out and what I had done to myself.

The day, the journal… the knife.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was in the infirmary, laying on the bed with a sheet on top of me.

I lifted the sheets and saw a bandage wrapped tightly around my stomach where my wound had been. I looked to my left at the nightstand and saw that there were two glasses, one with nectar, the other with water, and next to them was my journal.

I didn't know why someone had left the journal by me, but I didn't care enough to find out. I looked to my right and saw Nico sitting alone in a chair by the wall several feet away from me, just watching me.

He didn't say a word, he just sat there and waited for me to say something.

I sat, trying to compose my thoughts and think of what to say to him.

"Why did you come to find me?" I asked, monotone without emotion.

"You've were missing the whole night, and besides, I try to take care of my friends."

Friends… It didn't seem that I had any of those, not recently.

"What do you mean the whole night? Don't you mean last night?"

"No, Percy you've been unconscious for two days. I've been helping out with taking care of you, with the fact that I can sense death Chiron thought it would be a good idea for me to be here permanently because I could see if you were alright."

"What do you mean helping? Who else has been here?"

"Chiron was here the first day, Grover came and visited a few times. Jason, Leo, and Piper came and visited too. We sent an Iris message to Frank and Hazel at Camp Jupiter too. And of course, Annabeth has been here nearly non-stop with me, but I figured I should send her away when it seemed that you were waking up. She's waiting outside right now."

When he mentioned Annabeth I looked away and focused on my hands, the walls, anything else. Why was she here? She knew how I felt about her, and I was sure she knew she was the cause of this.

"Why is she here?" I asked him harshly, still not looking at him.

"She feels guilty for what happened. She was miserable with stress that you might die, and she was with me when I found you in your cabin. I could hardly stop her from crying for the first few hours while you were close to dying."

"She doesn't have any reason to cry, or even care about me. She left me, and she knew how much I cared about her."

"Percy, I can't pretend to be an expert on feelings, or even people, but she still feels something for you. She was the one who asked me to help look for you."

I didn't believe it. She didn't have feelings for me, she had made that pretty clear.

"You'll get over this Percy, I know how you're feeling. I felt the same way when I lost Bianca. I felt sadness, depression, anger, and there wasn't a way to let it out. You need to come to terms with yourself and get over it, bottling up your emotions won't help, it'll only make you feel worse. You have to let it go."

I didn't respond to that. There wasn't anything I could say to that.

"Annabeth wants to talk to you Percy, that's why she's waiting outside. She—"

"No." I immediately respond.

"Whether she feels anything for me or not, I don't want to see her, especially not now."

"Percy you're being-"

I cut him off again "Unreasonable? I'm being unreasonable for being angry at the one person I loved for leaving me? For crushing my feelings with no reason that I know except she found someone else?"

"She didn't-"

"No, not now, maybe another time." I said while rolling onto my side facing away from him. "I don't want to see her."

I heard Nico sigh as he stood up and walked out. I had my eyes closed, trying to sleep. I heard someone walk in and come next to me.

The last thing I remember before falling asleep was a gentle touch of someone brushing their hand across my cheek.

**And that's chapter 5! I hope you all enjoyed! Please Review or PM me if you have an idea or suggestion for me to put in my story. Thank you to all of my readers, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Shout-out to TheRebelFlesh, he/she (I'm sorry, I don't know which from our conversations) has been helping me a lot by giving me some new ideas and tips that I want to use to improve my story! Also, to a guest, I hope all of you who review will make an account because I really want to respond to your reviews to show I'm listening to all of you, but, you know who you are, and thanks for your support! Lastly, shout-out to ****vicchavez007****, thanks for your support, I'm glad you like my story!**

**I'm back, and I'm really tired. I'm just going to fill you in on my personal life and what's going on really fast. I just went camping last night and probably got about 4 hours of sleep broken up by waking up during the night. Then today I had to go to work for 8 hours, then 2 more hours of overtime and I then had to drive home on slick, icy roads. I also think I have food poisoning! Sleep sounds amazing right now, but I said I would get another chapter out. So if there are grammar or spelling errors, please be understanding, I'm really tired while I'm writing this.**

**Well, enough of my sob story, Chapter 6, I hope you enjoy!**

Percy's POV

It's been three days since I woke up, and I'm nearly well enough to go about regular activities again, at least that's what Chiron and Nico have been telling me.

I've been confined to my bed and haven't been allowed to get out except to go to the bathroom, and Nico stays in my room to make sure I don't get out.

I was suffering from cabin fever, I always felt restless, bored, and depressed.

All I could do to pass the time was talk to Nico, so we talked about everything. We talked about what was going on around camp, I told him about quests I'd been on, and all the details about them that I could remember, and he told me about traveling through the Underworld.

I didn't have anything to hide, so I opened up to Nico. I told him everything I'd been through from as early as I could remember.

Nico told me a lot too. He told me about when he was little, about how he would annoy his Bianca, how he obsessed about MythoMagic, how he'd had fun. I learned a lot about Nico during those few days, and something seemed different about him. He seemed happier, less tense, as if he was finally comfortable around another living person.

It was strange, but nice to not feel like he would suddenly snap from dealing with people.

But there's only so much to talk about over the hours and hours of time we had, and there wasn't really anything left to talk about.

"What will I do when I can finally leave this stupid bed?" I asked irritably.

"What you always do. Go to activities, eat, and enjoy yourself. Just remember what I've been telling you, don't focus on past feelings or things that aren't possible, they only hurt you more."

Something was off with Nico while he said that last part. It was as if he was thinking of something he'd had to go through. I felt bad for him, because nobody every seemed to take interest in Nico because it always seemed that he wanted to be alone.

"Nico, whatever you've had to go through, I'm sorry. Sure not everything will happen the way we want it to, not everyone will do what we hope. But there's always a chance, and that's what we hope for."

"Not always." He mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing. How did you become so wise over the last few days?" He asked with mock amazement.

"Oh shut up."

"I could, but then what would you do except watch the ice in your water melt?"

I looked to the quickly, ignoring him, also with an expression of mock irritation.

I try to start another conversation to pass the time with Nico, but Chiron came in the door, in this wheelchair form.

"I think you're ready to leave the infirmary today Percy." Chiron told me.

"Finally!" I shouted as I stood up from what was my permanent residence for nearly a week.

I immediately started to get lighted and nearly fell over, but Nico lunged to me and grabbed my shoulder to hold me up.

"He said you could leave, not run." Nico said in a bit of a condescending tone, although I could see he was trying not to laugh at me.

When we got outside it was getting close to sunset. I just stood there with Nico by me, making sure I wouldn't fall over, and watched the sun set. People were walking around the camp, doing their usual activities. It seemed so normal until I focused on the people walking around. I noticed they were skirting around the edge of the clearing that we were in, and I saw some of them glancing at me, as if they were worried that I would snap and break everything around me.

I shouldn't have expected any more than this, but still, it hurt.

I don't know what's up with Nico, but he must've sensed something change, because he looked over at me and said "Don't worry about them, people are always nervous around anyone who isn't the social "norm," I know, I've had to deal with it for years."

I thought about it and realized how bad that must be for him, everyone avoiding him, nervous around him, afraid of what he'll do because he isn't their definition of normal.

"Come on," he said, "let's get you back to your cabin so you can rest."

"I've had enough rest." I mumbled unhappily, but I followed him anyways.

He took me inside my cabin and helped me sit on the edge of my bed. I was going to lie down, but I saw him move towards my dresser before he managed to stop himself.

"Go ahead, take the knife. I know no one trusts me with it."

He had a sad look in his eyes, but he picked up the knife and I saw him set something down in its place.

I was too tired from the walk and not curious enough to see what it was, so I just waited until he left and shut my door and as I drifted into a sleep, I muttered to myself "More rest, not like I've had enough of that in the last few days."

**I wanted to make this chapter longer guys, I'm sorry, but I'm really tired and I'm twisting my story a little so it's changing how I have to move my plot along. I have some new ideas and things to put in that will extend the story and, in my opinion, make it more interesting. I'm tired but I think this has been a pretty good chapter and it's moving the plot in a new direction from what I initially planned. Well, thanks to all of you for reading, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. I hope to see you all in the next one!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Gah! So many guests review! It's great, but there have been a couple I've wanted to reply to and ask their opinions, so if you guys can, make an account so I can talk to you, I'm sure you have ideas that could make this story a lot better!**

**Hello again everyone! Today I have an important question for all of you. Would you like me to do alternate endings to this story? I want you to PM me or review to tell me, but I have two ideas for endings to this story and I would like to write both. If I did alternate endings, I would start changing the labels on the chapters e.g. Chapter 8 ending 1 or Chapter 8 ending 2, so you can tell which story line you're reading on it. I like this idea, but I want you guys' opinion on it. Let me know what you think!**

**And now, onto Chapter 7!**

Percy's POV

I woke up the next day in my cabin.

It's been a while since I've woken up here. It was almost alien to me.

I decided that I might as well get up, so I showered and got myself ready for the day.

I figured Nico and Chiron wouldn't let me do my usual activities, since I was still weak and hadn't fully recovered yet. I walked outside and had to squint and look at the ground until my eyes adjusted to the bright light outside. It had been a while since I've been outside during the day.

It was later than everyone usually woke up, so I wasn't surprised when I came to the dining pavilion and found that there was nobody there. I looked at my table and saw Nico sitting there, waiting next to a plate of food that was blue. It didn't take a genius to figure he was waiting for me.

I slid into the table next to him in front of the plate of food.

"What's up Nico?"

"Not much, everyone has already separated for their activities, so it's just me here."

"How come you're here? You never stay at camp for this long."

He grinned at me and said "Because if I left who else would torment you?"

I laughed for the first time in a few days. I hadn't thought about it much, but I was really happy that Nico was still here, he was the only person in camp who was treating me the same. Everyone I'd seen had been skeptical to even come near me, or treated me with pity. Piper was the worst. She came for a visit on the second day that I was awake and told me she was sorry about what had happened.

I hated pity, I didn't want people to feel sorry for me, I wanted to be treated normally again. All I got anymore from anyone was either pity or fear that I would just snap.

Nico was the only person who seemed to really understand me and how I felt. He treated me how he always had, along with the aid he gave me getting better and the company that kept me from going insane with boredom.

"So I'm assuming Chiron still isn't allowing me to do my usual activites?"

"Nope," Nico said, "but I'm sure we can find something."

"Like what?"

"I have no idea, I figured you'd think of something."

I nodded while I sat and thought.

The rock wall was obviously out of the question.

I wouldn't be able to handle the monsters in the woods.

"I could handle water, if that has to do with anything." I said.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Fishing? Or is that bad, you know, killing something your dad is the god of?"

I laughed "I'm pretty sure fishing would be fine." I said while Nico smirked sarcastically at me.

We went to find some fishing poles in the big house, seeing how everything was in there somewhere, then we walked to the docks.

We sat down on the dock and started fishing. It was strange doing something like this, just two guys doing something any regular mortal boys would. Stuff like this may not seem like much, but demigods don't get to experience it very often.

We'd been fishing for about twenty minutes when I had an idea.

"Hey Nico, you know what would make fishing easier?"

"What?" He asked, confused, "no powers, that's cheating."

"Yeah, yeah I know, that's not it. It would be easier if you think like the fish."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, genuinely confused now.

"You know, think how the fish think. The cool of the water, swimming, looking for food." I continued.

"I thought you were hurt in the stomach, but apparently you got hit in the head." He replied.

"Aww, come on. See, let me help you." I said, then I shoved him off the dock into the water.

"Hey!" He yelled as he managed to grab my shoe and pull me into the lake as he fell in.

I surfaced and he laughed at me. "Yeah, I can definitely feel the same as the fish now." He said as he splashed me.

I climbed out of the water back onto the dock and helped him back up.

"Well, now I have to go dry off." He said as he smacked the back of my head with mock anger.

"See? It would have been so much easier just to think like the fish, then I wouldn't have had to show you how to do it."

He shook his head, then he seemed like he remembered something and the smirk faded back to what he looked like normally.

"I'm gonna go change into dry clothes." He said.

I heard a strange tone in his voice when he said that. It was sad, like he'd just lost a family member.

"Nico, you ok?" I asked.

"Fine." He replied as he walked towards his cabin.

The rest of the day was fairly normal. Nico helped me around the camp as we went to watch what people were doing, like archery, Pegasus riding or sword fighting in the arena.

The arena was the last stop because I tripped into a weapons rack (fortunately empty of blades) and nearly blacked out when it hit my wound on my stomach.

Nico helped me stumble back to my cabin and helped me sit on my bed.

He started to walk away but I asked "Nico, what happened earlier? You seemed like you were having a great day and actually enjoying yourself, but you almost seemed like you lost your best friend after we were fishing."

He waited a few seconds before responding, "Don't worry about it Percy. Maybe someday, but not today."

He walked out of my cabin and shut the door behind him, leaving me to wonder what had happened to him.  
Had Nico lost someone? I knew Bianca had died, but he came to terms about that, and that never made him sad anymore, at least not on the outside.

I laid down and tried to figure it out, but nothing came to mind. I would just have to wait until he was ready to tell me. I dozed off, thinking about what could've caused him to get sad so quickly, as if he'd remembered something or someone who was gone, or out of his reach.

**And that's it! I'm sorry this was such a slow chapter guys, it does have a purpose though! I don't like writing filler chapters, so believe me when I say that this chapter does matter in the overall story! And remember, please let me know what you think about the alternate endings idea, I want to know what you think about it.**

**That's all, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**HoH spoilers**

**Hey guys! I'm back, and I've decided to do the alternate endings, so that should be either next chapter that that starts, or the one after, depending on how this goes! I wanted to get this chapter out earlier today, but my family wanted to watch a movie, so here I am, armed with an orange pop and my imagination. Let's see how this goes!**

**Chapter 8!**

Percy's POV

I woke up in my cabin, to the sound of my own breathing and the saltwater fountain in the back of my cabin.

Not for the first time, I wished I had siblings to share the cabin with. It was always so empty and quiet here, and the only time that there was a reprieve from it was when Tyson was here, but he rarely visited anymore.

I got up and got ready for another slow day. After falling into that weapons rack yesterday my wound was aching more than it had for a few days.

When I finished getting ready, I went outside and to the dining pavilion like that day before.

Once again, although I wasn't surprised this time, Nico was leaning back on my table alone with everyone already to their daily activities.

Something was off today though, for some reason Nico was slouching more than usual as if he was depressed about something. It was kind of the same way he had been yesterday, except right now he wasn't talking so I could see his posture and his expressions as he looked at the ground.

"Hey Nico, what's up?"

He shrugged his shoulders, still looking at the ground "Not much."

"You ok man? You still seem a bit out of it from yesterday."

He didn't reply to that, he just gestured at my plate of food that was waiting on the table for me.

I sat down and he sat next to me, still looking down, not really focusing on anything as if he were lost in his own thoughts.

As I sat there, eating my food in silence, I realized how alone I still was. Nico had been the only source of friendship I'd had since, let's just call it the incident, and now that he was strung up on his own thoughts, I realized how alone I'd been since Annabeth left me.

… I still don't know how I feel about her anymore, there are too many emotions to pick just one, there's resentment, anger, sadness, longing, loneliness… the list goes on. I don't know what she wants either. I've seen her around as I've been going around camp with Nico, and she was always looking at me until I saw her, when she would look away. It was like she wanted to tell me something but was too scared to. Just one more person who was scared of me.

It was so frustrating, everyone seemed as if they were almost walking on eggshells around me, and the only person who was still genuinely acting like my friend was Nico, and now he was acting awkward.

I can barely stand it, and it's making me miserable.

My thoughts must've been showing in my expression because Nico looked over at me and asked "Percy, you ok?"

I looked over at him and saw concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm ok, just thinking about stuff."

"You sure?" He seemed like he was out of his mood he'd been in.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"So what—" Nico started but I heard a familiar yell coming from the hill.

"PERCY!" Yelled someone who was arguably my most similar cousin, Thalia.

"What were you thinking!? Annabeth Iris messaged me a few days ago and told me what happened and it took me this long to convince Lady Artemis (I think that's the correct title?) to let me come knock some sense into you!" Thalia shouted at me.

"Percy, what do I have to-" Nico cut her off quickly.

"Come on Thalia, this isn't the time, you have no idea what he's gone through."

She stood there silently for a few seconds and looked at the ground.

"Sorry Percy, I just… I don't like seeing my friends get hurt." She said quietly.

"It's ok Thalia." I muttered looking at my shoes miserably. One more person to add to the list of people I'd let down.

"Percy really-" Nico cut her off again.

"You should probably go," He said quietly, "maybe talk to him again later, or tomorrow morning."

"Ok." She said miserably. I could tell she felt bad about talking that way, but I wasn't in any kind of a mood to talk to her.

"Well, umm, now what?" Nico asked.

"I don't know, I might just go to the lake or the stream." I said.

"You want me to go with you?" Nico asked.

"No, I want to just think alone. I promise I won't do anything." I told him.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you later then." He said as he walked off to do whatever it is that Nico does.

Nico's POV (about time right!? I hope I do it well)

I watched Percy walk off into the forest toward the stream on his own while I just waited.

I knew what he felt like, it was hard to lose someone you cared about.

I know how painful it is, and yet, I can't help but hope that he'll see that I care for him and that maybe he'll feel something for me.

I know that it's probably a lost cause to hope for something like that but I can't help it. Ever since I met him for the first time when I was 12 I had a crush on him, and the feelings had only intensified as the years went on.

I didn't know what else to do, so I went to talk to Jason. He usually seemed like he could keep his feelings or biases out of something when he talked to someone about something, and he was the only one who knew about my feelings for Percy, because of our experience with Cupid.

I found him with Piper, as he usually was, in the arena, teaching the few Aphrodite kids who were willing to fight some new moves. (I would say sparring, but Jason against Aphrodite kids? There wasn't really much contest)

"Jason, can you come with me for a few minutes? I need to talk to you."

"Sure," he replied "What's up?"

"Just follow me." I said.

I lead him out of the arena and towards the edge of the forest where nobody would be able to overhear us.

"It's about Percy." I said.

Jason seemed to become a little awkward, but managed to get it under control quickly.

"What about him?" He asked.

"Ever since he tried… You know, I've been the only one who's been treating him normally, so he's been hanging around with me a lot." I started.

"While he was stuck in bed, we talked about everything. He told me his entire life and all that he's been through, and I told him most about mine. We know each other a lot better now, and I can tell that he trusts me more because I haven't been treating him like a freak like everyone else does in this wretched camp." I spat.

"Nico, you need to understand that most people are scared of what they don't understand, and most of them haven't lost someone. You've been through what he's going through, so you understand him, and you're not afraid of him."

"It doesn't give them the right to treat people that way, but this is all beside the point. I came to talk to you because you're the only one who knows about my… feelings." I said slowly.

He waited for me to continue.

"Since the first day he was awake, I've been his only friend, and he's opened up to me because he trusts me. I… I love him more because of it. For the last few days I can't look into his eyes without getting lost in them. I have to constantly be watching myself so I don't do something like that and make him think I'm a freak," I said, "I just don't know what I should do, so I came to ask you."

Jason thought for a few seconds then said "If it matters to you so much, tell him how you feel. The worst that could happen is that he turns you down, then at least you'll know. Besides, don't worry about him thinking you're a freak, after all he's been through I'm sure Percy won't be judging anyone."

"I guess you're right, thanks Jason."

"No Problem." He said

As he was walking back into the arena I heard Piper ask "What was that about?"

"Nothing, just talking about stuff."

At least that was one thing I could count on, Jason could keep a secret when he wanted to.

Percy's POV

After a whole day at the stream I decided that I'd better get back before people started to worry about me.

I got back towards my cabin and saw Nico leaning against the wall next to my door.

I got up to him and asked "What's up Nico?"

"Not much, but, do mind if we go in your cabin? I need to tell you something." He said, stuttering through the sentence.

Nico didn't seem upset, what could he need to tell me that had him so nervous?

"Sure." I answered, and we walked through my door into the cabin.

I closed the door and turned to see him leaned against my bed, his face more pale than usual. He looked like he was going to pass out.

"Nico, are you alright?" I asked.

He bit his lip while looking at his shoes. "Yeah, I'm ok."

We stood there in silence for a few seconds as it seemed Nico was gathering his thoughts.

"Percy, there's something important I have to tell you, but… I want you to promise that you won't freak out, or act differently because of it."

"Did something bad happen? What-"

"Just promise" He said quietly.

"Ok, I promise, what do you need to tell me?"

"Percy…" He stuttered, then took a big breath and rushed out his next words before he could stop himself, "I have feelings for you. Ever since I met you when I was 12 I had a crush on you, and it never went away. Over the years my feelings have only gotten stronger, and over these last few days, you opening up to me, trusting me, it only made them harder to ignore. I can't look at your face anymore without nearly losing myself. Percy, I want to be together, I want you and me to be us."

What? Nico had feelings for me and he…

I tried to compose my thoughts, but I couldn't get them to straighten out, and I couldn't figure out how to put my jumbled thoughts into a complete sentence.

We stood there for nearly a minute in silence while Nico stared at me, waiting to hear what I would say.

"Nico, this is a lot to take in. Especially after my.. breakup with Annabeth. I need time to think about this."

He looked at the floor like he was ashamed of himself and depressed but I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," I said, and he looked up, "this doesn't mean we can't still be friends while I get my thoughts lined out. If there's anything I've learned over these last few days is how much it means to have someone who treats you how they should, even if other people think it isn't normal. You've shown me that over the last few days, and it's the least I can do to treat you the same way."

He gave me sad smirk and said with a fair amount of sarcasm "Percy Jackson learning life lessons from a son of the Lord of the Dead? What has this world come to?"

I smiled back as I took my hand off his shoulder, "Well, you did keep me from becoming part of his domain, so I owe you." I said.

"We both need to get some rest though, pardon the pun, but you look like you've seen a ghost."

"Alright." He said awkwardly.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

He smirked "Of course."

I laid down onto my bed and thought to myself "Even more confusion and emotion to deal with? Why not."

Then I drifted off to sleep.

**Chapter 8! *applause* I'm sorry/You're welcome for the really long chapter compared to my others, depending on what you like! This one took a lot of time to finish up. If you don't like Nico's feelings for Percy, I'm sorry, but they're there, and they play a key role in decisions Percy is going to have to make later in the story, so even if you don't like them, or if you do, think of it as one more building block for this story! I hope you all enjoyed reading this, And I hope to see all of you in the next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**I'm back everyone! Sorry that it's been a while, I've just been having trouble getting motivated to write this chapter, and I've been pretty busy with Pre-Calculus homework and such. But I'm back, and I don't want to procrastinate another day for this chapter, so I'm back!**

**No more delays, you've been waiting long enough, so, Chapter 9!**

Annabeth's POV

I was in the arena with my cabin, going through the motions of practicing fighting with my siblings, although I wasn't focusing on it. Ever since I broke up with Percy I'd had a hard time focusing on what I've been doing.

At the time, it had seemed like the thing that I wanted, Adam is such a nice guy, and Percy had just seemed like an older brother. I hadn't wanted to hurt him, but it just didn't seem like we should be together, I had still wanted to be his friend, we'd been through so much together, but I didn't think we were meant to be together.

Then that all changed. When Nico and I found Percy and saw him collapse to the floor of his cabin with a knife in his stomach, I realized what he meant to me. I couldn't bear to think what would have happened if Nico hadn't had the idea to check his cabin to see if he was there.

I'd watched his eyes close as he blacked out, and realized that I did love him. I've wanted to talk to him, but I can't, I know he hates me now, there's no way that he doesn't after what I put him through. I don't know what to do, I feel so guilty I can barely stand to see him around camp. I'm worried about him but for the first time, I don't know what I should do.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice Thalia barge into the arena and storm (literally, being the daughter of Zeus she can do that) and startled me by starting to shout at me.

"How could you do this to Percy?!" She yelled, ignoring the startled looks from my siblings, "He's never done anything wrong to you, he gave up eternity with Calypso for you, he even gave up being a god just so he could stay with you!"

I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just stared at my feet as I felt a wave of guilt and shame wash over me.

"He's been miserable and you have the audacity to do nothing! The only person in this wretched camp who has been decent enough to be a friend to him when he needs it most is the person you all think of as a monster, Nico!" She paused, glaring at all of the other campers in the arena as they silently shuffled foot to foot, looking down.

"Thalia, I didn't know th—"

"No! I don't want to hear how you thought he would be ok, that he could just move on and you didn't think it would hurt him! You know what he's done for you, all he's given up for you, it's obvious he loved you and you threw it away!"

Annabeth's eyes started to tear up, but she held it in.

"What have you got to say for yourself?!" She shouted.

I couldn't take it anymore, I fell to the ground and started crying. I felt really guilty for what I'd done to Percy, I felt horrible for pushing away the best friend I'd ever had for someone else. He'd done so much, he showed me he loved me so many times, but I hadn't realized what he meant until he'd nearly left me and the rest of the world because of it.

"Hey," Thalia said softly, "I'm sorry, I know this is a hard topic, it's just… I can't stand seeing you or Percy like this. I hate seeing both of you miserable."

I nodded and wiped the tears from my face. I looked up and saw that my siblings had all left the arena, so it was only Thalia, me, and Mrs. O'Leary.

"What should I do?" I asked her.

"Talk to Percy, tell him what you feel, and tell him that you don't want him to hate you. Try to be his friend again."

"I don't want to be friends, I want to be… us. I want to be us again. After I saw what had happened to Percy I told Adam that we couldn't be together." I answered

She stood in silence for almost a minute, then said "I can't tell you how to fix this, but you'll think of something." She said with a friendly smile.

I was glad I had a friend like her, she may have a short temper, but she would listen.

Percy's POV

I laid on my bed all day. It was ridiculous, but I didn't want to go out and do anything, I had too many things and emotions to think about. After Nico told me how he felt, I couldn't stop thinking about how he'd acted ever since I met him for the first time, and how I could kind of tell now that he'd told me.

I didn't know how I should feel, but I didn't judge. I knew what it meant to people now to be treated normally, even if you are different. Being treated like a freak was awful, I wanted to return the favor to Nico now, and show that I didn't think of him as a freak.

I didn't know what to tell him though, and I'd been thinking about it all day. It was late afternoon, and I still didn't have anything to say, I wasn't sure.

It was as if I'd lost my eyesight, and didn't know where I was going. I couldn't straighten my thoughts or feelings.

I finally gave up, it would have to wait.

I got up and realized I still hadn't changed, so I took a quick shower and got dressed so I wouldn't look like I'd been in bed all day… I had, but that wasn't the point.\

I walked outside and had to squint at the light.

When my eyes adjusted, I saw that everything was as it usually was.

I decided I would go find Nico, because he was, after all, the only person who still treated me like I was a person.

After I'd searched for him for a while, I found him sitting on the beach staring out at the sea.

I came up behind him quietly and put my head right next to his just out of his field of vision and asked "What are you looking at?"

He jumped and hit me in the chin with his shoulder.

"Gods Percy, don't do that!"

"Why, is the Ghost King scared?" I asked with a smirk.

"With good reason, who wouldn't be scared with you right behind them." He said looking back at the ocean.

I sat down next to him and we just sat in silence until I noticed him glancing over at me.

"Yes?" I said, drawing out the word as I dramatically swung my head over to look towards him.

"It's just… You haven't said anything yet Percy, and I don't know what to expect." He replied, looking at the sand by his hands.

"To be honest Nico, I don't know either. My emotions have been too scrambled over the last few days for me to make sense of them, but don't worry. I still want us to be friends, you are the one who saved me after all, I think I owe you respect at least."

He smiled and looked back up at the ocean.

"So, race you back to the dining pavilion? I haven't eaten or even left my cabin today, I could use the food and the exercise." I said.

"Come on Percy," He said, a bit sarcastically, "what are we, ten?"

I looked over at him again with a grin "I still eat blue food. I think it's ok to act like a kid once in a while."

He smiled and answered "You're on." And started to run.

I quickly got up and ran after my only friend.

**Chapter 9! I apologize again for the delay, but I couldn't get myself to write yesterday and I've have some bad writer's block, but I got it done! Well, next chapter will the start of the branching stories, so this will be interesting. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello again to all of my awesome readers! I'm back, and I'm in a good mood. I did a lot better on my final in a History class than I thought I would, and I've just been being a nerd all day, so hopefully this will be a good chapter.**

**This is chapter ten for branch 2, so this is going to be interesting.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

Percy's POV

Today was a good day.

I'd been wandering around my cabin, way too energetic to just lay down and think, so I had to move around. After days of being slow, lazy, and not being allowed to do anything, my ADHD was kicking in worse than usual.

I decided to leave my cabin and go find Nico.

That was another reason today was so good, Nico was acting normally. I'd half expected him to act awkward, even though I hoped he wouldn't. Nico was my only friend I could count on treating me normally, and I didn't want him to act differently.

I walked out the door and looked at everything, the pavilion, the strawberry fields, everything was better today.

People weren't staying away from me as much either, and I heard one person say something to another something about Thalia going off in the arena, but I didn't hear what about.

I walked across the pavilion, excited for the day and hoping it would actually be a normal day for once.

It was just my luck that that hope was almost immediately dashed.

"Percy!" I heard Annabeth call from behind me.

I tensed. What did she want? I still didn't know what I should feel about her. There were already too many emotions for her to cause more. Bitterness, anger, disappointment, longing… I didn't know what to expect from her.

I turned around to face her as she came towards me, then she did something I hadn't expected at all. She hugged me, tight, and put her face into my chest.

"I'm sorry Percy, I messed up," she said, holding me tight while I just stood, looking down at her, "I'm sorry, I didn't know how much you meant to be and I didn't realize it until you almost left us." She said.

I had no idea what to say or how to react. Did she really expect me to forgive her this soon after she'd crushed me? I'd been miserable and she'd completely ignored me through all of it, and when I'm finally starting to feel somewhat normal again, she decides that she messed up and wants to get back together?

I pushed her away from me gently and took a step away from her.

"Annabeth, I… I don't know, my emotions are so messed up that I didn't know how I felt before this. You've ignored me for days and would hardly even look at me, and now you just want me to forget all of that?"

I immediately saw the guilt in her eyes, "I know I've treated you awfully, and you have every right to hate me, but I want to make this right. I feel terrible for what happened, and I didn't know how much I meant to you, or you to me until now, but I want us to be us again. I want to fix this." Annabeth said.

"I ne-… I need time to think about this ok? I don't know how I feel anymore, and I haven't manage to straighten out my emotions yet. I need to think about this."

"Ok." She muttered, not making eye contact with me as she said it.

She walked off towards the cabins, and I stood, watching her go. I didn't know what to think, my emotions were already scrambled without adding this into the mix.

I decided I would go to try to find Nico again, I needed to talk to someone about this and he was the only person I trusted enough to tell.

I looked around for about thirty minutes before I found Nico sitting on the beach by the Ocean, looking out at the waves, just sitting.

I walked up and sat down next to him. He looked a little surprised, then asked "Where've you been?"

I told him about what Annabeth had said to me, and he took on a serious expression while he was watching the sea.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know Nico, my emotions have been jarred over and over through the last couple of days, and before this I haven't been able to straighten them out. Everything is just making my life more complex and I don't know what to do or think about this."

Nico sat silently, looking out at the waves, thinking.

"I guess I'll go to my cabin, I need some time alone to think."

He nodded and I stood up.

I brushed the sand off of my pants, and walked back through the camp to my cabin. I closed the door behind me and sat on my bed, staring at the opposite wall.

There was nothing left for me to do, so I sat there, thinking about Annabeth, Nico, and everything that had happened to me over the last few days.

**Chapter 10 Branch 2! Hooray and stuff! I hope you enjoyed reading, and I'm sorry about the short chapter, this is the point where the stories start to become different from each other, so be patient! Please review and let me know what you think, and I hope to see all of you in the next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello once again everyone! First off, I know the chapters are still very similar, you don't have to tell me. The point of the branching story is small differences at first, which lead up to the story progressing differently and different things happening. I know they're similar.**

**Also, I'm sorry I'm not updating as much anymore, I've been really busy with school, we just started a new trimester at my school so I've been caught up with that, and haven't had time to write as much as I was before, but I am continuing this story, I'm not abandoning it!**

**That's everything for now, so I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Percy's POV

I would like to say that I had another dreamless night, but it wouldn't help anything to lie.

I had a nightmare, and even by my standards, it was terrible.

_I was alone in the dark. I looked around, but there was nothing around me, as if I was in a very large room. I couldn't see the walls or ceiling from where I was, but I couldn't move, no matter how hard I tried or what direction I tried to push myself. I was stuck._

_Then there was a wind blowing around me, swirling around me like I was in the center of a tornado, and I could feel it tearing at my clothes, and whipping against my skin._

_I stood, looking around, trying to figure out where I was, and then the voices started. They were terrible, it sounded like harsh whispers, cutting through the wind and into my ears._

"_You aren't wanted"_

"_You aren't needed"_

"_You have no purpose"_

_The voices were coming from every direction at the same time, and from nowhere. No matter which direction I turned, I couldn't find where they were coming from._

_They kept telling me the same things, over and over._

"_You are useless, nobody wants you anymore. You're role as a tool of war has been fulfilled, and now, like any other tool without a purpose, will be discarded, tossed away, like a useless broken object that you are."_

_I couldn't get them out of my head._

_I collapsed to my knees, closing my eyes tight and clamping my hands over my ears as hard as I could, trying to block the voices out. It didn't help._

_They kept telling me the same thing over and over for what felt like hours._

_Then, they stopped._

_I moved my hands for a moment and opened my eyes._

_I was still here, trapped in the darkness._

_Then, the worst thing that could've happened, did._

_Annabeth's voice came._

_I immediately recognized it and hoped that I was going to wake up, and find out that the last few weeks had all been just a bad nightmare, but then I heard what she was saying to me._

"_You're alone Percy, you truly always were. You were nothing but a weapon, a tool, something to be discarded when we were finished with you."_

_I couldn't believe what was happening. Annabeth's voice was telling me I had never had anyone else, I was just an object._

_No, this is a dream, this isn't real._

_But it seemed so real. It sounded just like her._

_I was on the ground again, clenching my jaw tight, covering my ears and closing my eyes, not daring to open them, but I could hear her, telling me I was useless, broken, no longer needed._

_I couldn't take it, I fell to my side on the ground screaming._

I woke up.

I could feel the sweat from the nightmare still on me. My jaw hurt from clenching it so tightly, and I was grasping the sheets with tight fists. My knuckles were white and it was difficult to make the muscles in my hands relax.

I stood up from my bed, shaking.

It was still dark outside, probably the middle of the night, but there was always at least a little light coming from the salt water fountain.

I walked around my cabin rubbing my eyes and face with my hands. I couldn't get Annabeth's voice out of my head.

It was always there, taunting me, telling me I was useless.

I went over to my nightstand and opened the drawer.

I pulled out my journal and walked back over to my bed and sat down on the edge of the bed. I opened the journal and read it.

A few hours later, I was finished reading everything I had written in it. It hadn't helped, I was still miserable, and the depression I had felt when Annabeth left me was back, and worse than ever. No one needed me. They acted like my friends, but it was all an act. None of them had treated me the same since my attempt except Nico.

Nico… He was the only one who understood what I was going through, who treated me like a friend.

It was out of pity, it had to be. I didn't have any friends, he only helped me because he knew the pain himself.

I tossed the journal over to the edge of my bed, but before I looked away from it, I saw the pages flip open from the toss to something I hadn't written.

That wasn't my handwriting, so who had written it, and what was it?

I picked the journal back up and looked at what was written there.

Notes. They were notes written by the rest of the seven, and they were all words of support and encouragement.

Each of the notes had a bit of what the person was in them. Leo's note had a few attempts at humor in it, Piper's was kind of understanding, Jason's was straightforward to the point, and so on. I smiled a little as I read them.

I got past the sixth and saw that there was one that was written by Nico. I didn't know why he had written one, he was always there helping me out, but I read it anyways.

He told me a lot about himself in the note, talking about how he felt when Bianca had died, and that he understood and would always treat me like a friend, like I'd tried to do for him.

I read the note several times and couldn't help smiling at it. It was strange for Nico to share his emotion about anything, especially something like his sister, but he had written them down in my journal for me.

I decided that I had read it enough, and turned the page again.

I immediately recognized the handwriting to be Annabeth's and slammed my journal shut.

I didn't know what I thought about my emotions for Annabeth, especially after she apologized and told me she still cared, but it was confusing.

That, and the dream… I couldn't read it, at least not right now, the nightmare was still stuck in my mind and I couldn't get her voice telling me I was alone out of my head.

I set the journal back in the drawer in my nightstand and laid back down on the bed.

I thought about everything that was written, and tried to forget my dreams.

My last thoughts before I drifted off were my friends that I still had, the last one being Nico…

***Applause* Well, maybe not. Applauding for yourself is a bit sad, so I'll stop that. That was chapter 11 Branch 2, I hope you enjoyed it, because it took some time figuring out what I wanted to do with this. I hope you all enjoy, and keep reading as this story progresses! Please review and let me know what you think, and I hope to see all of you in the next one!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello once again everyone! Really fast note before the chapter begins, a couple people have told me that they have been getting confused about the two branching chapters, so when I've finished writing the whole story, I'm planning on re-publishing the story as two different stories so each branch can be separate.**

**Also, I'm going to be gone this weekend to visit family, but if I can, I'll try to keep updating from there. That's all, now I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 12 Branch 2**

Percy's POV

I woke up in my bed, later than I usually did.

I stood up and looked around my cabin, trying to figure out what I needed to do for the day.

Chiron was allowing me to do all of my usual activities again, although he was still being very lenient with me about when I do them, so I'm not on a strict schedule again yet.

I was changing clothes and looked at my nightstand and saw the journal still sitting in the drawer that was partially open from last night. I smiled remembering the notes that had been written in it as I thought about each of them.

I finished getting ready and went outside and to the pavilion to eat breakfast. I got my food and sat down next to Nico at my table like we did every day now.

I ate for a few minutes in silence before Nico asked me "Percy, are you ok? You look dead tired and if you fall asleep and fall in your food, I'm not helping you clean up."

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just a bad night."

He looked curious but he didn't ask me anything.

When I finished eating we stood up and started trying to decide what to do for the day because Chiron was allowing me to do any of the activities again, even if I'm not on the regular schedule that I usually am.

"So what should we do today?" I asked Nico as we looked around the camp.

"Well, we could go practice sword fighting, it's been a long time since you've had any practice. But first I need to go to my cabin to get my sword."

I agreed and we started to walk towards his cabin.

We didn't say anything on the way there, and when we got into his cabin, I leaned against the wall while he went to the back of his cabin to get his sword. While I was waiting, I thought about the note Nico had written in the journal, wondering why he would choose to share his thoughts about his sister with me now.

I was still there when I was brought out of my thoughts by a punch in the chest.

"Percy!"

"What?"

"You were just standing there, and wouldn't respond to anything, so I punched you in the chest and it worked."

"Oh." I felt really stupid for not realizing he was talking to me.

We left his cabin and went to the arena, talking about swords and what kind of stuff Nico had learned about fighting while he was on his own traveling the world.

When we got to the arena I saw that the Athena cabin was there practicing. Many of them were spaced around in the arena, sparring with each other with various weapons.

I looked around the arena then over at Nico, "What should we do?"

"We can go over to that edge," he said, pointing, "no one is over there, so we shouldn't be able to avoid the other kids."

We went to the edge, drew our weapons and started sparring. I hadn't realized, but I was out of practice. The few weeks of doing nothing was taking a toll on my abilities and I felt slow.

I hadn't fought Nico in years, but I hadn't expected him to evenly match me, whether I was out of practice or not. We fought back and forth, attacks and counters for a while until we were both sweating and decided to take a break to get a drink.

We walked over to where there was some water, and Nico got a drink while I poured some over my head.

I wasn't wet from it, but the cool feeling of the water felt nice on a hot day like it was.

As we were sitting at the edge of the arena by the water, I looked around and watched the Athena campers practicing.

I was looking around and noticed that Annabeth was there, practicing with one of her siblings. She and her partner stopped very soon after I saw them, and went to take a break. Annabeth saw me and I quickly looked away.

"It's probably time to get back to practicing again Nico."

He noticed that Annabeth was there. He simply nodded and we went back over to the area we had been in before, and started practicing again.

I fought harder than I had been, beating Nico over and over as I let all my emotions and confused thoughts out through my sword arm.

About an hour later, we quit, both of us panting from the exertion.

As we were about to cross the threshold out of the arena and into the rest of the camp I heard from behind me, "Percy."

I turned around and saw that Annabeth was awkwardly standing about ten feet away from me.

"If you ever want to, you're free to come practice with the Athena cabin."

I wasn't sure what I should say to that.

"Umm, thanks." I said quickly.

She looked like she wanted to say something else to me, but stopped.

I turned back around and went out into the camp with Nico.

"I'm really tired after that Nico, I think I'm gonna go back to my cabin to rest for a while, see you later at dinner?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

I was glad that Nico was letting me go so easily, even though we had only been practicing for about an hour and a half, I needed some time alone.

I got back into my cabin, which fortunately was fairly dark, even though it was still the middle of the day.

I laid down onto my bed and thought about everything that had been going on over the last few days. I thought about my breakup with Annabeth, her apology, Nico sharing his feelings about his sister, and the notes.

I don't know what I'm going to do, but somehow, everything is going to work out.

**And that's chapter 12 Branch 2! I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm trying to make the branches more and more different from each other. I've really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope that all of you will stay with me as I keep writing it to the end! Please review and let me know what you think, and I hope to see all of you in the next one!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**I'm back once again! Just to let you all know, this may be the last chapter I'll be putting out this weekend. I'm going out of state to visit my sister and I don't know if I'll be able to update while I'm there. So, worst case scenario, I'll be updating again on Monday. Best case, I'll have internet connection to update several chapters tonight when I get there, because it's a 4 hour ride in the car, so I'll have a lot of time to write.**

**I hope all of you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 13 Branch 2!**

Percy's POV

I woke up the next day, immediately thinking back to the day before. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about what had happened the entire day afterwards. While we had been practicing archery, because Nico insisted that I had to practice it sometime, I had nearly shot him while he was getting his arrows, and I would have if I wasn't such a terrible shot with a bow.

When I went to bed last night, I had been wondering about everything that had been going on lately. From the break-up, to Nico helping my recovery and sharing his feelings, Annabeth's apology, the notes, and the invitation to come practice with the Athena cabin. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen. Would things ever get better between Annabeth and me? Would people treat me like I'm a real person again? Or will I always be avoided, thought of as a broken person that they didn't want to be around.

I don't know what will happen, but it won't help to lay here and think about it. I got up and started to get ready for the day. I showered and changed into a new pair of jeans and a Camp shirt. I walked outside into the new day and looked around at everyone and what was happening. Everyone was going about their usual day, walking to their activities in groups of friends, talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves.

I felt a bit sad after that, because I hadn't felt like that for weeks.

I walked to the pavilion and sat down by Nico and started to eat my breakfast.

After a couple minutes of sitting in silence eating, I looked over to Nico and asked "So what are we gonna do today?"

"I'm not sure, I figured I would let you pick what we did today, so I've been waiting for you to get here to decide."

"I don't know."

He didn't say anything and I paused eating to look over and see him looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, you look like you haven't slept for days, were you up all night again?"

"No, I got enough sleep, I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"What?"

I guess he decided he'd left me alone for long enough, because he was actually asking questions now.

"It's just… Do you think everything will ever be normal again? I just feel so alone, Annabeth is acting odd around me, and I wish that we could at least be friends like we used to be. The Seven haven't even said anything to me in person since I tried to kill myself, and everyone around the camp just seems to avoid me as much as they can. You're the only friend I've had, and I know that you'll leave when I'm better to go back to whatever you do."

"I might not leave." He said quietly.

"Why not? What changed?" I asked.

"I figured it might be a good change to stay here, be around people who aren't dead. Besides, you'll always need a friend Percy." He seemed to be saying something else too inside his head, but nothing came out.

After a couple more minutes of sitting while I finished my meal, we decided to go to the ocean. I hadn't been there in a really long time, and I figured it would be good to be in the ocean again.

When we reached the beach I immediately dove into the surf, swimming deeper into the water. I felt the cool water rushing past me as I swam, the power of the waves crashing down on the surface.

I swam back to the surface of the water and looked back to the shore to see Nico sitting on the beach smirking at me. I decided to be a bit mean if he thought it was so funny that I was acting childish in the water.

I felt a familiar tug in the pit of my stomach. The water responded to what I wanted and washed up around Nico and quickly rushed back into the ocean taking Nico with it.

I swam up to him grinning as he sputtered and spit the water out of his mouth and wiped his hair out of his eyes.

"This," He said, "is really cold."

"It's not that bad, you just have to actually start swimming instead of floating." I said as I swam back away from him on my back.

He gave in for a little while and swam around for a little while because he must've figured I would just wash him back into the ocean if he tried to get back onto the shore.

After a little while, we went back onto the shore. He crawled onto the sand and laid down on his back, and I just walked out of the water, feeling refreshed.

I offered him my hand which he quickly grabbed and I pulled him to his feet.

His feet were a buried a little under the sand and he tripped forward against me and we both fell over.

He was shorter than me, so his head was near my chest. His face immediately got really red and I could feel mine start to heat up as Nico rolled to the side as quickly as he could.

We eventually stood back up, successfully this time, and looked at each other.

"Well," I said, "that was eventful."

"I swear I didn't do that on purpose." He said really quickly.

"I know, it was an accident, you're not the type of person to do that on purpose."

He was silent, and I wasn't sure what else I could say.

After a few seconds of awkward silence we went back to Camp. He quickly told me he was going to go shower and go to his cabin, so I went back to mine on my own.

I couldn't get wet, so I didn't need to change, so I just laid on my bed again to relax and think. I thought about everything Nico had done for me, helping me recover, giving in to my childish ideas like swimming and pretty much just helping me. He was probably the best friend I'd ever had.

**The end of this chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and like I said before, I may or may not update over the weekend. Well, please review and let me know what you think about this chapter, and I hope to see you in the next one!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello once again everyone. I'm sorry to say, but we are closing in on the end of the story. Sad, I know, but it's getting close. Also, good job getting reviews! I got 3 on the last chapter, and for some reason I got another 1 on chapter 1 asking me to write this story sooo… I don't really know. But, I hope all of you keep reviewing! I know it seems like I'm grabbing for attention, but reviews make me feel like people are actually enjoying the story, thus motivating me more and faster updates!**

**I may or may not be able to update again tonight, I have some homework to do along with practices and stuff, and those along with the fact that I just recently started getting obsessed with attempting to write my own mix-tape, I'm not sure how much time I'll have. But for now, time to write. Dubstep today, and my imagination.**

**Enough rambling, I hope all of you enjoy this, and please review!**

**Chapter 14 Branch 2**

Percy's POV

I woke up in my bedroom very early in the morning. I figured it must be around 2 or 3 in the morning, but there was nothing around that could've woken me up.

I stood up and checked my entire cabin, but there was nothing unusual that could've woken my up. I laid back down onto my bed, and wondered why I had woken up. I closed my eyes and thought of the sea, sand, salty breeze in my face, and drifted off to sleep once again.

_I opened my eyes and saw that I was sitting in front of the canoe lake, but I wasn't sure why._

_It took me a few seconds, but I realized I was in a dream, and I think it was something that had actually happened. I looked down at myself and saw that I was younger in this dream, not by much, maybe a year or two, but from the scars that were missing, I knew it was at least a year ago._

_I then looked over to my side to see Annabeth sitting beside me, staring out at the lake. I realized what was happening. This was going to be our first kiss after the Titan War. We had just defeated Kronos and we were relaxing for the first time in months by the lake together._

_It was like watching a movie, watching everything occur the same way it had the first time. We talked, laughed, and just enjoyed each other's company._

_Then the moment came the same as it had when it really did, and we kissed. Afterwards, the campers flooded out of hiding, threw us into the lake, and we kissed in the air bubble that I had created at the bottom of the lake. Then it started to change from what really happened._

_Annabeth pulled away and looked at me with a vampire smirk, then said "This never was real." Then vanished into nothingness and I was alone at the bottom of the lake._

_Then, the air bubble collapsed and I started choking. Drowning? I couldn't drown this didn't make sense._

_I clawed at the water, trying to get to the surface, but I wasn't making any progress._

_As my sight went dark, I heard Annabeth's voice saying one last word, "Alone."_

I woke up.

The sun was streaming into my cabin again, and I tried to figure out what had happened.

Eventually I decided I needed to think of something else so I went outside.

I met Nico at the pavilion and ate breakfast next to him at my table, like every morning.

I finished eating quickly and we started walking around the camp, talking and trying to figure out what we were going to do today.

I saw Annabeth a few times, but avoided her as best as I could without being obvious. I couldn't shake the sound of her voice from my dream telling me that I was alone.

Eventually we decided to go to the arena, since sword fighting was the only thing that we're both good at.

Eventually we got to the arena, went to our corner, and practiced.

After about an hour of practicing, Nico paused and said "Percy, what's wrong?"

I stopped too, "What?"  
"You seem really out of it today, you've hardly been focusing on what we're doing."

"I didn't sleep well last night. I had a dream."

He looked at me expectantly.

I sighed. He would probably leave me alone if I didn't tell him, but I felt that I should tell him.

I re-told my whole dream to him while we were leaning against the wall and he listened quietly, not saying anything the whole time.

When I finished, he just stayed quiet.  
"What do you think it meant?"

He was silent for a few more seconds, and he wiped his hair out of his eyes.

"I doubt it meant anything Percy, odds are it was just your head messing with you because of your breakup. Don't think about it too much, it won't help at all."

I figured he was probably right, but I couldn't stop picturing Annabeth's smirk as she repeated those words over and over in my head.

We got back to practice, and I tried to distract myself from the dream by fighting even harder against Nico.

By the end of our several hour practice we were both nearly dripping sweat. We went our separate ways to shower and get changed into clean clothes and met again with the rest of the camp to eat dinner at the pavilion.

Given what had happened, Chiron had made a temporary exception to the rules so Nico could sit by me while we ate. For the first little while people had given us odd looks, but it was normal by now.

I noticed Annabeth looking at me during the meal a few times, and tried not to look back at her. I didn't want my mind to get stuck on my dream again.

We finished eating our food a bit after everyone else had finished, and were just sitting talking at my table. Nico eventually told me he was going back to his cabin to rest.

"See you tomorrow?" I asked him.

"Of course." He replied.

"Alright, night." I replied as I put my hand on his shoulder.

He immediately tensed up and I removed my hand.

"Sorry, I forgot about the touching thing."

He just nodded and left for his cabin.

I sat alone at my table thinking about everything that was going on.

After a couple minutes, I was the last one in the pavilion.

I heard someone else walking into the pavilion. Judging from the lighter footsteps, they weren't very big,

I stood up from my table and turned around to see Annabeth several feet away from me.

"Percy," She started, but I interrupted her.

"I don't want to talk right now."

"I just want to tell you something," She said, but I was already walking away out of the pavilion.

I got to my cabin and laid down on my bed to try to get to sleep.

I thought about what had happened, what Annabeth might have wanted to say to me, and everything.

I thought about Nico freezing up when I grabbed his shoulder earlier, and I felt bad for doing that. I knew he hated people touching him, but it was odd that he hadn't gotten angry or yelled at me for it like he usually did when people touched him.

I gave up thinking about everything and just let myself be overwhelmed by the thought of the sea and the sand, until I fell asleep.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm trying to keep them kind of similar, so the stories progress at the same rate, but I hope you can all notice the differences in the stories. Well, please review, it motivates me to write more, and lets me know what you think of the story. Also, because I've seen some other authors do this, if you have any questions for me or about me and what I say is going on, ask. I'll answer almost anything that you ask.**

**That's it for this, please review and I hope to see you in the next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello once again everyone. I'm in a bit better mood today, and I got 3 more reviews last chapter. Again, to avoid confusion, I'm planning on re-publishing this story as 2 different stories so each branch will be alone, making it easier to read. I apologize for confusion.**

**Not much to say today, so I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 15 Branch 2**

Percy's POV

_Last day of Camp_

The last week of Camp had gone by really quickly, and I was sad to see it end. Nothing had happened since the arena, and I was finally getting my emotions somewhat intact again. The last days until now had all been the same; Eat breakfast in the pavilion with Nico, go train through the whole day, eat dinner, talk for a while about various topics depending on the day and how I was feeling that particular day, then separating for our cabins for the night until the next day.

I would soon have to go back to the mortal world and suffer through another year of school, but at least I would have the year to straighten out my emotions without having to worry about something happening to mess them up again. Besides, I was excited to get home and see my mom and Paul.

I didn't know if anyone had told my mom about what had happened, but I hoped not, I didn't want to have to get through a several hour talk with her about it, and I didn't want her to worry about me.

I gave up on my thoughts and quickly got ready. I packed up all of my clothes into my bag and left it on my bed to pick up again later, before I left. I walked outside and made my way to the pavilion where I knew I would find Nico sitting at the Poseidon table waiting.

He was there as I assumed he would be, and I saw down beside him with my breakfast. I started eating in silence for a few minutes, then glanced over at him. He seemed to be staring at the table in front of him, deep in thought about something. He did this occasionally, so I was used to it by now.

I kept eating for a few minutes, expecting him to ask me a question at some point like he usually did, but it never came. I looked at him again and saw that he hadn't moved since the last time I looked over.

I gave up waiting for him and asked him, "So what are you going to do now that the summer is over?"

He stayed quiet for a few seconds then replied, "I don't know. Maybe I'll go back to the Underworld. I'll train with the dead and maybe find out more about my family if I can."

"You're going to go back to the Underworld and live there?" I asked him.

"That's how it always has been." He replied, very little emotion showing in his voice.

"So even after all of this, my last friend is abandoning me." I said, a bit angrily, looking back down at the empty plate in front of me.

"The only reason I stayed here was to help you recover Percy, and from the looks of it, you've recovered."

I sat in silence for a few more seconds before replying to him, "Maybe that's just because I have a friend here who understands what it's like. Who's to say that once you leave it won't come back?"

He looked back over at me, "It won't come back Percy, unless you let it. Like you said, I know what it's like. You've recovered enough that you'll be fine if you don't let it back in."

I was silent again. A few seconds later, I asked "Won't you at least visit some? Even if it's just for your own sake, you need company that isn't the dead sometimes Nico. Beside, you've seemed like you've enjoyed being at Camp for the summer, and along with that you're not so pale that we can see through you anymore."

He smirked for a fraction of a second at that, but quickly went back to his emotionless expression. "Maybe. I don't know if I will or not, you're recovered now, along with… Other reasons."

I could tell he hadn't meant to say that last bit out loud.

"What do you mean?"

He hesitated for a few seconds, "You know why. I told you how I felt weeks ago Percy, and you just kept treating me as a friend. I don't think I can stay up here with that in my head."

I wasn't sure what to say back at that. "Nico, I've thought about you telling me that, and I don't know. I wish I could give you an answer, but I haven't been able to figure it out myself yet. But I did make you a promise not to treat you differently, like you did for me, and I plan to keep that. Come visit sometime Nico, we'll hang out like we have this summer, and you never know. You might actually learn how to relax."

He kept staring at his hands on the table.

"Come on, we need to get our stuff and leave before the harpies eat us."

Once again, here I was standing at the top of Half-Blood Hill. I looked over the valley, remembering everything that had ever happened. I looked at the sea, the canoe lake, the strawberry fields, Thalia's tree with the Golden Fleece hanging in the branches, and the Big House.

I smiled looking over the valley. Despite the summer I'd had, I couldn't help but remember all the amazing adventures I'd been through with my friends.

I looked the other way and saw campers loading their stuff into the van that was going to be driven into the city by Argus. I saw Annabeth look up the hill at me. She looked for a few seconds then waved at me, so I returned it.

I looked over at Nico who was standing beside me. "So will I see you over the year?"

He stood silently for a few seconds, then said "Probably."

I turned to him again, then said "I'll see you soon then." And offered my hand.

He seemed a little surprised, but tentatively took my hand for a handshake before he left.

I watched him step into the shadows by Thalia's tree and watched as he dissolved into shadows and vanished.

I took one last look at the camp, before I looked up to the sky and whistled for Blackjack. He landed beside me and I climbed onto his back.

"Take me home." I told him as we soared into the sky.

**The end of Chapter 15 Branch 2! I hope you enjoyed this, and please review. Like I said, I don't have many friends so it makes me smile to see if people are actually enjoying my story. I hope you all like how this is going, and I hope to see all of you in the next one!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello again everyone! Once again, I apologize, but I'm leaving to go out of state for the weekend, so I don't know if I'll be able to update. The drive will be even longer this time, so I'll have time to write if I have ideas. I was planning on this being the last chapter, but someone said in a review that they would like to see what would happen when he got home, so I think this will be a combined chapter for both branches, as there isn't supposed to be any variation in this part.**

**Also, sad to say, this story is almost over, so I need new ideas! I'm asking all of you to review or PM me ideas, because I'm not creative at coming up with ideas, so, please suggest anything from Romance, to Depressing topics, AU (I'll consider it) or anything. I'll consider all of them for my next story and please give me a brief description of it to build off of.**

**Lastly, I'm considering putting a likeness of myself into the next story as an OC, solely because I think it would be interesting and I can follow my own train of thought and emotions. I'll put a short description of my appearance and personality at the bottom, and let me know which godly parent you think I would have, or a few things to change that would make it that way.**

**This was way longer than I wanted the note to be, so now, let's begin!**

**Chapter 16 Combined Branches**

Percy's POV

Blackjack dropped me off near the apartment where my mom lived in an out-of-the-way alley where there was nothing but a homeless man who was asleep against a dumpster.

I walked out of the alley and onto the street into the bustle of people who were always present in Manhattan. I looked around and felt a small surge of happiness. I was back in my element. Some people may not be comfortable in crowded areas like New York, but this was where I'd grown up, and I was used to being here.

I walked down the street towards our apartment, dodging through people, and occasionally across the street to get where I needed to. The streets were filled with honking cars, loud people bustling around each other, each going wherever they were needed, whether it was going home, to work, or to visit someone.

It took about thirty minutes of walking through the streets until I stood in front of my apartment building. I knew my mom and Paul would be there, waiting for me to arrive home.

I stood there for a few more seconds before walking into the building. I decided to take the stairs because it would probably be faster and the exercise didn't bother me. After fighting countless monsters, titans, and giants, not very much did.

I walked up the stairs quickly and hesitated for a second before opening the door. Had anyone told my mom what had happened? I knew she deserved to know, but at the same time, I didn't want her to worry about me like I knew she would.

I gripped the doorknob and opened it. About a two seconds after I'd opened the door I was buried in my mom's arms in a hug.

"Percy what happened to you?" I assumed someone had told her what had happened.

"Mom, I'm fine ok?" I told her, hoping to reassure her.

She held me out at arm's length by my shoulders. "No you're not, you can't expect me to believe that after what happened."

"Mom, really I'm ok. You don't need to worry about me, Nico has been helping me recover."

She pulled me to my room by my arm and made me sit down on my bed.

"I want you to tell me everything that happened."

I could tell she wasn't going to let me off without telling her, so I gave in. I recounted everything that had happened to me. I told her about the breakup, the next few days of depression, the dreams telling me that I was alone and didn't have anyone who cared for me, Nico helping me recover since the moment I woke up in the infirmary (Although I left the bit out of him admitting his feelings), the notes, though I didn't share what they actually said, and everything in between.

She was a good listener and didn't interrupt while I was talking. She had some tears in her eyes, but they weren't getting farther than that.

"How could you think no one cares for you Percy? Even without Annabeth, you have some great friends who are always there for you, along with me and Paul."

I felt guilty for what I'd put her through, but I didn't know what to say to her.

"I'm sorry." I said.

She smiled at me, "You don't need to be sorry Percy, just remember that I'm always here for you, and so are your friends."

She pulled me into another hug and I couldn't help from feeling a bit better next to her. My mom had always been really understanding of anything I did, and I liked feeling that she understood what I'd been through.

Well, I'm going to go start dinner, Paul will be home soon too, so you'd better put your things away if you want to have time to relax tonight. Remember you have school starting again next Monday.

I groaned a little bit at the thought of going back to school. The idea of math, english, and reading homework nearly made me long for fighting monsters.

My mom left my room and I started unpacking. I had all of my clothes put away, and had my pen in my pocket as I always did. I got to the bottom of the bag and found my journal. I flipped it open quickly and read the notes again. I smiled after I'd finished them and put the journal into the drawer of my nightstand.

"Percy, dinner is ready!" I heard my mom call.

"I'm coming!" I yelled back.

I walked to my door and looked back into my room. I smiled. Maybe life would finally get back to what it used to be, or at least close.

I shut my door and went to eat dinner with my family.

**I hope you enjoyed this one! Like I said, I wasn't planning on writing this chapter, so I apologize if it was short, but I wasn't sure what to do with it. I'm sorry to say, but I think there's only one more chapter for each branch until this story is over. I think you'll all like one conclusion or the other, I decided on each of them hoping you would all like at least one!**

**Please review and let me know what you think. Also, let me know any ideas for my next story.**

**As promised, a description of me: I'm 6' 2", so tall, brown hair, green eyes. I'm mostly a loner with very few friends, I like snowboarding, wakeboarding, and swimming. I'm very pessimistic and don't think well of myself or any situation. Let me know who should be the godly parent of my semblance in the story, and what few things should change to fit the parent.**

**I hope all of you enjoyed, and I hope to see you in the next one!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello again everyone! Today is the last day of Spring Break for my school so we're back on the 8 hour drive home. I'm planning on writing this chapter and the epilogue, but the epilogue will only be released if you guys want it, so let me know.**

**Also, I have an idea for my next story, and I need a name for my alter-ego, so please give some suggestions of a good name.**

**No more, I'll update you guys on what's going on for me in the author's notes, but for now, the story! My laptop, my imagination, and my rap for inspiration and a way to stay entertained on this drive, let's go!**

**Chapter 17 Branch 2!**

Percy's POV

School was finally out!

Today was the last day of my senior year of high school at Goode, and I hadn't been so happy to be finished with a school year for a long time.

The school year had been about the same as every other school year as a whole. Harder classes because it was my last year, a couple of monsters had found me on the way home from school a few times, but nothing too different. The biggest problem from the year was that my depression came back several times. One specific time that it happened was really bad. I'd had a really bad week, all of my hardest classes had been piling homework on us, and if I wanted to pass the classes, I needed to finish all of it with respectable grades, so I was under huge amounts of pressure to finish it all in only a few days. Second of all, I hadn't been able to talk to anyone about all the pressure I had been under, because Nico hadn't visited for a few weeks for some reason or another. My mom told me that she and Paul were there for me, but they couldn't really understand what I was going through. I was home alone one day, because Paul had to stay late at work to grade some research papers, and my mom was gone to pick up some groceries. I was just sitting alone at the in the kitchen drawing out random sketches of war scenarios because they were all I could draw and I felt useless. It got bad and I took a knife and had it to my wrist before I stopped myself. I'd promised my friends and mom that I wouldn't hurt myself again, so I forced the knife down back onto the counter where it was and walked back into my room to lay on the bed where I wouldn't be able to hurt myself.

After that, my depression had gotten much better. I never felt that bad again, although I still got depressed some of the time.

The day to go back to camp had finally come, and I couldn't wait to get back to my favorite place.

During the school year I'd tried to convince Nico to come back to camp with me when the summer came, and by some miracle I'd convinced him to. He told me that he wouldn't stay, but I would work on that when we got to camp. I hoped he would stay, he was still my only friend. Even though I'd nearly recovered from my depression over the year, I doubted people would treat me the same for a long time. Now I was the unstable kid who no one wanted to be around, even by demigod standards.

Today was Thursday so there would be a game of capture the flag tomorrows, and I knew that it would be intense. The first game of the year was always one of the most intense matches of the year, nearly as intense as when we played against the Hunters. Maybe if I was on the winning team and helped to something big in the game it would win me some respect again. It wasn't a very good hope, but it was all I could hope for.

I told my mom goodbye and gave her a hug before walking out the door onto into the flow of people that was Manhattan. I made my way down the streets, pushing through the crowds towards the alley where Blackjack had dropped me off last fall. It was a bit of a walk, but it was the most inconspicuous place around that I could meet Blackjack at to take me back to camp.

After about forty minutes of shoving, dodging, and moving through the crowds, I reached the entrance to the alley where Blackjack was going to get me. I looked around and saw no one, pegasus or otherwise. I knew Blackjack wouldn't be waiting here, Mist or not, a flying horse was out of the ordinary.

I gave my best taxi whistle and waited, looking at the sky for any sign of him. After waiting for half a minute I saw a black silhouette coming out of the sky towards me. I stood where I was, waiting for him to land to get me. Once he landed I walked up to him.

_Hey Boss! Do you have any sugar cubes?_

"Sugar still isn't good for you Blackjack."

_Yeah_ he waited.

I sighed, knowing he wouldn't give up until he got some. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a small handful of sugar cubes. He ate them out of my hand, and once he had swallowed them, he shook his head like he was having a mini seizure.

I quickly climbed on his back and looked around the alley to see if anyone was around. I saw no one, so I figured we were ok.

We took off and flew into the clouds and started to make our way to Camp.

The flight lasted for a little while, but I didn't mind, even though I was the son of the sea god, I'd always loved flying on a pegasus. Maybe it was the fact that my dad had created the horse.

As I watched Camp come into view and we got closer to it, I couldn't help but smile. I'd been through so much here. During all my time here, I'd learned more here than at any school, and all of my friends were here.

We landed at the pegasus stables and I jumped off of Blackjack's back and walked inside. I came back out with a brush and quickly brushed him.

Once I'd finished brushing Blackjack, I put away the brush and walked towards the bulk of the camp to see Nico had kept his promise to come to camp.

I wandered around everywhere looking for him. I checked his cabin, walked to the pavilion to see if he was there, I went to the arena to see if he was practicing there, but I couldn't find him. I asked a couple of people who were walking around if they had seen him, but nobody had. I looked around a little more, then decided to go into the forest to check if he was there. I looked all over wherever I thought he would be, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I decided to take a break, so I made my way to the ocean. I hadn't seen the ocean in a while, so I planned on going for a swim to enjoy the feeling of being back in the water and being back at camp, but when I reached the beach I saw Nico sitting alone on the beach, staring out at the ocean. I wasn't sure why he was there, but I walked over to him.

"What a strange place for someone who isn't a son of Poseidon to be sitting alone." I said as I sat down beside him.

He didn't reply immediately as he watched another wave crash onto the sand a little ways below us. "How've you been Percy?"

"Absolutely nothing, although I'm lucky that I've been able to cling to my sanity through school."

A small smile appeared on his face, but it didn't stay very long.

"What about you?" I asked him.

He stayed silent for a few seconds. "Just… Nothing, just being alone. After the going through the Giant War, especially Tartarus, it just doesn't feel the same to be alone. Before the war, being alone used to mean peace, time for me to think or avoid my problems, now whenever I'm alone I don't feel right. I wish that I was with Hazel or Bianca, or someone. The War changed me Percy, and I don't know what to do about it."

"You need to stop being so serious Nico, we're still just teenagers. Lighten up and have some fun once in a while. Besides, you're never alone up here, there's too many of us for that."

He just kept staring out at the sea and gave a small nod.

"Come on, I need to unpack my stuff in my cabin and dinner will be sometime soon."

He nodded again and stood up, walking beside me back towards the camp.

Unpacking went really quickly, because I hadn't brought very much with me to camp, we didn't need to, and we went to dinner with the rest of the camp. Like every year, Chiron welcomed everyone to camp for another year of training, introducing some of the new campers who had been found during the winter or were here for the first time, and told us about everything that would happen his year. He then announced the game of capture-the-flag for tomorrow night, which immediately filled the pavilion with cheers.

After everyone finished dinner, we went to the campfire, and I even managed to get Nico to come, even though he was silent for the whole thing. Everyone was joking around, singing to the sing-alongs that the Apollo cabin did for everyone, and everyone had a great time.

Eventually it ended and everyone started to go to their cabins. I knew the other cabins would get there quickly because they would need to get to their bunks before everyone else and the new kids would be stuck with the bunks close to the front of the cabin. I was alone in mine, so I didn't have that problem. I told Nico that I would see him tomorrow and headed back to my cabin.

Ever since the incident where I nearly cut myself during the winter, I'd made it a habit to read the entries in my journal from my friends. There were times when I read it once a week, but there were also times that I read it once or twice a day. I'd left it in my backpack until now so no one who came in would see it. I didn't have many secrets, but this journal was personal for just me.

I read all of the entries in the journal to the light of the moon and the small amount of light coming from the fluorescent saltwater fountain in the corner of the cabin. Once I'd finished reading, I put the journal in the drawer in my nightstand.

I changed out of my clothes from the day and laid down onto the familiar bed that I'd used for so many years. I couldn't help smiling at being back at camp as I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up the next morning to light pouring in the windows of my cabin. Apparently Apollo was under the assumption that making the first day of camp extra bright was a blessing, but could he at least wait for another two hours for it?

I groaned and got out of bed. I went to shower and get ready for the day. I was on my regular schedule again, so I would have to make sure I made it to my activities on time. I heard the horn signaling breakfast. I checked to make sure I had Riptide in my pocket and stepped outside.

I saw everyone else streaming out of their cabins to go to breakfast, so I followed them to the pavilion. Once we all got there, we said the customary "To the Gods!" and sacrificed a portion of our meals.

I went back to my table and sat down alone. Nico was eating at the Hades table again this year, so I would be eating alone again.

The meal went by quickly, even though it was boring, and everyone separated to go to their activities. I was starting in the arena with the Hades cabin (so Nico) and the Athena cabin.

I made my way for the arena, and found Nico on the way there. We started talking about what had happened over the summer, since his visits were usually short and I didn't really know. He told me he had been all over the US, to a couple countries in Europe, and one accidental trip to Alaska.

I told Nico about the school year I'd had, even though most of it was boring. Nico was a good listener, so he put up with it and didn't interrupt the whole time.

We finally reached the arena and found that the Athena cabin was already practicing. I saw Annabeth watching and helping with the cabin's practice. She was occasionally giving tips and corrections to the newer kids, a few of which had probably never held a blade bigger than a butter knife. One of them nearly gave Malcolm a piercing with a move he was just shown.

She looked over at us and I gave her a small smile. I didn't hold anything against her anymore, and I missed her company. After the first few months, I realized I would never care for her like I used to, but I still missed having her for a friend. She smiled back and continues with her training.

Nico and I went to the edge of the arena where we usually sparred and drew our weapons.

Neither of us had been able to train for a while, so being the ADHD demigods that we were, we had a lot of pent up energy to get out now. Once we started, we both fought viciously against each other, hacking, slashing, blocking, countering, and stabbing. Neither of us landed a blow, but we got very close a couple times.

The arena went much faster than I would have hoped, and ended too soon. We clean ourselves up and I went to pegasus riding while Nico went to archery practice.

After the arena, training had gone by really slowly. Everyone in the camp was excited for capture-the-flag and were visibly bouncing with excitement sometimes while we worked, wishing for training for the day to be over sooner.

When the time finally came to get ready for capture-the-flag, everyone could hardly wait. People were nearly running to their cabins to get their gear. I went to my cabin to get ready. I put on my armor, put Tyson's watch-shield on my wrist, and made checked Riptide. After I was ready, I walked to the edge of the woods where everyone met for the start of the game.

Once I got there, I looked around to see what the teams had divided into.

Blue was going to be led by Athena (as usual), and consisted of Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Hephaestus, Nemesis, and Iris. Red was led by Ares (also per usual), and had Aphrodite, Apollo, Demeter, Dionysus, Hecate, and Morpheus. (I'm sorry if I left out any gods)

The teams quickly split and went into the woods. Blue team went to the half of the woods with Zeus's Fist and we put our flag on top.

Everyone gathered around the base of the Fist to get their orders from Annabeth.

"Alright everyone! This is the first game of the year, so let's start off the year with a victory to give Ares some humility! Defense will be half of the Athena cabin, along with Hephaestus, half of Hermes, and Iris. Offense will be Poseidon, Hades, the other half of Hermes, Nemesis, and the other half of Athena"

Everyone muttered their consent to the plan and went to their stations. I found Nico and we went to the edge of the creek to wait for the horn to sound the beginning of the game along with the three Nemesis campers.

When the horn sounded we jumped out from behind our cover in the foliage and ran into their side of the woods and immediately met four Ares kids. Nico and I each took on an Area camper, and the three Nemesis campers took the other two Ares campers.

We fought back and forth with them for a few seconds before I manage hit him with the flat of my blade in his leg and kick him onto his back. I looked over and saw Nico put the boy he was fighting on his face in the creek behind us. The Nemesis campers had also finished their fight and we started running farther into the enemy side of the creek.

We dodge several arrows that were being shot at us from somewhere in the trees, probably from the Apollo kids who were supposed to keep people away from the flag.

We encountered several more kids from the Ares cabin and a large group of the Aphrodite kids, but we dodged past them instead of fighting them to get as quickly as we could. We could hear yelling and clashing of metal on metal around us as the game went on through the whole forest.

I hit an Ares kid in the helmet and ran past him as we kept moving. Suddenly, I saw a flash of red in the forest. I looked back and saw the flag in the center of a clearing with Dionysus's son guarding it. He wasn't a bad guy, but he was still on the other team. We ran up and he quickly dropped his sword and backed off when he saw that it was five against one. The oldest boy from the Nemesis cabin grabbed the flag and ran back towards the creek, followed closely by his younger brother and sister. Nico and I stayed a ways behind, keeping everyone away from chasing him as much as we could. We fought off a couple Apollo kids and two more Ares campers before we ran after them. We were about a hundred feet from the creek when we heard the horn signaling our victory. I stopped running and Nico stopped a few feet ahead of me. I leaned on my knees to try to catch my breath.

I stood up and was about to say something to Nico when he turned around and got wide eyes. He yelled "Percy!" and then I felt something pierce my side. I dropped to my knees, then to the ground. Nico kneeled by me and put his hands on the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood, but I blacked out while looking up at his face with a tear running down his cheek.

I slowly regained consciousness. I couldn't open my eyes, but I knew I wasn't dead. I tried to get my senses back in order. I noticed the feeling of sheets on me, and I realized I must be in the infirmary. Then I noticed the feeling of pressure on my hand, as if something or someone was holding onto it. I slowly opened my eyes and got my eyes adjusted to the light. I looked over to my side and saw Nico sitting in a chair, although I couldn't tell if he was even awake. His eyes were slightly open, but he didn't look like he was focused on anything and he had dark bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept.

I looked at his arm and followed it down to his hand that had mine grasped in it.

I tried to move anything but I couldn't yet. I stayed there, slowly waking up and gaining control of myself again. I could finally move and Nico must've felt it because he immediately opened his eyes completely. They were bloodshot, and I wondered how long I'd been unconscious.

"Percy?" He asked.

"I'm awake." I said, although my voice was raspy.

"You stupid kelp head! You've been unconscious for 3 days and I haven't slept yet!"

He seemed angry, but I could see in his eyes that he was relieved.

"What happened to me?" I asked him.

"One of the Ares kids stabbed you in the back. He says he didn't mean it, but I think he would've been glad if you hadn't woken up. Chiron gave him dishwashing for the summer and a severe lecture from the look in his eyes when he left the Big House."

"Well, I'm sorry for worrying everyone."

"You're sorry? How does that cut it?!" He almost yelled.

I glanced down at his hand again, and he must've noticed. He went to pull his hand away quickly, but I held onto it.

He looked up at me, and I could see he was confused.

"Nico… I've been thinking a lot over the school year, and I realized I couldn't care about Annabeth like I used to ever again. I haven't been able to figure out what I thought, and I've thought about what you told me. I didn't realize it until now, but when I woke up and saw that you'd been sleepless for three days, and how much you care about me…" I stuttered.

"What?" He asked, but I could see a flicker of hope in his eyes.

"I… I think I have the same feelings for you." I said but I was still looking down at our hands.

He was silent for a few seconds, and I thought he assumed I was lying to him, but then I felt him move forward quickly and pull me into a hug against him really tightly.

His face was to side of my head, but I heard him say "Thank you Percy."

I felt a small smile at the corners of my mouth.

I pulled him closer to me and put my lips by his ear and said "I'm sorry for putting you through so much Nico."

He just nodded, and stayed where we were until it was time for dinner and he went and got dinner and came back, and he didn't leave again for a long time.

**The End!**

**I'm sorry about the awkward poorly written ending, I wasn't really sure how to go about it. I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please review and let me know 1) if you want an epilogue 2) how you liked the story and 3) name ideas for my alter-ego in the next story.**

**Thank all of you for sticking with me through this whole story, and I hope to see all of you again very soon!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus**

**Hello everyone maybe! I'm still on the drive home and haven't released the other chapter, so I don't know if anyone is reading this yet! Well, granted this goes out, I hope that all of you enjoy reading this, I'm not sure how it will go down, but I hope you like it! Sorry, but I don't know how to write this bit in Nico's POV, so it'll be Percy.**

**Obviously from the last chapter, Percico.**

**Chapter 18 Branch 2 Epilogue**

Percy's POV

The last couple days had been very strange and challenging. We weren't sure how to tell everyone about us, so we couldn't really act different at all. Nico told me about the experience with Cupid and that Jason already knew, so that wouldn't be the hard part. I would imagine that the Annabeth will be confused and disappointed, Hazel will be confused also and disgusted since she's from decades ago, Piper might already be figuring it out because her mom is the goddess of love, Jason knows, Leo will think it's a joke and laugh at first, and Frank will act really awkward.

That's about what I expect to happen, so we've been trying to figure out a good way to tell everybody.

We'd been going about our regular day, training, talking, and just acting the same as we always did. Well, until Jason decided that because no one was hanging out much, the people who were involved in the last Great Prophecy should all skip dinner and go have a picnic together at the lake and actually talk for the first time in a while.

That meant it would be me, Jason, Nico, Frank, Leo, Hazel, Piper, and Annabeth. Hedge had retired to have a family so he wouldn't be there.

Everyone had gathered at the beach of the lake, and we already had the food laid out. It was the same thing that we ate at the pavilion, but it was just the eight of us instead of everyone divided into cabins. I liked doing things like this, because I always had to eat alone, and I knew Jason and Nico felt the same way.

We were all eating and talking like we usually did. Leo was making jokes, trying to steal other people's dessert, and making things out of silverware and random things from his tool belt, Jason and Annabeth were being very proper, eating slowly and politely talking to everyone, Frank and Hazel were sitting together, each eating with one hand while holding hands, Nico was being very quiet except when directly asked something, I was talking to everyone, but a little less than usual, and Piper was talking to everyone while sitting beside Jason, glancing over at him every so often.

Everything was going fairly well during the meal until Leo said "So what's up with Percy and Nico? You guys are hanging out with each other all the time and just ignoring the rest of us. It's almost like a bromance is budding."

I felt Nico tense next to me.

Well, I thought to myself, apparently this is it.

"First off," I started, "You guys don't exactly go out of your way to be social with us either, and second…" I looked over at Nico, and he just gave a small nod, watching everyone, "Nico and I are…" I stuttered a bit more, but before anyone could say anything Nico immediately but pretty quietly said "We're together."

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. Then Leo started laughing, rolling around on the ground and he could barely breathe. After about a minute of it, he finally got back up and said through gasps, trying to get his breath back, "And I thought I was the only one out of us with a sense of humor. How long have you guys been planning this? That was the most well thought out joke ever! Weeks leading up to it and then out of nowhere…" He stopped talking when he saw that neither of us was smiling.

"Wait you're serious?!"

I just nodded.

"Oh…" He immediately was very intent on staring at his hands.

Everyone was silent again for a couple more seconds, until Jason laughed a little bit then said, "Gods all of you are awkward. Well, congratulations to both of you. Nico, I'm glad it worked out after all."

Everyone looked at him and Piper said "Wait, you knew?"

"Well, yeah. Back in Rome Nico and I met Cupid, and to stop Cupid from killing us Nico had to admit that to himself. I never told anyone because Nico didn't want me to, so I kept it a secret."

Everyone looked shocked. I was right about Annabeth being shocked, but I was wrong about Hazel, she and Piper looked kind of happy for us, even though Hazel did look confused. Leo was still staring at his hands, feeling guilty for laughing, and Frank was kind of shifting side to side, not sure what to do.

Annabeth finally said, "This is just a joke right? You're way of getting even with Percy?"

I was going to reply that it wasn't but before I could Nico gave her a quick vampire smirk then kissed me. He hadn't done that before, but I can't say I didn't enjoy it.

"Umm, no."

Everyone's faces were a bit red now, because regardless of how they thought about us, it was still odd to them.

Jason stood up and came over to us and helped us stand up and said "Well, as awkward and rude as everyone else is acting," He gave a quick glare at the rest of them, "I'm happy for you guys."

"Thanks, but we'll have to get used to being ignored and avoided now."

"Well, I hope the best for the both of you."

I nodded and as we started to walk off Nico took my hand.

I just smiled back and we walked away from everyone else and back towards the camp.

**Well, I'm really awful at writing this… I hope you enjoyed it regardless. I'm sorry everyone, but this is finally it. The End. Finis. Over. I have nothing left for this story, and I hope you guys liked it. Please review and let me know what you thought of it, and I hope to see you guys in my next chapter. If you have name ideas for my alter-ego in my next story I'd love to hear them.**

**To all my readers, thank you. Thank all of you for your unending support as I've written this story, and everything you guys have done to help me. All of you are amazing people, and I hope to see all of you again when I write my next one.**

**Thank you.  
-StrydeVex**


End file.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Hurt-Comfort, Romance