I just finished reading Blood of Olympus and was very disappointed in the lack of reunions we saw at the end of the book, so I decided to write some of my own. First up is Percy and Grover. There should be more soon, but I'm not sure who is coming next. Feedback is always appreciated!
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters, AND THERE ARE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS SPOILERS IN THIS STORY, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
Reunions: Part I
The camp was chaos. Screams of victory and of pain all melding together until the sound became the forest moaning a pitiful tune which seemed too somber after their success. But then again, Percy thought, staring up at the trail of smoke where there once was a dragon and his spitfire rider, nothing comes without sacrifice. He took a deep breath and held it for a minute, praying to the gods that Leo was alright, even though he had his doubts.
An oath to keep with a final breath.
Percy hated prophecies.
Putting the son of Hephaestus out of his mind, Percy decided to distract himself and made his way to the infirmary. They could always use a spare hand around there after a battle, and most of the tasks were so simple even he couldn't mess them up.
He had lost Annabeth somewhere in the middle of the fighting, but he could hear her calling orders to Romans and Greeks alike to help the wounded and "Travis I swear to the Gods, you put that trip mine down before you make charbroiled demigods out of all of us!"
"But Annabeth, we worked hard to steal these from the Ares campers, and they didn't even explode!"
Percy chuckled and made a path down towards the camp and the infirmary trying to help out anyone he passed. Over the past few months, the closer he came to being back, the more worried he had become that everything would be different and it wouldn't truly seem like home anymore, but now that he was here he realized he had been worrying for nothing. Some things never change no matter how long you're gone. But now that the fighting was dying down and everything was finally settling into a calm, Percy started to feel overwhelmed. He made it home.
Leo's live feeds of Camp Half-Blood were comforting – when they worked – but they also pretty much just made Percy nostalgic, but now he was actually here. He could smell the unique mix of strawberries and the sea, he stood high enough on Half-Blood Hill to see the majority of the camp, and Percy came to a standstill. Suddenly he was twelve years old again standing on this hill for the first time; a life he couldn't even imagine spread out in front of him, his old life of bullies behind him, and Grover at his side. So many great memories at this camp, and he didn't realize until that moment just how much he missed it. He felt like he could breathe again; like someone had saved him from drowning – well, not drowning, but something similar.
Percy wasn't sure how long he had been staring at the camp, but by the time he tuned back in to the world around him, things had calmed down a lot more. All the injured were safely in the infirmary, he couldn't hear Annabeth over the other benign noises of the camp anymore, but it was still surprisingly crowded, most likely due to the extra demigods who looked very out of place in their Roman armor. People all over were insanely busy so they were paying the son of Poseidon no attention, but he was starting to hear the telltale "hey, is that - ?" from the campers around him, so he started towards his original goal in the hopes of avoiding the "Lets bombard Percy with tons of questions" party for as long as possible. You can't pull off a massive disappearance that would make even Houdini jealous without raising a few eyebrows.
Now that the adrenaline had worn off a little bit, Percy was starting to feel the aftereffects of the battle, and he limped a tad as he walked down the hill. I must have rolled my ankle at some point. Distracted in his own thoughts, he didn't hear the sharp intake of breath as he passed by a group of people halfway down. What happened next, however, he was distinctly aware of.
A very familiar voice let out a series of distressed blubbering noises before sucking in a large breath and blurting out a call louder than Buford's interactive Coach Hedge interface and interrupted by a chain of incredulous bleats.
"PERCY!"
The son of Poseidon spun around so fast he was surprised his ankle didn't break, and it still wasn't fast enough. He hadn't even turned all the way around before he was all but tackled by a flying satyr and almost knocked to the ground.
"GROVER!"
The second he got his balance back, Percy latched his arms around Grover's back and held on. He could feel the satyr all but sobbing in his arms and muttering complaints about "horrible demigods never even Iris messaging – doesn't even try to get in touch with the stupid empathy link – could have died – selfish idiot" and even more uncomplimentary comments towards the demigod, but Percy felt his grin growing wider and wider. With one last squeeze, he pushed back on Grover's shoulders so he could finally talk to his best friend, but Grover beat him to it.
The satyr jabbed one finger into Percy's chest and scowled, "Don't you ever even think about pulling a stunt like this again Percy Jackson! I was eating furniture for a MONTH I was so worried! Don't laugh, it's not funny!" When Percy's only response was to continue to snicker, Grover simply crossed his arms in an attempt to appear angry, but Percy could see the amused smile on his face, "Fine then, laugh, but you owe me big time. At least twenty aluminum cans. AND cheese enchiladas. But first, let's get you some ambrosia and nectar, you look like death. That nose bleed is doing nothing for your complexion."
"Hey, nose bleeds have power, man. This is the nose bleed that woke the cranky pants earth mother."
Grover just shook his head, "That doesn't make it look any better, bro. Come on."
Grover pulled Percy's arm around his shoulders, and they stumbled towards the infirmary together, laughing and joking like nothing ever changed. When they finally made it down the hill, Percy smiled.
"It's good to be home."
