I had a look at the traffic stats and so many of you went back to like chapter 40-ish to double check I'm pissing lmao. What y'all tripping for? Don't you trust me?

And again, friendly reminder that I would never PM any of you with insults- apparently there are a couple imposter accounts lurking about with Russian letters in the username (?) and identical bios, and some of them even link directly to my own profile- I'd love to give a reason for this, but ICT is not my strong suit and I don't know how this is possible. My PMs are effectively closed to newcomers because I've had too many random accounts play nice then reveal themselves to be the harasser. I'd love to answer any questions in the reviews, but can't give away any personal information at this time. xoxoxo

Oh, okay im only putting this just bc they reviewed about a second before I posted, but Lil Al1en thank you for the kind words and the little bear, it means the world to me

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Chapter 67

Percy XXXXIII

Percy lifted his arm, dragging it upwards with a furrow of his brow. It felt like it was full of sand, and his head swam with thoughts. Why…? Why was his arm so heavy?

The skin he could see was filthy and covered in cuts and watercolour bruises. His eyes followed the manacle on his shredded wrist to the chain swinging through the air, the other end embedded in the rock wall behind him. The stone loomed before his eyes.

The cave.

"No…" he whispered to himself.

He looked around.

He was sat on the ground. Small splatters of his blood were smeared around him. Koios and Krios sat on the other side of the cave, staring at him, their faces blurry like heat rising off hot tarmac.

"Jackson." Krios said, but his voice was distorted. It echoed in his head. Did his lips even move?

Percy shook his head slowly. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth.

"I got out." he murmured.

The words didn't sound real.

Koios stood up across from him. Percy couldn't see his face, couldn't get his eyes to focus, but he knew he was smiling at him. A numbness settled over him.

"No." he said, and began to step over to Percy. "You never left."

"No- no- I- no-" he said, pushing himself backwards on his hands.

He could barely move. It was like he was crawling through a thick syrup. Why couldn't he go faster? What was wrong with him? Why was he going so slow? Koios was right there!

His palms fell uselessly against the ground and Percy strained as hard as he could, but didn't get any further.

"No!" he shouted. It came out quiet and barely audible.

His throat wasn't working. His body wasn't responding to what he was screaming at it to do! He was going to tear his arms off if he pulled at the chains any harder but he didn't care-

Koios reached for him-

He flinched violently-

Percy's eyes snapped open, his heart thundering in his chest so hard he felt his body twitching. He moved without thinking, jerking over and tumbling out of bed. The floor slammed into his face. He pushed himself up, staggering.

Riptide elongated instantly in his hands.

For a second, all he could hear were his loud pants in the cabin.

Then-

"Percy?"

Annabeth was propped up on an elbow in bed, her blonde curls messy and stuck to her chin. She looked at him with a surprising amount of calm on her face.

"Whatever you dreamed, Percy," she said patiently, "It either wasn't real or has already happened. Neither of those things can hurt you now."

He nodded, once. Then again.

Yeah. Yeah.

He was in his room.

Dream.

Nightmare.

Wasn't real. Well. Anymore. Wasn't real now.

He was fine. Fine? Everything was fine.

Everything was fine.

It took him a solid minute to lower his sword from actively up and ready to at ease. Annabeth waited without a word.

A long breath blew out of his puffed cheeks as he sank into a crouch and placed it on the floor. The feeling of it leaving his hand defenceless and empty was horrible and he hated it. He hated it so much. He twitched in an aborted effort to pick it back up.

"It'll-" Why was talking so difficult?- "It'll just return to my pocket." he said vaguely.

"Not if you stay close to it, right?" Annabeth said.

He nodded again, and shivered. His skin felt drenched, like he'd been stood in the shower for a couple seconds. His face flushed a deep red; he… he hadn't wet himself, had he? No- he rubbed a hand up his damp arm, looking himself over. It was just sweat. A lot of it. He was sweating buckets. He rubbed his brow and breathed.

"I'm just gonna-" he gestured at the door, and slowly slid down against the wall, his heartbeat thundering in his ears, not taking his eyes off it, "Can you-" He vaguely pointed at the window.

"Yeah," Annabeth shrugged, pulling the duvet around her shoulders and sliding down next to him, staring at the window. She too was only in her underwear. "Course."

He nodded gratefully. He wanted to look at her, thank her, but just kept staring. He felt gripped by something he couldn't pinpoint.

"Hand?" she offered, holding it up in his peripheral vision.

But he shook his head.

"Hands free." he got out. He was talking like a caveman, but didn't care; if he spoke, he might miss something. A noise. Footsteps. A snarl.

She acquiesced silently. He appreciated it.

It was light outside, he realised- he'd slept through most of the night, even though it didn't feel like it. The birds (cyclopes?) were chirping in the trees. It was cool (white-hot) and crisp, just gone dawn (time didn't exist). Dew lined his windows.

He couldn't remember if he'd locked the door or not. It ate away at him in his stomach but he didn't dare move to check.

They sat there quietly for a while. The sweat on his skin was cold, and that actually helped him a little, making him glad to not be feeling too hot. Thick muggy air only reminded him of one thing. In the tense atmosphere, Percy began to wish that Annabeth would talk, that she would break the silence he was too afraid to. He swallowed.

Jerkily, he offered his hand, and she took it gently.

"This isn't your fault." she told him quietly, and just like that, Percy felt some of the tension drain out of him.

"Yeah." he breathed, relieved at finally being able to talk. "Yeah, I know. Annabeth, I'm s-"

"You'd do the same for me." she interrupted him, "I love you, but you need to listen. This isn't on you. You have PTSD, Percy. It's not going to go away overnight."

"Wish it would." he mumbled, sinking back against the wall like he'd just ran a marathon. His back, having just been ramrod straight and stiff, cracked loudly. It nearly set him off again.

"Me too." he heard Annabeth murmur, and for second he felt horrible before he realised she was talking about her own trauma.

In only his boxers, he could see all the scars standing out against his skin. He ran a fingertip over a few of them, finally settling on the long one over his eye. He'd got that after, he was certain of it. In the Arena with Antaeus. He couldn't still be in the cave if he had the scar. And-

-where was it?-

-it had been just after-

He yanked at his own right arm, notably manacle-less (though the livid red scabs around his wrist remained), and traced the four scratches that Akhlys had given him. They weren't deep, and would most likely fade away quickly, but for now, they were reassurance. His hands travelled again, down to his calf, pressing his hand onto the matching outline that Adephagia had burned onto his skin. He hadn't got those scars in the Pit. He'd got them after. It didn't disturb him as much as it probably should've to categorise them like that, more weirdly comforting than anything else.

"Annabeth," he said quietly, "What day is it?"

She blinked like she didn't know either, then looked at the clock on his wall, a furrow in her brow. She counted on her fingers.

"August…eighteenth." she settled on firmly, before raising her eyebrows. "Oh." she said in surprise. "Happy birthday."

Oh.

Percy raised his eyebrows too.

"Huh." he said. "Thought I'd already missed it."

"Nope. You've only been seventeen for about six hours."

Seventeen. He let that thought bounce around in his head. He was seventeen years old. About to be a senior at his high school.

It was his birthday.

"I don't have a present for you," Annabeth turned big apologetic eyes on him before narrowing them, "Yet." she said with determination.

"You don't have to." he told her, already knowing it was useless.

"Bet." she confirmed, her gaze going distant as a thousand ideas no doubt cycled through her brain. "What do you even want?"

Percy shrugged, but let it stutter to a halt. He knew what he wanted. And he almost knew how to get it.

He wasn't going to put this off any longer. He couldn't.

He turned to Annabeth.

"Get dressed," he told her, "I want to try something."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty sure that sentence is off by one word," she said with a grin, but stood up all the same, offering her hand to help him up.

He took it and stepped over to his drawers, pulling them open and taking out some of his clothes. Annabeth swore quietly under her breath. He looked at her questioningly.

"Don't suppose you have any of my clothes in here, do you?" she asked.

Percy winced and shook his head. He held out the orange camp shirt he had in his hands.

"Oh, we're about to play a very dangerous game." Annabeth said, but took it with a grin.

She slipped it over her head, and though she was only several inches shorter than Percy, standing at five foot nine, he was quite a bit broader than she was, and the billowy fabric fell just at the top of her thighs. She held the ends out like a skirt and shook her head. Then she grinned at him.

"Be right back." she said, and with quite a lot of her bare legs on show (keep getting changed, Jackson, his brain- sounding awfully like Coach Hedge- reprimanded him, eyes down), she slipped out the front door and vanished into the early morning. Percy had no doubt that she could avoid being seen through camp, but he did question how she would fare once she made it to Cabin Six. Athena's kids were nosy. He'd know.

He pulled on a pair of jeans and a camp shirt. The shirt was a bigger size than he usually had, so for once, the sleeves got to remain. The trainers that he'd worn to Olympus were miraculously clean and back under his bed. He slipped on some socks then pulled them on over.

He checked Riptide was in his pocket. Then again. He bit his lip for a few seconds, then checked again. Just to be sure.

The door clicked shut quietly behind him as he finished tying his camp necklace back around his neck, and he jerked his head around.

It was just Annabeth.

She was dressed in her own camp clothes, and a light smudge of pink adorned her cheeks.

"Who saw you?" Percy shook his head, pretending to be disappointed.

"Malcolm. In my defence, I got into my cabin and almost out without any of them seeing me." She frowned a little. "I know they were probably tired, but still- if the security booby traps weren't in place, I'd be worried about their lack of awareness."

"They're probably just tired." he offered. He certainly was.

"Mmm. Maybe." She shrugged. "Anyway, what was it you wanted to do?"

Percy sat down on the floor cross-legged.

"I want to go see my mother." he said.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but sat across him. "I thought you said you didn't know how to shadow travel?"

"I don't." he confirmed. "Not really. I've only done it a couple times, and that was all just pure adrenaline. This time, I'm gonna try to focus."

They joined hands and Percy closed his eyes.

He really needed his mother.

He needed to be their home.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Percy cracked an eye open. Annabeth was also watching him through a half open eye. It wasn't working.

"Maybe you need adrenaline?"

Percy shrugged. If he thought about his nightmare, it sent tremors through his chest, but that wasn't helping at all if he was honest.

"I guess I really don't know how to do it. I could try and force it-?"

"That won't work."

A new voice in the cabin had both their eyes snap open, rising to crouch on one knee.

Across the room, half-concealed by the shadows, Nico di Angelo visibly braced himself. He looked like he was expecting to be attacked any second. Deep purples rested under his eyes, and Percy suspected that he had slept just as well as himself last night.

"Nico." he greeted him, trying to keep his voice level so as to not scare the boy off. It seemed to unnerve him even more.

Annabeth sat back down and he copied her.

"Nico, neither of us blame you for what happened." Annabeth cut to the chase quickly and firmly, something Nico clearly wasn't expecting, as his head whipped up.

"But I-"

"Felt angry when you were ten?"

"It wasn't-"

"You were grieving and in pain. You weren't thinking and that's not your fault."

"No, that's no excuse." Nico shook his head. "I was stupid and you died, Annabeth. You died and I felt it. It was because of me."

"But I killed the arai." Percy said quietly.

"That wasn't your fault." Nico said. "If I hadn't cursed you, that curse wouldn't have even been there to trigger."

"Nico, I'm pretty sure other people have cursed him like that before." Annabeth said, "It was a… coincidence."

Nico looked so confused.

"But you still died because of me!" he protested, "I held a grudge and you paid the price! How can you… how can you not be mad at me?"

"You were ten. And since then, I think you've saved our lives more than you've… not." Percy tried. "And Nico- you know as well as I do that holding grudges does more harm than good."

He wondered how things would have gone if he had forgiven Apate. Though that meant he'd probably be dead, he thought.

Nico still looked disbelieving. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Okay- fine. You want forgiveness for something that wasn't your fault? Come here and earn it. Teach Percy to shadow travel and all is behind us and forgotten."

Nico blinked. "Really?"

Gods he sounded young, Percy thought. Nico approached them hesitantly before sitting down too. Annabeth smiled at him, but it just seemed to make him feel worse. Percy decided to keep speaking to try and move past the awkwardness that filled the room.

"I've shadow travelled before, but only when panicked. Never really on purpose. How do I do it?"

"Oh. Well… it's like a standing jump. You just- I don't know-" Nico scratched his head, clearly desperate to teach him, to earn a forgiveness Percy really didn't think he needed, "You have to become one with the shadows. Slip into the ether. Just let go."

Percy didn't know what any of that meant, but nodded. It felt like maths all over again.

"If you're going together, it'll drain you more." Nico told both of them.

"How do I start it?" Percy asked.

Nico stood up and closed the curtains, darkening the room.

"Can you feel the shadows?" he asked.

Percy tried to reach out for them the same way he searched for water, but couldn't feel anything. Nico frowned as if he had just realised this.

"You don't reach for them," he said, "Just let them reach for you. Let them pull you in."

Percy bit his lip uneasily. He really didn't like the sound of that.

"Isn't this what your tattoo is for?" Annabeth asked, gesturing to his arm.

Percy shrugged, and closed his eyes, focusing on it.

Oh. She was right. The skin around it and under his tattoo always burned hot, but there was something about it being in the shade that called to it. Like a gateway. He leaned into it.

"Good." said Nico. "You're going shadowy. But you have to remember where you're going, and focus on the shadows. If you shadow travel without a destination in mind, who knows where you'll end up. A village in China knows me well."

Percy snorted at that, and pictured the other side of his cabin, the bunkbeds creating the perfect shadows inbetween them. He leaned into the well of darkness in his tattoo-

-and fell out the other side, about ten feet away from where he was sat before.

"Huh." he said, feeling a little more tired. "It worked."

"That was quick." Annabeth remarked.

"If he's done it before, it's a lot easier to learn." Nico said. He turned hopeful eyes on the two of them. "So- I taught you?" he asked.

"Yes." Percy nodded, getting up and taking his former place across from Annabeth, joining hands again. "All is forgiven, though there wasn't anything to forgive in the first place. Gaia's not having the final word in this."

They smiled at him, but Nico's own smile began to flicker.

"You wouldn't-" he began suddenly, as if a burst of confidence was carrying his words- "You wouldn't trust me if you knew what I do. You shouldn't. But I want to get this all out, all these secrets and lies. I think you should know."

Annabeth and Percy exchanged a look.

"Know what?" Percy asked.

Nico opened his mouth then closed it again. He looked like a fish. His dark hair fell over his face as he buried his forehead into his hands, elbows resting on his knees. There were a few beats of silence as Nico seemed to gather his thoughts together.

"I- I liked you. For a long time." The words seemed to tumble out of his mouth.

Percy raised an eyebrow at Annabeth, but she shook her head at him. Percy frowned. He didn't know what she was saying.

"You… liked us?" he asked, confused.

"I like-liked you." Nico raised his head and stared into his eyes, head held stiffly as if he was forcing himself to not look away. "I had a crush on you, Percy."

Oh. Percy blinked.

"Oh." he said.

Annabeth held up a hand for a high five. Nico stared at it for a second before visibly letting go of the tension in his shoulders. He obligingly high-fived Annabeth.

"But I'm over it now." he said firmly. He offered a weak smile to Percy with a joke, "You're not my type."

"Not your type-?" Percy repeated, confused. "Wait- I thought you hated me!"

Didn't Nico blame him for Bianca? Hadn't he tried to lock him up in the underworld once? Percy felt like he was less surprised about the like-liking and more about the actual liking.

"What?" Nico pulled a face. "I thought I was obvious."

"A little." said Annabeth.

"Not at all!" Percy said at the same time.

"Well it was to me. I'm done hiding it." Nico said, standing suddenly. He made a motion as if to shadow travel away, but both he and Annabeth grabbed an ankle.

"Just- wait!" Annabeth said. "You're not leaving the camp, are you?"

Nico sighed, but shook his head. "I'm coming back. For good, this time."

"You'd better." Annabeth said. "Without you, we would never have made it to the doors of death. The lift in Epirus would never have opened if you hadn't hit the button. Alcyoneus wouldn't have been defeated. We need you here, and the younger campers need someone to watch out for them the same way you watched out for and helped us. Like how you helped me when Percy was down there."

Nico's eyes widened, but he nodded.

"Thank you for that, by the way." Percy added.

Nico gave them a small smile. He looked as if he'd been carrying the world on his shoulders, but had just put it down. Percy and Annabeth knew that feeling a little too well.

Nico stepped back. "Tell Sally I say hi." he said.

Percy smiled. "Will do."

Then he took Annabeth's hands in his, and fell back into the cold shadows, bringing her with him.

His wardrobe in his mum and stepdad's apartment was dark, which was perfect for shadow travelling, but also small, which was less than perfect for being crammed in.

With a free hand that wasn't currently being crushed under Annabeth's weight, he slid the door to the side, and she rolled out across him. He crawled out after.

His room was spotless. No dust in sight. Well, sure- he could see his skateboard crammed under his bed with the elbow and knee pads littered about, but other than that- someone had dusted in here. Kept it ready for him until he came back.

Percy sniffed.

Then he sniffed again- something was cooking.

He and Annabeth stood up, and he gave one last look around his bedroom. Calypso's silvery moon lace flowers still bloomed outside, regularly watered it seemed. There was a stack of books he'd need for his senior year left on his blue duvet. The seashells on his shelves were now in rainbow order.

He opened the door quietly, heading into the main room.

On one side of the room, Paul lounged on the sofa, a book in his hand. His glasses were sliding off his nose. He looked like he was falling asleep.

And on the other-

"Mum?" Percy's voice cracked.

Dropping the baking tray to the floor with a clang, Sally Jackson whirled around.

She raised her hands to her mouth. Her brown hair had flecks of flour in it. Maybe they were grey hairs. He couldn't tell.

Her blue eyes locked onto his.

And then he was running, and she was running, but it was a small apartment so they couldn't run for long and-

He crashed into her and she enveloped him in what could have possibly been the best hug of his life so far.

"Percy!" she cried into his hair, bursting into tears.

Like mother, like son.

Percy's face screwed up in her shoulder, practically bent double to reach her height. Wetness dribbled through his eyelashes.

"You're home!" She kissed his head again and again. "Oh, I was so worried! You vanished, and then we got the message about where you were, and then nothing for so long- we kept hearing reports of earthquakes and freak ocean activity, which we assumed was- but we weren't sure- and- I love you so much and I missed you- oh, Percy!"

"Hi Mum." he choked out. "I love you too. I'm okay. Everything's okay."

"Percy?" Paul was at his side in the kitchen, now definitely awake, and gripped his shoulder comfortingly in the hug. His salt and pepper hair stuck up in every direction. "Thank the Gods."

"Hi Paul." Percy mumbled into his mum's shoulder.

She smelled just like the cookies she was making. And had clearly been eating a few of them too, he thought questioningly, before pulling back and staring down.

At the suddenly visible bump on his mother's stomach.

"Mum?" he asked.

Sally smiled shakily at him, brushing away tears from her eyes and leaving more smears of flour. Paul wrapped an arm round her shoulders.

"How'd you like to be a big brother, Percy?" she asked him.

His jaw dropped.

"A-a baby?" he demanded, before his face split into a wide grin, "No way!"

"That is usually how you become a big brother, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said behind him, and his mum's head shot back up again.

"Annabeth!" she cried, pulling her into a hug too.

Percy pulled a face of amazement. Paul met his eyes.

"Her hormones are a bit wild these days." Paul said with a grin too.

"I can see. Uh- congratulations!" Percy remembered, slapping Paul on the back. "Do you know what it'll be?"

"No. We were just going to wait until the baby's born. All the stuff we've bought is yellow anyway, so it won't matter."

Percy didn't know whether he'd prefer a baby brother or a baby sister. He didn't think he cared- he just wanted them to be safe and happy.

His mum released a dazed but grinning Annabeth, and waved them all over to the table. "Sit down, sit down! I've missed you two so much. There are cookies in the oven about to come out any second, you-"

"Don't worry, love." Paul guided her to a kitchen chair, and they all sat around the table while he remained standing. "I've got the food, you just catch up."

His mum beamed at him, still a little watery, and Percy wiped his own slightly damp cheeks in turn. He even suspected he saw Annabeth do a stealthy brush of her eyes.

"And happy birthday, Percy!" his mum said, snapping her fingers, "Stay there!"

She pushed herself up and walked out of the room. Paul glanced over at him, then at the clock and realisation dawned in his eyes.

"Oh yeah!" he said. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks." Percy replied as his mother came back in, pushing three wrapped blue presents across the table to him. "Mum, how did you-?"

"A mother always knows. I had a feeling I might see you today. And they would be here for you anyway, whether you came back today or a week from now."

Percy unwrapped them quickly, unveiling new stickers for his skateboard, a new fluffy blue hoodie (that he saw Annabeth eyeing up and knew wouldn't be solely his for long) and a stack of CDs, some that he knew, and some that he liked the look of.

"Thanks guys." he said.

Sally reached across the table and held out a hand to both him and Annabeth, and they returned the favour instantly. She squeezed their hands with a smile.

"So-"

"Oh, Sally, sorry to interrupt, Paul you too-" Paul looked over from where he was sliding cookies onto a plate as Annabeth spoke- "The name of the place that Percy went to is just referred to as the Pit now. It's a trigger for him."

Percy went a little red, but nodded gratefully at her.

Sally nodded in a no-nonsense kind of way. "Got it." she said, but she couldn't hide the worry in her eyes. Eyes that flicked across the scar on his face, the scabs around his wrists and the tattoo stretching across his arm-

"Perseus Jackson," his mum said, not taking her eyes off it, "Is that what I think it is?"

Oh no-

"It was a gift from the Primordial Goddess Nyx," he defended tiredly, "It protects me."

His mum nodded. She'd never been overly vocal about tattoos, but for one this size, she had probably expected him to have at least talked about it with her first. And he would have, if he'd got it normally.

"Okay," she shrugged, "It's good with me then. Looks- cool?"

Percy snorted softly. "Thanks Mum. There's this one too." He flipped his arm over and showed her his tattoo from Camp Jupiter.

"SPQR?" she read out loud questioningly as Paul slid a heaped plate of blue raspberry and white chocolate cookies onto the table, then sat down.

"Yeah. It's… a long story."

His mum smiled at him gently. "You don't have to tell me everything." she said. "What were the fun parts of your quest, at least?"

He nearly choked on his cookie.

"The fun parts?" he asked.

He and Annabeth shared helpless looks.

"Uh…" Percy wracked his brains to find at least a few positives for his mother, "Oh! We made a ton of new friends. Like, a whole secret city called New Rome's worth of friends."

"A New Rome?" Paul asked, visibly intrigued.

Annabeth explained it while Percy thought some more, chewing on his cookie. He nearly felt like crying again; it was such a good cookie. It tasted like home.

"Awesome!" Paul breathed when Annabeth mentioned the war games.

"And people live there? Older demigods?" his mum asked.

"Yeah. They can retire, live in houses, start families." Annabeth sounded wistful, and the tip of her nose turned pink as Sally smiled at her.

"It sounds very nice." his mum said with a knowing look.

Percy's face heated up as Paul raised an eyebrow at him, but smiled to himself a little. His eyes flicked to the windows opposite as he ducked his head. They were pretty high up, but… those windows looked a little to fragile for his tastes. He didn't want anything breaking in. Especially if a baby was about to live here.

He pulled himself back to the conversation. What were they talking about? Oh yeah, happy memories.

"Uh, I made friends with the Maeonian Drakon?" he said.

His mum tilted her head quizzically.

"A- drakon?" she asked.

"Like a dragon without wings." Percy reminded her. "I named her Maia. She helped me get out the Pit."

"I see. Give her my love." she replied.

"Oh yeah- Nico says hi by the way." Annabeth said.

"Bless him," she smiled, "Tell him he's welcome here too." She looked him over, her smile fading a bit. "You don't have to answer, but- what was it like down there?"

Percy smiled tightly. "Horrible." he said, slightly shortly. "Another good thing about this quest? Uh- I may or may not have yelled at the Olympian Council, and now they're going to be nicer to us."

His mum and stepdad blinked. Then his mum sipped her tea. "That's my boy." she said calmly.

"Like, full on yelling?" Paul whispered to him.

"Full on yelling." Percy whispered back in confirmation.

He glanced over his shoulder, just in case, and looked back as Paul whistled in awe.

"Nice." Paul said.

Annabeth was a bit quiet, so Percy reached over and held her hand. She smiled at him. She was just as much a part of his family as he was.

"So the baby?" Annabeth spoke up. "Got any names yet?"

"A handful." Sally said, "But we want it to be a surprise."

"The one thing you can count on is that Godly names are out." Paul said, "When I was a student, I'll admit, I thought naming any future children after some of the old Gods would be cool. But I'm not so sure that's a good idea now that they're actually real."

"Maybe not." agreed Percy.

His mum cocked a look in his direction, and he realised he'd been tapping on the underside of the table. He winced apologetically. She pushed a cookie in his direction, and he accepted it with silent acknowledgement.

"So what exactly was this quest about?" Paul asked. "You never said."

"Just the end of the world, Mr Blofis," Annabeth said through a mouthful of her own cookie, "The Primordial Goddess Gaia tried to rise and kill everyone."

"Well," Percy tilted his head to the side, "Technically she did rise and almost kill everyone-"

"-but we had a plan-"

"-and it worked-"

"-Percy killed her, so no apocalypse-"

"-yeah, basically." he finished.

His parents nodded, a little dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, how do you kill…?" Paul asked, gesturing vaguely.

"Oh." Percy said. "With a big sword, pretty much. I built it in the Pit."

"You built it?" His mum said, sounding a bit dazed. "Right."

"When are you due, Sally?" Annabeth asked, changing the subject.

"March. I'm only a few months along at the moment, but I think they're a bigger baby than you were, Percy." his mum said. She put her hands on her stomach. "Baby isn't big enough to kick yet, but they're certainly big enough to make me hungry."

"Any cravings?" Paul asked eagerly, and Percy's eyes slid sideways to the book Paul had been reading.

The words 'What to Expect when You're Expecting' jumped off the front cover at him, and he grinned. His mother just looked exasperated.

"Paul, for the last time- I don't get cravings. It's perfectly normal."

"Maybe not now, but when the second trimester hits, that's when it could strike." Paul said seriously.

Percy grinned. "Yeah Mum," he said, "Not fancying any pickles in chocolate sauce?"

His mother laughed. "If you eat some, I'll eat some."

Percy's stomach growled. He'd eaten plenty of worse things recently. "Done." he said.

"Right, now we're definitely getting food." Paul said, "I can make something, or we can order Chinese from that place round the corner?"

"Chinese sounds good." His mum rubbed her stomach.

"I'm on it." Paul said, kissing her on the forehead before hurrying over to the phone.

"He's very excited," his mum told them fondly.

"We can see." Annabeth giggled.

Paul took their orders quickly as they talked about what they had missed. His mum and Annabeth had a long conversation about the neighbourhoods and universities in New Rome, which Percy guessed he would be attending. He wasn't sure about it yet. But Annabeth wanted to go there, saying that Harvard would be too complicated now. She looked a bit downcast about letting go of her childhood goal, but he could see her point of view. There wouldn't be much of the big gardens left once a monster set fire to them and Annabeth got kicked out for arson. At least the University of New Rome offered both Architecture and Marine Biology.

"I've looked at the course and everything," Annabeth was saying passionately to his nodding mother, "It sounds amazing, Sally! And everything that we get to study, we can actually apply in New Rome itself. Or I can apply it to Olympus. Once we get everything… sorted out and get ourselves together, it should be great!"

"Sorted out?" his mother asked tactfully.

Annabeth shrugged a little, dropping her gaze a little. "Therapy," she said eventually, "Once we get good therapy and feel better, things should be great."

His mother looked concerned. She gripped Annabeth's hands tightly.

"Whatever you need, you two. My last book sold quite a lot, we can find you the best of the-"

"Oh- no- no, Sally, it's not- Reyna says New Rome has its own demigod therapists. Free to any member of the legion. That means I might have to join and get the tattoo, but I'm okay with that. And they're not going to turn down Percy, he was their Praetor."

His mum lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

"Big head honcho of New Rome." Percy explained to her, "But I quit after a couple of days and then we were branded war criminals or something, so I doubt I'm remembered on the best of terms."

"You also killed Gaia."

"Minor detail."

The front doorbell rang, and Paul, who had been staring in an enraptured silence, leapt up to go get it.

His mum laughed, and Percy felt warm on the inside. "He's so overprotective." she said.

Percy thought about Gabe.

"Good." he said firmly, and his mother caught his eye. She nodded and smiled. Percy knew she deserved the best out there, and he was fairly certain she'd found it in Paul.

"Food's here!" Paul called, carrying the paper bag into the kitchen, wincing at the heat burning his fingertips.

Percy stood up to help him dish up. As a son of Poseidon, heat didn't bother him as much as regular demigods (with the exception of Leo, of course) and Paul watched in awe as he held out the steaming noodle container without so much as a hiss. Percy grinned at him.

"Oh, and for after?" Paul held up a cardboard box and slid it onto the table. His mum opened it and her eyes went misty.

"Oh- Paul." she said, sniffing.

Percy glanced over and swallowed as he saw the blue birthday cake sat in the box. He looked at Paul, who was smiling hesitantly, almost like he was afraid he had overstepped his bounds.

"Thanks, man." Percy said quietly.

Paul breathed a sigh of relief. "No problem, Percy. The takeaway people sounded very confused when I ordered it, so I'm just glad it came out as good as it did."

Percy laughed.

Annabeth leaned back in her chair and rummaged through a drawer, pulling out a pack of birthday candles. She propped them up alongside the box with a sheepish smile.

They dished up the rest of the food and tucked in, conversation falling silent in lieu of everyone wolfing down their food. Both he and Annabeth were starving and his mum was eating for two- Paul had said that he thought he had ordered too much, but as their dishes piled up scraped empty, his eyebrows seemed to disappear into his hairline. He looked impressed.

Percy sucked a noodle into his mouth with a slurp. Across the table, his mum did the same. They narrowed eyes at each other, before his mother ducked her head under the table.

He saw Annabeth and Paul exchange a look across the table.

His mother reappeared with a long noodle trailing out her mouth like a tail.

"Mouse?" she said, slightly muffled, "What mouse?"

They both cracked up. It was an old joke from when Percy was a child, but they hadn't done it in years. Wide smile still splitting his face, he flicked a look at the front door. Paul had locked it, right?

"You two are nuts." Paul said in amazement.

"Indeed. Eat your food, darling." said his mum.

Percy and Annabeth grinned at each other. Percy scraped his rice together to pile it onto his fork, and smiled. This was good. Olympus was fine, but those at camp and everyone he was sat with were his real family. This was who he fought for.

He had definitely made the right decision to kill Gaia.

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Song used while writing this chapter? Binary Sunset from A New Hope.

Okay in other slightly less depressing news, I just started Hannibal and HOLY MOLY I'm hooked. I can't eat while watching it though anymore, it's just too graphic. Mans was sat there looking at a flayed body while eating ravioli like,,, yo,,, the textures,,,,, what if,,,,,,?

Big shoutout to all of you including my homie IWKYFC, who saved me from a wild pack of rabid man/woman eating lions. And shout out especially to the guys who wanted Percy to still be in tartarus, I wrote that line to lead into a nightmare to show the persistent reality of PTSD, but I didn't expect some of you to get really excited about what you thought was a plot twist. If you're upset, please do be polite about it, but don't get too disappointed, because I fell in love with that plot twist too, so when this main story is over (less than three chapters I estimate, maybe just one), I will be posting a one chapter mini AU- that no one has to read unless they want to- about what would happen if that actually was the case.