Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The beginning.
The first thing Percy’s brain registered when he woke up was: wind. He was falling… again, and this time he wasn’t sure where to or why. One minute, he had been in Olympus, and the next, the floor underneath him disappeared. He wished he could say he had it coming with how he usually spoke to Gods, but this time he had been on his best behavior, just as he had promised Annabeth.
It was the winter solstice. They were supposed to be there to give the new demigods a rundown of the demigods' experience and a quick tour through Olympus, while the doors to Olympus were open to them. The kids were excited, and to be honest, he was too. This was the first time since the second war ended, two years ago, that they were allowed back to Olympus. (No one really knew why. The Gods had gone silent right after the war ended, and communications only restarted almost a year later. They never explained why the silence, and my father had only said not to worry about it.)
It was also the first time he would see all the new buildings and improvements Annabeth had been working on. She had been allowed into Olympus only a few months ago and wasted no time retaking the project. Truth be told, her own words, not mine, there was still a lot of work to do, enough to last a lifetime. It didn’t make a difference to me. I was still so proud of her, no matter what.
He and Annabeth met in the lobby of the Empire State that morning. They were waiting with the kids for the elevator to come down, glad to have somewhere to hide from the cold outside.
“Ok. Listen to me. We are going up in two groups of 6! The first group goes with Annabeth and the second goes with me,” I said. All the kids nodded in unison.
“You know I actually forgot how good you are with the younger ones,” Annabeth said with a smile.
“Well, for once I appreciate being the hero of Olympus, it comes with its perks… sometimes” I responded half laughing, while holding the elevators door making sure all kids in Anabeth’s group went in. After a few minutes, and two elevator rides later, we were all outside the throne room.
“I can´t believe it's been almost a year since I last saw you.”
“We were both busy, and I didn’t think I was ready to see you after you know…” She trailed off.
“Yeah, I know we said it was a mutual agreement, but I wasn’t ready either,” I responded, scratching my head.
Annabeth and I, despite literally being to hell and back, couldn’t be together anymore. After moving to New Rome for college and trying to balance our relationship and school, we failed miserably. I was having a hard time adjusting to classes, and the nightmares kept coming. I was barely sleeping at all. It came to a point where I spent more time at sea, drifting away, than with Annabeth or in class. And Annabeth was struggling too. She was taking Uni like a fish on the sea (no pun intended) but trying to make friends and keeping a barely present boyfriend in check, while supervising her project at Olympus was a struggle. As hard and painful as it was to admit, we were growing apart and had nothing in common anymore, except trauma, and even then, it was painful and hard to cope with. So, they decided to break up. It was better that way, healthier, he reminded himself.
He went back to New York, to the camp. It was easier than staying in New Rome, trying to hold onto a normalcy that never really existed. Frank and Hazel had offered him a place in the legion, but as much as he loved them, it didn’t sit well with him. Camp Half-Blood was his home after all.
“Percy? Did you feel that?” A tinge of panic in Annabeth's voice brought him back to the present. They were at the end of the tour near one of the many ponds in the big garden in the middle of the temples.
“Feel what?” As soon as the words left his mouth, the floor underneath them trembled with a resounding echo traveling through the air. “Oh… that.” They locked eyes for a second and sprang into action.
“Everyone, let's head back to the throne room!” Both of them guided the kids back without looking too worried. Quickly but calmly, so as not to make them panic. When they arrived, the gods were looking nervous and confused.
“Percy!” a voice raised above the others to his left.
“Dad? What’s going on?”
“Nothing too bad, I hope. This wasn’t my brother’s doing. Something felt off a moment before Olympus started trembling, but we’re not sure what caused it yet.”
“Ok, so we just have to get the other demigods out of here before it happens again.”
Poseidon nodded. “It will be for the best, yes. Be careful.” He said while pushing me in Annabeth’s direction.
“We have to go,” I said, and Anabeth just nodded.
“We are missing Tadeus!” a 13-year-old, son of Hermes shouted. Annabeth looked at me and I sighed.
“Take the kids to the elevator doors. Send the first group down. I’ll look for the kid and meet you there.”
“Percy, wait! We don’t know what’s happening, we can’t split now.”
“We need to find the kid, and one of us must stay with the others, and make sure they go back down safely. It’ll be ok. I won’t take long.”
Annabeth gave me one last look before leading the young ones back to the elevator. I glanced over the throne room looking for Tadeus but he was not there. I tried going back to the temples, thinking maybe the kid was back in the garden when the floor shook again and it suddenly disappeared. The last thing I saw was the sky. A voice rang in my head “You’ve done enough for this world little hero; a new one awaits you.” And everything went dark.