Okay, so I've kinda read The Blood Of Olympus three times already and I loved it so much (except that there was a minimal amount of Percy and Annabeth, both as individuals and a couple, in it). But, I don't want to let go of Percy Jackson just yet, so I decided to write a story, which narrates the time period between the end of the Giant War and when Leo comes back to CHB.
I know the title's really weird (I mean, Snowflake? Really?) but it's important for upcoming stuff :)
DISCLAIMER: I'll only be doing this once the entire story. I do not own Percy Jackson & The Olympians and The Heroes Of Olympus, nor do I own the characters. All rights belong to Rick Riordan unless stated otherwise. The plot, however, is mine so if I see anyone with similar plots/events in the new stories, be prepared for an uber long message.
CHAPTER ONE: PERCY
Percy found himself on a wild goose chase with the Stolls. Again. And it'd barely been a week since their battle against Gaia.
He wasn't sure whether he should've felt glad that everything was back to normal, or whether he should've been wringing their necks.
He'd checked the stables, the forge, the dining pavilion, the Big House and even Zeus' Fist, before he finally found the brothers lounging in front of Thalia's pine tree, making small talk with Peleus. Without even bothering to resist the urge to smack himself in the forehead, Percy stormed up towards them just when they lifted their heads up.
"Hey, Perce," Travis greeted with a cheeky grin. "Is this the newest trend? It looks pretty good, I must admit. Maybe we should get the entire camp to look like this everyday."
When Percy had gone back to his cabin after his lunch date with Annabeth, he was expecting a warm shower. He was hoping to jam to Green Day, catch up with Hazel, Frank, Reyna, Dakota and his other Roman friends, and possibly meet up with Annabeth once again.
But when he'd turned the taps on, no water came out – at least, not water by itself. A liquid substance, which Percy suspected was a combination of water, glue and custard, sprayed out and instantly, he knew something was wrong. He also hadn't noticed the string attached to his towel when he stepped out of the shower, as the action of pulling on his towel brought down a huge bucket of glitter and feathers, which ended up sticking to his body. He'd spent a good twenty minutes scrubbing at his skin in a futile attempt to get rid of everything before storming out of Cabin Three.
Occasionally, Percy would join in with the brothers – and sometimes, Leo – to prank others because, why not? The reactions of their victims were absolutely priceless, especially those from the Aphrodite and Apollo cabins. But then, there were also those times where the brothers decided to work together alone and to Percy, that was never a good sign.
Percy was over dousing the brothers with water now. They'd pranked him so many times that they were used to being drenched with water and it barely made an effect. If anything, it allowed them the chance to strut around camp and show their bodies off to girls – and Travis had a girlfriend.
Connor's eyes lit up and he chuckled, agreeing with his older brother. "I'd pay to see Drew like this."
Percy glared at his two friends, pointing an angry finger at them. If he were a cartoon character, his face would've scrunched up like he'd smelt something foul and there'd be steam puffing out of his ears and nostrils. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Stoll's would've paid two hundred drachmas to see that turned into an animation. "You guys are so dead. How in Hades do you even get this crap off?"
"Oh, we got the Hecate cabin to enchant a spell. You're stuck with that for another day."
"Say what?"
The three boys turned their heads around to find themselves staring at a fuming girl who had the same gunk as Percy all over her. Travis' eyes widened at the sight before him and muttered, "Oh, crap," under his breath. He then turned to Connor and raised an accusing finger at him. "You promised that you wouldn't do that to her. I clearly said anyone but my girlfriend."
"Her is still here, you know?" Katie spoke up.
Percy shared a look with Katie and brought his ballpoint pen out of his pocket. "What do you say, Katie? We give them a good beating?"
The brunette girl contemplated his suggestion for a moment before shrugging, "Why not? There's nothing better to do."
Travis protested, "Hey!" and scrambled up to his feet, offering a childish pout at his girlfriend. "What happened to loving me?"
"Yeah, maybe after you decide to get this junk of me."
"That wasn't even me! It was Connor!" He sent a half-hearted glare to his brother, but Percy didn't miss the mischievous smirk that tugged at his lips.
Just as Katie drew her sword out and Percy uncapped Riptide, Will came running up to them, waving his arms around frantically. He opened his mouth to speak, but not before shooting his two friends a funny look. "Nico visited the Underworld, and he has news."
Right. Nico.
Percy was still rather baffled with the kid's confession, which had occurred three days after they'd defeated Gaia. He had told Nico about his plans with Annabeth – finishing high school, going to college and New Rome – and then, suddenly out of nowhere, bam. He goes, "Hey, Percy. You know, I used to like you all and now I see that you're cute, but not my type." While Percy had stood there, sinking in his confession, his girlfriend had offered Nico a high-five. And, the story didn't just end there. The son of Hades had simply grinned and went off to Will Solace, and didn't step foot out of the infirmary until this morning.
Surely, nobody else had ever confessed to another like that.
But, Percy could accept that. He had to admit that he did feel a little awkward whenever someone brought Nico up into the conversation, but he could accept that. He could accept Nico's sexuality, though he'd probably never forget the fact that the kid who was once obsessed with Mythomagic – the guy who could have been his cousin – had a crush on him at one point of his life.
Nico visiting the Underworld was news to Percy. The pair had barely spoken to each other, due to the fact that only healers and siblings were allowed to visit the infirmary.
As the five demigods made their way to the Big House, Percy casually swung Riptide around by the hilt and grinned when he caught sight of Lacy from the Aphrodite cabin cooing over Coach Hedge's son. As feisty as the baby satyr was, Percy had to admit that Chuck was the cutest satyr he'd ever seen.
All the other senior counselors, and the centurions and praetors of Camp Jupiter were already gathered around the new edition of the ping-pong table, which was about three times its original size. Percy quickly took a seat between Jason and Annabeth, taking his girlfriend's hand and interlacing their fingers.
Most of his closest friends from both camps were here, and he couldn't have been happier. If only Flaming Valdez was here, he thought to himself. Jake Mason, the newly appointed counselor for the Hephaestus cabin sat opposite Percy, glumly. Even Thalia was here with the rest of the Hunters.
"Can we hurry?" Will inquired. "I have people to tend to back in the infirmary."
Nico didn't bother waiting for Chiron to start off and cut straight to the chase. "Leo's spirit is unbalanced."
Percy's ears perked up and he watched as Jason, Piper and Jake snapped their heads up. "Unbalanced?" Annabeth echoed, the middle of her forehead creasing – something that always occurred whenever she was thinking.
"Unbalanced…" Reyna said in thought as well.
"What do you mean?" Piper asked, gripping the table so hard that her knuckles her white and Percy was almost worried that she'd snap her edge of the table off. "Is he alive? Is he okay? Oh my gods, he's okay, right?"
Nico raised a hand, signaling silence and continued on. "I went back to the Underworld this afternoon to check if everything was okay and all, but Leo's not there."
The word Underworld sent shivers down Percy's spine, and even Annabeth squeezed his hand a little tighter. The horrors of Tartarus hadn't worn off of them and they still had nightmares. Percy knew that he'd been healed from the arai, but that wasn't enough to stop the memories from flooding his brain.
"He's dead," Nico stated, bluntly. "I can feel that he's dead. Hazel can, too, but he's not in the Underworld – not in Elysium, not in Isles of the Blessed, and not Fields of Asphodel."
Jason straightened his new glasses, and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Nico sighed and scowled, as if he were swearing to himself mentally. "I don't know but one thing I do know, is that no one can be reborn so quickly. There's a waiting list."
"That means he's alive," Piper said. "If he's not there, then he's alive."
Percy watched as Hazel winced and squirmed, uncomfortably. "I don't really know about that, Piper…"
He wanted to be mad at Hazel and Frank, for caving in so easily to Leo. He wanted to angry with them for manipulating the rest of the four demigods. Sure, when Percy first met Leo, he'd been a little weirded out, but Leo was almost like the glue of the seven. Without him, it would've been bland and boring. Plus, the two of them shared two things in common: their silly sense of humour and Calypso.
Calypso.
"Maybe he's in Ogygia," Percy piped up, scratching the back of his head and almost winced when Annabeth turned to him.
"Oh- what?" Katie questioned.
"Oh-gee-gee-ya," he enunciated.
Annabeth shook her head. "No way. No one ever comes across Ogygia twice."
"But this is Leo Valdez we're talking about," Frank said. "He probably managed to cheat death, or the Fates led him to Ogygia again."
Even Percy thought that was ridiculous. Was Zeus really chill enough to allow a scrawny child of Hephaestus to visit Ogygia again? Surely, he would've smacked Leo out of the path with his wind powers.
He turned to Annabeth, silently asking her to say out loud what she had in mind. She sighed and pursed her lips, before shaking her head slightly. "I hate to admit it," she said, looking at Piper in particular. "But, I don't think we can do much about this. As you said, Frank, this is Leo. Everything he does is unexpected and spontaneous, so even if he comes crashing in here with Festus, it shouldn't be surprising, but we can't keep our hopes up."
Percy offered the Cherokee girl a small, sympathetic smile as she furiously wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. He'd never been close to Leo, but he did resent how the guy had so easily sacrificed himself to save the world.
Piper had it the worst, with Jason coming in as a close second. They'd been the trio of the group who'd stuck with each other through thin and thick, especially Piper and Leo since they'd attended the Wilderness School together. Hazel had a connection with Leo too – some dude called Sammy, Percy recalled. Leo and Annabeth had probably been the best working duo aboard the Argo II. Annabeth had the brains and pointed out flaws, and Leo would build, construct and invent. Even Frank was upset.
"Unfortunately, Octavian's in Elysium," Nico grumbled with a scowl, shooting a not-so-discreet glance at Will Solace, which Percy noticed.
Percy couldn't have cared less about Octavian; the guy had been nothing but a demanding, self-absorbed idiot, but Will was his Greek half-brother and that probably did affect him. If it did, Will didn't show it. He nodded, stiffly in acknowledgement – possibly because Percy had told him that Apollo was being punished, several days ago. To say that Will didn't like it would've been an understatement.
The usual bell rang out through all of Camp Half-Blood, signaling that it was time for dinner and Chiron cleared his throat. "Children, I think this is enough for today. As you all know, there's the celebration tonight. You don't want to miss dinner."
Right. Tonight was the extremely late celebration for the annual Fourth of July. Apparently, the camp hadn't celebrated while the others were out on their expedition.
The centaur dismissed the demigods and trailed along behind them to the dining pavilion. Percy offered some food to his father and took his seat at the Zeus table. Chiron completely ignored the fact that demigods with different parents sat together while Camp Jupiter was here, as long as nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
Their usual table consisted of Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Thalia, Reyna, Dakota, Leila and Gwen, who'd decided to ditch college for a while, claiming she wanted to spend time with her friends who were on the brink of their deaths.
Not many people left the dining pavilion until later that night. By nine o'clock, most campers were pumped for the overdue Fourth of July celebration. Travis Stoll jumped up onto the middle of the Hermes table, which was coincidentally, the middle of the dining pavilion. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Who's ready it par-tay?!"
As the rest of the campers cheered in response, Percy couldn't help but grin. He'd missed this.
A/N: Please let me know your opinions/critiques on this by reviewing! I hope you enjoyed it :)