2013 (The year our favorite hero turned twenty ;))

A man walked into a cafe, his head bent down under an inconspicuous gray hoodie. It was impossible to tell who he was, and he preferred it that way. Despite all the strange looks he was being sent, he made no hint of knowing that he was being targeted by so many pairs of eyes.

Although many in the small shop were curious, wondering who this mysterious stranger was, his appearance did not cause a lull in the social atmosphere. If not, whispers grew louder, speculating who he was. One little girl was quite outright with her idea of who he appeared to be. "Mommy," she tugged her mother's sleeves, "is that an evil monster like that snake man you were telling me about?"

The whole shop quieted up, awaiting the man's response to this accusation. They were not idiots- the majority of them had realized that this was not a monster. In fact, he seemed to be the opposite. Their suspicions were proved to be correct as the man took off his hood and straightened his posture, striding up to the little girl and bending himself down to her height.

In the midst of the silence, a woman next to the small girl stood frozen, shaking. She was afraid that this man would hurt her daughter, although she knew that he was a hero, not a monster.

The man with deep, blue-green eyes, looking like the sea in the dim lighting, would not hurt the little girl. He brought his eyes up, from the girl's face to the one of the woman next to her, and offered her a reassuring smile. The woman returned the smile, though slightly uncomfortably.

"Sweetie, I'm not a monster." The man whispered to the small girl. Although they were barely murmured, his words could still be heard throughout the still silence of the room. The man and the girl, however, were oblivious to the indiscreet obviousness fact that they were being eavesdropped on.

"Than you must be a hero," the girl said.

"That I am."

The girl looked at the green eyes of the man in front of her. "Which one?"

"My name is Perseus Jackson. What is yours?"

Barely anyone in the room registered the second statement. Instead, the majority of them focused in the first five words spoken. My name Perseus Jackson.

All of them knew that name. Perseus Jackson was their twenty year-old savior, who protected them. He was famous, a hero, and for good reason. Perseus killed the many monsters that threatened their home.

Perseus Jackson, himself, or Percy, as his closest friends told him, was a little bit infuriated by the mad ensemble of whispers- some not very discreet- that accompanied the telling of his name. It was just a name, however powerful and influential it was. Percy wished everything was back to normal, as it had been when Hecate had been alive.

Hecate… it was not her fault that Percy and his fellow demigods were constantly on the headlines of papers, but he found himself blaming her anyways. If she was not gone, Hazel would not be almost dead again, the Mist would still be there, and Percy would still be able to take a walk without being pursued by paparazzi.

Bringing his mind back to the present, he softly heard a whisper of "Sapphy," from the girl in front of him.

Amused by the shyness of this girl, Percy grinned. "Well, Sapphy, it was nice to meet you. I hope you don't think I'm a monster now!" With those final words, he stood up and turned to the counter of the cafe, where the teenager behind the counter had been staring at him. The minute Percy looked at him, however, the brown-headed boy immediately smiled.

"What would you like today, sir?"

With those words, the cafe was shocked back into existence. Sapphy and her mother turned and left the small green building, and everyone else returned to their conversation. Percy sighed in relief; finally, back to normal. He had wanted to inconspicuously grab a coffee, but, of course, nothing was ever easy for him.

Percy ordered his usual, and loitered next to the counter for a few minutes as the same boy at the counter made him a latte. The minute the plastic cup was put in front of him, Percy made a run for it. He slid out of the cafe and put his hood up. After looking around carefully for the press, he started strolling to the apartment Leo had rented out.

After Leo had come back from Ogygia, with Calypso, he and his girlfriend had owned and operated a mechanic shop- which included a small kitchen. Whenever Percy had a free weekend he wasn't spending with Annabeth, and in which he didn't feel like going to Camp Half-Blood in, he usually went to hang out with Leo. Today, Jason and Frank were there as well. They were having a boys-only night.

Annabeth and Piper were spending time with Hazel. Her condition had worsened from when Hecate had first passed. Frank usually spent all his time with her, but the others had pulled him away from her for a break. Looking at him, you couldn't tell that Hazel was the sick one. Sometimes, Frank looked worse for the wear.

The fifteen year old girl (IDK if that's correct) had received all of Hecate's power, of most of it, when she had faded. The power was a complete overload. Hazel's small body couldn't hold it. She had been bedridden for five months.

Percy felt horrible about it, but sometimes he thought that Hazel was better off sick than where all the other heroes were. When the Mist had faded, revealing all myths to be true, mortals had seen demigods for who they really were, as well as monsters. They hadn't warmed to the demigods at first, but had accepted that anyone against the Greek monsters couldn't be that bad. Of course, the demigods had run into quite some problems with some mad scientists, but that skirmish was quite over. After seeing demigods save a few mortals (although the mortals hadn't been in danger anyways), they were all suddenly heroes. They were all over the place- the news, the press, any social business. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Reyna, Nico, Leo, and Frank had been supposedly dubbed 'world heroes'. Hazel, however, was spared from such nonsense.

WOOF! A loud bark suddenly sounded from behind Percy, drawing him out of his reverie. His instincts coming into play immediately, Percy quickly unsheathed his sword and turned around to face a hellhound.

Percy crouched down, ready to face the rogue monster. Teeth bared, the large dog jumped at him. Percy quickly jumped out of the way, rolling on the ground. He quickly got back up, sword in front of him.

The monster jumped again, it's red eyes glowing. Percy didn't move this time; instead, he held his sword out in front of him as the hellhound jumped. Before the large dog had realized what had happened, he had leaped onto the sword, and turned into dust.

Percy got up, not even slightly panting. That monster had been slightly stupid.

Slow applause sounded behind him. Looking back at the direction where he had been heading, Percy saw a group of about seven or eight young adults, around his age, clapping. He nodded at them, kicked monster dust out of his way, and continued on his journey to Leo's apartment.

-o-

Hey! So, I'm trying out a new writing style, just in case this sounded slightly weird for some of you. This story will probably be a series of unconnected oneshots that are AU in a universe without the Mist.

Testing is over, so I have a little bit more time on my hands. Watch out for more writing! Reviews are always appreciated and treasured!

-WGG