Disclaimer, I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Italics mean unnatural communication

x-X-x is a dream state transition and vice versa

3TB for short

The Way Things Are

Percy POV

"Fine!"

Annabeth turned on her heel and stalked off, face flushed with rage.

"Fine!" I shouted after her, stomping away in the opposite direction.

I stormed onto the beach collapsing in an angry heap on the hot sand. The tranquil ocean ahead suddenly turned choppy and white capped, dark swells slamming down onto the shore. An ocean storm was being born, the crash of thunder matching the fury of their creator, their son of Poseidon.

Everything had been perfect. No it hadn't, I couldn't lie to myself. Things had changed in the past three days. Three days? Had it really been only three days since we got out of Tartarus, since we fought the Clytius, since we sent Nico, Reyna, and Coach Hedge away with the Athena Parthenos?

Right now it felt like an eternity. Time didn't exist in Tartarus. Annabeth and I had escaped the pit alive, but not unscathed. I could feel it even now, a taint in my soul, a piece of me that would always be trapped down there in hell. Not that I wasn't there now.

Annabeth had been angry with me ever since we left, bickering and shooting down everything I had to offer. She refused to be in a room alone with me, it was like she thought I was some kind of vicious monster that would turn on her and our friends at a moment's notice.

And that's exactly what she thought. I had finally confronted her earlier, wanting a reason why the girl who I'd give up anything for, the girl I loved so much, was suddenly rejecting me. Her answer had been eight simple words.

"You're not my Percy. I don't love you."

The next thing I knew we were up in each other's faces, screaming our heads off. The rest of the crew had made a hasty retreat back to the Argo II while we tore each other apart. Every flaw, every mistake, every secret, every fear was exploited and thrown out for all to hear. Gaea must be laughing in her sleep right now. And then it was over and here I was, alone and angry, my rampant emotions tearing free and going off, screaming angry laments out into the ocean.

After everything we'd been through, how could she do this to me? I huffed and clenched my fists, the sky darkening and the water churning. The worst part of it though, was that Annabeth had been dead on with everything she said. I was a monster.

I forgot and abandoned my friends, I wasn't a hero. Everything she accused me of had been proven down in the pit. Bob, Calypso, Nico… I had never forgiven myself for what I had done to him, for what he had lost and become. He may have said it was fine, even Bianca may have said it was alright, that I was good, but I couldn't believe them.

That night when he first ran away, I could have stopped him. I could have at least tried to fix things, to make him understand. Or maybe after the titan war, I could have paid attention to something other than my "girlfriend".

Maybe I could have made him realize that he had a home, that he was wanted. An angry tear slid down my cheek, and the storm hit, scalding raindrops cascading from the sky, the wind howling. I had hurt him, I knew what I had done had left scars. He didn't' even want to be near me, even talk to me anymore, and I couldn't blame him.

I could see Jason in the corner of my eye, trying to calm the storm while others batten down the hatches, abandoning repairs from an earlier attack. Jason finally gave up, instead flying off the ship and towards me. Jason touched down on the ground beside me, irritated expression on his face as he squinted at me through the rain, hair whipping around in the fierce wind.

"We get it, you're ticked off! Calm down Percy!"

I glared at him before looking around. The island was trapped in the center of a typhoon, trees bending for the gale, enormous waves battering the beach while the island itself seemed to tremble and quake. Cut it out? I didn't want to cut it out. I didn't want it in me anymore, I wanted it out.

I wasn't even willing it into existence at this point, it was just finally pushing its way out.

Jason thought this was bad? He should see the storm inside me right now. This wasn't going to just stop, it had been growing, festering for far too long. One way or another it was going to find a way out. I wasn't going to hold back.

You don't hold back!

I stopped breathing, the details of the flight rushing back to me.

"You don't hold back! Ever since I found you back in New Rome you've been different. You're aggressive, you snap at everyone, you've been vicious and callous with your friends, and down there… What you did to Arachne, what you let happen to Bob, what you tried to do to Achyls."

"They were trying to kill us! I did what I had to do to save you!"

"That's not what I saw."

I knew what she had seen. A demigod had died in Tartarus, and a monster was walking around in his skin. A monster. And suddenly the storm was gone, the island suddenly going deathly quiet, the ocean stilling until it was as smooth as glass. Jason looked around uneasily while I stood up.

"Sorry."

Jason stood there for a long minute, studying me intensely.

"You want to talk about it?"

He was trying, he really was. Funny, ever since I got back, he suddenly wanted to bury the hatchet and be friends. I wanted to speak, I really did. Even if it was Jason, he had to be able to understand somehow.

But in the end all that came out was "I'm not a hero. I'm not the good guy. And Annabeth… Nico…"

We stayed there in silence for a minute before Jason spoke up.

"Why don't you go take a break, clear your head? We can manage repairs without you for a while."

Jason was lying. Time was running out, we needed all hands on deck.

"Go on."

Well, he was insisting.

"Thanks."

Jason just smiled. I started walking towards the water, tension melting away as I trudged out into the ocean.

"Percy."

I turned back to Jason.

"Annabeth was wrong. You've got friends here Percy, we're here for you. Come talk to me sometime."

I nodded and was about to go on.

"Oh, and Jackson?"

"Yeah?"

"If you're worried about Nico, you should call him. I think you'd be surprised."

And then he was flying off, cryptic message flitting through my head. Call him? I groaned and fell back into the water, sinking and sliding in unseen currents.

Too much to think about, I needed to clear my head. But the further I sank, the darker everything became. This wasn't how my story was supposed to be. But the worst part of all of this was being a demigod. Because you knew that everything could only get worse from here.

Ψ-X-x-X-x-ψ-Ω-ψ-x-X-x-X-Ψ

Piper POV

"Can somebody get me a bucket?" I called, glancing down at the floor.

During Percy and Annabeth's shouting match the plumbing had spontaneously exploded, and the cabins were starting to flood. It only got worse when Percy started throwing his tantrum, summoning up a sea storm.

Jason had rushed out to try and take care of the storm and its maker while Leo and I took care of repairs. Hazel sloshed over to me with a small metal bin, an apologetic look on her face.

"Best I could do, Leo's using the rest to make a pump and siphon off the rest of this."

"It's fine. Hey, can you help me out? I'm going through people's rooms and salvaging their stuff before the water ruins it all."

"Sure."

We waded around, picking up shoes, tools, books, clothes, and other various nick knacks, setting them onto dry ground, praying they hadn't been submerged for too long.

"Oh thank goodness" Hazel exclaimed, glancing at Annabeth's laptop "She would have blown a fuse if that was ruined."

"No kidding."

Poor Annabeth. Percy had been such a jerk. Annabeth was just worried about him. The howling outside subsided suddenly, and I sighed in relief.

"At least that's over now. This is going to set us back a few hours."

Hazel nodded grimly.

"We need to stop them from fighting, we can't let this happen again."

Yeah, but how? The hatch leading to the deck swung open, and a drenched Jason hovered in, soaring over the submerged floor.

"I told Percy to go take a swim. The guy needs a break, he's falling apart. Not that I blame him, anyone who can make it through Tartarus alive deserves a little slack."

Maybe that's why he had acted so strangely with Nico. If I hadn't known any better, I almost would have said they were friends now.

Hazel nodded sympathetically saying "Good idea. Hopefully this will help him calm down and feel better."

"Right now I care more about Annabeth" I admitted "After some of the things he said to her, she has to be really hurting. She didn't even start that fight."

Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Pipes, when a girl calls her boyfriend a worthless spawn of sea scum and tell him she doesn't love him, she's starting a fight whether she wants to or not."

"But she only said that after Percy pushed her to it, people can only take abuse for so long before they snap."

"What are you talking about, she's been doing nothing but tearing Percy down ever since she got back."

Hazel stepped forward, hands raised calmly.

"Guys, why don't we-"

"No she hasn't. Annabeth's been struggling just to get by."

"And attacking Percy ever chance she gets."

"Annabeth's standing up for us, he keeps freaking out at everything!"

"They fell into Tartarus, they both freak out at everything!"

"That doesn't excuse what he's doing!"

"It doesn't excuse her either, she needs to quit pushing Percy, otherwise we'll never make it to Athens in time!"

"We would already be back up and running if it hadn't been for Percy."

"Well if Annabeth-"

"Guys!" Hazel shouted.

Jason and I angrily turned on her, simultaneously shouting "What?"

"Calm down! Everyone on the ship needs to just take a chill pill and stop freaking out. First it was Annabeth and Percy, not it's you two!"

Jason and I refused to meet each other's gazes as we guiltily turned away.

"Now, we have a lot of work to get done, and we need to get this water out. Let's go see if Leo's alright and how we can help."

Leo was not alright. When we walked back to the busted pipes, he was steaming mad, literally. Flames leapt out of his skin, hissing as they came in contact with the cool water, popping and crackling as he yelled a furious torrent of Spanish. The current object of his rage was a stone faced daughter of Athena.

"Whoa, what's going on?"

Leo whirled around, wildly waving his arms.

"Ms. Know-It-All here keeps double guessing me and screwing up my work!"

Annabeth crossed her arms, her tone dead as she stated "I am simply trying to make sure he doesn't try and blow us up again."

"You'll never let that go will you? It was one time, I just-"

"Leo." I interrupted, placing a hand on his burning skin.

"What?" He demanded, rounding up on me.

I gave him a pleading look, and after a few seconds he huffed, turning away.

"Annabeth, I could really use your help. Hazel, why don't you take Jason and go see how Frank's doing, we'll let Leo do his thing."

"Thank you!" Leo said exasperatedly.

Hazel gave Leo a quick smile before she was out the door with Jason in tow. I turned back to the quiet daughter of Athena.

"Annabeth?"

Grey eyes pierced me, emotions kept deep under wraps. A long time ago, I thought that that was the biggest difference between Percy and Annabeth. With Percy, everything was out in the open for all the world to see. Annabeth was more guarded, more careful.

You only saw what she wanted you to see. But then they had come back from Tartarus, and suddenly things were different. Annabeth's mask was cracked, that careful guard wrecked by strife, the truth bleeding through the fractures Tartarus had left. And with Percy… Percy was still the same, albeit temperamental.

Everything was still out in the open, an ocean of emotions, only now, I could see down into the dark depths below. The deeper you went, the darker you got, and the more you found you didn't know, that you didn't want to know. They weren't the same heroes who had fallen into the pit. They were the ones who had come back out.

I smiled gently and took her by the hand. Annabeth let me lead her away, back to my cabin. I as just closing the door behind us when there was an explosion, followed by another barrage of furious Spanish.

"I tried to warn him." Annabeth said simply, sitting on the edge of my bed.

I walked over, careful to keep my damp jeans off the blankets, and turned to face her.

"Has your mom talked to you since we got the statue back?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"Not a word. Not that I really expected anything to begin with. Athena only shows up when she wants to."

Annabeth and Athena had a shaky relationship to say the least. The last time they had met hadn't ended well, what with her giving Annabeth a quest that ended up sending her down to the deepest pits of Tartarus.

I had barley known my own godly for a few months now, and yet I'd had twice as much contact than she had had throughout her whole life.

"I know you want to help me, but I'm fine. Really."

I gave Annabeth an unconvinced look, raising an eyebrow.

"I've just been on edge, what with the attack, the whole end of the world thing, the nightmares, and… and…"

Annabeth trailed off, staring into space with a faraway look on her face.

"Nightmares? What do you mean?"

Annabeth was still out of it, grey eyes glazed over.

"Annabeth?"

Sill nothing.

"Wise girl? Are you okay?"

I reached out to tap her shoulder and she suddenly recoiled, steel eyes flashing as she rounded on me.

"I'm trying to think Percy, can you just-" She stopped, color draining from her face as she stared at me, realizing her slip up.

"I'm sorry, I just- I… I need to go."

Annabeth bolted off the bed, sloshing towards the door. I jumped after her, grabbing her arm as she threw open the door. She looked back at me and we stared each other down, both of us trying to get a silent message across.

"You don't have to go through all of this alone you know. You've been through so much. Let me help."

"You can't." Annabeth whispered.

"I can try. I don't like seeing my friends hurt. Please let me help you."

"You just wouldn't understand."

"I could try."

She hesitated and I took another leap of faith, letting go of her arm and stepping back.

"I just want to help. We all do. Give me a chance, just one."

Annabeth stood there for the longest time, just watching me. I could see the gears grinding at full tilt while I waited. So much emotion suppressed, rejected for the safety of logic and reason.

"Just give me a chance." I repeated, letting out a little CharmSpeak.

Annabeth wavered on the threshold, before shaking her head.

"No. Not now."

She turned around and started sloshing away. I sadly watched her go, failure gnawing away at my heart strings. But then she turned around, eyes fiercely guarded, looking uncertain.

"But if you really want to help…"

"Yeah?" I said, urging her on.

"Maybe you could come by later. Just to help me go over some plans I mean."

I nodded, knowing this wasn't over. She needed some time and so I'd give her as much as I could. But I wasn't going to let her suffer through this alone.

"Thanks." She said, plastering a fake smile onto her lips before turning on her heel and heading into her room.

Her door had just closed when the deck door opened, and Percy stepped in. He looked wild and tired, his hair a mangled man of ebony, and eyes slightly bloodshot with purple bags underneath. Two of our greatest heroes reduced to what? Husks of their former selves perhaps.

Percy walked over to his room, cutting through the still water with ease, before vanishing behind his door.

The moment his door swung shut I let out a gasp, feeling a sharp tug in my stomach. Some unused sense pulled and pushed at me, alerting me to a new passenger on the ship.

The feeling only lasted for a few seconds at most, but it was enough for it to feel familiar, lingering just long enough for me to finally recognize the presence before it vanished.

"Mom?" I asked, glancing around.

I jumped as I heard a splash come from Percy's room, eyeing the closed door carefully. What was going on here? I started to make my way over to Percy's door when I got another tug. This one came with a message.

Do not interfere child. What is happening must happen now or else all will be lost. Forgive me but it must be done.

I stared at the door, scared now. Al will be lost? Mom asking me to forgive her? No, this wasn't good at all. Things were about to go south, I could feel it in my bones. Things were changing, I thought as I waded back to my room. I silently closed my door fear bubbling up inside me. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

Our story was changing.

Ψ-X-x-X-x-ψ-Ω-ψ-x-X-x-X-Ψ

Percy POV

I walked up to the Argo II feeling drained in every sense of the word. It was almost like I had spent the last few hours holding up the sky again. Only I was pretty sure I'd take holding up the sky again rather than deal with everything now.

I trudged down into the lower decks, more guilt added to my load as I saw the foot of water at the bottom of the stairs. I had to get this under control, I was too unstable. Today it was the plumbing, tomorrow it could be one of my friend's lungs.

That couldn't happen. No, it wouldn't happen. I made it to my room, making a promise to help drain the ship once I had enough conscious thought to take care of it.

My mind was already fried, even something simple like this probably would have killed me. I needed some sleep, just a little. I closed my door and had barely managed to take a single step towards the bed before nausea hit me like a ton of bricks, spinning to room faster than a top.

My head cracked from the sudden assault, and I teetered, vision going black before collapsing face down on the floor, my body sinking below the surface. I had enough consciousness left to feel the agony suddenly migrate to my heart, pain like I had never known pulsing through me. And then everything went black.

x-X-x

We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention

We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick.

I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west.

We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers-Lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure.

The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. I figured anybody might be a monster or a god. You just couldn't tell. But this guy was normal. One look at him, and I could see. Besides, I was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that I nodded and said we'd love to come in. Inside we took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."

Alright so here we go. Want to find out what really happened during those missing days at the Lotus Casino? Keep reading and find out, our heroes destinies are changing! Hope you enjoyed, have a fantastical morning/day/night!

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