Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all the characters. I am not Rick Riordan. Rick Riordan has not, in any way approved of this fanfiction. The only characters Rick Riordan does not own are the ones I have made up and added (Lizzie).

1. Returning

The laugh filled my head, breaking through all my thoughts. I felt a sudden dread, a shiver running up my spine. I knew that laugh. I knew it so well that it hurt my heart to even think about the owner of the laugh. I knew it like I knew my own, knew it so well, I recognized it as easy as breathing. But it wasn't possible. He was gone. But my heart was, as it always was, telling me that I was wrong.

I didn't dare turn my head. I didn't know what my reaction would be. I didn't trust myself to see the owner of the sound. If it wasn't whom I thought it was, I would probably collapse as all the memories of him rushed back to me. But if I was right, if it really was him, I didn't know how I'd take it. Would I run to him? Would I stare in shock? Would I yell at him? Would I playfully flip him like I did at the Roman camp when we were last reunited?

I mentally slapped myself. My thoughts of him were overwhelming me. I was drowning in images of him. The little traits that he had. His qualities. All the heroic things he'd done. And I was sinking, deeper and deeper with every second, feeling the memories pushing over me and covering the warm sunlight off my face…

I realized that was just the clouds. I looked up out of the café window to see some grey, dark looking clouds hiding the sun from sight. I sighed and sank a little deeper into my cushioned seat. Then I felt something on my wrist, pinning it down to my rounded, wooden table. I gave a little squeal and looked down with a sharp jerk to see a hand. Lizzie's hand. I relaxed a little and turned slightly to see my mortal friend's face. Her familiar face. Her pale skin and light brown hair. Her rounded nose and blue eyes. Her freckles and her pink lips. But there was something else in her expression. Concern.

"Annabeth… Are you ok?" Lizzie asked in her soft and gentle voice. I swallowed. "Yeah, I'm… fine" I replied slowly, careful not to let my emotions show in my tone. Piper could tell something was up though. Piper was my best friend who had been with me through some really tough times. It was a small action, but it still caught my attention. She raised her right eyebrow, slowly and cautiously. She was studying my face carefully and I tried a little harder to hide how I was feeling.

"Are you sure? I can call your family if you.. erm.. If you need to talk to them?" Piper suggested, flicking her choppy, brown hair out of her face. I felt the corner of my lip raising a little, into a sort of smile. I knew what she was on about. She was asking if I wanted to call Camp Half Blood, my home and my kind of extended family. If what I was thinking had something to do with the world of gods, goddesses, demigods, monsters, titans and/or giants plotting to take over the world.

"I…" I started, wondering what to say, but my new line of thoughts were interrupted by Lizzie. "Girls, sorry to interrupt, but an incredibly hot guy is standing at the reception table of this café!" she whispered excitedly. An image of him came into my mind. And I cringed, trying to shake the picture from my thoughts. Piper looked even more concerned.

Lizzie, clutched my wrist a little tighter and whispered "Come on, look at him!" she babbled. Piper gave me one more look before slowly looking up to see the reception table. I watched her expression as she did so and I could tell Lizzie was doing the exact same. A look of terrible fear suddenly crossed her face. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open a little. It was just a split second, before she adjusted her expression, to a more collected look, but I could see worry in her eyes.

Lizzie smiled. "What did I say?!" she laughed. Piper gave a small laugh alongside her. "Lizzie, I'm dating Jason" she giggled. She looked down at the salt and pepper shakers, and I could see her hands shaking slightly. I could tell she was avoiding looking me in the eyes. I knew that my initial thoughts were accurate. I realized that my heart really did know the truth. And then I came to the conclusion that what I'd thought for 3 long years had been wrong. That we'd all been wrong. That somehow he'd managed to hide himself. And now he was back. And although I was scared to breaking point, I knew it was true.

Percy Jackson was alive.

A.N. [Author's Note]
So, yeah, this is my first fanfiction! I'm sorry if anyone sounds a little (or a lot) OOC [Out of Character], but then again, there's only a few characters in that scene and Lizzie is one of my own.

Thank you for everyone who recently read this and either gave a positive review (actually, everyone so far has given a positive review!) or favourited or followed this story. Thank you also to those who followed and/or favourited me!

I really appreciate all the awesome response I'm recieving! Your comments really made my day, especially since it has been less than 24 hours of the story being published! Just so you guys know, I've already written chapter 2, it's just a matter of when I can upload it to fanfiction! That should be in a few days though or later today if I don't have too much homework.

So thanks again to everyone and hopefully, stay tuned! WD