Author's note: Hello there! So welcome to my first fan fiction after almost three years. It's also the first one I write in English! So I just binged the Percy Jackson books in the last weeks and then I got this idea. It was supposed to be a one shot, but now it's full story. At the moment I actually have no idea where this story will go, but I just hope you enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Percy Jackson. Unfortunately.

Chapter 1 - Hang On

Hang on when the water is rising
Hang on when the waves are crashing
Hang on, just don't ever let go

"Percy," Annabeth asked, placing her hand on his shoulder, "is everything alright?" Percy had arrived at the camp a few weeks ago, and met Chiron and Annabeth every night since then to talk.

They were worried about him, he could tell. And they had a reason to be worried, not that he would ever admit that to them. The feeling that he always got as soon as he arrived at Camp Half-Blood, the feeling of finally being at home again—he no longer felt it. He felt foggy, as if everyone around him was moving too fast, or maybe it was him who was moving too slow? The feeling of home was gone and he felt very out of sorts.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Percy said, taking a few steps away from Annabeth.

He immediately knew that he had hurt her with this gesture, but he couldn't stand to be near her. Lately, he had been doing that more and more often. He needed air to breathe.

"I think I'm going to rest now, it was a long day."

Percy felt the worried glances of Chiron and Annabeth, watching him as he turned away and walked back to his cabin

His cabin had hardly changed in the months he was gone, as was to be expected. Besides Tyson, he was the only inhabitant of the cabin of Poseidon. He was away for months, but his cabin still looked as if he had never really left. It was his home, exactly the way he wanted it, and yet, Percy still felt like an intruder and he didn't know why.

Only now did Percy noticed how tired he actually was. His eyes drifted shut again and again, and his body felt like as if he was carrying the weight of heaven on his shoulders (a feeling he was well acquainted with). He had not slept for days; he was too afraid of what he would see in his dreams.

Funnily enough they all thought he was a hero, celebrated him and his accomplishments when he finally returned. But Percy no longer felt like a hero, for what kind of hero was afraid to go to sleep?

Slowly, he pulled off his dirty clothes and carelessly threw them on the floor. He made no big effort to keep his cabin clean or care for his own hygiene. Percy crawled in his bed as he was and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

His gaze focused on the empty bed beside him, feeling a sense of loneliness well up; he missed his brother but he also missed Annabeth, his mother, and even his father Poseidon, he simply missed everyone. He felt alone and lost, but he knew that no one could help him.

Slowly, he closed his eyes and immediately fell into a nightmare.

It was dark.

"Percy!" He heard Annabeth scream, but he could not find her anywhere. Where was she? He had to find her.

"Annabeth!" He tried to scream, but no sound left his lips.

Suddenly he felt a strange hand on his back that pushed him closer and closer to the abyss. Only now did Percy realize that he was on a mountain. Where was he? And how had he come to be here? And where was Annabeth? The hand on his back pressed him farther and farther.

When he turned around, ready to attack the person standing right behind him, he realized with fright that no one was there. Confused, he looked around, but he couldn't see anyone. His feet carried him closer to the abyss. He wanted to stop, but he had no control over his legs. What was happening to him? He wanted to scream to call for help, but again no sound left his lips.

Then he saw her. Annabeth was not ten yards from him. She stared at him, wide-eyes filled with tears. Her lips formed his name, and he fell into the depths of Tartarus.

With a violent impact, Percy landed in the water. Immediately he felt relief. The water was his home, he was safe here, his father's gifts protected and healed him here. But when he tried to breathe underwater, the water gathered in his lungs.

He panicked and tried to reach the surface with all his power, but no matter how fast he swam, the water never seemed to end. It felt like an ice-cold hand had closed around Percy's neck, squeezing the air out of his lungs. Black dots danced before his eyes. Slowly his limbs grew tired and he stopped swimming. His eyes slowly closed and he let himself be pulled into by the water, right into the deep.

Percy opened his mouth, desperate to breath, but the cold water floods his lungs, causing an unbearable pain in his chest.

He found no salvation. It was as if Percy was drowning over and over again. It had no end, he was struggling for oxygen, which he never got. His head felt as if he were about to explode and-

With a jerk, Percy opened his eyes and panted for air.

A nightmare. "It was just a dream," he whispered to himself. But he knew just as well that it was not just a dream. He had almost drowned, and he'd never felt such a pain in his life, except maybe in the river of Styx, where he ironically had taken a bath.

Percy found it really strange to have dreams that didn't have deeper meaning. Normally, demigods only had dreams of real parts of the future, past or present. But what he dreamed about, in the last few weeks, were just dreams. They did not tell big stories, they only came from his subconscious.

A look out of his window indicated to Percy that morning was arriving. Since he could not go to sleep again, even if he tried, he got up and began to take care of the mess in his cabin. Normally, that was totally untypical of him. Percy was just a messy person, everyone knew that. It was always Tyson who looked after the well-being of the cabin and kept it clean. But as it would still take an hour before breakfast was ready and Percy was still too nervous about his dream, he decided to do something as a kind of distraction.

He laid his clothes properly into the crate before his bed and dressed in fresh clothing. He cleaned the floor, the windows, even the old sink. When he had finished, and had some time left, he decided to switch the beds and crates. His bed was at the end of the cabin on the left side, Tyson's bed was right next to him. He pushed the beds apart and moved his to the other side of the cabin. It did not really matter, but he wanted to, he had to distract himself, because as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw the darkness and felt the panic and the water around him.

Percy knew it was ridiculous, he was the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea and it was a one-time thing that he almost drowned. He knew that if he went into the water right now, he could swim freely again and breathe. But despite this, he began to shiver as soon as he thought about it.

A knock on the door tore him out of his thoughts and he jumped, frightened. "Yes?" he asked. As Percy raised his head, he looked into the gray eyes of Annabeth and immediately relaxed.

"Hey…" she said with a shy smile, she could feel something was wrong with him, that he was off.

"Hey," Percy replied, trying smile at her. His behavior from the previous evening made him feel guilty, he knew that he had behaved terribly. "I'm sorry about yesterday, I mean…" Percy muttered, taking Annabeth's hand gently into his.

She smiled at him with sad eyes. "It's okay, Percy. You've been through a lot…" Without thinking about it, he looped his arms around her neck and pulled her into a tight hug. Annabeth instantly closed her arms around his waist and relaxed. They simply held each other without words. After a few minutes, both of them separated. "We should go to breakfast now," Annabeth whispered, closing her hand around Percy's, who nodded and followed Annabeth outside.

At breakfast, Percy felt completely alone again at the large table. He hated the rule that nobody from another cabin could sit at another table. Right now, he could use some company, even if he would not like to admit it.

Percy poked at his food with a fork not having much of an appetite, which was extremely unusual for him. He wasn't the only one to to notice, he could see the other campers glancing his way only to turn back to their table and discuss it with his siblings.

He could not hear what they were talking about for sure, of course, but even a blind man could have seen that he was once again a hot conversation topic. Percy knew the gist of it, he didn't have to hear the exact words.

They were wondering what had happened to him. Percy was never so quiet, not even when they had fought against the Titans, he had looked so depressed. Of course, they knew that the last few months had been hard for him, but they all wondered what might have broken the strong son of Poseidon. Without taking another look at the food before him, Percy stood up and left the table. All the conversations fell silent and they turned towards him and watched him leave. But he still heard the voice of Clarisse saying, "What happened to him?" with an amused sound in her voice.

Before Percy realized it, he found himself at the lake. He sat down on the shore of the lake, but not too close. His eyes stared at the water and he watched as the sun danced over the surface. Not for the first time, he wondered how such a beautiful thing could be so dangerous at the same time.

"Hey Percy!", he suddenly heard the voice of Clarisse, the daughter of Ares, behind him. Percy, however, did not answer her; he did not feel like he was in the mood for the usual discussions with her. But Clarisse did not give up so easily.

Behind her, more and more campers gathered, probably thinking they were seeing one of the most legendary fights between Percy and Clarisse, which happened more often than you might think. But Percy wasn't in the mood to fight, either.

"What's wrong with our little fish?" she asked, laughing, and her siblings agreed. Percy did not react again, keeping his gaze fixed on the lake, ignoring Clarisse behind him.

Suddenly, Percy felt someone grabbing his arms, raising his legs and lifting him up. "What are you doing?" he shouted, looking into Clarissa's eyes, which glared back at him.

"I think you need a cooling off, son of Poseidon," she teased.

Immediately, Percy panicked as he realized what they were up to. No, not into the water. Please do not throw me into the water, he thought. Percy struck out, trying to defend himself, but they did not let go of him.

"Why do you resist so much? The water will not do you any harm," said Clarisse, laughing. Percy looked helpless at the others, but no one did anything. Right, why would they? They knew nothing about Percy's new fear of the water, no one knew about it. But then he saw a familiar face, Annabeth. She looked at him confused but also caring, she also did not understand why Percy was resisting, but she cried: "Clarisse! Let him go, now!" But she only laughed and threw a glance at her two brothers who held Percy, and after a moment they threw him into the lake.

His head dove under water and immediately he sank like a stone, ever deeper.

Percy knew he had to swim, but his body did not obey him. He couldn't breathe, either; the fear of the unbearable pain was too big. The panic in him grew stronger, his chest contracted, and he struck wildly, trying to get up somehow. Otherwise, he would drown.

Dad, Poseidon, he thought. But Percy was sure that he would not hear him. He knew that he needed to find the courage to breathe, or just to swim, but no matter how much he wanted to breathe, the water ran into his lungs and burned like fire.

Just like in Percy's dream, black dots were dancing before his eyes, and he knew he would lose his consciousness. But then he could feel two arms that grabbed him and carried him to the surface. Annabeth carried Percy out of the water and set him down on the shore.

His body reacted immediately. Percy gasped for air and spat all water out of his lungs. He held himself with his hands, but his body shivered so hard that it was difficult for him to sit up at all. Percy took a deep breath, but it was still not enough air. He still felt the burning in his lungs, his chest. "What happened?" He heard the loud voice of Chiron. Immediately, all the people at camp made room for him to pass.

Percy had not even noticed that they had formed a circle around him, to take a look at him. One did not see every day how a son of Poseidon drowned and panicked with fear of the water. "They threw him into the water, but he didn't show up again, he almost..." Annabeth stopped.

"He almost drowned," one of the Ares brothers finished her sentence. Chiron looked at Percy with a frown. "I'm fine," Percy said, standing up, his legs still wobbling. They all still looked at him with wide eyes, as if he had gone mad. Without another word, Percy walked past them, hearing Annabeth and Chiron calling his name, but he did not want to tell anyone, not even his girlfriend.

"How can the son of Poseidon drown?" Percy whispered to himself and went back to his cabin.

Alone.

So that was my first Percy Jackson story writing ever!

I hope you guys liked it?

Tell me what you want I'll try to do my best! Because I actually have some ideas how this story could go on!

And a BIG thank you to everyone who helped me with this chapter.