Percy's New Path

by Charlee56

Annabeth has left Percy to study ancient architecture in Greece. He's been left behind because of her desire to live her own life. She left him a note and then she left him. His heart is broken and he leaves the camp. He travels to his mother's home and there he finds a new path in life that he can take. Will an accidental exposure to this new world give Percy A New Life?

1. Chapter 1

Something new I've been kicking around for a little bit.

If... What IF Percy had gone missing from the Olympian world? Annabeth decided to leave that world behind in order to study her architecture abroad. Their relationship didn't hold her any longer, and the way she went one day leaving Percy alone... He suffered silently for a while and then;

No note, no trace, not at a school, not at Camp. Nowhere to be found… until one day…

A Different Path for Percy chapter 1

I can't believe it. She's really gone. I know she said she was going, but a part of me hoped that she wouldn't. A small part of me just wanted it over. But the largest part of me wanted her to stay. Despite what she said to me, I didn't want her to go.

I must have stood there by my bunk, a bunk I hadn't slept in that night and read and reread the note until I had it memorized. I could feel a breeze and smell sea air and for a moment I thought that my father had come. I turned around and realized that the door had blown open a little bit. I closed it because I didn't want it open.

An open door is just an invitation for somebody to walk through and right about then I didn't feel like company very much. I did want to talk about this, just not to anybody else over there at camp. Chiron had not been much of a help, and all that he could say to me amounted strictly to platitudes about loving and losing, and coming from a 5000 year old centaur who bred somewhat indiscriminately as many horses do, it just had very little meaning for me.

I guess I was looking for a father figure to speak to, and last night I had prayed to my father. He answered me as always these days, and I outlined the problem for him. I guess I should have used the words. THE WORDS. "I truly love her".

But I didn't.

And that wasn't very much help at all. Right about that moment the door opened up again and I turned around to slam it shut when I saw a figure in the doorway.

"Brother? Daddy says you're not feeling good, that pretty Annie went away for a while to go to school far, far away. I came to be with my brother because your heart is sore. I love you very much and I will never leave you. I'm only ever at Daddy's Forge, and I made some neat things! Do you want to see some?"

My younger brother, Tyson was standing there in the doorway. It had been the better part of a year since I'd seen him and I had missed him as well. But missing your brother is different from missing the love of your life, someone who you felt very diminished without.

"Hey big guy! It's so good to see you! Come on in and let's sit down and talk for a while and catch up. I've missed you a lot, and I'm so glad to see you here. I could really use you, today especially. In fact I could use you for a while here everyday!"

He grinned that beautiful big toothy grin of his and came into the cabin. He was a more or less human height although he did normally stand 6 ft 5 in. Tyson was a big guy and enormously strong even in this form, but in his natural form he stood maybe 25 or 30 feet tall. He was still pretty young, almost a baby by Cyclope standards, but as tough and determined as they came and he didn't know when to quit in a fight.

We chatted for about 20 minutes back and forth, and he gave me all the latest gossip on Atlantis and the royal palace. It turned out that Dad was having his own problems with his wife, and it seemed as if I might have a new demigod sibling on the horizon which was the reason for the arguments with his Queen.

She was never very liberal thinking when it came to him having mortal children, although the gods did it in order to generate demigods who would worship them and perform quests for them in the mortal world if they could not. Ancient laws were a bitch for gods, and having a demigod or two around helped them out a lot sometimes.

Then Tyson reached into his backpack and took out a piece of soft cloth that had been folded heavily over itself. I was curious to see what it contained because my brother was constantly thinking of new things to make. He opened it up and inside the wrap were twenty or thirty examples of the most beautiful crucifixes I had seen in a long time. He worked them in gold and what looked like silver, as well as platinum and a few other metals as well.

"Big brother, do you think Mama Sally would like one of these? I wanted to make her a present because she always treats me so good and gives me those great cookies she makes for you, the blue ones; you know what I mean?"

I nodded and said to him, "Yeah, brother. I think that she would absolutely love any one of these. But you should pick out which one you want to give to her. and she would love whatever you did give to her, because that's how she is. She's the world's best mom! But where did you get the design from? Did you copy it from somewhere?"

"Daddy showed me what he called Spanish treasure ships, and there were lots of these in one chest. I liked the form so I used them for the basic pattern. I've seen mortals on dry land wearing them before. I don't know what they mean, but they sure are pretty. I think Mom would like them because she's pretty too!"

My eyes started to tear up at this from all the emotion that was locked inside me. That was a big problem of mine, holding everything in. But I resolved that I wouldn't hold in everything that day because I needed to let it out. So I would have a good talk with my mother and Paul that night as they always had good advice for me. Especially my mother. She always knew what to say in every situation, although Paul would probably take me out for a coffee or a slice of pizza. He'd talk about guy things and he always treated me like an adult instead of like the way Chiron did on occasion, almost as a child.

I had done too many things in my life, seen far too much to be considered a child any longer, something which I was very acutely aware of. I often wished the adults around me looked at me as an adult as well. And now here was my little brother to make me feel better, almost as good as Paul would be making me feel, and I suddenly began to not feel quite so alone.

"Big brother, I love you very much and don't want to see you cry, not over Annie Beth. She went to school far away and that's not good but I think she probably still does love you and that's good. I know I love you and I know Mama Sally and Papa Paul both love you and maybe we should go see them together so I can give Mom her present. Do you think she'll hug me when she sees me?"

I smiled at this last question. My mother absolutely adored Tyson, especially when I first introduced him. At first it seemed that she was a little taken aback by him, but then she explained she was just a little surprised to see that I had any little brother, let alone a cyclope. I knew that as soon as she saw us we were both gonna get big hugs and she'd sit us down in the living room for about a half-hour and pump us for information about what was going on in our lives. Mom really cared and wanted to keep up because she knew how difficult it was being separated from your parents early on.

Her father had died early from liver cancer and her mother had gotten sick with tuberculosis. That meant that there was nobody there to take care of my mom when she was a little girl and she had to go live with her mother's sister, her aunt and her husband on their farm in Ohio. Mom had loved living on the farm, and her aunt and uncle had brought both my mom and her mom out to live with and near them after grandma had gotten a bit better. Mom lived with them from the age of 9 onward, and her mother lived in a nearby hospice that accepted people with Medicaid. She didn't get the best treatment, my grandmother; but at least she did have medical treatment of a sort and they made her as comfortable as they could until she passed away when my mom was 14.

TB was pretty contagious and my mother had to be watched closely for two years by the family doctor that her Aunt took all of her family to. My mom was devastated to lose her mother, although she understood there was nothing that could be done as her mother's illness was so advanced already by the time they identified it. But she had lost both of her parents and it hurt terribly. I think that was why she clung to me so hard sometimes, knowing how fleeting family relationships can feel when you lose somebody you love like a child or parent.

All of which brought me back to Tyson's question about a hug. I knew my mother would hug him to death, especially if he clung to her. My mom was a human personification of real love. Maybe that's what made me love Annabeth so hard, my mother having taught me an appreciation for love across the board. When I loved, I loved completely. I had no idea if Aphrodite included this kind of love in her domains, but if she did then I definitely owed her one big thank you!

And Chiron was right about one thing; it truly was better to have loved Annabeth than not to have loved her at all. Because my love for her helped to define me as a man, and as a person. And that meant a lot to me. My father had simply talked about how inconstant women seemed to be and how they didn't stand by you long enough yadi yadi yada. It seemed to me that to my dad, it was all about him and not about 'her'. ("Pardon me Captain Kirk, but that just does not compute".)

"Of course she'll hug you! What kind of a question is that? She's your mother too, and she loves and misses you. Don't you call her or write to her every once in awhile?"

Tyson grinned shyly and looked at the floor scuffing his foot back and forth as he said, "Yeaah, sometimes I call her and tell her how much I miss her. And she smiles and tells me she misses me too. I called her last week and she told me she would make cookies for me when I came. And she said she wanted me to have something for dinner called pot roast. Mommy said she would make me pot roast and have cookies for dessert and ice cream!"

Tyson talked more like a child because he still really was one in terms of cyclopes. Their bodies age twice as fast as a normal human's, but their minds remain rather simple as their intellect grows at a slower rate than their bodies.

"Of course she has a big hug for you, you huge lug you!"

Tyson smiled this and got up and began to jump up and down, repeating himself and saying how much he wanted to go visit mom at her place. Okay, I get just how much he seems so childish to you. But this is normal behavior for a cyclope of his age. In time, he'll become fully mature and in just a few years when he does, it will happen almost like overnight. But until then, "Okay, okay! As long as you're ready I'll just grab my things and we'll get going, okay buddy?"

That made him very happy and I grabbed my backpack which was already full of things including my Minotaur horn, and several pictures of Annabeth which I had framed in various places all around the cabin, nectar and ambrosia as well as a baggie of 100 drachma and about $500 in mortal money in a billfold. I wasn't planning on coming back. All my clothes were in there, too.

I was careful to turn off my cabin's heater and I dropped a golden drachma in the heated salt water fountain as there was a mist from it and a rainbow was possible. I threw in a drachma and called out, "Yo, Fleecy! Wassup? Can you do me a solid and hook me up with my moms, Sally Jackson in New York City, please?"

I heard some whistling and popping, a crackle of energy and then I heard the familiar voice of the goddess Iris' switchboard operator. The static electricity in the nebulae's speech along with the sound of breeze and popping like sheets in the wind came across loud and clear as she replied,

"Hiya Percy! How you doing hun? You want me to get your mom for you? Sure thing honey and by the way here's your change!" My drachma shot back out at me, courtesy of my friend the wind spirit. "No charge for friends Percy, and never when you're calling your mom".

"Thanks Fleecy, you are the best! By the way, I meant to ask; do you guys have any prepaid cards or anything like that just in case I'm caught out without a drachma like on a quest or something"

"Sure thing sweetie, and I'll send one over to you real soon. It's got a complimentary 100 drachmas already credited to it for you, courtesy of your friendly Fleecy!"

I was literally stunned! This was the kind of sunshine in my day that I really needed right about now. It always served to show me where my friends were and who they were too.

"Fleecy sweetie, I need to treat you to some pizza or something the next time I'm out that way. If it's okay by you I'd like to stop by and bring some and maybe a six pack of beer now that I'm old enough to buy the stuff! It would be nice to hang out with you for a little bit and I haven't seen you in so long."

"Aw, Percy! That's so nice of you! I'd really enjoy that, and you're right it's really been a long time since we've seen each other. But you know, we all owe you our best because you always do your best for everybody. I see it all the time and you should hear some of what people say about you on "Iris calls". Yeah, there are some haters out there, but I think that they all deserved what they got from you; and if you ask me you definitely gave them what they deserved when they talked about it on the calls. But the ones who like you are the ones who really make a difference. Like the others who went on that last quest of yours out to the Ancient Lands. They love you absolutely and completely. Although Annabeth, well I don't know about her. And I think that you know about that too. At least based on everything that I heard. But you know, you can always ask me questions about stuff if you need information because I'm always hearing things about this, that and the other and sometimes it's information that you might be able to use. So don't be afraid to ask me Percy. Either me or the goddess, okay? And don't forget that pizza and beer, big guy! I'll be waiting!"

I chuckled at all of that and thanked her very much for everything and promised her that I would ask her if I ever had a need of information. And I often did need information. It just never occurred to me to ask Fleecy or Iris what they might know. But I would now.

The mist cleared and I could see my mother sitting at her kitchen table with a cup of coffee and some cookies in front of her as well as a newspaper. She seemed to be doing the crossword puzzle, which I know she loves to do and that's when I broke in and said, "Hi, Mom!"

She looked up in surprise and saw my face in the vision at her end and she smiled so very widely. That was what I really needed to make me feel better.

"Percy! It's you! I've missed you so much! It's nice to hear from you and how is everything?"

"Well, not so hot actually. In fact, I was kinda wondering if you'd mind if I came over for a visit for a few days. And Tyson is with me and he wanted to come too".

Her smile got even wider and said, "You come on home and bring your brother with you. It'll be nice to see my two boys again! Paul is at a conference in Cincinnati for the next 5 days, and I've been lonely without him. He left two days ago and he's taking certain seminars that he needs for educational credits to keep up his license as a teacher. Four other teachers from his department at the high school went with him and it'll be nice to have my sons in the house to cook for. It gets lonely here with no men in the house!"

It made me happy to hear her so happy, and I reflected that Paul must really be working out as her husband, and I was happy about that. I always hoped that my mother would have a happy ending somehow, and I know Paul had done his level best to give her that happy ending. And he always tried hard with me and especially with Tyson. It was hard for him with Tyson at first because Paul wasn't used to the Greek world. He wasn't born into it like I was. And even I had a hard time with it at first because I didn't know anything about it until I was twelve and then suddenly I was immersed in it completely.

"Great mom, Tyson and I will leave in a minute or two, and we'll be home in a few hours. I'll ask Argus to drive us up to the railroad and we'll come in from Penn Station that way. There's a train leaving here in an hour so we shouldn't have any problem getting into town in time to catch it. I guess you can expect Tyson and me home for dinner, and I'll call you when we hit Penn Station, okay?"

"Percy, how are you going to call me when you hit Penn Station? Do you have a cell phone or something?"

"Naah. They still have some payphones at Penn Station and it doesn't cost too much to make a phone call. I can get quarters at the ticket window without a problem and if there's anything that you need from the store on our way home please give it some thought while we're on the train and let me know when I call you and then I'll pick it up on our way over to the house, okay? And you don't have to worry about money because I have plenty with me. So just let me know whatever you need and I'll pick it up."

"Okay honey, fine. You to do that and I'll be seeing you tonight and maybe we could do some popcorn and a movie after dinner. And please let Tyson know I'm going to make his extra special peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, just in honor of him being here! I know that your dad likes it very much that he comes here with you, because he knows that Tyson is perfectly safe here with me and you, especially with you. Your father worries about your little brother so very much. And although I know the two of you can take care of yourselves very well, I worry about you both too. So I can't wait to see you both and I'll see you when you get here!"

As I waved my hand through the connection I said goodbye and told Mom that I loved her very much. I could see her smiling as the connection broke, and I thought I could hear Fleecy say in the background, "Ohhh, he is just so sweet!"

it really didn't bother me that she overheard my call, cuz I know she can't help that. And while it might normally embarrass me to be called sweet by anyone especially in connection with my mother, it didn't bother me this time. I was always 'sweet' to my mother, because I only had one mother and I wanted her to know how much I love her always.

"Brother? Was that Mom? did I hear her say she was making my extra special cookies for me"

As I picked up my backpack and handed Tyson his I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Yeah, she's making your special cookies for you and she said she's going to love having us both around the house. Turns out that Paul is away on a conference for his teaching license out in Cincinnati, Ohio and he may be out there for another 5 days, so we actually have a little time alone with Mom for a little bit. We can both see where that goes, however long she can stand having us both around".

"Why? Aren't we coming back here?"

"Maybe you will, but I wont".

This seemed to upset Tyson quite a bit and he looked a little sad. He thought about it for a minute and asked me, "Big brother, are you going away somewhere? Because if you are, I want to come with you. I love Daddy and I like the others at the forge. They treat me good and I've learned a lot. But you are my big brother and I love you. And I don't want to lose you like you lost Annabeth. Not ever".

Suddenly I got all choked up and couldn't talk. I had to remember that this was my baby brother talking, as big as he was which was bigger than me, he was still a really young guy and emotionally, he needed to grow up a little bit. I knew that Tyson being by mom was always a good thing for her, and Paul taught him things like reading and writing and basic arithmetic, all of which he needed very much.

I knew that my dad liked the fact that Paul and Mom taught Tyson the kind of things that he needed to know in order to navigate the mortal world. My father had often said in front of me how much he appreciated every effort that Mom made for Tyson to make sure that he felt accepted and loved.

And I knew that my dad secretly regretted ever having met Amphitrite. He'd wished very much that he could have married my mother and then made the the mistake of saying that to Triton once in an argument that they'd had, and Triton repeated it back to me angrily as if it was my fault somehow. It hurt me to see my elder brother in so much pain over his mother and his father, but this kind of thing actually does happen even in immortal families sometimes.

Nobody ever escapes the pain in a situation like that. I remember I did say that to Triton, and then I told him that despite whatever our parents had done, none of which could ever be excused because of all the anger and the hatred from all sides, he was my brother and I would always be there for him if he needed me and for any reason at all. That seemed to ease his anger a little bit, and I told him that I respected his mother and her position as Queen and that I respected the fact that he obviously loved his mother a great deal. I told him that I would always honor her and him as well even if they did not accept me. He seemed to accept that but he was still short tempered with me.

All of this infighting and family politicking as well as the differences between the Olympian gods and the demigods Is what I was thrust into when I was 12 years old. And nothing in my life had prepared me for any bit of it. Only my meeting Annabeth brought any sunshine into my life at all at that point. She'd been my best friend for a very long time and now suddenly, she was gone.

Tyson and I headed out up to the big house, where we asked Chiron to have Argus take us into the railroad station. It was a beautiful day in late August, still warm weather in New York. We carried jackets with us although we didn't need to wear them.

Chiron had looked a little uneasy when we entered his office both carrying backpacks and jackets. I think he realized we were going to be away for more than just a few days. But when he heard me say that I was going to my mother's house along with Tyson for about five days, he looked a lot easier about it.

"Perseus, you alarmed me a little bit there for a moment. I know that this business with Annabeth has upset you greatly, but please remember that women do come and go in our lives sometimes with more frequency than we would like. I can only think about all the young ladies out there both at camp and surely elsewhere who would like to meet a handsome young man such as yourself, physically fit and a wonderful human being to every lady he meets. And the gods' proclaimed Hero and Savior of Olympus to boot!

"I've even heard that some of the goddesses have their eyes on you, and if you would like to meet some then we can talk about it and you can decide if you would like to meet them before I speak to them. If you like, we could have a small party here at the big house, a kind of an adult gathering if you will, and I will be happy to introduce you. We could even make it a supper party if you would like? And we could plan the party any way that you like with any food that you would prefer. Please let me know if you would like to do this. After all my lad, you are like a son to me in so many ways and you are my greatest pupil ever! I would be so happy and proud to introduce you to some nice people".

This kind of shocked me, because Chiron had never offered to do that for anybody else that I know of, and I did say thank you and that I would let him know. But I wasn't thinking that far ahead just yet. He looked a little bit troubled at that; obviously I wasn't taking this break up with Annabeth easily at this point.

I gave my favorite teacher a hug and so did Tyson. He looked happy at that, and he laughed a little bit when Tyson hugged him. Chiron was always happy to see Tyson come and visit, and he respected him greatly for all his hard work on the quest with us to the Sea of Monsters. Tyson was always very even tempered, even when Clarisse was busy teasing the life out of him. In the end, we had the last laugh over her because Tyson more than proved himself. He was a hero in my book, and right up there with any demigod. Never mind the fact that he was a cyclope, in my heart he was always one of us.

Argus met us by the gate to the camp, next to the new parking field that had been constructed for parents dropping off their children. It was also used for Camp vehicles, of which we had several now. There was always a patrol on duty to safeguard the area so that monsters wouldn't try to sabotage or tamper with the vehicles, let alone try to steal one.

Several telekhines had been caught with their flippers under the hood of the camp van once and several children of Apollo used them for target practice that time. Those kids are deadly with bows and arrows. Travis Stoll, who is an absolute thief at heart when it comes to cars took a look under the hood and saw that the seal-like monsters had rigged several jars of Greek Fire to the starter unit in the van. Anybody trying to start that van would've been blown sky-high! And so we started regular patrols. Apparently, they'd paid off.

The van started up with no problem and we didn't get blown up this time, so I guess everything was okay. Argus muttered something under his breath about installing a remote starter in the van, so that he didn't have to risk his life starting the "dam van" anymore. Either that or parking it beyond the barrier inside camp might work?

We reached the Port Jefferson station of the Long Island Rail Road after about a 35 minute drive. It was a beautiful part of Long Island, and we could see the ferry that ran north to Bridgeport, Connecticut from the slip downtown. It was about a mile away and downhill from where we were standing at the head of Main Street, I think they called it. I had always wanted to take the ferry across the Sound to Bridgeport.) There was the PT Barnum museum up there because the old showman had lived there originally, and there was a baseball stadium right on the other side by the ferry dock. They played AAA minor league ball up there and I'd heard that it was pretty good. I like baseball and the ferry ride is only $10 each way for a pedestrian. They also accept cars and small trucks on board the ferry, and several of the other campers who had taken it said it was an absolutely beautiful ride. Long Island Sound is pretty wide, and it gets pretty deep there too. It's not unusual to see sharks and even some of the smaller whale species towards the mouth of the sound over by Block Island. And Block Island isn't that far from Nantucket in Massachusetts. It was a beautiful place to live, Camp Half-Blood.

"Was".