Author's Note: So, for the like entire two years I've been on fanfic, I realized that I've never writtne a PJO fanfic. Which is totally unacceptable! I love PJO, and I have tons of ideas written down. So, I present to you my firsy multi-chapter PJO story: Mist and Mortals! Enjoy, and please review!
"Wake up, Seaweed Brain!" The boy in question barely had time to process what was happening before two dainty but strong hands promptly rolled him out of bed, and he landed on the floor with a dull 'thud.' A laugh from the same person who had pushed him followed suit, and Percy finally opened his eyes.
"Ouch," the boy protested groggily as he looked up into the face of his smiling girlfriend with a half-hearted glare; it wasn't a simple task to be mad at her. Annabeth just let out another teasing laugh, shaking her head as she looked down at him. Her blonde curls bounced side-to-side along with the movement.
"Time for breakfast," she said, crossing her arms and waiting for the information to sink into her boyfriend's sleep-clouded mind. The son of Poseidon seemed to almost immediately perk up, and he jumped to his feet, stretching. His glare was gone now, replaced by a happy smile as he thanked Annabeth for waking him and gave the daughter of Athena a quick peck on the lips before ushering her out of his cabin so that he could get dressed, in his usual attire of course: A faded orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a pair of old jeans. Riptide immediately deposited itself into the young demigod's pocket, and he rushed out of the cabin to meet up with Annabeth, along with their friends, at the dining pavilion.
As he walked up the path, it was Hazel who spotted him first. She waved him over to the table with a smile, and he sat beside Annabeth. The other demigods at the table consisted of Hazel, of course, along with Jason, Piper, Frank, Leo, and even Nico, though the son of Hades didn't seem to be enjoying himself as much as the others. After the war with Gaea (which had been won, though not without much blood-shed), and the quest of the Seven, Hazel, Frank, and Jason had decided to stay at Camp Half-blood. Nico was not there permanently, though visited on occasion to keep in touch with Hazel. Today was one of those days.
"Morning," Percy said as he looked at his friends with a smile; it felt nice to smile, and to just have such a normal day after what felt like an eternity of war and strife and dangers. The war with Gaea had left all of the Seven, plus Nico, scarred in some way, but in the daylight hours, surrounded by other campers and familiar surroundings, they could almost forget.
"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Jason responded with a grin, falling into his normal banter with Percy, who rolled his sea-green eyes and chucked a bread roll at the son of Jupiter; the blonde boy easily caught it, and took a bite out of it with the easy grin still on his face.
"Aw, shut it superman," Percy retorted with a laugh as he started to eat the food on his plate.
Breakfast continued on in a normal fashion – well, as normal as it could get in a camp filled with ADHD, half-God teenagers. After it ended, the group of friends split. Frank and Hazel went off to the lake, to get some alone time together. Piper and Jason wanted the same thing, but headed to the Zeus cabin instead – no one else would be there. Leo said something about going to see Calypso, as the 'repair boy' had kept his promise to the girl and found a way to return to her. She had been freed from her island prison, and had taken up residence at the demigod camp. Nico muttered something about going to the Big House to take care of some business before leaving, and Percy and Annabeth went to the Poseidon cabin to spend some alone time together. The pair had been nearly inseparable since the war, and now laid side-by-side on Percy's bed, simply enjoying each other's company.
"Capture the flag tonight," Annabeth said after a while of silence. "I think you'll be on my team, this time. There'll be no way we can lose," she said cockily. Percy gave her a smile, and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah," he said. "You know, I should talk to Chiron. I keep forgetting to ask about maybe getting some water cannons. They had them at C –"
He was cut off by Annabeth, who rolled her eyes and said, "They had them at Camp Jupiter! I know, I know. This is at least the fourth time you've tried to tell me, Percy." She laughed at her boyfriend's expression. It looked as if Percy were about to say something in return, but this time, he was cut off by a loud BANG that came from outside, and seemed to resound throughout the entire camp. The cabin shook, and the picture that Percy kept on his nightstand of him, Annabeth, Sally, and Paul tumbled off, the glass breaking. The two demigods jumped in surprised, and disentangled themselves from each other's embrace, leaping off of the bed and bounding outside. Percy drew Riptide, and looked around, ready for a fight.
It seemed that entire rest of the camp was already out as well, all looking around with shocked expressions. Some had weapons drawn, like Percy, and others appeared dazed, as if they couldn't accept the fact that something was happening so soon after everything had fallen back into a seemingly normal routine. Everything was quiet for a moment, besides the muttering and worried whispers of the campers as everyone looked for the source of the disturbance. It appeared like nothing was wrong, until the noise came back, louder this time; another deafening BANG. This time, however, someone noticed what was happening.
"Look!" a voice rang out, horrified. Percy and Annabeth, along with every other camper, turned towards the one who had shouted, and followed her gaze upwards. The entire sky seemed to be rippling. Only, the surprised campers knew that it wasn't the sky; it was the barrier. The normally invisible barrier that wrapped around the entire camp, protecting them from monsters and weather and from being discovered by mortals was shimmering and shaking and, as the young demigods watched, it crumbled entirely, dissolving into nothingness. Everyone gaped, not quite believing their eyes. The barrier, made from a mix of magic and the Mist, had never failed before – never. Something was seriously wrong here.
"Percy! Annabeth!" The pair snapped out of their shock when they heard Piper's voice calling their names. Piper, Jason, Leo, Hazel, Frank, and Nico came running towards them, looking as baffled and surprised as everyone else did; there was no need to ask if they knew what was going on, because it was obvious that they didn't.
"What in the Gods' names just happened?" Leo demanded, though he knew that his friends couldn't answer him; he just felt the need to get the question that everyone else was thinking out in the open.
"You really think any of us know?" Nico snapped, and Leo shot him a glare; out of character, yes, but he wasn't exactly in a joking mood after their only protective shield from the outside world had just crumbled right before their eyes.
"I think that's more of a question for Chiron," Percy said, and spotted the centaur trotting towards the startled gathering of campers with a worried look on his normally happy face. "Here he comes." Soon, everyone had caught sight of the centaur, and all attention was on him as he came and stood tall in the middle of the large group of teens. Everyone started shouting questions at him, all at once. Most of them were exactly the same: 'What just happened?' Chiron called for everyone to settle down, and once it was quiet enough for his liking, he began to speak.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news," he started, and simultaneously, everyone's faces seemed to drop, or harden, as he spoke. "For whatever reason – and I'm not entirely sure why yet, so please don't ask – it would appear that there have been some complications with the Mist helping to hold together our barrier, along with the rest of it."
"Complications?" a voice from the crowd rang out. "As in what?" Chiron paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out the best way to next deliver what he was about to say.
"Complications as in it has ceased to work," he finally came out with. Gasps and mutters started up once again among the group.
"The Mist is no longer in place."