Hear ye, hear ye! Here begins a collection of ficlets, all Percy Jackson, all kinds of pairings/characters, all day long. I'll be staggering them so as not to overwhelm you all. :) Enjoy!

Title: A Protector

Word Count: 314

Rating: K+

Characters/pairings: Paul/Sally

Summary: Somewhere between pages 319-360 of TLO, after Paul and Sally fight the monsters outside of the Empire State Building, Paul shares his thoughts on Percy's safety.

Author's Notes: Done for challenge #2 (the Drabble Challenge!) at demigod_elite on Livejournal. Un-beta'd and hurriedly written, so beware. X]

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"He'll be fine, Sally." Paul watched her pace through the ruins the battle had left behind. When she didn't look up, he repeated it. "He'll be fine."

"I just—," Sally looked toward the top of the Empire State Building, which was pulsing blue. "Wouldn't they have told us by now? If he was okay? Is no news good news? Or…bad news? Ugh, what's the dang saying anyway?" She picked up a twisted sword from the rubble and dropped it.

Paul kept staring at her, not giving up. Not giving up. "He has to be okay. Why would the signal be blue if he wasn't?"

"Yes, but he probably told Annabeth about that. What if he's…in a coma or something?"

"From what I've heard, what they should do then is dump an ocean on him. He's not too hard to heal, dear."

Sally frowned. "This is so strange—New York City, city of eight million, my home. The chaos…it's unimaginable."

Paul took in the whole scene—nymphs surveying the damage, Hephaestus campers examining the ruins. "You're right, dear. You're right. But this is Percy we're talking about. I haven't known about this…other side of him for long. But in truth, I've always known. The way he looks at Annabeth, at you—he's a protector. And now he's saved the world, as far as I can tell. But Annabeth is there for him, too. Some of his greatest strengths are his friends."

Paul cleared his throat and glanced at Sally, then continued. "So. I know that he would sacrifice himself to save the world—but I also know that his friends? His friends wouldn't let him." Paul paused again. "I believe he's alive. I believe he's okay. And I believe that he misses you every bit as much as you miss him." Paul stepped toward Sally and took her hand. "Let's go find him."