Hi everyone! So basically, all I need to say is that I don't own PJO :)

Percy

There is always that one thing that changes your life forever, whether its a romance, a friend or a death. For me, it was the last one. My mother had died from cancer when I was a year old, which was so severe it was a miracle I was even born.

My father was a leader of the naval ships and was always at sea, so I hardly saw him. We always sent letters back and forth and he visited during the winter break for Christmas. For my thirteenth birthday, he promised he would get back in time to celebrate with me and deliver my present in person. That's where I am now, sitting on the beach and waiting for the naval ships to appear on the horizon.

The smell of sea salt was strong in the air and I took a handful of sand in my palm, the pale substance sifting through my fingers and blowing off in the wind. I was close enough to the shore for the water to reach my toes and the cold liquid seemed refreshing on the late summer day. The sun was just setting over the skyline, turning the sky a pinky-orange, almost golden colour.

I took a deep breath, feeling somewhat nervous about seeing my father after so many years; the last time I had seen him was when I was eight. I was shaken out of my daydream when I found the outline of a couple of ships on the horizon and stood up, almost jumping up in down in excitement and anxiety.

The wait for the ships almost seemed like a lifetime and as I watched them dock, I started running towards them. The first man to alight was my Uncle Zeus, who extended his arms with a lopsided grin on his face.

"Uncle!" I said when I ran into his arms. "It's been so long. Where's my father?"

Zeus sighed and knelt down in front of me, resting his hands on my shoulders. His electric-blue eyes were filled with sadness and pain. "Perseus, I'm afraid your father wasn't able to make it today."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my smile turning into a frown. "He promised he'd be here."

"You see, Percy." He sat down on the ground and patted next to him, where I reluctantly sank down beside him. "In Iran, we were engaged in a tight war. As a leader, your father had to take responsibility and protect his army, which resulted in him going missing."

"So y-you just left him there?" I stammered, my eyes burning with tears. "You could've found him and taken him back here."

"I'm sorry, Percy." He reached out to comfort me, but I stood up and tried not to cry in front of him, taking in the fact that my father was lost at sea and I would probably never see him again. Even if he wasn't lost, he had probably been taken captive by the Iranian's, or worse.

"He did leave you this, though." Uncle Zeus placed a box in my hands. "I'll let you open it by yourself."

As he walked away, I sat down again and examined the present. It was a medium sized leather box and it smelt like the sea. On the back was a message written on it, signed by my father.

Happy 13th birthday Percy. Use your present well. Love, dad.

I wiped away another tear and opened the box. It was a leather necklace with a pendant. At first, I didn't recognize the charm, but as I looked closer, I realised that it was something my dad always used to say was so rare nowadays that it would be sheer luck if he found one. I picked up the necklace and pulled it around my neck, playing with the pendant.

The fact that my father had given me something he had searched so long for made my heart feel like it was being poked with a metal rod. I fiddled with the rough surface of the necklace and sighed.

A sand dollar, which was so rare I would never see one again, just like my father.

Three Years Later

"Bye, Aunt Liz!" I banged on her locked bedroom door loudly. Another toot of the horn came from my best friend Beckendorf's car and I laughed, running out the front door and shutting it behind me.

"Sorry, Beckendorf." I chuckled as I climbed into the front seat of his ute. His real name was Charles, but he was a buff guy and it didn't suit him at all, so we just called him by his last name. "I accidentally set my alarm clock for 7PM instead of 7AM."

"I'm going to forgive you this time because its your last day." He rolled his eyes and started up the engine again, driving down the street to pick up my other friend Will Solace.

"Don't remind me." I rolled my eyes and leaned my head against the seat. Tomorrow, we were flying out to New York so my Aunt Elizabeth could marry her boyfriend, who happened to be a pilot all the way in Manhattan. Currently, we lived in Virginia and we had ever since my father had been lost at sea, which was the friendly term for 'dead'. I never liked to say he was, but what else would have happened to him that would have kept him away for three years?

"Come on, Perce." He nudged me as we arrived at Will's house. "We'll go to the lake after school and hike up the mountains like old times. Jason and Leo said they were going to come along as well."

Jason and Leo were in the grade lower and a year younger, but we liked them anyway. Leo lived across the road from mine and Jason came around to his a lot with his girlfriend Piper, so I had talked to them a few times.

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged. Will came running out of his house and hopped into the back. I jumped out of the car and joined him. Anywhere else you would get busted for sitting in the back of a ute while it was moving, but it was normal in our town.

Beckendorf wound down the window and I heard him laughing as we drove along the dirt road. I shouted for him to turn the radio up when I heard the song 'Hurts Like Heaven' by Coldplay. The mountains seemed especially green today and the sky was blue without a cloud in the sky, perfect for a hike and an afternoon by the lake.

I laughed as Will mooed at the cows as we went passed and slapped him on the shoulder playfully. "You're such an idiot, you know that?"

I slung my bag over my shoulder and jumped off the back of the ute when we arrived at school. Our town in Virginia was small but comfortable. Everyone knew each other, so we were all friendly. Don't get me wrong, there were still the losers and the jocks but you couldn't really bully anyone unless you wanted bad business for your shop or farm. News spreads around fast.

I greeted a few of my other friends, then made my way towards my locker and grabbed my sports bag for first period. I was definitely not going to miss school, but I'd miss everywhere else - the smell of fresh bread from the bakery I passed when I rode my bike home from school on Tuesdays, the lake and being able to hike the mountains every weekend if the weather was great, which it usually was. Spending the day in the paddocks at Will's farm, despite the terrible sunburn you'd get afterwards. Riding Beckendorf's cousins' motorbikes around town when they said we could use them, going abseiling with Jason, Leo and Piper down Fletcher Cliff (A/N I'm not even joking, thats the actual name xD Lee Fletcher! OH and Fletcher Cliff is in the County, no not country, of Lee. Am I the only one that finds that hilarious?) and horseback riding.

"Percy," Someone said behind me. I turned around to face the friendly-faced brunette who I'd grown to like more than a friend over the past couple of months.

"Oh, hey, Calypso." I forced a grin, hoping my face hadn't gone too red.

"Is it true you're moving to New York tomorrow?" She asked, playing with the end of her long braid. "Piper told me about it."

I shut my locker door, my fingers fiddling with the fray at the bottom of my shirt. "Yeah, I am. I'll miss this place, though."

She looked down, but when she glanced up again she had a faint smile on her face, although her eyes showed a different emotion I couldn't work out. "Send me a postcard while you're there, okay?"

I nodded and we said goodbye to each other. Well, at least I tried to - a string of unintelligent words had escaped from my mouth instead. I turned around and noticed the hallways were now empty. I sighed and slowly walked to the gym, not worrying about being late because the teacher's couldn't give me detention; it was my last day.

My last day. Part of me wondered what it would be like seeing the ocean again after so many years. I wanted to swim and go diving, but... I shook my head. No, you're not starting this again. My pace quickened. Just because my father was gone, doesn't mean I should be afraid. And I wouldn't be.

Review! I hope you liked it :)

- Jellyfish Pride