He remembers fragments of the past month, but not the whole thing. He remembers the light burning his eyes. It took him a long time to be able to adjust to the sun. The warmth on his skin and the brightness of it all were so foreign after being in the dark prison. And then he was thrown into chaos.

The final battle was a blur. He slashed and cut, never leaving Annabeth's side. It had all happened so fast, and then it was over.

Just like that.

The gods took pity on them and transported them to Olympus, where they recovered. He remembered Apollo healing his physical injuries.

And he remembered the first time he saw it. Monsters made of smoke that spoke of further destruction. His family, his friends, Annabeth, lying dead on the ground. They were cold and pale, and then they turned into mutilated corpses that were twisted and arranged in unnatural positions, as if every bone in their body had been broken.

He reacted when he saw the first monster, pulling out Riptide, his ever faithful sword, and attacking it. But it turned to smoke. Whispers filled his head, saying horrible things. Percy was no genius, but he knew it wasn't real. He was on Olympus, no monster would dare come close, he wasn't even sure they could get there. Why and how he was seeing things was a mystery. Did Gaea put this curse on him, as she lost power, as one last act of vengeance to ruin him?

Poseidon found him curled up on his bed in the recovery room. Percy was small, fragile, covering his ears and screwing his eyes shut, trying to block out the images and sounds.

When his dad tried to wake him up, assure him nothing was wrong, Percy curled in tighter. He just wanted everything to go away why wouldn't it just leave?

After five minutes of pleading and "Percy it's me," and "Please, look at me" Poseidon got his son to look at him.

It's said that eyes are the window to your soul. Poseidon looked into his son's eyes and saw broken fragments of the caring, loyal, brave, boy- no- man, he once knew.

Poseidon called Apollo and Dionysus and pulled every chip he had, every favor he could offer to fix his son's mind. Not much was needed to convince them though; each god had some respect for Percy.

His treatments began with questions, What do you see? and Can you distinguish what is real and what is not?

For five days it was just him and the three gods. He hadn't seen Annabeth since the end of the battle. He hadn't actually thought about it much, after all, it was all a blur. But now the ache and empty feeling in his chest was prominent.

Can I see her? It takes some time for Poseidon to convince Athena to let Percy see Annabeth, but Annabeth has been asking for him too. Athena can no longer deny her daughter.

Percy doesn't need anything except to hold her in his arms and that's what he does. For hours they just hold each other and talk because they made it out and it is unbelievable. But he has hallucinations and she gets horrible nightmares and they are both afraid and shattered.

But honestly, all he needs is to feel her, hold her. Whatever comes will come. Right now, it's one day, one hour at a time. He doesn't think he can handle much more than that.

OK, how was that?

Sad, yes?

So, as many of you know, I'm a slow updater. I will try my best to be faster. I've been going through a really rough patch in life lately, but things are looking up. I'm getting a grip on things. I think I have it all figured out which is amazing and a little too good to be true.

All I need is your support : ) Thank you to all who have reviewed, favorited, and followed.