AN: So... Sorry? Not much else to say really, I just hope you enjoy this. I'm hoping to update again before January, but you probably should have learnt not to trust too much in my hopes!

Summary:

Semi - AU. Percy is a homeless half-blood, who was forced to run away from home when he was five, and has been sleeping rough ever since. When Grover and Annabeth find him, he won't trust anyone, and definitely doesn't want to come to this 'camp' with them. Will they ever gain his trust? Told in Annabeth's POV. Set during The Lightning Thief.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT, repeat DO NOT own anything you recognise. I only contribute the plot. Full credit to Rick Riordan for the amazing series!

Chapter 4

Then I realised I was still pointing my dagger at him. Oops.

'Uh, I realise this looks bad,' I started. The glare stayed put, so I'm guessing he agreed. I quickly put my knife away.

'The Kindly One, she was about to attack you, so I was just –'

'Stop.'

I was almost grateful for the interruption – I knew that was going to turn into a ramble.

'What did you call her?'

'Oh, a Kindly One. The big dogs were hellhounds. We've got a lot to explain, I know, but believe me when I say we're on your side.'

Perseus looked unconvinced. His sword was still in his hand.

'Who are you?' He accused. 'No one's helped me in years, no one cares. I don't care about your explanations – just leave me alone.'

Well, I was hoping for gratitude, but we don't always get what we want.

'And who's we?'

Ah. I'd forgotten about Grover, still hidden behind the bins. I saw Perseus' eyes flick over my shoulder, and I turned my head to see Grover standing up slowly, hands held above him in surrender.

'Perseus, meet Grover. Grover, Perseus. And I'm Annabeth,' I introduced, gesturing.

'Please don't call me Perseus.' Perseus said bluntly.

'What else can we call you?' Grover asked timidly, still with his hands up.

'Just Percy, for gods' sakes. And put your hands down.'

Grover and I shared a look as he dropped his hands. That expression could technically work both ways, I suppose.

'Well, Percy, we do want to help you. We do care.'

'Why?'

I sighed. This was going to be difficult.

'You've been through a lot of difficult things, Percy. It feels like the world is out to get you. We're not here to tell you otherwise, we're just here to say you're not alone. And – if you want – you can come with us and meet everyone else, and you'll never have to face this alone again.'

Wow – Grover is good at this! Although, I guess it is actually his job…

'You don't know anything about me. I don't care what you think I've been through. Your little group therapy can go to hell!'

I take that back.

'Percy –'

'No! Who are you? Why do you think you can come here and claim to know me?'

I held his stare. There was a beat of silence.

'Are you going to listen to us, or just rant?' I asked slowly. 'There's not much point asking questions if you won't hear the answers.'

His mouth drew into a very thin line. I wondered if I'd ruined our chances – his green eyes were now hard crystals, completely impenetrable.

'No, we don't know exactly what you've been through. But chances are I went through something similar. And so did everyone else like us.'

Grover, slightly shaken from being shut down last time, stuttered in to help me out. 'It's my job to find kids like you, and help you understand why this is happening to you.'

'So what, you're going to explain why all these monsters, these creatures, that apparently no one else can see, keep wanting to either ask me stupid questions or slice me to ribbons?' Percy asked sarcastically.

'Actually, yes. That's exactly what we're going to explain.' I said.

He stopped short there. I may have done a small victory dance in my head. He raised his hand to his sword – wait, was that a pen lid? With a shimmer, the celestial bronze disappeared to leave Percy holding nothing but the pen I'd seen before. I guess he had fought for his life with it, after all.

He saw me staring and smirked, spinning it around his thumb and index finger.

'You like this?' Percy asked, now clutching the pen in his fist. 'Only thing I ever got from my lousy dad. Oh, I guess he gave me my lovely friends too,' he said, gesturing around the alleyway.

'Do you know what it is?' I asked, ignoring the bitter joke.

He snorted. How polite. 'Well, obviously. It's a sword. You stab things with it.'

'No, I meant the material. And the fact it can turn into a pen.'

Percy looked at the pen in his palm, fiddling with it absentmindedly. He shrugged.

'Not really. Never thought about it; I've had it so long I just take it for granted.'

'Well you must realise not all pens do that. And not all swords look like yours,' I offered. 'That blade is celestial bronze. That's why it can kill those monsters,'

Percy reached for the lid of the pen, and suddenly he was holding the blade again. Now that I could see it clearly, I could make out an inscription on the hilt.

'What does that say? Ana-'

'Anaklusmos. Riptide.' Percy finished, and translated. Riptide…?

'What did you say about the metal? Cele-what now bronze?'

I shook myself. 'It's celestial bronze. Mined from Mount Olympus.'

'Mount Olympus…isn't that in Greece? Like, those dudes in togas Greece?'

I smiled, 'Well, not exactly. It used to be in Greece.'

I was enjoying the confusion on his face, I'm not going to lie.

'Am I going to need to sit down? This sounds like it's gonna turn into a bedtime story.'

Percy was still making jokes, but his eyes were wide and nervous. He did actually go and perch on a crate, tucking Riptide into a pocket and crossing his arms.

Grover and I followed, pulling up a bin and a broken, three-legged table to balance on respectively. I suppose the cliché is to go find a coffee shop and share our life stories, ending up close friends with a lot more in common than we ever thought.

You have to remember here – it was gods know what time in the morning, and Percy looked exactly like the scruffy homeless kid I guess he was. Plus if Hades is actually after him, I'm not planning on lounging around with a pumpkin spice latte while his next set of cronies catch up. So let's keep this short.

'We probably haven't got much time, so this is going to be a bit of a crash course,' I began.

Grover nodded. 'Percy…your sword, Anaklusmos, that name is in Ancient Greek. Did you translate it yourself?'

Percy shook his head. 'My mom… my mom told me what it meant.' He kept his eyes down.

'Okay. So you have an Ancient Greek sword, and there are monsters hunting you everywhere you go. What Annabeth said about Mount Olympus, that it's not in Greece anymore, well it's true. Mount Olympus is now in America. And so are those dudes in togas – the Ancient Greek gods.'

That got a reaction. Percy was now staring at us, listening to every word. It didn't look like scepticism, more like we were confirming something he'd always suspected.

'Back when the gods were in Greece, you'll have heard the stories about Theseus, and Hercules, and all the other heroes. They were demigods, or half-bloods – half god, half human, born when one of the gods fell in love with a mortal.'

Percy nodded. 'My name… Perseus. He was one of them, right?'

I picked up from Grover. 'Yes, he was. Son of Zeus. So, now the gods have moved to America, they're still up to the same old habits. Still falling in love and having kids with mortals.'

I stood up a little straighter. 'I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy.'

Percy tilted his head a little and laughed. 'Nice to meet you.' He gestured to Grover. 'Who's yours?'

Grover waved his hands in denial, 'Oh no no, I'm not a demigod. I'm a satyr.'

'A sat-what? Wait, what are you-' He fell silent as Grover kicked off his shoes to reveal his hooves.

'Ah, that's much better. I'm Grover Underwood, a satyr, and a keeper for Camp Half-Blood. That's the place we told you about, where you can meet everyone else.'

'Okay, okay.' Percy shook his head, clearly processing. 'I thought something must be up, with all the monsters and everything else, but this is still weird,'

He took a deep breath. 'So, you think my dad… My dad was a god?'

'Is a god,' I corrected. 'But yes, we do. That's why we're here.'

'To take me to your camp?' He looked between us. 'That was it, right? That's the point?'

I looked at Grover. 'Yes, Percy. It's the only place safe for you.' He said, gently.

Percy's head had dropped again, and he was laughing bitterly. 'Safe… Now there's an idea.'

'We're here to help, Percy,' I emphasised. 'You don't have to face them alone.'

Suddenly, he stood up straight, and looked us both squarely in the eyes.

'What if I don't want to go?' He challenged. 'I don't want anything to do with my dad. I don't want to come to your camp and pretend like he means something to me.'

I sighed. 'Percy, most of the kids at camp have never met their godly parent. Camp is for your protection and your training, not for them.'

I thought it best not to mention the sacrifices at meals, or the prayers, or that every other unclaimed kid at camped wished desperately not to be.

Percy looked a little happier with that. 'But how can it be safe? I've never found anywhere safe, and I've been looking a long time,'

'It's protected. When I-' I grabbed Grover's arm, 'When we arrived, we had a whole army of monsters after us. But they can't get into camp. As soon as you cross the boundary, you're safe.'

A deep sigh later, and after scuffing his shoes into the dirt several times, Percy's shoulders slumped again.

'Fine. I'll come to your camp with you,' he said. 'At least there'll be actual beds, right?'

I surprised myself when a laugh burst out from me. I hadn't expected him to agree so quickly.

'Yeah, there's definitely beds,' I confirmed.

Percy nodded, and brushed his hands. 'Well, I better pack!'

He came back half a minute later, with a drawstring bag that couldn't have even been full.

'Is that it?' I asked. 'You don't have anything else?'

'Only a couple gross old blankets, but if there's actual beds then I don't need to carry those around anymore,' he joked lightly.

The realities of his life were only slowly occurring to me. When I'd ran away, I'd left with barely anything, but then I found camp within a year. Percy had been on his own for much, much longer.

Hopefully camp would be the fresh new start he needed.

***TIME JUMP***

Grover and I snuck back into Yancy to pack our things, and easily back out again. Thankfully, Percy was still waiting.

'We've phoned camp for a lift, hopefully they'll get here soon.' I said.

This was the difficult bit. Argus was bringing the SUV, but he wouldn't get here for a couple hours.

I hate small talk.

On the plus side, it didn't look like Percy was interested in starting any, so I could have some peace to think.

His name was Perseus, after the son of Zeus. His sword was Riptide, and finally, he had the unfortunate attention of the Underworld's ugliest. This kid already had his fingers trapped in all three cookie jars, and he didn't even know it.

What had the Kindly One said? 'Your father is to blame for your misery' and something about Percy helping his dad. Sounds like he's not a child of Hades, at least – unless he really managed to annoy him. But then again, maybe he is. It definitely wouldn't be out of character for Hades to manipulate someone else into taking the fall for him. I kicked my foot against the wall in annoyance, and stood up. I just don't know enough to work this out.

Percy was perched on the short wall slightly further down from Grover and me. His head was bowed, and it looked like he was fiddling with his pen again. Or sword. Whatever.

'You must have some questions for us,' I offered. He flinched slightly; he hadn't noticed me approach. Huh. For someone who'd lived on the streets, he must have been pretty deep in thought for his reflexes to dull that much.

He shrugged slowly. 'I mean, none of it really makes sense, so yeah, but I'm thinking things through.'

Clearly, he wanted me to leave him alone. Sorry, you've piqued this daughter of Athena's curiosity. I don't leave unanswered questions alone, even if they have legs.

'Anything I can help with?' I faked obliviousness, perching on the wall close to him.

Percy sighed, but turned slightly to face me. 'You know who your mom is. I…I don't know who my dad is. When do I find out?'

Ah, the age-old question. 'I don't know. Your dad has to claim you – sort of officially recognise you as his son – so it's up to him really. I expect it will happen pretty soon after we get to camp though, for you,'

Percy swore and pushed off the wall. 'What? You're telling me he could have just told me whenever?'

I nodded, nervous. Suddenly Riptide flashed in his hand and he was clearly having trouble calming himself down.

'So, there's no good reason he couldn't have explained this himself? Explained why I had to run away from my mother, just to keep her safe?'.

I nodded again.

And Percy took his revenge on all of the dustbins in the area, spilling litter everywhere.

I gave him a minute to work the worst of it out of his system.

'Percy, stop!' I ran to him, and grabbed his arms to stop another rubbish bag meeting its fateful end.

Next thing I knew I was pinned to the wall with Riptide at my throat.

'You made it sound like the gods cared. Oh, I'm the daughter of the wisdom goddess, isn't my mom cool. Well lucky you! I don't even know if my mom's alive! And all because of some stupid god who thought he could mess with her life.'

The rage wasn't really directed at me anymore. He dropped Riptide and stepped back, blinking. Then spread his arms and shouted into the sky.

'I didn't ask to be born! Why couldn't you have left her alone?'

Then, Riptide clattered to the ground as Percy fell to his knees with his head in his hands.

Well, that was dramatic. Grover had run over, and I brushed him aside as he tried to check if I was okay, if he'd hurt me, if I was bleeding.

But my eyes were glued to Percy, trying to process what this boy had been through.

He rose slowly, dropping his hands. He hadn't been crying – his eyes were dry. But they were now as cold as ice, glaring straight through me at something beyond.

I actually felt nervous for the god that glare was meant for.

That glare wanted revenge.

AN: Dun dun duuuuunnnn... Thanks for putting up with me, and I hope this doesn't feel too filler! I'm just fleshing out the characters before too much story gets going, as obviously it's going to run as a parallel to the Lightning Thief, and this way at least you get comfortable with the differences in the characters.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

SarcasticPerson