A/N Hey guys, Heres chapter 3 As always CC is apperciated. This should fill in why he resents Annabeth.

Disclamier: I do Not Nor will ever own anything from PJO or From the brink by darkmyyst( some parts are taken from their story)

Chapter 3

Sword smashed against sword, sparks striking out across the baked ground. The blades bounced off of one another before spinning and coming back in for another strike. Their wielders stumbled back from the next blow and looked at one another before beginning to laugh. They laughed long and they laughed hard, and the teenager with black hair ended up on the ground, holding his sides. The blonde haired man beside him was doubled up with mirth.

"It's-it's been wa-way too long since I've used a sword," Percy managed to gasp out in between fits of laughter.

Luke chuckled before offering Percy a hand up, which he accepted gratefully. "To be honest, you haven't lost a grain of skill, you're still the only person I know who can keep up with me."

"It's kinda like learning to ride a bike, you just don't forget. It's like it's hardwired in here," Percy said as he tapped his end head with the flat edge of Riptide. Percy inhaled deeply and looked up at the sky over the training ground. "Gods does it feel good to be back out in the open. It sure brings back some memories doesn't it? Us dueling each other like this?"

"Listen, Percy…About everything, I just wanted to say-"

"I know what you want to say, and like I said, forget it. It's done and in the past. I know what you did and how hard you fought against Kronos, and I hold nothing against you." Percy said standing at the cliff overlooking the ocean.

"But-"

"Drop it, Luke. Unless you want me to be angry and resentful with you?"

"I'll pass thanks." There was a moment of comfortable silence between the two before Luke spoke up, "Can I, uh, ask you something, Percy?"

"I'm sure you can, provided your voice doesn't suddenly stop working or something," Percy said with a grin.

"Okay, smartass, May I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but shoot anyway."

Luke took a deep breath. "If you can so readily forgive me, than why not Annabeth?" He immediately wished he hadn't asked. Percy's body stiffened. The small sliver of happiness in his eyes instantly drained away, to be replaced with a cold, unfeeling look.

"…Some things are not easily forgiven, Luke."

"But Percy, this is Annabeth we're talking about here! You know how hotheaded and foolish she can get! You were best friends, and I know that you-"

"Enough, Luke," Percy cut him off harshly. "I don't want to discuss this." Luke closed his mouth. "I believe it's nearly time for lunch, let's go." They set off toward the dining pavilion.

When they arrived, the pavilion was already full with loudly talking campers. Percy murmured a goodbye and slid off to the Poseidon table to sit on his own. Luke took a seat at the Hermes cabin and quickly got caught up in the newest plot of the Stoll brothers.

Percy glowered at his roast beef sandwich, not feeling particularly hungry. He heard Grover clop over and plop himself down beside him. "How was sword practice?" he asked while gnawing on a tin can.

"Fine."

"That's good." Grover gave Percy a contemplative look before sighing. "Luke asked about Annabeth didn't he?" Percy gave an almost imperceptive nod. "Just forget about it, k? She—It's not worth the effort of worrying about it."

"Whatever the goat's saying, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and agree with him."

Grover bleated indignantly, "Well good afternoon to you too, Thalia."

"Stuff it, Goaty." She sat down across from Percy and looked at him before reaching across the table and grabbing his hand and saying sincerely. "Hey, are you ok?"

Percy looked up at her, and she saw an emotion flash through his eyes. Happiness? Pain? Fear? Love? Whatever it was as soon as it appeared it was gone. Then his eyes had reverted back to the cold emptiness they had been ever since he had come back. He gave her hand a slight squeeze but didn't let go "I'm fine, promise."

Thalia was doubting this statement more and more every time he told her it though. She could see that Percy really wasn't in any better condition than he was a week ago, when he arrived. If anything, he looked almost worst. His face was haggard and there were deep circles under his eyes, he obviously was not sleeping well. The bandage was still on his left arm, but she still did not know how serious his injury was, because he only ever wore long-sleeved shirts. Even after she had essentially moved into his cabin, he had been sure that she had never seen him shirtless.

Thalia had very much taken on the role of his mom after Percy had come back. For the first few days, she had hovered close by him to make sure everything was ok. She soon realized that everything was far from ok. It had started when she heard him quietly muttering to himself when no one else was around. She never caught exactly what he was saying, but it didn't sound healthy or happy. She had brushed it off as residual backlash from what he had endured. However, it wasn't long after that until Thalia heard him screaming in the middle of the night. She had dashed out of her cabin and over to his to find him thrashing about on his bed, his body arcing in pain and mouth wide open in a bloodcurdling scream of agony.

She had quickly shaken him awake, only to find herself on the floor with a celestial bronze sword pressing against her neck. But she didn't panic, she had reached up and placed her hands comfortingly on Percy's cheeks, calling his name and letting him know who it was. When his eyes had cleared and he realized where he was and what he had been doing, he had collapsed into a helpless ball and wailed. Thalia had embraced him and stayed with him until he fell asleep and then carefully moved him back to his bed. It was then she took it upon herself to watch over him. She moved her essential items over to his cabin and began spending her nights there. It was because of this that she knew Percy was sleeping horribly.

After the first night, nothing that serious had happened again, but she often woke in the middle of the night to Percy sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands, whispering quietly to himself in a broken voice, "No, oh gods, no. Please, no. Help me, help me. Dad, dad, help. Mom? Mom where are you? Grover? Thalia? Nico? Thalia!?" On these occasions she had moved so that she was sitting next to him and put a comforting arm around him. She had gently whispered soothing words in his ear it calmed him down but only to start back up when she left. It was breaking her heart to watch him fall apart like this. To be perfectly honest, she was no longer sure Percy was entirely sane. She was beginning to think that the damage done to him might be irreparable.

She had let Nico, Grover, and Luke know what was going on, and they were all as equally concerned as she was. They had no suggestions for how to help him through it either, only that they should continue to be there for him, and never leave him alone. And so they made sure that at least one of them was always with him. It would have been easier if Annabeth could help them, but seeing as how Percy was avoiding her as if she was Medusa and how he closed up all emotional access at the mere mention of her, there was nothing any of them could do about it. Besides, Thalia herself was no longer sure of Annabeth. She had never thought that Annabeth would turn against one of her best friends like that not only that but not wanting him to be pardoned from Tartarus , and it had partially unseated Thalia's trust in a certain daughter of Athena.

Her mind snapped back to the present after Nico took a seat beside her and asked. "Well what's the good news today?"

"The sun's shining?"

"I said good news, Grover," Nico said while shaking his head. "You surface dwellers and your sun, I'll never understand why you love a bright, fiery chariot so much. It actually burns your skin! And yet you love it, makes absolutely no sense."

"Just because we don't have a fetish for all things dead, dark and gloomy like yourself, Nic, doesn't mean we can't enjoy the sun."

Nico stuck his tongue out at her before turning to Percy. "Yo, Perce, feel like tackling the climbing wall after lunch? It's been awhile since I've climbed and having someone there in case I fall would be comforting."

Thalia snorted. "If you fell, would you even die? Wouldn't you just like, appear inside your father's palace or something?"

Nico scowled at her. "Just because I'm a child of Hades doesn't give me any special privileges, Bianca proved that." Nico's tone had sobered up a bit, but he still gave Percy a small nudge. "Whaddaya say? Climbing wall?"

Percy felt a ghost of a grin pull at his mouth. "Sure."

"By the Five Rivers of Hades, this is far more difficult than I remember!" Nico screamed as a boulder narrowly missed his head and bounced on down the cliff. He glanced upward, to where Percy was forging his own path up the rocks. "How ya holding, Percy?" A grunt was the only answer he got. "Right then. Be sure not to fall, if you do, Thalia and Grover might laugh at you, despite the fact that you're harnessed in." He looked back over his shoulder, checking that the aforementioned Grover and Thalia, who had decided to tag along, were still there. Nico hoisted himself up to small ledge, where he took a moment to catch his breath and look around to plan his next path. Hmm…getting past that lava flow there's going to prove difficult. Wonder how Percy did it. Speaking of Percy, where is that kelp head? His question was soon answered when he heard said son of Poseidon start laughing. He shifted his weight and looked up, seeing Percy near the top of the wall.

Wonder why he's laughing. Nico thought as Percy continued to laugh, Nico began to become worried. Something was wrong, there was nothing to laugh at, and Percy's laugh was becoming hysterical. Nico caught a glimpse of his eyes, and saw them wide open. There was no happiness, no mirth in them, only fear and madness. He heard a small metallic click. Before he could identify what is was, he saw the rope that would support Percy's weight if he fell go slack. "Percy!" Nico said loudly. He was really beginning to panic now. Percy began to lean backward. "PERCY!" He roared. He began to throw himself across the rock, trying to reach his friend, but he knew he was too late. Percy let go of the cliff face and began to plummet to the ground, sixty feet below.

He caught Nico's eye on the way down, a huge grin still plastered to his face. Now…now everything would stop hurting. His arm, his chest, his head. It was the simplest solution ever, how had he not thought it up before? It all made sense, and it was hilarious to him that it had never occurred to him before. He slowly closed his eyes and waited for his release.

His eyes opened rather reluctantly, and his vision was blurry. He found he couldn't move and that his head was throbbing something fierce. He could hear sounds around him, but they were all terribly muffled, to the point where he could understand nothing. He strained his senses, and suddenly the sounds became clearer and distinguished themselves. There were people speaking at the foot of his bed, people who obviously hadn't noticed he was awake yet. He decided to keep it that way, and listen in on what they were saying.

"-ry, so sorry, I should've noticed sooner what he was doing, I should've-"

"Nic, it's ok, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was Thalia. I suggested the climbing wall, and then I wasn't watching close enough. I could've found a way to-"

"Nico, stop it. It's ok; there was nothing you could have done. You couldn't have known he was going to do that, none of us could have."

"Somehow I think there's one person who would've figured it out, Luke. She knows him inside and out, remember?"

An angry braying filled the room. "They're not talking though, remember? I don't think they will again, But that doesn't matter right now, what matters is why?"

There was silence for a few heartbeats before Luke spoke up, "I'm beginning to wonder if Percy's…mentally unbalanced."

"I believe the term is insane, Luke," Nico put in.

"It has something to do with what Kronos did to him in Tartarus, I think," Thalia said quietly.

"Thank you , Brigadier General Obvious." There was the distinctive sound of knuckles hitting flesh. "Ow! Dammit, Thalia." Nico yelled.

"Brigadier General Obvious?" Luke questioned.

Percy could practically feel Nico's shrug as he replied, "I don't think the poor guy should remain a Captain his whole life, you know? I mean, he's obviously well known so I figure he deserves a promotion."

Percy pictured Thalia's eyes rolling at Nico's explanation. "Anyway, we need to do something about this. It can't continue like this, he'll end up tearing himself apart at this rate."

"We have to keep someone on him at all times, and I don't think we should let him on the wall for awhile."

"I wish we could ask the gods to help us with this, but with Percy's stunt last time, I don't think they'll be in a very helpful mood."

"Hmm…that's a good idea, Grover, though you're right about the gods. Instead, we should get someone really close to him to talk to him."

"You mean Mrs. Jackson?"

"Mhm. Besides, I think it's about time that she knew her son was still alive. I think it's about time we told her the truth of what happened three years ago."

Percy just couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer. He let slip through his lips a single word, "Mom?" The effect was immediate.

Thalia was on him in an instant, her arms around his neck and her face buried in his neck. He suddenly realized she was crying when he felt the dampness on his shoulder. "You idiot," she yelled at him as she brought her face up to glare at him through her teary eyes. "Don't you ever, ever, do that to us again. To me again." She cuffed him up alongside the head before hugging him even harder. "I've lost you once already," she said quietly. "I don't think I'm strong enough to lose you again."

"What was it you guys were saying about my mother?" Percy asked timidly. After Thalia's rant had finished.

That snapped Thalia's head around. "Oh, that. Right. Well, we were thinking that maybe we should take you to see your mother, you know, let her know you're alive."

Percy sat up while his stomach sunk. Something about the way Thalia had said that sentence made him feel uneasy. "What do you mean 'let her know you're alive'?" Suddenly Thalia's shoes were the most interesting thing in the room to her.

"You see, Percy, a-after the battle, when the gods…when the gods…imprisoned you, we couldn't very well tell Mrs. Jackson where you had gone. It would've destroyed her. So we…we…"

"Lied to her," Luke finished for her.

Percy was silent for a moment. "What did you tell her?"

"Well, we didn't really tell her anything. We didn't have to," said Grover. "It was your father. He broke it really gently, you know, said how sorry he was and everything and-"

"Grover. What did he tell my mom?"

"That you had died defeating Kronos."

There was silence in the room, and it seemed to stretch on to infinity. No one moved or said anything. Suddenly Percy levered himself out of his bed. The instant he feet hit the floor he was striding to the door.

"Percy?" Grover asked. "Where are you going?"

"To my cabin, to gather some stuff up and get ready. Call Argus, or the Gray Sisters, I don't care. We're going on a little trip. And dress warmly, I hear New York's cold as Hades this time of year."