Everyone piled out of the throne room, the Romans, Leo and Piper were unsure of where to go so they followed the Greeks down the halls until they came out on top of Mount Olympus.

"Holy Zeus' beard!" Hazel gasped.

"You should see it after Annabeth redesigned it." Thalia told her.

"Wish I could. Thalia right?"

"Yeah. I'm Jason's sister." She slid a glance over to where Jason was making his way over to the dining pavilion.

"Hazel. Nico's half sister." Hazel held out her hand and Thalia shook it.

"I've known Nico for quite a long time." Thalia mentioned nonchalantly. "He lost his sister on a quest with me, Percy and some others. Please be careful, as annoying as he is, I don't want him to be hurt." Thalia kept her eyes ahead of her the whole time she spoke.

"I'll try." Hazel replied knowing that was the best she could offer. "What's it like seeing Jason after all this time?"

"I... You know for once, I don't know. I really have no idea what to do or what I should say." Thalia drew a deep breath.

"Maybe just go over there and... give a hug, show him you remember and that you still love him."

"Maybe but in the future he's already seen me right? So he will already know this. It's weird meeting someone you haven't seen in years when they already have."

"C'mon, let's go over there."

"Hey Leo." Conner said sidling up to him.

"S'up guys?" Leo grinned, these guys were hilarious!

"Look what we have!" Travis smiled innocently as he held up a photograph of Leo.

Leo grabbed the photo off him to inspect. He saw himself just after he'd arrived at camp doing the "spock" hand. He hadn't known at the time what it meant but the Stolls had.

"And you say you're not a Vulcan!" Travis laughed.

"Look at your ears too!" Conner joined in the laughter.

"Well I have the photo now so..." Leo said ripping said photo up.

"That's OK!"

"We have copies!" And away they ran while Leo groaned but at the same time he felt happy. Happy to know he had more friends than just Jason and Piper.

"So..." Frank said awkwardly.

"You're my half brother huh?" Clarisse asked.

"Yeah." This girl made him nervous.

"You don't really look like much... Can you fight?"

"Yes I can fight! Wouldn't have survived long if I couldn't." Frank defended himself.

"Prove it. Next break." Clarisse growled. "Let's see whose better, Ares or Mars."

"Hey Piper! How're things with Jason?" Katie asked.

"Everything's good. Kinda hard to worry about things like that during a war though." Piper sighed.

"Travis and I got together during our first war." Katie informed her.

"You did!?" Piper asked, glad to find someone to talk to.

"Yeah. But he asked me out right before we went into battle." Katie rolled her eyes. "Always doing things the hard way." She sighed with a loving glance towards Travis. "Anyway, he kissed me and I barely had time to react before we were attacked. We only got to talk briefly during the moments when we were being pushed back towards the Empire State Building."

Piper looked at her. It must have been worse for Katie. They were together but unsure if either would survive to see their first date. Piper felt almost guilty that she had time with Jason before they had to be in battle and she spent most of that time worrying!

"How were the two of when everything calmed down?" Piper asked hesitantly.

"We were in shock for a while. Celebrating our victory. Mourning our dead. Happy to still be alive and to have each other. War makes everything different. It was hard to act like a normal couple when we've been through so much. I'm not sure how to explain it." She said sheepishly.

"I think I get it. You mean that when he kissed you, you felt so many emotions and because you thought you might die you told each other how you felt and when the threat was removed you weren't how to act because everything moved so fast."

"Yeah that's exactly it." The two girls smiled at each other as they made their way to the dining pavilion.

"Hey Rachel." Grover said.

"Hey Grover." Rachel said looking around Olympus.

"You've been here before." Grover said noticing that she was looking around at everything they passed.

"Yeah but there was a war going on, I didn't really have time to look at everything now did I? And besides, everyone living here had cleared out and the place was lifeless. Now look at it!" And he did.

The muses sang and danced off to their right in a square that had colourful drawings all over the floor and nearby walls. Minor gods walked around in all their godly beauty and depending on what god they were, they'd give off different scents and emotions.

"Fair enough." Grover sighed as they passed an orchard with some very fresh, juicy fruit on the trees.

"I so want to paint this!" Rachel sighed holding up her thumb to get the angles.

"Right." Grover said.

"So this is Olympus." Jason mused.

"Yeah." Nico replied.

"You know Percy and Thalia quite well don't you?" Jason asked not bothering with small talk. As amazing as Olympus was, there were more important things to Jason.

"Yeah, the two of them, Annabeth and Grover are probably the only people at Camp Half-Blood who don't seem to mind being around me. At Camp Jupiter it was only Hazel and Frank."

"That's not true. I remember when you brought Hazel to camp. I don't pretend to claim that everyone likes you or is comfortable around you, what you represent scares them quite frankly. But to me, you're a kid. Not in a bad way. We're all just kids. You don't creep me out is what I'm trying to say." Jason breathed.

"Thanks. I don't get that a lot. I appreciate it." Nico tried to keep a cool exterior but on the inside he felt almost like crying. He didn't get comments like that all too often. "And for what it's worth, I plan on helping you guys as much as possible to get you to the Doors of Death and the House of Hades."

"Thanks Nico."

"You're welcome."

"Hey Nico, Jason." Hazel interrupted the two boys, saving them from an awkward silence.

"Hey Hazel." They both replied.

"Hey Nico... Hey Jason." Thalia said with false confidence. "Mind if I borrow you Jason?"

"No not at all. What's up Thals?" He said, forgetting that she hadn't met him yet as they walked away.

"Jason..." She started then just gave him a hug. "Gods I've missed you Jason!" Jason looked bewildered. "I thought you were dead!" Suddenly it dawned on him what was going on.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hera gave me to Lupa and I was raised by some legacies at Camp Jupiter. It was... fine. I learned how to fight when I was young. Um... Yeah. It's good to see you too Thals. I missed you so much." He said awkwardly, unsure of what to tell her.

"You remember me? You were so young when you were taken."

"You were the one who raised me, mostly. Mom... I can't remember her."

"She's –"

"Yeah, you told me." They walked along for a while.

"Well this is extremely awkward." Thalia eventually said.

"Extremely." Jason agreed.

"So, what was it like growing up at Camp Jupiter?" Thalia ventured.

"It was weird. For the longest time I couldn't remember mom or that Juno had taken me. I knew the people who raised me were not my family which made me wonder what I did. If ran away or..."

"Like Annabeth." Thalia said. "Not exactly like her, she did run away when she was seven and was practically raised at Camp Half-Blood." Thalia noticed then that Annabeth the whole time had been walking the other way, looking lost in thought.

"Well yeah, when I was about seven or eight Lupa told me what Juno had done and I remembered the rest." Jason continued, pulling Thalia out of her thoughts.

Annabeth walked away from the others. She wasn't hungry. She just wanted Percy.

Absence makes the heart grow stronger

The phrase drifted through her head. Screw you, She thought back.

What absence does to the heart is crush it, turn it into a deep black hole as – in this case – Hera dances over you destroyed soul laughing at what you've become.

Annabeth sat down on the side of a hill and ended up falling into a memory of Percy...

Flashback

"Hey there Wise Girl." A voice said as arms slid around Annabeth's waist.

"Why hello there," She said turning in the pair of strong, tanned arms. She looked up into the face of her boyfriend, Percy Jackson. "Seaweed Brain."

He chuckled and leaned down for a kiss.

"Nuh uh." She said putting a hand on his chest. "I'm busy."

"But Annabeth!" He moaned. "I'm bored." She glared at him. "I didn't mean it like that!" He said, panicked.

"I know." She smiled. "But I really do need to finish these plans. We've got all the time in the world Percy. The war has ended and now we get some down time."

He smiled at her. "Yeah, now we get to do whatever we want to... including kissing."

"No Percy." She laughed. "I'll be finished soon then we can go to dinner and then the campfire."

"Ok Annabeth. I'll go do some training. See you later."

"Bye Percy."

"Bye Annabeth."

End of Flashback

Now she wished she hadn't let him go. That she'd spent every minute she could with him.

"Feeling heartsick?" A voice asked. Annabeth turned around to see Aphrodite, Goddess of Love. "Don't bother denying it. I can feel it." She added.

"Yeah." Annabeth sighed.

"Why do you miss your boyfriend so much? I can sense you haven't seen him in a long time."

"Almost eight months." Annabeth told her. "I miss him because he's my boyfriend and I wish he were here with me."

"Oh I'm sure it's more than that." Aphrodite said. "If you just missed him, you'd be in the dining pavilion having lunch like everyone else. Your thoughts on him every so often. But no, you're here."

"What do you want me to say?" Annabeth said exasperated and frustrated. "Do I miss him? Yes. Do I wish he were here? Yes. Do I think about him almost constantly? Yes. Do I worry about if he's dead or not even though I know he's one of the most powerful people I know? Yes! Okay. Yes." Annabeth took a deep breath holding back tears.

"Yes but why?" Aphrodite pushed.

"Because... because I love him." Annabeth realised.

"Aw! This is my domain now. I just needed you to admit it."

"Your domain?" Annabeth was still reeling from her revelation.

"Goddess of Love! Hello!" Aphrodite smiled. "Now I'm guessing that the boy we're reading about is your boyfriend, is that correct?" Before Annabeth could answer a voice boomed,

"Aphrodite, you better not be filling my daughters head with your drabble."

"Of course not Athena!" Said the perky blonde goddess to the way less perky blonde goddess. "I was simply asking her why she was over here and not in the dining pavilion."

"And I said I wasn't hungry." Annabeth put in.

"So I told her that starving herself won't make her pretty, she's a natural beauty anyway."

"Hmm." Athena said obviously unimpressed.

"Well then." Aphrodite said brushing herself off as she rose. "I'll leave you two to talk. I think they have strawberry shortcake!" And with that she walked off... more like danced off. She was so graceful in her movements it was mesmerising.

"Annabeth." Athena stated.

"Hello mother." Annabeth said. She had received the coin form Minerva not too long ago and was unsure of what to say.

"I can feel the presence of the coin in your pocket." Athena said and there was something Annabeth didn't expect to see in her eyes. Worry and something else. It was remorse. Athena knew that no one had managed to do what the coin represented.

"Yeah. You were caught between the Greek and Roman you." Annabeth told her. "I – I don't know what to do with it. I'll work something out but I can't. Not yet. There's something happening at the moment and I can't – I have other responsibilities that I cannot ignore." Annabeth was expecting her mom to be angry but she wasn't. Athena didn't say a word.

"Mom?" Annabeth eventually asked.

"Go to the dining pavilion. You should eat." Was all Athena said. Annabeth got up and started to walk away. "Annabeth." Athena called out. "I – I understand. I think." She said and then left herself.

Annabeth walked into the dining pavilion a few minutes later. Everyone was half way through their meals. Annabeth saw Jason, Thalia, Nico and Hazel all chatting animatedly. Travis and Katie in their own little bubble. Rachel and Piper laughing. Conner Clarisse and Frank were laughing over a photo while Leo tried to ignore them as he spoke to Grover. As Annabeth walked in Aphrodite gave her a wink from the Olympians table at the head of the pavilion.

Annabeth got her food and sat down next to Thalia and joined in their conversation where she found out they had been sharing embarrassing stories about each other.

Hey guys, most of you want just Percy so it will be just Percy. One person suggested that Percy should be from the fifth or fourth book. I love this idea and was wondering, when should he be from:

Before the books, age 5

Before the book, age 8

Second book

Third book

Fourth book

He will not be from the Fifth book or after! 'kay? ^_^