Percy's eyes opened slowly, the sea green orbs staring blankly at a wooden ceiling.

He remained motionless, attempting to get a bearing on his situation. His midsection was aching; he felt like he'd been run over by a steamroller. His throat was sore, and it hurt to breathe. But he focused on his breaths, trying to clear up the fog in his mind. He listed what he knew:

Grover, Nico, and himself had been going… somewhere. A monster attacked. Grover and Nico took the worst- they were unconscious. Percy killed it. He'd passed out and woke up in a bed-

He sat up with a jolt. He hadn't slept in a bed in years.

Where was he?

He looked around what appeared to be some sort of sick bay. Several beds were laid in a row, fitted with white sheets. He seemed to be the only one in this room. Looking down at himself, Percy realized he was covered in bandages and wearing a bright orange T-shirt reading Camp Half Blood across the chest.

Camp.

So this was the camp Grover had been talking about.

A door opened and a girl around Percy's age walked in. She was tall and muscular, with curly blonde hair and piercing gray eyes. She wore a shirt identical to Percy's, and jean shorts with a bronze dagger at her hip.

The boy stared at her as she sat down on the bed across from him.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi," he answered.

"I'm Annabeth," she introduced herself quickly, not bothering with small talk. "You've made quite the first impression, slaying the Minotaur and all."

Percy remained silent, the memories flooding back to him. He must have made quite the sight, stumbling blindly into camp in a torn, bloody Burger King uniform with an unconscious satyr and Nico in tow.

"Nico." He said. It wasn't a question.

"That boy you came with? He's in the other room." She explained. "You both were pretty beat up. You had a few broken ribs."

"Had?" Percy's ribcage still hurt like crazy, but it definitely wasn't broken.

"We fixed it. It's only bruised now." Annabeth studied him. "Aside from that, you were malnourished, half-deaf, dehydrated, and exhausted."

"Tell me something I don't know." He was struggling to wrap his mind around everything. How had they healed him so quickly? He was about to ask just this, when he heard it.

"No! No! PERCY!"

By the last syllable, he was already out of bed and running towards the door. He didn't listen to Annabeth, who yelled for him to stop, nor the little voice in the back of his mind telling him that he shouldn't be doing this. That he was hurt, and Nico was hurt, and they both needed to rest. That going in there might escalate the situation even further.

All of a sudden there were three pairs of hands holding him back, and voices in his ear trying to calm him down.

"Let me go!" Percy struggled, but it was no use. He wasn't in any condition to fight back.

"You should listen to him, Annabeth." Grover appeared in the doorway, looking fine minus a bandage around his head. He had ditched his human disguise, wearing nothing but a Camp Halfblood T-shirt and his cap. "I've been with them a while...they need to see each other."

Annabeth looked from Grover to Percy, who was breathing heavily, his eyes wild as he listened to Nico scream and call for him desperately.

"Please, just… let me see him." He pleaded, his voice cracking.

After a couple seconds, Annabeth nodded at the campers holding him back, and they released him. Without wasting a second, he was through the door separating the two rooms. There were a few campers surrounding Nico, who was struggling to get out of the cot into which he'd been put. The campers were trying unsuccessfully to calm him and, alarmed, gaped at Percy when he burst in, but Annabeth shook her head.

In a daze, Percy waded through the campers to Nico, collapsing by his side.

"It's okay, Nico, I-I'm here." His words were muffled as he buried his face in his friend's shirt. "I'm here. It's okay. Everything's okay."

He sounded just as broken and exhausted as Nico felt. Percy could feel the boy grasping at his shoulders and gripping his face, as if he were trying to make sure he was really there.

"Percy," Nico breathed shakily, tears stinging his eyes. "I-I thought you were dead...never scare me like that again."

Percy took his hands in his own, smiling tiredly despite the scare he'd just had.

"Don't worry, I won't," he promised, voice shaky. "I won't leave you. It'll take more than an overgrown hamburger to take me down." He just wanted to wrap his arms around Nico, but the boy's chest was heavily bandaged and he didn't want to hurt him further. "How are you feeling? Are you okay?" He glanced at the campers, who seemed frozen. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Yes." Annabeth was the only one who answered, seemingly unfazed by this emotional reunion. "It was a nasty gash, but it's probably closed by now. Both of you should be as good as new by tomorrow if you rest."

Percy inhaled slowly, still mystified at how they had been healed so quickly.

"Okay, thanks. Thank you." He tousled Nico's hair affectionately, but he hadn't let go of Percy or even loosened his grip. If anything he just clung to him tighter. Nico couldn't help but smile when Percy did, though he didn't fully believe that they'd be okay.
When were they ever okay? Since when did they have the good fortune, or even the good karma to get to this seemingly perfect oasis of safety? It just didn't seem right.

Percy clearly didn't care about that; he was so desperate for some sense of relief he instantly accepted that they'd be safe now.

"Hear that? We're going to be okay!" He was just so relieved to see Nico that nothing else seemed to matter, not even when he realized that many of the campers were watching them with odd expressions.

"Alright, everyone. Show's over." Annabeth began to clear the campers out. She glanced at Nico and Percy. "You two should rest. Once you're better, you'll need to see the camp director."

The way she said it sounded ominous, but Percy couldn't care less. He felt like he could take on a whole herd of Minotaurs.

"Okay, but I'm not leaving this room," he said firmly, tightening his grip on Nico when he felt him stiffen slightly. While the younger boy didn't want to look weak in front of all these new people, he cut himself some slack considering the situation.
But he was frowning at Annabeth, and the way she and the other campers were looking at them. He tugged on Percy's shirt lightly.

"W-why is she looking at us like that?" he whispered fearfully. He could practically feel her eyes boring into his back and he couldn't help but wonder if the 'campers' might be monsters. Those cheerleaders from before hadn't looked like monsters; they'd looked like normal girls. Maybe Percy didn't see it because they'd put a spell over him again? No: he couldn't have another hypnotized Percy drooling over girls.

The longer Nico watched, the more monster he could see in these kids. Long fingernails morphed into talons, braces turning into fangs. As the camper came closer, he turned around and grasped Percy's shirt desperately.

"P-Percy, y-you have to listen to me." His voice was hushed and urgent. "T-they're monsters, Percy! Just like before- they're gonna k-kill us, you-" just then, the camper put a hand on Nico's shoulder and started to pull him away from Percy.

Nico jerked away, a shout escaping his lips as he violently shoved the camper away from him.

Percy realized what was happening too late, and protectively pulled his friend close before he could hurt himself. The wound on his chest had begun to bleed again with his writhing as he struggled against the older boy holding him tight, and Percy looked up at the campers watching in shock, his eyes narrowed.

"Get out."

"Percy," Annabeth started, "Please, let us help, he's bleeding-"

"I said, get out!" Percy hissed. "Don't you see? This is too much. I-I never should have brought him here." He broke off, his eyes shut tightly. He couldn't break down now- Nico needed him.

"You heard him, everyone out."

Feet shuffled on wooden floorboards as people who shouldn't have been there in the first place left. The door clicked shut, and Percy and Nico were alone.

"Nico?" He wasn't sure if Nico could hear him or not. "Nico, it's okay. It's Percy. We're safe. There aren't any monsters here, I promise." He should have told them not to overwhelm Nico. He'd been through so much already, and he was still so young…

"Please, Nico...please..."

But once Nico was responsive, he just started panicking again. He turned fear-filled eyes to Percy as he looked over him frantically, searching for any wounds. He caught sight of the blood smeared on the other's shirt, and his heart practically leapt from his chest.

"Percy! Y-you…the monsters…" He trailed off as he saw that they were alone in the room and he took a minute to regain a sense of his surroundings. Percy was holding him close, sitting on the floor by the bed. They were completely alone, the only sound was Percy's quiet murmurs of comfort.

No monsters. Just Percy.

Nico started shaking until finally, he broke. He hunched over, holding his face in his hands as he kept shaking his head over and over.

Percy just held Nico, gently rubbing his back like he used to when they were younger.

"It's okay. There aren't any monsters here," he soothed gently, "do you remember what Grover told us? The borders are magic, so monsters can't get in. We don't have to worry about them anymore."

He made sure his voice wasn't condescending. Nico had every right to be worried; paranoid, even, about the threat of monsters. He just wanted him to know that they were safe.

"They can heal us here, and you won't be sick anymore. You won't ever go hungry again, either. No more begging or stealing to make ends meet. We'll be safe and healthy, and we'll stay together." He still couldn't believe they'd had the good luck to find this place. Whether or not they stayed here permanently, he was convinced that this would be good for them.

"We don't have to stay here forever, though, if you don't want to." He said softly. "If you want, we can leave after we're better. There's no pressure to make a choice now."

Nico kept shaking his head as Percy talked because he knew it wasn't true. There was no way that they were really safe. Things couldn't just be perfect, they couldn't just get healed and eat and live here and everything would be fine. No. That wasn't possible.

After everything that they'd been through, why were things suddenly turned around? After everything that they'd endured, it couldn't all be over - it couldn't all be for nothing, just at the drop of a hat.

This couldn't be right.

"No!" He couldn't do this. It wasn't fair to Percy. For the past three years, all Nico had done was cause more problems, stress, and work for Percy. He couldn't ask him to leave the one place he believed was safe, just because he didn't like it. He couldn't keep doing this to him.

He shook his head into Percy's chest, shaking with tears he refused to let flow. "No…I-I'm sorry…"

Dammit.

Last time Nico had ignored his instincts, Percy had ended up with a broken arm from a monster disguised as a mailman. But now, when he followed his instincts, this mess was the result. He felt like a fool. Like a child. Why was he so paranoid all of a sudden? He'd been fine dealing with monsters and waking up with Percy for years, but all of a sudden he just snaps? It didn't make sense. But, admittedly, Nico wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Hey, it's okay." Percy wrapped his arms around Nico gently. He desperately wanted this all to work out. He didn't want to go back to the life they had before, the life where he had to watch Nico get hurt and sick and go hungry and freeze out on the streets with nothing he could do about it.

"I'm with you, okay?" He could sense Nico had calmed down a bit, but they were both wrecks. "One of the campers, Annabeth...she said we should go talk to their camp director. We can see if this place is legit. And if it is, we can go check out the camp, see if we want to stay."

They had a plan- that was good. Percy felt a little less helpless with something to do. The door cracked open and Grover peeked in, his eyes full of nothing but concern.

"Uhm, hey guys, a-are you okay?"

While Nico used to be suspicious of the satyr, now he was the only one they knew and could trust at this place, so he nodded tiredly and sniffed again. Grover shifted nervously, motioning outside.

"Uh, Chiron wanted to see you," he said awkwardly, glancing behind him. "I can show you guys to the big house?" Nico glanced at Percy and sighed defeatedly. It just wouldn't be fair to Percy - it would be cruel to take him away from this place, to take away the safety he might finally have.

So he nodded to Grover and stood up, using the bed to pull himself up. Percy stood up quickly, holding out a hand hesitantly in case Nico was unsteady. That just got him a glare and a few half-hearted grumbled insults that made Percy snort. That was the Nico he knew.

"Ready?" Grover asked them and Percy nodded, then looked to Nico. He squeezed his hand gently.

"Ready?"
Nico nodded.

"Ready."