A/N: so...what's up? yes, i know i'm late, and i'm so sorry. starting my third fanfic took more time then i would have thought, but i'm back, so pleeeeeaaase don't be angry with me.

for those of you who enjoyed the action at the end of last chapter, you're going to love this chapter.

so, finally, enjoy...


Third Time's a Charm

"You have got to be shitting me."

"Nico…"

"You have got to be shitting me."

"Nico, for the love of Hermes-"

"He's back already?! That's just not fair! It's only been three freakin' years! It's not-"

"Di Angelo!" Thalia swung around, voice sharp and loud. "Can it or I'll wire your damn jaw shut."

Nico quelled at the force of the glare Thalia gave him. He shuffled his feet around before murmuring quietly, "I'm just saying is all."

"We know, Nico," Annabeth said. "But you need to calm down. It was just a message, from the way it was sent I'd wager Kronos is still very much trapped in Tartarus."

Luke nodded. "And without a human contact on the outside, it'll be loads harder than it was last time."

"Mmm," Percy hummed. "The problem is that we can't be sure he doesn't have someone already helping him." The five of them were currently en route to Sally and Paul's apartment. "This definitely needs to be reported to Chiron and Mr. D back camp."

"Send a message on ahead to Grover through your empathy link. Tell him we'll be coming to camp as soon as possible."

"Can't. We canceled that before I went to Tartarus, remember?"

Though for whatever reason we cannot imagine. It would have done us a world of good to have someone else share our experience. Percy closed his eyes.

Shut up.

Such relief we would have experience, knowing we weren't suffering alone.

I said shut up! And stop talking like that.

"What do you think, Percy?" Thalia was looking at him expectantly.

"Hmm? What?"

"I asked if you think we should just head back there right away or send an iris message?"

Percy hesitated. On one hand, he really wanted to spend more time in New York, enjoying his newfound freedom. On the other, Chiron needed to be notified immediately, and it was better for them to report on the situation in person rather then through an Iris Message. He sighed heavily. "Let's stop back at the apartment, grab out stuff and head back to camp." Thalia nodded before turning on her heel and marching off. Nico caught up to her and they began a slightly heated conversation. Luke, sensing that things could go very, very wrong if someone didn't monitor the two half-bloods, moved forward until he was directly behind them.

Annabeth dropped back a few steps, until she was next to Percy. She looked at him in concern. "Are you ok, Percy? That's the second time today you've spaced out like that."

Percy started for a second, surprised she had caught his slip when he had been arguing with the voice. Said voice hissed at Annabeth's question. "Still can't fool you, can I?"

She gave him a small smile. "You may have changed, Seaweed Brain, but I can still read you like an open book."

Something inside of Percy warmed to these words. He found it comforting that she still understood him to this extent. Not to mention hearing his old nickname from her mouth brought forth feelings and memories of a happier time gone by. He grinned at her before looking to the sky and pulling his jacket tighter about him. "I'm fine," he lied. The voice purred its approval. "Just a little worn out, I guess. Jolted by the whole Kronos thing."

"Percy…" She stared at him for a moment before stated in a rather flat voice, "You can't lie to me, you know?"

Percy nearly face-planted. "Dammit, Wise Girl, quit being so smart." He froze and his eyes widened with the realization of what he had just said. He hadn't even meant to. It had just slipped out by accident. It had just felt so natural, using her nickname.

Annabeth had stopped too. She had caught it as well. Her heart had leapt at those words. Wise Girl. It had been so long since anyone had called her that, and now, to hear them again, from his lips. It felt like someone had just slapped home the last piece of an extremely large and arduous jigsaw puzzle. Like she had just put the finishing touches on the new Olympus. Like…like…she didn't know how else to describe it. All she knew is that she had been waiting without really knowing for him to say those words, and now that he had, she felt like she felt like she could build a city. By herself. Without blueprints. "Percy," she breathed, hesitating for a second. She didn't know what to tell him, but she needed to tell him something, didn't she? His green eyes were so expectant, eyebrows slight raised, mouth half open. "Percy, I-"

"What are you two doing back there? You making out?" Thalia suddenly called out from up ahead.

Annabeth and Percy each took a startled step back, suddenly realizing they had gotten closer without either of them knowing it. Despite the blush beginning to creep up her neck, Annabeth turned with an angry expression to Thalia, beginning in a scathing tone, "Thalia Grace, I swear to the gods-" her words died in her throat though, and her attention shifted to the black shape barreling through traffic straight at them. Thalia, Nico and Luke hadn't noticed, having turned their attention back to their own little group after Thalia's comment. Percy hadn't seen it either, his eyes focused intently on the items behind the glass on the closest storefront.

"Di Immortales!" Annabeth swore as she burst into action, dropping low and swinging her leg around. She caught Percy in the back of the knees, and he crashed to the ground, looking for all the world as is somebody had just walked up out of nowhere and slapped him with a fish. Annabeth rolled to the side as the black shadow leapt at them. It soared between them harmlessly, and Annabeth got a good solid look at it. Razor sharp claws, red eyes. Another Hellhound. What is Hades?

It seemed Percy had become aware of the situation, for he suddenly sprung to his feet. It also seemed he was done playing around, as the next second Annabeth saw Riptide grow in his hands. He stepped forward and slashed low, taking off the Hellhound's front legs as it turned around. It collapsed, snarling viciously as its face bounced on the hard concrete. One quick stab later and Percy was standing over nothing more than a golden pile of dust.

"Percy!" Annabeth called out in warning, and the son of Poseidon spun around just in time to duck another charging Hellhound.

"What in Poseidon's name?" he murmured. Three Hellhounds in one day? Something was very very wrong. He turned to warn Thalia, Nico, and Luke, and suddenly realized just how bad their situation was. Surrounded by Manticores, Hellhounds, and Empousai, the three demigods were having a battle of their own. The Hellhound in front of him leapt again, and Percy sidestepped swiftly to avoid the claws. He rammed Riptide into the beast's side, and it exploded about his sword. He turned, ready for the next attack, when something slammed into his stomach and sent him careening into the street, his blade slipping from his grasp.

A Dracaenae had slithered up behind him, unnoticed, and struck him with her tail. She now loomed over him, sword held back and poised to gut him alive. She began to strike, but suddenly emitted an ear-piercing shriek and dropped her sword so that she could clutch at her chest, from where a small bronze blade was jutting. She disappeared the next second, revealing a crouched Annabeth, her baseball cap sliding from her head to the ground beside her. She righted herself and held out a hand, which Percy gladly accepted. She pulled him to his feet before snatching her hat up again and disappearing from sight.

Percy reached to his pocket to find that Riptide had already returned. He uncapped it and turned to face his next opponent, an Empousai, fiery hair blazing and bronze legs glinting. The blow to his abdomen was still throbbing, but it would be doing that forever now. Besides, the rest of his body was in enough pain that he barely even registered it anymore, it had become the norm to him. That's one thing that Kronos had given him; an undeniably massive tolerance of pain. The Empousai charged, and Percy easily parried her strike before decapitating her. Kronos should've known better, this was too easy.

Something slammed into Percy's back, knocking him off balance for a second. He turned to find Nico stumbling to his feet, holding his head. "Sorry, Percy," he groaned. "Damned Manticore, you know how it is."

Percy nodded. "Do we even have a clue what's going on?"

Nico gave him a look. "I thought it was quite clear that Kronos is trying to kill us with minions."

"No, it's too light of an attack for that." As if to prove his point, a storm drain suddenly blasted upward on a spout of water. The water swirled around a few times before lancing out at any nearby monsters.

Should've done that from the beginning.

Shut up, I don't use my powers if I can help it.

That's quite pathetic of us, isn't it? We're a demigod, we should use our powers anytime we see an opportunity. Percy shunted aside the voice and tried to ignore it. He turned his attention back to Nico, who was summoning skeletal warriors from a fissure in the ground. "The point is that if he wanted to kill us, he's be sending stronger creatures. Ones who stood more of a chance against us. Maybe even Titans. I mean, seriously, we have a child of each of the Big Three here, on top of an essentially invincible demigod, and another that can turn invisible. A few Hellhounds and Dracaenae aren't going to be bringing us down anytime soon."

Nico contemplated that for a second. "That's a good point, but still, one way or another…" he reached up and grabbed the back of Percy's neck and pulled, forcing him to duck. A blade went whistling through the space Percy's skull had just occupied. Nico sent a blast of flame into the Dracaenae's face. "We need to be careful, or it could kill us."

Percy sent a water spearing lancing over Nico's shoulder, impaling a Hellhound in mid-leap. He smirked at the young son of Hades. "Careful, right." Nico huffed before trotting back to the other demigods, Percy in tow. "How's everyone holding?"

"Perfect, Seaweed Brain," Thalia grunted as she narrowly avoided a Hellhound's lunge and rammed an arrow into its eye socket, turning it into a fine shower of golden dust. "Abso-fucking-lutely perfect," she spit through clenched teeth, notching the arrow before letting it fly, downing another enemy. "There's nothing I adore more than getting ambushed in the middle of New York City by a bunch of mythical beasts."

"I thought you lived for this stuff anymore?"

"I live for the hunt, not the fight for survival."

"Ah, you have to realize those are pretty much synonyms to me at this point. I hunt down monsters so I don't die."

"Guys, honestly," Luke cut in. "We're kinda-" he stopped abruptly as he bent over backward to avoid a sword. He came back up stabbing, striking the Empousai through the heart. "-in the middle of a battle here, stop chitchatting," he continued.

"Eyes up!" Nico called, drawing Percy's attention to the sky. Above them, swooping down with bloodcurdling screams, were what appeared to be three winged women made of stretched leather…and ugly, a whole lot of ugly. They dove low, raking their claws over the assembled half-bloods.

Percy heard a sharp intake of breath as one of the razor sharp talons caught Nico's shoulder, opening a large gash in the skin. She didn't get away though. Nico grabbed her retreating foot his left hand while summoning his Stygian Iron sword in a twist of flame in his other. He stabbed her in the chest, and fire burst from the wound, consuming the creature in a second.

"Shit," Nico cursed, his hand covering his bleeding shoulder. "That stings."

"Harpies," Luke mused. "That's new." Said creatures were looping around for another pass.

"Dibs on the right one," Thalia said, before launching at a volley of arrows at her claimed target. The Harpy twisted and dodged, managing to avoid all but two of the arrows, which tore holes through her wings. She screeched and pitched forward even faster. Thalia just smirked. A straight path, easily predictable speed. Perfect.

There was a bright flash, and the Harpy barely managed a small "Keh?" before a lightning bolt ripped through her abdomen, instantly vaporizing her.

"Headshot, bitch," Thalia smiled.

"Actually, it was more of an ab- Oof!" Nico doubled over where Thalia had struck his stomach, knocking the air out of him.

"Headshot."

Nico nodded, eyes watering from lack of air. "Headshot," he gasped.

"We can count points later, Thalia," Percy interrupted, "focus on those monsters. As for that last Harpy-"

"I've got it," Annabeth's voice came from behind him. "Duck."

Percy didn't even hesitate. He found it amazing that, even after all this time and despite the barrier that had grown between them, he still trusted her without a second thought. Percy bent his knees and placed his hands on the ground, looking like a track runner waiting for the crack of the starting pistol. He felt a brief pressure on his back before it lifted off. Halfway though her leap, the wind pulled Annabeth's hat off again. As she became visible again, the Harpy began frantically flapping its wings, trying to cancel its momentum toward the demigod, hideous face mutated even worse by the fear pulling at it.

Annabeth sunk the knife's blade into the Harpy's forehead. Then, using the handle as a pivot point, she flipped herself up and over the Harpy, slamming it into the ground beneath her when she landed. The creature literally exploded into a cloud of dust.

Percy gave a low whistle. "Showing off a bit are we?"

She gave him a small smile. "Feeling a tad jealous maybe?" Percy merely motioned behind her with Riptide. She turned, instinctively raising her knife to stop an incoming blow, but found that her opponent had already been blocked by a wall of water. As Annabeth watched, the water sunk through the Hellhound's fur and into its skin. The beast looked confused for a moment, and then it exploded, the water inside of it tearing to the surface at a frightening velocity, scattering bits it everywhere. She stared for a second before something nudged her arm, and she looked to find her New York Yankees cap floating next to her, held up by a tendril of water.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at Percy as she swiped her hat off of the water. "Now who's showing off?"

He shrugged. "You started it."

She rolled her eyes before donning her hat again and disappearing. Percy smirked. Who said fighting for your life couldn't be fun. Well, most people did, but Percy chose to ignore that. If he didn't have fun while keeping himself alive, well then, he'd never have any time for fun would he?

You could've had three years if those failures of gods hadn't imprisoned you.

Percy stumbled, nearly impaling himself on a Dracaenae's sword. He recovered and cleaved the snake-women in two.

Hades, can't you even let me fight in peace?

The voice continued as if it hadn't heard him. Just think what those three years would have been like. It was then that Percy realized the voice was different. Before, it had always sounded mocking or playful, or just plain sarcastic. But now it sounded serious, and somehow darker than ever. It was also using pronouns correctly. Three years they took from you, from us. Three years they filled with pain and torment.

What's gotten into you?

What's gotten into me? No, I don't think that's the right thing to ask. The real question, Percy, is what's gotten into you?

Pain lanced up Percy's spine, spreading out through his whole body. His vision became nothing but a blinding white. He collapsed to his knees, mouth open in a silent scream. And then, quick as it had come, the light began to fade. Percy's vision slowly returned, and he found himself staring up into grey eyes filled with worry. Annabeth's mouth moved, but Percy couldn't hear her over the ringing in his ears. The whole thing was rather like being hit by a flash bang grenade, some part of his mind noted. Except the pain. The pain was still there, pulsing through his system with every beat of his heart.

What did you do to me?! But the voice didn't reply. Instead, Percy felt something inside of him shift in response to his question. Something dark. Something he was frightened of. But he ignored it, he couldn't be bothered with it now, he'd sort it out later.

He pulled himself into a sitting position as sound slowly returned to his world. He heard people screaming, something he hadn't noticed before, probably because he had been too engrossed in the fight. The next thing that managed to penetrate his brain was Annabeth's voice.

"-rcy."

"What?"

"Are you all right, Percy?" She placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. "You just suddenly collapsed and-"

"'m fine," he mumbled, clumsily standing. He scooped Riptide up off the ground and shook his head, doing his best to clear it. He could see that at this rate he and his friends might actually lose There seemed to be no end to the multitude of enemies they were cutting down. Seriously, when had Kronos gathered so many minions?

Percy split an Empousai in half before bashing a Dracaenae over the head. They could probably last the fight out, provided that their enemies remained only these smaller monsters and nothing huge came.

As if on cue, there was a mighty roar, a throaty bellow that shook the ground and sent several cars alarms blaring. Percy froze. He knew that roar. He slowly turned toward the source of the noise, and spotted what he had hoped wouldn't be there. At the end of the block, decked out in gold battle armor and wielding a double-headed axe that could probably chop a building in half, stood one of Percy's oldest foes.

The Minotaur.

"For Poseidon's sake," Percy breathed. This was getting out of hand. "Guys, we have to retreat."

Nico was staring at the Minotaur. "No kidding."

"So it's an overgrown bull, what's the big deal? You've already killed it twice haven't you?"

"In one-on-one combat, and each time I was fairly lucky to come out unscathed."

"This probably means that Kronos is going to start sending the big hitters," Annabeth said. "Percy's right, we need to bail."

"Well, oh great daughter of Athena, how would you suggest doing that? I'm fairly certain they'll catch us if we just high tail it down the street."

Annabeth opened her mouth, most likely to describe an incredibly brilliant and complex escape plan, but was drowned out by another earth-shattering bellow from the Minotaur. He pointed at Percy, and seemed to almost smirk.

"He wants me," Percy said, coming to a sudden realization. "This is all because of me."

Annabeth didn't like the tone of his voice. "Percy…?"

But just then the Minotaur began to charge, knocking aside cars and whatever else was in its way. Newspapers went flying like confetti when it barreled through a kiosk. An idea formed itself in Percy's mind, almost out of nowhere, born of desperation and maybe a dash of reckless stupidity. But that was kinda his calling card wasn't it? He waited until he saw the Minotaur pass a particularly large shadow, and he whistled.

The Minotaur didn't have a clue what hit him, or why he went careening into a building, his charge stopped cold. Percy smirked, that'd leave the bastard dazed for a while. Percy patted his leg, and over trotted Mrs. O'Leary, tongue lolling out and tail wagging furiously from side to side. "Good girl," Percy said as he patted her head. "Good girl." Percy turned to the group of demigods. "Everybody, onto Mrs. O'Leary, now."

"Bwha-"

"Smart, Percy," Nico cut off Thalia. "Shadow travel."

Percy nodded. "C'mon, while there's a lull, everybody up." Nico swung up first, followed by Thalia and Luke. Percy gave Annabeth a small boost, and she didn't even bother to tell him she was perfectly capable on her own. She was still too worried by his earlier comment.

She held out a hand. "C'mon, Percy." Percy gave her a small, sad smile, and suddenly she knew why she hadn't liked his earlier tone; it was the one he had used in Mt. St. Helens, right before he told her to leave without him.

"Nico," Percy looked at him. "Take them straight back to camp and get help. Get your stuff from the apartment later."

"Percy," Luke was frowning, "what exactly are you planning?"

"I'm staying here."

"Like Hades you are!" Thalia exclaimed. "Quit being such a self-sacrificing idiot."

"They're after me, Thal. Not you guys. You don't need to suffer because of me. Beside, the Minotaur is my archenemy."

"Percy…" Annabeth began, and Thalia had taken in another large, angry breath in order to continue her rant. Percy gave Nico a warning look, then gave Mrs. O'Leary a large slap on the backside. The Hellhound gave a small yelp and exploded into motion, sprinting toward the side of a building. Nico swore, and the group as a whole vanished inside of a shadow.

Percy breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were safe now. Safe from the Minotaur and Kronos' minions. But, more importantly, Percy thought as he felt that dangerous something move inside of him again, they're safe from me. He heard the shifting of rubble and stones and turned to face the Minotaur, now extracted from the bus-sized hole it had punched through the stone building. Its dazed glance settled on him and focused somewhat. The bull-man threw out its chest and roared one more time, causing the monsters around Percy to back off; they didn't want to get in between the Minotaur and his prey.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Percy called out, almost jokingly. "You still sore from getting your ass kicked by me twice?"

The Minotaur snorted and hefted his battleaxe.

"Alright you stupid mountain of fur. Care for one more dance?"

The Minotaur scraped his foot backward along the road, kicking up dust.

Percy lifted Riptide and assumed a battle stance. "Round three, start."


A/N: so there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. not a lot of plot this time, but a crap ton of action, and an old enemy. i bet a lot of you are hating me for leaving that a cliffie XD. i promise that the next update will be faster than this one was. if it isn't then may Zeus strike me down *pulls out a lightning rod and places it on roof of building*

Anyway, review guys! let me know what you think, i thrive on feedback.

PS- I'd just like to say i love you all. i didn't expect my story to gather this many fans, and i can't even begin to tell you how awesome you all are. keep doing what you do, you kick ass.