Hello!

To Alice (Guest): Thank you for the review's. I do like writing poetry but I'm more into the whole writing stories thing. I do plan on writing more Nico-based stories but it all depends on the idea's my brain provides.

Here's some anti-jokes:

What did the lawyer say to the other lawyer? We are both lawyer's.

What's worse than finding a worm in your apple? The Holocaust.

Why did the boy drop his ice cream? A bus hit him.

What is blue and smells like red paint? Blue paint.

Roses are red, Violets are blue, I've got a gun, Get in the van.

What's green and has wheels? Grass, I lied about the wheels.

Why was six afraid of seven? It wasn't. Numbers are sentient and thus incapable of felling fear.

That was fun.

Anyways, I don't own PJO or HoO.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Breathe Again

Sally's POV

Thunder boomed from the storm that was raging outside. It was raining cats and dogs outside. Suddenly I heard someone lightly knock on the door and say," Sally?" just as I took out the fresh batch of blue cookies from the oven.

I quickly went to the door to see who it was. I opened the door to see a soaking wet Annabeth who was shivering and seemed to be crying. "Annabeth? Are you okay? Let me get you a towel." I told her, worried.

"Oh, Sally I-I'm so sorry. P-Percy's g-gone! H-he just disappeared. We all searched for h-him, but we couldn't find him!" Annabeth sobbed. As soon as she said those words my breathing stopped and tear's streamed down my face as I engulfed Annabeth in a hug.

My poor baby's gone. It made it even worse to see that the strong Annabeth was broken.

Every quest and fight Percy had been in was serious, but I had always known where he was, what had happened, and whether or not he was fine. But this time I didn't know anything. I didn't even know if he was alive.

I pulled away from Annabeth and wiped her tears away. She was just as heartbroken as I was. I couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing; good that she loved Percy, bad that she was in the same pain as I was.

I gave her a small pair of Percy's sweat pants, t-shirt, and sweatshirt, which she blushed at. If I weren't so sad I would've teased her a little.

That night she stayed at our home and slept in Percy's room, going to bed early. When she was settled down with some milk I offered her, I went to bed too, but didn't sleep much.

I sobbed a little and when I did finally sleep I dreamt of Percy running from beasts in the shadows until he fell into an abyss, wailing for help. I woke up in cold sweat.

I could only hope that my baby boy was all right. He was clearly old and mature enough to take care for himself, but in my mind he would always be my baby. Nothing would ever change that.

I got out of bed, changed, and made blue pancakes. Percy's favorite… I choked back a sob. I can't keep crying.

Percy has always come back. He would never abandon us like this. I must hold onto hope.

So when Annabeth got up, she had breakfast and kept me company for a little while longer before she left saying she was going to go search for Percy and then return to camp.

I later found out she took Percy's sweatshirt. I laughed at that.

Two days later Paul came back from his fishing trip, very happy that he caught two trout's all by himself, but when he saw my expression and heard the news, there was no happy left.

So for a few months it continued like that. I was very sad and worried, but every once in a while I would smile or laugh, but mostly I just worried for my son.

At some point Annabeth Iris-messaged me saying she had gotten a vision of Percy. He seemed fine.

My hopes that he would return soon grew stronger.

And then I got a call, early morning, from him, and I regrettably didn't answer it. I remembered what he said, word-for-word. "Mom. Hey, I'm alive. Hera put me to sleep for a while, and she took my memory, and… Anyway, I'm okay. I'm sorry. I'm on a quest- I'll make it home. I promise. Love you."

He had gone through so much already, killed so many monsters, defeated gods and titans, had many life or death experiences, and had turned down god-ship to do what's right for others (even though that wasn't the only reason), and now he was on another quest.

Hero's never get a brake, do they?

I called Annabeth as soon as I heard the voicemail.

One day I got an unexpected Iris-message from a serious looking Annabeth while I was washing dishes. "Annabeth! You almost gave me a heart-attack!" I told her.

"Sorry Sally. Are you okay?" Annabeth asked me with a worried expression.

"I'm fine, just scared me is all. I'm just wondering what you doing here."

"Yeah, about that…I've got some good and bad news for you."

"Give it to me straight dear." I said thinking," What's the bad news?"

Annabeth inhaled deeply before saying," We know where Percy is, but it isn't exactly a very safe place for us Greeks. He's at a Roman camp somewhere in San Francisco, and as you know-"

"Romans and Greeks don't mix well." I finished for her.

She just nodded sadly. "So why don't you go get him?" I asked, worried.

"We have to build the Argo II first. For a quest that we'll have to go on soon after we reunite with him. And the Argo II will take about two months to build."

"He'll be fine then. He's always come back, no matter what." I said certain of it and smiled at her.

Annabeth smiled at me sadly before saying," One last thing Sally."

"Yes Annabeth?"

"There is a possibility he might not remember us."

"He'll remember. He won't let us down." I said with much confidence. Hope had boosted my confidence in Percy's return.

And then the day came that another person lightly knocked on the door but this time I heard," Mom?" I ran to the front door dropping the book I was reading on the floor, tears of happiness in my eyes. My hope of his return was almost bursting at this point. Could it really be my baby boy, Percy?

I opened the door to find that yes, it was the boy I had raised and was so proud of, holding the hand of a smiling Annabeth. I hesitantly reached for his face to make sure he was real and I wasn't dreaming.

My hope of his return burst, for it was no longer needed.

He had come back and I could finally breathe again.

Word count: 1,028

Man I love Sally, she's the best. I hope I didn't make too many mistakes.

If you liked it please review.

PS I might continue doing jokes/anti-jokes...