Heya people. As always: Reviews, constructive criticism and ideas are much appreciated. Flames will be laughed at. Possible minor HoH spoilers and OOC. I would still appreciate any help with the prophecy that anyone out there could offer, me and my Beta are working on it. Oh and while I'm thinking about it: any New Yorkers that are reading this (or anyone else that knows), are all the places Riordan mentions real? aside form CHB obviously (and sadly). And so, with no further ado: here's the 14th instalment of To Hell And Back.

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"Hey Chiron," Percy said blankly.

"Come, I hope you've prepared yourself." Chiron said with a wry smile before leading the pair of demigods back to camp. As they made their way into camp Percy could hear Peleus whining at the loss of Percy's touch.

The trio got many stares on their way to the Big House, the younger campers wondering who the dark haired man was and the older campers looking in wonder at Percy as though they couldn't believe their eyes. Mutterings arose from the onlookers as word began to spread that Percy Jackson was back. The first to confront Percy was Jason.

"Perce? Is that really you?" The son of Jupiter said as he stood in front of Percy. Percy looked over at Jason and was surprised by how little he had changed; he looked like a man now, and had light stubble on his chin like he hadn't shaved for a couple days.

"Jason, get the cabin counselors, please. Tell them to meet in the Big House."

"But-" He began to protest.

"Now Jason." The son of Jupiter nodded and left with one last look at Percy. As he walked through the door, Percy sighed and muttered to himself.

"And let the questions begin…"

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Just a few minutes later, the cabin counselors began arriving. First was Piper who squealed with happiness as soon as she saw Percy. Piper looked much the same as she did two years ago, but Percy immediately noticed her confidence. It was easily visible in the way she carried herself but it was even more noticeable in the fact that she was no longer trying to play down her looks, and the result was breathtaking. The only word to describe her was beautiful.

"Percy!" She practically screamed before launching herself at Percy, taking him in a massive hug that knocked the son of Poseidon to the ground with a grunt of pain and discomfort at the sudden contact. Percy awkwardly hugged her back briefly before climbing to his feet,

"Hey… Piper" He said uncomfortably, casting his eyes away. Piper examined him closely for a minute. The more she looked, the more worried she became,

"What happened down there, Percy?" she asked quietly.

"A lot." Was the son of Poseidon's brief reply. Before Piper could protest, the door swung open and Clarisse walked in. The daughter of Ares looked very similar to the last time Percy had seen her. The only thing that Percy could see that was different was her expression; she no longer was looking at everyone like she wanted to fight them. Make no mistake, she still loved fighting but she wasn't going around challenging everyone that she met, anymore.

"P-Percy?" the daughter of the War God stood speechless by the door, her mouth gaping open.

"Careful Clarisse, you might catch flies." Percy said completely straight-faced. Clarisse just sat at the table, still gaping at him. The next to walk in were Travis and Conner Stoll. Percy braced himself and the Stolls didn't disappoint.

"Percy!" Both of the brothers jumped at Percy and hugged him from each side, one from the right and the other from the left, pinning his arms to his side. Percy had no idea who was who: they were both the same height now but the one on the left had slightly longer hair. That was the only difference in their appearances. Percy squirmed uncomfortably as their tight grip reminded him painfully of some of his tortures in Tartarus.

"Dude!" shouted the one on the left.

"You're back!" yelled the one on the right.

"He's back!" The brothers shouted joyfully at the same time as they jumped up and down still hugging Percy between them. Percy was shaking with the memories and was just about to forcefully end the contact when he was cut off.

"Stoll!" Yelled a slightly annoyed voice, and Percy knew immediately that Katie had arrived. Percy looked towards the door with a silent plea in his eyes and Katie just laughed, whacked both Stolls over the head before grabbing the longer haired one and slapping him. She then pushed them over to the table and they both sat down. That must be Travis, Percy thought to himself as he took a deep breath. He still wasn't fully recovered and he really didn't enjoy physical contact, especially when it was as exuberant as the Stolls.

"Percy, it's so good to see you!" Katie exclaimed as lightly hugged Percy, realizing that he was still recovering from the Stolls greeting.

"It's good to see you too, Katie." Percy said genuinely. Katie let go and walked over to Travis. She planted a small kiss on his lips before sitting in his lap

"You two finally got together huh?" Percy asked, even though the answer was sitting right in front of him,

"Yeah, when we lost you it really put things into perspective and we just went for it." Katie said quietly, just then the door burst open again and Jason marched in. For a second Percy wasn't sure if Jason was going to hug him or punch him. Jason wordlessly stormed towards him and bear hugged him so big that Percy was lifted off his feet; he was a lot lighter considering he hadn't eaten for two years in Tartarus. Percy grunted in pain and shoved Jason back.

"Perce," Jason muttered. "You're back." Tears threatened to spill from Jason's eyes but he fought them back and stood back as though he were embarrassed to have acted like that.

"I'm back." Percy simply said. The door swung open again and this time a big group of people entered, Percy only recognized two of them; Pollux from the Dionysus cabin and Will from the Apollo Cabin, he figured the others must have been the counselors of the cabins of the minor gods. The whole group just stared at Percy; none of them had known him all that well and Percy could see more than a few looking uncomfortably at the floor or the roof. Thankfully Annabeth stepped forward and began introducing them. Soon Percy was completely lost with all the names and only heard the occasional random one like "Lou Ellen, Daughter of Hecate" or "Butch, Son of Isis" but there were many that he didn't remember. Someone jumped on his back and distracted Percy; Percy immediately grabbed the person and slammed them onto the ground, his knee on their chest and Riptide at their throat. Everyone was momentarily stunned and a lot looked like they were struggling to make sense of what happened; no one, not even Clarisse or even Chiron had consciously seen him move. As Percy looked at the person on the floor he could make out an elfish face and mischievous smile. Leo. Percy stood and Riptide disappeared, he hauled the son of Hephaestus to his feet and Leo grinned.

"That was awesome!" he shouted, completely unfazed that Percy could have easily killed him a few seconds ago. This snapped everyone else out of their shock and they began muttering to each other. Percy's concentration on the muttering was broken when Nico walked out of the shadows behind the other demigods, no one else in the room had noticed the son of Hades but Percy did. Nico had changed the most out of everyone besides Percy himself. Nico no longer looked like a kid, he now was 17 or 18 years old and he looked like it. He was taller and while he was still thin, Percy could tell he was strong, he had the same feel as Hades did: as lithe and powerful as a panther. His pure black hair was longer and pulled back in a small ponytail.

"Hey Nico," Percy said, looking at his cousin.

"You're back." Nico stated.

"Yeah," Percy saw Jason flash Nico a worried look and wondered what it was for. The son of Hades gave a small smile and crossed the room to see Percy clearer. As he drew closer he could make out the scars on Percy's face, he was one of only three people that had ever survived Tartarus and the only other one to have done so alone. He knew how much that place affected you, especially when you were alone. He had barely survived and he was a son of Hades; far better suited to survive by himself in Tartarus than any other demigod. And yet Percy had done just that for two years. Nico could only imagine what he had been through but he could see it in those sea green eyes that Percy had experienced the full wrath of what Tartarus had to offer.

"You look like shit." Nico blankly said after he finished his study of Percy. The son of Poseidon gave a weak smile.

"I feel like shit too." he replied.

"Boys! Watch your language!" Chiron chastised, causing the two cousins to smile at each other.

"I missed you Perce, we all did." Nico said, but he didn't try to hug Percy. Simply because he understood that Percy wouldn't want too much physical contact yet, not when the only contact he'd had for the past two years was from his torturers.

"Chiron?" Percy said, turning to his teacher. "Is Thalia here?"

"No, the Hunters will be here tomorrow. They are currently in South America, Brazil I believe." The old Centaur replied.

"What about Grover?" Percy asked, to which Chiron shook his head.

"The Lord of the Wild is in Africa as it is one of the most wild continents on the earth, it has the largest population of naiads and dryads." Percy nodded in understanding

Leo stood and tentatively raised his hand to get everyone's attention.

"I think Percy should see the Monument." he said, unsure of how the others would react. Percy's friends all nodded but the children of the minor gods looked uneasy. Percy wondered why they looked uneasy and what this Monument was, so as the group headed out; Percy talked with Annabeth.

"What's the Monument?" he asked,

"A monument was made to honor The Seven, but there was also one made just for you. Everyone thought you had-. Well, everyone thought you had died. They even have your shroud on the monument." She replied shakily. "I didn't go to your funeral because I didn't believe them, though it wasn't easy."

"Hmm, my funeral? That's the second funeral I've had now." Percy observed drily, earning a small chuckle from Annabeth.

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As they approached the lake that Percy had swum in so many times, the group grew silent before parting to let Percy and Annabeth through. What Percy saw awed him. To the right were very life-like statues of the 7: Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo, Annabeth and Percy. To his left was a grave with a statue of himself lying on top of it and covered in the shroud that had been made for him. Percy studied the statues; they were a perfect bronze replica of the Seven.

"I never thought I'd say this, but now that you're back: can you please destroy the statue I made of you?" Percy heard Leo say, the son of Poseidon turned to see his pointing at the grave statue. "I don't think we need that anymore."

Percy then realised that almost every other camper had surrounded them and they had started whispering to each other. Percy only caught the occasional word but he gathered that they were talking about him. Percy walked over to his own grave and knelt beside the statue's head and studied his face. Leo had replicated his 17-year-old face perfectly; Percy felt a familiar hand on his shoulder and turned to see Annabeth kneeling next to him. She was watching him carefully, observing his reaction or rather his lack of any visible reaction. Percy stood and Leo gave him a flaming torch. Percy carefully lit the shroud covering the stone body and stood back to watch the flames devour the cloth and to his surprise, the statue underneath it. When the fire and smoke cleared, there was nothing left of the grave, now it looked like any other patch of grass.

"Come on, it's time for dinner!" Chiron called to the group gathered around the monument. Slowly the group made their way towards the dining area and took their places at their tables. Some of which, Percy noticed, had been extended to fit all the kids. The Hermes table was looking a lot less crowded these days. Another thing Percy noticed were the tables of the Big Three. Jason and a kid who looked around 15 or 16 years old occupied the Zeus table and was obviously a son of Zeus but Percy didn't recognize him. The Hades table held Nico and a boy and girl that both looked around 7 or 8 years old. The Poseidon table held someone Percy had been looking forward to see: Tyson.

"Brother!" the Cyclops yelled as he stood to hug Percy, the son of Poseidon braced himself for the mother of all bear hugs but was surprised when Tyson gave him gentle hug; well, gentle for a Cyclops anyway.

"Hey Ty, it's been a while."

"Yes, now that you are out of the bad place we can eat peanut butter together and make things go BOOM!" the Cyclops exclaimed happily in his childish way that lifted Percy's spirits.

"You don't look like much, as if you could survive Tartarus! You couldn't beat a hellhound." A voice said in a haughty tone, Percy looked around for the source and his gaze fell on the guy he didn't recognize at the Zeus table.

"Not now Blair, sit down before you make a scene." Jason urged his brother.

"So you're Blair huh?" Percy asked as he sized up his cousin. He had black hair and the same electric blue eyes as his brother; he looked strong for his age and was the same height as Jason. He was built like a long distance runner but Percy could sense an underlying power and strength.

"I see my reputation precedes me," he said smugly.

"In a way." Percy said before sitting beside Tyson.

"You acknowledge that monster as your brother?" Blair said in disgust. "The thing is a monster and should be slain or at least banished." Percy felt his anger rising and he knew it would explode if Blair continued much longer. Blair stood and made his way over to Percy until he was standing beside the son of Poseidon and, unfortunately for Blair, he did continue. "I don't see what all the hype is about. You look weak, I could take you any day." Before anyone could react, Percy had stood and grabbed Blair by the throat, his anger clouding his judgment. Percy slammed the son of Zeus against one of the support pillars of the pavilion hard enough that and audible crack! was heard all through the pavilion. No one knew if it came from Blair or if it came from the support pillar, either way everyone was looking at them now.

"You think you can take me any day huh? How about right now?" Percy snarled, his face inches away from Blair's. His eyes were pulsing with that green light and giving an eerie light to the darkening pavilion. Silence followed as everyone held their breath, waiting for the son of Zeus to reply.

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Alright, there you go, chapter 14. 15 is on it's way but it's getting to the pointy end of the school year for me and seeing as it's my final year it's actually important that I do well. So I may be slow on the updates, I also need to get the prophecy sorted and help would still be awesome. Anyways, see you next time

BigSchwart Out :)