Thank you to everyone who is still reading. I'm glad that you didn't leave after those sad chapters. Here's a cookie.

Important thing to note... This will be yaoi (boy-boy). Don't like? You do not have to read.

Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

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Percy POV

By noon on the fifth day we reached the coast. We debated stopping by to see camp Jupiter but we all agreed it would be better to continue without delay.

Of course, we still didn't know where to go. Our entire plan had been head west.

Why west? To the Ancient Greeks the Pacific Ocean was as far east as one could go with the Earth being flat and all...

Only once I saw the ocean in the distance did I begin to wonder whether or not the sun would have moved when Olympus did. I certainly hoped it didn't. That would mean that we had made a long trip for nothing.

I shrugged off the thought. It was too late to rethink our plan now. What was done was done.

Speaking of what's done is done... I felt my gaze move across the table to where Nico was sitting. He didn't seem to notice my glance. He was busy staring daggers into the wood. I looked around and saw the most of the rooms' occupants were also glaring daggers but they were aimed at me instead. I could live with the glares, I deserved them.

The only look that was getting under my skin was the smug look Ryan kept giving me. I had gone out of my way to avoid Nico and him. Seeing Ryan with his arms around Nico had been enough to give me nightmares. I wasn't certain that I could survive walking in on the two of them kissing. I had spent a restless night trying to get that image out of my head.

I knew that Nico had never shown any interest in Ryan, but that didn't do anything to stop my thoughts. I couldn't stop my mind from providing painful images of Nico holding some faceless man. What hurt the most though was the knowledge that there was nothing I could do about it. He would one day find someone better than me, and that thought killed me.

I watched as Ryan smirked at me and reached out to put his arm around the back of Nico's chair. It was all I could do to stay seated. The jealousy that coursed though me was embarrassing. I took a deep breath and looked away.

What was even worse was the knowledge that we were about to follow Ryan's lead. No one else would be able to get us the help we needed, and that's why we were there in the first place.

We had gathered everyone for a meeting in the mess hall. We were hoping that between the seven of us we could convince Apollo to help. We had asked Ryan but all he could tell us was that there was an island where his dad parked the chariot when he wasn't using it. He had no idea where it was though.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I hated asking gods for help, and I had recently begun to dislike Apollo...

Piper clapped her hands and looked at the son of Apollo. "So how do we go about doing this?"

Ryan smiled and yelled, "Hey Dad, do you got a minute?"

I nearly laughed. No god would answer to a call like that. I had just opened my mouth to say as much when there was a flash of light.

"Sure, what do you need?"

I felt my mouth drop. Leaning against the wall was a man with sandy blonde hair. He had sky blue eyes and he looked to be in his late twenties.

I had only met him a few times but there was no doubt that he was the god Apollo.

I remembered the first time I had seen the sun god. At the time he had looked around 17, I guess he aged himself a little so his son wouldn't feel as awkward talking to his dad when he looked his age. I could only imagine talking to a teenage Poseidon. I shivered, that would be weird.

Apollo looked at me and smiled, "Hey Percy, long time, no see."

I returned his smile, "Hello again Apollo."

I remembered the first time I had met him. Thalia had said he was hot. I hadn't really paid attention at the time; I had been too busy checking out his car. I had never really looked at guys before Nico, but now that I was more aware of myself I could see what she had meant.

I couldn't stop the blush that ran across my face. He winked at me and turned to face the room.

I watched as Jason, Hazel, and Frank stood up and bowed to him. "Lord Apollo," Frank said. I smiled at the action, Romans were so formal.

Apollo was clearly enjoying the attention, "At ease." The three of them stood up and he smiled at the room. "So what did you need?"

We looked at each other and came to the silent decision that Ryan would ask. "We need to find the place 'where the sun is risen'."

Apollo nodded before dropping into a chair beside Nico. In the same way the shadows responded to Nico's presence, the light seemed too responded to Apollo.

With them side by side I couldn't help but compare their looks. It was like Apollo was the sun to Nico's night. I smirked at the thought, that's not really that far off the mark...

Apollo had the outdoorsy kind of good looks, which made sense as he was the god of the sun. He was the kind of guy that girls and guys would go crazy for, but he seemed to be too dazzling, too unattainable. But it was his attitude that really threw me off. He had the swagger of a guy who was attractive and knew it. He wore his arrogance for everyone to see. He was not my type.

Nico was a darker beauty, and it was his personality though that drew me to him. He had the persona of one who had been shunned his whole life and as such had developed a deep personality. He had values and courage. Nico made me think of the expression 'still waters run deep'. His darkness made me want to hold him and keep him beside me.

I shook my head to dispel the thoughts. I had lost Nico; he was now just as unattainable as Apollo. Every time I thought about how I lost him it felt like a knife to the chest. It was getting harder and harder to convince myself that I had done the right thing.

Apollo broke me out of my thoughts. "Ah, I see. This is about the prophecy..." We all nodded.

We waited for him to continue but after a few minutes of silence I spoke. "So, can you help us?"

Almost everyone in the room looked at me in shock; apparently they had forgotten I tend to blurt things out. The only ones who didn't look surprised were Nico and Apollo. Nico just glanced at me before turning back to Apollo. The sun god however started laughing.

"Ah, typical Percy Jackson, I was wondering who would break the silence. I figured it would be you." Apollo stopped smiling and looked at me with a serious expression. "I cannot interfere with quests, you know that."

I smirked; I knew exactly how to reply. "That didn't stop you before."

I saw a playful glint enter his eyes but he kept his serious expression. "I can't interfere with a quest but as long as you do something for me, I can help you. Speaking of which, you still owe me a haiku."

I felt my eyes widen. I had completely forgotten his request. I tilted my head as I thought about it. I was terrible at poetry. "We freed you sister, I had to hold up the world, I met Bessie."

"I think that last line was only four syllables."

I frowned and tried to think of a line that would work. I remembered him having the same problem. I started to laugh as I remembered his solution, "How about 'I am so awesome?"

Apollo realized what I had said and joined in, "See, now my sister can't say my poetry sucks. Only the best haikus' are that memorable." Still smiling, Apollo leaned forward and looked directly at me. "Perhaps I do have something that you guys could do for me."

I leaned towards him and smiled. "What do we have to do?"

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Nico POV

I really disliked Apollo. No, I hated him.

Percy may have been ridiculously unaware but there was no way that he could miss the fact that the god of the sun was flirting with him, right?

I felt sick to my stomach.

Apollo had hardly glanced at anyone else since he arrived. I had spent enough time around Ryan to learn how to tell if someone was flirting. After mere minutes in the company of the sun god I could already tell that he flirted the same way as his son. The worst part was that Percy was either the most oblivious person on the planet or he was flirting back...

I tried to console myself with the knowledge that Percy really was the most oblivious person alive but I couldn't completely dislodge my suspicions. I had seen the way Percy had looked at him when he showed up.

It had hurt me enough that Percy had chosen Annabeth. I had known that it was only a matter of time before he left, but the sight of another guy flirting with him felt like a knife to my heart. I took a deep breath and tried to keep my face blank.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Percy was Percy. Not only was he amazing and handsome, but he had been around gods more often than any demigod I had ever heard of. It was only a matter of time until the caught the attention of one.

Even if he was still with me, there was nothing I could have done. I could never compete with a god; I wasn't even in the same league as Apollo. No one would ever examine the two of us and chose me.

I frowned at the thought and glared at the table.

"It's a little harder than writing a haiku. There's this cave about 10 miles north of here, I forgot something there. Pick it up for me and I will help you."

I saw Percy grimace. "The last time a god sent me to pickup something they had forgotten I ended up being attacked by mechanical spiders."

I added that to my mental list of things to as Percy about before I remembered that I wouldn't be able to talk to him like I used too. It was amazing how in a matter of three days he had eliminated years of habits.

Apollo smiled at the son of the sea god and I felt like hitting something. "Well, there shouldn't be any mechanical spiders but there is a certain pest that you will have to take care of before you can get it. It's up to you guys; do this for me or I can't help you. See you later Percy." Apollo flashed him one more blinding smile and I just had the time to close my eyes before he disappeared.

"So what do you guys think?" Jason looked around us expectantly.

Ryan shrugged, "Let's do it. There are 7 of us, how hard could it be?"

Percy winced, "You've clearly never gone on a quest for a god. I went on a quest for Ares; we were nearly killed by spiders. I went on a quest for Hermes; we nearly killed by a giant. And don't even get me started on that quest for Zeus, I honestly can't even tell you how many ways we almost died. The point of the matter is if a god sends you on a quest, it is always harder than it sounds."

Ryan shook his head, "If you scared that's on you man. He's my dad; it's probably only a minor monster. I say we go."

Percy looked like he was ready to throw Ryan overboard and see if he could fly. I decided to interrupt before things could escalate. "Whether it's a dangerous or not we still have to do it. We need his help."

Piper nodded, "Don't forget we're already on a quest. They are supposed to be life threatening. Besides we're demigods, deadly is in the job description."

I nearly smiled. Piper was the only child of Aphrodite that would say something like that. I may have hated the love goddess, but I had great respect for her daughter.

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Alright, but I have a bad feeling about this."