I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters.


Returning Alone

When I wake up, I'm in one of the Hunters' tents. Bianca is beside me, a thermos of nectar and several squares of ambrosia sitting on the ground beside her, the ambrosia on a plate. I say her name, but instantly realize I'm still deaf. Not completely, but sound is distorted and muted, like I've got water in my ears. I raise a hand when she opens her mouth to speak, stopping her before I check my ears for obsidian or lava first, then hold my hands over them, healing them. Once I'm finished, I sigh, the sound reaching my ears normally.

"Okay," I say.

"How do you feel?" Bianca asks.

"Weak," I say. "Exhausted. Alive."

Bianca smiles and nods. "You just about scared us to death when we saw you falling. You looked like a stone person. We assumed you were some kind of monster until we heard that dog barking. I was so surprised when I saw it was you."

"Yeah, that wasn't the most fun I've ever had," I say.

"I bet," Bianca says. "I don't know how you survived."

"Neither do I," I say, staring up at the roof of the tent. "How long was I out?"

"Two days," Bianca says. "We're almost back to Camp Half-Blood now."

"In two days?" I ask.

Bianca smiles. "Lady Artemis sent your father to give us a ride partway."

"That didn't go so well last time," I say. "No one died this time, right?"

"No," Bianca says, rolling her eyes. "No one died. Do you feel like you need more nectar and ambrosia?"

"Uh..." I try moving my limbs and shake my head. "I should be okay now. I just might nap for a week."

Bianca nods, starting to clean up. Then, she looks toward the door and whistles. A moment later, the same husky that woke me up is bouncing from my chest to the ground beside me on one side, then to my chest and the ground on the other side and back again, barking excitedly and somehow finding the time to cover my face in spit as he licks me.

"Okay, okay!" I laugh. "Yes! I know! It's good to see you too!" I finally catch him, laughing and wiping my face off before beginning to pet him, the dog's entire butt wiggling happily. "So, you're the new Lieutenant?"

"It was what Zoe wanted," Bianca says, blushing slightly but still looking sad.

"Yeah, I suppose it was," I nod. "Thank you guys for taking care of me. Even though I'm a boy."

"You're a special case," Bianca says. "Not only are you one of Apollo's rip-offs, but you're also basically engaged to Thalia."

"I am not!" I say, blushing. "I mean, I'm never breaking up with her, but I haven't proposed yet."

"Adam, you became immortal alongside her when you didn't need to just to be with her for all eternity," Bianca says. "Forget engaged, that's basically a wedding."

I blush again but smile, shrugging. "Did you guys find Percy?"

Bianca stares at me before shaking her head. "We searched all around the mountain in case there was anyone else, but we only found you. If Percy was in that mountain...he didn't come out."

I stare at the ground in silence as I try to understand what she's saying. Percy's gone? He can't be. I promised Annabeth that I'd bring him back to her. And he has t ulfill his prophecy. If not him, Nico will have to do it. I stare down at the puppy and he cocks his head at me before lunging and beginning to lap at my face again. I can't help but laugh, holding him down and wiping my face again, returning to petting him.

"I...can't believe it," I say. "He always seemed...I don't know...like he would always come back."

Bianca nods in agreement. We both sit in silence for a bit, and after a few more minutes of the husky letting me pet him, he seems to get restless and slips out of my hands, bouncing over to the door of the tent and barking excitedly before streaking to me, barking, returning to the door, barking again, and repeating. I sigh, pushing myself up, finding I'm in a clean set of clothes, which I'm a little worried about.

"Who changed me?" I ask, Bianca's face going scarlet.

"Y-Your clothes were ripped and bloody," Bianca explains.

"Right," I say. "Sorry."

"Um...can you...uh...not be...older, while you're with us?" Bianca asks. "You...uh..." her face darkens. "You had...um..."

I realize what she's trying to say and my face matches hers. "Oh." I shrink down to thirteen, my clothes matching my size as always. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," Bianca says, calming herself. "But it never happened."

"Agreed," I nod as my apparently newly adopted puppy props his legs up on mine, barking rapidly. "Alright already! I'm coming."

He streaks out of the tent and I follow, finding we're in the woods somewhere, and it's also either early morning or evening. My husky meets me just outside with a rubber ball almost the same size as his head, making it so he has to pin it to his foot as he carries it. I laugh at the sight and hold my hand out, the puppy dropping the ball into my hand. Then, I hurl it. The husky barks excitedly, taking off after it. Bianca steps out beside me and holds out my dagger and watch. I accept them, putting both on and she hands me my backpack.

"Can you guys make a rainbow?" I ask. "I want to call Chiron."

Bianca's eyes widen before she blushes. "Oops."

"You didn't tell them you found me?" I ask.

"I'm sorry," Bianca winces.

"No, no, this is good," I say. "I can get more brownie points with Thalia by showing up alive and uninjured than making her worry by someone calling and saying I'm alive but injured. But we need to get rid of my drachma first."

"You're going to lie to her?" Bianca asks.

I hesitate, then sigh. "No. Thank you. I'm not old enough to think that through."

"Do you want to call?" Bianca asks.

"Yeah," I say. "Somewhere private, if I can."

Bianca nods, ducking back into the tent, holding the flap open for me. I duck inside as well and she pours some oil into a bowl, shining a light on it to make a rainbow, then ducks back out of the tent. I age back to eighteen and take a slow breath before dropping in a drachma.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering," I say. "Show me Thalia Grace, Camp Half-Blood."

The rainbow shimmers for a moment before Thalia's face swims into view. She looks horrible. Her eyes are bloodshot and puffy, red streaks run down her cheeks from tears, which are still falling, her nose is red from being wiped, and she's sobbing so hard she doesn't notice me at all.

"Thalia," I say, feeling like I might start crying too.

Thalia's head snapping up the moment I speak, eyes wide. "Adam!" Her voice is barely more than a hoarse whisper, and I'm not sure if it's because that's all the nice she can make, or if she's too shocked to say more.

"I...I'm so sorry," I say, tears beginning to fall, relief flooding me. I hadn't realized just how badly I needed to see her, just how much I was still afraid something had somehow happened to her.

"You're alive!" Thalia says, smiling as fresh tears flood down her face.

"Yeah," I manage to say, starting to choke up. "I should be there soon. I'm traveling by surface, so it shouldn't be more than a few hours."

Thalia nods, wiping at her eyes. "You'd better be. I've been worried sick."

"I'm sorry," I say. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

Thalia smiles. "Okay. I'll see you guys soon."

I blink in confusion, but just as I realize she means Percy, the Iris message fades, a female voice asking for another drachma for five more minutes. I consider putting in another, but decide against it. I can't break the news to them over an Iris Message. That's too cruel. The least I can do is be there to face Annabeth's wrath. I walk back outside and find Bianca waiting, playing fetch with the puppy.

"I need to get back," I say.

"I know," Bianca says. "We have a car waiting, and one of the others will drive you."

"Thank you," I say. "Hopefully we can play Capture the Flag again soon."

Bianca grins. "I hope so. That was fun."

I grin and scoop up my new dog, along with his ball, and walk to the car. It's a Ford Escape, an older one, like an '07 or so, and the girl driving looks to be maybe fourteen. "You're too young. We'll get pulled over. I'll drive, you just give me directions."

She stares at me for a moment before sighing and nodding. "Good point. But we have a GPS for directions. We're not complete savages."

I shrug and we switch places. I give it a few seconds as an eighteen year old for my brain to decide it knows how to drive, then start out. Within a few minutes, I've got the hang of it. There's no conversation between me and the Hunter. I don't even know who she is. She mostly spends her time petting my dog. After several hours of driving, so many that the sun rises and actually meets the horizon again, I slow to a stop at Half-Blood Hill. I climb out, taking my backpack with me and the Hunter sighs, reluctantly letting my dog leave with me. I stare up at the hill for a long moment before walking toward it. As I start up, my dog streaks past me, sniffing at Peleus. Peleus raises his head, staring at the dog, then looks to me. I'm kind of surprised, and also extremely glad, he doesn't attack my dog, and I reward him with a Big Mac and a scratch under the chin before giving a quick whistle, getting my dog to follow me. However, I only get three steps before Thalia comes charging up the hill and tackles me with a flying hug. I collapse onto my back, hugging her as tightly as she's hugging me, burying my face in her shoulder. I feel her trembling and hold her tighter, tears of relief leaking from my own eyes.

"I thought I'd lost you," Thalia says, voice wavering heavily.

"I'm here," I say, unsure what else to say. "I'm here."

She pulls back and looks off to the side where the husky's whining softly, watching us with his head cocked to the side. "Where'd he come from?"

"He found me after the explosion," I say. "He led the Hunters to me."

"I see," she says, sighing and reaching out, scratching his head. "Don't think this means I like you. You fuzzy little monster."

He pants happily, licking her palm before shoving his head against it eagerly. Thalia smiles, continuing to pet him for a few seconds until Annabeth arrives. I swallow hard, slipping out from under Thalia and stand. Annabeth looks even worse than Thalia. Her hair's a mess, her eyes are bloodshot, dark tear streaks lead down her face from both corners of each eye, dark circles underline each eye, and she looks like she's aged a millennium in the two days I haven't been here.

"Where is he?" Annabeth asks. "Where's Percy?"

I open my mouth to speak, but I can't say it. Though, I don't have to. Annabeth sees it all over my face.

"No," she says, beginning to sob. "No! He's not gone! He can't be gone!"

I step forward to comfort her, but she instead begins to beat me about the face and chest, not doing any real damage, but enough to hurt, though I ignore that.

"You promised!" Annabeth wails, struggling to keep hitting me as I hug her. "You promised! you said you'd bring him back! You said you'd protect him!"

"I tried," I say, guilt crushing me. "I tried. But something happened, and the volcano erupted. There was nothing I could do."

"You could have protected him!" Annabeth sobs. "You could have brought him back! He should be the one standing here!"

"Annabeth!" Thalia gasps.

"It's okay," I say. "Annabeth, I'm sorry. I...I'm so sorry. But he might not be dead. I survived falling hundreds of feet, or more. He could have survived too."

Annabeth, who's given up on yelling and beating me by now, simply sobs harder. I look to Thalia for help, but she looks like she doesn't know what to say either.

"It's alright, Annabeth," Thalia finally says. "It'll take more than one Chimera to kill Seaweed Brain. You'll see. He'll be back here within a few days, I bet."

Annabeth forces herself under control slowly and pulls back, nodding and wiping her eyes. After a few more seconds of Annabeth getting herself under control, we head to the Big House so I can fill Chiron, and Annabeth, in on what happened. Once I'm finished, Thalia, Annabeth, and I all head to bed. And then I begin a very long night of laying awake, listening to Annabeth sobbing heartbrokenly all night long.


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