Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson world or characters, or anything related to the Greek Mythology world etc., I'm just a fan :)

Short A/N

Here you go, as promised - you give me feedback I give you early updates ;)

Percy

He never felt better, and worst, in camp half-blood.

Better - Annabeth.

Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth.

He never knew he could love someone so much. That is, he loved Penny and his mom, he loved his dad and Tyson, but he loved Annabeth. No one had quite the impact she had on him. One smile from her in his direction made him giddy, and when she was upset he wanted to annihilate whatever it was that upset her.

He sat with Penny by the lake as the two slacked off while they were meant to sail their canoes and instead watched children of Athena practicing Bow and Arrow.

"Isn't she just the most talented girl you've ever met?" Penny teased cheerfully as she nudged his shoulder, grinning in Annabeth's direction as her arrow flew straight to where it was meant to - a perfect score.

Percy's eyebrow arched. He hummed noncommittally, not letting out anything.

Although Annabeth was the most talented he ever met. And he loved that fact.

When another group of teenagers passed near them, Penny recoiled, her smile wiping off immediately, and now approaching them was the reason Percy hated being in camp now.

The other cabins were giving Penny hell.

"Look who it is!" Daryl Ken, son of Ares grinned with a massive smile, "the daddies lover!"

Penny blushed with embarrassment as the seven children of Ares laughed. Percy sat up to glare at them. "If you don't shut up now, you'll regret it," Percy said hotly, "trust me on this."

"Make me, Jackson," Daryl answered teasingly.

"Hey, why are you making your brother defend you when you can have your boyfriend do that?" Blair Hudson, daughter of Ares asked Penny as his sister avoided their gazes and stared at the ground, "oh, that's right, what can your boyfriend even do to us? Throw an envelope at us?"

Ares' spawns roared with laughter.

"Hey!" Inside the group Percy noticed Alice, daughter of Hermes, holding the hand of Kyle, another son of Ares, "leave my father out of this, don't slight him."

"I wouldn't slight him if I were you," Penny's eyes glinted with some unfamiliar emotion as she eyed Blair, "I don't think you really want to know what he's capable of."

Alice sneered at that, her eyes hardening and her nose twisting as if she was smelling something foul. "Don't speak for my father as if you know him, Jackson. You're just a passing crush he'll grow out of soon enough."

Anger started to churn in Percy's stomach and he started to see red. Penny didn't answer that and started to pick at the ground instead, and they took that as a sign to carry on.

"What, you thought he actually cared for you?" Blair asked with a look of malice, "come on, it's a tale as old as time! He'll leave you in a month or two, he doesn't care the least -"

"And you know this how, Hudson?!" Percy was standing now, his eyes blazing as the water of the lake bubbled and rumbled and seemed ready to hit the shore, "did you ever even speak to him? Did you two form a bond that made him confide in you his deepest emotions? I think not! Now, the next one to say another thing will get quite the uncomfortable shower, and I'm not too sure about said person surviving said shower! Now, get lost!"

Blair stood back somewhat as the group now watched the two unsurely. The only one still upset was Alice.

"Come on," she huffed to Kyle, and pulled him with her. The rest followed, sending nasty glares in Penny's direction.

The group was gone soon, but before he could ask Penny if she was alright, a group of Aphrodite's girls followed, catcalling and whistling at Penny.

"The chosen one!" One of them told her with a cold grin. Drew Tanaka, Percy recognized. "The fairest of all, the princess of Olympus!"

A choir of female giggles followed that as Penny looked up, annoyed now. But she still kept to her silence.

"She's not even that pretty!" One of them called from the back of the group, and the entire group erupted in laughter.

Penny's eyes glimmered with pride. "I suppose I don't really care what you girls think. He clearly thinks otherwise."

The smiles wiped off from the girls' faces, and Percy grinned in triumph.

Get 'em, Penny!

"Gods can sometimes be blind too, girls," Drew concluded, although she wasn't smiling, "let's go, guys."

And they walked off, leaving behind an unpleasant smell of too many overly strong smells of perfume, mixing together in a way that irritated the nose.

"They can't possibly fathom how he hasn't picked one of them," Penny rolled her eyes as she leaned back to lie her head on the grass.

"Oh, and to have one of them giggling into his ear all day long? Honestly, who can date any of these shallow girls."

"You never considered it, then?" She smiled a small smile at him, not her usual bright and happy one, but a smile nonetheless.

"Not recently," he said, and felt himself cheering up somewhat when Annabeth started to walk in their direction, her cabin having finished Bow and Arrow, "I kinda like it when they have something to say."

Annabeth soon sat next to them, kissing Percy briefly before smiling fondly at Penny. "Hey Pen."

"Annie," Penny retorted with a smile as she closed her eyes, clearly trying to muster up the strength to deal with all the recent events.

"Did I see Ares' cabin stopping to talk to you?"

"Yeah," Percy's stomach was back to its angry rumbling, "they were jackasses."

They all quieted down, and Penny even looked up unsurely, when another cabin walked slowly by them. Percy saw his sister's eyes widen with worry at the cabin she was the most nervous with - cabin 11. Nico was with them too, and parted from them to sit next to Penny and grab her hand in a comforting, friendly gesture, that seemed to do little as Penny continued to watch them anxiously.

The Stolls led the way, and nodded at Annabeth, ignoring Percy and Penny, the latter taking it worse than the former. Percy knew why - they were her close friends, and not so long ago. Now they completely ignored her.

"Hey, Jackson, think fast!" Cecil, another son of Hermes grinned at Penny with his impish smile, and threw a water balloon at her head.

At least, Percy thought it was a water balloon, but as it slammed her hair it blew up spraying green goo everywhere, but most of all on her hair, that was immediately affected and soon was bright green and dripping green droplets on her orange camp shirt.

"Gods!" Penny jumped to her feet, horrified, her eyes filling with tears. Then she ran away, ignoring their calls and escaping to their cabin.

"You -" Percy was so angry he couldn't think, shaking on his feet as he glared daggers at the snickering Cecil, "YOU -"

"I - I -" Cecil retorted in a mocking tone, imitating him. "If she can date our father, she should be able to take a prank."

"Is that a prank to you?" Annabeth demanded angrily, "there was nothing funny about it!"

"I beg to differ," and Cecil grabbed a camera from one of his younger sisters and showed them a still picture of Penny with green, dripping hair, staring up in complete humiliation, and Percy wanted to tear that thing up and burn it in flames -

"Aren't you going to say anything about this?!" He yelled at the Stolls, who looked back at him with innocent expressions.

Travis, the older one mind you, shrugged. "About what?"

"She was your goddamn friend, you no good couple of -"

"A friend doesn't date our father, Jackson," Connor answered and then motioned to his siblings. "Come on, let's go."

And the group left them.

"I have to…" Percy sat back, feeling weak and empty and desperate, "I have to go to her… Fates, how did things mess up so much?"

"I'll shadow travel and buy some hair color," Nico told him, his face frowned and angry and his eyes blazing with rage.

"We'll go together, Sea-weed Brain," Annabeth grabbed his hand and squeezed, recognizing how much this whole thing pained him.

"Okay," he nodded to them both and looked down, trying to block his own sadness and keep it at bay. If there was something he hated, was his twin miserable.

Hermes

He met up with her in the forest where the Labyrinth's entrance used to be. It became their usual meeting place.

He was sitting with crossed legs, wearing his running outfit with the winged sneakers and the winged helmet on his head, his light-colored curls showing from underneath it. Next to him was a fire, and a plastic bag of marshmallows, along with a chocolate bar and a packet of graham crackers.

When she saw the ingredients she lightened all up, and really, this whole date was worth it just for the sheer happiness on her face.

"Hey," he said cheerfully to her, and she grinned and bent down to kiss him before sitting down next to him. Then she looked back to where she came from and seemed like she was making sure she wasn't followed.

He furrowed his brows at that but didn't comment.

"You listened to me," she beamed and he shrugged, chuckling softly.

"It sounded quite bulletproof. Chocolate, Marshmallows and graham crackers melted together. I mean, I have heard of it, but never tried it before."

She laughed. "Well, you'll love it. Any normal person, and er, normal immortal," she added with a chuckle, "would love s'mores."

But then it seemed like a thought occurred to her and she looked back again, and now he had to ask.

"Worried about intruders?"

She looked back at him, chewing her bottom lip. "You could, you could say that."

"I can make us invisible if you want."

"And then just have people hear us and see flying marshmallows in the air? They'll think there are ghosts here."

He smiled. "Well, no, they won't hear us. But, I can leave out the marshmallows visible, I have a weird hunch you would find that hilarious."

"You know me so well!" She laughed heartily and he shook his head, joining her laughter.

He then snapped his fingers. "Now anyone who comes would only see the fire and flying marshmallows."

He wanted to know why it bothered her so, but waited with it as she leaned into his embrace, grinning like mad. "This is too good. S'mores and creeping the Hades out of anyone who comes here."

He laughed and hugged her to him.
She looked up to him. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Are we invisible to gods as well?" She surprised him a bit with the question.

"Well," and he hesitated and then waved his hand, "we are now. Huh. How did you think of that? I actually forgot."

"As a hero, you get used to being watched all the time," she answered with a smirk.

Well, they were good, those s'mores things. He had to admit.

Penny certainly enjoyed them, stuffing into her mouth one after the other. But he wasn't gonna complain when that one was happy.

"How did you clear your schedule like that?" She asked him with a smile.

"I overworked myself all morning so that my afternoon would be free. If I wasn't immortal I would've blown up from the amount of Caffeine in my veins. George and Martha are passed out as we speak, deep asleep. By the way, that's real elegant," he snickered at her stuffing another whole s'more into her mouth. She chewed, swallowed and then stuck her tongue out at him.

It was weird how positively charming he had found this. There was something just so refreshingly real and fun about her.

"C'mere," he grinned and pulled her to him, stroking her arm as she leaned onto his chest. "Can I ask you something?"

She nodded into his shirt.

"Why are you so worried about someone seeing us?"

She looked down guiltily and then forced it off, smiling unconvincingly instead. "You mean Olympians? Do you even have to ask?"

"I don't think they're the ones you want to hide from."

"No, they are!" He didn't need to be the God of Thieves and Pranksters to know that she is a terrible, terrible liar.

"Come on, Penny. It's the other campers, right?"

She avoided his gaze and sighed, starting to play with a stick from the ground. "Maybe."

Somewhat of a dread started in the pit of his stomach. "My kids?"

"Er…" she was now definitely avoiding his gaze, "no."

"You're such a bad liar!"

"I'm not lying!" She said, lyingly.

"Come on, Penny."

"Fine. Er… they may, er, tease me somewhat. But it makes a lot of sense for them to do so!"
"Tease you how?"

"Well, you could say, pranks and stuff," when he frowned, she hurriedly added, "but it really is fine!"

"How many pranks are we talking about? And what did they do?"

She started to pick at her hair uncomfortably, and now that she did it really was looking darker than usual.

"They dyed your hair?"

"... Maybe."

Insolents.

"Hold still," he mumbled an incantation, touching her hair. It suddenly glowed horribly, in a bright green color that looked like poison.

"Hey!" She frowned, looking truly ridiculous with that hair color, her long hair messy around her head looking like waves of neon venom, "I worked hard to get rid of that color!"

"It only undid one coloring," he rolled his eyes and felt himself silently fuming as he repeated the action, her hair returning to its natural brown shade. It also became wavier and healthier, all those dyings probably not ideal for its health.

"What else did they do?" He asked, now visibly angry.

"Nothing much," she mumbled, looking at his irritated face worriedly, "really."

"I feel like you're lying again, and I hate to threaten you, but if you don't tell me I'll pop away and ask Percy."

"What does he have to do with it?"

"I'll bet he hates it," Hermes' guess seemed correct as she looked down, "and he'll probably be honest about it."

"He hates it," she admitted, "he's the one who's making them stop. But, but I can't blame them, really, and I don't want you to be angry at them!"

"Do they tease you a lot?"

"C'mon, let it go."

"No, I will not! I can't believe my own children are treating you this way!"

"They're jealous, Hermes," she sighed, "isn't it obvious?"

"What… what do you mean?"

"They barely get to meet you all of their lives, and here comes this daughter of Poseidon that gets to meet you at least twice a week."

"That's, that's different! How often do you meet your dad? We're not allowed to meet them!"

"I know it's different," she looked up finally, "and I don't blame you, but I don't blame them either."

"They should respect you, Penny, you were willing to sacrifice your life for them!"

"Everyone fought bravely in the war, Hermes," she mumbled miserably, "I really, really can't blame them. I just try to avoid them."

"That's no solution!"

"Don't be mad at them," she seemed almost pleading, her eyes wide, "and don't say anything to them!"

"I can't promise anything until you tell me what they do. And as long as you don't tell me, I'll imagine the worst!"

She sighed for the hundredth time. "Well, they don't say much. They basically ignore me, y'know, pretend like I don't exist when I'm there, besides the pranks. But Ares' kids are really having a field trip over this."

"Ares' kids?" The fire he made started to heighten and she looked at it worriedly.

"... Yes. Calm down!"

He saw some panic in her gaze and he forced himself to calm down, inhaling.

"What do Ares' children have to do with this?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, they're just evil. A lot of people find it funny, really. Everyone but my friends."

"Penny, this is actual bullying! What did you do when they dyed your hair?"

"I just stayed in the cabin, and, er, my friend Nico, you know him, went out to buy some hair-color for me. But, er, they took a picture, so everyone saw it anyway."

"The whole camp is treating you that way?!"

"Hephaestus' and Athena's cabins don't and some of Apollo's kids avoid it as well, and my friends from different cabins don't. But, er, well, some of these campers that hate me used to be my friends. That's the sad part."

He winced. "The Stolls?"

She nodded mutely, looking down again, sadness on her face.

"Wow, I hate this."

She stroked his arm, shaking her head, "don't. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to feel like it's your fault."

"But it is," he rolled his eyes, "they are all taking their frustration out on you. And that frustration is the Olympians' fault, not yours!"

"Look, it's alright, I'll manage it. Just please, promise me you won't do anything about it."

"I don't want to promise you that, I want to fix this!"

"You can't," she sighed, "not when things are as they are. Just please, promise me."

Her eyes were wide and boring into his, pleading.

"Fine," he uttered out, gritting his teeth, "I promise."

/

It continued to bug him all evening as he went back to his usual work, and when the Lord of the Seas teleported into his office, looking furious, he knew Penny had downplayed what they're doing to her.

He looked up to Poseidon, guilt squeezing his insides and probably showing on his face.

"Hi, Poseidon."

"Don't 'hi' me," he glowered, his glowing-green eyes squinted into slits, his forehead so frowned it was nothing but waves of skin, "please, enlighten me, why are your children bullying my daughter?!"

"Well -"

"You claim to care about my daughter. Need I remind you how dangerous it is for her outside the camp? Do you want your children to drive her away from the only place on earth she is safe in?!"

"I will fix this, Poseidon," he said immediately, holding his glare bravely, "I promise."

"Do!" Poseidon's controlled voice hissed with venom and he disappeared, leaving behind the smell of burnt fish.

Penny

Percy hated it. She could tell that Percy absolutely hated every single second of it.

"You people are absolute horse crap!" He bellowed, tearing the signs that covered the opening to their cabin, not bothering to see if they wrote on it 'Dad lover' or 'Olympian slu…'

Water was actually boiling around him in the air, steaming up, and Penny was slightly shaking at the sight of his rage.

"Come with me," he hissed and then pulled her hand, dragging her with him.

"Wha -"

"I am going to murder whoever wrote this, and I am telling you very simply, if this doesn't stop in the next two days at most, we're leaving this camp!"

"I… yeah, I think that would be the best thing to do."

"Come on," and he dragged her with him.

They met Annabeth and Nico on a patch of grass in front of the cabins. Annabeth was looking almost as angry as him, her hands crossed. Nico hissed and glowered at the cabins, holding a rock in his hands and passing it between his hands, as if considering to throw it.

"Do you have it with you?" Percy asked Annabeth.

Annabeth gestured with her head down to the ground, where a red and white plastic megaphone was placed on the green grass.

Penny paled, her eyes widening. "Percy, no!"

"Penny, of course I'm gonna do it! How long do you think I'll shut up about this?! A bunch of idiotic, ungrateful assholes! You risked your life for them, multiple times, you faced the Titan-Lord alone! And they dye your hair, they lock you in the attic -"

"This is not going to help," she mumbled miserably, and Percy, Annabeth, and Nico stared at her.

"Why are you objecting? He needs to make them stop!"

"I know, Annabeth, but this is not the way."

"Then what is?!" Percy demanded, picking up the megaphone as if to make a point.

"I have, I have an idea. But I need your help."

"Well, I'm going to cabin 11. If you won't let me yell at the entire camp, I'll at least yell at his kids."

"No, Percy! It's messed up enough as it is with them!"

"FINE. Then at Ares' cabin."

She opened her mouth and then closed it, having nothing to say to that. They were, after all, the biggest enthusiasts, much more than cabin 11.

The Stolls and Chris ignored her, Cecil and Julia pranked her, but they weren't the ones insulting and cursing her, probably due to the fact that any insult directed at her slights their own father as well. No, they declared war against her, but it was Ares' cabin and various campers that actually did the fighting.

"Great. Ares' cabin. Why are these assholes even a part of this is beyond me. It's none of their goddamn business. They're just a bunch of war-obsessed assholes that like bullying everyone."

"Well -"

"And, Annabeth, Nico, go to Rachel with these," and he lifted the signs, "and tell her to do it."

"Do what?!" Penny demanded as they both nodded and walked away, holding the signs.

"Stop objecting, Penny! I will not let them treat you this way! You know what, no talking tonight."

Relief seemed to wash over her as she took the megaphone from him.

She wasn't a masochist, and she was incredibly hurt by all that happened. But this camp, while right now an awful place to be in, used to be her home, and she wanted to go back to that, not ready to lose it just yet. Besides, yelling at them was not the way, it will worsen everything.

"Really? Okay, I think it's great! I really do have a plan and I think it's best to just let everything calm down on its own -"

He closed his eyes, suddenly raising his hands slowly and steadily, and she heard a big woosh from the lake behind them.

Uh-oh.

Penny jumped to the ground when a giant wave, the size of a cabin, flew right above them and knocked into Ares' cabin.

One stunned minute, as the water flooded out, taking with them kids as pretty much the whole camp strode out, gaping in utter shock at the sight of the 10 children of Ares, drenched and stunned.

Percy snatched the megaphone from her hands as she gaped in shock. "LISTEN UP!" His voice echoed around, "I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE THAT THE NEXT PERSON TO HARM MY SISTER, TEASE HER OR HANG A SIGN ABOUT HER WOULD DROWN IN THE LAKE!"

"Hey!" One of Ares' boys raged and spat out a water plant, his hair sticking to his face, "it's not our fault she's such a -"

Percy charged on him, his hand closing on his throat in seconds.
"Finish that sentence, I DARE YOU!"

"Enough!" Penny held her brother back, "enough."

And she pulled him forcefully with her to their cabin.

As the door closed, she turned to him immediately. "Who did you send them to?"
"Send what," Percy grumbled, fuming and angry.

"The signs, the signs, who did you send them to?"

Percy glared at her. "To your boyfriend. So he'll know what his children are doing to you."

"NO! Percy!"

"Why are you defending them?! Why aren't you a wreck with what they're doing to you?! I would've left this stupid camp days ago by now!"

"I don't know," she shook her head miserably. "I'm trying to fix this whole mess, I think I can do it, and then everything will be better again, but if he'll go and yell at them it will never work -"

"He should yell at them!"

"No, I - Hermes! Hermes!" She yelled, her voice echoing in the cabin and her mind feverishly praying to him as she pressed the button on her earphone. "Hermes!"

It finally worked, and a furious Messenger of the Gods appeared. His face was red with anger, his eyes looking manic and his fists were holding onto the signs Percy sent him with an iron grip, his knuckles white. "Look, I'm fixing it! I'm fixing it! I was on my way right now, why are you calling me?!"

"Good!" Percy said at the same time as she said: "Don't!"

"Don't what?! Penny, if you think I'm going to let it slide you're delusional. My insolent children are lucky they're not the ones who wrote it -"

"They're not? Who did?!" Percy demanded.

Hermes blinked at him, before hissing, "some of Aphrodite's girls."

"Aphrodite? That's perfect. Another big wave and you can bet all their curling irons, makeup and crap would be drenched deep in water and destroyed -"

"Percy, NO!" Penny was furious herself now, "would any of you please listen to me, for one damn minute? I am losing my mind here!"

Percy froze in place and eyed her as Hermes crossed his arms and nodded sharply, his lips clenched, "I'm listening."

"Good. I need your help, and I need dad's help and Apollo and anyone on Olympus that either I or you can win over."

"Some of them owe me some favors," Hermes shrugged.

Percy turned slowly to face her. "What for?"

"I know what I want to wish for, and Zeus is not going to like it."

A/N

Haha Guest, I bet you didn't think the drama would come quite as early? It's only the beginning I'm afraid - as everyone keeps telling Hermes and Penny, they've chosen a complicated road to walk on.

The next few chapters are going to further establish the new relationships and dynamics, and then... well, you know HoO, how do you think it will impact everything?

Thank you thank you for all the feedback, you guys rock!

RogueAngel82 - Thank you so much, I'm so glad to hear :)

the7horcrux - Thank you so much, you're the best :) It will get better, we just have to ignore the bad and focus on the good, right? :) Anyway coming this far with this story is definitely part of the good!

Emily - Even if it's not a surprise it's always very kind of you to tell me so! I'm so glad to hear, and yeah it was quite funny to write as well... But he did promise her that, and he keeps his promises :) Yes it was amazing to write (and the idea of such a talk goes to you and other reviewers for wanting to see such a thing early on!). So in conclusion thank you for sticking with my story for as long as you did and as always I'm glad you liked it :D

TheMeister7 - Thank you for reviewing again, I love hearing from you! :) It's definitely an agonizing choice she must make... we'll see what's to happen ;)

njeha - I'm with you on all accounts actually :) As I said before, the gods are a vital part of the series in my opinion, and they were in the first series, but that was more downplayed in HoO. I also never really liked Camp Jupiter, and felt that if the first series was about the gods realizing they need demigods and about them working together, then the second series was 'we don't need the gods, and they only get in our way' and I don't really like that, I think it's being overly focused on the OCs you've created when you've chosen such a rich, developed world to place your stories in, a world that should have been better used and not slowly pushed to the background. Surely gods like Hermes, Artemis, Poseidon and Athena who proved themselves wise and helpful in the first series can be some sort of help in a war that will also effect them?
Thank you, thank you so much, I'm truly flattered! I've recently been exposed to even more works of OCs being dropped into the story and taking over, and I honestly don't like that. It should be parodied more, in my opinion as it's so widespread...
I'm so glad you're excited! Yes, it will unfold slowly (not yet though...) and it won't be another OC, balancing one without hurting other characters is hard enough :) Uncle Rick did provide us with plenty of characters to work with :)

Guest - And I appreciate it so much! Thank you for such a wonderful review and for sticking with my story for as long as you did, it's really readers like you that kept me going, and I'm going to need you in HoO because it's far from fully written I'm afraid...
As I said in the A/N in a direct reference to your wonderful review, there'll be many bumps in the road - getting together is hard enough but when you're also an Olympian and a hero who just won't be left alone things will be far from calm and everyone will have something to say... This chapter is only the beginning.
Thank you again for the kind review!

Belle Charzar - Of course I realized it's you, and again, it's always so nice to see another review from you, especially as I further realize it's not something that commonly happens to you, to come back to a story so often :) Anyway, I'd love for you to always come back...
I'm so glad you liked my ending to the first series, it took a lot of building to get to this point, and I agree there was something a bit unnatural in the conversation with Aphrodite, but the way I see it it's how she is, almost all the conversations she had in the original series were a bit strange as well... she is that way I suppose :)
I'm so glad you're excited, and if you want to, feel free to share your ideas and guesses! Sometimes the reviewers' ideas are so good or fit the story so well that I just find myself adding them to the story :) The conversation between Hermes and Poseidon in the previous chapter was something other reviews voiced they wanted to see, and once reading that suggestion inspiration hit and the rest is history :) And well, HoO is quite long, sometimes there are scenes you guys want to see that I don't even think about... Stay safe as well, and I hope you have a great 2021 as well :D

Guest - Thank you :)