A/n: Hi guys! Ohmygosh, I'm sososooooooooooo sorry! I didn't mean to leave you hanging! But this chapter was really bugging me, and I couldn't figure out how to write it.
So, what's going on with me? Though you'd never ask!
We finally won a game last Sunday! And I was pitching the last inning, so I was vital to it! Umm . . . I got my first vaccination last Friday, I'm getting my next o my birthday, June 4th, in 2 weeks from today! And, color war ended today, I was on the blue team and guess what? We won!

One of our captains, my friend, she brought BLUE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES! Rick's descriptions do not give them justice.

Also, I have book recommendations if anyone's interested. The School For Good And Evil, it's six books and they're currently making a movie of it. Maze Runner and Hunger Games. If anyone has any books they'd like to put out their, review and I'll put them in the next A/n! Again, if you want anyone in here, just pm or review me! Hope you had a great Shavuot, and Shabbat Shalom!

Theo - Percy , he's Percy now - plopped onto his bed, Jason remaining standing and Annabeth sitting on the bed across from him.

Jason clapped his hands together. "Right. I'm just gonna jump right to it. It's not your fault."

Percy opened his mouth to talk, but Annabeth made a shushing gesture.

"You were sick of quests, I get it, really, you had been through a lot. I don't blame you."

"But that's not fair!" Percy burst out.

"Oh?"

"You got killed - murdered - on a boat, in the middle of the ocean ! If I had been there, I could have -"

"What?" asked Annabeth. "What could you have done?"

"I - I don't know, but I know I could have done something !"

"No. You couldn't have."

Percy startled. Nico melted out of the shadows, face grim. "You can tease me later, this is important. Sometime before the final battle, my dad told me something. Some deaths should not be prevented . That's why I let Octavion launch himself, even though I knew he would die and that Leo probably would too. That's why I couldn't find Bianca, either. Some deaths just shouldn't be prevented. It's horrible, and it hurts , so much , but sometimes you just can't stop it. Even if you had been there, Jason would have died. If he hadn't, you probably would have, and where would Annabeth be? Where would everyone else be? Like it or not, you're a leader. You're important, to both camps, to your friends, your family, and you're even friends with a couple gods! The people who died, Bianca, Zoe, Beckendorf, Silena, Jason . . . stop blaming yourself."

"They chose it," Annabeth jumped in. "Bianca chose to sacrifice herself; so did everyone else."

Percy sat, stone-faced. "I could have helped, but instead I was just being selfish and that cost you your life -"

"Perseus Theseus Jackson, you are the most selfless person I have ever met in my life."

Percy's mouth fell open, and his eyes went wide at the words that Jason had just spoken. It wasn't just that he blamed himself; but he felt like Jason should blame him.

"If you go along that line, you could just as well blame Piper or Apollo," he continued.

Percy fidgeted, not saying but clearly eching that he did - or used to, at least - blame Apollo.

"This is obviously not working," said Annabeth, plopping back down and blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face.

"I mean, there's also the fact that I got a prophecy saying that if Piper or I went one of us would die, so it was inevitable, anyways," Jason said, shrugging.

Percy turned to him slowly, open-mouthed.

Annabeth huffed. "You know, you could have just started with that," she told him. "We've had enough prophecies that we know not to fight against them."

She said this with a pointed look towards Percy, who flushed and sank down, shirt lifting a tiny bit so Jason could see remnants of scars.

Said superman frowned and turned to Nico. "could you grab Luke and my sister now?" he asked.

Nico nodded and melted back into shadows leaving two blonds and the son of Poseidon to wait.

Luke paced in front of the couch, stil in the nearly empty dining pavilion.

Thalia watched with amusement and worry. Only they, Will, and Reyna, and Hestia, were still there.

Honestly, Thalia didn't know what to think. Here was Luke, a Luke who hadn't been possessed, but he still stole the master bolt, but he didn't know that they knew, and . . .

Time travel is complicated.

"It's been half an hour!" Luke cried out.

"I'm sure they're fine, Luke," Thalia said.

"Yeah," added Will. "Annabeth would never hurt him, and besides, they're trying to get it through his thick head that it's not his fault."

Luke looked at them, curious. "What's not his fault?"

The three exchanged a glance, but before they could say anything, Nico popped out in front of him.

Will looked angry.

Thalia assumed it was because he shadow traveled again. But really, there's no harm done, right?

She did not want to get on the wrong end of Will's anger. It doesn't happen often, she didn't think it had ever happened before, but Thalia knew that it would be bad.

"Before you say anything," Nico began, "I need Thalia and Luke."

"Why?" asked Luke instantly.

"Because," Nico said, "We're going to try and get it through his thick head that he's not a loser."

Thalia snorted. "Like boyfriend, like boyfriend, I suppose," she said flippantly.

"What?" asked Nico, confused.

"Percy has a thick head, that's all."

"Okaaay . . . "

Nico grabbed Thalia and Luke and they melted into the shadows. When the shadows began to fade, Thalia found herself in the Poseidon cabin.

She turned to see Percy still with a red tint to his cheeks, and Jason and Annabeth with a satisfied sort of look.

Luke went straight to Percy. "Are you okay?" he asked instantly.

Percy nodded. "Fine," he answered.

"Percy," Thalia said, bringing the attention to her.

Percy shrunk. "Do I have to?" he asked ( re: whined ).

Thalia rolled her eyes. " Yes ," she bit out.

Percy recoiled and Thalia felt bad immediately. "Sorry," she apologized. "I just need to see what he ," she snarled, "did to you."

"Not much," Percy said, though he didn't look too sure.

"Can you take off your shirt?" asked Annabeth.

Percy flinched and Thalia narrowed his eyes. He took off his shirt, slowly, leaving the occupants in the room to gape and think of what they'd like to do to him (note: these thoughts are extremely violent and are censored for younger readers. Please imagine what you'd like. (re: I have no idea) ).

Scars littered his body; scars from monster attacks, yes, but also . . . more. Cleaner, shaped, words.

Words like FREAK, WORTHLESS, and MONSTER.

Luke traced MONSTER with trembling fingers, overlapping with what were clearly made from a belt.

"P-Percy," Annabeth said shakily-

"Beer bottles when he was drunk, his belt, a knife . . ."

Thalia stared in shock, mouth agape. Sure her mom hated her, and neglected her, and was a drunk, and she ran away, but she never hurt her on purpose.

"Did he . . ." Nico asked hesitantly, "I mean-"

"I know what you mean," Percy said hollowly. "No, he didn't."

Thalia let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. she went to sit next to him and hugged him, a sharp flash of hatred going through her as she felt her cousin flinch as her arm snaked around him and embraced him.

"I love you," she murmured in his ear.

Percy recoiled a bit, shrugging off her arms. "W-what?"

"I love you," she repeated. "You're my cousin."

"We all love you," Annabeth said.

Luke nodded firmly, kissing him. Thalia honestly didn't know if she'd ever get used to that.

"Percy, you're a cousin, an ex, and best friend, a brother, a leader , a fighter, a savior, a Seaweed Brain, a Kelp Head -"

"A Starfish-"

"A Seahorse-"

"And most of all, our friend."

Percy blinked back tears at the words his friends were telling him. "I- do you . . . mean that?"

In a flash, he was in the bottom of a group hug.

There was a knock at the door and an amused voice floated through. "Hate to break up the love fest children, but we gotta go or we'll miss the next chapter."

Thalia laughed and got up, linking her elbow with Reyna's. "Let's go!" she shouted, and tugged her fellow hunter up.

Once everyone was settled, Silena volunteered to read. Just as she opened her mouth to read, a bright flash of light flashed and died down to reveal Clarisse La Rue and Chris Rodriguez.

Clarisse blinked, looked around, and-

"Oh, Prissy. That explains it."

Percy looked angry, but Theo just snorted.

Annabeth caught them up to what they missed, and Clarisse groaned. "I missed the minotaur fight?" she demanded. "Really?"

"Don't worry, I'll tell you aaaaaallllll about it next break," Will promised.

"What?" asked Theo.

Will shrugged.

"Scooch, Prissy," Clarisse told him.

Chris rolled his eyes and dragged her next to Annabeth. Clarisse leaned into him and waited for them to start.

"Okay, can we go now?" asked Theo.

"No," said a guy with a blinding smile and blond hair. He was with a girl and a boy, obviously siblings.

Nico froze, but Theo didn't. "How much do they know?" he asked. "How much do you know?"

"They know about their heritage and what you guys read so far," the man - he was in his early twenties - answered. "And - I know enough."

"Who are you?" asked Michael Yew.

"Dad," said Will, much to table 7's surprise.

Baby-Neeks looked at Theo and began blabbering in excitement. "Is your dad really Poseidon? Did you really kill a fury and the minotaur? Did you-"

"Nico!" Bianca slapped a hand over her brother's mouth. "Sorry about him," she said apologetically.

The futures who didn't know Nico when he was a kid looked at him in amazement.

Thalia, Percy, Will, and Clarisse grinned. Clarisse whooped. "Blackmail extraordinaire!"

Nico groaned. "Don't you dare," he protested.

Thalia grinned, but then tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Speaking of dares, I wonder . . . "

"Probably," shrugged Theo. Pointing to Nico, he told Baby-Neeks and Bianca, "hi, guess who that is?"

Nico looked at his future self in curiosity. "Who?"

"You," answered Nico blankly.

"Really?" asked Bianca skeptically.

Nico's heart panged. "Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, returner of the Athena Parthenos, Savior of Olympus, Ghost King, Survivor of Tartarus, and-"

"Someone who should not , I repeat, not be shadow traveling," Will interrupted, getting a half-hearted glare from his boyfriend. Will just rolled his eyes and tugged him closer, kissing his dark locks. Nico snuggled into him, making the perfect sight for Theo's silent camera to capture.

Theo brought his finger to his lips and winked, as Baby-Neeks and Bianca looked at him in awe.

"Really?" asked Baby-Neeks.

"Really," confirmed Reyna, smiling at him. She ruffled Nico's hair, who batted her hand away with a glare. "Are you tired, Mr. Grumpy-Pants?"

Nico bolted up with a glare that could rival Theo's you're-annoying-me-to-death-with-your-monologue-so-I-have-to-kill-you-now look.

But before he could say anything, Theo interrupted. "A tired boy once said to me, "with great power comes great need to take a nap"."

"And who was this boy?" asked Reyna.

"Why, Death Breath, of course!"

"Shut up Seahorse," Nico grumbled, flinging a pillow at him.

"Uh . . ." Bianca looked on in a what-the-heck-is-going-on-here-and-what-am-I-supposed-to-do kind of way.

Piper and Hazel grinned at each other, rolling their eyes as Thalia joined in on the pillow fight.

"Sit here," Hazel invited, patting the seat next to her.

"Is my dad really Hades?" asked Neeks, bouncing up and down excitedly as he sat wedged in between his sisters.

"Yep," confirmed Hazel with a bob of her head. "You and Bianca both. Actually, I'm your guys's half-sister. My dad is Pluto, the roman form of Hades, but still."

"Cool!"

"Dad?" asked Will.

Apollo smiled sadly at the demigods in front of him. "I'll be back later, to bring more people who will be joining."

"Wait," Theo said, standing up.

Apollo looked at him.

"If you ever need anything, my mom's door is always open," Theo told him.

Apollo grinned and nodded, waving good-bye. "Sorry I can't stay," he said, and disappeared.

Chiron blinked. "R-right. Well, SIlena, could you . . .?"

"Oh! Yes!" Silena looked at the chapter title.

"I play pinochle with a horse."