CHAPTER VIII

"Oh my baby boy! You're ok!" His mom threw herself through the doorway and buried herself in his chest as she hugged the life out of him.

"Sally who's at the.. My Gods, Percy!" Paul peered at Perseus from around the kitchen counter, nearly dropping the chicken he was holding before placing it down and rushing over to hug him too.

Perseus hugged back as tightly as he could. He had missed them both so much and he didn't stop the tears that flowed down his face freely.

"I missed you guys so much.." he breathed out. His mom detached herself and held his face with her hands as she examined him.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Where were you all these months? Oh look how much you've grown!" Sally rambled on as the sobs coming from her throat seemed to increase.

"Mom, I'm fine I swear, I just needed to see you and Paul again before I got back into the fray," Perseus replied, leading them back into the apartment and closing the door.

"Grover IM'd us and said that you and the rest of the Seven were heading back from Greece half an hour ago, how did you get here so quick?" Paul questioned curiously. Perseus blanched when he heard Grovers name. By Styx, Grover was alive in this world? His memory of his old best friend was hazy at best. He remembered Grover being the one who introduced him to Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia way back when. But Grover had died at the hands of Alecto shortly after they had reached Lukes safehouse.

"Paul, enough of that, he's here now and from the looks of it hungry, come on Percy I just made some chicken, let's eat," his mom smiled warmly at him and pulled him to the kitchen. Perseus was about to decline the offer but one smell of her old cooking made his stomach growl louder than a drakon. As they sat at the kitchen table sharing a meal and small talk, Perseus' mind raced. Like Chaos said, almost everything was going to be the same but the key word was 'almost.' The mention of Grover had him on edge, that and the fact his mom was visibly a bit younger in this world than how he remembered her in his made him cautious. He had to watch out and make sure not to slip up just yet and figure out what the main differences were between his world and this one. Paul was in the middle of asking for Perseus to pass the mashed potatoes when a slight tremor passed through the ground and shook the building.

"Well that was weird, did you two feel that too?" Paul asked in confusion, but grew worried at the pale look on both Sally and Perseus' faces.

"Honey..?" Sally asked slowly, looking towards Perseus.

"Yeah.. I felt it too." he replied. He opened his mouth to say something else but his eyes widened, he shot up from his chair and stomped on the ground, his arms shooting to his sides as a massive earthquake rocked the building. "Mom, grab Paul and both of you get in the bathroom now!" He yelled out, his gut clenching as his instincts screamed at him, warning him of another quake.

"What the hell is going on?!" Paul shouted as the rumbling became worse to the point they could barely stand.

"I'll explain in full later, but basically right now Percy is holding back the full force of an earthquake, and we need to get to cover, come on!" Sally shoved Paul into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. With a roar Perseus pushed back the earthquake from the apartments general area and forced the rumbling to divert around them. He fell to a knee as the pressure built up and around him, this was taking much more effort than he was comfortable with and he was unsure just how long he could divert the quake. Just as the swelling grew to an unbearable amount, the quake slowly evened out and halted. Perseus let out a sigh of relief as he dropped his arms to his sides and wiped the sweat that formed on his forehead.

"All clear mom!" he shouted hoarsely. Paul and Sally cautiously walked out of the bathroom and took a quick look around the apartment, upon seeing Perseus drenched in sweat and panting heavily, Sally immediately rushed and got him water. He willed a smile to form on his face but it came out more as a grimace as he chugged the bottle and dumped the rest on his head.

"Percy, what in the name of your father was that?" Sally asked worriedly as she fretted over him once more as Paul started picking up items and furniture that had toppled over. Perseus concentrated and closed his eyes stretching his now strained senses outwards and felt the very earth itself. As always it was harder than he expected it to be but he pushed through. He opened his eyes and saw himself in a fallen mirror, the eyes that met him were his own, but greener than normal, almost like grass… he blinked and his eyes seemed normal once more.

"Gaea's risen," Perseus responded simply as he stood up and stretched his sore joints.

"Wait Gaea, like, mother earth? I thought she was one of the good ones?" Paul asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Yea no. She wants to wipe out the Olympians by using their banes, the Giants. They're beings she had with Tartarus purely with the intention to kill the gods. And those guys could care less about mortals and would probably destroy the world so I kinda have to stop them," Perseus began to make his way out of the apartment. "I love you both, I promise I'll IM you guys once it's all over."

"Percy, come back home safe.." his mom said as she enveloped him in a hug. He flashed her his signature smile and wiped the tears that were threatening to fall on her face.

"For you, mom? A thousand times over."

A/N: and heres 8! Just finished reading The Kite Runner. God what an amazing book, I had to incorporate a little nod to it at the end there. So im thinking of doing longer chapters, at minimum 2k? Thoughts?

As always, leave a review and comment if you've got any questions!

Take it easy out there folks :)