I know I'm kinda breaking my own rule by not updating GEN, but I wrote this after I finished the last one and yeah...
It had been eight months since the failed quest to bring him back. Percy had built more onto his cabin, expanding it to two stories and adding more square footage. He learned to manipulate the Mist to hide it from mortal eyes.
The monster attacks increased in frequency. For whatever reason, the monsters were mostly hybrids, like the Minotaur-Hydra he fought, or the basilisk-harpy combos. Percy had an entire wall dedicated to these monsters, trying to study them. Once, he contacted Chiron out of desperation. The centaur agreed to not tell anyone about their conversation, but did tell Percy that the camp was having the same problem. A few weeks before their conversation, a drakon-hellhound hybrid had managed to break through the borders. Thirty five campers perished before Festus, Leo, and the Ares cabin took it down.
Chiron did tell Percy that Piper had spent a considerable amount of time alone after she returned. When Percy asked why, Chiron confided his thoughts.
"I suspect she has feelings for you, my boy."
In anger, Percy ended the Iris-message and never contacted the camp again.
When he wasn't fending off monsters, Percy spent more time in Nome. The city was small enough that many people knew each other well. The citizens knew him as the loner who lived alone. Their attempts to try and find his home always proved fruitless. Percy got to know more people and dated one girl before realizing it wasn't going anywhere. He got a job at a hunting store and made enough money to live on. The Sawyer family home, however, was his favorite. He and Lila spent a lot of time in the wild, with Percy even showing her his home. He showed her the myths in her backyard and taught her about the gods. He taught her swordplay and weapons skills. Percy quickly became a favorite of Jon and assisted the mortal with chores. Percy hunted for them and supplied firewood for them so Jon wouldn't have to. In turn, the family invited Percy for dinner every Saturday.
Percy quickly realized that this life was likely better than what could have been. He bought a computer and rigged up an antenna for Internet. He began taking online college classes at University of Alaska in Marine Biology. He hoped to start a whate tour business, which would be easy as a son of Poseidon.
When he wasn't busy with classes or work, he thought about his old life, as a demigod. Once or twice, he thought about going back eventually, but wiped those thoughts away. The thoughts that wouldn't go away were those about Piper. As hard as he tried, they wouldn't leave.
Tonight, his dreams were bad. Not bad in a sense of oh-gods-some-nasty-is-gonna-destroy-the-world bad, but more like oh-gods-I-can't-believe-this-is-happening. In his dream, he was back at camp. It was the middle of the night and someone was up. From where Percy's dream self was in the middle of the commons, he could see someone on top of the rock wall. His dream flew up next to them. It wasn't one person but two. Leo and Piper. They were talking in hushed tones, but Percy could hear every word.
"Do you think he's ever gonna come back?" Piper asked. Leo shrugged.
"Dunno. Maybe not ever. Too many memories here," the mechanic said, fiddling with some gears. "His girlfriend died and he wasn't there to save her. It's Percy freaking Jackson. He told us his flaw was loyalty. I think that's what drove him away."
"So he could come back?" Piper asked, a note of hopefulness in her voice.
"Doubtful, Pipes. Don't think about it too much," Leo said. He put away his trinkets. "I'm going to sleep. G'night, Beauty Queen." He climbed down the wall, leaving Piper alone. As soon as Leo was out of sight, Piper pulled a photo out of her pocket. Percy recognized it. It was him, her, and Leo at the beach. Piper was holding the camera and grinning, Leo was forming a peace sign with his flaming hands, and Percy himself was laughing. Sand frosted his head. Percy hadn't seen that expression in a long time. It was one of happiness and comfort. Piper sighed and brushed her thumb along Percy's face.
"Why won't you come back?" She whispered. A tear dropped down onto her leg. Piper sniffed and stood up. She put the photo away and went back down the wall. Percy followed her back to the Aphrodite cabin and the dream shifted to an opulent room.
"Mm, that's sad," a woman said. Percy recognized the voice. A woman lounged on a couch, flipping through a magazine. As Percy watched, her hair shifted from blonde to brown.
"Aphrodite. I though Alaska was beyond the gods." Percy said. The goddess of love didn't look up, but nodded.
"And indeed it is. Well, not so much. You see, you are the first demigod to actually live there. You're also the only demigod there. So Olympus's influence has expanded just a bit. Albeit, not much, and only in Nome, but it's enough."
"So why'd you contact me?" Percy asked. Aphrodite closed the magazine and stood. She walked over to Percy.
"Oh, Perseus. Your heart was shattered so many years ago. I'll admit, when Annabeth died, a part of me did too. You two were literally the perfect match for each other. No one else on earth nor the universe would match. You joined a quest to find Artemis when all you wanted to do was find her. You held the sky for her, she was your anchor for the Curse of Achilles, you showed her your mortal point, you fought in Manhattan with her, she was the only thing you remembered when Hera exchanged you two, and best of all, you fell into Tartarus to be with her. Needless to say, after that little jaunt through Tartarus, Athena finally came to respect you. Not in a grudging way, for hear of angering Poseidon, but for you. Annabeth was her favorite daughter and you gained the total respect of Athena."
"So what's your point?" Percy asked. Aphrodite laughed as if Percy was a baby who kept pushing a square block into a round hole.
"She knows how important your loyalty is. So when you left, she immediately came to me for help." Percy frowned.
"Why?"
"Don't you see? You did all that for love. You essentially saved Olympus twice because of someone you loved. As long as Annabeth was alive, you would fight. And now she's gone." Aphrodite explained. Percy frowned.
"And…"
"That's where I came in. I saw Piper and Jason break up and then you two get closer. I might add, it was my doing that nudged you two together. Your feelings for each other were already there, you just needed a nudge. I understand that you have feelings for her and Chiron wasn't wrong when he told you that Piper is the same."
"Is that all?"
"Pretty much. Piper misses you, Percy. Go back to her." The dream faded and Percy snapped awake.
"Fuck!"
DON'T WORRY, I'M GONNA UPDATE GEN NEXT WEEK!
