A/N: Hello! How's it going? It's new chapter time! Thank you guys for all the kind and thoughtful reviews you've given me for this story! I am truly so glad to hear you guys are enjoying this fic! Please don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts on the story, whether they're positive or negative. Just remember to give any criticism constructively!

Just a quick note about this chapter, I haven't had much time to edit it, so I might go through and revise it at a later date. But for now, I figured I've kept y'all waiting long enough. So without further ado, happy holidays and enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: All rights belong to Rick Riordan.

Friends

Percy took a deep breath. Scrutinizing the rock in his hand carefully, he focused on his intent to reduce it to dust and began releasing his powers. Percy's eyes glowed purple as the rock started to shake and fragment into chunks. The chunks were broken apart further until only a pile of grey powder was left in his hand. Percy released a sigh of relief and mentally patted himself on the back. It seemed he had finally started developing a finer control of his powers.

However, he had celebrated a little too early. His momentary lapse in concentration meant he lost his tentative control. The ground started to quake infinitesimally. The grass around him started to wither away. Within moments, a small earthquake had developed, the grass had disintegrated completely, and Percy was on his knees, gritting his teeth with the effort of containing his uncontrolled powers. After several minutes of silent struggle, Percy's willpower managed to subdue the flow of energy, and he quickly cut off his access to his godly powers.

With a defeated groan, Percy flopped down on the charred earth. The hot summer sun beamed down on him. Percy wished the heat could just burn him up like he burned up the grass every time he attempted to train.

With a heavy sigh, Percy summoned a stream of water from the river and let it seep into the barren soil around him. Placing a hand in the damp dirt, he slowly forced the life energy that he had stolen from the earth out into the water. Gradually, the bone-dry earth darkened, and the grass grew back once more. Letting out a breath, Percy stemmed the flow of energy from his core and removed his hand from the ground.

He sat back on the restored earth and stared at the grass, deep in thought. He couldn't understand why he didn't have any fine control over his powers. After practicing for months, he was barely closer to mastering them as a demigod than he had been as a god.

The same patterns just kept repeating themselves. He had no problems unleashing an uncontrolled burst of destructive energy, and he had no problems subsequently absorbing the life energy that he so ungraciously took. The issue always arose when he tried to direct his powers at a particular object. He would start off feeling in control, but he would soon lose control again.

Only one good thing had come out of all this destruction. Getting sick of charring the earth day after day, Percy had learned to control the restoration technique he had accidentally used all those millennia ago on Delos. After some experimentation, Percy realized he couldn't use running water as a conduit since it would easily drain away all of his power. He soon discovered that dousing whatever he needed to revive with water was the safest way to do it. He had never been more grateful for the powers that Poseidon had granted him.

Unfortunately, the technique had a huge limitation in that it could only be used to restore small patches of land. Percy still had to learn to control his powers if he really wanted to protect the life around him. That realization had brought him right back to square one.

Percy sighed once more and was about to try demolishing a rock again, when the snapping of a twig near the treeline drew his attention. He heard a sharp intake of breath immediately following the disturbance, and he quickly put two and two together. With a grimace, Percy called, "Annabeth, I know it's you. You can come out now."

There was a pause, then Annabeth appeared by a tree to his left, tightly clutching her baseball cap of invisibility. She walked over to Percy stiffly and said, "Percy, you had better explain yourself. What have you been doing out here all summer? You've been acting really weird ever since Christmas break. And I know those were not powers of Poseidon you were just using."

Percy nodded in agreement and chuckled apologetically. Gesturing for her to sit, Percy frowned thoughtfully. After a moment's pause, he asked, "Do you know who the god Perseus is?"

Annabeth scoffed, "Of course I do. Did you even have to ask?" Seeing the troubled look on Percy's face, Annabeth softened her tone and asked, "What about him?"

Percy grimaced, "I recently discovered that he was my great-great-great-grandfather."

Annabeth lifted an eyebrow. She hadn't been expecting that. "Right," she nodded, "So you're a legacy. That's not a big deal."

Percy's brows furrowed, "It's not that simple. Somehow, I inherited enough of his powers to basically be a demigod of his, but the powers just started showing up a few months ago. I have no control over them, and I can't trust anyone to teach me because Perseus is, well, a pretty taboo subject."

"Well, he did attack an Olympian and threaten war on Olympus," Annabeth said.

Percy felt a touch of irritation stir in the pit of his stomach. He supposed it wasn't Annabeth's fault that she only knew Zeus' version of the tale, but it was still irritating nonetheless. "Lady Artemis was very close friends with him," Percy said instead, "She's told me a bit about him during our archery lessons."

"Really?" Annabeth's curiosity was piqued. She knew Artemis and Perseus had a very long history, but she wanted to learn about the goddess' personal opinion regarding the mysterious god and his controversial downfall. Now that she thought about it, the moon goddess had always been very tight-lipped about her friendship with Perseus, even before he was banished, if the mythology was accurate.

Percy nodded, "Yeah, apparently most of the rumors about him are false."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Well, duh. So what was he really like then?"

"She wouldn't say much," Percy shrugged, "but she said he was sorta similar to me."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at that, "Similar to you? Come on. Rumors are wrong, but they're not that wrong."

"What?" Percy asked defensively, internally chuckling at the irony of the situation.

"Seriously, how can the evil god of destruction be, in any way, similar to a huge dork like you?" Annabeth scoffed in disbelief.

"Hey! I'm just telling you what Lady Artemis told me," Percy shrugged, "He was apparently really loyal. I mean, he is the god of loyalty, so that makes sense. And he was apparently really annoying."

"Hmm, okay I see the resemblance now," Annabeth snorted, "I guess we know where you got your fatal flaw from."

Percy laughed, "You're right." He sobered a bit when another thought hit him, "She also said he had no idea how to control his powers, and that he was afraid of them because of it."

"So he was afraid all along?" Annabeth asked sadly. Then she glanced up at Percy, "And are you?"

"I…" Percy looked down at his toes, unable to meet Annabeth's eyes.

"I see," Annabeth's brow furrowed in concentration, "Well, I suppose I don't have any experience with this kind of thing, but I could help you train if you'd like."

Percy's eyes widened, and he shook his head vehemently, "No! No. Absolutely not."

Annabeth lifted an eyebrow, "What?"

Percy gestured to the clearing around them, "You saw what I just did! You're lucky you didn't get caught up in it too! I could have killed you! No way in Hades will I let you anywhere near me when I'm practicing these damned powers."

"You revived everything, didn't you?" Annabeth gestured toward the grass.

"Yeah, plants!" Percy argued, "Reviving a person is impossible. I'm not changing my mind. There's nothing you can say or do to make me back down."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to fight back, but one look at the pure fear on Percy's face told her to listen to him. "Alright," she said at length, "So what do we do?"

"I'll just keep trying to control my powers I guess," Percy said unsurely, "You stay as far away from me as possible."

"I'm still going to help," Annabeth insisted, "Even if I can't observe and help you directly, I can still do research. From now on, I want you to tell me everything about these powers of yours. Got it?"

Though worry still gnawed at at his stomach, Percy smiled weakly, "Got it."

Annabeth looked satisfied by his answer and gave Percy a quick hug, "You've got nothing to worry about. We're a team, yeah? We've got this. Now, I'm heading to the library. Walk with me?"

Annabeth's words triggered the memory of his first demigod dream with Artemis. We're a team, she had told him then. It seems their team just keeps getting bigger. With a bright smile, Percy gestured back in the direction of Camp, "Lead the way, Wise Girl.

After waving goodbye to Annabeth at the library, Percy turned around to find himself nose-to-nose with Nico. With a strangled yelp, Percy jumped backward, only to bump painfully into the rail along the front steps, "Nico! What the heck, man!"

Without a word of apology, Nico jerked his head toward the shady back alley by the building, "Follow me."

Percy could only stare at the young demigod in confusion as they stopped by an overflowing dumpster. He was about to ask Nick what was going on when Nico grabbed his arm and jumped into the shadows. Percy had only ever shadow traveled twice in his very long life. He could now honestly say that the expression "practice makes perfect" applied triply with shadow travel.

When they arrived at their destination, the two demigods were practically ejected out of the shadow in a heap of flailing limbs. Percy's head was spinning, and his stomach was churning so much that he had to close his eyes for a moment and breathe deeply to keep from puking. As the world slowly stabilized around him, Percy growled, "Dude, what was that?"

Before Percy could hobble over and deck the young demigod, however, a smooth, commanding voice cut through the air, "I would watch how you speak to my son, Lord Perseus."

Percy's heart had a brief spasm in his chest, and his eyes flew up to meet the speaker's onyx black ones in surprise. "Oh… um… Lord Hades. I don't know what you're saying…" Percy's eyes darted over to Nico who thankfully looked completely oblivious. "I mean, I don't think I'm in a position for you to call me…"

Hades rolled his eyes, "Cut the bad act Perseus, I've told Nico about you already."

Percy's eyes bugged out of his head, "You have?"

Hades sighed, "Yes, and I've told them everything about our situation and our plan. How on earth are he and Bianca supposed to be my liaisons if they don't know what they're supposed to be doing?"

Just then, a girl peeked her head tentatively into the room. "Um, hello Father, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Cerberus is playing with my bow and refuses to return it. I've tried everything to get it back. Is there anything you can do?"

Hades' eyes softened when he saw the intruder was his daughter, and he sighed exasperatedly, "Cerberus!"

Two seconds later, the pound of giant paws against stone resonated through the room, and the monstrous three-headed dog exploded into the throne room. Unlike the last time Percy saw it, Cerberus was not snarling and slobbering in anger. Rather, it was yipping with excitement, holding a silver Huntress' bow in one of its mouths and wagging its stump of a tail.

Noticing the slobber coating the length of the weapon, Bianca groaned, "Oh, Cerberus..."

Hades meanwhile just rolled his eyes fondly. In a commanding voice, he pointed at the floor beneath Cerberus' feet, "Cerberus, drop it." The response was instantaneous. The bow clattered to the ground, and Bianca sighed in relief as she went to retrieve her weapon. Her lip curled in disgust when she grabbed the slobber-covered grip. Hades then cleaned off the bow with a snap of his fingers, and Bianca smiled gratefully, "Thank you, Father."

"Of course," Hades inclined his head stiffly. Percy had to hold back a snigger at how awkward Hades was around his kids.

It was then that Bianca took a good look at the other occupants of the room and noticed her brother and Percy. Her eyes widened, "Percy! What?"

Percy's heart warmed at the sight of his old friend alive and well, and he smiled widely, "Hello Bianca, I'm glad to see you are doing well."

In Bianca's opinion, this seemed bizarrely out of character for Percy. The Huntress furrowed her brows in confusion, before she seemed to remember some important detail. She practically snapped to attention and dropped into a low bow, "Oh! Oh my, I'm so sorry. Hello Lord Perseus."

Percy chuckled, "No, no please, none of that." When the Huntress straightened, Percy extended a hand to her instead and said, "It is a pleasure to officially meet you, Bianca. Perseus at your service, though you can still call me Percy if you prefer."

Bianca could only stare at him wide-eyed, "Father told me who you are and what happened, but I just couldn't believe it before now."

"Yes, the truth does sound quite far-fetched, doesn't it?" Percy grinned lopsidedly.

"Understatement," Bianca laughed. That crooked grin that he tossed back at her was unmistakable. It was still Percy in there. He had only matured a couple thousand years. As wild - and frankly ridiculous - as the whole situation was, Bianca was actually quite relieved. Her friend was not gone for good. With a happy smile stretching across her face, Bianca turned to address her father, "Father, may I ask why you and Nico brought Lord Perseus here?"

Percy threw her a half-hearted glare and coughed pointedly, "It's just Percy, and funnily enough, I would like to know the same thing." Bianca rolled her eyes at Percy as the two turned to look at Hades and Nico expectantly.

Hades' expression immediately hardened, "We have a mission for you."