This is the last chapter that's gonna follow canon this closely. Sure, the basic plot is still the same, but there will be enough deviations to keep it interesting. Look forward to it!

A Demigod out of time

The Lightning Thief II

"Do you have everything? Your toothbrush, cloths, some underwear..." his mom asked nervously before he interrupted her.

"Yeah Mom, geez, you act like I'm a little child. Not cool."

Was that something the twelve years old he would say? He wasn't sure, but judging by the small smile he spotted on his mother's face it didn't sound too weird. And it wasn't like she didn't know he actually liked it when she fussed about him. It may be slightly uncomfortable if she did it in front of others, like the one time when he went to Westover Hall with Annabeth and Thalia to help Grover saving Nico and Bianca and his mother had been the one to drive them there, but he really loved it because it displayed just how much she cared about him.

"I'm your mother. It's my job to worry about you."

"Yeah yeah, alright. But you know I can take care of myself."

He tried to sound grumpy when he said that.

He didn't succeed.

"I don't want to hurry you guys, but we should really go, Percy. I don't feel too great, standing outside the barrier and all, and your scent is really strong. There might be monsters nearby who get attracted by it."

He felt like Grover was overestimating the danger they were in, but he also didn't want to risk it. Not after they went all the way without interruption. No need to tempt Fate.

"Fine, just give us another secon-" he started to say before he was stopped by his mother's arms closing around him.

"I will miss you. Make sure you write to me, will you?"

He seriously doubted he would be able to write a letter while he was on the quest for Zeus' Master Bolt, but he nodded nonetheless. "I will miss you too, Mom."

No, he wasn't crying, you are!

A few minutes later they stood on top of Half-Blood Hill, right beside Thalia's Pine, and were overlooking the Camp. And by Zeus, if this wasn't a sight for the sore eyes.

The volleyball court, where are few campers were playing with a group of satyrs, was right in front of them. In the distance on their right, he could see the amphitheatre, and memories of all the nightly sing-alongs and other gatherings like the end-of-camp ceremony came to his mind. Just a bit behind the amphitheatre was the climbing wall, and he was quite confident in his ability to spot a bit of lava pouring from the top at the moment.

A bit to the left of the climbing wall was not just the canoe lake, but also the cabins and the dining pavilion. He could hear his stomach growl when he saw the latter and thought about how he could barely wait for dinner tonight. The food at Camp was always excellent.

At the far end of his sight, he could see the forest stretching out into the horizon, with Zeus' Fist towering over everything else. This sight remembered him that the next Capture the Flag game wasn't too far away.

Grover stopped his observations by starting to pull him in the direction of the Big House, a strangely excited expression on his face. What was this about?

They didn't talk too much on the way, as he was still trying to see as much as possible of his "home away from home" and Grover seemed to have other things on his mind than conversation. They also gained quite a lot of stares from all the demigods and satyrs on their way. Luckily he was used to it by now, having endured this for years at this point, but he knew that the stares had made him uncomfortable when he first came to camp. At least he wasn't the kid who killed the Minotaur this time around.

They made the way to the Big House in twenty minutes. They would have been faster, but Percy didn't want to miss the chance to talk to other campers without intimidating them with his entire 'Son of Poseidon' thing. This was something he hadn't had the chance to do the last time because he had still been too depressed and confused to approach other people. The only people he had a noteworthy amount of contact with then were Annabeth, Grover, Luke and Clarissa. Considering that one of these people betrayed not just their friendship but also their camp, and his early contact with Clarissa was dominated by violence and mutual dislike, you could say that he wasn't very successful in making friends.

To tell the truth, he was rather relieved not to see anyone he became close to in the future. He didn't want to be distracted before he talked with Chiron and Mr D. He would need all his wits for that.

He also might have stalled for more time to prepare for this confrontation. He very much doubted that he would be able to lie to the old centaur, which meant he couldn't just tell some made-up story like "I had a dream where I saw Kronos manipulating Ares to steal some badass lightning bolt from Luke, who also stole it first by the way".

It was just like he remembered it; Chiron sat in his magical wheelchair in front of Dionysus, a game of pinochle between them. He was no expert in this game, but you couldn't get around learning the basics of their camp director's favourite game if you were around as long as he was (don't ask why...please). Because of this, it was quite obvious for him that until recently two others had taken part in the current game. Probably two Satyrs.

He could also see, that Mr D was losing. Badly.

He was a bit sadden that Annabeth wasn't present, but he figured it made sense as he hadn't killed the Minotaur this time around. His fight with the aforementioned monster did a good job in making his presence known to everyone in CHB.

He knew that Annabeth had already heard the Great Prophecy at this point in time. He also knew that she was told by Chiron she would have a part to play in it too. It had been Grover who told him that every time a new camper came to CHB, she wondered if they were "the one", which was why she had been so interested in him after his victory over the Minotaur. She was convinced, that she finally found the person she had waited for all this time.

Deciding to make his presence known he called "Mr Brunner!".

His former teacher turned around when he heard his voice, a surprised expression on his face before it turned into a wide smile.

"Well, hello there Percy. And Grover too! I didn't expect you with us so soon! But maybe it's for the best, at least here you are safe. Now, get over here you two! You arrived at the right time, we just wanted to start a new round."

He offered them the two chairs between him and Mr D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh before he started to speak:

"Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

He would later deny it, but he had missed Mr D and his lacklustre way of doing things.

"Now now, there's no need to be rude, is there?" Chiron surprisingly chimed in. "They just arrived here, and by the look of it, they did so without any trouble too! Let them enjoy it as long as it lasts."

Mr D scoffed at that but didn't give a replay

He had no idea why Chiron bothered to reproach Mr D like that when he didn't do so the last time. Then he had been nothing but a confused boy who just lost his mother, which should have given Chiron much more reason to try to rebuke the god than now.

He really should stop trying to figure immortals out, it was a hopeless endeavour.

"Anyway," Chiron continued. "You may call me Chiron. Mr Brunner was just a pseudonym I took for my time at Yancy Academy."

"Oh, right. My Mom and Grover told me this already. Aren't you supposed to be a Centaur or something like that?"

"Indeed I am, but it is much more comfortable to sit in a chair while playing on such a cramped terrace rather than being constricted as I would be in my true form."

"That...makes sense I guess?"

"I think so too, yes."

Mr D had used the time he and Chiron had spent talking to collect all the cards that were needed for another round and was now eyeing me suspiciously.

"You do know how to play pinochle, do you?" he asked me.

"Of course, sir."

For a moment he thought he could see Mr D's left eyebrow rising in surprise, though if it was because he knew the rules of the game or because know. But the next moment he looked just like he did before, bored and a bit annoyed that was, and he couldn't say if he just imagined it or not.

"Well, at least the boy is civilized," he mumbled under his breath, which was probably the nicest thing the god had ever said about him.

The next moment the cards flew out of his hands in the direction of Chiron, Grover and himself. He grimaced when he saw his cards. It seemed like Mr D gave him the worst hand possible.

"You mentioned that Grover and your mother told you about me. Would you mind telling me what else they explained to you?" Chiron asked, bringing my attention back to him.

So he told him and by extension Mr D and Grover, how he came home after the end of the school year and told his mother what happened with Mrs Dodds, who afterwards started to explain everything to him. He then told them how they then decided to call Grover, before they drove to camp. When he finished there was silence for a few moments, before Chiron decided to talk again:

"Well, that makes things much easier. And you believed everything she told you? No doubt or confusion?"

Now it started to become complicated. He wasn't good enough to lie to either Chiron or Mr D, the 'man' was a god after all, but he still needed to convince them he was telling the truth. Luckily, he had a solution:

He would just tell them the truth. Not the fact that he travelled back in time, of course, but still the truth.

They ask him how long he knew that he was a demigod?

Well, he was told about it shortly after the end of school. If he told them this, nobody would be any wiser about the fact, that he knew about it for years. If he wanted to be really vague he could just say "since the end of June of this year" and he would technically still be correct.

They ask him if he was confused after he was told about the gods?

Well, maybe he wasn't confused when his mother explained things to him, but the first time he truly was told about them? Yes, he had been confused as hell.

You got the idea.

Honestly, he was kinda proud of himself for coming up with this by himself!

"Well, I guess I was confused at the beginning. Of course I was, nobody would simply believe gods and monsters are real! But it explained a lot of stuff that happened to me, like this incident when I was younger and this big, one-eyed man tried to talk to me before my teachers chased him away. Honestly, I think the only reason I believed her, besides the fact that I knew she would never lie to me, was because this...Mist that manipulates peoples awareness explained this entire 'Mrs. Dodds incident'. You know that I was starting to think I was losing my mind, do you?"

He tried to sound accusing when he said the last part, which wasn't that hard because he remembered really feeling like that back then.

"I know, Percy, and I'm sorry. But I can guarantee you that it was for your own good. I don't know if either your mother or Grover already told you this, but the scent demigods have, the one that monsters can smell and use to find you, gets stronger once you find out what you are. We hoped to give you a bit more time before you would need to come here, to come to camp."

He stayed silent for a moment, thinking. Of course, he already knew why they did what they did, and he could understand their reasoning, but even after all this time, he wasn't sure if he agreed with it. In all like-hood, his life might have been easier if he had found about all of this earlier. At the very least his first quest would have been much easier with a bit more training under his belt.

It was useless to think about this now, so he decided to change the topic:

"When Mrs Dodds attacked me at the museum you threw this pen to me, remember? The one that somehow transformed into a sword. How does that work?"

Chiron raised an eyebrow before replying: "Well, magic of course. I thought that considering the fact that gods and monsters are real, coming to that conclusion would be -what do you young folks call it these days?- a no brainer?"

He actual blushed at that. Maybe he should try to make a better first impression.

"That's not what I meant! I just want to know why it could kill Mrs Dodds in the first place. I mean, only celestial bronze can kill monsters, right? But you used this sword all the time in school, I recognized it. Wouldn't the Mist hide it and make mortals see something else?"

"Ah, I see. Well, that question makes a bit more sense. Now, you are not completely wrong with that assumption. The Mist does indeed hide the supernatural from mortal eyes, and it did so even in class when I showed off Riptide, which is the swords name by the way. I guess your mother didn't tell you that, if she even knows it herself, but celestial bronze emits a faint golden glow. If you think back about my lessons, can you remember seeing the sword glow? Because I don't think so. The Mist hid it from you, as well as the rest of the class. And the reason as of why all these mortal children could see the sword in the first place; there was just no reason to hide it. I announced in advance, that I would bring real weapons with me for demonstration, didn't I? So when I used Riptide in front of students they expected to see a real sword, which isn't something supernatural and as such doesn't need to be hidden from mortal eyes. It's more than enough to hide the faint glow."

I nodded. Sure, he could have come to the same conclusion if he ever thought about it, but he never did. Why should he, when he had so much more important stuff going on? It was still interesting, though.

"And what if you had accidentality hit someone with it? Celestial bronze can't hurt mortal, can't it?"

"Well, in that case, the Mist would have most likely intervened. Even if not, I still could manipulate it myself and everything would be fine."

Percy blinked. Did Chiron just mention Mist manipulation in front of him? The last time, he didn't know this was a thing until he saw Thalia do it in front of him when they were going to rescue Nico and Bianca, and then afterwards he hadn't much time to learn it himself because so much else was happening all the time. Maybe he could change that?

"Manipulate it yourself? That is possible?"

Chiron nodded, seemingly pleased for some reason. "Indeed it is. Many demigods, and quite a few monsters for that matter, can learn to manipulate the Mist. It's a dangerous ability, as a strong Mist can confuse the mind of even a demigod. Maybe I can show you how, in due time, after you had some time to settle in, but not now. I should warn you though, it isn't an easy ability to learn. Most demigods, besides the children of Hecate, are not able to do more with it than some easy tricks."

Take that, Pinecone Face!

Thalia and he were close friends, no matter how much they fought from time to time, but he never forgot the one time they were at Westover Hall and Thalia stepped in front of them and did her little mind trick by manipulating the Mist. It didn't even matter that it didn't work on Dr Thorn. This was the point where he really started to feel like he wasn't needed on the quest and that Thalia 'replaced' him.

They got over it, sure. But it still stung.

"Well, that was an interesting conversation and all," Mr D said smugly, speaking for the first time in a while. "But there are other, more important things that need to be mentioned too. One of which is the fact, that I won this round."

"Not quite, Mr D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tailed the points, and said. "The game goes to me."

Mr D just sighed, obviously used to being beaten by the old centaur. He got up, and Grover followed suit.

"I'm tired," he said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk. It seems like you did an alright job this time, so maybe you can actually fulfil your little dream and become a searcher."

Then he turned to Percy, seemingly evaluating him.

"I guess you could have done worse. At least you have manners. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Mr Johnson."

Having said everything he wanted to say, Mr D swept into the farmhouse. Grover followed him, looking even more excited than before, and offered nothing more than a little wave before he too vanished into the farmhouse.

Percy couldn't do much more than stop his mouth from falling open.

Grover was already becoming a searcher? Just like that? Did that mean he wouldn't accompany him on the quest to retrieve Zeus' Master Bolt? Much more important, didn't that mean that he would be captured by Polyphemus much earlier? That would be terrible! He might be able to act as if he were a female Cyclops again, but this wasn't a given. Maybe he would never get the chance this time!

He might very well die, how didn't he thought about this? He should have known this could happen and did something to prevent it. But what could he do now? He was just-

"Ah, there is no need to be worried about Grover. Mr D might act a bit grumpy and uncaring, but he is still the camp director."

It was good that Chiron pulled him out of his thoughts before he had the chance to have a full-blown panic attack. Now was not the time for that, no matter how hard it was not to think about it. Fortunately, Chiron misinterpreted his feelings as simple worry for his friend, instead of the certainly of doom he was feeling.

"I think it's time to find you a place to sleep. Cabin eleven will do just fine for that, all campers who don't know who their godly parent is are sleeping there, and-"

"But I know who my godly parent is," he interrupted weakly, still trying to get his mind off the fact that he might be responsible for his best friend's death.

Chiron paused. "You do?" he asked.

Percy blinked.

Shit.

He hadn't planned to tell that anyone quite yet, seeing no real advantage in doing so, but it was too late now. He knew that Chiron was already suspecting him to be the son of one of the Big Three, which was the reason he bothered to come to Yancy in the first place, so this would only confirm what he was already speculating.

"Poseidon," he answered. "My father is Poseidon."

Chiron's face afterwards made it pretty clear, that the news wasn't that surprising for him. He was, in fact, convinced, that Chiron had already guessed that he was a son of Poseidon, if only because he looked just like his father.

Even with that revelation, it was decided, that he would still need to live in cabin eleven until his father would claim him.

They didn't stay much longer on that terrace and Chiron started to give him the same tour as the last time. Of course, he had gotten out of that wheelchair first.

He was slightly annoyed that most campers were older, and bigger, than him. He had gotten used to his younger body again, he had more than enough time to do so after all, but it was still slightly annoying being one of the youngest campers again.

He also saw a good amount of Satyrs, all of them bigger and older looking than Grover. They were trotting around in the orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts he himself had worn in the future, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters.

He still got a lot of stares, but at least they were more curious than awed. Now he was only the new one, instead of the guy who killed the Minotaur without a weapon.

He couldn't say he disliked this anonymity.

As they walked through the strawberry fields, and shortly afterwards past the woods, he felt how all the tension he didn't even know he was feeling till then was leaving his body. The time between his last visit and now was not much more than the other times he went home between summers, but it felt much longer.

Maybe it was the atmosphere, he mused. Without a war luring on the horizon, the camp seemed to be much more welcome than before.

It was wonderful.

Chiron pointed at the mess hall with all it's white Grecian columns, standing on a hill and overlooking the sea. He remembered how he was confused the first time Chiron had shown it to him, and how he had asked 'what do you do when it rains?'.

What a silly question, he laughed inside his mind.

Finally, they arrived at the cabins. They were just as he remembered them; all twelve of them were nestled in the woods by the lake and arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. They were still, without a doubt, the most bizarre collection of buildings he had ever seen.

But Percy had only eyes for one of them: cabin three. It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, fortunately, but long and solid. The outer walls were of rough grey stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor.

He pulled himself together and resisted the urge to enter the cabin, but barely so.

Even from the distance, he caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. He hadn't noticed until now how much he missed his bunk bed with-

"Ah, cabin three." Chiron interrupted my thoughts. "Your father's cabin, as you surely realized yourself already. I fear it will need to stay empty for now, but maybe in due time, you will occupy it. Now come along, Percy."

The first thing he noticed after he pulled himself away from his cabin was the loud rock music blaring from the bright red cabin they walked past.

The Ares cabin, he thought.

He could see a bunch of kids, all of them as mean-looking as their father, arguing and arm wrestling with each other. One of them he recognized immediately: Clarisse. She was as big and tough looking as he remembered, and just as loud.

He wondered if she would try to give him her form of an "initiation ceremony" again.

.