[Nico]

"So, do you guys have any ideas on to how the fuck we time travelled?"

I was silent as I watched Percy and Bianca take in what Apollo just asked. We weren't alone in this situation, we have a god on our side.

"I was about to ask you that exact question," Percy responded after a beat. "You're the god, do you know anything about what's happening?"

"I feared you wouldn't know either." Apollo sighed, "All I understand is that we're back here and we can change things."

"Change things?" I ask, suddenly eager. "We can save lives!"

Apollo sits down on the couch, "Yes, but no."

"What?" Bianca asks, baffled. "How can you save lives and not at the same time?"

Percy is already rounding on Apollo. "This better not be some stupid godly idea to not interfere! If you've already turned back into those filthy habits as soon as you've regained your godhood, I will murder you!" My arm shoots out to hold back the snarling boy.

"Woah!" Apollo placates, holding his hands up in a surrender. "It's not like that at all! I wouldn't do that," He looks upset that we would even consider it. "It's- we can save lives, we no longer have the Fates holding us back, but we have no idea what the consequences are."

"What? Like, normal life?" I ask, puzzled.

"No, more like…" Apollo flounders for a second, "Every action we took before, that was our free-will, but it joined with fortune to bring us to Fate. Once a prophecy was told; that's it, that future is concrete. I used to be able to see through the gaps between Fate - see Fortune - and know how to guide it so your free-will meant you could change things for the positive or negative, yet still lead to Fate. That was my job as a god; not just telling prophecies, but also making prophecies just right so that heroes could use Free-Will. When I became mortal, Fate was fixed - all of it, fixed - yet I didn't know how fortune and free-will could be used, so they weren't. Now, there is no Fate guiding us. Any and all lives taken and saved are on us. We are beholden to only Free-Will and occasionally Fortune. Fate stops the butterfly effect from taking hold, Free-Will is the butterfly effect in action, and Fortune is that little thought at the back of your head telling you to step on the butterfly."

Oh. Oh. We're screwed.

All of us went silent as we processed this information. This isn't good; everything we do could have disastrous effects, and we might not even know about it.

"Does this mean that there are no more prophecies?" Percy spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Apollo sighed and put his head in his hands. "All prophecies have been rendered null. And, most likely, there will be no new prophecies until we get back to the same point in time as we were in; because the god of Prophecies is now a holder of Free-Will."

"Great," Percy muttered. "Now I don't even get a helpful prophecy to guide me."

"Exactly!" Apollo wailed, falling back on the sofa. "We have no guide! And, imagine when Father finds out about this! Father might go right past the lost godhood stage (and I really don't mind that) and go straight to just making me fade!"

I pat the mildly overdramatic god on the shoulder, "At least we have a chance to change things."

Apollo nodded miserably, "I've already changed some things."

"What!?" Percy exclaimed.

"I sent Hermes to go claim his children at Camp, when he sees his Cabin, he'll probably spruce it up. Besides he needs to have a talk with Luke."

"Are you crazy?" I yelled at him, "Luke was batshit insane-" "Language!" Bianca interjects. "-when we last saw him! Hell, he was driven insane by his bitterness long before he stole the bolt! If this goes wrong, Luke might just take a running leap at Kronos earlier."

"Relax, he won't." Apollo brushes me off, " Luke won't go to Kronos, not now that he-" He stops, going rigid.

"Apollo, what's wrong?" Bianca worriedly looked at him.

Apollo relaxed slightly, and gave us an unsteady smile. "It seems that three big-three demigods and a god are past the limit to what the smell can cover. It's time for you guys to go to Camp, there's a monster waiting for you outside."

"Fuck!" Percy swears, loud enough for his mom to realise somethings wrong and run back into the room.

"Percy? What is it?" She asks, glancing over them all.

Apollo gives her an apologetic smile. "Sorry My Lady, but it's time for you to bring these three kiddos to Camp. I can't help with that, but here," He hands Percy a bronze dagger. "I think your chances got much higher with a weapon."

He gives us a nod and says, "Good luck," before disappearing in a flash of golden light.

"Percy! What is going on?!" Sally shrieks, fear in her eyes.

Percy looks at us before hefting his new dagger up, "Mom, these are my cousins Nico and Bianca, from the Underworld side of the family. Apollo was just giving a crash course on important information. Now? We need to get to Camp."

[Luke]

Hermes stayed for nearly an hour before he had to leave.

Before he did, he gave me a hug where he slipped me a cellphone, whispering into my ear, "Call me whenever - preferably once a week. Monsters can't detect it. Don't let anyone see it. I love you, son."

I murmured back a "Thank you."

Hermes pulled away and fixed Chiron a glare, "If I hear that you've put any of my children in restraints again, I won't hesitate to burn this Camp to the ground, understand?"

Chiron quickly agreed, looking terrified, and left the room.

Annabeth crawled out of her protective spot from under my arm - right over where my mortal spot once was. "Lord Hermes?"

Father's face softened, "Yes child?"

Annabeth's eyes became far too old for her face, boring into his soul. "Have you checked up on all your children? Have you claimed them?"

Hermes shivered, as if he could feel the weight of the future and the importance of this from Annabeth's stare. "Yes." He said, his normally even voice shakier than usual.

"Good." And in a split second it was like Annabeth was back to being a normal child, even though she isn't even a child. "Will Luke be okay?"

"I-" Father glanced back at me before kneeling down to Annabeth's height, "I'll do everything I can to help Luke be okay."

Father picked Annabeth up before depositing her on my bed next to me. "I believe it's time for you two to sleep. You look exhausted."

He hesitated before tucking us both in, and giving me a kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight Luke."

He disappeared in golden light.

My eyes felt heavy and I was exhausted, but I managed to get out one last question to Annabeth. "What now?"

Her response was to curl up next to me, burrowing herself deeper into the blankets. "Now, we sleep. We can plan things later, Luke. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I sighed out. "Goodnight."

A/N

If you guys are still confused, I'll explain more again later but you can still PM or Review asking for an explanation. Also, directly inspired by the musical, 'I wait by the phone, but the phone never rings, oh no~'