Hi guys, sorry that this one is a little short I thought this was an appropriate length for the chapter as this is very plot driven. Still, I hope you like it. I promise the next chapter will be a lot more exciting.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO just my OC's and the plot

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Percy POV

I still couldn't believe it. It was my forth day at the demigod camp and I still could not believe that she was gone.

Annabeth had been one of the first people I ever met in the mythical world over 100 years ago, she had been my best friend, my life line. And then she had been my enemy for a while, but we had just got past that we were friends again and...

A tear fell from my eye.

I sat on the edge of my bed looking at the pictures I'd found in a draw. There was one of us from when we were 12. We were happy, there were no wars, no titans trying to kill me.

We were at the beach with Grover. Her princess curls were hanging around her face, her grey eyes shining, and we were on either side of her. Just three friends having a good time. Silently, I put the photo down and flopped back on to my bed.

I knew that I didn't love her any more, but Annabeth had always been my best friend, she always knew what I needed and how to cheer my up. I just couldn't believe that I would never see her again.

The worst part was that we didn't have time for a proper funeral. We were at war. Each night we burned shrouds for all the fallen of the day, and Annabeth had just been one of the many to die on the first day.

I felt sorry for Nico too.

He had returned from the mission with me, unconscious, and no Annabeth. He was the one who had to tell everyone that the daughter of Athena was dead. The rest of my immortal friends had been quiet since that day, and a gloom had set in over the camp. Everyone had lost someone important on that first day. A brother, a sister, a friend or a loved one. We all lost them.

Even Chiron hadn't been able to put on a brave face.

He loved every one of the campers and to have so many of them dying and being unable to do anything was killing him inside. The old centaur walked around the camp trying his best to help us all, but sadness radiated from him. It was awful.

After a few more minutes, I picked myself up off the bed and went to the mirror. I didn't like looking at myself, but the Apollo kids had made me an ointment for my burns to try and heal the skin and I needed to apply it.

I took off my shirt and unwound the lid before reluctantly looking at myself.

Luckily, with my water healing and the help of the healers most of the cuts and bruises I had got from the titans had healed quickly, with only a few leaving scars behind. The only issue left was the burns.

The acid burns littered my skin from top to top like huge pox scars. Thankfully, I only had a few on my face as I had tried to hide it from the acid but the ones that remained were still huge red welts. I had been told that if I kept using the cream three times a day, they would fade eventually.

It took me a while to put the cream on all of the welts but after a while I put my t-shirt back on and exited my tent.

The tent was near the centre of camp, so it didn't take me long to reach the war tent. For the moment there was no fighting on the field, but it was predicted that the monsters would attack again soon. They had been sending small forces to pester the camp every day since I arrived.

Once a few monsters had even got into our camp and burned a few tents. Fortunately, they were taken down quickly by the archers and no one was killed, a few suffered minor burns - but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed.

The strategy of the titans made me think that they were trying to pick at our numbers until they were ready to send a bigger attack. I just didn't know what they were waiting for.

The war tent was filled with tables and mainly staffed by the children of Athena, although there were a few Ares/Mars kids and some other Romans too. I picked my way through their maze of maps, machines and formation attacks until I reached the final desk where Jason was sat.

His blonde hair was a mess and from the bags under his eyes it looked as if he hadn't slept in days. "When was the last time you slept?" I asked him as I approached.

The son of Jupiter looked up at me and gave a slight smile, "I think I've been up of about 60 hours now." he told me earnestly. "The caffeine/nectar drink that the Demeter cabin concocted is really helping, you should try some."

"I think I'll just sleep thanks, and you should too. You'll get yourself killed if you have to go and fight like this." I replied seriously. My friend looked away from me and back at the papers he was working on.

"I can't, come look at this." He instructed. I walked around the table and peered over his shoulder. "It's Annabeth's map." Jason told me, his voice hitching on her name. "With Nico's help I've been adding to it; we are trying to figure out exactly where they are and how many monsters they've got." He looked up and me and asked, "Now you're a bit better I was wondering if would help?"

"Yeah of course. Anything I can do while I'm getting back in shape again." I answered eagerly.

"You know that Nico doesn't like you training right?" The son of Jupiter said. "Last time he nearly went crazy when you were gone, he doesn't want you anywhere near the titans."

"I know," I sighed "but I know how to kill them plus, I'm the one who deserves to be able to fight them the most Jason. They ruined my life and I am sick and tired pf being afraid of them. If I don't do something now, I'll never be able to live my life."

"I know bro. I know. I'm just saying – expect an argument when you try and get out there."

I nodded my head and began studying the map. I knew full well how Nico felt, he had expressed it to me several time. But if I didn't get out there and fight soon, I'd go back to being afraid of them and I wasn't having that. It was time for the titans to pay.

We looked at the map in silence for a few seconds.

"Honestly, Jason I didn't see much of their camp." The other boy sighed as if he had expected it. "But what I do know is that the titan living quarters are here." I said pointing. "I was taken around this area in my stay there to see various titans – so that is where they are. The rest is monsters."

He nodded and set to work annotating the map. "Thanks, Perce, it's not much but it'll help us loads if we decide it's time to attack back."

"Any time." I told him. "If you need me for anything else, I'll be training." With that I left him with his work and picked my way out of the tent, headed to the training grounds.

The training grounds were near the front of camp and were pretty basic. Set in a large rectangle were the armoury tents, they held all the generic armour and weaponry for both camps.

In the center of the tents was an empty space – that was the training grounds. I did say it was basic.

There about 30 demigods were sparring or practising archery or hitting at the dummies.

At the other end I could see Nico helping the younger campers train. I stood back and watched him mill around the area giving pointers to those who needed it. It seemed as if he wasn't teaching a class but had nothing better to do so was just giving them a hand.

In my time at the war camp I had noticed that none of my friends truly took a break. They had been given down time so that they didn't go crazy, but even in that allotted time I had barely seen any of them not helping.

Even when I was confined to the infirmary and they had come to visit me, they were talking to me while aiding the medics in any way they could.

After a little while, I got bored of watching Nico and walked over to him.

"Hey!" I called when I was close enough for him to hear me.

The son of Hades turned to me with a smile on his face. "Percy, I wasn't expecting to see you here." He said honestly, meeting me half way.

"Yeah, well. There's only so much I can do to help in the infirmary, and I was near enough useless to Jason, so I thought I might get a bit of training in." I told him. "Do you want to spar?"

"Why not." He answered leading me over to an empty space. "No powers though." he told me seriously. "If there is an attack, we need to be ready."

"I know, don't worry about it. I'll not beat you two badly." I grinned at the shocked look on my boy friends face.

"Oh, you are going down Kelp Head." He shot back.

"Ouch." I said sarcastically with my hand over my heart. "That really hurt." But the son of Hades didn't reply, instead he swung his black sword towards my feet. I quickly jumped over it and uncapped riptide.

Nico charged me again, his sword meeting mine as I blocked his strike. I quickly unlocked them and pushed it away, before sending my own jab towards him. He easily dodged it and went on the offensive again swinging at my head, forcing me to duck.

However, that gave me the perfect opportunity.

I swung towards his knees with the flat of my blade and sent the son of Hades to the floor. As soon as he was down, I kicked his sword away from him and placed my sword at his neck.

"I win." I told him with a smirk.

Nico simply rolled his eyes and grinned at me, "Yeah, yeah now get off me you're heavy." I quickly got off his chest, blushing and pulled him to his feet.

It turned out that I accidentally pulled him a bit hard and he ended up a few inches from me. "Sorry." I said, quickly letting go. But he didn't move back, he just stood there – his black eyes staring deep into my own.

I titled my head forward to rest it on his.

We stayed like that for a few moments. Our eyes closed, happy to be together. I had just decided to kiss him when a horn suddenly blew.

We both jumped apart and listened. It came again, but twice this time.

Instantly, we both took off running towards the command tent. Around us, everyone was scrambling to find their armour and get sorted.

The sound of the horn blared through camp again, two short blows. One meant a small attack and reinforces were needed, but two, two meant an army was coming. It was what we had all been dreading.

The titan army were finally attacking.

The command tent was back next to the war tent, so it only took us a few minutes of running to get there.

When we arrived the many of the councillors and immortal demigods were already there. They were helping each other into their armour as their armour was all kept in the tent so they could talk while they prepared.

When I stepped inside, I noticed a manikin wearing bronze armour at the back of the room. Nico had already left my side to grab his own armour, so I went to the back, drawn to the armour. When I got there, I realised why. It had a trident on the breast plate – it was mine.

The armour was beautiful. The celestial bronze glowed softly from every piece and, when I looked closer, I could see that there were small waves along the grieves and braces.

The armour was a mix of ancient and modern for the best protection. It had the traditional Greek style breast plate, braces and plumed helmet, along with the more modern grieves and cuisses to protect the legs.

I whispered a quick prayer of thanks to my dad while I hurried to get it on. Luckily, I was well practised and, in a few minutes, I was stood ready for the quick meeting to begin – as was everyone else. Jason took point.

"Right everyone this is it." he started. "Chiron is currently IM-ing the Gods and they will be here soon. But, until then, we need to hold the fort and remember the Gods can only join the fight when the titans do which means we will probably have to get through a lot of monsters first. Does everyone remember the formations?"

The son of Jupiter turned in a circle, looking for any sign of doubt – but after so long preparing the councillors all knew what to do.

"Ok," he continued "Piper, Thalia, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Leo and I will take point. So, if you have any questions ask one of us, you know who your leader is."

"Wait." I stepped forwards to the front of the circle, looking at Jason. "I'm coming with you."

Before he could even say a word, Nico pushed to the front across from me "There is no way in Hades I am letting that happen!" he yelled.

I was about to answer him when Jason butted in. "We'll deal with this in a second." I let out a huff but remained quiet. When the Roman leader was sure we were going to be quiet he called out "Anything else?".

When no one answered he said, "May the Gods be with us" and everyone filed out.

Immediately, Nico and I met in the middle of the room near Jason. "You are not coming with us." He told me.

"Yes, I am Nico. This is my fight as much as it is yours." I replied sternly.

"I told you he wouldn't like it." Jason muttered to me, before leaving us to decide.

"Percy," Nico sighed "you cannot go out there after last time. He found you so easily."

"And this time I'm not hiding." I replied gesturing to my armour. "Nico, this is my fight too, plus the Gods will be there this time. If the titans start fighting, they can step in."

"I am not betting your life on the Gods." Thunder rumbled overhead but Nico ignored it. "I am not losing you to the titans again Percy."

"Then why did you even bother to come and get me?" I demanded. "You say you saved me, but if you aren't going to let me do this then I am just as much of a prisoner here." Nico stepped back in shock as if I'd hit him.

I took a calming breath and tried again. "Neeks. The titans are killing people, people I care about and people who are trying to protect their family and friends. You can't expect me to stay here and let them die, I need to help." I took another deep breath. "For Anna- Annabeth."

The son of Hades sighed as if he already knew he'd lost. "Percy, you will be in more danger than anyone else out there. You know about the prophecy."

"And that is exactly why I need to go." I told him, taking his hand in an effort to comfort him. "You've found the lost hero, you broke my chains. Everything is wrecked and ruined, the war that was brewing is now on our doorstep." Nico looked up at me as I said the final lines.

"Now," I took a shaking breath. "I have to face my worst fear and I have to save the world." I looked at him sadly. "It's got to be me Nico, I know we've been trying to avoid it. But, we can't change the prophecy – no matter how hard we try our winning or losing will come down to me."

"I hate prophecies." Nico mumbled, putting his face against my shoulder in defeat.

"Doesn't everyone?" I laughed humourlessly.

"Promise me you'll not leave me this time." Nico said.

"I'll try my best." I told him.

The son of Hades took his head from my shoulder and looked me dead in the eyes. "Promise me you won't leave me."

"Nico..."

"Promise me." He demanded. "That is the only way I'm letting you out there."

"Ok, I promise." I finally told him.

That seemed to satisfy him as he stretched up and gave me a quick peck on the lips, "Let's go kill some monsters."

Sooooo, not a very exciting chapter sadly but it was necassary for the continuation of the story. As I said at the start the next chapter will be a lot more exciting, I'm sure you can now see why.

I will also be posting the last few chapters next week (except for the epilogue) so make sure you catch those.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this - please leave me a review and stick around for the final chapters next week. See ya.