Chapter 15

Percy POV

I hate having panic attacks.

Seriously, it sucks. Your whole world gets distorted or you can't slow your breathing, for me though, I usually start with shaking, uncontrollably. Then my breathing increases, like i'm hyperventilating. But worse of all, I lose my hearing, like i'm sinking to the ocean floor and I can't hear anyone, then my eyes go fuzzy and I black out. It's horrible, and you can never tell anyone but, it scares me to death, in fact i'm still terrified.

I hope mom won't leave me here, in this hell hole. With so many older males. I wake to someone stroking my hair, gentle and slow. The smell of the sea invades my nose, and I know it's him, my father. Poseidon, king of the seas. I slowly crack my eyes open, and i'm shocked to say the least. He's, crying. Never did I ever think i'd see him cry, see his creases on his face, the bags under his eyes and his hair a mess. I did the only thing I could.

I hugged him.

Poseidon POV

I can honestly say I was not expecting my son, who Artemis told me was terrified of older males, to hug me. I was crying while stroking his hair from his face, mourning his stolen innocence and childhood, mourning his mother and his outlook on life, and mourning his lost trust in men, people who could one day be his friends, his comrades or lover if he so chooses.

But then he moved like a snake striking its prey, and my arms were full of my six year old son. "Please don't cry father." he whispered, and I broke, I sobbed and sobbed clutching my tiny son to my chest. My son who was more worried that I was crying than the fact that I was a man, and he had just woke up from a panic attack. He is small, and I am never letting go.

Artemis POV

Thunder crashed, Zeus had finally realized I had a boy in my hunt. I flashed to the Olympus throne room, and sat in my chair. Zeus glared at me. When Poseidon finally flashed in Zeus went to reprimand him only to stop short. Poseidon had tears streaming down his face and looked at Zeus with an equal amount of hate and sorrow. Zeus at least had the decency to look ashamed. Still he turned to me and before he even opened his mouth I snapped at him.

"Look I took in the boy yes. He is the perfect choice, he is terrified of males, he relies on me for shelter and care, and he would Never Ever dream of hurting a female, especially not one he views as a sister or, mother." Zeus looked like he'd been slapped. Unable to come up with a retort he turned to Poseidon,

"And what is YOUR excuse brother? Hm? As to why you broke the oath?" A triumphant gleam in his eyes. Poseidon for his part simply stared at him, then in the most monotone voice I've ever heard from him he said,

"and what of YOUR child little brother?" I smiled, I remembered the daughter of Zeus that I helped, I liked the lightning in her eyes. Zeus was stuttering, blubbering really.

"I-you-he-she-c-council DISMISSED!" he screeched. Smiling at Poseidon we flashed back to camp.

.

..

.

I was arguing with Poseidon, he wants Percy to stay in camp so he could keep an eye on him, where he'll be safe from monsters. However, I KNOW Percy, making him stay here, with MEN will destroy him, and he'll end up shadow traveling away anyways, and then I won't be there to watch over him. I glared at him, and FINALLY he gave in. Percy would leave with me and the girls for four more years and then he would try going to camp for a while.

Agreed we both left, not before Poseidon gave Percy a final hug and told him if he needed him, all he ever had to do, was ask. I left to notify Chiron and Mr.D that we were leaving and taking Percy with us. Mr.D didn't seem to care, in fact he looked relieved, and Chiron while concerned, agreed that it was the best course of action with Percy's mental state. I flashed to my cabin and gathered my girls. We were leaving and wouldn't be back for quite some time, it was time Percy grew up and learned to conquer his fears.

~Time skip 4 years~

Percy POV

I am ecstatic.

Uncle Hades is taking me with him to get his kids out of hiding. I feel so honored, he didn't even tell mom, I'm ten now and i'm almost the same height as mom, he just said he was taking me out for some training! I don't know where I would be without my uncle, both of them really, but mostly Hades. He took me out in secret to start exposing me to males, starting out with younger ones, then when I felt safe with them, which didn't take that long considering they were all smaller than me, he made me make friends with this boy called Leo, who was my age, and Leo was, different.

He was just as scared of me as I was of him. Which was... nice, for a change. We met when I was seven and have been best friends ever since, him teaching me how to be strong around older men, and me teaching him that it wasn't his fault his momma died. We even practiced using our powers together once we found out Leo was a demigod too. He can make fire! It's awesome.

Anyways, me and uncle pop out of a shadow in front of this really big flashy hotel. I'm a little nervous because of all the older guys staring at us, but I find if i just hold the hilt of my sword I feel better. Uncle is just standing there, still as Ms.O'Leary when I tell her to play dead. He's scared. I realize, and I reach out and grab his hand, gently pulling him inside. He moved stiffly at first like he was scared, and I realized this was my chance to be the strong one, my chance to repay uncle for all the good he's done me. Smiling with determination I look back at uncle who still looks hesitant, and say "Come on uncle, I just know they miss you." And that was all it took. He smiled and patted my head with his other hand and strode into the casino holding my hand tightly.

Two things hit me the second we walked in. One, the poker tables,everywhere, just like HE used to play. Two, the sheer number of people, almost all of them older. And male. I gulped, this is gonna be harder than I thought. Pushing down my fear, we kept walking.

We walked aimlessly for a little while because Uncle seemed to be out of it. So I kept my eyes peeled for a boy my age and a older girl which was all that uncle told me about them. We were offered food a whole bunch of times, and even though I was hungry uncle always said 'no, we are simply not hungry, thank you.' And that was that. I started to wander a little away from uncle since he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. Stomach grumbling I bumped into someone running around the corner and we both ended up on our butts.

Rubbing my nose I looked at who I had run into. A boy my age with black hair and even blacker eyes and skin the prettiest shade of olive I'd ever seen. He was rubbing his forehead, it seems he was a bit shorter than me. Suddenly a girl with the same skin, hair and eyes, came barreling around the corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Quickly dropping to her knees she spoke rapid fire, was that a different language? Spanish? No Leo spoke Spanish, french? No, phoebe spoke some french. Italian? Yea it's gotta be Italian. After checking her, what I assumed to be little brother the girl turned to me and eyed me, then asked,

"Stai bene?" I stared at her. What did she say? I guess she realized I couldn't understand and tried again, "Are you ok?" she asked hesitantly. I nodded still rubbing my nose, man that hurt. Suddenly the boy gasped, I looked at him, he looked scared and, guilty? The girl gasped too, I looked at her, "What?" I ask. She shook her head and grabbed my hand and her brothers, and dragged me off. I lost sight of uncle very quickly. We ran up a flight of stairs and then into a room. She shut the door, locked it and ushered me into the bathroom. There I saw what had scared them so badly, my nose was bleeding, quite heavily too. Moving quickly I grabbed toilet paper and stuffed it up my nose. Turning back to the boy and girl I asked their names.

"I am Bianca and this is my little brother Nico." Said the girl. Nodding my head I put up my hand and waved,

"Hello, i'm Percy." I smiled. Bianca smiled and Nico gushed about how cool I was and that my defense level must be really high if I can get a bloody nose and not even notice. I wasn't quite sure what he meant by defense level, but it was cute how excited he got, he reminded me of Leo a bit, like when he got a machine idea. I giggled and played with Nico and Bianca for a while. Then the shadows shifted and suddenly Uncle was scooping me off the bed, hugging me. Shocked, I didn't even move and then I was being scolded.

"Don't you ever run off like that again, do you hear me Perseus? Not EVER again, what would your mother do if she found out I not only lied about training but got you LOST in a CASINO?! WITH MEN?!" I blinked up at him,

"But Uncle, I'm fine, see I ran into Nico and got a bloody nose so Bianca took me to their room to clean up and then we just got talking an-"

"WAIT." He slowly turned to Nico and Bianca who were staring at us, then Bianca started to get misty eyes,

"Daddy?" she whispered. Uncle slowly set me down, and nodded his head. Instantly they rushed him glomping him and he fell to his butt on the floor, hugging them and crying. I smiled, the reunion reminded me of when I finally met my dad.

I let them have their moment and sat against the wall tilting my head back trying to get my nose to stop bleeding. Ambrosia. Duh. Ugh I'm so dumb sometimes. I pull the small square of ambrosia for emergencies out of my zipper pocket on the inside of my coat and nibbled on a corner. Almost instantly I felt better and put it away, taking the toilet paper out of my nose I threw the bloody pieces away and sat back down.

Nico was looking at me over his dad's shoulder and stopped crying to ask me a question.

"Percy? How do you know our father?" I stood up and walked over to the cuddle puddle and sat in front of Hades. "Well, your dad is my dad's brother, meaning he's my uncle. In fact your dad actually helped raise me, seeing as my own dad didn't know that I even existed until a couple years ago." Nodding his head Hades continued,

"Percy here was taken in by Artemis who raised him since he was four, so he's already got a lot of training under his belt. Now come, it's time I take you two home." Smiling he lifted the two and sent them to pack anything in the room they wanted to take with. When they were done, he held their hands and looked at me, "Do you want to let me do it, or do you want to try on your own, we'll just be going back to the Hunter's camp for now."

"Myself." I said nodding, and together we disappeared into the shadows.

AN:

OMG, I SUCK.

I'M SO SORRY, THIS TOOK FOREVER. I am ashamed, sorry sorry sorry. Really I should have updated sooner but school just started up again in September and i've got homework now so it takes a while to actually find the time to write. I know I suck. But luckily I have a class which is basically creative writing and all I do is just sit there and write, it's super nice. I do however have this story and my own actual book that i'm writing so trying to split my writing time sucks but well, it has to be working if i'm posting this right? Anyways, thank you for your reviews, remember ideas are ALWAYS welcome. Hell even flames are, I don't mind, I'll just ignore them anyways. :)

And yes, i've decided that this will be a Percico/Nicercy. No i'm not changing my mind i've got plans. :)