A/N: So, change of plans. From now on, i'll be doing sporadic updates since college is coming up, don't worry, i'm not abandoning this story. Also, thank you so much for the review, guest, it really means a lot.

Percy Jackson

The rest of camp didn't take the news of Annabeth's death well. Everyone was taking it hard, even Chiron looked pretty depressed. The entire camp looked and felt gloomy, campers went about their day with a mournful vibe. The new campers had heard of Annabeth, hearing the news of a strong hero dying out of nowhere shook them.

The most depressing scene so far was the shroud burning ceremony.

Percy stood at the bonfire, holding Annabeth's shroud. The shroud was nice, it was a dark gray with a silver owl on the front. The rest of cabin six crowded around him, a few of them were wiping their eyes while others wept openly, Malcolm stood next to Percy with a stone-like face, only his eyes showed how much he was actually hurting as they were full of unshed tears.

Piper was leaning on Jason's shoulder as they watched Percy drop the shroud into the fire. Thunder rumbled above the camp as the shroud burned away.

"We lost a great hero today." Chiron started. He went on about how great a hero Annabeth was but Percy wasn't really listening. He hadn't really been there. He was in that stage of grief where he couldn't believe that Annabeth was really gone. He was hoping that he'd wake up and find he was just having a nightmare.

After Chiron's speech, Percy made his way towards his cabin. He was stopped along the way by Nico.

"Hey, I heard about what happened." Nico said, "I'm uh, here if you need to talk."

Percy had heard that before but he was touched that Nico of all people was making a effort to try to help him. Nico wasn't really a comforting person but the fact that he cared enough to try to comfort him was enough to make Percy feel a little better.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Percy replied in a dead voice.

Nico watched him with concerned eyes. He nodded and let Percy go on his way.

Percy made it to his cabin but paused. What was he doing? Moping around in his cabin? Acting like the world ended? Annabeth would be kicking his ass right now if she were alive. He needed to do something, he couldn't afford to mope around all day.

Now that he thought about it, they had never found her body. Percy decided to do something about that. He was going to find her body and give her a proper burial, even if he had to fight a Hydra bare-handed to do so.

Percy put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. About a minute later, Ms. O' Leary was by his side. The Hellhound barked happily and sat in front of him.

"Hey, girl." Percy said while ruffling her ears, "You know Annabeth?"

Ms. O' Leary barked. He hoped that meant a 'yes' and not 'do you wanna play fetch?'

"Go find Annabeth." He said.

For a moment, the Hellhound didn't do anything except sniff the air. Then she bounded off into the woods. Percy wasted no time in drawing Riptide and running after the dog. He wasn't equipped for a fight but he didn't care. He could use his power and his sword to fend off any monster that thought it could take him on.

Ms. O' Leary's barks rang out through the woods. Percy followed them, only to find himself getting into the deeper part of the woods. It was a absolutely moronic move to be in the woods alone, Percy knew for sure there were monsters that could be prowling the woods. However, due to their close proximity to camp, they tended to keep their distance from half-bloods. That's what annoyed Percy, why was Annabeth the unlucky one to be taken?

When Percy found Ms. O' Leary, she was at the beach. She was sitting down, looking out over the sea at a large storm heading towards the camp. The sea looked dangerous, normally the ocean was a blue color around Camp Half-Blood but today it was a dark gray, almost black. The loud rumble of thunder from the incoming storm rang through the waves.

Percy looked around the beach for any clues. If Annabeth was taken by a monster, why would the monster take her all the way to the beach? There weren't any disturbances in the sand or any traces of dried blood. He shook his head, chances were Ms. O' Leary just found a dead trail. Her sense of smell wasn't always 100% accurate.

"Alright, girl, let's just head home." He said after doing one last sweep.

Ms. O' Leary let out a sad whine before trotting alongside him back to camp. The walk back to camp was one of the most depressing things Percy had done in his life. He couldn't believe he had failed Annabeth so epically that he couldn't even find her body. He wouldn't blame her if she was glaring down at him from Elysium.

Well, I'm officially the worst boyfriend on the planet. Percy thought.

A few people casted worried glances at him as he strolled back into camp. A lot of people were worried about Percy. He knew that. He knew they were worried that he'd disappear or try to do something to bring Annabeth back. He wasn't a fool though, there was no bringing her back. Even if Hades was willing to, there would always be a catch. He knew Annabeth would be furious if he traded his soul for hers.

Percy walked into his cabin, closing the door behind him. He slid down to his knees and sighed, he never thought moving on would be so hard.

Ω

A week had passed since Annabeth's shroud burned. Percy hadn't recovered from her death yet but he was starting to get better. He was back to teaching sword-fighting lessons. A few of his close friends knew however that he would never really get over Annabeth's death. She had been such a crucial part of his life, it could take a lifetime to get over her.

Dionysus had left the camp a few days ago to go tell Athena of her daughter's death. The goddess probably already knew but Dionysus usually went and told them anyways as a sort of formality. It was one of the few times Percy had seen Mr. D actually sympathetic. He reckoned it had something to do with him losing his son during the battle of the Labyrinth. The god had felt what it feels like to lose someone.

Percy watched as his class trained. A whole batch of new campers had arrived to camp over the few days and they needed training. Percy may have been hurting but that didn't mean he could hide away in his cabin forever. He had a job to do.

"Hey, Perce." Hektor said as he walked into the arena.

"Hektor." Percy said, "What are you doing here? I thought you had arts and crafts today?"

"Yeah but Connor let me come here. I just wanted to see how the newbies were doing." Hektor said.

"You were a newbie a few months ago." Percy reminded him. Hektor was starting to act a little too much like Clarisse nowadays. Luckily, he hadn't picked up the habit of shoving new campers' heads into the community bathroom's toilets.

"Touché." Hektor replied with a laugh, "Real talk though, have you been holding up well? I mean, you know, with the whole Annabeth—"

"Please try not to bring her up." Percy said, "It still kind of hurts."

"Sorry, it's just that I heard Mr. D went to Olympus to tell Athena about it."

Percy nodded. He already knew about the whole thing with Mr. D. The only odd part was that the wine god had still yet to return. Percy half-wondered if Athena had decided to kill him out of grief or if the god had decided he needed a break from camp. Percy would've understood, he too had thought about going to his mom's apartment a few times, maybe she and Paul could help him out.

"Well, have you heard about the whole thing with the Aphrodite cabin?" Hektor asked.

"Huh?" Percy said, "No, what happened?"

"Apparently someone went in and messed up a bunch of their wardrobes and beauty products. They mixed their soap with itch powder and they've been out of it for the past few weeks. Piper was pissed."

Percy hadn't really caught up on camp gossip recently. Between going to teach classes or going to the pavilion to eat, he usually spent most of his time in his cabin trying to find a way to feel better. A few people dropped in, mainly Nico and Jason, sometimes Clarisse, but most of the time he was alone.

Percy felt like a idiot. He should've known that the fates were going to be cruel. A hero's life was a hard one and dying was a very real possibility. He let himself get arrogant, let himself think that Annabeth was always going to outlive him.

The sound of hooves clopping into the arena caused Percy and Hektor to look over. Chiron looked around before spotting Percy and coming over. "Perseus," He said, "I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time."

Percy looked at his students, "Uh, I'm teaching a class right now but what's up?"

"I need you to go to Olympus and check on Mr. D" Chiron said, "He said he was going to inform Athena of Annabeth's passing but he has yet to return."

Percy sighed, "Alright, I'll go. Hektor, help the new ones learn viper beheading strikes while I'm gone."

"You got it!"

Percy nodded to Chiron before taking off towards his cabin. He didn't know what was taking Mr. D so long. Sure, the guy hated camp but it was still odd for him to be absent for so long without at least telling Chiron. To Percy's knowledge, Zeus was still pretty strict on Mr. D.

Percy stepped into his cabin and didn't take too long to get changed. He just needed to take off his armor and shower. After getting that done, he quickly threw on a camp shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He was slipping his shoes one when he heard a knock at the door.

"Coming!" He called.

When Percy opened the door, the last thing he expected was Malcolm to be standing there with a silver laptop under his arm.

"Malcolm?" He asked.

"Hey, Perce. We were just going through Annabeth's stuff and I found her laptop. I know she had a few pictures saved on here so I thought that maybe you'd want it." Malcolm said, offering him the laptop.

Percy took it and stared down at the laptop. It had a gray owl carved into the top along with Annabeth's initials underneath the owl. The laptop was lighter than he expected. He ran his hand over the owl design. He knew this work, this was Leo's handiwork.

"Thanks." He told Malcolm before walking back into his cabin and setting the laptop on his desk. He'd look through the laptop when he was back from Olympus.

"See you around." Malcolm called before he walked off to cabin six.

Percy waved, stepping out of his cabin and towards the stables.

Ω

Blackjack soared through the open skies above New York's bustling skyline. Percy sat comfortably on the back of his pegasus, looking down at the city. Cars honked their horns in the deadlock of traffic and people went about their lives unknowing of the constant war between demigods and monsters. Percy was willing to bet that none of the pedestrians even casted a glance at the flying horse above them.

Somewhere in the city was Percy's mom. He wondered what she was doing right about now. Maybe she was helping Paul teach Estelle how to walk. Maybe she was cooking a new batch of cookies. She may even be writing her next book. She had no idea that Annabeth was dead.

"Alright boss, I'm setting down now!" Blackjack whinnied.

Blackjack set down right next to a snow cone stand. The guy running the stand looked up at Percy but didn't show any signs that he saw anything off. Percy looked at the snow cones, he'd be lying if he said they didn't look good. Regardless, he still had a god to find.

He hopped off Blackjack and gave him the go ahead to fly back to camp until he needed to be picked up. He turned to the empire state building. A flurry of storm clouds hung above the building.

The clouds didn't make Percy feel any better. The weather had been horrible for weeks. He didn't know what had Zeus so angry but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

Percy stepped through the doors and focused on the bored security guard manning the front desk. His blue collar shirt was ruffled while he browsed the internet on the computer in front of him. He didn't even look up at Percy, he just took a sip of his coffee and kept typing on his computer.

"Hey." Percy said, "I need to go to the 600th floor."

"Sorry, kid, there is no 600th floor." The security guard said.

Percy knew this was coming.

"How about this?" He asked while setting a golden drachma on the desk.

The guard eyed the coin before coughing and leaning in, "Listen, Lord Zeus has Olympus locked down right now. No one is allowed in or out. I can't let you in."

That can't be good. Percy thought.