Unknown POV

"Percy Jackson, the Savior of Olympus. A victim of unrequited love, this can certainly aid me. I can feel his pain, it is agonizing yet invigorating. I think it's time to pay the Perseus a visit. We can help each other in these dire situations. After all, we both need all the help we can get...

Percy POV

"How did it go Percy?" asked Hestia. It went better than expected. Annabeth should have a clear path to happiness and even though it hurts, I kind of accepted it.

"It went fine Hestia, thank you for your help. I am all better now, all thanks to you," a convincingly fake smile formed in my lips, very believable until my own eyes betrayed me and started to water up. Hestia just stood up, opened her arms and I quickly embraced her. Her hug was so warm and soft, I never wanted to let go but I composed myself and backed away after a minute. Hestia was a maiden goddess in the body of an eight-year-old, far from appropriate, considering I was a full-grown man.

"What are you going to do now Percy?" What was I going to do now? The love of my life loves another man and I let her go. She is on the route to happiness with a great guy while I am here lamenting myself. The only thing to do is move forwards. Like Hestia said, I still have my family, my friends and her.

"I... I don't know, I can only hope to move forward. I can't stay like this, I just wish the pain would go away, but that will take some time. Right?" Hestia simply nodded sat down on her chair and gestured me to do the same.

"Are you angry Percy?" Angry? I raised my right eyebrow at her "No... just sad. Sad that Annabeth is so close to a happily ever after… one without me. In fact, mine just got further away..." A humorless chuckle escaped my lips. Hestia seemed relieved at my response and relaxed a bit.

"Give it time Percy, the pain will go away, I'm sure of it. If you ever need me I'm just a hearth away, you know that don't you?" I simply nodded. Hestia gave me a sad smile and flashed away. I had to look away to not disintegrate by her divine form. I laid on my bed and hoped Hestia was right because the pain did not feel like it was going away anytime soon. I would do anything to make it simply banish.

Anything?

"Yes, anything" I said softly. A dry chuckle escaped my mouth. I must be going crazy I thought.

No, Perseus. I am very real.

I immediately took out Riptide and looked around the room. Nobody was here.

I'm not physically here. I'm speaking into your mind.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I said out loud. I did not like the prospect of a powerful being invading my mind. "Show yourself!" I shouted.

A dim flash bursted into my room, I quickly glanced away to avoid being killed. "I am not here to harm you Perseus. I am here to help you with your inner turmoil." In the direction the voice came from stood an eight-year-old boy, blonde hair with striking green eyes. Almost the same as mine but he also seemed to have wings.

"Yeah right, no god just shows up to help a mere mortal without asking for anything in return," I spat, well except for Hestia and my dad I thought.

"What about Hestia and your father" Dang. It's like he can read my mind. Oh wait, he probably can. If he can speak to me directly he is probably reading my thoughts this very moment. STOP READING MY MIND! He noticeably flinched. I thought as much…

"I'm sorry for reading your thoughts Perseus. I was just curious of what you were thinking, especially after your... you know." His voice faltered, like he understood how I felt. "I am Himeros," he said. He was certainly a god, I could feel it, but one that I never heard of before.

"I am the god of unrequited love and I can feel your pain Perseus," he said in a sad tone. "Your emotions greatly impacted my domain, I am here to help you. I can make it go away but I will have to ask for something in return." The offer sounded way too good to be true and sure enough it was. There's always a catch, but I did say I'll do anything to make it go away…

"What do you want in return for this gift," I narrowed my eyes at him and pointed my celestial bronze sword at him to show him I was wary of him and that he should not try anything funny.

"As you probably already figured out, I am a minor god. Few people know who I am and thus I am barely worshiped. The only reason I have not faded yet is because of the unrequited love around the world that binds me here," he said softly. I could not tell if he was lying but I decided not to push it.

"If you could lend me a bit of your strength, I could give you the mark of Himeros, you will never suffer from love in your life." I was shocked, never to suffer from love ever again? I will never be heartbroken. I could be friends with Annabeth, have her in life, all he asked was a bit of my strength?

"How much of my strength do you want in return?" I asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry Perseus, it is not a significant amount to you, but to a normal demigod I would be about a half of their strength each day." Holy crap, half my strength daily? It sounds like a tad much, not sure if it would really be worth it.

"You however, are much stronger. I only need about 5 percent of your strength to allow me to keep me a body." Only five percent? That does not sound like a lot and from what he tells me I'm 10 times stronger than a normal demigod, makes sort of sense. If he can make the pain disappear and help my love life, me giving a small fraction of my strength it is certainly worth it.

"How exactly would I give you this five percent of my strength?" I asked the god.

"Worry not Perseus, when I give you the mark of Himeros, it will siphon the power I need from you throughout the day. You will barely feel it the first day and will eventually become accustomed to it." Hmm, like some kind of parasite. He needs me to give him a fraction of my power for some reason.

"Why do you need my power again? From my understanding you won't exactly fade since there is plenty unrequited love around the world." I asked him. I'm not sure if I could completely trust Himeros, but he seemed honest enough and I could tell he indeed felt my pain and understood my desire to get rid of it.

"I understand what you mean Perseus, but a life of the verge of fading is not a life I would like to live," I nodded for him to continue. "I am using a large portion of my remaining power by just manifesting myself in physical form. I need your strength, so I can live on Olympus again. Travel the streets, visit my family, my mother who probably misses me. I want to enjoy life, but I need a physical anchor to the world, preferably one of great power such as yourself. As I told you before, it can't just be anyone who experiences unrequited love because if I anchor to them they will be half dead and I don't want to severely impact their lives." After hearing his explanation I was convinced. Himeros needs an anchor like me, not to prevent him from dying umm err fading, but to help him live. Existing and living are not the same thing.

"I accept Himeros," He looked pleasantly surprised, "I will be your physical anchor to the world and help you live your life by giving you a bit of my power. Your intentions are noble, and you don't ask for much. I would be a fool to pass on a chance to never experience heartache," a happy grin spreads across his face and despite the hole in my chest I managed to give him heartily smile.

"I can assure you Perseus, you will be free of heartbreak for the rest of your life. I am very grateful," He smiled again and so did I. He then started silently chanting ancient Greek. I didn't pay attention, I was too focused on getting my life back. Everything will be alright, no more pain, love life immunity. I could not help but grin at myself, I did not have to be afraid to love, I could start dating again, find my love and not be afraid to have my heart broken. I noticed he had finished and had extended an open palm towards me. He gestured me to do the same and once I extended my arm, he quickly cupped it with both of his hands and whispered, "Thank you." I nodded and felt a sharp sting in my wrist as a weird flower burned into my skin

The pain was agonizing. I guess Himeros forgot to mention how much this was going to hurt. I dropped to my knees as my legs gave up and then collapsed on the floor. I grabbed my wrist tightly as I shifted into fetal position, I could not tolerate the pain. I screamed at the top of my lungs for what seemed an eternity until my body gave up and I drifted into unconsciousness.