Soon, all activities finished and it was time for dinner.
At dinner time, it was the camp rules that you had to sit at your parent's designated tables. So, Percy and his friends had to separate when they entered the dining pavilion that night, leaving him and Xavier to stand and look.
There were so many new kids. So many new tables. His father's table was near the middle, right next to Zeus and Hera's tables. But he was no longer sure if he belonged there.
And there was no table for the children of Hyperion.
So, after getting their food, they left the dining pavilion and walked down to the beach.
Since Xavier had dropped in earlier that day they had never really had the chance to catch up on each other's whereabouts for their first few months of freedom.
Apparently, Xavier had been in the Middle East in Syria when he had had the dream from Chaos.
He told Percy stories of his travels. How when he would fly through some places, he would look down and see land torn apart by bombs, and yet sense no evil. And in other places there would be large sparkling mansions and his senses would be so clogged and overwhelmed he didn't know which direction to turn.
Finally, after talking and finishing eating they just sat in companionable silence. The waves gently lapped at the shore and for the first time since getting his new powers the ground underneath where Percy sat did not freeze over.
But then the calming peace was disrupted by the sound of the conch shell followed by the sound of hundreds of pairs of feet all running towards the bonfire pit.
Percy and Xavier turned to each other and grinned.
"Bet I can beat you there!", Xavier said, getting a running start and taking off.
Percy's wings extended and he took off, he gained on Xavier with two powerful strokes of his wings, and called on the winds to carry him the rest of the way.
They landed, with Percy in the lead and Xavier not far behind.
The fire had just started to grow when the two landed, bringing behind them a flush of dissipating winds and put it out.
"Percy!", Annabeth yelled as the fire sputtered out. "Do you know how long it took me to start that?".
"2 seconds. Leo is standing right behind you".
"Thank you! She wouldn't let me start it, she insisted on doing it herself", Leo looked slightly miffed at this which caused Percy to smile a little bit.
"Relax guys, I've got this", Xavier said.
He had been anxious to release his aura all day, but couldn't because of the danger that he might set something on fire.
He didn't hold back now, and just as the rest of the campers were coming over the hill, Xavier exploded into a white hot human-sized fire ball.
"Hades!", Percy yelled, jumping around as a part of his arm caught fire. He quickly put it out with a hiss of steam, but he still looked up at Xavier indignantly.
"Come on, man! That was my good arm!", he cried, waving his right arm as close to Xavier's face as he dared to get.
Leo snorted, "Your good arm?".
Oblivious, Percy continued, "Yeah! I wouldn't have minded so much if he burned my other arm, it already looks like I tried to deep fry it. But this one only had three or four scars on it!".
They all just looked at him blankly.
"Do you even hear yourself right now?", Annabeth asked, cracking a grin.
He made a 'humph' sound and they all turned to watch as Xavier launched himself into the pile of firewood.
The dry wood immediately went up in flames and the campers cheered as they all came streaming in.
Xavier sighed as he let more of his aura through while he sat in the heart of the fire.
"Hey, Perce? I think I'm just going to stay in here for a little while. My power's been bottled up inside of me all day", Percy nodded in understanding before ushering all the campers back a safe distance.
"Okay! Go for it!", he yelled.
The bonfire pit suddenly erupted into a white hot column of molten flames. They could feel the heat from it singe their eyebrows even from 100 meters away.
Soon, the fire died down and sputtered out, and all that was left of the wood was a scorch mark in the earth with Xavier sitting on his knees right in the middle.
"Um… Is he okay?", somebody called from behind Percy.
"Yeah, yeah. He'll be fine. He's just had to restrain himself all day because he was around you guys".
Right on cue, Xavier got to his feet with a grin on his face. "Man! That felt good!".
More wood was collected, and soon the bonfire was back underway again. In a little bit more of a controlled fashion.
Xavier had been pulled to the side by some kids of Apollo who had powers over the sun, so Percy went and pulled Annabeth away from the rest of the crew.
They sat together on a log by the fire, simply holding hands.
"I never gave up hope, you know", she whispered to him.
His gaze was drawn away from the fire and he looked down at her face.
Her eyes were misty from unshed tears, and he pulled her closer to him.
"Hey, hey, hey… What's brought this on?". He used his thumb to brush along her cheekbones and catch any stray tears that escaped.
"When you disappeared. We kept looking, all of us. But after those first two years, when you suddenly disappeared and Nico couldn't feel your soul anymore…", she shuddered despite the heat of the nearby fire.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth. Truly, I am. But you and I both know it had to be done".
Neither of them said what they were talking about outright.
Annabeth never really said that she wished that Percy hadn't sacrificed himself for her. Annabeth never really told him how she was depressed for a whole year after he was gone. Annabeth never really said how every night when she would get nightmares of Tartarus, she would roll over and search for him lying next to her and find only cold, empty sheets. She never really said any of these things.
But Percy knew. He could see it in her eyes.
He knew what would happen when he pushed her through those doors three years ago. But he did it anyway. He did it because he loved her.
"Annabeth…". His voice broke. How could he express all of these things with only words?
So he repeated the same words that he had said to her three years ago, "I will always love you, Annabeth".
She smiled and more tears fell down her cheeks. "I love you too, Seaweed Brain".
A stick cracked behind them and Percy smiled into the kiss.
There were muffled shouts and curses from his friends who had been trying to sneak up behind them.
"It won't come out!", Leo whisper yelled.
Xavier burst out laughing and Leo hit him over the head, "Shut up!".
"Your big plan was the splash water on them? He's the son of Poseidon!", Piper responded.
"How did he even know we were here?", Leo fired back, "It was supposed to be a surprise until someone decided they wanted to come along and spoiled it!"
"Spoiled it! Why you little-". Percy cut them off.
He and Annabeth had stopped for air a while ago, and had been listening to their friends hilarious conversation coming from the bushes behind them.
"You know we can here everything you're saying right?".
He and Annabeth barely resisted laughter as they stood up and parted the bushes to find Leo, Xavier, and Piper crouched behind them arguing about the frozen water in a bucket that had obviously been intended to be thrown on them.
"Seriously, guys!", Annabeth scolded them. "How long where you listening?".
"Long enough", Xavier snickered.
"Oh, Annabeth! I will always love you!". Leo and Xavier danced around him and spit his own words back at him in an overly high pitched voice.
Percy turned an alarming shade of red, and Piper just stood by and smirked at Annabeth knowingly.
They were interrupted from their mocking from shouts of alarm coming from the other side of the bonfire.
The group stopped what they were doing and ran, Percy already had his trident out and ready, but what they saw when they came around to the other side of the campfire wasn't an attack that they could defend from.
It was Rachel, and she was shrouded in a thick green mist.