That night, the nightmares came, just like they always did. Except these didn't stop. Percy was usually able to wake himself up, tell himself that it wasn't real and that all he had to do to make it go away was open his eyes.
But the nightmares that night were horrible, and refused to let go of his mind. No matter how much he screamed at himself to wake up, his eyes wouldn't open. He was stuck. Stuck in that horrible world, again.
Suddenly, there was a large 'boom!'. The ground shook beneath him and he suddenly felt like he had an elephant sitting on his chest.
His eyes snapped open, really open.
The sun was just beginning to rise, and it turned the tops of the clouds soft shades of pink and orange.
Percy couldn't focus on that now, though. He was too busy wondering why he was now on the floor of the forest, with his right cheek mushed against the soft dirt.
He sat up, wiping the remaining dirt off of his face and clothes and climbing out of the small crater that he had created when he fell from the tree that he had been sleeping in.
Percy slept in trees all the time, and this was the first time that he had ever fallen out of one.
He winced as he got up, he could feel a couple of broken ribs, but other than that he seemed to have gotten away from the fall without major injury.
He was now sure that Tartarus was messing with his mind, giving him worse dreams and nightmares.
Looking around, it seemed to be really early in the morning, much earlier than he would ever normally wake up. He thought about going back to sleep, but the thought of more nightmares made him get rid of that idea almost immediately.
So he began walking towards the beach.
He didn't bother with his cloak, nobody but maybe Xavier would be up yet.
The sea was calm today, gentle waves lapped at the shore, and the rising sun turned the water all different colours.
Percy sat down in his favorite spot in the sand, where he had sat with Annabeth just yesterday.
"Hey dad. So, I'm leaving on the quest today, and I know that underground isn't really your specialty but, I could really use your help".
Percy ran his hands through his hair like he always did when he was nervous.
He didn't expect his dad to answer, and he didn't, but the waves seemed to wash up farther on the shore until they were gently lapping at his feet, like a comforting dog would nudge your leg.
He gave a small smile, but it soon disappeared when the images from his nightmares began to appear right behind his eyelids again.
In all honesty, he would rather do anything else but go back to Tartarus. Every single one of his nightmares that he had ever gotten were from his time there. But he had to stay strong, for the crew.
They looked up to him to lead them, and now he realized that he had been leading them since the very first day the Argo II set sail three years ago.
He had Xavier now to shoulder the burden with him, but he knew that in the end the others would follow him over Xavier.
He sighed, and the water lapped at his ankles again. A feeling of comfort and energy ran through his body from the touch of the water.
He was tempted to get in, let the water clear his mind, but he couldn't they were leaving early for the quest, and he had to get going.
As he stood up he winced, reminded about his ribs. He shook his head to clear it, and walked onwards towards the dining pavilion.
He left his cloak off, it was back at the tree with the rest of his stuff, and he'd have to fly back later to get it.
When he approached the dining pavilion, he caught sight of his friends gathered around the newly formed square table. There were a few Apollo kids sitting at their own table, but besides them, there was nobody else there.
"Ah, there he is, sleeping beauty!", Leo called out as he saw Percy walking up.
"Ha ha very funny". Percy pulled out a chair and sat down.
He leaned forward to grab a grape from the bowl in the middle of the table, but there was a sharp pain from his broken rib, and he gasped in pain.
"Hey, what's wrong?", Xavier asked, leaning forward.
Golden ichor began to soak into Percy's shirt. He sat back again, but the damage had already been done. One of the jagged ends of his broken ribs had stuck through the skin when he sat forward.
"Damn", he mumbled, "Not again".
He lifted up his shirt so he could get a better look at the wound and everybody around the table winced.
"How'd you get that?".
Percy looked over at the Apollo table and found just the half-blood he was looking for.
"Hey, Will! Could you come over here for a second?".
"Hey, what's up Perc— Where did you get that from?". He gently touched and examined the bone.
"I fell out of the tree this morning".
There was silence from his friends behind him, and he looked back to find them all desperately trying not to laugh.
He sighed, "Go ahead".
"You fell out of your tree?!", they all laughed, only Annabeth looked even remotely concerned.
"How did you manage that?", she asked. Her grey eyes twinkled with amusement and she was suppressing a grin as she watched Will look at it.
"I had a nightmare. I tried to wake myself up but it didn't work".
"So you flung yourself off the top of the tree?". Leo was still laughing, but Xavier stopped once he heard what Percy had said.
"You couldn't wake up? Do you think it's because of him?".
Percy nodded. "Definitely".
The others sobered up. "Tartarus? In your dreams?".
"He didn't appear directly, but I've never not been able to wake up from a nightmare before. He's definitely behind this".
Thankfully, Percy noted that none of the others looked like they had lost any sleep. So it was only him being affected by the dreams.
"Well it's definitely broken". Will spoke up from where he had been crouching and examining it.
"It's not too bad, though. I'll just pour some nectar on it and it should heal right up".
Percy and Xavier shared a look, and Percy said, "Go for it".
Will pulled out a small canteen that he always had with him that was filled with nectar, and poured the golden liquid on the wound. Normally, it would have started healing up immediately, but Percy's wound hardly reacted at all, just barely shrinking around the edges.
"I don't understand", Will said, furrowing his brow in confusion. "This should have healed by now".
He looked up at Percy for answers.
"Phlegethon water. Annabeth, do you still have any?", Percy looked up to find her looking at him weirdly.
"I think I might still have that water bottle, it might have some left in it".
She ran back to her cabin to get the water bottle, leaving Percy to explain.
"The river Phlegethon runs through the underworld and into Tartarus, it has healing qualities".
"How come I've never heard about it, then? I'm the son of Apollo, I know all the different kinds of medicines".
Before he could answer Annabeth returns holding a smoking and scorched water bottle.
"I found it".
Percy took the water bottle from her with a small smile of thanks, and held up his shirt.
"You ready?", Xavier asked him.
Percy had only had to heal himself with Phlegethon water once in Chaos' Palace, and when he did he had such severe flashbacks he blacked out.
He nodded, and unscrewed the cap. It smoked, and a horrible smell came out.
He held his shirt up with one hand, and with the other held the water bottle above his wound.
Ready, he tilted the bottle and the familiar liquid fire came out. When it hit the injury it sizzled and hissed, and he groaned. The wound thankfully began to close, but Percy didn't notice. Images flashed behind his eyes, threatening to overwhelm him. His breathing came heavier, and just before he thought he would black out the bottle was taken out of his hand and the pain stopped.
He opened his eyes, his breath still coming heavy and looked down, the wound was closed and the bone was back in place, but a new scar had formed, the skin around it bubbled from the heat, just like all of his other scars.
Looking up, he saw Xavier screwing the lid back on the bottle. "Thanks".
Xavier nodded, handing the bottle back to Annabeth.
Will was back next to him again in a second, inspecting the scar and surrounding area and mumbling things to himself.
Finally he voiced one of his questions out loud for everybody to hear. "Why did that work when the nectar didn't?".
"I don't know. It just always has. I used it almost everyday for two years. Maybe my body's just used to it by now".
Percy angled himself away from Will and pulled his shirt back down.
"So you used that to heal yourself from your injuries when you were in Tartarus?", Will asked, eyeing his scars with newfound interest.
Percy laughed, but not a real laugh. It was dark and full of pain, but at the same time sounded like he found something genuinely amusing.
"Heal myself? No, I didn't heal myself. They healed me. I wanted to die more than anything in the world".
At his words everybody went silent, but Percy didn't seem to notice. He just reached across the table again for another grape.
"Hey. Where's Nico? Doesn't he have to eat breakfast?".
At Percy's words Will's head snapped around and he narrowed his eyes. Before Percy could ask, he had dashed off down to the cabins, leaving his breakfast uneaten.
"So did I ever tell you guys about this one time-", Percy started on a story, but his friends would have none of it.
"Oh no, you don't. You don't just drop a bomb like that and get to change the subject! We have to talk about this".
Percy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, what do you want to know?", his tone was sharp and made it clear he didn't want to talk, and Annabeth flinched slightly.
"Are you okay?", she asked finally. Her voice was gentle, and Percy softened a little bit.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me".
He looked around and found the entire group looking at him with varying expressions on their face. Piper and Annabeth were both looking at him sadly, Jason and Leo both looked really awkward, and Xavier nodded when Percy's gaze got to him.
Xavier already knew all that he was telling them, so he wasn't surprised.
Before any of them could say anything, though, a protesting Nico was dragged into the dining hall by Will.
"I'm not hungry!".
"I can hear your stomach growling from here. You need food! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day".
Will dumped him at their table with a plate of food and the instructions to make him eat.
Piper took these instructions very seriously, and stared at the younger boy unwaveringly until he finished his food.
"There. Now was that so hard?". Will was back, and Nico glared at him as he sat down beside him.
Nico turned to the group with a 'get out of here' look on his face, and Annabeth decided to put him out of his misery.
"We should head over to the camp store before we leave. We each need to bring as large a water bottle as possible with us while we're down in Tartarus".
They nodded, trusting Annabeth's judgement, and Nico shot her a grateful look.
"I'll be there in a minute, guys. I have to go buy the tree and get something".
Leo snickered as he remembered the fact that Percy had fallen out of the tree last night, and waved to Percy as he flew away.
An icy blast of wind caught Percy's wings, and he shot over to the edge of the camp where the tree he had been staying at was.
He didn't have many personal belongings, just a few pairs of clothes and his cloak. And after quickly stuffing them in a bag he flew back down to join the group.
When he reached the ground, he put the cloak back on, hiding the scars on his arms and neck. "Seriously. You went back to get your cloak?", Leo asked as he saw him approach.
"The mist doesn't cover up scars from mortals. They all look at me weird because of this thing", Percy said, pointing to the scar on his cheek.
The others had long since gotten used to it, and now hardly noticed it, but to the mortals it would be just as bad as the first time that they had seen it.
They had gathered at the top of Half-Blood Hill, and there were a few other people besides the ones going on the quest that were present.
Chiron and Argus were there, but that was to be expected. Will was there, also, and so was Calypso.
When he and Calypso saw each other they froze, Percy dropped his gaze and tried to skirt around the edge of the group to get around her, but Leo had other ideas.
"Hey Percy! I want you to meet my girlfriend, Calypso".
Leo came up to him with Calypso next to him, oblivious to the awkwardness that was palpable in the air.
Annabeth wasn't though. "Percy? Aren't you going to say hello?".
She narrowed her eyes at him, and Calypso saved him from having to answer, "We've actually already met".
"Really? How?", Leo was still oblivious, but then it dawned on him, "Wait. You fell in love with him!".
"What?!", Annabeth said, turning to Percy.
"It was way before we were together!", his face was turning red, and everybody else began to crowd around. "When I blew up Mt. St. Helens and you all thought I was dead because you couldn't find me. I washed ashore on her island. She saved me".
Annabeth was still glaring at him, but she seemed to soften when he mentioned that Calypso saved Percy.
"Don't worry, I'm over Percy. I found Leo", she turned and smiled at Leo, and they kissed.
After examining them for a little while longer, Annabeth seemed content and stopped glaring.
"Speaking of Leo… Do not die again!", she turned and pointed an accusing finger at Leo, but he just grinned.
"I won't, babe. I promise", he leaned down and kissed her once more, and she looked appeased.
"Now then, should we get going? The sun's getting pretty high in the sky", he rubbed his hands together as if he were excited.
Percy didn't blame him, he was getting pretty restless from just standing around and talking, and he kind of missed the rush of quests.
Annabeth looked around, "I think we're ready to go… Hang on, where's Nico?".
They looked around the hill, "That's funny. He was just here a minute ago".
They spread out, looking all over the hill, and Chiron even went back down to camp to see if he had returned for something.
The search was interrupted when Percy looked behind some bushes.
"Ahh!".
The group ran over, already drawing weapons, but what they found wasn't a threat.
Nico and Will were standing next to each other, Will's arm was around Nico's waist, and from the blush in their faces it was obvious what had been going on.
The group snickered, but Percy just stared at them confused. Nico had come out three years ago after the Second Giant War, and not long after he and Will had become a couple.
Everybody knew about it, and teased him about it constantly.
The Ghost Kong's boyfriend was a bright and sunny son of Apollo, how ironic.
"Wait... what? You're... what?", Percy stammered, looking between the two boys.
"Yep. Nico's gay. He's my boyfriend", Will said, shocking Percy even more.
Finally, he got over his shock and spoke, "When did this happen?".
His head swivelled between his friends and the two boys.
"Three years ago. Right after the war, actually".
Will spoke fearlessly, but Nico was red, and seemed to want to be anywhere but there.
"Can we go now?", he asked quietly, glaring at the group behind Percy who were still smiling at the two boys.
Annabeth stepped forward and agreed, but not before giving Nico a look.
"Yeah, guys. Come on, let's go. If we don't leave soon we'll miss our train".
The group scattered to load their things on the van. Piper stayed for a bit longer, fawning over Nico and Will and how cute they were together, but eventually she got called away and had to go help.
Soon, the van was packed and they were ready to go.
As they drove away in the van, Chiron stood on the hill looking after them in his full centaur form.
They drove out of sight, and Chiron murmured one last thing before turning around and heading back to camp.
"May the gods protect them".
—
Three Days Later
It was their third day on the train, and the entire crew had officially gone crazy with boredom.
They had played cards, read books, gone for walks along the train, slept, and gone over the plan at least a million times. But they were still restless.
It didn't help that as they got closer to San Fransisco Percy and Xavier got more and more tense, murmuring things about sensing evil.
By the time they got off of the train they were almost wishing they had some monsters to fight.
They should have watched what they wished for.
As the group approached the entrance to New Rome, a bellow could be heard in the forrest behind them, and Percy immediately recognised it.
"The Minotaur! Split up! Meet in New Rome! Xavier, stay with me".
They did as he asked, each person splitting off into a different direction as they ran through the forrest. They were almost there, the entrance to Camp Jupiter would be just over the hill.
The Minotaur bellowed again, this time off to Percy's left. There was a large thump and a crash that sounded like a tree falling down.
Percy looked worried. That was the direction that Annabeth had run in.
Xavier saw his look and stopped running, "Don't worry. I'll go help them. You just get to New Rome and find Frank and Hazel".
With that, he ran back into the forrest in the direction of all of the noise.
Percy got over the hill, and looked out below him at the highway. In the tunnel, he could just barely make out the shapes of two guards with helmets on their heads guarding the entrance to New Rome.
He didn't know if the guards would even let him in or not, so he decided to bypass them all together and just fly over.
He opened his wings and beat them once and then he was aloft.
A quick summoning of a icy breeze off the water allowed him to speed up, and soon he was drifting over New Rome.
Sounds of alarm came from below him as they spotted him, and soldiers filed out of the gates, followed by a figure in a bright red cape who could only be Reyna.
He aimed for right in front of where their ranks had stopped, and landed on one knee, making the Earth around him crack.
He looked up, the scar on his face fully visible as the hood on his cloak lay limp on his back.
The soldiers murmured as he stood up and faced Reyna. He was now taller than her by a good couple of inches, and the scar on his face must have been pretty intimidating. But her face remained passive, and she looked at him with a calculating gaze.
"Who are you?". She spoke in her louder praetor voice, and all the soldiers behind her were immediately silent.
"You don't recognise me? I'm hurt", Percy put a hand over his chest and gave her a lopsided grin.
He stopped when he realised just how much like Apollo he sounded right now. Instead, he met her gaze.
"You don't recognise me at all, Reyna?".
She looked at him with that same calculating gaze for a few moments longer before recognition dawned on her face.
"Percy?".
"In the flesh", he spread his arms and wings out to prove his point.
"Percy!", she launched at him with a hug, which caught him slightly off guard. Reyna wasn't exactly known for being overly affectionate.
"We thought you were dead! Where have you been?".
"We'll explain it all in a moment. Can I see Frank and Hazel? They're needed".
She looked puzzled, but nodded and sent two of her soldiers off to go and get them.
"I'm sorry, you said 'we'? Are there others with you?".
Just as he was about to answer they were interrupted by the sound of Leo screaming.
They turned to look, and above them, coming from the direction of the forrest was Leo, floating in midair on some wind currents that Xavier was producing beneath him. Xavier carried Annabeth, who seemed to be unharmed, in his arms, as he used his own wings to keep him aloft.
Next to them, Jason used his own power over the winds to carry he and Piper down to the ground.
The only person who wasn't with them was Nico, and judging from the surprised yelp of a soldier behind him, Percy could assume where he had shadow travelled to.
"Where did you come from?", one of the soldiers asked.
Percy turned around to see Nico emerging from the ranks of soldiers.
Nico turned back around, and without missing a beat, said, "From your shadow".
The guys eyes widened, and when Nico turned around again Percy could have sworn he saw the smallest glimpse of amusement in the younger boy's eyes before he caught Percy staring and it was replaced by a scowl.
After Leo was set down less-than-gracefully, they each said their hellos to Reyna, especially Jason.
Sometimes Percy forgot that Jason had lived here for most of his life, and had been praetor alongside Reyna before he disappeared.
Than she turned to Xavier, whom she had never met before.
"I don't believe we've met. I'm Reyna, daughter of Bellona, the roman goddess of war".
Xavier shook her outstretched hand and said, "I'm Xavier, son of Helios".
At his introduction Reyna stepped back and the soldiers behind her tensed.
"Relax, Reyna. He hates his father, he works alongside me".
She relaxed only slightly, and kept giving him wary glances.
"Fine. Now come! We have much to talk about. I have been looking for you for three years! You must tell me where you've been hiding".
The group walked through the gates of Camp Jupiter, and the soldiers dispersed, disappearing as they walked.
They made their way to the Principia, and Percy couldn't help but chuckle slightly as he caught Xavier gaping at the camp.
When they arrived in the praetor's quarters, Reyna sat down in a chair behind a large desk, and gestured for Percy and Xavier to sit in the chairs opposite.
When everybody was settled, they began.
"So, I have many questions, so we can just start with the first one. Percy, where have you been for the past three years?".
Percy knew that the question was coming, but he still stiffened as mention of the past made memories flash almost painfully behind his eyes.
"I was locked in Tartarus after the Doors of Death closed. I knew what I was doing and that somebody had to stay behind so that they could be closed on both sides. I fully expected to die after that, but I didn't. The remaining spirits of Kronos, and then later Gaea had me captured and brought to them. They personally tortured me to the brink of death for two years. But I was rescued by Chaos, creator of the universe", he gestured to Xavier sitting in the chair next to him.
"Xavier was also rescued by her a little while later, and after she healed me she began to train us together. She made us much more powerful and gave us control over any domain of our choosing on top of our previous powers as half-bloods. I chose the cold, and Xavier chose the heat".
To prove their point, Percy waved his hand coated his chair in ice, and Xavier opened his palm and lit it on fire, playing with the little flame like it was a ball.
"She gave us these wings to go along with our respective powers over wind, upgraded our weapons, and made us immortal all so that we could fulfill a duty for her".
Out of the corner of his eye he saw his friends perk up, they had never heard this part of the story before.
"She didn't like all of the evil that was polluting her favourite planet, so she sent us down to eliminate it. We can sense evil presences, and we track them like monsters track half-bloods until we find them. Normally we rotate on separate parts of the Earth, but this evil that we are facing now is much larger than any corrupt politician or monster".
"And what evil would that be?".
Reyna sat forward at her desk, interest and curiosity glinting in her eyes.
Percy shared a look with his friends. They weren't supposed to share the details of their quest with others unless it was completely necessary.
But Percy had a sneaking suspicion that Reyna would murder them if they didn't tell her.
"You know how Gaea tried to rise three years ago?", he started, and Reyna's eyes widened.
"It's not her again is it?".
"No, it's not her, it's her husband, Tartarus, and he has already risen".
"What?! Why hasn't anything happened yet? Why hasn't he attacked?".
"He is amassing his army as we speak. That is why we need to see Frank and Hazel. There has been a new prophecy, the Prophecy of Nine. We need them to fulfill it".
Finally finished with his explanation he sat back in his chair, while Reyna thought.
"Okay. If they agree, Frank and Hazel may join you on your quest. May I hear the prophecy, though? I want to relay it to our new augur".
Percy again looked over at the others.
Jason gave him a nod, and his gaze travelled next to him to Piper.
"Okay. Piper, you've memorised the prophecy, right?".
Piper nodded her head and spoke.
"Nine half-bloods will be the ruler of doom's demise,
From inner demons a hero will rise
An impossible choice will lead to destruction
To a new changed life true love must make introduction".
After she finished speaking, Piper sighed, making everybody turn to her in confusion.
"What's wrong, Pipes?", Jason asked.
"Nothing, I just think it's really romantic that two people's love is so strong that it was directly mentioned in a prophecy".
She looked around at the faces of the people in the group, but everybody was just staring at her blankly.
"Um, Piper? I think your Aphrodite is showing", Leo joked, cracking a smile.
She gave him a death glare, and he stopped smiling saying, "Aaaand, she's back".
Reyna looked up from where she had been writing the prophecy on a small piece of paper, and stood up.
"I am going to go give this to our new augur. You are welcome to join me and search the camp for Frank and Hazel. Mind you, it's their free time, now. So I don't know where they'll be".
Percy and Xavier stood up from their chairs and the others behind them groaned and trudged towards the door.
This was going to be a long search.
A/N:
Hey guys! Thank you so much for your reviews! You honestly have no idea how much they mean to me and how excited I get when I see them, so thank you so much! I'm sorry that the end of this chapter was kind of boring, I was trying to speed it along, but I'm not the best at writing time skips, so sorry if it seemed a little bit choppy and awkward. I promise the action will start again soon. Thanks so much! ;)