Disclaimer- I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series. (One can dream though) All rights go to the proper parties.

Note***- Will be boy x boy. (I promise, it is coming) Don't like? You don't have to read.

ΩΩΩ

January 20th

Percy POV

"Seriously Percy, why are you still in bed?"

I moaned and pulled the pillow over my eyes. "Shush... Leave me alone Apollo, I'm sleeping."

I heard him sigh. For one moment I had hoped that he was actually about to let me go back to sleep, but I should have known better. I heard footsteps approach the bed before a heavy weight dropped onto my stomach.

The air escaped my chest in an 'omph'. The pillow was ripped from my eyes and I was greeted to the sight of the god of the sun sitting on my chest with one eyebrow raised in an unimpressed look.

"Just because you don't want to go to breakfast, doesn't mean that you can just sleep in and ignore it. They are your friends Percy. If I have to go, so do you."

I frowned and tried to steal my pillow back. "They're your friends too." His eyebrow just jumped higher and he tossed the pillow across my room. I pouted and dropped my arms to the bed, "Cheater." He tried to keep a straight face but I could tell that it was a struggle. "It's not that I don't want to go, I'm just tired. If you recall, we were up till like 4 am. I'm surprised that you're even awake."

He rolled his eyes and shifted his seat a little so that it was easier for me to breathe. "I told you that it was stupid to start a game of Risk at 11 pm. It's not my fault that you didn't want to listen. Besides if you want to stay up late when you know you have an early morning, you have to be prepared to be tired the next day."

I huffed. As much as I didn't want to get out of bed I was fairly awake now, courtesy of being squished by the god of music. "Fine, I'll get up. Can you get off of me now, you weigh a ton."

The god of the arts smirked, "What if I'm enjoying squishing you."

I rolled my eyes but I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I put my hands on his hips and wiggled my eyebrows playfully. "Well then, I guess we are just going to have to be late to breakfast." Apollo's eyes widened and he flushed lightly. A surprised laugh burst from my chest. "Wow, I actually succeeded in making the Olympian playboy blush!"

It was his turn to roll his eyes as he finally stood up. "Prove it."

I sat up, stretched my arms over my head, and smiled. "Wow, very mature Apollo."

The god of the sun laughed, "Hello pot, I'm kettle."

I couldn't help but chuckle too as I got up and went to look for clothes. "Alright, let's get going. The sooner we're there, the sooner we can come back home and nap."

ΩΩΩ

For once, we were actually the first two of our group to the restaurant. I shot Apollo a dark look. I could have slept more. The god of the sun just shrugged. Fortunately for him, we didn't have a long wait before Frank and Hazel showed up with Calypso in tow.

The daughter of Atlas came over to sit at the table with us while Hazel pulled her boyfriend to go chat with the faun that was trying to wave her down. She gave us a polite smile as she took her seat. I couldn't help but return the grin. I liked spending time with the goddess. She was still trying to get used to the modern world, so I didn't get to see my friend as often as I would have liked.

"Good morning, Percy, Fred."

"Good luck trying to tell Percy mornings are good, he's not a fan."

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at the son of Leto. "I'm not that bad. Fred's just grouchy this morning."

The god of the sun gave me a disbelieving look, "I'm grouchy? You were the one who was complaining about waking up."

I scoffed, "Maybe that had something to do with the fact that you decided to wake me up by sitting on me. Who does that?"

"Well if you had..."

He was cut off by a peal of laughter. We turned to see Calypso trying to reign in her amusement. "You two fight like an old married couple."

I was clearly not the only one embarrassed by her declaration. Apollo also had a bright blush on his cheeks. I shook my head, "We don't... We're not that bad."

The Calypso shook her head and gave us a small smile. "No, it's not a bad thing. You two are adorable together."

Before I could ask her what in Hades name she was talking about, the rest of the group arrived. The next few minutes were filled with greetings and moving tables around so that we could all sit together. Restaurants just weren't prepared to seat groups of 10.

I ended up sitting between Apollo and Calypso. Originally Leo was going to sit next to me but the group said that they didn't trust the two of us, so an 'adult' had to sit between us. According to them, I tended to encourage Leo's insanity. Just because I thought that racing go carts down the temple hill was a good idea, didn't mean that I told Leo to build them. He had already finished. I just agreed to help test them out. Besides, no one really go hurt...

Once we placed our orders, everyone started talking. It was just like all the times our group managed to get together, at any given time there were usually 3 or more separate conversations going on.

I was mostly talking to Apollo, Reyna, and Jason, as we debated over which material made better weapons, celestial bronze or imperial gold. As a Greek I favored celestial bronze, where as Jason and Reyna favored Roman imperial gold. Apollo had used both in the past since he was both a Greek and Roman god. I knew that he preferred his golden immortal bow over all other weapons, so I had expected him to favour imperial gold. He surprised me though when he told us that in his experience, he found celestial bronze better. He admitted that it might have just been the blades themselves, but he had found that celestial bronze weapons were superior. Of course, Jason then argued that he was only saying that because he identified with the Greek gods instead of their roman counterparts. The sun god didn't deny it, but he didn't agree either.

My attention was pulled away from our debate by the sound of my name.

"I'm glad that you and Percy can still hang out as friends."

Annabeth smiled at the daughter of Pluto, but I could see that it didn't reach her eyes. "Well it's not exactly easy, but Percy had been my friend for a long time. I'm not willing to give up on our friendship just because our relationship didn't work out."

"I know what she means though. I thought that you two were Camp Half-Blood's golden couple. The way you were acting when we first met, I didn't figure that anything would tear you two apart." In the corner of my vision, I notice Calypso not so subtly elbow Leo in the ribs for that comment.

Wisdom's daughter winced. I didn't blame her; I wouldn't know how to respond to that either.

Before she had to try though, Piper shook her head. "There's nothing that they could do Leo. My mom clearly thought that it was time they went separate ways."

"Why though?"

It took me a moment to realize that it was Annabeth, not the son of Hephaestus, who had spoken. Her voice sounded as broken as it had the day we broke up. I felt a stabbing pain in my chest. She wasn't the only one of us who wished they knew why.

The daughter of Aphrodite hesitated. She saw me watching the conversation and I turned away with a blush at getting caught eavesdropping. I tried not to listen, but I could still hear her answer regardless. "I can't say for certain, but I have a feeling that we will all find out soon enough."

ΩΩΩ

The rest of the meal seemed to be more subdued. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like Annabeth and I weren't the only ones who were dwelling on their conversation from earlier. I was glad that Piper seemed to be the only one who realized that I had over heard them. I didn't want Annabeth to know that I was in the same pain that she was. It wouldn't help her move on if she thought that I was hurting just as badly. It was the way we had always been together, both of us tried to keep the other from harm. Knowing that we were failing wasn't something she needed to know.

Considering that this was only the second interaction I'd had with the daughter of Athena since we broke up, I wasn't really surprised that I left breakfast with a hollow feeling in my chest. I wished that there was a way to make the pain disappear, but I knew that it wasn't that easy. Annabeth and I were over, now I just needed my heart to accept that.

I should have known that Apollo would be able to tell that something was off. He seemed to know me almost as well as I knew myself.

"So are you going to tell me what happened at breakfast or are you going to make me guess."

I glanced at the blue eyed man beside me and shook my head. "It's fine, there's nothing you can do."

He raised one eyebrow in question, "How can you know that unless you tell me?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "It's just something I overheard." He continued to watch me and I gave in with a sigh. "Annabeth is still hurting too."

He frowned. "Okay..?"

I shook my head. He clearly didn't understand. "It's... I overheard Annabeth talking to Piper. She's in as much pain as I am. I just... I don't know what to do."

The sun god eyes widened in understanding, "I see." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, offering me comfort. "It's your fatal flaw again isn't it? You can handle your own heartbreak but seeing the daughter of Athena in pain, you feel helpless."

"Yes, exactly," I sighed. "So what can I do?"

The god of music shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you Perce. They've not yet discovered a cure for heartache. All you can do is keep going and try to ignore it, eventually the pain will go away."

I leaned further into his hold. "How am I supposed to ignore it when every time I see her if feels like I've taken a punch to the gut?"

He sighed and tightened his arm around me. "I don't know." We stood silently together for a few minutes before I felt Apollo stand straighter. He tilted his head so he could see my face and smiled, "But I do have a plan to keep you distracted."

ΩΩΩ

January 21st

Apollo POV

I had promised myself that I was going to get Percy's mind off the break-up. I didn't want to see him having to force a smile every time he saw Annabeth. Yesterday was nearly as hard for me as it was for him. Seeing the son of Poseidon hurting so badly, but trying so hard to hide it, tore my heart. I would help the young god forget her.

The sun wasn't quite up yet, but I knew it would be rising soon. I snuck into Percy's room and shook his shoulder, "Hey Percy." He groaned and smothered his face further into his pillow. I tried very hard not to coo over his adorable reaction. "Perce, come on. Let's go. We have a long day ahead of us."

He finally cracked open one sleepy eye and frowned. "What are you talking about? What exactly is it that we have to do?"

I gave him a secretive smile. "It's a surprise. Come on, go get dressed.

ΩΩΩ

It took another 10 minutes to pry him from his bed, and 20 more to get him out the door. I made sure not to forget the bag that I had set by the door earlier as I locked it behind us. Once we were outside, the brisk air seemed to finally wake him up properly.

"This is way too early."

I smiled and nudged him with my shoulder. "I still have a hard time accepting that you're this bad at waking up in the mornings. You're friends with the god of the sun. You need to work on that."

He pouted and stuck his tongue out at me, "Exactly, I'm friends with the god of the sun. That means that I am not you and as such, I don't actually need to wake up this early."

I laughed, "Oh you're fine. Waking up early never killed anyone."

He caught my eye and gave me a very serious look. "Yet..."

I'm sure that most of the city heard our laughter.

ΩΩΩ

I led him out of the city, towards the training grounds. He asked me a couple of times where I was taking him but I had no intention of ruining the surprise. After ignoring his question for about the sixth time, he finally stopped asking and gave me a fake pout. I spent most of the rest of the walk trying to avoid looking at his lips.

It wasn't until we got to the stables that he finally stopped pouting.

He turned to me with a look of absolute confusion. "What are we doing here? You hate riding pegasai."

I smiled and hiked the pack a little more securely onto my shoulders. "True, but we need a lift. It's a bit too far to walk. Come on, call your friends."

He looked like he was questioning my sanity but he did whistle. Soon enough the two pegasai were coming in to land.

The black winged horse tossed his head and whinnied, "Nice to see you too Blackjack. Can we get a lift?"

I couldn't stop my smile. It didn't matter how many one-sided conversations that I had witnessed between the son of Poseidon and his horse, it was still amusing. Weird, but amusing...

"I don't actually know where we're going. Fred here won't answer me."

I was used to ignoring Percy's playful glares, but there was something seriously disturbing about having a horse giving you an unimpressed look...

I cleared my throat, "Ya. Can you tell them I was hoping that I could just point them in the right direction and then tell them when we were almost there?"

The black pegasus snorted and shook his mane. "You do realize that they can understand you right? It's you who can't understand them."

"Oh..." No, I hadn't realized. I had a feeling that I would be more careful about what I said around horses in the future.

"Either way though, he said that's fine."

I nodded and moved towards the one Percy had told me was called 'Porkpie'. I took a deep breath before I climbed onto his back. As soon as we were seated, they pegasai took off. I could already feel his wings rubbing uncomfortably against my legs on every down-stroke. This was really going to suck.

I hoped that Percy appreciated it.

ΩΩΩ

I was especially grateful when the ocean finally came into view. Somehow, I always managed to forget just how painful riding a pegasus was. Percy had finally given up asking where we were going when I asked the pegasai to put us down on a secluded beach.

Once we landed, I gratefully hopped down onto dry land. I vaguely heard Percy thanking the pair before a sudden breeze told me that they had flown away again.

The son of Poseidon came to stand next to me and took a deep breath. "So this was your surprise? You decided to bring me to the ocean?"

Judging by the smile on his face, he would have been okay if this was all I had planned. "Well, this is part of it at least."

He turned to me with a confused look on his face. "What's the other part?"

I smiled and took off the bag I was carrying. I opened it and tossed a pair of blue swim shorts too him. "You'll want to put these on." He raised an eyebrow, asking for further clarification. I winked at him, "I thought that since we started teaching you archery, we might try riding hippocampuses today."

The look of surprised joy on his face was definitely worth the pain of having to ride a pegasus.

ΩΩΩ

The son of Poseidon waded out into the water while I stored our clothes on the beach, well above the tide line. I couldn't hear him very well over the crash of the surf but I did hear him saying something about his brother Tyson and a 'Rainbow'.

By the time I changed into my red and gold shorts, the youngest god had already been joined by two creatures. Even if I hadn't known that they were going to be there, I would have known what they were. With the upper torso of a horse that smoothly changing into silvery scales and ended in a rainbow colored fin, there was no mistaking a hippocampus for anything other than what it was.

I walked down the beach to join him, but the instant the surf crashed over my feet I jumped back with a curse, "Di Immortals! Schist, that's cold!"

The son of Poseidon laughed, "Oh come on. It's not that bad once you're all the way in. You just have to get used to the water first."

I clearly hadn't thought this all the way through. "Are you kidding me? It's freezing. I'd be lucky if I didn't get hypothermia from this." I looked at the water with doubt.

"Oh come on Apollo, you promised."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "True, but I am already regretting this."

He shook his head and laughed, "This was your idea. I figured we were going to save this resolution for you know, summer."

That would have been a much better plan. It still would have been cold, but not this cold. Half of me desperately wanted to back out and suggest that we do save this for summer, but the other half of me didn't want to see the way that would make Percy's face fall in disappointment.

I groaned and shook my head, "Fine, I'll do it. But if I die, it's your fault." I clearly liked him way too much.

He gave me a huge smile that made my heart flutter. "Deal, but you're not going to die. I won't let you. You're sister would kill me."

I laughed. "Wow, I feel the love. It's not 'I won't let you die, I like you too much'. It's, 'I won't let you die because I'm scared of your sister'."

He shrugged, completely unrepentant. "Who wouldn't be a little scared of her?"

I chuckled and shook my head in fond amusement. This boy was way too cute for his own good. I would never understand how Annabeth could let him go. I blushed at the thought. Time to distract myself...

I looked at the water and winced. I took a deep breath and walked into the surf. It took all of my self control not to jump right back out.

"Oh I really hate the cold." I forced myself to continue to walk until it was up to my waist. I could feel my entire body shivering.

"Come on, it's not that bad."

I glared at the son of Poseidon, "Say's the one who isn't even getting wet."

He just smiled and shook his head. "Just dive in, it's better to get it out of the way all at once. You'll get used to the water faster that way." I continued to glare at him. I knew that he was right, but that didn't mean I wanted to do it. "Oh come on Apollo. I agreed to learn archery at the risk of everyone's health; you can learn to ride a hippocampus. Trust me, you'll love it."

I groaned and took a deep breath. "This is really going to suck." Before I could talk myself out of it, I dove in.

ΩΩΩ

The water was really, really, cold. Even after getting over the initial shock, it still took me about fifteen minutes to get used to it. Once I was though, it wasn't so bad. It definitely wasn't as cold as I had originally thought. It was still a far cry from the type of pools that I was used to, but I doubted that I'd get hypothermia.

When I had finally stopped shivering, Percy took me over and introduced me to the hippocampuses. He introduced the larger one as Rainbow. Apparently Rainbow was a friend of his brothers, which explained why I had heard him talking about Tyson earlier. The smaller one seemed to respond to anything, so Percy simply dubbed him Rainbow Jr. Judging by the way that the water-horse danced around, I was guessing that he approved of the name.

The son of Poseidon showed me how to sit on the half-horse, half-fish, so that I wouldn't slide right down the tail. He also showed me how to hold onto her mane so that I wouldn't hurt the creature. We started off just going in slow circles so that Percy could make sure I wasn't going to fall off. Once he had deemed me ready, he climbed onto Rainbows back, and we were off.

ΩΩΩ

They were a lot faster than I had expected. The water-horses were also a lot more comfortable to ride than a pegasus. There were no wings beating up and down that rubbed painfully against you're leg. Instead, it was far more like riding a normal horse. Racing across the waves, side by side with Percy, it was easy enough to forget why I had even been hesitant to try it.

I could see why the young god told me that it was so much fun.

Once Percy accepted that I didn't need further instruction, the lesson devolved into a race. The larger hippocampus was fast. Its huge tail sent it flying through the waves, but what Rainbow Jr lacked in size, she made up for in speed.

It was easy to lose track of time like that. Racing side by side with the son of Poseidon, I felt suspended in time. I could have spent decades just doing that, but eventually, the cold water began to make me shiver again. My internal heater could keep the cold away for a while, but I was still mortal. Sooner or later we had to head back for the beach.

This time, I stood with the son of the sea god as we thanked the creatures. We waved good-bye and watched them until they disappeared below the water.

I heard a chuckle and turned to the side to see Percy smiling at me. "Admit it Apollo, you had fun."

I shrugged and gave him a genuine smile, "Alright, you got me. That was a lot more enjoyable than I had expected."

He gave me a proud look and playfully punched me in the shoulder. "I knew you'd like it. Now come on, let's get out of the ocean before you get even more shrivelled than you already are." I glared at him but he just laughed me off and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. The instant his skin touched mine though, he yelped. "Holy Poseidon Apollo, your freezing. Let's get you to shore." I hadn't realized just how cold I was until then. I shivered and stepped closer to him.

I was grateful for the warmth that he provided. He didn't realise me until we managed to get back to the beach. Even then, he only let go long enough to get me a towel out of the bag. As soon as I had it around me, his arm was back.

Though I was cold, I knew that it wasn't the kind that was going to make me sick. I was just shivering because I had been in the water for so long. I would be fine in a few minutes, but I wasn't about to miss the opportunity to sit with Percy's arms around me.

"I'm so sorry Apollo. I completely forgot that you couldn't stay in the water as long as me."

He looked so heartbroken that I had to lay his fears to rest. "Don't worry about it Perce. I'm fine, I'm just cold. No harm done."

He didn't look like he believed me, but at least he didn't argue with me. When I finally stopped shivering, he let go. I missed the warmth immediately, but I wasn't going to say anything. I wrapped the towel tighter around my bare chest while he stood up and went to the bag. He was back before I could even ask what he was looking for.

"Here, eat this."

I looked down and saw a small piece of the ambrosia that I had packed. I rolled my eyes. Though I appreciated him worrying about me, I really didn't need the godly food. "Seriously Percy, I'm fine."

"Please Apollo? I don't want you getting sick."

I sighed. He was giving me his baby seal face. There was no way that I could resist that look, especially when I knew it was just because he was worried for me, "Fine."

I took the pre-offered ambrosia and popped the small morsel into my mouth. I smiled as the taste of pancakes exploded across my tongue. It seemed like Percy was changing everything. Before I had come to New Rome, Ambrosia always tasted like fresh apples.

I swallowed the food and raised one eyebrow at the son of Poseidon, "There. Are you happy now?"

He gave me a smug look, "Yes."

I rolled my eyes but I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "Come on. We should..."

I was cut off by an earth shattering roar.

I dropped my towel as I jumped to my feet. I spun around just in time to see a huge golden lion pounce through the trees and land on the beach before us, its teeth bared in a ferocious snarl.

My eyes were lock on the beast. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Percy's hand drop to his shorts before he swore. I had just enough time to remember that the swim trunks I packed him didn't have pockets before the monster growled again.

I swiped my thumb against my magic bracelet, thankful that I had decided not to take them off. My bow appeared in my hand and I felt the weight of my quiver settle against my back, "Nice kitty."

The plus side, my comment made the lion look away from Percy. The down side, it made the creature focus on me.

It snarled once more before it launched itself towards me. I barely managed to dive out of the way. I actually felt the wind created by its movement pass over me. For such a large, heavy creature, it was surprisingly fast and graceful.

I could hear Percy going for his clothes to find his sword, but I didn't dare take my eyes off the beast. I had of course heard of the Nemean Lion, but this was the first time I had ever faced it. It was even bigger than I had expected it to be.

It prepared to jump again and without thinking it through, I drew an arrow and fired. The projectile bounced harmlessly off its fur, but judging by the earthshaking growl, I had just pissed it off even more.

"Could you try not antagonizing it?"

Percy's voice caused both me and the lion to swivel our heads. By the way it raised its hackles and roared, I think it recognized him.

"Umm, I think he remembers you Perce."

"I agree. Its fur is impenetrable. I'm going to try to lead it towards the water. If you get a clear shot of its mouth, take it."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, the beast launched at him. The son of Poseidon was able to dive out of the way, but the move brought him even further from the water than before. He slashed at the beast but Riptide bounced harmlessly off of it.

I tried distracting it by shooting another arrow harmlessly against its pelt, but it remained focused on Percy. I tried to find a clear shot but every time I would get in front of it the creature would slash at me, forcing me to dive to the side again.

I had never faced a creature like this before. It seemed more intelligent than the monsters I was used too. Ever since Percy had mentioned his mouth being his only weak spot, the beast kept its jaws closed. Only baring its teeth rather than roaring.

I was slowing down. I didn't know how long we had been fighting, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could last. Percy was a little slow on his last dive and the creature had managed to claw his side. It didn't look life threatening, but he was still losing a concerning amount of Ichor.

I limped to the left, trying to get a clear shot. I had landed wrong and managed to twist my ankle.

"We're not getting anywhere. We need to try something else."

I scoffed and dropped to the dirt as its huge front paw swung through the air where my head had been moments before. "If you have an idea, I'm all for hearing it."

"Find something to hold on to." I knew better than to ask for further clarification in the midst of a battle. There was a strong looking tree about 20 feet to my left. I ran for it as quickly as I could on one good ankle. I wrapped one arm around it and looked back at the young god.

The son of Poseidon had a look of concentration on his face. He had one hand out towards the sea. "Let's see if kitty likes water."

My eyes went to the ocean behind the creature. There was a wall of water at least 10 feet high. I saw Percy clench his fist and pull his arm back towards his body. The wave started hurtling towards us at a concerning speed. This was going to hurt. I took a deep breath and wrapped both arms tighter around the trunk.

The wave slammed into me and drove the breath from my body. It was all I could do to keep ay arms locked around the trunk as my legs were whipped out from beneath me. The wave only kept us submerged for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity before the water flower back towards the sea. When it did, I was dropped back to the ground coughing, trying to get the water out of my lungs. It may have been a small wave by Poseidon's scale, but I still never wanted to do that again.

As soon as I got my breath back, I remembered the reason why Percy had made the wave in the first place. My eyes shot up in time to see the Nemean Lion climbing back to its feet, unhurt but looking severely pissed off.

My eyes found the son of Poseidon slowly sitting up, looking a little dazed. Judging by the log that was lying across his lap, I had a feeling that he might have managed to hit himself in the head with it.

The beast growled menacingly before letting lose another earth shaking roar. I didn't think about it, it was instinct. In less than a second, I raised the bow that I had somehow managed to hold onto as my other hand reached for an arrow. I drew back the arrow and released. Even before it hit, I knew that it wasn't going to miss.

The arrow struck the top of its mouth and sunk to the fletching. The beast didn't even have time to realize what had happened, before it exploded in a shower of golden dust.

I dropped my bow and fell back to the sand with a huff. "Thank father."

I lay there for a few minutes, trying to get rid of the adrenalin and calm my heart. I nearly had it under control before I remembered Percy. I jumped to my feet, stumbling a little when I forgot about my ankle.

I saw the son of Poseidon just gaining his feet and I sighed in relief. I watched as he walked towards the ocean. Even with my human vision, I could see the water rising up his body to heal his injuries.

I picked up my bow and recalled my arrows before I turned them back into their normal form. I limped out of the tree line and back towards the now destroyed beach. I had reached to spot where the lion last stood before Percy joined me.

"Well that was interesting."

The son of Poseidon gave a weak chuckle. "That's one way to put it. A lot can be said about demigods, but no one has ever said their lives are boring."

I shook my head and smiled, "I bet. Who really needs T.V. when you can risk your life fighting off mythical beings?"

"You know, I think I'd rather have boring old television occasionally."

It was my turn to laugh. I leaned down and picked up the lion skin. "But T.V. doesn't come with spoils of war." I offered it to the son of Poseidon but he shook his head.

"No way Apollo, that's all yours. You are the one who killed it, you get the spoils."

"But if you hadn't summoned that wave, I never would have had the chance to take that shot."

He smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Perhaps but if you hadn't taken that shot, I would have been its chew toy and that's something I'm thankful for avoiding." I opened my mouth to argue but he clamped his free hand over my lips. "There's no point in debating. It's yours and that's final. Now, what do you say about getting back to camp before more monsters decide that we'd be a tasty snack?"

ΩΩΩ

By the time we got home, we were both beat. Fighting off giant mythical creatures was enough to tucker anyone out. Percy was awake just long enough to grab a piece of ambrosia and to take a quick shower. As soon as that was done, he headed to bed. Judging by the quiet snoring I could hear, he was asleep within minutes.

Even though I was exhausted too, I was too keyed up to sleep. Taking out the Nemean lion was one of the most difficult things I had ever done. The fact that we did it though, was empowering. Suddenly, killing Python didn't sound quite as impossible as it once had.

I wrapped up my ankle and ate a small piece of ambrosia to help deal with all the cuts and bruises. I walked down the hallway towards my room. I paused outside of Percy's room on my way.

I couldn't have killed the beast without the son of Poseidon. I would have split the spoils with him if he had allowed me. I knew that Percy had already defeated the beast, but it still surprised me that he so willingly gave me the skin. I doubted that he even thought about just how valuable the fur was in our world.

The Nemean Lion had only been killed a handful of times. Gifting it to someone was almost unheard of. Almost every god wanted its pelt. I had even heard Hephaestus talking about wanting to get his hands on one. He had said he had a great idea for a new suit of armour made out of the impenetrable material.

I took a deep breath and continued to my room. I would have to try to figure out something to give Percy. He had done more than half of the work killing the creature; it would only be fair if he got to enjoy the spoils as well.

I stretched my arms above my head and fell sideways across my bed. It was days like this that I wished I was still on Olympus. When I was too keyed up to sleep, but too tired to do anything else, that's when I missed being able to stretch out on my couch and listen to some music or even better, watch some T.V.

My eyes widened at the thought. I sat up. I looked at the lion skin in my hand and smiled. I knew exactly how I was going to repay Percy.

"Hephaestus, I have a deal to make with you."

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Authors Note

Hope you enjoyed the nice long chapter. You have no idea how excited I was for this chapter and the next one too. :-) I can't wait for it to be next Sunday so that all of you get to read it.

I originally started putting a date at the end of the chapters so that I would stop procrastinating and write this story, but I still procrastinate. I find myself writing most, if not all, of it on Saturday. LOL

Next update will be October 25th

Next Chapter:

I felt my jaw drop open. "Apollo..."