Disclaimer: I do not own Rick Riordan, the Percy Jackson books, characters, series, movies, or anything else you may recognize.

Author's Note: OHMIGODS WHAT IS HAPPENING IS THE WORLD ENDING?! Maybe. :) So before you start reading this new and wonderful chapter, go back and re-read Spark of a Fire and Drop In the Ocean, both from the beginning. Let me repeat: Go re-read Spark of a Fire and Drop in the Ocean from the beginning. I have done some re-writes and adding in and so it's really important for everything to make sense that you go back and re-read! Spark even has a new chapter! So please re-read! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! I will explain some of the changes and the reasons for them on the next chapter! So until then, please enjoy :)

Chapter Twenty-Three
History Repeats Itself

"I'll draw a map,

Connect the dots

With all the memories that I've got

What I'm missing

I'll keep reliving."

"Bottom Of The Ocean" by Miley Cyrus

I needed a daddy-daughter yoga/spa retreat stat.

And yes, Lord Apollo and me, his daughter, went to a yoga and spa retreat together on multiple occasions and not only was it a great bonding experience, it was most relaxed I had ever felt. And man, Michelle's facials were superb.

This was a disaster. A complete and utter disaster. Everyone was running around in a frenzy as we made our escape from Charleston. Percy and Jason were on deck controlling the winds to get us out of the bay as fast as possible and to keep the Romans and their eagles away. Leo's hands were gripping the wheel so tightly his hands were taking on a purple hue. Hazel and Frank were arguing about something while Annabeth and Piper tried to keep Percy and Jason hydrated.

And I just stood there.

I didn't know what to do, but I needed to get myself together. I needed to figure out our next step, but that felt like too much pressure and my mind was drawing a blank.

Some leader I was turning out to be.

Deep breath, Andee. Act like Annabeth, she always knows what to do. You got this.

"I need everyone in the mess hall as soon as possible!" I shouted, hoping everyone heard me. I quickly approached Leo whose face was draining of color with every second that passed.

"Leo, are you okay?" I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. His whole body was tensed.

"Depending on your definition of okay," Leo said through gritted teeth. "If being literally shot out of the sky and being the only person holding this ship together is your definition of okay, then yes, I am fantastic."

"Leo," I said carefully, and I could see the exhaustion in his eyes. "You need to let go of the wheel. Can Festus take over?"

Festus made a bunch of squeaks, squeals and moans. "Yeah, Festus says he should be okay to take over for a while."

"Okay, let's go down to the mess hall, get you some food during the meeting, and then I want you to take a nap, okay?" I said gently.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Leo said but he didn't move. "Uh….I can't unclench my hands."

"Oh, Leo," I said under my breath, moving in front of the wheels to gently pry each fingers off the wheel. I took a minute to massage his hands and try to get some feeling back in them for him.

"No sign of pursuit," Annabeth said as I entered the mess hall, making Leo sit down at the table. I pushed a plate of food in front of him and made him start eating before I did anything else.

"I'm forgetting something…" Leo said weakly.

"Eat," I said.

Annabeth stood at the front of the room, holding a Wii controller. The normal walls of the mess hall had been turned into pure glass, making it look like we were floating on the ocean. I looked over at the table and Jason and Percy were both slumped over in their chairs from exhaustion.

"No sign of land either," Hazel added, her face looking a little green. Oh great, sea-sickness on a warship. Like we didn't have enough problems.

I looked around and Hazel and Annabeth were right. We were surrounded by nothing by ocean. No other boats, no little dots of lands…we were on our own, sailing to the Mare Nostrum where many monsters and ugly creatures waited to try to kill us. How joyous.

"Did you find the map?" Jason asked.

Annabeth nodded, and she looked pale. "I'm going to have to study it."

And that was the end of that subject.

"Alright," I said. "Well, the good news is that we're on our way to Rome, so we're one step closer."

"So what's the bad news?"

"Hmm?" I asked, turning to look at Frank.

"Usually when someone mentions 'good news', there's usually bad news that goes with it," he said.

"You know, I was trying to keep a positive spin on everything but fine," I said, putting my hands up in surrender. "The bad news is that Camp Jupiter has marked us as traitors, declared war on Camp Half-Blood and is probably preparing to march on it as we speak, and we were sailing into no-man's land where literally no one can help us from some of the world's oldest and baddest monsters. And Nico has…how many days left, Hazel?"

"Three."

"And Nico has three days left." I paused, taking a deep breath. There was a lot on our plates right now, but we had to take it one step at time. Get to Rome. Get Annabeth on her way to the Mark. Save Nico. Maybe in that order. Maybe not. Oh, and definitely fight some monsters, some minor gods and probably some nuisances sent by Gaea.

After that, then we would think about Greece.

"Can we get the ship in the sky?" Jason asked in a drowsy voice. "Maybe if we fly –"

"We can't fly," Leo said. "Festus told me that the port aerial stabilizer got damaged when we hit the dock at Fort Sumter."

"We were in a hurry," Annabeth said.

"Trying to save you," I added.

"Well thank you," Leo said dramatically. "A very noble cause indeed, and very appreciated. IT's going to take a long time to fix, so for now, we are sea-bound."

"Works for me!" Percy said in a loopy voice. Aw man, I was going to have to heal those two. They had used way too much energy trying to get us out of there and were really suffering for it now.

"Easy for you to say," Hazel grumbled. "Can we stop the window thing?"

Annabeth fiddled with the controls and the room turned back to normal.

Percy doubled over with a painful groan. "Why is everything upside and spinning?"

"You see that, too? Is it yellow for you too?"

"Mhmm."

Piper and Annabeth looked at them and me worriedly. "Okay, Piper, I'm going to need you to monitor the situation at Camp Half-Blood with Katoptris. If anything happens, please alert me or Annabeth right away. Annabeth, Iris-message Chiron and the camp and let them know what to expect. They need to be as prepared as possible." I didn't like that we couldn't be there. I didn't like not having control of the situation. "Everyone else, go to your quarters, eat, relax – do whatever you need to do to keep yourself at the ready for attack, because believe you me, we are going to be attacked, and probably soon. Leo, now that you're feeling a little better, would you mind grabbing me some ambrosia and nectar? I'm going to work on healing these two."

Everyone went off to their assigned tasks or to sleep and I stayed in the mess hall with Jason and Percy, looking between the two to try and determine who was worse off, or who could last slightly longer than the other. Leo came by with the ambrosia and nectar, and I got him to start giving some to Percy while I started healing Jason. It would buy me enough time to heal both of them enough to hopefully survive the night.

I moved a chair so I was in front of Jason. I pushed him back a little so he was sitting up, and his blue eyes were bloodshot and droopy. I put a hand on either side of his head and started singing, the memory came at me full bore.

"Hey Pipes," Jason said, knocking on the open door of the Aphrodite cabin. Lacey and Mitchell were sitting on the floor below Piper's bed, as the three talked. All three stopped talking when they saw me, Mitchell and Lacey getting huge grins on their faces before scurrying by me.

Piper's smile lit up the whole room and I couldn't stop my own smile. She was so beautiful. Her hair was the color of chocolate with tiny little braids throughout it, and her eyes changed with her mood. When her eyes when a dark, golden brown, that was the danger zone. They were bright blue right now, which meant she was happy and in love. "Hey Sparky."

She was in my arms in only a few long strides, her arms wound around my neck and her lips were on mine. I wrapped her arms around mine, bringing her in as close to me as possible and I could feel her smile, standing on the tips of her toes to try to close the distance easier. I just picked her up and she wrapped her legs around my hips with a laugh and I brought her over to the bed, dropping her on the bed which made her laugh any more. "How are you?" I asked, lying down beside her, keeping an arm around her and keeping her close.

"Now you ask," she said cheekily, reaching over and kissing me again. "I'm really good now."

"That's good," I said as we continued kissing. "I'm pretty good too, just in case you were wondering."

"Jason," Piper said, giving me one of her infamous looks, which just made me want her even more. Her hands grabbed the hair at the nape of my neck and pulled me back in, one hand moving under my shirt –

"Nope, I'm out," I said, forcefully pulling myself out of his memories. I did not need to watch a movie of his and Piper's love life, whatever rating it might get in a theatre. Didn't want to know, and definitely did not want to see. "Leo, we need to switch."

Jason had a lot more color and was sitting up on his own now, so I didn't feel too bad. "Are you sure you're okay to…?" Leo asked quietly.

"I'm fine," I said before taking a seat in front of Percy. He smelled like the ocean and it was intoxicating.

"You look pretty in yellow," Percy said in a loopy voice.

"Alright," I said, trying to shake off the smile that was threatening to creep up. "I'm going to heal you but I'm going to see some of your memories, alright? I'm sorry in advance."

"I know the drill," Percy said. "Fire at will, ma'am."

I placed my hands to his temples and started singing one of my father's healing hymns.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine," Andee sang, standing in front of her godson's crib with her guitar, singing and strumming away. "You make me happy when skies are grey."

Andee and her godson/little brother (it was complicated) had such a sweet relationship, that I was kind of jealous. She had so much love for him, and quite frankly, I did too. He was such a cute little baby and so smart. Seeing Andee with him made me think of our own future together, of us having kids together some day. The thought made me smile.

Dimka held himself up on the edge of the crib, bouncing and laughing as his sister sang for him.

Andee had only barely gotten home from a show, but there had been an emergency on Johnny's side of the family, so Val and Johnny had to leave the house in a hurry. So Andee was in a hilarious mix of full stage make-up, with her hair perfectly straight, dark smoky eye make-up and her cheeks covered in sparkles. Then she was wearing one of my Camp shirts and a small pair of pajama shorts, along with a pair of fluffy slippers.

She was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on.

Andee continued singing little until she was able to tire Dimitrios out so that he would sleep. She turned on the baby monitors, took one and motioned for me to follow her out of the room. We went across the hall to the bathroom and Andee almost collapsed against the counter in exhaustion.

"Go on, sit up on the counter," I said, helping her jump up so that her feet were dangling. Andee was great at putting on a tough face, but I always saw through it.

"Make-up wipes are in the drawer," Andee said, pointing to the far left side of counter. I pulled them out and slowly started helping her take off her make-up for the night.

"You were really good tonight," I told her as she wrapped her arms around me to keep herself upright. "You always look like a goddess on a stage. Well, actually, you always look like a goddess to me, but you just look so in your element that no one can take their eyes off of you."

"Percy, I love you so much," Andee said, leaning her forehead against mine. "You…I don't even know how to thank you for everything you do and say. Don't you have school in the morning?"

"Yeah, but it's English first period, so I have Paul and he won't mind if I sleep through class," I said and she laughed.

"Paul is honestly a saint," Andee said before giving me a kiss. "Mmm, I love you so much."

"I love you too, Glow Worm," I said. "Now let's get to bed before you fall asleep on the bathroom counter – that would be really hard to explain." She laughed and laughed as I carried her bridal style to her own bedroom down the hall where we spent so much time. She had already fallen asleep in my arms before we even crossed the threshold.

Another memory started.

They called my name and I was walking across the stage towards the principal. "Percy Jackson, who is graduating today with honors! He'll be attending Stony Brook University in the fall with a full-ride scholarship for their Marine Biology program."

What?

I didn't know that! Andee, Val, Annabeth, Paul and my mom had all helped me apply for different scholarships and bursaries but I didn't think I'd actually get any! I was starting to worry how I was going to pay for university and everyone had just said we'd figure it out, but that made me stress even more. Now a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder.

"Woo!" I shouted, holding up my degree as people applauded and laughed. My own little squad of fans were screaming and cheering wildly. My mom, Paul, Annabeth, Andee, Grover and even Val and Johnny had shown up. It was incredible that I was even here, but to have the people I cared about most here to witness it made it even that more special.

Once the traditional cap toss was over and we could go see our families, I was practically attacked by Andee who launched herself at me, kissing all over my face, which just made me laugh. "You graduated with honors! And a full-ride! Perseus Jackson, you did it!"

I hugged her tightly and closed my eyes, taking in the moment. This was perfect.

My mom was in tears as she came and hugged me. "You have always made me so proud, Percy, and you're always going to do such great things."

"It's all because of you, mom. You believed in me no matter what," I said, kissing her cheek. "Thank you."

Annabeth was next to wrap me in a hug. "Maybe there's not that much seaweed in that brain, after all, huh?" Annabeth joked.

"Love you, too."

"Bro."

"Bro."

Grover and I had the manliest hug you could have ever seen. Did we cry? Of course not. Men don't cry over things like that.

Okay, we both may have shed a few tears.

"I always knew you could do it, Perce!" Grover said, clapping me on the back and bleating a little. "I love you, bro. I'm so proud of you."

"I love you too, Grover."

He was my first real friend and had been there for me through some of the hardest and most confusing times of my life. We didn't get to see each other as often anymore so it meant the world that he was here.

"Guys, you're making me cry," Andee said, fanning at her face in an attempt to stop her crying, but there were already a few tears streaming down her face. "We all need a group hug!"

And another memory.

There was a soft knock on the door. Crap, I was hoping she wouldn't notice I was gone.

"Can I come in?" she asked gently.

"No."

"Percy."

"I don't want you to see me like this." I was trying to wipe at my eyes with the heels of my sleeves of my pajama shirt to try to get rid of the tears but I didn't think it was helping.

"Percy, it's just me. I've seen you in every possible way you could be," she said. "Please let me in."

The door opened a crack and Andee slid through before closing it again behind her. She knelt down and crawled behind me, wrapping her arms around me, her head leaning against my shoulder. "What's wrong, baby?" she whispered.

"I just keep seeing it over and over again," I said, trying not to cry. I hated crying and I really didn't want Andee seeing me cry.

"You're having flashbacks too," Andee said quietly, before moving to sit in front of me, tucked in-between my outstretched legs. "If you're okay to talk about it, what do you keep seeing?"

I took a deep breath and Andee put her hands lightly on my chest. I wrapped my hands around hers, just needing to feel someone. "It usually starts as flashbacks of the Battle, with you being taken, seeing you under Kronos' control, Luke dying. But sometimes it changes into more, and I just see everyone dying. Chiron, Lee, Grover, Annabeth, my parents…you. And then I'm the one killing everyone."

"Oh Percy," Andee said quietly, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me. The flood gates burst open and I just started bawling my eyes out. It had only been a few months since the Battle – it was getting close to Christmas, Camp was almost completely rebuilt, but every wound – all mental, in my case – was still fresh and it was wrecking me. "We're safe now, Ducky. It's over."

"Some days it doesn't feel like it," I told her honestly. "I just…I always feel so anxious, like I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And then I think about everyone who isn't here to experience it, and the people I might've hurt."

"We all hurt people," Andee said. "Percy, I…I killed people. I killed two demigods from Camp Half-Blood and at least twenty that were working for Kronos that disobeyed him. I don't know any of their names, but I know their faces. And I'm never going to forget those faces."

"You never told me that before," I said quietly. It was brutally hard to hear, but it was something that I had had a feeling about all along. Not that I ever thought that Andee would kill people of her own free will, but Kronos didn't care about people's lives and he liked to hurt people in any way he could, and he knew that would hurt Andee later.

"I was scared," she said. "I've been getting flashbacks. Usually when I sleep alone, and I just didn't want it to change the way you looked at me."

"Nothing is ever going to change the way I feel about you, Andee," I said. "It wasn't really you, and we both know that." I sighed. "We should have talked to each other about this sooner."

Andee nodded, leaning into me and fitting herself into me like my missing puzzle piece. "Percy, you can always talk to me about anything. Any time, anywhere, and about anything. You don't have to deal with this alone, okay? Even if you don't want to talk to me, there's Annabeth, or Grover, or Chiron, or even Lee would be willing to talk to you but I'd suggest Will, your mom, Paul, Va. You have a lot of people here for you, Perce." She softly kissed my neck.

"What do you even see in me, Andee?"

She pulled away to look at me. "Is that a real question, Percy?"

"Yes, I honestly don't think I'm good enough for you. I don't really think I'm good enough for anything, really."

"Percy," Andee said softly. "You are so amazing, and this is breaking my heart." She moved so that she was back behind me, forcing me to look at myself in the full-length mirror. "You are so incredibly handsome, to start. Your eyes are the most beautiful shade of green and your hair is perfectly tousled, all the time. And then you mess it up even more and it looks even better. You have the sweetest smile, and the cutest freckles all over your nose and cheeks that one day I'm going to kiss every single one of. When I look at you, I see someone who is incredibly brave and always puts others needs before his own. I see someone so strong but so gentle. I see someone kind and caring who is always willing to lend a helping hand. I see someone who absolutely adores his mom and treats her like gold and would fight anyone who tried to hurt her. I see someone who is romantic and sweet and is so creative in ways to surprise him. I see someone who is smart and intelligent, despite being told otherwise by teachers and bullies. I see someone who wants to make other people happy, even if it might hurt him. I see someone who is so strong and acts so strong, but is afraid to show his vulnerable side even though he is perfectly safe to do so. I see someone who I am so incredibly in love with, that is my other half. I see someone who always puts thought and effort into everything he does. When I look at you, Percy, I just see the most incredible person in this world, and I fall in love with you more and more every day."

I turned to face her and she gave me a gentle kiss right away. "You make everything in this world so much brighter, Andromeda."

"I even love the way you say my name," she whispered, kissing me again. "Wake me up next time, okay? You can always talk to me, I promise."

I could feel another memory starting and I had to stop. I couldn't do anymore. It was too much. It was all too much.

I stumbled away and had to just get out of there as fast as I could. As soon as I got to my room, I closed the door and locked it behind me.

When you healed someone, you saw some of their most precious and vulnerable memories. Percy's were all of me.

I was so confused. My head was such a mess of blank spots and questions and gaps and unwanted feelings. I needed to get myself together, but it was so hard after what I'd just seen. He was in that much pain and that sick, and those were the memories at the front of his mind. Me. He was thinking about me. He was thinking about times he spent with me that I didn't remember.

That I chose to not remember.

The boat lurched to one side and I went crashing into the wall with a nice thud. Already a monster attack. Awesome.

I ran out of my room and up to the top deck and was even more done with life when I saw what was attacking. The monster was enormous with huge eyes and a sharp snout that jutted out from its face. It almost looked like a shark but had a spiny back with an undulating tail. It had a thick, crooked neck and three rows of sharp teeth that it decided to show us. The Ketos Troias.

"Nope," I said, turning right back around. "Not dealing with this. Not today."

Apparently I was dealing with it because as I went to go back down to my room, the stupid thing snatched me up in its mouth.

The amount of expletives that left my mouth would shock even the dirtiest-speaking sailors. You know those three rows of teeth? They were all piercing my stomach and legs. The pain was absolutely unreal. Have you ever been stabbed before? No? Because this is also nothing like that. Because you're getting stabbed by hundreds of daggers all at once.

My vision started going blurry and I could feel myself slowly dying.

The best way to go, really.

Suddenly I was dropped to the deck and everything went black.