Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Percy blinked as he heard a knock on his door and tore his eyes away from his copy of To Kill a Mockingbird – ever since his dyslexia had been removed and he had returned to camp, he had spent nearly every waking moment devouring every book he could get his hands on. Inevitably though, this led to his withdrawal from day to day life in the camp, so someone going out of their way to visit him was rather unexpected.

'Coming, just let me put my shirt on!' he called out. Even as he shrugged his shirt on, he frowned at the door; judging from the footsteps he had heard preceding the knock, he'd be willing to say that the person there was either a Hunter of Artemis or a very skilled hunter – their footsteps were so quiet that they were at the very edge of his hearing range! Must be Thalia then, he decided; whilst he had a tentative relationship with Artemis, he highly doubted that she would go out of her way to visit him, and the only other Hunter he knew was Thalia. He frowned to himself; recently his thoughts had become much clearer, more organised, more fluid in flow. I'll need to ask Lady Athena that the next time we have our lessons, he decided. He strode over to the door.

'Thalia, I presume?' he called out before opening the door.

'Yes, it's me,' Thalia replied. 'How did you…'

Percy ignored the question for a moment and took the time to study his friend; since becoming an immortal lieutenant of Artemis, her presence had become much stronger; the silvery glow that faintly surrounded all the Hunters seemed more vibrant, though not quite as strong as the one that always surrounded the moon goddess. Rather than the silvery parka and pants that was standard uniform for the Hunters, she was wearing a set of plain black pants and shirt.

'Your footsteps' he said simply. When Thalia frowned at him and static started dancing around her he quickly took a step back and held his hands out. 'Your footsteps – they're too quiet, therefore Hunter of Artemis or Artemis herself; last I checked in the camp, there weren't very many stealthy people – certainly not ones that could move that quietly. Therefore, Hunter of Artemis or Artemis – you are the only Hunter I know, and while Artemis…tolerates me, I rather doubt that she would approach me, ergo you' he elaborated, rattling off like a gatling gun. 'Hardly a genius deduction.'

'OK…' Thalia blinked and bit her lip. 'Percy, people are worried about you.'

'I'm sure they are' Percy deadpanned. 'Which is why you're the first person who's approached me, since I came back to camp, so, in, ah, about a week.'

'Percy, this isn't healthy' Thalia pleaded. 'You need to get out and breathe some fresh air,' she scowled at him, in an attempt to intimidate him. 'I've gotten us two movie tickets, and you are coming; don't make me drag you to the cinemas' she smiled pleasantly.

'Very well' Percy growled out. 'But you're paying for food and drinks.'

'How chivalrous of you, Seawe- Percy' she corrected herself. Unfortunately, Percy caught the slip and retreated into himself even more.

'I'll meet you at Half-Blood Hill' he said curtly, before unceremoniously closing the door in her face.

Thalia snarled to herself and punched the door frame. Why do I always put my foot in my mouth?

-After the film-

'What did you think?' Thalia asked Percy after she flashed them both back to Camp Half-Blood.

'…surprisingly OK' Percy admitted. In truth, he had quite enjoyed the film, though as a matter of pride, he wouldn't admit it to her face. 'Oh, alright, I enjoyed it, OK' he growled out in mock irritation at Thalia's knowing look.

'Let's do this again next weekend?' she offered. 'You'll be paying, though' she added hastily.

'Fine' he said tersely. 'Now if you'll excuse me…'

'Oh, no you don't Jackson' Thalia barked out. 'You are going to eat at the pavilion with me, not go back to burying yourself in books.' From the static that was starting to fly around, Percy could tell that she was serious, so he relented and started walking to the pavilion. Percy heaped his plate high with food, before turning to Thalia and raising an eyebrow in a taunting fashion. Happy? After a sharp nod, he strolled over to the brazier and dumped the contents of his entire plate inside.

To Ladies Artemis, Athena and Hestia, and my father Poseidon, he thought. He turned to see Thalia scowling at him.

'What was that?' Thalia said dangerously, electric blue eyes narrowing in displeasure, her black hair rising into spikes as sparks began flying from her body. 'For gods' sake, you need to eat!' she yelled at him.

'No, you need to eat' Percy corrected. 'I'm not hungry.'

She scowled at him and let out a deep breath, letting the tension flow out of her body. 'Percy, please…,' she pleaded. 'You need to eat, you know this!'

'Fine' he ground out. 'For you.'

Thalia smiled at him tentatively. 'Thank you.'

Her smile was promptly wiped off her face when she saw him reach into his pocket and break off a square of ambrosia, which he promptly swallowed.

'There, I had dinner' Percy snarked.

'…you're staying here until I finish my meal' Thalia commanded.

'Very well.'

As Thalia dug into her meal, she studied her friend; over the last week, his features, which, privately, she thought were on par with that of any god, whilst still exceptional, seemed to have lost something vital that had pervaded him before, though she couldn't quite put what it was into words. His face seemed a little gaunter, his cheeks sunken; clearly he'd been neglecting his health for quite a while now. He looks…beaten, Thalia realised, completely bewildered and lost as to how to help him.

'Percy, listen, I know that we don't always get along that well…' Thalia trailed off as she realised he was reading a book, completely ignoring her. 'PERCY!'

'Yes, what is it? No need to shout' the demigod said tetchily.

'I'm worried about you' she said softly. 'You're so introverted now, y-you're not yourself and you...I can't make you talk to me, but I wish that you would' she continued, a little embarrassed at her lapse in emotion. 'Just, if you need to talk, I'm only an Iris-message away' she smiled at him and clasped his hand briefly.

'I know' he whispered softly, and Thalia couldn't help but reach out and clasp his hand supportively as she saw the lines that suddenly appeared on his forehead, aging him far beyond his years. 'Believe me, I know. I-I've been thinking about asking Apollo for therapy…' he trailed off.

'And you should' she approved, gripping his hand a little tighter in sympathy. 'I-I know that talking with someone definitely helps with things like this' Thalia elaborated. 'R-remember when I thought that I killed Luke? Talking to Lady Artemis definitely helped me deal with that.'

'As did finding out that he wasn't dead' Percy deadpanned. 'But I take your point.'

-Mt Olympus-

Percy took in a moment to breathe in the architecture; whilst it painfully reminded him of her, he could still appreciate the beauty of the buildings she had designed. He snarled and rubbed his head; he could feel a migraine building. He reached out and knocked on the door to the temple, before settling on a nearby marble bench. He was a little nervous, especially given who he was meeting, but he knew that she was perhaps the only person that could help him.

'Perseus?' a certain grey-eyed goddess said in surprise as she stepped out from the temple. 'I didn't expect you to contact me so soon…please, come in' she invited. 'Would you like some refreshments?'

Percy ignored her question in favour of gazing around the interior of the temple; he could see the strong classical influence of Greece in the ubiquitous supporting pillars, but the décor reminded him greatly of his mother's house. With a pang, he realised that he had barely talked to his mother and Paul since he had arrived home from Greece. I'm going to have to fix that after this, he resolved to himself. Even as he was thinking this his eyes were flying over the place – there were too many stimuli, he couldn't stop himself from noticing all the details -

'Perseus?' the goddess asked him in concern as she noticed his vacant eyes. 'Is something wrong?'

Percy closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. 'I-I need to sit down,' he muttered lowly.

'S-should I call Apollo?' Athena inquired, touching his arm tentatively.

'N-no, this is a problem only you can help me with' Percy gasped out. 'I- ever since Zeus removed my dyslexia my thoughts also seemed to have cleared' he finally choked out, finally calming down from his panic attack. 'B-but now it's getting to the point where I can't seem to stop noticing every tiny detail- I can't even sleep at night now. I know that this wasn't exactly what you had in mind when you made that offer, but could you please help me?'

'Of course' Athena replied. 'But first, we need to get you calmed down; j-just relax and focus on the sound of my voice' she said soothingly, slowly stroking the demigod's back. As the shaking demigod slowly calmed, she started speaking again. 'Perseus, I'm going to need to call Apollo – both to check on your physical health, and also because he can also help you with your problem. OK?'

'J-just make it stop' he pleaded.

'Apollo!' she called lowly. 'Perseus needs your help, get here NOW!'

Coming, Apollo sent to her. Let me just put the sun chariot on autopilot…will be there in a minute.

Athena continued rubbing Percy's back soothingly. She was alarmed by just how much he had deteriorated since the award ceremony a month ago- then, whilst not in the peak of health, he had looked much more hale and hearty compared to his current state: dark bags were under his eyes, his cheeks were drawn and pinched, shoulders slumped and his entire bearing screamed out that he was utterly, both mentally and physically drained. Athena frowned at the strange sense of protectiveness that seemed to well up inside of her as she stared at the demigod – right now, he wasn't the son of her rival, he was just another person torn apart by the burdens life had given him.

It was to this strange sight that Apollo flashed into.

Tell anyone and you're dead, Athena sent over to him before he opened his mouth.

Understood, the sun god replied, perfectly serious.

'Perce, I'm here now' Apollo spoke gently. 'I'm going to check your vitals, but with your permission I would like to send you to sleep. Would you like that Perce?'

'D-do it' Percy whispered through trembling lips. Apollo nodded and sent a gentle wave of golden light at his favourite cousin that coaxed him to sleep within seconds. His face softened imperceptibly as he watched his cousin's face settle into something resembling peace. The sun god flicked his hand again and started examining the sleeping demigod. For the next few minutes, he worked in a comfortable silence before turning to Athena.

'He's malnourished and has eaten too much ambrosia which explains his fever…What happened?' he said brusquely.

'He told me that ever since his dyslexia was removed by our father that his thoughts seemed to have cleared' Athena began.

'Well, that was to be expected wasn't it?' Apollo pointed out. 'Removing a demigod's built-in capacity for Ancient Greek or Latin frees up brain capacity'

'Yes, of course, but he told me that he can't seem to stop noticing details about anything he looks it…apparently it's so bad that he can't sleep very well, if at all' the wisdom goddess continued.

'Ah, sensory overload' Apollo frowned and fell silent. 'I would suggest teaching him the method of loci' he decided eventually. 'The discipline required would help him tremendously in controlling his thoughts…you would know best about this though.'

'I agree with you' Athena confessed. 'I think I will have to teach him my own methods in dealing with this personally…I suppose you'll need to take him to your temple?'

'Indeed' Apollo agreed amiably. 'We need to get him linked up to some IV, his body desperately needs nutrients.'

'A-Annabeth…why' the demigod muttered as he turned around in his sleep.

'And I'm going to have to impress upon him the importance of therapy' Apollo scowled.

-Apollo's temple-

The twin archer gods were gazing at Percy as he tossed and turned intermittently, occasionally mumbling in his sleep. 'A-Annabeth…traitor…why' he repeated.

'You see sis, he needs you' Apollo entreated.

'I'm going to ask you this again – are you joking?' Artemis demanded. 'I-'

'Sis, he trusts you' Apollo pointed out. 'I saw the way the two of you worked together when you were hunting down the giants – you like and trust him too; more than that, you owe him for lifting the sky from your shoulders! He might like me, and trust me, but not as much as he does you, which is critical in therapy!'

'Fine' Artemis scowled before noticing Percy's hands twitching slightly. 'You should see to your, I mean, our patient' she pointed.

'W-what's going on?' Percy muttered sleepily. As he sat up and looked around the events of the past few days hit him. 'Oh' he said in realisation, before blinking in confusion. 'Hey there Apollo, Lady Artemis' he greeted. 'Apollo, why is it that my thoughts seem much…slower?' the demigod inquired.

'I gave you some meds' Apollo admitted.

'…so I'm high?' he said sleepily.

'I suppose so, yes' the sun god conceded. 'Understand that this is a one-time thing – I won't do it again and after you go through your training with Athena you won't need it again.'

'Good' Percy sighed in relief. He frowned as he saw Artemis awkwardly standing behind Apollo. 'You came to visit me Lady Artemis?'

Percy was genuinely surprised that she was there at all; while they had established a mutual respect, and even he even thought of her as a tentative friend, he had always felt that she had merely tolerated him at most. Seeing her at his bedside, not once, but twice, therefore, seemed like something out of a fairy tale.

'Yes, well, you are my friend' Artemis shrugged, eying him in concern. She frowned inwardly at the admission – while it was true that she considered him a friend, she hadn't meant to say it to him so brazenly. But since she had already admitted it…

'How do you feel now?' the goddess asked, summoning a seat next to his bed. 'Apollo said, and I agree with him, that if you are feeling up to it that we should be starting your recovery regime immediately if you are up to it.'

'I'm fine' Percy waved off. 'I…assume my therapy sessions are to be with you then?' he asked tentatively.

'That's right' Artemis smiled at him fondly. 'Though…if you'd prefer Apollo I underst-'

'No- no, I- I'd prefer to have you, if you're willing' he stammered out. 'I- no offence to you Apollo, b- but I would just feel more comfortable discussing this stuff with Lady Artemis.'

'I understand completely' the sun god smirked at Artemis in an annoyingly superior way. 'I'll be leaving you two to your discussion; see you in an hour, I'll be taking you to Athena then.'

'OK' Percy called out as the god flashed away. He turned to the moon goddess who was awkwardly looking away from him.

How does this therapy even work? Artemis demanded of her brother.

Just let him be comfortable and open up naturally, try and coax him to talk about Annabeth and any other issues, the sun god shrugged mentally. It's a process.

Percy flushed as he saw the goddess' silver eyes fixed upon him. Being with her in the same room as when he had first acknowledged his just-a-tad-bit-less-than-platonic feelings toward her made him feel a more than little awkward.

She agreed to help you…recover, he told himself reluctantly. You might as well make the most of it.

'Perseus, do you feel…comfortable talking about…well, her' Artemis asked him softly. 'If you don't I under-'

'I…just let me get a moment to think' he said softly. He closed his eyes and took several moments to muster his thoughts – pleased at the slower pace they were flowing at – before finally opening his eyes. He opened his mouth and began to speak.

-Manhattan, six months later-

Over the past six months, Percy had gradually pieced his life back together; his thrice-weekly therapy sessions with Artemis, combined with the mind-palace he had painstakingly constructed with Apollo and Athena's advice had allowed him to relinquish his feelings for Annabeth and move on – though he had made his peace with the past, he also compartmentalised the painful memories. He was by no means whole, but he was healing, more complete every day. The training he received from Athena, whilst demanding, had definitely helped - whilst he still noticed the tiny details about practically everything he looked at he no longer felt the nagging compulsion to chain together those details into a concrete deduction. He had easily mastered Athena's lessons on how to mask his aura and guard his mind from attack as well; as a reward, she had taught him how to enter the minds of others, though she made him promise on the Styx not to abuse it.

Since the majority of his issues had been fixed, he had started throwing himself into further learning with a vengeance – whilst he had managed to calm his mind down a bit, occupying it was the best way to make sure that he didn't die from mind-numbing boredom. He had even turned around his grades in mortal school, getting straight A's, much to everyone else's surprise. After his taste of AP chemistry, Percy had decided that he would definitely pursue it at a tertiary level – he loved the practical side of the field, and its sheer expanse was enough to satisfy even his new-found desire for knowledge. As a side hobby, he even learned from Apollo how to play the violin. Whilst he was still a novice, he was picking it up quickly, prompting his teacher to jokingly proclaim that he would soon be serenading the ladies.

Apollo had declared him fit for quests a month ago, so long as he agreed to attending weekly meetings with Artemis – as if he would compromise his own recovery, he scoffed inwardly. Almost immediately after that declaration, he had thrown himself into doing odd tasks for the gods – for example, helping Hecate recover her torches (her symbol of power) from her renegade demigod son Alabaster Torrington. Hecate had thanked him profusely, and even blessed him with the ability to use magic. Since then he had thrown himself into learning how to use his new abilities eagerly, pleased at the refreshing new challenge. Magic truly was limited only by his imagination – so far he had learned how to make rudimentary wards and seals, as well as to heal people, but from the demonstrations Hecate had given him, he knew that it was capable of so much more.

Perhaps the best thing though, was his growing friendship with Artemis. He had known from the onset of their therapy sessions that she had done so only because Apollo had convinced her to do so – but he was so glad that she had agreed. Since he had started opening up to her, the tentative understanding between them had deepened greatly - he could now say with certainty that she viewed him as a friend, which was quite the achievement for a male. For his part, he could safely say that she was fast growing to be one of his closest friends.

Percy blinked as he realised that his wandering feet had taken him to his mother's apartment. That was it was to him now, he realised – while he knew that he would cherish the memories that had been made here, it just wasn't his home anymore. He stepped up and rapped the door gently with his knuckles.

'Coming!' Sally Jackson called out. 'Oh, Percy!' she cried out, reaching out and enveloping him in a hug. The male demigod flushed and gingerly hugged his mother back.

'I missed you' he whispered.

'Come in' his mother smiled. 'Can I get you anything?'

'N-no' Percy faltered. 'M-mum this isn't a social call.'

'I expected as much,' Sally sighed. 'What's the matter?'

'As you know, I'm nearly finished with high school' Percy began. 'And because of my grades I was offered a lot of scholarships from here in the States, and even some from England…I-I was thinking – thinking of moving to London to study chemistry at Oxford.'

'W-what?' Sally sputtered. 'B-but there are so many good colleges to study here!'

'I know Mum, I know' Percy reassured. 'Believe me, I didn't just decide this on a whim.'

'Explain' she commanded.

He clenched his hands and gathered his thoughts.

'Moving to England would be highly beneficial for me in several ways' he expounded. 'For one thing, there are practically no monsters there at all, since most of them have migrated over here, to the States. Two, while I love you Mum, I-I need to move out' Percy said gently. 'I need to move out, become more independent.'

'But you're going to be so far' she whispered, a few tears escaping her eyes and rolling down her face. 'We won't be able to see each other as often-'

'Oh, Mum' Percy laughed before hugging her reassuringly, breathing her scent in deeply. 'I've been working on that problem with Lady Hecate. Remember those 'Portkeys' in Harry Potter? I managed to create something functionally identical to it. And we both have laptops now- we can Skype each other and-'

Percy stopped as he realised he was babbling and crying too. 'I-I want to cross this bridge Mum' he said after he had recomposed himself. 'I-if I don't even try, I won't know for sure that I can be independent and I'll stay a kid forever. So, please don't do anything to remove that bridge' he pleaded.

Sally stared at her son, still wiping his tears in front of her. 'You're set on doing this no matter what I say or do, no?' she laughed sadly. 'You get that from your father. I-I don't want you to leave but I understand why you want to do it. Yes, of course I give you my blessing' Sally whispered and drew him into a heartfelt hug. 'You're my only son.'

'Thank you' Percy replied, face slightly muffled as he buried his face in his mother's shoulder. 'Thank you!'

Eventually, Percy reluctantly pulled himself away. 'Mum, you said once that we had family in the UK – that they were your cousins? I-I want to get into contact with them if possible' he said softly.

'I will get into contact with them' Sally promised. 'But first, I think I need to confess something to you.'

'Are you pregnant?' Percy blurted out in surprise.

'W-what?' Sally shrieked out. 'N-no, I-I'm not pregnant' she continued in a more modulated tone. 'I-I'm a legacy of Athena' she said quietly.

Percy blinked- of all the things that she could have said, that was something he wasn't expecting. 'I see. Go on Mum' he encouraged.

Sally took in a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair before launching back into her explanation. 'My grandmother, Violet Holmes, was an immigrant from England in the early 1900s' she started. 'As I told you once before when you were young, she met and fell in love with a man named Kevin Jackson. What I didn't tell you at the time was that in the late 1700s, Athena fell in love with a mortal man, named Andrew Holmes, who was a little-known pioneer of chemistry, and a rival of Luigi Galvani and Humphrey Davy. Their offspring, John Holmes, displayed the intelligence that most children of Athena did, but his intellect was by far superior to that of his siblings; I believe he was even nicknamed the second coming of Daedalus.'

'Mum, please, get to the point' Percy pleaded.

'It seems your training with Athena hasn't improved your patience any' Sally commented. 'The point is that our ancestor, John Holmes, was a genius above all others. His descendants inherited his intellect. I-I think that this inherited intelligence was brought out to the fore once your dyslexia was removed, and combined with your ADHD, I think that's why….everything got too much for you. I-I'm sorry,' she whispered.

'Oh, Mum' Percy sighed, leaning over and embracing her again firmly. 'I could never, never, blame you' he breathed in her ear. 'I love you too much for that. And…to be honest, I wouldn't have changed a thing. I-I got friends out of it, and…,' his voice broke. 'Well, a lot of good has come out of it.'

After a few more moments of holding her, Percy let go and got up regretfully. 'I-I need to get my things' he said lowly. 'If I'm going to be moving out I need to start packing now.'

'Of course' Sally said tearfully. 'I-I'll contact them right away. I'll ask them to arrange a place for you to stay. I have almost never contacted them before, but they would do it for me.'

The male demigod nodded and slipped off to his bedroom. The room was quite bare, with only a bed, table and dresser. Percy immediately went to the dresser and opened the top drawer. He gazed down wistfully at its contents- a small red box, that, at one point, had held his entire being, his hopes, his dreams…and his heart. He had suffered through quite a lot to get Hephaestus to forge that wedding ring for him, he remembered with a twinge of pain. He reached out and put the box into his pocket.

-Heathrow, one month later-

Percy blinked as he saw a tall, slightly rotund young (perhaps twenty four or so) man holding a placard with his name splashed across it in large block letters, absent-mindedly twirling a long black umbrella.

'You must be Mr. Holmes' he said affably, and offered the man his hand. 'I'm very pleased to meet you.'

'Please, call me Mycroft, Mr Jackson' his distant relative offered, giving him a ghastly grimace that he supposed was meant to be a smile. 'Or would you prefer to be called Perseus?'

'Percy, actually' the demigod replied. 'Shall we?'

'Yes, of course' Mycroft agreed, leading him toward the exit. Percy barely batted an eyelid as he noticed that Mycroft had his own personal driver. Was he trying to intimidate him with a show of wealth?, the demigod wondered. As he glanced at the driver he noticed the eyes – dancing around rapidly in their sockets, in constant motion, ever wary. Next was the man's bearing – loose and fluid, ready to react to the slightest provocation.

Bodyguard, Percy surmised. Now why would a bodyguard be needed for a supposedly minor official in the British government?

He quickly pulled out his phone – constructed purely out of celestial bronze by Hephaestus personally, it doubled both as a phone and as a secondary sword for him, and was enchanted to return to his pocket just like Riptide. Fingers flying across the screen with the ease of a practiced musician, he Googled Mycroft Holmes.

On public record, he is indeed a minor public servant, but if he was, that wouldn't justify the bodyguard's presence, he noticed. Probably involved with the intelligence service…if what my mother managed to glean was true, then the blood of John Holmes runs true in him…I can see how that might have helped him move up the ranks.

Percy relished the silence that fell between them as the car slowly wound its way to the Holmes family manor out in the countryside, instead marvelling at the view of the world outside – urban London traffic that gradually gave way to lush green countryside. Mycroft had long since pulled out a laptop and started typing on it, body tilted at a slight angle towards him – just enough so that he couldn't see the screen, Percy noticed critically.

Definitely has something to hide, intelligence service seems more and more likely…

The car slowed and pulled up to a stop – outside a large red house – the Holmes family home that his mother had shown him in some old, grayscale photographs, passed down from Violet Holmes. An elderly man and woman were standing at the doorway, beaming and waving at the car; from the strong physical resemblance, Mycroft's parents.

'It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Holmes' Percy smiled thinly as he leaned over and kissed the elderly woman, repeating the process with her husband, before pressing a small box into her hand. 'A token of my family's appreciation for your aid' he explained.

'Thank you Perseus' she chimed out. Unwrapping the gift, she blinked as she found a pair of rings.

'Mr and Mrs Holmes, please, call me Percy. I enchanted them myself to bring you good health; many happy returns' Percy congratulated. He delicately scented the air – roast beef and chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes - before tilting his head to the side. 'You shouldn't have waited for us on your wedding anniversary of all days – though I must admit that I am glad you did.'

'The Holmes blood indeed runs true in you, as Sally said' Mrs Holmes commented in slight surprise, looking at him consideringly. 'Do come in dearie.'

As they entered the house, Percy's eyes eagerly drank in the interior of the building, hungry to learn a little more about his British cousins. He looked around breathlessly; to his left was a rather large cabinet, upon which were mounted scores of trophies, medals and miscellaneous other awards. He thought that he could see a few Fields medals, honorary diplomas from Cambridge, Oxford and several other renowned institutions. To his right was a large dining room, with a table groaning under the weight of the food laden upon it. What truly captivated him though was the beautifully crafted violin set in a glass case nearby the grand, sweeping staircase – a Stradivarius, Percy realised. Unconsciously, he walked forward, gazing at the exquisite instrument that seemed to twinkle at him.

'A fan of the violin I take it?' Mycroft inquired, casually leaning over the polished oaken bannister. 'Any good?'

'Very good' Percy asserted after a moment's hesitation. 'Apollo approves of me, so I suppose that's something' he added nonchalantly, his fingers aching with the need to caress and strum the wooden gem in front of him. 'But, anyway, let's have dinner, shall we? I think I've kept you and your parents waiting long enough.'

As Mr and Mrs Holmes stood and started clearing away the plates, motioning to Percy to remain sitting, he glanced at Mycroft, who was reaching out to his laptop.

Now's as good a time as any to ask, the demigod decided.

'MI-5 or MI-6?' he shot out.

'MI-6' Mycroft replied affably before spinning his laptop around. 'As your mother requested, I have created a new identity for your protection here, now all we need is a first name, my new little brother.'

'Sherlock' Percy said tersely before grinning. 'This is going to be interesting, Mycroft Holmes.'

'I agree with you, Sherlock Holmes. Tell me, what are the core principles, as you understand them, of the science of deduction?'

-Mt Olympus-

Artemis hummed cheerfully as she strode towards Apollo's temple, keen to see her new friend Perseus. Over the past several months of therapy, despite her initial reluctance, she had grown to appreciate the man more – his loyalty, his charisma, his unending determination and even to an extent his sharp sarcastic humour. The goddess was a little scared at the pull the young demigod had on her – never before had she felt such an attachment in her life, not even Orion had managed to make her heart flutter in both joy and fear the way that Percy did, and she was unsure how to deal with her growing closeness to the man. She smiled slightly as she remembered his soulful sea green eyes, brimming with fire as he talked to her about his passion for chemistry.

If only he looked at me like that, she thought longingly, before blinking and coming to a complete stop. You're a maiden goddess, Artemis reminded herself. And in any case, he only views you as a friend – do you really want to risk jeopardizing that friendship? The goddess nodded to herself sharply. She wouldn't dare do anything to risk losing that friendship, she promised herself. Artemis pushed the door to their therapy room open, and stopped abruptly when she realised he wasn't already inside, smiling at her goofily as he always had before. Never, in all their sessions had Percy turned up late, nor had he ever missed one.

Something must have happened to him, she panicked, preparing to mentally seek out Apollo before she noticed a folded piece of paper lying on top on the chair she normally sat on as they talked to each other. The beautiful goddess frowned; from where she was, she could see writing. A letter? She felt a chill run through her body, a sense that she had just lost something crucial. Artemis reached out, unfolded the paper, and began to read:

Dear Artemis,

My guess is that you're sitting in our room right now, and you're wondering why I'm not there. Well, the main reason is because I don't want to mess this up. I'm afraid that if we talk, I'll miss something and beat myself up afterwards for forgetting.

No, that's not quite true. I'm not there right now, because I'm going to be leaving the world of the gods, for the time being at least. Please don't try to find me; I have taken measures to hide myself.

The reason that I'm writing this letter is because I just wanted to thank you for all the things that you've done for me – in particular, our therapy sessions together. I know that you viewed it only a chore at first and wanted nothing to do with the entire thing, but I'm glad that you did it anyway. Even though we only started becoming closer during the Giant War, somehow I feel as if we've been friends all my life.

I hope that you don't hold this against me, though I understand if you do; I just need to get away from all this for a while. It's been a pleasure Artemis, but this is something I have to do. I have a feeling that we'll meet again – it might not be soon, it may be an eternity, but I am sure we will see each other again.

Ever yours,

Your friend, Percy Jackson

A wave of conflicting emotions swept Artemis, staggering her; she reached out and grasped the back of her chair for support. Anger, pain, fear, worry – all of them started welling up from the depths of her heart, suffocating her. Had someone walked in on her then, they would have seen a silver tear slowly rolling down the goddess' face.

-Oxford University-

Molly Hooper looked around her curiously as she strolled through the luxuriant, meticulously kept lawns of Oxford. Young men and women were around her everywhere, buzzing and swarming as they rushed to their lectures. She hoisted her satchel up a little higher on her shoulder as it began to slip and took out the map of the grounds from her pocket again, lost both in the sheer size of the campus and by the sea of people seething around her. She winced slightly as she remembered how, lost in trying to explore campus, she had completely forgotten to unpack her things – even now, there were several boxes in her room – that would take a while to get rid of, she grimaced to herself.

Still, she was cheerful – she was finally on her way to becoming a doctor! She was making herself and her family quite proud. After all, she had managed to become one of the very few successful international applicants to study medicine at Oxford. That'd show everyone who had sneered at her! And what a beautiful place to prove them all wrong as well, she thought, casting another admiring glance at the immaculately manicured lawn. She gasped as she checked her watch. She was almost late to her biology lecture! She slipped through the sea of people in front of her, desperate to get to there in time.

As it turned out, she ended up arriving at the lecture hall just as everyone else started filing inside. Carried by her forward momentum though, she ended up nearly crashing into a tall young man in a dark coat.

'Woah! Easy there!' he said in amusement. 'Are you alright?' he added as he noticed her rubbing her head gingerly.

'Yes, I-I'm fine' Molly stammered out, blushing slightly as he levelled her with mysterious sea green eyes. She could lose herself in those depths forever, she thought as she stared back into those eyes dreamily. She wrenched herself away from the irresistible pull of those eyes with an effort and motioned towards the door. 'W-we should be going in, no?' she joked, acutely aware of the loaded looks the other young women were sending her.

'Yes, I believe we should' the man replied in amusement. 'How are you finding Great Britain compared to America?'

'S-sorry?' Molly squeaked out – those eyes were so deep and mysterious, she could barely resist the urge to gaze back into them again.

'Your accent – it's American' he pointed out, before frowning. 'Hey, are you sick? You look a bit feverish…'

'N-no, I-I-I just ran h-halfway across campus' she forced out. 'I- we should get in' she changed the subject, desperate to get away from those deep emerald pits that threatened to subsume her entire being. 'My name is Molly Hooper, might I know yours?'

'Holmes. Sherlock Holmes' he responded.

As always, feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I'd just like to ask, what stories from the canonical Holmes tales by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would you readers like to have incorporated into the story? I'm planning on following vaguely the same storyline as the TV series for the first two seasons, but I also want to pay my own tribute to Sir Doyle; so what do you think? I'm probably only going to fit in two or three cases, so pick wisely! :)