AN: Chapter 4, hope you like it! It's Wednesday! My favorite day of the week! By the way, I made Nico older, since it'd be weird otherwise. He's two years younger than Percy. So Percy is 17, and Nico is 15.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You all make my life so much brighter.

Semperfi1: Ok, from the vote down there, there probably isn't gonna be a Percabeth.

x Theseus: Thanks! And I don't think there's gonna be a Percabeth.

L. Lawliet-Rue Ryuzaki: They will :)

The Goddamn Dark Knight: I am, glad you like it!

Rajput: Your vote has been submitted below.

PERSEUSJACKSONROCKS: I totally agree with your name! And, um… I don't want to spoil the story…

i don know: Who should the girl be?

AnimeXMangaAddict: I'll try.

Bacon Burg: :D I really appreciate you reviewing every chapter so far!

MysticLion: Ok, that will happen later in the story ;)

Le Diablo Blanc2: Wow, that's like 3 votes right there.

jackie-chan1230: Thanks, I hope you liked my story!

And there was another reviewer who said that Nico should be with Percy. Yeah, Nico's gonna go find Percy in this chapter.

So… we have:

No Percabeth: 8

Percy x Hestia: 2 (I'd prefer not to write about Percy and a goddess, sorry.)

Percy x Zoe: 1 (My favorite so far.)

Percy x Clarisse: 1

Percy x huntress: 1

Percy x someone who saves him from Gaia: 1

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN PERCY… Enough said.

Chapter 4: A Quest is Ordered and Another Valuable Camper Lost

Nico's POV (at Camp Half-Blood, around 6:00 AM)

It was still dark outside, before dawn. I looked down at the backpack on my bunk, making sure that I had everything I needed. I was going to leave Camp Half-Blood to find my friend, Percy. It really wasn't such a big deal. I came and went as I pleased anyway, since I was the son of Hades and could basically shadow travel anywhere. But this time, I wasn't sure if I would come back anytime soon.

Flashback – The day Percy left camp

Nico's POV

I shadow traveled back to camp after short chat with Silena and Beckendorf. I had left when they had stopped paying attention to me and started kissing each other. I had spent the entire day shadow traveling around, and was just about ready to take a nap.

I appeared in the shadows somewhere near the Pegasus stables and almost crashed into Percy. He was in the shadows. I was surprised, because it was extremely unusual for him to want to be unseen. Luckily, I noticed him before he noticed me.

"Percy!" I whispered loudly.

He turned. "Oh. Hey, Nico. I… uh, I gotta go."

I gave him a confused look. He seemed nervous and a little guilty, like he had been caught trying to do something. And I'd never seen him like that before. I took a closer look at him and saw that his eyes were tinged with sadness. But I was too tired to talk about anything, so I just shadow traveled back to my cabin and collapsed on my bunk.

When I woke up from my well-needed nap, dinner was already halfway over. I could have skipped it, but I went anyway.

As I headed towards the dining pavilion, I saw Annabeth before me with another girl's arm slung across her shoulders. I watched as she led her over to the Aphrodite table. Since when had Annabeth helped Aphrodite's kids? Didn't she hate them?

I yawned and sat down, alone, at the Hades table. I don't think my nap was long enough. I was still tired.

After sacrificing some of my food to the gods, I started eating and let my eyes wander around. Naturally, I glanced at the Poseidon table, ready to make a face at James and grin at Percy.

Except Percy wasn't there. James sat alone at the Poseidon table with… a smirk on his face?

I was confused. I looked at the Athena table and saw Annabeth smiling across the tables at James and the Aphrodite kid she had helped. I saw her mouth a word to the Aphrodite camper. Friends. Apparently they were friends. She seemed familiar. What was her name? Ashley? Abigail? It didn't matter very much to me.

Annabeth didn't look very good. I could tell that she had been crying recently. Her eyes were puffed up, and her nose was a little red. I didn't know what had happened to her, but I dimly wondered why Percy wasn't comforting her.

And then my tired, worn-out brain connected the dots.

Percy, with nervousness and sadness practically written all over his face. Annabeth, helping an Aphrodite camper and actually wanting to be friends. Annabeth, with her eyes puffed up, and her nose red. James, with his smirk. My eyes widened as I remembered what Percy had told me. Had he meant literally go? Had he left camp?

I stayed the last five minutes of dinner, lost in thought, then virtually ran out of the dining pavilion. I would miss the camp sing-along, but I didn't care. Normally, I wouldn't even be there for dinner.

I arrived before cabin three panting and slightly out of breath. I told myself that Percy was in there. I told myself that he was probably sad because something happened between him and Annabeth, but he would be in there. I forced myself to stop stalling and knock on the door.

No answer.

I told myself that he was in there. My mind generated hundreds of reasons that he didn't open the door right away. I told myself he was asleep and didn't hear me. I told myself he was listening to super-loud music. And I forced myself to kick open the door.

The cabin was empty.

James's side of the cabin was full of his possessions, but the only things left on Percy's side were a few of his pictures and some clothes. The Minotaur horn hung on the wall.

I told myself that he didn't leave camp and was near the beach. But when I got there, all I saw were the waves sliding smoothly across the sand.

I thought of a million reasons why I couldn't find Percy, but none of them seemed to fit. I spent over twenty minutes looking frantically around camp while everyone else was singing around the campfire. I just couldn't believe that Percy was gone, and that no one cared enough to notice it. Was I the only one?

I didn't want to believe it, but when I stopped at the Pegasus stables, and saw that Blackjack was gone too, I had to.

I went back to cabin three and stood over Percy's bunk.

"Percy… Come back." I muttered. "You probably don't want to… Everyone at camp has forgotten you. Annabeth. She doesn't know… And there's James. He's odd. He doesn't feel like the sea… He fells… older, somehow, older than the sea… I can't explain… It's probably just me… Man, I'm talking to myself here."

I felt a tingle down the back of my neck, like someone was watching me. "Someone's watching…" It was too good to be true. "Percy?"

I turned around, half expecting to see Percy. But there was no one. "I could've sworn…"

I stared at Percy's bunk, lost in thought. I finally realized that the camp sing-along was halfway over, and that I should get out of his cabin. "The least I can do for him is move his stuff so that stupid brother of his doesn't take it…" I muttered.

I started taking the leftover clothes and other photographs, sighing when I saw a picture of him and Annabeth hugging each other. By now, I'd figured out that Annabeth and Percy had probably broken up or something.

I turned and walked away, but then stopped in my tracks. The Minotaur horn was still on the wall. I pulled It off, and a small piece of paper fell to the ground. I picked it up and read it.

I was right. The front: You will regret that you ever disbelieved me. I loved you, and I still do. But that love has been betrayed, proved that he had left because of Annabeth. I realized that she must have somehow thought Percy had been cheating on her. Percy would never do that. And now Annabeth was probably with James.

I flipped the note over and read the part addressed to me. When I read it, I knew I had to go after him. He could take care of himself, but he was my cousin and friend. Why shouldn't I go after him? This camp had nothing for me, either.

I couldn't believe that he just told Thalia to forget about him. He might as well have asked a blind man to count the souls in the Underworld. Thalia would never forget. She'd try to go after him, but her duty to Artemis would be the only thing holding her back. Or she would somehow convince Artemis to let her go find Percy.

I would go after Percy, but I would also make sure that Annabeth found the note.

I moved all of Percy's things to a bag in my cabin, hiding it where no one would think of looking. The next part of my plan was slightly risky.

I shadow traveled inside the Athena cabin. I hoped no one was there, but what were the chances? I hid the note under Annabeth's pillow. She'd find it. I grinned evilly, and then shadow traveled to my cabin to sleep. I would leave tomorrow before dawn.

End Flashback

I was ready, and I knew where to start. I stepped out of my cabin, walking up to Thalia's pine. I turned around and took one last look of what I could see in the camp. Then I shadow traveled away from Camp Half-Blood to find Percy.

I easily found his mother's apartment, since I'd been there last year. I spent the next hour waiting for Percy's mom and stepdad to wake up, regaining my strength, and using the shadows to mask my strong demigod scent from the monsters, something I'd learned from my father. I was literally wrapping shadows around me. It was really useful, and only drained a bit of my energy. It was nice to be able to walk around New York without being attacked by monsters.

When I couldn't wait any longer, and figured that they should be awake, I knocked on the door. They were up, because Ms. Jackson opened the door almost immediately with Mr. Blowfish – no, Mr. Blofis behind her. She stared at me for a while, and then her eyes widened.

"You're Nico, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I said. "Have you seen Percy lately? He… uh, left camp."

"Yes, Percy came by and left yesterday," she said. Her eyes held sadness.

"He was here?" I blurted. "Why did he leave? Where'd he go? Did he tell you?"

She looked at me sadly. "He left because the Minotaur crashed through the wall." She invited me inside to see the wall. There was a huge hole. "We're planning to get it fixed today."

"No," I said. "I can help you with that." I summoned a dozen skeletons out of the ground and got them working.

Mrs. Jackson looked shocked while Mr. Blofis had a confused look on his face. "They're not normal mortals, are they?" he asked.

"No, they're skeletons," I said.

He swallowed nervously. "How?"

"I'm a son of Hades," I explained.

He nodded. "So, you're trying to find Percy?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Will you have to stay until the… skeletons… finish repairing the wall?" he asked.

"Yeah, can I?"

"Sure," said Ms. Jackson. "Do you want any blue chocolate chip cookies?"

I smiled. "Sure."

Ms. Jackson started towards her kitchen, but then stopped and turned back to me. "Is there any way for you to contact Percy? I don't know where he went…"

I frowned. "I could Iris Message him, but I didn't bring any drachmas. I'd have to shadow travel back to camp to get them, but then I'd have to take a nap. Shadow traveling that far takes a lot of energy. It would take at least a day to get back. I think it'd be easier if I just tried to find him. Sorry, Ms. Jackson."

She smiled at me. "It's ok."

"I'll just stay until your wall is fixed, then I'll go find Percy. But we might not come back here. I don't think his demigod scent was the only thing putting you in danger. I can understand why he left. He's the savior of Olympus. He's saved Olympus from falling, and Gaia is rising again. Without Percy, the gods with be at a disadvantage. So they're probably trying to so anything they can to get rid of him. He's already left the protection of camp."

Hermes's POV (at Olympus, around 10:30 AM)

"Hermes, you must go now to tell Chiron about the quests. He is in the Big House playing some sort of card game with Dionysus. But he must not announce it until the campfire," said my father, Zeus. We were the only gods in the throne room. It wasn't a council meeting.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going right now," I sighed, closing my eyes and teleporting myself to the Big House at Camp Half-Blood. The downside to being the messenger of the gods was that I had to deliver messages to anyone and everyone the gods wanted to talk to.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Chiron in wheel-chair form playing cards with Dionysus.

"Hello, Lord Hermes," greeted Chiron.

Dionysus just looked at me and drank some more Coke. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Hey, Chiron," I said. "I've got to tell you something."

He nodded, and I explained to him that Gaia was rising, and that we almost desperately needed help. I ignored the shout of surprise and told him about and the gods' order for two quests, one to join the Greeks and the Romans, and one to find my favorite cousin, Percy. And then I told him that he couldn't tell anyone else until the campfire tonight.

Percy's POV (around 9:00 PM)

It was the day after I left my mom's apartment. There was nothing for me to do, nowhere for me to go.

Yesterday, I had walked around Central Park, my stomach full of my mom's best blue waffles. Monsters confronted me almost as soon as I sat down on one of the benches. I killed all of them easily with help from Blackjack and Mrs. O'Leary. I was very powerful, but unfortunately, with great powers come great responsibility, which was, in my case, my super-strong demigod scent.

Today was no different. Wherever I went, monsters would follow. I was starting to get tired of monsters attacking me, so I found a small, alleyway and lay down, falling asleep for the first time since I left my mom's apartment. I knew that Blackjack and Mrs. O'Leary would protect me if a monster attacked, and I'd probably hear it too.

As I fell asleep, my instincts told me that it was going to be dreamless this time. They were right, and I was grateful for that. The last thing I saw before fading into my dreamless sleep was the constellation of The Huntress shining in the dark, night sky.

Annabeth's POV (at Camp Half-Blood, around 9:00PM)

I was sitting on a log next to the campfire, leaning my head on James's shoulder. Audrey sat to my left, patting my back sympathetically. Normally, I wouldn't want sympathy, but Audrey was actually helping me. And James had been the only thing keeping me going yesterday. After a good night's sleep, I started to get over Percy, although I was a little teary-eyed in the morning. Ok, maybe a lot… I almost been unable to walk to the dining pavilion for breakfast, but James had come into the Athena cabin and supported me the entire way there. He was my backbone now. He was my other half.

"Campers!" The call came from the front. I looked up and saw Chiron, in his horse form. "The gods have ordered two quests."

"Why? Why do we need another quest?" asked Clarisse.

"Child," said Chiron, "James and Annabeth were right." I smiled at James. "Gaia is rising. The gods believe that we need our former savior of Olympus to help." I scoffed. "So, they want us to send three people on a quest to find him."

"Who?" called a son of Apollo.

"Perseus Jackson."

Surprise dawned on the campers as they realized that Percy wasn't at camp. Finally, one stepped up and asked the question everyone had been wondering.

"Where is he?"

"We do not know," replied Chiron sadly. "He left."

The campers were shocked, and I couldn't care less. Percy had cheated on me for Audrey, then abandoned her. They started peppering Chiron with questions.

"Why did he go?"

"Where did he go?"

"When?"

"How… I didn't notice him…"

"He left? But-"

"No! He didn't leave…"

"He's hiding-"

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"Enough! Enough questions!" shouted Chiron. The flames got lower and turned a dark blue as the campers quieted down. They were confused. "The gods have given the order. A quest will be led. But that is just one of two quests."

Suddenly, Hermes appeared next to Chiron and handed him a crisp, white and gold envelope. "I suggest you read this before you continue talking about the quest."

Chiron took out the letter and read it.

"The gods have changed their decision," he announced. "Athena believes that the Romans will be much more help than Perseus Jackson." He frowned. "Instead, they have ordered a quest to ask for the Romans' help at Camp Jupiter."

The camp was silent. Then there was chaos.

"Romans? What do you mean Romans?"

"There are no Romans!"

"What Romans?"

"Calm down, everyone!" said Chiron. "The gods have separated the Greeks, us, and the Romans, because the last time we saw each other ignited a huge war!"

"What if we still don't get along? Last time, we had a war! How are we supposed to convince them to help us?" asked a camper.

"The gods think that if you have a common enemy, Gaia, they will help," explained Chiron.

"How can the gods think that the Romans are a better help than Percy?" asked an Aphrodite camper, who probably just thought Percy was hot.

"We need the Romans!" I stood and shouted. "They would be so much better than Percy!"

"Silence!" Chiron yelled. "The gods have requested that James lead the quest, as he is the only son of one of the Big Three who is still here at the camp."

"What?" said Clarisse, who, everyone knew, hated James. "What about Nico?"

Chiron sighed. "Nico is not here." Nico was probably shadow traveling around the Underworld. Coward. "James, you may choose two others to go with you."

James stood up, pulling me up as well and planting a short kiss on my lips. By now, the entire camp knew that we were dating. I had told everyone about how Percy cheated on me.

"I will take Annabeth," he said, smiling at me.

I nodded, grinning back.

"And the second camper?" asked Chiron.

James glanced around. He looked at Audrey.

"No," she said. "I have to stay. Besides, I'm a daughter of Aphrodite. I'll be almost useless on a quest."

I was sad that she wouldn't be on the quest with us, but I knew Audrey was right.

James nodded. He thought for a while. Then, he tilted his head and nodded like he was listening to someone. "Alright," he said. "I have chosen the third member on my quest. Clarisse, will you come?"

I was shocked. Why would he choose Clarisse? But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Clarisse may hate James with every fiber in her being, but she was a daughter of Ares, and an experienced fighter.

Clarisse was shocked too. But even though she hated James, it was a quest, so she would probably accept. "Yeah, sure, whatever," she grumbled, after a slight hesitation.

"The three have been chosen!" Chiron said, disappointment still clearly etched on his face. "James, Annabeth, and Clarisse will go seek the help of the Romans. James, you might as well go ask Rachel for the prophecy."

AN: Whew! This chapter was pretty hard for me to write. Anyone else confused with all the different POVs, time skips, and flashbacks? :P Does adding the time help?

Well, there's obviously not going to be Percabeth. Keep voting, I personally like Percy x Zoe a lot. Percy x goddesses are harder to write and sometimes more confusing… Whoever it ends up being, it will NOT be a Percy x Aphrodite. That would be weird.

I would also like to apologize in advance to anyone who wished for a pairing that it does not end up to be. I might do a pairing that doesn't get the most votes. Again, I apologize in advance in case this happens. I don't know how long the voting will be. I'm thinking about getting the pairing set by the next chapter. If it's too close, or too hard to write, I'll make an OC. Either way, I apologize to anyone who doesn't like the pairing.

Thanks to everyone who faved, followed, reviewed, and viewed this story! Where would I be without my readers? :D

Oh my gods! I have to write a prophecy for James in the next chapter… Does anyone want an evil Annabeth?