Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter. I put in Percabeth moments and fluff. It might not be as much as you're expecting, but it is quite a bit compared to how the rest of my story has gone and this chapter is mainly centered around Percy and Annabeth. You might hate me for how this chapter ends, but there are a lot of lose ends that need to be filled. I'll explain more at the bottom.

I do not own Percy Jackson all rights belong to Rick Riordan.

It was over. Gaea was gone, out of their hair for the time being, and everyone was alright. Well, almost everyone. Percy had long since recovered his composure and watched as his friend fell apart. He felt bad for Leo, the poor guy watched someone he cared about disappear right in front of him.

This was the second time the son of Poseidon had seen a god fade. It was a constant reminder that he too could lose his dad if people stopped giving him strength with their belief. Annabeth asked him if he was okay, but Percy found that he couldn't answer her. Calypso was gone and he hadn't been able to save her like he had promised. Logic said that he shouldn't feel bad for her death after all she had done to him, it was his heart however that told him she was still his friend.

Leo sobbed over the fiery moonlace. It seemed as if all his resolve had cracked, shattered into a fine dust. Percy thought hard. He knew that this island had been the nymph's home but, she also wanted so desperately to see the world. She wanted freedom and companionship.

"I'll be right back." Percy whispered to Annabeth and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She let his fingers slip from hers and he continued towards Calypso's cave. The nymph had to have something around her home. Anything at all really, moonlace was a resilient flower. He searched her garden for any type of pot to hold the flower. After what felt like forever Percy finally found a pot that had obviously been forged by Hephaestus.

It was a bronze pot with many Greek heroes sculpted onto it. Percy was barely surprised when he saw them begin to fight each other for glory. He immediately thought about the muses in the Disney movie Hercules. Boy, did they paint the son of Zeus in a different light. With a shake of his head Percy wandered back to the others.

Leo still sat hunched by the flower. Piper seemed to be inching closer to him, but even she couldn't find any words to say. Jason looked down at his feet awkwardly like Hazel and Frank. Annabeth on the other hand was shaking like she was about to cry any second. Percy wanted to comfort her, but Leo was the one in need of consoling.

"Can you guys give me a minute with Leo?" Percy shifted the bronze pot in his hands nervously.

Everyone nodded an left immediately, except for Annabeth who was reluctant to leave his side. She stood for a long moment staring at him with her beautiful grey eyes before she finally decided he wasn't going to disappear again. Annabeth slowly walked back towards the others.

"What do you want?" Leo spat, but Percy didn't take any offence to the younger teens harsh tone.

Percy wasn't really good at having heart to heart with many people. Even when he has good intentions he has a tendency to make things worse for both himself and the person he's trying to help. He had been repeatedly told that Leo was a lot like him so Percy figured he had a pretty good chance of saying the right thing.

"Here," Percy spoke softly as he placed the hero covered pot in front of Leo. "You can take her with you. I think she'd like that."

Leo shook his head, "I can't this is her home. She belongs here."

"Dude." Percy sympathized with Leo, knowing the grief of losing Calypso himself. "home is where the heart is. I'm pretty sure, in her last moments, her heart was with you."

The Latino sat stiffly by the fiery red flower. Percy didn't know how else to console Leo so he left him to think and walked back to the others. Annabeth saw him first and gave him a hug like there was no tomorrow. She smelled like sweat and blood, but Percy didn't mind. He was just happy that she was alive.

"How's Leo?" The daughter of Athena asked. Percy held her tighter, almost as if she'd fade away too.

"Bad."

Annabeth whispered sorrowfully, "Oh, gods. I can only think about what I would have felt if it had been you."

Percy felt awful about all the pain his girlfriend had gone through in the few, well at least to him, months they had been dating. He wondered why she hadn't decided he wasn't worth the trouble yet. The idea of her leaving him made him even more terrified than suffocating. Percy felt her burry her face even farther into his chest, her warm tears soaked into his shirt. On impulse he kissed her on top of her sweaty head, faint traces of her lemon shampoo stubbornly stuck in her hair.

"Fortunately you don't have to." he told her. "I'll always be there for you no matter what."

The others had long since began to set up a camp for the night. They were all to exhausted to go back to the ship and with Calypso gone Percy doubted that the curse would make the island move any more. Frank had gone out to bring Percy's parents to their camp. The son of Poseidon wondered how he'd get them home, he hardly wanted to let them come on the rest of their quest. As suddenly as he thought about their quest he thought back to Tartarus.

The doors were still open.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked as she looked up at him. Her fingers traced over his battered face. "And don't you dare try to lie to me."

"We never got a chance to close the doors." Percy admitted softly. "We can't expect Bob and little Bob to do it on their own. It's not fair."

Annabeth's face paled as he spoke. He hated scaring her and he hated saying that they needed to go back, but Percy knew that they couldn't just work around the prophecy. That never ended well for anyone. No matter how much he wished he could avoid going back, Percy had to find a way into the depths of the Earth.

After a long silence Annabeth spoke, "You're right."

She was so afraid, even if she tried to hide it Percy could always see right through it. He couldn't ask her to go there a second time. Percy cupped her face in his hands and gave her a long kiss on the lips. Everything about her was so familiar to him, so perfect. She was everything to him, he would have died a long time ago if she wasn't in his life.

"So how to you think I can get back there?" Percy was breathless and pining for another kiss, but he put his needs aside for the fate of the world.

"I think you mean 'How can WE find a way back there," Annabeth's sharp grey eyes pierced through him. "You'd be completely lost with out me Seaweed brain."

"Annabeth I..."

She kissed him and cut his retort short, "Don't worry I'll think of something by morning. You just think about how we're going to convince the others to let us go."

Annabeth was about to leave to help Piper start a fire when Percy grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. His arm wrapped around her waist. She blushed fiercely, almost as if he had never held her like this before. Percy realized with a start that he never had, not really. He didn't let that deter him as he leaned his lips closely to her ear.

"I love you Wise girl." Annabeth giggled softly and whispered back. "I love you too, Seaweed brain."

Percy had a tearful reunion with his mom and step-father. He was happy to see them again after so long. His mom demanded to know everything about his first abduction from the time he woke up to the present. As usual he tried to make it sound safer than it was, but with this quest it was like trying to say Ares was a level headed dude. Throughout the story his mom had the tendency to crush his hand in hers.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay sweetheart." his mom pulled him in for a bone shattering hug. "I was so afraid I was going to lose you."

"You could never lose me." Stubborn tears traced down Percy's face. "I will make it home."

Percy's mom looked at him with that all knowing expression. It was almost like she could read his mind, almost like she knew what he and Annabeth had talked about. Would she yell at him? Tell him he was grounded and drag him back home? He didn't know how much his disappearance had affected her.

"I know." She smiled sadly at him and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "You're my son."

"Do you think you can ride Black Jack home?" Percy asked her. "I'm not sure what Paul will see, but I promise he is a good horse."

His mom nodded, "I'll be fine."

"Take care of her Paul." Percy looked up at his step-dad.

Paul grabbed him and pulled him in for a hug. Percy was almost surprised by how fiercely Paul hugged him, but he hugged the man back. He had missed the man and his mother.

"I will, you just make it back to us," Paul told him and hugged him tighter. "You have a lot of school work to make up."

Percy laughed. Of coarse Paul would remind him of the school work he missed while he was detained. The demigod called for his horse to return and left so that he could finish helping his friends prepare their dinner. He was sure that Black Jack would be there soon, but he'd have his buddy wait until the morning to take Paul and his mom home.

Dinner wasn't anything big or extravagant. Just fruit and other things they had scavenged around the island. The others had even gone fishing, though Percy didn't know how he felt about eating something he could talk to. Everyone told each other stories and joked. He could almost forget about the fact he and Annabeth were planning another 'vacation' to Tartarus.

Wise Girl yawned and rested her head onto his shoulder. They were all pretty beat. Piper had already fallen asleep next to Jason, her fingers still clutching onto her boyfriends wrist. Both Frank and Hazel were out along with Percy's parents. Leo still hadn't left his place next to the flower, but Percy figured the other teen would be fine by morning. A sudden snore indicated that Jason had finally fallen asleep.

"I take it your mom knows." Annabeth asked and watched the dancing flames of their camp fire.

He nodded, her blonde hair tickled his cheek, "Yeah."

"We should get some sleep." Annabeth whispered and slowly eased herself on the grass. "If we are going back tomorrow, we're going to need all the rest we can get."

Percy joined her with his back flat on the grass. He looked up at the stars and thought about how badly Bob wanted to see them. He wasn't even sure he'd even see them after tonight. The son of Poseidon decided that he was going to enjoy his time on the surface while he could. With a sigh Percy just watched the cool night sky above.

"What are you thinking about?" Wise girl asked as she rested her head on his chest.

He felt a jolt rush through him. Annabeth was so close to him. Finally within arms reach. Percy wanted nothing more than to hold onto her forever and never let go. He wouldn't be able to begin to describe how much she had come to mean to him. But he didn't want her in danger. Percy couldn't help but wonder if she was sure about returning to a place of torment.

"Are you sure you want to go back there?" He didn't want her to come because she felt obligated.

"I'd go anywhere with you." She told him and wrapped his arm around her like a blanket.

He held her closer. "It's going to be dangerous."

"Just shut up and be my pillow." Annabeth murmured as she burrowed her head into his shoulder.

She sighed contently and fell asleep. Percy wasn't sure how she could be so comfortable close to his armpit. He was posative his BO stunk so badly that the gods on Olympus could smell it. The demigod chuckled briefly as he imagined all of them wearing gas masks and demanding that his father make him take a bath. After long moments he finally gave into sleep.

Percy woke up when Annabeth shook him roughly. He blinked the blur away as he tried to pull himself from sleep. She had the manic look on her face that told him that Annabeth's beautiful brain had come up with a plan. Slowly he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"I know how we can get there." He wasn't sure if she was thrilled or not.

"How?" He asked. The others were still asleep and the sun was just rising.

"Remember when we sent that note to camp?"

He remembered, but he also remembered that it was a long shot that it even made it to camp. It was very likely that the paper burned up before it ever actually got to its desired destination. Was it possible for them to actually make it there like that? He wasn't really sure.

"Yeah, I remember." He told her. "Do you think it will work?"

She nodded, "Only one way to figure out."

They decided to wait until the others wake up before they made any decisions. If the fire travel did work, they didn't need the others panicking. Percy also wanted to see his parents off before they left. It took a few hours before everyone was finally awake.

"You two are crazy." Frank told them after they finished telling their plan.

Piper shook her head, "You don't even know it will work."

Hazel and Jason both voiced the same opinions. Percy's mom and Paul both didn't say anything against the plan. Though Percy was positive that his mom wanted to tell him not to go.

"It's crazy, but we need to close the doors and stop the monsters from coming back." Annabeth told them. "It's the only way we're going to win the war."

"You can't seriously want to go back there." Hazel retorted. "You guys saw what being down there did to Nico! There is no telling what it has already done to you."

Percy sighed, "We have to. It's our job."

Finally the opposition stopped arguing. Percy told them that the plan they originally had before the whole Gaea mess was the one they were going by. All of their friends looked sad at the idea of them leaving. It was decided that Percy and Annabeth would leave after Percy's parents were gone. Within a few hours Black Jack had returned to the island and took the two mortals home.

They rebuilt the fire so that it'd be big enough to consume both of the teen's forms.

"Take care of Leo. He needs you guys." The daughter of Athena told their friends. "We'll see you soon."

Both Piper and Hazel were tearing up while Jason and Frank were avoiding eye contact. Percy almost felt like they were dying. It was quite possible that they were going to. He turned to face Annabeth.

"You sure about this?" Percy questioned.

Annabeth shook her head, "No."

He tilted his head regretfully, she wasn't exactly sure, but it was all they had. It was either going to work or they'd burn alive. Percy gently grabbed Annabeth's hands in his and ran his thumbs along the top of them. With a soft smile he kissed her on the forehead.

"Either way," He whispered. "We'll be together."

Without another moment's hesitation the couple jumped into the fire. Percy thought he was going to be burning, but oddly enough he was perfectly fine. Annabeth also made a noise of surprise as they plunged into the unknown. He felt like they were traveling at a hundred miles per hour. The teen wondered if this is how their food sacrifices felt.

"Jump." Annabeth yelled suddenly.

Percy didn't know exactly how they were supposed to jump when they had no solid ground beneath them. He felt her suddenly pull him in another direction. They were greeted by the familiar hot, dense air and morbid atmosphere. Welcome back, he could almost here it say.

"I guess it worked." Percy told Annabeth, trying to lighten the mood.

She nodded at him and squeezed his hand in hers.

"FRIENDS!" A familiar voice bellowed. Percy looked up and sure enough their titan friend and his kitten both came marching up to them happily.

"Hey big guy." He began and got to his feet. "We've got work to do."

I had to send them back, they need to close the doors. And I don't really see Annabeth and Percy as the make out every second couple, even if they've been separated. And it's adorable to me when Percy gets a kiss on the cheek/forehead by Annabeth or visa versa rather than a kiss on the lips. It's just a little sweeter. Everything is going to happen how it does in the rest of HOH. I am also writing one more chapter which I will try to post soon.