A/N: I do not own any of this. Enjoy!
The sun was beginning to near the horizon, and the sky had become tinged with orange when Clarisse and Chris finished sparring in the arena. For the past few days, they had blown off steam until dinner here. As usual they were alone. A week ago, they had gotten word that Percy Jackson had bested another prophecy, saved the Gods, and kept his friends alive. Since Gaea had been defeated, and the Romans had been calmed, none of the campers felt like sparring. They wanted a celebration, not more training.
Clarisse had other ideas, however, and naturally forced her boyfriend to partake in them. She intended to keep her skills sharp. In her opinion, everyone should be on guard until the Romans were long gone and the other heroes returned home. Chris humored her, but tonight he looked especially disappointed by the idea.
The entire camp had been waiting anxiously for the Argo II to return, so when she and Chris saw it practically limp across the horizon, they jumped to their feet and sprinted to camp. As happy as she was to see the ship, she could never admit it to anyone. Percy Jackson was a practically illiterate sea spawn who'd pushed his luck to many times. Fortunately, his luck, good or bed depending on how one looked at it, had saved the camp, and Clarisse, many times.
Most of her anxiety was actually worry. After the note that the camp had received from Annabeth when she and Percy were in Tartarus, Clarisse was worried about two of her oldest friends. But the return of the ship also meant the imminent departure of the Romans, which couldn't come fast enough.
Despite the desire for celebration, there was still an uneasiness about camp if someone paid attention. The Greeks were happy but secretly wary, and the Romans were split between their two leaders. Reyna wanted to congratulate the heroes and Octavian wanted to hang them. At least that particular brat had enough sense not to come near camp without a heavily armed escort.
Still, after she and Chris spread the word of the arrival, hundreds of demigods from both camps streamed towards Half-Blood Hill, under the shadow of the Athena Parthenos resting near Thalia's tree.
Clarisse noticed that Nico di Angelo had crept out of the shadows. He had been distant since his return, but he was more than simply worn out from his own trek through Tartarus and shadow-traveling with the Parthenos. He had, with much prodding, filled in as many gaps as he could about the journey of the seven, but Clarisse could tell he was still holding back a few things, things that were eating away at him.
But she didn't really care. If he didn't want to talk about his issues, fine by her.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as some of the younger campers squealed when the Argo II hovered over the clearing and finally began to descend over the valley. She could see her friends on the deck, smiling and waving. They looked happy and relieved, but still very tired, especially Percy and Annabeth.
As soon as the ship touched down, the heroes were mobbed, by a literal mob. Everyone wanted a piece of the seven, so they were soon separated and overwhelmed. Despite Clarisse's muscling and threatening, she couldn't fight her way to her friends, which frustrated her to no end.
It appeared there was no help coming either, until an impossibly loud whistle sounded and the mob began to part. A short, plump figure was slowly wading through the demigods until he could stand up on the deck, in full view of everyone. Quickly, word spread through the crowd that it was Dionysus, in Greek form. He had not returned to camp since Zeus had called him back to Olympus when the war had started almost a year ago.
"Yes, I'm sure you are all quite giddy to see your heroes and me, but I do believe that all this might kill Peter and his friends," Dionysus found Percy's eyes in the sea of people and winked, "Besides, it is dinner time and almost curfew. You don't want your dinner's cut short."
It didn't seem right to split up the two camps now, so Chiron and Mr. D ordered the harpies to serve everyone dinner on the hill. It was absolute chaos, but was still more organized than the first rush to the Argo II. The seven spread out through the crowd without eating much. They tried to find as many of their friends as they could but didn't come close.
As the sun began setting, Mr. D once again climbed to the ship's deck to stand with the seven and Chiron and held everyone's attention, "Dinner is now concluded. We are instituting early curfew tonight, because I'm sure you will all want to be refreshed for the festivities planned for tomorrow. Goodnight."
Clarisse pushed her way to the front as the entire crowd groaned. She made eye contact with Annabeth, who smiled and waved. Percy followed her gaze and smiled at Clarisse too. She responded by punching her open palm with her other fist. Percy only smiled, which infuriated Clarisse.
Mr. D made an attempt to climb down but was interrupted by a shout from the middle of the crowd, "Mr. D, you are, forgetting something. Sir." The entire crowd fixed its gaze on Travis Stoll sitting on his brother's shoulders so he could be seen and heard easily. Clarisse gaped at them. The nerve of those idiots! She expected Mr. D to turn them into dolphins on the spot.
A grunt escaped Mr. D's lips, but to everyone's amazement he stopped climbing off the ship. "Ah, yes. Apparently, I owe those two demigods a debt, but in all of Hades I can't remember why," Travis began to shout again but a snap from Mr. D's fingers curled a vine around his lips, "Ahem, yes, well today is coincidently the Johnson boy's birthday, which somehow was only remembered by the two thieves," a cheer went up from the crowd.
Clarisse scowled. She knew something else was important today besides Prissy's birthday, but couldn't remember what. Mr. D continued, "Which in itself is not very important," a boo followed, "but it has been brought to my attention that some of you have another tradition, a rather wet one, which I enjoy the idea of. After that has concluded, to bed you go."
Most of the demigods in attendance looked very confused. Clarisse put the last piece of the annoyingly elusive yet simple puzzle together and leapt onto the deck of the ship as Travis and Connor screamed, "GET 'EM!"
The campers who watched everyone dump Percy and Annabeth in the lake last year after their first kiss stormed the ship. The two heroes did not even struggle but smiled broadly as Clarisse, Malcolm, and a couple prepared Hermes kids picked them up and tossed them gracelessly over the side into the waiting arms of the mob. The rest of the seven, and the crowd was shocked, but quickly recovered and joined the stampede to the canoe lake. The crowd, in honor of last year, carried the two heroes close enough to hold hands until throwing them clumsily into the lake.
The pair did not surface for some time and the crowd's interest slowly faded as Percy's air bubble power was explained to those who didn't know. Eventually all but a few meandered back to their cabins and tents.
After about an hour, there weren't many Greeks or Romans left on the deck. Piper and Jason sat silently with their feet over the dock, her head resting on his shoulder. Leo sat to the side, chatting with the Stolls, who were still beaming at the success of their arrangement with Mr. D. Leo's gaze only left Thalia to visit on Reyna, who were idly chatting, comparing war stories. Katie Gardner sulked, partly because Travis wasn't paying her any attention, and partly because the only attention she did end up getting was the bad end of a prank. Frank and Hazel were returning from a long walk around the lake. Nico had disappeared. Chris and Clarisse held each other silently, reveling in the peacefulness of the lake.
Connor finally broke the silence, "so do we just, go to bed?"
"Not a chance, I want the uncensored version of their story, of all of your stories," Thalia flatly stated.
Connor and Travis perked up at the word uncensored until they realized that probably meant war and horror stories.
"Frank, why don't you go goldfish mode and give 'em the hint?" Leo said with a wink.
"But what if I, you know, see something that I can't un-see." Hazel and a few others laughed.
"Well I've had enough waiting, and I have an idea." Thalia grunted as she walked to the edge of the dock and dipped her hand in the water, "sorry Kelp Head."
Everyone ran off the dock as they realized what she was going to do, except the Stolls who were laughing too hard to move.
The electric shock raced across the lake in seconds, followed quickly by a sizable jet of water blasting Thalia off the dock. Percy and Annabeth gracefully emerged from a wave, but their hair stood up with static electricity. They both were smiling broadly.
"That hurt Pinecone Face," Percy chided as Thalia climbed out of the lake, "what was that for?"
"We are sick of waiting for you two to finish your alone time. We've been waiting to hear the not-PG version of your story for an hour." She replied as she climbed, soaking wet out of the water.
"Oh, why didn't you say something earlier? To the Argo II!" Percy shot back with a smile, earning a growl from Thalia and laughs from everyone else.
Katie was elected to get Rachel while the rest made their way to the ship. Once they were below decks and unafraid of being overheard, the real reunification actually begun. During the day, the group wasn't able to really talk, or give each other a proper hello.
Annabeth draped Connor in a hug, "Oh my Gods Connor. You saved us, you saved the camp. If you hadn't gotten my message – if you thought it was a joke – thank you so much."
Connor wasn't used to being a hero. He was supposed to be the comic relief, so when Percy followed Annabeth with a bear hug, he almost lost it. Blinking away the tears, he hugged Percy back as best he could.
Just then Katie walked down the steps. Closely behind was Rachel, who was half-dragging Nico by the arm, "Look who I found. He shouldn't miss this either."
Nico scowled as the crew of the Argo II congratulated and properly thanked him for delivering the Parthenos.
Everyone took their places around the table that had served as the Argo II's donut covered warm room for the duration of the war. Silence crept into the room when no one knew where to begin. There was too much to tell, and not enough words to tell it.
"Okay, why don't we start at the beginning? We all know Jason's story, so Percy tell us what happened at the Roman camp," Rachel volunteered happily.
Everyone nodded and Percy looked embarrassed, but he began with waking up in the Wolf House. He explained how he was hounded by gorgons, with no memory besides his name and Annabeth's face. He walked them through when he carried Juno across the river, with help from Frank and Hazel. Some of the Greeks were a little nervous that he lost his invincibility. They were subsequently awed when they realized he'd stopped Gaia without the Curse of Achilles.
Boos rang around the room during his introduction to Octavian, but the silence was painful when Percy told how he had met Nico and didn't remember him. The silence was so penetrating, Percy stopped telling his story and all heads turned to Nico, who just bowed his head.
As gazes fell and Percy began to speak again, Clarisse sprung to her feet, "YOU WHAT?" She asked incredulously.
No one knew how to answer, and no one moved. Clarisse let loose, "You, Ghost Face, you saw him at the Roman camp, and told no one? You knew where the Roman camp was before Hera even started this whole catastrophe? You kept it from us and we didn't even know if he was alive!"
Chris, Percy, and Jason moved as quickly as they could to stop her from pummeling Nico. Percy was the first to find his voice, "No, Clarisse, he couldn't have told me. If I had known, if the Romans had found out who I was, they would have killed me. Gaea would have won," he said soothingly.
Recognition and logic briefly overcame the anger in her eyes. She wheeled on Percy, eyes burning brighter than before, "Fine, but he could have told us you were alive. We spent months searching for you, slowly losing hope. Any longer…"
"You would've tried to rescue me, and it would have ended horribly."
She began to calm down. Her voice was getting softer, "We could have found another way. We could have come up with a new plan to solve everything. Annabeth could've-" her eyes lit up and she pushed Percy, "NO! You didn't see us, Percy. You didn't see Annabeth. You didn't see your girlfriend's eyes. It was worse than Silena last summer! Our spirits fell faster than when Thalia's tree was poisoned. We had hope then, we had you! Earthshaker, Stormbreaker, retriever of the Master Bolt, retriever of the Golden Fleece, the boy who held up the sky, the best swordsman to ever live, the bane of monsters, champion of the Gods, savior of Olympus! Percy Jackson," she slammed her fist on the table, "Gone!"
Everyone held their breath, Annabeth started crying, and Percy faltered. Even Jason was too shocked to move. Chris tried to pull her back but she tossed him off.
She returned her attention to Nico, "You! We took you in after your sister died. We made you family. We even forgave you after you betrayed Percy to your father. We tried to support you when you pushed us away, but you aren't one of us! We trusted you, and you let us down, again!"
Now Jason blocked her path, "Clarisse, it was one of the hardest decisions of the war for Nico, but it was the right one. It was the only way to save both camps and Olympus. Nico di Angelo is a hero. He brought the Parthenos here. He saved the camp. That is the only thing that matters!"
Clarisse stomped her foot in protest. She was so visibly overwhelmed with emotion, no one knew if she was going to punch Jason, cry, faint, or all three. After a few seconds her brain started functioning again and the anger went out of her. Chris was finally able to lead her into an adjacent room.
When Jason turned around, he found Nico in a ball on the floor, shaking and sobbing soundlessly.
While Hazel and Annabeth helped Jason gently carry Nico to a bedroom, Percy slumped in a chair. Clarisse's words had hit him in the chest like a hammer on an anvil. The others were silently watching him, waiting for his reaction. Even the Stolls couldn't crack a smile. After a few minutes, Rachel got up and hugged Percy. Travis and Connor stood next, followed by Katie to form one of the strangest, and yet still touching, group hugs Leo and Frank had ever seen.
"Don't you dare leave camp again, Percy Jackson," Rachel commanded.
"Yeah, I mean Clarisse shouldn't have gone off like that, but she wasn't lying. We thought we'd lost you," Travis added, pulling Katie closer to him.
Percy gulped. He couldn't imagine what his friends had gone through. For anyone, especially Clarisse, to lose control over their emotions after they had just gotten a happy ending, meant more to him than he could ever express in words. He had to choke back tears.
"Oh Gods, break it up or you're going to make me cry too," Leo said, thankfully injecting some humor into the mood.
Annabeth entered the room as the four pealed themselves off of Percy and sat down. She walked over and sat on his lap, resting her head on his shoulder, "You should go see them."
Everyone silently agreed, so Percy slowly stood up. He wanted to give Clarisse as much tiem to cool off as possibe, so he started for Nico's door.
Slowly, he pushed the door open and crept in. Nico was curled in a ball on the bed and appeared to be asleep. Jason watched with his arms crossed while Hazel paced the room.
Percy tapped Jason. "Is he asleep?" he whispered.
"I don't know. I think he passed out from being overwhelmed," Jason replied without taking his gaze from Nico. He couldn't hide the worry in his eyes that he could with the authoritative stance. Percy wondered when Jason had become so close with Nico. He remembered Frank saying something about a hushed incident with Cupid, but no one could figure it out.
"You should check Clarisse," Jason continued, "I'll get you when he's ready to talk. Hazel you go too."
"But he's my brother!" she answered, her voice full of hurt and confusion, "I need to be here for him."
"I know you want to, but I need to talk to him when he wakes up. Alone. You two will be the first to see him," Jason replied calmly, but his voice quivered with concern.
Before Hazel could protest further, Percy interrupted, "Thanks, Jason."
Percy clapped Jason on the shoulder and led Hazel out of the room. No matter the secret Jason and Nico shared, Percy hoped Jason understood how much his concern meant to Percy and hopefully Hazel too.
Hazel walked over to the table and sat down next to Leo, arms crossed and pouting. Leo grinned and started teasing her. Good, that'll distract her for a while.
Percy took a deep breath, and crossed to the other side of the hall. Before he could chicken out, he pushed the door open and quickly shut it behind him.
Inside, Clarisse was staring out the window. Percy could see her tense when the door shut, but she didn't turn around. Chris was sitting on the bed watching her, but he did turn to look at Percy.
He met Percy's gaze and simply nodded while he moved to the other side of the bed. Percy could have his moment with Clarisse, but Chris wanted to be nearby if she needed him again. Hopefully that wasn't an indication of how bad her mood was.
Percy stood for a moment, trying to find the right words without any luck. Thankfully, Clarisse broke the silence after turning around, "Prissy, say what you have to say already and get out."
When he met her eyes, he was overcome with a host of emotions, but couldn't pick one to act on. Clearly she was still mad though, so Percy did what he did best, and allowed his impulsivity to take over. He walked right up to her and gave her a hug, "Thank you."
Clarisse was caught off guard at first, but then relaxed. In a moment of weakness, she returned his hug and then in a blink pushed him off, so that not even Chris saw what she did.
"Don't have a moment here, punk. That was for the camp and for Annabeth, not for you. I only wanted you back because I had to take over some responsibilities, which interfered with beating the other weakling campers to a pulp. Besides, they were all too depressed to put up a good fight anyway," she said with a disappointed growl.
Percy grinned, "Wouldn't want it any other way," he hesitated, "You know Annabeth isn't – wasn't – Silena, right?"
For a second, the hurt flashed back into Clarisse's eyes, "Yeah, figured that out pretty quick. She did get really sad and really crazy, but Hades is she strong, even if she's an Athena kid," she shook her head, and her eyes returned to the normal angry look, "But don't flatter yourself, you're no Beckendorf either. You know how he was smarter, cooler, nicer, but you're more fun to beat up."
Clarisse punched Percy in the arm hard enough for him to stumble. He turned to leave and saw Chris grinning wildly. As his hand found the doorknob, he remembered the other reason he had come in the room.
"Clarisse, you know you have to apologize, when he's ready," Percy wasn't asking.
"But –" she stammered before Chris cut her off.
"Yes, she knows," he said seriously, but the smile hadn't faded from his face.
For an hour, Jason had sat in complete silence. He sat a few feet from where Nico lay, facing resting on his hands. Every once in a while, laughter from the rest of the demigods filtered into the room. Jason wanted to be with them, but he wasn't angry at Nico for his missing it, or Clarisse for that matter.
Both parties could be understood, and he knew he had to be there for Nico. With Gaea defeated, they had all the time in the world to celebrate. Demigods just couldn't get a moment of peace.
Nico began to stir, thankfully snapping Jason out of his reverie. Slowly, Nico remembered what had happened and Jason saw a terrified look in Nico's eyes. Without thinking, Jason launched himself across the bed and grabbed Nico's arm as the son of Hades shadow traveled away from the Argo II.
After Jason was squeezed out of the shadow realm, he stumbled and fell to his knees wheezing. Nico shook off his grip and backed away from Jason quickly.
"I told you that after the House of Hades I was leaving forever. You got me to stick around to deliver the Parthenos. You shouldn't have followed me home."
For the first time Jason took in his surroundings. He was kneeling in the middle of what appeared to be a garden. Beautiful flowers and plants surrounded the stone paths. Jason also spotted a few disturbing, impossibly lifelike, stone sculptures of satyrs and humans. The garden was also massive, spreading in all directions. Behind him was a looming black palace. Jason was clearly in the Underworld and uncomfortably close to his uncle's home.
"Nico, you can't leave like that, not after everything. At least say goodbye," Jason pleaded.
"I was going to after I delivered the Parthenos, that's why I'm still here. But now, why should I? You heard Clarisse. I am not one of them. I am a bad omen for the camp. They are better off without me, and I'm better off here," Nico replied flatly.
Jason had to take a moment to gather his thoughts. Nico was toeing a very thin edge, and Jason had to extremely carefully guide him off. Jason gulped.
"Clarisse overreacted. You know she doesn't deal with emotions well, besides anger, and the wounds are still raw for a lot of the campers. You do belong –"
"It doesn't matter! No, I didn't deserve that lashing, but that doesn't mean it wasn't true," his voice trailing off at the end.
Jason stood and took a step towards Nico, which Nico copied backwards. "You deserve better. You deserve to be honored as a hero, and you can be. The others, well, they deserve a goodbye."
"You're right. I owe them at least a goodbye, but even more. I owe all of them everything. I owe Percy Jackson everything!" His voice trembled with hurt and anger, but he took a step towards Jason, "But we both know that demigods very rarely get what we deserve."
Now it was Jason's turn to back up as Nico was inches from his face. Jason was again faced with the chance that he would have to fight Nico if he wasn't careful, and again didn't know if he was up for the challenge.
"Once, Jason, you told me I should stop running, stop hiding. I plan to, but I plan to do it from my real home," Nico spread his arms, drawing Jason's attention once again to their bleak surroundings, "That home just happens to be the Underworld. If I went back, I wouldn't be able to hide the emotions, the hurt and anger and everything else, and then they would know. I'd be remembered as even more of a freak than I already will be."
Nico began shaking again, but wouldn't break off from Jason's gaze, as though he was trying to telepathically make Jason understand. The son of Zeus stopped backing up, and put a hand on Nico's shoulder, to which Nico shuddered but didn't pull away.
"Nico, if they knew, they would only be able to respect you. To do everything you did, with the burden you still carry is incredible. Please, trust me. Have faith in your family for once."
Then Jason surprised them both and embraced Nico, careful not to hug him too tight. Nico didn't return the gesture or speak, and Jason really didn't know what would happen. He closed his eyes for a moment and hoped he wouldn't open them to the EZ-Death line.
When he did open his eyes, he realized that Nico had shadow traveled them back to the room he had slept in on the Argo II.
"Nico –" Jason started but was cut off.
"No. No more words."
Jason simply nodded.
Percy was laughing quietly as Leo retold him and Hazel's encounter with Narcissus. Annabeth sat next to him, smiling and holding his hand. It was good to be home.
The sound of a door opening in the hallway reminded him that a few problems still had to be dealt with. Despite the optimistic ending to their conversation, Clarisse and Chris had yet to rejoin the group. Percy thought they finally were done with Zeus only knows what and was surprised to see Jason in the hallway.
Hazel questioned Jason with a thumbs up sign, and he nodded, which was probably as telling of Nico's state as they were going to get. Following Hazel, Percy was anxious to get in and get out. He felt for Nico, he really did, but Nico's moodiness was just hard to handle sometimes, especially when a celebration was in order.
Nico was standing at the foot of the bed, looking no more upset than usual, which was a good sign. He did seem to be just as anxious as Percy though, which was an odd relief.
The four stood in silence for a moment, everyone but Jason having found a sudden interest in their feet.
"Percy, listen –" Nico began and was interrupted.
"No, Nico, let me start. I'm so sorry for what Clarisse said, it was uncalled for and untrue. You are our family and always will be. Never forget that."
Percy stepped forward and embraced Nico tightly. He had given an abnormal amount of hugs, to an odd assortment of people, in the last hour. At first Nico did nothing. After a few seconds he began to tremble, and then started to cry. It was peaceful though. When Nico returned Percy's embrace, Jason smiled just a little. He was really proud of that kid.
After only crying for a few seconds, Nico gently pushed away and stepped back to look Percy in the eye. It looked like he was going to say something but Percy beat him to it, "Hey, I get it if you want to leave, Nico. No one will hold anything against you. Always remember we built the Hades cabin for a reason. When you do go, don't make it like its final, you know?"
Nico actually smirked a bit at him and nodded knowingly. Percy turned to leave and walked straight into Clarisse, who had crept in silent as a mouse. He stepped to the side and allowed Clarisse to approach Nico. Both of them averted their gaze.
"So, uh, sorry about that back there. We were just, you know, worried really badly. You did the right thing. And like Prissy said, it's not like we are gonna tear down your cabin or anything," the daughter of Ares paused. She managed to fit every uncomfortable body language gesture into a single sentence. "Thanks, Nico."
Both of them stood in silence for a moment and then Nico thrust his hand forward. Clarisse nodded, shook it awkwardly, and then scampered out of the room. Percy and Jason were close behind, giving Hazel and Nico a sibling moment.
Percy stopped Jason just outside the door, "Thanks man. You didn't have to look after him like that, but I'm glad you did. He needs as much cousin attention as he can get."
Jason appeared to wince but quickly looked down the hallway, "He's a tough kid Percy. Just a kid still, despite everything he's had to go through. You and I know what that's like."
"For better or for worse," Percy replied with his sarcastic smile, even though he knew that would be the last time he saw Nico di Angelo for a very long time. They proceeded to walk back to the others.
Annabeth, who was seated closest to the hallway, heard Percy and Jason's voices and turned around. When she met Percy's eyes, her face lit up. Clearly she saw on his face that the situation had been resolved peacefully.
Before he could sit down, she was on her feet. Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand and led him in the other direction, towards the stairs.
While fending off an attack from Piper, Leo had caught their movement and couldn't help but bring it to the group's attention, "Don't let Coach Hedge catch you alone again, lovebirds!"
Travis perked up, "What do you mean again?"
"Oh good, story time!" Katie squealed as Leo dove into his version of the story.
A light breeze washed over the Argo II as Percy and Annabeth climbed to the open deck. The moon was full, the stars were bright, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Festus creaked and happily spewed flames as they approached the bow.
"Well, another crisis avoided by the great seven," Percy lamented. His voice dripped with sarcasm, but his eyes twinkled as he wrapped his arm around Annabeth's waist.
"Listen, Percy, I'm sorry I froze back there. Clarisse struck too close to home. All the memories and pain flooded –"
Percy interrupted her by kissing her full on the lips. When she broke away, he replied, "It is okay, we took care of it. You don't have to do everything, Wise Girl."
"Neither do you, Seaweed Brain," She cooed softly.
Both of them stood silently for a while, looking over the bow at the camp below. They were finally home. Percy ranked this moment near the top of his favorites, not quite touching his and Annabeth's reunion at the Roman Camp, but above when they had been fished out of Tartarus.
A happy thought dawned on Percy. He jumped and hugged Annabeth tight. "That's it!"
Annabeth looked utterly confused. When he didn't elaborate, she prodded, "What's it?"
Percy calmed a bit, "Well, at least I hope that's it. I mean, think through all the Greek myths you know. Who's left?"
"We are, Kelp Head. The Gods survived, and so did we."
"No, that's not what I meant," he was stunned Annabeth hadn't figured it out before him, "We've beaten Kronos and the Titans and Gaea and the Giants, what's left? In our lifetime there couldn't be another prophecy, another war, because the real baddies will be dust until long after we are gone."
Annabeth frowned when he said gone, but laughed a bit when she realized he was right, probably. "Percy, if we've learned anything, it's that the Fates don't like us very much. Don't jinx it." She wagged a finger at him but smiled.
"I don't care. They've done their worst, I know it. Yeah, there will always be monsters, but nothing we can't handle together."
Her stormy gray eyes grew bright at his last word and she kissed him, "As long as we are together." Percy couldn't remember the last time he saw her smile like that.
The exchange was momentarily ruined when Hazel burst onto the deck, followed by Frank and Jason, who were calling after her. She looked panicked, and Frank had a worried expression, but it appeared to be concentrated on Hazel. Jason looked like whatever had happened was nothing to freak out about, which put Percy at ease.
Hazel's eyes swept the deck frantically, before she rushed over to Percy, "Did he come up here?"
Percy and Annabeth exchanged a confused look, and Frank explained when Hazel began wheezing, "Nico's gone."
"Define gone," Annabeth requested.
"He's not on the ship anymore. This was the last place we hadn't looked," Hazel answered, seemingly recovered.
"So? It's Nico we're talking about," Percy replied without really reflecting on the events of the previous hour.
Jason and Frank scowled and Annabeth punched him lightly on the arm. Hazel looked horrified, "After what just happened downstairs, Percy? After you left I spoke to him quickly and we went back to everyone. A little while later I noticed he wasn't in the room anymore. We searched, but…"
Her voice faded and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Jason looked as unsurprised as Percy felt. Frank and Annabeth were only concerned about Hazel, who continued, "He didn't say goodbye, not even to me. He's just gone."
The five of them hung their heads in silence. They all felt for Hazel. All of them had missed an important goodbye at least once. Percy remembered when Annabeth had been dragged off the cliff by the Manticore, when they had first rescued Nico, and that Nico never got to say goodbye to his beloved sister, Bianca.
"Maybe that's a good thing," Percy surprised everyone, including himself, by breaking the silence, "I mean, no one likes goodbyes right? This way, Nico's not really gone, he is somewhere. He's just not here right now. We'll see him again."
Hazel pondered this for a moment, and then gently hugged Percy, "Thanks."
Jason clapped him in on the shoulder, "Wow, didn't expect that out of your mouth, Percy. Annabeth maybe –"
"But not from a Fish Face," Frank completed. Everyone laughed, and Frank turned bright red, not expecting a joke like that to come from his own mouth. The three turned and allowed Annabeth and Percy to have their privacy.
Annabeth looked up at him, "Percy Jackson, that was one of the most intelligent and sensitive things you've ever said. Do not make a habit of it," she said with a huge grin.
"What? But you always call me an idiot!" Percy exclaimed.
She laughed, "Yes, but as long as it doesn't endanger our lives, then you're a cute idiot, Seaweed Brain."
Percy sighed, "Why can't you make just one thing easy for me, Wise Girl?"
"Because I promised that I would never, ever make things easy for you. And I, for one, keep my promises," She said, the happiness practically oozing from her voice.
They kissed, and Percy let himself melt into her. For the first time in years, they were safe and happy. They were home and with their best friends, but most importantly, they were together. Percy didn't intend to let a single one of those things change.