Hey everyone, so here is this week's chapter. I would really appreciate it if you reviewed, it gives me inspiration to write and post faster if I see people are taking an interest in the story.

If you have any ideas or criticism, as long as it's constructive, please feel free to either PM me or leave a review.

Enjoy the chapter! Not a lot of action, just a chapter to get the feelers out on everyone's emotions and all that.

Percy's Pov

The walk to the dining pavilion took a long time; well, it seemed long to me since I was limping all the way there, but in reality it all took about 5 min. Nico and Thalia were on either side of me, seemingly waiting to see if I would stumble so that they could catch me before I fell.

I mentally rolled my eyes at this. Even if I did stumble, my stubborn pride wouldn't let them help me up.

Once we finally reached the entrance to the dining pavilion, I stopped and looked around. So far none of the campers had noticed our presence and I used that to my advantage to scan my eyes around the area, looking for two specific people: that backstabbing bitch and the one who thinks he's the hotshot. Once I certified myself that they weren't there, I proceeded to move towards the Poseidon table, all of us coming to a silent agreement that that's where we'd all sit.

Once the first camper saw me the dining hall quieted down, only to erupt in chatter and whispering a few seconds later. I sighed. I knew this would happen. It would be a good while before people stopped looking at me without turning to the person next to them and start whispering about me. Trying to figure out what happened to me, if I still had any screws left in my head. Those who turned against me trying to find some weakness to exploit.

I tuned them all out despite the fact that it was nearly impossible, focusing only on my tasks of getting my food, sacrificing a portion to my dad and sitting between Nico and Thalia at the Poseidon table. We ate in somewhat tense silence, as all the eyes around the dining pavilion were focused in us. I had barely eaten anything when I stood up to leave. All the stares where making my skin crawl, leaving me self-conscience.

Before I could leave Thalia grasped my arm, which pulled a wince from me since it was right were one of the wrapped wounds were. She quickly retracted her hand and shot me an apologetic look. I nodded that it was fine. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Percy-" But she was interrupted by the loud booming voice of that idiot Adrian.

"Ladies and gents, your hero is here" He puffed out his chest and lifted his chin up, all that was missing was him pounding his chest like some ape. Once he spotted me however, he sneered, something that made his already ugly face even more hideous all scrunched up like that. He marched over to where I was, getting into my personal space.

"So, Percy Jackson, the so called hero at this camp. You know, I bet everything you've ever done is a lie, to get you some attention. I'm the REAL hero at this camp, I single-handedly defeated 2 hellhounds and saved this camp." At this he looked up with a smirk and an air of superiority to glance around at the campers. "You fooled all these people into thinking you are actually worth something, but look at you, so weak, so fragile, I bet I could knock you over with a single breath." At this point I could both Nico and Thalia, plus some other campers I couldn't really see had stood up. I could see Nico reaching for his stygian iron sword out of the corner of my eyes, and Thalia had sparks shooting out of her fingers. I decided to do something about it before things got out of control, as much as I wanted to end the pathetic idiot in front of me, it wouldn't be wise to do so.

"Look man, back off before you get your ass served to you in a platter. You have no idea who you are dealing with." I shifted so that we were not so close together, because as much as I once could've dealt with this asshole with my arms tied behind my back and a blindfold, I was weak, my body was riddled with still open wounds and I was in no condition to take any more blows, let alone give any.

I saw his eyes fill with anger and saw his arm coming up to punch me. I prepared myself for the pain that would soon follow…but it never came. Nico had been faster and punched the jerk in the face, forcing him to stumble backwards holding his nose, blood dripping from in between his fingers. Damn that kid has a good punch for someone as skinny as him.

"You asshole! Look what you did to my nose! I swear if it's broken I am going to beat your goth ass so hard your next stop will be your fathers!" He swore while stumbling away, too much of a coward to actually engage in a fight against opponents he knows he cannot win against. After all it was 3 children of the big three versus a son of Ares that who didn't have any powers other than being extraordinarily stupid and arrogant.

Once he was out of sight I turned to Nico.

"Thanks man." I murmured, eyes downcast in shame at not even being capable of defending myself, instead just cowering away and waiting for the hit.

"Hey don't mention it Perce," He studied my face for a bit. "There is no need to be ashamed of it either man, he's an ass and you have no business proving yourself to someone that is not even one quarter of the person you are. We," he nodded his head towards Thalia, "have got your back until you get your strength back." Thalia nodded her ascent to this.

"Thanks but you don't have to, I can take care of myself."

"We know, but you can't stop us from being good friends." What Thalia said brought a small smile to my face. Friends… how I missed having those down in Tartarus.

I didn't say anything but by the looks in their faces they understood that I understood that I wasn't alone. With that we all walked out of the dinning pavilion, heading down towards the sea. Oh how I missed the water, the way it calls to me, soothes me. I couldn't help but walk into the water and submerge, all sounds from the above world gone, nothing but me and the creatures that inhabited the shores of the camp. It was peaceful. It was Elysium compared to the year of hell I had, without a moment of peace in which to gather myself and my thoughts.

I swam around and around the shore a few times, then went to towards the seabed and stayed there for a long while. I had no idea how long it was before I figured it'd be best if I just resurfaced before my friends dove in after me, despite their fear of another gods' domain. I swam up and broke the water more or less where I had dived in. I immediately spotted them sitting on a rock by the trees where sand met dirt and leaves. I walked out of the water, all dry, and made my way towards them. They looked up as I approached.

"Hey Kelp head, took you long enough. Are you good?" My only answer to her question was a nod.

"Ok, let's go then." I don't know why they stayed, they could've gone back to their cabins, it was, after all, pretty late and the harpies would be out soon.

"You didn't have to wait up for me guys." I sighed. They probably thought I needed a chaperone or something, it's not like I'm going to fall to the ground frothing at the mouth at any second.

"We know, but we missed you and we want to spend time with you. You…you were gone for over a year Percy and there was almost nothing we could do about it until Iris got that message to us. We had no way of knowing what was happening to you." She looked away for a minute, but not quick enough that I didn't see the glistening of tears in her eyes. "So yeah, you're stuck with us kelp brain." With that she lightly punched my shoulder, not hard enough to jostle my wounds though. I managed a grateful smile at that. I'm being stupid, of course they don't need to baby me, they just missed me. We are the closest we have to family and I would've been so torn up if one of them had had my fate instead of me.

"Alright, alright, enough with the bleeding hearts, how about we go back to our cabins before we get eaten alive?" said Nico with the faintest hint of amusement in his tone.

"Shut up Death breath, like you don't feel the same." Thalia huffed.

"That doesn't mean I have to go all mushy and touchy-feely like you just did. I have my own way of showing I care, so shut it Pinecone face." That, for Nico, basically meant he just declared his love for us. Before Thalia could retort and make things escalate, I quickly interrupted them.

"Girls, girls, please, you're both pretty, now can we go? Because I agree with Nico, getting eaten alive by harpies right after getting out of hell is not on my to-do list." I enjoyed the look of utter outrage on their faces at my first comment. I just shook my head and starting walking towards the cabins, a faint hint of a smile pulling up the corners of my lips.

So yeah, that was it! Hope you enjoyed it!

Again, it would make me extremely happy if you reviewed!

Peace out!