Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any related characters! Please, please, PLEASE review if you read; all feedback is greatly appreciated. You all are awesome, and thank you for reading my story!

Update: Change of plans! There will be four more chapters left in this story, including this one! Thanks for reading :)

Three Months Since The Incident

Percy was at his mother's apartment, watching Cyrene travel from the couch to the kitchen. She had learned to do this weird thing where she'll start on the floor, lying on her back. She then would use her legs and her body to turn herself to her front, so she's on her stomach. She would repeat, and end up traveling places through this spinning/rolling technique. He was watching her to make sure that she didn't hit her head or lose control and spin towards the wrong area. Percy did think it was cute and it made him smile every time.

After he had brought Cyrene home and told his mother and Paul about everything, he was thinking about returning to Camp and being a counselor or a sword master. He thought that he would do well teaching demigods how to fight, and plus he would be close to Grover.

However, his mother's mental health was fractured. Her child had just been kidnapped by her son's girlfriend and taken to the Underworld with the intention of killing her daughter and damning her soul to Tartarus, where she would be endlessly preyed upon. Her son, in turn, had gone to save her, dropped off the grid with no Iris-Messaging, traveled to the Underworld himself, contemplated killing himself to save her daughter, but watched his girlfriend kill herself and be reborn into a new life.

Percy thought that therapy was long overdue. Luckily for both of them, his mother didn't buy into the stigma surrounding therapy. She looked at it as a service where someone who's getting paid to talk to you and engage in active listening. According to her, her therapist is a big fan of Greek mythology and loves it when she speaks in "metaphors" regarding her…dynamic life. It also turned out that his mother suffered from now clinically diagnosed-anxiety, which Percy felt guilty of immediately after hearing it. He felt like he had a hand to play in that.

Percy had decided against going to Camp Half-Blood and had decided to stay with his mother and Paul to help them heal from the experience. For the past few months, he had been helping around the house, working a part time job at the nearby community center pool, and helping with Cyrene. He would take her on impromptu trips to their favorite beach, bring her dinner after work, and even watch the terrible home modeling shows that she loved. While he did all of that, his mother cut down on her hours writing and focused on her therapy, improving her diet, exercising, going on dates with Paul (Percy had nowhere to go, so he watched Cyrene), and spending time with her children.

Recently, however, she had started to push him back into the social sphere. She had told him, "You can't be friends with half gods all your life. You have to branch out and meet new people."

Once she heard about one of Percy's coworkers, Carly, she advised Percy to ask her out to a movie or for ice cream, nothing too serious. Percy told her that Carly would get the wrong idea, but his mother swore up and down that it was just a friendly gesture.

Carly was about 5'7 (shorter than both Annabeth and Thalia), and had tanned skin with a bright smile. She had brown and blonde hair. She was a lifeguard at the pool as well, and would always change her shifts so she was on duty with Percy. Every time Percy would look up, she would wave at him with that smile that rivaled Apollo (when he still a god). Percy would wave weakly, then go back to watching the pool. He started to get a bit worried, though, it seemed like she was watching him more than the pool. She was cute, he guessed, but cute in the, "My sorority is the best thing that has ever happened to me," type of way.

One day, Carly had caught him before he left for the day.

"Hey, Percy!"

He had turned around to see her shuffle-running with her flip-flops clapping. She had her red zip-up lifeguard top along with navy blue shorts and white flip flops. She looked like she belonged in Baywatch. She wore that signature smile and took out a piece of paper.

"This is my number. You know, if you ever want to change shifts or…or if you need anything from me at all, just call me, okay?"

She pushed the piece of paper towards him and Percy looked at her dumbly. For some reason, he thought about how her blue eyes didn't glow like Thalia's did. He took the paper, smiling to be polite. She flashed him that grin and skipped away.

He had been thinking about Thalia a lot lately. He constantly wondered what she was doing and what amazing quest she was on. He sometimes smelled her Christmas scent and whipped his head up hoping to see Thalia, but it would just be something random. He thought about her eyes and her hair and even had a dream the other night about them two on an adventure together.

Lately, she had been sending him weekly packages with a letter that detailed her adventures and exploits. The packages would send at a different day each week, something that he inferred was meant to keep him on his toes. Enclosed in every package was a different comic book that she had found that she believed Percy would enjoy. He would take it out to read it, and sure enough, he enjoyed every one.

The sun was beginning to get low in the sky as Percy drove back to the apartment. He thought about Annabeth, Rachel, Calypso, and Carly, but every time, his mind would compare them to Thalia. It was almost beginning to annoy him. He walked in the apartment to see his mother holding Cyrene and holding a letter. She had a smile on her face. "Percy, you got a letter!"

Despite already having gotten a package from Thalia that past Friday (it was Sunday), his heart flipped and Percy probably ran to the letter a bit too fast. He took it from his mother and opened it to see no comic book; it was from someone else. He did see a letter in it though. Percy retrieved it and saw a brown card that felt like it was made by very thin bark that had vines and leaves around it. He opened it and leaves and flowers popped out from it like a children's pop-up book. The message was written in black cursive.

"Percy! Come to our wedding at the Camp Half-Blood amphitheater! Happening at 6:00!"

Percy grinned. Grover was not one who was well-versed on the concept of sending invites in advance, but luckily Percy had his shadow travel ring in his room.

He turned towards his mother, who waved her hand dismissively. "Go on. Tell Camp that I say hi."

"How did you know it was from Camp?"

His mother turned to him with a half-smile. "You always get that smile on your face when it's about that other part of your life."

Percy smiled, but then began to panic; he needed a tuxedo. He sprinted to Paul's room, where it looked like he just got up from a nap. Percy slid into the room hurriedly.

"Paul! I need your best tux! My best friend is getting married today!"

To Paul's credit, he scrambled up immediately and he and Percy spent the next thirty-five minutes trying to put on the tuxedo, trying to figure out the bow-tie and the other parts that went with it. Finally, Percy had the tuxedo on and ready.

Paul stepped back. "You look dashing, Percy. Your mother would love to see you."

Though the tuxedo was a bit small, it wasn't too bad if the jacket was unbuttoned. He walked out to the living room and his mother whistled. Cyrene began to laugh.

"Well, look at my handsome man. You look just like your father. Before you go though-"

She put Cyrene in Percy's arms and hustled to the refrigerator. She took out a plate covered by aluminum foil that smelled heavenly. Percy had to stop himself from tearing it up and his mother traded the plate for his sister.

"This is for Kofi. Tell him thank you for letting you use his phone, and this is his free batch of cookies."

Percy smiled, kissed Cyrene, and headed to his room. Before he got in, his mother called him.

"Percy? One more thing. Tell Thalia that I said hi."

Percy nodded and stepped into his room. He had this weird thing where during the day, he would have to go inside his closet to shadow travel as if he was going to Narnia. He went inside the closet, made a tight fist, and thought about the Camp Half-Blood amphitheater.

Percy melted into the shadows and came out next to a tree. There was a bustle of noise, laughing, and people all around. He felt like James Bond when he stepped out from the tree, but his breath caught in his throat when he saw the wedding.

Large, thick trees that weren't there three months before circled the amphitheater. Each tree was blooming with hundreds of pink and white flowers, moving slowly in the breeze. The breeze was blowing small pink petals throughout the entire space. Percy thought Grover must have been playing his pipes all day for three days straight in order these trees growing like this. The bleachers area of the amphitheater was filled with people, demigods, centaurs, dryads, and nymphs. The bleachers were arranged in a semi-circle that faced the center stage. On each side of the stage was long tables that had all different types of cans and upholstery, as well as fruits, vegetables, and organic drinks, inspired by Iris' store. Maron the satyr was right beside the stage, sitting in a chair and playing his reed pipes. As he played, the trees seemed to glow a little and the pink petals continued to fly around.

Percy looked up and saw the branches covered with birds, of all different colors and sizes. It almost reminded Percy of the aggressive Stymphalian Birds, the way they were all perched there, but they weren't interested in any destruction. Instead, they were all chirping in sing-song voices. Percy looked behind him and jumped. There were countless animals sitting and laying in between the trees behind the amphitheater. Percy figured there had to be at least two hundred of them. As the music played, the petals flew, and the birds sung, Percy could feel the woodland magic flowing and circling the place, creating quite a magical scene.

He walked into view and heard a collection of greetings and celebrations. Jason came up and clapped his shoulder and Piper gave him a hug. Leo dapped him up and Calypso tried to do the same thing Leo did, but it ended up just being a handshake. Kofi came up and Percy gave him a high-five, trading the high five for the plate of cookies. Kofi's jaw dropped. "This smells amazing. What is it?"

Percy grinned. "Your payment."

He continued to go through the crowd and smiled, nodded, and shook hands, but he was starting to get embarrassed quickly.

He realized that he was severely over-dressed.

Everyone had come in their regular camp T-shirts and jeans. It was a casual wedding. Even Grover just had a nice collared shirt on…and he was the one getting married! Percy felt like face-palming himself; he knew that non-humans did not have the same wedding customs as humans, so for him to show up in a tuxedo when Grover never specifically asked him to do so seemed a bit premature. Percy ignored the looks he was getting and pushed through the crowd of people talking and drinking. He climbed onto the back row of the bleacher and thought about Grover getting married.

After a few minutes, he felt a punch on his back and a shock. Percy jumped and looked behind him, his hand instinctively going to his pocket. There, he saw Thalia. She had on tight, dark blue jeans and Percy's Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. It seemed to fit her perfectly. Her hair was down and straight, and her eyes glinted with happiness. She looked like what Percy never thought she'd look like; a camper.

And gods, she looked amazing.

She grinned as she began to climb onto the seat next to him. Blood rushed to Percy's ears and his petal glowed a light purple, then a regular purple, though he scrambled to hide it. He didn't want to take the chance that Thalia had figured out what it meant.

She sat next to him…like next to him, so close that their legs were touching. She looked him up and down and grinned. "Nice tuxedo."

That comment and her smile made his embarrassing wardrobe decision completely worth it.

He grinned at her and the wedding began.

As it commenced, Percy didn't know if he would call it a "wedding," because it was more of a ceremony. It was performed by Silenus. Juniper was wearing a simple light green dress and Grover had on his collared shirt. Silenus took out a flower pot with mysterious engravings on it.

Very plainly, he asked, "If you two would like to be married, then drop your blessed seeds in here."

Percy and Thalia craned their heads as they struggled to see past one satyr whose horns were so big that they almost touched their legs as they curled around. A puppy came up to the stage, holding something on its back. He saw Grover and Juniper take whatever was on the back and Percy now saw that they were seeds. Grover and Juniper smiled at one another, and dropped the seeds into a flower pot. After a half-second, the space with the seeds quickly grew into a small glowing white flower. Silenus took the pot and held it up, earning cheers and applause from everyone in attendance, as well as the animals and birds behind the stage. Grover pulled Juniper into a kiss and picked her up just as Percy had picked up Annabeth at the Judgment Pavilion.

Thalia leaned over to him and whispered an explanation. "They blessed those seeds with their vows ahead of time. As a result, those seeds hold the promise of marriage. The magic of that flower pot is that if you put two seeds in it, it would grow into one flower; a symbol of their union."

Percy wasn't sure how she knew so much about satyr weddings, but he took her word for it. The ceremony concluded and everyone began to get up and dance. Grover and Juniper had hugged Percy, thanking him for coming and telling him that it meant a lot. Their attention seemed distracted though; the newlyweds had to go shake hands and greet everyone else who came. Percy and Grover knew where they stood with one another, so neither didn't necessarily need to give a big speech. He waved Grover off, and he ran off gratefully, pulling Juniper along with him.

Everyone at the wedding was either dancing, talking, laughing, or consuming the "food" that Grover and Juniper had provided. At the dancing area, everyone was moving to the colorful reed pipe song that Maron was playing. They were all doing this weird swing-dance thing in sync with one another.

As Percy looked on, he thought about the dance that he and Annabeth had shared years ago before they fought with the manticore. Even though there was more behind that adventure than Percy thought, he had fun at that dance. He really missed her. As he watched Jason and Piper, Leo and Calypso, Frank and Hazel, and Nico and Will dance, Percy felt like a lone wolf. He looked around for Thalia, but couldn't find her anywhere.

With sadness tugging his heart, he saluted to no one in particular, thrust his hands in his pocket, and headed off towards the water. As he walked up, a raft appeared in the water, ready for Percy to board. Percy took one last look at the wedding and climbed into it. He was going to will the current to take him away, but the raft took off on its own. Percy looked out towards the forest he was approaching. Exactly a minute later, Percy reached the forest and started to walk through it.

Suddenly, Percy's senses went haywire and he ducked just as a silver arrow embedded itself in the tree next to him. He whipped his head back up and looked towards the source of it.

He saw Thalia, in his T-shirt and her dark-wash jeans, holding her bow. Somehow, she had gotten across the river before Percy had even reached the other side. However, he saw her shadow travel ring glowing, and Percy realized how she got there.

She jogged up to him, opened her hands and made the bow disappear. "You were going to leave without saying bye? I had to shadow travel over here to catch you."

Percy tore his gaze away from her sparky blue eyes. He looked across the lake to see the wedding attendees dancing and laughing. "Yeah. I just…didn't feel like I belonged there anymore. It's just not the same. And honestly, I feel pretty alone."

Thalia hummed cheerfully, sharpening her arrow heads. "I see. Well, if you didn't realize, you have a superhero who always got your back. And I mean, who can really beat you with Wonder Woman on your side?"

Percy looked at her, who flashed him a grin. He sighed. "Hey, thanks for…thank you for everything. You've been absolutely amazing, and those comic books get me through the week."

She leaned against a nearby tree, worry swirling in her eyes. She made her arrow heads disappear. Her silvery outline flickered a bit.

That glow, plus her outfit and her quiet beauty made her look like the goddess of Camp Half-Blood.

"That's right. How's Mama Jackson?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled. The breeze whisked through the forest and blew Thalia's long, straight hair to the side.

"She's…doing better. She's been engaging in a lot of self-care. I'm glad though, because Paul and I are on the same page that she needs to relax on doing work for a while. It even seems that Cyrene is on the same page; she hasn't been crying too much. She's been more occupied with figuring out which type of roll is the most effective one to get her to the kitchen."

Thalia smiled and Percy suddenly feel so lonely.

"She's also been trying to get me to ask out this girl."

Thalia's smile melted off her face and a glowering expression had replaced it. Percy explained to her who Carly was and Thalia took out her arrows to sharpen once more.

"She sounds boring."

"Right?! I don't know if I can date someone…normal. Someone who's going to talk to me about sports, sororities, parties, alcohol, papers, grades…it all seems so…"

"Mundane?"

"Yes!"

Percy looked at Thalia, who had a small smile on her face now. She looked away and caught a pink petal that had made its way across the lake. "Well, I'm glad you're not settling."

He grinned. "Me too."

She raised an eyebrow and flicked the petal towards him. "Race you to the end of the forest?"

Percy's heart leapt. He hadn't raced anyone since he and Annabeth. "Sure."

Thalia pursed her lips and stepped forward to pick out the multiple petals that were in his hair from the wedding. "But to make it more interesting, Aquaman, I'm going to have my bow and arrows and I'm going to try to hunt this wolf down."

Percy gave her a devilish grin. "You think you're big and bad with those wolves in your pack, but you messed with the one wolf you can't control."

Thalia matched his expression. "You better start running. You have five seconds."

Percy apologized to Paul and tore off his tuxedo jacket. He untucked his pants, and took off his shoes and socks so he was barefoot. He unbuttoned his shirt so his bare chest was partially exposed, and rolled up his sleeves. He also rolled up his dress pants so they stopped at his knees like makeshift capris. He took off, sprinting through the forest. Adrenaline spiked through his body and Percy felt euphoria. He cried out as he ran. He heard Thalia's first step hit the ground a hundred feet behind him and immediately scaled a tree. From that tree, he began to jump from branch to branch, swinging through the forest like a combination of Tarzan, a monkey, and a wolf.

Thalia was running and shooting arrows as Percy progressed, dodging and avoiding them as they flew towards him at a whistling speed. Percy's petal had a glowing brown outline around it and Percy found both Thalia and himself screaming and laughing the entire time.

The Wolf and the hunter, for once in history, felt at home as they chased each other through the trees.