Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 35: Forgiveness

Camp Half Blood

Annabeth's POV

While Poseidon and Theseus walked behind us talking about Calypso and Triton my mom and I carried Percy into the big house. Percy had been awake, but fell asleep as we left the beach. He was heavy my mom and carried him toward the big house.

"So nice of them to let us carry Percy while they gossiped like Aphrodite girls." I said sarcastically. My mom just smiled and laughed.

"Its ok, they're just happy for Triton, but don't worry I'll make Theseus pay later." Athena said ominously. It was my turn to smile and laugh. We laid Percy on the large sofa in the family room. We walked into the kitchen to find Chiron playing solitaire.

"They're back?" Chiron asked looking up from his cards. My mom and I sat down at the table and joined him.

"Percy is in the family room, he looks exhausted, Theseus and Poseidon should be inside in a moment. Triton is safe he's outside with Calypso at the moment." Athena said. Poseidon and Theseus walked in and joined us at the table. "So are you going to tell us what happened?"

"Sorry, well we found the cabin and were attacked by the Furies, we dispatched one to the underworld, but before we could take out the other two we were attacked by the largest drakon I had ever seen. It was just like the water drakon I faced in Greece, except it was three times larger." Theseus said.

"Yes, this monster bested both Theseus and I." Poseidon said.

"My back still hurts from the smack from its tail." Theseus said as he rubbed his upper back.

"How did you beat it then?" I asked curiously.

"Percy beat the thing all by himself, it was incredible." Theseus said. I was shocked Percy beat a giant water drakon by himself.

"Is that the reason for his exhaustion?" Athena asked.

"Yes, you see he threw Riptide into the creature's eye and when it was distracted he ran to the water and jumped into the lake. Then a few moments later a giant made of water stood in front of the drakon, this giant had to be eighty feet tall." Theseus said.

"This giant was Percy?" Athena asked in disbelief.

"Yes, and when the creature tried to bite him, the giant dissolved into a plume of water that entered the beast's mouth and into the creatures stomach. The next thing we knew the monster was looking at us and then it stopped. Suddenly it started to glow and then the creature dissolved into a wave of water that washed back into the lake. A few minutes later a wave came ashore and there was Percy. He was barely awake and by the time we freed Triton he was asleep." Theseus said. We all sat there in silence, none of us knew what to say.

"Well, Percy's powers have clearly grown, could this have anything to do with his lack of a dark side?" Chiron asked. I saw Poseidon think over that question carefully.

"I believe it does, but I don't know how he could learn how to do this so quickly." Poseidon stated. He was clearly concerned for his son.

"Did he remember anything when he awoke?" Athena asked. I could see her trying to think of an answer with the way her eyes shined.

"No, he said the last thing he remembered was throwing his sword, that's all." Theseus answered.

"I wonder if someone is helping him, the same thing happened with the hell hounds." Athena proposed.

"That's correct he didn't remember destroying that large hell hound either." I confirmed.

"Who could be helping him?" Poseidon asked. I could tell by the looks on everyone's faces that no one had a clue. "Well, so far this help has saved his life and others as well, therefore I will consider this a good thing. I just hope that it stays positive." We all nodded in agreement.

"If you all will excuse me, I want to check on Percy." I said. Everyone nodded as I stood up and walked into the family room. Percy was still asleep on the sofa I kneeled on the floor in front of him and began playing with his now short jet black hair. It took me a while to get use to his short neat hair, but now I found that I liked it.

Percy suddenly stirred under my touch and spoke in his sleep, "My lady I will save you." He's dreaming, who is he talking about? He started to turn back and forth violently and then he screamed, "No!" He bolted straight up almost knocking me over. He was sweating profusely and looked like he just ran a marathon. Everyone who was in the kitchen came into the room looking frantically at Percy.

"What happened?" Poseidon asked.

Percy was sitting up rocking back and forth like he saw the worst thing in the world he was mumbling something, "Have to save her, have to!" I faced Percy and grabbed his shoulders until he stopped rocking and he looked me in the eyes. Suddenly, I saw recognition in his eyes and his eye color brightened.

"Anna Annabeth." He stuttered. His voice was so soft I couldn't take it anymore I hugged him and whispered in his ear that everything would be ok, but of course I was far from sure about that. We finally broke apart and Percy sat up on the sofa. Poseidon came over and sat down beside him. I stood up and walked over to my mom and she hugged me.

"Percy, you had a nightmare, do you remember it?" Poseidon asked. The rest of us looked at them both curiously.

"A little, I was trying to save someone, not sure who, but she was important. I never met her, but I knew she was important to the world to everything." Percy said. His voice was calmer and less frantic than before. He still sounded tired like he needed to sleep for a week.

"Its ok my boy, Annabeth can you help him to my cabin, he needs his rest?" Poseidon asked. Once Poseidon finished talking Nico ran into the big house.

"Triton's back!" Nico yelled. We all looked at him like he was crazy.

"Nico, we know that, who do you think brought him back?" I asked sarcastically.

Nico looked stunned and his face grew red as he realized he asked the stupidest question of the day. "Oh, sorry." He said.

"Nico, please help Annabeth take Percy to my father's cabin." Theseus asked.

"Yes, sir." Nico said as he helped me lift up Percy and we helped carry him to cabin three. We placed Percy in his bed and put him under the blankets. I kissed him on the forehead and we left the cabin quietly as not to wake him.

"What happened to him?" Nico asked curiously. Over the next ten minutes I explained the story that Theseus had told me and by the time I finished Nico's eyes had grown three sizes.

"He did that, its incredible, no wonder he's so tired." Nico said.

"How is Thalia and have you talked some sense into her about Luke?" I asked trying to change the subject. Thanks the gods Nico can take a hint, sometimes.

"She's very stubborn as you know. Well, I might be the son of the lord of the underworld, but I don't have a death wish, so I'm sorry I'm not going to push her." Nico said.

"I guess I will have to go talk to her then." I said. Nico nodded in approval. Her better than me is what he's thinking. He needs to go play with his dead soldiers, I thought bitterly.

"You might have better luck than me." Nico said. You're so brave Nico, he's scared that his girlfriend will fry him no doubt.

"What about the band, Luke's hands are burned and now Percy is exhausted? We need to practice the summer festival is in two days." Nico asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure, but go get Chris and Will, the three of you can practice until Luke and Percy are better." I said. Nico smiled, but I could tell he was still worried about the band. He's worried about the damn band and I get to go have a chat with the lightning wielding brat I call my friend. I'm really sarcastic, well I guess I'm channeling Percy today.

"Ok, I'll get them I guess we can play our parts at least." Nico said as he left to find Chris and Will. I walked to cabin one to find Thalia, I knew she had stayed in her cabin for the past few days. She thought Percy and I had betrayed her because we hadn't totally abandoned Luke. She can be such a hot headed fool I thought Clarisse could be bad. I knocked on her cabin door and waited for a response. Suddenly the door opened and Thalia's eyes narrowed when she saw me.

"What do you want?" She snapped. I could see the lightning flash in her eyes. She's really pissing me off now.

"I need to talk to you." I snapped back. I could tell she was about to slam the door in my face so I did the only thing I could think of I kicked the door hard knocking Thalia to the ground. She looked up at me with surprise in her eyes. She was about to stand up to attack me, but I was tired of her stupidity I charged forward and pushed her back to edge of one of her bunks and held my dagger to her throat. "Now you're going to listen to me and you better listen good, got it?" I could see anger, desperation and yes, even some fear in her eyes, but I was way beyond caring at this point. I held the dagger closer to her throat until she nodded slightly. "I know Luke said some terrible things on the ship and he is sorry, but your dumb ass won't hear any of it. The titans have tried to kill him twice and now he's in the infirmary, but do you care, no. You'd rather sit here in this cabin and be pissed at the world. I saw how happy you were when we found Luke, just because he came back to be with you and then got upset when he found that you moved on, you go all hateful and decide to hate anyone else associated with him. Come on Thals, you need to hear him out. He doesn't hate you, none of us do, but I'm tired of your behavior. There have been things going on that we could have used your help with, but no you were too angry and petty to swallow that anger and help. I've never been more ashamed to call you my friend than I am right now." I said out of breath from my yelling and the long speech. Thalia looked at me and I saw the hatred subside from her eyes and then I saw tears flow down her cheeks. I removed my dagger from her throat and hugged her.

"I'm sorry Annabeth, I was just so angry with what he said. At one time I would have loved that he came back to be with me, but that was before Nico. I love Luke like a brother, but that's all." Thalia said as she cried into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry that I had to be so rough with you, but anger is your fatal flaw like many children of Zeus, this was the only way I could think of to get through to you." I said sincerely. Thalia stopped crying and I helped her wipe her tears away. We both stood up and walked to the door of her cabin. "Let's go see Luke." Thalia nodded in agreement.

Before we left her cabin Thalia turned to me and gave me an evil smirk. "If you ever hold a dagger to my throat again, I'll fry your butt." Thalia said. I laughed and put my arm around her.

"I got it, it won't happen again." I said as we walked to the infirmary arm in arm. On the way to the infirmary I explained everything that happened from the two attacks, to the band, to Calypso's betrayal, to Triton's capture and rescue, and of course Percy's current condition.

"Damn, next time I act all mad and stupid remind me of these past couple of days. I did miss one Hades of a fun time." Thalia said shaking her head. I just rolled my eyes at her comment. We finally made it to the infirmary. I saw Austin and asked him to direct us to Luke's room. We finally made it to his room, but when we entered he wasn't there. The bed wasn't made, so he had to still be in the infirmary. I had an idea.

"Thals, follow me I think I know where he is." I said as I looked around at the other rooms until I saw a medical chart by the door of one room, the chart had the name Dare on it. Thalia looked at me wide eyed. We slowly opened the door and peaked inside. Luke was sitting by Rachel's bed speaking to her softly. Rachel was in a coma based on what the chart said. She had suffered terrible burns when she tried to save Luke. Rachel and I had been friends for the past few years ever since Percy and I got together. I had never been more proud or worried for her since I've know her. She saved Luke's life, but got herself terribly injured in the process. She wasn't a demigod so she would have to heal on her own mostly, although I knew that Apollo would use his powers as well as some magic to help her. I knocked lightly on the door and Luke turned to see us. When he saw Thalia his eyes grew wide and he smiled at both of us. I could feel Thalia smile in return. He stood up and walked out of Rachel's room. We closed her door and then Thalia hugged Luke almost instantly.

"I'm sorry Thals I didn't mean any of those terrible things I said." Luke said as Thalia cried into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry that I got so mad and ignored you and the rest of my friends. You and Annabeth are my brother and sister, you know that, right?" Thalia asked.

"Yes" Luke and I both said at the same time. Thalia and Luke separated. Thalia looked at Luke's bandaged arm and hands.

"Now mister you get back to your room and lay down." Thalia ordered. Luke nodded and smiled as we escorted him to his room. He got back into his bed and we covered him up, his eyelids looked heavy, I knew he was tired.

"Thank you for visiting me, both of you." Luke said wearily. Thalia and I both kissed him on the cheek. He fell asleep with a smile on his face. Thalia and I walked out of the infirmary, I directed her to the ocean I knew the band would be practicing there.

"Why are we going to the ocean?" Thalia asked.

"Well, the band will be practicing there. I thought you might want to see Nico." I said with a grin.

"Hey, he's a big boy he doesn't need me to keep him out of trouble." Thalia said.

"No, but I think his girlfriend needs him to keep her out of trouble." I said sarcastically.

Thalia laughed and put her arm around me and squeezed tightly. "Maybe I do, but if you tell him you're eating shield." Thalia said ominously.

I raised my hands in defeat. "I promise I won't tell." I said as I began to laugh, it felt so good having Thalia back as my friend, I missed her a lot. As we approached the beach I saw the door to the boathouse was open. We walked inside and I saw Chris playing the drums, Will was playing his guitar and Nico was playing the keyboard. I saw Thalia smile brightly when she saw Nico.

"Hey, over here." I heard someone say. Thalia and I turned to see Terra sitting on a long bench watching the band. She motioned for us to join her. I walked over and hugged her and she shook Thalia's hand.

"Glad you could join us Thalia, maybe Nico will play better now." Terra said sarcastically.

"So he's been stinking up the joint." Thalia quipped.

"He seemed preoccupied and worried." Terra conceded. I wonder why?

"Well, he sounds pretty good now." I said as I listened to him play. Thalia and Terra both nodded in agreement. Then I remembered our current problem. "One problem, the band is supposed to play at the camp's summer festival in two days." Terra and Thalia both looked at me curiously.

"What's the problem?" Thalia asked curiously.

"Well the lead singer and the bass guitarist are both out of commission." I said. Put it this way Terra and Thalia said the same thing I was thinking (AN: A not so good word.) at that time then I added, "They're so screwed."

Can Luke and Percy somehow recover in time to play in two days or will the band be short two members? Definitely not a good start for the band's first gig, well when the gods are involved miracles can happen.