A/N: Oooouuuueeerrrr! A new one-shot by Ailat! How exciting! We all just luuurrrrvvveee Ailat!

This is what should be going through your mind. If it isn't…well, there's not much I can do about it. I could have G go kill you, but that seems a tad…extreme…

Anyways…This one-shot is entitled A Typical Life After A Near Death Experience.

(Again) Oooouuuueeerrrr! What does that mean? What will happen? Will Ailat ever stop needing Spell-Check to save her butt every time she spells "Entitled" wrong?

(If you haven't noticed, she's in a bit of a chipper mood. I'm not sure why though…Maybe it has to do with the five billion Hershey Kisses she just had…)

As I was saying… A Typical Life After A Near Death Experience. Here's the summery:

It's been a year. A year since the Titans attacked. And camp is so… different. The old campers who lived through the war (and let me tell you, there aren't many of them) are just starting to relax, but are plagued by sadness for their cousins. The new campers (and there's, like, a bazillion of them) are mostly confused, but starting to get it. And I guess that's how life typically is after a near death experience.

Fun, eh? This is just a little guy about the next summer after the Last Olympian. And now, to end my freakishly long AN…

Percy's POV

"I am dead serious Perseus Jackson."

When a girl of about 7 says that, standing on her tip-toes to try to get in your face while also attempting to have a look that could kill on her face, it's hard not to crack up.

But there stood Bree, doing all of those with me struggling to keep a straight face.

Making my endeavor a bit harder were two facts. One, a few seconds previous, I'd already been laughing my head off; two, Kyle was off in a corner cracking up and even Nichole was smiling.

Maybe I should explain.

It's been a year since I got rid of Kronos. And the Olympians had definitely kept their promise.

Kids had poured into camp left and right. And the best thing about it was that there were only about three kids in the Hermes cabin who weren't Hermes children. In a few days, I knew those ones would be gone and getting used to life in their new cabin, the one designated to their Olympian parent.

And I had some siblings.

First to show up was Bree. She had extremely straight black hair and almost sparkling green eyes. Seven years old, the girl was four feet of pure defiance. But at the same time, she was seven years old and full of fear.

Seriously, the girl was afraid of everything. Spiders, heights, small spaces, most monsters, dirty dishes, even (and this one I did not understand in the slightest) octopi.

She was a daughter of the Sea God, and she couldn't stand the thought of anything mildly squid-like. She would shudder and cringe and mentally tell it to "go away or else" in a shaky yet bold "voice". I found myself as her only comfort after such ordeals. I had to play the role of mother (or at least big brother) and I had no clue how. It didn't help that the girl was terrified of every human that wasn't me.

At least she had an excuse.

Bree had grown up in an extremely abusive household. Her mother was always drunk. Her stepfather hated her and told her that all people want is to hurt you and proved that by paying his friends to come and beat her and he treated her like a slave. When her mother was even slightly sober, he would quickly pour her another glass and she would take it.

Her fears (except for the octopi) were all were because of bad experiences with her stepfather. The spiders? He had once kept her in the attic when his boss came over and the place was crawling with huge ones. She was only four. The heights? Once, she had tried to defy her stepfather and he had tied her to the beam on the roof of their house facing downwards with really loose knots for a week. She couldn't move without sliding closer to the ground. And it was a high roof. That's when she was six. And the worst one: just before she was told the truth, in a drunken rage, he killed her mother in front of her. The list of atrocities went on and on. When I made my father recognize his other children, he took one look at her and killed her stepfather for treating her like trash and killing the woman he had loved. Poseidon helped Bree get to camp.

Bree only trusted me because Poseidon had told her that I was her brother. She had apparently always had a dream of having an older brother or sister to stand up for her. She told me every moment of her life, everything she could remember. And from that day on, she clung to my side. Except when I went out of the cabin.

No matter what I told her, she refused to leave our cabin. I had to bring her food because she refused to move from her bunk whenever I mentioned it. She'd been getting a little braver day by day when Nichole and Kyle showed up.

Nichole and Kyle were eleven year old twins. Kyle was older by 5 minutes, but he didn't act like it. The two of them were closer than anything. Nichole, with her wavy hair that looked like she had just had it up in a bajillion braids and pale green eyes, didn't talk a whole lot, or express that many emotions. Kyle talked for her. And he always knew exactly what she wanted him to say. Apparently, they'd been found by a satyr named Trevor in Maryland. On the way up to NY, they had run into the Hunters. Thalia was determined to get Nichole, but Nichole fervently denied them, saying that being a hunter meant leaving her brother. And they had left as soon as possible.

But as soon as they got here, Bree took one look at Nichole and ran to her and hugged her fiercely. And Nichole and hugged her back. And the role of "Mother" had been handed over to, you know, a girl. That was the only time I ever saw Nichole say anything or show any emotion. She clearly loved the girl immediately and protected her. Now, when Bree got scared, she'd run to Nichole and Nichole would scoop the tiny girl up and put herself between Bree and whatever she was scared of. Bree listened to Nichole a lot more than she had listened to me and Nichole had managed to get her to come outside once and a while and soon, Bree got used to the people at camp.

Speaking of putting themselves in between others and danger, that's exactly what Kyle would do. He was almost completely opposite of his sister, except in looks. He was a fighter, his best weapon being the sword. But he could get by in most other weapons. Nichole had a wickedly sharp knife that she kept in the combat boots that she always wore, but it hardly ever saw action. Kyle would get between his sister and any monster. Between the two twins, Bree was as safe as anything. Kyle talked and laughed often, and let me tell you, the boy was hilarious. He could tell a joke at the drop of a hat. He had a lot of friends at camp, but he mostly stuck around Nichole, when she came out of the cabin with Bree.

And they weren't the only new campers.

Like I said earlier, campers were pouring in. Some would come in quietly and blend harmoniously into camp life. Others had a hard time believing the truth and tried to avoid most of us. And others came in with a bang and were known for it.

For example: Elysia White.

She's a daughter of Zeus (and her name means "struck by lightning". How ironic. Unless her mom did that on purpose…) who arrived audaciously enough. One moment, there was nothing atop Half Blood Hill, next to Thalia's Tree. The next, a flash of lightning and there was a girl with jet black hair pulled back in a pony tail and gleaming electric blue eyes. She wore black combat boots, a leather jacket, a white t-shirt, and jeans. She was tall, at least 5' 8", looked to be about 15, and very slender. And very wet.

Because at the moment, she was standing underneath her very own raincloud.

When she had showed up, she looked up at it, cursed in Ancient Greek, and flicked her finger at the cloud. It dissolved into nothingness, leaving a slight smell of ozone. Then she had marched down to the Big House and straight to Chiron. She introduced herself, Olympian parent and all, and told him her story. This didn't consist of much more than the fact that she'd been stuck in the Lotus Casino for the past 30 years, but she made it seem extremely important. He'd nodded and shown her to her cabin and five minutes later, the whole cabin was shaking from the music she was blasting. The next day, she insisted everyone called her Zia.

But on the other hand were the kids who just…showed up. They'd walk across the border (occasionally with a couple monsters on their tail), Chiron would show them to their cabins (If they'd been claimed) or he'd explain and they'd just…fade into camp.

Like Gavin Bythe.

One day, he shows up with a satyr and the next, he's walking around camp like he's been there for years. There was nothing else to say about the kid. He was an average looking child of Athena. He was nice. That was it.

But I'm rambling now.

Today I'd been snickering when I woke to Bree shrieking because she'd seen a baby squid in the ocean that morning. She'd looked at me with what was supposed to be a death glare and delivered the aforementioned sentence.

"I'm dead serious, Perseus Jackson."

"Sorry, Bree." I said, hoping (naively) that that would sooth her wounded pride. That another thing about Bree. She acts so tough all the time, and if you catch her in a weak moment, you're in for hell from her about it.

She hmphed and turned around and plunked onto her bunk. I chuckled again.

"Come on guys. Breakfast." I said, turning towards the cabin entrance.

We walked out and headed to the mess hall. The others were headed out too, and Bree was practically glued to Nichole's back. I saw Annabeth and flashed a smile at her. She blushed a little and smiled back.

There were bunches of kids here, all just getting out of their cabins. I could just see kids coming back from the archery range, Zia boasting loudly about her almost-bullseye. Campers came from the woods, the climing walls and I couldn't help but think: It's been a year. A year since the Titans attacked. And camp is so… different. The old campers who lived through the war (and let me tell you, there aren't many of them) are just starting to relax, but are plagued by sadness for their cousins. The new campers (and there's, like, a bazillion of them) are mostly confused, but starting to get it. And I guess that's how life typically is after a near death experience.

A/N: Hehe, see my sneaky-put-the-summery-in-the-story thing? I'm so glad to finally get this thing out of the ka-freaking way! I've been working on it since…well, I don't know how long. Ask Aliexia. She'd probably know, since I started when I was Skyeping her. (:

Much love

Ailat