Happy December 8th to you all, 16 days until Christmas (i think, if I did the math right) !

a little bit more Percabeth and a dash of Reyna in this chapter.

Happy reading :)

A very Percy Jackson Advent

December 8th

Percy sat on the floor of the stables, staring down through the glass door on the bottom of the Argo II. Despite everything he'd been through, watching the sea pass by beneath them always made him feel even marginally better. Though he'd never say anything, he hated it when the only choice was to fly the ship; being in the air still terrified him so he was glad that they'd decided to sail the ship on water today. Through his personal discomfort of being in the air, he could easily spot Jason's discomfort from being in the sea. It seemed it didn't matter how they travelled, they couldn't be happy at the same time.

Sitting in the stable made him think of Blackjack. He missed that Pegasus more than he could admit. He missed a lot of things and people. Mrs O'Leary, Bob, Small Bob, his mom and Paul. It seemed like a life time ago that he'd sat down at his mom's kitchen table and eaten blue cookies, that part of him felt so distant now.

"There you are," Annabeth sighed in relief. Percy looked up and smiled as she came to sit down beside him. "What are you doing down here? They're playing Christmas cookie roulette up there."

"Just thinking," Percy replied. "What's the bad cookie, Spice or coffee?"

"According to Leo its Cyclopes spit," Annabeth shuddered.

"Gross."

"I know, that's why I came looking for you," Annabeth explained. "What're you thinking about?"

Percy shrugged. "Oh you know... things."

Annabeth took his hand into her own. "I miss everyone too."

-0-

Frank sat across from Leo, determined to beat him. He purposefully reached out his hand and picked up a cookie and, with the best poker face he could conjure, took a bite. "Chocolate chip," he announced with a sigh of relief.

There was now only two cookies left, it was 50/50 chance that Leo would pick up the bad cookie. "Whose stupid idea was it to play this game anyway?" he asked.

Jason clapped him on the back. "It was you, idiot."

Leo sighed and, with a shrug picked up a cookie. Calypso was quickly running out of fingernails to bite and Nico actually sat forward in anticipation as Leo brought the cookie toward his mouth. "I can't do it!" Leo exclaimed, putting the cookie down in defeat. "Congrats, Frank, you win this one."

"Aw, you can't just leave the game like that, someone has to win and they have to win properly!" Nico said.

Piper and Leo gawked at him; they'd never heard him say more than a few muttered words and there he was shouting at them over a silly little game.

"Fine," Leo said, still slightly in shock. He picked up the cookie and took a huge bite out of it. His whole body relaxed as he finished chewing. "Caramel."

"Damn," Nico muttered.

Only frank heard him and almost choked on the cookie he was still nibbling on. "Dude, don't do that when I'm eating."

Nico pulled off the perfect pantomime of innocence whilst everyone else stared at Frank in confusion.

"You're still playing those stupid games?" Reyna asked as she strode into the room in full armour. "There is still a war going on, isn't two days of Christmas movies enough rest for you?"

"Christmas cookie Roulette," Leo said matter-of-factly, "is a test of strategy and risk taking. I wouldn't call it 'stupid'."

"Actually, Leo," Hazel said, "You just called it a stupid game not two minutes ago."

Leo dramatically put his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet. "You know you could pull that stick outa your backside and just join in the fun. Look, even Nico's joining in," he told Reyna.

Nico looked down, not wanting to be the centre of attention.

Reyna ignored Leo's comment and stared at Jason. "I thought you at least would see how pathetic these games are and realise that we actually have work to be doing."

Jason shrugged. "I don't know, Reyna. There's not much we can do; we deserve a little rest."

Reyna, unwilling to repeat herself, retreated to her cabin to continue training, as she had been every day, without another word.

"You're supposed to be regaining your strength!" Jason called after her but his words fell on deaf ears and her step didn't falter.

"Maybe she's right," Frank admitted. "She's not Praetor for nothing, she knows how to handle these situations and maybe we should be training as well as celebrating."

Leo shrugged. "Ah, Chiron would be so proud. We can have a merry Christmas and still win a war."

Calypso grinned. "Oh Leo, you're always the optimist."

expa: I may have the Christmas jumpers make more guest appearances in future chapters too... maybe. Thanks for reviewing :)

kat'n'kat: thanks! I think I needed that good luck, I felt a little bit more creative today :D

ddddddd: Thanks for the cookies :) and the review

Ana-DaughterofHades: Glad you like it, thanks for reviewing. Keep reading x

butterflygirly99: Thank you x I'm glad you like it :)

Aly kitten: I love Nico so much! He and Leo are my favorite fictional characters ever :D

LeeOfHermes0330: I had a little bit of everyone in this chapter... I hope I didn't miss anyone... Do you think I should maybe get Coach hedge out of his room?

Ginny: I don't hate Reyna, I'm just not a big fan of the character and because of that I don't feel comfortable writing her in case I get her character wrong, also, she's been through a lot what with crossing the pacific alone so I can't see her joining in with all the festivities. Also, I haven't wrote these chapters as one-shots, I suppose it doesn't matter how you perceive them but I wrote them with the idea that they were all part of the same story... thanks for the review xx

**You've been hypnotized! Now you must tel me all of your thoughts about this chapter!**

see you tomorrow x