Sup people! McShizzle here. To the reviewers, thank you so much! It means a lot! Do keep it up and review this chapter as well!

And, I know a lot of the things in this chapter are false. If they are, by some miracle, correct, then hurray! Otherwise, just go with it.

Percy

I was walking home after a memorable swim practice, my body still a little wet, my jeans and T-shirt sticking to me a bit. I regretted not taking my coat. It was the middle of December. Poseidon – Dad – said that if I continued like this, I'd end up in the Olympics.

My dad wasn't walking home with me. Why? My mom and him had me and then separated because he had to focus on his career – sailing, whereas Mom just wanted to stay home, take care of me, and go to work. So, they separated with no hard feelings in between them. In fact, I doubt they still did have feelings for each other.

I reached home after a while. I looked up at the five storey brown building in front of me. Mine was on the third floor, the third one to the right, the one with the fire exit attached to it. I usually climbed up the fire exit up to the top of the roof to enjoy some fresh air before coming down and entering through the window into our apartment. Today, though, I didn't feel like it.

I marched straight up to the third floor, taking the stairs two at a time. I reached the top and pushed the window up and came in, the stench of smoke hardly bothering me. I'd gotten years of practice.

It didn't look like Gabe Ugliano - my bitch step-father - was home. Probably went out to buy some more liquor.

I called Mom.

'Sally here,' rang out her voice.

'Hey mom,' I said, and I swear I could feel her smile all the way from the other side.

'Percy! Where are you?'

'I'm home,' I told her.

'Oh. Well, I'll be home in ten minutes. Can't leave you alone with Gabe.'

'Mom, stay and work. We need the money. Also, Gabe isn't home, and I can deal with him even if he was. Oh, and by the way, I asked Dad if I could start coaching, and he said that I could take the morning classes. Things are starting to look up.'

I heard a sigh, followed by, 'Okay, fine.'

'Bye. Love you,' I said.

'Bye hon,' she said, before cutting the line. I then took a look around my apartment. It looked as it had for the past few years of my life. The main hall held a poker table where Smelly Gabe and his stupid goons played and drank beer all day, and a TV.

I went over to the kitchen, which was on the right side of the hallway opposite to the window, to get something to eat. I got a plate of cookies and an apple, then went into my room and got my laptop and sat down at my desk.

I was getting a piece of paper from my drawer, when a picture fell out. I picked it up, and smiled. It was from when I was 12 years old, with my best friend at that time, Annabeth Chase. She'd moved to San Francisco and right before her scheduled arrival two years later, when we were supposed to have fun since we were seeing each other again after two years. I hadn't seen her since.

I knocked myself out of the nostalgic moment into the present. I opened my e-mail to find a few messages from Grover. I checked it out, and it said that they were at Le Parker Meridien and were waiting for me. I checked the time it was sent. 6:00 pm.

I looked at my watch. 6:30 pm. I grabbed my coat, the car keys, and ran out of the apartment. I was just getting into my car, when I saw Gabe coming over.

'Where are you taking the car, punk?' he said, his voice gruff, his breath reeking of beer as he came up to me.

'I'm going to see some friends,' I replied, unflinching. I'd never had fear towards him, just hate. Now was no different.

He grinned, his teeth yellow from not brushing and whatever the hell else he's doing. 'Well,' he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, 'I hope that blonde girl from ten years ago is gonna be there. Man, her cheeks were so fluffy, I couldn't stop myself from slapping the shit out of it.'

I'd never snapped. I had been worried for my mom. She was the one who'd get the punishment. I'd learned to control. But, in that moment, when he teased me about a friend from my childhood who I missed every day, passed through my mind every day, who he hit when she tried to defend me, who might not even be alive, I snapped.

I grabbed him by the collar, pushing him up against the car. I began to punch him. One, two, three, I lost count. My anger, my worry, my troubles, all of them came pouring out in a powerful rush. I stopped to catch my breath, and was faced with an even uglier and bruised up Gabe.

'Listen, you little sack of crap. The only reason you're alive is because of me and my mom. The only reason you're not begging on the streets like you were born to do is because of us. We brought you into our house. We let you live. But guess what? That. Stops. Now.'

I shoved him to the ground, where he lay, battered and bruised. I began to kick him, right on his head. It hit the grey and cracked pavement. When I finally stopped, his head was bleeding, his eyes closed. He probably lost consciousness, I thought.

For a moment, I thought about taking him back inside and washing his face and giving him some first aid. But then I came to senses. I looked at my watch. It said 6:40 pm. I called up Frank.

'Hey, where are you? We're almost done with our food-'

'Frank,' I said, cutting her off, 'I need you guys to come to my house. Quick.'

'Uh, okay? What's going o-' I cut him off again, disconnecting the line.

Ten minutes later, they had arrived in Jason's car. Jason, Reyna, Nico, Frank and Hazel immediately saw Gabe's body, and his disgusting existence was met with a gag from Hazel, a 'Finally!' from Reyna and Nico, and a casual 'What'd he do?' from Jason.

Frank came over and checked his pulse. 'I can barely feel it. We've got to get him to a hospital.'

'Yeah, but don't you think we should beat him up a bit more?' Reyna said.

'Why? He's pretty much dead already,' Hazel said, before going back to gagging.

'Well, because he's an A-hole, that's why,' Jason said.

'Nah, let's take him to a hospital, I've already beaten the hell out of him,' I said.

'Whatever you say,' Nico said, and called Will Solace, his boyfriend (Also, he's homosexual. Forgot to mention it).

Within 4 minutes, the ambulance came over. Will jumped out and saw Gabe's body, and immediately whooped.

'Yes! This is awesome!' he exclaimed, being every bit the excited little puppy he is. We helped him get Gabe onto the stretcher, and the ambulance sped off, leaving us to get in the cars and follow.

Hazel and Frank came in my car, while Jason, Reyna and Nico went in Jason's.

We reached the hospital moments after the ambulance, from where we followed the stretcher all the way to the Casualty, where they drew the curtains and left us to wait.

We waited for quite some time, during which time I called Mom to let her know what happened.

'What do you think will happen?' Jason asked just as the doctor came over.

'Well, he's stable, but he's hurt pretty bad. How'd he get hurt that badly? Did he get into a fight?'

'Kind of. I'm the one who hit him,' I said, flinching a bit.

'Sir, why?' he asked, obviously confused.

'Because, that man in there hits his mother,' Nico said.

'Sir, you're supposed to file a case for that, not hit him,' the doctor said.

'Yeah, well, kinda got caught up in the moment,' I said.

Mom came right that moment. He said he'd need to see if Gabe really did hit her. When he got enough evidence, he filed a case with the police.

Gabe regained consciousness after around three hours, at which time the police notified him about the case.

After his head injury was more or less treated and covered, he was taken to the police station, where he asked for a lawyer.

The lawyer who came was a skinny guy, who had blonde hair. He wore a suit, as most lawyers did.

He came up to us and asked, 'Are you the people I'm up against?'

'You here for Gabe?' Jason asked, and the lawyer nodded.

'Well, in that case, yes, I'm who you're up against,' I said.

'Ah, always a pleasure to meet the enemy,' he said, his sarcastic smile so teasing.

'You don't have a chance,' Frank said, 'There's too much evidence.'

'Well, I'm a lawyer, aren't I? I'm smooth with my words,' he said, stretching his hand out and saying, 'I'm Octavian. And you are?'

I took his hand, returning an equally sarcastic smile. 'Percy Jackson.'

He smirked and entered the interrogation room.

Frank came up to me. 'Where's Sally?' he asked, and I said, 'I told her to go home. Get some sleep.' Frank nodded.

Ten minutes later, the door opened, and out came Octavian, followed by Gabe. Gabe sent me an angry look, which I returned.

Octavian turned to us. 'Well, we'll meet at the hearing on third of January, Percy,' he said, contempt in his voice, before turning and taking.

'That's a week away,' Reyna said.

'Yeah, we need a lawyer,' Nico said.

'Is Bianca available?' I asked Nico, who shook his head no.

'She's too busy with her "Hunters Of Artemis" stuff,' he said.

'Well, anyone you guys know?'

Jason raised his hand.

'Dude, you can talk, you don't have to raise your hand,' Frank said.

'Yeah, well, my ex from college is a lawyer,' Jason said.

I smiled. 'That's great! Can you call her tomorrow?'

'Sure.'

We parted ways after that. I dropped Hazel and Frank off at their homes.

Hazel lived with Nico and Bianca di Angelo. Bianca was a successful lawyer, who I had a little… history with. Bianca was pretty successful, and managed to provide for Nico, Hazel and herself.

I saw Bianca as we dropped Hazel. She smiled when she saw me, and I waved back. We didn't really talk much nowadays, but our relationship wasn't messy. She was just too busy.

We left to drop Frank off, and we argued over which one is better – "The Lion King" or "Beauty and the Beast". I voted "The Lion King".

I won, and I stopped in front of Frank's house.

'Aren't you coming in for a sandwich, Percy?' Emily Zhang - Frank's mom – asked.

'Nah, I'll eat from home, Mrs. Zhang,' I replied. I waved goodbye at Frank, then drove home.

I reached home and got to the top of the apartment, the wind ripping at my coat, making it fly in the wind. I got up on the ledge, as I always did, and spread my hands.

The feeling I felt was hard to describe, but I'll try. Imagine just being completely fed up with life, coming home, locking the doors, and just going into a corner where you feel safe, and happy. That's somewhat how it felt up there.

After a while, I got down and went down into the apartment, where I went into my Mom's room, and found her sleeping in the horrible bed she and Gabe used to share.

'Mom,' I said, waking her. She blinked her eyes, then saw me, and smiled.

'Ah, you're here. Let me just get your dinner…' she said, getting up, but I stopped her.

'No, that's okay.'

'Okay,' she said before drifting off to sleep, but I stopped her from sleeping and said, 'You know what? Screw this bed. It has Gabe all over it. Come on, let's go to my room.'

She didn't even protest. She got up and came over into the room, where she got into the bed, pulled the covers, and immediately dozed off.

I went into the living room, where I sprayed a little fragrance before lying down on the couch, the day's events swirling through my mind. So much had happened in 5 hours.

Soon enough, I let sleep engulf me, and dozed off into a dreamless sleep.

The next day, we met Piper McLean.

Jason called me at noon and let me know that Piper wanted to meet. We had arranged to meet her with Jason at Le Parker Meridien at 5:00 pm.

I picked Jason up at 4:45, taking our time to get to the restaurant.

We reached there just a minute or two before Piper did. Seeing Jason, she smiled and gave him a hug, which he returned. She then said hello to me and we shook hands.

'So, what's the case?' she asked once we sat down.

'Well, my step-father for ten years, Gabe, used to hit my mom,' I told her, and her surprised and angry face reassured the fact that she would help us.

'Oh, my God, that's terrible! Alright, I'm in. What else happened?'

'Well, yesterday, when he taunted me, I just kinda snapped, and beat him up. We got evidence that he hit her, but this one slimeball lawyer managed to get him a hearing six days later. So, here we are,' I finished.

'Okay. Nothing else?' she asked.

'Nope,' I replied, just as our sandwiches arrived.

'Do you have tacos?' she asked the waitress, who replied yes.

'Can you get me a take-away of two of them?' she asked. The waitress nodded, and went away.

'Who are you getting them for?' Jason asked Piper, his mouth filled with a mixture of sandwich and salivary amylase.

'Haven't changed your eating habits, I see,' she said, 'And as for your question, it's for my roommate and boyfriend. He loves tacos.'

'Ah. What's his name?' Jason asked.

Piper smiled. 'Leo Valdez.' Jason dropped his sandwich onto the plate.

'No. Way,' he managed. She smiled, replying, 'Yes way,' just as the waitress came back with her take-away.

'I'm coming with you. I've got to meet Leo. You coming?' he asked, to which I replied, 'Nah, you guys go ahead.'

They got up, and I signaled the waitress to get the bill. Piper, seeing the waitress coming, put a twenty dollar bill on the table and told me, 'For my tacos and sandwich. No cheating.'

She smiled, and I smiled back, after which she and Jason left. I told her to separate the bill, and paid off Piper's tacos and sandwich, then paid for the sandwiches for me and Jason, then left.

I got into the car, and sat there for a while, listening to the radio, before driving home.

'Mom, I'm home,' I said as I walked into the house. She came out of the kitchen, smiling, and I said, 'Hey, wanna go for a movie?'

She seemed unsure for a moment, saying, 'But dinner…'

'We'll eat outside,' I said, and she finally gave in.

I wanted to watch "Captain America: Civil War", but she insisted that we watch "Finding Dory", considering the fact that I loved "Finding Nemo".

Eventually, I agreed and we bought our tickets, got the popcorn, and entered the cinema hall.

I didn't like it as much as the original. In fact, the climax was like a copy of the one in "Finding Nemo". How: Lost person gets reunited with parent(s), and then has to go save a bunch of other fish with a cool sidekick you like more than the main character.

I kept telling Mom that it wasn't good, but she kept smiling, saying, 'You still like it, don't you?'

You know that you can't lie to your mothers for long, right?

We had dinner, where nothing eventful happened. On the way, I stopped by the store and bought a mattress. Mom was confused, but everything became clear when we got home, where I took the mattress of the bed in her room, replaced it with the new one, then took the old one with the troubling and horrible memories downstairs to burn, which, to tell you the truth, I enjoyed. As I watched it burn, I imagined Gabe standing in the fire, screaming, "You little punk!"at me as he burned. I smiled, and burned my little figment of imagination with the best ever final dialogue, 'Screw you, jerk.'

I know, I know, I'm awesome.

The next few days were a complete blur. I and Mom had to meet Piper and the others every day. Piper told the two of us exactly what to say in front of the judge, just how to answer the questions she asked us, and to not be troubled or intimidated by Gabe's lawyer.

When the day finally came, Mom got hit with nerves.

'What if I say the wrong thing?' she kept worrying.

'You'll do fine, Ms. Jackson,' Frank reassured her. Apart from me, he was the only one with a mom, and the only other one who understood "mom things".

Finally, my dear old Sally Jackson managed to steel her nerves, and went into the courtroom.

The judge, a balding man with a potbelly and mustache who looked suspiciously like Horace Slughorn, came into the room first, followed by the jury.

We left Frank, Hazel, Jason and the others with the spectators, and went and sat on the table to the left. I sat beside Piper, and Mom sat on the extreme left.

Then, in came Octavian in his suit and smug smile, followed by Gabe, as ugly as ever. They sat on the table to the right, with no third person in view.

I leaned back in my chair, just far enough to see Gabe looking at us with the utmost loathing in his face. I glared right back, noticing the fact that his eye still hadn't completely healed, and was still swollen. That made me happy.

Then, the drama began. Mom was asked to step into the witness stand. Octavian stood up, and began to ask her questions.

'Are you Sally Jackson?'

For a moment, she stuttered, before calming down, and replying, 'Yes.'

He nodded. 'And you are married to Gabe Ugliano?'

Once again, she replied, 'Yes.'

Once more, he nodded. 'Your case, is that he has been abusing you?'

'Yes.'

'How long have you been married?'

'Ten years.'

'And when did he start showing aggression?'

'Nine years ago, when he lost his job.'

He nodded yet again, and I had to resist the urge to scream, "Are you a bobble head?!".

'Do you dislike him?'

'More than anything.'

'Explain what sorts of ill-treatments he performed.'

'He…' she said, and then her face became confused, as if she were wondering where her memories went.

Octavian smirked.

'That's all, Your Honor,' he said, and went back to his seat.

Then, Piper stood.

She went up to the Judge and gave him the evidence pictures of bruises and wounds.

She then proceeded to question my mom.

'Please, explain how the defendant ill-treated you.'

This time, Mom's face didn't go blank, and I secretly thanked God.

'He would hit me. In every situation. If he didn't like the food, he'd hit me at night. When I came home from work after refusing the double shift because I was too tired, he would hit me. If I refused to bring him alcohol, if I laughed or cried, if I comforted and spent time with my son, he would hit me. He would hit me.'

The room was silent for a while.

Piper said, 'That's all, Your Honor.'

Next, Gabe was called on to the witness stand.

Piper questioned him, 'You are Gabe Ugliano?'

He nodded, his expression never wavering from pissed off.

'You are married to Sally Jackson?'

He nodded once again.

'Did you abuse Sally Jackson?'

He remained silent. Piper moved forward. 'I asked you a question, sir,' she said, her voice trembling with anger (and probably from the stink he was emanating).

He moved forward towards her, but she didn't move.

'Why do you care if I beat the hell out of my dumb, stupid, ugly, wife?' he asked, and Piper visibly clenched her fists. Octavian slapped his head, probably wondering what he was thinking when he took this case.

'Because,' she said, gritting her teeth, 'I think you are a disgusting excuse for a man, a human, or even a living being. I think you deserve to rot in jail. I think you deserve to be tortured to death. I care because you are hurting someone physically, scarring them mentally with no regard for the consequences. I care because she is a good person, and doesn't deserve your ill-treatment in the very least.'

We won it so easily that I thought I was dreaming. The bailiff took Gabe away. We were celebrating with the others when Octavian came over to me.

'I- I'm sorry. I made a mistake,' he said, his face full of regret.

I smiled. 'It's okay.'

He nodded. 'I think I'll take off now. Goodbye, Jackson,' he said as he left the courtroom.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to find Piper smiling at me. I smiled back, and hugged her. She seemed pretty stunned, but returned the hug, realizing it as friendly. We separated, and I said, 'Thank you. Thank you so much.'

'Don't mention it,' she said.

Just then, my phone rang.

'Uh, gimme one second,' I said as I stepped aside and answered the call. It was from the guy who owned the apartment.

'Hello?'

'Yes, this is Mr. Jackson?'

'Uh, yeah.'

'I'm calling to notify that you're behind on your rent by three months. I warned you about this before, but didn't take any action. Now, I will. One of you has to move out.'

Then the line went dead.

I relayed my problem to the others.

Mom, being the amazing person that she is, offered to move out, but I told her that no way would she do that unless we had a proper place to go to.

That's when Piper came in. 'Uh, my friend's boyfriend just moved out, and she's looking for a roommate, so… maybe I could ask her.'

I thought about it. 'Yeah. Yeah, okay. You have my number, right?'

'Yup,' she replied, 'I'll call when the deal is done.'

I went home, not even trying to argue with the landowner. I just went up to the roof. I stood there, looking out over the little bit of New York from there. I climbed on the ledge, as usual, and just enjoyed the view.

Later, I went downstairs, and packed my bags. I didn't get a call from Piper the whole day.

The next day, as I was eating my breakfast, I got a call from an unknown number.

I answered the phone.

'Hello?' I said into the phone.

'Uh, hi. You're a…friendof Piper McLean's, right?' said a feminine voice. I figured that maybe this was the friend she told me about, but I decided not to rush into things.

'Uh, yeah, I know her. What are you calling about?' I replied.

'Oh, I'm the one Piper mentioned. You know, about the room.' Yep, confirmation.

'Oh, right! Um, what's your name?' I asked, and I signaled to Mom to get me some water.

'I'm Annabeth Chase,' she said. I dropped my phone. My mom asked, 'Honey? You okay?' I nodded, not really listening. Could it really be her? Only one way to find out.

I picked up the phone and kept it to my lips, saying, 'Annabeth?'

'Uh, yeah?' said her confused voice.

'Do you remember me?' I asked, not thinking logically for even a moment.

'Uh, I'm not sure. What's your name?' she asked, worry creeping into her voice. I was obviously creeping her out. But if this really was her…

I replied, 'My name's Percy Jackson.'

There. I hope you liked it! Read and review!