Story Name: The Iris Network

Author:turquoiserainlilies

Disclaimer: Do not own Percy Jackson or anything related, just the plot (really, not even that original). THANKS RICK!

Summary: He's a gamer. She's the Queen Bee. Percy struggles with unwanted fame from his father. Annabeth can't forgive her best friend for falling in love. Living miles away doesn't stop two people's fate from meeting, after all, the best thing to fall in love with are someone's words. AU!AH.

Chapter:20 of 22

greek3fire x

los angeles 02/12/14 11:38 utc-8

percy jackson

They arrived at Los Angeles shortly after midnight, after which Grover promptly falling into a coma right as they enter their hotel room. Bianca had the sense to change into her pyjamas before sleeping in her room next door. Percy was the only one who did stayed up for a little bit, looking out into the beach side view their hotel room provided. Poseidon placed them in a seven star hotel, it would seem.

The morning of the twelfth marked the last two days before VidGameCon weekend. Bianca had asked the concierge to find them something to do during the wait. Somehow, they conjured up a carnival.

"Must be for all the gamers who flew in early." Bianca reasoned. "Cash in something before they all swarm in the convention."

"So, cheap money grabbing ploy?" Percy nodded. "Let's go!"

She was right. You could tell right away that these games weren't found in regular carnivals. There were a disproportional amount of booths compared to rides, and lot of intellectual puzzles to solve. Bianca had already lost herself trying to guess the right amount of jelly beans by doing some intense calculation. Grover and Percy decided to celebrate their renewed friendship the only fashion way—at a duck race competition.

"I wish June was here." Grover said as he pointed the squirt gun at the target. "I could win her a stuffed animal or something."

"Dude, cliché much?"

"Hah, like you weren't wishing Annabeth was here as well." Grover laughed. Percy took this distraction to pull his duck ahead by about two inches.

"Winner!" The game-runner held up Percy's hand ceremonially, even though there were only two players. "Pick anything from the top shelf! You two were the first players today!"

"Sweet." Percy nodded. There were giraffes, lions, and Ducky Momo toys. He chose a panda.

"Pandas?" Grover frowned. "Seriously?"

Next they hit the roller-coaster, just to prove that they weren't scared of it. Except when they got the picture back, their face were ash white and screaming.

"Let's not buy this photo." Percy decided.

"Probably a good idea."

By lunch time, they still couldn't pry Bianca away from her overfilled math equations. She was bargaining with the game-runner to allow her to have one jelly bean to calculate the dimensions, which was apparently against the rules. Percy can tell that Bianca was this close to just eating the entire jar and write her answer as 0.

Thankfully, another distraction came in the form of a ringtone after lunch (a burger each with a huge cup of lemonade and candy apple). Bianca pressed her phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She said nonchalantly, but her eyes grew wide a moment later. "Seriously?—you're not joking?—God Nicky—you can't play hooky—yes I'm glad—I am—fine!—where are you anyways—ohh—I was there for two hours the jelly bean count isn't really worth it—WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU GOT THE RIGHT GUESS—okay fine I'll pick you up—"

"Unexpected visitor?" Grover said between his caramel-stuck teeth.

"Nico." Bianca's face glowed. "He ditched a day of class to come down before the convention. It'll be great!"

Percy and Grover exchanged glances. They've heard a lot about Bianca's brother, but never actually met the guy. Percy realized that this was also his cousin that they were talking about, which just made it more awkward.

"Come on." Bianca said sternly. "I think you'd like him!"

They sort of did. Nico di Angelo wore a black leather jacket and a skull ring, so the first impression of him was a punk kid. He didn't smile all that much, but you could sort of tell that he wasn't totally moody.

"Your jelly beans." He handed the entire jar to Bianca.

"How did you guess that?" She frowned at the glass container.

"I didn't. I just knew you'd spent forever on it, and bought a jar from the convenience store." Nico shrugged. Percy snickered, but slightly regretted it when Nico's onyx eyes turned onto him.

"Percy Jackson." He introduced himself, holding out his hand. "Here's Grover Underwood, my a little less cooler friend."

"He's just jealous 'cuz I've got a girlfriend that I've actually met." Grover rolled his eyes. "Oh Wise Girl, we should totally talk about our feelings over the internet with emjis and text shortcuts." He said with a mockingly high voice.

"Shut up." Percy was glowing slightly. Nothing could ruin this day. His dad practically shoved the unlimited credit card their way as a thank you. Unlimited money plus carnival plus food equals fun, Percy's favorite math equation.

"You should introduce him to Annie." Nico told Bianca.

"That's what I thought!" Bianca exclaimed. "Too bad she's a straight A student and not ditching three days of class to come to a carnival."

"I'm just skipping the day." Nico shrugged. "I just got my driver's license, might as well use it. I thought you'd be grateful, since I woke up at 5 for this and all."

"I am grateful." Bianca said teasingly. "Just worried, that's all."

Worried is better than ignoring, Percy thought. Nico agreed as well because he actually smiled for a moment. It looked a little scary, but he kind of got used to it after he wore that smile for the rest of the afternoon. The four of them hit all the rip-off game booths and spent about two hundred dollars not earning anything but various Panda pillow toys and one Ducky Momo figurine. Grover described that as his finest moment.

The carnival closes at midnight, but they were only going to stay until six to get dinner and a good night sleep. Poseidon had arranged for a tour of the beaches tomorrow that Percy couldn't wait to get started on.

So at around five, they said goodbye to Nico, while Percy and Grover tackled their last game—the can knockdown.

"This is so rigged!" Grover cried. "It clearly hit the cans!"

"Don't blame game-runner man, I ain't coming up with this." The big bloke who stood behind the counter said. He gave Grover a small frog toy while Percy got ready to hit.

"Just hit the center!" Grover said.

"I know."

"'Cuz of the probability of balance."

"Grover, you forced me into Physics last year, I know."

"And the center of gravity is clearly—"

"Grover!" Percy yelled as he threw the ball. "Just shut up for a moment!"

"WINNER!" The game runner said overly dramatic. Percy got a dolphin stuffed in his hand. "Take a break kid, I gotta get a sandwich."

"But…" Percy said. "I wanted a Panda…"

He turned around to find Grover gone, perhaps yelling was a little over the top. Across the yard he saw Bianca sitting at a picnic table. She hadn't been participating a lot today, mainly fondly looking over Nico as he failed the games miserably (so did everyone). He marched up and sat across from her.

"Why are you reading? We're in a carnival, and you're reading." Percy sighed. Bianca gave her a glare, he started to wonder if it was the same as Wise Girl's.

"Because, unlike you dweebs—" Pointed look at him, "—I actually have a life."

"Percy, dude!" Grover called him over. He was standing next to a teenager just a few yards away. How did he miss that. Percy left a nonchalant Bianca to her books, "Check this out! This kid made a reed pipe almost exactly like in Greek Fire."

"Pretty awesome." He'll admit, though Percy was more of a sword's guy, Grover always chose the reed pipe as his weapon. He guessed it was because of the magic, because it was really weak when it comes to offense. However, the craftsmanship was superb. Percy didn't really think enough about coming to actually make something…

"Can't take all the credit, my friend helped me." The brunet kid said, "Actually, it's only half done, we kidnapped him from his shop before he could finish it."

"You friend owns a video game store?" Grover yelped excitedly.

The kid laughed, "Nah, he just likes this for fun. Beckendorf owns a mechanic place in Arizona. He was going to visit his girlfriend in San Francisco this month, but we took him here instead."

Percy's stomach dropped, that sounded awfully familiar, it was a pretty wacky coincidence that both Beckendorf and he had a girl in San Fran.

"Sweet." Grover didn't really listen, but fawned over the pipes. Percy rolled his eyes, now if it was a pen that can turn into a sword, he'd understand…

"I'm Chris by the way." The kid introduced himself, "Chris Rodriguez."

"Percy Jackson." Percy said, "That dork's Grover Underwood, who should really learn not to touch other people's stuff." He said the last part a bit louder. Grover gave him a death glare.

"I can't believe he got the vines right." Grover touched the green leaves spurting out from the pipes, "Exact to the inches, I bet."

"Wonderful." Chris said, and was going on about the process work when a new person joined their little group. Percy instantly felt a little wary in the presence of this girl, big, buff, and burly, with a mop of brunette hair and looked like she had some giant blood in her. Percy would assume that she came here to bully the reed pipe out of the three, but was shocked to see Chris lean over to kiss her cheek.

"Play nice." Chris whispered. Grover and Percy exchanged a small, panicked look, "That's my girlfriend, Clarisse."

Clarisse growled.

"Great!" Grover squeaked, quickly handing back the pipes. More introduction were made, Clarisse actually started speaking in word instead of just troll.

Percy's thoughts were interrupted as another person interrupted their group, a burly African-American with calloused fingers and a blunt look. Though Percy learnt by now that appearances don't mean anything, he still took a small step back as Chris and Clarisse let him into the group.

"Dude! Where did you go!" Chris patted him on the back, they did that handshake all guys seem to know, and introduced him to Percy and Grover, "Meet Charles, or as his girl friend know him on The Iris Network, beckendorf99."

"You've for TIN!" Grover said quickly, "Dude, you've got to add me."

"And me." Percy nodded, "Greek3fire."

"Nice name." Chris nodded approvingly, but Clarisse started gaping.

"That's you?" Clarisse shouted, "I sent a friend request, remember? Cabin5girl123? Never heard back from you punk." He winced as she punched him in the shoulder, probably leaving a bruise. Percy casted his mind back, and remembered, wise girl's old username was cabin6girl123, and how he was actually looking for Clarisse back then, but then he found her…

"Ya, sorry." Percy mumbled, "Busy lives."

Clarisse glared at him with her water-down brown eyes, but seem to be soothed as Chris rubbed her back. Percy was glad that she had a boyfriend, probably a really good stress reliever.

"Well, we'll make sure you add you." Beckendorf seem distracted, always looking afar somewhere in the north, at least, Percy thought it was north.

"What's up?" Percy asked, the same time Chris groaned.

"You've got to stop that." Chris complained, "Your sweet cupcake is not going to be here? Silena doesn't like video games, remember?"

Beckendorf frowned. The name Silena started to ring a bell inside Percy's head, but he couldn't seem to grasp it, as if some invisible mist was preventing him. He shrugged, it probably wasn't important.

"She might be." He mumbled, "San Francisco isn't far from here, maybe she'll drop by."

"After you stop responding to her IrisMessages after a month? Sure." Clarisse chortled, Beckendorf glared at her with his huge eyes. Percy couldn't help but think that Clarisse and Chris had a hand in preventing Beckendorf from reaching his girlfriend, then remembered, the entire month vacation thing.

They chatted a bit more about the events coming up in two days, while Percy glanced over at Beckendorf a few times, with his wistful look. That'd sort of awful, not knowing when you're going to meet your soul mate. Wise Girl was going to Columbia, Percy couldn't be luckier.

"See you guys Friday!" Grover waved as they parted. Poseidon had a car picking them up at six thirty, and it was ten minutes until.

"Cool!" Chris smiled. "I'll be putting on my full cosplay!"

As they walked away, Grover mumbled about the unfairness that his grandmother wouldn't let him sew together a costume because it 'hinders his masculinity'. Percy was just glad that one more day was crossed off of the calendar until he meets Wise Girl. Seriously, life was going a bit too perfect.

That's when he practically bumps into a fireball, go figures.

"Hey man, chill." The boy said as they broke apart. That was the only word to describe him, boy-ish (unless you also count, imp-ish, elf-ish, and Hispanic…ish).

"Sorry." Percy apologized.

"Have you seen a scary blonde anywhere?" He blurted out. This kid clearly doesn't have a filter.

"Umm…no." Bianca and Clarisse were both brunette, and they were the only girls that Percy could think of in the carnival at the moment.

"Damn it!" He swore. "She said to meet me here hours ago!"

"Hate to say it kid, but I think your girlfriend just stood you up." Grover said sympathetically.

"Dang, she's not my girlfriend." He admitted. "I was supposed to help her look for my brother—"

"She's your brother's girlfriend?" Bianca asked.

"NO!" The boy seemed impatient. He thought for a moment. "Yeah…no, but her friend is."

"Your brother's girlfriend." Percy confirmed.

"I think so?"

"So why are you looking for your brother's girlfriend's friend again?" Grover asked impatiently.

"Look, all I know is that I stole out of my dad's bank account for a ticket to Los Angeles—no big deal I do that every other week—I'm supposed to be looking for Charlie because of this scary girl on TIN asked me to, and now I'm lost, with nowhere to go." He rushed out all at once. "She's supposed to meet me a few hours ago with some sort of plan, but I tried calling her, texting, whatever, nothing. Now I'm sort of stuck in this place with no money or idea of what to do."

"Sucks for you kid." Percy said, but Bianca was putting a hand on his shoulder in condolence.

"Look, we'll get you to a volunteer who can help you find your brother—you think he might be here?" Bianca sighed. She patted the boy's back as they walked. Percy and Grover exchanged looks—is she nuts? This kid is crazy to sneak across the country by himself.

Almost admirable, but mostly crazy.

"The car's probably here." Percy reminded himself longingly. "We were going to go to a steak restaurant."

"Now we're just hanging around a random kid." Grover grumbled. "It's not like we could just leave him."

"Curse our good hearts."

They found a volunteer at a booth shaped like an apple (Percy had zero idea why), she looked quite young and wore a name tag that read CALYPSO.

"Umm…hi." Percy tapped on the glass. The girl's gaze snapped up at the sight of him and blushed slightly. "We've sort of got a missing child…" He wasn't sure how to describe this situation properly.

"Right." Calypso looked mildly interested. "Who?"

"Me!" The boy popped up practically from under Percy and smiled. "Leo Valdez, pleasure to meet you sweetheart."

Calypso looked surprised for a moment. "Umm…"

"Sorry." Percy apologized, stepping back. "We just found him five minutes ago, but we really need to get going. Just…his brother should be in the carnival somewhere…Leo will tell you the rest."

"All right." Calypso said hesitantly, especially since Leo just pulled out a screwdriver to play around with.

"Thanks." Percy thanked her again, leaving the apple stand and rejoining Bianca and Grover a while away. "That kid was weird."

"Definitely." Grover agreed, though Bianca was looking sternly at the both of them.

"B, he's in the best care possible." Percy said tiredly. "Let's just get dinner, please."

"Fine." Bianca pouted, but you could tell that she wasn't pleased. They made their way out of the carnival, when the overhead speaker sounded.

"CHARLES BECKENDORF, PLEASE COME TO PICK UP YOUR BROTHER LEO VALDEZ AT THE OGYGIA INFORMATION DESK."

"Beckendorf's his brother?" Percy wondered aloud.

"Yeah…who knew?" Grover said.

They stood there for a moment, silent and watched from afar as the three friends ran up to Ogygia, and Beckendorf started yelling at Leo in anger. That's when Percy's phone rang loudly. He pulled it out quickly, his heart raced slightly when he read the name.

"Oohh…is it Annabeth again?" Grover said mockingly.

"Shut up." Percy said, except he already answered the phone, so the cool feminine voice that answered it was not pleased.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry!" He apologized quickly. "Hey Annabeth, how are you doing?"

"Terrible." He was taken aback by her words, which sounded close to tears. "Hey, are you in Los Angeles right now?"

"Umm…yeah."

"Can you pick me up at San Jose? I think my car just broke down."

He wasn't even thinking straight now. "Yeah, just tell me where you are, I'll come and—hello?" The line cut off. "Annabeth?" He pulled away from the phone. Grover and Bianca were both staring at him curiously. "I think Annabeth is in trouble."

NEXT UPDATE IS TOMORROW!

So there's a poll on my PROFILE right now, you might want to check it out 'cuz it's sort of relevant to this story. Thanks to everyone who had reviewed so far.

We've now meet four (sort-of) new characters, which is awesome. Their role will be expanded in the epic finale. For the second last chapter, Annabeth will be dealing with ghosts of her past rather than looking forward to the future.

This week's question: Where's the reference Ducky Momo from? Also, what's your favorite carnival game?

More bonuses after the last chapter! This is going to be my first completed-multi-chapter story, so obviously I'd love to stick around in this universe a bit longer…

Yeah it was pretty obvious that badboysupreme was Leo, who as you see, met Calypso. Even though Percy left, Leo stayed. (That was my feeble attempt don't judge).