Percy had become very distant, Annabeth had noticed. After that day in the training room he had gone into his office and only come out for meals and the two times he trained her. During that time he was a harsh but patient trainer. And after they were finished he went straight back to his office without a word to anyone. Annabeth knew she should be too bothered by this but she really couldn't help it. He seemed so broken, she had no right to pry but she wanted to know what happened

Nico couldn't help but notice it too. His cousin used to be a very likeable person and he still would be if he would stick to one mood. Nico really couldn't blame it on him. Being the leader of the most feared organization in the world and the head of every single branch could take a toll on your life, especially if you were only twenty six. There was also the added fact of that Annabeth girl. Obviously Percy liked her in more ways than one.

Right now he was on his way to Percy office to deliver papers on the homicide victim that they had to look into. Usually they look into the cases and find the culprit, kill them or find them out. They did it all cleanly and usually never get caught. The three men Percy had killed earlier had been the guilty party in a string of murders. Upon arriving at the door he knocked and was provided entrance.

Percy was at his desk his head bent over studying the various papers on his desk as he shuffled them around arranging them according to whatever he was sorting when a single small paper fell out of the pile. Curious Nico picked it up out of the floor. There was a family on it. The man with black hair and sea blue eyes had his arms around a woman with brown hair and warm brown eyes. In front of them stood two little boys, one looked exactly like the father and the other was a male copy of the mom. Percy's mom

"I was twelve when they died remember? We were a happy family." Percy said looking sadly at the photo

"Yeah"

"Hey can I tell you a story?"

"Yeah sure" Nico said grabbing one of the chairs that were across form Percy's desk. "Shoot, not literally"

Percy smiled and sat down in the big chair that Nico had always wanted to sit in. Not figuratively literally. He looked at his cousin sadly and launched into his tale

"There once was a family a cute family. The father and the mother had just gotten out of college and moved into a quaint place on the more quiet side of New York. They had a little boy with them and a year later, another joined them. The two brothers were very close. They had a nice life too. Both parents had gotten a degree and had well-paying jobs. They were a happy family. Both boys went to school they even had friends like Grover.

One day when the older one was fourteen, he and his friend went to go pick his younger brother Tyson up from school. They were walking home, playing hopscotch along the way to entertain them. They had just gotten home and were prepared to walk through the door, get a snack and after that play video games until the parents yelled at them to do their homework.

What they weren't expecting to come into the house and find a man aiming the gun at the Boy's parents. They snuck backward trying not to make a sound. That failed. Either the parents betrayed some emotion or the man had very good hearing.

'Well well look who we have here?' the man sneered only seeing the friend and the little brother 'these yours Po?'

'Two of them are.'

'Then we have to get rid of the third.'

Then the man proceeded to shoot the youngest brother through the head. He had crumpled like a rag doll, blood leaking from the side of his head.

'You know that was the wrong person Gabe' the dad had snapped

'Oops my bad' Gabe had snapped with no remorse in his tone

The parents were horrified the stood there in shock but being the fourteen year old he was, the older boy's friend charged and sadly got shot as well.

'Now that was the extra. Am I right? Speaking of which, where is the third?'

'At school, he's at swim practice." The father had said 'Why are you here?'

'Your brother killed my father. You took my girlfriend. You run the Olympians. You ruined me. I used to rule the world until you and your brothers took it and I want it back.'

'I was never your girlfriend you pig' the mother grit out of her teeth 'Why do you have to kill them? They're just kids'

'Because that's just what I do' and proceeded to kill the parents.

The boy had enough watching his parents, brother and friend die. He came out from behind the wall and tackled the man to the ground. The gun flew out of the man's hand and stopped a few feet away. The boy ran and picked it up leveling it at Gabe. Slowly he stood up his arm out with a wicked grin on his face

'You ain't got the gut to shoot that kid' he took one step closer ' hand it over'

The boy shook his head and continued to hold the gun up to Gabe's face. Apparently tired of waiting the man lunged, trying to grab the boy. He never got there. A bang echoed through the room and the man fell dead onto the floor a bullet through his neck

'You killed them, I kill you' the shocked boy managed to spit out. The horror hit him. No matter what Gabe had done to deserve it, he had killed a person. Horrified, he ran out of the house."

"Chilling story. Didn't know Uncle P and Aunt Sally died that way"

"The police found about it later. At that time I was with Aunt Hestia. When she heard my story accepted me in immediately, despite the consequences. Andy joined the family a few years later. Hestia thought I needed a sibling. She came because of our uncanny resemblance" it was true they did look like twins "She got arrested later for the crime she didn't commit she took the blame for me."

"How did you get here? And why are you so good with weapons?"

"Zeus and Hestia. They taught me the weaponry. And by the time Hestia was arrested I knew about the Olympians. Zeus was on his death bed so I took over at twenty."

"Gosh"

"I know it wasn't my fault but my parents, friend and brother got killed because they were related to the Olympians. I don't want anyone to have the same fate."

"But we are all still here."

"Yeah but most of you guys were in similar situations."

Sighing in defeat, Nico got up and started walking toward the door. He turned around and said "We would all give our lives for you Perce, remember that."

"I will, but doesn't mean I will let you" Percy said too soft for Nico to hear.