Helloo! I have officially moved to Abu Dhabi! Wow, it's a bit different here. Here's a little something for you, that I wrote in the plane and the hotel. You should also listen to 'All good things' - a song by Nelly Furtado. I thought of it while writing this.

Percy's POV

"Hermes! I want a word!" I said as I scraped the last of my delicious meal into the flames.

My throat was dry, my hands shook wildly. Annabeth stood up and sat sideways on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. I smoothed her hair.

"Just remember, Annabeth. Come what may, just like I promised," I whispered in her ear.

"Yeah," she said.

I could tell she was crying again and that didn't make it easier for me not to start crying too. I was on the edge of crying, when I sensed someone behind me. Annabeth lifted her face up from my neck.

"Lord Hermes," she greeted the comer. Her voice shook, but she wasn't crying anymore, which made me feel much better.

Annabeth stood up and I got a glimpse of the others, who bowed at Hermes. I turned my chair to face him.

"You summoned me, Percy," Hermes said. He was wearing his usual jogging outfit and winged sneakers. In his hand he held his caduceus, that turned into a cell phone. The two snakes, George and Martha were looking eagerly at me.

Hello, Percy, said Martha. And hello you other people over there.

I greeted the snakes. The others looked dumbfounded, but they copied me.

You know, an occasional tip would be great. Got any rats? George asked.

"Quiet, you two," Hermes snapped at the snakes. Then he turned to me again. "Did you have something to say to me or should I just leave, Percy?"

"Yeah... I have a message for you to deliver," I said. My throat had never been drier.

"Okay, let's hear it then," said Hermes and his caduceus turned into a memo pad. He pulled a pen from his shorts pocket.

"Tell our parents, Poseidon and Athena I mean, that we are ready to do what's right," I said.

Hermes looked from me to Annabeth and back with a curious expression and scribbled a note on his pad.

"Very well. I suppose they will visit you in a moment. That'll make two drachmas, please," he said.

What about us? We want rodents! George squealed.

Oh, George. Give the youngsters a break. They are having a hard time, Martha scolded him.

"Don't worry, Martha. We'll be okay," I said and handed two golden drachmas to Hermes. Martha nodded.

You're a good boy, dear. It'll be okay. You'll see, she said.

Hermes bowed at everyone of us, turned around and jogged away from the cave.

I really hoped Martha was right.

Annabeth sank back on my lap. The others rose from their chairs and gathered to stand around us with grave expressions.

"They will be here soon," said Calypso. "Would you like some privacy?"

I glanced at Annabeth. She looked at me.

"I think we're okay," I said.

"You don't have to leave," Annabeth added. "You are great friends, you know."

"Of course we are!" Thalia grinned.

Annabeth smiled back at her. Then she turned on my lap, straddling me. She wrapped her arms around my neck again and kissed me. This time it was soft, her lips lingering on mine. Her fingers caressed my hair.

"They'll be here any minute now," Annabeth said on my mouth.

For once, she kissed me again. Then she pulled away.

"I love you," she said and rose from my lap.

Not a minute too early, because two seconds later the air on front of us shimmered and two figures started to form there. No, make it three.

In a second, our parents were standing before us and you won't believe who was the third one.

Janus.

"Good evening, children," my dad said. His face was expressionless.

On his left, Athena was standing arms crossed, smirking delightfully. Janus stood on Poseidon's right, turning his head so, that both of his faces got a good glimpse of us.

"Evening, father," I said and bowed.

"Hello, lord Poseidon. Mother," said Annabeth.

Our friends around us looked at their toes. All except Thalia. She stared at Janus. I remembered the time she'd met him and felt sorry for her.

"So... We got an interesting message from Hermes," said Athena. It was terrifying how much she looked like Annabeth. Her grey eyes were exactly the same shade and dead gorgeous, just like her daughter's.

"Yes. We apologize for not obeying you in the first place and... we are ready to do what's right. We've learned our lesson," I said. I felt like crying again, but I told myself to be brave. If not for mine, then for Annabeth's sake.

Annabeth said her apologies too.

"I see," said Poseidon. Something like a smile flickered around his mouth, but it soon faded. My dad doesn't smile a lot.

"I am happy to see you doing what's right. And to show my approval of this decision, I will return you, son, your powers to control the water and restore your demigod abilities," he said and opened his fist at me.

I immediately felt stronger and more powerful. I found it hard to concentrate into one thing at a time. I felt the call of the ocean inside me. My father's presence.

And I had never felt worse in my life.

"I have to say, that agreeing with Poseidon is quite disorienting, but I am, too, happy for your decision. Annabeth, my daughter, feel free to think again. You have shown me, that inside you are still able to think wisely," said Athena and she, too opened her fist at Annabeth.

I looked at Annabeth. She blinked once, then twice. Moisture started to gather in her eyes.

"I must say, Annabeth, that I am quite surprised about the decision you made. Or more accurately, about your ability to choose in the first place. I had assumed making the decision would've taken a lot more time," Janus' left face sneered at Annabeth.

I wanted to tell him off, but I didn't want to violate our promise to our parents just yet.

Janus' right face looked at me.

"Oh, and Percy. Didn't I tell you this would happen? That in the end you would have to act disloyally? Ah, resisting your fatal flaw must have been hard. But yet, you two did make the decision together. I am proud of you two," he said.

Annabeth looked at me.

"What does he mean, Percy? When have you talked to Janus?" she whispered.

"I'll tell you later," I whispered back.

Janus' left face turned to look at Thalia.

"I am still waiting for a decision coming from you, Thalia Grace," he said.

Thalia's face flushed scarlet, when she heard her mother's last name.

"I don't know who you are talking to," she said, her voice shaking.

"Oh, I think you know, Thalia," the left face said. "And you sure will have to make the decision sooner than you even realize. If I were you, I'd be quick with it."

Then Janus pulled a silver key from his pocket, twisted it in the air and vanished.

Our parents still stood there, watching us with curious eyes.

"Well, we must be off," Athena said. "We'll see you children sooner or later."

"I am proud of you, son. You did the right thing," my father said and they vanished in a flash of divine light.

Annabeth's POV

As soon as my mother had flicked her hand at me, I could feel my brain switch to overdrive. Every battle strategy, every plan I'd ever made returned to me. I felt agile and brisk. My mother's spirit lingered in me. I was supposed to be whole again.

But I had never felt more broken.

When our parents left, the pressure overwhelmed me and I burst into tears. I ran away from the cave, into the bed chamber, fell on my bed and gave in to sadness. I didn't stop crying even when my eyes ran dry. I couldn't stop. I just continued to sob there, on my bed. My eyes burned and I could feel how swollen and blotchy my face was but I was too sad to care.

I didn't know how long I'd cried there, but suddenly the crying stopped. Just like that. All the emotion had come out of me and I was left with hollow emptiness.

"Annabeth?" Thalia called my name from the cave entrance.

'Just the person I need right now!' I thought, but then I realized it wasn't true. There was always a person, who I needed more than anyone else.

Yet, I wanted company, so I motioned Thalia in. She sat on my bed next to me and touched my hand lightly.

"I was about to ask if you were okay, but I guess that's a stupid question," she said. Her expression was beyond compassionate.

I held my arms out and thanked the gods Thalia understood my motion. She wrapped her arms around me.

"It'll be okay, honey. You'll see," she said.

"I know," I answered. My voice was hoarse from the crying.

I realized Janus had given Thalia a hard time and I pulled back to see her face.

"Are you okay, Thals?" I asked her. She nodded.

"I know I have a decision to make, but I believe things will go as they are supposed to. The fates hold the strings in their hands," she said.

"I know you'll do what's right. And soon we'll be strong enough to get away from here and save Grover! I can't wait to get into a good fight again!"

I was frightened by the lack of sadness in my words. As if nothing bad had never happened. As if Percy and I had never broken up. Why didn't I feel any pain anymore? How did I stop crying in the first place?

Thalia smiled at my shock.

"Well that sounds like the Annabeth I know," she said. "I still wonder..."

"What?" I asked.

"I've been thinking of the prophecy Rachel gave us. She said, that the quest would end with grief. I can't believe we could be through the whole quest yet, with Grover to save and everything. I was just wondering how much grief you still have to face," she said compassionately.

"Yeah..." I said miserably.

Then I sighed.

"Where's Percy?" I asked Thalia. I had to face him sooner or later. I also wanted him to know, that I wasn't angry with him or anything and that I would be able to live with him as friends. Or at least I thought I would.

"He's probably outside with the others. Calypso is making arrangements and Percy and Rachel are preparing for battle. We're about to leave tomorrow if you're strong enough. Percy says he's just fine," Thalia said. "I think he's bluffing, though. I mean, he couldn't even stand yesterday. But if he says he's fine, then..."

"I'm great. We should totally go save Grover!" I said.

"Awesome! We'll leave tomorrow, then!" Thalia grinned. Lucky her, she would see Grover again. Then I remembered, that she had a decision to make and I pitied her. I knew how hard it was. Even thinking about it made me nauseous.

"Do you want to go out? I think it'd do you good to have some practice," Thalia said and I let her pull me off my bed.

"Thalia?" I said.

"Yes?"

"Thanks. You made me feel better again," I said and hugged my best friend.

We walked out of the cave holding hands. Right there, close to the cave entrance, on a grass yard, Percy was teaching some swordplay basics to Rachel, who was wearing a leather breastplate and a helmet. I watched Percy parry her strikes and then attack back. His movements were smooth and well-composed. I felt a twinge of longing, but I pushed it back. I had to concentrate on saving Grover. Tomorrow we'd be done with the quest and then I could get miserable again.

Thalia looked at me.

"Are you sure you can do this?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm a daughter of Athena after all. I can do anything," I said, let go of Thalia's hand and walked to Percy and Rachel.

"You guys up for a threesome, huh?" I asked them. I was awed by the easiness of being normal around Percy.

I will never forget the expression on Percy's face, when he looked at me. I can't even describe it. First it looked like he'd smile and let me join them. Then his face was twisted in an expression of defeat mixed with nonchalance and a hint of bitterness. Can you imagine that kind of expression? Good, then you know how it was.

"I was actually going to have a shower anyway," he said, capped Riptide and walked away.

"Percy, I just wanted to-" I tried, but he was already entering the cave, shoving Thalia out of his way.

My knees buckled. The next thing I knew, Rachel was kneeling beside me. She had taken her helmet off. Thalia ran to us. I lay on my back on the ground and cried.

"Why is he like that?" I asked. My voice was small – just the way I hated it. I detested defeat.

"Maybe he needs some time. He was quite broken after you ran away from the dining room," Rachel said carefully.

"He'll come around, honey. Don't you worry," Thalia said. "He really was upset earlier. You should've seen him... Or maybe not," she added the last when I let out a sob.

"Come on, up you get!" Rachel said and pulled me up. "You still wanna fight? Be warned, I'm getting pretty good!" she said.

That lightened me up a bit. I was eager for some good action.

"Sure," I said and turned to Thalia. "You wanna join?" I asked her.

"No, I think I'll just referee," she said and sat down on the grass.

Rachel put her helmet back on and wielded her sword. By the looks of it, it was one of Calypso's old weapons she had collected from the heroes who'd visited her island. You know, how in the old movies the damsel gives a handkerchief to the knight, who saves her from distress? Well apparently the knights tend to give a sword to the damsel who helps them out.

I pulled my knife from my sleeve, where I always keep it. I hadn't used it for such a long time...

"Okay, it's heroine versus oracle!" Thalia cried. "Fight!"

Rachel attacked me. I was impressed by her speed. I really should give her some more credit. I parried her strike and she backed up a bit. I could be quite aggressive when fighting, so I hoped I wasn't going to hurt her too badly. I got closer to her to get into reach. Like Luke had taught me when I was little, when my blade was shorter than my opponent's, I had to get closer.

It had been almost a year since Luke had died on Olympus. He'd saved us all. I had thought of him as a fraud, but in the end, he hadn't changed much. He'd been my teacher and as good as a brother to me. One moment I'd thought there'd been something more between us, but I'd been wrong. I'd loved Percy all along.

The pain from the thought of Percy woke me up from my reminisce. Rachel was coming at me, her sword raised to a lunge, that would finish me off. I quickly swung my knife and it clunked against the hilt of Rachel's sword. With a twisting movement of my knife, I disarmed her.

"Round one goes for the daughter of Athena!" Thalia cried and she and Rachel applauded at me. I grinned. Victory always felt nice, even though I'd battled against a beginner.

"Wow, you're really good, Annabeth!" Rachel said in awe.

"Thanks. You're really good too, for a beginner I mean. You'll be great with some practice!" I told her. I knew we would never be best of friends, but I could possibly learn to like her.

"Thanks," Rachel said and blushed. "Round two?"

I nodded. "Round two."

After the sword fighting practice Rachel and I had a shower and we all packed for leaving Ogygia. We hadn't got much stuff of our own, but Calypso lent us some food and clothes. She had made us a magical ferry, that would take us to the Monster Doughnut -island. I was okay. Not good, not bad, but I still wanted to talk to Percy. I hadn't seen him since he'd left us earlier.

Calypso dropped by to give us another set of clothes.

"Thank you, Calypso. You have been irreplaceable!" Thalia thanked her. Rachel and I copied her.

"You're welcome," she said. "I haven't had female visitors in aeons, so this has been quite a change for me."

Before she left the cave, she motioned me to come with her. I left my packing and followed her out, feeling suspicious.

"Do you want to see him?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"Yes, I do," I said and nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Then follow me," Calypso said and led me toward her garden.

As we walked, she cautioned me to be careful with Percy. She said he was a complete mess and I shouldn't be taken aback of things he'd say to me.

"Give him a break," she said. "He's heart-broken and sad."

I wanted to tell her to keep her mouth shut. I was heart-broken and sad, too, but I wasn't the one to snap at her. She'd been awful nice to us, even though I knew she had a thing for Percy.

Calypso led me deep into the tropical forest of hers and there, behind the bushes, there was a small white temple. It was like the temple of Athena on Acropolis, but way smaller and kinda cute.

"I built this place when I was exiled here," she whispered. "I wanted to please the gods. I thought it would make some difference. I came here to pray every night. I hardly ever use it anymore, since the gods visit me from time to time in person. I offered the place for him to think in. I'm sure it'll make a good place for you two to make up, too."

She motioned me to go in, turned on her heels and walked away. I knocked on the small wooden door.

"Percy," I called him softly. "May I come in?"

"I guess you may," came the answer from behind the door.

I opened the door and stepped inside. The interior was beautiful! The walls were carved with detailed pictures of the gods and by the back wall, there was a bronze brazier with a fire burning in it, just like the one where we gave our offerings to the gods at camp. In front of the fire, there were pillows and on one of them, sat Percy, his back to me.

I walked closer to him, until I was right behind him. I carefully touched his shoulder.

"Hi," I said quietly.

Percy didn't answer. He stared at the flames silently. I sat on a pillow next to him.

"I just wondered if you'd want to talk about it," I whispered.

I waited for an answer from him. Minutes passed, we sat there in silence and stared into the flames. Finally, after about ten minutes, he turned to face me.

I was stunned. I'd never seen him in that condition. He didn't look like he'd cried, no. He didn't look shaken either. On his face, there was nothing. He looked sickly. His skin was pale in the fluttering light of the fire and there were purple bruiselike shadows under his misty eyes.

My hand flew to my mouth.

"Oh my gods, Percy. I'm so sorry," I staggered.

"The river Styx doesn't like it when you break an oath made upon it," Percy said. "Even though I didn't mean it to happen."

"Oh, yeah," I said. Really, what can you say to a person, who's sadness makes him sick in front of your eyes?

"I'm sorry about how I ran away earlier," he said. "It was just hard to see you and know I'll never be free to love you. I really am sorry."

"It's okay. I understand," I said.

"Friends?" Percy asked.

Friends... The word made my stomach twinge again. Not 'a couple' or 'sweethearts'. Just friends.

Still I nodded.

"Friends," I agreed.

There was an awkward silence and we started to gaze into the fire again.

"So... A big fight coming tomorrow," I noted in a casual tone.

"Yeah..." Percy said.

"I fought with Rachel a bit," I told him. "You'd taught her well. She'll do good tomorrow."

"I'm an awesome teacher," he noted and I let out a small laugh.

"And really modest," I added.

There was another moment of silence. I just wanted to kiss him and have things back how they should be. How they were.

Then I remembered something I had to ask Percy about.

"I'm sorry to bring this up, but you said you'd tell me about the time you had a talk with Janus. Mind sharing it now?"

He nodded slowly.

"Sure. I had this dream, when I was unconscious after drowning. Janus came to me, prompting to make the decision. I refused to even think about..." his voice faded and his face twisted into a grimace.

I felt horrible, having brought this subject up.

"Okay, I get the point," I said. "Let's just think about something else, okay?"

Percy smiled.

"Good idea."

We started to talk about a battle strategy for tomorrow. I did most of the planning, like always. Percy came up with some attack formations. It was just like before the war – when we had been best friends.

After a while of planning, Percy took a look at his watch.

"Traditionally Calypso throws a party on the beach the night before a hero leaves her island. Maybe we should go check if there's a party tonight, too?" Percy said and raised his eyebrows.

"Sure," I said and we stood up and walked out of the small temple.

The sun was just about to set. The blue sky had a hint of purple on it.

"Percy?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"I... Errm... Just listen to the song again, okay?" I smiled at him.

He ruffled my hair.

"Sure thing, Wise Girl," he said.

When we arrived at the beach, the picnic table had been set up there again. Lanterns and torches had been put around here and there. Calypso, Rachel and Thalia were waiting beside the table. I guess they'd known we would come. All three of them came to hug us when we showed up. No one mentioned the way Percy looked.

We sat down on the sand and watched the sun set into the horizon. When the sky grew dark and the stars started to appear, Calypso invited us to the picnic table. She lit the lanterns and torches with a snap of her fingers. Food had appeared on the table: fresh strawberries and grapes, meat with creamy sauce, fries and apple cider... If there was one good thing I could say about Calypso, she certainly knew how to throw a party!

We dug in and chattered happily. I felt light, like all of my worries had lifted for this night. A shooting star shot across the sky.

"Everybody, make a wish!" Rachel yelled.

I closed my eyes and wished from the bottom of my heart. I won't tell what I wished for, but if you're smart enough, you should know. Dreams that are told, won't come true.

I felt something touch my heart – something warm and safe. A blessing of Hestia. She reminded me of Hope, that was still in her possession. She would never give it up and neither should I. I remembered what she'd said after she'd helped us pulverize the Hydra: "Just remember what is the most important." What was the most important to me? Not hard to guess.

There would always be Hope. Also for us.

Come what may, just like Percy had promised.

Oh, and also you should lieten to Airplanes – B.o.B.!

Well, this was today's chapter of Come what may. I really hope you liked it. Athena's cabin wishes you a happy evening or whatever!

Peace, love, PJO!

Luv,

AC

P.S. I love reviews :)