Hestia's POV

"Thanks Thanatos." I said, sending my message to the Lord of Death wherever he was.

"It was a minor annoyance, but you're welcome," He answered back, "However, I repeat to you what I told the boy a few moments ago: I will only help you just this once."

"You're a little touchy, aren't you?" I asked, "You were returning a favor to someone who lived an unfair life. Just be happy for once."

"Life isn't fair, nor is death." He said cryptically before shutting me out of his head.

Thanatos, why must you be so cruel? True you've seen a lot of death. But that does not mean you become gloomy and spiteful. Instead you should embrace every moment of happiness you get and treasure it. You should try to enjoy the moments of life worth enjoying, no matter how brief they might be.

Like Perseus. The only hero up to now who hasn't despised us. The only one who would stay by our side, on his own free will, and fight for us. The one who went through everything with a smirk on his lips and mischief in his eyes.

Why can't you be like him?

Perseus, the last true hero to have ever graced our presence.

The only human I might have a crush on.

Percy's POV

"That'll be a dollar and fifty-two cents." The cashier told me as I stood at the counter, a stack of stamps, a ceramic mug and Doritos laid across it. I fumbled in my pocket for what change I could find and handed whatever was in my hand to her.

"Thanks miss." I said, taking my stuff and going out in to the harsh cold wind of the Alaskan mountains. I made a coffee appear in the mug, my powers only allowing me to summon something natural, and walked towards the small post-office down the lane.

I was about to take a sip from the mug when I noticed that there was something squishy in the coffee. I bit on it, force of reflex, and heard a small little shriek come out. I spat it out and looked around to make sure that nobody heard me. I examined the squishy thing and noticed that it was a plastic covered letter. I opened it up and was surprised to see that it was a letter from Hestia.

Dear Perseus

Nice to see Thanatos decided to help you out. I'm actually surprised he did.

Anyway, I hope you decided to send that nice man a letter. He's lonelier than you and I think you really do need a mortal friend who's around your age.

Call me when you've finished travelling the fiery depths of the underworld.

Yours truly

Lady Hestia

I smiled a little at the letter, knowing that it was her who had convinced Thanatos to help me. I read the letter again, laughing at the 'around your age' knowing that I could use it later as blackmail and decided to get on with the letter.

An hour later

I could feel the shadows around me as they swirled at speed unimaginable to the mind of a normal being. They surrounded me, almost to level of suffocation till they suddenly loosened and left me in a grass field. I looked around and was met with a harsh glare from the bright sun. I closed my eyes for a while and heard the sounds of swords clanging to the right of me.

I opened my eyes and saw that there was a normal cul-de-sac and that there was a large squared circle in front of it. The sounds of clanging swords were coming from two men boys fighting in the squared circle. They looked so graceful as they fought each other, their swords slicing through air as their feet danced around the field. I stood there in a trance, examining how they moved and how they fought.

"You know," I heard a voice say, "It's not good to stare." I looked around for the voice till I noticed that it was one of the fighters who had spoken to me. The taller one actually.

"It's also not good to not pay attention in a fight." Said the shorter one as he attacked the taller one. He plunged the sword straight into his stomach, but instead of it coming out the other side covered in blood, it came out clean. He pulled out the sword and raised it up to the sky, "I am the victor!"

"Oh pipe down Orion," The taller one said, shaking his head in amusement, "You'll wake the others up."

"You're just mad because I beat you, Theseus." Orion said, smirking a little.

"You wish," Theseus said, "You just beat me because I was distracted by…" He turned to me looking for a name, but I couldn't answer. I was shocked, to say the least. Theseus and Orion. The two greatest sons of Poseidon. Right in front of me.

"Hey kid," I saw Theseus' hand waving in front of my face, "You okay?"

"Ye... Yeah…" I said, stammering, "Just surprised."

"We get that a lot," Orion boasted as he spun his sword on the edge of his finger, "What's your name kid?"

"Percy Jackson." I said, recovering a little bit from my shock.

"I thought he'd be a bit taller," Orion said, inspecting me, "Don't you say brother?"

"He's just 21," Theseus stated, "The wars were only a few years ago."

"But still," Orion countered, "I thought he'd at least be six feet, considering his heroic battles."

"I guess nature wasn't as kind as it was to you, hunter." Theseus said, smirking at the last word.

I saw them speak and couldn't help but wonder if all sons of Poseidon spoke like this. Maybe that's why we all have terrible endings. Too much sarcasm. I watched them banter back and forth, understanding some of the things, clueless about the rest.

"Now before this starts into a full blown fight," Theseus said after a while, "Why don't we talk to our newly departed brother?"

"Chicken." Orion mumbled before speaking to me, "Tell us how you, O' great savior of Olympus, died?

"I didn't die." I said, scowling a little at the 'savior of Olympus' jibe.

"It's okay dear brother," Orion said, his eyes traced with pity, "Denial is only the first step."

"I didn't die, hunter," I said, showing him the watch as I emphasized on the 'hunter' to annoy him, "Thanatos gave me this. Helps me travel the underworld."

"Insanity is, however, the third," Orion said wisely, "So I guess you must be saying the truth."

"But why are you here?" Theseus asked me, his eyes shining with curiosity as he looked at the watch.

"Don't have many friends." I stated mechanically, not wanting to explain everything.

"You're the hero of Olympus," Orion stated humorously, "Twice!"

"That didn't stop my brother from stealing everyone!" I yelled back, mad at him for asking.

"What do you mean?" Theseus asked, concern etched on his face.

"Leave it." I said, not wanting to sound weak.

They both looked at me for a while, Theseus staring harshly at Orion every time the latter tried to open his mouth. This went on for a few moments before Theseus coughed loudly and picked up his dropped sword. He looked at it for a while before rushing at me with it.

I ducked under his swipe and took out Riptide, uncapping it and blocking yet another one of his swipes, "What the hell, man?" I said as he kept on attacking me.

He didn't say anything. All he did was attack me even more furiously. We kept on doing this till Orion stepped in and stopped it, his sword blocking Theseus' from connecting with my throat. I let out a sigh of relief before Orion started attacking me. I rolled with the blow and tried to block the fury of following swipes, which began to grow difficult.

I kept on asking what the matter was until I felt a sharp stinging sensation in my leg which began to piss me off. I blocked another thrust from Orion before summoning all my energy and calling forth the presence of water I had felt nearby. I willed it to rush at Orion and Theseus from behind.

It hit both their backs with a large splash, distracting them for a moment which gave me enough time to counter. I attacked them with my last few ounces of strength and managed to disarm them both. I stood there with my sword resting lazily at my side, my arm too exhausted to hold it up any longer, as I examined my 'brothers'.

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled at them.

"I just wanted to see," Theseus explained, "how well you fight under pressure."

"Why?" I asked, slightly hysterical, "Why in the name of all the damn gods of Olympus did you want to do that?"

"People forget things when they fight." Theseus said, his eyes a little misty.

"What?" I asked, confused by what he was saying.

"They forget things. Blocks them out when they have a goal in my mind." He explained, "Easier to deal with things when you don't remember them for most of the time."

"Thanks." I said, knowing that he had attacked me for my own good. The attacking part not so much. The reasons behind it, however, were nice.

"I just did it because I like fighting." Orion said, resting on the ground with his arms behind his head.

"Forget him, Perseus." Theseus said, giving Orion a small kick to the side, "Now let's talk about your training."

"Training? What training?" I asked.

"You've got to do something." Theseus said, "You can't waste away your immortal life doing nothing."

"What are you talking about?" Orion said, "He can do anything he wants. Why waste it away training?"

"There's never reason for improving." Theseus countered, "But it's good to do so. You'll never know until it's needed."

"You are one terrible brother," I said, "You must've been one heck of a kill joy."

"You have no idea," Orion said, "Life was so much fun before he came along. I used to lounge on this patch of grass right here, then this guy comes along and on his second day here, he demands I get up and fight him."

"It wasn't the second day." Theseus mumbled meekly, "It was the second week."

"Doesn't make it any better." Orion countered as he laid his head back.

"But still," Theseus said, "If what I heard about you is true, you have a lot of room for improvement."

"What have you heard about me?" I asked, a little freaked out by the fact that I had a stalker for a brother, "And where exactly did you hear these things from?"

"You're the hero of two wars," Orion said, still staring at the sky, "Two Olympian wars where a lot of people died. Now I wonder which of the many warriors who died told us of you."

"Put a sock in it hunter," Theseus said, nudging Orion in the side with his foot, "Now, I've already come up with a schedule for your training."

"Already?" I asked, wondering why I even thought of coming here in the first place.

"He's pretty quick with plans." Orion stated, smirking a little.

"I wouldn't have known." I said sarcastically, but apparently, the smartest son of Poseidon didn't take it that way.

"I guess I'll also have to teach you about the various myths of Greek," He said absentmindedly, "And I guess the other myths would also have to do."

"I was…" I said, stopping short after realizing that Theseus was in some sort of trance.

"Leave it man," Orion said, sitting up, "You can't change his mind once it's made. It's impossible."

"And maybe I could convince Achilles to help out with spears," Theseus said, looking up to the sky, "And maybe Hunter could teach you about archery."

"Aren't you going to say something?" I asked Orion, hoping that he would say 'no'.

"Sorry bro," Orion said, "Once he's got an idea. He'll always stick by it."

"Damn!" I said, "Is Beckendorf around?" I asked, suddenly wanting to get away from Theseus.

"Just go through that little path near those woods," Orion said, pointing towards a bunch of trees, "There's a forge in the middle of the path."

"Thanks." I said as I rushed off to the forest. I walked quickly, checking behind to make sure that Theseus wasn't following me, until I reached the forges. I could hear the sound of metal clinging as I walked through the entrance, the heat from the fires hitting me hard.

I treaded quietly as I walked to the sound, a needless prospect considering the loud sound of metal, until I saw a large and hulking figure bent over a fire, hammering hard on to something. I skulked slowly behind him until I was right behind his ear.

"Hey!" I yelled into his ear.

I would never look at Charles the way I used to. I thought he would kill me for scaring the crap out of him but I guess he was too happy to see me. But he did get his revenge. He hugged the living daylights out of me.

"So Percy, how'd you die?" He asked after almost breaking a few of my ribs.

"I kinda didn't," I said sheepishly, "Had to beg Thanatos to help me come here."

"Why did you want to come here?" He asked, "Couldn't resist the old Charles charm?"

"That sounded wrong man." I said, feigning disgust, "What would Silena say?"

"Seriously man," Charles said as he punched me in the shoulder, "Why did you come here?"

"Didn't have anywhere to go." I said, not wanting to talk about it at the moment.

"How co-" He was about to say before I jumped in.

"Dude!" I said loudly, "Could you please stop asking? I don't want to say it."

"Its fine man," He said, shrugging it off, "So what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

"Really man?" I said, "Are you really going to use that cheesy line on me? And seriously, what would Silena say if she saw you hitting on me?"

"I'm just kidding," Charles said, "But seriously, why are you here?"

"I came to visit," I answered, "But apparently, I'm going to be getting lessons from basically every hero left here. Wait! Where are Luke and Zoe?"

"Rebirth." Charles stated simply as he went back to his anvil. I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was getting a little late. I put my hand in my pocket to get out Thanatos' watch when my fingers brushed past Riptide.

"Hey Charles," I said, "Would it be okay if you could teach me how to smith?" I knew I would regret asking him this but I guess I really wanted to know how to smith.

"You? Smiting?" He said, hysterically, "That'd be a sight to see."

"Oh, you're serious." He said after noticing the look on my face, "Well I guess I'll have to start tomorrow."

"You're so good at encouraging children." I said sarcastically as I got up, "I'll see you tomorrow. I've got to go before night falls."

"Sure. Sure." He said, "Go. I'll set everything up by tomorrow."

"Thanks man." I said, as I took out my watch and teleported me back home. I looked around and noticed that it was a little darker than I thought. However, I didn't actually care because a wave of fatigue had hit me so hard that I fell to the ground, my body too tired to stand on its own.

"Percy?"