Hey all, really sorry about the lateness (is that even a word?) of this chapter; but I had a lot of stuff going on and didn't have many chances to write. Not to mention the fact that I rewrote this chapter several times. Anyway thanks to my Beta Bloodtributes and; as always: reviews, constructive criticism and ideas are much appreciated. Flames will be laughed at, possible and probable OOC.

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Percy was shaking as he made his way down the plain corridor of the apartment building, passing several identical wooden doors as he made his way to the door at the end. It felt like an impossibly long way, but when he did reach it; he paused, preparing himself. Annabeth gripped his hand tightly in an effort to comfort him. His hand shook as he reached for the door handle. As he turned it shakily, they both heard voices from inside.

"Mum! Someone's at the door," a young voice called.

Percy froze at the voice; Mum? Had his mother and Paul really moved on? Had they given up on him? These thoughts swam around in Percy's head and he gripped the brass door handle tighter; so hard that the metal began to crumple in his hand. Anger soon replaced the sadness as new and more malevolent thoughts entered his mind. Why? Why had he endured all that pain just to find out he had been discarded by mere mortals? They obviously didn't care about him so why should he care about them? What were they to him? Nothing, that's what, nothing. The son of Poseidon's eyes blazed with green light and his breath sped up, he could practically feel the power and strength pumping through him; he crushed the handle easily. He turned to leave but only made it a few metres before he found himself face to face with a beautiful blonde that had jumped in front of him; her face instantly stirred something in him and forced him to pause when he looked in her grey eyes.

"Percy, please. Listen to me: it's alright." Annabeth whispered, seeing his eyes glow green with that strange light that she still didn't understand. It made her nervous. But his expression was what really scared her. His face was contorted with anger and hate, at everything: the world, everyone in it, the gods. Everything. Except for her. Annabeth placed her hand on his heaving chest. Percy flinched but gradually relaxed. He placed his hand over hers and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry Anna, I don't know what happened," he said quietly.

Neither do I, thought the daughter of Athena sadly, but she didn't voice her concern. Instead she said: "It's alright Seaweed Brain. Are you OK?"

Percy hesitated for a second before answering, "Yeah."

"Are you sure? Maybe we should come back tomorrow."

"I said I'm fine Annabeth!" he said loudly with anger in his eyes. Silence enveloped the couple but just as Percy sighed and opened his mouth to apologize, the door swung open and a small girl with black hair rushed out.

"Annie!" she cried out excitedly. The daughter of Athena knelt to pick up the small girl.

"Hey Olivia," she said happily, standing back up with the girl in her arms. They both looked at Percy and he noticed that the little girl had light blue eyes that brought images of the calmest sea with the sun shining overhead to Percy's mind

"Who are you?" Olivia asked rather bluntly. She looked around 3 or 4 years old. But hadn't he been in Tartarus for only 2 years? Percy looked at Annabeth questioningly and she caught on immediately.

"Let's go inside first Olive, Sally will want to see him." Annabeth said gently, before making her way into the apartment with Olivia still in her arms.

The two looked very comfortable together, Percy thought. Annabeth paused at the door and looked back at Percy who was still rooted to the spot. She held out her hand to the son of Poseidon.

"Come on Seaweed Brain, let's go in." She said quietly. Percy moved forward and gripped her hand tightly. Annabeth lead Percy through the door and into the apartment that he hadn't set foot in for over two years.

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"Mummy! Annie's here!" Olivia practically screamed as she disappeared into the apartment, leaving Percy and Annabeth standing by the door. Percy looked around, the apartment hadn't changed that much. To his right was the lounge room with several couches scattered around, to his left the kitchen and from what he could see that hadn't changed much either. There were the same soft blue walls in the apartment with the same floorboards and the same lights. But it was the little things that had changed; the pictures on the mantelpiece over the fireplace in the lounge room had changed to show a little dark haired girl, Olivia presumably. There were still a few of him and his friends but not as many as there were before. There were the typical pictures that a little kid might draw, stuck to the fridge. Little things like that.

"Annabeth? Oh it's wonderful to see you again!" Percy hadn't heard that voice in years. Seconds later Olivia reappeared with Sally Jackson in tow. Percy analysed his mother as she drew closer. He had never thought it about her before but she looked old. Weighed down with sorrow and sadness, her hair had more grey and her worry was written in the new wrinkles on her face.

"Hey Sally," Annabeth said happily. She surged forward and the two women hugged. Sally looked over the blonde's shoulder to see a tall man, nearly twenty years old, standing uncomfortably by the door, looking at the floor.

"And who are you?" Sally asked kindly, looking at the man. He looked up and his eyes met hers. For a second Sally didn't respond.

"P-Percy?" she stuttered.

"Hey Mum," he said quietly, as though fearing how she would react.

"Percy! Oh my gods!" Sally charged forward and hugged her son tightly. "I thought you were dead," she whispered into his chest. Percy wrapped his own arms around her.

"I'm sorry to put you through all that Mum."

"This is real? I mean, you're actually here? This isn't a dream?" she asked, suddenly scared.

"No Mum, I am here; I'm back."

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Percy stood in the kitchen drinking a glass of water. He had just finished when he heard a noise behind him. He spun and instantly fell into a fighting stance with Riptide gripped in his hand. Olivia stared at the sword wide-eyed.

"Whoa! Where did you get that? Is that a real sword? Can I have a go?"

Percy just stood there dumbfounded; apparently this little girl could see through the mist

"Uhh…" was his intelligent reply. He quickly recapped Riptide and the sword shrank back down. This only served to make Olivia's eyes go even wider.

"Percy! Olivia! Could you two come here please?" Sally called out.

"Coming Mummy!" Olivia yelled before running back into the living room. Percy followed at a slower pace. When reached the living room he saw that everyone was seated and had serious expressions, except for Olivia that is. Percy sat next to Annabeth and looked at his mother expectantly. Just as she opened her mouth to begin the door swung open and Paul walked in carrying a large stack of books.

"Hey Sally, sorry I'm late but I-" Paul broke off when he saw Percy. "Percy? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. It's good to see you again Paul." Percy replied evenly, Paul dropped his books and quickly covered the distance between the two.

"Percy! Oh my gods, it's good to see you!" Paul cried as he hauled Percy to his feet and gave him a 'man hug' pounding Percy on the back. Percy grunted and winced at both the contact and the impacts on his back. Paul obviously heard him and stepped back to examine his lost stepson, who was also looking over Paul. Paul looked remarkably similar to the last time Percy had seen him, just with more grey hair and a couple of wrinkles.

"What happened to your face?" he asked in surprise. Percy raised his hand to run his fingers over the scars on his face. One ran from around the centre of his right eyebrow and under the eye, creating a 'c' shape. Another ran from the corner of his left eye all the way down to the middle of his chin.

"Kronos." Percy answered bluntly, moving his left shoulder uncomfortably, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

"And your shoulder?" asked Paul concerned.

"Look, can we talk about this later?" Percy said, he phrased it as a question but he clearly wasn't going to talk about it, yet.

"It's alright Paul, we will talk later." Sally said with a pointed look at Percy.

"Yeah, alright." Paul said, through everything Olivia had sat quietly but she was getting restless, and she still didn't know whom this man was.

"Who are you?" she asked loudly, Percy glanced at his mother before answering,

"I'm your brother," he said. Olivia's eyes widened.

"You're that Percy?" she asked incredulously.

"That Percy?" the son of Poseidon asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah, the one that disappeared two years ago and that Mummy hasn't seen in three years?" she explained quickly.

"Oh, yeah, that's me."

"Where were you?" Olivia asked. Percy looked at his mother, silently asking: does she know? To which Sally shook her head and Percy sighed.

"I was- in a very- bad place" he said hesitantly, not sure how to phrase it.

"Were you in prison?"

"In a way, yes."

"Oh."

"So, Olivia; how old are you?"

"I'm three years and six months old," she said proudly. Percy's eyebrows shot up. Silence enveloped the group but Sally broke it.

"Percy, could I talk to you in the kitchen?" they both stood and made their way into the kitchen, hearing Paul begin to talk to Annabeth as they left.

"So, Annabeth. He's back huh?"

"Yeah."

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"Percy look-" Sally began.

"Who is she? Really? Because she obviously doesn't know; she's too old to be yours."

Sally sighed, "She's a daughter of Poseidon, so she is in fact your sister still."

"Then why-?"

"Olivia's here because her blood mother and her step father were killed in a car crash while she was with friends of her mother's. Poseidon sent her here because I was still grieving for you and he thought it would help me and it would be good for Olivia." Sally explained. "He also didn't want to send his daughter into an orphanage," she added as an afterthought.

"And she doesn't know that she's a demigod or that you and Paul aren't her biological parents?" Percy asked, placing both hands on the kitchen bench beside him.

"No." Sally said.

"She doesn't know about the gods?"

"No." she repeated.

"Are you going to tell her soon?"

"I don't know." Sally sighed. The two stood in silence for a minute before Sally broke it, "it is good to see you again Percy."

"Yeah, it's good to be out of-" the son of Poseidon didn't finish the thought.

"What happened down there Percy? You seem… different" Sally asked gently.

"I-" Percy began, "You don't want to know." He said eventually, carefully avoiding answering.

"Percy, I want to help you," his mother said, looking into his eyes. "But I can't if you don't tell me what happened." Percy's eyes flashed and his jaw clenched but he quickly reined his growing anger in. He didn't want to hurt his mother.

"I'm sorry Mum, but I don't want to talk about it." he said firmly, walking out of the kitchen before his mother could respond.

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After he came out of the kitchen they had spent an awkward few minutes punctured only by Olivia constantly asking questions. Abruptly Percy stood.

"It's getting late, we should leave Annabeth." he said curtly with a glance out the window at the darkening sky.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner Percy?" Sally asked pleadingly, really not wanting her son to leave yet, not when she hadn't seen him for over two years.

"No, we really should be going Mum." Percy said. His voice still tight but somewhat softer, "It was nice to see you again Mum, you too Paul"

Without another word the son of Poseidon quickly walked out of the apartment.

"I should go keep an eye on him," Annabeth said with a sigh, "He'll be alright Sally; we just have to give him time to adjust back."

"I know, I just hate seeing him like that." Sally said sadly.

"We all do but he will recover. He'll come back to us, we just have to give him time." Annabeth said as she hugged Sally comfortingly. "Not even the gods know what happened to him down there."

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Well there we go, next chapter: Percy goes back to CHB

Ideas would be much appreciated: who do you want him to meet first, what has changed at CHB etc. etc. Just hit the button and let me know, Cheers :)

BigSchwart Out