I'm back! So sorry, I had no intentions of being away this long! But I was further behind on my schoolwork than I thought. .-. But now I'm all good!

Apologies if this chapter is a bit funky, being out of the writing loop for a while might mess me up a bit. Anyway, let's see if I can crank out another chapter!

The Loss of a Hero: Chapter Twenty-One

Percy POV

I pushed the door of my cabin open, and walked in. The same scents greeted me happily, but ice coursed through my veins. I'd been found out by that Singer, Kairi, and what would happen if she told others? I didn't know very much about the Singer class, but I knew that they were often very persuasive and good with words. Some Aphrodite kids had a similar ability. It would be easy for Kairi to spread the word about me.

She was sitting by Annabeth, and looked up when I came through the door. I conjured a couch out of water, which is seriously the most comfortable thing in the world. It's like a waterbed turned into a sofa, only better. We sat down silently, looking at each other, gleaning the other's secrets, waiting to see who would speak first.

Finally, I sighed. "How'd you figure it out?" I asked.

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Well, that picture over there helped," she said, pointing to the picture of myself and Annabeth that was hanging on the wall.

"Oh… right. Forgot about that." I groaned.

My appearance was changed, yes, but a Shadow Person could easily see through it to my normal look. All Shadow People can see each other's regular appearance, except for those of the Cloak class. Basically ninjas, they're masters of stealth and subtlety. They're even more in tune with the shadows inside them than other Shadow People.

"So, Percy," she said, "What are you going to do?"

I sighed, and sat back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. After a while, I took a breath and let it out slowly. "I don't know. Heck, I love her. I really do. But… I'm dead. I will never age nor die from time. And I will never be able to go to the Underworld, I missed that trip. All that awaits for me if I die, again, is oblivion. Eternal nothingness. Annabeth will go to the Underworld, Elysium. Maybe get reborn and try for the Isles of the Blessed. But not me. I can't be with her anymore." I sighed again. "I'd give anything to be with her again."

"I'm sorry. I know what it feels like, the same thing happened to me." Kairi put a hand on my arm. "It hurts, it really does, I know. But Annabeth is hurting, too. She was devastated when we went looking for you in the Underworld, everything looked like you'd gone to Elysium, then decided to be reborn. She thought you left her intentionally."

I was silent. I had no idea what to say. No idea what I could possibly do to make up for that.

"She seems better now, but I know she really isn't." Kairi looked down at her hands. "I've… I've been tapping into her emotions, taking away some of the hurt so she doesn't feel it quite so badly. I know it's a low thing to do, but…"

I shook my head. "No, that's not low. That's a good thing. Thank you."

She nodded sadly. "But, Percy, I have to keep taking away more and more. The hole in her heart is getting wider. I don't know how much more I can take."

I looked at her. "Wait, when you say that you're taking her hurt away, do you mean…?"

"Yes," she said. "I've been taking it into my own heart."

I was stunned. "And you're doing this on a daily basis?"

She nodded.

I put my face in my hands for a few moments. "I can't thank you enough, nor say how sorry I am. That's amazing, doing that for her. I'm in your debt."

"No, no, it's not your fault. I chose to do this." Kairi stared down at her hands. "Annabeth was the first person to talk to me and treat me nicely in a hundred years or so. When I first saw her, trying to get into the gate of Orpheus, I could feel her pain and her determination to get you back, so I offered my help. And I haven't regretted a single second."

I shook my head. "Wow." I got up, and offered her my hand. She took it, and stood up with me. I hugged her gently. A small, surprised gasp escaped from her lips. "Thank you so much. I'm grateful for everything you've done to help her. I could never hope to repay you." As I said that, I gently reached into her emotions, and found the pain that she'd taken from Annabeth. It was huge, and I gained a new respect for her, being able to hold that much hurt inside her. I slowly siphoned a chunk of it into myself. Again, Kairi gave a small gasp.

"H-hey! You don't-"

I ignored her, and kept streaming Annabeth's hurt from Kairi to myself. It fell on me like layers of lead jackets, all heated to the melting point. Kairi pushed me away. "Stop that!"

"What? I was just easing your burden," I said.

"No, no, I don't want you to hurt, either!" she clamped her hand around my wrist, and I felt her taking the hurt back.

"Yeah, no, sorry." I put my hand around her wrist, too, and stole back the hurt.

This went on for a while, until we heard a tired "Wha… Jake?! You… stupid little… How dare you?!"

"Huh?" I looked over, and a fist nailed me in the face. "Ow! What the?" I put up my hands to block Annabeth' punches. "Hey! What's your problem?"

"You are! You knocked me out!" She grabbed the sleeping patch from the back of her neck and flung it at my face.

I caught the patch. "You refused to sleep!"

"I was watching over Nico!"

"Someone else could have, too!"

"Well, I wanted to do it myself! Nico is my best friend!"

I grabbed her wrists gently, stopping her from swinging at me. "I'm sorry," I said.

"Let me go," she said, struggling in vain to wrench away from me.

"Not until you calm down."

She huffed. "Fine. Where's Nico?"

"I left him with Steven, he's up and walking around. Steven fixed his wounds."

"Take me to him, now," she ordered.

I chuckled. "As you command."

She swore at me in Ancient Greek under her breath. "Jerk."

I looked over at Kairi. "We can talk some more later, alright?"

She nodded. "Yes, that would be fine."

I nodded back, then reached into the darkness, and emerged with Annabeth in the infirmary. I looked around, but only saw Sierra, asleep in her bed. "Hm, not here. Maybe in his cabin?" I shadow-traveled again, just outside the Hades cabin. I knocked on the door. "Hello?"

There was no answer, so I pushed the door open slowly. Nico was lying, asleep, in his bed. "Nico!" Annabeth shouted. She ran over to him, which woke him up. His eyes went wide and he covered his face with his hands in defense. "Nico?" Annabeth stopped next to his bed. "Nico, are you alright?"

Nico slowly lowered his arms, relaxing a bit, but I could still see a hint of fear in his shattered eyes. I sighed. "Nico's body is almost fully healed, but… he was possessed by a powerful, dark force. He's traumatized. It's probably going to take a long time before he'll recover."

Annabeth sat slowly beside Nico. "Nico, it's me, Annabeth, you remember me, right?"

Nico looked at her for a moment, then nodded uncertainly. She sighed, partly out of relief, partly from sadness at Nico's condition. She hugged him gently. "Get better soon, alright?" She got up and walked to my side. "Let's go back," she said. I nodded, and we shadow-traveled back to my cabin.

End of Chapter 21

A thousand apologies for being away so long! Hopefully you guys haven't given up hope on me . anyway, as long as I keep up on my schoolwork, I should be able to keep writing. I'll be gone from tomorrow for a few days, I'm going to stay at my buddy's house and play video games ^-^

Keep doing the polls, as always, please! Remember, if you send me your ideas for the story in a PM or in a review, I will consider them and possibly work them into the story!

Read and review!

~Ben

P.S. Also, here are my shout-outs!

Many thanks to Skeptron, musicbookie23, and bobjoejim for following and faving!