*DISCLAIMER* as much as i would like to i don't own Anything to do with the Percy Jackson series all rights go to Rick

Chapter 5

Annabeth POV

The last thing I remember is a warm feeling spreading through me, then a feeling of weightlessness, and now? Well now I can feel a soft foamy fabric that I was delicately spread across. In this moment all was bliss. The world was perfect; everything was as it should be. There was a strange tingling sensation, and it was a feeling that I couldn't fully describe. It was as if no matter what happened, everything would be okay. But it felt so fragile, like a delicate flower, so beautiful to look at and hold but also so easily ruined. I was scared that if I tried to hold onto the feeling too tightly, then I would permanently eradicate it. This was what confused me most of all. How could something so good be so fragile, so ready to be blown away the second the wind changes.

I rolled over and felt the fabric react to my touch. To be honest it felt like I was floating on a cloud. I suddenly had the urges to jump up on down on 'my cloud' like I used to do when I was a child. 'I bet Percy would love this' I internally giggled.

At this thought my eyes shot open. "Percy" I whispered. I could feel the warm feeling slowly flowing out of me. My hands began to grasp at thin air, trying to catch the last remnants of whatever force was leaving me, desperately trying to stop it being replaced with hopelessness and despair. I started looking around frantically, for anything or anyone who could help me keep it. Though the more i looked around, the more baffled I became. To my left was a side table with a pitcher of water and a few empty glasses which I snatched up, filled with water and began to greedily gulp down, before resuming my interrogation of my surroundings. The walls were a flickering mass of oranges and reds, moving like a fire would in real life. They radiated a warm comforting presence, similar to that which I felt when I was in Percy's arms.

I continued to gaze around, but found nothing of interest, other than a chest of drawers, a chair which contained some fresh clothes and the fact that 'my cloud' was legitimately a fricking cloud. It acted like a bed though. My Athenian mind instantly went into overdrive analysing all the features, from how it initially developed its bed like shape, to how it retains it after I stood up. "Amazing" I muttered under my breath.

"Yes. Quite" came a voice that I vaguely recognised from behind me. I span around as quickly as I could, my eyes darting about, trying to locate the mysterious speaker. To my surprise I found nothing.

"Hello? I called out questioningly. My eyes still continuously scanning the room. I quickly realised that since I did not know where I was I could easily be in non-friendly territory. My hand naturally began drifting to the hilt of my sword.

"Now now dear. There will be no need for any of those shenanigans" I heard the same voice say. "We are all friends here, this I swear on the styx" I heard a rumble of thunder in the background, the sound which always accompanied these oaths.

This didn't put me any more at ease, Hades two of my best friends at camp ended up being traitors. They redeemed themselves in the end but that doesn't change what they did at the time. (Meaning Luke and Silena)

"If you are truly a friend, then where are you?" i questioned. Not letting my guard down even a fraction. This question was met with a deep sigh, which merely added to my bewilderment.

"It does not surprise me that you, along with so many others, do not recognise me. But I had hoped that boyfriend of yours may have taught you a thing or two about me" the voice said sighing once again. At the mention of Percy my heart began to pound against my chest, but right now I had other things I needed to focus on. Then in an instant there was a swirling of flames coming from a fireplace I had disregarded initially, and from the flames out stepped a goddess.

"Hestia" I breathed out, dropping to one knee in a bow. How did I not realise that it was frigging Hestia! The feelings of hope and warmth. I knew I had never properly met her but Percy had spoken of her often enough. I wondered why she had called me here. More importantly I wondered how she knew where I was to get me in the first place. I decided to hold my tongue, and see what she wanted before I went all 'Athena' on her and began to pepper her with questions.

"Rise child" Hestia said. "I won't have the girlfriend of my favourite demigod bowing to me" I looked up to see a smiling goddess gazing back at me warmly. It was impossible to be sad in her presence; everything just seemed brighter now that she was here. It…it reminded me of how Percy made me feel. Like my insides would turn to mush, a resukt of the giddy joy he provided in the form of pure unadulterated happiness and hope.

I didn't know what I was doing but the next thing I knew I was rushing forward and hugging the goddess of the hearth tightly. I felt fresh tears fall from my eyes as the fear and pain of the last few weeks all spilled out of me. It was quite amusing seeing my tears sizzle off the fiery skin of Hestia. Her hand stroked the back of my head as she whispered soothing words into my ears.

I don't know how long I spent leaning against Hestia, but by the time I looked up I realised we were no longer in the bedroom. It seemed that Hestia had flashed us to a living room, and we were both sitting on a very comfy, plush couch. (As a guy from the UK saying couch instead of sofa was weird just saying) I looked into her eyes; they were a soft brown but shimmered with flames.

"It will all be okay child. Life will go on as it needs to, as it always has" Hestia said putting her hands on my shoulders and pulling me up into a sitting position. I could feel myself choking up as I thought about living my life without Percy. I could feel the guilt finally beginning to take its toll as I thought over and over about how it would have been better if we had stayed at Camp Jupiter. That way Percy would still be alive. He would have been able to get over me, I was nothing without him but he would always be someone at camp. Plus I knew Reyna liked him, along with all of the girls of Venus. He would have been okay. But I knew I would become a shell of myself. Life would never be the same. I had lost my whole reason for living.

I stared vacantly at the wall behind Hestia trying to come to terms with my loss. Not noticing the look of concern and anguish which radiated from Hestia. The goddess of the hearth lifted my chin up to make me look her in the eyes once again.

"Now young one. Would Percy want you to be thinking those thoughts? Or would he want you to be the best person you can with or without him" she questioned as I continued to stare blankly back at her. "I think we both know the answer to that one. Especially someone as bright as you." She smiled and I struggled to conceal the brief smile which graced my features. I could almost imagine Percy here now. He wouldn't even care that he was dead he would just expect me to be alright. To be happy. Not even the Gods would know how guilty he would feel if I was feeling glum because of something he had done. He had literally sacrificed everything by leaving Camp Jupiter just so I would be happy. In this moment Percy's last words echoed round my head. Percy loved me and he wanted me to live. I hadn't really had time to think over his words in all this time, but at least one thing was clear. Even as he was dying his last thoughts were of my happiness. I didn't know how long it would take, but I knew I had to honour his last words.

"Lady Hestia" I managed to croak out.

"Please dear, it is just Hestia to you" she said, wagging her finger at me in a mock scolding.

"Just Hestia" I replied seeing the smirk on her face. "Could you take me to see my mother" I asked politely.

"Just close your eyes" she smiled back at me warmly. As I closed my eyes I felt a warm sensation flood through me and soon the smell of books and freshly sharpened pencils filled my nostrils. I knew I was in the palace of my mother"

Not gonna lie Annabeth's part is going to be quite soppy for a few chapters. But need to keep it in to show what she is going through. May have to have some time skips backwards to keep up with both her and Percy's stories.

Percy POV – present earth time

Chaos nodded happily. A bright smile displayed proudly across his face.

"Ah good. I truly am glad you accepted my boy. Now let's see to you taking your oath" he said cheerily, before springing to his feet and offering me a hand up which I gladly accepted. He placed a hand on my shoulder and I felt the same sucking motion I had felt twice before, as we left the beach only to reappear in an office. I was happy, as we both looked a lot more dignified than we had done previously, with Chaos rocking a pitch black suit and I sporting black combat boots; trousers and jacket. Looking over the outfit I couldn't help but think that both Nico and Thalia would agree with this particular fashion statement.

A throb of guilt passed through me as I realised I hadn't even considered what those two would be feeling. I hope they would be okay, I mean Thalia is in a group of man hating girls and Nico deals with the dead all the time. Surely they would be alright. I was snapped out of my daze when I noticed that Chaos was now sitting patiently behind the desk in the room. He nodded his head leisurely at the seat directly in front of him. I quickly took a seat and looked expectantly at Chaos.

"Now Percy before we get you initiated" Chaos began "I would like to take this time to explain how the army works." He said clasping his hands in front of him. "Now as you know in your case I have taken a hero from a planet and I shall induct him into my army. However, on certain planets men and women train their entire lives to get a chance to enrol. So you can understand that you are already in a privileged position" he finished and I nodded showing I understood.

"So when you initially enter you will only be a private, but you will have the chances to work your way through the ranks of this army. Moving to corporal, Sergeant, lieutenant and captain. Then if you are lucky you may progress to be the commander of my entire army." I once again nodded, I knew deep down that if I ever wanted to truly make it back to Annabeth. Then becoming the Commander was my best shot.

"At the same time, the army is split into a number of different units. Within each of the units we have the different ranks I spoke of a moment ago. Moving on, for the duration of your first decade here, you will receive basic training in a number of different aspects to see which unit is best suited to your particular skill set. If at the end of your training you are ideally suited to more than one then you may choose which one to join" he finished drawing in a deep breath. I had seen Annabeth perform this exact same procedure hundreds of times and knew I was in for a looong lecture.

"Firstly we have the shadow hunters. They are, for lack of a better word, our spies and scouts. They are masters of stealth and adapting their features so that they won't be recognised. They are also specialists in long range weapons, so if we ever have to perform an assassination, then we would use an individual from this unit." I mentally checked that unit off, knowing I was about as stealthy as an elephant in a china shop. Also given my history with archery, I didn't really feel the whole long range weapon vibe.

"Next we have the synthetics. These are the engineers of the army. They produce all our weapons and armour, and if we are in the field they will repair vehicles, or set any explosive substances we have for destroying our objectives." Well that's another unit you have no hope in Perce. You couldn't do any of those things if your life depended on it. Well there was an explosion that one time in chemistry. Or the time you accidently shot the cannon at your school bus…? I was snapped out of my pondering as I realised Chaos had started talking again.

"…the rejuvenators. Or the medics. They will handle any physical or mental injury you may sustain while you are a member of the army. They also dictate the diet, to keep every soldier in peak physical condition." Chaos added smiling. Wow who knew the creator was a health nut.

"Then there are the bombardiers. They are slightly….kooky. They are the artillery experts, but enjoy the explosive aspect of their job a little too much. Never get too close to one of their inventions; they aren't against testing the 'less harmful' explosives on unsuspecting soldiers. They might not hurt you but you probably won't hear for about a week." Chaos stated cheekily.

"Another group is the Spartans. They are our close range experts. They love to fight and are on the front lines for most of the confrontations we have had over the years." Chaos nodded proudly. These 'Spartans' reminded me a lot of the children of Ares back at camp half blood.

"Then we have the black hawks. They are our flying unit. They use both their ability to fly, which is a blessing they receive when they join the unit, and the fighter air craft which we have. They are also used to scout, but not as much as the shadow hunters are. On a number of missions you may find those two squadrons linking up to make both their jobs easier." I thought I heard chaos mutter something about lazy good-for-nothings. Though that could have been my imagination.

"Finally we have the typhoons. These are our water based experts" my ears perked up at the sound of this. Flying, sneaking and blowing things up were all great, but nothing compared to being near the water. "They again use their abilities over water some natural, as in your case" chaos nodded to me "some brought about via the blessing they receive upon joining the unit. And similarly to the black hawks, they also have a collection of ships in their possession, which they use on a frequent basis" Chaos nodded with an air of finality about it. "So, any questions" Chaos clapped, leaning further back into his chair.

"Only one. Who will be training me?" I questioned. I heard Chaos give a throaty chuckle, before standing and walking over to a window.

"Well my dear boy, you will be trained by me."

Hey guys sorry this isn't a great chapter (sad face) Annabeth was moany and Percy kinda did nothing, but next chapter im going to have a montage of Percy's training, then one of his missions. Might have a bit of Annabeth filler just to keep you up to date with her. Also wanted to just get out how I want the army set out, I know in most Chaos fics that Percy generally walks in to become the commander, so I wanted to change it up and make him earn his position. He will most likely become the commander after not too long though. Until next time :D