Christ...this chapter. First of all, it came really quickly. I just really wanted to write for this story! Second...it's 3,000+ words long XD

That's most definitely the longest chapter this story has seen.

I've literally been working on this all day, and it's 2 in the morning and it is FINALLY done!

So yeah, I hope you enjoy this. I know I enjoyed writing it! So don't forget to drop me a review and tell me what you think!

(Percy's POV)

I'd always hated thunderstorms, ever since I was a little kid.

It wasn't really the storms, per se. I'd always loved rain, watching the drops flow down my window, tracing them with my finger as they fell. Anything from a light drizzle to a torrential downpour felt oddly peaceful to me.

But the minute you added thunder and lightning to the mix? Forget about it.

I would inevitably turn into a panicked mess, huddled up in a corner shaking until my mom came in and held me close.

That kind of thing was cute when you were little, but as I got older, it became kind of embarrassing to be afraid of a little storm. I had always thought I'd had to be fearless, especially with Gabe making fun of me.

I thought it was just one of those normal kid fears, and Gabe insisted on as much too. It was just like dogs or bugs or the dark. I'd thought it would be the kind of thing to fade when I got older.

I was proven wrong, it never got better. I never stopped being scared, I just stopped showing it. So as I got older, I got better at hiding it and never let on to mom or the kids at school as to how bad it really was. But I could never manage sleep when there was a storm brewing, no matter how late at night it was or how tired I was.

And that's how my mother had always treated it too, as a childhood fear that I would grow out of. She'd always tried to explain that the thunder wasn't going to hurt me or anything like that, but I'd always suspected she was just lying to me. I'd always sensed just a little hesitation in her voice.

I didn't really understand it all until I was twelve, when I found out who my dad was.

Now I knew she'd been lying to me, trying to make me feel as normal as possible. My fear of thunderstorms was completely natural, considering my lineage. Lightning was most definitely going t to hurt me. My fear of flying on anything other than a pegasi was completely justified too. All courtesy of good ol' Zeus.

My fear of tight spaces was totally natural too. I hated being underground, it reminded me too much of the Underworld. I felt the same lack of control underground as I did in the air, I was always far to close to the gods that would tear me apart. And that particular fear had only been exacerbated by the whole muskeg incident up in Alaska.

I guess I just couldn't stand being too close to my dear old uncles.

So, yeah. Thunderstorms? A totally legitimate and still rational real fear for me.

But still a really, really embarrassing one.

In the mortal world, I hid it well. Mom didn't know I was still scared, neither did Paul. On the off chance a storm started up during school hours, I would zone out and think about anything else and try to keep myself from flinching every time thunder boomed overhead.

Within the boundaries of camp, I usually never had to worry about it. Normal storm clouds skirted the borders and were only ever allowed in when the gods intervened. And Mr. D almost never let weather through the borders, and usually only did so when the strawberry crops needed a little extra attention or when the camp needed a little holiday snow.

But right now? This wasn't Mr. D letting a little drizzle pass through. This was a full-blown storm of epic proportion, probably fueled by Zeus' anger over some trivial matter.

And I was hating every single moment of it.

Really, I was just glad Jason was around, waiting out the storm with me. I hadn't even requested it, but he'd shown up at my cabin anyway under the guise that he was bored and didn't have anything to do. It wasn't quite out of the ordinary, but it still felt...odd to me. He'd never made much of an effort to be good friends with me before. We'd always been on speaking terms, and we'd always had each other's backs in a fight. But over the past few days, he'd been hanging out with me more and more often. And it's not like I'd ever mentioned how much I hated thunderstorms, but he probably assumed as much and decided it would be best if he just stayed with me tonight. I was thankful for his presence, honestly. He was a good guy, he even carefully averted his eyes every time I flinched when lightning struck or thunder clapped.

He understood how I felt, so I guess it was nice just to have him there. He felt as uneasy by the ocean as I felt right now.

And it wasn't like Annabeth was going to show up anytime soon, even though she was well aware of how much I despised thunder and how truly appreciated her presence would be.

I don't know what going on with her, and it was so goddamn frustrating. We never got a chance to talk much since we both seemed so busy. She was almost always holed up in her cabin, working on architectural designs for Olympus considering construction had been halted when the gods went schizophrenic. She really only left for mealtime and the occasional workout or chore. I chose to spend my most of my time in the arena instead, training all the new recruits and dueling the other cabins.

And I knew it would only get worse over time. It wasn't going to be long before the summer session was over and we had to move on. I would be going back to the city and Annabeth would be going back to California instead of staying at camp.

She may have hated her father before, but this most recent war seemed to have put things into perspective. She wanted to be with her dad now, she really wanted to try and make things right even if it meant dealing with her stepmother and half brothers. She only had one life to live, and facing death back to back had shocked some sense into her. Family was going to take priority now.

I guess I didn't count.

As admirable as that was, and as happy as it made me to see her trying again, I knew it wouldn't be good for us. It hurt knowing she was going away, leaving me behind.

I mean, it was hard enough finding time to go on dates and just be a couple during camp months. I'd really been counting on her staying at camp, a quick drive away from me. I thought that we could finally be a normal couple. We could go on dates to the movies, she could meet my mortal friends from Goode. We could just have time together. It would have been perfect, right? All the stuff that should have happened last year could've still happened.

But now all that was screwed. We would have almost three thousand miles between us. Sure, we could iris message and Skype, but it wouldn't be the same. She would probably come out for holidays, or I would go out to see her, but it still wouldn't be the same.

She would move on. Maybe she would make a ton of new mortal friends and not even want to come back. Maybe she'd find someone else...someone that could make her happy, someone she actually wanted to spend time with.

Because honestly, what was our relationship?

She was my best friend. Well...probably. I mean, that's what we were supposed be.

What did it even mean to be best friends?

We hardly hung out. Even before we'd started dating, I'd never spent all that much time with her. Sure, we'd spent time together at camp, doing all those normal camp things. But in the mortal world, I hardly ever got to see her. I couldn't even remember the last time we saw a movie or did anything remotely average.

And we were supposed to share everything, right? Well...I'd never really done that. She may know way more than the average person, but lately I felt like we were so disconnected. She knew nothing about my time in Tartarus. She didn't know about the claustrophobia. She didn't know about a lot of things.

And I don't even know why. I guess...I guess I'd just always been afraid of...bothering her. Like, my problems weren't important. She had enough to deal with on her own, between Luke and her dad and everything else. And more recently, there had been her solo quest and all the drama with her mom. Talking to her would've just added to her problems, and it would have been pointless considering she couldn't relate to anything I had to tell her anyway.

But somehow I felt like I could talk to Nico about anything and everything.

It made no sense, I know. But that's still how I felt. I honestly felt like I couldn't even talk to my own girlfriend and best friend about my problems.

And the whole dating thing? That was even stranger.

We'd never even gotten the chance to be normal. So shortly after we got together I was torn away and dumped out in California and everything had been ruined. I couldn't remember the last time we'd gone out on a date. Months, if you counted the pizza "date" in Rome.

And despite all that...I though I loved her. I really thought so. I knew I would still do anything for her. I just wasn't sure if she felt the same way anymore.

I still wanted her here with me now though, but it was obvious she had other things on her mind. More important things than her supposed boyfriend.

Actually, I wanted someone else to be here with me.

Nico.

I wish he was here with me now, instead of Jason or Annabeth. They were poor substitutes. I knew he would understand, probably even better than Jason, and I never felt like I had to worry around him. I knew I could be myself around him, he'd seen me at my lowest low and knew more about me than anyone. I missed him like crazy.

The fact that I didn't even know where he was, or what he was doing, made it a million times worse. I couldn't stand that feeling. I knew he was probably down in the Underworld, taking care of something for his dad, but I couldn't be sure. I mean, if he'd gone to Camp Jupiter to see Hazel he probably would've told me or someone else.

I had no idea where he was, and I had no idea when he was getting back. He hadn't even bothered to tell me.

It felt like the old days, when he would disappear without a word and not return for days, not thinking that anyone would care or miss him.

But all I could do now was wonder where he was, where he might be. I absolutely hated that wondering feeling, because it basically meant that my mind would create the worst possible situations.

So I spent most of the night blankly staring at the flickering TV, thinking about all the terrible things that could, but probably weren't, happening to Nico. Jason lounged on the floor, back pressed up against my bed. He watched the TV intently, or at least pretended to. It was just the kind of things Nico and I would be doing if he were still around. The rain was still pounding against my cabin as the night drew on, my shutters forced closed in an attempt to drive away any leaking water and the bright flashes of lightning. They still rattled though, with every forceful blast of wind they shuddered and groaned. I could only imagine what it was like in the creaky, leaky old Hermes cabin.

No sleep tonight. Even if I could manage to ignore the rain and thunder and lightning, the wind would wake me up for sure.

It was almost so loud out there that Jason and I didn't hear the heavy and sudden thump outside my door.

It was the kind of sound most people would ignore. It was probably nothing, but the ever-cautious Jason wasn't going to ignore anything. He shifted the bowl of popcorn from his lap to the floor and got up, stretching.

"I'm...going to go check that out. Be right back," he murmured, brow furrowed as he stalked toward the door. A hot, humid wind blew into the cabin, but the door shut quickly behind him.

Within a few second, I heard a loud shout and Jason's voice, several octaves higher than it should have been, shouting my name.

Needless to say, I scrambled out of bed. Years of training did that to you, made you jump at the slightest provocation.

I threw open the door and skidded to a stop on the porch, Riptide already uncapped and ready to slash any waiting monster to dust.

But I didn't find any monsters.

I found Jason, kneeling on the ground, hovering over a...a body. Hovering over the small form of someone, his bulk blocking my view of whatever he was doing.

As I drew closer, I could hear a steady stream of curses flowing from the blonde's mouth, only a few of which I caught over the crashing thunder above. In the dim light, I could see his hands shaking as they moved closer to...

Nico.

Oh gods.

It was Nico. An arm, now sprawled just in my view, was proof of that. Spidery fingers (stained liberally with dark blood), a glimpse of cracked brown leather, a silver skull ring. But Jason shifted again, blocking my view.

Oh gods.

Jason didn't even register the sound of Riptide clattering against the ground, nor did he register my panicked movements or the thud as I collapsed on my knees next to him.

Oh gods.

I gulped as I looked at down at the small form, starting at the top.

His head lolled to the side, his ashy pale face partially obscured by long black hair that swept across his forehead. His eyes were closed, lids shadowed and long lashes fanned across pale, hollow cheeks. Everything about his face was slack, drawn out. His mouth hung open a little, his bow-shaped lips parted.

I made a strangled noise as my eyes swept down his thin body.

Oh gods no.

The left side of his torso was practically mangled. At first, all I could make out was the blood which was still slowly pumping from the grievous wounds, staining the ground below a dark, almost black, red. Upon further inspection, I could just barely make out what I thought to be claw marks between the shreds of black fabric and brown leather and blood. His shoulder seemed oddly deformed, his left arm hanging completely limp.

Oh gods.

This was bad.

Oh gods.

This was not good.

I couldn't move. I could barely think.

So I watched on in horror as Jason's hand, shaking ever so slightly, frantically reached towards Nico's bloody neck. I searched the blonde's face for anything, any expression, any revelation, but found nothing. It was completely set and grim, betraying any connection to the smaller body below him. But his eyes held fear and sadness and absolute panic, but then, suddenly, relief. He let out a slow, shaky breath, and spoke in a cracked, uncertain voice.

"He's still got a pulse...but barely. We've got to get him to the infirmary, fast," he whispered.

Before I could even react, Jason was on his feet and gently lifting the limp body in his strong arms.

The rest all felt like a blur.

I remembered running after Jason as fast as I could, braving the howling wind and rain. Trying to breathe normally despite the hot, muggy air surrounding me.

I remembered slipping in the mud and falling too my knees, bare feet unable to provide any sort of traction on the now sloppy wet trails. But I kept getting up, kept stumbling towards Jason's form, silhouetted by the bright flashes of lightning.

I remembered making it to the infirmary, Jason kicking the door open and rushing in, already shouting frantically for help.

I remembered Will Solace and Austin, who were apparently the Apollo campers on night duty, run to Jason's aid, blue eyes wide with shock.

I remembered the panic, the hectic scramble for supplies as I watched, feeling sick, from the doorway.

I remembered Jason, blonde hair plastered to his forehead, jumping in to help, his medical training courtesy of his praetorship finally becoming helpful.

I remembered collapsing against the door frame, bathed in the orangey light of the uncovered light bulb and shivering at the influx of cold air from the infirmary.

I remembered staring at my legs, unable to even look at what was going on. Sounds fading in and out. Shouts. Curses. More shouts. More curses, yelled out in Greek and Latin.

All I could focus on were my legs sprawled in front of me. Worn jeans soaked though, cuffs splattered with mud from running after Jason. Bare feet slick and wet.

I shivered, trembled and shook. My hands refused to stay steady.

Sitting there, the sounds of the commotion fading to almost nothing as the sounds of pounding rain overtook me, the tears finally started to prickle, slowly running tracks down my already wet face.

Nico. Oh gods no. Please no.

Well then...tell me what you think! Hope to be back soon!