Okay, I'm confused,. I have no idea what happened. For a month I like ditched this story and then I was like naw I should continue it but when I went to upload the next chapter was like: ?

I was working on the nineteenth chapter, yet, I've only uploaded fourteen. I think I'm forgetting something. Oh well, anyways, very late update, sorry lol but whatever. Very sappy and I personally hate sappy but that's okay next few chapters are like 0% sappy. And tbh, this story is like going no where.

Chapter Fifteen

Nico

Friday, November 28th

"You're fathers are in California doing research," Chiron explained slowly. He glanced at the other Olympians.

Nico furrowed his eyebrows. Research?

Bianca looked straight at Chiron, "Research? Research on what?"

"You."

Percy wiped hair away from his eyes, "So you're telling me that our fathers went to the other side of America...to do research on us."

Chiron shook his head, "You don't understand. That's not the point."

"Chiron," Athena interrupted. "Show them the news."

Chiron looked down at his lap before motioning them to follow him. They followed him towards a large office. It had a desk pushed against the wall. There was a cream coloured couch and a large TV. The seventeen of them squeezed inside. Chiron turned on the TV and went through the TV menu. Suddenly, a new broadcaster with blonde hair and brown eyes was seen on TV. She seemed to be in the middle of the street.

"We're here first for your daily news," she announced. "I'm here with the mothers of the six children that have seemingly been abducted by their own fathers."

The camera swerved around. Nico saw his own mother holding a handkerchief. Her eyes were red and puffy. He heard Bianca gasp from beside him. "Mamma," she whispered. Beside his mother was a woman with long black hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was still crying. He recognized her as Percy's mom. Next to her was a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She seemed distraught but she was holding herself together. The last woman had chocolate skin and frizzy black hair like Hazel. She was wiping at her eyes. Beside her was a little Latino boy that looked strikingly like Leo. They all wore winter clothing. Underneath them was each of their names and their respective child's name (except for Sammy, of course). His just read Sammy Valdez.

"Could tell us the story, ladies?" the reporter asked gently.

Thalia and Jason's mom spoke first, "Well, the fathers of our children are the owners of Olympus, the Big 3. They called each of us and said they wanted to get to know the children on a one month vacation with them in California."

Percy's mom nodded, "So I packed his stuff and I dropped him off at the airport." She forced a smile but it didn't reach her eyes, "Ironically, when he was packing, Percy had suggested that his father may be a serial killer. I had shrugged it off at the time but now…" she trailed off.

"Hazel is only ten," Mrs. Levesque continued. "After the one month was up I went to go meet her at the airport. I was surprised that during this time period, I didn't receive any phone calls."

Nico's mother nodded, "I kept on expecting at least a phone call that they had arrived safely. I didn't receive one. I waited at the airport for hours. I was told their flight had already arrived when I finally asked, so I continued to wait. Soon I befriended these ladies and we exchanged stories."

"That's when we knew something was wrong," Ms. Grace said. "We called their fathers but we got nothing."

"That's when we went to the police," Ms. Jackson said. "It's been three months. The Big 3 are constantly travelling for work, they're never in one place. No one has seen them in several weeks. We don't understand. Why would they take our children from us? Before he left, Percy had said, 'I've lived twelve, almost thirteen years of my life without him. Why do I need him now?' I wish I had listened to him."

"I know Nico and Bianca would want me to be strong," Nico's mom said. Nico felt his heart pumping. "But it's just so hard having your children snatched away from you when there was something you could've done about it. I just want to see them one last time." Nico felt Bianca hugging him from the side as her tears splattered on her uniform. For once, Nico didn't pull away.

"I may have not always said it but I really loved Thalia and Jason," Thalia's mom said. "I wish that I could have said goodbye. I wish I hadn't had answered when Zeus called. Then my children would be where they belonged. At home."

Hazel's mom spoke, "Hazel, if you're watching this just know that I love you so much and I'll be waiting here at home for you."

The camera switched to a close-up of the little boy's face, "Hazel was my best friend," he sniffled. His nose and cheeks were red. "But now I'm never going to see her again." He wiped his eyes, "At least I got to say goodbye." He looked straight at the camera. "Hazel, I'll never forget you. When we met in Mrs. Raymon's Kindergarten class and some kid spilt paint in your hair and I helped you get it out, I knew we'd be friends. I didn't know we'd become best friends and now I don't know if we'll be best friends forever. Please come home. My heart is broken and I need you to fix it."

Hazel's mom immediately pulled Sammy into a tight hug which covered his face. Nico was sure he was crying.

"Oh, Sammy," Hazel whispered. Six pictures flashed on the screen one at a time before making two lines of three. It was pictures of them. Thalia's picture was first. She looked the same except she was smiling. It looked professional. All of the pictures did but Nico couldn't recall when he took that picture. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Thalia's eyebrows scrunch in confusion.

It went back to the woman, "If you have any information regarding—"

Chiron paused the TV.

Hazel burst into tears. She pulled her knees up to her face and buried her head. Jason was giving her a hug. His eyes looked big and sad. Thalia's lip was quivering like she was trying not to cry. Percy's green eyes were filled with tears that were overflowing down over his face. Bianca had buried her head in Nico's hair and Nico could feel her tears. Nico hugged his sister as he let a single tear cascade down his cheek.

Hazel

She couldn't help herself. Sammy was her best friend too. She had known him for five years. Now, he thought she was dead and there was nothing she could do. She could feel her body shaking uncontrollably as she cried. She didn't care if she was crying in front of everybody. Her best friend thought she was dead. When she finally looked up Chiron had a sad look in his face. "Do you understand why we didn't want to show you?"

"I can't believe you weren't going to show us," Thalia said. Her voice came out shaky.

"I promise you, we would've shown you when the time was right."

"How—" Percy cleared his throat, "How long ago was this?"

"It aired live yesterday," Chiron answered. "After seeing it your fathers immediately flew out to California to come up with a plan that wouldn't result in them getting arrested."

"Well maybe they should've told our mothers what they were doing with us!" Bianca snapped. Her head flew up. Hazel was surprised she wasn't speaking Italian. "Now my mother is probably sitting at home, staring at a picture of us at home crying her eyeballs out! I don't want to put her through this pain. I can't Chiron, we're going home. I know you're afraid you can't fight without us but I know you can. You have the strongest team in America and, frankly, we're not even supposed to be on it. Just pretend we don't exist. I don't want to do this but Nico and I have to go home. I-I don't want my mother to die thinking that she made a bad decision that led us to our death."

"But Bianca," Chiron tried. "You're not dead. You're going to back and time will rewind."

"We're all just going to die anyways. My mom would've died without us. When I was six and Nico was four my mother fainted. We called the ambulance. If we weren't there she probably would've died. Nobody comes to the apartment, nobody would've noticed. It was on the news." She looked to the TV waiting for Chiron to prove her point.

Chiron looked to the TV and put on a different broadcast.

A man's face filled the screen, "We now turn to the story of two brave little children in a New York apartment."

The screen changed It was the words of a dispatcher and two little kids. He clicked play.

The dispatcher spoke, "911, what's your emergency?"

"My mammina fell down!" Bianca was saying.

"She fell down?"

"Yes, she fell down!"

"Is she awake?"

"No."

"Where do you live?"

"In an apartment."

"Do you know the number outside of the apartment?"

"No!" Bianca yelled, "She needs help. She fell down, you have to get a doctor."

"How old are you?"

"Six."

"Go and check what number is outside of your apartment. Is anybody else there?"

"My brother Nico."

"How old is he?"

"Four. Nico, go and check the number on the door!"

"Why?" A distant voice asked.

"Do it!"

"Is he doing it?" The dispatcher asked.

"Yes. He says the number is 448."

"Help is on the way."

"Okay. Tell them to hurry."

"Can you check if she's alive?"

"How?"

"Tell me if you feel a heartbeat."

There was some rummaging around, "I feel the heartbeat!"

"Okay."

After a few more minutes there were sirens in the background. The call cut off there as the man's face came back on. Off to the side was a picture of Bianca and Nico. "Apparently while making dinner, the mother had a severe cut on her finger. The cut had hit a major vein that leads to the heart, the left ring finger. It required stitches but she didn't know that, she just put a bandage over it. She fainted due to the blood loss."

Chiron paused the TV. "See?" Bianca said. "If we die here my mother dies but if we wait several more years she might still die. What if she falls into depression! You can't bring back a dead person."

"Unfortunately, she's right." Hazel turned to see that Apollo was speaking. "You can't bring back a deceased person." Hazel's eyes scanned the Olympians. Aphrodite was dabbing a tissue at her eyes. The rest of them just had a sad expression on their face.

"I'm sorry, Chiron," Bianca said as she wiped her eyes, "But I'm going home. I can't force Nico to come, but…" she glanced at her brother.

Nico slowly nodded, "I'm going too."

Hazel nodded as she wiped away the tears that were blurring her vision, "Chiron," her voice cracked, "I don't know if my mom would've died without me but she needs me back home. Sammy's heart is broken and he needs me to fix it. We're going to best friends forever. Us being here was all a ploy anyways. The others were chosen by House. We weren't. It was just a scam. You don't need us. Please, understand." It's not like they were supposed to be on this team in the first place. If they're not supposed to be on this team then they're not doing any trouble by leaving the team.

"I've never, ever heard the word I love you from my mother," Thalia said. "She finally said it. That's how I absolutely knew I was going home. I'm sorry but I can't stay here."

"It's like what they said," Jason started. "You're putting someone through pain when you know you can stop it." He shook his head, "I don't want to put my mother through pain. I'm not supposed to be on this team. You can beat K without us. All you have to do is believe in yourselves and you'll be fine. I promise."

Percy wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "There's nothing I can say. If my mom wants me to come home, I'm going home. She's done so much I can't just sit back and watch her cry over something I can easily fix. I'm so sorry Chiron. I'm sorry. But my mother thinks my father is a serial killer. It was my thought of course but that was before I met him. I have to go straighten things out."

Chiron wouldn't look them in their eye. "Go pack your stuff, I'll request to have you taken home."

The six of them got up and singe-filed walked out of the office. They walked out into the forest where the others were sitting around the lake.

"W-where's House?" Hazel stuttered.

"It's over there," Annabeth pointed as she turned. "What happened?" she gasped as she saw us. Hazel figured her eyes were bloodshot.

"Ask Chiron," Thalia murmured as she stomped in the direction Annabeth pointed.

When they were done packing they walked back towards Chiron's office. Hazel could here talking.

"So Sammy is your cousin?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Now they're leaving?"

"Yes, they've requested to go home."

"How come this never happened with our parents?"

"Because you're just missing children. That's normal. You're not children who were requested by their fathers and never came back."

Hazel finally had enough courage to open the door. On the TV was the picture of Nico and Bianca as little kids. They were all there. Even the Olympians. Hazel gulped, "We're ready to go, Chiron."