IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE END

Calypso POV

The silence was eerie. The walk back had been even worse. Even though we were only five minutes away from the medical room, the trip back felt like months. Each step brought my heart lower and lower, until it was in my stomach. The entire time, I was looking at Percy, just wondering how I was going to break the news to him. His hair was plastered to his forehead with ichor, and he looked abnormally pale.

Arriving at the medical bay, the healing process began. Gods lined up behind a very tired Apollo. Meanwhile, his children ran aside him, measuring vitals, applying ointments and doing everything in their power to keep everyone alive. Percy was in the corner, laying down on a bed. Two of Apollo's healers had made a makeshift operating table and were removing shrapnel from all over the god's body. I shuddered inside, glad that he was asleep and couldn't feel anything. Percy was a god, but god's didn't exactly have instant regeneration, and ambrosia could only do so much. The only reason for this was to help Percy get back onto his feet as soon as possible, and get us all ready for the next fight… whatever Gone had in store for us. I shuddered again.

Three hours. That's how long it took before the Apollos were certain that everyone was stable enough for them to go to sleep. The poor god went first. As soon as the last person had been stitched up, Apollo practically collapsed, lacking the energy to keep himself upright anymore. The rest of us hadn't had an easy time either. Orders from various demi gods were being yelled across the room, with everyone scurrying around to help. I'm pretty certain I had applied more bandages in one day than the entire time in Ogygia.

"Go to bed, Calypso," Hestia muttered from beside me. When I heard her voice, I immediately jumped about five feet into the air. Hestia was an interesting person. She was one of the few gods, if not the only, who I couldn't tell whether or not they liked me. Looking up from the demigod I had just been wrapping up in cloth, I turned to face her. She studied me with her dark eyes, before basically pushing me away.

"I can do it myself," I said feebly. Hestia almost smiled.

"You're gonna need your energy for when Percy wakes up," she said wryly. "Forgot about that, haven't you?" My face went pale as I internally shuddered.

"Poor Perseus," Hestia sighed. "Even after giving his all, it wasn't enough." I decided not to reply, instead turning away and walking out the medical tent. Even though it was dusk, the light still hurt my eyes. Wearily, I rubbed them.

"Wait up Calypso," a voice came from behind me. I didn't even have the energy to turn back, instead just stopping and letting them catch up with me. It was Hazel.

"I just wanted to check how you're doing," she said between breaths of air. I shrugged.

"Don't worry, Percy has been in rougher states, and that was back when he was a demigod." I turned towards her.

"Do you think I'm scared about Percy going to Tartarus?" I asked.

"I mean, what else are you scared of?" she asked, puzzled. I sighed, rubbing my eyes again.

"How do you think Percy is going to react when he finds out that there are fourteen new bodies to be burned?" Now it was Haze's turn to shrug.

"I dunno, he'd be happy it wasn't fifteen bodies?"

"Oh no, you know how Percy is," another voice said. Looking to my right, Nico was now walking with us. He may be Percy's most trusted soldier, but he's always been a bit strange, like now when he just appeared out of the shadows and casually started to walk with us.

"Even just one death is enough to make Percy question every single choice he's ever made, and do you really think the other Gods are going to be nice to him? Fourteen deaths is a big thing."

"Hello Nico," Hazel said glumly. It wasn't that she hated Nico, more that he had a superpower to make the whole conversation dark and deathly.

"How are you Nico," I asked.

"Could be better, could be worse," he muttered. "I'm more or less grateful that I'm alive. Honestly, at the moment, I just need sleep." I nodded, understanding where he was coming from.

"Where are you off to Calypso?" Hazel asked. I shrugged.

"I'm going to ask Chiron if he has a spare bed in the big house for me to crash in." She nodded, and we continued walking towards the Hades cabin.

"Wait, why don't you crash with us in the Hades cabin?"

"Umm, I'd hate to intrude," I began, before Hazel grabbed my arm, practically dragging me with her.

"Nonsense, we have so much space, and Hades doesn't really care, at least he won't care about you. And Nico never minds sharing, do you Nico?" Nico shuffled in his feet.

"I mean I do prefer my privacy, but-"

"Perfect!" Hazel almost squealed. "You can hop in with us!"

The cabin was very spacious, with only five or so beds.

"There's a lot of room," I said uncomfortably.

"Yeah, Nico only had time to build a few before Dad needed him back in the Underworld as usual." Hazel took her shoes off, before laying down on her bed.

"You can go into the bathroom first," she gestured. "I need to make your bed up, and Nico… well.." Looking around, I had to stifle a laugh as I saw he was already fast asleep, still in his armour.

"Thanks Hazel", I said, before chucking my armour off and heading towards the bathroom.

"Wait Calypso, you can use these for your PJs," she said, chucking me a mickey mouse shirt and matching bottoms. I let out a smile and a quick thanks, before entering the bathroom and closing the door behind me.

The first thing I did was strip off all my clothes, which was much easier said than done. They

were plastered to me with my sweat, and I'm pretty sure my shirt isn't wearable again with how I ripped it off. Looking into the skull shaped mirror, I looked a lot worse than I'd thought. My eyes had bags, my hair was worse than a bird's nest, and my body was tattooed with blood marks and scars. I hopped into the shower, switching the water on and scrubbing myself so hard my body went red. It must've taken half an hour to get all the grime off my body. By the end of it all, the shower had gone from black, to a mixture of dull grey and pink. Stepping out of the shower, I dried myself, before putting the clothes on. Hazel didn't have any spare pants or bra's my size, and my ones were dirty, so I guess I was going braless for the first time since Ogygia, something I wasn't exactly fond of doing, but it wasn't like I had any other choices. When I got out of the bathroom, the lights were all off, and Hazel was fast asleep. I tiptoed to the bed she had been preparing. Thoughtfully, Hazel had placed a glass of nectar on my side table, which I immediately gulped down. Then, without waiting any longer, I fell face first into the bed, and the next thing I knew, I was out.

When I woke up, light was only beginning to show in the sky, but still Hazel and Nico were hurriedly getting ready. I let out a little groan, stretching my legs. Hazel saw that I was awake, and let out a little smile.

"Why are you getting ready at this time?" I mumbled, eyes closing again.

"We're meeting someone," Nico said, yawning. It was clear he wasn't an early bird kinda guy.

"That's nice," I said, burying my head back into my pillow, trying to fall back to sleep.

"You're coming with us, I assume?" Hazel asked. Naturally, in my tired state of mind, I attempted to ignore her. Hazel was not having it at all. She came to my bed, before yanking the duvet off me. Immediately, I felt cold, curling into a ball.

"Give me my duvet!" I grumbled, probably sounding childish. I opened my eyes angrily, and saw Hazel and Nico both towering over me. Hazel opened her mouth as if to say something, but Nico raised a hand, as if to say, let me tell her.

"Calypso, Percy is awake."

Leo POV

Of course I was their first. Did you really think I was gonna leave my friend and leader, while everyone else slept? Don't answer that.

Percy looked okay. I mean yes, he did have a couple of scars and cuts, and yes his arm was in a very awkward position, and yes he wasn't smiling, but other than that he looked okay!

It had been my shift. Being the super awesome guy I am, Apollo had naturally been begging me to watch over the infirmary while he caught some shut eye. I had been shitting back in my chair, rocking back and forth and tinkering with whatever was tinkerable (is that even a word?). When I first heard Percy groan, I thought he was just sleep-groaning. Little did I know how he was stirring, on the verge of waking up. A few minutes later, his glorious voice could be heard throughout the room.

"Why are you building a flamethrower out of metal?" Abruptly looking up and shoving the super cool flamethrower into my pocket, I grinned as Percy looked at me with confusion.
"You're awake!" I exclaimed, leaping up and running to give him a hug. The god groaned in fifty different ways, before I let go.

"What happened?" Percy asked, confused. "Did anyone die?" My smile faltered, before I quickly dashed out of the door, yelling, "I can't wait to tell the others!" There was no way I was answering that question.

Now, Piper, Jason, Frank and I were all there, waiting for the others to come. While we waited, Piper was irritating Percy by acting like a mum, checking him up, making sure he was okay, force feeding him ambrosia, that kind of stuff. Me and Jason were struggling to prevent ourselves from bursting into laughter as we saw his glum face while abrossia was being shoved into his mouth. He was lucky that Hazel, Nico and Calypso entered the room, and Piper was forced to leave Percy so that he could talk.

"What happened?" was the god's first question the second Piper left his side.

"Frank can tell you!" I said quickly. "He was telling me how excited he is to explain everything that happened." Frank gave me a look dirtier than Gaia before reluctantly telling Percy the full story.

"So basically, we kinda lost the whole thing and… yeah…" He said all this while looking down at the floor.

"We WHAT!" Percy yelled. His hand was clenching so hard around the bedpost.

"It's not all bad," Hazel interrupted, trying to save her boyfriend. "We made the army retreat near the end, and we did kill a large number of them-"

"How many casualties?" Percy abruptly said, sitting up high in his bed.

"Lay down Percy, Apollo says you need your sleep," Calypso gently said, pushing Percy back on the bed, but he wasn't having it. Pushing her away, he asked again, "How many casualties and deaths?" Hazel took a deep breath.

"There were seventy nine casualties and fourteen deaths," she said, shifting uneasily on her feet. Percy stared at her, half shocked, half sad. His piercing sea green eyes seemed to stare through her soul. He eventually did sit back, pulling his duvet up and staring at the ceiling. He sure did find ceilings interesting, I guess?

"You okay Perce?" Jason asked concerned. The God didn't answer. "You gotta remember, you were doing everything you could already. You were doing more than everyone else. No one could fight off an entire half of an army by themselves, regardless of whether they fainted at the end-"
"But I could've planned the whole fight better," he countered.

"You couldn't have planned it any better Percy," Piper chimed in with an exasperated sigh.

"That's the problem, isn't it?" he almost sneered, in such a tone that Piper looked almost disturbed.

"Just remember, it's not your fault," Nico said. There was a pause. I almost thought the god was sleeping before he said, "Sure Nico, whatever you say." I wanted to stay. I think everyone wanted to stay and just keep slapping Percy until he admitted the deaths were not his fault, but for the time being, he needed some alone time. Slapping could wait till later.

"Guys, give Percy some breathing room, and get some more rest. Tomorrow we need to be giving our 200% in training, planning and everything else-ing." Calypso looked at me, almost as if she was pleading to stay with Percy a bit longer, but there was no point. When it came to deaths, Percy needed Percy to get better. Nico realised this as well, as he shook his head, jerking his finger outside. Glaring at him, she stormed out of the tent, Hazel trailing behind her.

"As for you," Nico began, looking at me. "Your shift is definitely over." I pouted.

"I mean seriously, how bad was I actually?" Nico opened his mouth to say something, before closing it and rethinking his words.

"How about you don't make me answer that," he replied, before strolling out of the tent. I sighed. Despite every part of me wanting to stay with my leader, I knew when to listen, and Nico didn't seem in a mood to be messed around. Shortly after, I followed, heading back to my cabin. It was eerily empty, with most people either crafting weapons or stuck in the infirmary. Including me, there were only four other people in the cabin, the other three snoring away. Perhaps some other times, I would've cracked a prank, maybe screamed in someone's ear. It was sad to say that today was not that kind of day. I snuggled into my bed, not bothered to change my clothes. A dim light lit in the background, it only took a few seconds before my eyes shut.

What followed must've been one of the greatest sleep sessions I've had in a while. By the time I woke up, noon had come and gone. At first, I rubbed my eyes, before letting out a needed stretch, and sitting upright on my bed. That's when I saw it. I tell you, Kronos wasn't as scary as what I saw. The time was… 2PM! I couldn't believe it. My sleep schedule will be ruined. Frustrated, still half asleep, I scrambled around, throwing clothes on, while running to the bathroom. I don't even know how people multitask these days.

"Leo, this is the third time we're calling you!" Piper yelled from outside, rapping on the cabin door. "If you don't want to come, tell me now and I'll spare Percy the trouble."

"What happened to the first and second times?" I asked, brushing my teeth simultaneously. I could feel Piper's glare and look of disgust from outside the room.

"Leo what in the name of Hades underwear are you doing?" Piper said.

"Good question," I muttered.

"Hey! Why are you disrespecting my dad's underwear for!"

"Oh my days Hazel, it's a figure of speech. LEO GET OUT RIGHT NOW OR I'M GONNA-"

"Gonna call for a search team to locate my handsome face?" I asked, grinning as I walked out of the room… straight into Piper. I was fine, to be honest. Piper on the other hand… well she had fallen onto the floor, her armour getting even more muddy, which I didn't think was even possible. She stood up, brushing the dirtoff her arms, before glaring at me and walking away. I sighed.

"I take it she's not in the best mood?" I asked Hazel. She gave me a shrug

"I don't think anyone is in a good mood, unless you've already forgotten yesterday's events?" I gulped, shaking my head.

"Leo, now is the worst time for your Valdez level jokes. Percy is barely speaking. The gods are angry. People are dead, you know, be considerate." Even though I disagreed with her, I decided it was best to keep shut. See, in my opinion in a time like this, when all seems dire and bleak, that is the best time for a super Valdez flaming joke.

"Where are we going then?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Where Calypso was basically forcing me to go," she muttered back. We kept walking for a bit.

"Is he okay?" I asked. She shrugged.

"He could be better of course, but he seems to be holding on. Piper gave him a very firm talk earlier, and I think it helped. Instead of blaming himself, he seems more focused on getting back into action. Not sure how good that really is though." I nodded.

"PERSEUS JACKSON!" a voice immediately roared as soon as we got into the infirmary. "I SAID TO YOU, NO SWEETS, AND THAT INCLUDES BLUE COOKIES. What was that? NO I DON'T CARE IF JASON SNUCK THEM IN!"

Apollo was staring at the young god, and seemed… angry to say the least. Percy seemed… cold, it was actually quite scary how emotionless his face was.

"What's happening?" Frank asked, plopping down into one of the rare empty chairs. Apollo didn't seem in the mood to answer. Jason on the other hand, seemed more concerned with something else.

"I said save some for me," he mumbled, glaring at Percy. That was just enough to make him smile a little, which was nice to see. Turning to me, Jason said, "It may sound silly, but it was the only idea I had to somewhat cheer Percy up." I nodded, smiling a bit as well.

"Percy, they're waiting for you," Hazel added.

"Who?" I blurted.

"The gods. Of course they've decided the thing Percy needs right now is another meeting, one about his choices." She said the last part in a hushed voice just to me.

"Listen Percy, you can go, but I want you back the second the meeting ends, no ifs, no buts, and certainly no coconuts." he said the last part while unmistakably looking at Calypso. For some reason, Piper giggled at 'coconuts'.

Percy began getting up, before wincing. Apollo frowned, before checking his stomach.

"Did someone hug him? His ribs seem even more broken than before.

"Umm…" I gulped, shuffling backwards.

"It was Frank!" I yelled, before dashing out the door with a speed that would have made Hermes jealous.

First I do wanna apologise for taking my time writing this chapter. I've had a few things on my mind recently, but I do hope to continue updating faster and faster. Now, I've been writing this book for a while now, and it is sad to say not many people read it anymore, and part of that is my fault, I know I don't have the best writing but I'm just trying.

I will be beginning a new book in the next few weeks, still PJ related. I will still continue to write this book, but won't be updating more than twice a week, as I want to make sure the new book is the best quality it can be.

I would like advice and suggestions from everyone on what ship my new book should be, any plot ideas, and so forth. My PMs are always open to any advice and critique. I also would love for everyone to join my discord, which is all about this story and the new one. The invite code is wqZJt894kN. Hope to update soon!