Chapter Twenty-Four

The world was collapsing,And the only thing that reallyMattered to me was that sheWas alive

-Percy Jackson (Last Olympian)

"I could strangle you!" Mom shouted after separating from the group hug. "Fifteen years and nothing! No note. No call. Not a single message claiming where you were or even if you were alive!"

"I know, it was self—"

She cut me off. "Fifteen years, Percy! You better have lost your memory or been kidnapped so you had no means of communication!"

"I mean there was that one time with Luke when he threw a ball too hard at my head—" I trailed off as my mother's eyes looked as if they would pop out. "Yeah, I'm just gonna stop talking now."

Despite being asked to leave the adults to talk, I knew Parker and Estelle were just around the corner listening to my interrogation. Thinking back to me at their ages, I had a strong feeling they were laughing as well. It hurt my pride a little; I was able to assist in taking down Kronos and Gaea again, but completely defenseless against my mother's glare. Thankfully, Annabeth hadn't yet taught Axel scolding in English.

"I think what your mother is trying to say is: where were you for so long?" Paul said, standing next to my mom. "We've looked everywhere for you."

With an awkward grin, I explained how there was no possible way they could've found me. Nothing was left untold; Chaos and his offer, the misunderstanding, my training, my previously dead comrades, a few quests, and everything since coming back. The house stood silent for the entirety of my story, Mom and Paul hardly gave much of their reaction.

"So let me get this straight," Mom started. "You didn't come back for fifteen— sorry, one hundred and fifty years— because of a misunderstanding?"

"I know. It was stupid—" I tried to explain, but was cut off once more. This time by my mom wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

She sighed with relief. "Thank gods. I thought you ran off because you were done with everything."

I chuckled, returning the hug immediately. I wanted to go into a full rant on how much it would take for that to happen. Instead, I replied with never.

"Hate to break this up, but Will called," Parker said, coming in with Estelle and a very confused Axel.

"Called?"

"Oh right!" Parker said. "You've been out of the loop for a while. Basically, Leo created a chip that interrupted the signal sent out to monsters when demigods used cellphones."

You leave for fifteen years, and suddenly demigods are able to use a phone. Did I miss anything else? Maybe some viruses took over worldwide or maybe fires almost wiped out an entire continent.

Instead, I asked, "What did Will say?"

"She's okay. Unconscious, but okay."Parker said, looking relieved. The tension came off my shoulders. She's okay. "Will said we can visit her."

The look on his face told me he wanted to leave as soon as physically possible. I nodded, more to myself than him, and tossed Parker the keys. "Get Axel to the car, I'll be right behind you."

"Can't promise I won't do donuts in the parking lot." He said, grabbing Axel's hand and leading him out.

"Do that and I'll tell on you." Was my smart response.

"To who? Mr. D?"

"Annabeth."

That knocked some sense into him. "No donuts in the parking lot." Parker decided.

"Yep!" I replied as he left the apartment. After watching the door shut, I turned and hugged my remaining family goodbye.

"You're not going back to Chaos, are you?" Mom asked as I hugged her for the fifth time.

"I don't know," I said, honestly. "The mission was to stop the enemy forces then come back. Just like every other time."

"But this isn't like every other time."

I tried to smile, but I'm sure it just looked like I stepped on a Lego. Hugging Estelle and Paul, turned to the door.

"Percy," my mom said before I could leave. "Don't think I've forgotten about the 'you-have-a-kid' thing."

"I— how did you know."

"Who do you think Annabeth stayed with?"

On that note, I left and joined Parker in the car.

The drive was mostly silent except for Axel's little squeaks of excitement when he realized we were seeing Annabeth.

"Why Omega?" Parker finally asked, breaking the long silence.

"Huh?" I said, intelligence at its finest.

"Just, why did you choose Omega and not something like I don't know, Patrick?"

"Do you know the first monster I defeated?" I asked he shook his head. "It was the Minotaur. The big ugly thing he was. Anyways, when I fought him a second time, he had these blades shaped like omega."

"The last letter of the Greek alphabet."

"Right," I parked the car, "before he attacked, I came to the conclusion he had them shaped like that for a reason. Those blades would be the last thing his victims saw before they died, just like how omega is the last letter."

Parker was silent once again. "So, you stole that from him?" I nodded. Just like how the Minotaur took my mom from me when I was twelve and confused. "Copyright." He laughed.

I punched him in the shoulder, but I was laughing too. "Shut up."

———

"Will, I am fine!" I heard Annabeth say from a room. "It's just a little stab wound, no biggie."

He scoffed, coming out. "A little my butt. You're getting worse with every injury."

"You rotten shit demon!" She shouted, causing Parker to laugh and me to cover Axel's ears. English speaker or not, he will be just as colorful as Annabeth if we're not careful. "I don't need bedrest!"

Will reached Parker and I, completely ignoring her.

"You can go in now," Will said. "Do me a favor and tell her bedrest isn't that bad. I'm going to help Nico finish his sword-fighting class"

"No detours," I mumbled as he walked by.

"I heard that!"

Parker wasted no time in rushing into Annabeth's room, Axel and I right on his tail. Her bored expression immediately faded when we came in.

Apparently, the infirmary had also been updated while I was gone; rooms were added to house sick and injured demigods. However, instead of the typical sterile rooms you'd find in a hospital, the rooms had a cabin-like feel. Walls made from wood and decorated with pictures of the camp. A nice queen-sized bed pushed up against the wall.

"Hey," Annabeth said to us. Axel jumped into bed with her as Parker pulled a chair right next to her bedside.

"Heard you got stuck with bedrest," Parker said.

"Will told you?"

I laughed from the doorway. "He didn't have to. We could hear you yelling all the way from Pluto."

"At least we know my vocal cords still work."

"And the right side of your brain," Parker said.

Annabeth glared at him. "You're so lucky Will forbade me from punching people."

The conversation between the three of them went on well into the night. Halfway in, I found another chair and sat in the corner.

"Percy," Annabeth said, knocking me out of my daydreaming. She was standing up next to a now sleeping Parker, holding the area the stab wound was in. "Help me get him on the bed."

I quickly got up and grabbed him from Annabeth. While I knew she was very much capable of helping, I didn't want to risk her ripping the stitches and hurting herself further.

After laying him down next to Axel, I turned to Annabeth. "You should probably go to sleep too."

"No, I'd rather watch Will throw a fit and cuss him out again," Annabeth said, shrugging.

I laughed. "Well, that's not a very nice way to treat someone who's helping you."

"This is kind of our thing actually," Annabeth interjected. "I need medical attention, Will helps me. Then he decides to give me stupid rules to follow and I cuss him out."

"Wow," I said when she finished. We launched into our own fit of laughs until it subsided into silence.

Silence. In the beginning, things were just the opposite. My face still tingled from the day she decked me square in the face after an altercation. And even before that, girlfriend didn't cover who she was to me. Now we couldn't hold a proper conversation and silence consumed the room. I would do anything to get to before, even the slapping before.

"What are you going to do, Percy?" Annabeth asked, breaking the silence. She looked me directly in the eyes, daring me to see what happened if I ignored her.

"I have no clue," I said, causing her to scoff. "I'm serious, Annabeth. This has never happened before. Before it might've been easier to go because I had nothing here and everything there. But now—" my voice caught. "But now it's no longer black and white."

"Why?"

"You aren't making this any easier."

"Never planned on making things easy for you."

My gods. "I made a commitment to Chaos and the army. Hell, I lead the army. Not only that, but they're my friends. Friends whose deaths I'm responsible for."

"You are not the reason they died and you know that," Annabeth said before freezing. "Percy, did you die?"

"No. Chaos offered me my place in the army."

"Good, because if you died I would've killed you."

I laughed and moved closer to her. "Little counterproductive, don't you think?"

"Little more than a little," Annabeth said.

At that point, I was right in front of her. I looked at her and she at me. It went on like that for a while before someone started leaning in. Whether it was her or me or both of us, I couldn't tell you.

I kissed her, she kissed me. Light as a feather, but still able to carry emotion along. Most people would grab another's waist or wrap their arms around necks, but positioned my hand on her face.

I kissed her until I ran out of air. My forehead rested on hers, not even bothering to open my eyes.

"If it were only me, I would support whatever decision you made," Annabeth said softly, as not to break the silence. "But it's not, Percy."

"Annabeth—"

"You're not allowed to hurt him. Fire away at me, I can handle it." Annabeth said. "But Percy, if you do decide to leave; don't hurt my kid.

With that, she broke away from me, leaving a chill where she previously stood.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go piss off Will," Annabeth said before walking out of the room.

Time to make a visit to Chaos

***

A/N: Sorry for the late update, but hey! Lots of words. One more chapter after this.

SOMEWHAT EDITED

Word Count: 1829 words