Memories of a Hero

14

Percy, Rachel, and Lucia was dropped off at Camp Half-Blood with a snap of Nihil's fingers.

It was unfortunate that Nihil didn't warn them before hand that she'll be dropping them off in the middle of the lake. Percy barely had any time to react before they plunged into the water, scaring away a few campers, some fish, and a few naiads.

They broke out of the surface to find a dozen pair of eyes watching them.

And one of them happens to be Reyna, who was still in Camp Half-Blood.

"Oh hey." Rachel said as the trio hovered on the surface of the water.

"What the-" Reyna was confused. "Rachel? Lucia?"

"Present." Lucia said.

"What are you . . . Why are you . . ." Reyna shook her head. "What happened?"

As they got out of the lake, Percy evaporated the water out of their clothes and hair to make them dry again.

"Thanks." Rachel said.

"That's a neat trick." Lucia said. "Can I do that?"

Percy smiled. He was somewhat excited to know that there's another child of Poseidon that he could teach his powers to.

Well, except for Frank but Frank can change into a big bear if he wanted to.

Wait, can Lucia change into animals as well? It's highly unlikely because Frank's ancestors were-

"Percy!" Rachel called his name out loud, snapping him from his train of thoughts.

"Hm? What?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You're impossible." Rachel said. "They're meeting at the Big House. We should go."

"Oh, right." Percy said as he went with them. He wasn't too excited about meeting all of his other friends again, especially after what he did to them.

They went to the Big House where Annabeth, Jason, and Chiron were waiting.

When Percy saw Annabeth, his heart stopped for a bit. She's as beautiful as he remembered. His heart did jumping jacks and he could almost feel his brain malfunctioning.

"Well, this is a surprise." Chiron said.

"We have a lot to talk about." Rachel said as everyone sat down. Rachel began to tell everyone what she'd learned from her time with Nihil, or Chaos.

While Percy listened, his attention focused more on Annabeth. What he would give to kiss her again and tell her he loves her.

Percy had foolishly acted under the illusion that he was saving the world when in fact, he was helping to destroy it, all thanks to Gaia.

But he can't really blame everything on Gaia. He was a big idiot for not thinking of the possibility that Gaia was lying. She exploited his fatal flaw of extreme loyalty to his friends and used that to manipulate him.

Percy wondered if the memories of his friends suddenly returned, would they be angry at him? Would they be sad? Would they feel betrayed?

Percy assumed the worst. In the effort of trying to protect his friends, he ended up hurting them.

"And that brings us here." Rachel said. "In the face of another threat by Gaia."

Everyone had a look of disbelief on their faces. "So, you're telling me it's not over?" Jason said.

Rachel shook her head. "We have very little time in our hands. We have to act now." Rachel said. "We need to stop Gaia before she gets to full power."

"And how do we do that?" Annabeth asked.