Because Nothing Lasts Forever

III

(A/N Thank you, DemigodInTraining for helping me out! I'll include the part you helped out with in a chapter soon.)

Percy trained the demigods. The ones who had betrayed him were (most of them) long dead by now, and he was practically a living legend.

Well, except for the fact that he's not living.

Everyone trained as hard as they could, wanting to show Perseus Jackson that they were able to defend themselves. That they weren't like his old friends and wouldn't betray him.

They were all improving greatly under Percy's supervision, but he feared it wouldn't be enough when the battle finally came.

But for now, all they could do was train and wait.

~°~

The huntresses arrived a day later and stayed for a week. Percy supervised their training too, but there were four that were obviously the best.

One was the Lieutenant, Thalia. She had been practicing for thousands of years. The other three were actually the three that went on that scouting mission with Thalia, Lizzy, Rose, and Alice. The other huntresses that had been alive when Percy was had gotten slightly lazy. The ones that hadn't joined after Lizzy, Alice, and Rose.

Percy spent more and more time with the three huntresses.

He brought them to the lake one day, where they sat next to it and talked. They learned a lot about each other.

But there was something that was troubling Percy, and the three girls noticed it.

"What's wrong, Percy?" Alice asked, her green eyes staring at him.

"I don't really know. . ." Percy trailed off. He looked into the distance over the lake. Then it clicked. Percy turned suddenly to the three girls.

They were startled.

He looked at Alice with wide eyes.

"Alice?"

Alice looked at him.

"Yes?" She asked, confused on why he said her name.

Percy looked at her blonde hair, then at her eyes. Understanding filled Alice's sea green eyes, and she looked down.

"You figured it out," Alice said.

"Figured what out?" Lizzy asked, narrowing her yellow eyes.

Percy was the one who responded. "She's the daughter of my half brother and Annabeth Chase."

Rose and Lizzy gasped.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Rose asked, gesturing to Percy, Lizzy, and herself.

Alice looked at the verge of tears. "I thought that if I told you, you wouldn't want to be my friends. I thought that you wouldn't trust me if I told you, so I didn't. I'm sorry."

Rose and Lizzy looked angry, but Percy wrapped Alice in a hug, surprising them all.

"I don't judge people by their parents," Percy said. "I'm not going to do that to anyone, not even if your parents were terrible. I'm proof that, having a terrible father myself.

"For the record, you three are practically sisters to me. I'm not going to put shame on one of my sisters because of a secret. Everyone has secrets."

The three girls smiled. Alice smiled through tears.

"Everyone has secrets. Sometimes you don't even know your own secret until the time is just right. I would know." Percy sighed.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Nothing," Percy said. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Goodnight." He went off to his cabin. The girls realized that the sun was setting and soon also went to bed.

~°~

Percy gained a strong brother-sister bond with the three huntresses. The three worked well together and helped train the campers and huntresses.

Alice, Lizzy, and Rose all loved Percy like an older brother.

~°~

Percy walked into the Thanatos cabin and flopped down into a bed. He stared at the ceiling for a while. Dead people don't have to sleep, but Percy does anyway.

Percy slowly drifted off to sleep.

A/N I know this chapter is short. It was longer, but I had to get rid of some of it to make this work. Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon!!

*Badly edited*