DownPour

Everything You Think is Wrong

Can anyone confirm what month the second giant war ended in?

Life at the camps was peaceful. It had been for five years, ever since the second Gigantomachy ended that fateful day in August. Leo came back early September and everything was peaceful again. Jason and Piper got engaged six months later and Percy and Annabeth broke up six months after that.

It came as a surprise, their break up. After all they'd been through, people would expect that they would stick together, but they said that was the exact reason they were splitting. They'd been through too much. Being with each other reminded them of the pain they'd gone through and said that being just friends was a better option, allowing them to meet other people and to separate themselves from the memories.

After that, Percy just straight up disappeared. No one knew where he'd gone. He hadn't left a note or anything, not even a single one of his possessions was left behind. The gods all swore they hadn't done anything to him and search parties were sent out. Sally said he'd stopped by and had mentioned leaving but hadn't said to where. The Romans hadn't heard from him either, and he didn't ever arrive at their steps.

After a year of searching, the camps gave up. Nico would constantly check to see if his soul had arrived at the Styx but it was always negative, so he was obviously alive somewhere. Annabeth was depressed but after the break up she dealt with it much better than she would've.

Four years later, present time, he finally turned up at Camp Half-Blood. He just strode through the borders, startling the campers below and taking the breath from anyone who had known him. He was wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a silver jacket overtop, matching combat boots on his feet. He had many more scars across his body but his eyes were alight with happiness. The odd thing was that he didn't seem to be any older than when he left, still eighteen.

"Percy?" Annabeth was the first to speak directly to him. Her voice was quiet but still audible as she stepped out of the crowd, her jaw open slightly. "Is that really you?"

"Yep," he replied as if his appearance was nothing out of the ordinary. "In the flesh."

Before anyone could say another word, she had her arms around him and was crying into his chest. He returned the hug, muttering soft words to calm her. Chiron cantered up with Jason, Piper and Leo behind him. "Percy Jackson?" The old centaur said, astonished.

Percy smiled, untangling himself from Annabeth. "It's me," he answered. Piper had her arms locked around him next, squeezing the life out of him in her grip. "Piper, loosen up a bit, will you?" He choked out before she could suffocate him. The daughter of Aphrodite stepped back, holding him by the shoulders and looking him up and down.

"Where've you been?" Jason demanded, stepping up beside his fiancé, well, probably wife now. Percy grinned at the son of Zeus.

"You'll know in due time," he replied. "Why don't we talk about this not in front of hundreds of demigods?"

"You're quite right, my boy," Chiron said. "Let us take this to the Big House. Anyone who personally knew Percy can come along to the big house. Personally knew him."

Percy followed the centaur to the big house, four of the seven trailing behind him exchanging glances. Percy's eyes were glazed over as if he was lost in his thoughts.

They were mostly right. What if Annabeth tries to get back with me? He thought, thinking of how he would deal with it.

"She better not," he heard a voice say in his head. A small grin appeared on his face.

"Artemis, don't worry. You know I'm not going to get back with her," he answered the goddess, fully aware that she was in his head and fully accepting of it. He'd learned that she enjoyed watching demigod interactions and had given her permission to watch this from his mind. She could see, hear, feel, even smell the same he did. It had become a common occurrence over the years as he got to know the goddess more.

"You'd better not." He could imagine the scowl on her face and chuckled quietly, ignoring the strange looks he got from everyone else. "I'm not losing my first love in millennia to his ex."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"It isn't!" Artemis snapped, his chuckles restarting. "I think I have rights to be possessive."

"Yeah, sure, let's go with that," Percy agreed as he became aware that they were going up the steps of the big house. "Shut up now." He heard Artemis grumble in the back of his mind but ignored it.

"What just happened?" Jason asked from his right. Percy looked at them over his shoulder to see Jason, Piper, Leo and Annabeth all giving him confused looks.

"It's nothing, don't worry. I'll probably explain," Percy replied, trying to reassure them but not really succeeding. They all entered the big house, crowding around where the ping pong table used to be. It had been replaced with a longer, skinnier table with more comfy chairs around it. Dionysus was lounging at the head of the table with his legs propped up, drinking a cup of Cola.

"Finally decided to reveal yourself, Perry?" The god said casually.

"They deserve to know," Percy answered. "I don't have any need to hide."

"Then why were you hiding in the first place?" Dionysus demanded.

"It wasn't hiding!" Percy argued. "It was just a temporary leaving."

"I think it was hiding," the wine god countered. "Cowering behind Artemis like you were."

"Percy, what is he talking about?" Annabeth asked. She was promptly ignored.

"I wasn't cowering behind her!" Percy bristled. "She was housing me."

"Oh, yeah, sure, because that's why you've refused to show yourself to the demigods," Dionysus said lazily.

"That goddamned drunk, I swear, I'll kill him if he says another word!" Artemis barked in his head, making him wince slightly.

"Dionysus, if you could please shut up, it would spare me quite the headache. You're really annoying Artemis right now." Dionysus frowned.

"Is she watching? Figures she'd be. Tell her to shut up and be a good girl." Percy flashed with a silver aura for a second, leaving behind a faint silver outline.

"That doesn't sit well with either of us," Percy growled.

"Percy, it isn't a good idea to argue with an Olympian," Chiron said to his old student. "Even if you do have Artemis watching you."

"Oh, she isn't watching him," Dionysus commented dryly. "She's practically merged herself with him at this point."

"That isn't how this works," Percy said slowly. "Just shut up and save yourself our wrath."

"Oh, no, you've merged with her all right," the wine god stupidly continued. "You're practically the same person by now."

Percy's eyes suddenly flashed silver, one eye flickering between sea green and the same yellow-silver Artemis had. "You want to see merged?" He snarled dangerously, his voice sounding odd. It wasn't just his voice there was another voice layered on top of it, sounding suspiciously feminine. His eye finally settled on silver, the silver aura flaring up again and this time staying in place.

Dionysus flashed with his own purple aura. "You really want to fight, Artemis?" He said brusquely. "I can give you a fight."

"Percy, Dionysus, sit down!" Chiron demanded with enough force for both auras to flicker and drop dramatically. Percy's silver eye turned to Chiron, lighting up and suddenly swirling back to sea green. Dionysus sat back down in his chair and Percy reluctantly sat down in one far away from the god. Everyone else spread out among the remaining chairs.

"Percy, what just happened?" Piper asked immediately. "What's all this talk of Artemis?"

Percy smiled, his eyes both flaring silver. Everyone jumped at the sudden change, Chiron watching in amazement and muttering to himself. He spoke in that same voice as before, where it wasn't just him speaking.

"Why don't we just show you?"