Hey guys sorry this took so long. I don't update during the summer cuz i'm at camp.

The song is Me Without You by Ashe.

Does anyone ever listen to the songs I post? I don't care if you do, just wondering. You totally should, though. They're all so good.

ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never read trials of apollo, i just read a summary of it on line, because I couldn't get into it, but I really wanted to know what happened. Lavinia is in this chapter, because I really love the idea of her, and with Hazel dead, I needed someone to be the centurion of the fifth cohort. So I'm really sorry if shes a little out of character, but i just really love the idea of her.

We landed at Camp Half-Blood only a couple minutes later. I was surprised to see most of Camp Jupiter was there as well.

"What's the Legion doing here?" I asked Reyna. 

She shrugged. "Just paying a visit. Trying to help you Greeks reconstruct, since most of your leaders are... out of commission." She looked at me, judgement in her eyes. I winced. So, yeah. It was my fault. I wasn't around to help them re-build, but I really needed a few months to get my life back in order. "And we haven't really left since the funerals."

Oh. That made a lot of sense, too.

Chiron trotted up to us, a small band of campers close behind. I recognized some of them, but for the most part, they were way younger than me. "Percy," he said, patting me on the back.

"Hey, Chiron."

"It's a good thing you've come back. We need to talk." Chiron looked at Peter. "And who's this?"

"This is my cousin, Peter. He's a Legacy of Athena." 

Chiron smiled at him.  "Oh, that's great news." He turned to the crowd. "Malcolm, Margaret, could one of you show Peter around camp while I speak to Percy?"

Malcolm nodded and stepped forward. "Sure thing." He smiled a little at me. "Hey, Percy."

I'll admit, I've been trying to avoid Malcolm since Annabeth's death. He had been her second in command since my third year at camp, and it hurt a little, knowing that he would be taking her place. No one could ever replace her, and the Athena kids would agree with me, but it still hurt. A lot.

I nodded. "Malcolm."

"Listen, I've been meaning to talk to you about-"

"Later," I cut him off, a little harsher than I intended to. "How about you help Pete settle in, then come find me, yeah?"

He nodded. I turned to Peter. "I'm going into a meeting. I'll see you at dinner."

Margaret, the new second in command of Cabin 6, touched Malcolm's arm. "Don't you have to go to that meeting, too?"

Malcolm shrugged. "You could go instead."

Margaret's eyes widened. "Me? But I've never done that on my own before. I don't-"

"You can do it," I encouraged. "Malcolm has to show Peter around."

She blushed. "O-okay."

"Great. Lead on, Chiron!"

...

It felt nice to be having a serious meeting around the ping-pong table of the rec room again. It made me sad that the Stolls weren't there to pour Cheez Whiz into each other's mouths, or see how many pretzel sticks they could fit up one nostril. And it was also a little depressing to not have Annabeth around, being the one voice of reason, or Silena, to play mediator.

We had to push three ping-pong tables together this time, to fit twenty-eight people around it, plus Chiron. Joining the head counselors were the two Centurions from each cohort, as well as Reyna, who was the only praetor at the moment, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who sat in between me and Reyna.

Chiron gestured for me to start talking. This was my meeting, after all.

"Hey, guys. It's been a while since I've actually been here, I mean, besides all the funerals," I started out.

"Where have you been?" someone interrupted. I looked up and saw it was Austin, son of Apollo, one of the only remaining campers who was around during the Titan War.

"He's been away on personal business," Rachel answered for me.

"Why? Because your girlfriend died?" Sherman, from Cabin 5 asked mockingly.

My face felt hot and I could feel a lump forming in my throat. I swallowed it down. "Yeah. She did. If I killed Miranda right now, I promise you, you would need some time alone, too."

Sherman's face went red and he stood up out of his seat. 

"Sit down, kid." Authority snuck it's way into my voice, and Sherman hesitated for a brief second.

"He can kick your podex in two seconds flat," Dakota said. "We Romans remember what happened in the Field of Mars. Best thing to happen to the fifth since their glory days."

"Sit down, Sherman. Please. Let's maintain some peace." Chiron said. I took a deep breathe, trying to reign in my emotions.

I smiled at him, grateful. "Look, guys. I know a lot of you don't remember me too well. We've lost a lot of campers recently, good campers, and you guys need help. I'm sorry I wasn't around to help rebuild camp. I take full blame for that. I should've been there. But we have a real issue on our hands."

Rachel nodded. "I wasn't really um... conscious for this, so did anyone write it down?"

Austin raised his hand. "That's Cabin 7's job," he opened a notebook and flipped to the correct page.

"The demigod Son of Poseidon shall-"

I stood up quickly. "Are you... Is this a joke?" I shouted. Everyone looked at me. "Is this a prank?" I looked around the room, trying to decipher everyone's faces. "Cecil?" I turned to the head of the Hermes cabin. 

"Nope. Not the Hermes cabin this time, chief."

"O-okay," I said shakily. "Continue then."

Austin looked back at his page. "Um..."

He read the rest of the prophecy. The basic gist of it was as follows: I'm gonna die, and than not die, and then be a hero, and then not, and then destroy the country.

Not contradictory enough for you?

"That's um... that's a hard one,"  Nyssa, daughter of Hephaestus said.

 "Are we sure there aren't any other sons of Poseidon?" asked Leila of the forth Cohort. "Maybe it doesn't mean you?" I appreciated her for trying to  help, but pretty much everyone else at the table shook their heads in unison.

"I'm the only one. Like, yeah, the big three oath is off, but as far as I know I don't have any siblings." I said.

"You have a good relationship with your dad though, don't you?" Michael Kahale asked me. "Can't you just go to his undersea palace or whatever and ask?"

Margaret shook her head. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate that. 'Hey dad, have you cheated on your wife recently? You have? Great. When's the baby due'?"

I smiled. "Yeah that wouldn't go over so well."

Holly Victor raised her hand. "You're supposed to destroy the country, right? Assuming that means America? So can't we just, like, kill you?"

Rachel shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. The prophecy would just wait until Poseidon had another child and then use him."

"So then we tell Poseidon he can't have anymore demigod children, unless he wants to destroy America." Laurel argued.

"That wouldn't work, either."I told them. "Poseidon would forget, or break his oath or something. He only lasted, what? fifty, sixty, years the last time he swore off mortal women?"

"I still say we kill him," Damian, son of Nemesis said. "At least we can hold off the prophecy for a few years."

"No one's killing Percy," Chiron said. "that's not an option. It never was, it never will be. I've spent to much of my life trying to keep him alive for you to just kill him now. If I hear another word of it from any of you, you will lose dessert privileges for a week, and you'll have last pick for chores for the remainder of the summer."

"And if any of you Romans kill him, I'll take care of you myself." Reyna said.

Margaret raised her hand.

"Yes, Margaret?" I pointed to her.

"Marnie," she corrected.

"Marnie," I amended.

"Why would any of you even try that? I get that some of you are new around here, and I don't know about the Nemesis and Nike cabins, but Cabin 6 fully respects Percy. He saved the world during the Titan war, and single handily defeated Tartarus and Gaea. I'd like to see you guys defeat two premordials, three titans, and at least two giants. If he wanted to, he could kill every single one of you right now, but he hasn't even threatened to hurt any of you for coming up with such a  dumb idea."

"Thank you, Marnie." Chiron said.

"And we Romans remember what happened in the Field of Mars!" Dakota said. "He completely wiped out the first and second, all by himself."

I blushed. "Thanks." Both of them were stretching the truth, but I'd address that later.

"We still need to come to a decision," said Miranda

"As of right now, I say we just go about regular camp activities. If something happens, report back to Chiron, Reyna, or Percy." Said Mitchel from Cabin 10.

"Is there anything else we need to address?" Chiron asked.

I raised my hand tentatively. "Um, yeah."

"Go ahead Percy."

"So I've been staying with my Uncle, Tony, since my aunt passed away,"

"Sorry about your aunt," Lou Ellen, second in command of the Hecate cabin interrupted to say.

I smiled sadly. "It's okay. I'm doing okay now, I think." Chiron coughed into his hand, and I elected to ignore it. "Anyway, I've been living with him and the rest of the Avengers for some time now, and earlier this evening, they cornered me and forced me to tell them about the gods, following the lead of my brother Peter, and also Wanda, who is also staying with the Avengers. So, yeah. The Avengers know about the gods."

Lavinia, a girl I knew from my time in the fifth cohort, leaned forward. "So the government knows about the gods? Also, I think it's awesome that you're related to Tony Stark."

"They swore they wouldn't tell anyone, including the government. I'm hoping they keep that promise, but you never know."

"More reason to kill you," Sherman muttered.

"Try it," Reyna snarled, standing up and slamming her hands on the table. Her metal dogs growled at her feet.

"It's okay, Reyna. Sit down,"I told her, grabbing her arm.

"Sherman, what did I say?" Chiron chided. "No more dessert."

"Fine," he said.

"As for you, Percy, I don't think this should be much of a problem. Just keep us updated."

"I can't," I said. I could feel my face getting hot again. "I left once I told them. I'm not going back,"

"You ran away?" Rachel asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I'll tell you about it later."

"Peter will be going back and forth," I continued. "He'll keep me posted."

"Then I think this meeting's adjourned." Chiron announced.

...

I sat on the floor of the Poseidon cabin with some of my friends. Peter, Reyna, Rachel, Lavinia, and Dakota. It made me sad that I was the only old timer left at Camp Half-Blood. I wouldn't count Rachel, since she's only been around since the Battle of Manhattan. 

I leaned up against the wall, my head tilted back so I was staring up at the ceiling.

"I can't believe they wanted to kill you," Rachel finally said.

I could feel Peter's eyes on me. "They did? I thought you said this was your home?"

I looked at him, I could feel tears in my eyes, but I didn't know if they were from sadness or anger. "It was, once. I leave for a couple months and they all turn on me." I ran a shaking hand through my hair. "I can't believe it. I wasn't even gone that long. I was the one who brought most of them here, and they all just... Argh!" One singular tear made it's way down my face.

I felt Peter's hand grab onto mine, and I was grateful for the physical contact. I wiped the tear away roughly and scrubbed at my face with my hand.

"I just can't believe it," Lavinia said. "You've done so much for Camp Jupiter, and even more for Camp Half-Blood, I bet," She paused to blow a large pink bubble, just a few shades lighter than her hair.

"Didn't you bring Holly and Laurel to Camp yourself?" Rachel asked me. I nodded. "I can't believe they would say something like that. They look up to you so much,"

I stood up, letting go of Peter's hand. "You know what we really need? We need Wanda and Speedy back. Pietro would take over the Nike cabin and Wanda could take the Hecate cabin. They were always great counselors."

"Yeah, but isn't Pietro dead?" Peter asked.

I spread my hands. "Now you see my dilemma. I might IM Wanda tonight and explain the situation down here. Maybe she can help us bring things back to order."

"Sherman was being just plain terrible tonight," Dakota said.

"Children of Ares are always like that. At least his sister Clarisse and I were actually friends by the time she left for school." I said.

"If only they had seen you in the-"

"Fields of Mars. We know," Rachel muttered. I grinned.

"Hey, wait a minute," Reyna said. "How come both centurions from the fifth are here? Don't you have to go take care of your campers?"

Lavinia shrugged. "It's Dakota's turn tonight. I did it yesterday."

Dakota blushed. "I guess I should probably go then," He stood up and shuffled out of the cabin.

I laughed and sat back down. Peter looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself.

"Got something to say, Parker?" Rachel asked.

He looked embarrassed. "I have a question. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. But-" he glanced quickly at me "did all of you know Annabeth?"

I squeezed his hand to let him know it was all right.

Reyna nodded. "Oh yes. I was very good friends with Annabeth. She convinced me to bring the Athena Parthanos to Camp Half-Blood. Her idea stopped the Romans from slaughtering the Greeks."

Rachel snorted. "Like the Romans could beat us. Especially not under Octavian's command."

I smiled, but then that smile faded as I remembered Octavian's sword was the one that delivered Annabeth's fatal blow. "Murderous little... Man, I hated that guy." I said. Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Peter who never met him.

"I only met Annabeth once," Lavinia said. "When the Greeks came to pick up Percy, Hazel and Frank. Percy and Annabeth were reunited for the first time in..."

"seven months," I supplied.

"Seven months. They hug, they kiss, there were a couple of tears, then, out of the blue, Annabeth just grabs his arm and flips him over her head, and pins him to the ground. And let me tell you, Peter. It was hot,"

I glared at her, but I wasn't really mad. Annabeth had never really interacted with Lavinia, and I knew if they had, Lavinia wouldn't have made a move on her. "Yeah, she knew Judo." I said. Peter laughed.

"Everyone always says how awesome she was, and I agree with that, but you had to really get to know her first. I mean, how many of us did she hate on the first meeting?" Rachel asked. She raised her hand, and I did too.

"She also really hated Jason, and Leo, and Tyson, and a whole bunch of other people she turned out to be really great friends with." I told them. "She was very guarded. It took a while for me to get to her."

"How long?" Reyna asked.

"Probably about a year. And even then we kept on arguing. Here's the thing about Annabeth: She struggled with people, because she had abandonment issues. Her mother left her, her dad chose her step mom over her, Luke turned evil, Thalia turned into a tree, then became a hunter of Artemis, so in general, she was just worried I would leave her. It wasn't really until we started dating that she figured out that I wasn't going anywhere."

I stared at my nightstand, where a picture of Annabeth and I in Paris stood in a frame. "And yet, she was the one who left me."