A/N Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series! All rights to Rick Riordan! And so, the sequel to Goode Luck! I suggest reading that one before this one, it might make just a bit more sense... This is a shorter chapter just to kind of ease into the story. I hope to update every few days, and to never go a full week without an update!
Also, this was written before we found out that Nico is gay. Any mention of him, his sexuality, or him being with a girl, used to be canon and I promise I didn't intentionally change his character.
Hayden POV- One year ago
"Are you sure, Rachel?" I asked for probably the thousandth time. The redhead growled and crossed her arms over her old t-shirt.
"Well, nobody's seen him in a week, all his stuff is still there, Annabeth's gone off the deep end... yes I'm sure he's missing!" She burst. Trinity put her hand to her mouth, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. It was still a little weird having her as my girlfriend. After all, we'd been friends for so long. But it was a good, weird feeling.
"You'll find him, won't you?" I asked. Rachel just shrugged.
"We're doing what we can. He's been missing before, you know? He came back eventually. Percy's like one of those dogs that travels miles just to get back to his own home. Don't worry, we'll find him." But she didn't seem all that sure...
Trinity POV- One year later...
"Maybe we should go talk to Sally again," I suggested to Hayden. He lifted his head from the essay he'd been writing to look at me. The two of us were working in the library before school started. Swim tryouts were coming up, and Hayden needed to lift his GPA so that he could join.
"We just talked to her a week ago and she still doesn't know where they are."
"A lot can happen in a week, Hayden." He chewed on the end of his pencil.
"Her son and his friends are on a dangerous mission in Europe and she has absolutely no idea whether he's going to survive or not. I don't think it's a good idea to keep pestering her and reminding her about that." He had a point... but still.
"It's been a year since Percy went missing, and six months since everyone else decided to take off without warning. I'm going crazy over here!" Hayden reached over and gripped my hand.
"Trin, I'm sure they'll be fine. And besides, if anything happens then someone will tell us."
"But why? We're just the mortals they come to for moral support. I'm not saying I'd rather be in their position, but I don't think telling us about their top secret mission plans is very high up on their to-do list."
"Percy's not the kind of guy who would just leave us wondering what happened. When they know something, we'll know too." I chewed on my lower lip, but said nothing more.
"Really fast, Trinity, I promise!" I groaned.
"Just once can you remember to bring your textbook inside in the morning?" The two of us walked quickly out of the school to go and get Hayden's math book from my car.
"I try, but I fail."
"Well obviously, maybe I should write it on your fore—" I stopped talking, and reached out to grab Hayden's arm.
"What!?"
"Hayden look!" I pointed to a beat-up old blue car pulling into the school parking lot, "Whose car is that?" His eyes widened in recognition.
"No, no way..." Yes way! The car pulled to a stop in an empty space, and the driver's seat door opened. Black hair and green eyes: Percy Jackson.
"Percy!" I yelled. He turned to us with the same, troublemaker smile he always had and waved. Annabeth hopped out of the shotgun seat and took her rightful place beside her boyfriend. Redhead Rachel climbed out of the back and started walking towards us with Percy and Annabeth.
Hayden and I ran and met up with them halfway.
"Where've you been, man?" Hayden said as he hugged Percy. And I'm not talking a dude hug, I'm mean a full on hug-hug. That just shows how worried we've been.
"New Rome, Old Rome, Greece, Charleston, Long Island, the Atlantic Ocean for a little while..." Annabeth listed off, counting on her fingers, "We were in Hell for a while... "
"All that traveling probably did feel like that," I commented. Annabeth and Percy's gaze flickered towards each other for a second.
"No, literally." My jaw fell so far I'm pretty sure it hit the gravel.
"Do we even want to know?" Hayden asked. Percy shook his head.
"No, trust me." Something occurred to me: where was everyone else?
"Hey where is everyone? Clarisse, Grover, the Stolls...?" Rachel licked her lips, Percy shuffled his feet, and Annabeth started messing with her hair.
"Grover, Juniper, and Katie are back at camp repairing all the broken buildings." Rachel said.
"And Chris and Clarisse decided to go back to their old schools." Annabeth added in, "Thalia returned to the Hunters again, and Nico's... well we're never really sure with Nico but he's just hanging around somewhere." Percy started rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Oh, and the Stolls are in prison." Rachel piped up, "They got turned in for a bunch of robberies in the candy store around the corner. They'll probably be out in a few weeks, but they'll go back to camp." Hayden smirked.
"It was bound to happen eventually." Percy let a small smile slip onto his face.
"What about Silena? And Beckendorf?" I asked. A noticeable gloom settled over the three of them. Percy stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down.
"Um... you see... there was a really big war over the summer..." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, "Silena and Beckendorf... they didn't make it." My mind went blank, and my heart fell down into my stomach.
"Oh no... no you're kidding, it's not..." I stammered. Oh my god, Silena... Silena, the girl who'd helped me with my very first boyfriend. Her and her burly, quiet boyfriend that taught me how to use a sword in gym class. They can't have just died. Not just like that. Annabeth pursed her lips and squeezed Percy's hand.
"They died heroes." She said quietly, "And they're in Elysium now, together."
"How can you know that?" I asked.
"Nico talked to them down in the Underworld," Percy said, "They asked him to say hi to everyone for them, including you guys." A tiny little smile showed up on his face. Rachel sniffled.
"They're ok now. And that's what matters." She said. Hayden opened his mouth to say something else, but a red pickup truck rolled into the lot and parked next to Percy's car.
"They're here." Annabeth said, then she turned to look at us, "Guys, there are some friends we'd like you to meet."
