Grew Up Too Fast

~One~

The blood hadn't been cleaned up yet, nor the body moved.

No one could do anything, no one even knew how to function anymore. The hero, the savior, the great Percy Jackson was dead.

Everyone took it hard, but everyone comforted each other. Everyone in both camps cried, but they also celebrated the life he had.

But this isn't about them. Our story doesn't pick up with either camps, not even Olympus. Our story picks up in the one place no one ever wanted to visit.

The underworld.

Percy really didn't need to go to the council, he landed with his friends in paradise moments after he had died.

He wasn't sad though, he was more calmed. He had eternity with his friends, the ones he had lost and the ones who still lived.

The son of Poseidon walked through the underworld, strolling through paradise until he found where his friends resided.

Everyone dropped everything as they turned to look at him. Bianca was up quickest, the first one to recover from the shock.

She crashed him in a hug, and he hugged back just as tightly. Ethan slowly walked forward and smiled, the two of them hugging as well. Luke joined next, although there was guilt clear on his face. Even Zoe joined in.

"How—" Ethan paused his question as though he wanted to get it right, as though Percy could break with a wrong question. "How are you here?"

How did you die, that's what the hall knew he had really asked. How did the great Percy Jackson die? Who managed it?

"Car crash." Percy answered. "I was driving, and this car came out of no where. I landed five minutes from camp. It shouldn't be long before they know."

"How are you so calm about this?" Bianca asked.

"I know it was my time. I had somehow survived this far, it was only a matter of luck before some monster finally got me. Rather die to a car than a monster."

At that, they all slightly chuckled, though the mood remained the same. Finally, Zoe decided to do something.

She dragged Percy to a small table, sitting him down and turning serious. "Well, I hope you didn't think you escaped trouble."

"Your English!" Percy remarked. "It's normal!"

"I've had time to practice." Zoe replied. "But seriously, Percy, somethings been going on in the underworld."

Percy turned to serious as well, his face going into a war expression. "What's happening?"

"The ghosts." Luke answered. "Of all the Greek heroes, they're disappearing. And if they're ever found again, they're different."

"How do?"

"Evil." Ethan answered. "Vicious. Mean. Uncaring. Not nice, —"

"He gets it!" Bianca chided next to him.

"So far, who has gone missing?" Percy asked.

Luke decided to answer that one. "The original Persues, Achilles, Jason, and many more. They get taken the day of their death, there's not much more time for any of us. Especially you."

"Why me?"

The four shared a look, one Percy was trying to understand. Zoe looked at Percy, her eyes meeting his. "You died today. So if we don't get out of here before sundown—"

"—Then I join them."