More Than Just a Half Blood

Chapter 2.5: Campers Reunite

A/N: I do not own any of the characters. Those rights go to JK Rowling and Rick Riordan.

Percy had 1 night left until he needed to head to London and meet the Order. The last week had passed by quickly - Albus had taught him how to apparate the very next day as he'd promised and dam if it wasn't one of his new favorite modes of transportation. He'd still prefer to travel over water whenever possible, but apparating had allowed him to visit Camp Jupiter to see Annabeth and come back to Camp Half Blood in the same day.

To say Annabeth was concerned about this upcoming quest would be an understatement - it had taken a while to explain everything going on to her, and after that it took even longer to convince her that everything was going to be okay and he'd be coming back in one piece.

"But this would be the longest quest you've been on since..." she didn't have to finish the sentence for Percy to know where her mind had drifted to.

"I know, but --"

"And dangerous! You said they're about to enter a war. A war, Percy! Haven't you had enough of those to last you a lifetime?"

"Well, yes, but--"

"Styx, I can't believe this is what you want to do. How could you--"

This time Percy was the one to cut her off. "I know. I know this isn't an ideal situation. And I know that it'll be dangerous and stress you out. But remember when we went to Greece the first time? Remember how you had to find the Mark of Athena no matter the cost?" He waited for her to nod slowly, a sign she'd at least hear him out. "This is like that for me. I just found out about this entire other side to my history and I need to learn more. And more than that..."

This time Percy trailed off, unsure how to vocalize what he'd been thinking since that conversation in the Big House. "What? You can tell me, Percy." Annabeth was smiling or at least trying to. It was wavering, but she looked a little more understanding than she did before.

"Annabeth, you should have seen my mom. I've never her seen her like that. I don't even know how to describe it." He ran a hand through his hair, pulling at it as he tried to figure out how to say what he had seen. "I've never seen her so agitated before. I know there's something she's hiding from me - something big. I can't let that go either. I need to know what happened to make her so scared to go back. And maybe I'll be able to help before things spiral and she's in trouble."

For a moment neither of them spoke. Then she was running her hands through his hair as well, smoothing it out and trying to fix some of the mess her boyfriend had made. "I understand, Seaweed Brain."

Her use of that endearing nickname finally helped Percy relax his shoulders and fully breathe out. His eyes locked with her gray eyes, one of the most comforting colors to him. Normally her eyes looked stormy but in this moment they brought him a sense of calm. "I'm going to miss you, Wise Girl."

"I'll miss you too, Kelp Head." She sighed, stepping closer to him. They broke eye contact as she wrapped her arms around his waist, tucking her head in the nook between his shoulder and neck. "But you'll come visit me often, remember? You said you were allowed to leave and I fully expect you'll use this new mode of transportation to see me as much, if not more, than you do now."

"I will, promise. I don't know about more often, but I'll visit you as often as I can. And I guess I'll suck it up and write you letters too." He could feel more than hear Annabeth's laughter at that. Albus had told him that the best form of communication in the wizarding world was sending letters by owl. He'd have to see if Athena was feeling kind enough to let him use an owl for that, but he was hoping she would since it'd be to help keep her daughter happy.