What If

The Hero

Percy's POV

It was just another day in Elysium. I woke up and the birds were singing and it smelled like spring. Way in the back of my mind, I knew that was crazy because spring didn't exist in the Underworld. But there were gold and silver flowers blooming outside, and everything smelled so fresh that I was able to be convinced that everything was normal.

I went about my daily routine. I let my brain wake up for a bit, then went for a swim in the sea that my backyard opened up to. I swam for about an hour and a half, came out, and ate some breakfast. Pancakes of course. I scraped a portion of it into the brazier in my living room, and prayed to Poseidon to keep Annabeth safe. While I was eating I leaned out one of the windows in my living room that opened right next to a window of the house beside me, and I knocked gently on the glass. A beautiful face appeared behind the window and tugged it open while a smile appeared on her face.

Silena Beauregard looked exceptionally pretty today. "Are you looking for Charlie?" she asked.

"Is he there or is he in the forge?"

"He's down in the depths of the forge, but I can grab him for you if you'd like." Of course Beckendorf was in the forge. We could barely pry him away from there.

"Don't worry about it Silena, I'll chat with him later. Say hi to him for me!" She waved goodbye and closed her window.

I walked out my front door and saw Jason sitting in his front yard, reading a book, so I decided to go disturb him.

"What're you reading?" I called over to him. He lifted his head, shut the book and walked over to me. He stole a piece of my pancake, but I didn't care.

"Romeo and Juliet," he replied. I snorted and he lightly punched me in the arm. "Don't laugh! Piper was always ragging on me to read it, so here I am. Reading it."

"You hate it, don't you?"

"Yeah, I really do." Jason smirked and took another piece of my food. "But at least I'll be able to tell her that I've read it." I chuckled and finished my food while chatting with Jason. It wasn't long before Luke came out of his place and joined our conversation.

"What do you think they're doing up there?" I asked them. Luke looked up at the sky, like he could see right through it to the world above.

"Well, I can tell you what one person is doing, at least." I looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Dude, we all know that Annabeth is still upset that you're gone. There's no way she'd be over it by now, and you know it."

I sighed. "She should be over it. I don't want her to worry about me anymore. I just wish there was something I could do about it."

"There is." A soft voice came from behind us, and I whipped around to see Nico Di Angelo standing behind me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously. Nico had come once before, but I had assumed that was a one-time-only, 'hey, welcome to death!' thing.

"Percy," he said. "I'm Prince of the Underworld. I'm literally called the Ghost King. I can go wherever I want down here." I was surprised to hear him sound so... old.

"What do you mean there's something I can do about Annabeth? I'm stuck down here." My heart clenched at even the mention of her name. I missed her. A lot.