The Afterlife (HoO Fanfiction)

The Lost Heroes (UPDATED)

~Percy~

All I could hear was the laughs of my friends. We were many at this "after-wedding party", even though Hazel and Frank wanted a bit of intimacy with their friends to celebrate their wedding. The Seven from the last prophecy, Reyna, Tyson, Ella, Calypso, Rachel, Nico, Will, Thalia, Grover, Juniper, Coach Hedge and some others from New Rome were present. Thus, it was very hot in their modest house and the noise was deafening.

I was exhausted (two small kids weren't helping), so I went upstairs to maybe borrow a bed. There, I noticed Jason, seated on a chair and holding his head in his hands.

"Hey! Everything alright?" I asked

"Yeah. All right."

I instantly understood it wasn't.

~Jason~

I knew that if I told Percy he would want to help me right away. But he absolutely shouldn't.

1) It was too dangerous.

2) Percy and Annabeth had two children.

3) They were still dreaming every night about their sinister journey in Tartarus.

4) It was WAY too dangerous.

Yet, he was going to know about it at some point. I preferred it if he learned it from me.

"Percy, there is a terrible thing going on. As you know, the oracle of Delphi is missing. For a few years, I tried, with the help of Apollo and other gods, to find it. Lately, many demigods disappeared because the quest was not well planned. The problem is that without a prophecy, there is no functional quest and the number of monsters doesn't stop increasing. I cannot stand seeing demigods dying and civilians being killed because of the monsters. I don't know what to do!"

"Oh... Dam..."

Usually, I would have laughed at Percy's reply. "Dam" was an inside joke between him, Grover and Thalia. But today, I didn't have the heart to laugh. To be honest, I was so troubled by the situation that I couldn't see anything else. Piper didn't stop telling me that I was distant, like on another planet. I was never able to lay off my responsibilities towards young demigods in both camps. Percy succeeded in distancing himself a bit after the war, but I didn't. Maybe the fact that this weight was burdening me since childhood kept me from living my life to the fullest with Piper. Maybe the promises I made were still hanging unkept above my head, like a sword of Damocles. Anyway, it was a fact that all this situation was my fault.

But I knew I had to find a solution. I felt horrible guilt. All these young demigods died because of me. Percy was the first person to know my secret, and already I felt like a burden was released from my shoulders.

"You have no idea how I feel. It's like if I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. Now it's like you took a bit of it," I said.

"Oh, man, you have no idea..." he answered, wincing like if remembering a painful memory.

Percy took a deep breath.

"We'll find a way," he said, patting my shoulder. "I swear on the River Styx, we'll find a way."

~Will~

I was in a corner of the room, yawning. I was tired, yes, but also really bored. I had almost nobody to talk to. My best friends were at Camp Half-Blood, and my boyfriend was too busy talking to Reyna.

I looked around, still yawning. Nico noticed me and came near me.

"Watch out, you could eat a bug," he said, crossing his arms over his small chest and leaning on the wall.

"Bugs are full of proteins," I replied looking down on him. "Trust me, I'm a doctor!"

"Yeah, I know..."

My eyes didn't leave Nico. I still remembered the expression he had when I first forbade him to shadow travel. I still remembered when we started dating. People at Camp Half-Blood didn't really care that we were, well, gay.

At first, Nico was so distant and reserved that I thought we would never get in a relationship. Through the years, he learned to open up. He had improved so much. He still had a fascination for darkness and death, which sometimes disturbed me.

"Will?"

Without noticing it, I reached Nico's hand. He moved away.

"I know, not in public. Sorry."

There was an awkward silence. Just like when we started dating. Throwback!

"Hey, where are Percy and Jason?" Nico asked, a worried look on his face. "I didn't see them, in a long time..."

Nico paused. He looked in pain.

"I feel deaths. I feel pain. Guilt. It's..."

"Okay, okay, calm down. Are people dead here?" I asked, my doctor instincts kicking in.

"No, but someone here needs help."

Without further explanation, Nico and I ran to the stairs and got to the second floor in a matter of seconds.

I heard voices in the first room on the right. I knocked on the door and entered without waiting for an answer. Jason was seated on a chair, his head in his hands and Percy was looking out the window, a blank expression on his face.

"Guys, is there something wrong?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well I think you can tell, Will," Percy replied, still looking away.

"What is it?"

"We need to tell everyone at the same time," said Jason.

"I can go find them," offered Nico, already leaving the room.

"No, it's Hazel and Frank's wedding day. Let them have fun. We'll tell them later. Now, we need to sleep."

We all left the room. Something really bad was definitely going to happen.