The hardness in my brothers voice surprised me. I knew that the others had hurt him, but as far as I knew he had forgiven them.
I looked at Parker who looked just as confused.
I caught sight of Annabeth, she looked, well, the best way to put it is conflicted. But then her eyes filled with resolve.
"Percy," his name caught in her throat slightly, and he looked at her.
"How about you first tell us what happened 2 years ago, then we'll tell you how we got here and why we're here."
His eyes flashed, but not threatening, more of longingly, then he looked away.
"To be frank, I think it would be a lot better if I didn't tell you," he said.
Annabeth looked hurt.
"Why not, you suddenly disappear for two years, then you return and refuse to give an-" Nico was furious.
"You found the blood right!" Percy yelled, but it was more like a roar.
Nico jumped and Leo hid behind Jason.
Percy's eyes flashed and turned stormy grey.
"You really want me to tell you how all that blood got there?"
Piper clung to Jason's arm, and I'm not really sure who was hiding behind who as far as Frank and Hazel were concerned.
Parker even twitched next to me.
Annabeth's eyes filled with tears.
"It's not like I want to relive that, in fact I wish I could forget that moment."
Percy's eyes were filled with a painful anger that I had never seen before.
But then his shoulders fell, "But I can't, that would just be wrong."
I could have swore his eyes flashed with lightning.
Everyone was left speechless. Then Annabeth squared her shoulders. She marched up to him and grabbed his shoulder. His eyes fill with shock but she didn't give him a chance. She kissed him.
My mouth fell open, and Parker blinked a couple of times. This was new, we had never seen our brother even hug anyone, other than us.
For a moment he froze up, then, he kissed her back. His eyes closed and his entire body relaxed. It took about a minute for them to break apart. When they did Annabeth grabbed Percy's wrist and Judo flipped him over her shoulder. He landed hard on his back. She put her knee on his chest and pushed her forearm against his throat.
"What did I tell you," she said.
He looked up at her shocked.
"If you ever leave me again, I swear to all the gods that I will kill you."
Tears fell from her eyes, some landing on his face.
"And you left again," she choked.
He looked away from her. His eyes filled with sorrow.
She took her arm away from his throat and grabbed his cheeks, forcing him to look up at her.
"Don't ever leave me behind again," she put her head into his chest.
He blinked a couple of times then sat up.
She looked up at him as he did.
He lifted her chin and kissed her again, tears streaked down her cheeks as she kissed him back.
He slowly broke away from her again.
"Okay," he said softly.
She gave him a slightly confused look.
Percy gave her a smile, an actual genuine smile.
"No leaving you behind, ever."
She hick-uped and leaned her head into his neck. He rested his head on the crown of her head and held her tight. His eyes closed but not before I saw a few tears forming in them.
But I had never seen my brother look more happy and more alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of us sat in a circle around Percy.
Annabeth was still curled up in his lap but she looked content with staying there, Percy didn't seem to mind.
Percy let out a breath.
"It was right after that Capture-the-Flag game where E-Nicholas was caught cheating. He came to my cabin around 1 a.m. He said he wanted to talk, that he wanted to apologize for what he had done. He also said he wanted me to meet someone. He lead me outside the camps boundaries, where Void was laying in wait. That was the start of a very long millennium."
I really hope I wasn't the only one completely confused.