Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

~ ? ~

The blurry ruins on this planet were enough of a give away that he was probably no longer on Earth. He crouched on the edge of an outcrop. Sticking and unsticking his hands over and over again. (This feels so weird—Am I Spider-Man!?) All around him were buildings and structures that would have taken his breath away had they not fallen to ruin by whatever befell this planet. 

Even with his limited eyesight (shouldn’t I have enhanced vision?) he couldn’t make out anything beyond his immediate surroundings. When he tried to focus on anything, everything stayed blurred. The dust itself gave the planet a perpetual red glow. If the atmosphere wasn’t breathable then the dust that hung in the stale air was enough to choke someone to death (probably).

He fiddled with the settings on the HUD, flipping through and finding a new and improved ‘Find My Webshooter’ (damnit I owe him $20, I thought the webs were like…natural) he was quick to rename that to ‘findmywebshootersinator’. Can he als—ahhhh yes it was already saved into…the Hyperfixation Protocol! Seriously? Why was he not surprised? 

Right below his patrol playlist (Sing’n’Swing Along? Ha, nice.), he could also see a bunch of contacts listed for easy access. The Best Mentor, Guy in the Chair and Brother From Another Mother are just a few that he could see.

He turned his head and below where he was crouched, he could see Iron Man and some guy in a leather jacket arguing over something. It seems important judging by the way the billionaire was getting more and more agitated. Snippets of their conversation were enough to keep his attention from drifting.

“I need to find—”

“If he isn’t stopped here then there probably wouldn’t—”

“This plan didn’t fail us be—”

“Your ‘plan’ is moronic. It shouldn’t hinge—”

“It’s better than any plan y—” 

If he wasn’t already having to rely on the suit’s filtration system to keep out the dust, then just the incoming dread would be enough to make him choke on his rising panic.

If his family knew what he had gotten himself into, then they would try and take him far, far from this place. 

* * *

The fight had barely even ended—the portal thing was still closing behind the giant purple guy—when the dread that had settled uncomfortably in his gut crept further up his spine. In an instant the surrounding sounds were pressing in on him from every direction.

Oh god nonon—

His pulse quickened as he glanced around. Mr Stark was sitting hunched over near a ruin off to the side. He was patching the stab wound on his side (That’s a massive hole, what does the goop even do?). 

I should go check on—

Tingles, followed by numbness, swept along his legs. His hands trembled when he ran them through his hair (Wait. Am I not wearing the mask anymore?). 

The medieval wizard stared off into the distance. The others were spread out, gasping for air. They were all trying to grapple with the knowledge that they had just handed over the one thing that they were fighting to keep from the Titan. 

Why did they—

He stood up from the crouch he was in, eyes darting around. There was nothing in his immediate surroundings that would reasonably set off any alarms. And yet the all encompassing fear had finally sunk its claws into him. The thumping of his heart became incessant. 

If only I held—

My aunt is gonna kill me an— (Aunt? Not Mom?)

Nonononononononon—

“Something’s happening.”

He didn’t necessarily need to hear what the alien woman said. Nothing made any sense. It wasn’t long before his spider senses were screaming at him. Everything was wrong. 

He heard the confused mutters from Quill (Why do I now know his name?) and his friends. Then the silence of their heartbeats. He knows that they are dead. He watched as the wizard muttered ‘there was no other way’ before he too crumbled in on himself and drifted away.

Then it happened to him.

His healing went into overdrive, fighting against something that was trying to pull him apart; piece by agonising piece. It took every ounce of his concentration to not just let it destroy him. He staggered towards his mentor as he felt pain slowly crawl up his body.

“Mr Stark? I–I don’t feel so good,” he was stuttering as he tripped and caught himself against the already terrified man. While the babbling nonsense left his mouth, he felt the pain travel up his legs. Instinctively he knew that there was no way he could stop whatever was happening to him. 

“I don’t wanna go–” his pleas hung in the air, as he half hugged, half clung to the older man. He was desperate for some sort of relief when the two were dragged to the ground. Him by his rapidly disintegrating legs, and Mr Stark by his injury.

The older man tried to comfort him, although they both knew nothing could stop what was happening. He then finally gave into the pain. (Being Dusted sucks.)

The terrified look on the billionaire’s face was the last thing he saw.

“I’m sorry.”

* * *

~ Percy Jackson ~

Camp had always been a safe haven for those who were the children of the gods. Never mind the disastrous goings on in the mortal world, this small part of New York would always welcome half-bloods and others like them to the safety of home. Campers of all shapes and sizes, from the children of the Olympians—like Ares and Hermes—and the minor gods—like Iris and Hecate—to satyrs and other nature spirits call Camp Half-Blood their home. 

No matter if it was just for the summer or year round, it would ring with the sound of children laughing with their friends, of instructions being shouted as others trained and sparred with their partners in the arena. Gone were the days of fearing another attack attempt from Kronos and his unrelenting army. Or even monsters walking back out of Tartarus alongside the ancient Titans. Day by day more newly found demigods were brought to the camp. Their nervous chatter had the undercurrent of excitement as they were led by their satyr protectors. 

It was lively. It was home. 

Although in recent days, that feeling of home and warmth was getting harder and harder to keep a hold of. 

Percy stepped out of his cabin carefully so as to not jostle his aching body from falling out of bed. Again. The crisp autumn morning air slapped him across the face in greeting, sending a chill down his spine. Hesitating for a moment, he gingerly reached around and grabbed his purple (seriously Clint?) lightweight jacket from the hook on the back of the door. It provided a small comfort amongst the gloom that had draped itself over the otherwise peaceful morning. 

Just like it had for the last five years.

Percy would have thought that since it was his first night back from vacation, he would have slept well. He should have known the gods wouldn’t be so kind. Not normally one to rise with the sun (even on the best of days), Percy headed to the kitchen in the Big House to find at least one other person who was awake. And maybe make a nice mug of hot chocolate while he’s at it (he knows he has a sweet tooth, sue him), hopeful that the hot drink would at least return some energy back into his body. 

Through his half-lidded eyes, the camp seemed to have a green haze covering the grounds. Percy tried to pick up the pace as he shuffled past a few of Ares’ kids already heading towards the mess hall after their usual morning run. They raised their hands in greeting but he had barely enough energy for anything other than a tired smile and nod in return.

Admittedly, he was tempted to wake Annabeth just so that he would have someone he liked being around to talk to but after many, many quests he’s learnt his lesson about disturbing any demigod’s sleep. Although he could ask her about the purple CHB shirts that those kids were wearing. 

Is that supposed to be Clint’s idea of a prank? he thought. I really wouldn’t put it past the guy.

At least she wasn’t as bad as Grover in the mornings. He can be scary when he hasn't slept enough.

Percy paused before ascending the steps to the Big House, with one foot resting on the bottom step, and glanced over his shoulder. His sleep filled eyes swept over the still awakening camp.

The sun was hovering just above the horizon, giving enough morning light to shine through the trees for Percy to notice no one besides the usual early morning risers wandering the lush grounds. And from where he was standing on the bottom step of the kitchen, the camp stretched out in front of him. 

Years of constant vigilance had Percy glancing around. It’s the only reason he could just about make out Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth, within the camp’s central firepit. She always lurked there when she checked in on the camp and didn’t want to act like a camper. Their eyes met through the gap between cabins one and two as her gaze flitted around the pavilion. He noted that the flames seemed to flicker brighter than normal in the breeze. 

The greenish haze was still hovering over the camp, like a poisonous fog in a comic book or something. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head to try and make it go back to normal but when he looked again, it still lingered.

Despite the weird fog, there was nothing that should make him feel like someone was watching him, nothing out of the ordinary…for a demigod.

For a moment the fatigue faded away as his heart began to thump more and more insistently in his chest. 

Nope! Absolutely not!

Percy swiftly turned around and marched into the Big House—he can deal with that later. Maybe. 

He beelined to the cupboard where the magic mugs were kept. In his sleep-fueled haste he almost missed the fact that the mugs were blue. He perked up when he saw the new colour and was swift to grab one before asking the mug to be filled with blue hot chocolate. 

He held the steaming mug as he stared out the window. The warmth seeping into his frozen hands putting his mind at ease for now. He could feel the fatigue he managed to shake start to creep in again. He was just about to take the first delicious sip when he felt arms wrap themselves around him and a head thumped between his shoulders. He put the mug back onto the bench so he wouldn’t spill anything. 

“Morning,” he chuckled.

As he closed his eyes to savour the comfort only his girlfriend’s presence could bring, the gentle red glow of the sunrise warmed his face. When he opened them again the green fog had faded back to white and was beginning to dissipate. He twisted around in Annabeth’s arms and hugged her back, dropping a quick kiss on her head. A groan was all he got in return. They stayed like that, hot chocolate forgotten, soaking up the precious time they had together before both of them had to go and start their camp counsellor duties…

…until Percy felt a hand try to sneakily reach for his mug on the counter behind him. He rolled his eyes before letting Annabeth go.

“You know, if you wanted some,” he said, moving the mug away from her reach without glancing at it, then guided her to sit down, “all you had to do was ask, Wise Girl.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Annabeth grinned sleepily up at him.

For once Percy was the one who was more awake out of the two of them. 

You would think that after nearly five years together Percy wouldn’t still be getting the jitters just from looking at his girlfriend. But watching her, with her head pillowed on her arms, as she tried to fight the need to sleep, his thoughts drifted to the little black velvet box sitting deep in his nightstand. 

Some might say he was too young to even think about marriage. If the last five years were anything to go by Percy would like think that people would be understanding, but nooooo. After everything that the pair went through, after everything they continue to go through, Percy would tell those people to politely piss off. His only wish was that his cousin could have experienced the same.

Percy went to grab the hot chocolate to give to Annabeth.

“Huh,” Percy muttered as he placed it next to her head on the table, “could’ve sworn this mug was blue.” He turned to the cupboard where he got the mug from and glanced inside. All the mugs had reverted back to the washed out yellow they used to be.

Confused, Percy stared for another moment before shaking his head and grabbing a new mug for himself. The silence that settled over them as he asked for the second mug to fill itself with hot chocolate—more awake than he was before—was a comfortable one. 

Until it wasn’t. 

The nagging feeling of someone or something watching them returned as Percy thought back on the dream he woke up from, trying to figure out how to bring it up to Annabeth. The feeling was an unfortunate side effect of their existence. And it sure wasn’t breaking news. Only this time it seemed like whatever it was wasn’t used to being ignored. It felt like that one time a scammer got Annabeth’s phone number and just wouldn’t stop calling until she finally picked up. Well he can be just as stubborn as it was being.

Percy remembered years ago when Bianca was insistent that he went to help Nico. She bugged him until he finally heeded her warnings that her brother was toying with the dangerous thought of bringing her back to the land of the living. Even when dead, demigods are stubborn to a fault. Now a similar nagging feeling was  ringing in the back of his mind.

“I can hear your ears blowing steam, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, her voice muffled by her arms. “What’s got you stressin’ this early in the morning?”

Percy blinked as he was pulled from his thoughts. By the time he turned away from the window he was looking out of, she had managed to pull herself together and was cradling the steaming mug he had placed in front of her. Her worn out CHB t-shirt was just as obnoxiously orange as he remembered it to be, although the colour had faded a little over time. It still had the small tear in the neckline and one on the right sleeve that she got on their last quest together.

“Someone needs to teach Clint what a good prank is. I saw some kids in purple camp shirts this morning.” It wasn’t the actual problem, but he knew that Annabeth knew that he just really wanted–no, needed the distraction right now.

“Where—”

“And all the mugs are yellow, right? I could’ve sworn they were blue when I got here.”

“Percy!” Annabeth interrupted, and Percy’s mouth snapped shut. “What’s actually got you so tense?”

With the reminder, he remembered the last time he felt this uneasy. Well, the last time in a long line of last times. The day that the world went to shit for mortals and demigods alike. The day when he lost the last of his mortal family that he actually truly cared about. Aside from his mom.

Losing both his aunt and her nephew in the same way was the type of heartbreak that no one should endure, but pretty much everyone had. 

When he was younger, Percy wasn’t particularly close with his Aunt’s nephew. To be completely honest he had probably annoyed the shit out of the older boy on a good day. But as they grew older, they became thick as thieves. If one was missing, you could bet the other wasn’t too far behind him. They told everything to each other, no secret was safe between the two. 

However when Peter began his internship with Stark Industries, Percy could feel the older boy keeping secrets from everyone — not that Percy was in any position to judge. Whatever the secrets were, it seemed like only Aunt May was privy to them. He remembers tense conversations whispered between Aunt May and Peter when they thought no one could hear.

“Just how many rules did you break tonight?” 

“I know, I know. I promise to be careful. Just couldn’t let that little girl go home without a father.”

Despite the secrets, there wasn’t anything that they wouldn’t do for each other. Especially after Peter had lost his uncle nearly a decade ago.

Peter would have just turned twenty-two not even a couple of months ago. Percy was sure that Peter would have followed in his father’s footsteps. He often wondered what he would be doing now if Pe– he broke off the thought before he could even have a chance to spiral. Even just thinking about his favourite cousin (to be fair that’s not a difficult achievement in his family) seizes Percy’s heart in a way that makes him immediately want to shut down the conversation. But he knows Annabeth wouldn’t let him get away with doing that. 

“You heard anything from either Clint or your sister lately?”

“Not since Nat Iris-messaged him a month ago to get him off his ass and back to their home base.” Percy could see the gears already turning as Annabeth sat straighter in her chair. “Why’d you ask?”

Percy was silent as he tried to gather his racing thoughts. As if they were never not racing in the first place.

“Remember how it felt just before Thanos Dusted half of the world?” Percy didn’t like thinking about that day— no one ever did —but he wasn’t going to beat around the bush. He knew it would spell trouble if he did. At Annabeth’s nod he continued, “I feel like that. Like something just as big is gonna happen. And soon.”

“You think he’s coming back?”

“What I think is that we should be prepared for anything.” He slumped into the chair next to her. “Especially if the dream I had last night has anything to do with it.”

Faster than he could blink, Annabeth pulled out—out of nowhere mind you—one of the two notebooks she always carried with her. She expertly turned to the next blank page, pen poised to take whatever notes she could. Having learnt from her own dreams and taking an example from Sally Jackson herself, Annabeth knew that a demigod’s dream is anything but normal and would always jot down anything and everything she could remember from those dreams.

Her barely contained excited energy was palpable and Percy couldn’t help but smile to himself despite his own anxiety. 

An hour later they had a page full of details and theories as to what Percy’s dream could possibly be warning them about. With every detail that was written, the feeling of dread crept up his spine before settling around his shoulders, and his heart sank deeper to the dark pits of Tartarus.

Dream #616 (October 2023)

• red ruins and wired weird structures (another planet?)

• no other avengers (not surprising)

• Tony stark arguing with a random man? and a old-timy wizard (they called him strange?)

• Percy is Spiderman?????? (new suit?)

• needed to make a plan for something or someone?

• giant purple alien Thanos injured stark

• Spiderman is the last to turn to dust

At one point Percy asked if Annabeth had written ‘Tony stank’ on purpose. The glare he got in response made it even funnier than it should have been. Although the shiteating grin didn’t last long as they continued to think about what any of this could mean.

Warnings/Theories?

• Thanos has another plan?

• an unclaimed demigod

• Stark knows Spider-Man beneath the mask (his son? nephew? but why call him Mr. Stark?)

• Percy knows Spider-Man beneath the mask

“I don’t think Thanos will return.” Grover’s voice broke the tense silence that had enveloped the room. Percy startled and almost dropped the mugs he had just gotten up to wash. He turned in time to see Grover shovel his breakfast into his mouth. “Didn’t the Avengers say that they already dealt with him?”

Two sets of eyes blinked at him, Percy at the kitchen sink and Annabeth at the head of the table, as Grover calmly sat and scarfed down his breakfast waiting for their tired brains to process what he just said. Annabeth was the first to recover.

“We all know that just because something is ‘dealt with’,” she began, glancing back at the notes that they wrote, “doesn’t mean that it is truly gone. Nothing dead ever stays dead.” 

Percy had to admit that she had a point. But he knew when it came to mortals and the mortal world, death is final. There were no do-overs. No matter how much he wanted his family to be whole again, he knew that that wouldn’t happen. Not in his lifetime anyway.

“Yeah, but why would the guy return if he did exactly what he said he was gonna do? How do we even know for sure that Thanos could return?” Gover questioned.

Percy was silent as he watched the argument. He could tell that it was just going to continue with no clear end in sight. He could also see that Annabeth was getting more and more frustrated with the whole conversation; she never liked not knowing how something was going to go. It went against everything that she was forced to learn since she was young. Then she froze, eyes wide as if she remembered something.

“Oh that’s right!” 

Annabeth started to pat herself, trying to find whatever it was she was looking for. Just as Percy was about to ask her, she pulled out a golden drachma from a pocket in her jacket. 

“We can just check with Nat!”

Percy almost smacked his own forehead. They were literally just talking about Natasha Iris-messaging Clint not even 30 minutes ago. Stress plus ADHD has always equaled forgetting important little things for him.

Before Annabeth could ask him, Percy turned on the faucet and pulled the thinnest mist of water to the sunlight in the window. He motioned to Annabeth to toss the drachma into the rainbow it made.

“O Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Natalia Romanova at the Avengers Compound.”

The mist shimmered before the connection was made. The scene that greeted the trio was chaos. They could see multiple people scurrying back and forth as they tried to build what seemed like a massive platform in an aircraft hangar. Somewhere off to the side Stark could be heard yelling across the hangar, presumably at Steve Rogers given ‘Capsicle!’ was just thrown at the guy. 

There was even a raccoon in a vest. 

“Is that raccoon holding a wrench!?” Percy asked the question with as much incredulous doubt as he could muster.

His shock disappeared once he saw the person they were trying to reach. Natasha had her back to them as she and who looked like Dr. Bruce Banner, just huge and green, had their heads bent over a tablet. 

Percy vaguely remembers hearing a conversation between Clint and Natasha about how they were going to convince Stark to fix the issues that they are having with tech and monsters intruding on their compound. Guess that was solved some time in the last five years.

Natasha glanced up at that moment and made eye contact with Percy. The hardened look of a survivor momentarily lifted from her face when she realised who she was looking at. She muttered something to Dr. Banner and he nodded before walking away.

“Sestrionka!” Natasha then noticed that Annabeth wasn’t alone. Her brow furrowed though the light in her eyes never left. “Has something happened at camp?” 

“That’s what we wanna talk to you about.”

As they relayed what they had discussed in the last couple of hours, Percy felt the tension that had built up in his shoulders slowly dissipate. On the other hand, Natasha stood more like a soldier than the sister Annabeth had been getting to know over the last two years. 

“You really believe Thanos will be back.”

Percy and Annabeth shared a look and shrugged as they nodded. Even though Percy has known Natasha just as long as Annabeth since she was unexpectedly claimed, he still felt relieved. Despite being new to the demigod world, Natasha had been quick to understand the importance of dreams. Or at least she was good at pretending to, she was a spy afterall.

Natasha hummed as she looked off to the side. She rubbed the side of her face with the other hand on her hip as she seemed to be at war with herself.

“So we were right to call you,” the excitement in Annabeth’s voice had Natasha’s mouth twitching as she looked back at the three of them. Annabeth looked ready to jump right into whatever hairbrained idea her sister and the rest of the Avengers had thought up.

 Grover had finished eating and had been sitting silently just on the edge of the iris-message. Only now did he break his silence, “Do we even wanna know the plan that you’ve made?”

“Probably not,” was all that Natasha said. 

Percy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Once her mind was made up, it was extremely difficult to convince Natasha to change her mind. Stubbornness was the most annoying trait of any demigod. “At least tell us how we would know if the plan is a success.”

“NAT!” Clint suddenly appeared next to Natasha dressed head to toe in a white tech suit. Percy was surprised that he would agree to wear something that wasn’t his usual. Even his usual bow and arrows were nowhere to be seen. “We need to go hel–oh hey guys.”

“Clint! Dude, we gotta talk about your awful attempt at a prank.” Percy felt rather than saw Annabeth’s disbelieving stare, which reminded him what this call was actually about. “Buuut this isn’t the time, we just need to know if this plan has an obvious sign for success?”

The confusion on Clint’s face melted into acceptance as he was used to the random topic changes that Percy goes through. At the same time a small smile appeared on his face.

“Oh, you’ll know. Let’s just say that camp is about to get very crowded.”

“Is it just me or does that sound like they’re gonna bring people back?” Percy’s question wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular. “I thought that was impossible, weren’t the stones destroyed?”

“It might be, but it’s the only way,” Natasha said bluntly.

Annabeth, Grover and Percy all glanced at each other in surprise. They know that the heroes had pulled off impossible odds in the past and survived. Everyone at camp had done the same at one point or another. But this seemed suicidal even by demigod standards.

“And you’re sure that that won’t mess anything else up?”

Percy couldn’t blame Annabeth for side-eyeing her sister. While the demigod world had only ever been part of the aftermath of the Avengers’ battles, Stark and Clint had tried to keep their people safe from any suspicion from the authorities.  

“Yeah. It’s gonna be fun.”

Clint held out a fist and Natasha bumped it before turning to face Annabeth.

“We’ll be fine,” Natasha’s voice softened unlike any other time she had spoken to the young woman. “The sooner that we complete the mission, then the sooner we get to come home.”

It was at that moment Captain America called to the two of them from across the hangar. 

“Natasha, Clint. Tony needs you to come over here.”

Clint turned and called back with an “alright Cap!” before gently taking Natasha’s arm as she raised a hand to disconnect the call.

“See you soon.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Percy fell into his chair with a huff while Annabeth stood frozen, staring at the space where Natasha’s face was before. The room itself was at a stand still, the only person that moved was Grover as he got up to finally put his breakfast dishes in the sink.

“Did she seem kinda anxious to you?” Percy asked.

“Yeah, she seemed pretty tense.” Grover agreed.

“You think she doesn’t see this plan going well?” Annabeth’s voice was small, like she was hesitant to doubt her own sister.

“More like she’s scared to hope that it will.” Grover said not unkindly.

From there, the day went smoothly as the three of them went about their usual camp duties, pretending like something massive wasn’t going to happen at any given moment. At lunch, Percy and Annabeth made a plan to meet at the pier on the beach during their free time. 

Percy was unsurprisingly the first one there, sitting with his feet dipped in the water. While he waited, his thoughts drifted back to the little velvet box sitting deep in his nightstand. There was no doubt about it: he will be proposing. It’s only a matter of when and how. Honestly he was even tempted to do it sooner rather than later. It’s been a long time coming. He can only keep this a secret for so long before someone, probably Grover or Clarisse, finds out about it.

A scream from the direction of camp ripped Percy from his thoughts. Without a second thought, Percy jumped to his feet and slipped his shoes back on. He hadn’t even made it off the pier when Annabeth’s shout nearly made him stumble over his feet.

“PERCY!”

Heart in his throat, Percy pushed himself to run faster. As he raced through the North Woods, his only thought was that Annabeth had better be okay. When he finally burst through the trees, the scene that greeted him was pure chaos. 

“Di immortales!” 

“Percy!”

He had a second to brace himself before he was bodyslammed by someone. He instinctively caught them as they fell. Annabeth barely gave Percy a moment to gather his wits about him before she grabbed his face, turning it back and forth to check if he was okay.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m good, I’m okay,” he reassured her.

Once she released him, Percy looked around. One by one, he could see campers being pieced together from clouds of dust. Campers that had been gone–Dusted five years ago. As soon as the confused campers regained their balance, claims started appearing overhead. A dozen of claims, all at once, which only confused them even more.

With one look at Annabeth, Percy took off towards The Big House as she followed closely behind. They barely dodged other camper counselors as they rushed to help the disorientated campers.

They ran onto the porch and around to the back of the house. There they found Chiron talking to a confused camper with a caduceus fading above their head. Others were also surrounded around him. On the surface, he seemed calm but Percy had been at camp long enough to recognise the tension in his face. They waited until after the camper was sent to cabin eleven to meet with their cabin counselor to approach the centaur.

"Chiron," Percy said quietly, turning his back to the others not wanting to freak out the lingering campers, "there are kids reappearing and being claimed all over camp."

"I see,” Chiron rubbed his chin as he thought. “Could you bring the large leather book off my desk? I'm going to gather everyone in the amphitheatre." 

With that, Chiron led the young campers away, and Percy turned towards the office. Annabeth started heading towards the front door.

“Percy!” Sally’s voice was hushed as though she was trying to not draw unwanted attention. “Perseus!”

Percy whipped his head around and made eye contact immediately with his mom. “Mom!? Are you ok? Where are you right now?”

Percy could see that physically she was okay, but the look in her eyes was anything but. Just like five years ago when Percy had found her in the Parkers’ apartment, her eyes were red rimmed and threatening to spill again.

“You need to come home now!” 

Percy refused to let hope rise in his chest. There’s been many times when he had hope, only for it to be crushed. He felt Annabeth slip her hand into his, grounding him. What Sally said next brought his entire world to a stop.

“It’s Aunt May. She’s back.”