How You Changed Me (Demigods In High School AU)

Chapter 45 || Epirus, Greece

LEO VALDEZ

"2.5 more hours, Leo!" Nico called.

"Good," Leo said over his shoulder. "Let's hope they make it out."

Inside, Leo wanted to scream 'yes, of course they'll make it out', but outside, he knew that he was being too positive, and he didn't want to get everyone's hopes up.

"Any tips for when we see them?" Piper asked.

"Have 8,189 blue cookies, 712 Nemo plushies, and 1900 gallons of water waiting for him on deck," Thalia, Jason, Hazel, and Leo all said in unison.

"Nemo plushies?" Piper asked, furrowing her brows.

"Blue cookies?"

"And no one asks about the gallons of water," Leo sighed melodramatically.

"Yeah, that, too," Frank added.

"But why so many things?" Piper frowned.

"First of all, Percy's a son of Poseidon, and he chugs water like it's... well... water. He's obsessed with blue and his mom makes her chocolate chip cookies blue, so it reminds him of home all the time, and he is in love with Nemo, who we should probably alert Annabeth about."

"So he's cheating on Annabeth... with a cartoon fish?"

"Actually, he's cheating on Annabeth with blue cookies, blue waffles, and a cartoon fish," he corrected Frank.

"Oh how depressed she shall be!" Thalia said dramatically before falling to the floor with an impression that could rival Zeus.

The sky crackled above us and Leo winced.

"Did I say that out loud? Sorry!"

The sky cleared and the sunlight came through.

"Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo--" Leo started but Hazel clamped a hand over his mouth, "Stop it."

The truth? They were all bored as f**k.

PERCY JACKSON

Percy looked around. It'd been just over two weeks down in Tartarus, and he winced from the wounds he'd gotten from Polybotes. Lesson learned: don't make your own splints out of cardboard if you can get to a hospital. Double lesson learned: don't go making enemies with everyone you see. And Triple Lesson learned: don't fall into big pits that are literal hell. Best advice I will tell my children.

If you live to have children, a voice in his head said and he shook it away.

That's when a piece of debris hit Annabeth in the head.

"Ow!" she grabbed the wounded area, falling to her knees.

A trash can. Great. Percy groaned when he saw pieces flying down at them.

"I guess the debris didn't just stop over there," he pointed in the direction they had just come from.

Well, as if to reward my sass, he was hit by a car, sending him flying.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled as he crashed into a tree, knocking it over.

He gasped in pain when he saw a large hole in his side, his ribs sticking out as blood spewed out of him.

"ANNABETH WATCH OUT FOR THE--" he started to scream but Annabeth had already been hit.

Well, crushed, you could say, by a piano. She let out a moan of pain and Percy tried to get to her, only to collapse as his knees buckled and his whole body screamed in protest and pain. He checked his wounds. Gashes were all over him now, the main problem being the big hole in his side showing all of his ribs with a fleshy filling. Ew.

Percy managed to not throw up at the sight of himself, only using his teeth to rip apart another piece of his shirt to hurriedly try and stop the bleeding before he bled to death. So he clenched his teeth, using his forearms to wriggle slightly, feeling tears pour down his face from the searing hot agony in his limbs. The moment he made it to the piano, he remembered setting up his own, and that there was a special button to dismantle it.

So he pressed it, freeing Annabeth, who groaned as she rolled over, dirt covering her face. He looked up.

"Roll!" he yelled to her, fighting his own moans of pain as he rolled, smashing his injuries on the hard floor.

A large building crashed down.

"I guess this is avalanche zone?" he coughed.

Annabeth pulled Percy out of the way as another car almost hit him.

"No shit, Sherlock," she coughed, throwing back her head in agony.

"Wise Girl..." Percy tried to get to her but couldn't help it anymore.

He let out a scream of agony, followed by a painful moan. Annabeth's eyes flashed with concern and she wiggled over to where he was, spotting the wound. The moment she saw it, she turned green and puke spilled out of her system, coating the ground in a bloody vomit.

"Annabeth, you just barfed blood!" Percy exclaimed frantically.

"And you have a f**king hole in your side! We're both shit right now! Get used to it!" she snapped.

"Annabeth--" he started but it was no use.

She had no time to get out of the way as a huge clump of rubble and rocks smashed down on them, knocking her whole body straight into Percy's, crushing them both under the pile of rocks. Both of them let out screams of unbearable pain before the whole world went dark. The last thing Percy felt was Annabeth's body going as limp as his before everything faded away.

Heck, he didn't even know if he was still alive!

LEO VALDEZ

"How are we doing, Cap?" Nico asked.

"The Argo II has a delay," Leo muttered, "I need to go repair it really quickly before the whole engine blows. It'll take an extra thirty minutes to repair so it's actually another 2 hours instead of one and half."

"It's okay," Nico shook his head, "Just try to get there as fast as we can. It's best if we're there so we can make sure there's nothing to worry about. I doubt if one of them's hurt, the other can make it back to the ship. Or worst case scenario, if both of them are hurt--"

"Stop..." Leo winced, not wanting to imagine Percy in pain. "Sorry... It's just... Percy and I... we're best friends and I really can't stand the sight of him being hurt. He's always been the stronger one between us and I just..."

He didn't know what else to say.

"No. You're both strong in different ways. Sure Percy's strong, but inside, he needed help. And he got help from... Annabeth," Nico choked out her name. "And the fact that your best friend is down in Tartarus and you're still managing to help lead the team to the Doors of Death is incredible. You're doing great."

And Leo managed to smile.