In an Ocean of Stars

Chapter Three: The Hero Returns

A/N: I AM THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR of this story; you can verify this if you find the same story (posted years ago) on Archive of Our Own or FanFiction Net and check the author profile info.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson and related stories.

Chapter Three: The Hero Returns

When it finally came time for Percy to return home, his dad ended up getting held up on Olympus for some reason, so instead of him, Hermes volunteered to take the demigod back to Long Island.

The god of thieves found the young hero sitting beside Hestia near her hearth and after giving him some time to say goodbye to the goddess, he flashed Percy back to the entrance of Camp Half-blood.

Once they landed in front of the Greek camp, Hermes cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking up, "Look Percy..." he started.

"I am sorry for not telling you what was going to happen today, I could tell that you were already startled by my appearance, and I didn't want to alarm you any further." He said, further adding, "It is true that I am also partially responsible for getting you into this position, but really Percy, I want you to know that I did what I did only because there was no other choice. It was never my intention to harm you my friend, and I hope that you can forgive me for what happened today." the god said with a look of remorse.

"It's alright Hermes," Percy replied, "I can understand why you voted for that, after the ring thing', Aunt Hestia told me how serious the situation had really become, and I admit it, even I would have been willing to do anything to stop this."

The demigod shrugged as he looked away, "But still, I just hope that this doesn't end up making things worse man, I mean... It's Artemis that we are talking about, the man-hating goddess! It wouldn't surprise me if she ends up murdering me within the first week of being with her."

"I am sure everything will eventually work out for the best Percy.'' Hermes reassured him with a small smile, "You have a lot of good inside of you my friend... Your goodness even managed to rescue my own son from his darkness when it mattered the most, I have a feeling that living with you might just end up thawing the 'man-hating goddess's frozen heart forever, just try to remain strong and take care of yourself, Percy, I will see you again soon." The messenger god said with a final parting smile he patted Percy's shoulder and flashed away to Olympus for the remaining celebrations.

As the young hero stood outside the place that he had called his home for so many years, he took a moment to look around at everything. Little had changed in the two years that he had been away from the camp. While the rest of the world had transformed drastically due to the fight between Poseidon and Zeus, the camp had remained more or less unaffected as it was mostly spared from their fury.

With a small smile playing on his lips, Percy took a deep breath and started walking towards the big house. Despite the circumstances, it felt so good to be home, to be amongst his friends and family again, he had really missed camp half-blood.

As Percy continued walking towards Chiron's office, he noticed that many people were pointing at him and staring in his direction with expressions of awe and surprise.

"Look! That's Percy Jackson!"

"The savior of Olympus!"

"Martha look! They're saying it's Percy Jackson!"

"He has returned!"

"Is that Percy!?"

"By Percy Jackson, you mean THE Percy Jackson?! like the one who defeated Kronos?"