The Returned

Time to get started

Annabeth's POV

So, he's back!

He's back, and he's hiding.
We have been so worried for so long, and he's hiding.

Our parents even granted us immortality because of his disappearance.
Can you believe it?
The stubborn gods, after all this time, finally understood what it really meant to be a true parent.

They saw how Lord Poseidon withdrew from everything, how his domain suffered as it shared in his grief. The seas never calmed. Terrible hurricanes ravaged every possible acre of land. Equines globally as if they have gone mad, constantly in between irritable and depressed. Ecosystems thrown off due to erratic weather and previously easier prey now made practically impossible to kill. It was as if the god was scared to lose anything else that belonged to him. The earth shaker brought the world to its knees, and humans didn't understand why.

All the gods worked double time constantly to try to stabilise nature as it took on the brunt of our sea God's wrath. The destruction ravaged for years with no end in sight baffling the world trying to understand why nature seemed to have flipped a switch 50 years ago. How could they understand? They weren't privy to all the information. The funny thing is that after all these years, I can't admit to everyone that it's my fault that he even left. I betrayed him. I broke his heart.

I could feel the difference since the army arrived. The waters seemed calmer, and I couldn't understand why. For years, I visited the shore almost daily to feel close to him , hoping I'd see him again and alleviate the guilt that ate me alive. I wanted to apologise above all else. The man was my best friend and my greatest confidant. Now that I've seen him again speaking to Lord Poseidon, I understand why nature seems to be at rest again. He's got his son back.

Does he forgive me after all this time?

Is he going to stay hidden?

Will he return to Chaos' army after he is done with our war?

So many questions and no one to answer them?

I never moved on. Fifty years later. All our friends have gotten married. They've had kids. They've lived, albeit still in service to the gods, but its like my life, although extended, is at a standstill.

I went to the dining pavilion, sitting at the head of the table as usual but feeling different. I'd usually try talking to some of the newer campers and even give tips to anyone who would ask. Help planning for capture the flag is one of my favourite things since us immortality kids don't get to participate anymore. None of that happened today. I couldn't concentrate enough to give anything more than two worded answers. Whilst the newer ADHD brains of my younger siblings could easily forget my absent mind, I quickly realised after an ambush that the trained minds of my friends did notice. We had all clung to each other since the army arrived, feeling distrustful of them. Am I going to have to tell them what I know about Percy now?

Oblitus POV

I feel at peace for the first time in such a long time. The talk with my dad relieved some of the tension. I'll admit that when I returned to Earth, I could feel the unbalance of my fathers domain. It was quite hard to ignore seeing as I am his son a connection remained. I didn't know why until the meeting with the Olympians. Seeing my father get visibly better when he found out about my wellbeing and the prospect of seeing me again put things into perspective. It was unfair to punish him for the camp's mistakes. Outside of all the Olympians, I always found that he was the best parent despite his temperament. It also helped how much dignity he treated my mom and Paul with. Sucks he can't keep it in his pants, but he is ancient and stuck in his ways, so what to do, I guess.

Retuning to the camp, I felt lighter, and for the first time, I was excited for something that wasn't battle. I was happy to discuss something meaningful. I wanted to tell Nico about my discussion with my dad and hear about his with the Lord of the Dead. I know Hades misses Nico. He always did treat his son well. I wouldn't say he favoured him, but with limited children, he never had to. Guilt crept in, dimming a bit of my joy. Did I rob Nico of years that he could have spent with his father? After this talk, will he regret coming with me all these years ago? I hope he won't, but I'd certainly understand if he did.

With a slightly less happy hop in my step, I join my army, no my family. I know the smile on my face was a strange sight for them. Its been such a long time since most of them have seen me like this. I must look like the kid that fought with them when we were just mere demigods. Naivety had such a way of making you feel at peace, and I drank every drop of the enticing cocktail until I built a tolerance and got got clarity. It produces the best smiles, drunken ones that fool us into a whimpering comfort. But human nature, the bitter pill that builds your tolerance, could make a mortal see-through even the thickest mist.

I caught Nicos face when I got to the table. His face held a similar drunken smile, and I instantly relaxed again. It was obvious the talk with his dad went well. By the fact that I could see no signs of negative emotions on his face, I could tell he harbours no regret about following me. A fun bump of his shoulder gave the best friend I had ever had the signal that he needed to turn him into the ten year old kid that I had met all those years ago. He instantly broke into an excited chatter, telling me all about his talk with his father. The god of the dead had never sounded more warm than now as his son sang him praises. He obviously said everything right. The ability to care for your children must be genetic to everyone except Zeus. My heart swelled with pride, listening to the man be excited. I could feel myself feeding off of his positivity, which made my mood even better.  A rare feeling. After he could get all the events of his morning out, he paused and took a look around. It was at that moment we noticed the rest of our army/family was looking at us. It was a weird moment of disbelief. I understand every bit of shock that they experience in this moment. 50,000 years of brooding will set a precedent even to those who knew me before.

"I'll fill yall in later,"

A round of soft smiles answered me, and I knew that they were just happy to see us smile.

Training time and everyone separates into their respective groups. Everyone has their tasks.
Reconnaissance.
Deliberation.
Planning.
Implementation.

A complete workup on the training. We want to give the camp the best chance possible. Nico and I made our way to the big house where battle strategies are discussed. Annabeth, as expected, was already there. Always the over achiever. I used to love that about her.

She bound up to us, shoulder-length messy curls bouncing with every step.
Stretching out her hand to us, she started," I apologise for how we started before. I am Annabeth Chase, immortal daughter of Athena and leader of the Athena cabin. If I am to understand correctly, you two will be helping out with the camp's battle strategy planning."

"You would be correct."

"I am happy to say, under the guidance of Chiron, Lord Dionysus and even my own mother Lady Athena  in the past we have learnt alot when it comes to battle strategy so maybe this will be short sessions. After all, I do have over 60 years of battle experience. "

"Is that supposed to be impressive? I have no doubt your mother is brilliant but she is not better than our lady. We hope that we don't have alot to teach you but knowing your mother she hasn't taught you everything she knows because she both wants you to figure it out youself and wants to give the ultimate duh moment to prove that she is the smartest. So how about you just listen to the professionals so we can actually teach you how to make mommy proud."

I could see her gritting her teeth as she forced a smile and gave a short nod before turning around and heading to take a seat. Nico stifles a laugh behind me as we head to seats of our own toward the back of the room so we can observe today's proceedings, although I'm pretty sure I can guess what's going on already seeing as years ago I used to be a part of this same planning committee.

Three hours later, I was absolutely right. The strategy planning was pretty much the same as 50 years ago. It's not surprising since we have the same tutors teaching heroes for at least the past 1000 years. The strategies weren't bad per se, just stale. Scrapping the classics would be useless since I would then have to teach completely new strategies that we did not have the time for. But we could help modernise it. if monsters weren't so stupid, we would have lost before we even began.



  Annabeth Chase is Dakota fanning