Drowning//Percy Jackson (On hold)

.2.PERCY

Okay, so I was pretty much forced to pay another silver drachma into the jewel dragon-encrusted sink which was now flowing with surprisingly clear water, shine a stupid penlight from the edge of pen Riptide, and say a prayer to the one and only Butch's lovely (ditzy) mother, Iris, the goddess of rainbows and stupidity. I think. I licked the remains of Scittles off my lips before sending a quick message asking Leo where he is, what he's doing, how to get there, yadda yadda.

As I had already said before, I really did miss Leo, but how was this getting us anywhere even close to him? My pockets were near empty now, and I won't be able to pay for the shipment of 60 Rainbow Scittles cookies packets.

After throwing away the empty packet with all hopes of finding my best mate, I went over to Annabeth and attempted to wrap my arms around her petite waist.

"Not now, Percy," she mumbled, shoving my arms off.

The cozy smile I had previously been wearing slipped off my face. This was the first time for her to reject my cuddles. I mean, Gods of Olympus, I'm Percy freaking Jackson! I'm fabulous!

I looked over her shoulder to find her contemplating a blueprint about some sort of navigation board. I couldn't make a head or tail out of it, seeing as it was in more English. Yuck, mortal languages suck. Annabeth was unfortunately not dyslexic, so she was perfectly capable of trapping 5 innocent souls with her in order to read some stuff I barely could decipher their titles.

I hate having an intelligent girlfriend.

But without her you would've been dead six years ago.

Gee, way to deflate a guy's ego.

I'm your conscious, I'm sugarcoating it as much as possible.

I'd like you to know that I am perfectly capable of protecting myself.

Really?

And that was when I was zapped by a pink bolt of lightening. Very macho. That's what happens when you let Jason touch a pink metal umbrella that reflects electricity.

I sent a glare his way, and all I received was a sheepish grin.

"Sorry," he shrugged, running his hand through his pale blond hair, striking blue eyes gleaming with mischief.

I tried to tame my black electrocuted hair, and brushed the soot off my orange Camp Half-Blood shirt whose sleeves I had cutt off (don't tell Chiron). I pouted. This one was my favorite shirt, since Annabeth had drawn a little heart over the chest area, and signed 'My Seaweed Brain'.

"Stop fooling around you guys!" she snapped at us both,"You're acting like two-year olds!"

"Take a chill pill, Annie, you're overstressing yourself. You may have a nervous breakdown," I tried to reason with her.

"First, how long did it take you to think of a scientific sentence that isn't a figment of your creation?" she stared at me as if I had grown into a Hydra, before twisting her face in fury, "And second, never EVER call me 'Annie' or else you'll end up like Narcissus, with a horse butt for a face."

This time, however, I wasn't intimidated. Yeah, I've been through Tartarus too, you know. You're not the only one that has the IQ of a human. I was only pissed off.

"So you can call me 'Perseus' but I can't call you 'Annie'?" I huffed, staring back at her electrifying eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you today, Percy?" she yelled.

"With me?!" I laughed humoressly, "I should be the one asking you, so I'm asking this once and for all. What's crawled up your gluteus maximus for the past ten hours?!"

She curled her lip in disgust. This little spat which I was making fun of a few minutes earlier was turning into our first ever fight. I should've known that more than two years dating without ever fighting was too big of an accomplishment for Dad to keep me happy. And Uncle Buff Guy, AKA Zeus.

Please don't zap me down, I need to let my inner Persassy butterfly bloom right now.

"I'm leaving now, Annie. When you feel like treating my demigodishness properly, I'll be paying for my shipment of cookies. No wait, I can't do that because you spent all my drachmae! If you'll excuse me, other people need to be blessed with my presence." I raised my chin indignantly, and walked out in my no-longer-white Nike Air with Perseus Jackson style that would've made Aphrodite look at her own style and barf.

I found Nico Di Angelo curled up in a fetal position near the edge of the forest, his jet black hair half-bathed in sunlight, fanning out in front of his face and sticking out in different odd angles. If you looked closely, you would notice that the bags under his eyes were becoming more and more visible with each passing day. And his eyes simply darkened, if possible, from their black shadowy swirls, as if Hades himself was trapped in his irises. His pale skin looked sickly, and he never let anyone take care of him.

After the final battle on Mount Olympus, his condition was only getting far worse. He was another lost soul in the crowd, losing himself slowly, piece by piece, attempting to blend in with the shadows too much, to the extent that he merely became one to passersby. If you tried speaking to him, it was like having a one-sided conversation with yourself: it makes you feel crazy to do such a thing, thus depressing you.

And boy, the best thing Nico ever did was make people feel depressed.

I slowly approached him, careful not to be too quiet so as not to be at the other end of his terrifying black Stygian Iron sword, and neither too loud so as not to fend him off.

I know that he sensed my presence. Hell, he easily felt the presence of the dead, but he made no signs of showing that. I gently placed my calloused hand on his shoulder, emitting dark mist from his black aviator jacket that never seemed to bother him in hot weather.

"Nico?" I asked gently, expecting no reply.

"Annabeth was freaking out, so we sort of argued," and his jaw visibly tensed up, "They're all inside Bunker 9. You should probably go."

I paused.

"Nico, you don't have to be alone, we can help you, we're your friends. I should be your best friend by now, even, just tell me-"

And then he surprised me by cutting me off in a deep fierce voice.

"Just fuck off."
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A/N

No this is not a Percico/Pernico fanfic, sorry to disappoint :) Just some filler chapter that hopefully had almost no typos or grammatical errors. If so, please point it out!

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Love, peace, and unicorns.

~Mrs.Valdez ;)
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