The Forgotten Heroes || PJO

T H R E E: Who Are You?

--Nico--

SO...WE'VE BEEN BANISHED by the gods, everyone hates Percy, we've been exiled, the gods want us dead...what else...OH YEAH!! Thalia has a crush!

I wonder who it is? Bad Nico! Bad Nico!! Getting off track!!! It's none of your business...

ANYWAY! We've been running for a while now, I shadow-traveled us a little, and now we're in...I don't know actually. There's a sign coming up that may tell us though.

"Athens, Tennessee. Kind of ironic don't you think?" Hazel asked as we passed the sign.

"Definitely" Jason agreed.

"Sooo...what're we gonna do now?" I asked an hour or two later.

"I don't know." Percy replied.

"We could go to Camp Jupiter?" Jason tried halfheartedly.

"Nah. That's pointless. The gods have probably visited both camp already and fed their cock-and-bull story to the campers. I say we lay low, make camp and make a plan tomorrow. At least we'll be able to see, plus we'll be fully rested." Thalia said.

After thinking about her words for a moment, we all agreed. We decided to make camp where we were because, A) we were in a glade surrounded by dense forest, so its kinda unlikely anyone will see us, and B) we couldn't see 5 feet in front of us, so its not like we'll be able to see where we're going if we decided to keep moving anyway. So we settled down, made a fire (thanks to Thalia's lightning powers) and Thalia volunteered first watch. When everyone else was asleep, I decided to question her about her crush.

"So Thalia. I didn't think you'd ever fall in love with someone, especially a boy!"

"Shut up! And to be honest, I didn't think I was in love with anyone until La- Artemis told me so. I thought it was just normal friendly sibling love. Ya know?"

"Yeah, I get you. So are you going to tell me who it is?"

"...No. Listen Nico it's late. You should get to sleep. I'll wake you up when its your turn alright? Just leave me alone about this okay!"

It wasn't a question. It was a command. I knew better that to argue, so I replied with a simple 'Okay. Good night Pinecone Face' and turned away from the fire before falling asleep.

I was awoken by Jason shaking me. "Whaaa?" I asked, still half asleep.

"Wake up dude! We're being attacked! And I can't find Hazel!!" Fear and anger woke me up fast. Hazel was missing?

I got up quickly, glancing at the sky. It was midnight. I then looked around when I heard a scream. I saw Hazel...being held hostage by three empousa! The other three were fighting several monsters each, so I ran to help Hazel. I snuck up behind the two that weren't holding Hazel and did a surprise attack. They were gone in seconds. Then I turned to the third and saw a VERY familiar face.

"KELLY" I shouted. "PUT HAZEL DOWN! FIGHT LIKE THE MONSTER YOU ARE!!"

By now, Percy and Thalia had finished of their monsters and Jason had two left. Thalia helped him, while Percy came to me. "Why should I? By killing her, you four will finally understand the pain I went through!"

"Because you're out numbered five-to-one" Thalia said walking up to us with Jason. Kelly glanced around, as if just noticing she was the only monster left. Upon realizing this she threw Hazel to the ground.

"Next time then! And trust me, there WILL be a next time!!" She howled, before disappearing in flames.

"So what happened?" I asked after helping Hazel up.

"I was waking up Jason for his watch when Kelly came and grabbed me from behind." Hazel replied. "Jason and Percy woke up when I screamed. Jason woke you while Percy woke Thalia, and well, you know the rest." I nodded.

"Yeah. I guess this means we should have two people on watch then? One person can keep watching while the other wakes the next two up?" I suggested.

"That's a good idea." Jason replied, "I'll stay up, since it's my watch anyway." he continued while the other three nodded.

"I'll stay up with you. Percy you aren't really in condition to take watch. Don't overexert yourself. I know you're trying to hide it, but it's kinda obvious that Ann-her betrayal hit you hard. Sleep. Don't worry." I said before Percy could argue. Thalia backed me aloud while Jason and Hazel looked shocked that Annabeth betrayed him. Percy gave in and we settled down for the rest of the night.

Once we were sure Percy was asleep, Thalia and I told Hazel and Jason what we knew about Annabeth, then the girls settled down while Jason and I continued talking to stay awake.

By noon the next day, we had been attacked about 7 times (but no Kelly, thankfully) and still didn't have a plan. We didn't have any money, we didn't have any clothes and all the plans we said were worse than the one before it. By now, we were hungry and thirsty, but we didn't even know where the nearest store was.

We'd been sitting in silence for almost 20 minutes now, and we weren't getting anywhere. Just as Percy opened his mouth to say something, probably something along the line of 'let's just try and find the nearest place of civilization', a light flashed right where the ashes from last night's fire were blowing away. When the light died down, a man was standing there.

Now, when this happened, we should've jumped up and run, because it was most likely a god, but instead we just sat there and looked at him.

Why? Well...this man was unlike any I'd ever seen. Not only by the way he radiated more power that all of the Olympians put together, but also because of how he looked. His skin was the color of oak wood, his eyes were reversed, black with white pupils, scary but strangely calming at the same time, and his cloak reflected the universe: it was a dark blackish-purple color with galaxies and stars moving about it. Instead of reacting, the five of us just sat there staring at him in awe.

"Who are you" Percy, being the first to slightly recover from his shock, managed to choke out. The man let out a laugh, deep and happy, and I had a sudden urge to laugh as well.

"Who am I?" the man mused. "That is a very good question Perseus Jackson. Who am I? I am Chaos, creator of the universe, and I have come to you with an offer."

A/N: So, what do you think?? I Know it was short, but I promise the next chapter will be A LOT longer. I wrote this part on my tablet, and it looked way longer on there.

Dedicated to... @eg8888 for being one of the first to comment! From now on, my favorite comment gets the dedication, so get commenting!!

-Kat-

Words: 1105/1168

***Edited***