Redemption

Elena

"What?" He said a bit loud.

"Shhh. Don't cause a scene."

"Why didn't you tell me? And who did you tell?"

"I told Nico, Will, Colin, and Annabeth." I looked at him and saw sadness take over. I could feel his aura of death. It was strong. He wasn't going to die, but someone did.

"Percy, who died?"

"What?" He asked.

"Your aura of death is strong. Not because you're going to die, but because someone died. I wasn't Nico, and Colin is already dead, so..."

"Annabeth." He said, his head falling. "Annabeth is dead."

I couldn't look at him. My vision was blurred by tears. Annabeth. She couldn't be dead. She was too strong. She had too good of a heart. My best friend was gone.

"H-how?"

"There was another war. This time against Gaea."

"No. How did she..."

"She woke up. She had unlocked the doors of death. A rouge demigod stabbed Annabeth in the gut with a celestial bronze weapon. She...she didn't make it. The wound killed her."

"I can't believe it. Annabeth of all people. She didn't deserve it." I clenched my fists.

"Elena, I need your help."

"How?"

"I need to get Annabeth back, or at least see her one more time."

"I can summon her if..."

"No. I need you to take me to the Underworld."

"Percy, I've given up a life of demigod quests. I've been to both camps and I've never been accepted. I can't do anything right when it comes to the godly side of me."

"Elena, I need you. Nico would never help me, and even if he did, he's in too weak of shape to. I need you to cross the country with me and take me to the Underworld."

"I don't know if I can."

"Please. For Annabeth." I looked down. I wanted to see Annabeth just as much as he did.

"Okay. I'll take you."

"Thank you." He said. Just then Mary came with our drinks.

"Sorry it took so long. I didn't want to intrupt your conversation. Here's your cokes." She place a regular colored one in front of me and a blue one in front of Percy. "Are you ready to order?" She asked.

"Can I have the cheese burger?" Percy said unsure.

"Of course. Everything on it?"

"Yes, please."

"The usual, Elena?"

"Yep." We handed her the menus and she walked away.

"If I'm taking you to the Underworld, we need to have a plan. Even though Hades is my father, it will be difficult to get in and out. You should know, you've been there before."

"The first time Grover, Annabeth, and I used magic pearls. When I was with Nico I went out alone."

"We can't use the New York entrance to get in. Neither of us have any musical ability."

"I've got a kazoo."

"Kazoos don't count."

"How do you know?"

"They just don't, Perce."

"Okay, so we have to travel to Los Angeles."

"With flying totally out of the question, it's going to be a long trip."

"At least we know some of the major places to avoid."

"And if the war happened not too long ago, most of the monsters are in Tartarus or are too afraid to come out."

"What are our options for getting there?"

"We'll take my car."

"Okay. What about supplies?"

"I'm afraid it may be time to return to camp. Nico had been supplying me with ambrosia, but I don't have much of my stash left."

"How do we play it off and make sure no one thinks we're up to something?"

"Leave that to me. We get in Camp, mingle for a few days, then leave for LA. If we can figure out everything we need, I can surely get it all."

"Alright. No one can know that we're going. They'd try and stop us."

"I know. That's why no one will know. If we mainly keep to ourselves, no one will suspect anything. They'll just think we're hurt by Annabeth's death, which we are. Now, when it comes to getting out, we may have to try Orpheus' entrance. You don't need music to exit."

"What about shadow travel?"

"Huh?"

"Can't you shadow travel? Could you shadow travel us out of the Underworld?"

"Maybe, but it would take a lot of my strength."

"I could always call on Mrs. O'Leary if I needed to as well."

"Alright. Looks like we've got a pretty good plan." I said just as our food came out. Mary set a cheese burger in front of Percy and chicken strips in front of me.

"Enjoy your meal." She said.

"Thanks Mary." She smiled at me and walked off.

"Is she a HalfBlood?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, she's a daughter of Aphrodite."

"It would have been nice to have known about this during the second Titan war."

"I know right. It would have been a great place to set up base. There was never even an entrance to the labyrinth here."

"There could be now."

"Impossible, the labyrinth is dead. It died with Daedalus. I watched my brother pass on his spirit. I felt it collapse."

"A lot can happen in a year."

"So fill me in."

He began to talk about what happened after the war. He and Annabeth finally started dating before he was taken by Hera. He was sent to Camp Jupiter, and Jason Grace, was sent to Camp HalfBlood. I remembered Jason. Who could forget one of the only people who didn't look at you like a freak? Each of them lost their memories and eventually gained them again. They sailed in a large ship called the Argo 2. It was built by a son of Hephaestus. There were seven demigods on the boat. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Frank. He also informed me that Hazel is my sister.

"Then we made our way to Rome. Annabeth was on a quest for the Athena Parthenos. She found it. Arachne was guarding it. She fell in a large pit. Annabeth was covered in spider webs. She was pulled into a the pit by Arachne. I grabbed onto her. We both fell to...to...."

"Tartarus." I guessed. He nodded.

"I...I don't talk about what happened down there. After we got out we continued on our way to Greece. When we finally made it to Athens, the real fight began. Annabeth got a cut and her blood landed on the ground. I got a nosebleed. Gaea needed the blood of a male and female demigod to wake up. The rest is..."

"I understand. When do you want to leave for camp?" I asked.

"Tomorrow."

"Okay." I paid for our meal and drove Percy to his apartment.

"When do you want me to come pick you up?" I asked.

"Come at 11 am."

"Okay. See you tomorrow." He waved and walked into the building.