UPDATE A/N: Hi guys. I know I said one more chapter but I have been trying and trying and trying for MONTHS to write the last epilogue type chapter and it's just not working as everything I write seems to take away from the story, so as of now, this is actually the last chapter. If I ever come up with a way to write the last chapter I promised I will, but this story will now be marked as complete. Sorry for the wait. I'll have a new story coming out soon. Thank you to everyone who has read this story and I really hoped you all liked it. Thank you to everyone that reviewed or IM'd me, as you lot were often the reason I got anything done :P. Thanks again See you again soon!

A/N: Hey guys! If people want to start PMing or reviewing requests, that would be great considering I don't know what I'll do after this. People will also start having to tell me if they want a sequel or not. If there is a sequel, it will deal more with Percy and what happened in his old school, coz that's what I was thinking I would do when I finished this, hence why this story doesn't deal with that part that much. Anyways, this is in Jason's POV and it is a freakishly long chapter compared to others I have written so I hope you enjoy it :) Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed, here is chapter 25!

Jason POV

I stared down at the murky brown of the drink in my hands, watching it finish its swirling and trying to gather the courage to look up at the man sitting across from me. My brother.

That's going to take a while to get used to.

"We were really worried, kid." His soft voice eventually floated over to me, making my eyes jump to him for a second before they returned to the warm mug cradled in my hands.

"I'm sorry." I half mumbled, frowning down at the drink.

I heard his exasperated sigh from across the table as he leaned back, seemingly thinking of what to say.

"Look," He eventually began, reaching across the table to tap my hand, trying to get my full attention. "I know you are ridiculously pissed off at your family at the moment. I understand that. But you have to understand that they still love you. That has never changed."

I interrupted him with a snort, turning my disbelieving gaze from my drink to the window, watching people walk past.

"You don't believe that they love you?" Apollo questioned, reaching over again and this time pulling my hand from the mug and forcing me to look at him.

"Answer me, Jason. I can't help if you don't talk." He said, semi-sternly, letting me take back my hand from him only when I turned my gaze to him.

"What if I don't want help?" I snapped half-heartedly. From the moment it left my mouth I could see he didn't believe me for a moment.

"Jason, you still love them." His words felt like a punch to the gut, even though I knew them to be true. "That's why this hurts so much. But you have to believe that they love you, truly. Why is it hard for you to see that?"

His tone was genuinely curious, probing for me to spill all my problems, just like Percy.

I kept my mouth closed, though, because Apollo is not Percy. Apollo isn't the one who knows all my deepest secrets and who has been there for me through everything even after everything I have said and done to him. Something my family had failed at over the past few weeks.

"Jason? Can you please answer me?" Apollo's soft voice drifted over to me again, jerking me out of my thoughts.

"It's hard to see it because they don't seem to give a shit about me." I spat out, surprising both of us considering I promised myself I wouldn't talk about it with him. That one sentence opened the flood gates, though, and I found myself telling him everything that had happened since before I left for camp, telling him about Percy and how we hated each other all the way up to the revelations that my family was a lot bigger than I thought it was.

I told him about how happy I was before that camp, surrounded by good friends, a girlfriend and my sister who loved me. How we stuck together through thick and thin. I told him about how camp was amazing and how, although there were lows, they made me a better person, letting me understand more about Percy and everyone around me and helping me notice the little things in people. I told him how I thought I had changed for the better but for some reason my friends didn't seemed to think so. I told him about how I got replaced and how suddenly I was on a downward spiral that didn't seem to be ending.

He listened intently, not interrupting once. Once I finished he was silent for a second before he sent me a small, tired smile and began his own spiel.

"That night, after you had run out, I tried to run after you, along with Ares but we stopped when we saw you taking all the side streets and alley ways, because you obviously didn't want anybody coming after you and we decided to respect that. From the moment you left the house we could tell you had a destination in mind so we knew you weren't just running around the city aimlessly. We returned to the house where we stopped your friends and your sister from bolting out the door once they saw you weren't with us. Eventually we got everybody to sit down and Artemis extracted explanations from everyone without much trouble."

"To start off with, your friends didn't know that you didn't know. Don't interrupt!" He pointed at me with a joking glare when I opened my mouth to protest. "They did think it was odd that it had never been brought up but they were told by your sister that you got uncomfortable when we, meaning myself, my sister and our two older half-brothers, were brought up and they didn't want to make you uncomfortable. And it wasn't that bad of an excuse because who wants to talk about how their best friend is their nephew or how their girlfriend is their niece-in-law."

"Your sister confirmed that that is what she told them and your father cut in that he told her to say that. He took every measure possible to stop you from finding out about us and what he did. Now, it's not what he should have done, by any means. I am super pissed off with him about this and we all know what he did was wrong. However, he wasn't exactly thinking straight. After your mother tragically died, he never wanted you to feel as if it was in anyway your fault, which it isn't. But he felt that the only way to do that would be to say that she died of different circumstances to avoid the questions you would inevitably ask when you got older."

"As well as that, he, and your sister, just wanted to keep you as happy and innocent as possible while they still could. You were the last little bit of light in their lives and they wanted to keep it that way. And, somehow, it worked. You became a bright young man who has a lot of friends and has always been positive and happy and good. They just never thought about what would happen if you found out."

"And while that's all well and good," I cut in, not giving a shit that he told me not to interrupt. "It doesn't change the fact that they lied. They lied to me about my family and my mum and it fucking hurts Apollo!"

"I know. I didn't tell you that to make you feel better or even to get you to forgive them." He said calmly, as if he knew my outburst was coming. "I told you to help you understand a little because I know that a lot of the hurt you are feeling is also confusion and I know that understanding will help you get over everything a lot quicker."

"When I was little, I always wondered why my Dad was never around. I mean, he came over sometimes and when he was there he was perfectly good with us but as I grew up it hurt that he was never around. The only way I got over that was because Mum explained to me that the reason he was never around was because he already had so much on his plate. He had four other kids to look after and a business to run and his wife had died and he felt like if he was around us, he wouldn't be able to do good by us, so if he was never there, he couldn't not do good by us. I know, it's confusing but as I grew up, I understood. It didn't make what he did right because in the end he did do wrong by us because he was never there, but I was able to understand why he did it and I got over it a lot quicker."

I went back to staring at the now cold drink in my hands as I mulled over his words.

I kept forgetting that I wasn't the only one my father had wronged. Sitting in front of me was a part of a family that he pretty much completely abandoned. Guilt settled in my stomach as I realised how selfish I had been while wallowing in my own misery. I opened my mouth to say something akin to 'sorry' but the look on my face obviously clued Apollo in to what I was going to say.

"Don't you dare apologise for Dad's mistakes. He left me and my sister alone, not you. I'm actually kinda glad now that he did because I learned to be independent a lot sooner and you didn't have to grow up without a father. Despite all his mistakes he must have done something right to have raised a young man like you."

With that he smiled, seeming almost proud of me even though he barely met me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"There we are." He said softly, throwing down a few notes on the table and getting up. "Let's get going. We can pick up some lunch and take it back to Percy's if you want. I know you are a lot more comfortable around him."

On the walk back, he stole my phone, entering his number and those of his sister and half-brothers.

"In case you ever need a place to stay or someone to help you. We may seem a little scary but we will always be just a call away." He said as he passed it back.

By the time we got back to Percy's place I was feeling a lot lighter than when I left. Percy immediately hugged me when I got through the door, making me chuckle at his mother hen ways that he will always deny.

Apollo left just as Sally got back, just in time to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek before racing out the door.

Percy and I were joking about in the living room with Sally laughing at us from the kitchen doorway when her smile faded and her face became more serious.

"Jason," She started, cutting through the light atmosphere with a hesitant tone, making us both a little wary of what would come next.

"You have school tomorrow." She stated softly, carefully watching my face as I could feel Percy doing from where he stood beside me.

It was silent for a few moments before I nodded slowly, letting out a long breath.

"Alright." I eventually said, although sounding a little wary. "I have to face them at some point."

I felt Percy's supportive hand on my shoulder and I gave him a slight smile, already dreading the day to come.

PJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJOPJO

We walked to school in silence the next morning. I was constantly playing with the tags on my bag while Percy simply walked next to me and his presence was oddly soothing. As we neared the gates I could see them all waiting where we all used to meet in the mornings.

Thalia was pacing back and forth between the gates. Piper leaned against the fence, staring at a spot on the pavement unblinkingly while Annabeth leaned against her in an effort to comfort the both of them. The di Angelo's and Frank stood over to the side in a clump with Hazel looking remarkably upset and Frank looking troubled as he held her. Bianca was speaking to Nico, looking concerned. Grover and Leo stood a greater distance away from the lot, looking uncharacteristically angry. Ashton just looked bored, leaning against the gates.

Percy slowed down as we approached them, putting a slight distance between us. I looked back at him and he just nodded at me to keep walking. Now feeling slightly more nervous, I continued walking hoping to manage, somehow, to slip past without them noticing.

Of course that didn't happen.

As soon as I got close enough, Thalia looked up and immediately saw me.

"Jason!" She pretty much shouted, drawing everyone's attention and beginning to move towards me.

I flinched, taking a step back as she came towards me which made her falter.

"Jay…" She whispered, stopping in the middle of the gates as everyone moved to stand with her. "I-"

"Please don't." I interrupted, going to move forward again, only to find my path blocked by Piper and Annabeth.

"Just listen to us. Please." Piper asked, her eyes welling up.

I used to be able to look at her and have this uncontrollable need to tell her everything and give her everything she wants but when I looked at her in that moment, I couldn't see what I used to see.

"I can't…" I whispered, trying to take another step forward to get past them but they just stood closer.

"So you're not even going to give us a chance?" Annabeth asked, frowning.

While I floundered for an answer, I didn't notice Thalia appearing by my side until she placed her hand on my shoulder.

I jumped backwards, stumbling a bit at the unexpected contact.

As I felt myself tipping backwards to fall embarrassingly on my butt, I felt two hands gently push on my shoulder blades, letting me regain my balance.

"He doesn't have to give you a chance, Chase." Percy's cold voice came from behind me and I turned to look at him, only to see his face completely expressionless. His eyes, however, were barely concealing his anger.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you, Jackson." Thalia snapped, reaching forward to grab my arm. "Come on, Jason."

In a moment, Percy was in front of me pushing Thalia's arm away.

"Bullshit this doesn't involve me! Where do you think he has been for the last few days? Living on the streets? For weeks I have been taking care of him while you lot just ignored him!" He spat, suddenly furious. "And after everything you have done to him over the past few weeks he has every right to ignore your excuses. It is up to him if he wants to talk to you and we would both appreciate it if you respected that." He finished, slightly calmer.

He then turned to me and gently wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Let's go, Jay." He said and he led us through the three girls blocking our path and past the rest of the group who were watching in silence.

"Thanks." I whispered as we moved towards the doors, drawing the eyes of everyone we walked past.

"Anytime." He muttered as he took his phone out of his pocket, frowning at it. "Hey, there is a football game coming up soon, right?"

I frowned. "Yeah. This Saturday. It's our first home game. Why?"

"No reason. So would the football team be training at lunch?"

"Yeah…" I replied, incredibly confused.

He just nodded, tapping something into his phone.

As we walked in the door, the bell rang. Percy squeezed my shoulder once before moving off to his locker, muttering a 'see you at lunch'.

I just shook my head at him before continuing to my own locker.

Most of the day past uneventfully with Thalia and the gang adhering to what Percy said. The teachers even treated me the same way they did before camp, although they kept sending me guilty glances, some of them even looking nervous for some reason.

When it came to lunch time, everybody's eyes were once again on me as I took the usually empty seat next to Percy which prompted many whispers.

"You ok?" Percy asked quietly as I slipped into the seat.

"I'm fine, Percy." I sighed playfully. "You're such a mother hen."

In response he gently shoved my shoulder, jokingly glaring at me.

"Um… Hi." Our attention was drawn to the people standing in front of us, which made us both frown.

Leo and Grover stood on the other side of the table.

It was silent for a second before the screeching of chair legs on the ground startled me and the two on the others side.

"Grover can sit." He said, pushing the chair next to Grover out slightly more from where it landed after he kicked it out. Grover hesitantly sat, his eyes flittering between the Percy and I.

Percy then fixed his gaze on Leo and narrowed his eyes.

"I thought we said that we only wanted to talk to you on Jason's terms." He crossed his arms over his chest and placed his feet on the seat in front of Leo so he couldn't pull it out.

"I… well… I just couldn't wait and I'm sorry but I really need to say this now. Jason, I am so sorry that I have been a shit friend and I have absolutely no excuse for it. You know me, man. I can't sit still for more than two minutes so there was no way in hell I was going to be able to not come talk to you when I'm feeling like absolute shit because of the way I've treated you. I should have noticed you were a lot more upset than we thought you were and I just want to say sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I also want you to understand that I didn't know that you didn't know about my dad and I'm so pissed off at Thalia right now because she manipulated me into lying to you and it hurt you more and I swear I never wanted to hurt you but I did, a lot, and I'm so sorry, Jay."

By the time he finished, there were tears in his eyes that he was trying to fight back.

In response to his speech I gently nudged Percy's feet off the chair and kicked it out for him. Leo just stared at me for a second, gaping.

"Are… are you sure?" He whispered to which I chuckled.

"Just sit down Leo. I'm not sure about fully forgiven but I can see that you are truly sorry and I also can see that you are really upset with them and I don't want you to be over there if you are uncomfortable with that."

He grabbed the back of the chair and went to sit down but stopped before he sat down.

"Wait, I need to say something else and I don't want to sit down here without at least trying to right everything I've done." He pushed the chair back in as I looked at him in confusion.

"Percy, I want to say sorry to you as well. I also have no excuse for the way I treated you and I never even got to know you before I judged you. I also threatened you before you left for camp and I should never have ever done that or anything that I have ever done to you and I really am sorry."

For a second Percy just stared at him in surprise.

The screeching of chair legs on the floor once again startled three of us while Percy leaned back in his seat with his genuine smile in place.

"Thanks Valdez." He smiled and Leo seemed to deflate in relief.

"Oh! And you're just in time for the show." Percy smirked, making both mine and Leo's heads snap in his direction.

"You did give them the keys, right Grover?" He continued and I was surprised to see a matching smirk on Grover's face.

"Of course. He doesn't stand a chance." Grover laughed and Percy reached over to high five him.

At this point I regained my voice.

"What did you do?"

I was answered by a splash and screeching coming from the entrance of the cafeteria.

There, in the arch way stood Ashton, covered from head to toe in hot pink paint and a mix of pink and blue fluffy feathers.

"Is he wearing a dress?" Leo asked from across from me, making me noticed that, yes, he was indeed wearing a dress.

"How…" I whispered, turning back to Percy who just smiled and gestured for me to keep watching.

The entire room was silent as they took in their Captain. Behind him the entire football team was chuckling amongst themselves as Ashton wiped the paint from his eyes with a flick.

"Ashton… what the hell?" Was the first thing that broke the silence, coming from my sister's mouth. She looked amused for a second before splash sounded and she gasped, now also covered in paint.

Taking the hint I looked up, at first glance seeing there was nobody there until a flash of movement caught my eye over near the uppermost windows. Crouching low, dressed in black and almost impossible to see, four people gathered together. I didn't even have to see their faces to know who they were.

Henry and his new cabin brothers, specifically Travis, Connor and Luke.

"Did you think we were going to let them get away with it?" Percy whispered from behind me as one of the boys moved towards the table again holding another can of paint, this one splashing over everyone else at the table. "Good thing you decided to apologise, Leo."

"It was Jason!" Ashton growled out, stalking past Thalia who now had a frown on her face.

"The little shit head couldn't deal with the fact that I am better than him," He spat, quickly making his way over to the table at which I sat. I scrambled from my seat as he reached the table, reaching forward and grabbing my collar, jerking me towards him. "He couldn't handle that I'm going out with his precious sister," He sneered the words, "and so he thought he could try to get one up on me!"

With that he shoved me backwards, making my back hit the table.

"He's just a good for nothing, snot-nosed, shitty excuse for a human being that- umph!"

He suddenly pitched to the side, holding his head in pain as he stared at Thalia who had magically appeared behind him, holding her maths text book and putting on her worst glare.

"Don't. You. Dare. Talk. To. Him. Like. That." She emphasised every word with another hit of the textbook before Frank managed to grab her from behind and pull her back, making sure she doesn't do any serious damage, although the look on his face was just as scary.

"Babe, what the hell! You know he is just trying to break us up!" He yelled, standing up again, although slipping a bit on the still wet paint he was covered in.

"Well, if that's the case he succeeded." She spat, shrugging out of Franks hold and aiming one last kick.

Right in the balls.

As he groaned on the ground, Frank and Nico shared a look before moving over to him and grabbing an arm each, hauling him to his feet.

"I think it's time we had a little chat." Nico said, smiling creepily as the dragged him out.

For a moment everything was quiet. Everybody just looked at each other before eventually shrugging and going back to their lunch as if nothing had happened.

I simply stared at Thalia as she played with her paint ruined jacket, refusing to look me in the eye.

None of us spoke until Nico and Frank got back, slotting into their places in the group easily.

"Well, that went to plan." Percy eventually said, startling us all into looking at him.

"… you did this?" Annabeth asked, surprised, gesturing to the paint.

"I organised it, yes." He replied, leaning back in his seat.

"Including the part where he was about to beat me up?" I asked hesitantly which got me a shrug.

"I had to show you that they still cared." He answered simply, gesturing his head towards the group.

"We do care, Jay." Thalia said softly, now looking up at me. "I know it hasn't seemed like it over the past few weeks and we really have no excuse for that, but please believe that we still care."

Looking over them, they all held truly guilty expressions.

"We are sorry. Will you forgive us?" Piper asked eventually, making everyone's guilty expressions turn to me.

"As I said to Leo, I'm not sure about forgiven." I stated firmly, watching as their faces fell. "But… I guess I can give you a chance." I finished with a small, teasing smile, hearing the audible exhales of relief coming from the group.

"Aw, that was so cute!" Another voice joined us, startling me and drawing my gaze to the left where there was suddenly a whole other group of people.

"What the…" I started, trailing off before I could finish the question.

"You don't think Percy organised this all on his own right?" Izzy snorted, stepping forward and bringing me into a small hug. "You put too much faith in him."

"But… all of you?" I asked weakly, leaning back against the table.

"We all had our parts to play." Tyler smirked. "Planning," He gestured to himself and Izzy, "Materials," He gestured to Charlotte, Evie and Ava, "Pranksters," He gestured to the four in the roof who had somehow moved to gather above our heads, "and of course the muscle, to make sure they made it to the cafeteria." He gestured to Sienna and Mason, who both smirked dangerously.

"I also wanted to see someone be humiliated." Sienna butted in, her smile becoming almost sadistic.

"You lot scare me sometimes." I muttered, turning away from them to face the paint covered group again.

"As I was saying," I threw a small glare at the interrupting group, "You still have a lot of work to do. You hurt me, a lot. But now you have a chance to fix that."

"Thank you, Jay." Thalia smile at me and moved towards me as if to pull me into a hug, too which I stepped back.

"Ah, no thanks. I like being not covered in paint, thank you very-"

Before I could finish the sentence, a wave of something cold and wet washed over me, making my clothes feel heavy and my skin to automatically feel sticky.

"Seriously guys!" I shouted, wiping the paint from my eyes and glaring at the laughing group on the roof.

"Well now you have no reason not to hug me." Thalia smiled and pulled me down into the first hug I had gotten from her since before I left for camp. In turn I wrapped my own arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me, revelling in the fact that I had my sister back and that everything was on the mend.

As I pulled back from her, I heard laughter coming from behind me, making me turn to see Percy had lost it, laughing so hard he had tears coming out his eyes.

"Oh, you think this is funny do ya?" I asked, gesturing to the paint. He tried to bite his lip to stop laughing but he couldn't manage it.

"Well, we'll see who's laughing." I smirk at him, making his laughter cease and his eyes grow wide. He stood to run just as I lunged at him, catching him around the waist and effectively covering him in paint.

Wiping some off my face, I rubbed it into his hair, making it contrast against the black of it.

"No no no no no…" He kept chanting through more laughter as we continued to wrestle each other, him trying to get away and me trying to cover him in as much paint as possible.

"Ahem." A loud voice made us stop in our tracks, turning to the entrance of the cafeteria to see Mr. Greenbank staring at us, along with the rest of the student body.

For a long few moments, we were all silent, just standing as we were, staring at the principal.

"You know what," He started, breaking the silence. "I don't even want to know."

With that he turned away and left, leaving us all to delve into laughter again with the knowledge that everything was just going to get better from here.