I Get What I've Have Coming

I stared at the orb of Agamotto.

Part of me was actually excited about going back...and of course every other part of me felt disappointed with myself. I left camp in the first place because I didn't feel like I belonged there, that I felt useless.

But that was years ago...so why do I feel so scared?

Oh yeah Annabeth, Luke, and Grover. The three friends I had in the entire world that I left behind. That was another huge thing I needed to deal with. I kept thinking of the good and bad that could come from my visit, on the good hand I get to see my friends again...on the bad, Annabeth will most likely kill me.

"Nervous?" I turned back around to see Wong, Strange was still investigating the underworld break in, and we always need someone at the Sanctum just in case, I tried to get the Servant to take my place. He said if I could beat him in a sparring match I could go, I simply made my way here, not willing to die today...but then again, Annabeth.

"You remember where I put my will right? You know, just in case I don't come back?" he asked. Wong gave him a sympathetic look, the martial artist probably could tell I was apprehensive about returning.

Wong put a hand in my shoulder, "Think of it as a bandage. Best to rip it off, and get over with it quickly." he advised, I took a deep breath before exhaling. It wasn't like she wasn't wrong. I needed to get this over and done with.

Summing a portal from the orb, I walked through quickly so I didn't have time to regret my decision. I was on Half-blood Hill now; Long Island was not too far away from Manhattan so it was still midday here.

Yeah first time I used a portal, first place I went to see was LA. However it was midnight there when it was evening in New York. Time Zones are annoying to keep in mind.

I shook those thoughts aside and looked at Thalia's Tree. I walked over to the tree and smiled, leaning on the sword for support. "Hey Thalia, long time no see huh?" I greeted the tree. Silence was the only reply I got in return, as expected, "So...Annabeth is going to murder me. I don't know if your dead or not, but if you are? You're going to be seeing me real soon. Just a heads up." I warned.

The tree was not encouraging me.

I looked towards Camp, for the most part, it had not changed one bit. The Big house may need a new layer of paint but other than that, the place looked just like it did when I was here last. As I made my ways towards the Big House, I looked around for Chiron, at best I'd pop in, say hi, drop off the sword, and leave.

"Why hello Vance." I cringed at the voice, on the porch of the Big House was of course none other than Dionysus, or rather Mr. D as everyone at camp called him. Of course I would run into the god of wine, the guy didn't even say any of our names correctly, in fact I'm not sure if he knows them.

"Mr. D...good to see you, do you know where Chiron is?" I asked politely, I didn't really have anything against the god of wine, but the only reason he was here was for punishment, I couldn't exactly remember what for, but I know that if he could, he would ditch the camp.

He stared down at his coke for a moment before looking back up at he, "I think that he was at the archery course." he answered, I gave him a nod of appreciation before making my way towards the range. "Give my regards to Strange." he called out. I rolled my eyes, sure he remembers Doc's name…. then again how do you mess up a guy whose last name is Strange?

As I made my way to the range, a few campers gave me some looks. I must have looked out of place a little, for one thing I didn't have a Camp Half Blood tee shirt on, I simply ignored the curious looks as the archery range came into sight. The centaur looked just like he did when I first came to here, thinning hair, bushy beard, and he looked pretty well for a guy over two thousand years old.

"Admirable effort Howard, however patience is the key to precision." he said to a kind around my age, his target having a number of hits but none of them on the bullseye. He may not look it, being a centaur and all, but Chiron may be one of the best shots ever. I remember during his demonstration back when I was here, he nails six targets while galloping.

When someone asked how he did it, he simply answers, "With practice."

As the half-blood went back to shooting, he must have felt me approach, he turned to me and gave me a friendly smile, "Ah, Vincent. It's good to see you again." the centaur greeted warmly. He saw the sword in my hand, held it out to him by the blade, "I can't thank you enough for retrieving this blade." he said gratefully.

I shrugged, sure I may have almost died getting it but if I were being honest I nearly die at least once every week. Nothing to cry over, "If you don't mind me asking, why do you need it? It's not infused with any major magic I can tell that much, and it's not exactly all that well known." I asked.

Chiron gave me a look, it was a mixture between sad and sorrowful, and I knew it. He couldn't tell me, I sighed out in slight frustration, the gods, as powerful as they are, are not known to reveal much if anything. Now they aren't all knowing as they claim to be, as a certain god of thunder would make you believe.

Only the Fates knew what was meant to be, just goes to show that 'all powerful beings' doesn't mean control over everything.

But of course with immortality, they don't exactly learn to grow up. Poseidon and Athena still held a grudge one another because she won the people of Athens over with her olive tree, and for Poseidon and Medusa doing the nasty in her temple.

I sighed and nodded, "Right, so what else can I do for you? Any dark spirits? Possessions?" I asked, wondering if there was anything I could do while I was here.

The teacher smiled, "No, nothing like that. However I'm sure Stephen wouldn't mind if you stated for a while." he offered. I had to say it was a little temping, while Wong makes amazing food, it'd be nice not eating at my desk…..and with, you know. Other people.

The sense of impending dread was gone, and now? I felt relief, "Sure why not? You wouldn't happen to know where Luke and Annabeth are?" I asked. "Oh and Grover, I really should see Grover too." I added quickly, I had the bag of sunflower seeds for the satyr, I'm sure he'd like them.

Grover was kind of a loving garbage disposal. When we were on the run, I saw him eat Styrofoam plates. Used to creed me out, still does a little, but then again I've actually eaten grosser things. So I'm really not one to judge. Now in hindsight I realize that I felt like there was no reason for me to feel nervous about coming back at this point. I was wrong, very wrong.

As soon as I said that, I heard someone shuffle behind me. I turned around to see a young girl, not older than twelve, standing before me. With blonde hair and silvery grey eyes that looked like they could kill me with the glare that could make someone run away.

A second later, before I could even say anything, I was flat on my back, back against the ground, my nose broken and leaking blood. Annabeth decked me and gave me a broken nose.

I'll admit, I thought I would get much worse.

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I was in the infirmary a few minutes later, Chiron had stayed behind to deal with Annabeth before she could break something else. I made my way over and one of the Apollo kids reset my nose and told me it'd be healed by next week.

While I sat on the bed the door opened and in stepped young man. He had to be older than me, he had a scar running down the side of his face, blonde hair, and when he smiled I swore he looked….

"Ok I swear if I knew Annabeth was going to break your nose I would have told you to stay away." he said.

It dawned on me instantly who he was, "Luke!" I sat up and walked over, giving him a friendly hug as he returned it, I gave him a pat on the back as the door swung closed. "Man it's been too long. I haven't seen you since I messaged you two years ago." I said as I looked the nineteen year old over.

He patted my shoulder, "Yeah it's good to see you too." he said, wincing when he saw my broken nose. "I seriously can't believe she broke your nose though."

I breathed out through my mouth, "Yeah well I can't exactly blame her you know?" I said as I turned back to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed. I should have known something like this would happen, though to be honest I didn't expect to be hurt physically.

Luke crossed his arms, "So mighty wizard, you've come to grace us muggles with your presence?" he asked jokingly.

I ducked in my lips, "First off. Sorcerer. Not wizard. Second, you're a demigod, and third, kind of. Chiron wanted me to get a sword for him for some reason." I explained before smiling at him, "But it is good to see you again. And Annabeth…..where's Grover at?" I asked.

Luke leaned against the doorframe, "He's out searching for a new Demigod….he still feels guilty." he said sadly. I sighed at that, Grover felt the most responsible for what happened to Thalia. It didn't help that the council of elders, basically the top nature spirits, held him accountable.

"He shouldn't." I said firmly. I didn't mean for there to be anger in my voice but it happened.

Luke nodded in agreement, "Tell him that if you see him….so what's the story behind the sword?" he asked.

I rubbed the back of my head, "Well Chiron called the Sanctum Sanctorum-"

"The what?" Luke interrupted.

"Place where I live. It's a big magic house. Anyway, he called us and told us to find the sword as favor. Strange was out so I found the Hunters-" I continued.

"Wait, Hunters? Of Artemis?" he asked, remembering how the stuck up girls acted towards them.

"One in the same yes. They told me that the sword was giraffes by this big dragon with a hundred heads." I explained. The older boy winced at the mention of the dragon, I noticed his hand trace over the scar on his face.

"Landon." He muttered.

I looked at him surprised. "How did you…."

He shook his head, letting out a breath, "A while ago I got to go on a quest. To get an apple from a tree, the one Landon was guarding." he explained. He gestured to the scar on his face, I thought nothing of it at first. Heck most demigods have scars, but finding out Landon hurt him…

"I should made sure he was destroyed." I muttered.

"So wait you don't beat him either?" he asked before giving me a Hermes kid grin, "Well now I feel much better." he said before pushing off the door and opening it. "I'm got to head out and get to my next activity. See you at dinner?" he asked.

I gave him a smile, "Save me a seat at the Hermes table."

He nodded and smiled before shutting the door. I laid back onto the bed, blowing out air through my mouth. When I heard the floorboards creak I bolted upright, looking around I saw the room was emptying brought my hands together, touching my fingertips together I curled my pinkies and index finger.

On my forehead, a third eye opened, I could now see in a different spectrum. The third eye was another spell that Strange taught me when I first arrived, it served mainly to find and discover things hidden to the naked eye. I could see past most illusions, including the now invisible Annabeth who was staring at the new eye on my forehead.

"I can see you….obviously." I said, the third eye blinked. It made Annabeth pull the baseball cap off her head, she appeared fully visible. I closed the third eye, making it fade from my forehead, I had to blink a few times in other to readjust my sight. "Give me a sec? That trick kind of makes me see funny." I explained.

Annabeth simply stood there, staring at me. "So you are actually learning magic…..I thought Chiron and Luke just…." She trailed off shore shaking her head. "You ran away."

"And you decked me in the face…..you have a nice right hook by the way." I complimented, the daughter of Athena was still staring at me. She was still angry, clearly, but she wasn't as mad as before so I was trying to keep her at that level.

She looked downward, not meeting my eyes, "You deserved it. You left without saying a word, you didn't even think about anyone else you just…." she trailed off, Vincent pressed his lips together. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked finally.

There was no use in lying to her, she'd somehow know. "Chiron asked me to retrieve a sword." she her silver eyes looked like they were trying to kill me. I'm really considering portaling out of here to avoid getting beat up again.

"So you come back after years for a sword, but not for your friends…." she stated bitterly before turning towards the door.

"Annabeth-" she stomped out the door and slammed it shut. I sat there for a few moments before letting out a sigh. That was brilliant Vincent, you really know how to talk to your friends. I fell back into the bed and covered my face, I really screwed up.

I stayed like that until the dinner bell rang. Though I did contemplate bailing out of camp all together, it would only make my situation worse in the long run so I headed for the dining pavilion to grab a bite, as soon as I arrived however I found myself in the center of attention. Apparently, news of my getting sucker punched by Annabeth had spread like wildfire through the camp. After grabbing my food. Which was a cheeseburger and curly fires, I turned to the tables and saw Luke waving me down. I smiled as I walked to the Hermes table and took my seat, "Well you're the talk of the camp." He said in a cocky tone.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah well next time I see doc and Wong I'll show them this. 'I told you so.' Is going to be what I'm telling them for a few months." I replied with a smirk as I dipped my fries in ketchup and ate them. It was the small things like that which made my day, telling Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, that I was right and he was wrong was rare, and I was so going to rub it in when I see him, all I good fun of course, he'd do the same to me.

"Ah, actually no. What camp is talking about I the magic boy coming to camp." He commented off-handedly, nearly making me coke on my fries.

"Magic boy?" Luke nodded. I was silent for a moment before I frowned, "MAGIC BOY?!" I asked a little louder, I was not some little kid playing magician! I was a Sorcerer! And I will not be a joke! Or beaten again! Ok Annabeth kind of had a right to but not anyone else! Touching the magi gauntlet with one hand, I raised my other under the table and drew a small circle and raised it over my goblet, Luke watched with baited interest as I let the circle slowly fall down face first over by drink. "I wouldn't drink your goblet for the next ten minutes if I were you." He said to his friend as he snapped his fingers, making the circle shatter and spill into his cup.

I took a sip and thought for a moment before gulping it down. A few seconds later, one of the Aries kids spat out their drink, followed by few Hermes kids at the table he was at then finally Annabeth did as well, "What the….how?" she sputtered out, she looked over at me, I simply smiled and waved.

I replaced all their drinks with Diet Mountain Dew, the wort pop known to mankind.

Luke had to cover his mouth to stop himself from laughing, when a few of his bothers noticed, Luke merely pointed to me. The things about Hermes Kids? They were pranksters, they knew how to take a joke, however when they started clapping their hands I couldn't help but fee; my pride swell a little. "Oi!" I turned around to see the Aries girl whose drink he transmuted, "Did you swap my drink?" she asked, holding up her goblet.

I nodded, she spilled it on my head before walking away back to her table, "That was Clarisse. Head of Aries Cabin…..you got off very lucky." Luke said as shrugged by clothes, instantly cleaning the soda from my clothes and hair. "Ok we get it, magic is cool." Luke said.

"Yeah….it is." I said with a knowing grin, the guilt that I had about leaving Annabeth and Luke had faded away, what I did was important, and if my friends were mad at me for my decision, then the best I could do was stand by what I chose and hope they forgave me. Or at least in Annabeth's case hate me less, after I finished my fries I took the cheese burger to the fire and dumped it in, "I still think regular burgers are better but to each their own Thalia." I muttered.

As the other campers started to file out and to the fire pit for the evening, I walked with Luke toward the campfire, it had stands in a half circle around the fire pit that was big enough for everyone to sit in and feel the warmth of the flames. I fallowed the other campers in the sing along as best I could, when it was time to go to bed I stayed behind near the fire for as long as I could while the other campers left. I told Luke that the Harpies wouldn't bother me, in truth I never ever saw them when I was here so I doubted there was any at camp, in fact I was sure they were just made up so campers wouldn't sneak into one another's cabins at night.

Standing up from my seat I walked away from the fire and made my way up the hill towards Thalia's tree, stopping in front of the base of the trunk I patted the pinewood. "Hey Thalia… you know today went surprisingly well. Annabeth did deck me but I think she'll forgive me eventfully…hope you got the cheese burger I burned for you." I muttered the last part out.

"Vince?" I nearly jumped out of my skin, almost literally, before turning around to see a certain satyr with a wispy beard and curly brown hair. Before I could react, Grover gave me his best bear hug, "Oh man you're here! I can't believe it I haven't seen you in years!" he said as I weakly returned the embrace, how a guy who eats plastic plates has that much strength behind him I will never know.

Grover…. air!" I managed to get out before he released me, "How are you goat boy?" I asked, patting Grover on the shoulder. I haven't seen the Satyr since before I left, Grover was the nicest guy ever, he always thought of others before himself epically when it came to helping other Demigods. But he always blamed himself about what happened to Thalia, both of us did, but I knew that he wasn't in any way to blame for what happened, I anything I blamed Zeus and Hades for what happened.

"So where have you been? I haven't seen you all day." I asked as we both took a seat at the base of Thalia's tree.

The Satyr rubbed the back of his head, "I uhhhh…. I've been getting ready, I heading to New York tomorrow, we found a Demigod." He explained apprehensively, Grover felt that he had a bad luck streak after what happened to Thaila, and when I was last here he hadn't gone out after a demigod in a while. Grover didn't have much confidence in himself, I found that out shortly after I got to know him, maybe I could help…

Digging into my pocket, I pulled out a small card before handing it to him. "I live in the Village, you ever run into any trouble don't hesitate to call if you need a hand." I said, Grover looked at the card like it was a golden ticket, "I mean you got a chin strap going on, get with the times man." I joked, Grover snorted out a laugh that I joined in with. "I'm happy to see you Grover….look I'm sorry I-"

"Hey I get it. You needed time…I did too." He said in a somewhat saddened voice, he glanced at the tree. "In a way Thalia's saved more demigods than any protector ever could." He said, trying to look on the bright side. And I had to agree, because of her sacrifice Thalia has been keeping the entire camp safe, even if it cost her life.

"Well she wouldn't have made it this far without you getting us here." I added, putting a hand on his shoulder as I looked at Thalia's tree. "You know when I first got into magic…. I thought I could find a way to fix Thalia…. turn her back to normal." I confessed. Grover looked at me sadly, "It might be possible but…...she was dying when she was turned into the tree…. It might be like pulling her from then to now…..." I said sadly. "On the bright side, she'll probably be the oldest demigod ever at this rate." I added, trying to be positive.

Grover chuckled, "Yeah…it was good seeing you man." He said before giving me a one-armed hug and heading back to his place to sleep. Waving him off I scooted back into the base of the tree where the roots slightly spurted up from the ground that I used like armrests.

"I wish I could fix you Thalia…. but…." I looked back to the tree. I found my chest swell with determination, I needed to try at least. "I took a oath…..just like Strange, to help my patients to the very best of my ability, and I the least I can do is try damnit." I said lowly as I closed my eyes. I have been practicing this for a while but it was still pretty knowing and didn't know the full extent of what I can do with it. Strange only recently taught me Astral Projection, he told me that while this was a simple form of magic but was invaluable in many situations. The key was to relax and, well for lack of a better way of explaining, drift out of my body.

I felt myself floating up into the air, opening my eyes I saw that I was in the Astral Realm. Now it wasn't all that different from the normal world except that I was invisible to anyone in the physical world and time slowed down considerably, Strange told me that. You also get to fly, which is always fun.

Turning back to the tree, my eyes widened, the tree had a golden aura that spread out across the border of Camp Half-Blood. Slowly floating towards the tree, I pressed my hands against the trunk and phased into the tree. It was like entering a mind but in a more spiritual manner.

When I was Inside the tree itself, unlike dream realm reality things related to what I interacted with. For instance, the world around me had changed from the hillside to a uncountable amount branches stretching out from a large tree with dark storm clouds overhead. My green being landed on one of the branches and started walking towards the center tree. If Thalia was turned into the tree than it would make sense that the tree and these branches were made when the Thalia became the tree itself, and that Thalia herself was I the tree.

Walking to the trunk of the tree, I found a hole leading into the tree. Inside was like a maze that went all throughout the entire trunk of the tree, it felt like hours I spent in the spiritual construct but it had to be minutes at most in the real world. I found myself going down towards the roots of the pine tree, the once small tunnel now led into a wide room, with a large egg shaped thing of hardened sap in the middle, and inside was Thalia. My legs made me run over to the center of the room up to the side of the egg-shaped prison of Thalia's.

Inside, Thalia looked older than when she was first turned into the pine, as best as I could tell Thalia was still alive and aging but at a slower rate. She looked around my age, maybe fourteen and a half, and she's been in the tree for nearly a decade now!

I raised my fist and knocked it against the outer shell, she looked peaceful within her hibernated state. "Hmmm…. the sap seems to be sustaining your spiritual essence. But what about Physical? You turned from a human to tree so I suppose you could be turned back…. but what about your wounds?" I asked myself, levitating up from the ground to get a better look. I felt my stomach be pulled down from the sight of her wounds. There were multiple wounds she sustained, but they were not healing even though she was aging.

"Ok Vincent think. Doc told me that spiritual and physical healing are both separate and the same. But if I do anything to the barrier, it could cause her to be expelled from the tree and get killed from her wounds." I muttered as I stroked my chin in contemplation. I pinched the bridge f my nose, "Damnit there's nothing! How can I fix you if I can't-"I stopped myself, talking a deep breath to calm myself down. There's got to be something I could do…. there must be. Before I could inspect further, I felt something pull at my body. My real body.

Gasped loudly as I opened my eyes back up in the physical realm, it took me a few seconds to reacclimate myself. It was like waking up from a fever dream, in front of me was Annabeth, looking down at me with concern. "Are you ok?" she asked as I ran a hand through my scalp. Standing up from he ground I rubbed my eyes as I held up a finger to show I needed a minute.

"Sorry I was…um….." what could I say? I was inside Thalia's tree trying to see if I could fix her? Not only did it sound sad it sounded crazy. But Annabeth, th daughter of Athena that she was, looked between me and the tree before her grey eyes lit up as she figured it out.

"Were…..were you trying to-"

"I wanted to see if I could…If I could do anything…." I trailed off, not wanting to go into details of what I was doing or what I saw. I didn't want to get her hopes up, Thalia was like an older sister to Annabeth and I didn't want to say I could so something when I couldn't. Annabeth looked at me sadly, I could all but see the pity she had for me.

"You…You liked her. Didn't you?" She asked quietly. I gave her a blank look as though to say 'no duh' to her, "No I mean….like like her." She explained further. I closed my mouth, afraid of what I might say. Thalia was my friend, she was a amazing wonderful girl who helped me step out of my shell. She was brave, strong, fearless even, she was…. Everything to me.

"Yeah….I did…..still do I guess." My head hung low, it was pathetic how it sounded. Anyone in their right mind would have moved on by now, they would have accepted what happened and tried to get on with their life. But Thalia…she was a big part of my life. She gave me the courage I have, she gave me a life that has monsters and gods and magic in it. Hell, even her death in a sense made me who I am, if she had lived I might never have found Doctor Strange.

Annabeth's sad grey eyes bore into mine, "You were going to see if you can help her weren't you? Try and get her out of the tree? Without stopping it from protecting the camp."

"Ok I seriously envy your ability to piece together everything like that. Daughter of Athena." I interrupted.

She rolled her eyes, "Vincent….can you do it?" she asked the heavy question.

I sighed, "From what I saw? Maybe. And even then, it's a big maybe for someone my level…maybe in a year or two with enough research…. but right now, It's a snowball's chance." I said truthfully. One of the things that always amazed me about Annabeth was how for someone her age, she could take it at face value and understand it. She to let this information sink in, her eyes looking me over, like she was seeing if I could take another two or more years of learning.

She slugged my shoulder, "Ow!"

"That is for keeping that to yourself." Annabeth said before hugging me, "And this is for finally coming home." She added happily as I hugged her back with a smile. "Look…...come visit ok? If you don't I'll tell Thalia when you get her out." She threatened, I snorted out at that. Of course, she would use Thalia herself to threaten me.

Turning away I spun a portal to the sanctum into existence. Giving her a small wave, I hopped through the portal back into the Sanctum Santorum.

AN: Man, I really dragged my feet on this one, didn't I? Well I am sorry nonetheless for taking so long, I had to go back and make sure a few things were accurate before posting this chapter, as well as the few stories that I've made between now and then too. However, I will try my best to keep this updated once in a while.