Title: All Roads Lead Me Home
Pairing: slight Percy/Annabeth and Clarisse/Chris, but neither are the focus here
Word Count: 1,620
Setting: About a week after The Battle of Manhattan; post-The Last Olympian.

Prompt: There's a very short part in The Last Olympian where, bless his soul, Poseidon hugs Percy, and we're given a bit of insight as to how legitimately terrified the poor kid was during the whole book. He just didn't show it the whole time. So this is just a bit of post-war, PTSD-ish, angst/hurt/comfort with dashes of my hero Sally Jackson and a bunch of our other demigod friends.

Percy is not ashamed to admit that after it's all over, he cries a little.

(Actually, he cries a lot.)

When Camp Half-Blood finally picks up the steady pace of normal camp life (with the added responsibilities of tending to the many wounded demigods, satyrs, and nature spirits), Percy asks for special permission to visit his mother and Paul in Manhattan to make sure they're settling back into their normal lives okay. He doesn't tell Chiron that he's been restless for the past week to go home to his mom, but he can tell that his mentor already knows the weekend visit is more for him than it is for his parents.

He asks Annabeth to come with him as soon as he gets the green light from Chiron, popping the question beside the Athena cabin, right after sparring practice and just before they're called to dinner. He tells her it's because he "wants Paul to meet my awesome new girlfriend, obviously" with a tilt to his head and a grin in his eyes, but after she gives him a rather disbelieving look, he straightens up and raises a hand to the back of his neck.

"Aaaand my mom loves you and I just want to be with my two best girls for the weekend?" he tries again. He's getting better at this Dating Annabeth thing, if the bone-crushing hug she gives him afterwards is any indication.

He packs light and tells Annabeth to do the same: only one pair of pajamas to sleep in since he's planning to spend the entire weekend on the sofa with Paul and his Two Best Girls pigging out on Chinese takeout and root beer, watching reruns of whatever's on TV, whether it's Lifetime or Food Network, he does not care.

Argus, as per usual, will be the one to drive them from camp to the bus station that'll take them to the heart of Manhattan. When it's time to leave, Percy and Annabeth do a shoddy job of sneaking to Argus's van at the base of Half-Blood Hill because Clarisse and her stupid minions still manage to catch them near Thalia's pine tree and within seconds they're swept into another wave of arms and hands that lift them and touch everywhere – like, everywhere – and carry them down the hill.

Annabeth is tucked into the van first before Percy is thrown in unceremoniously after her. He rubs his side and throws his friends a glare that's more exasperated than it is annoyed. In his peripheral vision, he sees Argus roll his one hundred eyes, which is still weird even after all these years, and get into the driver's seat before rolling down Percy's window.

"Now, you two, don't forget to be safe, alright?" Clarisse leers down at him from outside his door. From beside him, Annabeth chokes on air while Percy refuses to look at her, lest she see the dust of red on his cheeks.

"Yeah, right back at you," he fires back at Clarisse, and Chris who is conveniently standing next to her.

"Dude!" Chris cries, also blushing while his girlfriend twitches at Percy's abrupt jab. Percy shrugs, not at all apologetic.

"Have a good honeymoon!" Percy's a little surprised to find Will Solace standing outside their window, too. With all the injured campers, the guy's had no time to relax and is on his feet from sunrise to sunset every day making sure all the wounded are comfortable and healing accordingly. The kids around Will chortle at his little comment, and even Nico lets out a little laugh, good ol' Nico who, despite the August heat, is still wearing all black.

"Not you too," Percy groans, but his body language belies his tone as he leans out the window of the car. Nico just smiles in response.

"Say hi to your mom for me," he says with a small nod.

"Will do," Percy says with a grin. He feels a warmth in his chest knowing that so many of his friends are just as fond of his mother as he is.

Annabeth scoots in closer to him so she can also address their so-called "friends".

"Get back to camp, you nutjobs! Chiron's gonna put you all on cleaning duty if he finds out you're here."

"Chiron practically sent us here, Anna-B," Connor Stoll's face pops out from the crowd. He's got a band-aid on one side of his forehead ("This scar's gonna get me the babes!") and a couple of other cuts and bruises but otherwise, he seems to be healing nicely. The rest of the crowd chimes in with a chorus of Yeahs before Clarisse speaks up again.

"Since you're itching to be alone with Kelp Face, I suggest you get going. Argus, get these two out of my sight!" she slaps the side of the van, which Percy swears makes the backseat vibrate a little, and Argus starts up the engine.

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" Travis Stoll pushes through the crowd to wave wildly at the van and the rest of the campers laugh in agreement, following Travis's lead and echoing his words while waving to the moving vehicle. A few of the younger campers run alongside the van yelling good wishes and good-byes, slowing to a stop when the van picks up speed.

"It's just for the weekend, you weirdos!" Percy yells, half his body still hanging out of the window. He doesn't know if his friends hear him from this distance; it doesn't matter. He yells a good-bye that's bittersweet but he's not sure why.

When he sits back down next to Annabeth, she's shaking her head but her eyes are twinkling and he knows she feels the same way.

"You saved the world for those kids," Annabeth jokes good-naturedly. They both know it was all worth it. Despite the camp's losses and their own personal anguish, Percy would do it all again in a heartbeat, just for them.

"We saved the world for those kids," he corrects her. She looks away briefly, shaking her head as if she disagrees – he believes in his heart that Annabeth saved the world, saved those kids, saved him – but she says nothing.

"Your mom's going to have a field day with how much danger you've gotten yourself into the past few days," Annabeth says, subtly trying to change the subject. Percy makes a face at the thought and settles back for the ride.

"The important thing is that I'm alive. We're alive. She's alive!"

"The next important thing is that you're grounded for the rest of the year, probably," Annabeth adds smugly.

"Maybe," Percy says. "But she might let me off for saving the planet and turning down immortality, you know, just saying."

They only find out Sally's actual reaction a couple hours later at the door of the Jacksons' residence.

"Perseus Jackson, it's been over a week!" Sally's voice is everything but calm and Percy blanches and stands rooted to the doormat, looking for the life of him like he might rather prefer Kronos over his distraught mother.

"Mom - listen - wait."

Sally waits.

"The important thing is I'm alive. We're all alive."

Next to him, Annabeth snorts lightly and behind Sally, Paul grimaces a little at Percy's reasoning. Sally, however, doesn't say a thing.

"Mom?"

"You are," Sally whispers, and only then does Percy notice that her lip is quivering terribly, and that her eyes are glossing over, and that suddenly she's grabbing him by his shirt and pulling her son into her arms. "You are alive, we're all alive."

"Mom–" Sally shushes Percy and since he's only just starting to grow taller than her, presses her hand to the back of his head and cries right into the crook of his neck, mumbling that "My baby made it home, my baby's alive, you're alive, you're alive," and it hits Percy like a sack of rotten strawberries.

He's alive.

"You must have been so terrified, sweetheart," Sally mutters brokenly, running a hand through his hair, and that's what does it for him. Percy drops the backpack he'd slung on one shoulder to the floor and wraps both arms around his mother's waist tightly, holding onto her for all he's worth. He doesn't start crying immediately – give him a little more credit than that – but he does tear up instantly at her embrace, her smell, her familiarity.

"I was, Mom," he says. He sees it all in short flashes. He sees Kronos's mad, cold stare trapped in Luke's empty eyes; the spot on the Williamsburg Bridge where Michael Yew had stood before he'd dropped to his own demise; Annabeth falling to the ground after taking a lethal hit that was meant for him; and a wickedly chilling memory of his beloved city – the city that isn't supposed to sleep – cursed by a blanket of endless silence.

"I was so scared."

His mother probably doesn't need to know all of that, though he's sure she'll pester him for the entire story, and he's going to do his best to make sure she doesn't know everything that happened to him during the battle. They have 48 hours to tell the story as many times as she needs (or as many times as Percy and Annabeth can handle). He's here to give Sally the reunion with her son that she deserves (one with hugs, and pizza, and yes, tears), and now that he's surrounded by the achingly comforting atmosphere of their New York apartment, Percy buries himself in the safety of his mother's welcome and finally rejoices, finally breathes, even for a little bit.

Even just for a while, at last he's finally home.

Notes: Guess who finally finished re-reading the PJO series a few days ago! I needed this as an exercise piece to gently nudge me back into the rhythm of writing. Do let me know what you thought! I welcome new friends. I need friends.