On the surface, nothing was different. But, if you looked a little closer, everything had changed.

You could see it in the way Grover was always off somewhere, looking for Percy. He'd come back to camp, stay for a few days to comfort Juniper and confer with Annabeth then he'd be off again. Because that was his best friend dammit and he'd be reincarnated into crabgrass before he gave up on Percy.

You could see it in the way Clarisse did nothing besides train. "Get them before they get you," she would grunt, swinging her sword around for the final blow, "Don't let them get you too." And everyone knew that she what she was thinking. If they –never mind who they were – had taken out Percy – invincible Percy, greatest swordsman in 300 years- what hope did they have?

You could see it in Annabeth's eyes, in the way she walked. You could see it in the way she obsessively pored over her books, making sacrifices to the gods, any god, in order to find any scrap of information she could about Percy. You could see it in her ever shortening temper. Where calling her Annie before would have gotten you a dirt clod to the head and an eye roll it now got you screams, lectures, threats, a knife to the throat and if you were really unlucky – you'd walk into an Athena trap and be stuck in a tree all night.

You could see it in how Chiron was more closed off than ever. He was still the teacher but the twinkle was gone from his eyes now. Percy and Annabeth were his star pupils and now Percy was missing, probably dead and Annabeth was a shadow of her former self without him. He couldn't risk losing another prized student and so it was better not to get attached. Because apparently, even the most promising heroes were doomed from the start.

You could see it in how every few days Tyson would IM Annabeth. "Percy is back yet? My brother's come home?" and you could see it in how his face would fall and his big, brown eye would tear up when the response came that they still didn't know anything. Tyson worried, but he never lost his faith but with each IM his conviction grew weaker and weaker.

You could see it in how Mrs. O'Leary wouldn't do much but sniff around the camp and sleep by the arena. He was her master, when would he come home and play with her again?

You could see it in how even Travis and Conner Stoll could sometimes be caught with serious expressions. Or when they weren't serious they were more exuberant than ever. Trying to make up for the loss of one of the other joking campers.

Yes, Camp Half-Blood was still in business. They still trained and fought and had sing-alongs at the campfire. On the surface everything was pretty much the same. But, once you looked a little closer, everything had changed.

This is just a short little one-shot about CHB without Percy. I'll probably edit it a little so please review and tell me what you think. Thanks! :)