Disclaimer: I do not own anything besides the basic plot.

Pairing: Nico/Percy/Jason

Summary: On their way back home the Argo II is attacked and in the midst of battle Percy is killed. Nico doesn't feel it like he did when Bianca passed away so he is surprised to hear of his late crushes demise. Jason is expecting to comfort a distraught Nico but when he learns that Nico didn't feel Percy's passing the pair is convinced that their Sea Prince is still alive.

Chapter 4: Dream

JASON

Neither he nor Nico had gotten any sleep and Thalia, bless her heart, had taken it upon herself to act as a nurse maid. They all knew that number one thing right now was to keep him warm. Percy was alive and while that excited them it took a back seat while they waited for their friend to get out of the woods.

The son of Poseidon had barely drunk anything from the cup and was still shivering but not like he was when he first got here. Jason thought that he'd rather have him shivering that still now it meant he was fighting back.

"We need to get someone from medical, someone with more expertise." Thalia switched the cooling hot water bottle near Percy's feet while she talked. Her brow was creased with worry, a look they all shared.

"On it," Jason left the room to contact someone but before he called anyone he remembered something.

Jason went right to their giant fish tank that they kept in the living room and took a cup from the kitchen. His thinking that with all of the saltwater fish they had in here that just maybe the water might help Percy. If it didn't work he'd just end up having to call someone.

Holding the cup tightly Jason carefully brought it to their room. He hoped the other two understood what he was doing but who cared, this was for Percy.

When he walked in Nico and Thalia looked up, both looked a little confused. "Salt water," was his simple explanation.

"I didn't even think of that." Nico muttered looking down at Percy again.

Jason wasn't sure if they should make him drink it or just pour it on him. If they poured it on him they would need to remove the blankets but the poor green-eyed teen was already shivering so much. The last thing that Jason wanted to do was make him colder.

"Here, give me the cup and get in with him. You're warmer than Nico and will compensate when we have to move the blanket." Thalia said while she took the cup gently from Jason's white-knuckled grip.

"Yeah good idea," with help from Nico who was holding the blankets Jason slipped in and pressed up to Percy, the poor boy was still very cold. "Gods, how long was he out there."

Thalia shook her head. "Honestly I'm not sure but he wasn't moving at all when the wolves found him, it was well below freezing as well and he wasn't wearing anything besides his camp shirt and jeans."

Once Jason settled next to Percy, Thalia poured some of the water onto Percy's face. Slowly the Huntress unzipped the hoodie she had hurriedly thrown on him when she first found him and poured the water down the son of Poseidon's chest. The water soaked his shirt but nothing happened.

"I could get some real sea water; gods why don't I just shadow travel him there." Nico's borderline panicky voice said while he paced beside the bed, wringing his hands.

"We can try that too but I don't want to move him yet." Thalia said her eyes trained on the water.

Nico let out a frustrated breath and ran his fingers through his hair and Jason sympathized with him, they were all worried about Percy. The boy in Jason's arms groaned out and slowly the water began to move around, it would cocoon parts and glow faintly then move on. Once the salt water had done it's magic it sank into Percy's shirt.

"Shit, it worked." Nico commented from the hole he was burning in the floor with his constant pacing.

"Oh thank the gods, he's already warmer but he's still pretty cold." Jason said appreciation apparent in his tone.

"I'm going to contact a medic for further instruction." Thalia left the room and used their Iris Message fountain in Jason's office.

A lot of things were rushing through Jason's mind. The most prominent question was 'why know' it could have been any other time. Why, after all this time, was this time chosen for him to come back. Hell he was glad that Percy was alive but all of them had nearly learned to live with the fact that Percy was never going to come back.

The other thing was that a lot of time had passed and the boy in his arms doesn't look a day older than when he'd disappeared. If he hadn't aged then he'd be confused when he woke up not only where they all older but things have changed. He wasn't dating Piper and Piper was with Annabeth, not to mention Reyna as well. Nico was his insanely awesome boyfriend and then there was his sister, Hazel. The girl had stayed with Frank but later Leo was added to their dynamic as the Latino found that he and Calypso just didn't fit well together.

This was going to be hard for the son of Poseidon to swallow. The only thing they had heard from Annabeth once the girl was able to say Percy without tearing up was that she and Percy were having trouble before all of this, though she wouldn't say what.

How would Percy take it? That there were two threesomes, one between three girls and the other two boys and a girl and that one of those boys is constantly in the lap of either of the other two. This worried Jason more than he thought it would and not that he didn't doubt Percy could handle it but that it would come down on him all at the same time, it was a lot to swallow. The only one who was the same was Thalia and she was that way because she is a Huntress of Artemis.

Nico walked to the other side of the bed and sit a little on the edge.

"Do you think it's ok to touch him? I just want to make sure he's really there." Nico asked him quietly.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm touching him and I still can't believe that he's here either. He doesn't look a day over 16 either." Jason said while Nico shakily reach out and brushed Percy's fringe, it was shaggy.

"I noticed that too once my brain decided to work for me again." Nico gently touched the sleeping boy's cheek.

"Know what you mean. I thought this was some sort of cruel joke." Jason looked at Percy's face trying to memorize every single detail.

Thalia cleared her throat from doorway. Both the men currently caressing Percy looked at her and neither of them stopped petting Percy.

"Just finished speaking with someone and it looks like we will just have to wait it out. I also got a suggestion to use body heat." There was no joke in her words, she was serious.

"Jason's already doing that." Nico said and brought the blankets up to Percy's chin.

"No," She sighed, "as in skin to skin. It's the best way I'm told."

The room was silent and Jason wanted to laugh if not for his sister's serious gaze. Jason felt Percy shiver against him for what seemed like the millionth time. Well, they had to keep him warm.

"Just down to our boxers then," Jason said trying not to think too much about it.

"Percy too Jay," Thalia said. "I'm going to make something easy for him to eat when he wakes." She left the room and shut the door. There was no way that she wanted to see her brother undress, or any boy really.

"Ok, you strip first, then me and then we'll get Percy together." He couldn't help but blush as Nico stripped in record time.

"Yup." Usually there would be more banter but this wasn't the time.

Nico slid in as Jason slid out. Jason stripped then the both wrestled Percy out of the sweater. The boy was lax and didn't even stir when they started on his socks. In passing Jason wondered if Percy was ticklish. The both chuckled when they got his pants off, of course the son of Poseidon would have fish on his boxers.

"Gods he's such a dork." Nico told Jason fondly.

Jason flung Percy's shirt over with the other mess of clothes. "His socks had fish too." They snorted into their hands worried that the noise might wake him up. They'd been pretty quiet up till now trying to be considerate for their sleeping Sea Prince.

LOST TIME

Jason couldn't sleep and neither could Nico. They'd tried several times since getting in with Percy but they just couldn't. It was that Jason felt if he closed his eyes for longer than a blink that Percy would be gone again and that the sleeping boy would still be lost to them. Nico had voiced a while ago that he had felt similarly though, Jason knew that for Nico it was finally feeling the loss of Percy.

"You asleep yet?" Nico asked quietly, his hand was still stroking Percy's cheek.

"No, can't." Jason answered watching Nico's lazy movements.

Nico hummed. "He's going to be pissed when he wakes up." There was a smile in his voice now. "We're both taller than him."

"Oh, is that it?" Jason huffed out a laugh. "I thought it would be the fact that he's sandwiched between two practically-naked guys."

"Didn't think of that, coupled with the fact that he's practically naked himself?" Nico asked Jason his dark eyes sparkling with humour as they made eye contact over Percy's sleeping face.

"Or that, yeah." Jason hummed.

They quieted down again just focusing on Percy. He'd warmed up considerably since they both had gotten in with him. Thalia had also found their stash of blankets in the living room and had piled them on top of them. Jason felt like he was in a sauna but Percy was only beginning to feel right.

Two hours later had seen their Sea Prince stop shivering so much and instead it was like he'd just been sleeping peacefully this whole time. That was when he and Nico had let the breath they didn't know they were holding out. Neither of them would stop worrying until Percy opened his eyes though.

Watching Percy's face in dark soon had Jason's eyes drooping. It was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He thought he'd just rest them for a while, just a little.

NICO

Jason had dropped off to sleep a while ago but Nico on the other hand was a bit of a night owl. It most likely had to do with being the son of Hades but this is one of those nights that he didn't mind at all. He got to watch Percy with his own two eyes.

It was very surreal to see Percy, the seemingly unchanged son of Poseidon. The boy hadn't aged a day and for this reason it worried him a little. He wanted so badly to know what had happened, where Percy had been but he knew that he would have to wait until Percy woke up.

Seeing Percy brought up a whole bunch of emotions. One was that he most certainly still liked the green-eyed teen but now he knew that Jason felt the same as well. Now he didn't feel like the scared little boy because he wasn't that boy anymore he was 20 now.

He has always been older than Percy (according to birthdates) but now he truly was, there was no way that Percy would look this way after 6 years. If anything Nico had expected Percy to return to the bruised and scared not looking pristine and as Jason said exactly like he'd looked the day he went missing.

The best thing Nico could do for him was to support and help Percy. There was no doubt in his mind that their Sea Prince would have trouble adjusting at first. If he truly hadn't aged then Percy would assume that no time had passed. In reality it was 6 years of lost time.

Nico's eyes settled on the now warm cheek of Percy. Still it was hard to believe and even Thalia had trouble believing it. She had popped in several times muttering how she just had to confirm it and each time she looked at Percy she teared up a little and left.

Oh gods, since this was all so sudden there wasn't really time to tell anyone. Everyone was going to have a hay day when they found out. First one to tell would be Annabeth, it was only right. But they would not tell anyone until Percy had woken up and fully understood where he was.

There was a sigh and then a groan and Jason was cracking his eye open. "He's still here." Jason said with sleepily slurred words and a goofy grin plastered on his tired face. "M'glad he's back, missed'im." With that Jason snuggled closer to Percy and went back to sleep before Nico could speak.

"I missed him too," Nico whispered anyway.

LOST TIME

He woke up a little too warm and Jason plastered to his chest. Oh, not Jason. All of yesterday's events came back to his not yet woken-up mind. He looked down to see a mess of dark hair, Percy.

Jason popped in. "Thalia made us breakfast, he was warm enough that I went and ate first. I tried waking you but you were sleeping like a rock."

"Long night for both of us," Nico said. Jason hummed in agreement.

They switched places and Nico went to get some nourishment. He was actually pretty hungry and supper kind of wasn't the most important matter last night. Thalia met him when he walked into the kitchen and she handed him a breakfast burrito and a hot cup of strong coffee.

"So I'm sure you'd like to hear how we found him." She motioned for them to sit at the table. "Already told Jason," they sat.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." Nico bit into his burrito.

"Obviously I was on my way here." She started. "Wolves smelt something and we'd give them something of Percy's to smell every couple of weeks regardless but we didn't think we'd every find him, you know?"

"Oh yeah," Nico replied taking a sip of coffee.

"They started barking their heads off and wouldn't shut up so I let'em run thinking they spotted a rabbit or something. I went along with them I just felt like I should be there, one of those weird feelings. They didn't go far they were digging in the snow, figured a rabbit had burrowed down to get away from them. When I saw how insistent they were digging and the big area they were uncovering I went to take a closer look and there he was, lips blue, Percy Jackson." She shook her head in disbelief. "I thought that maybe he was dead but he was freaking alive!" She was grinning like a maniac now.

Nico couldn't help it and he mirrored her crazy grin. He could hardly believe it himself but the fact that the freaking scent of Percy lingered in the air was enough proof as anything to confirm that their Sea Prince was here.

"It's a miracle that he's back I thought for sure he was gone. One thing still bothers me, why hasn't he changed?" Nico asked creasing his brow.

That was the most pressing question, if something had been to their precious Sea Prince then heads would roll and lightning would strike with e vengeance. No one messed with Percy and got away with it. Nico would make sure of that.

"As crazy as it sounds, really crazy, the wolves picked up the scent of Kronos. I called some Huntresses while you guys were all sleeping and they're still investigating so I'm sure we will get some news here in a bit." She said while tapping the side of her cup with short nails.

"Kronos," Nico muttered thinking about the stories he was told about how the Titan could manipulate time. "Do you think it might have to do with time?" Nico asked Thalia.

"I hadn't thought of that." She snorted, "like Occam's Razor."

"Occam's Razor?" He asked.

"Yeah, usually the simplest explanation is the answer. Kronos can manipulate time and Percy was flying over the old turf of the gods, which means the turf of the Titans. No doubt there are pockets of time here and there that someone can get trapped in." It did make sense.

"There have been a few cases of people being found that are convinced they are from a different era, even appearing in clothes correct to the era and having biological markers that would place their date of birth around when they said." Nico's had his own run-in with missing time and he didn't even realize it until after the fact. At least in Percy's case it's only been a few years and not decades.

"Exactly my thoughts." Thalia drank the last bit of coffee in her cup.

Nico finished his breakfast and he could tell that Thalia, like them, was tired. The girl was stubborn though and he knew she would wait until the other Huntresses called her back.

He got himself another breakfast burrito and ate it while standing at the kitchen counter. When Percy woke up he'd no doubt be confused and a little hungry. The best way to keep Nico occupied was cook and it looked like a nice and simple vegetable broth soup would be in order.

Thalia had disappeared in his and Jason's room and Nico had asked her to relay that he was cooking to Jason. Nico figured his boyfriend wouldn't mind some alone time with Percy.

LOST TIME

It was just passed two in the afternoon and the three of them had sat at the table to eat the leftovers from the previous night's supper. Percy was alright to sleep by himself since he had stopped shivering and was now warm to the touch.

Still there wasn't a word from the other Huntresses and it made Thalia a little prickly. She tried to keep from snapping but none of them liked not knowing. Now she was sitting across from Nico twitchy as hell and sighing every three seconds. Half-way though their lunch an Iris Message shimmered to life in Jason's office and Thalia hurried to hear what information her girls had gathered.

Neither he nor Jason sat long though they both had to go and check on Percy. There he was sleeping in the middle of their giant bed, snuggled up with their blankets and now he was even hugging on of Jason's pillows. Percy's face squashed into the fluffy object, there was even a little smile of the son of Poseidon's lips.

"Gods he's so fucking cute, was he always this cute?" Jason asked Nico, rolling his eyes fondly.

"Mm, I think so even more so now that we've grown up." They snorted.

"Yeah that might be it since we're so old." The blond teased.

"Like 20 and 22 are so very old. We're going to start having pills for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then for dessert it's the ones that make us loopy and forgetful." Nico joked and flashed Jason a toothy smile.

"I'll love you even you're saggy and can't remember where you are anymore." Jason kissed the corner of his mouth.

"Oh I could never forget you Jason Grace." Nico moved his head just slightly so they could kiss for real.

"Gross," Thalia had emerged silently from Jason's office with a grimace on her face.

"Shove it, you're just jealous Thals." Jason stuck his tongue out at her and Nico sucked it into his own mouth, running their tongues together while the Huntress made gagging noises.

"Get a fucking room." She almost looked like she was actually sick.

"Considering we own this apartment…" Nico smiled wickedly, "we've taken extra care to christen each room."

"Ugh you really do want to make me throw up." Thalia shook her head.

"Just know you'd be cleaning it up sis." Jason grinned at her, his scar standing out.

"Mhm," the daughter of Zeus rolled her eyes. "Now let's talk about what my girls found out so far."

Nico gently closed the door to their room to leave Percy in peace and they all sat in the living room. Thalia occupied the couch and lay across it forcing the two boyfriends to split up. It earned her some death glares from Nico.

"Give us all the details," Nico said. "Please," he added for good measure.

"Right." She sat up and folded her hands together. "So it was because of Kronos, at least the time slip is. The investigation with the spiders is at a moot point right now but there is a theory of the spiders being stowaways hiding in the Pegasus stable. Essentially when he fell it was right into a wormhole, most likely he wouldn't even know that time was passing rapidly while he was trapped in there and it would explain why we couldn't locate him. It just so happened that the end of the wormhole was near here." Thalia finished.

"Geez, at least he ended up where someone found him. What if he had fallen on rocks…" both of them grimaced and Nico's spine tingled from his over-active imagination.

"Just glad he didn't, really something like this could only happen to Percy freaking Jackson. Half of the things that Annabeth's told me he's survived I'm surprised he's as well adjusted as he is." Thalia shook her head.

"I know we said we would wait until he was awake and understood the situation but I really think that having Annabeth here would be better for him." Jason said pushing food around his plate. "You know?"

"Yeah… I know and the girl would probably murder us if we didn't contact her pronto. Annabeth blames herself too." Nico knew Jason was 100% right, she had to know sooner rather than later.

"Right, so who wants to call her?" Thalia said eating the rest of her lunch.

"I will and no matter how we bring it up she'll know it's not a joke." Jason said and got up putting his dishes in the sink.

"Ok, tell her I can get her if she wants to come right away." Nico offered and Jason nodded.

Initially Nico wanted to give Jason space to tell her in private but he found himself eavesdropping by the door Soon Jason had turned their ARM (Automatic Rainbow Machine) and threw in a drachma reciting Annabeth's current residence.

Piper picked up, she was in a rather cheerful mood. "Heya Jason! What's up?" She asked smiling.

"Hey Pipes, you look good… is Annabeth there?" She sensed his tone and her smile slipped.

"I'll get her, just a moment." Piper held up a finger and pattered away. Soon Annabeth's sleepy face appeared in the rainbow.

"Hey Jay, what'd you call for?" Annabeth asked, she seemed a little apprehensive.

"We've found Percy a-" He was cut off by her sharp intake of breath,

"Oh my gods, oh gods. It's finally happened… w-was he, is he?" She was nearly hysterical before Reyna and Piper both appeared in the rainbow.

"Let him finish baby." Reyna cooed and Annabeth slowly nodded her eyes already brimming with tears.

"He's alive but hasn't woken up yet, he just arrived last night with Thalia. I'll tell you in detail later but we all think you should be here when he wakes up." Jason said knowing she wouldn't even think twice

"Of course I'm on my way." She said quickly wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'll send Nico to get you alright?" He asked her and she bobbed her head.

LOST TIME

Nico stood with her as Annabeth gazed down at the boy curled up in their bed. She hadn't spoken a word yet and Nico totally understood he was still processing a lot of it. Especially the fact that Percy hadn't changed at all, it seemed anyway.

"He," she started. Carefully Annabeth reached out and placed her hand on Percy's cheek. "He's exactly how I remember, not a day older just like you said." They had explained to her while she packed a small overnight bag, Reyna and Piper would arrive tomorrow with everything else.

"I'll leave you two alone." Nico whispered afraid to break her attention and again she was crying. Silently Nico left and shut the door.

PERCY

It was so cold that it felt like he was on fire, almost. If not for the fact that Percy couldn't feel his toes or fingers anymore and only the gods knew where his nose was. Every time he tried to move his limbs wouldn't cooperate with him and just stayed there as if massive weights were tying him down and keeping him from getting warm.

Soon it gave way to darkness. The darkness then gave way to a small light that got bigger and bigger. He must have been dreaming but usually you aren't aware that you're dreaming.

Percy was standing and Annabeth was at his side. They were holding hands tightly afraid to let go of each other. If they did it meant that they would be exposed like a nerve just for a mean child to come and poke with a stick.

He knew as they glanced at each other that the hero and the hero always got the girl and Annabeth was his. She wasn't… they just used this as a safety blanket, to hide from everyone. If he let go then they would know and his carefully built up mask would shatter.

Percy craved the attention and not in a way that was pretentious but he craved it, to be liked and to be liked you had to do things. The son of Poseidon hated the idea of being hated. For so long he felt like a useless lump of flesh, his step-father brought a small child to the brink and all those teachers that were supposed to help they poked him even closer to the edge.

Then he'd become the hero of Camp Half Blood. The other campers liked him and admired him they didn't want to beat him up or shove him over the edge. Even Clarisse mellowed and become a great support during war.

But something had happened while he didn't have to think about keeping him and a whole lot of other people alive. He realized something, the fact that while he and Annabeth were somewhat together they just didn't click that way.

It was just before Hera took his memories and put him to sleep. He confided in Annabeth and in return she confided in him. They both had the same feelings, neither of them wanted to be hated and they both wanted so badly to please others but it was selfish in the end. Both of them were hurting each other without meaning to and that was one of the worst things Percy had realized.

He'd then allowed himself to admit something that he'd known something for a while now. That sometimes he wanted to be the one who needed to be saved, to wait for his prince. Annabeth had wanted to wait for her princess.

But, then, he woke up scared and alone, without any memories. He was being chased and without the Achilles curse he'd been dead within the day. He'd been so scared that the few moments he had sleep he'd dreamt about those strong arms crushing him until he couldn't breathe.

At Camp Jupiter it was frustrating especially when Nico had appeared before him. He just knew that he'd known him before and was almost sure by the fast beating in his chest and sweaty palms that they were a thing, a couple but the son of Hades denied any former relation. It had made him want to cry into his pillow and scream but a snide voice inside of his head reminded him that heroes did not cry like babies.

When Percy did regain his memories suddenly there was Jason, the Roman was like a whirlwind and it really took him by surprise because he never thought it would be a son of Jupiter. Not even in his wildest dreams did he think that he could think of two boys the way he did. It had scared him initially and he'd nearly eaten his heart when he heard what'd happened to Nico.

Even then they'd held hands tightly, he and Annabeth making sure their blanket was secure so no one could peek in. Especially not Nico or Jason, they would be disappointed in him. Then, when they'd gotten Nico back and he'd fell into Tartarus with Annabeth it made the both of them resolve to let go, to remove the barrier and face it head on. After all they had each other for support.

But, as everything else in his life, it never went according to plan and he'd fallen to what he assumed would be his death. Percy glanced at his dream self with his hand holding Annabeth's.

"It's time, don't you think? She asked.

"Yeah," they let go of each other's hands and everything was swallowed by darkness.

…

=D