Percy sighed as he stirred his coffee with his spoon and leaned his head on his hand. Ever since Annabeth got mad at him he felt guilty. Maybe he shouldn't be, because he only said his opinion, but he just couldn't help it.

He took a sip and stared outside. The weather was really sunny and the road was crowded by people who were going to their destinations making the road feeling alive. But the weather outside represented exactly the opposite how Percy felt.

Ever since Tartarus Percy felt like he couldn't live without Annabeth even for a second. It got better the past few months and he is starting to get more independent again, but nightmares of this horrible place still haunted him. Nobody could understand him. The only one who could was Annabeth since they survived in the pit together.

Sure, it was just a silly argument and Percy knew that Annabeth would never leave him for this. They went through way too much for this, but it kinda also bothered him how Annabeth suddenly turned cold just because he tried to point out the positive sides of Hera.

He sighed as he took another sip. Of course she had a reason to hate Hera. After all the goddess tried to make her life a hell first and then took her boyfriend away. He should hate her too, since she made him lose all his memories and all, but would Percy have known all his friends if she didn't? Sometimes Percy really hated his brain. It was illogical and unreasonable the whole time. Why did he defend Hera again? Before this trip he never really thought about all those facts...but...Maybe this trip make him realize that there are always two sides of a story. He only knew the one side and truth to be said it was not a good one, but the more Percy thought about he sometimes wondered if gods and goddesses might even have a more tough life than they had.

Percy wasn't fond of the gods, well not fond of most gods. They were mostly irritating, arrogant and simply just caused problems. And most of them didn't really showed any gratitude towards the demigods. But throughout all of his demigod life Percy found out they just had a different way of showing it. They cared, might it be just their own children, but they cared.

Percy sometimes wondered what if all the gods would be mortals or demigods just like them. Would they be less ignorant? Be more patient? Sometimes Percy wondered if being a god isn't far more a curse than being a bless looking how some gods turned out to be.

He sighed. His step-mother wasn't here now in the house which they rented for a day. She was outside for a shopping tour. She first wanted Percy to come along but he declined politely. Percy was surprised when she didn't pressured him to come and simply smiled at him sympathetically but I guess she understood the grief of having a fight with her lover even if Percy's fight was just silly compared to what they already went through.

He now looked at his coffee and sighed. He decided to check what the others were doing. Maybe that would turn up his mood a bit.

It didn't took him long to sent an Iris-Message. What took long was for Jason and Thalia to respond who were apparently discussing something. They were outside in the park and Hera could be nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had a shopping tour too? Who knows.

"Ahem." Percy coughed trying to get their attention. It was just then when the two siblings suddenly turned around first in surprise, then in happiness.

"Percy!" they cried glad to see their friend.

Percy waved at them smiling widely at their appearance. It has been way too long since he saw one of his friends.

"Hey guys, how is it hanging? I am surprised you guys survived so long with Hera." Percy teased them.

Thalia huffed at this. "Barely, the cow queen is being dramatic as usual. Threatening me to do this, to do that, blah, blah." she said annoyed.

Her brother chuckled at that but Percy saw that he flinched a bit at her answer. Maybe he was just hallucinating.

"Thalia is a bit dramatic, but altogether right." Jason stated while his sister pretended to be hurt at his statement. Percy laughed at this. Oh was it good to see his friends again.

"So what have you been up to?" Jason asked examining closely. It was like he knew what happened and was concerned.

Percy gave a weak smile. "Well, not so good...I..." he started, but Thalia interrupted him.

"Is Amphitrite treating you not alright? Do I need to kick her ass?" she asked furiously, which made Percy laugh. His cousin could be so ridiculously protective over him if she wanted. Thalia and Jason looked at him surprised as he laughed.

He shook his head. "No, it's actually Annabeth. Me and her kinda had a disagreement." he said sighing. It was kinda funny. Percy fought monsters, gods, titans and giants, he has lost so many friends and yet now he was grieving over a small disagreement with Annabeth. Welcome back to normal life.

"Annabeth?" Thalia asked surprised. Jason looked at Percy interestingly as if he already knew what was going on which kinda weirded him out.

"Yeah...um we kinda had an argument over Hera. She told me how evil she was and I...might have defended Hera?" Percy said innocently grinning at Thalia.

For a moment Thalia was lost for words. She probably never would have thought that Percy would ever defend Hera. If it wasn't quiet a serious moment Thalia's face would look pretty funny because she was miming was fish right now.

Percy gave a small smile. "You know, you shouldn't open your mouth so long. You will catch flies." he said, but Thalia glared at him.

"Why the hell would you defend Hera?!" she screamed at him. Right now her face turned red in anger.

Percy expected this and sighed. "Let me explain okay? I had a talk with Hera the night before. I realized that she wasn't as bad as we thought she was."

Thalia glared at him. "That doesn't justify the things she has done! You of all people should understand this!" she screeched.

Percy grimaced at that. He hated arguments. "I know, it doesn't, alright. And I know that things she has done were bad. But some of them were also to our benefits and as strange as it may sound, I am willing to forgive her. We are on a bonding trip Thalia, the task is to get to know each other. We can't do that if we still are blinded by our grudges." he said calmly.

Thalia gaped at him and wanted to reply something, when suddenly Jason spoke up.

"He is right you know? Hera might have done cruel things and it messed with our lives but I wouldn't have met my friends without her or even you anymore Thalia. Despite the things she has done, we can't just held our grudges forever. I don't know about you, but I want to use this bonding trip to actually get to know our step-mother as crazy as it sounds." he said softly. He looked normal on the outside but his eyes shined out a kind of longing.

Thalia looked at her brother in shock, but she didn't looked as surprised as when Percy said it. It looked like Jason already talked to Thalia about it. Suddenly it seemed all of Thalia's anger vanished and was replaced by disbelief.

"I...I..." she stuttered which really surprised Percy because Thalia rarely stuttered. "I need to go." she suddenly said running away from the two of them leaving Percy in total consternation. He turned around to see Jason also looking at his sister with his jaw dropping.

Percy blinked. Did that just really happened? "What...what just happened?" Percy asked Jason after he recovered from this scene.

Jason just shook his head. He looked really disturbed. "I don't know man. I am going to talk to her later." he said sighing. Percy could hear the worry in his voice.

"Hey, Thalia is tough, she will be okay." Percy said reassuring, but he was a bit unsure.

Jason simply gave a tired smile. "Yeah...so have you talked to Annabeth after the incident?" he asked him.

Percy shook his head. "No." he murmured. "She was really mad at me the last time we talked. I am really afraid I might lose her."

At this Jason scoffed. "Dude, you and Annabeth went through Tartarus together. If she is breaking up with you because of that, which won't happen, then she wasn't the right one for you anyway. Anyway, Annabeth isn't like that. I am sure she is simply surprised that you would take Hera's side after all." Jason told him.

Percy sighed. "Maybe, I am just afraid of certain things. I know I sound like crybaby right now."

Jason shook his head at that. "No it's okay. I mean it's your first fight after Tartarus right?" he asked and Percy flinched at the name of Tartarus.

"Sorry." Jason mumbled. "Anyway, it's normal to be afraid, but your relationship survived this long right?"

Percy nodded. What Jason said made sense and he knew that but why was his mind messing with him. "Yeah, it's just it has been our first big argument after we got together. We had a lot to deal from the outside but never from the inside, so I guess...I am pretty new to this."

Jason looked at him sceptically at that a bit. "New? Don't tell me you and Annabeth never argued in the 6 years you knew each other."

"We did!" Percy protested. He groaned. "It's, well, that is just not the same! Before that we had argument as friends! Right now it is as a couple, urgh." he said covering his head with his hands.

"I am just being stupid." Percy mumbled. Memories of Tartarus came back. People who he had forgotten or couldn't save: Zoe, Calypso, Silena, Beckendorf, Bob, Damaesen, Nico. The list was a long one and he didn't wanted Annabeth to be in this list of people he disappointed. Percy knew that he may seem as the goofy boy who could lead people into wars, but in the end he was almost broken. Tartarus broke him and made him insecure. He still had the power to go on of course but that was mainly only because of Annabeth. If he would lose her, he didn't knew what to do.

Jason's expression softened at this. "No you are not. Tell you what? I am kinda jealous of yours and Annabeth's relationship." he said.

Percy widened his eyes at that. "You are?" He never expected that.

Jason nodded. "Yeah, you and Annabeth were always that close from the beginning and your relationship could develop properly. You guys are pretty much inseperable. My relationship with Piper began rough. Our relationship first was created by the mist and as we slowly got closer I remembered my old camp...and Reyna." he said softly.

He said that word with almost regret. Percy knew that Jason didn't liked or loved Reyna in a romantic way but he must feel guilty.

"It didn't made things easier when Reyna appeared. I knew she had a crush on me, Piper did too, but I...I just didn't felt this way for her. I had talks with Piper about our relationship. She was afraid that everything we had was just a illusion created by the mist. She even told me that it didn't matter who I would choose, she just wanted me to be happy." he said softly.

Percy listened to the story closely. Jason never ever told him anything that emotional and private. There were things he was trusted with but not that privately. He normally would talk to Leo about this.

"I told her that I only loved her." he said going with his hands through his hair. "Our relationship was still rocky after that but it got better and better from day to day." he said smiling.

Percy was actually fascinated how similar his situation kinda sounded like his. Only it was not Reyna but with Rachel and back then he and Annabeth weren't together, so he guessed Jason had it worse.

"So, if we survived that, you will easily survive this small argument with Annabeth." Jason said with a small smile.

Percy smiled back. It was good that he could talk to someone about this. Annabeth was great and all but sometimes there were things he only could talk to his other friends. This was one of them.

"Thanks man, I really needed this." he said smiling more widely.

Jason chuckled at this. "No problem. Now talk to your Wise Girl and be a man." he teased him.

Percy pouted at this. "Hey, I am a very sexy man, thank you very much and only I can call her Wise Girl!"

Jason laughed. "Whatever you goofball. I am going to look for Thalia now. I will see you later." he said grinning.

Percy laughed at this. "Yeah, see you later bro." he said then he ended the Iris-Message. The image in front of became blurry until it was only him again in the room.

He smiled. He now knew what to do, but he first needed to call Hazel and Nico and check on them.

After a few seconds he got a image of Hazel who was drawing something.

"Hey!" Percy said grinning and Hazel shrieked at this throwing her colored pencil at her cousin. Percy scoffed at that.

"Oh come on! I am not that scary!" he said pretending to be hurt.

Hazel's expression lightened up as she saw her cousin. "Percy! How is it going?"

Percy smiled at her joy. Hazel was such a sweet girl, she didn't deserved to have a life as a demigod. "It could be better I guess. I had a small argument with Annabeth." he simply said.

At this Hazel frowned. "What? What happened?" she asked concerned.

Percy smiled a bit. He told her again what he told Jason and she seemed first to be shocked at this, but then she smiled at Percy sympathetically.

"It's okay Percy. You said what you thought was right. I am not a big fan of Hera, but I don't hate her." she said softly.

Percy grinned at her. "Thanks, Haze. I will talk to her in a few minutes and clear this out. Where is Nico by the way?" he asked looking for his cousin.

Hazel's expression suddenly turned sad at this. Percy now was worried. What happened?

"Nico is in his room. He is not in the mood to talk right now. You remember how he and Persephone had their argument?" she asked.

Percy nodded. He wanted to strangle the goddess back then. "Yeah, he is still mad about this?"

Hazel nodded. "You know Nico and you can't blame him. What Persephone said was really inappropriate."

Percy frowned. Nico was like a little brother to him and he hated to see him hurt. "Has Persephone apologized to him?"

At this Hazel scoffed and he was surprised. "She actually first tried to justify herself. Later she kinda did apologize to me, but I don't know if she apologized to Nico. If she didn't I will make her myself." she growled which shocked Percy. It took a lot to anger Hazel, but hurting her brother was a no-go.

Percy simply nodded grimly at this playing a bit with his fingers. Suddenly he heard a boom from the window. He turned around to see the outside getting bombarded by rain. Lightning could be seen from far and the wind was blowing through the branches and leaves of the trees. Percy blinked. How did the weather turned bad that quickly.

He turned around to Hazel who looked at Percy curiously. "What happened?"

Percy pointed to his right side. "Just a storm coming up. It could come to you guys." he said knowing that they were only a few hours from him away.

Hazel grimaced at this. "That's bad." she simply said and Percy had to laugh at this.

"My father is the god of water and storms, I think I can handle that bit." he said winking. Hazel had to laugh at this putting her hand in front of her mouth. Percy smiled as Hazel laughed. It was good to see his friends be happy. He looked at the clock. Already 5pm.

"I should probably call Annabeth right now." Percy informed Hazel who was still giggling a bit. "Wish me luck."

Hazel laughed at this. "Oh you will need it. Bye Percy!" she said as she went down to collect her pencil.

Her words made Percy laugh as he ended the Iris-Message. It was good to check how his cousins were. Even through he was worried about Nico and Thalia he was glad to have talked to them. He really needed this.

He took a deep breath before he started the Iris-Message. "Show me Annabeth Chase." he said clearly.

He waited, one second, two seconds, three seconds. The image was getting clearer and clearer every second. Raindrops which were falling against the window glasses were like the noise of a ticking clock which Percy waited.

Then finally he got to see Annabeth. She was reading a book under a tree. He had to laugh because that was so typically for her,

"Did I already got exchanged by a book?" he asked teasingly as Annabeth suddenly dropped the book and stared at Percy in surprise.

"Percy." she whispered.

Percy nodded and smiled. She looked as beautiful as always and it kinda looked really cute when she was confused or surprised.

He took a deep breath and he then said those four fateful words.

"We need to talk."

Yaaaaaas, finally! The chapter is done! Wooooo! Thank you guys soooo much for your reviews. 69, that's like crazy! Man, I really hope you liked this chapter. I kind of wanted to let the children of the gods bond between each other too. I find their relationship to each other just really special and wanted you guys to show how they really care about each other. I left you a cliffhanger here what? I am evil, muhahahahaha! But joke's beside, I will write the Percy and Annabeth talk, but now in this chapter. I kinda wanted to hold the suspend. And for all who were disappointed of that Amphitrite was missing here, don't worry! She will play a huge part later in my story! Beware guys, the next chapter is going to be intense because I will add some drama! For that I need to do some research, but nevertheless drama will be there! So be prepared :D So please leave a review so I can improve this story. I seriously love you guys! Till the next time (where I will toy with your feels :D Muhahahahaha).