A Valhalla Disaster

I'm Alive!

Disclaimer - All rights go to Rick Riordan; I own nothing but the plot.

Oh, and a few OC's. But that's it.

Sorry for not updating, when I originally planned to, like, some time ago. I'm not even going to bother with excuses - school, the play I'm in, homework - since I don't actually have any. I just didn't know how to continue this story, but, no, I'm not giving up on it. I just got a small writers block for a little while. But anyways, I'm going to get onto the story now, because you probably don't like listening to me rant - if you can even call this a rant. I'm writing this on the way home from Perth in the car. I'd also like to thank the people who reviewed this story, favourited, or followed it. Thanks. I really appreciate the reviews, they motivate me to write more. Sometimes they make me feel guilty because there's people out there waiting for the next chapter, and I'm not updating or writing write then and I just feel like I just gotta write. But that motivates me! I really appreciate the encouragement.

Read and review!

Previously -

Somewhere off to my right, there's a scream.

It seems familiar, yet foreign and distant. They sound shocked, not scared, perhaps surprised or confused. I don't have the time to ponder on this before my legs tremble and I stumble forward, quickly deciding that whatever Odin had done to send us back was not good for me. I struggle to keep my insides inside, instead of outside and on the dusty floor. I lean against the bunk in cabin three, trying to regain my bearings and figure exactly what was happening. My head spins, my stomach churning. A few minutes pass, and my stomach settles, my vision going to normal again. I turn my head to see who had released the scream - or better yet, who had decided they could come into my cabin.

Nico.

Dressed in his general black clothes, aviators jacket, Stygian sword attached to his studded belt, and boots, Nico Di Angelo stood, quite shocked, next to the water fountain at the end of my bed. His pale skin stands out against the black of his clothes. He's not smiling, but this doesn't bother me, seeing as the teen boy hardly smiled anymore.

"Hi." I say.

He doesn't speak, confusion showing in his generally blank face.

"Hi." I repeat.

"I knew it." The words are muttered, so softly I nearly didn't catch them being spoken.

I frown. "Knew what?"

"You weren't dead." Nico says, louder this time. "I felt your life force leave, but you didn't seem . . . Completely dead. I went down to the underworld, but Father said you weren't there. I tried summoning your spirit, but that didn't work either. You weren't dead, I knew, but I didn't tell anyone - it was no use getting their hopes up." Nico moves his hands a bit as he talks. "Where were you?"

I know I should tell him. Zeus won't incinerate me, will he? I mean, the Norse know about the Greeks and Romans now, so it won't hurt, will it? And Nico knew about the Romans before us, so it could be possible he knows about the other mythologies as well.

"I - well -"

Nico raises one dark eyebrow.

I'm just gonna tell him. Zeus, don't kill me.

"Valhalla." I blurt. "Hall of the honoured dead."

"Hall of the honoured dead? The fuck is that?"

"It's Norse, Nico. The Norse gods are still out there as well. Same story as the Romans. The gods didn't want us to cross paths, didn't want us to know about each other. But, really, I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, if there's Greek, Roman, and Egyptian, already, why not Norse? Why not Aztec?"

"Right." Nico mutters. "Of course. Since you're you, and you have the worst luck out of everyone, of course you get chosen for a Norse afterlife."

"Hey!" I'm indignant. Surely I don't have the worst luck. It is pretty bad, sure, but surely not the worst. "It wasn't only me! Annabeth, Piper, and Jason got chosen too!"

"Yeah, but they were with you."

I roll my eyes.

"Aztec?"

"They're probably out there, too, since there's so many already."

This time, it's Nico rolling his eyes, purely irritated. "I'm not even going to ask." He pauses. "And go take a shower, too. You smell weird."

"Okay, Mum." I say sarcastically. Nico punches me as I realise, Mum. She'd be devastated. She would be thinking I was dead, and probably crying right now.

"I've got to see my Mum."

"Oh, gods." Nico says, horrified. "Go! She's been devastated."

I start towards the door, and then halt. I should probably let the rest of camp know I'm alive, too. I think. But that'd take too long. See Mum first. But . . .

"Can you take me there?" I turn to Nico. "Shadow travel?"

"Yeah." He holds out his arm and I take it after a moment's hesitation.

A tug in my gut, and I close my eyes as I feel wind whip past me at altering speeds. I feel myself hit solid ground and stagger. So many times doing that . . . And I still can't get the landing right. My sea green eyes, stormy at the moment, flutter open. We're in front of my apartment building.

"I'll go." Nico tells me. "Call for Mrs. O'Leary when you want to go back." Nico's gone with a sharp turn of his heel.

I stand, brushing dust and dirt from the slight fall from my pants, and raise my hand to knock. I hesitate, and then rap my knuckles against the door three times. A few seconds pass. No reply.

"It's really not a good time." I hear Paul's voice say from the other side as the door begins to open. "My step-son," He pulls open the door fully. "He-" Paul stops short. His hair is filthy and his pants dirty. His white shirt is rumpled and there's tear tracks on his cheeks.

"Percy?" He asks, trying to sound monotone, with no success.

"Paul? Wh-what did they want?" My Mother's broken voice floats through the door.

"It's fine." Paul calls back.

"Percy?" He whispers, his voice hoarse.

"Yeah." I'm pretty sure I'm about to cry, and my voice cracks. "Yeah. It's me."

"Sally!" Paul's voice shakes.

"Come in." I can tell but he way he's blinking that he's trying not to cry.

I swallow the lump in my throat and blink back my tears, following my step-dad down the hallway to the lounge room. My breath hitches in my throat.

My Mother sits on the couch, clutching a picture of her, Paul, and I, down at Montauk, a few weeks after the Giant War. We're all laughing in the picture, pure bliss upon our faces. We'd gotten Annabeth to take the photo, and then we'd taken one with Annabeth. She's crying, softly, but loud enough to hear her.

"Mum." I whisper softly, so no one can hear. "I'm so sorry."

Paul approaches her, putting one hand up for me to wait. He kneels before her.

"Sally. He's alive."

"What?"

"He's alive, Sally. Your Son's alive."

Sally bolts upright. "Where?!" She cries, tears slipping down her cheeks.

I walk over, the first tear sliding from my eye. "Mum."

"Percy? My baby boy? Is it really you?"

"Yes, Mum. It's really me."

As my Mother throws her arms around me and pulls me to her chest, I start to cry.

"Mum - can't - breathe!"

She softens her hold. "Oh, my baby boy. I thought you were gone." Her tears wet my shirt, mixing with my own salty tears. "Gods, Percy." She holds out one arm to Paul, inviting him in, not once releasing her hold on me, like I'd disappear if she did. Paul hugs me, tears escaping his intelligent eyes.

"Percy . . ." I can't tell who says it, but at the moment, I just don't care. Tears overflow my eyes, spilling out and falling to the ground, wetting my Mum's pale shirt. The hold on each other weakens and I fall back to the couch.

Mum reaches forward and takes my blistered hand. "What happened, Percy?"

"I - well - we were out at Boston - Me, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason-"

"Annabeth, Piper, Jason and I." Paul interrupts.

I stare at him. Seriously?

He catches our looks and raises his hands in mock surrender. "Hey! I'm English teacher. What'd you expect?"

I roll my eyes. "Anyway - we were ambushed, and then-" I spill the entire story. I say how we the Drakon appeared and attacked, state how we died. I tell them how I woke up in Valhalla, the Norse Afterlife. I explain how the Norse are still out there, too. I tell her about the dinner, the claimings, and what was called Valkyrie Vision. I tell her about Odin, about being sent back to the cabins in Camp Half Blood at my request. She gasps in various places, asks questions when inspiration spikes, and hardly interrupted, Paul copying her.

"Woah." Paul comments.

"Yeah," I agree.

An alarm goes off in kitchen loudly, ringing throughout the clean room. Mum smiles, standing from the couch.

"I made blue cookies, Percy. I swear, your timing . . . You could smell blue cookies from twenty kilometres away." She chuckles as I bolt upright.

"Cookies!"

Paul and Sally both laugh at my childish antics as I run to the kitchen, the beautiful smell of freshly baked cookies wafting to my nose. I breathe in deeply when Mum flips open the oven and slides out the tray, setting my babies upon the bench and piling them into a bowl. Seconds pass in tense waiting. Mum places them in the table. I take one, hot to my touch.

"My baby . . ." I whisper to the cookie. "You have changed my life so much." I bite the blue cookie, sighing as the chocolate chips melt in my watering mouth, the beautiful taste spreading luxuriously through my mouth. I faintly hear my Mum and Paul laugh at me. I shove a few in my pockets and stand from the table.

"I have to go . . ." I mutter to them. "Camp still doesn't know I'm alive."

"Okay." Mum says. "Call in soon, will you?"

"Yeah," I answer. "I will."

She moves closer to me, giving me a last hug and pressing a soft kiss to my forehead. "Stay safe, Percy . . ."

"I'll try." I promise. "I'll try. No guarantees. I love you."

I feel her smile. "Love you, Percy."

I turn to Paul and go to shake his hand - well, until he pulls me into a hug, that is.

"Thank you, Perce." He whispers. He doesn't elaborate, but I get his meaning.

Thank you for coming back and not leaving me with a broken woman, he means to say. Thank you for not dying. For not breaking your mother with your death. Thank you.

He doesn't say it, but I understand.

"Take care of her, Paul. Please." My voice is soft, so only Paul can hear.

"I will."

He pulls away and I got to for the door before turning around once more.

"Bye, Mum, Paul. Love you."

They smile.

I turn for the door and push it open. It doesn't work. I try again, pressing down on the door handle.

Ah. I realise. It's locked. That'd explain it. Dammit.

"It's locked." I complain, pressing in the lock button on the door instead of going for the key. It clicks. Good. This time, I actually manage to push it open. Surprising, isn't it?

I step outside into the cold breeze of Autumn.

"See ya!" I yell from just past the doorway. I close the door quietly.

Well. That went nicely. No monster attacks or anything. Brilliant.

I raise my hand to my lips and whistle for Mrs. O'Leary, plopping down on the pavement. A few minutes pass in silence, and then a large hellhound comes up to me, licking my face enthusiastically and barking loudly, tail swishing.

"Girl!" I laugh. "Leave my bathing to the water, will you?"

She barks.

I take a seat on her strong back, leaning forward and whispering into her ear,

"Camp Half Blood."

She barks again, in what I hope is understanding.

We descend into the shadows.

Okay, I had no idea how to end that. I feel like this chapter was horrible. And also, I have no idea how apartments work, since I've never been in one. Is there pavement or veranda if it's not the bottom floor? How could there be? How small are they? Literally, I have no idea. And if you don't use some of those words - Kilometres, Autumn - sorry, but I'm Australian, and I'll be using my language for these stories. Though I won't make it confusing. No. It'll still make sense to people who aren't Australian. Anyways, sorry about any mistakes you might have picked up on, didn't mean to. Please, review! No flames, please. Constructive criticism welcomed. All flames will be used to roast S'mores. Next chapter will be the camp finding out they're alive, and then I might do another chapter of . . . Something. This should have four chapters by the time it's finished. Anyways, review, please! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up within a week, max.

~Aegis12.