Percy Jackson sat on the ground alone by the stream in the woods of camp half-blood. He stared into the water sadly not thinking about the water but about what had happened to him. He sighed as he decided that he couldn't take the pain any longer and that although the camp had once been a home for him it had started to feel more like a prison and Percy felt more like some kind of criminal.

You are probably wondering what happened, well his story was rather simple, while he had been at camp Jupiter thanks to Hera Annabeth had moved on deciding that she no longer loved Percy and cheated on him with a son of Hermes. As anyone with a brain would expect Percy was heartbroken when he learned of her betrayal and his pain was even worse than what an average demigod or mortal would feel due to his fatal flaw of personal loyalty.

During their reunion and the quest that followed Annabeth had just pretended that she still loved him when in reality she had put him behind her a couple months before. Even when they fell into Tartarus she had kept up her charade, sure she hadn't wanted him to die down there if nothing else she needed his help to survive the pit and then the rest of the quest and the battle that would follow.

When the news that they were no longer together came out Annabeth made everyone think that Percy had been the one that cheated. She had fooled basically all the campers and now Percy hadn't been kicked out but he was ignored and shunned as if he was carrying a contagious disease Percy couldn't understand why everyone had believed her after all, his fatal flaw was loyalty for Poseidon's sake.

That meant he would never deliberately do anything to hurt someone he cared about. And even if it wasn't his mother had raised him to be a better man than that. He would never use someone until he got tired of them and then cast them aside as if he didn't give a dam about them. As he stared into the clear blue water of the stream he came to a decision, he wouldn't deal with the other campers any longer he was going to leave camp and do his best to survive on his own.

He knew that wouldn't be easy since monsters would be able to find him easily after he left but he didn't want to stay at camp surrounded by constant reminders of what was no longer his. Percy sighed before returning to his cabin to pack his things before he left a note to Chiron on his bed, walked out of the cabin door with most of his things and headed toward half-blood hill. As he reached the top he patted Peleus on the head, said a quick goodbye and walked past the borders of the camp that he had considered a second home for so many years.

-time skip-

Percy had been out on his own for not even a day and he had already run into quite a few monsters. Percy really did care for his dad, but sometimes being his son seemed like a curse. He would just kill one group of monsters and then another group would find him not long after. He kind of envied his cousin for his ability to conceal himself in the shadows but there was nothing he could do about it, he had made the decision to leave camp and he didn't want to go back.

He sat by the fire he had lit as what had happened to him flooded back into his mind. He'd tried not to think about it and tried to push away the pain but he just couldn't, it would always return leaving him in such anguish that few people could ever relate to his agony. He was sure that this pain was worse than anything that could be inflicted by a weapon. Since when thoughts of her flooded his mind he was usually left incapacitated too distracted by the pain and sorrow that he could barely defend himself.

For the moment, Percy was at Montauk beach. He had always loved going there with his mother, and although he couldn't get into the cabin that they would usually stay in it was kind of comforting to just be there, a place he had always felt at home near his father's domain. Before long though, it became clear that Percy's peace would only be temporary.

As he was just considering turning in for the night he heard a loud roar and sighed. Another monster had found him, and based on the sound of that roar he guessed it was a pretty powerful one. Sure, enough he was faced with a monster that he honestly wasn't sure if he would be able to defeat. The last time he had faced it he had the help of four others, this time though he was on his own and he really didn't know if he would be able to win this fight.

Before him stood the Nemean Lion. The only real advantage he had was that he was in his element near the sea. Honestly, though Percy wasn't sure how much help that would be against the large metal wildcat. He thought hard trying to come up with a plan to defeat it. After he came up with one he yelled at the monster making sure that he had its attention. He then ran straight for the sea the Nemean lion following behind him.

Percy was surprised by how far it was willing to follow him. It followed him until it was up to its ankles in the water. Percy rose from the water standing on a wave, the monster, less eager to come after him now, stayed where it was, probably hoping that he would come toward it so it wouldn't have to go any further. Percy granted its wish, but not in the way the monster was probably hoping for. He quite literally rode his wave straight toward the metal monster. Due to the height of the wave, Percy was easily able to strike at the monster's face with riptide.

Percy stabbed the oversized cat ln the mouth before removing his sword as the monster disappeared leaving only it's pelt behind. He let his wave fade back into the sea before walking over to the pelt and picking it up. As much as the pelt would be useful considering that it could protect him from practically anything he didn't really want to keep it. It reminded him of Zoe Nightshade, and that jerk Heracles. Other than riptide he didn't want to carry something that Heracles had once carried.

Percy hated how Heracles had treated Zoe so he didn't want to have anything to do with him, Riptide being an exception of course. If he wasn't going to keep it, then what was he going to do with it? Well, Percy hadn't decided yet, after all, he wasn't even sure what he was going to do now that he was out on his own. He couldn't stay with his mother, he would just be putting her in danger and he just couldn't risk her or Paul getting hurt.

So, Percy decided that since he wasn't going to use it he decided to sacrifice the pelt to one of the gods. He could sacrifice it to his dad in hopes of more help in the future, but something made him choose someone else, someone he could relate to right now. Honestly, Percy could sympathize with Hera right now, she'd had to live with Zeus's constant cheating for centuries.

He knew that she had taken her anger out on the women he had cheated with more than once, and sometimes taken it out on the children that were born due to his cheating. Other than that, though Percy couldn't understand why she had stayed with Zeus. He supposed that it was at least partially due to the fact that the goddess of marriage getting a divorce wouldn't exactly look good. For all, he knew she might still have some feelings for Zeus, although it wasn't really any of his business he couldn't help but wonder how she could live with the pain.