A/N: So this is my first story for PJO, but i've had the idea bottled up for a while. It's a series of oneshot songfics that follow a story line. I got the idea based off a playlist I created. It takes place between BotL and the Last Olympian. Sorry if it's a bit OC, but I just love an angsty Percy. I'm also a major Percabeth shipper, so that's what this fic is pretty much wrapped around. (Sorry to anyone who likes Rachel, but gah! I can't stand her!) The rating is for some mild language and mature themes.

Chapter 1: Watch the Sky, by Something Corporate (A/N: I suggest listening to the songs. They're all really good and tie in really well to the story)

I'm lost at sea, the radio is jamming but they won't find me

I swear it's for the best, and then your frequency,

Is pulling me in closer 'til I'm home.

Percy rubs his eyes. He's home, but it doesn't feel like home. It shouldn't be this hard, to relax, to unwind, to feel…normal. He's back from camp, and he'll be going back to school, taking driver's ed, and having to act like a regular teenager again, especially with his mom's new fiancé.

But it seemed harder than ever, to get back into the rhythm of normal, non-halfblood life. And all he can think about is the summer's struggles, about how he just turned fifteen and suddenly the world feels like a ticking time-bomb, about Annabeth leaving him on half-blood hill, her back turned, barely saying goodbye, and the future closing in on him like a hungry parasite…

He rolls over on his bed and tries to sleep. The digital clock reads 2:41, but despite the exhaustion seeping through his limbs, he stays awake.

I've been up for days, I finally lost my mind and then I lost my way,

I'm blistered but I'm better and I'm home

And now, not for the first time, his thoughts stray to Calypso.

Sometimes, sometimes it feels like he's made the biggest mistake of his life. He's never admitted that to anyone, and he won't, because they would think him a coward for wanting to run away. But you can't change the past, and Percy knows this better than anyone. All he can do is wonder what would have happened if he'd picked what was easy (for once) over what was right. Sometimes he wishes he could just be the coward.

Surrendering, he climbs out of bed. He hasn't slept much at all, lately, so why bother trying now? Quietly, he climbs out of his window and hoists himself up onto the fire escape staircase.

He's so tired of always having to be the hero, even though he knows it's who he is. He swings his legs off the platform, above the street four stories down, and looks up at the stars. In the city they're so dim and far away, unlike on Calypso's island.

In the end, there's nothing more to do than to live the life he'd been given. It was all anyone could do. And he's going to fight—it's what he'd do, prophecy or not. But he would prefer not. He doesn't have a choice in who he it—he's been screwed over since the day Poseidon met his mother on the beach. But he feels so paralyzed thinking about the future, so trapped inside his own head. Sometimes all he can do is sit still, wishing time would stop moving.

He hates thinking about the future, but he also can't stand the past. He hates regretting.

I will crawl, there's thing that are worth giving up, I know,

But I won't let this get me—I will fight

You live the life you're given with the storms outside

Somedays all I do is watch the sky.

A/N: Please review! I'd love you forever and ever if you did. 3 There will be more Percabeth in future chapters. (those two are so cute!)

--JR