There was a certain unnerving feeling in Nico's gut as he watched the scenery pass by from the back of Thalia's car. The familiar neighborhood staring back at him as reminders of his childhood were forced into his mind. It was weird to think that Percy lived so close to his childhood home, and it only got weirder when they parked in front of it.

  "Are you sure this is Percy's apartment?" He asked, knowing full well that it couldn't be. He'd been to his father's apartment many times as a child, but there were never any other children living nearby. Sure, he could've moved in that area after Nico had found a home at camp, but that thought didn't cross his mind.

  "It's the one next door," Annabeth replied as she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the passenger seat. Jason had been driving, though he stayed and waited for Annabeth to close the door.

  Jason turned and looked at Nico, "I'm not sure this is the best idea."

  Nico nodded, "You think?"

  "Percy doesn't talk about his family much, but I don't have a good feeling about it now that we're here."

  Nico didn't respond, simply exiting the vehicle and avoiding a gaze through his father's windows. Annabeth was standing in front of the apartment, hesitance taking control of her. She couldn't do it, for some reason she just couldn't. Nico was tempted just to knock for her, but she was in the way. He also didn't really care, he only tagged along because he wanted to be the voice of reason for the two older teens.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," A deep voice spoke, a voice Nico knew too well. "Gabe was yelling a few minutes ago, probably arguing about his debt or something."

  Nico turned around and stared into the eyes of his father, he carried a bag of groceries.

  "Do you know if Percy Jackson is home?" Annabeth asked immediately, not quite noticing the family resemblance. "He's my friend, I was getting worried about him..."

  "Not that I know of," Hades sighed and stared at the three shivering teens. "Come inside, I can tell you where he probably is."

  Nico decided not to say anything, part of him hoped that maybe his father just didn't recognize him. He'd changed a lot over the years, Bianca's death changed him more than he'd care to admit.

  Before Nico knew it, they all sat around in the living room of his father, the soft brown couches almost seeming too relaxing.

  "Do you know Percy?" Jason asked, which was probably a better question to ask before entering the house of a stranger.

  Hades nodded and glanced at Nico, a small wink sent his way before focusing back on the question, "Yeah, he stops by every now and again. He was here earlier but you just missed him, said he was going downtown or something."

  "What's he doing downtown?" Nico asked, he remembered not being allowed to go there as a kid. His father always said it was for the better, that it was too dangerous for anyone to be downtown unless they knew what they were doing.

  Hades didn't answer, just took a sip of coffee. He realized all three teens remained locked on his gaze and sighed, "You're making me feel like I'm being interviewed by crime detectives. Look, I thought I'd offer Nico's friends some help, but I don't keep track of where Percy is. He stops by to say hi sometimes, that's the only time where I know his location and why he's there."

  "Wait," Jason paused and glanced at Nico, "What about Nico?"

  Hades raised a brow, "He's my kid?"

  Nico rolled his eyes and looked away, "That's not important."

  "Ouch," Hades mumbled, looking away. "Tough kid, I'll tell ya that."

  "Me or Percy?" Nico glanced at him, not quite sure he missed his father's jumbled conversations.

  "Well, both of you are, but I was talking about you..."

  Nico was stubborn, it was a fact he knew greatly of. He didn't care for that trait of his, but he couldn't just disobey himself and stop being stubborn. It'd make him feel like he were losing.

  "We're going downtown then," Nico stood up and sighed.

  "No-"

  "Well, we've gotta find him somehow." Nico sighed, "There's something he knows that I need to ask about."

  "Wait, what? Nico what're-" Annabeth began, but Nico walked towards the door before she could finish.

  "Stay here and I guarantee he'll be back tonight."

"Oh for sure, you want three teenagers to stay in your tiny little apartment?" Nico scoffed, releasing his hand from the doorknob and turning towards his father. "Right, cause that's totally something you'd do."

—-

"Nico, what's up with you? He's your father and you're-"

"Annabeth, just give it a rest," Jason began, sitting down on Nico's old bed. "He has his reasons."

Annabeth furrowed her brows at that, she sat on the floor with her back against the bed. "Yeah, like Percy has his reasons for being downtown at this time. Sure, let's just stop questioning everything and start blindly allowing everything to happen."

"Whatever, let's just wait for Percy so we can get out of here." Annabeth and Jason continued to stare at him, uncertain looks in their eyes. Nico groaned, "I think whoever killed Charles is the one who framed Percy, okay? That's why I wanted to see him as soon as possible. If he knows who-"

"If he was framed," Jason reminded him, though Nico didn't even entertain the idea of that. He knew Percy was framed. He could tell lies from truth, he could tell when something wasn't right. He could tell that Percy was innocent.

"Your dad said that Percy comes in through the fire escape, so we'll know when he comes in. Until then, we should talk about what's happened." Annabeth was always a mediator, always trying to make the best of things. She was a smart girl, Nico would give her that. But she often let her emotions take over her decisions.

"What's there to talk about? The only reason you wanted to come here was to talk to Percy and show him that you don't associate him with seeing Beckendorf all dead in the woods," Jason began, "Who knows who did it if it wasn't Percy."

"What's your problem? Two days ago you were eager to see Percy and were on his side, what changed?"

"I heard the police talking about him, his past." Jason sighed, "I'm just saying that there's a good chance that he's not the person he portrays himself to be."

  "A past doesn't define you," Nico hissed, "You of all people should know."

  "Don't bring Thalia into This!" Jason stood up and left the room, Nico was unsure of where he was going. Maybe the car, but he couldn't be too sure. The apartment was silent after that, no noise to fill their ears.

   Not until the window opened and Percy Jackson dropped down onto the carpet. The older teen stood up and brushed off his shirt, which held cobwebs on it. He looked up and widened his eyes at the sight of Nico.

  "Uhh, you aren't supposed to be here?" He was slightly confused by his own words.

  "Actually, I am. This is my father's apartment, though I doubt he's told you about me."

  "Oh, that makes sense. He talks about you and Hazel all the time, just never gave names." Percy smiled to himself and closed the window, then sitting down on the bed and shrugging, "I'm noticing the family resemblance."

  "Shut up, I look nothing like him!" Nico was rather defensive at times, though he had his reasons.

  Percy sighed, "What're you guys doing here anyways? Last I checked, you can't leave campus without a parent or someone over the age of 18 with a car. I'm not seeing Thalia, so what'd you do?"

  "We pulled some strings with Mr. Chiron, and Thalia let us borrow her car since she's staying at the school for break." Annabeth smiled a bit, though it didn't come close to making any wrinkles on her face, nor those lines reaching her eyes. "Jason came too, but he's having a moment."

  Percy stared out the doorway and nodded, "So you came here for me?"

  "Kinda," Annabeth mumbled, "I wanted to see you, Nico wanted to ask you something, and Jason wanted to make sure none of us got hurt."

  "Well, let's get that taken care of before it's too late," Percy looked at Nico, "What do you wanna know?"

  Nico held in a breath, the question coming so easily in his mind. It was hard to say, which was strange. It was a serious question about a crime, so why was it so hard for Nico to ask?

  "I don't got all day, kiddo."

  Nico set aside his rage for being called such a dumb nickname, he then spoke, "Do you know who framed you?"

  Percy stared at Nico for a moment and nodded, then his eyes looking at Annabeth. It wasn't Annabeth who framed him, but Nico had a feeling it was someone close to her. Someone that everyone loved.

  "No, are you sure?"

  Percy's eyes widened, probably realizing the direction his eyes looked at. He quickly looked at the floor and ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, it's him. I doesn't make sense either, I barely know the guy..."

  "Sorry— I'm lost here," Annabeth interjected, "Who are we talking about?"

Percy stared at Annabeth, his eyes concentrating on something. And then, almost as if he'd found the last puzzle piece, he sat up and threw a hand over his mouth. "You and Luke broke up, right?"

Annabeth furrowed her brows, looking more confused than before. "Yeah, but how would you know-" now was her turn to put the pieces together. "No, no Luke wouldn't-"

"He was there in the office with me when Mr. D informed me that a knife was found in the bag, told me Luke saw it. I confronted him afterwards and he said something, said you were flirting with me, that you liked me somehow."

Annabeth frowned, "I broke up with Luke the day we went to the abandoned school, that's why I was so down that day. He'd been acting so different and I was tired of it, but he wouldn't kill-"

"We aren't saying he 100% killed Charles, we're just saying that it's a possibility." Nico sighed, "There's gotta be some reason he'd want Percy to be suspended."

  It was silent for a moment, the trio trying to process the information. Percy was the one to break the silence, "I knew Luke before meeting him here."

  The air felt like it was growing thicker, like it was suffocating.

  "What?"

  "I uh- I went to Juvy for a bit. Met him there, he was... he was odd. He had power there, but it never looked like it because he only stayed by two other guys." Percy sighed, "I ended up befriending him. He taught me the ways of being there, tried to help me learn self-defense. Then one day he was just gone."

  "Why didn't you tell us you knew him?" Annabeth asked, he'd voice now frail and quiet.

  "I didn't recognize him at first, we were kids. I didn't realize it until I saw him in the office that day, I saw his scar. Can't believe I missed it."

"What was he in Juvy for?" Nico asked, hoping the reason would give him more information.

"Pretty sure he was just arrested for stealing constantly, but I also heard something about him stealing a venomous scorpion from a zoo." Percy sighed and looked over at the doorway, Jason had been standing there.

"Hey," He began.

Percy only stared at him, eyes dull and void of any emotion.

"Sorry, I've been a jerk lately." Jason sat down against the door and closed it, "But what the hell is your past?"

Percy chuckled, "It's whatever I needed it to be to survive. My family doesn't come from any wealth, my mother had to drop out of school to help her dying uncle. My father passed away and left nothing to me or my mother, his wife had forged the will to inherit everything for her and her kids. My mother married a douche who made good money, but turns out it all came from drug dealing. I became his pawn and did the selling for him, because no one would suspect a kid, right? But they did, so I went to juvy and when I got out, I went downhill."

"Is that when you went missing?" Annabeth asked, causing everyone to turn towards her.

Percy stared at her and sighed, "I ran away, saved as much money as I could without suspicion and made it all the way to California. Unfortunately I didn't think it through enough, I was twelve. No house, no car, no family. I was living in the streets until someone recognized my face from the news reports, then was sent back home and everything only got worse."

Annabeth stared at him, "Why wouldn't Grover tell me that story? You're hiding parts of it, aren't you?"

"Why were you asking Grover?" Percy frowned, eyes darting between everyone. He eventually sighed after giving up, "Grover was my best friend at the time, something happened before I got arrested, I ended up getting expelled from the school we went to together and my step-father doubled down on what he needed me to do. I got caught, went to juvy, then ran away. The reason he didn't say anything is because he doesn't know anything, I broke contact with him so he wouldn't have to know."

"Why'd you get expelled?"

Nico was starting to realize that too many personal questions were being asked and Percy was in a mental state that'd make him share the answers. Percy was angry, stuck in the past. Nico was almost worried about what they'd find out.

"Because, I fucked up!" He raised his voice, slamming his fist down onto his thigh. "I was tired, so fucking tired! I couldn't keep doing it, the only good things in my life were my mom and Grover. It wasn't enough, so I snuck up to the roof and tried to jump. I was caught before I could make it to the ledge, they expelled me for breaking and entering. I guess I broke the lock to the door that led to the roof. Tragic, right?" He laughed at himself, almost showing pity for himself.

They were all silent after that, no one dared to say or ask anything else.

————————————-

"Here, you should have this."

Grover stared at him with furrowed brows, holding the small necklace as if it were poisonous. "This is the only thing your dad left you."

Percy nodded, his mouth turning to a small smile, "Yeah, but the guy was never in my life anyways. He'd dead now too, so I just need to get it out of my life. So, keep it!"

Grover shook his head and handed it back to Percy, who refused to take it. "Are you alright?"

He nodded, "I'm actually doing really good, I've never felt this happy."

Grover let his hand fall to his side, the necklace wrapped around his fingers. It was a necklace with a trident on it, some colored beads around it. It was one Percy's father got from an old summer camp and gave to Percy when he was only an infant. It was something Percy always held dear to him, the only proof he felt like he had of his father.

  The two boys stood in silence for a moment, Grover growing more and more concerned. Percy smiled at him and eventually turner around, walking away without another word.

  Percy was on a mission, his final one. He had all the skills he needed to break into the door to the roof. It didn't take him long to reach the top, and when he did, he started to feel the anxiety creeping in. He'd been joyous all day, his mind focused on the end of all the suffering. The act of doing so was more scary, he hadn't expected to fear what he always fantasized about.

  "Hey! What're you doing up here?!" Percy froze in place, staring out at the blue sky and trying not to turn around. He had two options: let himself get caught, or run and jump.

  —————-

Sudden inspiration fo write is amazing. Almost 3000 words, pretty good eh?

Anyways, more coming soon