A/N Hey! So, this is my tribute to the victims of 9/11. If you were alive, and you experienced what it was like that day, then comment. I wasn't there, but I know that it was an important event and it deserves to be recognized. Especially for all the brave people that lost their lives trying to save innocent civilians and the civilians that lost their lives as well.

This is my tribute to the heroes and the civilian casualties of this despairing day, sixteen/seventeen years ago.

(P.S. This is me, so it's a Percy Jackson related thing. And here's another song you should listen to!)

The day started out like any other. Parents woke their children up for school, adults went to work or the store. Everyone went about their usual business. No one expected a plane to crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

When it did, the whole building shook and screams could be heard throughout the whole block. People inside the Tower began rushing to the exits, crowding the stairs and shoving Each other out of the way of the door. People outside were running away or pulling out their phones to take videos and pictures of the hole in the side of the North Tower. The emergency responders sped down the roads, their sirens wailing and blending in with the screaming people. Firefighters rushed into the building, police officers set up barricades to keep the gathering crowds back and others ran into the burning building to help the firefighters evacuate the civilians.

A young mother was being dragged out of the building by her husband, both with tears in their eyes. "MY SON! MY BABY! NO! PLEASE, JAMES! LET ME GO! OUR BABY IS STILL IN THERE! MY SON!" The mother sobbed and struggled against her husband's arms as he pulled her away. The man's tears traced silver tracks down his ash-smeared face.

"I know he is, Lilly. But I can't lose both of you. The firefighters will find him and bring him back to us. Or the police. He'll be fine, he has to be." He looked back at the building with a look of desperation in his eyes. Leaving the building right behind the distraught couple, was an eighteen-year-old boy with raven-black hair and sea-green eyes. His face was smeared with ash and he was coughing up lungfuls of smoke. But he heard the despaired and desperate parents and rushed closer to them.

"What does he look like?" The raven-haired boy rasped, his voice scratchy from the smoke. They looked at him in confusion before it dawned on the mother, Lilly. She put a hand to her chest and the other over her mouth.

"Y-you'd be willing to find him for us?" She whispered, her eyes welling up with even more tears.

"We can't ask you to risk your life like that." The husband, James, said.

"Just tell me what he looks like. I'll find him for you." The boy with sea-green eyes said, determinedly. He would not back down.

"H-he's three years old, dark brown hair, and bright green eyes. He's about this tall." Lilly said, holding her hand about two and a half feet above the ground. The boy nodded and turned around, about to shoulder his way back into the building to find the little boy the parents were missing.

"Wait!" James called. And the eighteen-year-old turned back around and looked at them. "At least tell us your name, so we knkw who to thank. Mine's James and my wife's name is Lilly. Our son's name is Harry." The boy hesitated for a second, his eyes flicking to the crammed entrance to the building.

"Perseus. Perseus Jackson. I'd prefer it if you called me Percy though." With that, the teen disappeared into the flow of people, shouldering his way through the doors.

James and Lilly looked at each other, hope shining like a burning fire in their eyes. They moved out of the way of the stream of people running from the building to wait for the raven-haired boy to get back with their son.

Percy ran through the building, scanning the rooms for the young boy the mother had described to him. He called the boy's name, choking on the smoke. As he stumbled onto the third floor, he saw a boy that seemed to be six years younger than himself calling for his mom and someone else, maybe his sister, as he stumbled around, inhaling smoke and hacking it back up in choking coughs. (It's Nico, but I'm making him younger just for the sake of it.)

"MOM! BIANCA! MOM! WHERE ARE YOU! BIANCA! MOM!" The young boy screamed and stumbled around. Then Percy recognized him. It was his little cousin, Nico.

"Hey, Nico!" Percy choked out, running up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. The boy whirled around, staring at Percy with obsidion eyes.

"I-I can't find my mom, or my sister." He said, tears in his eyes and silver tracks tracing their way down his cheeks.

"I'll help you find them, okay? Just stay with me." Percy said, grabbing the younger boy's hand.

"Okay, Percy." Nick said to his cousin.

"Well come on, Nico. We'll find them together. I'm looking for another little boy as well. He's three years old, about two and a half feet tall, with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. Can you help me keep an eye out for him as we look for your family?" Percy looked down into Nico's eyes and the pale-skinned boy nodded. "Come on then." They continued running through the building, now on the lookout for Nico's family as well as the small boy Percy had originally rushed back into the building for.

They found the little boy, Harry, and Percy grabbed him, keeping his grip on Nico's hand and ran with the two boys out of the building. He searched the crowd for the parents who's child he had found for them. He spotted them and ran over.

"Hey!" He called, "I found him!" He handed the overjoyed parents their son and they gushed thank you's but Percy held up his hand. "This is Nico, my cousin." He said, moving the young boy in front of him. "He can't find his mother or his sister. Can you see if you can find them out here? Maybe they got out already. I'm going back in to see if I can find anyone else." The parents nodded.

"Thank you, Percy. Thank you so much. We'll look after Nico here and help him find his family." James said and nodded solemnly. Percy nodded back and ran back into the building.

As soon as he entered the building, his adoptive brother Leo ran out with his friend Piper and his other friend and Percy's cousin Jason. "Hey, man! Where are you going!? Why are you going back in there?" The scrawny boy yelled.

"Leo, you know that I can't just stand around! I have to help!" Percy said, stopping and looking at them.

"Just be careful, okay cuz? Remember, Annabeth's waiting for you. We're waiting for you." Jason said, his blond hair caked with ash so it looked grey.

"Please, don't you dare die on us, Jackson." Piper scolded. "But you do what you need to do. Come on boys. I'm not risking either of you." She grabbed their arms and started to drag them away. Percy turned around and entered the building, glancing back at them once more as they disappeared into the crowd.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and the earth shook as the second plane crashed into the South Tower. Leo, Jason, and Piper screamed and ran away faster as the ash cloud grew. Everyone was screaming and running. Policemen and women were in the streets, guiding civilians away from the broken buildings.

A young boy, only thirteen, watched as his mother ran into the newly-struck tower. She was a police officer, she had to help the people inside get out. He waited and watched, counting the seconds until she reappeared, a twelve-year-old girl clinging to her. The girl had brown skin and chocolate hair. The boy's mother ran up to him. "Watch her." She said, then turned and ran back into the building. The boy turned to look at the girl, and she looked back at him with golden eyes shining from beneath her mane of curly hair.

"Hi, I'm F-Frank. Frank Zhang." He stuttered. She smiled shyly at him and her golden eyes glittered with fear.

"I-I'm H-Hazel, Hazel Levesque. Nice to m-meet you." She muttered. Frank smiled and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"Don't be afraid, Hazel. I'll protect you. And my mom will protect everyone else she can get out." Hazel smiled as Frank comforted her with those kind words. But she pulled back with a gasp.

"I-I was here to find my half-brother, Nico. A-And my cousin, Percy. Have you seen either of them?" She said worriedly. Frank shook his head.

"I don't know. What do they look like?" He asked.

"Well, Nico is twelve like me, and he has black hair and dark brown eyes, so dark, that they look black. Percy is eighteen. He's really tall and has black hair and sea-green eyes. At least, that's what they looked like in the pictures the child services people showed me." Hazel's eyes shone with sorry.

"Child services people?" Frank said, confused. Hazel nodded.

"My mom died two years ago. An earthquake brought down the mine she was working in. She was a jewler, and mined her own jewls. The earthquake brought down her mine and crushed her. I almost didn't make it out alive. I was helping her, and when the ground started to shake, she grabbed me and ran with me out of the mine, she threw me out the entrance just as it collapsed." Hazel sniffled and Frank wrapped her in another hug. "I was in foster care for about a year, and then they found Nico and Percy and it took them awhile to get in contact with them. When they did, it took a while for then to actually get me a flight over here. I lived in Alaska. I arrived yesterday night."

"Oh, Hazel. I'm sorry. I haven't seen your cousin or your brother. And I'm sorry about your mom. If your family is inside, my mom will find them." Frank promised. Then he looked up and saw a mother, father, and son leading another young boy around, they seemed to be asking around for the boy's family. He looked like the boy Hazel had described as her half brother. "Hey, is that Nico? Your half brother?" Hazel looked up and swiveled her head in the direction he was pointing. She gasped.

"That is the boy they told me was my half brother. That's Nico!" She pulled herself away and ran over.

"Hello!" She said, tapping Nico's arm. "Are you Nico?" The boy turned and looked at her, nodding. "I'm Hazel, your half sister. Do you remember me from the picture?" Nico studied her and nodded. She threw her arms around him and he threw his around her. "Have you seen our cousin Percy?" She asked. Nico nodded and glanced back at the North Tower.

"He-He went in the North Tower to help evacuate." Nico said, his voice filled with worry.

"Nico!" A voice called. Nico turned and saw his friend, Will.

"Nico!" Another voice called. It was his cousin Jason running up with his adoptive cousin Leo and their friend Piper. "Nico, where's Percy? The tower looks like it's going to come down!" Nico whirled around and stared at the tower.

Percy appeared in the smoke, just feet from the entrance. He held a little girl in his arms. He yelled and threw her out the door. He stared at them with wide eyes.

And then the building came down.

Nico, Hazel, Jason, Leo, Piper, and Frank all screamed.

"NO!" Leo screamed and fell to his knees. Jason, Nico and Piper followed him down. Hazel sank down next to her new cousins and Frank fell down next to her.

Leo was the worst of all, sobbing and wailing, mourning the loss of the only family he ever felt that he really belonged with. Percy may not have been his brother by blood, but they were so close. Leo had run away from every other foster family. But then he met the Jackson's. And they were so kind. Sally became his new mother, and Percy became his big brother. He felt like he actually fit in. Mostly because of Percy. Percy was bullied at school. He had been abused by his first stepfather, before Leo came. But Percy was kind, loyal, brave, strong, everything Leo could ever hope for in a role model. Everything Leo ever wanted to be. Percy understood what Leo had gone through, not entirely, but he knew pain. Leo loved Percy more than anything. And now he was gone.

Jason had only learned that he had a cousin when he ran into his missing sister, Thalia, who had run away when he was two, and she had told him about the rest of his family. She had left their alcoholic mother and went to live with her friend Luke. Later, they had found a young girl named Annabeth. Eventually, they stopped running, each of them having been a run away from a messed up home, and gone to live with Sally and Percy. Thalia found Jason when he was ten and brought him to live with her, Luke, and Annabeth at the Jackson's. (A/N Blah blah blah a bunch of backstory stuff I don't really want to get into or transition out off... Skip to the South Tower collapse.)

The South Tower started to tremble. But Frank's mom was still inside. Then it came down. "NO!" He screamed and started to sob. Hazel threw her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. None of their new little group had moved since the North Tower collapsed and killed Percy. Now, Frank's mom was dead too. It didn't seem like any of them would ever move again. Their losses were to great. They were all broken.

A third plane crashed into the Pentagon, and a girl named Reyna, who was on her way to visit her sister, died in the crash. Her sister was horrified and beyond comfort when she found out. Reyna had tried to stop the take over, it turned out her friend (not really) Octavian was one of the terrorists that helped to hijack the plane.

And on a fourth plane, rode Annabeth Chase, girlfriend of Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, big sister of Jason Grace, and Luke Castellen, a friend to them both. Neither Annabeth, nor Thalia knew that anything was going on. Neither one knew that their best friend was dead. Luke got up to use the restroom. And when he came back, he pulled a gun out of his carry on. Annabeth and Thalia screamed. Luke smiled at them sadly.

"I'm sorry you guys have to die." And then he fired it at the approaching security guard. The man dropped dead from a bullet wound to the head. Other passengers started standing up and pulling out guns of their own. Two made their way to the cockpit and shot the pilot and the copilot.

Annabeth, though distraught that her big brother had betrayed her, led the revolt that took back control of the plane. She took over as the pilot and managed to crash the plane in a Pennsylvanian corn field instead of whereever it had been intended to hit. Her, Thalia, Luke, and everyone else on the plane died, but they saved many other lives in the process.

When the news came to our group of friends from before, Jason was shattered. He lost his sister and his cousin on the same day. As well as his best friends. Piper had lost her best friends, and she lost her boyfriend that day too. Jason was never the same, he never recovered. Neither did Leo. Frank moved to live with his grandmother and took a year to get over his mother's death. Hazel lived with Nico, who was never the same. Nico, eventually started dating Will, but Will wasn't the same either.

No one was.

And no one will ever forget all the dead, all the sacrifices, and all the pain, of September Eleventh, 2001.

A/N Word Count: 2812.

I hope I did a good job writing that. It might seem a bit rushed, (and that's because it was) but my phone's about to die, and I really want to get this up today. It took forever to write. Just because I wanted to get everything right. I wanted to make something special for the people who lost someone, for the people no longer here because of 9/11. I wanted this to mean something. It probably sucks, but I tried. So, here is my tribute to the victims and people who lived through 9/11.

Yours in demigodishness and all that,
Annabeth_Jackson_12 <3

(P.S. this is not edited. But seeing as my phone is about to die, I'll edit it later.)

**EDITED**
Hey! Now it's edited! Let's go!

*does happy dance*

Yours in demigodishness and all that,
Annabeth_Jackson_12 <3