Nico silently watched over the noisy city of Manhattan, his legs dangling off the side of the Empire State Building. His dark eyes scoured the busy streets as he searched for the raven-black sprawl of hair that belonged to the man he hadn't seen in five years.

Behind him, the rusty elevator doors pinged as they opened. The female voice of the intercom monotonously stated, "Doors closing. Going down."

The doors creaked back shut with another ping and a light shuddering hum. Nico didn't turn around, barely giving the slightest nod of a head in acknowledgement as the unknown figure sat down beside him.

"If I were a monster, you'd probably be dead by now, Neeks." Called the familiar voice of Percy Jackson.

Nico looked down at his wrist, a small frown on his face. "You're late." He stated, pointedly tapping his black watch.

"I don't believe that nine o'clockish is an specific set time."

"Your point?" Nico cocked an eyebrow.

Percy sighed and shook his head, "Nevermind. Besides, how did you even get my address?"

Nico didn't reply, once again searching with a far off look in his eyes as he stared down at the busy streets of Manhattan, his fingers gripping the hilt of his sword. If Percy noticed, he didn't comment.

"Where have you been the past five years, Percy?" Nico asked suddenly, ignoring Percy's earlier question.

Percy looked away, staring distractedly into the distance. "I've been... around." He hesitated, "Why?"

"I need an answer," Nico pulled himself to his feet, staring eye to eye at Percy Jackson.

"I can't tell you, Nico." Percy looked desperate, nervously glancing around at anywhere but him.

"Wrong answer."

Nico threw his arms into the air, "We are at war, Percy!" He shouted, gesturing to the floating city above Manhattan with his free hand, "We need a hero!"

"Then find another one!" Percy raised his voice, yelling over the whipping winds of the king of the sky.

"Not an option!" Nico lunged at Percy, grabbing his shoulders as they toppled to the ground. He fell on top of Percy, pinning him down as they thrashed around.

Percy lurched forward and head butted Nico in the nose, successfully distracting him as they both raced to their feet. He cracked his knuckles and ran forward, tackling the son of Hades.

But that had been what Nico was waiting for. The shadows wrapped around them both and they disappeared, the son of Hades and a friend from the past.

***

When Percy's eyes opened he was staring at the all too familiar walls of Camp Half-Blood's Infirmary. Beside him, on his left, was a tall glass of Nectar and a folded orange T-shirt. On his right, however, he was met with the face of someone he'd been trying to avoid for a long time.

Annabeth Chase; blonde hair, grey eyes and a sharp tongue. Percy did not want to talk to her, but it seemed that the feeling wasn't mutual as she soon noticed his conscious presence.

"Oh good, you're awake." Annabeth said, smiling at him, "I'll go get Chiron and the others."

Percy only scowled in response, causing her to frown lightly. She said nothing, however, swiftly standing up and stretching before she left. Her trainers made light slapping sounds against the ground, speeding up once she'd disappeared through the door frame, uneven as she ran.

Percy slowly sat up, ignoring the groggy fog in his head as he carefully grabbed the glass of Nectar. He gripped it tightly, slowly and cautiously as he sipped the contents. Unlike the first time he had consumed the food of the gods, this time Percy knew what would happen - the taste would change to become the thing he most loved, food wise, of course.

But he was once again surprised as the taste was watery and bitter. The first time he had tried the substance, he had been greeted with the taste of his Mom's blue cookies, but this time he sipped on coke - but not the nice kind that was fizzy and cool, this was the horrible coke from the shops, the type that was watery, sweet and sticky.

Odd, Percy hummed to himself. I hate normal coke, it's not even cherry flavoured!

He pushed past the disgusting flavour and quickly downed the healing drink, quickly feeling his head clear. He was still disturbed,mentally deciding to research it later - no way would he be asking anyone at the camps anything, not if it meant giving them the satisfaction they obviously and so very clearly wanted.

He shook his head in dismay and pushed the thought away, he had bigger problems to deal with.

At that moment, Percy heard the distinct clip-clopping sound of his best friend's hooves - that's right, hooves. The distinctive nervous bleating of Grover was the first thing he heard, followed by crash and a thud before his head poked around the doorframe.

"Hey Perce," The Lord of The Wild said nonchalantly. "'Sup?"

He walked into the Infirmary and sat into the seat Annabeth had previously occupied and the two shared a grin.

"Well not much can actually happen in the space of a week, though I did have an encounter with a vertically challenged cyclops a couple of days ago - and a few hours ago I was kidnapped," Percy shrugged. "But whatever."

"Do you know what's going on?" Grover asked nervously, fiddling with his reed pipes. He bleated loudly and put a finger to his lips, "On second thoughts, don't answer that, they might be listening!"

Percy's shoulders slumped as he leaned against the pillow propping him up, a tired sigh escaping his lips. He ran his hand through his hair with a ghost of a smile on his lips.

They sat there in blissful silence for a few minutes, until the sounds of footsteps could be heard. They heard the distinctive sound of Annabeth shushing everyone else before they walked in, poorly concealed looks of determination written on their faces.

They sat down in various places, discreetly blocking off all his possible escape routes. Percy stared at them uneasily.

Annabeth coughed, gaining everyone's attention. "You are all aware of the new war approaching, correct?" She asked.

Everyone in the room nodded except for Percy, who shook his head cluelessly.

"Right," Annabeth's shoulders slumped with a heavy sigh. "Recently, the Olympians held the meeting of the Summer Solstice, and decided we were to come to an end."

Thunder boomed over head, followed by the unhappy groan of Percy, "Seriously?"

Annabeth nodded solemnly, "Fortunately for us, the council was split - some following Hera in her decision to destroy us, and others rebelling alongside Apollo and Hermes."

"You kidnapped me to deal with another war then?What's next - you steal all of my memories?"