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I DO NOT OWN.
Apples
Chiron POV
Chiron was doing a night check on all of the cabins.
No one knew he did this, but that was because everyone was sleeping when he would go around and make sure everyone was in their appropriate cabins and not missing. So he was safe to peek in on his students without being caught.
Or so he thought.
Chiron galloped (literally) by cabin three, Poseidon's cabin, where only one lone demigod stay: Perseus Jackson. Perseus, preferable Percy, was still new to the world of gods and monsters, though he had already successfully completed his first quest not too long ago. Chiron had carefully noted that young Percy had at first stubbornly pushed away the simple fact that he was indeed a child of a god when he first came, as if Percy already had too many unbelievable things to deal with in his life, as if he had secrets beyond even the gods. But Chiron had pushed the nagging feeling he had no idea was coming from away. He was a mere—though undoubtedly powerful—young demigod. What was he to know?
Chiron silently walked to the door leading to the interior of cabin three. When he entered, he was met with a surprise. Percy was sitting on the edge of the bed above his, looking down on Chiron with his left eyebrow raised, a serious expression swirling in his sea green eyes. Chiron, unknowingly by him, took a step back.
He tilted his head slightly back to see the Son of Poseidon. "Why, hello, my boy. What are you doing up at this hour?"
Percy shrugged, his head lolling to the side. "I dunno."
Chiron raised both his eyebrows. "I think not."
A small smile swept onto Percy's face. "Okay, you caught me. I was thinking."
Chiron had a feeling there was more to it than what he was letting on, but held his tongue. Instead of prying, he asked a simple, innocent question. "About what?"
Percy frowned, faint worry lines creasing his forehead. Chiron couldn't help but wonder what could have made this naturally happy demigod worry. He was so deep in his thought, he nearly missed Percy's answer, but he was glad he hadn't.
"Chiron, why do people want the limelight?"
Chiron was slightly taken aback by this question, but answered anyway. "Often, they relish in people praising them, wishing they could reach their high level of expertise."
Percy nodded, as if he already knew that answer and he just needed Chiron to say it aloud. "Okay."
Chiron was about to bid farewell, to tell the child to get some sleep, but a soft, almost impossible feeling in the back of his mind, kept him in the cabin. It was really as if it wasn't even there, but it was impossible to miss. He scrunched his eyebrows together. If he listened closely, it seemed the feeling was a soft lingering voice that was whispering a jumbled mess of words. Were there more than one? Were they speaking in a foreign language? It seemed ancient…
Chiron was pulled from his thoughts as Percy mumbled something to himself. It was quiet; nearly lip spoken, but Chiron's acute ears caught a sentence. "You shouldn't listen to them, Chiron."
Chiron was about to speak up and finally ask, finally break through Percy's wall of secrets, when Percy leaned forward on the bed and asked: "Do you know why I'd rather stay out of the limelight, be in people's reach?"
"I… I have no idea."
"Think of it like an apple tree. The best apples are at the top."
"But isn't that where you would want to be? Do you not wish to be one of the best?"
Percy shook his head. "No, it's not that at all."
"Then why not go above, to the sky?"
"That's the scary thing, though, Chiron. The higher up you go, the more the winds knock you around, the easier you fall, the farther you fall, the harder you fall."
Chiron shook his head in bewilderment. "We would be there to catch you, Percy."
A long silence filled the room, layering itself over and over again, like a thick wool blanket that was inescapable.
"Chiron, have you ever seen an apple fall from a tree?"
Chiron hesitated, deep in remembrance. "No."
"And how many apples have you seen on the ground?"
Again, Chiron hesitated to answer. "Hundreds."
Percy nodded his head, like he knew the answer. He probably did. "Exactly. And how many of those apples were still clean and edible looking?"
"Very, very few."
"My point has been made."
Chiron stood there, thoughts coming and going through his head. All of them had one thing in common: So this is what he feels like; this is one of his fears.
It was a strange fear, of falling yet not falling at all, of the new and changed, of being out of reach of those once held close, of not being caught in a time of weakness, of never finding a way back up to the world once inhabited.
It was a fear of one with an inability to thoroughly trust anyone.
This was a side Chiron had never thought he'd meet, because there was no distrust in Percy, only trust and loyalty. Or so it seemed. Apparently, it was all an act, an act Percy had admitted to.
Chiron clopped nervously back and forth, pondering a way to change this—Percy's fear. He opened his lips slowly, the words still forming in his mind, and then he spoke. But it wasn't a true answer that came out. "Have you ever fallen before, Perseus?"
A look of pain flashed on the boy's face, but just as quickly it disappeared. "Yes."
"And are you battered and bruised?"
"No—not really, I guess."
"Then why would it be any different if you fall again?"
Percy furrowed his brows. "Because I'm already weak. I've fallen before."
"Would you like to test this theory? With an apple perhaps?"
Percy stared at Chiron, slowly leaning even further in the bed. "By dropping an apple. We could test this theory by dropping an apple."
Chiron nodded his head slowly. "Yes, just from the bed you sit on." He watched as Percy held out a shiny, red apple—though he had no idea where it came from—and dropped it.
The apple hit the ground with a thud. It bounced once then rolled over to one of Chiron's hooves. Chiron bent down, gently grabbed the apple, and then held it up for Percy to see.
It was perfectly fine, as if nothing at all had happened to it. Not a single bruise or dent.
Chiron tossed it up to Percy. "Now, the apple has fallen, and climbed back up to the top."
With that he clopped out of the cabin, and only one thought remained with him for that night and many nights more: When did you fall, Perseus?
Yes, my fanfictions are leading up to Percy's past. Don't worry.
Peace and all that other stuff.
~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX
