Author's Note: One-sided Perchel. Just so you know, inspiration from "What Lies Beneath" by Breaking Benjamin. NOT A SONG-FIC, but it will be quoted! Oh, and I'm ignoring HOO. I'll say more at the end I guess. Read on! :D
Word Count: 1477
Disclaimer: This was first written in my old biology notebook, of course I don't own PJO!

3rd Person: Percy:

This was a feeling Percy wasn't used to. At least, it had been a while. Walking through camp, hearing metal clanking in the arena, plenty of shouts - be them from the Stolls or the Ares cabin, it didn't matter, the yells were blurring together - laughter (via Stolls), pounding, talking; it all felt distant to him. There was an off aura about the place. Almost a murky green, he considered in passing.

He continued to wander alone. Percy couldn't shake this . . . whatever this is. Surely, he thought, I'm just being paranoid. He glanced around him, smiling and waving at friends and his "fangirls" as he was informed all those girls - and a few guys - that stare at him are. Mostly, though, he's catching snippets of conversations.

"Aren't you just so excited for the party in two weeks?"

"Totally! I heard it's gonna be, like, super fancy and stuff this year!"

And other - less girly - people:

"I can't believe camp is ending so soon!"

"Just a couple weeks left, huh?"

"So, you ask Katie to the dance yet?"

"I was gonna do that when we were done here; now shut up or Clarisse'll find us!"

Okay, not that much less girly.

What struck him most was that everyone else seemed completely at ease. No underlying layer of worry beneath the usual behavior like when Thalia's Pine was poisoned. So it is just me.

He might've talked to Annabeth, but she was on Olympus doing some over-seeing of the construction. (It's best not to ignore a summons from the gods as it is, more so when it regards their home.) Grover was off with Juniper, or taking care of Lord of the Wild duties. Thalia - and the rest of the Hunters) wouldn't be arriving for another day or two. And Nico was . . . Well, he could be in China for all Percy knew. Then it hit him. Rachel; the Oracle! Maybe she feels that weird off-ness, too!

His excitement quickly slipped away as he recalled their last encounter and how that ended. That look on her face . . . Percy shuddered in remembrance. He couldn't place it. The smile, her eyes. Hard and dead was all he could conjure to describe her twisted look from that day. Halfway between a cold and dead look. Why had she been so upset?

In his meandering around, lost in thought, he found himself near the stables. With a sigh, Percy made haste towards her cave, ignoring any and all looks he figured he was getting.

Upon arriving, Percy was at a bit of a loss for what to do. Sure, he'd been there before, but never with the likelihood of an awkward chat. Besides, it's not like there was a door to knock on, it was a bead curtain. He became glad of the isolated area - he probably looked like an idiot (or someone who's really high), just staring at the cave entrance. With that, he pushed it open a little, peeking inside. "Hello? Rachel, you here?"

"Yes."

Percy jumped, mentally cursing himself for not glancing around, especially after his thought of looking like an idiot (or appearing to be high). Looking at her, he saw her expression came across as neutral, maybe bored. Her curly hair was messy and tangled beyond repair, like she never bothered to get another hairbrush after throwing that blue one at Kronos. "You startled me. When'd you get there?"

"So I see." An eerie smirk played on her lips for a second, eyes narrowing predatorily. Am I prey, or did I just imagine it? "Just a moment ago. I was waiting to see if you going to actually go in."

"Oh." Percy let out a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck nervously - which, according to Annabeth (and many other girls who'd seen it), is extremely adorable. "Well, uh..."

"Come on in. I'm assuming you needed me for something?" Rachel's voice was bittersweet, as if she couldn't entirely decide whether his sudden appearance was a good thing or not.

"Well yeah, actually-"

"Figures, you never come to say 'Hello' anymore," she grumbled. Percy could only imagine the scowl she must've worn, since her back was to him. He wasn't sure he wanted to see it anyway.

"Sorry?" he tried. She huffed in response. Well, I might as well move on to what I came here for. Maybe then we can try and work things out. "So, Rachel, I'm curious, have you had a strange feeling at Camp? Like something's off?"

Although her posture said "Aloof," her eyes said "You noticed?" but more in an excited girlfriend-y way, like when Percy noticed Annabeth had changed the arrangement of furniture in her apartment. Not exactly the expected response. He wasn't really sure what to say to such a conflicted look.

"Yeah, things are definitely about to change," Rachel said monotonously, before Percy could try to mumble out and stumble over some nonsense.

His head perked back up, eyebrows surprisingly close to his hairline - not that it could be told behind his bangs. "Really? You've had a vision about this? Then why is everyone else acting so normal? It's like they don't notice it! I mean, are we all alone in this?"

The Oracle smiled at him - not warm, nor cold and dead like before. Just . . . Eerie. Contorted even. "It would appear that way." She spread her arms, elbows still at her sides, palms up, like in some sort of prayer or ritual. Despite his efforts to break their gaze, her eyes stayed locked on him. She really does look almost hungry . . .

The young artist took a slow, careful step toward him, and he couldn't help the sudden urge to run. It's just the Oracle spirit, she always did freak me out. Yeah, that's why there's no green smoke, and her eyes aren't glowing. Why is she freaking me out so much then, she never has before, so why now? Percy did his best to override the instinct to run, sure it was all in his head. Then he noticed the weird, witchy pots, sitting behind her, bubbling with whatever she had been making.

"Ah, good. You noticed them. Don't worry, I'll tell you what they're here for. I was experimenting with a love potion recipe, I, ahah, "got", from the Aphrodite cabin. Well, one of them is. The other is a brew I copied down when I, again, "borrowed" the Hecate cabin's Brews and Stews recipe book. The name has a nice ring to it, don't you think, Perseus?"

Percy's breathing hitched for a few breaths time. He couldn't remember a time when she'd called him that. Hades, he didn't even remember telling her. It didn't help that her emerald eyes were boring into him. You know, said the ADHD part of his brain, her eyes aren't really much of an emerald shade. More like jade. This part of his brain chuckled, before he promptly told it to shut the fuck up so he could try to focus.

"Yeah. It, uh, it does sound nice. A clever rhyme, huh?" Staring back at her, he waited for her to turn so he could bolt, but she held it. "Ehem, what would you need all that for, anyway?" Percy felt the shake in his voice; he was getting seriously shaken up.

"You." It was all she said to turn his blood icy cold. The curious side of him was glad when she finally continued. "So I can have you. Keep you. Own you. You'll be mine. And I'll never have to share you." Only when her hands slapped against the wall on either side of his head did he become aware that he'd been backed up against the wall. But above his fear was his worry. Percy knew they had issues and stopped talking somewhat abruptly, but he'd considered her a friend still. What had happened in her mind that made it different?

Again, he'd allowed himself to be distracted by his thoughts, so when he tried to move, he found shackles that were attached to the wall on his wrists and ankles. Percy could only watch her dip a vial into each pot, put the cork in, and shake it gently for a moment. As Rachel stepped back over, he knew he'd get no help, completely at her mercy.

She stood over him, managing to make Percy feel small and defenseless - which he was- and pressed the vial rim to his lips after reopening it. As he duly noted the aroma was nice, pretty sweet, it occurred to him that Rachel was the one who'd caused the green aura. It was "off" much like she was.

She tipped the vial and he looked up into her eyes as the stinging liquid went down. She still stood over him, with her sick, twisted smiled, lying underneath her cold, jaded eyes.

Author's Note: So yeah. Uhm, I haven't posted anything since... Last July. Oh. Sorry. I lost inspiration for it, due to life stuff, and then forgot about it. I'm just going to call it discontinued. Sorry for those who liked it. :/ I actually would've had this up sooner, but I would put it down and forget again. But, I'm trying to work on a couple of other things, summaries at the bottom of my bio, so yes. Hopefully I'll find time this next week to work on them. So, RnR please? (Polite) constructive criticism is very appreciated.
Dorothy, if you read this: She is bat-shit crazy.

~Koko oxo