Percy just grinned as the swords clashed roughly, creating sparks. He pushed his hand harder against the other sword and twisted his hand, causing the sword to clatter to the ground. Percy picked it up and put one sword against the back of his throat, the other point against his Adam's apple.
"You win again." Jason smiled as Percy lowered the swords, and handed the blonde haired boy back his.
"Good job bro, you're getting there." They fist bumped then bro hugged. "Nice having someone who actually tries for a change. Almost everybody just lets me win, to avoid having seaweed in their cabins. Like I would waste perfectly good seaweed on them when they fought with me!"
Jason laughed and looked towards the pavilion, where the counselors began waving them over. "Looks like we're needed Perce. Let's go."
They two boys tucked their now disguised swords in their pockets and ran off towards the group of kids, who were now headed to the big house.
"Haha, even that kelp of a head beat you, Golden boy!" Clarrise taunted, but Jason rolled his eyes. "Oh Percy, we were told that you can't come. I'll bet it's plans for your big 17th coming up."
"Wait, who will represent my cabin then? I mean, we need the Poseidon counselor there!"
"I know Percy, Chiron said not to. I'm sorry." Katie said softly.
"Screw it, I don't care. I'm a counselor, I'm going whether Chiron likes it or not."
"Percy..." Annabeth warned.
"No!" His eyes flashed. "I am not being kept out of this meeting. Back me up Jason."
"If Chiron says so..."
"Are you kidding me bro?! You even threw away my epic pirate ship saying the only ship we need is our friendship, and you don't take my side?!" The group was now waiting outside the Big House. "I'm going in."
"Percy..." Annabeth tried again, but Percy ignored her and burst through the door to Chiron listening to Zeus saying something.
"There's the crazy one now!"
"Hey, I may be crazy but there's no need to point it out. Chiron, what's going on?! Why am I not allowed in this meeting?"
"Percy, we need to talk about this later."
"NO! Say whatever you want to say now Chiron, why do you not want me at today's meeting." Percy was getting more and more frustrated as his eyes were a deep, furious green.
"Look, Percy... we just found your records. You can't be at camp with those kinds of records-"
"-Chiron! I'm a demigod! Of course I've blown up a few schools here and there!-"
"-you are a danger to everyone around you, including yourself."
He faltered. "What do you mean?! I went through Tartarus, I think that requires a little danger and a lot of crazy!"
Zeus silently handed him a picture. In it was a boy, about nine years old, with raven black hair, bright sea-green eyes that seemed impossible to exist, slightly glazed over, and a toothy grin, holding a plant with the dirt and everything in one hand and a gardening shovel in the other.
"So, that's me? What's this got to do with anything?"
"I'm glad you think so. Look closer, what do you see?" He scanned the picture when he saw it. The building he was in front of had letters that spelled out something. "Oh..."
"You see, this clearly shows you belonged here. You had no visitors pass." Percy was silent. "You were in Mental Asylum for the Young and Crazy. And see here, you weren't exactly in there for seeing delusions for three headed dogs, now were you?"
Percy silently scanned the paper and saw what it said. He threw the papers on the table and frowned. "I'll be out of here by morning."
The son of the sea god stiffly walked out of the house and into his cabin, not noticing somebody was following him loosely. He stormed to his cabin and slammed the door, before breaking into sobs.
Leo Valdez saw Percy's upset expression as he stormed out of the Big House and jogged towards his cabin, knowing something happened when he saw the door get slammed by the powerful demigod.
Leo put aside the jokes, yes he could do that, and softly knocked on the door.
"Go away." The muffled sound of crying caught Leo's ear and he bit his lip before going right in. What he saw was a shock. The boy who led two wars, who had again and again proved himself to everyone to be brave, who, heck, had even survived hell, was lying facedown on his bed, sobbing. He looked up when the door opened and Leo saw his eyes were red.
"Didn't you hear me? Leave me alone. Go work on that dragon of yours."
"Dude, what's wrong? Since when do you cry?" Leo sat next to him on the bunk.
"I got kicked out of camp."
"WHY?!" Questions raced through the son of Hephaestus' mind.
"No reason. Dude, I've gotta pack. See you later." Percy tried shoving Leo out the door but he didn't budge.
"Wait, first, I have something for you. It was for your birthday, but you should take it now." Leo's hands searched his messy toolbelt. "Ah, here it is." He handed him a box wrapped in shiny blue paper and a big red bow.
Percy opened it slowly and smiled a slight smile. "A phone?"
"A monster-proof phone."
"Thank you Leo!" Percy did something that surprised the little Latino boy; he hugged him. "Leo, don't tell people I was kicked out of camp. Tell them I'm off to spend some time with my mom." He wiped his eyes and smiled a little wider, holding up the phone. "I'll be sure to keep in contact."
"Alright bro, no problem. Hey, I'll see you later." Leo left the cabin smiling.
The next morning he woke up early and walked right out of camp. The barrier didn't object, it knew he didn't want to be messed with. He walked for a few minutes before calling, on his new phone, for a taxi to drive him home. Luckily, as if Zeus had planned it, he was safe the whole trip back. He knocked on the door to his mom and Paul's apartment, vaguely aware that it was hardly six and the sun wasn't even up yet. Sally opened the door to her son.
"Don't you know it's six in the- PERCY!" His mom smiled and embraced her son tightly. "Gods, why are you here so early?!"
"I kinda was kicked out of camp..." He wasn't smiling, so Sally figured this wasn't being taken lightly by her son.
"What happened?! How could you get kicked out of a camp for demigods?!"
"Mom, they found my records.." Sally just held her son and closed her eyes.
"Crap..."
...
Annabeth wiped the tears from her eyes. She couldn't believe her boyfriend would actually kill somebody, stalking them for the perfect time to strike!
No, she reminded herself, not her boyfriend. Not anymore.
Everyone seemed shooken, everyone except Clarisse, who claimed she knew he had something wrong about him the whole time.
Piper was having the hardest time believing he did that. She was rocking in the corner, convinced this was all a dream, and a crying Jason comforted his girlfriend until she fell asleep.
Leo seemed to have seen it coming too, but kept saying he didn't believe it. Of course he didn't. Nobody did. Not until they saw proof.
"Chiron, can I leave camp for a bit? Go to the streets and fight some monsters? I need to clear my head and I can't in this environment." Clarisse asked, sword in hand. Chiron granted her permission and she left, before calling a taxi to take her to Manhattan.
Leo had given her a phone, slowly handing them out to everybody in camp. She looked up the phone records and scanned them until she saw Jackson. Sally Jackson, Percy's mom.
She went to the address, walking the last two blocks and knocked on the door, it being opened by a man with peppered brown hair.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Percy Jackson."
The man slammed the door shut in her face, and when she tried the knob, it wouldn't budge. She almost gave up before the door opened to Percy.
"Get kicked out too?"
"No, but I should have, Prissy."
"Come on in." He opened the door wider and she stepped in. The place was decent sized and a pretty open apartment. He grabbed a cookie, which for some reason was blue, and offered it to her. She took it hesitantly.
"Don't worry, it's a regular chocolate chip cookie. I'll go get my mom." He left the room and came back in with a woman who looked nothing like him.
"Hi, I'm Clarisse La Rue." She stuck out her hand and he stifled a laugh.
"You can be polite? I never knew this."
"Shut up Prissy."
Sally raised an eyebrow.
"I was roommates with Percy in the asylum, I was a crazy kid too."
The two demigods disappeared in a flash of light.
...
"Bro." Percy sheilded his eyes from the light. "What?"
"Perseus Jackson." The boy flinched. "Why did you kill that man? Why should we let you walk this Earth?"
"Uh, cause it happened thirteen years ago?"
"Wrong answer!" Zeus bellowed, and Athena, the only other one present, looked away.
"STOP!" Dionysus came in. "I hate this boy as much, if not more, than you." "Hey!" "But it isn't his fault. I made him-"
The god of wine's voice died down when they saw a four year old boy with messy black hair and shiny green eyes, glazed over. His head tilted to the side slightly and his mouth was slightly agape as he stared directly ahead. Next to him was a five year old girl with hair in a bob, a bandana tying it out of her face. She had blue eyes that looked innocent and deadly at the same time.
"WHERE AM I?!" The girl demanded, balling her fists tightly and glaring at Zeus. "GET ME BACK, PERCY NEEDS... PERCY CAN'T BE OUT OF THAT PLACE, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!"
"Clarisse, where do you stay?"
"In an us- ass, asylum?" Her anger seemed to melt to worry with Percy standing there, unmoving. If it hadn't been for his shallow breathing he could be mistaken for dead.
"Crap... you're in trouble daddio." Dionysus said and vanished.
...
"Why were we called here? I was busy!" Aphrodite huffed as she angrily sat on her throne, puffing her cheeks with air.
"I'm not sure, Zeus said it's urgent." Hades said softly.
"Yeah, he did say it's concerning my son..." Poseidon fell silent as Clarisse slowly led the son of the sea god into the room, being dragged along without even moving his feet in a zombie-like way. The daughter of war took her care and walked slowly so the boy didn't trip and hurt himself. Zeus followed in after him.
"Is that Percy?!" Poseidon covered his mouth and made a noise halfway between a scream and a sob, sinking to his throne.
"Don't tell me that's Clarisse?" Ares bellowed.
"Don't tell me that's Clarisse?" Percy said softly, half a step behind him, not removing his stare or unmoving stature.
"What the-"
"What the-"
"What's wrong sweetie?"
"What's wrong sweetie?"
"I'm stupid."
"I'm stupid."
"Don't be mean!" In a flash, the brunnette girl was from Percy's side to Apollo. "It's not his fault." She punched him in his kneecap. Hard.
"Ow! Jeez kid, you're rough." Apollo grinned and Clarisse glared, followed by another punch, even harder. It wasn't until Percy began falling forward slowly that Clarisse quickly came back to the boy's side.
"How could he have killed somebody in this condition exactly?" Zeus asked Clarisse carefully.
"The man was killing people. He tried to tell somebody but nobody believed him. He killed him, when he finally fell into this state forever." Clarisse looked sadly at her roommate and gently put her arm around his shoulders.
The room was silent, until Percy's soft voice echoed through the place.
"Percy, you can't just repeat what I say, you need to talk to me from your mind and-"
"What is he saying?"
"What is he saying."
"Hush, he's repeating from yesterday's therapy lesson. He's supposed to work on it, even though he might not know it.
...
The day went by with Percy sitting there silently and Clarisse punching all the gods in the room at least once. The kids got tired, and the gods put them to bed. At midnight, they changed. Percy looked about seven, and Clarisse eight. They sat straight up in the beds.
"WHERE AM I?!"
"You are at Olympus, Clarisse."
"How do you know my name." It was a statement, a demand. Not a question at all.
"I am your father." Ares replied, and Clarisse balled her fist and bit her cheek hard.
Everyone stayed silent, looking at Percy. Clarisse watched him carefully but didn't touch him yet. They just sat and watched as the boy stared directly ahead, not making a sound. They sat there at least five minutes, until finally he began talking.
"You know what?"
Everyone paused, Percy talked! Not repeating, but talked.
"I really like you Percy."
Everyone was dissapointed, but intuiged. Clarisse raised her eyebrows, obviously she never said this to him.
"You are such a good listener. Even combing your hair is nice. It's like having a neighbor that's a doll. A doll that breathes. Oh, with everybody else I have to act. I know a lot of people say that, but with me it's true. So true. And I get so tired of it sometimes, it takes a lot out of you. Acting all the time." His hand began brushing his own hair, his expression still blank. "Oh, I have to do so much work to figure out how to pretend that I'm sick. How to pretend that I belong in a place like this and I did not think that people would believe me, but everyone did. My parents, they used to cry. They would say, 'Summer, we don't understand what's wrong with you.'"
"Percy, is this something that Summer said to you?" Clarisse asked, scared of the words.
"Percy, is this something that Summer said to you?" They waited, and he continued.
"But they believe me. Everyone believed me. I mean, I had to go ahead with everything after that, didn't I? I had the whole world fooled. You know, there they thought I'm crazy and now I'm getting better. I'm a really good actor, Percy. When I get out of here I think I'm gonna go to California and I'm gonna do movies. I'll bet you my parents left me enough behind to buy me a house in Beverly Hills."
He finished and slumped forward, Clarisse catching him and blinked tears away.
"Summer... She isn't SICK?!"
So yeah, this is another semi-old one. This is inspired by an episode of Medium. Beautifulness.