For Querencia's War Games #5

Task: Write about a 'light' character acting bad.

Light Character chosen: Percy Jackson

"Who are you?!" Nico snarled in a feral manner, lunging at the cloaked figure through his chains yet never reaching him. "What do you want?!"

Thalia almost rolled her eyes at her cousin, but refrained from doing so, instead glaring at the figure. "Let us go!"

"And when has asking that worked, daughter of Zeus?" The figure smiled cruelly and crookedly, yet so so familiarly.

Thalia bit her lip and looked down. "…never?"

She received another cold and crooked smile .

"As for who I am and what I want…" The figure replied airily. "…You'll have to wait to find out."

The door slammed shut behind him.

Thalia sunk down against the wall, adjusting her position as comfortable as she could. "This is a disaster. Who knew Kelp Head would be so difficult to find?"

Nico scoffed. "Understatement of the year. He's impossible to find if he wishes."

"Who knows if it isn't of his own wishes?"

"…I don't want to think about that."

"I don't think anyone does."

Outside, the cloaked figure sighed, and pressed his hand against the wall separating him from his cousins. "And if its true…?"

"Let me go you little son of a bitch!" Annabeth screamed, thrashing around desperately, trying to find a way out.

The dark swirling whirlpool eyes of the figure in front of her only served to harden. "My mother was many things, but she wasn't a bitch."

She almost stopped short at the man's words. Wasn't…

"See you soon," he growled, locking her to the wall.

"Stupid insensitive idiot-" she grumbled at herself, only to be cut off.

"Annie?" A feminine voice called out.

Her head snapped up. She knew that voice. "Thalia?"

"What am I? Chopped liver?" A more masculine voice drawled.

"Nico!" Annabeth gasped, her mood lifting a little. "What are you two doing here?"

"Caught," Thalia grumbled. "And locked up."

"While looking for Percy," Nico added.

Annabeth sighed. "Same here."

Outside, the cloaked figure bit his lip, eyes watering slightly. Closing them, he could barely prevent his tears from falling. "I'm so so sorry, guys," he whispered to the air, his raven black hair messier than it should be.

"What is this metal?" Jason asked, trying and failing to summon electricity to shock his captor.

"An alloy, son of Jupiter," the man answered, slight amusement tinging his voice. "Of Stygian Iron, Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold and Bone Steel. It blocks all demigodly powers, be it from godly ancestors or the normal ADHD and dyslexia. Besides, I never thought of you as the one for knowledge."

"What would you know about me?" Jason hissed.

"A lot, pontifex maximus, a lot," the man hummed in amusement as he led his friend (though he doubted Jason would ever care for him anymore once he found out) to the room with the other of his old friends (none of which would ever trust him again).

He stalked in with his fri- prisoner, and locked the chains before stalking out instantly.

"Gods damn it all," Jason cursed.

"Language little brother," another voice called out.

"Thalia!" Jason gasped. "And are Nico and Annabeth here too?"

"Yes," the daughter of Athena's strong voice called out through the darkness. "All three of us. Nico's… asleep."

"No I'm not," the Ghost King corrected. "How long since we've gone missing, Jason? Two weeks? Three?"

"Around a month for Annabeth and two and a half for the other two of you," Jason corrected. "Straight to the point eh?"

Outside, the cloaked figure ran his hair through his fingers, leaning weakly against the wall. "I'm fighting guys. I'm fighting the best I can." And his sea green eyes glinted with unshed tears before his back straightened robotically and his eyes went back to the cold black whirlpool they were before.

"Do we know you?" Hazel asked, eyes narrowed as the sixteen year old examined the actions of the man in front of her.

"Once upon a time, in another life…" The man replied ominously, before freezing, tensing and contorting his features in pain.

Frank couldn't help but feel a burst of sadistic satisfaction.

"I'm sorry," the man gasped, regaining control over himself. "Time to meet your new cell mates."

The door went shut and they were left in darkness.

"If I told you we were Thalia, Nico, Jason and Annabeth, who would you say you were this time?" An unfamiliar voice asked impatiently.

"I'd say that we were Frank and Hazel," Frank replied. "Thalia… as in Jason's full-blooded sister?"

"Yes," the same voice answered. "That I am."

"Warning, Frank, Hazel," Jason's voice called out. "Be careful what you say and what you don't say. The guy who brought all of us in, he's absolutely cruel."

"Torture?" Hazel deduced quickly.

"Kinda," Nico's voice laughed shortly and roughly, shaking slightly.

Outside, the cloaked figure fought his darkness and failed.

"Let. Me. GO," the daughter of Ares snarled primitively.

"Nope," their captor observed in amusement.

"Really Clarisse, what did you expect him to say? That he'll let us all free and everything will be fine and dandy?" The Oracle added quietly.

"Listen to your friend. …and while you're at that, reunite with old ones, make new ones."

The ominous words hung there as the duo (more like only Clarisse since Rachel, as the Oracle, would be able to see bits of the future) pondered them in confusion, before her eyes widened and she came to a conclusion a bit too late to ask the man himself, though definitely not to late to ask others.

"Di Angelo, Thalia, Annabeth, Grace, Zhang, Levesque?"

"Why the special treatment for me and Thalia, Clarisse?" Annabeth asked, slightly amused.

"She's not the type of person to use a person's first name unless she's really close to them," Rachel informed them. "And its not like she's close to the Romans and Nico."

"Rachel!" Annabeth gasped. "Good to see you."

"Six months is a long time to be missing, Annabeth," Clarisse snarked.

"Six months?!"

Outside, the cloaked figure walked off unemotionally, too mentally destroyed to even muster control for even a while.

"You know, with the job you do, kidnapping demigods like me, its a wonder you have no friends," Leo said, trying to undermine the mental defences of the man in front of him.

But when Leo got kidnapped, the last thing he expected to happen was for his captor to break down sobbing on him.

Though, when would the life of a demigod ever be simple and expected?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The man sobbed softly, his arms clinging to the son of Hephaestus like a lifeline. "I don't want to, I didn't want to, I never wanted to… 'seus wanted it… always did… I tried to be better than him, tried to be good, tried to keep him at bay because he's just me, always been me, but not me too…"

"He-ey…" Leo whispered shakily and nervously, uncertain on how to deal with his… situation.

"I'm sorry Leo… I don't want to do this anymore, don't want to be forced to be something I'm not. I'm trying Leo, I'm trying to survive this. But I don't want to try anymore, does that make me a bad person? Please Leo, please…"

The begging tone to his captors voice only served to confuse the Latino even more.

"Am I supposed to know you…?" Leo whispered, kneeling down and bringing the man down with him.

His captor's head nodded eagerly. "You did know me, once upon a time, though… now… I suppose I don't even know myself."

Leo put a hand on the man's hood hesitantly, and after a brief sad smile and a nod from the figure, Leo pulled the hood down. Messy raven black eyes and bloodshot sea green eyes were revealed. A familiar face and figure now sat in front of Leo.

"Percy?"

Word Count: 1314 words

(A/N: I feel cruel leaving it here. And I just realised how loosely I adhere to prompts. And other questions. Answers and responses in the loosest terms possible. *sighs* Welp. Good... morning? Its morning when I write and its morning as I publish this. It was supposed to contain something along the lines of Percy having two personalities... I can't be bothered to try to write it out...

Peace,
Summer-Moon)