Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
A blade parried upwards as the hellhound's claws descended onto their target. It followed up with a slash towards the monster, cutting through its neck and exploding into golden dust. The wielder had no time to celebrate though, as another monster was coming at him again already. He rolled to the side, causing the hellhound to blast by him. He got up as the monster turned around, growling in frustration. The fighter had a faint smile on his face as the monster charged once again. This time it was a simple block of a bite and a slash once again. After fighting for what had felt like forever, the man was finally alone in the clearing.
The man wiped some sweat off his forehead. That had been the most aggressive attack he had had since leaving safety. He hadn't had a good workout like that since the final battle in Greece a few years ago. He was getting rusty. He looked around to confirm he was alone and then walked out of the clearing to the cliff where he could hear the waves crashing a soothing rhythm at the base. The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the salty air. This always cleared his mind for him to think. He thought back to what had happened around a month ago.
"What do you want to do, Wise Girl?" he had asked on that day, terribly unaware of what was about to happen. His girlfriend had asked him to meet her on the beach at night without telling him what she had planned for them this time. They had been together for just over two years now and they had been the most wonderful years of his short, traumatic life.
"We need to talk," she had told him. He had instinctively felt his heart sink and the butterflies in his stomach had woken up. He hadn't been aware of many of the modern day cultural phrasings on the internet since he tended to keep off of it, but even he had been aware from school that when woman says 'We need to talk,' it isn't about sports.
"Okay, about what?" he had asked once again, trying to keep an upbeat tone to his voice. She had been looking down, not making eye contact with him, he had noticed. His heart had sunk further but he had refused to believe what he had thought was coming. She wouldn't do that to him. But he had only been able to watch as she had taken a deep breath, turned her head upwards and then stared him straight in the eye, grey to green.
"I'm going away to school. In Europe," she had said. He had felt relieved. They would just spend some time away from each other for just under a year and then they would be able to see each other. "I think we should break up for that period, Seaweed Brain. We're too young for a long distance relationship like that. If we meet other people while I'm away... I don't want to deny either of us that opportunity."
The rational part of his brain had heard the common sense in that. Break up for a year and if they still had feelings for each other after that, then try it again. The passionate part of his brain though, it had been screaming in pain. They had been together for over two years and showed no sign of stopping. Why would she want this? Was she not in love with him? He knew he was in love with her. But when he had opened up his mouth to tell her that, he had frozen and had been unable to get the words out. It had felt like his heart was going to explode through his chest.
"Okay," was all he had been able to manage. Not knowing what else to say, he had turned and had slowly walked away, making sure the tears that were streaming down his cheeks weren't visible to her. He had heard her calling his name in dismay but he had ignored it. He had gone back to his cabin for the night and had cried his eyes out in a very unmanly fashion, but he just could not bring himself to care for his dignity at that moment.
Activities the next day had gone by like a blur. He had vaguely recalled her trying to approach him on several occasions but he had just ignored her. This had continued for several days. Between not having his Wise Girl as a beacon of hope and his friends being too occupied for him, eventually he had had enough. It wasn't that his friends had stopped caring about him, he had known. But as all of them had become busier and busier they just had had less time for socializing with him. The selfish part of him resented that. His fatal flaw was loyalty, yet even he had his limits as he was growing tired of it.
And then in a split-second decision, he had decided to leave. A vacation was desperately needed from the place that haunted him with so many memories, most good but some not so much. He had packed up a bag that included his weapon, several hundred dollars and some provisions before successfully sneaking out of camp. He hadn't had any destination in mind; he had just wanted to get away from it all.
After three days of being away from camp, he had been attacked for the first time. Two hellhounds and a Cyclops had thought it was a good idea to corner him in an alley. He took care of them fairly easily and kept going. It was a week into his adventure, as he had taken to calling it, that he discovered he could teleport. He had been fighting some more monsters on a roof top when he took a step backwards just to find himself free falling. He had just wished to be back on the roof top, felt a familiar tug in his gut normally associated to his special talents and next thing he knew the rooftop was under his feet. He had been practicing since and was now able to do it on demand.
Here the man was now. Sick of running and tired of running after just a month, since it was something he had been doing it nearly his whole life. But there was no way that he was going back to that camp for peace and relaxation. Everything would constantly remind him of her. So that left his last option, something he had never considered even in the most troubling of times.
The man observed the base of the cliff. He was about a hundred and fifty feet from the water. The waves hit the cliff in a soothing rhythm. Underneath them though, that there was danger. There were vicious, sharp rocks that had taken down so many solid ships and the lives of their passengers with them. They were not visible from above the surface, cleverly hidden by Mother Nature almost like she craved the murders. Having met her, the man would not have been surprised if that was exactly her thought process as this place in the water developed. His only knowledge of the rocks was from his senses that he had inherited.
"Percy!" someone shouted out. The man called Percy turned and saw one of his oldest friends climbing up the hill. "We've been looking for you everywhere man! Everyone has been so worried since you left! I even think that Dionysus was a tad upset when you left, although that might have been because you snuck out without him knowing. Most upset of all was Annabeth though... She feels so guilty man! Come back with me."
Percy made eye contact with his friend, gave him a faint smile and a little wave but remained silent. He then faced out into his father's domain, closed his eyes and leaned off the cliff back first.
Grover screamed, or gave out a goat bleat would be a more appropriate description. The wind whistled in his ears. Percy felt himself start to lead with his stomach before his momentum slowly flipped him over so his back was exposed once again. He felt a surge of strength go through his limbs signalling that he had hit the water before a stabbing pain went through his back.
Percy bounced off the rock he had made contact with and hit another before descending to the bottom of the water. It was not that deep; he could still make out the sun above him, shining bright. Ever so brightly...
"Apollo," he thought faintly. And then all was black.
Here is a prologue of a potential story, though I also tried to make it so it could also stand as a one shot. If you guys think it's any good then I might be willing to try and make it into a full blown story; I do have some ideas. Here I have tried a realistic spin on Percy leaving camp. It's quite difficult, because I truly believe that Canon Percy would never leave camp for the reasons in this story. And for the record, I love Percabeth. But if I continued this, I can't guarantee it would be Percabeth. Most likely it would not have a pairing at all.
Reviews are appreciated.
Special thanks to my sister Kayellis who looked over the chapter for grammar errors.
Bright Yellow Angel Halo