For Querencia's Quarter Quell Round 4
Prompts:
the hero's journey
happy-go-lucky
rags to riches
disconnected from society
decline into insanity
"This is getting ridiculous."
"You're the one who's ridiculous!" Annabeth snapped back at Percy. "You don't see it, do you?"
"See what? All I see, Annabeth, is you asking me things that you shouldn't even need to ask! I'm who I always was and will still be for quite some time!"
Liar, a small voice in his head whispered. You know you're changing.
He shook his head mentally. But not in the way she's talking about, he hissed mentally at the voice. She's talking about safety of the camp and such, I'm changing in a way that in the long run, will only affect me and those that are close to me… If there are still any by the end of this conversation, what with mom and Paul dead and all.
"But that's not how it seems!" Annabeth cried, tears pooling within her eyes. "Why can't you just understand?!"
But there's nothing to understand because there's nothing wrong, another voice in his head screamed, and that's exactly what he told his girlfriend.
"…You don't see it," Annabeth whispered, taking a step back. "You really don't see it."
"See what?" Percy asked anxiously, it was his girlfriend who seemed so anxious and worried after all.
Annabeth fixed him with a look so scary that he took a step back instead. "Percy. You don't burn down all of Athena cabin's research resources, then go on like there's nothing wrong!"
His face pallor paled drastically. What?! When did I ever do that? I know how much it means to you, Annabeth! Its not like I would try to do anything to ruin the camp anyway, especially after the two wars!
Annabeth continued, barely even pausing to take a breath. "Percy, if there's something wrong, you can tell me. Besides, you trust me, don't you?"
Here, she paused, and looked at him with this look that held a longing beyond anything describable.
He glanced at the ground, then looked up and met her gaze. You're accusing me of things I would never do, so… "I'm not sure anymore."
Annabeth was obviously taken back by the sudden turn of events as the shock clearly showed on her face. She cooled herself immediately and looked at Percy cooly. "I think we should take a break, be Annabeth and Percy separately instead of Annabeth and Percy together."
"I think that's about right," Percy answered simply, masking his frustrations and confusions and hurt behind layers and layers of masks, before turning on his heel and leaving.
She doesn't understand, does she?
"Don't try to come back until you see reason!" Annabeth yelled after Percy, then sighed.
A tap on her shoulder caused her to spin around instantly, and the face she saw caused her face to light up.
"Hello Stephen," Annabeth grinned at the boy in front of her.
"Hello Annabeth," the new son of Hermes echoed, a bright smile on his face.
"How's being a demigod?"
"Its great. Perfectly great. Its nice to know why I act like… like me sometimes. …Makes me… Happy, you know? Its like… I'm finally somebody in the world, I finally mean something to it."
"Good to hear."
"You're awake!"
"…Sunshine?" Leo breathed, attempting to sit up.
"Sh," Calypso silenced the son of Hephaestus with a kiss on the lips. "You need to rest. Even my healing magic can't replenish energy."
"Mm… Rest… Sounds good…"
Percy turned back his head and glanced at the daughter of Athena and son of Ares talking. Then he sighed, and turned back to walking to his cabin, ignoring everything around.
The haughty glares of the children of Athena, the sneers of the children of Ares, the hisses of anger of the children of Apollo, the disdainful turning of noses of the children of Aphrodite, the wary looks of the Demeter cabin's kids, the disappointed looks of the Hermes cabin, the watchful gaze of the Hephaestus cabin, the name-calling of some of the minor gods' children and more.
He ignored all of it.
He was used to it, after all.
(Not that he should even have to, though.)
"Ah!" Calypso let out a small gasp as a hellhound pounced onto her, tearing at her skin skin.
Having left the safety of Ogygia, Calypso had lost her titanhood, and with that, her immortality.
"Calypso!" Leo shouted, scrambling towards her.
She smiled one last weak smile at her saviour, before her breath left her and her body stilled forever.
"NO!"
Leo found his way back to camp on Festus within the next day, Calypso's mauled but still barely intact body by his side the entire time.
Leo, being Leo, had decided that the first non-administrative thing that he would do first, would be to say hello to his friends. Namely, in the order of his brother - Percy! - then the Hephaestus cabin, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Reyna, Annabeth… then everyone else.
His plan was shot down immediately when he stepped down into camp.
He looked around.
"Who's funeral am I crashing? Because there's another dead body who could use one. …a funeral, that is."
"Leo Valdez!" Piper shrieked, suffocating then slapping her lost friend. "We thought you were dead!"
"So did I," Leo whispered in response, cradling his injured cheek.
"How can we guarantee that you are, as you claim, Leo?" Annabeth asked skeptically, half turned away from the Hispanic boy.
"What would you want to know about me? …Get Percy, he can prove that its me."
"Not Percy," Annabeth snapped. "Not that traitor I used to call a boyfriend. Someone else."
"Why not?"
"Stop asking," Piper warned softly.
"I won't!" Leo snapped. "My brother would never do a traitorous deed!"
"Then you don't know him!"
"You," Leo growled threateningly, walking up to Annabeth and holding the taller girl by the scruff. "Don't know him."
He let go of the daughter of Athena and looked around. "Where is he?"
"Probably in his cabin," a random child of Hermes piped up.
Leo nodded curtly at the boy, then left for cabin three.
"You're a hero now! You don't have to associate with those of little status!" Someone called.
Leo clenched his fist so tightly that blood was drawn by his nails and ignored the source of the voice.
"Percy?" Leo called, rapping sharply at the coral-infused door. "Percy, its Leo. I'm back."
His heart raced when he heard no response from inside the cabin.
A crowd slowly collected around the door of Poseidon's cabin, every demigod eager to see what their newest hero would say to their old hero.
"Leo!" Piper hissed, dragging the fire-wielder aside. "Last chance to back out."
Leo yanked his arm away from the charmspeaker harshly. "I want this."
He walked back to the door and took a deep breath. "Percy. I'm coming in."
No no no no no! The voice in his head screamed at him. He's not real! Don't let him come in!
But the stupid traitorous hope in him that hoped that maybe, just maybe, it was really Leo...
He didn't move as Leo called out.
"Percy. I'm coming in."
The door cracked open and the first thing that hit Leo was how… un-Percy-like the entire place felt. Well… At least for the Percy that everyone else knew, not the Percy hiding behind the masks. Leo scoffed slightly at the thought of those… backstabbers.
They know nothing about Percy, Leo thought. Absolutely nothing. And yet they still dare call him a traitor!
He looked around the cabin again, shutting the door behind him. Absolutely no sign of the son of Poseidon.
A blanket was shrugged off, and it revealed the silhouette of just the teen Leo had been looking for.
"Leo?" Percy's voice called out, shaking.
"Percy," Leo gasped, taking a few giant steps towards the son of Poseidon and kneeling down beside him, one arm around the older boy. "Are you okay?"
"Leo…" Percy murmured, clutching Leo's shirt tightly. "I think I may be going insane… There're voices in my head that just won't leave..."
Leo sighed, wrapping both his arms closer around his brother, and thought that the news about Calypso's death could wait a little longer.
Word Count: 1365 words
(A/N: I swear these prompts were of such weird a combination I cannot even… *sighs and looks around* Well, I guess you can have my take on the "Betrayed" cliché troop? Is that how you even spell it? This follows canon up to BoO. Leo's the hero here by the way and sudden popularity. And Stephan's supposed to be happy-go-lucky, but I didn't really write that out well, can I? Feels are an amazing way to cope. My headcanon of Percy and Leo as brothers won't leave, stick with it. Oh, and life has been tough on me lately, so sorry about my inconsistency, there's that sexuality crisis, and that suicide attempt… Yeah…
Peace,
Summer-Moon)