The end of hell

The Bruise on an Innocent Hero

Hey guys, welcome to a new story, The end of Hell. I know some of you are excited for The Man behind the Mask to continue, but honestly that story was my first work, and won't be finished. This is going to be a… rewrite of it, in a way. The storyline will be different, but the general ideas will stay the same. I'm not sure where the pairings will go, as I only have a general idea in my head. If any characters get together, it is of their own volition, as I will not be forcing any of the characters to get together. No matter how much I desire it, the characters will be living and breathing.

Disclaimers: I do NOT own the Percy Jackson series, or any subseries. All characters belong to Rick Riordan.

I also do not own the Greek gods. No one does, except themselves.

JUST SO EVERYONE IS AWARE, ALL TRIGGER WARNINGS WILL BE AT THE BEGINNINGS OF CHAPTERS - IF YOU ARE AFRAID TO BE TRIGGERED, FEEL ABSOLUTELY FREE TO MESSAGE ME FOR A SHORT RUN DOWN OF THE CHAPTERS.

Trigger Warnings:

Hints at abuse

Hints of depression

When Will woke up, it was still dark out. He turned his head to the clock on his bedside table, and automatically let out a groan. 4:30 in the morning. Great. Knowing he would never fall back asleep, Will slipped out of bed, and grabbed fresh clothes for the day. Careful not to wake his siblings, Will snuck out the front door, and started walking towards the showers. Still yawning, he walked around a tree to see none other than Percy Jackson entering camp, and quickly making his way towards the lake. Curious as to why the hero had come so early in the morning, and why he was moving so quickly, Will was forced to make a quick decision, and turned to follow the hero, disregarding the showers for now. He knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he had this indescribable feeling in his gut, that he needed to follow Percy.

Percy was fast, but thankfully Will was faster (and quieter! Jeez this boy could make a lot of sound!) At the edge of the lake, Percy took a deep breath, and seemed to brace himself as he took off his shirt. At the sight of his back, Will almost gasped, but was quick to swallow it. His back was absolutely littered with bruises, cuts, and what looked like whip marks? Will wasn't sure, and couldn't fully process what he was seeing before Percy took a step into the lake, and all the injuries started fading. As quietly as possible, Will backed away from the sight, and made his way towards the shower to officially start his day.

Will was at breakfast early that morning, and stayed until late, waiting for Percy to show up. Something was going on, Will was certain of it. None of the markings on Percy that morning could've been caused by a monster attack. Will had noticed that his arms had been fine. Not a scratch on them. Lost deep in his thoughts, Will didn't notice Kayla talking to him, until she snapped her fingers under his nose.

"Will, are you OK? You've been staring at the Poseidon table since I got here, and probably even longer before that. You haven't even touched your eggs! You're not feeling sick, are you?"

"Sorry Kayla," he replied, "just thinking a lot. I didn't sleep well last night, and I just have a lot to process I guess."

She looked at him worriedly for a moment, but he just flashed her a quick smile, and started eating his scrambled eggs. She continued looking at him for a moment, before turning to Alec to talk about a patient at the infirmary.

Percy never showed up for breakfast.

At lunch, Will finally caught sight of Percy leaving the cabin, and was quick to approach him

"Hey Percy," Will called towards the hero. Percy looked up at him with an almost exhausted expression, before quickly changing it to his normal 'I'm a hero, so I'm always happy' expression.

"Hey, Will right? How's it going?"

"It's going well! Sorry, I know you probably don't care about a silly old camper like me, but I saw you come in this morning on my way to the showers, and didn't notice you at breakfast, so I wanted to make sure you were doing OK."

Percy froze slightly, before turning to him slowly.

"You saw me come in this morning?"

Shit. Shit, shit shit. Will had not meant to mention that.

"Yeah, you were coming out of the lake, so I figured you had just arrived. I was going to say something, but you looked tired, so I figured I'd leave you be."

Will watch Percy relax slightly, before nodding his head.

"Hey so listen, you mind if I walk with you to the pavilion? All my siblings are at the infirmary, and I don't really like eating alone."

Percy looked at him surprised for a moment, before replying.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind. I don't like eating alone, myself."

As they started walking, they made small talk to simply clear the air between them. They'd never really had a conversation before, but Will was starting to see why everyone enjoyed being around him so much. Percy was a really sweet person, and was actually really funny, even if his sense of humor could be a bit morbid sometimes. But Will also noticed something else. Something not everyone could pick up on, but something that seemed rather obvious to Will.

Percy was wearing a mask.

Well, I hope you guys enjoy it. I have no idea where this story is going, but the idea of an "unhappy" Percy makes sense to me.

Just so everyone's aware, in this story, Percy and Annabeth are NOT dating. They never made it past siblings, and that's honestly how I like it.

Love you skönhetar!

-XanaWarriors/AwesomePercicoQuotes