Chapter Two: First Impressions
-X- Current Debt: -15,000,000
When Macao Conbolt arose from his forced slumber, the single father rubbed his eyes and let out a loud groan, before realizing that this was the first time he was actually in control of his own body.
His cobalt blue eyes snapped open in realization and took an immediate inventory of his surroundings. Macao's body was comfortably resting on a large orange blanket next to a now dying fire. The frozen over ceiling of the cave held stalactite like icicles the size of him, one even poised over his own heart, making the blue haired man squirm a little.
Macao turned his head to face the fire, his body was in no condition to move, just what had that crazy ape been doing with his body, he had no idea. Across the burning flames sat a familiar pair of large brown eyes chatting animatedly in hushed tones with a tanned and toned muscular man that seemed to be her age.
"Cana?" He called out in a cracked voice, his throat was destroyed and parched from the dry cold. Macao, the single father tried to sit up, only to fail. "Ow, what happened?" He groaned in pain as he laid back down, clutching his sides.
"Macao!" Cana shouted his name in the closest thing Percy had heard to joy since meeting her as she all but bounded over the fire to the blue haired wizard's side.
"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly. "Can you move?" The son of Poseidon raised a lone eyebrow in confusion, the normally apathetic brunette mage was fawning over Macao and Percy couldn't figure out why.
"You alright man?" Percy asked, putting his questions aside in order to help a more important cause.
"Yeah I'm fine, just help me sit up." He wheezed and the brunette bombshell immediately rushed to his aide, helping the older man up into a sitting position, however when her slender arms released his upper torso, the blue haired mage's body slumped forward with the lack of support. Cana made to reach for him again but he gently turned her hands away with his own. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He promised the brown-eyed girl as he managed to finally right himself.
"I'm just finding it hard to breathe." He finally admitted, as Cana turned to Percy and glared daggers into his every fiber of existence from her spot next to the blue haired wizard, Macao had managed to lift his head long enough to look at Cana's rueful expression and follow her gaze to the mysterious black haired boy.
Percy wisely stayed silent and didn't try to defend himself.
He turned to his eyes Macao instead only to find the blue haired mage was reciprocating the stare, albeit a lot nicer and a lot more curiosity laced in the black onyx irises. His gaunt features was the result of a multitude of things whether it have been Percy slamming him into a wall, twenty Vulcans ganging up on him or a lack of eating or sleeping as Vulcans often ran their hosts to death before finding a new one. All in all the blue haired mage reminded the son of Poseidon of his Uncle Hades if the god of the Underworld had a midlife crisis and dyed his hair blue.
Wouldn't put it past anyone in his family really.
Macao's dark eyes broke contact with Percy's sea green ones as he made his way down to the metal flask sitting in the mysterious black haired kids hand as it rested in his lap. Subconsciously the single father licked his chapped lips in utter desperation, he hadn't eaten or drank in a week. "Can I have some of that water?" The blue haired mage all but pleaded for the sake of his pride if nothing else.
The rookie Fairy Tail mage looked down at his open flask, yet another item he had borrowed from the Guildmaster. Inside, about halfway full was melted down snow water, that had been boiled overnight and later returned to its refreshing coolness thanks to the harsh conditions outside.
The demigod was a little miffed that he couldn't even get his mouth open to say "Sure, no problem." and hand the flask over before Cana interrupted him with a glare. "Of course he can, can't he Percy?"
Percy however took it in stride. "I don't see why not." The demigod answered as he handed the stainless steel flask across the fire, first it went to Cana, whose brown eyes lingered with a dirty look as she took the flask. After that the brown haired mage began to fuss over the blue haired wizard, checking his wounds, holding the flask for him, even going so far as to brush some dirt off his face.
'What the hell was that for.' The son of Poseidon thought as he watched Cana fuss over Macao. 'Did she think I wasn't going to give it to him? Why is she acting like this?' These questions riddled through his head as he tried desperately to get to a conclusion, his black brows furrowed in deep thought.
"Ohhh." Percy realized as he slapped closed fist into his open palm, making both of them look up at him and away from each other. "You.." The words 'like him' died on his lips as Cana's eyes became brown molten fury, threatening him to continue. "You. You." Percy stuttered trying to find an excuse, coming up with nothing he said. "You need me to go now." The reason for Cana's sudden change in mood been solved. He was glad it was nothing he did otherwise Percy would've been there forever trying to figure out how he had pissed her off. Percy had no issue leaving the cave for the two's sake, it was getting awkward enough now that he realized what exactly was going on.
The black haired demigod exited the cave and began to comb his way through the woods and knee high snow that had fallen over night, soaking his shoes, socks and jeans in the process. He didn't seem to mind however as he took in the beauty of nature after everything was blanketed in white. The son of Poseidon made sure to keep close enough to remember where the cave was but far enough to give the two their space.
He came across a clearing with a lot of tracks coming through it. With a lot of effort by way of trudging through the snow, he made his way over to one. Sea green eyes scanned the footprint left behind by the strange animal. Whatever it was is was massive, the footprint was bigger than Percy's size elevens, that and it seemed to be quite human-like, right down to the five little toes at the front of the foot.
The son of Poseidon's brain began to work overtime to put two and two together. 'Wait a second. Macao was supposed to clear out a group of twenty or so vulcans right? So that means that those ape-like creatures are a plenty around here. Not to mention that when he fought the one that took over Macao it was bigger than Percy, meaning also bigger than his size eleven foot.'
So… by that logic he came to the conclusion that a vulcan made these tracks and it stood to reason that there were, ten, twelve, maybe even fifteen judging by the number of tracks that littered the clearing.
The demigod's eyes widened as he realized that he had left an injured man and Cana alone to possibly face of those vulcans and turned quickly to hustle back to the cave.
Percy didn't even make it a step til he came face to face with a soaring tree trunk. Riptides bronze blade had sprung forth from his waist, the pen had been quickdrawn from his pocket as he cut through an entire tree like butter, both halves crashing into the snow on either side behind him.
Standing at the edge of the clearing where Percy had come from stood a vulcan, one almost double the size that Macao had taken so it easily dwarved the son of Poseidon. It chest heaved up and down as it panted angrily. Next to the beast was a crater where the vulcan had ripped the tree out of, roots and all. A couple of worms wriggled around in the cold after being exposed, they soon died.
The son of Poseidon stood there, watching him and the other twenty or so vulcans that came out at different points at the edge of the clearing, effectively surrounding him.
The big guy that had thrown the tree at him finally caught his breath after the physical exertion. It began to sniff the air. "Smell like… Jeffrey." The vulcan fixed him with a cold stare. "You kill Jeffrey?"
Percy took the opening like a golden ticket as a lightbulb clicked over his head. He had no idea who Jeffrey was, maybe it was even the vulcan who took over Macao, but if he could keep these apes busy and more importantly away from Cana and Macao then they would be safe and ignorant to the threat outside.
With a deep breath Percy activated his shield and got into a ready position, the snow began to bubble and melt, making it easier for Percy to manipulate. Suddenly a massive hand of slush and ice grew from behind the demigod, it made a sweeping motion behind him effectively disposing of the enemies at his back.
"Yes." Percy smirked. "I kill Jeffrey."
The head vulcan roared and began to run at the son of Poseidon, it padded foot barely putting a dent in the snow, the black haired demigod morphed the icy hand into a wave, his bronze sword held high as he met the charge head on with a battle cry of his own.
-X- Current Debt: -15,000,000
The tensions left with the demigod as Macao Conbolt greedily quaffed down the deliciously ice cold water.
When the blue haired wizard finally remembered to breathe the frigid metal opening parted with his lips, gravity stopping all flow of the clear liquid as the canteen was righted. Cana watched this scene in amusement, her lips twitching up every once in a while before she masked her emotions only for the process to repeat.
"What?" Macao asked, the contagious smile forming on his face.
"Nothing." Cana said, just staring happily at the blue haired mage she had been crushing on since she was a little girl, a small blush formed on her cheeks.
Macao to another sip of the demigod's flask, albeit a lot more gently this time where he wasn't robbed of his vital air. "So, what happened while I was gone?" The single father asked good-naturedly as he screwed the cap back onto the flask.
Cana launched herself into a full explanation of the past week's events, starting with basic stuff like Natsu and Gray getting into fights, Erza leaving on mission, then more somber things like Romeo's despair at the fact his father was missing, then the treacherous trek the two put up to get here, the fight against Macao himself in vulcan form and then the patching him up.
The single father's cheeks became home to a small rivulet for his tears, oh how he missed his son, maybe if he wasn't such a deadbeat dad he might of not been in this position where Romeo was getting picked on for his father's occupation.
Trying to change the subject in a shotty attempt to hide his tears he asked. "Who's the new guy?"
"His name is Prissy, just joined yesterday."
The blue haired mage began to let out a very childish snicker unbefitting of the deep frown on his face. "Who the hell names their kid Prissy? God, his parents must have hated him."
Cana shared a chuckle with him, allowing the slip up of his name to pass if it meant it got Macao laughing. "I don't know." She mused, wondering what Percy's face would look like if Macao called him that sometime in the future.
Macao's laughter finally subsided, he began to toy with the flask, unscrewing and screwing the cap repeatedly. "Well is he any good?" The single father asked in a slightly more serious tone than before, evaluations were no laughing matter after all.
The female mage tapped her chin in deep thought as her face took on a look of contemplation. She had only seen the boy fight once, and that was against Macao, other than that he seemed resourceful enough with medical and survival knowledge. The newbie also seemed to have some thick skin, all the name calling and life threatening she had put him through in only a single day didn't deter the son of Poseidon from working with her at all.
"Yeah, yeah he's pretty good."
That's when the topic of conversation entered, completely covered in snow and pine needles. His hair had it especially bad as the tiny green stems got tangled in the black messy hair as he shook like a dog to release it, the poor rookie finally doing so he looked at the two people who sat at the fire he created. It was the older mage who noticed him first. Wiping a stray tear from his eye he stood up to wave the demigod over.
"Prissy, we were just talking about you. Thanks a lot for fixing me up, we should get a drink sometime."
Percy looked past the the blue haired gentlemen and his sea green eyes bore into Cana's. He raised an eyebrow at her and she began to flame red as Macao called him 'Prissy'. But there was obviously something else he was missing here, Macao's acting was almost as bad as the demigod's mathematical skills, that is to say, none at all. "No problem." He said, finally looking at Macao, then he added as an afterthought. "And it's Percy, not Prissy."
"Oh." Macao said as his eyes shifted over to a red Cana as his face gained back some of its usually joval expression. "I see."
"Mhm." Percy hummed in agreement, not knowing what that meant at all, but playing along anyways. "As do I."
Whatever rebuttal the sharp witted girl no doubt had at the ready was interrupted by a massive roar echoing throughout the woods.
The two cave-dwellers watched as Percy's head snapped over his shoulder so quick he might as well have gotten whiplash. He cursed in a language that the two had never heard of before before turning back. "Macao, you're good right. Like you can walk and talk just fine correct?" The rookie asked hurriedly as he made his way to the fire and began packed his bag with a scary amount of fervor and speed.
"Uhh, I've had better days, but I think I'll do just fine why?" The blue haired mage responded as his eyes followed Percy as he darted around the camp, packing things he needed and throwing aside other things that would weigh him down.
"Good, because we gotta go."
"Percy." Cana growled as she finally seemed to grasp her verbal footing. "What did you do."
Another roar was heard, this one much louder, and closer than the last.
"Nothing." The son of Poseidon answered quickly. "Can we just go now."
He had managed to push the two outside when a reduced number of vulcans came out of the woods, nearly seven or eight of them. "Damn." Percy cursed as he tightened the straps on his bag and drew Riptide, the three foot long bronze blade appearing from nowhere. "I thought they would've stayed down longer."
"You kill Jeffrey!" One shouted.
"And Michael!" One said, referring to their leader, the tall one that had tossed a tree at Percy earlier.
"And put water up nose!" Another bellowed.
"You're an equip mage?" Macao stated as he looked at Percy's sword. Blue flames erupted from his hands as he took a step forward. "I'm a fire mage myself. You can leave this to me, I've got a thirst for revenge anyways."
The son of Poseidon matched him by stepping forward as well. "No can do old man, you were just out of commission and there's no way I'm letting you take them all on alone."
"Half and half?" The blue haired mage suggested.
"There's an odd number."
"Then I'll race you to the last one."
Before Percy could retort or make a move in confirmation he was yanked back by the collar of his shirt, nearly choking him, he looked to his left and saw Macao in the same position he was. Cana was dragging both of them by the collar as she made her way across the snow and away from the vulcan beasts, making sure to keep her hands low enough to have both of the two end up with facefulls of snow. "You two can measure your dicks later, let's get out of here."
"But the vulcans…." Macao trailed off as he saw the apes dead in their tracks steaming over three of Cana's 'sexy lady' cards.
"Clever girl." Percy muttered as Cana dropped the two of them and they crawled back to their feet, both rubbing their sore necks.
The brown haired girl rolled her large doe eyes. "Let's go you two."
"Yes ma'am." The two answered in unison, in Percy's case with a hand raised in salute.
-X- Current Debt: -15,000,000
Percy shifted uneasily by the door as he watched his two companions jump in and accept their host's hospitality without question or hesitation. The demigod looked around the one room building, Macao had taken them there to collect the reward for killing all of those vulcans that terrorized the farmland surrounding the base of the mountain. To his right were two straw beds, covered in various animal pelts that were unfamiliar to a newcomer like himself, some were beige with purple stripes, or a black one with small splotches of orange across the middle.
Weird ass pelts indeed, he couldn't wait to meet these kinds of animals when they were alive.
Images of a tiger with purple stripes, or a bear with orange spots assaulted his head as he continued to survey the room.
Directly across the small room was a roaring fire that warmed Percy to the bone. At its base a small, dainty blonde sat, adding various spices and herbs to the third serving of stew that bubbled in the cooking pot. Whenever she tasted her creation, she seemed dissatisfied and got back to work, perfecting minute details probably only she could find.
At the table Cana and Macao sat with the two children of their hosts, as they had for the past thirty minutes, with their bowls cleaned out and their mouths open and asking for more. The son of Poseidon fought valiantly to suppress the growl erupting from his stomach and just only held off this time. How much longer of this enticing scent could he resist before he gave in and also began to take from these poor farmer's food?
The black haired demigod feared it wouldn't be long as he could his iron will begin to crumble.
Small squelches could be heard from outside as leather boots stomped through the mud, the harsh snow turning into windy squalls as they had descended down the mountain, naturally the rain didn't end until their goal was insight. Cana had grumbled something about Percy being bad luck but to the son of Poseidon, it was basically Christmas as he had let himself get wet.
The door slammed open as Percy, who had heard the footsteps, moved aside to next to the table were his companions sat. In stepped a hulking beast of a man, with well trimmed jet black hair that mirrored Percy's own and a full grown beard, he had to duck his large frame under the doorway just to get in.
In his hand was a large bag of money.
"Sorry." The man said with a chuckle, his genuine apology not matching his looks whatsoever "When you didn't come back after the first five days or so I gave all the money back to the other villagers in the town. You should've seen the looks on their faces when I came knocking on their doors looking for their money once again."
"Dalton." Macao said as he raised his full tankard to the large farmer. "It's no problem, you more than made up for it with your hospitality, if anything I should be thanking you."
Dalton waved him off, a slightly more serious tone as he handed the blue haired mage the money and sat at and empty seat at the table, staring Macao in the eyes. "From what you guys tell me, you need it more than I do. When I was a kid, my uncle had gotten taken over by a vulcan, ran him to death even. When we found his body, all that was left was a husk of corpse, like they had sucked the fat right from underneath the skin."
The single father adopted a contemplative expression as he thought of his son Romeo ever experiencing the same horrors Dalton had. In an attempt to keep the mood light he said softly into his cup. "Well it's a good thing these two saved me."
A loud burp was all he got in response.
It was from Fairy Tail's resident drinker, Cana Alberona, who after three days of going sober, snapped as the brown haired girl began to guzzle down the family's entire stock of alcohol. Wine, beer, rum, it didn't seemed to matter as long as it got her buzzed. She slammed the tankard down, completing the ring of cups around her seat at the table she had created.
"I'll drink to that." She said red faced, before turning to the child next to her. "Kiddo, fill me up!" The wizardess angrily demanded of a seven year old.
Whose dad was sitting right across from them, and what's more seemed to be encouraging this sort of behavior as he called into the his son who was descending into the cellar with all of Cana's cups.
"Merc." He said, using his son's nickname.
Merc looked back, the dozen or so metal tankards jingling as he did. "Yeah dad?"
"Make sure one of those is for me." Dalton said with a wink.
Merc rolled his eyes as he continued down the stairs, Dalton sat back chuckling when he felt Percy's almost unbelievable stare on him.
The black haired farmer turned to meet the green hurricanes this boy liked to call eyes. "You're not hungry?" He asked after a brief staring contest.
"No." Percy lied, in the most normal voice he could squeak out.
"You're lying." Dalton said, it wasn't a question. The room went silent at this declaration, as Macao stared at Percy and Dalton inquisitively while Cana sat down her bowl and looked at the son of Poseidon as well. Even she could tell that her 'partner' was a horrible liar even after only a day or two with him. Her large brown eyes honed on to his face, trying to discern his motives for lying about trivial things like hunger.
The black haired demigod never even got to defend himself as the beast of a man launched into another story of his childhood. "When I was a boy, my father took me hunting, except he didn't come with me. After we set up camp in the middle of the woods, my father told me that I was to kill my own game if I wanted a meal that day. Three days I went without food before I collapsed from exhaustion, and my father finally cracked and saved me. I didn't even catch anything." He said with a chuckle.
Three different sets of eyes stared at him in confusion.
Dalton laughed nervously as he realized he forgot to mention how it tied into the current predicament before getting serious for a moment. "The point is, I know hungry eyes when I see it, because I lived it, I saw it every time I glanced at a stream and saw my reflection, and I see it now in your eyes. You don't have to worry about us boy, we'll be well off soon enough when harvest rolls around."
The son of Poseidon's stomach roared out unrestricted for the first time today, howling in pain and agony that was being empty of food and nutrients. His black unruly hair shadowed his eyes as he blushed red in embarrassment.
Dalton laughed loudly. "Even your own body agrees with me." The older farmer said jovally before getting up, he motioned to an empty chair with the sweep of his large arms. "Sit I'll get you some stew." He said as he walked over to the fireplace and his wife who slaved over the stew. "Move aside woman." And with a gentle shove she was out of the way. Dalton nabbed the ladle out of her small hands and took a large scoop of the steaming food.
A panicked look crossed her face as she began to pound on the large man's back. "Wait!" She yelled desperately. "It's not ready yet! It'll taste horrible!" The wife began to cry.
Dalton turned around, and making eye contact with his wife, placed the serving spoon in his mouth, she wept incessantly until a hum of approval interrupted her. "Edith." He said softly, the quietest he had been all day.
"You hate it don't you?"
"It's by far your best yet."
She began to blush, wiping away her tears with her apron. "You're just saying that."
He rolled his eyes. "Of course not. I would never lie to you." Saying his piece, he picked the piping hot cauldron off the open fire with a woolen mitt, bringing the stew to the table he turned away from his wife and with his free hand he rolled the spoon like a pointer around his temple in the universal sign of. 'This person is crazy.'
Macao and Percy chuckled as they were served while Cana fiddled absentmindedly with her spoon, waves of guilt crashing over her. Before her mom had passed and she had been placed into the hands of Gildarts Clive, more like the hands of Fairy Tail, she and her mother had not been better off than this. She remembered watching her mother struggle to provide for them even at a young age as early as she was before she left.
Now here she was, drinking and eating away without a care in the world. The only one that seemed to think more than in the moment was Percy, the damn rookie showing her up once again as he was the only one who thought about caring for their hosts.
The brown eyed girl felt sick to her stomach with self-disgust as she lost her appetite at the moment. Cana felt horrible.
A small klink brought her out of her self-loathing as she blinked to see her tankards that the little boy had gone down with, Merc his name was, return, looking at her expectantly as he pushed a cup towards her without a word.
Her lips quirked and her mouth felt dry, the wizardess could feel her will wither as the seconds painlessly ticked by. Finally she broke and grabbed the cup from the silver eyed boy, giving him a small smile.
Maybe a little more wouldn't hurt.
-X- Current Debt: -15,000,000
Percy sighed as he laid out under the moon and stars, the clouds and rain from before parting ways to give light to the pale shining beacon. The boys, Macao and Percy with the addition of their host Dalton had been kicked out of the house by the wife Edith to make way for Cana and the children.
The trio of merry whipped men had found a relatively dry spot under a rocky overhang and decided to set camp there, a once roaring fire was reduced to little more than embers now in the late hours of the night as Macao sat over it, the only one left upright as Dalton snored away obliviously, his back to the fire.
The fire mage's cobalt blue eyes stared intently into the crackling fire, the only source of sound in the relatively quiet space. The red, orange glow reflected of his irises, creating a faint, eery purple. The thoughts on his mind had plagued him for as long as she had been around and he was just waiting for the right person to come along for him to push her off to.
He figured once she became of age she would create or join a team to do missions and that would be the end of her hopeless crush but she actually started joining him and Wakaba on some of their missions instead much to the blue haired mage's ire and the smoke mage's sadistic glee.
For the daft, he was of course talking about Cana.
He took and inward cringe and a deep breath as he metally shored his defenses for the conversation ahead.
With a deep exhale he opened his mouth.
"Hey Prissy." Macao said, not even bothering to look at the green eyed boy laying down a couple feet away. When he finally mustered up the courage, he was met with a blank stare one that told him he had already fucked up. The fire mage began to panic, not knowing what he had done wrong before a metaphorical lightbulb popped over his head and he amended himself. "Sorry, Percy."
Percy smiled as he sat up, crossing his legs then spinning to face the fire mage and his fire. "I'm going to kill her if that nickname sticks again." He commented dryly.
"Again?" Macao asked as he blinked his blue eyes owlishly, getting sidetracked once more.
The son of Poseidon waved him off dismissively. "Long story." He said. "What's up?"
Macao smiled sheepishly, he now had gotten the demigod's attention but couldn't find the words to keep it so. "Well, there's no easy way for me to say this without me coming out like a jackass soo…" He trailed off at the end.
"Just come out with it." The demigod said with a light shrug.
"Ok. Well….."
Percy watched with a small smile on his face as the blue haired mage tried to form the right words, he poured over all he knew about Macao who sat right next to him. Frankly, it wasn't much. He knew the mage had an affinity for blue fire when he threatened to light up the vulcans on Mt. Hakobe, let's see, he had a son around eleven or maybe even six (That's for you AACM25) Percy wasn't really sure, he was never good at guessing ages anyhow. The last thing he knew about his companion around the fire wasn't even about him, well it was in a way but not really.
"Cana likes you." Percy blurted out as he stared into the fire, his ears growing hot as he realized he just said that out loud.
Macao stopped his incoherent stammering and looked at Percy with blank eyes.
"That's what I was trying to get at."
"Oh." Percy said as he looked up from the fire, he tried to choose his next words as carefully as possible. "Well do you like her back?"
"Not in the way she wants me to." He answered with a dry chuckle.
"Why not?"
Macao scratched the back of his head. "Its just weird you know, I've known her since she was just a little kid, and it's hard for me not to see her like that. I wanna tell her off but I don't want her to hate me."
"I get it."
The single father looked at Percy for explanation.
"When I was fourteen there was this girl named Rachael who liked me." His black brows furrowed in thought as he added. "At least I think she did. Anyways I liked this other girl named Annabeth and it was really hard to tell her that I didn't like her like that. But I think she got over it pretty well, so it all worked out in the end."
"What'd she do when you told her?"
"She swore her life to a sun deity and became an eternal virgin."
…
…
…
"That' pretty well?" Macao asked in shock.
"I think you're missing the point." Percy chuckled. "The point is she got over it, she moved on and we're still really close friends with one another."
The blue haired wizard seemed to take that new nugget of information into deep thought before talking. "I'm seeing this other lady now, and I like her, I really do, sooner or later I want to break it to the guild that were together."
"Cana will be sad to hear that."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Macao admitted. "When this does happen, and it will, if not with the girl now than a different one later will you take her out, show her a good time and that there is more to the world than just me."
"The son of Poseidon sighed. "You really can't give her a chance?"
Macao shook his head sadly.
...
Percy snorted after a short period of silence. "You did sound like a jackass for the record. Macao opened his mouth to defend himself but the son of Poseidon beat him to it. "You're not royalty and she's not your daughter, you can't just sell her off like an object, but still I get what you're trying to say though."
"So will you do it?" Macao asked, a hopeful gleam in his cobalt eyes.
"No." Percy shot down that plane before it could even take off without sugarcoating it. There was no doubt he would comfort his partner if she needed it or even picked him over all her other friends more intuned with their feelings than he was but that's where the partnership would end. He stood up and brushed off his pants. "I've had enough of a love life for four of me, I don't need it any more complicated than it already is."
Thoughts of Annabeth ran through his head as he left Macao with those parting words, making his way to his sleeping bag a few yards away. What were they now that he was gone? Would she wait for him to find a way back, or move on before he could return?
Could he even return in the first place was perhaps a better question.
The son of Poseidon sighed as he looked up at the sky. His sea green eyes traced over the constellation Hercules. When he was younger he had always looked to the strongman's stars as a source of anti-inspiration. As if to say Hey, at least I'm not as unlucky as he is. But the more and more he learned about the son of Zeus after becoming a demigod he realized that he probably deserved everything he got and then some.
Percy closed his eyes as he got down and stretched out on the sleeping bag, it was too humid to be inside it in the middle of July now that they were down from the mountain, it was nice to sleep under the stars.
Green eyes snapped open.
Wait. Hercules?
Like the hero very much from Earth and not this world?
His eyes scanned the sky as he shot into a sitting position, rattling off all the familiar constellations he could find. "Scorpius the scorpion, Draco the dragon, Apus the bird of paradise, Corona Borealis the northern crown. They're all here, why are they all here?" But the son of Poseidon was looking for one in particular.
Percy frowned when he realized why he couldn't find the huntress, it was the middle of the summer and Zoe didn't come out until the new year around January where she could be seen with her bow pointed right at the back of Orion.
A sudden thought crossed his mind. 'Would she even be there, that's was an Earthly goddess' fault she was there in the first place, but then again pretty much all the constellations were tied to Greek mythology.' In Percy's mind however it was different because he was actually there, he had witnessed the creation of the constellation in person.
The black haired demigod settle back into a sleeping position, but kept his eyes open. "I'll keep looking for a way home until January, if Zoe's constellation is there I'll continue, if not…
Then I'll move on from home."
Pretty fast update wasn't it