A/N:- Okay I am back again. This has now become my most popular story by some margin, hence the rapid updates. The reviews have been great and extremely positive. One of the reviewers had said something about Alex being Annabeth reincarnated.
That's not the case my friend. To be reincarnated Annabeth had to die before Alex was born. That is certainly not the case here. Anyway, other queries I will try to answer by mail, without giving away the plot or any spoilers.
Anyway without further ado.
The Reasons of a Veteran
Alex ran a past a corner. Cursing herself for missing that turn. It wouldn't be long before the monster caught up to her. Jumping over a few dumpsters she executed a forward roll, getting on her feet immediately using her momentum to avoid breaking off from her run.
Spying a dumpster to he right, about 5 yards away, she decided to take a chance, making a break for it.
Thankfully the dumpster had its lid on.
Using the dumpster as a spring board she managed to hold on to one of the rungs of the fire-escape of the adjacent building, pulling herself up with a little effort, giving the time for the monster to catch up.
However that was of little consequence. Running on rooftops, where there were more obstacles would work in her favor to put some distance between her and the monster.
With one final heave she pulled herself over the ledge leading to the roof, breaking off into another run. The building she had chosen to climb was still under construction.
The next few moments passed in a blur.
Weaving, ducking, sliding and jumping to avoid the various obstacles without breaking her pace.
Her heart was beating hard, the adrenalin had kicked in. The edge of the building was 5 yards from her, the gap between the two buildings was almost 20 yards.
She had to make it.
She didn't even want to think what would happen if she failed. A fall from that height would probably kill her, but there was a fate worse than death in store for her if she didn't make that jump. Which was all that kept her motivated at the moment.
Pushing herself off the edge of the building screaming, she soared.
Oh-oh.
She had miscalculated.
The thing with being mid-air. If you realize it was a mistake, it was too late to do anything about it.
Closing her eyes and pulling her knees to her chest she prepared herself.
Good news, she didn't fall to her death.
Bad news, her momentum was greater than she anticipated and failed to control her landing and ended up crashing into some of the construction material.
Worse news, now the monster had caught up to her.
With a loud bark which resembled artillery-fire the hellhound pounced on her as she resigned herself to her fate.
Paws on her shoulder pinning her down the hellhound then proceeded to give her a puppy face-wash.
"Ewwww... Gross!" She exclaimed.
"Heel Mrs. O'Leary." Came the deep voice of her mentor the last few weeks.
With one final lick the playful hound retreated towards the sound of its master, yapping excitedly all the way. Percy then proceeded to pat the hound on the head as she jumped around expecting treats.
Percy finally relenting, tossed her an entire pack of biscuits, which she snagged out of mid-air.
"Good girl!" Percy was now scratching the ears of the awfully cheerful dog.
There was something wrong with that image. Alex mused.
When Percy had introduced her to his 'pet' she nearly had a heart attack. He had then proceeded to use her during her training.
Not fighting her of course.
Escaping her.
Her mind wandered back to the time when Percy explained the purpose of this latest training regime.
"There will be times when you will have to retreat. At times like these knowing how to escape is an even more important skill than knowing how to fight." Percy had explained, without her asking, though she had figured it out on her own. "Hellhounds are the most persistent monsters of the lot. Because of their sense of smell its almost impossible to shake them off and eventually they will find you."
"Then why try?" Alex had wondered out loud.
"Why don't you use that brain you inherited and tell me?" Percy fired. "Think of it as a pop quiz."
"The objective isn't to escape the monsters, but to buy enough time to survive until reinforcements arrive or until we find a more suitable place to fight." Alex realized.
"Exactly. As you know monsters track demigods by their smell, and no monster has it better than a hellhound."
"So, if I can escape a hellhound long enough, I can escape pretty much any monster out there?"
"That's the long and short of it." Percy said nodding sagely.
Over the next few days, her training sessions included escaping Mrs O'Leary, with fighting the odd monster here and there.
While her monster fighting sessions were going well enough the same couldn't be said about her escaping lessons.
No matter what she tried she just couldn't shake off the helhound.
She had tried to cover up her scent, by mingling in a crowd, using copious amounts of deodorant and even jumping into a dumpster on Percy's suggestion.
Something he claimed he had done himself. Though she thought he looked a little too smug when she had actually gone ahead and done it. It did nothing to improve his image of a jerk in her eyes.
She had even tried tying her two-weeks unwashed socks on the leg of an alley-cat to throw off the hellhound.
But no matter what she did, she always eventually caught up to her who the always proceeded to give her a face-wash.
Though as much as she hated dogs, she had to admit it was a welcome relief to see Percy actually being fond of something.
Even if that something was a monstrous hellhound.
It made him seem more...human.
"How did I do?" Alex asked the boy, who was now in the process of giving Mrs.O'Leary a belly rub.
"Six minutes and twenty three seconds." Percy said his attention still fixed on the dog.
That wasn't so bad. She had beaten her previous record by 15 seconds.
"So, where did you go wrong?" Percy inquired.
"I should have stuck to narrow alleys, instead of hitting the rooftops." To be fair she hadn't expected the hound to follow her up a building.
"No, the rooftops wasn't a bad idea actually." Percy said surprising her. He was extremely sparing with compliments."Your slipped up when you tried to make the jump."
"What could I have done differently?"
Percy walked to the edge of the building beckoning Alex to come forward with two fingers. Dusting off her jeans, Alex joined him.
"Tell me what you see."
Alex's heart dropped. The building she had just jumped from, had a metallic pipe running down its side. She could have easily grabbed hold of that and used it to descend. Not that it wasn't without its own share of risks but it was still a better alternative to that suicidal jump.
What's more? The hound couldn't have followed her from there.
"Its okay. You did well, to last as long as you did." Percy reassured her.
Alex felt like kicking herself. Gods she was so stupid. She was supposed to be smart, but he always managed to make her feel like an idiot.
"We are done for the day." He announced, breaking Alex out of her thoughts. He then proceeded to whistle causing Mrs O'Leary to get up and fall into a step next to him.
That evening Alex spent pacing up and down her apartment restlessly. Her dreams had persisted. She didn't know why she was having these dreams, or what they meant.
She never remembered most of them. It was like watching a really bad TV transmission. The images being blurry and faded and the sound grainy.
That's how she remembered her dreams, though she was pretty sure, that wasn't how she saw them.
She wasn't sure what she should do? She couldn't talk to Percy. He had made it clear, that he didn't want anything to do with her, other than the training he had already promised her.
He was a good teacher. He was hard, but fair.
And after everything, she was really grateful for his help, and so she had refrained from bothering him outside of their sessions.
But for some reason, she just couldn't stay in anymore and steeling herself, she decided on her course of action.
She walked down to Percy's floor, keeping up a chant of 'you can do this' in her head.
She saw him in the process of locking his door, obviously in the process of going out. And not for the first time her breathing hitched when she saw him. It was always a little different seeing him when he wasn't teaching her.
He was dressed casually in a gray turtleneck, faded jeans and sneakers. Nothing special, however he made it look really good. His face seemed to be chiseled out of stone and his piercing green eyes held a melancholy in them, hidden behind a facade of indifference.
"What are you doing here?" Percy asked her, without turning around.
"Was just going out." Alex's voice hitched a bit.
"So, what's stopping you?" Percy turned towards her raising an eyebrow.
It took Alex a moment to figure what he was talking about. She realized she had been standing in the hallway gaping at him like an idiot. A surge of temper passed through her.
"I will be moving when I want to." She snapped.
"Suit yourself." Percy shrugged casually, before walking away.
It had been like this since that day. While he used to get annoyed with her initially, she found herself missing his sarcastic remarks. At least he didn't ignore her. Ever since they had made the deal, he had pushed her away. Keeping out of her way and making sure she stayed out of his.
That really annoyed her.
"Hey Percy!" She called out to him, pausing him in his tracks.
"What is it?" He said turning around.
"Can we talk?" She said tentatively. "I know the deal was that I would never seek you out, but I really need to talk to you and as it is I won't see you once I leave." She ended her ramblings somewhat lamely.
"If you break this deal, what's to stop the breaking of others." Percy asked her.
Alex's heart dropped. "You're right, forget I said anything."
Percy sighed. "I am going out for dinner. You can join me if you want."
Alex couldn't believe she heard what she did.
"What?" She voiced her disbelief.
"You heard right and I am not repeating myself." Percy rolled his eyes at her reaction.
Still not totally sure, if she heard right she walked up to him falling in a step beside him. His lack of reaction to her doing so, reassured her that she hadn't imagined him saying what he had.
Cutting of a piece of steak with his knife, Percy popped it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. The girl sat opposite him, nursing her glass of water absently.
Percy had allowed her to come along with him, because she said she had something she wanted to talk about. Now contrary to what most people believed, Percy wasn't bad at reading social situations despite his lack of contact with anyone more than as a casual acquaintance. He had given the girl time to gather her thoughts, knowing she had something big on her mind.
But seeing her this lost, he knew he had to speed things along.
"What did you want to talk about?" He asked bluntly but not unkindly.
Alex took a deep breath and fired the first question that had been bothering her.
"Why do you hate the Gods so much?"
To her mild surprise, Percy didn't seem bothered by the question. He casually sliced another piece of beef and downed a few gulps of water, before speaking.
"Is that what you wanted to talk about?" He countered.
"Humor me."
Her tone caused Percy to smirk. "They are arrogant, manipulative, selfish how many reasons do you need?"
"But they are the Gods." Alex argued, half expecting Percy to burst into flames at his blatant disrespect. "Its their influence which is keeping our world from falling into chaos."
"Well your so called Gods couldn't keep their word if the fate of the world and their own depended on it." Percy replied fixing her with a look, which literally pitied her for her naivety and innocence.
Alex realized that he was talking about the prophecy regarding the children of the big three. He had a point there.
"Well you wouldn't be alive if they could keep their word." She said.
"My point still stands." Percy paused eating."And despite promising me that they would stay away from me, they still managed to involve themselves in my life."
"What do you mean?" Alex was genuinely puzzled.
"What do you think you meeting me was?"
"A coincidence." Alex said without skipping a beat.
"Was it?" He challenged her quietly.
Alex wanted to say he was wrong and held her defiant glare, but the insides of her head were already turning. It was rather convenient that she ran into arguably the most powerful demigod of this age while running for her life.
"It could be." Alex said, but without much conviction.
"The thing about Gods, they can never stop interfering in our lives, when it suits them. We are their playthings, their source of amusement and occasionally their soldiers, to be sacrificed in their name in their battles." He wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "Hiding behind their veil of ancient laws of non-interference when inconvenient."
Alex was surprised at his tone. The words were spoken without inflection or any emotion. They were spoken like facts. Undeniable.
"You mean, you helping me out, was by the design of the Gods." She said.
"What do you think?"
Alex had never been this confused in her life, but much to her chagrin, she found herself wondering, if he was right.
"Then why did you help me?" She queried.
"I don't know." His shoulders dropped a bit as if tired of carrying a burden, he knows he can't pass on to another. "Maybe because I didn't have a choice."
"What do you mean you didn't have a choice?" Alex asked a little irritably.
Percy chuckled humorlessly. "That's another thing about Gods and choices. They never give you one and you're a fool if you think you do. More often than not you will end up doing what they want" He said cryptically. "I served the Gods for 5 years. I fought for them and I bled for them, I lost my friends and my sanity to the wars they should have been fighting and this is all I have to show for it." He waved his arms indicating his life.
Alex found herself speechless. She wanted to defend the Gods. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I have known the Gods Alex." Percy continued. "Most of them personally. And let me tell you, that one day you will come to the same conclusion that I did."
"And what is that?" She said a little acidly.
"That the Gods you serve couldn't care less about this world, that they are a part of."
Percy got up from his place, leaving a few bills covering his and Alex's dinner.
"I will see you around." He said in the way of farewell, leaving the diner.
Alex remained seated, pondering over what she had just heard. She still remembered the time when she had learned that she was the daughter of a Goddess. Underneath all the fear, disbelief and trepidation there was a pride that she was special.
Meeting Percy had hurt that pride.
"Excuse me but is this seat taken?" Came a deep voice from somewhere above her. Looking up she found herself staring at a large imposing man, with jet-black hair and sea-green eyes.
He was dressed in a colorful shirt and shorts with beach sandals. Weird choice of clothing, a french beard adorning his handsome face.
Blushing slightly in embarrassment at being caught off-guard, she spoke. "No, its not and I was just leaving anyway."
"If its not asking much I was hoping you could stay Miss Walker." The man said genially, freezing Alex in her seat.
"How... do you know my name?" Alex stammered, fingering her blade, hidden beneath her jacket.
"How rude of me? I should have introduced myself." The man said apologetically. Though Alex was already beginning to figure out who he was. The man's next words confirmed her suspicions. "I am Percy's father."
And we are done. An inside look in Percy's head. Trust me when I say I am not bashing the Gods. Its just the views of a bitter man.
Kinda hard to do without making him emo.
Anyway hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave a line!
Until next time
Peace Out.
