Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.
The Disgraced Hero
Chapter Nine – Gone Clubbing
"What? You drink?" Artemis asked while Hermes, Apollo and Aphrodite looked beyond excited.
"Not really, I mean, I did jump into Tartarus before I turned twenty one so I'm long overdue on a 'getting super drunk with my friends' celebration party, being over a hundred and twenty one years old," Percy stated. Apollo and Hermes put their arms over each of Percy's shoulders and sighed dramatically.
"Bro, we're going to have so much fun," Apollo said. Hermes nodded in agreement.
"We'll teach you all the different ways to charm the ladies," the thief god said.
"With your looks, you'll be taking the hottest girl in the club, aside from me – unless you're feeling the need for a three way, which is always on the table – home with you tonight," the goddess of love affirmed.
The two maiden goddesses glared at Apollo, Hermes and Aphrodite before turning to Poseidon and Hades who were starting to look quite excited as well, whereupon they glared at them too.
"Sorry guys, I'm not planning on having a one night stand with some poor mortal that then gets cursed with having my kid," Percy told them. The two gods and one goddess visibly deflated.
„But we still get to go to the club and get you wasted, right?" Hermes asked. Percy grinned.
"Oh yeah, definitely," he said. The gods perked up again at the promise of alcohol.
„Wait!" Aphrodite yelled before they could flash away. The gods and Percy all gave her questioning looks. "First of all, Hestia, you're like eighteen and Artemis, you're a little girl." The goddess of the moon's face reddened in anger as the goddess of the hearth just grew a few years older.
"I am not!" she insisted.
"Fine, you look like a little girl," Aphrodite mended.
"And what's wrong with that?" Artemis asked, receiving an 'are you kidding me?' look from Aphrodite for, most likely, the first time in history.
"We're going to a club," the love goddess deadpanned. "Where they serve alcohol."
"A twelve year old girl can't go into a club, Artemis," Apollo told his sister, who glared at him.
"I will just use the mist," she stated, not backing down.
"Isn't that too much trouble for what could easily be fixed?" Hermes questioned impatiently.
"So now there's something wrong with the way I look?" Artemis demanded.
"No, Artemis, you look fine," Percy started, starting his own damage control before things got way out of hand. "What he means is that it would be easier for you to modify your age instead of manipulating the mist, which is always a slight risk." Artemis glared at him, though not with the same intensity she reserved for the other gods.
"You're nineteen, Percy," she told him and Percy mentally slapped himself. Of course he only looked nineteen, he never saw a reason to change his age.
"Oh, right," he said. "I forgot about that." With that he closed his eyes and focused on changing his body. Within a few seconds, he had grown two years, looking like a twenty one year old. He turned to Artemis with one eyebrow raised expectantly. She glared at him for a few moments before sighing and growing to the same age as Percy.
"Happy?" she asked. Percy grinned.
"Very," he told her, giving a thumbs up. "Now, we can go." As they prepared to flash away, they were once again stopped by Aphrodite.
"Wait!" she yelled.
"What is it now?" Artemis shouted at her with obvious irritation.
„We can't go to a club dressed like this!"
„Are you serious?" Artemis asked in an annoyed voice. Aphrodite just snapped her fingers and their clothes all changed. Percy looked down at himself and saw that he was wearing a simple black button up shirt – a little too tight for his taste but nothing too bad – with the top two buttons unbuttoned, dark blue jeans and sneakers.
"And your hair, Percy," Aphrodite fussed, gesturing at his shoulder-length locks. "What to do with that?"
"What's wrong with my hair?" Percy asked defensively. Aphrodite looked at him as if to say 'everything'.
"Sweetie, it looks like you just came out of a war zone or something."
"Aph, give the guy a break," Hermes told her, looking tired at her antics.
"But, he can't look like that," the love goddess argued. "It could be so much better." Percy sighed.
"Fine, whatever," he conceded. "Do what you want. Go nuts." Aphrodite squealed and snapped her fingers once more. Percy's hair instantly shortened immensely, with the hair on top being longer than the hair in the sides. That was then styled to the side and slightly up and backwards. Or at least that's how Percy would have described it when he saw it in a mirror Aphrodite conjured up for him.
Percy looked at himself, new hair, new clothes, new place, new everything. It was a strange feeling, to say the least, after so many years of the same.
„Percy? You okay?" Hestia asked him when she noticed the strange look on his face. Percy visibly shook his head and looked at her with his bright gold eyes.
„Yeah, don't worry. It's just . . ." he trailed off.
„What?" Poseidon asked his son.
„I have literally been wearing the same clothes for over a hundred years, I just feel a little weird, that's all," Percy told him, shrugging. Aphrodite's face changed to one of absolute horror.
„You've been wearing the same clothes all this time?" she screeched.
„Well, yeah. It's not like I could walk into the Tartarus chapter of Target and ask for a change of clothes."
„No, I suppose not," Aphrodite said with a contemplative look. „That is a business idea though."
„A terrible one," Hermes said with a horrified look.
„Yeah, I suppose you're right. I don't see a market with the monsters down there," The love goddess decided.
„Everyone ready?" Percy asked, trying to distract Aphrodite from her idea. The gods all nodded their affirmation.
"What are we waiting for then?" Apollo asked. "Let's go!"
The seven gods and one Titan all flashed out of Mount Olympus and reappeared outside of a club in Manhattan.
„The Grapevine?" Percy questioned upon reading the glowing sign (thank you, Titan physiology for fixing dyslexia). Apollo and Hermes grinned.
„It's a place run by a son of Bacchus. His dad may be a huge ass but he's a nice enough kid." the sun god told Percy who nodded.
„Shall we?" Aphrodite asked Percy. He gave her a smile and gestured for her to go before him. They walked to the front of the line where Hermes snapped his fingers and convinced the doorman to let them in, much to the ire of the guys actually waiting in line, well, until Aphrodite flashed them a magical smile that left them with very little brain activity for a while.
The strange but extremely good-looking group made their way to a back room where a pudgy man, around twenty-four, noticed them and allowed them access to the room and showed them the bar.
"My lords and ladies," he said respectively in a southern drawl. "And . . . a guest?" The demigod inquired once he spotted Percy.
"This is Lord Per–" Apollo started, but was interrupted by Percy shoving him away.
"I'm Percy," He told the son of Bacchus, holding his hand out for a shake.
"I'm Jeremiah, son of Bacchus," the man told Percy as he shook his hand. The small man narrowed his eyes at Percy. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be the famous Percy J– ahh!" Jeremiah cut himself off with an exclamation of pain when Percy squeezed his hand all too tightly.
"Just. Percy," the young Titan told Jeremiah through gritted teeth.
"Of course, my lor– I mean Percy," Jeremiah stuttered. "Whatever you want is on the house, as always," he said, looking at the gods before hurrying away to take care of his hand.
Percy glared at the table until a warm hand found its way to his shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts. When he looked around, he saw that the hand belonged to Hestia who was looking at him with worried eyes.
"Percy, what was that?" she asked softly.
"That's what I wanna know, too," Hermes said, earning himself glares from every god present. "Sorry," he apologized in a small voice.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Percy sighed. Before the questioning could start again he jumped over the bar like the fine athlete he was, pulling out eight glasses and putting them on the bar. "Where's the god stuff?"
"Under there, in a locked cabinet," Hades told him, pointing to where it was. Percy pointed at the cabinet's lock and it exploded at his thought, startling his companions. He then pulled out two bottles of whiskey, labeled 'Dionysus/Bacchus level'. He raised them up and looked at his friends.
"Now, who wants a drink?"
"I do!" Hermes and Apollo yelled, holding out their glasses with idiotic smiles like a couple of five year olds. Hades rolled his eyes but picked up a couple of glasses and, after having Percy pour into them, handed one to his brother who took it gratefully.
"So, ladies," Percy said as he poured into the remaining four glasses. "Bottoms up." Then he lifted his glass and, after a quick 'cheers', downed the whiskey in a single sip, the alcohol leaving a nice burn in his throat.
"Dude, that's sipping whiskey," Apollo said, looking scandalized.
"What?" Percy asked, confused.
"You're supposed to drink it in sips, not down the whole thing," the sun god said, looking affronted. Percy poured himself another glass and drank a tiny sip of it, all the while looking Apollo in the eye.
Percy?" his father's voice broke Percy out of his staring contest with Apollo and he focused back on his surroundings. The gods were all staring at him, with varying levels of worry etched onto their faces.
"Yeah, dad?" Percy answered.
"Are you alright?" Poseidon asked, staring his son in the eye and hardly recognizing what he saw.
For some reason, that question really got to Percy. Was he okay? Okay?
He'd spent the vast majority of his life in a freaking pit, for crying out loud! Finally, he was out but it wasn't . . . it just wasn't the same.
Everything was so clean and smelled so strangely, there were no fumes or gases in the air that distorted vision and clouded judgement, he had seen more people since he walked into the club than he had monsters in a week down in Tartarus and, yet, no one had tried to kill him.
He had been a Titan for over one hundred and ten years but a demigod for only nineteen. His body flowed with power that seemed to want to explode out of him, even worse than when he first acquired his extra powers, as soon as he left the pit, like Tartarus had been containing him somehow.
His head hurt and he was tired, just so tired. This world was something Percy hardly recognized and it pained him to realize that. He didn't know how to live on the surface of the earth.
For over one hundred and ten years, Percy had been fighting. Every single day. He tried to reach new heights in his talents and abilities, knowing he was needed in an upcoming war but he didn't even know when it would happen.
He fought for survival in the pit. Every single day. Whether it had been against the monsters of hell or his own demons.
He had suffered. Every. Single. Day. Gods, he had suffered. Ever since the first day, when Kronos had Hyperion torture him, Percy had been in pain.
When he overexerted himself while training his powers, Percy Jackson was in pain. When Chaos beat him up viciously while training his fighting skills, Percy Jackson was in pain. When he was overwhelmed and beaten and kicked and trampled and stabbed and clawed and bitten by monsters in the middle of Tartarus, miles and miles and miles below any kind of help, Percy Jackson was in pain.
When he thought about his friends, his family, and the life he could've had but was denied while he cried himself to sleep almost every night for over a century, Percy Jackson was in agonizing pain.
When he was finally called back from the pit, only to be met with hostile glares and faces filled with distrust and loathing from some of the very gods and goddesses he had previously been willing to sacrifice his life for, Percy Jackson realized how . . . meaningless it had all been.
He had fought more monsters and done more things in his life than anyone could even imagine. But what for? A few ungrateful gods and a shot at a life that had crumbled before he could even blink?
He survived Tartarus twice, only to be called back into the third war in his lifetime. Why did he even bother?
No, Percy Jackson was not alright.
Faint sounds were heard over the rush of blood in his ear. Someone was calling out to someone else. Him, perhaps?
"–rcy, Percy, PERCY!"
In his hand, his glass exploded from the pressure he'd been slowly applying. Pieces of broken glass shot everywhere, making the gods lower their heads quickly and throw their hands up to protect themselves.
"Percy, wha–" Poseidon didn't get to finish as Percy just vanished, no theatrics, no nothing, just disappeared like a glitch in the Matrix, leaving the gods feeling flabbergasted.
X
They had searched for a couple of hours but eventually the gods gave up on finding Percy that night. It was next to impossible to track him down so quickly when he hadn't flashed away like a normal immortal person but teleported away with one of his powers instead. If a powerful immortal was missing for more than two hours, you probably weren't going to find them for a while.
It didn't help ease Hestia's worries that Percy hadn't seemed to be in the right state of mind before he left. Of course, he had only just returned from hell but he'd seemed alright enough earlier. Whatever the case, she hoped that Percy would be safe.
She entered her temple two hours after leaving the club, getting on instant alert as she heard shuffling in her kitchen. Her hands lit up with fire, both so she could see and so she could defend herself if whoever was in her house had the intention of hurting her. Not by fighting, of course, but by distracting the person or putting a shield around herself.
As she slowly stepped into the kitchen Hestia exhaled a heavy breath of relief, her shoulders slumping while she put out her fiery hands. Percy sat on her kitchen floor, leaning on a wall and trying to chug from an empty whiskey bottle, with two similar bottles laying on the floor beside him. Hestia rushed to kneel by his side, trying to get his attention.
"Percy? Hey, Percy," She tried.
"Huh? Whut?" He slurred.
"Where were you?" Hestia asked. "We all went looking for you." Percy looked up at her with unfocused eyes.
"Went to Germany," he told her tiredly.
"Wha-why did you go to Germany?" Hestia questioned with furrowed brows.
"Was happy in Germany. Got vacation," Percy stated. "That was with you, though. Not the same without." Hestia felt a pang of sadness in her heart.
"And then you came here?" She inquired, to which Percy nodded.
"Looking for you." He tried poking her in the nose for emphasis but missed and hit her cheek instead. "But you weren't here. Didn't know where to go so just sat down and had a drink." Percy finished his statement with a helpless shrug.
"A drink?" Hestia asked incredulously. "You've finished three bottles of god-level whiskey." Percy gave an uncharacteristic giggle that made Hestia's brows rise.
"Yeah, I know," Percy said, still half-giggling before leaning towards her and lowering his voice as if he was about to tell her a secret. "And it wasn't even that good." And then he completely lost it, laughing like he had just told her the world's funniest joke.
"Uh," Hestia didn't really know how to deal with Percy like that, usually he seemed happy, with an idiotic or sarcastic comment always ready, going down to serious or even somber when thinking about his past, but there he was, sitting on her kitchen floor and giggling like a thirteen year old school girl. "Percy?"
"Yes," Percy was suddenly completely serious and one hundred percent focused on Hestia. The sudden change in mood completely threw her off and she found herself staring at the young Titan open-mouthed. "Hestia," he said, trying to get her attention.
"Uh, yes," she said.
"It's okay."
"What is?"
"I don't know." And Percy was back to laughing his ass off.
"I have no idea what I am supposed to do with you right now." Hestia stated. Maybe just put him in a bed and have him sleep it off or even just leaving him there to sleep it off. No, she couldn't leave him there, his back would be killing him in the morning and besides, he did love the bed he'd slept in before so he'd probably be out like a light in no time.
She grabbed his shoulder and tried to flash him to the guest room but found that she couldn't.
What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she even move him? Was something happening? Maybe she was fading; no one ever sacrificed to her or anything. The thought was terrifying, she didn't want to die. She had stuff to do. She couldn't leave Percy all alone drunk out of his mind on the floor in her palace.
Then she slapped herself on the forehead for being an idiot. Of course she wasn't fading, Percy was an immortal so she couldn't just flash him around like a demigod or something. That was all there was to it. Stupid, stupid Hestia.
"I'm getting too paranoid," she muttered to herself before she tried to get Percy to stand up. "Percy, hey, Percy. Get up, please." Oh, great, he'd fallen asleep. On the floor.
Hestia grunted as she put her arms around Percy's motionless body and lifted him up. Wow, he'd gotten heavy. It wasn't a big deal with her enhanced godly strength but it would've taken a very strong mortal or two to lift him. She carried him up the stairs and into the room Percy stayed in before he had been thrown to Tartarus.
When Hestia let Percy fall onto the bed, he grabbed her and pulled her down with him into an incredibly awkward spooning position. "Oh, no," she muttered as she tried to get away from the very strong immortal. "Percy, wake up. You have to let me go. Come on, wake up."
Eventually Hestia just gave up. It was obvious that Percy wasn't going to let her go and it was getting more and more tempting to just lay her head down onto his muscled chest and close her eyes for a while. Once she relaxed, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep listening to the sound of Percy's rhythmic breathing and feeling his warm body temperature.
A/N: Yup, that's chapter 9 for ya.
Percy is pretty damaged – unstable, even – mentally and so he goes and gets drunk for the first time ever. I, personally, don't recommend that method but Percy doesn't know that. We'll see how it all goes on for our hero in the next chapter.
So, I've managed to finish this in fairly good time but that's only because I split the last chapter in two so I only had to add a little bit. I know this chapter ends kind of clichéd but you hopeless romantics will probably like it.
I won't promise a Percy x Hestia but it's seeming more and more likely when I think of where I want this story to go. If I do a pairing, that is. You want something else? Please do tell me. Also, tell me why I should listen to you. If you can make your case well there's a good chance I'll do as you like. I'm awesome like that.
Please follow, favorite and/or review. You know the drill, I write the same thing every time.
'Till next time.
-Manimal
