Thanks for all the reviews/follows/favourites and such it really means a lot to me.
Okay sorry about the wait as most of you know I graduated High school and in Australia those who graduated usually go on a holiday which is essentially eating, drinking, Partying, drinking, sleeping and naturally drinking. So I did just that.
And know I am back so Yay.
I in no way own PJatO or HoO
Percy sat alone in a small cage, he could walk around and stuff and stand and there was a bit of room, but still it was small. He took up residence in the centre of the cage to avoid the hands, tentacles and hooves that tried to reach in and touch the victor of the first games.
He felt like some sort of animal.
They called out his name and begged to let their hands run over him, and touch him or wound him for making them lose money or thank him for gaining them money.
He wanted to get out of here and talk to Annabeth, because she somehow could make him feel both ten times better and ten times worse at the same time, she made him feel human. He sat silently trying to block out the calls and screams of the people, instead he tried to focus on the sounds coming from inside the arena.
He could her growls and shouts ever so slightly over the roar of the people beside him and he felt sick, people where in there fighting, still and he was starting to feel sick.
He needed something to eat or drink.
Anything to stop him feeling so tired and weak.
"Perseus."
"Champion."
"This kid won me 100 denarii."
"Brat lost me 200."
"Percy."
He opened his eyes wide; no one called him Percy unless they knew him. He looked around the crowd that was crowding around; clearly some people didn't enjoy the beast hunts.
The same things were being called over and over again, a man who Percy wondered was human stepped to close to the cage and a guard had to pull him back with a loud groan. It had happened a few times with different people, but they continued to do it anyway.
"Percy!" they called again a little louder, he stood slowly and turned around h=inside the cage looking for the person.
The crowd roared again and Percy felt like he was going to be pushed back from the sound alone.
"Percy!" He turned around and saw the person, she had a white hood covering her face but he could still see her eyes they were a light blue and Percy had probably never seen eyes so beautiful, well he had but hers were different.
He moved towards the side of the cage where she was and the crowd roared again and flocked to the side he was on. And he couldn't see her in the crowd, and he wanted to.
"Perseus." A voice called from the cage, Percy knew who it was and turned slowly a smile hesitant on his face.
He bowed slightly and the titan chuckled.
"No need for that my boy." The titan chided bringing an arm to wrap around the demigod he pulled him in and waved to the cameras that were now flashing.
Percy never saw where the titan emerged from, nor did he really care, well until he was being led out the very same doors and into the crowd that surrounded him.
There was a long path set out where guards stood along the sides, their faces impassive as he walked past. The crowd was still there but none wanted to race towards him with Kronos' arm wrapped around his shoulder, they were not stupid.
Kronos stopped and talked to a few people a smile never leaving his face and he would often pull the boy closer and he would be introduced to random people who he cared very little about.
He spoke when he was spoken to and bit his tongue from saying something stupid or insulting to those who he was talking to, he had a feeling Kronos was talking to them for a reason. But he never smiled his face was straight.
"Show them those pearly whites." Kronos said, well ordered while they continued to walk down the long path that seemed to never end. "You need these people to sponsor you."
So Percy smiled and tried his best to be funny and charming, he guessed he was doing a good job when one of the people laughed along with him and gave Kronos a meaningful look. Then they would be whisked to the other side to talk to someone else and Percy was shocked and confused at the amount of humans here.
"Why are there so many mortals?" Percy asked once they left an old greying plump man in a suit, he seemed more interested in the idea of sponsoring a girl rather than a boy and Percy was fine with that because the man seemed a little to handsy.
But he did feel sorry for whoever he sponsored.
Kronos smiled and waved to the crowd and Percy joined, his limbs aching and the side of his face still hurt from the girls punch.
"Because this is worldwide news." He stated simply and Percy's smile almost dropped.
World wide.
People knew about this, about what was happening and yet no one was here to help them. That was when he became aware of the cameras set up all around them and he almost dropped a smile he was close.
He curled his other fist tightly and placed it onto the side of his thigh to stop himself from doing something stupid, something that would end up with him being thrown onto the chopping block.
He thought of his mother for a moment.
She would be so worried, she would probably be crying and he didn't want that so he sent a meaningful look at the closet camera hoping she would see. That she would know he was okay and not to worry about him, but he knew she would still be worried about him and it hurt.
"Come on." Kronos' voice was in his ear, but the man stood a little further away. "You need to get cleaned up."
And Percy was again whisked away into another room that was too small, but he was grateful that this time it wasn't a cage.
It was quiet, too quiet and he loved it, because know he could think.
Slowly he picked up a bottle and drank all of the contents letting out a loud sigh as the liquid burnt his throat, he thought quickly and frowned no he didn't want to think, he wanted to forget.
He smiled to himself and pulled the bottle back to his lips. He rewarded himself by finishing the bottle in one swift gulp.
Throwing it to the side he picked up another, and another.
He didn't know why watching what he saw could bring back those memories but it did and know they were burnt in his mind and with every kid he saw fight another and fall to the ground the more fresh the pain turned.
If he had been with her they may have been able to stop it.
To stop this.
But he wasn't there and he didn't even know she had gone, no he remembered her leaving for what felt like five minutes and all of a sudden he is whisked away and is told she is dead, that was when this all happened.
He kicks the table and the contents tip over with a loud bang, he curses and shouts and yet when the door opens and light streams into the bare room he is shocked and he curses some more as he gets off the chair trying to shield his eyes from the burning light that assaults the darkness of the room.
"Gah!" he calls promptly falling onto his knees, his arms shielding his eyes like there is no tomorrow and at the moment to him that is exactly what it feels like.
"Nico." It is all that is said and it drives the man up the wall, why would someone place this torture to just say his name, it's not like he doesn't know his name already.
Slowly he removes his arms from his eyes and looks at the girl standing by the door, and it is the one person he doesn't want to see. In fact he would rather still be stuck in that bloody casino with no care in the world and blissfully remain unaware of the world around him.
"Shwhat?" he slurs and he realises how funny he sounds and he tries to hold back the laughter that is trying to burst through, only it is harder than it seems.
Reyna raises her eye brows and smirks. "A girl is here, she wants to join." She is leaning against the door still watching him and he starts to feel awkward well until he thinks of a dog wearing a tutu because that is just funny. He chuckles to himself forgetting the girl is standing there.
And he already knows what she looks like right know, he has seen that look enough times to know that look, so he gets off the floor and tries to stand as straight as he can, which doesn't work but then again he wasn't expecting it to really.
He stumbles sideways and he thinks he is going to fall onto the floor again, but he hits the wall with a thud he smiles slightly patting the wall like it was an old friend.
"Good boy." he mutters and then he remembers Reyna and his attention shifts and she looks into his glassy eyes, she remembered when she first saw him like this, she was scared and feared for her life as well as his followers, because well they were listening and following a drunk's orders and to her that was insane.
"Send her in." He orders and the girl shakes her head and his anger rises.
"You know I can't do that." She states her body language screams control and confidence and he is angry because he is the leader, he is supposed to be in charge. He moves his feet to walk towards her but he knows if he did that he would end up on his face so he stands straight and tries to act menacingly.
"I" he starts his voice a low growl that rumbles through his chest. "Am in control, now send her in."
Reyna shakes her head and moves from her position her hand clasps the door handle as she steps back he wants to think she is doing it because she is scared of him but he knows she is not.
"Sleep it off and I will send her in tomorrow." She says as she shuts the door and he has no idea where he gets the glass from but all of a sudden he is throwing it against the walls and screaming and cursing at the top of his lungs.
Reyna stands outside the door and shakes her head at a woman who looks up expectantly.
"Leave him there to sober up, we need him sober for this one."
Rachel is sitting at a table her hands clasped on the top and she is staring at nothing, but she is seeing everything and it scares her she wants to run away but she knows if she does the images will follow her.
And that is not what scares her the most, she like many others had watched.
And she saw the look on his face the way his eyes glazed over as he fought and it scares her, it hurts her to think the boy she loves has changed.
That he is no longer the same, she tried to joke to herself that it was just the way the light hit his eyes or the way his helmet distorted his own view, but she saw the images in her mind, set out like a plan to his life and it scared her.
She didn't want to see it.
She remembers when she would sit in class and the teachers told them about Classical Mythology and of their heroes. He would beam at her when they mentioned the name Perseus like he was proud.
The only hero with a happy ending.
"I'm going to have a happy ending when I grow up." He said as he ate his food he smiled at her and she laughed.
"What like a hero?" she had asked and he simply nodded.
A bitter thought enters her mind and she tries to squish it before it blooms but it is too late it is there and she hates it because she knows it is the truth.
At least one of his wishes will come true.
Okay hope you enjoyed and such.
Please Review and tell me what you thought.