The next two days flew by in a blur. The Hephaestus and Vulcan cabins pulled all nighters, and soon there was an entire fleet of ships and other transport machines ready and waiting for the demigods to use.
The two groups got along remarkably well, and soon became indistinguishable from each other.
Only Octavian and a few of his more loyal followers didn't get along with the Greeks. But that didn't matter much, Reyna had gained control once again over the legion, and Octavian had been cast to the side and out of the way.
Leo worked tirelessly on the Argo II, making repairs and giving it fancy new upgrades.
The rest of the seven worked on stacking up on supplies and training the other demigods as much as they could in the two days that they had.
By the night before they were scheduled to leave, everything was in order and the camp was quiet.
Waves lapped at the shore not far from the cabins, and only the sound of Percy's hellhounds' snores broke the silence.
In Percy's mind, though, all was not peaceful.
He was in the middle of one of his nightmares. They circled and haunted his mind, and he was usually able to wake himself up before he could wake anybody else up. But tonight's nightmare was one of the worst he had ever gotten.
He was reliving the vision that Moros had shown him. Annabeth struggled in the big meaty hand of one of the giants. Percy couldn't tell which one. It didn't matter. All he could see were her eyes. Her beautiful stormy eyes which were shining with desperation, she caught sight of him and they lit up with hope just before the giant brought its sword to her throat and it was cut.
Blood ran down the giant's hand and arm, and within a second of it happening, Annabeth was gone.
Hanging limp and cold as a dark feminine voice seemed to come from everywhere.
Gaea.
Anger, white and hot, bloomed in the depths of his chest and soon turned into pure hatred.
He tried to yell out in a combination of both grief and anger, but nothing would come out.
The scene in front of him froze, and yet he still couldn't move. Stuck in his place and forced to stare at Annabeth's body.
Tears rolled down his cheeks, and he sobbed. His grief running so deep it was almost palpable.
Back at camp, a storm was brewing. Waves crashed on the beach almost viciously, and wind whipped around as a gathering hurricane began to build off shore.
Poseidon was on the beach, looking out at the stormy water with a blank expression on his face.
He could feel the great amount of pain in the ocean's actions, and knew that it could only come from Percy. He wanted nothing more than to run to his cabin and comfort him. And yet, his friends' words still echoed in his head.
"He doesn't want to be bothered. So leave him alone!".
As soon as he had felt the ocean's turmoil he had awoken and come here. But he could hear the sound of other cabin doors opening behind him and knew that the other gods and demigods had now been awaken by the noise.
"Brother! What is the matter? Why are you acting like this?".
Zeus and the other gods came up behind him on the beach, all but Zeus having to fight against the strong winds to reach him by the edge of the water.
"It's not me. It's Perseus".
He spoke at normal speaking level, but he knew that the wind would carry his voice back to the others.
They all froze as the sound of a girl's voice could be heard screaming over the wind.
"Percy!".
The gods turned and ran back up the hill, arriving at Cabin 3 just as the owner of the voice did.
Annabeth and the other seven crew members had just arrived along with a few other curious campers who had heard the commotion.
Together, they opened the door and ran inside the cabin, only to stop in their tracks.
Percy was laying on his bed, all of the blankets having been blown off with all of his wounds exposed.
The one in his side was bleeding again, as if he had been scratching at it, and the blood stained his sheets.
His hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, and he kept muttering random things that didn't make any sense under his breath.
"Doom. Doom and Destiny".
"Annabeth".
He tossed and turned, blood and sweat staining the sheets.
Then, suddenly, he went still and silent. And yet the storm outside still continued to rage on.
Before anybody could say anything, he spoke again. In the dark and scratchy voice that didn't sound at all like him.
"Gaea".
At just that one word, all the shadows in the room seemed to lean towards him, the storm reached its peak, and the ground began to shake.
He screamed, a loud grieving sound that only added to the crescendo of noise that was the storm outside.
"NO!".
Zeus turned to Poseidon just as Annabeth ran to Percy's side.
"Stop this. Control your son before he destroys this camp!".
But Poseidon just shook his head sadly.
"I cannot. His power is fuelled by his pure emotion. Trying to exert my power would only result in a stalemate that would make the storm even bigger".
Meanwhile, Annabeth was knelt on Percy's bed trying to get him to sit still and calm down.
"Percy! Percy! Wake up! Percy!".
But he just responded with more yelling, "Please! No! Please!".
She sat back defeated, tears clouding her eyes.
Apollo stepped forward, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and pulling her away.
"Let me see if I can heal him, make him feel less pain. It might allow him to calm down enough to wake up".
Percy wanted nothing more than to wake up. But he was trapped there, watching and staring as the worst thing happened again and again right in front of his eyes and he continued not to be able to do anything about it.
Apollo reached forward, placing his palm on Percy's forehead and closing his eyes in concentration.
Almost as soon as his hand made contact with Percy's skin, his face blanched.
Soon, he couldn't take it anymore and pulled away with an unusually grim face.
"What is happening in his mind right now is far beyond my expertise".
The other gods and demigods stared at him in shock.
"What? There are some things that I'm not good at", he shrugged his shoulders and turned, "Dionysus, I think this is more in your domain".
"Hold on a moment. My son is not crazy", Poseidon's eyes flashed, and if Percy wasn't already doing it, the earth would have shook beneath them.
"No, no, uncle. I agree, he's not. He's just being mentally tortured", he looked around the group and watched as his meaning sunk in.
Poseidon gestured for Dionysus to continue forward, and he did so, reluctantly.
He placed a hand in Percy's messy hair and immediately his golden aura glowed more brightly.
He growled in frustration, and the smell of grapes filled the room.
"Moros".
He glowed brighter in a flash of light before dying out completely with a sigh.
The yelling stopped, and the storm immediately subsided outside. His body relaxed, and his hands fell back to his side, dried blood caked under his fingernails.
"There".
His breathing was ragged and uneven, and tears still slipped silently down his cheeks.
"Just a little bit of ambrosia and he should be fine".
Poseidon nodded and stepped forward, taking out the small baggie with the little cubes and taking one out.
He put it into the still unconscious Percy's mouth and stepped away. But instead of dissolving and healing him, Percy shot awake and spat it out, the food of the gods vile in his mouth.
His eyes opened and before anybody could move he had pinned his father to the ground with Riptide at his throat.
"Percy!".
Percy's pupils were dilated with fear, and they still weren't completely cleared from the mist of sleep.
Once he realised who exactly it was that he had pinned on the ground below him, he immediately stepped back and a look of horror crossed his face.
"I-I'm so sorry. I-". He ran a hand through his messy hair, and stepped back, Riptide clattering to the floor next to him as he let it fall from his hands.
"I thought you were- I'm sorry". His son looked up at him with green eyes so full of grief and sadness that it made the Lord of the Seas' heart reach out.
"It's fine. Percy, it's fine. It was an accident".
Despite his father's words of reassurance, he continued to pace back and forth across the floor of his cabin. His hands automatically going to the scar in his side.
He stopped pacing when his hand pulled away red from his blood.
He just stared at it, not moving for a while before sighing and walking deliberately across the cabin.
"Percy, we tried to give you some ambrosia, but it didn't work. Can you tell us why?", Apollo stepped forward, the concern in his eyes being accompanied by a look of intense curiosity.
"Don't worry. I've got it". From a chest of drawers in the corner of his room, he produced a scorched water bottle and two rags. One which was covered in blood and had random scorched holes burned through it, and one which was relatively clean except for the occasional drop of blood.
"Percy… What are you doing?". the gods all looked nervously at the bloody rag in his hand, but it had been Annabeth who had spoken up.
"I've got it. I don't need help. I'm okay". His words seemed like they were more directed at himself than the others still gathered in his cabin, and they all exchanged nervous glances.
The blood was coming out slightly faster now from all of the movement. Cuts within the scar in the shape of nail marks clawed into his side.
Percy didn't seem to mind the blood, just holding his hand tighter to his side and making his way over to a corner of his cabin.
He slid to the floor, his back leant back agains the wall and his legs bent up in front of him.
Slowly, he turned more so that he was on his side, and uncapped the water bottle he had set on the floor next to him.
Smoke drifted out of it, along with an alarming smell. He moved the scorched rag so that it was right underneath the wound, and put the other rag in his mouth.
Before anybody could ask what he was doing, he poured the fiery contents of his water bottle onto the bloodied area. It made a hissing sound, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the room. Percy screamed into the rag, tears that he refused to let fall gathering in his eyes.
The wound closed completely after only about a couple of seconds of this, but it was enough for everybody present to be sufficiently horrified.
He spit the rag out onto the floor and recapped the bottle. He used the other rag to mop up any left over water or blood, and then stood up and returned his materials to the chest.
"Annabeth, I'm going for a swim. Come get me when we're ready to go".
She nodded, kissing him gently on the cheek before he continued on past them and towards the beach.
Hazel and Piper walked up and rubbed her arms and back comfortingly, while the boys just stared after him and talked amongst themselves.
"Did he just, leave?".
Apollo finally spoke, his words breaking the rest of the gods out of the shocked stupor that they all seemed to be stuck in.
"Yeah. He, uh, does that".
Leo spoke up from where he, Jason, and Frank had been talking.
Annabeth had calmed herself down, too. And looked at the gods with determination in her eyes.
"We're working on it".
"Yeah, once he gets back on the boat he'll be okay", Jason pushed himself up off the wall, and the rest of the seven began to make their way back outside.
They seemed to have accepted it, already used to Percy's crazy nightmares. But the gods were still all deeply horrified at what they had just seen.
"And you guys are just accepting this?!".
The group of demigods looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
"Well… yeah. He's been through a lot, but he's still the same person. Still Percy".
Poseidon smiled gratefully as he studied his son's support system. As long as Percy had them he would be fine.