X
PERCY
Percy was asleep, he knew that much. He couldn't hear, see or say anything – but he could feel everything. First he felt the hard wooden floor of the deck and knew he had fallen onto it. He felt nothing else for a while, but eventually he felt two people pick him up – a pair of hands under his arms and another under his feet. He felt them running, the swaying of his body in mid-air. Then the cold marble floor and a speedy upwards motion. A lift, he surmised. As the upwards motion continued, he felt the hands lift him up again just a little and then lowered him onto a slightly softer substance that masked the frigid stone. The lift slowed down, and he felt hands grip the softer material. The lift stopped, and then he was lifted again and being carried at high speeds over what was probably cobbled ground, judging by the unsteadiness of the carriers' steps. They carried him up steps and then on level ground. He felt their motion slow considerably till it stopped altogether – and he was laid on the ground.
He felt a pair of hands slide under his shirt and another caress his face. The hands under his shirt traced his scars, and soon he felt himself being weightless – and then he was lying on a soft bed. His shirt was pulled off him. Icy cold water was dripped onto his scars, and then a warmer liquid which dulled the perpetual pain. Probably nectar.
Then suddenly, he felt something else. A pointy steel object entered one of his scars, making pain shoot through his body. He was vaguely aware that he was screaming. Boiling liquid flowed into the gashes from the pointy steel object – probably a syringe. The pain intensified. Then it was over. He felt the syringe retract.
He felt a familiar hand grasp his own. Warmth spread through his body and he felt somewhat safe. Annabeth.
Before he could savour her touch, the syringe entered another scar, and the pain resumed. He felt himself screaming and bucking and he squeezed down hard on Annabeth's hand despite himself. The pain reached a crescendo – and then he was unable to feel anymore…
XXXXX
"He's asleep," Percy heard someone say, before a door opened and closed and the person walked out. A familiar feeling hand caressed his face – but it wasn't Annabeth. Percy forced himself awake and opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, his eyelids fluttering, his head aching. His eyes strained as they refocused, the image of a woman being the only thing he could make out, only just. The image became slightly clearer, and he could see brown hair speckled with flecks of grey.
"Mom?" Percy said weakly, but even he knew it was impossible that she'd be here. What was she doing on the Argo III? Then he sensed it – they weren't moving. His eyes cleared and focused and then he saw her. Blue eyes as bright as the morning sky, tears hanging on their edge. Her smile melted his heart, and in that moment, he knew she was actually here.
"Mom?" Percy croaked, trying to sit up, tears leaking out of his eyes. Sally let out a strangled sob and yanked Percy into a hug. Pain shot through his body but he didn't care. He was here, with his mother – after months and months. He buried his face in her neck and sobbed openly, finally not afraid to show his fear, to show his uncertainty, his insecurities. He no longer needed to be strong for the others – it was just him and his mom.
"Oh, my baby boy," Sally said, stroking his hair as he sobbed into the crook of her neck. He raised his arms and put them around her neck, pulling her even closer. "Mom," he rasped. "I'm here," she cooed softly, her voice thick with tears that moistened his hair. She smelt wonderful, still like chocolates and liquorice and candy and marshmallows even though he was pretty sure she didn't work at the candy store anymore.
"How are you?" she asked, pulling away from the hug and leaning down to his face so they were eye-to-eye. She reached out a hand and wiped away his tears. "Better," Percy admitted, smiling weakly at her. He looked down at his chest and thankfully it was covered by a blanket. He nonchalantly tugged at the blanket and pulled it up till his chin. Sally noticed. "What happened?" she asked, raising a concerned eyebrow. F**ck, Percy thought to himself. "Nothing," he said as calmly as he could. "Just a bit cold." Sally looked around herself. "It's quite warm in here," she said confusedly. Percy smiled weakly. She shrugged and seated herself on the sliver of the bed he wasn't occupying, her hand caressing his face.
As she sat, the blanket bunched up underneath her and slid off Percy's neck. His eyes widened and he tried to grab it but it was too late. Sally inhaled sharply. "Percy," she rasped, her eyes fixated on the scar that was visible just under his neck where his collarbone started. "Mom, please…" he croaked, trying to pull the blanket up, but she grasped at it with a shaking, pale hand.
Percy closed his eyes, waiting for the outburst. He felt his mother pull the covers down off his chest ever so slightly, exposing the entire region above his stomach. He heard a stifled scream and opened his eyes to see his mother looking down in shock at his abused chest, her hand covering her mouth. His scars were no longer bleeding, but they were outlined with an angry red. The trenches of the gashes had been filled with a skin-coloured substance, but there was still enough difference to tell that that was not his actual skin.
"Mom, it's not as bad as it looks." Percy lied, trying to calm her down. Sally looked at him like as if he'd slapped her. Percy winced. "Not as bad – as it looks?" Sally asked, deathly calm, but the tears in her eyes betrayed her worry and anger. "Who did this to you?" she asked, fire flaring in her eyes. "Mom…" "POSEIDON!" Sally shouted at the top of her lungs.
The door opened a moment later and Percy's father poked his weather-beaten but handsome face in. "Yes?" he asked. "Get your sorry ass in here before, Olympian or not, I drag it in," Sally threatened. Poseidon's eyes widened and he entered, shutting the door behind him.
"Percy, my boy," Poseidon said, leaning down to place his hand on top of his head and stroke his hair. "How do you feel?" Before Percy could reply, Sally interrupted. "How does he feel? USE THOSE GORGEOUS EYES OF YOURS FOR ONCE AND LOOK AT HIM! HOW DO YOU THINK HE FEELS?" "Mom…" Percy tried to intervene but she shot him a glare that made him shut his mouth as quickly as he had opened it.
"Sally, I don't know what happened to him," Poseidon said, putting a soothing hand on her shoulder. "If you give me a chance, I was just going to ask him." Percy looked down at his hands, trying to ignore his parents. "Percy?" Poseidon prodded. "Dad, please," Percy pleaded. "I don't want to talk about it."
Poseidon hung his head. "Son, I know it must have been terrible, but we need to know. Your mother and I."
Percy breathed in deeply. "When I left your palace, Kymopoleia helped me get to my friends as fast as I could. I managed to save them and everything, but when the statue blew up, an entrance to Tartarus opened up underneath it. Leo, he tried to throw Annabeth into it – I know I couldn't let that happen. So I tackled him and we both – fell in."
Poseidon put a hand on Percy's shoulder, urging him to go on. Percy swallowed. "When we got down there, I managed to get the chip off Leo, and we tried looking for a way out. But we – were captured." He didn't mention Damasen and Bo – Iapetus. He couldn't.
"Who captured you?" Poseidon asked. Percy inhaled deeply before answering. "Kronos." The temperature of the room seemed to drop several degrees and Percy's scars panged with pain. Poseidon's olive complexion went pale. "That's impossible," he said. "I don't understand," Sally piped up, looking from Poseidon to Percy and then back again. "Didn't he die?"
"Yes," Percy said. "But when Annabeth and I escaped Tartarus, we had help. Somehow, they managed to kill the embodiment of Tartarus, and that gave out the energy to reform every single monster, Titan or Giant ever killed."
"I felt the energy," Poseidon admitted. "But I thought it was due to the Doors of Death being freed." Percy shook his head. "Kronos reformed, stronger, way stronger than when he possessed Luke. And he captured Leo and me. He – he hurt us. Then, he let us go one day, but then sent a small army after us – but we managed to escape. The Argo III found us, and here we are."
Sally stroked his cheek. She leaned forward and kissed him on his forehead. "I shall go tell the others," Poseidon said, visibly shaken. "Thank you, Percy." He turned to leave, but as he walked out the door, he turned back. "I'm proud of you, son."
Sally got up and whispered something in his ear. Poseidon smiled and nodded, placing a kiss to Sally's cheek before walking out and closing the door. Sally leaned down and pulled the covers up till Percy's chin. "Have I got a surprise for you," she said. Percy raised an eyebrow.
At that moment, a knock sounded on the door and then it opened. "Annabeth!" Percy said happily as she walked in. She grinned at him and bent over to kiss him, handing a weird sort of open box to Sally that seemed to be filled with a bundle of clothes. He savoured the taste of her lips on his before he blushed heavily as he had just kissed in front of his mom.
Sally gingerly picked up the bundle of clothes and laid it on Percy's chest. "Is this the surprise, clothes?" Percy was about to ask but he suddenly became aware that the bundle was warm and – moving. He looked closely and saw that beneath the red fabric, a pale-pink sort of fleshy substance could be seen. He looked closer and deduced tiny fingers, and then hands, then arms encased in the red cloth. His eyes moved up in wonder and he saw a tiny face with miniscule features, a thin pouty mouth, a nose and fluttering eyelids.
Percy focused closer as his sea-green eyes bored into the face with an intensity that could burn through Stygian Iron. The eyelids opened finally, and electric blue-eyes stared back at him.