Thalia parried Percy's spear with her own and stabbed at him. He easily twisted away from the strike and swept her legs out from under her with the shaft of his weapon. He waited for her to stand again and waited for her to attack him. Again. This cycle continued until Thalia could barely hold onto her spear. Her movements were sluggish and clumsy, they had no force behind them. Percy had stopped even using his spear, instead deflecting the weapon with his bare hand. Hand, singular. Thalia growled and struck harder, again he only used one hand to push the spear just enough off course to miss his torso.
"Actually try to kill me Thalia, even if you stab me it won't be enough to kill me." Percy instructed, his voice still wasn't warm and friendly, but Thalia could accept that while they dueled. She aimed for his chest and thrust her spear directly at his chest, he caught it less an inch away.
"Can't we take a break?" Thalia asked,
"You have to hit me first." Percy reminded her. She pulled her spear back and tried to move faster.
"How is this helping? It hurts." Thalia asked,
"The pain is your muscles tearing, tomorrow they'll be healed and much stronger than if you were to go easy. This path hurts, but in the end you'll get much better much faster." Percy answered. Thalia tried to stab him again, he actually had to dodge.
"So, basically you're working me like a dog so I get stronger faster." Thalia summarized.
"Yes, but Thalia." He grabbed her spear and stepped close to her, they were almost touching, "It's about what's in here" he tapped her head, "More than what's in here" he tapped her bicep. Then he was ten feet away, waiting for her to attack him.
"Fine. You're saying that I'll keep going no matter what if I want to beat you enough right? Then that's all I have to do." Thalia decided. Percy smiled. That smile sent a shiver down her spine, 'I'll force him to smile like that again. He'll smile if I can hit him, he genuinely wants me to get better, so I will.' She decided. She rushed him, her legs screaming in pain, she ignored it and stabbed at him with his spear. Percy was grinning like a maniac as they danced back and forth with their spears. Thalia's muscles had filled her senses with pain that was almost unbearable before they just stopped and she started moving faster than she thought possible for her still weak body. Percy overextended on a thrust and her spear came whistling through the air to smack his upper arm.
"Good job." He complimented her. Thalia collapsed in a heap on the ground and tried to still her runaway heart. That duel had shown her exactly what kind of person the figure standing above her was. The crossing of their spears had brought her closer to him than she'd ever been, and it brought a shit-eating grin to her face. Percy picked her up and carried her into his house, she was too tired to protest. He laid her on his bed and hummed as he prepared tea in the kitchen.
"What's that?" she gasped as he entered the room again, the pain from her muscles was beginning to make itself known and her limbs were seizing as pain erupted throughout her entire body. He sat her up and supported her,
"Relax your muscles. This tea will help with the pain." Percy murmured, she drank it gratefully before passing out. Thalia woke in her cabin, Mavros was watching her carefully. There was a note on her bedside table.
"Thalia, you did good today." Was all it read. Thalia sighed and let her head fall back onto her pillow. She was too tired to care about the emptiness of the cabin.
Thalia trudged through the forest painfully to Percy's cabin. Mavros trailed her silently, scaring off the campers that had decided to try and see where she was going instead of camp activities. She reached Percy's cabin and groaned, her muscles were unbelievably sore from the torture Percy had put her through the day before. Percy stood from his seat on the ground and smiled at her,
"You won't need your spear today Thalia." He greeted, she grunted and trudged over to him.
"That's good." She muttered,
"Instead I'm going to ask you questions, answer as soon as you can." Percy said, they were still standing.
"Can we sit first?" Thalia asked,
"No, you must learn to think through the pain. And we do not have the time to wait for you to acclimate to this type of training slowly. You're being tossed out of a plane without a parachute and expected to learn how to fly before you hit the ground, metaphorically speaking." Percy answered. Thalia groaned.
"Fine." She conceded.
"What is a human life worth?" he asked,
"More than anything else." Thalia didn't hesitate.
"No, try again." Percy said,
"A human life can't be measured in worth" she tried,
"No, try again." He repeated,
"The family and friends that person has." She guessed,
"No, try again." Percy sighed,
"How it affects others." She tried after a few minutes thought.
"Yes. But, if a human's life is measured in how it affects others are all human lives equal?" he asked.
"No, that would mean that no one is worth the same as another." Thalia answered
"Correct. What is equality?" Percy asked, his lips were beginning to form a smile. Thalia blushed at the sudden memory of what she had done and tried to refocus on his question.
"Equality is an ideal pursued by humans in an attempt to reach the perfect society." Thalia answered,
"Not what I was looking for, but technically correct. Then what is an ideal?" Percy asked,
"A guiding belief that mortals use to keep themselves from sinning." Thalia answered,
"No. Try again." He said, his smile was fading,
"An unattainable belief that is used to drive someone for something they can't reach." Thalia answered.
"Yes. So, by that definition. What is equality?" Percy asked,
"Unattainable." Thalia answered.
"Exactly. It is human nature to oppress. There will never be true equality as long as humans cannot overcome that base facet of their nature. No matter what, someone gets the shit end of the stick. So Thalia, are you going to let it be you?" Percy asked,
"That depends on who it would be if it wasn't me." Thalia answered,
"Annabeth." Percy supplied.
"I would let it be me." Thalia answered,
"Me." Percy supplied.
"I would let it be me." Thalia answered,
"No, never sacrifice yourself for me. Enough people have died doing that." Percy scolded,
"I don't care." Thalia stood up to him. He scoffed.
"If something was strong enough to kill me do you really think you could stop it? Consider your answers before you allow your words to spew forth." Percy said rudely, his tone was ice cold. Thalia had never seen him be rude to anyone, it meant something,
"Do you think I'll never be as strong as you?" she asked, Percy's eyes widened.
"What was that?" he asked,
"I don't care if I'm not strong enough now, I will be eventually. So when I'm strong enough I won't hesitate to sacrifice myself if something is strong enough to kill you." Thalia answered. Percy grinned.
"Good motivation. Pretty high goal if I do say so myself." He commented.