Chapter 36-
Screaming woke Perseus and sent him hurling across the room, towards the girl lying on his bed. Perseus had slept on the floor.
"Percy! Percy, wake up." More screaming before she was shaken from her sleep, eyes pale and horrified. "I've got you. I've got you." He rocked her back and froth as she breathed heavily, broken sentences coming from her mouth. For several minutes, she hugged him tightly, breathing heavily as they nightmare wore off and she rememebered where she was.
A heavy knock startled her though, and she yelped as Perseus cursed. He motioned for her to roll over, which she did. Opening the door, he took one last glance at her, positioning himself so nobody could really see in.
"I heard screaming." It was Triton and Percy almost rolled over to look at him.
"You heard right." Perseus leaned agaisnt the door and Percy rolled her eyes at the protectiveness in his voice.
"I'm sorry, it just." Triton pauses for a moment and Percy can almost hear him thinking "My sister sounded just like that." Tension rises in the air and Percy lies quietly, wiaitng for Perseus to reply.
"I'm sorry." Perseus speaks softly, before slamming the door in Triton's face. Immediately, Percy sits up and looks at Perseus in confusion. He just shakes his head and sits down heavily upon the bed.
"Princess, I don't know how much longer I can do this." He groans, covering his eyes with his arm. Percy gathers her arms around her legs and looks down at him.
"Perseus, my mom used to read me stories when I was younger." She pauses and he raises his eyebrows, holding his arm up so he can look at her.
"I'm not reading you bedtime stories." He grumbles, watching her. Persephoen grins and shakes her head.
"They where Greek myths." She smiles softly and looks at the opposite wall, remembering.
"My hero growing up was you." She murmurs. Perseus freezes and watches her silently before shaking his head.
"You don't want me as your hero, Percy." He sits up and turns so he's sitting next to her "I've made a lot of mistakes."
"We all have." She answers, resting her head on her knees. Perseus nods in agreement.
"I just wanted you to know that you still are my hero." She looks over as he frowns "Thank you for everything you've done for me." She lies down and rolls over so she's facing away from him. Perseus watches her with a frown before finally sighing and standing up.
"Good night, Princess." He whispers, shuttting the light back off and crawling under the blankets of his makeshift bed on the floor.
Xxx
"Hey, wake up." Perseus shakes her shoulder gently and she growls in reply, thwoing the blanket over her head. "Percy, come on." He shakes his head and throws her bag onto the bed. "We've got gods to convince and battles to fight." She sits up, hair a mess as he says this and rubs her eyes.
"I hate you." She mumbles, standing up as he walks towards the door. Perseus grins and bows to her.
"As you wish, my princess."
"Shut up! That doesn't even make sense and stop calling me princess!" she practically screeches the words as he steps out, lauhging quietly to himself.
A few minutes later, she walks out with a long sleeved shirt and her breast plate on. Dark jeans and a gold helmet finish her outfit, but Perseus frowns.
"You're going to die in that. It's supposed to be hot today." She shrugs as they begin walking down the hallway.
"I can't reveal my identity yet, Perseus." she sounds almost scared "I don't know what they'll do. I'm not ready."
"You'll be fine. We have three weeks, take as much time as you need." Her eyes are blocked by the shadow of the helmet, but he knows she's still nervous.
"It might take more then three weeks." She whispers, pausing and staring at the doors they're about to go through. Laughter and talking come from them and Perseus steps in front of her.
"If I'm you're hero, then follow me. I may have made mistakes in the past, but I won't make them here, okay?" he tilts his head towards her and she nods shortly.
"Okay."
xxx
"Good morning." The gods eyed the girl with caution as she walked in behind Perseus. Both mumbled greetings and sat at the edge of the long table, talking quietly.
"So, why do you have all your armor on?" Aphrodite questioned, looking at her. Percy looked at Perseus and he shrugged, not knowing what to say.
"I feel more comfortable in this." She murmured, looking down as they watched her. A moment of uncomfrotable silence filled the room.
"How? You can't eat, you can't drink." It was Demeter now and Percy had frozen, sitting watching her. "Take off the helmet, here let me-" she was just about to stand up when Percy slid her chair out so fast, it tiped over. She was out the door before most of them could register what was going on.
"Uh, excuse me." Perseus grabbed two muffins and a couple apples off the table and ran out.
"Percy!" he hissed her name as he flung closed the door of his room. Her helmet had been flung onto the bed and a small indent was in the wall where it had hit.
"I can't do this." She held her head in her hands and rocked back and forth. Perseus sank to the floor in front of her and took hold of her forearms, stopping her motion.
"Yes, you can." He said it with vigorance and she looked at him with wide eyes as he pulled her arms away from her head. "Stop telling yourself you can't." he pulled her into a hug and she stopped shaking.
"Thank you for being a friend." She whispered, pulling away as a knock sounded on the door. Perseus grinned and handed her the helmet.
"That's what cousins are for." And with that, he stepped towards the door as she strapped the helmet on.