Here's the 10th chapter. Some stuff might not make much sense and the plot might be moving a bit slow, but trust me, all will make sense in the end.
Before I forget, thank you thank you thank you for all the support on this story. Triple digits on favorites and follows in under 10 chapters, this feels great considering I started this story with the idea that I wanted to create something that I hadn't yet seen on this website.
Now if only we could get triple digit reviews...
Nah I'm jking.
But seriously though, thank you everyone who has even glanced at the first chapter, if it weren't for you guys, I probably wouldn't still be writing this story.
Leave questions and comments in the review section, feedback is greatly appreciated cause sometimes my ideas go on giant tangents that just end up making no sense. Basically, if the story starts getting in the what-the-fuck-does-that-even-mean territory, give me a call.
Without further ado, here is your tenth chapter:
Chapter 10: He Can't Care for You
"I still don't understand why you chose that as your weapon." Thalia said, hands on her hips as she stared at what appeared to her as a rusted and useless piece of Celestial Bronze.
"I've already told you, Thalia, it called to me. It's perfect." Calypso said, fully knowing as she said so that it could make absolutely no sense to everyone else. Still, the scimitar felt right in her hands. Perfectly balanced and just plain beautiful, the weapon was, in her mind, a masterpiece just how it was.
"Whatever you say, Calypso." Thalia relented, shaking her head. "I'm not exactly an expert in scimitar techniques, but I've managed to dig up a few things about the weird weapon you chose."
Calypso rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the last comment, but was mildly surprised when Thalia reached into a bag at her feet and pulled out a medium-sized book with a leather hide.
"Here." Thalia said, plopping the book into Calypso's outstretched arms. "I'll teach you some of the basic movements today. Maybe even some of the fun stuff. But you can read more about the scimitar and its history later."
"Thank you." Calypso said, skimming through the pages and finding faded words spelt out in English as well as the occasional simple picture to demonstrate certain maneuvers. "I'll make sure to read it later."
"Good." Thalia nodded curtly, allowing Calypso to gently place the book off to the side where it wouldn't get injured or torn. "We'll go through some basic techniques and some of the scimitars counters to other common weapons you might face when you fight actual people instead of monsters with claws and fangs."
Calypso nodded as Thalia her own scimitar, this one being made of simple mortal metal and looking fairly new. The daughter of Zeus demonstrated a multitude of different types of maneuvers including slashes, stabs, and parries before asking Calypso to reproduce and repeat those simple moves for around a quarter of an hour.
After 20 minutes of slashing and stabbing, Calypso's forehead was covered in a glistening layer of sweat and Thalia was smiling proudly at the progress that the titaness had made. The sun glanced brightly off Calypso' own scimitar and signaled the nearing of midday.
"Okay. I wouldn't say you've mastered all of those techniques, but you know what to practice now. I'll now teach you some more advanced counters to certain weapons." Calypso nodded in appreciation and understanding.
"Okay, sounds great. Thank you again, for helping me." Calypso said, bowing her head only slightly. Thalia smiled and shook her head at Calypso's unnecessary politeness.
"You don't have to thank me for everything I do, Calypso. I wouldn't be a very good friend if I couldn't take an hour out of my day to help you." Thalia said. Calypso smiled and nodded at Thalia's rare moment of sensitivity.
"Thank you." Calypso said, knowingly joking. Thalia punched Calypso on the arm, which only slightly stung, which was more in tune with her distinct personality.
"Alright enough with that. Let's teach you some counterattacks." Thalia said, rubbing her hands together before taking out her scimitar. Calypso nodded and shifted to a more comfortable standing position to listen to Thalia's lecture.
It was maybe half an hour before midday now, and Calypso was basically soaked in sweat. She didn't mind, of course, as she had regularly worked herself to the bone while gardening in the smoldering sun or fixing a gadget in the unbearable heat on Ogygia.
Calypso had just finished redoing the counter maneuvers that Thalia had taught, which were all either very simple and easy to understand or extremely complex and confusing. They had covered an entire range of weapons, some of which Calypso hadn't ever heard of, but it was fun. The process of learning interesting maneuvers that she would have to work on to get better at was invigorating.
"You've done well. We don't have much time left until we have to fetch lunch, so we'll just lightly spar." Thalia said, grinning. "You can practice all the techniques you just learned."
"How is that going to help me?" Calypso asked, exasperated.
"Eh, you'll be fine. Besides, I won't use Aegis." Thalia said, smirking. Calypso shook her head, knowing that it still was nowhere near a fair fight. Nonetheless, she relented, and strolled over to one side of the large circle they resided in.
"Alright, just try not to kill me I guess." Calypso mumbled, readying herself with her scimitar in one hand.
She flexed her hand around the weapon, digging into the leather grip and feeling the slight slipperiness from her sweaty palm. Her anxiousness was apparent in her slightly shaking legs and clammy fists.
Getting slightly impatient at Thalia's calmness, Calypso slowly approached her, holding her scimitar in a readying position that they had gone over earlier in the day. It was satisfying already seeing the information she had earlier soaked up about her weapon translating into combat, but at the same time, motivating to know there was still a lot she needed to work on.
Thalia suddenly struck at the approaching Calypso, causing the titaness to instinctually dodge the incoming spear aimed at her torso and deflect the long wooden handle just to be safe. At the satisfying sound of metal on wood and the sight of Thalia's confident smile, the numerous counterattacks they had gone over began racing in her mind. What were the scimitar's counters to a spear?
Calypso had now seen Thalia spar and battle with her spear many times, but only a few times had the daughter of Zeus been without her trusty shield, Aegis. Still, Calypso began to compile the information that was available in her memory bank and noted the tendency to slash and stab in an offensive manner.
It was by no means sloppy, as the attacks were rhythmic and coordinated intended to catch the opponent off guard or tire them out to exhaustion, but Calypso could possibly use this information to her advantage.
As it turned out, the information was extremely helpful in Calypso's endless pursuit to not get nicked or worse, impaled, by Thalia's infamous spear. Calypso's knowledge of Thalia's tendency aided her in Thalia's oftentimes telegraphed attacks. Immediately, she could tell that the mighty warrior wasn't fighting at 100%. Calypso was a mixture of grateful and offended at the gesture, knowing that even without Thalia fighting her hardest, she would probably lose.
Another stab came at Calypso's midsection, causing her to immediately step back and deflect the spear once again with the flat side of her weapon. She almost smiled at the realization that came to her. Thank the gods above that she now had an actual plan to beat Thalia.
The pair of Huntresses danced around the circle that confined them, Thalia smiling while she stabbed and slashed to no avail. Calypso waited patiently for an opportunity to strike, and thankfully found one that she thought was decent enough for her to take advantage of.
Yet another stab was aimed at Calypso's belly, causing Calypso to sidestep. The one thing that Calypso did differently was instead of slapping the spear away, she used the curved inside of her weapon to hook the part of the spear that transitioned from a wooden handle to the metal tip in an attempt to disarm Thalia.
Her plan was flawless, her execution was not.
Although Calypso had managed to remember one of the counterattacks to spears, she failed in her execution of the maneuver. In her attempt to hook the spear out of Thalia's grasp, her weapon slid off the hook and Calypso was left vulnerable due to her surprise and physical position being cross armed and flat-footed.
Thalia took the opportunity to swipe her spear at Calypso's shins and knock her flat on her stomach. The fight was over before Calypso hit the ground, Thalia quickly closing the distance and squatting over the groaning Calypso. Thalia playfully patted her spear against Calypso's upper back.
"Done?" Thalia said. Calypso knew she was smiling without having to look at her. She groaned and hit her forehead against the soft grass beneath her.
"Apparently." Calypso rolled over onto her back and accepted Thalia's outstretched hand.
"That was pretty good, honestly." Thalia said once Calypso had bounced back to her feet. Calypso scoffed.
"Sure it was." Calypso said sarcastically leaning down to pick up her scimitar. The two strolled over to the side of the circle which had all of their belongings including some much needed bottles of water.
"No, I'm serious. You did well." Thalia said seriously, snatching a bottle of water and quickly uncapping it. Calypso followed suit and retrieved her own bottle of water after sinking her scimitar into its leather sheath and setting it on the ground. "Percy would be proud."
Now see, that comment threw her off.
Calypso's face scrunched up as she quietly took a sip of water. She stared at the ground blankly as she willed the cold and satisfying water to slide down her throat. Thalia stared at Calypso curiously and slightly chuckled.
"He cares about you, it would be stupid of you to not realize it." Thalia said bluntly. Calypso shook her head and chuckled.
"Really? Then why am I here, and not where he is?" Calypso asked. Thalia nodded in understanding.
"Because he's afraid." Thalia said simply. Calypso again scoffed at the notion. "Trust me, it's taken Percy five years to allow himself to have any kind of fun. You and Artemis are the only ones he's actually allowed himself to have any semblance of fun with.
"Really?" Calypso asked doubtfully. The fact that Artemis was included in the sentence went right over her head. Thalia chuckled again.
"Well, besides his cousins, he hasn't had any fun with anyone else." Thalia said. Calypso nodded, more accepting of the new answer. "You know about what happened a couple of years back, right?"
"Vaguely, yes." Calypso said. Percy's harsh words still stung, and his confession was just too heartbreaking to forget. She couldn't imagine how she would feel if anything remotely similar had happened to her.
"Yeah, well, ever since then, he's been like a shell. He just can't get over it, and he's basically thrown away his life because of it." Thalia said, shaking her head.
"Wouldn't it be better if you told this to him?" Calypso asked. Thalia laughed hollowly.
"I have. I'm sure he's heard it from Nico and Hazel too." Thalia said while shaking her head. She took a long chug of water. "He just won't listen."
"So he's been grieving this whole time?" Calypso asked. Thalia cocked her head and shrugged.
"Kind of. He doesn't know that, though. He has that whole thing about how if he doesn't get close to anyone he won't cause anymore deaths and he hates the gods and he won't grieve anymore deaths blah blah blah." Thalia said, clearly not in agreement with Percy. "He breaks his 'rules' all the time though."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know. He got close to you, to Artemis, he has his cousins. Piper. Hell, even our friends in the Underworld he visits every once in a while." Thalia said, taking another swig of water. "Ask him if you can stay in a couple of months, and if he hasn't figured himself out by then, I'll beat him up for you."
'What?" Calypso asked in shock. Thalia looked at her dead in the eyes and smirked.
"Don't feign innocence. It was written all over your face that he turned you down." Thalia said, laughing. "It's not that he doesn't care for you, it's that in his mind, he can't care for you."
"That doesn't really make sense." Calypso stated. Thalia shrugged, finally finishing her bottle of water and tossing it into her pile of belongings.
"To him it does." Thalia said. Taking a deep breath, she laughed. "I think we have to go to lunch. Everyone else is leaving."
"Yeah… yeah we should go." Calypso said absentmindedly, nodding her head.
"Yup." Thalia popped, grabbing all her belongings. Calypso followed suit and slung her brown satchel over her shoulder. "And don't give up on Percy. I don't know what you see in him, but don't give up."
"Sure. I guess I'll have to force the numbskull to stop being such a dumbass." Calypso said, laughing.
"There you go." Thalia said, slapping Calypso lightly on the arm. "Alright, pretty sure all the hunters are waiting on us. Let's go."
"Wouldn't want to keep them waiting any longer."
"This isn't how I would've liked to spend my day." Percy growled through gritted teeth. His grip tightened on Riptide as his other hand twisted his Imperial Gold hunting knife in his hand.
The lapping water of the lake washed against the back of his calves rhythmically as he stared down toward the edge of the forest ahead.
"If you would kindly leave, I think it would be better for everyone!" Percy yelled across the beach. All he received was a couple of loud and very angry snarls.
Percy sighed and shook his head at the obvious pickle he had been forced into. This had been the third attack in a matter of weeks after five years of peaceful bliss, and the unexpected instructions were starting to get on his nerves.
Almost unnoticeable movement behind the dark cover of the treeline caught Percy's eye, causing an even greater sigh to be extracted from the demigod.
"Great, and today you've brought friends." Percy said, groaning at the pair of dracaena that joined the pack of enormous hellhounds. "Any other surprises?"
Percy's wit and sarcasticness at the situation surprised even himself. But then again, he hadn't felt this good in years. His training and newfound purpose had invigorated him and therefore caused a "slight" overall mood change.
One of the dracaenae hissed loudly, causing Percy to cringe at the terrible noise, before the pack of about a dozen hellhounds charged with the dracaenae in tow.
The hellhounds had been a piece of cake last time, and Percy hadn't been nearly as worried about the giant dogs, but throw the dracaenae in the mix, and the demigod became slightly unsure of his predicament. Sure, he had been training his ass off with the desire to better protect himself, but dracaenae presented a whole new dynamic to the battle.
He was no longer a bearer of the curse of Achilles, and he didn't have any fellow heroes to rely on for help. Sure, he might've been at his physical prime, but that didn't mean he didn't still have a long way to go to reach his peak in fighting ability.
A leaping hellhound aimed right at his face shook Percy out of his train of thought. Luckily, all he had to do was shift his blade and outstretch his arms in order for the hellhound to meet the edge of Riptide instead of Percy's vulnerable face.
The pouncing hellhound immediately turned into dust, causing the other monsters to growl in anger and charge even more aggressively (if that was even possible).
As always, the fight was a blur. A blur of wild yet precise and meaningful swings and stabs that absolutely devoured any mutt in his radius. However, this time, hellhounds weren't his only opponents in the fight, which was something Percy sorely regretted.
As Percy sliced through the last hellhound, he was faced with a singular dracaenae that hissed at him with all the anger in the world. Now confident that he could take on a solo dracaenae, Percy recklessly charged at the snake-like monster.
It was almost humorous how menacing the monster looked just to get cut down in two simple slashes.
Percy's breath was no longer ragged, which probably would've happened had this attack occurred a couple of weeks ago. Instead, his chest was calm and rhythmic, and his breathing was steady. Sweat still glistened on his face, but that was much preferred to being absolutely drenched in salty perspiration.
A loud hiss from behind him and the feeling of a sharp slice on his back caused Percy to turn around and quickly stab through a remaining dracaenae.
"Fuck!" Percy said as he witnessed the dracaenae withering into a million little dust particles. The pain in his back was already apparent, causing Percy to drop to his knees and pound his fist against the beach in frustration. As he had said before, he no longer bore the curse of Achilles, which would've been really helpful in that scenario.
His eyes started to water, either from the pain in his back or the sand that was floating up from his repeated punches against the beach.
"Hermes, get the fuck down here!" Percy yelled in frustration, crawling toward the lake that was only a few yards away.
To his surprise, the messenger god actually appeared before him in a flash of light. Percy looked up from god's ankles which sat in the water toward his face which blocked the sun from blinding him.
"Yes, Master Perseus?" Hermes asked humorously. As soon as he saw Percy withering on the ground, his expression sombered and a frown began to form on his chiseled face.
"Why in the Hades do I keep getting attacked?!" Percy asked through gritted teeth, continuing to crawl slowly toward the water.
"What do you mean?"
"What do I mean? This is the third time I've been attacked!" Percy scoffed incredulously. "What in the Hades is going on!?"
"I couldn't tell you." Hermes said calmly, studying Percy.
"Oh, wow, thanks for all the help, I'll make sure to include you in all of my diabolical plans." Percy grumbled. "Seriously, what's happening? First Ogygia's magic starts dissipating, and now I'm getting attacked every other day?!"
"I honestly couldn't say." Hermes said after a brief pause. "All I can say is that this isn't the worst of it. Bad things are going to happen."
"Great." Percy mumbled. "Another prophecy? Another war to blindly jump into?" Percy grumbled bitterly. Hermes chuckled and shook his head.
"I don't know."
"You know, for being an all-knowing messenger god, you suck at having useful information." Percy said, finally reaching the lake and soaking his injury in the refreshing water.
"Thanks, I guess." Hermes said. "Well, if that's all, this was a really nice chat, but I have things to do and people to see."
"Wait just a minute." Percy said, looking up and staring Hermes in the eyes.
"Adios!" Hermes cheered, waving a hand before popping in a flash of light. Thankfully, Percy was able to close and cover his eyes before he was blinded by the light of the messenger god.
"Great." Percy mumbled. He stayed there, in the water, closing his eyes and just focusing on his breathing while his wound healed itself.
"Fucking fantastic." Percy mumbled as he got up once his wound was sufficiently healed. Trudging his way to his home, Percy sighed as he leaned against one of the poles at the front of his porch. The wood rubbing against his back felt irritating due to his still sore wound.
"Stupid gods and their stupid condescending bullshit." Percy mumbled. He felt the frustration and anger begin to boil inside him. "Godamnit!"
Percy backed up and punched the pole he was just leaning against, causing the wood he struck to fly clean off. A loud noise made Percy fly off the porch and back onto the beach as he yelled in surprise.
Percy groaned as he got up from his back and onto his elbows. What surprised him even more than him punching part of his house clean off was the fact that the trees had begun to sway rhythmically in the clear and windless day.
The ground beneath him rumbled as the demigod struggled to comprehend his impact on his surroundings.
"Well that's new." Percy mumbled.
An extremely large sequoia tree fell almost in slow motion toward Percy, adding to the already rumbling ground and causing Percy to jump backwards at the flying branches and tree bark that flew off the now dead lumber.
"That was dead before." Percy said to himself. Yet another tree, this one being slightly smaller, fell to the beach, causing sand, sticks, and leaves to fly up into the air. "That was too."
Percy groaned and collapsed on the beach. He looked up into the clear sky that was slowly beginning to fill with gray colored clouds. Soon, the whole sky was overcast, and the sun could only be detected through small cracks in the veil of darkness.
"Why? Just why?"
Alright if I'm being honest the ending of this chapter was kinda shitty and rushed, even if it was the desired end result. Whatever, I guess I'll have to live with it.
Here's the response to comments on last chapter:
Malgrath: I understand what you mean. Right now, I'm trying to show certain dynamics for Percy with Calypso and Artemis, also trying to balance out his interactions. I know it's kinda Calypso sided so far, but you never know what'll happen.