Athena PoV
Percy was erratic. His actions and thoughts didn't match up. His words did not make sense. He seemed depressed. The only thing that proved him sane was hunting. "Please Artemis. He saved you from under the sky. Don't you think you could repay the favour by helping him heal? Isn't he the one male you would respect at least, and call a man? Besides whatever had him down in Tartarus has made him a god, and he just causes problems when he isn't sane.""Fine! But if he screws up, he's dead!" Artemis snapped. I shot her a look of gratitude, before calling for Percy. He didn't show up. I went to his room, and found him in the bathroom, self-harm marks leaking blood onto the bathmat. I crouched down beside him.
"Percy. Percy, please give me the knife. You have to stop."
"I wanna feel, Athena. I wanna feel the pain again. I miss it. I want the pain back. I miss when pain was the only thing I knew, it was so much simpler." I turned, and saw Artemis looking at him with sorrow.
Crouching done next to him, she said. "Percy, it'll be fine. You'll get lots of pain later. But now, we have to go hunting." Percy nodded, and stood up. I healed him, and Artemis flashed them away.
Artemis PoV
There was something about him. The broken look. I wanted to fix it for some oddball reason. We hunted in silence. At one point, a hellhound sliced the back of his shirt open, making a deep cut. After dispatching it, he went to the tent he had pitched. I went after him. "Percy, you can't dress that yourself. You need help with that." Percy turned towards me, and he was shirtless. I felt my cheeks heat up.
"It's fine, Artemis. I have dealt with many cuts before. This is nothing."
"No, it's not!" I pushed him down on his chest, and he froze at my touch. My knees were on either side of him as I cleaned and dressed his wound. "See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Percy stayed where he was when I was dressing his wound, and I sighed. I realised that I was still in the position I was when I was cleaning his wound. I saw the scars on his back from Tartarus. I touched his hand. "I'm sorry, Percy." I crawled into my sleeping bag.
