Hey guys.
I know, quick haha. I didn't have anything else better to do and I have so many ideas buzzing through my head.
Quick shoutout and thank you to Fenrir 30008 for favouriting and following my story and addalittlesmoke for leaving such a nice first review. This chapter is dedicated to you guys.
Also, just a quick note for people who read the prologue before I caught my mistake, I meant to say 3 months after 'The Blood of Olympus', not 'The Last Olympian'.
Disclaimer: All rights aside from OC's to Rick Riordan.
Chapter One.
Percy PoV:
'Ugh, I'm such an IDIOT! I thought to myself as I walked away from the beach into the darkness of the night, cooling off steam from a previous argument with Annabeth.
'I mean, come on! Saying that stuff? I'm surprised she didn't kill me where I stood'. I huffed and headed in the direction of Half-Blood hill, thinking maybe seeing Peleus and Thalia's tree might cheer me up- and prepare me for the absolute hellstorm that was Annabeth Chase when she was angry. Especially when it was a jealousy that fueled that anger.
I smiled as I remember her after Calypso, even if we weren't officially a couple, or when we finally reunited in New Rome and Reyna had made a pass at me. In front of Annabeth herself no less!
A chuckle was released from my lips as I reminisced about old times between me and Annabeth, the anger slowly fading from my body. Every good moment, every bad moment. I held them all close and dear to my heart, even the 'Tartarus bonding trip' as I jokingly call it, something I do to stave off the pain of remembering us actually having been there.
I smiled to myself. 'gods I love you Annabeth Chase even if sometimes you can be a bit of a-'
That last thought didn't finish in my head as a figure barreled out of the tree line into the clearing I was in and smacked straight into the side of my body. I stumbled a bit, but recovered quickly, turning to face the figure who was now sitting on the ground, obviously dazed. Reaching for Riptide, I uncapped it, preparing for a fight.
That is until I looked at the figure, and a gasp of shock escaped my lips.
He looked to be a young boy, maybe twelve? The moonlight shone on his clothing- a simple yellow t-shirt and, a size too small, jeans- showing that it was ripped and obvious he had been bleeding, as his previously yellow t-shirt had been stained into a dark red wine colour in some areas. As bad as all of that may seem, that wasn't what shocked me.
A brown, dirty nest of hair was only partially on his head, as it looked like a part of his scalp above his right eye had been burnt off; the hair still refusing to grow there. From what I could see, his body was covered in varying sizes of scars, his arms especially, with a creeping barrage of them going onto his torso, underneath his torn t-shirt. His ankles also revealed the same scars, going up into his legs, although I couldn't see them due to his jeans. It was obvious someone had been abusing this poor boy, carving nicks into his flesh. The fingers on his hand were curved and bent, but not through natural purposes. His body was small, gaunt and malnourished, almost as if a small wind would break his fragile structure.
But it was his face that shocked me the most.
It was... deformed; disfigured. It pained me to even think that. I hate those words. It reminds me of smelly Gabe. He used to call me by those same names. It saddened me, but those were the only words that came to mind when looking at this poor boy.
The bones in his face looked like they had been purposefully shifted to the right side of his face - from his perspective, to me it looked left-, his jaw bent out and crooked, obviously providing him discomfort. The right side of his lip hanged out, showing one of his front teeth missing. His once pale skin was dark from years of bruising, his nose especially from how long it seemed to have been broken, never having any attention or medical care. This boy looked broken. Not only in his dark brown eyes, which seemed to project despair, sadness and fear at once, but his body.
A growl forced me out of my assessment of him. I looked behind the boy to see his hunter. A black hellhound, the size of a dump-truck and whose red eyes pierced through the night emerged from the trees into the little clearing, slobbering at the mouth for his seemingly easy prey.
I moved in front of the boy with Riptide out, shielding him from the beast. The hellhound let out a loud bark before charging straight at me, probably thinking I was easy prey as well.
Oh how wrong he was.
The hound lashed out with a claw which I easily side-stepped and brought Riptide down upon in an arc-like shape. The beast howled as his foot fell to the ground, disappearing into dust as a large gush of blood soon following it. Mutilated, the beast howled in distress, hobbling backwards slightly. He growled as he leapt again at me, attempting to have some satisfaction in enacting revenge by killing the boy who cut off his foot. I smirked as I ran at him the same time he leapt at me, before right at the last second I slid underneath him, slicing Riptide up and cutting open the belly of the beast. The hellhound yelped in pain, before it exploded into dust which littered the ground.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I laid on the floor, before remembering the boy. Getting up and walking to him, I saw him stare at me with amazement, a single tear rolling down his cheek. This expression was quickly replaced by one of fear however as he eyed my sword, backing away slowly. Realising my mistake and only imagining how frightened this boy must be to see me approach him with a sword, I capped Riptide before stopping in front of him. "Hey there, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." I said in a hushed tone. "My name's Percy Jackson, what' s your name" I asked, bending down to his eye-level in order to not look so threatening.
"S-S-Sam" the boy replied with a pained voice, his eyes holding a hint of uncertainty.
"Don't worry Sam, you're alright now. I'm going to take you to someplace safe". I held off on unloading about the existence of Greek gods and their children, deciding that it would be best for this boy to calm down and relax before being hit with that intense information.
A look of joy spread across his face momentarily, before his eyes closed and he fell backwards, the top half of his body hitting the ground with a large thump. I jumped up and rushed over to his side, realising he had fallen unconscious from a mix of fatigue, blood-loss and terror he had only just experienced. Kneeling down, I reached into my pocket to pull out some ambrosia and nectar to give to the boy. My hand fiddled around in my pockets for a few seconds before it dawned on me. I had left my supply of ambrosia and nectar on my bed back at my cabin, thinking I'd only be having a quick chat, and maybe snog, with Annabeth.
'Crap' I thought in a moment of panic. The boy was pale and he was losing more and more blood. Scooping one arm under his back and another under his legs, I lifted him up with surprising ease before turning in the direction of Camp Half-Blood and sprinting with all my force to get this boy to the Apollo cabin before he succumbed and traveled to the realm of Hades.
Annabeth PoV:
Cursing, I hurried around Camp Half-Blood searching for Percy. It had been twenty minutes since our stupid argument and us both walking off in anger at the things we said to each other. Although somewhat hurt by some of the stuff he said, I knew I was a fool for accusing Percy of ever being unfaithful, uncommitted, unloyal to me with that half-wit Aphrodite girl Drew. I just hoped I could find him so I could apologise to get this heavy guilt off of my chest, and for us tor return to our normal, happy state as a couple. I was an idiot to even consider for a second that Percy didn't love me, and I would make sure he knew how sorry I was when he got back.
I smiled to myself, before quickly plastering on a straight face and removing that thought from my mind; checking to make sure that no one had seen the great Annabeth Chase lose control for a second. Satisfied that no one had seen me, I approached Half-Blood hill sighting Peleus dozing off as the Golden fleece flapped ever so slightly in the night's wind on Thalia's pine tree. A smile once again crossed my face as I looked beyond the hill towards a small forest and New York in the distance. Peace and serenity filled the night's air. I closed my eyes breathing it in, wishing Percy was standing alongside me to feel this amazing feeling. The feeling didn't last however as I was rather rudely interrupted from my thoughts when a man carrying something came into view.
"HELP!" cried the man as he dashed towards Camp Half-Blood
I looked down at him and suddenly realised it was Percy, his dark hair flopping in the moonlight as he ran towards me. Any other time and I might have thought this was cute, but I could tell he was distressed. I quickly cursed my arrogance before springing into action and sprinting at full pace down to meet him, a hand around my dagger to kill anything that dared attack my Percy. Approaching him it occurred to me that it was not an object that Percy held in his arms, but a...boy? I couldn't exactly see him due to the level of light, but what I did see shocked me as his ghastly features were caught on a piece of moonlight.
"Annabeth!" Percy shouted, a level of joy evident in his voice before he remembered the precarious situation he was in. "Quick! Do you have any ambrosia or nectar?" he desperately asked as he closed in on me.
I shook my head as I came to a halt. "I left them on my bed. We need to get him to the Apollo cabin" I said before turning around and starting to run in the direction of Camp Half-Blood.
"On it!" I hear him reply as he passed me, sprinting on as I tried to keep pace with him. Even with that boy in his arms he still managed to outrun me, although looking at the boy, I noticed how skinny and under-fed he looked. We dashed for the Apollo cabin, Percy arriving first with myself only moments behind. It was past curfew for the younger campers and we knew us banging on the doors late at night would probably wake them up, but this was urgent. I saw as Percy desperately banged on the door, once again shouting for help as he held the boy up with only one arm. The door opened and a clearly weary Will Solace stood before us, his eyelids only barely open.
"Percy? Annabeth?" he asked slowly, his drowsiness illustrated by his voice. "What are you tw-OH MY GODS" Will exclaimed, finally noticing the battered boy in Percy's arms. "Quick! On that bed!" Will ordered as two suddenly alarmed Apollo campers cleared it and began bringing out medical equipment. Percy laid the unconscious boy down on the bed before turning to look at the rushing Apollo camper's who were gathering ambrosia and nectar as well as other medical equipment. It was under the cabin's light that I finally saw the broken boy. I had to bring my hand to my mouth to stop myself from screaming as I looked upon his face and scars. I turned away as looking at him became almost unbearable. Percy backed away from the bed and put his arm around my shoulder, something I replied to by burying my head in his chest, hiding my tears for the broken child in front of me in his shirt. Will and the other Apollo campers worked on regardless of the boy's features, - although a couple of gasps were heard - giving him small doses of Ambrosia and nectar with baited-breath in hopes the boy did not spontaneously combust. Luckily, the boy was shown to be a demigod through the act of not spontaneously combusting as soon as the medicine was forced into his mouth. He proved to react well, even when unconscious, to the godly gifts. Percy and I sat down on a nearby couch, watching the children of Apollo set to work on the boy.
After a heart-wrenching half-an-hour filled with more shouting and blood-soaked towels than I would've liked to have seen tonight, Will stepped away and turned to Percy and I, a look of concern evident on his face which only made us two even more scared at what he was about to say. "Okay, good news is that he's not dead" Will said as Percy and I both sighed with relief. "The bad news is that he's in a very unstable coma, and so the statement I just said may become untrue" Will continued.
Percy shot up "What's the likelihood that he'll make it Will?", distress mounting on his face.
"If I'm to be honest, I don't know. However, if I had to give an approximate guess, I'd say maybe forty percent"
"Of dying?" I asked
"Of living" Will replied to which Percy and I gawked at. "The injuries he's sustained are bad, as well as his... long term defects. I would call my father but he's away right now on important business, and so the boy's care is left up to us. Don't worry though, everything we could have under control, we do. You two should probably go and tell Chiron now and then get some rest. Emphasis on the rest part, you both look awful. Now, if you'll excuse me". Will turned away and focused his attention back to his patient.
Percy hugged me and helped me to my feet. I looked over for the last time, hiding a tear before Percy and I entered into the darkness of the night, our thoughts consumed only by that boy. That poor, broken boy.
Phew, first proper chapter done. Man does it feel good. Again, thanks to anyone who R&Rs, I really appreciate it. Hopefully I'll have another chapter uploaded sometime soon, but probably not as quickly as this one was.
See you in a bit!
-the unknown terrier