Return to Camp and The Traitor
Review on this chapter! Seriously, I'm getting very little reviews and it sucks.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO
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Annabeth, Grover and Percy were walking toward the big house while discussing the quest. Annabeth started with "I don't think the quest is over." The two boys looked at her, confusion on their faces.
Sighing, Annabeth explained the quest. "The god that turned was Ares, the items -Zeus' master bolt and Hades realm of Darkness- have been returned. As for the traitorous friend, I honestly don't know. While failing yourself, well Percy. I was hoping you could fill me in on that. This quest is yours, after all."
Percy looked down and said "When I get mad, I kinda go crazy. You guys have seen that before. Apparently it's my fatal flaw. Anyway, I hate it when I do that." His voice trembled as he spoke. " I count it as a failure, if that makes sense. I can't hold in my emotions. But, I don't think that's what the quest was referring to."
With a sense of dread, he continued. "Did you guys see me at the end? I...felt my eyes go black. This immense strength flowed through my body. The absolute power that made me feel like I could do anything. But the scary thing was, " Annabeth and Grover felt pity as they could see tears falling from Percy's face. "I didn't feel anything else. No emotions. I was...empty."
Looking at the two, he said "I never want to feel like that again." Grover rubbed his back while Percy released a shaky breath. Annabeth just stared wide-eyed at Percy, slightly scared of him. "I had no control of myself when that happened. I just...did it. I'm scared that will happen again." The trio reached the Big House and Percy stifled as he finished up. "Anyway, that is what I meant when I failed myself."
Annabeth nodded. It made sense, but what of the third line? Who was going to betray them? Glancing at Percy, she realised he was now her friend. It could be him. Or, looking at Grover, it could be him. A bigger possibility was that it was someone from camp. Shaking her head, they all walked in on Chiron and Mr.D playing chess.
"Perry, Annabell and Goat Boy, it's nice to see you all back safely. Looks like my father was lenient on you this time." Dionysus said this while putting one of his pawns forward, taking out one of Chiron's pieces. "Why don't you tell Chiron how it went, children?"
Annabeth took that as her que, and proceeded to explain everything in great detail. Chiron's eyebrows stayed neutral throughout the story. Percy nearly laughed when he realized the centaur looked like one of those heads on Easter Island.
Rubbing his chin, the old trainer said "Well done. Now, go rest up. We will see how this quest finishes." Chiron proceeded to look down at the board, engrossed in his game. Waving a hand, the wine god dismissed the kids. It was nearly nightfall, meaning time to sleep. Wishing each other goodnight, they went their separate ways.
As Annabeth walked toward her cabin, her mind was going crazy. What was going to happen. She stopped, and slowly turned around. Percy was still standing where the three had broken up. His arms were spread while his face was looking up and even from this distance Annabeth could see tears rolling down his face.
Percy looked so fragile, it made her heart ache.
He had this small smile playing on his face while his eyes were shut. Annabeth was debating whether or not to go hug him. The unclaimed demigod seemed so broken. The daughter of Athena understood.
His mother was dead. He was thrust into a life without warning -but who was?- and the King of the gods had wanted to kill him not even a day ago. He never really talked about himself. The most Annabeth could get out of him about his past was that he met Grover at a school.
As Annabeth stared at Percy, she promised herself she would make him open up to her and help him anyway she could.
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When he walked toward breakfast, some people praised and clapped him on the back while others just sneered. The unclaimed demigod just sighed. It wasn't anything new to him.
On the offhand, it was apparently rare for people to return back from a quest, especially unscathed.
When he saw Luke, the guy seemed conflicted. Sometimes he looked happy for Percy while other times he looked like he wanted to gut Percy. It freaked the bi-colored hair boy out.
At breakfast Chiron publicly praised the quest group for completing their quest and returning alive. This made all three of them blush as everyone cheered for them. Each of them were awarded with some drachmas and...clothes.
Grover was given this red and orange beanie that could magically change into any hat he wanted. He looked at it like how Percy looked at his swords: in awe.
Annabeth received apparently an upgrade to her invisibility hat. Now if she wanted she could spread invisibility to those she was touching.
As for Percy, he just got clothes. He was kinda bummed at this until he found that they could magically fix themselves if ripped or anything. He got pearl-white long-sleeved shirt that Percy promptly rolled up to his elbows. He also got some black jeans and black athletic shoes. It was perfect because the ensemble matched his messy hair perfectly. Percy also was happy there wasn't more white. His skin already had enough white on its own.
Percy looked at himself in the mirror of the restroom, his smile making his teeth match perfectly with his pearl-white shirt. Man, with his deep purple eyes and his slight build, his hair actually looked good in this messy state. It was mostly just sticking this way and that, but somehow it actually worked, making his outfit complete.
His smile grew even larger when he realised he looked like a vegetable. Specifically, a jalapeño: Hot.
Well, as hot as a 12 year-old boy who was 4'7" could look.
Percy heard one of the stall doors open and shut. Turning he sees a girl. Specifically, Drew Tanaka, daughter of Aphrodite. She froze when she saw him. They just stared at each other for a solid minute when Percy quickly glanced to his left and noticed something. There weren't any urinals there! This is when he made the connection between the lack of urinals and there being a girl in the bathroom.
Percy was indeed in the bathroom. But it was the girls bathroom.
Percy's eyes shifting to and fro seemed to break Drew out of her trance as she screamed at him, making Percy rush out of the bathroom.
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It had now been two months since they returned from the quest and a lot happened. Some of Percy's highlights of the rest of his summer was going with the Stoll twins and pranking people. One prank in particular stuck out.
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Percy didn't know how this had happened to him. Once again, he had somehow got roped into the trickster friends schemes.
But this one...was on a whole nother level.
The previous ones that Percy had helped them with were simple. Switch the guys and girls bathroom signs, glue the entire Ares cabin to their beds as they slept, and once had even turned the arena into an ice rink.
Needless to say, they had gotten quite the earful from that one.
But this one...Percy didn't know. This was pushing pranking too far, in his opinion. It was honestly a hairbrained scheme. But the thought of the Stoll's owing him big time was enough to compel him to help them. Their goal in this prank? To steal the weapon of their target.
This is where the problems began.
Their target? DIONYSUS.
When Percy heard this, he bout near shit outta his dick. Yea he was already accused once of stealing a gods weapon, he didn't want that to happen again.
Somehow, the twins convinced him to do it. As for the plan? They were about to start it.
Looking up, he saw Travis nod at him, then walked up to Chiron. While hiding behind a nearby wall, Percy faintly heard, "Chiron! Come quick! Some Ares kid went on a rampage and someones heavily injured!" Chiron's face turned pale as he apologized to the wine god he was sitting across from. Again, those two had been playing chess.
This Ares kid incident wasn't actually a lie, that event did just happen. Some guy named Chad went crazy and stabbed a Demeter kid. Quickly, the two rushed past him, heading toward the arena.
Looking to the left, Percy saw Conner, and the two nodded to each other. Percy looked around the remaining chess player, seeing his Thyrsus next to him. Conner then walked up to Mr.D. "Hey, um, so you're the god of Wine, right?"
Dionysus looked like he just wanted Conner to go away.
Perfect.
As the god continued to stare, Conner continued. "Well, what's that like? Do you...pee out wine? When you cry, do reddish tears come out? Do you...taste like wine...down there? If you know what I mean hehe." Conner gave Dionysus a little bump with his shoulders.
The god looked like he wanted to kill the kid at this point.
Percy had been sneaking around them and went through the back of the Big House. They had been practicing for a week, so Percy was silent enough not to get noticed by the exasperated wine god.
Carefully, Percy finally reached behind Dionysus. Conner played his part perfectly, by continuing to ramble about stupid things that being the god of wine 'had' to entail. Conner gave no sign of noticing Percy, so the plan went on.
Chest beating hard, head pounding, Percy reached forward with a gloved hand and slowly wrapped it around the shaft of the Thyrsus. This weapon also being Dionysus' symbol of power. Being as gentle as could be, Percy took the entire thing and quietly walked back out of the Big House.
He then rushed all the way back to the Hermes cabin, a feeling of exhilaration going through him. That had been one of the scariest yet funnest things he had ever experienced! Opening the door showed no one present besides one of the Stoll twins.
Looking like it was Christmas morning, Travis asked "Is that it?"
Excitedly nodding, Percy said "Yup." while popping the P. The two started jumping and giggling like little school girls that had just been told their crush likes them.
Conner then crashed through the door, causing the other two boys to stop jumping. Then a huge grin threatened to break his face in two. "We did it! We actually pulled it off!" With that, the trio jumped, whooped and hollered.
The twins themselves were even surprised the plan had worked.
"Now onto phase 2." Conner said. Percy and his twin just looked at him in confusion.
"I didn't know there was a phase 2." Travis said.
Conner, while scratching the back of his head, said "Well, I honestly didn't think we'd get passed the first phase, so I didn't bother telling you guys about the second part."
Percy just said "Well, now you guys owe me two favors. Each. And when I cash in, I expect you at your best." While nodding his head, he continued "Now, what's the plan?"
Conner's grin seemed to widen even more. "We can't just keep the Thyrsus with us. Eventually, he's gonna notice it missing."
With a devilish smirk, he said "We need to plant it somewhere that would work. Meaning…" The other two quickly understood. "The Ares cabin" was said by them all at the same time.
Percy was actually starting to like phase 2 of the plan.
That night, all three of them snuck into the Ares cabin and placed the weapon on one of the cabin's many weapon stands. Snickering quitely, they all left.
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A couple of days later
Morning
Waking up, Percy along with many others heard the roar of a very very angry god.
"Where, where WHERE IS MY THYRSUS!!!?" This echoed around the whole camp. If you hadn't been awake before, you certainly were now.
The twins and Percy met eye contact. While they had predicted the god would get mad, they didn't think he would go all out.
Dionysus had replaced his look completely. No longer was his hair long, face shaved. No longer was he wearing a purple dirty sweater over a beer belly with matching pants. No longer was the bored look on his face.
This new form must've been as true a form he could be without killing all the mortals around him.
Now standing 8ft in height, he wore a white toga with purple embroidered along the top and bottom. Sandals were being worn as well as a look of rage on his face. His face
had changed as well. Now he had short cropped hair and a nice big beard and furious dark purple eyes.
No one said a word as the god of wine went on a rampage around camp, stomping from cabin to cabin, a crazed look in his eyes. Percy realised, at that moment, the prank had indeed been too far. If Mr.D - no - Dionysus ever found out they were the ones that took it, Percy had zero doubt he would die.
Finally, he reached the Ares cabin.
Upon seeing his weapon, the god screamed "Which one of you brats took it! Come clean!" Enforcing each of the Ares cabin with madness from his divine powers, the children all fell while crying in pain. No one around camp said a word, just grimacing.
Chiron then trotted forward, whispering to the enraged god in a hushed voice. After a couple of minutes, Dionysus' face slowly loosened, dropping its look of rage into a scowl. The god nodded a couple of times, before seemingly releasing the kids from his madness.
While watching the Ares cabin gasp for breath, Dionysus grabbed his weapon and reverted back to his previous form. Speaking to all of camp in a matter-of-fact tone, he said "If any of you brats do that again, I will kill you. Chiron has convinced me not to destroy you all, so behave from now on." With an icy glare that pierced everyone's hearts, he finished "I will not be held back next time." With that, Chiron and Mr. D headed back to the Big House.
Percy and the Twins stared at each other. That had been too scary. Percy walked up to them and said "You guys owe me big time. Remember." The twins just gave a shaky nod in response. They decided to just stick to pranking other demigods from then on.
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The other part of those two months was spent with Luke and training on sword techniques for both single and dual blades. He even convinced a couple Ares kids to help him with his shield work and swords also.
Although he was improving at a remarkable speed, he still could not beat Luke without going into Red Wraith mode, as the others called it. Then he was on more even ground with Luke. Although he was better, he never could win.
Percy, in this mode, had a huge increase of speed and strength, but there was a price. Blood of others. He could not physically leave it without spilling some type of blood. When he went into that state, he wanted to be swimming in gallons of blood, while rubbing entrails over his body.
Luckily, he had enough mental strength to hold back from splitting someone's stomach open and rubbing his face in their guts.
It was strange. Even out of that state of mind, the feelings lingered. Albeit on a much much smaller scale.
Another thing Percy discovered he could do was go into Red Wraith mode pretty easily. Usually just think of some past memories and boom, he wanted to swim in some blood.
When Percy first learned how to go Red Wraith mode, it lasted only two minutes. After all the practice, it could last 6 minutes before his body gave out. If he tried his hardest, he could go 8.
But that resulted with him blacking out.
It had taken hours upon hours of practicing in the arena with Luke. Percy had memorized the blonds face to an absurd level. How the scar running across his face was just shy of his jawline, the top inches from his short hair. The way his ice blue eyes glinted in joy every time he stabbed Percy.
The seriousness in his face every time Percy went Red Wraith on him.
Percy even had the arena memorised. The permanent smell of sweat. The straw and dust that made you sneeze on occasion. The bronze glint of all the weapons hanging along the wall. Hell -or should he say Tartarus now?- he even memorized the cracks lining the walls around the arena.
One of the days he was sparring with Luke, Chiron noted something. Although he was powered up, Percy couldn't regenerate while in his modes. Percy said it took too much energy and concentration to regenerate while in that state of mind.
He could barely stop himself from dicing his friends like vegetables when in that mode, no way would he be able to speed up his regeneration.
Well, without adding some sauce to the salad that would be everyone around him.
Percy wasn't the only one that had been training. When in the arena, he would constantly see Annabeth practicing with her dagger. She seemed adept at close combat, but not a master by any means.
Grover on the other hand had been pushing himself to the limit everyday. Percy saw him go into the forest and come out exhausted. He asked Grover what he was doing in there, and his response was "connecting with the life around me."
Whatever the heck that meant. Even though they were now friends, he was still strange to Percy.
The 'connecting to plants' thing seemed to help, because Grover could now grow more plants and much faster. Not to mention, stronger than before.
That was basically everything that happened in those two months. Besides Grover and Annabeth constantly asking about his 'mysterious' regeneration powers.
Percy could speed up his recovery process, ok? That's all those two need to know.
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Right now Luke had asked Percy to follow him into the forest, while a bag hung from his shoulders. Percy complied. He really hoped this was just Luke wanting to have a friendly talk with Percy somewhere private.
Percy also hoped Luke wasn't into little boys.
As they continued their trek, Luke was in front of Percy, silent as a preacher. Meaning he was yapping the whole way about this and that. The unclaimed demigod mainly tuned him out, responding with "Mmhm" 's and "Yeah" 's when necessary. Suddenly, Luke stopped his monologue and said "We're here."
Turning Percy saw a lake and had to admit that the view was beautiful.
The water glistened in the sunlight, an almost blinding blue. Turning, he could see birds sitting in trees, while some fish were in the water. The trees themselves towered above the duo while gently swaying in a warm breeze.
Percy turned and could see Luke sitting down on a rock to his right. Looking down, Percy could see a conveniently placed rock right next to him that was perfect for sitting on. Percy sat down while giving a long sigh and relaxing on the rock. "So Luke, why did you bring me out here?"
Luke responded by giving Percy and himself a bottle of pop. "Well, I wanted to ask you. Are you...happy with the way things are?" Percy cocked an eyebrow at him in question.
Luke tried again. "I mean, are you satisfied with the way the gods are doing things?"
Percy didn't know how to respond. He decided with a shrug and said "Well, it could be worse. I mean, we could all be dead. Or Lord Zeus could pull a dad move and eat his children." To emphasize his point, Percy crushed his now empty bottle.
Luke looked slightly worried and pissed off at the same time. "You aren't angry at all that you aren't claimed?" Percy shrugged as a response. "I mean, just look at all of the kids that are in the Hermes cabin, unclaimed. In my opinion, the gods are not ruling good." Luke's face now turned dark, a frown on it. "They are not fit to rule any longer."
The silence between the two filled the air tension. Neither of them spoke for what felt like hours, but was minutes.
Finally, while facing the lake, Percy said "Then who do we propose takes over? Us? None of us are anywhere near the power of a god, much less all of the gods."
Luke just shook his head from side to side in response. "No no no. Not us. Deities that have lived and ruled longer than the gods."
The tension became even thicker than before, as Percy held his breath. He stared at Luke with wide eyes. "You don't mean..?"
Luke shook his head up and down, eyes hosting a crazy glint. " Yes. I mean the Titans."
Percy released a breath. At least it wasn't the giants, like his guess had been. That would have been a big problem.
Then Percy said "Didn't you hear me make that joke about Zeus? Pulling a dad move and eating his kids? You know that Zeus' father did that to all Zeus' siblings, right?"
Luke once again shook his head in a no motion. "This time, the Great Titan Lord will be righteous. He will respect all demigods that help his cause. He will help all 'lower' gods who have been mistreated by the Olympians and His rule will lead to the new golden age." As he said this, Luke's eyes had a sort of glazed over look. The speech he basically just gave sounded rehearsed, as if he had said it many times.
Percy just looked long and hard at Luke, hair covering his eyes. With a low voice, he asked "What of the humans? What will become of them?" Luke shifted, looking at Percy. He felt the change in the atmosphere and realized that he was treading dangerous waters.
"The Great Titan Lord will help humanity progress forward as they worship him. He will not affect them in any way than to help."
Percy's eyes flashed red. He doubted Kronos would do that. If he remembered, they let the monsters eat the humans, while the Titans used them as play-things.
Toys.
Things to toss when done with.
"Bullshit, Luke."
The blond just ignored this and said something that nearly sent Percy over the edge.
"I brought you here to ask, will you join me and others as we help the Titans lead humanity to a new Golden age?
Luke noticed Percy's hair go up and eyes that became blood red for a second - a clear sign of Red Wraith mode. Just as he was about to pull out his blade, both eyes returned back to their dark purple.
Percy sighed loud, while looking away from the blond. He hoped that looking at the lake would calm him from tearing his friend apart. "Luke, I'm afraid I must decline your offer. Now, as a friend, I'm giving you 5 minutes to leave this camp before I go kill you." Luke frowned at him in response.
"I'm afraid it wasn't a 'join or stay' question, Percy. It was more of a 'join or die' question." Suddenly, Percy felt a sharp sting in right leg.
He let out a small groan when the pain hit. Percy looked toward the ground, showing a...scorpion? He had seen them before but still. Its tail was still in his leg so he deduced the scorpion was the cause of his pain. How the hell -or Tartarous? He was still unclear about that- had he not noticed it before?
"I really am sorry it had to end this way, Percy. I was hoping you would join me and see the light. That was too much to ask for apparently." Percy just sat there, frozen from both fear and shock. The blond's face truly did look sorry. His eyes looked down with pity, as he stood up. Percy continued to stare at Luke.
Luke began to walk away, leaving his can of pop on the floor. Without turning his back, he said "I'll do the same courtesy you gave me Percy, because we are friends. I've been studying your regeneration, and noticed it only heals physical wounds. Meaning, poison still affects you. As your friend, I will tell you this. If you stay still like that, you will survive for about 25 minutes. If you move, the scorpion will stab you repeatedly, injecting more of its poison every time. Meaning, if you move, you will die within 3 minutes."
With that, the Son of Hermes left.
A thought then occurred to Percy.
The Quest was now complete.
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Percy sat on the ground, attempting to imitate the rocks next to him. Someone had to have seen the direction he had left with Luke, right?
Then again, why would they come looking for him? It was just him and Luke going into the forest in the middle of the day. Why would that raise any red flags?
After about five minutes of hyperventilating, Percy decided on a course of action. Looking within himself, he found the memories of him and his mother. The memories he buried deep deep within himself. Looking at them, rage flowed through his body, his eyes turning red and body craving blood. He then just stared at the scorpion that was calmly sitting on his leg.
If scorpions had a good thought process, this is where it would've tucked tail and ran.
Instead, it just lay there, tail primed to stab him at any moment. Percy moving at speeds that could barely be seen, snatched the scorpion. Feeling a sting, he noticed the scorpion had done its job and stabbed him once more in the leg. Gritting his teeth, the 12 year old promptly squished the scorpion into a bloody mess.
That had brought a smile to his face.
Turning, Percy quickly ran at top speed toward camp, only mirages of his previous places could be seen of him. Then his body started feeling the effects of the poison.
His eyesight turned blurry, body becoming clumsy and breaths coming out in laboring heaves. Luckily, he had run the mile distance to camp within a minute. Leaving his bloodlust state of mind, Percy started putting the remaining of his energy into trying to expel the poison from his system with his regeneration.
It seemed to be working somewhat, but only slowing the effects the poison gave him. Quickly finding the nearest person he let out a strangled "Poison. Me. Heal. Help."
That was apparently enough to get his message across because they lifted him and ran.
The last thing Percy saw before his energy ran out was bulky dark-colored shoulders.
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Another thing, I mentioned a story idea I had. What would you guys think of a Percy that destroyed the gods? Like, a crazy Percy? I like that idea but don't know if I feel like writing about it. Like, I could, but if people won't read it, then I won't. Tell me what you guys think of that idea in a Review!
Awesomes out