— V. PERCY & ACHILLES: CURSES —

"I'm a little surprised you washed my curse away."

Percy startled, automatically grabbing Riptide as he turned to face the speaker. He'd been in his room, attempting to study, but the jumbled letters had gotten annoying enough that he'd taken a break to go on a walk. He'd been hoping to run into monsters to kill, not… whoever this was.

"Who are you?"

"Achilles," the man said, baring his teeth in mimicry of a smile. He had a sword at his waist that Percy assumed was shrouded in Mist and a bag in the other.

"You don't look like him," Percy said, distracted by the man pulling a handful of sunflower seeds out of the bag. What kind of asshole ate sunflower seeds?

"Oh, and you would know what I look like?" 'Achilles' asked derisively, "I'm assuming you met my shade. A mockery of myself, really, I would never cut my hair like he does."

"You don't sound like him either," Percy said.

Achilles rolled his eyes, "Yes, because all of us ancient heroes are supposed to act like we're stuck several centuries in the past, and we're all bitter old men."

"...You aren't?" the son of Poseidon sounded terribly skeptical as he asked the question.

Achilles scoffed, "I may be bitter, but I don't have to act like Theseus, or —gods forbid— Herakles."

Percy looked bewildered. From what he remembered Annabeth and Chiron saying, Achilles had been one of the more reclusive, less amicable heroes. They'd also said he was dead.

"Aren't you dead?" Percy asked inanely, receiving another eye-roll for his trouble as Achilles stepped forward and smacked Riptide away with his hand. The cut he should have received never appeared, and Achilles wiggled the fingers on the hand he'd used almost mockingly.

"Crazy how that works," Achilles said, "You know, a few hundred years go by, your warden starts to forget about you. Achilles? Oh, Achilles wouldn't leave the Underworld, why would he do that?" he said aside, mimicking someone, "Achilles was a brute, he was hardly smart enough to escape Hades."

He laughed to himself, and took the opportunity to eat more seeds, "People seem to forget I was a war general, who led some of the greatest warriors in all of time! Alas, I should be thankful, Hades seemed to have forgotten my utter distaste for Elysium." He shook his head, muttering under his breath.

"... Why are you here?" Percy asked reluctantly, capping Riptide.

"Oh, yes," Achilles seemed to remember what he came for, "I only thought to ask you a question. Why did you ditch my curse?"

"You just said it," Percy said, "it's a curse. I cared less for it than I did the rest of my future. Besides, you —your shade, I guess— warned me off of taking it in the first place. Why are you bothered?"

"It warned you against taking the curse, eh?" Achilles mused, "I think you were deserving of it. You had the choice, after all, and you chose to take upon the curse. I never did, though I also never really regretted it."

He started walking away, and Percy followed quickly, "Everything Chiron's said implies you did." Percy said, "Regret it, I mean."

"Interestingly, Chiron doesn't know all of my inner thoughts," Achilles said drily. "Though yes, for a time I did regret it. You regret many things as you mourn. I only recognized its value when I got out of the Underworld, I suppose. Without some Trojan prince around to shoot me in the ankle, I am hardly at risk of death," he joked.

"So what, you've just been wandering the world for however many thousand years?"

"Yes, actually," Achilles said, "I have no obligations, now. No allegiances to king and country. I was free to wander, and so I did. I haven't really had reason to come back and find the remnants of My Greece, not until you, that is. You make me curious, little hero."

"That's…" Percy hesitated and continued lamely, "that's great."

— next: VI. PERCY & DIONYSUS: DISPLACEMENT —