Dreams and Some Quests

Another routine chapter. Thank you again to all those who have reviewed. Although there weren't many that did, so that kinda sucked.

The Titan's curse - which will probably still be for a while - is going to have a crazy amount of stuff. Seriously. That's what my hope is, anyway.

Onto the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Percy was tired.

This didn't feel like the tired you felt when you had a long day and you sat down to relax. This wasn't the type of tiredness you felt when you had a rigorous practice at the arena and all you can think about is sleeping.

This was the type of tiredness you felt when you were tortured for a year without respite, although without the mental effects tortue put onto you.

His body currently screamed in pain. No achiness, no dull throb. It felt as if he were being stabbed in every part of his body by blades while being drowned in lava.

Very weird but strangely accurate description. Sighing, he attempted to open his eyes. When the pain intensified he immediately stopped. Ow.

Counting helped cope with the pain he felt. It distracted him from it. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours, which evolved into days. Those days became weeks and weeks became months. It went on and on. Throughout all of this the pain continued. He would try opening his eyes the entire time he counted, to no luck.

After what seemed to be three years - hey, don't judge, he may or may not have lost count here and there - his eyes managed to fly open. His body still screamed at him but he was beginning to get used to the pain.

Spreading out his senses, Percy could feel that he was laying on the ground. There was no smell, he could hear nothing and a very prominent burn in his throat let him know he was parched. Moving only his eyes, he managed to get his first glimpse of the room he was in.

The floor, wall and everything else around was just darkness seemingly going on forever. The entire room - if it could be called that, more like area? - was dark save for a glowing white orb floating in front and way above him.

The orb was a bright white, almost too much for his eyes to handle. His keen eyesight came in handy though because after a while he began noticing images flickering through it.

Pictures of a younger him. A happy him. Of his family. Of his...mother.

Immediately he closed his eyes.

Percy knew what those were.

His old memories. The memories he had banished from his mind.

Slow clapping was heard reverberating around him. The pain in his body began slowly receding while a loud moan was heard replacing the clapping.

"Percy, you know how much I love pain."

Percy knew that voice. That pitch that seemed to resemble a child's. The glee that came from pain. He continued to lay on the ground, eyes shut and hoping the person would go away.

"Crying now, are we?"

The pain had finally gone away and Percy raised his hand to his face only now realizing that he had tears running down it.

"Ignoring me? You know I can read your thoughts, master. We are one in the same. You've locked me up for too long and I'm finally starting to wake up."

Percy finally responded in a flat tone null of emotions.

"Leave me."

He swore he heard a grin. How the Tartarus could you hear a grin? Then there was a response.

"Your wish is my command."

With that the darkness overcame his eyesight even more with his lids still shut.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Percy was standing.

Well, at least he was no longer hurting.

Looking around showed him to be inside of a familiar dark and damp cave. He knew this place.

Turning, he could see that his prediction had been correct.

Sitting on the ground was a hunched over Grover who was pulling at the seams of a white dress while nervously muttering.

Before he leaned over to see what one of his best friends was saying, he looked down just to finish confirming his prediction. Ay, he was translucent. So it seemed he was having another demigod dream.

He then leaned over to listen to what the satyr had been saying.

"...there aren't any ghosts here, right? So I won't get raped, right? I'm not abandoned, right? I'm not lonely, right? Wait, no I am. So does that mean I'm abandoned? Am I being watched by a ghost? Will they soon rape me?!"

Percy put his fist into his mouth to try not laughing out loud, but it seemed it didn't work. Grover immediately stopped and turned around before leaning away and screaming like a little girl.

"Please ghost! Don't rape me! I'm not abandoned! I have people coming to save me! No! I like my butt!"

Percy couldn't stop himself and laughed to his heart's content. It evolved from normal laughter, to obnoxious laughter, to the laughter where you're not even making noise and tears are coming from your eyes and finally ending with Percy wheezing while hunched over. Grover never failed to disappoint in the comedy field.

Grover seemed to finally understand that it was not a ghost that was behind him. Rather that it was his best friend dream-visiting him.

"Thank the gods you're here, Perce. I may or may not have been getting worried that you abandoned me." Grover's ears seemed to almost droop in sadness, his head seemingly lowering out of shame, for thinking his best friend had abandoned him.

Percy crouched in front of him, a sympathetic expression on his face. "Cheer up G-man. I will be coming for you soon. I just… don't know when."

The satyr's face became worried as it snapped to Percy's warm light-orange eyes. Immediately he released a breath, fears now done away with.

Percy had chosen to change them to that color due to the effect it had. When people looked into his eyes, it reminded them of a fireplace. A warm area, beds or possibly their home as well. The effect had a 50-50 chance to calm a person.

Grover's look had changed a little more than he had thought. His friend had a clean shaven face, chin hairs now gone. His hair seemed longer and up in what appeared to be an attempted ponytail. With the dress he was wearing seemingly made of animal skins and furs he, Grover was obviously crossdressing.

"Um, Grover? Why do you look like a tranny?"

Grover scowled at him. "Don't say that! Some readers might get offended!"

Percy shrugged. "Hell if I care."

The scowl remained as the bride-to-be answered the black and white haired boy's question. "Well for your information, I had almost no choice. The monster -" The annoying static came just like his previous dreams. " - started noticing my beard coming in so I had to shave. My dress had ripped so he gave me another. Then he said he liked long hair."

The scowl morphed into a childish pout. "I told him I liked my hair short, then he threatened to kill me so I conceded." He scoffed while throwing his hair to the side. "Doesn't that slob know that the woman always wins the argument?"

Percy just stared, completely uninterested with what his friend was talking about but just had to say something. "I just hope you're not wearing panties."

Grover's face returned to the scowl. "Bro, Perce. I'm not that far gone."

The unclaimed demigod swiped his hand across his head in an exaggerated relief expression. "Phew. Thank the gods for the small things in life."

Grover glared at him before saying, "What are you even doing here in this stupid lucid demigod dream Perce?! You're supposed to be coming to save me right now!"

The demigod looked at him with some disgust. "Um, no thanks. I will not be your knight in shining armor, saving the captured princess."

The satyr's cheeks became a furious shade of red while his glare intensified. "Dude, why are you being so bitchy?! Just come help me out of this mess!"

Percy sighed while pulling at his short hair. "Honestly, I don't know why I'm in a bad mood." Then he looked down and muttered, "Or maybe I do." His face popped back up as he grabbed the goat man by the shoulders while looking him in the face. "Don't worry about it. I said I'll save you and I will. That's a promise from your very own Percy Jackson."

Grover's eyes shifted away as he said, "Are you sure about that? 'Cause you know how I feel about abandoned things."

The other guy's hands went from his shoulders to the sides of his face as he forced Grover to look him in the eyes. "I promise, don't doubt me." The determination in his voice along with on his face began to put the satyr's heart at ease. Then he leaned away while removing his hands.

Grover sighed. "Well you have a week left, Perce. Come here before then because he will most certainly find out I'm no cyclops, let alone a female." Percy stared at his friends back as he returned to fidgeting with the dress

As everything started fading, a part of the wall opened revealing bright sunlight along with a huge figure. "Oi, darling! Talking to yourself again, my love?"

Grover let out a quick "Eep!" before raising his voice's pitch to try imitating a woman's. "Yes, honey bunch! You know me and my talking, hehe."

His eyes looked at Percy while muttering, "Follow the internal radar we have. We are empath linked, after all."

When everything started becoming dark to Percy, some facts had become clearer.

Firstly, Grover may like crossdressing. Probably not but hey, it was a possibility.

Second, the demigods had a week to go and save Grover.

Lastly, Grover's captor was a cyclops.

Then the darkness finally overcame him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Percy was standing in the middle of the Big House. A quick glance down showed his transparent body was more.

"Are you shitting me? How many dreams am I going to have?"

A light giggle was heard in his head.

"C'mon boss, get riled up for me. You know I like it."

Percy let out a low growl. "Leave me alone."

The chuckle soon began to fade.

Looking around, Percy could see Mr. D along with Tantalus laying on a chair. The dead man revived was once more feeding grapes to the Wine god but this time a scowl was on his face.

"I'm only doing this because you asked Zeus to bring me back. No other reason."

The Olympian grunted before swallowing the grape that had been in his mouth. "Yes, and it would be just as easy to send you back. Now, back to it."

Tantalus took in a sharp breath before continuing to feed the god while also fanning him with a huge leaf. Dionysus closed his eyes and sighed in comfort. His purple eyes began to crack open before slowly moving towards the transparent Percy.

"Boy, wake up already. It's been far too long. The damn Athena brat has stayed by your side the whole time, refusing to even go back to sleep in her cabin." Then he wrinkled his nose. "And the cyclops has come so much it has begun to reek in here."

Tantalus turned to look where the god had been talking towards and his eyes landed exactly on Percy. Then he turned back to his sire. "Who are you talking to?"

The Wine god snarled down at him. "Did I tell you to stop? Continue at once."

The revived man quickly looked back down and did as was told while letting out a small,"Yes, sir. Will do so at once."

Dionysus' gaze returned to Percy. "I told you to wake up, didn't I? Once this dream of yours ends, I expect you to be awake."

With that, he turned back to Tantalus while tilting his head obviously wanting a grape.

Percy stared wide-eyed while clutching his chest. Annabeth had done that, for him?

Suddenly a tug was felt on his stomach, forcibly dragging him through the Big House.

Straight into the infirmary and what he found made his heart warm even more.

Annabeth was currently asleep in a chair. Her head was part way on his physical body's chest with their fingers intertwined. Her hair was splayed around her head making it seem as if she had a halo. One of the cutest things about the scene was that she had this face that made it seem as if she had just seen something that was amazing.

Another amazing thing was how Percy's own head was resting atop Annabeth's in a sort of side cuddle. The not so awesome thing was how a steady stream of drool was flowing from Percy's sleeping mouth and making a home in Annabeth's princess curls.

Percy's spiritual body was tugged in a different direction, this time heading up the stairs. He was pulled through walls and went through the second story floor until he eventually reached the third story attic.

There with all of the dust and strange artifacts (Percy swore he saw a pair of underwear that had a plaque that read Underwear of Heracles) was a familiar daughter of Ares standing in front of a shrivelled mummy corpse thing.

With the receding smoke, Percy deduced that this must be the infamous Oracle of Delphi. This was actually the first time he had seen - if you count his incorporeal form as seeing - it since the quest had technically been given to Annabeth which had been meant for him

Clarisse was slightly shaking from fear of tears, Percy could not tell.

As the last of the green smoke retreated into the body, a creepy voice resonated everywhere.

"Approach, son of one."

Percy's eyebrows shot up in surprise when his feet moved against his will before stopping next to the shaking Clarisse. His eyebrows went even higher when her head started frantically looking side to side and Percy realized she must have heard the voice as well.

His body moved at its own volition as it spoke, "How do I save my best friend Grover?"

His shock grew even more when Clarisse turned to where he was standing with furrowed eyebrows. She must have heard him somehow.

Then the creepy green smoke seeped out of the corpse before surrounding the two completely in a tornado of green.

"You shall go with the chosen one,

In hopes of finding the stolen one.

Secrets will come with a broken mind,

They won't like what you may find.

It will stand gold and pale,

And seekers shall fall in the warden's trail.

While wraith will take another prey,

It will go to sleep, until the day."

Then at once the smoke disappeared and everything became silent.

And Percy gasped while sitting up in bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you think it means?"

Annabeth - always the calculative one - had started attempting to decipher the quest.

Clarisse coughed before looking around the ping pong table they called a council room. "Well, I got a quest. My old man even IM'ed me, told me that he gave me a ship and some crewmates, but it's only coming a little later."

The blond's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "What did you ask the Oracle?"

"How to get Chiron back."

There were cheers from that all around, as the other cabin leaders present heard this. Tantalus growled while Dionysus let out a small smile.

The piercing grey eyes turned to Percy. "Well, what did you ask?"

Then the councillor of the Apollo cabin cut in. "Why is the unclaimed kid here in the councillors only meeting?"

Annabeth's glare made him sink back into his chair while she said, "It's because he had been given a quest. This is a meeting about the quests. Now, " Her gaze swiveled back to Percy. "Continue."

The boy gulped at the ferocious glare still in her eyes as he raised his hand to his hair, pulling at it. "Well, I didn't really ask. I was forced. Anyway, I asked how to save Grover."

One of his friends, Conner chimed in. "Wait, how did Percy even receive a quest while he was asleep?"

Then Travis gave his five cents. "Yeah, and I've never heard of two quests being given at the same time, let alone the same day." Swiveling his gaze to Mr. D, he asked, "Have you ever heard of anything like this?"

The Wine god stroked his chin before finishing a can of coke and belching loudly. "Well, for the sleeping quest, that is indeed unusual but not unheard of. Now quests given by the Oracle at the same time and day, that is very strange. I do not believe I've ever heard of that before."

Many of the cabin councillors looked at each other in worry. What could this mean?

Annabeth loudly cleared her throat in an attempt to get everyone's attention. Her gaze locked onto Percy once more before saying in a commanding tone that honestly got little Percy a little excited.

Love a strong assertive woman.

"Do you have any idea as to any parts of your quest?"

Percy sat up, cheeks slightly pink from his thoughts. "I think the first two lines are pretty clear. Go with Clarisse who is the chosen one to go find the stolen one. Grover was stolen, like I said."

Head nods were shown everywhere in understanding with Tantalus just feeding the Wine god some more grapes. "As for the other lines, I have no clue."

In his heart of hearts, he had a very sneaking suspicion as to what the third and fourth line meant along with the second to last line. He just prayed to the gods that he was incorrect.

"Before we continue any further, I have a question for Percy." The blond cabin leader brother of Annabeth - Malcolm - turned and faced the unclaimed demigod. "I think I can speak for all when I ask what happened to you?"

Percy looked down at his hands in his lap for a bit and the others were getting impatient.

"Look here, boy. Answer or I may just take you to where I had been previously held." Tantalus was snarling and Percy swore he heard a growl followed by a woof.

Then Dionysus flicked at the dead man's returned head. "Did I say you could stop feeding me?"

The snarl disappeared and he now looked like a bad doggy. It was quite comical.

"Anyway, with my awesomeness, I have deduced a small part of Perry." Everyone - besides Percy - was watching the Wine god, waiting on what he had to say. "I believe that -" He looked forward, straight into Percy's waiting eyes. Mr. D saw the small shake no and understood.

He coughed before opening his mouth to eat more grapes. Tantalus looked at him before Dionysus indicated to his mouth. The grapes were given. Everyone continued to stare at the god eating the grapes as he was being fed them one at a time.

Once he finished his grape, he looked into the eyes of all that were staring at him.

"What?"

Malcolm coughed. "I believe you were saying something, sir."

The god tilted his head for a second in thought before saying, "I guess I forgot."

The male child of Athena tried to coerce Dionysus to remember by saying the things they had been talking about while the god just waved his hand in the 'shoo'-ing motion at him.

"Onto other business. Child of Ares, when will you four depart?"

Clarisse sat straight up. "I want to leave right now, but father has not brought me the ship yet, so we will leave tonight."

The Wine god clapped his hands. "Alright, go pack. Dismissed!"

Everyone immediately began talking as they stood up to leave. The four questmates - being Clarisse, Percy, Tyson and Annabeth per Percy's choice met outside.

Annabeth faced the daughter of the god of War. "So, what's the plan?"

In turn, Clarisse turned and faced Percy. "Aren't we going to save your friend or something? And isn't it your job to come up with the plan, blondie?"

As Annabeth's face started becoming red from anger, Percy grabbed onto her arm in an attempt to calm her. This just made her face look like a tomato for an entirely different reason as she turned and smacked his hand away.

Percy frowned at her. She hadn't ever given him that reaction when he had done the same thing while in school. Rubbing his hand he said, "Grover told me to follow my internal radar since we are empathy linked. So I'm assuming once we get into the water I'll just point us in the direction we have to go."

Tyson and Clarisse nodded their heads. It seemed solid enough. Annabeth shook her head no. "That's way too vague. We need a better plan."

"Then why don't you come up with one, blondie?"

Annabeth's face was heating in anger again while Percy attempted to calm her down by placing his hand on her arm once more. She just smacked it away again before proceeding to yell at Clarisse which was quickly reciprocated.

During this, Tyson had somehow found a jar of peanut butter and was watching them argue while eating handfuls of the stuff.

Tyson loved his peanut butter.

Clarisse's face was about to pop a vein from how angry she had gotten when she said, "Ok, blondie. I got us a plan. We wait for dad to drop off the boat. While we wait, go pack your bag full with your clothes and undies and don't forget to grab your diapers. And don't worry, I'll grab the bottles along with baby formula."

She turned and jabbed Percy in the ribs in a joking manner. "That's because if she gets cranky we can just put her down for a nap." Her laughs caused the birds from nearby trees to fly, cawing.

Percy rubbed where she had jabbed him. That had hurt.

Annabeth looked like a volcano about to erupt with how red her face was. Percy looked up and took in the entire scene. Annabeth red faced yelling at Clarisse who was doing the exact same thing only to her with her own face equally as red. And there was Tyson, just munching and licking his hands of the peanut butter he had acquired.

Percy knew that Tyson loved his peanut butter.

The unclaimed demigod sighed before stepping in between the two girls who looked like they were about to throw punches at one another. No matter how capable Annabeth was in a fight, she would not beat this daughter of the War God in a fist fight.

Raising his arms up and down in the calming motion and giving a cocky grin, he said, "Ladies, ladies. There is enough of me to go around."

Both of the girls looked at each other before looking at Percy. The glint in their eyes made the boy gulp in fear as they both cocked their arms back and punched him in tandem. The boy flew from how hard they had punched him.

Tyson 'oooh' -ed because he swore he saw Percy turn into a star as he flew into the sky.

Good news was that Percy's plan had worked because both of the girls faces were no longer red. Clarisse let out a tired breath before extending her hand to the blonde. "Truce?"

Annabeth nearly turned her head away and humphed as her pride almost took over when she saw Tyson indicating for her to take Clarisse's outstretched hand. "Fine. Truce."

Tyson's face lit up at this before wrapping both of them in a hug. "Yay! Now we're friends forever!"

Clarisse looked down to where Tyson's hand was which still had some peanut butter on it. "Hey, you oaf! You're getting peanut butter on me!"

Annabeth wriggled out of the cyclops' grasp before yelling at Clarisse, "Hey, don't call my friend an oaf you skank!"

Clarisse gasped before shooting out verbal insults at her while Annabeth did the same.

Tyson stepped back, hand back in the jar of peanut butter. He was not going to attempt to get between the two like Big Percy had. He was a little smarter than that.

Well, there goes the truce.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Clarisse and Tyson left, Percy and Annabeth were walking around camp. The boy looked down to his best friend and could see that she was still huffing and puffing. If she continued she might just blow the cabins down.

Man he was hilarious.

No you're not, boss.

Percy promptly ignored the voice in his head. It had started talking to him not long ago and Percy really hoped it would stop.

If it was coming out that would mean everything else would soon follow.

Annabeth snapped her fingers in front of Percy's face a couple of times and even called his name to no avail. She then bumped shoulders with him to both get his attention and knock the look of concentration off of his face because frankly, he looked very stupid.

Percy's eyes widened as he stumbled before looking at her, face bewildered. "What was that for?"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno. To get your attention. I was calling for you but you weren't responding."

His shoulders dropped as he looked away. "I was thinking, ok?"

Annabeth looked at him and quirked an eyebrow while having a small smile on her face. "You, thinking?"

It was the purple-eyed boy's turn to huff. "I'm smarter than you make me out to be."

She bumped shoulders with him again, a smile still splayed across her face. "I don't think your stupid, Percy. I actually think you're very smart. You just don't act like it all the time."

His face was neutral as he looked forward. "I don't see a point in acting smart. I know I'm smart and that's all that matters."

Annabeth glanced at him before looking around. They were walking on the beach, sand underfoot and waves lapping alongside them.

She bent down before lifting two very pretty shells. Before she could identify them, Percy spoke from right beside her. "Those are two matching pairs of Angel Wings. They are named that because of the length, shape, and white color along with the waviness they possess on the shell itself."

Annabeth, shocked, turned and looked straight into his solid purple orbs. Face void of emotion and tone flat, he said, "See? I can be smart when I want to be."

He stood up before continuing to walk ahead of her. Annabeth stared for a second before she scooped up the shells into her pocket and scrambled after her best friend.

When she caught up, they continued their walk with a silence stretched out between them.

After a bit, Annabeth spoke. "So, what had you been thinking about back there?"

Percy's footsteps faltered for a moment as his body stiffened. Then he continued as if she had not said anything. She let it be.

They walked for a long time, the sun going from its lower position to high in the sky, heat beating down on them.

Finally, Percy spoke in a whisper that Annabeth barely heard. "I was thinking about me. What is happening to me."

The daughter of Athena turned to him while rubbing his back. After a moment, she whispered back, "Are you talking about what you did back then?"

He knew she was referring to the chariot race and just gave a small nod. HIs best friend did what any best friend would do and spun Percy around while she wrapped her arms around him in a hug that was immediately reciprocated.

They stood there - still on the beach - in each other's arms, just breathing in the other's scent.

Still holding Percy, Annabeth said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Percy murmured something.

"What?"

Instead of responding with words, Percy shook his head no while still in the crook of her neck.

Annabeth was fine with that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the sun began to dip down, the trio of Percy's quest made it to the shore with their duffle bags to see a giant iron warship sitting there.

Tyson whistled while Percy let out a quiet, "Hot damn."

Annabeth looked at the ginormous ship in front of them. Her head looked forward, then up, then up and up some more and even more up than that. Eventually it landed on a familiar face that was peaking over the edge of the railing smiling at them.

"Dad really came through, right?"

Percy yelled back at her, "You can say that again!"

When they had reached the top, Percy noted something with a small hint of fear. "Hey, why are there skeletons here?"

The daughter of the War god turned and faced him. "Dad sent help also. Did you want to man this ship on your own?"

Percy shook his head no. "I didn't think it would be this big is all."

There was no farewell party as they left. No goodbye ceremony. Only Dionysus standing at the shore waving them off while Tantalus fed him grapes. Truly, the Wine god was nicer than he looked.

And now, the quest was underway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A shorter chapter, yes I know. This is mostly because I didn't feel like writing a long ass chapter three times in a row, although I still think this was a pretty good chapter. Next one should be interesting though and very long.

Tell me what you think of how Percy got his quest! Especially what you think of the quest itself! I worked pretty hard trying to come up with something that was good, made sense and rymed kinda.

Also, review what you think every line of the quest means. I felt kinda proud with what they meant. It is pretty simple, not gonna lie. But there are a couple double meanings in there.

Awesomes out.