Disclaimer for all chapters of this story: plot is mine, characters and certain concepts are Mr. Riordan's
Ever since Percy and Annabeth came back from Tartarus, there was something different. Percy assumed the natural role of leader, and nobody questioned it. Even Annabeth looked up to him when there was some problem. Even Jason didn't question or hesitate to follow. Percy got a new kind of look. He tried to maintain his happy-go-lucky personality, but it changed slightly. It seemed more serious, and orderly. It just seemed different compared the usual light manner of the seven. To add on, Annabeth almost never left Percy's side, almost as if afraid he was about to do something.
Of course, since they came back from Tartarus, the scent of the son of Poseidon at sea attracted a whole lot more monsters, and they had to fight off every single one. But it was better now. When Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus, the spirits of the team had gone down, because Percy was the one who cheered them all up and kept them together. Even Leo sometimes felt down himself, but Percy never showed it.
When he came back, it became a whole lot better. Everybody's spirits seemed to lift. Even though they just came back from Tartarus, hell itself, both Percy and Annabeth acted like nothing happened. At least, they tried to. Every morning, Annabeth would be explaining that day's plan, and halfway through it Percy would walk in his pajamas, his hair a mess. Him being in the room just made Annabeth feel a whole lot better.
But the 7 were closer now, now that they were all together, on were on their way for the fight of their lives, or second fight of their lives.
"So, Piper can do the laundry" Piper nodded. "Everybody give me their clothes after breakfast." Everyone nodded. "Jason, you and Frank are on lookout." Jason and Frank both high-five. "Aww…Annabeth, can I be on lookout?" Annabeth shook her head.
"Percy, you're just going to do something stupid." Percy faked mock hurt. "When was the last time I did something stupid?" Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yesterday, when you almost set fire to the ship." Percy grinned. "You're just afraid for me. Relax, I'll be fine. I'm the son of Poseidon, and we're on a ship." Annabeth caved. "Fine, Frank, you can steer the ship."
"HEY! That's my job!" Leo burst out. Piper hit him on the head. Annabeth continued. "You, Leo, can go in the fire room, the furnace." Leo raised his hand to his head. "Yes Mam." Piper rolled her eyes. "Nico and Hazel-" "We'll make sure no one dies." Annabeth nodded to them. "I'll check on ALL-" She looked at Percy. He rolled his eyes. "Of you. Let's try to make it alive today." Everyone nodded, and then went to do their respective jobs.
Percy was gleaming with happiness. Jason looked a bit uncomfortable. "Come on Jason, what's wrong?" Jason lifted himself off the ground a couple of feet. His face began to clear a bit. "I don't prefer the water as much as I do the air." Percy grinned. "I can actually do both." Percy enveloped his bottom half in a light, barely visible sheet of water, and raised the water, so he was in the air too, head to head with Jason. Jason grinned and went higher. So did Percy.
Percy sends a little blast of water towards Jason, who reflects it. They were now a hundred feet above the Argo 2, and little did they know Frank was watching the entire thing, trying to get them to stop horsing around. Jason raised his hand, and a small bolt of lightning flew towards Percy, enough that a human would withstand it. Percy directed a blast of water to absorb it and threw it back at Jason, but he was a bit too late. The lightning hit them both, and they both fell a hundred feet onto the ship. Just then, Annabeth had come to check up on Frank, and she saw both Percy and Jason fall onto the ground.
"Percy!" She helped them both up, and then kicked Percy. "Owww, Annabeth!" "I said not to do anything stupid! Do something like this again and I will kill you!" She looked like she would, but her eyes betrayed her. Instead her eyes had a different saying: 'I can't lose you. Not again.' Percy nodded seriously.
So now, Percy and Jason were just sitting on the railing of the ship, talking about life, the girls, basically everything possible. "And then there was this time where Leo tried to cook, but he ended up getting frustrated and almost burned down the entire kitchen." Percy started laughing loudly, and Jason joined in. "You should've seen his face when Piper walked in." "I had my own fun too. Tartarus was a blast." Both of them slightly sobered up at the mention of Tartarus, more Jason than Percy. Jason lowered his voice a bit. "What was it like?"
Percy sighed. "Your worst nightmare." Jason nodded. "You ok, though?" Percy nodded, and Jason swore his eyes had gone a shade darker a minute ago. The ship lurched forward. Percy immediately stood up and tried to retain balance, but he couldn't. "There's a monster." Jason nodded, and ran to the front of the ship, while Percy ran inside to get the rest of the seven. He had gotten everybody, and they ran outside. There was a huge octopus kind of monster, its tentacles hitting the ship and sending it a few waves back. Another tentacle was wrapped around the ship, and bring the ship back to the octopus. "It must not be a very bright octopus." Everybody snorted at this, but then returned their focus to the task at hand.
Percy got out Riptide, Annabeth her dagger, Piper Katoptris, Hazel her Spatha, Frank his sword, Jason his coin, Nico his stygian sword, and Leo just set his hands on fire. Piper inched away from him, before thinking 'screw it' and stood right next to him. Leo appreciated the gesture. Frank tried not to look uneasy. Percy acted indifferent. He nodded at Leo, and then ran towards the monster. The monster seemed confused as to why a demigod was running at it and not from it, and stood stunned for a second, while Percy used the water in the air to send him a little higher, letting him land on the monster's head.
He thrusted riptide into one of the monster's eyes, giving Leo the signal to hit the other eye. Leo did so, and that took out one of the eyes. The monster roared out loud and spinned violently, throwing Percy into the ship, knocking him unconscious. "Percy!" Annabeth wanted to run to him, but knew she had to deal with the monster. "LET'S GO" Everybody started running towards the monster, aiming for various tentacles and parts.
They put up a good fight, and almost overpowered the monster, until one of the tentacles threw Annabeth into the ship, right next to Percy, getting her badly hurt but still conscious. The seven froze and looked at her, and in this short moment the monster threw all of them off, injuring most of them. It seemed like they lost, and that the monster would destroy the ship, until Percy stood up defiantly. "Percy?" Annabeth seemed confused, as Percy confidently walked up to the monster, and raised his hand.
After a few seconds nothing happened, and even the monster was like: 'really?' But suddenly the monster started to collapse. It fell into the water, nothing left of it. The water around the ship started to churn and grow violently, until Percy felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Annabeth. "It's done, Percy." The waters instantly calmed.
He turned around, and Piper thought she saw his eyes a shade darker than they usually are, but they returned to normal. "Is everybody ok?" They all nodded. He looked at Annabeth. "I'm fine." She answered. The meaning behind her words were subtle but there: 'I've gotten worse in Tartarus' "What was that?" Leo asked. "What was what?"
"The freaky thing you did with those powers." Percy shrugged. "Just some son of Poseidon powers" "That's cool." "Come on, you guys go inside and get cleaned up. I'll stay here and watch for more monsters." Frank looked at him incredulously.
"You can't take on another monster by yourself." Percy nodded. "If anything comes, I'll hold it off until you guys run up here. Trust me, we'll all know when something's here." Frank nodded. "We'll be quick." They all walked inside, except Annabeth. "Annabeth? You coming?" Jason asked. Piper stopped him. "She'll be fine." Annabeth nodded. "You guys go ahead, I'll stay back with Percy." Nobody questioned it, or remarked.
Percy stood at the front of the ship, looking out over the water. "What are you doing?" Annabeth asked as she stood next to him. "Watching out for-" "We both know you aren't." Percy sighed. "I'm thinking." "That's something you don't do often." Percy snorted. "Yeah." After a moment of silence, he spoke up. "I did it again." Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder. "It's ok Percy, you took down a monster." Percy looked down. "But I'm supposed to control it. You don't understand. It's not just the monster. I can feel everybody else's too."
Annabeth removed her hand from his shoulder and hugged him. "I understand how you feel bu-" Percy cut her off. "But you don't understand. You have no idea how tempting it is to control it. I can feel Nico's Leo's, Piper's, even yours. It scares me, you know." "What does?" Leo asked as he walked out on to the deck with the rest of them. "Nothing, just the thought of another monster while you guys take your sweet time changing." Everyone slightly chuckles.
"I'll go get changed now." Percy and Annabeth walk into the ship, ready to get off the monster dust.
"What do you think that was?" Leo asked Jason. Jason shrugs.
"Tartarus changes people."
"Yes it does indeed."
()()()()()()()
I don't know if you've realized yet, but this is a blood-bending fic, but different. I haven't found many blood-bending fanfics, so I decided I'll make one, but I want everyone to know, and Percy to not be a complete monster. He just has a dark side, that has no limits, but he controls his dark side, to the best of his ability. It's that kind of thing. I'll accept all reviews, good or bad, but if you hate it, there's really no need to tell me. Constructive criticism like "This sucks! If you did _ it would be better!" is amazing.