AN: hey guys, this chapter is a wee bit shorter than the last couple cause i was writing it and realised, it was basically the length of two chapters. so i just split them, and this is the first half. reviews are always appreciated. anyways, enjoy:)
to the guest review (las vegas): yea, im still kinda sussing out my options for the pairing, so guess u'll just have to hang tight for now ;)
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all rights go to Rick Riordan
The next morning, Percy moaned as he stirred from his sleep. No one had kept watch last night. They were in the middle of a nature reserve, they had reasoned, who would attack them? He blearily squinted at his surroundings, looking around. Something had woken him up. Another tremor passed through the ground, and he was instantly alert.
Rubbing the last of the drowsiness from his eyes, he peered at the still sleeping forms of the two older demigods. Fast asleep. Brow furrowed, he kicked at his sleeping bag, standing up and stretching. As he grabbed his water bottle he froze.
That chill. It was the same chill he had felt before, when the hellhound had pounced back in New York; the same chill he had felt numerous times when they were travelling and were stalked. There was definitely something there. He hurried over to Luke's sleeping bag, shaking the older boy's shoulders till he groaned and started pushing at Percy.
"Go…way," he mumbled.
"Luke, there's something here," he urged, pulling away when the demigod's eyes shot open. He scrambled out of his sleeping bag, reaching for...was that a golf club? Luke waved him over to Thalia, telling him to wake her up as he scanned the treeline. Another tremor passed through the ground, big enough this time for Luke to notice it as he looked around, wide-eyed.
"Wha-? What's going on?" Thalia's speech was still slurred from sleep as she woke up, Percy pulling away warily. She had a tendency to skewer first, ask questions later, something he learned the hard way when he had woken her up one too many times.
An even bigger tremor, enough to shake small rocks and pebbles passed through, and Thalia was up, spear out. She turned to Percy, who had seemed to be rooted to the spot. Following his gaze, she felt her own muscles seizing up as she looked at the two glowing red dots in the middle of the cave. Calling Luke over from where he was still staring out into the surrounding forest, he gaped, slack jawed as the enormous form of a dragon emerged from the cave.
It towered over them, at least twenty feet tall, scales gleaming in the sun, covering it from the tip of the snout to the end of its tail. They watched in horrified stupor as two wings unfurled from its back and stretched them to their full length, spanning over forty feet in total. Lifting its head to the sky, it let out a bloodcurdling roar, echoing across the reserve; birds fleeing from their roosts in flocks.
Glaring back down at them, it lowered its head until it was almost level with the ground, an intelligent glint in its ruby eyes. They held their breaths, not daring to move as smoke lazily curled up from its nostrils.
"Scatter!" Luke yelled, and they all dove in different directions as the dragon drew in a breath, releasing a wave of fire on the spot where they were just standing. Roaring, it swung its head back and forth between the three of them before zeroing in on its target. Percy was running towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the reserve when he heard Thalia shrieking his name.
He turned his head to see what she was yelling at him for when he almost tripped over his own two feet at the sight that greeted him. The dragon was bearing down on him, ruby eyes narrowed in anticipation as its small prey cornered itself. Percy frantically turned around, looking for a way out. He could make out a sliver of blue at the bottom of the drop, but it would be suicide to jump.
He was trapped; a drop of over two hundred feet behind him, an enormous dragon charging towards him in front. Thalia screamed his name again as she raced towards him, Luke close behind. They wouldn't make it in time, and they knew it. Still they ran, hoping against hope. He was only six years old.
Even the Fates weren't that cruel.
Percy faced the dragon head on. Be brave. His mom's last words echoed through his head as he stared into the dragon's gaping maw. He watched the throat glow as it prepared to spit fire, and in the worst possible timing possible, his ADHD mind wondered. Would he turn into a blinking ash figure and disintegrate like in the cartoons? Or would there still be lumps of charred and smoking Percy behind?
In one last ditch effort he glanced back over the edge. The chances of survival were slim, and he would most likely go splat, but it sounded better than turning into barbeque. As the dragon blasted him, he jumped, propelled by the flames.
Strange. They didn't feel that hot, just slightly warm. Before he had time to ponder the peculiarity further, he crashed into the river headfirst, sinking straight to the bottom. His head cracked against a rock in the riverbed and the world faded to black as he lost consciousness.
-Line Break-
The sky darkened when Thalia screamed as the dragon opened fire on Percy, thunder booming alongside her cry. Rain started pouring down, slowly at first, until it was beating down, drenching them completely. Winds started whipping about until it was all Luke could do to not get blown away. Digging his golf club into the ground, he watched as electricity crackled across her skin, her rage and pain only fueling her power.
Thrusting her spear upwards she yelled as a bolt of lightning cracked down before leaping forward. Somehow jumping eight feet into the air, she used her momentum to slam the spear into a chink in the scales on the neck of the dragon, discharging all the energy in one powerful surge. Blasted backwards by the backlash, Luke blinked, disoriented by the whiteness of his vision and the ringing in his ears. Stumbling up, he watched as she collapsed, running forward to her crumpled form, ignoring the now smoking and charred body of the dragon. Turning her onto her back, he pressed two fingers to her neck, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt the faint but steady heartbeat.
She was alive.
Rising, he grabbed her spear and walked back towards the dragon, every muscle tensed for any sign of movement. It twitched a few times, the muscles spasming, but otherwise did not move. He moved to where the heart would be, hesitating slightly as he stared down at the still form. It just didn't seem right to kill it when it was already down and defenseless. The image of Percy, trapped at the edge of the cliff, morbid acceptance written across his face flashed in his mind and his jaw clenched.
No, this dragon had just killed their youngest. It deserved to die. Tightening his grip on the spear, he raised it high, before plunging it through the protective scaly amour, straight into its heart. Twisting it for good measure, he watched with grim satisfaction as the dragon slowly crumbled to gold dust, mixing with the rain before being absorbed by the ground.
He looked up at the sky; this storm was going to be here for a while. Walking back towards Thalia's unconscious form, he picked her up in his arms, before trudging back towards the cave.
It's occupant had just died and they needed shelter. He stopped when he was about seventy feet deep in the cave. It was far enough that they would be relatively safe from the storm and any other possible wandering creatures.
Ensuring that she was out of harm's way, he made his way back out into the clearing, grabbing their scattered belongings, wincing at how waterlogged they were. After making another few trips relocating the fire pit rocks and foraging for more edible berries and somewhat dry sticks and other plant material that could be burned, he set about making another fire. At least that way they wouldn't die of hypothermia and could attempt to start drying their things.
Sputtering and hissing a few times, the fire finally came to life, shooting sparks into Luke's face making him jerk backwards. Relaxing, he sat back, leaning against the rough wall of the cave, wiping at his face, before turning towards Thalia's unconscious form. She looked troubled, brow furrowing as she muttered, twisting to the side. Some hair had fallen across her face as she moved, and he reached out, brushing it back to its original position.
No doubt she was having a demigod dream. His expression soured as he turned back towards the fire, glaring at the glowing embers.
Demigods.
The offspring of immortals and mortals. Not fully one or the other, despised by both. Destined to never fit in with either side, only living a short and miserable life until something killed you off.
Percy was a perfect example of that. Executed for the crime of living, whilst their parents happily carried on in the heavens, completely oblivious to their tribulations. He closed his eyes, relinquishing control as the last of the adrenaline faded and exhaustion took over, falling asleep to the sound of the fire.