Disclaimer: I don't own PJO and HoH nor the Vampire Diaries
English's not my native language, so I'm deeply sorry for any mistake I might have.
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Chapter 10
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"So I'm sitting down in my living room with a werewolf, a vampire, and my best friend while my parents and their friends are lying unconscious on the floor. Can't say I missed this," Percy forced a smile, looking at the demigoddess at her side.
"Just like the good old times." She had not taken her eyes off the vampire since they say down to talk, but apparently couldn't help but add that sarcastic comment to Percy's own sarcastic words.
Katherine was eyeing both demigoddesses, an unknown emotion on her dark eyes as she seemed to study them, drowning in their physical appearances and not taking her eyes off them, almost as if she was trying to read their very thoughts. Slowly, a smile started to appear on her red lips, and she looked down at her lap.
Glad that the eye contact was over, Annabeth leaned back on her seat.
"I like your makeup."
Percy eyed the vampire with a sense of approval that made Annabeth roll her eyes inwardly. But to be fair, the vampire had flawless makeup on her olive skin, and her wardrobe was enviable.
Katherine only smirked. There was just something about her that screamed danger, and like the demigoddess she was, Percy found herself attracted to that dangerous aura. She was honestly gorgeous, which only made the whole situation even more exciting.
"Thank you," Her voice sent a shivering sensation up Percy's navel, though she tried to ignore it. "It's good to finally meet the notorious Persephone Jackson. I can see what all the fuss was about." She eyed the demigoddess up and down, lips curling into another smirk.
Annabeth bumped her shoulder against Percy, as if by accident, but there was a hidden intention to that, and the raven-haired demigoddess nodded almost imperceptibly, agreeing with her best friend.
"Well, you see, I just recently moved here and if I'm brutally honest, I don't want anything to do with any of you mortal-monsters, so I just ignored your existence." She said.
"Did you now?" Those knowing eyes annoyed the daughter of Poseidon, and she forced herself to concentrate on her stench- her stench and only her stench- to fuel the never ending rage inside of her.
"It's not my fault that your lapdogs think they can make me help them," She glared darkly at Mason Lockwood, who was silent and unmoving at the vampire's side. "Lupin here thought that he could buy me with his pitiful stories, and Louis and Lestat don't ever leave me be since we're neighbors."
Katherine laughed, clearly delighted by something none of them could understand, not bothered that the seventeen-years old girl gave them such stupid nicknames. "I like you," She said.
"Aw, thanks, I think you're-"
"Percy, no-" Annabeth hissed and rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, Wise Girl. No flirting with monsters, got it."
Katherine pouted. "Why so rude? I'm not a monster."
"Technically, you are," Annabeth pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Ignore her, Katherine," Percy smiled at the vampire, a smile that used to drive Apollo insane and that more than once had him pinning her roughly against the nearest wall and ravishing her right then and there. "She's just jealous she's not receiving any attention right now."
Annabeth would've been annoyed had she not recognized the tactic her friend was using. Trying to hide her smirk, the blonde demigoddess made her best effort at looking offended while discretely looking at the shifting figures on the floor by the hallway that lead to the kitchen.
They were waking up.
"So tell me..." Percy did her best to sound nonchalant. "What brings you to my humble abode? Not to make it seem like I don't want you here, because truly, it's a pleasure to finally meet a real vampire." She hoped the Salvatore brothers were somehow listening to their conversation, though she wasn't sure if their advanced hearing could work with so many distance in between, but the part of her that loved annoying them hoped so.
"You'd be so easy to kill," Annabeth piped in calmly, eyes as hard as steel.
"You flatter me," Katherine purred, ignoring the blonde girl. "I'm just a girl looking for a partner in crime."
Annabeth rose from the couch and stalked to the kitchen. Katherine followed her with her eyes and then smirked, looking back at Percy and seeming to say, Finally alone. Mason gave Percy one last look before following the blonde demigoddess.
"A partner in crime? And what could that possibly mean?"
Hurry up, Wise Girl. Percy forced herself not to glance towards them, knowing that she could trust her friend to protect her parents.
"You seem like the type of girl that knows what's best for her, Persephone. Survival of the fittest, is it not? You've made it this far already, my my, I'm starting to believe you can do anything." Katherine licked her eyes. "We're equals in that way, surviving is what I do best."
"What do you want from me?" Being compared to a monster made her blood boil, and Percy was unable to hide the disgust from her voice.
"What do you know about the Original vampires?"
The term was somewhere in Artemis' book, but in that moment- she didn't know if it was anxiety or just adrenaline kicking in and disorienting her- she couldn't remember anything important about them.
"The first vampires ever created," Percy raised her eyebrows. She was good at pretending that she knew what was happening when she clearly didn't, it was almost like a talent. "The Mikaelson family."
Mikaelson, Erikson...it was something that ended with -son. She was sure of it, and apparently, she'd said the right name because Katherine nodded at her words.
"They're coming to Mystic Falls. It's only a matter of time before they get here and destroy this town."
Percy stared at her. Katherine Pierce was someone described as being everything but selfless. If she mentioned the Original family destroying town, what she clearly meant was that they were going to destroy her.
The truth is, I never loved you. Percy could still picture the face Damon had made when she'd said those words to him. It was always Stefan.
If there was something Percy hated more than prophecies, it was people who lied about their feelings.
And Katherine, monster or not, had played with someone's feeling, shattering them almost as much as Percy had shattered herself by falling for someone that was forbidden for her. In that moment, all she could feel for the monster was pure hatred and disgust.
She was selfish and self-centered, someone that would never care about Mystic Falls or anyone there; Katherine would never, ever care about someone that was not herself.
"You mean they're coming to destroy you."
Katherine's silence was enough answer.
"You need someone to take care of them for once and for all, and of course, who is better for that job than the fucking Heroine of Olympus," Percy sneered, showing for once her real disgust and leaving her smoothness behind as she eyed the vampire.
It took Katherine a long moment to answer, and when she did, it was with unexpected confidence. "I'm glad we came to understand each other. So, we should discuss how to get rid of them-"
The daughter of Poseidon wondered briefly if every monster in that town wanted aid from every new creature they encountered, or if they only wanted her help.
"I'm not interested in anything regarding mortal-monsters."
She was still wondering why everyone was so keen on receiving her help when she couldn't even help herself. It made no sense, it was as if they thought she was invincible or something, someone that could make it through everything and just kill without remorse.
Then she thought of her actions in Tartarus, and she swallowed the heavy feeling on her throat.
That was so hypocritical of her.
She had killed without remorse.
When she came to her senses, she found that Katherine was still talking. "As you probably know, the Originals are harder to kill than us common vampires. But for you, with that magic sword of yours, it will be easier than swaying a fly-"
"I will fret over the Originals when the time comes," Percy interrupted her, standing from the couch and watching as Katherine's face seemed to darken as she stood too. "I want you to go."
The vampire closed down on her, barely leaving any space between them as she looked up at the demigoddess, who was taller. "You're making a big mistake." Her voice held a silent threat, and the demigoddess chuckled dryly.
"No, it's you whose making a big mistake," Percy said, pushing at her with all her strength; Katherine went flying backwards and hit the wall, shattering a great part of it, leaving a hole that would be very hard to hide.
The demigoddess advanced as the vampire groaned and started to stand.
"How dare you-" Katherine snarled.
Percy grabbed her by the throat just as she was about to lunge at her. "No. How dare you come into my house, harm my parents, and pretend that I'd accept to be your bitch without thinking about it? Bullshit-" She threw her against the crystal table her mother always hated, and watched with extreme satisfaction as it broke along with the vampire.
"Seaweed Brain, watch out!"
She turned in time to feel the heavy weight of Mason Lockwood colliding with hers and throwing her to the ground, successfully pinning her as she struggled with his unexpected heavy weigh. Katherine popped behind Mason after jumping at the blonde demigoddess and throwing her against the wall; a loud crunching noise followed and made Percy stiffen.
"No..."
Things got messy in matter of a few seconds.
Her eyes could only see the unconscious figure of her best friend lying on the floor, everything in between was a nuisance.
In a second, she was at her side on the floor, checking her pulse and breathing in choked relief when she felt a faint thump against her fingers.
Her fingers were full of blood, fresh blood.
"What the hell..." Percy breathed, confused.
A gaps behind her made her turn, body still trembling. Alaric was standing over the corpse of Mason Lockwood, watching with wide eyes the heart that lay across the room, the heart that used to belong inside the body of the young werewolf man.
"Percy..." Alaric breathed. "What did you do?"
"I don't know," The words were out of her mouth without her brain's permission.
The blood on her hands was proof enough that she had killed the werewolf. But she had no recollection of actually doing it.
"Where's Katherine?" Alaric continued, shaking his head and forcefully looking away from the corpse, he couldn't stand the way it looked. Mouth curled into a silent scream, eyes wide, a sticky white substance soaking his neck and jaw- was that water? Internal fluids? - the hole on his chest where his heart used to be...
"I don't know."
A small choked breath had Percy looking down at her friend, who was lazily trying to open her eyes and completely regain consciousness. The green-eyed girl caressed her golden curls and gently helped her to sit when she asked her to.
She opened her mouth to speak, still looking a little disoriented, but Percy hushed her. "How do you feel? Got anything broken?"
Annabeth moved her body a little, checking for the familiar sensation, but after a moment, she shook her head. "I don't think so. Help me up, please?"
Percy obliged in time to see Alaric staring at the sword on the floor, which was soaked with blood. He looked up and met her sea-green eyes, but quickly looked away, unable to stare at her for longer.
"Katherine attacked me," Annabeth frowned, looking at the older man in the room and almost asking if that was indeed what happened. When he nodded, she continued, voice growing thick with rage, "I was trying to help you and that bitch threw me against the wall-!"
"You probably have a conclusion," Alaric moved to check her, but she shook her head. "Let me see."
"I'm fine, this was nothing." She was already pacing around the room and looking around for any sign of the vampire.
"You hurt yourself, we all heard your bones collide against the wall, you should be hurt-" Alaric frowned. He then turned and stared at the frozen raven-haired girl, whose eyes were now stuck on the heart laying on the carpet. "Just like you shouldn't be able to tear a man's heart out of his chest so...easily."
Both demigoddesses winced collectively.
She had never done that before, and she wasn't sure how she had managed to do it.
"Newsflash, buddy," Percy sighed. "We're not your average teenage girls." She paused for a moment, then swallowed. "How are you?"
"I'm alive," Alaric breathed, looking down at his hands for a reason the girls couldn't understand. "So there's that."
Percy felt more and more disoriented with every passing second. She couldn't look down and see Mason's body lying there on the floor, not when it was so clear how he had died. Something inside of her was screaming in triumph and that was enough answer.
"This was messy," Annabeth sighed, looking at the corpse. "What exactly did you do to him, Seaweed Brain?" The was a hidden edge of worry on her voice, one that her friend couldn't miss.
"I prefer not to answer that." I don't really know for sure. I didn't want to. I couldn't think.
"You promised me you wouldn't do that again," Annabeth reminded her, unable not to. There was a long pause, then she continued in a breath, "When I suggested we killed him I never thought you...I..."
How could she explain it? They used to fight together and destroy monsters threatening their safety as a team, and somehow it had became a bonding exercise for them. But in Mason's death there was nothing to bond about. There was nothing familiar in the way he died.
And now you've disappointed her.
Percy looked away in time for Kronos' voice to get louder. Again.
What could she say? She couldn't even remember what she'd done.
What was wrong with her?
She wanted to scream until her voice ran out and the only pain she could feel was physical one.
The little faith she had in you is now completely gone, look at her- she can't even look at you in the eye.
"I need help disposing the body," Percy forced herself to speak, to drown that voice. "I-I don't know what to do with it, I've never-"
"You've never killed anyone before?" Alaric stared at her, doubt on his eyes.
"The monsters I kill don't leave corpses," Percy corrected.
There was a small pause. Annabeth was trying to stay focused and ignore how much her head actually hurt, all the while worrying over her friend and her actions. Alaric was trying to make something out of that confession, but had nothing.
The blonde demigoddess was the first to break the silence. "I'll use the Mist on them-" She pointed to the kitchen, where the Jackson's and Jenna were. "-to make them forget about this."
"The Mist?" Alaric stared at her, eyes widening in recognition. "Does that mean that you two-"
"Mom can see through the Mist," Percy reminded her friend, grimacing a little.
"I'll explain that there was an attack then, it's fine, they'll understand. That leaves me the strawberry-blonde woman and him-" She pointed with her chin at the older man in the room, who frowned at them both.
"I prefer you two leave me out of your conversation." He cleared his throat a little. "What will you do with the body?"
Percy considered it for a moment. "I can't bury him in my backyard, and I'm new in town so I don't know exactly where I can bury a body and expect it not to be found."
Truth was, she had no desires of actually touching that corpse, not when he was already stinking like saliva and vomit. Not when his heart was laying almost at her feet. Not when she could still feel her stomach tingling with what she'd done to him.
"You know who can help..." Alaric said tentatively. "Look, I know he's annoying and infuriating, but he's buried people before, and he won't feel squeamish over a corpse."
Percy sighed deeply. "I'm not squeamish, and I know. I just don't want to admit that I need his help."
"Tell him what happened," Alaric advised her gently, almost like he cared. "One mention of Katherine and he'll help you without any doubt. He loathes her."
Percy wanted to differ. But then again, no one can hate you with more intensity than someone who used to love you. And being honest, she really didn't know them. It was, after all, none of her business who loved who in that town.
...
The trip outside didn't help at all.
Instead of feeling refreshed and clear-headed, it was as if the wind gods had turned against her and decided to make her feel suffocated. The short distance that separated her house from the Salvatore's felt quite eternal.
She was plagued with doubt, concerned with what to tell the vampire that annoyed her so much. She'd denied his begs for help, he could very easily deny hers... She was standing in the porch, about to cross the distance from it to the door and knock when a voice behind her startled her.
"What are you doing here?"
She turned, meeting the curious icy eyes that watched her. "Hi," And then she hated herself when her voice came raspy and vulnerable.
"About time you visited, goddess."
Percy tensed, not because he had accidentally called her by something she technically was, but because his stench reminded her of Mason's, even thought it was nothing alike. The impotence of not knowing her actions hit her again, and she staggered back.
"I-"
"So who did you kill?"
The question made her stare at him, wide eyed.
"Don't look so frightened, that blood ain't yours," Damon whispered, suddenly behind her and leaning his head on her neck, very close to her ear. His hands trailed her waist and then grabbed her wrist a little too tightly, turning her hands up so the red in them could be seen.
She closed her hands into fists, and he let her go, moving back to where he was originally standing.
Damon leaned his head to the side, watching her. "You don't look very well. What's the matter? Mm, judging by the blood there I'll have to say your hydrokinesis didn't work this time." He whistled, eyes still glued to her hands. "Or maybe you were just feeling romantic and decided to tear their heart out too-"
For the first time, she had a small glimpse of Mason and what had happened to him. It was short, just an image of him on the floor choking, all the water stored inside of him turning against him and logging into his throat.
She closed her eyes, but that only made the scene running through her mind more clear.
If he was already dying...why take his heart out?
Because I told you to.
She sucked in a breath, making Damon close his mouth. He narrowed his eyes, only then noticing that the young girl actually looked pale, her hands were trembling and her heart was racing abnormally fast.
"Do you mind if I sit just for a moment?"
It was fun, was it not?
The question surprised Damon as much as it surprised her.
C'mon, admit it Persephone. You liked it.
Two hands cupped her cheeks.
She gasped and opened her eyes- when had she even closed them?- but instead of the golden she was expecting, the eyes looking back at her were an icy blue color. His touch on her was gentle, which was even more unexpected.
"Are you alright?"
Look at you now, all comfy and friendly with a monster. How low has the mighty heroine fallen...What would our dear Apollo say if he saw you now, frolicking with pitiful monsters?
"Damon-" She cleared her throat, but made no move to pry his hands off her face. She thought she didn't have enough strength to even move. "Don't touch me."
His hands moved away from her immediately, but he sat down at her side on the steps of the porch, watching her as she purposely looked ahead of her instead of at him.
"Do you want to talk about what happened?"
"I actually have something to ask you," Percy breathed, massaging her tights distractedly.
Damon bumped his shoulder with hers playfully. "If you want to see me naked you just have to ask. I'll obviously won't deny a lady's request."
She laughed, unable not to.
He forced himself not to look triumphant over it, but his words had the desired effect. The green-eyed girl sighed a little before nodding. "You got me there, buddy. I'm dying to see a walking corpse without clothes."
"I see my chance and I will take it-" He started to unbutton his shirt, making her laugh again.
"No, no! Don't do that-" And she moved her hands and started to button the buttons he had unbuttoned, all while still laughing every now and then at the little sounds of protest the vampire was making.
Afterwards, a small pause followed. She went back to looking at her house in the distance, seemingly less anxious as before, but still troubled. He wondered briefly if she was always like that, so full of stress and so busy with supernatural problems.
Something told him she was.
"What were you going to ask me?" Damon inquired, breaking the silence.
"Where can I bury a body?"
Percy could feel his eyes on her, but she wouldn't turn to actually face him. After a small hum of consideration, Damon raised from his spot and offered her a hand to get up. She ignored the hand and got up on her own, making him shrug.
"Little tip, if you're going to kill someone, don't do it in your own house." Damon said. "It'll only make things even more messy."
She wanted to say that she really couldn't control where monsters appeared to attack her, but knew she couldn't.
"Don't you want to know who I killed? I thought you'd be curious."
"The woods work just fine, but it the death was messy it can attract animals and that alone can make anyone suspicious..." He trailed off. "Alright, if I asked who was the poor unfortunate soul to get the ugly side of your pretty little mermaid face, would you tell me?"
"Damon, have you ever done something and afterwards not recall actually doing it?"
"All the time," He rolled his eyes. "Especially when I'm drunk. Can I ask you something, though? This is the first time we're actually speaking without threatening each other, and I'm not complaining, but why are you trusting me with your dilemmas out of nowhere? I thought you wanted nothing to do with us monsters."
"I needed to have a chat with someone," She lied, truth was she wasn't even sure why she had just lowered her walls around him. "Monster to monster."
He scoffed. "Now you're a monster?"
She gave him a look. "There's many things about me you don't know."
"Because you don't want me to be your friend," He reminded her, "You don't trust me."
The demigoddess sighed as she scanned the area discretely, feeling as if there was someone watching her, but unsure as if there was actually someone there or if she was being paranoid. It was probably the latter.
"I'm trusting you now," She shrugged. "I trust you to help me bury Mason Lockwood's body."
And just like that, his interest was touched.
"What-"
"And I hope you trust me to help you kill Katherine Pierce."
He stared at her, at loss for words for once. She never broke their eye contact, but one of her hands moved to her jacket pockets, where she extracted a small white stone. Damon's eyes widened, and then he looked back up at her, fire on his eyes.
"We've got advantage over her," Percy smirked. "We can take her down."
She could take Katherine down herself, she didn't have to add Damon Salvatore on her plans. But that could convince him completely to help her bury Mason, and truth be told, she thought he deserved to have closure over their failed relationship.
And what was better closure than killing who destroyed your heart?
"You are one evil little girl," Damon purred. He walked down the steps and moved towards the street, not stopping to voice back a, "What are you waiting for, hot stuff? Let's go bury that filthy dog like the mutt he was."
The raven-haired demigoddess had a feeling that the vampire might want to take the moonstone for himself, but for the moment she ignored it and secured it on her pockets again. Then, she followed Damon to her house, where she was forced to drag the corpse to the porch- because she was not inviting him in- and then he grabbed it and stuffed it on the trunk of his car.
"Meet me later at the Boarding House," Damon told her, grunting and coughing at the horrible smell coming from his car. "For fuck's sake, what did you do to him?"
"Same thing I'll do to you if you keep asking," She gave him a hard look. "Now quick. I'll be waiting for you so we can discuss how to team up and get rid of that bitch."
She was already thinking about what to do.
She could let the Salvatore brothers torture her for a while, so they finally managed to get their anger out on her for all she did to them, and then she could tear her pretty little face apart with Riptide and watch as her skin turned to dust...
Yes, that sounded nice.
When Damon was gone, and with him Mason's body, Percy turned and moved to enter her house. She was startled to find it empty, but a little note on the kitchen's table let her know- with some difficulty because of her trouble reading- that Annabeth had convinced her parents to leave the house for a while, just enough for Percy to clean the blood on the rug and calm herself down.
While the green-eyed girl was happy for all her friend was doing, she wished she hadn't been left alone in such a big house.
...Though it was better than having to see the concern written on her parents face.
It took her a while to clean the house, and, as was to be expected, there was no way to fix the hole in the wall. The rug was destroyed too, too bloody to be cleaned, so she was forced to roll it and take it to the garbage container in the street.
As she was heading back inside, she saw someone sitting on the porch.
A man with a kind smile, crinkles around his twinkling eyes, short salt-and-pepper hair, and a well-trimmed beard. He wore a white lab coat over a business suit and had a stethoscope around his neck. By his lap, he had a polished black staff with a live green yellow-eyed python coiled around it.
She would've turned and ran away, recognizing his posture as one gods have, had she not recognized him.
He smiled warmly and comforting; a smile she couldn't help but return, albeit a little hesitantly.
He beckoned her forwards, muttering a gentle, "Hello."
"Hi," She tried to place where she had seen him before, but the memory was a distant echo lost in the thunderous uproar of her thoughts. "I think I know you."
"I'm flattered you remember, dear girl." The man offered her a hand to shake.
Not seeing any danger in him, even thought he had a big staff with a snake, Percy shook his hand. His grip was firm yet gentle; he turned her hands in his, not bothered by the dried blood on them but seemingly looking for something else there.
"Well, I don't really remember you-" Percy started to point out, tugging her hands away from his grasp.
He looked up to meet her eyes; brightest blue against the loveliest shade of sea-green. She felt a hollow, empty feeling settle at her chest and attack, stabbing roughly at the place where her heart was supposed to be. It came back to her then, the realization as to why he was so familiar.
"Oh..." Her voice faltered a little, distant flashes of memories invading her mind.
The god knew she had recognized him, but made no attempt to make the situation less awkward than it was starting to be.
"We've never technically met, but we've seen each other in Olympus-" The god paused briefly. "You had a hyacinth flower in your hands the first time I saw you; the smell of it caused you allergies for two days." He eyed her once again, then added, "Is that a broken bone I sense? Recently broken, mm, about two months ago-"
"You're Asclepius," Percy acknowledged easily, the name escaping her mouth without her brain's approval. "The god of medicine."
"And Apollo's son," Asclepius added knowingly, yet never once did his voice sound unkind.
"I know," She looked down for a moment, then looked up again. "You have his eyes."
Asclepius smiled. It took Percy a moment to collect her thoughts and acknowledge the reason why that one specific god was there in that moment. When she did, a dreadful feeling arose from her navel and quickly traveled all the way through her whole body.
"I-I thought Artemis would check if Kronos-"
But Asclepius cut her off. "My aunt checked Tartarus alongside Lord Hades," He paused for a long time, looking for the right words to say what deep down the demigoddess already knew. "His essence is still there."
"But-"
He didn't interrupt her this time, he left her face the reality of the situation.
"I'm sorry, Percy," He said sincerely. "You're too young to be going through this."
Before Percy could have an actual reaction, cold hands gripped her shoulders from behind, a mouth itching towards her ear; then a familiar voice saying, Look at how important you are, child, Artemis herself isn't here to break the news for you, it's just that spawn of out Golden Boy.
Percy was staring at Asclepius, frozen on her spot as the fingers grabbing her shoulders grew colder, its touch almost unbearable. She tried to open her mouth, but found out she couldn't, the coldness of his fingers starting to eat at her bones and freeze her entire body; like a disease trying to penetrate her spirit and break her.
The medicine god was looking over her shoulder, which gave her a spark of hope. Was he seeing that too?
"Don't listen to it," His voice was warm, so warm and comforting that it seemed to battle with the cold grasp of Kronos on her shoulders.
Look at him, really look at him. One hand found itself at Percy's chin, forcing her head to the side and making her face completely the god in front of her. Is he not all you wanted once? A family with Apollo... She could feel his laughter against her back. She flinched. He already has one. He doesn't need another one, he doesn't want a family and certainly not with you-
"That's enough," Asclepius snapped, taking one step forwards and twisting his staff as he moved.
Oh, the brave little god- Kronos sneered.
Percy cowered, thinking that he was going to strike her down and end her miserable existence, but instead of doing something remotely close to that, the god wrapped his arms around her body, forcing her head into his chest and warming her cold limbs, his staff disappearing into thin air.
"Kronos-" Percy's words were muffled by his clothes, she still fighting against the god's embrace. "He's-"
But she couldn't continue.
Just like that, reality seemed to hit her and she all but collapsed against the god. He tightened his grip on her, and very gently lowered her until she was sitting down on the porch, head resting against one of the columns.
Percy could hear Asclepius talking, but couldn't actually hear the words he was saying.
Her mind was a mess. Artemis and Hades checked Tartarus...Part of her was convinced she should feel relieved at that, because that meant there was no actual threat coming for her, Kronos was still down there. There would be no more wars.
But at what cost was that all happening?
How could she simply admit that she was having severe hallucinations? The thought of it being real was somehow less frightening than the thought of being mentally unstable.
Too disoriented and hurt to continue over-thinking the situation, she opened her eyes- once again, when had she even closed them?- and faced the medicine god.
"Why are you here?" Percy shook her head, pushing every other thoughts aside.
The question didn't seem to surprise him. "I want to cure you, but only if you're willing to receive the medical help you need."
"Is there even a cure for P...for TDS...for PT-" She couldn't spell the letters together out-loud, and that enough made her explode.
She thought she'd scream, a guttural sound to express her rage and pain and misery, but instead something else happened, something more embarrassing.
She started to cry.
That struck Asclepius almost as much as one of Zeus' lightning bolts would. The mighty heroine of Olympus was crying in front of him, in front of a god which whom she had never interacted before...He could see her youth in the pained sobs she tried to hide, and that seemed to make him sympathetic to her feelings.
After all she went through, Asclepius thought, It was to be expected for her to develop some kind of condition. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was a walk in the park compared to all the other horrible conditions she could've had.
"I'm sorry-" Percy started to say. Why was she even apologizing for crying?
"I'm the god of medicine, I'm more than highly qualified to assist you. There are multiple ways to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. I can guide you through all of them until we find the one that makes it all better for you. It's going to be a long path, I won't lie to you, but we will and we can get through this together."
Was he a therapist or psychiatrist too then? She had thought he was only the god of medicine. It was the most ridiculous thought she'd had that night, but she couldn't think clearly so she ignored it.
There was only something on her mind. She had to agree, she couldn't keep seeing Kronos everywhere. She couldn't stand the paranoia anymore, the mood swings, the blackouts...she had killed someone just moments earlier and she couldn't even remember how she'd done it.
She needed help.
"I-" She started.
Words weren't needed, Asclepius understood immediately.
"I must leave now," He said. "I cannot be gone too long from Olympus, someone has to be at the Infirmary, and I'm sure you have lots to do in the house before your parents come back. Do you think we could meet tomorrow?"
Truthfully, Percy wished to get it over with as soon as possible, in that precise moment if that was even possible. But she knew it wasn't, it would be- like he said- a very long path, and she was just starting.
"Yes, we can. I only have one condition..." She paused. "No one can know of this. Not my parents, not the other gods, not my friends from Camp."
He gave her a curious look, but accepted her conditions.
Before leaving, he produced a golden envelope from his staff, which had appeared, once again, out of thin air. He offered it to Percy, who was confused but thought it was just medical stuff. When she had it on both hands, she saw a carefully craved initial on the envelope. A.
She looked up, about to question Asclepius about it, but found that the god had disappeared already.
Artemis, Percy decided. It was probably a letter from Artemis telling her what her nephew had already told Percy. Or it could be an apology for not being there to tell her personally. The young demigoddess wasn't sure, and she was about to open the letter and find out what it was, when the sound of tires screeching made her flinch and then look back.
A blue vehicle was parking on the Salvatore's residence. A second later, Damon stepped out of his car and waved a hand to beckon the demigoddess to his house.
Percy sighed.
She made Damon a hand gesture to give her a moment, went inside and left the letter on the remaining table, and then walked out of the house and into the street towards the Salvatore Boarding's House.
Stefan was waiting for her at the entrance instead of Damon, which didn't really surprise the demigoddess. She had expected everyone planning to kill Katherine Pierce to know about their encounter already. And she was right, from inside the house she could hear Alaric's voice and knew he was talking with Damon, probably telling him all that she didn't tell him.
The next voice surprised her, and with delight Percy realized it was Annabeth's voice.
Stefan stopped her, politely giving her personal space but holding one hand out to stop her from moving.
"Just so we're clear, you're completely sure it's Katherine who you saw and not Elena? They are-"
"Elena is too weak to take down three adults," Percy replied, and edge to her voice. "And she's not a vampire."
Stefan closed his mouth, nodding at her words. He moved aside to let her enter through the doorstep, and Percy then moved forwards into what was, quite literally, the monster's house.