Percy sat alone at the Poseidon table, eating his dinner. It had been a long day for him, and he was looking forward to a quiet meal and the opportunity to return to his cabin and spend some time with Annabeth.
Unfortunately, his quiet meal was interrupted by Will Solace.
"Percy Jackson!"
Irritated that this exhausting day was throwing one more inconvenience in his direction, Percy groaned and turned to Will. "What do you want?"
The pavilion fell silent as Will stalked up to Percy's table. Theseus, bandaged up and seated at the Hermes table, appeared shocked but smug. At the Athena table, Annabeth started to stand, not knowing what to expect but preparing herself to step in if necessary.
Will marched up to Percy, who was still seated and slammed a hand down on the table in front of him. "I thought I told you to leave Nico out of this. I can't believe you would set him up like that," Will barked at him, not bothering to lower his voice to avoid the attention of the crowd.
Percy stood, exercising his one-inch height advantage over Will. "I never told him to say anything. If Nico came to talk to you, he did it of his own free will."
Will grit his teeth and swung his fist at Percy's jaw, sending Percy stumbling backward and crashing into the Poseidon table. A chorus of shocked noise arose from the other campers in the pavilion as Percy straightened up, rubbing the side of his face in disbelief. Then, the shock quickly turned to anger at Theseus, his near-death experience, and subsequent defeat. And now at Will, who to Percy represented the cherry on top of this bad day he was having. And that cherry pushed him off the edge.
"You're picking the wrong fight," he snapped and lunged at Will, tackling him. Together they fell back onto the Aphrodite table, sending plates crashing to the floor and campers scrambling out of the way of the scuffle. Percy pinned Will down and let his fists fly, releasing all the anger he had stored away all day into Will's face. He only managed to land a couple of solid punches before Will gripped both of Percy's shoulders and brought his knee up into him. Will then shoved Percy off of him, sending him flipping over the side of the table, off the seat, and onto the stone floor.
With Percy momentarily stunned, Will seized the upper hand, straddling Percy and grabbing two fistfuls of his orange camp shirt.
"Don't ever let me catch you talking to Nico again!" Will shouted. On each word, he lifted Percy and slammed him roughly back down into the ground.
Seeing this, Annabeth jumped up from the Athena table and dashed over to Percy's aid. She grabbed Will by the back of his shirt and hauled him off of Percy.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she shouted once she had separated the two. Will stood fuming a few feet away, and Percy remained on the floor, groaning.
"Stop this at once!" Chiron bellowed from the entrance to the pavilion. "I don't know what the meaning of this is, but this behavior will not be tolerated. I expect better from both of you. Come with me and explain yourselves."
Percy's eyes fluttered open, and he found himself staring at the ceiling of the infirmary. He lifted his head to look around, but his whole body was sore, and his head was pounding. He groaned and dropped his head back onto the pillow.
"Good, you're awake, Percy," Chiron said from the corner where he had been hunched over talking to Will and Annabeth. "Perhaps now you can shed some light on this situation."
The sound of Percy's misery brought Annabeth's attention away from her discussion with Chiron and Will. "Percy," she began as she made her way to his bedside, "What happened back there? You should know better than to start fights with other campers." She used her fingers to brush away the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.
Percy groaned. "It's a long story."
"We have time," she answered, placing her hand in his.
Chiron spoke up from his corner. "I would also like an explanation. You should know that fighting outside of training is, at the very least, frowned upon."
Percy squeezed Annabeth's hand softly. "I do know that, Chiron," he said slowly. "It wouldn't have been an issue if I hadn't been attacked." He glared at Will. "He hit me first. Everyone saw."
"That's the part we all know, Perce, but why. Why was the fight even necessary?" Annabeth asked, squeezing his hand.
"Why don't you ask him, Annabeth?" Percy snapped without thinking. "He thinks I was- I don't even know, manipulating Nico or something. Which I didn't do."
Annabeth took in a deep breath, choosing her following words wisely, "Why would Will make that kind of assumption based on nothing? Am I missing something? This all really just came out of nowhere."
"For you, maybe, I've been dealing with this all day." Percy took a deep breath before continuing. "Theseus and I were fighting at the arena earlier, and he went totally aggro, and I was dangling off the cliff for like five whole minutes while Nico came and roughed him up a little, so I didn't, you know, fall to my death. It's not like I asked him to get into the fight for me. He just did it."
"Yeah, right!" Will interrupted, "Nico would never do such a thing. If anything, it seems as though you're seeking any kind of attention. You saved the world a couple of months ago, big whoop. Now, no one is giving you attention, so you're lashing out! Move on already." He crossed his arms angrily.
"I'm lashing out?" Percy sat up abruptly, not fazed by the pounding in his head. "I'm lashing out?! Do you remember what you did to me literally an hour ago? If anyone needs to get a grip and move on, it's you, Solace."
"Screw you, Jackson," he snapped, pointing the finger at him. "I wish you never made it back from Tartarus. It's where you belong."
Percy stared blankly at Will, unable to think of anything to say in response. Memories of his time in the pit flashed through his mind, and he looked down at his lap, where his hand was still holding Annabeth's.
Annabeth tightly squeezed Percy's hand. With her other hand, she bawled her fist so that her nails dug into her palm. Anger consumed her as she left Percy's side and marched up to Will, her shaking fist making contact with the side of his jaw. She clenched her teeth as the pain in her hand shot up her arm. "You have no right. You weren't there," she said, her voice trembling.
"Mr. Solace, please step outside," Chiron said, his voice dangerously low. "I understand that emotions are high right now, but that was unacceptable."
A small smile crossed Percy's face as he watched Annabeth. "Thank you," he said softly once she returned to his side.
Annabeth felt the adrenaline subside and thanked the gods that she was already in the infirmary to patch up her hand. She returned a soft smile and used her good hand to cup the side of his face, "Whatever the reason, I'm still on your side, Seaweed brain."
Chiron sighed. "I'm sorry about that, you two. I'll talk to him. He should know better." He started to leave the room before turning back to Percy for a moment. "Just try not to get into any more trouble, Percy."
