Percy slammed his cabin door albeit a bit too hard. He honestly wouldn't be too concerned with that fact if it weren't for the unnecessary strain it put on the growing pain in his abdomen.
He walked over to the mosaic framed mirror mounted above the dresser that was against the wall of his cabin. With a grimace he lifted the hem of his shirt, the red-black ooze seeping through the fabric already hinting at what he would find beneath.
His eyes widened at the severity of the gash. He had suspected that it had gotten worse but there was no way that he had expected this. He hadn't even ever seen Anything like this.
The once small knife-sized wound now drew diagonally from below his right pectoral to ending just above his left hip bone. But that's not what the issue was.
The wound was caked with dried, crusted blood and an inky black substance that had seeped deep in the wound and had webbed its way to cover his whole torso, up part of his neck and down his arms ending above his elbows.
Percy cautiously prodded at the wound, causing the poison to drip from the gash to his skin where it sizzled and burnt it away like acid. He muffled a scream of pain into his fist.
Percy removed his ruined shirt and dabbed gently around his injury. The venom had seemed to have stopped dripping from the wound but Percy didn't want to risk agitating it again to dress it, so he settled for pulling an oversized black T-shirt on with a slight grimace at the pain that pulling the shirt on over his head had caused.
He briefly considered trying water again; it had temporarily halted the deterioration of the wound but had caused the black ooze to spread further across his body. the very same black ooze that burned white-hot in his veins, scorching across every inch of flesh it covered.
There was no way that he could risk it. What if trying to heal it again made it worse? What if it made it burn more? He had to find some way to heal it on his own. He could not keep going at this rate but he could not go to the med bay. Will would tell Nico, and Nico would lose his shit and Annabeth would undoubtedly find out along the way.
Not to mention if it got to Chiron and Mr.D it could reach his Father and that's not something he wanted to deal with. His Dad was so overprotective sometimes. Freaking out over the smallest little injuries.
Okay, well maybe this one warranted a little bit of panic, but considering California was still recovering from when Percy broke his wrist last month; Percy had reason to want to avoid him and anyone who would tell him from knowing.
Besides, it was probably for the best that no one knew in general. All he could seem to do was get hurt lately, and if more people started noticing how weak he actually was, well why would they bother to keep him around? It's not like he wasn't more trouble than he was worth anyways.
No, he couldn't let anyone find out. Especially not his Dad.
As if appearing specifically to give him a heart attack, in a burst of salty mist, Percy no longer found himself alone. Percy froze at the intrusion before his eyes rose to the figure behind him.
The man reflected in the mirror stood only slightly taller than him, his black hair was kept a quite longer length and was tied back out of the way into a ponytail. Arms crossed over a button-down shirt opened to reveal a simple t-shirt underneath. An already impatient foot tapped on the floorboards fitted in a clean pair of plain black runners that almost blended right into his straight-legged black pants.
"What do you want?" Percy snipped at Triton
Triton, in response, rolled his eyes and made a sound somewhere between a scoff and a growl. "Believe me, it's not the highlight of my night either."
The two sons of Poseidon had had a few additional encounters since their brief initial meeting, and while Percy had always tried to give people the benefit of the doubt and to get to know them on his own terms; it seemed that Triton did not share the sentiment as he had done nothing but respond with hostility.
Whatever. At least he had tried, but that didn't mean that he had to continue to do so while his brother did the exact opposite.
"If you're oh so inconvenienced to be here, then why are you? Or y'know what, I don't actually care. You can just leave so that I can go to sleep." Percy snapped back before turning a bit too fast for his current state and taking a few slightly unsteady strides to his bed.
"Oh, I'm so very sorry, Perseus. Am I keeping you awake, is my issue not pressing enough for you" Triton retorted in a falsely kind tone before turning to intercept Percy; placing a firm hand on his shoulder abruptly stopping his path towards the safety of his bed and spinning him to face himself.
Percy bit back a yelp of pain and his hand involuntarily went to his abdomen. Entirely forgetting what happened the last time he touched the wound, he put a hand over it.
Triton paused for a moment at Percy's small show of pain before removing his hand from Percy's shoulder and taking a step back, His eyes scanned the demigod's features and landed on the hand that he had firmly pressed against his abdomen, narrowing in suspicion.
"What's the matter with you?" he said in a slightly confused, but overall annoyed tone. Percy was sure that he was losing it because for a moment, Triton sounded almost concerned.
The god in question reached one hand out towards the spot that Percy was covering, and the boy smacked it away with his free hand. "Don't touch me," he said sharply with a step back and a shake of his head before refocusing his rapidly blurring, spinning vision on his Brother. "I'm fine, and why do you even care? I mean it's not like you like me or anything."
Triton let out an exasperated sound. "Do you know what? You're actually correct for once. Why," he said closing the space between the two, before trying once again to get a better look at what Percy seemed to find necessary to hide "Did I even bother."
"Hey!" Percy exclaimed jerking out of Triton's hold before immediately regretting the decision and doubling over in pain. Shit. No. He was definitely going to tell their Dad now, he could still save this though he just couldn't let Triton see the actual wound.
"Oh yes," Triton said, attempting to steer Percy over to sit on his bed. "You're fine" he sighed when Percy once again snaked out of his hold. "I said don't touch me!" Percy said with a bit more bite than necessary.
"I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of this, Perseus. Let me see whatever minor battle wound you've picked up on your latest little escapade so I can fix it, and then I can get the actual reason for my being here over and done with."
"No, leave me alone!" Percy said in a voice a little too close to a whimper as he swayed more and more on increasingly unsteady feet and groaned, the hand that had been holding his abdomen coming up to his now pounding head.
Triton seized the opportunity and immediately stepped towards the distracted boy and reached out to grab the hem of his shirt, moments away from unveiling whatever silly flesh wound the boy had been so preoccupied with.
Unfortunately, this happened at the same time that the black toxin that had been held in by Percy's haphazardly placed hand, once again began spilling from the wound onto his stomach. The extreme pain he already felt had now intensified, momentarily snapping Percy back into the moment as his head shot up, smacking Triton's hand away at the same time.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Percy gasped, stumbling back as he clutched at his side. He cried out at the pain that was searing, shooting through his veins like lightning.
Triton had a hard time hiding his shock. What could possibly have Percy so adamantly against his help? Against him even seeing what was wrong. Was he like this with everyone? It was at that very moment that Triton realized how little he actually knew about his brother.
"Percy," he tried again in a much softer tone, ignoring the surprised eyes snapping up to his own at the use of his nickname. "Please, why will you not allow me to see what is wrong."
Percy took a shuddering breath, burying his head in his hands "I'm fine. I can do things on my own. I'm not weak."
Triton scoffed. Right. For a moment he actually thought there was something deeper to the hero in front of him, but he was just the same as the rest. "Oh this is about your foolish pride then, you've got the be the best?"
At that Percy lowered his hands slightly. "What?" he asked, voice too quiet if Triton had not been a god.
"I've known heroes before, Perseus, you're all the same. You have to be the very best and master all of your feats. You have to prove yourself because you don't really care about doing the right thing, just about what it can do for you." Triton said with a sneer.
Percy then did something that completely threw Triton off, he laughed. Well, maybe laugh wasn't the right word. It wasn't out of humour, or good-natured. It was bitter and perhaps a little bit deranged with the physical pain at that moment and something more.
"Great to know you think so little of me, I mean I had suspected as much but it's always nice to know for sure," Percy said limping over to the wall and leaning against it.
"No, no that's not it." he sighed and steeled himself, he wasn't one to reveal deep emotional truths, but hey, he had come this far."No, the thing is that if they know how weak I am they'll get rid of me." He finished with what was meant to be a shrug for dramatic effect but became a grimace of pain before turning his eyes back to his brother.
"What?" Triton was truly taken aback. This demigod, this child had surprised him more times that day than he had been in a long time. Was that really what he thought? That he was just disposable? What could have happened in the boy's life that he had come to feel that way. "Why would you possibly think that?"
Percy raised an eyebrow in response and Triton's eyes drifted once again to the concealed wound that was now seeping through even the thick, dark t-shirt. The demigod sighed. "That's what they all think, that's what they always have, even Dad only really likes me because I'm useful and if I'm not useful anymore then he won't - they all won't, and if he isn't what is stopping them from just killing me?"
Triton paused in thought for a second, he supposed he could see that from some of the other gods, but certainly not their father; and he knew there were several other gods who favoured the boy as well. He wasn't even sure where to begin with this. He would be sure to speak to his Father about this but for now, he would do what he could.
"Listen." Triton's voice cut through Percy's haze "We both know you're hurt, but you don't have to play the hero. At the very least, not right now. Now let me see your damn wound."
Percy hesitated, faltering before deciding that it was in his best interest to listen. He nodded, opening up his stance and allowing Triton to approach him.
Triton accepted the change in posture and took a few steps in, proceeding slowly and with caution. When he was sure that it was okay, he lifted the hem of Percy's shirt carefully to reveal the gash had not only lengthened but deepened as well. It now went from the top of his shoulder to his upper thigh and was nearly an inch deep.
Triton froze, eyes widening in disbelief, but he remained silent. He reached out but stopped himself just short of touching the wound. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and grave.
"Tell me who did this to you... Now."
He looked back to his brother, but his eyes had become glassy and unfocused. With a sigh, Triton put a second hand on his shoulder and teleported the two of the to Atlantis.
He was sure that regardless of the severity of the wound across the demigod's torso, since he had now entered their Father's domain that it would only take a few moments to begin to heal, and from there they would address the nonsense that he had gotten inside his head.
How Percy had somehow begun to find his way into his affection in such a short period of time was beyond him, Triton knew that despite the time that they didn't get along, whatever it was that happened tonight had changed things.
Triton's eyes flipped to the demigod who he layed on the bed in his own room, eyebrows scrunching in confusion on how the wound had yet to begin to heal. In fact, it almost looked as though the blackened veins were rapidly reaching out further and further. Suddenly, Percy jerked in his sleep, a pitiful sound spilling from his lips. He began to twitch and shake and his cries became louder and louder and Triton felt a cold panic settle in his chest. Wasting no time, he scooped up the boy and swept him away to the infirmary.
There were two healers there when he arrived, both of which turned as he entered, eyes widening in horror.
"One of you summon my father, the other please, you must help him; I don't know what's wrong."