Chapter 8, False Hate
Percy's Cabin, Argo II
Thalia was concerned for Percy's mental state. After hearing that the sight of his own blood could send him into a panic attack, she realized that Percy was becoming a liability to the Seven. Thalia then shook herself of the thought, 'I have to stop thinking of him like he is a weapon' the daughter of Zeus told herself firmly. After seeing that Nico had shadow-traveled out with Percy, she left the training room as well with a solid idea of where Nico took their cousin. Thalia headed towards the left side of the Argo II and followed the door signs until she came upon the one labeled Percy Jackson.
Knocking once on the door, Thalia entered without waiting for a response and saw Percy standing by the small porthole window and gazing longingly at the ocean. She took a few seconds before he turned around to inspect the boy she had, with grudging admittance, crushed on all those years ago after being reborn from her Tree. He was taller now, probably around 6'3, and had more muscle, as well as holding himself differently since the Second Titan War. Instead of standing like an unconfident leader, Percy now has the stance of a battle-hardened general who had seen too much needless death, and Thalia knew that to be true given what the broken man has gone through since learning of this life.
"What do you want, Thalia? Here to gloat over how weak my mind has become?" The broken son of Poseidon said scathingly. The amount of self-loathing in his words caused Thalia to pause before she started to speak.
"Now why would I do that Kelphead?" Thalia asked in her normal no-fucks-given tone. The response she received upset her though she knew the reasoning behind it was her own fault, after all she has shown only hate towards him for years, as she listened to the broken man her trained eyesight saw some dark fluttering in the corner of the room.
"It is quite clear you hate me Thalia, I spent the last 5 years with a being that thrives off hate making it quite easy for me to see the hate you hold for me Thalia, and you have ever since the quest to save Artemis." Percy responded in a flat tone, having returned to looking out his small window. The new information of how long he was down there in Hell shocked her, as her eyes followed Percy's face she saw that same dark flutter coming from the same corner of the room. As her eyes returned to watching Percy's back she noticed that the muscles in his back were tightening as if he was preparing for some sort of conflict.. Thalia sighed before beginning to speak.
"Yes, I do hate you Percy. On that quest to save Artemis, it was your fault Zoe died, if you didn't piss off Ares during your first quest then he wouldn't have cursed you. And Zoe wouldn't have been forced to get involved in that fight in the first place. You could have beat Atlas if you weren't stupid enough to get cursed by the God of War!" The daughter of Zeus exploded, much like her father, before her eyes widened realizing what she just admitted to her cousin. She watched as the boy turned man she crushed on broke even more as he turned around with a dead expression on his face and spoke something that Thalia never thought she would hear her strong willed cousin say.
"Thanks for reminding me of some of my greatest failures Thalia, as if my severe PTSD wasn't enough. Do you truly think that I don't already know that every death we have ever faced was on me? Of course you didn't, after all I am just a kelp-headed bastard to you!"The furious son of the sea thundered at the now somewhat frightened daughter of Zeus.
Thalia scowled to hide her fear and regret at her uncontrollable actions then spun on her heel before storming out of the room to prevent herself from showing Percy just how his response actually affected her, even if she didn't know why she said what she said. As Thalia thought back to every encounter she had with The Savior of the Greeks she realized that her actions and words never held what her emotions of the Hero truly were. Every hateful word and stare were never what she wanted to emote, yet she always did, coming to this discovery lead Thalia to believe that maybe something is forcing her to act this way towards Percy. Thalia sighed as that was not how she wanted to interact with her cousin, nor what she had truly wanted to say to him, especially after seeing him struggle to come to terms with not being in Hell anymore.
Unseen and unknown to both Thalia and Percy was the quietly laughing image of a dark haired Goddess known as Lyssa, the same being that has been influencing the two children of the Big Three's relationship ever since the start of the quest to save Artemis….
Percy's Cabin, Somewhere Else
She was horrified at what she just watched go down between Percy and Thalia, when she had gone to sleep she expected to see more of Percy traveling through Hell not seeing him and his cousin being toyed with by some goddess she had never seen before.
She was forced to watch as Lyssa played with the emotions of the two cousins and how she made Thalia worsen the already deteriorating mental state of her friend. She started crying as she listened to his admittance of blaming himself for every loss the Titan War caused.
As the door shut behind Thalia, Lyssa turned to Her and spoke.
"Now what are you doing here, Oracle?" Lyssa said with a creepy smile as she took account of Rachel's presence. However before Rachel could respond something happened to the Goddess.
A clawed and shadowed hand wrapped itself around Lyssa's throat.
It was the hand of the Stranger from her visions.
Rachel watched as Percy and the Stranger she occasionally saw with Percy in her visions rip Lyssa out of her dream state and into the real world, now Rachel could only watch what happened next.
8th Level of Hell, Tartarus
Orpheus was still laughing slightly as the femine voice rang out from the darkness surrounding him and the downed Titan. The two battered bodies watched as a woman with ethereal beauty walked towards them with a gentle smile. She looked towards Orpheus before speaking.
"It's good to see you again, Brother." The mysterious woman said with that same gentle smile only for it to fade away as Orpheus looked at her with no hint of recognition u[on his face before he spoke.
"Brother? I don't have any siblings." Orpheus said as he slowly stood up and both the ethereal woman and Krios watched as the darkness seeped into his wounds and healed him. As he stood up he summoned his true blade from the ground where it was left before their boxing match. The Blade of the First Demon appeared in his hand, this blade has gone by many names over the years, Excalibur, Garmr, and Durendal being the most prominent, it is a basic European Longsword with a dark steel blade inlaid with a depiction of a Demonic crows eye upon the spine of the blade. The guard itself is two crow skulls facing away from each other with the handle being wrapped tightly in dark leather ening in a pommel shaped like the open mouth of a horned crow.
Before his supposed sister or Krios could say anything, Orpheus felt a pulse from the bond he shared with Percy..
"Sorry to cut this short lady, but I have urgent matters elsewhere and shall return here for Krios once they are completed." Orpheus said as he used the Blade of the First Demon to cut his way through the fabric of space-time and disappear from view.
Orpheus reappeared in the bedroom of Percy Jackson with his hand wrapped around the throat of the Goddess of Madness, Lyssa, as he ripped her out of her spirit form and into existence in order to throw her on the floor in front of Percy. The Demigod was obviously surprised to see him only for his eyes to land on the entity Orhpeus ripped from his own shadow.
"Long time no see, eh Destroyer?" The First Demon asked jokingly as he choke slammed Lyssa one more time, just for fun. Lyssa tried to break the Demon's hold on her neck only for the sword he was holding to stab through her shoulder straight into the flooring, further pinning the Goddess down.
"Orpheus? What are you doing here? How are you here?" Percy said as he stepped forward and drew his sword thinking the downed Goddess was some sort of threat. Lyssa, who was still struggling with a blade lodged in her shoulder, grew more concerned as one of the two Demigods that she had been manipulating for years drew his sword and pointed it down towards her.
The First Demon glared down at her with his piercing red eyes as he spoke.
"This little Goddess was messing with your head, and now she is going to tell me why and for how long." Orpheus said as he slowly twisted his blade still embedded in her shoulder. As she screamed in pain Percy clasped a hand over her mouth and watched her with expressionless eyes until she stopped screaming.
"I won't tell you anything!" The Goddess with a clearly fake smile.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that little Goddess, you see my friend here has already killed one Goddess before and she was a lot stronger than you are." The First Demon started with a lazy grin as his eyes continued to pierce into her very soul.
"You know I have been meaning to let off some steam, so maybe you shouldn't tell us anything, yet." Percy practically hissed out as he released his hold over his anger and hate. The amount of hate at others and himself worried Orpheus as this hateful pain Percy held was not as strong when he left the Demigod with Lady Night leading him to wonder if the embodiment of the Night was behind this mental change in the once pure man.
"I've been messing with him and his cousins' minds since they met! Under orders of The Crooked One!" The Goddess of Madness exclaimed as the fear of the two massive threats above her scared her into answering their questions. Orpheus, having seen the God-Killer start to move, ripped his sword out of the now screaming Goddess and yanked her to her feet.
"You mean to tell me that you have been messing with Thalia and I's minds since she was revived? So all the hate she has thrown at me for 3 years wasn't what she really thought of me?" Percy asked angrily as his anger grew even more with these revelations. Percy lifted Lyssa up by the throat as he glared in her eyes and slowly started superheating her ichor.
"You are going to tell me exactly how much you have influenced our thoughts towards one another or I will kill you slowly and painfully." Percy hissed at the extremely frightened Goddess who was openly sobbing at this point. Orpheus was starting to get worried for his friend's psyche and the amount of damage Tartarus must have done to it. The Goddess being held aloft by her throat, clearly to the Demigod and The First Demon, had never expected to get caught in her actions nor interrogated for them.
"I would tell him, or I will step in and make you tell him before we both kill you" Orpheus started with a lazy grin as hid his worry for Percy behind his cold countenance. Both the Demon and the Demigod watched as the Goddess slowly started to speak with pure hate in their eyes.
"Everytime the two of you would speak with each other I would influence your thoughts to make it easier to hate each other, your mind put up more of a fight than your cousins did but your entire relationship is based on fake emotions that I fostered in her head towards you. There is no hate from either of you towards each other except for what I put there." The Goddess of Madness fearfully rambled out as Percy and Orpheus shared a look with each other.
"We appreciate your honesty Lyssa but we lied, we are gonna kill you either way." Orpehus said as he stabbed her through the heart and Percy swiftly decapitated her before she could respond. Her last expression was well earned fear. The two watched her body slowly dissolve before turning to each other.
"Will you tell me how you got here now Orpheus? Last I saw of you was back in Hell." Percy asked his old friend as he slowly capped Riptide and sat down in shock at what was just revealed to him..
"I used that shadow charm I gave you to keep an eye on you in case I had to step in to keep you alive. I retrieved my sword and used it as a catalyst to teleport here." Orpheus explained as he turned The Blade of The First Demon into a shadow allowing him to summon it whenever.
"Well Percy it was great to see you again, and we shall see each other again, after all we share a bond now, forged through both the flames of fighting back to back and through the pact we made when you accepted my deal. I must go for now but expect me back in a few days." Orpheus told his friend as he faded in the shadows and vanished out of the room and appeared back in the same desolate part of Tartarus he battled Krios in, only to view a weird sight.
The ethereal lady claiming to be his sister is having tea with a bandaged Krios…
Percy's Cabin, Argo II
Percy, who was still sitting after the shocking news he received about his relationship with the hot-headed daughter of Zeus piled on the heart shattering revelation about Annabeth cheating on him. With two incredibly serious discoveries hanging dark thoughts over his head Percy only felt himself fall further into the deep hole of depression that slowly dug itself ever deeper within his psyche. As the thoughts darkened the broken hero let out a deep sigh as he contemplated just how much his life has gone to shit since finding out about his father's world.
After an hour of solitude and contemplation Percy heard a knock on his door and then a letter slipped under the door followed by a bright flash of light from the crack between the door and the floor. Seeing the obvious Godly intervention, Percy let out another deep sigh and picked up the letter addressed to him. The letter had no return address as all Godly letters do, so he opened the envelope to read its contents.
Dear Perseus,
I am beyond glad to hear that you have returned to us from Hell safe and sound. I understand that you recently had some sort of friendly spat with your brother after up-ending some of the sea floor, while I am glad to see my two sons finally getting along, I am also worried that your anger could lead to cloudy thoughts. We both know that clouded thoughts can mean life or death in battle, and so even though your uncle may frown upon it, if you ever need to speak your thoughts aloud and get things off your chest, pray to me and I shall listen. Even if you just need someone other than your friends to speak to, I will respond. I am sure your Aunt (You know which one my boy) would be more than willing to help you with your problems as well.
When the Earth Mother showed us that you were stuck in Hell, I made an oath to your mother that I would force the Earth Mother to fade for daring to send my treasured son down there.
With Regards, Your Father
As the Prince of the Sea read his fathers hastily scrawled cursive he could not stop the small wistful smile from spreading on his face. Carefully sliding the letter back into its sea green envelope, Percy sent a prayer of thanks up to his father and put the envelope in his desk drawer. A smell of salty air filled the room even further, helping Percy's now happy mood as the God-Killer finally left his room with a slightly happier countenance.
Sorry about the wait my friends, it's been tough writing this chapter as I kind of forgot where I was taking this story for a bit. However I am back at it and remembered that I had a layout for it, so I can now hopefully update at a more regular pace from here on out.
Ye-Olde-Erebus signing off, for now.
