Hey everyone so sorry for the wait but I got a puppy for my birthday so I've been more focused on that then on writing. Anyways I'll keep this brief and let you get to the story.
Sorry for taking so long.
Sorry if bad grammar had to pump out this chapter very quickly.
I do not own Percy Jackson in any way, shape, or form. The series belongs to Rick Riordan
Only my OC's belong to me.
No One POV
Life in the Jackson Apartment had gone severely downhill over the last year. Percy had become more of a recluse and saw his friends less, Sally had to give up on her writing dream to help support the family, Percy became angry with Gabe, and Gabe started gambling. Actually, he was already a gambler, he had just decided to show it. Gabe also began something far more heinous than his gambling, Gabe started to beat his son.
At first, it was small hits. Shoving Percy out of the way, hitting him so he'd go grab a beer. It didn't take long to devolve into a far more troubling problem. Percy had become Gabe's walking talking torture bag. Every day was another session for Gabe to figure out the worst forms of pain. The first full beating Percy had received was when he turned five.
On Percy's birthday, Gabe hated the amount of attention Percy was receiving and decided to teach his son-in-law a lesson. Percy started off brave Gabe was simply using him as a punching bag the first time.
Percy however, refused to cry holding strong hoping his mother would help him. Percy wanted to cry out to her, for her to come barging in preferably holding a shotgun if at all possible and end Gabe's miserable existence. Gabe knew Percy would want to cry out, what kid wouldn't. To solve this problem the twisted solution came quite easily to Gabe's cruel imagination.
Percy was told that if he called out to his mom that he would stop beating him and instead he would beat his mother maybe fuck her, and force him to watch. The reaction was exactly what Gabe expected. Percy shut up and took every hit glaring at Gabe while Gabe smiled intoxicated with happiness.
The beatings became more visceral turning more into the annihilation of Percy than a simple beating. In turning more barbaric new weaponry became involved. Gabe loved adding in more things to cause blunt force trauma and internal hemorrhaging to Percy. What had started out with fists switched to walking sticks then to golf clubs and baseball bats and ending with a hammer. Sadly ending with the hammer only meant evolving past blunt force trauma and beginning in edged weaponry.
Gabe started out small again, a swiss army knife traced across his skin, then it was a small kitchen knife before it moved onto bigger knives carving different patterns into his skin with the different knives. Never were the cuts deep enough to scar but they always left a mark. eventually, Gabe moved past common weaponry and into things like temporary blinding, oxygen deprivation, starvation, denailing(ripping out someone's nails), and his personal favourite boiling water. the amount of time it took Gabe to make his way through all of these forms of torture was under a year.
Normally a person would never be able to undergo that much torture without someone finding out but Luckily for Gabe and extremely unluckily for Percy, Gabe found out that water heals Percy, and so whenever Gabe was finished with his torture he would dunk Percy into an ice-cold bathtub until he was healed. Percy can vividly remember the three worst torturous experiences he had.
Flashbacks
Percy Pov
November 24th, 1998
It's been almost three months since he started beating me or maybe by now, it had been over three months. It was getting harder to remember every day the pain would blend together. When was it he switched from that walking stick to a bat or was there something in between those two items. How many days had it been since he started using his latest weapon his hammer? The hammer may have been smaller compared to all of the other tools he'd used so far but it hurt a lot. *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* the sound of Gabe's fist rattling against his door shook him from his thoughts.
"What do you want" I angrily questioned him?
"What do you think you little shit" Gabe paused to take a swig of his beer "I'd like to test some of my new stationery on you" he claims with a wicked smile.
Only three words run through my mind 'I am fucked'. "Well, what are you gonna do to me this time huh, Getting a sledgehammer or something," I questioned angrily.
"Oh I could never do that" he claimed with fake care in his voice "that would leave bruises and broken bones that were far too severe for me to get away with."
"just fucking start already," I told him angrily. Gabe smirked in his drunken stupor and pulled a small red object out of his pocket it took half a second to realize it was his swiss army knife. Gabe pulled out the blade and walked closer to me.
"I'm gonna take my knife for a walk over your skin ok," he said in a tone reminiscent of asking a small child if he was ok. A shiver ran up my spine, Gabe had yet to use any blades yet and he didn't know what to expect. I held still knowing that if I ran he would either hurt me even worse or the far more terrible option he hurt mom. I felt the blade contact my skin but it only drifted across my skin not yet cutting me. He started at my chest and made his way down tracing my stomach then going around my sides and up my back to my shoulder.
He pushed the blade lightly into the skin on my shoulder not deep enough to cause any damage but enough to bleed. "AAAAHHHHHHH!" was all I could say. there was so much pain in such a small motion then he started to drag the blade keeping it the same depth in my skin drawing a bloodied pattern over my body as I screamed In overwhelming agony. He threw me to the ground to let me bathe in my own blood for a minute before he walked out of the room. I lay on the floor my throat so dry I couldn't scream. I wanted the pain to end, death would have been such a sweet embrace. Instead, I heard heavy footsteps signalling Gabe's return and shortly after felt a bucket of water dumped on my back causing my wounds to heal. This would have brought me some comfort if it wasn't for the fact I knew this meant he would only be able to continue on doing this for longer.
Almost an hour later Gabe decided to become a bit bolder in his actions and as the knife traced down to my stomach he cut deeper. All I could feel was the slicing through the muscle tissue and opening my stomach up. I had passed out the pain had been incredible. I awoke in an ice bath, stomach sealed back up with only an extremely thin scar to show what he had done to me. I shivered and tried to turn on the hot water only for Gabe to barge in. "hey you little shitstain Sally's gonna be home in 20 minutes you better be acting as we went on a wondrous adventure to fuck the lucky charms guy and eat rainbows you got me" he questioned? I only nodded my response. climbing out of the tub and draining the water before walking back to my room to get dressed.
April 1st, 1998
'Fuck' was the only thought that ran through my mind as I woke up. It was April fools day, a day where most kids pulled pranks and told really shitty jokes just to piss off their friends. I, however, knew this would end up being Gabe's excuse to do something drastic today. I had slept in a bit as my school had the day off today for parent-teacher interviews. Normally a kid my age would have been starting school next year but since I was quite smart my mom enrolled me a year early. It was around 11 o'clock when I woke up. I sniffed the air to catch a whiff of my mom's blue pancakes. I turned into a gymnast and vaulted out of bed straight into my clothes before bolting into the kitchen to get my fill. when I go to the kitchen I looked around to see Gabe on the couch passed out drunk. I looked away wanting to believe he wasn't real and instead focused my attention on my favourite person in the world. I launched into my mother enveloping her in the biggest hug I could give. I felt her put whatever she was holding down and wrap her arms around me returning my hug.
"How's my little prince doing," she asked me lovingly.
"Mommmmmm" I groaned "that's such a lame nickname" I pouted at her.
"Haha, well it being lame doesn't make you any less of my little prince" she retorted
I groaned in response and she ruffled my untamable hair.
"I'm doing fine mom, First grade has been pretty easy and my teachers are all nice to me," I told her.
"well that's good to hear, but ill be going to meet with your teachers today to make sure ok troublemaker. Go sit at the table and ill bring you some pancakes," she told me.
"Ok" I responded happily
later that day
I was sitting in my room mindlessly staring out the window and singing to myself. It was around 3 in the afternoon and I heard the thumping of Gabe waddling his way over to my room.
I heard a bang and my door swung open"ta-da" screamed Gabe. The colour dripped from my face leaving me pale and cold. I turned to see what weapon would it be today. Was he still on the chef's knife or was today gonna be an upgrade or I guess a downgrade in all honesty?
he pulled the chef's knife from behind him and while I was glad to see he hadn't upgraded a few thoughts still seeped into my mind. The first thought was that's still a big knife and this is still really going to hurt. The second was It's April fools day I really hope this is actually the biggest weapon he's going to use today.
Gabe stalked toward me like a hairless tuskless walrus that had been repeatedly stabbed in the butt. but that sight alone terrified me. he grabbed my hand and jammed the blade between my fingers far deeper than something like a paper cut. He pushed the blade to about the middle of the knuckle in between each finger.
then left the room to grab a bucket of water. I had been silent while he had done this. The pain had become so numb now my brain almost seemed to have become dull to it. Instead, it made me sleepy but not a pleasant sleepy more so a painful tired like you would be after staying up for over 24 hours straight. I wanted to close my eyes and never wake up. but I felt my hands enter freezing cold water and was shocked back awake.
"April fool's bitch" he whispered in my ear before pulling out a butcher knife. I stared in shock and fear of what he was planning to do with it. He grabbed one of my arms and started slicing down the sides leaving deep gashes all across my arm. then he went to my other arm and then my sides. He continued slicing along every portion of my body until I was soaked in my blood then he dumped the bucket of water he had first brought in on me. I coughed violently blood coming out. "even after I heal you, you still cough blood all on the floor. you ungrateful bitch." he turned me over and swung the butcher knife at me. I even felt when it connected I tried to raise my arm to shield myself only to find my arm not responding. Gabe had sliced at my shoulder and chopped down to the bone cutting at half of my shoulder. I stared at my partially disconnected arm. Gabe walked away and came back while I still look at my arm tears forming in my eyes as the pain finally started to register for the first time in so long. I cried out only to choke slightly on my own blood.
Gabe dumped another bucket of water on my arm and watched with sick fascination as my arm healed itself. "one day ill sell you to some government organization so they can figure out how your healing works but until then I'm going to keep enjoying it," exclaimed Gabe.
June 13th, 1998
'It's been a few days since he last tortured me. He'll probably do it again today then.' I thought to myself.
A few hours later Gabe waltzed in with a wicked smile plastered on his face.
"You know, for the longest time I've wondered something about your healing. Now I've realized I don't need to wonder I can just try it and heal you with what I know works after" He walked up to me and grabbed me by my arm to drag me to the kitchen and towards a pot of boiling water. "will this still heal you I wonder" he asked?
He pushed my hands into the water and I felt my skin burning and healing at the same time it stung like a sharp blade running through my bones. It felt so hot and cold at the same time. Gabe pulled my arms back out. And I realized I had quickly lost my voice from the scream I emitted.
"Have you lost your voice, do you need something to drink" the dark undertone laced in his voice led to one thought and I prayed it wasn't true. Gabe picked up the pot and dumped the water down my Throat. The same sharp feeling of simultaneous cold and hot, shot throughout my body as I could feel my vocal cords burning in my throat. My screams became garbled and choked much like when I choked on my own blood except farm more painful and much louder and quieter from the constant burning and healing.
I passed out quickly only to wake up in the washroom next to a bathtub filled with boiling water. Gabe waltzed in holding another pot of boiling water and poured it into the bathtub before turning to me again. He picked me up and lowered me into the bathtub. I tried to scream but my vocal cords had been singed from the water that he had force-fed me earlier. I felt the same feeling I had felt before but so much more intense. The pain was among the worst I had ever felt. I watched as my skin burned then turned back to normal I could feel my vocal cords healing slowly as I sat in the tub screams slowly becoming louder and led gargled. I sat in that tub until the water turned back to a regular temperature.
I had tears running from my eyes. Death seemed so peaceful compared to this why not just end it. surely water won't be able to heal my head being chopped off, will it? Maybe I should finally kiss this world goodbye. death would be so calm and tranquil. My soul floating along aimlessly, no pain or emotion just existence. But what would mom think? No, I would never do that to her she had done far too much for me to just throw it away for the sweet embrace of death.
Now
July 4th, 1998
I was playing outside with a friend of mine. His mom came to pick him up about 10 minutes early as she needed to be somewhere and she needed her son home so that the babysitter could look after him. I waved back to my friend and his mom and started to walk back into the condo building. I got back to my floor and heard a scream. My blood ran cold as the owner of the scream that had just reverberated through these halls was the voice of my mom. I ran back to the room and saw Gabe beating my mom with his bare fists. I felt so angry DEATH DEATH DEATH I could hear my brain chanting to me. It was the first time I hadn't wanted my own death because of the pain. No, I wanted Gabe to die painfully and slowly by my bare hands as I stared into his eyes. So I decided to do just that.
I grabbed the closest object to me; I'm not even sure what it was. I stalked towards Gabe and proceeded to rear the object back behind my head. Everything seemed to slow around me, I could feel all of the muscles in my arms, back, and stomach tensing. In a snap, my arms shot forwards and the object in my hands collided with the back of Gabe's head. Everything went black and I saw a body in front of me it looked to be a kid about 17 years old. I blinked and the darkness was gone and where the body was, Gabe now lay cold and unconscious. 'don't be dead' was the thought running through my mind 'that wasn't nearly painful enough for how you should die'. I leaned over and checked his pulse *ba-dump* *ba-dump* echoed in my ears as a wicked smile crawled along my face. 'how should he die' I asked myself giddily.
I wracked my thoughts for the most painful method for him to die. Preform a bloody eagle on him, or cut him open and tie his intestine around his neck then around a tree and see if he died from blood loss or lack of oxygen first. Waterboarding was also an easy option. Maybe I should try death by a thousand cuts on him though boiling water and denailing may also be fun. I could tie him down and set him on fire; I'd watch each layer of skin reduce to nothing as he died writing in pain. Mom had told me that I had greek ancestry so I could give scaphism a try as well (google any of these if morbidly curious it's quite nasty). In the end, I ignored the fact that my mind suddenly knew of so many torture methods and chose my own.
I looked over at my mother who had passed out and noticed the scars all on her back and legs. The questions circled 'why does she have scars and bruises' 'was it Gabe' 'Gabe promised if I was his punching bag he would never hurt her'. Blood red anger swelled in my chest as I stalked towards Gabe with a new purpose to my stride. I Grabbed what I had originally hit him with and found it to be a hammer before smiling to myself and swinging it down on his shit only to hear a sickening crack a quick scream of pain then have Gabe pass out again. this process was repeated with the other shin, then the kneecap, then the other kneecap then both thighbones and finally on the pelvis. Each strike woke Gabe up for a moment to realize what was happening and who was doing this to him. On the last strike, he stayed awake as a horrid sound crawled from his throat to punctuate the air. "you seem to be conscious now" I proclaimed.
"What the fuck are you doing to me you little shitstain" he questioned angrily "why would I ever deserve this".
I looked at him questioningly "I'm not gonna dignify that with a response". I tell him then proceed to break both of his forearms only for him to screech like a little girl again. I tear off a piece of my shirt to gag him so he'll shut up then start with my plan.
I walked to the kitchen and towards the kitchen block and grabbed the chef's knife. I made sure the blade was nice and sharp before I walked back to Gabe's body. I stared at him angrily but the longer I looked the more emotionless I became. I was angry, sad, disgusted, and tired and it hurt so instead I felt emotionlessness. I knelt over Gabe a dragged the knife over his skin much like what he used to do to me. Once I reach the bottom of the front of his neck I pushed the blade in. It was just deep enough to separate the skin. The blade moved down past the collar bones over the sternum along his bloated stomach until it reached his waist. I dropped the chef's knife by my side and reached for the hammer.
I swung the hammer down on Gabe's sternum and shattered it. I threw the hammer off to the side and stopped for a moment the sounds of Gabe dying pleas floating around my ears as he has only seconds to live whether from blood loss and pain or from the way I wanted to kill him. I wanted him to feel more pain so I elected to have things done my way. I reached my hands into Gabe's chest and grabbed the back of his rib cage. I pulled with all of my force and watched morbidly as Gabe was turned inside out. The putrid smell of Gabe's insides hung in the air as I stood there unsure of what to do next. I still wanted him to feel more pain but he was dead by now and I couldn't change that.
I felt anger creep back up on me thinking back to all he had done to me and the vision of my beaten mother. I grabbed his intestines and tied them around his throat wanting to choke him but no sounds were made. He was quite dead after all but I wanted to hear him gargle his own blood as he was choked by his intestines. My vision turned dark again and all I saw were words before me ... ... ... ... The words made perfect sense in my mind and flowed easily while I read them. I looked back at the corpse in my hands "ειρήνη στην ύπαρξή σας" were the words I read. The reaction was immediate all of the parts of Gabe's body that were unharmed started to turn inside out and he slowly started melting into a puddle. But the only thing that mattered to me was the fact that light had returned to Gabe's eyes which mean I could make him feel more pain.
I glared into his eyes as I continued to strangle him with all my force as his intestines started to rip apart. For almost 10 seconds longer the light in Gabe's eyes stayed there then, as the shred of his intestines was heard the light extinguished. My breathing was loud and heavy and I felt far more tired than I had realized I was. I had heard that revenge didn't satisfy you but that must have been from people that had never succeeded in their revenge because I felt tranquil. The emotionlessness ended and I felt relieved, relieved that I would never have to experience that pain again and my mom wouldn't have to either.
'Mom' I said to myself suddenly remembering my mom's condition as I turned back to the couch where she had passed out. I ran over to her side and pressed my head against her chest. I heard her heartbeat and felt my blood begin to flow again. My breathing deepened and slowed as I calmed down. I wanted my mother to wake up so I could talk to her, so I could hug her and enjoy that it was all over. 'what if she looks at you like the monster they say you are' muttered the voice coming from the darkness he saw earlier. 'no she couldn't hate me I'm her son... ... or could she'. It suddenly felt hard to breathe and I felt like I needed space I ran to my room and grabbed my backpack. I grabbed two changes of clothes then ran to the kitchen to grab some snacks and 20 dollars off the counter. I ran to the door and looked back to my mom to see her eyes half opened looking at me. Thoughts of 'what if she hates me now' pulsed through my brain so I ran out of the room and down the stair away from the building.
I ran, and ran, and ran and ran and ran. my legs screamed in agony my lungs felt like they were dipped in lava and my stomach growled for food. After what felt like an eternity I stopped to take in my surroundings. It was dark out now with the moon shining brightly in the sky and the warm air blowing against the trees surrounding me. 'Wait trees surrounding me am I in a forest' I asked myself. I slowly walked along trying to ignore the pain in my legs only to collapse after a few more steps. I leaned up against a tree and moved my head along one piece of bark only to find myself falling down a chute.
I slammed into the ground aggressively landing on something soft. Despite the long fall, the thing I had landed on felt really comfy and I soon found myself ebbing into the realm of Hypnos. Suddenly the soft thumping of footsteps drew near to me and I opened one eye to find a group of teenagers surrounding me holding weapons made from what looked like bronze and gold. "I'm sorry please don't hurt me" I called out.
"wait, hold up," said a man from among the crowd "he's just a kid" the man started walking closer to me then picked me up. "you okay buddy," he asked?
"Yeah I'm fine" I replied as my stomach gurgled causing me to blush "maybe a little hungry," I told him.
"We can feed you if you tell us a few things about yourself" was his reply.
"Sure what do you want to know," I asked?
"firstly" was the only word he got out before he was cut off by the sound of girls shrieking. A group of girls ran up to me and started speaking to me really quickly. "you're so cute" "aww he's adorable" "oh my gods I wanna give him a hug". These girls in a few ways reminded me of amelia. "hey give him some space I'm sure he had a rough time getting here" said the man holding me.
He started walking away still holding me as we headed towards what I could only hope was some sort of food.
as we reached a dining hall looking area he sat me down and told me to wait a moment. He ran off to a backroom presumably to grab something. As I sat there alone the girl returned and started talking to me again. Calling me cute and adorable, pinching my cheeks and ruffling my hair, saying how they had little brothers who were just as cute as me. I was once again saved by the man who had first picked me up. "Hey give him some space he just got here and he hasn't eaten in a while. You can talk to him after we've even determined if he belongs here" he said as the girl's all smiled at me then walked away waving. I looked back at the man as he looked down at me before cracking a smile "first day here and you got all the girl's attention, good job man".
I blushed again as he finished his comment and looked at what he had in his hands only to start salivating looking at the burger and fries on the tray. "you get to eat if you promise to answer questions ok" he told me. I nodded fervently at him desperate to eat. He placed the tray in front of me and I ate at a record-setting pace. I finally slowed down after my burger and half the fries were gone. "Ok questions now" he stated.
"Go ahead" I replied mouth half-full with fries.
"Did you never meet one of your parents?" he questioned.
"Yes I never met my dad" I replied.
"Ok, question 2 do you have ADHD or dyslexia," he asked?
"I have ADHD but I don't have dyslexia," I told him
"Could you see that we were holding swords when we surrounded you?"
"Yes,"
"Have you ever seen a monster or anything that seemed magical".
"Yes, I fed a dog a piece of candy that my mom called abrosia or something like that."
"Ok I'm pretty sure you're one of us," he told me.
"And what are you," I asked.
He smiled at me and said "we're demigods, children of the Greek gods"
"Greek gods' like Poseidon and Zeus" I questioned.
"Yep though I wouldn't throw those names around so lightly those guys are still up in Olympus. It's good to see you know about greek mythology though"
"My mom made sure I had a good understanding of the basic information," I said smiling lightly.
"Glad to hear it, that means I don't have to teach you as much," he said as I smiled back at him. "Come with me I need to introduce you to the leader of this place," he said.
"What is this place," I asked.
"well, it technically doesn't have a name but most of the people here call it the foundation," he said. "Plus I've still got a lot to teach you about how this place works, about the camps, about our ancestors and why this place exists"
"Camps?" I questioned
"I'll teach you all you need to know later ok," he told me
"Sure" I replied 'The foundation huh, sounds cool' I thought to myself.
Aaaaaaaaaand that's the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and ill try to be quicker this time around with the chapter.
Have a lovely day, a pleasant evening, and a beautiful night.
See ya next time.
