Camp Jupiter

Word count: 1523

Prompt: Split Personality

oOo

Will Solace leaned against the porch of the Big House, a bottle of water in hand.

Beside him was Piper, fiddling with her fingers, brow furrowed. He didn't need to ask to know what she was thinking of.

November.

No, not the month, but the person. The camper.

Just a day prior, Nico had brough her in.

The camper had brown hair and eyes she kept exquisitely on the ground. Apparently, the camper's name was November, no last name. Which was strange … but, well. Will was in no place to judge.

But that wasn't what was bothering him. The thing was, she claimed she had some sort of memory problem, and had gaps appear, completely randomly, in her memory, varying from time to time.

At first, Will wasn't all that concerned. It was probably short term memory loss, definitely untreated, from what he gathered. Maybe not the best home life and might need some therapy, but again, Will wasn't too concerned. He was confident he would be able to help her through it, if it were the case. (Because new campers with not the best home lives were common, as depressing as the fact was. At this point, it was true to say Will had quite some experience.)

He remembered clearly, he was sitting beside her bed, his cheek resting in his palm. Relaxed.

She, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. Sitting cross-legged, tense. The girl's eyes burning a hole through the bedsheets.

"So, do you know why you were given the name November?" He had asked. He wanted to start with something to lighten the atmosphere.

She had hesitated. Definitely not the best home life, Will had thought.

"...Born in November." Was all she said.

Born? "You were… born in November?"

Her eyes darted around the room, and gave him a single nod.

Will remembered he thought that was a strange reason to name a child at the time.

"About your memory," Will said again, leaning forwards the slightest. "Can you tell me more about it?"

Again, she refused to meet his eyes. If possible, she only tensed further. "I, uh. There's voices. I hear that no one else does. Gaps. And—" Her mouth kept opening and closing, as if wanting to say something more, but not quite managing the words.

Then she started twitching.

Which, by the way, was definitely not normal. At least not in Will's books.

"November?" Will had called out, shooting out from his seat. "Hey, November. What's wrong?"

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because the next thing he knew, the withdrawn, mousy haired girl had tackled him to the ground with surprising fierceness.

Liquids crashed to the ground, papers flew, all the while November's hands somehow found themselves on Will's neck, squeezing with a strength not meant for an untrained 12-year-old.

"WILL!" Voices had called out, probably one of the other healers.

"Open that pretty mouth one more time," she had sung out, a psychotic grin stretched on her face and eyes positively wild. "Go on!"

Will's own eyes had widened. This was definitely not normal. It was—a completely 180 off her previous behavior! Where was the girl he was talking to earlier?

Coming back to his senses and startling himself out of his surprise, he grabbed the tranquilizer from his belt and injected it into the young girl, all in on smooth movement. (Will seriously had much too much experience with these things.)

Almost immediately, she fell limp, unconscious.

Yes, Will had thought. Something was definitely wrong.

After moving her back into the bed, and telling his siblings to restrain her and keep tranquilizers on hand, Will went to find Piper.

Of course, the first thing she said was she saw him along the lines of "By the gods, Will, what happened to your neck?!"

He blinked. Then he remembered that the girl had tried to strangle him a few moments prior. No doubt his neck was currently bruising.

He replied with a "That's why I need your help."

She had agreed pretty easily after that.

Walking toward the infirmary, he had explained the girl named November's case. Piper being shocked was probably an understatement.

"I have no idea what brought the sudden behavior change on, but it's definitely not normal. She says she has sudden memory gaps, no warning. And mentioned something about hearing voices no one else could hear. May have suffered some form of neglect, she wouldn't even look me in the eye at first."

Piper was quiet. "Is she being controlled? Like, by some weird monster or spirit out of the myths?" She had asked. "It would explain the memory gaps and behavior."

"Or she's bipolar or something."

Piper blanked. "Bipolar? What?"

"A type of split personality. One personality is normal, and the other is bloodthirsty, completely crazy, loves violence. You name it."

"Oh."

"Yeah. You know people better than I do. When she wakes up, can you speak with her? Try to find the details. I need to know what I'm treating."

And that brought them to now. With both Will and Piper leaning on the Porch, both thinking of the girl named November.

oOo

"Well?" Will asked as soon as Piper finished with November.

"There isn't any magic demigod stuff involved," She said. "I think you were right. He has some type of memory and bipolar disorder."

"Alright, so—" The blonde healer paused. "He?"

"Uh, yeah. His name's Carl, by the way, not November. At least, that's what he told me."

"..."

"..."

"...I think this is something more than a case of bipolar disorder."

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"Piper, how did Nove—Carl. How did Carl act when sh—he was around you?"

Piper raised her eyebrows. "He flirted a lot, called my 'honey' and all in all seemed uncaring."

"...Flirt?"

"I know, right?"

"How about his memory?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did he remember anything from earlier?"

A pause. "When I mentioned you, he didn't react at all. It was nothing."

"Nothing?"

"...he asked why he was restrained. I didn't answer."

"So he remembers nothing."

"Seemed like it."

"How about 'voices no one else can hear?'"

"Denied. Called it crazy, even."

"Are you sure?"

"Used Charmspeak to make him tell the truth. Very sure."

Will groaned. "This is more serious than I thought."

"Yep."

"...Maybe a multiple personality disorder? Some patients lose memories when a different personality takes over."

"That would make sense. But it was almost like three people living in one person."

"Gods, was that why November was so shy? Because she could hear voices no one else could hear and she thought it made her crazy?"

"That wouldn't explain Carl's causality, though. Wouldn't he be more, I don't know… spooked out or something?"

"Or something. Maybe November could hear the other two but the other two couldn't hear each other."

"...? Not sure how that works but okay. That would make sense. She could hear the two others and the others could not hear each other, but she lost memories whenever another was in charge."

"That's solid. Or what if—"

"Will!" A voice called out, interrupting their conversation. A healer, probably one of Will's siblings, was rushing towards them. "Will, come quick."

Will, instantly slipping into a role of professionalism, straightened. "Tani, what's wrong?"

The newly dubbed Tani panted, catching her breath. "That girl Nov—no, Carl, um, patient. Yeah, it's him"

"What about the patient?

"He was claimed. Will, you have to see this."

There was an urgency in her voice that told them this is serious, I am not joking. The three demigods exchanged a single glance, before they took off the infirmary.

Maybe his parentage could give them a clue of how to help him, Will thought. With that in mind, Will ran faster.

Mere moments later, three demigods slipped into the infirmary, breaths slightly short.

In front of them, they were met with multiple bowing campers, most healers, and the enigma with multiple personalities. He was still sitting on the bed with his legs folded neatly underneath him, back straight and hands clasped.

Above him, was a fading symbol of two faces.

"A son of Janus," Will breathed out, bowing.

"The guy with two faces?"

"Know anyone else?"

"No."

"Exactly."

An eye roll.

"Well… Janus is the god of two faces, right?"

A nod.

"Well, that would explain his different personalities. Different faces, or personalities, all having different choices and opinions."

Another nod.

After the symbol faded and campers rose, Will and Piper approached the boy.

"Hey Carl," Piper started. "So, we think you have a multiple personality disorder. Or split personality, as it's more commonly referred to."

The boy on the bed blinked delicately. He opened his mouth and —

And gibberish. Well, he had said something, Will was sure, but neither Piper or Will could make out what he was saying. Not a word was understood.

"...Is he speaking Chinese?"

"Is this another personality?"

A pause.

A sigh.

"How do I treat this?"

"You have your work cut out for you two, don't you?"

The boy (girl?) on the bed only tilted their head in question.

-Fin-