Crazy trouble with love part 4
Helen and Percy
Series: Percy Jackson
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Percy, Annabeth and Tyson sat down at the safe house Annabeth showed them, catching their breath.
"That was...way too close." spoke Percy panting.
"Yeah, good thing you called those water horses Percy." Annabeth panted.
"Horseies." spoke Tyson with a smile before he picked up a sweet scent. "Doughnuts?" he said as he smelled the air.
"Doughnuts?" spoke Percy confused while trying to sniff the air as they saw Tyson start moving towards the nearby trees. "Wait Tyson, where are you going?"
"I'm going to get doughnuts." he said as pointed in the direction the smell was coming from.
Percy and Annabeth were confused and saw Tyson start running into the forest before dragging their bodies to follow after.
"Tyson, stop!" Percy shouted as he and Annabeth followed.
"There aren't any doughnuts!" called Annabeth pushing some branches out of their way.
"But I smell them! My nose never lies!" he shouted. He pushed some bushes aside and stopped as the other two caught up and all three of them spotted what looked like a mini mart just down the hill.
"Huh, I guess there is doughnuts." Percy said as he stared at the mini mart.
"That's weird." spoke Annabeth while Tyson ran down towards it. "I feel like I've seen that before."
"It looks like a chain restaurant so you probably have, now let's catch up to Tyson." Percy said before running after his brother.
'Something's off.' she thought before following him.
As they reached the bottom of the hill they saw Tyson waiting for them at the entrance of the store.
"Look!" he pointed at a poster that showed doughnuts with a fifty on it. "It says...half….off? What does that mean?"
"It means that they're selling doughnuts for less, so we can buy more." Annabeth said as Tyson smiled. "But I don't think we-"
"More doughnuts!" he shouted happily before running into the store.
"Should." she sighed before they followed him in and saw the inside was what you'd expect with a normal looking man behind the counter and who didn't flinch while Tyson stared at the doughnuts behind the glass case.
"Huh, everything looks normal…" Annabeth said suspiciously.
"Maybe someone just made it here in the middle just in case of lost travelers." joked Percy before walking away down the aisles and looked at the various products, which seemed a little off then the ones in regular ones. "Monster O's?" he said as he looked at a cereal box with a cartoon minotaur eating cereal.
"Gorgon ointment?" read Annabeth with a cringe. "I'm not even gonna ask."
"Microwavable Harpy wings?" he said in a mix of curiosity and disgust. He put it back and moved on before bumping into someone and stumbled a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you." he said before looking at them.
"Watch it!" growled one voice which sounded female while he went wide eyed. "We're trying to browse here."
"A-and don't do it again, please." said a much more timid voice that sounded similar to the first voice.
'Woah.' he thought as he was looking at a girl, well GIRLS in this sense, since this one literally had three heads. The body wore a long black shirt with blue shorts on and black boots with chains around them. The three heads seemed small enough to fit all on the top with one glaring at him and having black hair in a mohawk, one looking away and having short hair, and the middle one giving him a confused look with long hair. 'Are they a monster?' he thought in confusion.
"How did you get in here?" asked the middle head while she could pick up his scent and noted him and the girl were demigods with the other male at the counter being a cyclops.
"We came in through the front door, how else would you get in here?" he replied trying to crack a joke and break the awkwardness and trying to keep from staring.
"G-good point, this is a store after all." the head on the right said.
"That doesn't mean it's fine if he goes running into everyone here." scoffed the head on the left.
"Hey, I said I was sorry!" he snapped back.
"Ignore her, she's quick tempered." spoke the middle head covering the left's mouth. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, but who are you and your friends?"
"Oh, well, my names Percy and this is my friend Annabeth and the guy looking at donuts is my half brother Tyson."
'Cyclops, meaning this kid is...nah it can't be.' thought the middle head which the other two heard. 'There's no way he's the son of who I'm thinking of.'
"So, since I told you our names is it ok if I could have yours?"
'I say we eat him and his friends before he knows what hit him!' thought the left head.
'D-do we have to? He's being really nice to us.' thought the right head.
'Maybe if we can carefully get him alone we can take him out, then the other two will be easy. It looks like they're worn out anyway so it won't take long.' thought the middle head. "You can call us Helen."
"Ok Helen, well, we better get going, right Percy?" Annabeth said as she began to tug on his arm.
"Oh, yeah we kinda just came here for a quick stop. Again sorry." he replied turning around.
'He's going to get away, kill him now!' thought the left head.
'Uh hold on." she put her hand on Percy's shoulder. "Do you think you could stick around a little bit? I wanna talk, just a little bit."
"Well…I guess I could stay for a bit, Tyson still has to get the donuts." he turned to Annabeth. "Can you and Tyson wait outside for just a bit? I'll meet you there."
"Percy, I think we shou-" she spoke before seeing Tyson jump around while putting several boxes on the counter. "Tyson hold on! We need to make sure we don't buy too much." She said as she began to walk towards the counter, leaving Percy with Helen.
"Why don't we walk while talking? If you're new here I can show you some good stuff they have." she suggested pointing down the aisle.
"Sure, I don't see why not, they seem to have stuff here I've never seen before." he remarked while they walked down it and glanced at the sides.
"Yeah, the monster doughnut franchise sells all kind of stuff that can only be found in their stores."
"Just out of curiosity, why is it called that?" he asked.
"It's because of the large doughnuts and mascot, like burger king or red robin." she replied while being cautious. "I heard it was made years ago by some demigod who wanted to start a franchise and become rich, it might have been one of Hermes kids."
"Wait, you know of the gods and goddesses? Are you one of them?"
'Shit! Let me handle this.' thought the left head. "No, it's cause we're a demigod too, and you can thank that bastard Ares for being a horrible dad."
"Yeah, he's kind of a dick, though I was able to beat him once."
"Really?" asked the right head in surprise. "But, wasn't it hard?"
"Extremly, especially since he cheated a bit."
"Well he IS a god." spoke the middle head. "And...well let's just say when we learned who he was and who we were, he wasn't a fan of….you can guess why?" she nodded to the left and right heads.
"Wow, that is bad, I'm sorry he did that to you."
"He didn't do this!" snapped the left head. "We were born like this, the bastard was so disgusted he disowned us."
"Sorry, I didn't know!" he said quickly. "I just figured...with how some of them are...he cursed you."
"Well he didn't! So go ahead, call us a freak like everyone else!"
"Easy easy there." he held his hands up. "I'm not gonna do that, I swear. It's just...well I've heard and seen stuff out of nowhere, so I kinda jumped the gun with that. So that's on my head."
"I-It's ok, at least you apologized for it." spoke the right head. "Most people who see us usually run away screaming."
"I don't know why, you're really nice and cute…" he spoke up before going wide eyed with them before he covered his mouth. "I mean really nice!"
'H-He thinks we're cute!' the right head thought with a blush. 'No one's ever thought that..'
"My, we haven't been in a company of a nice guy for a while. The last one was a real pain in the neck." teased the middle head.
"And really burned us up." scowled the right head.
"Well, I promise I won't do that...so, you said you were going to show me some of the products here?" he said, trying to change the conversation.
"Of course." she reached over and grabbed a bag of what looked like bubblegum. "Check this out."
"What is that?" he asked curiously.
"Like I said, take a look."
"Hell hound flavored gum?" he asked as he read the label.
"It tastes smoky at first, but then it gets real meaty." spoke the left head.
"Why would they make that?" he asked as she put it back and grabbed a bag of chips.
"Because it's good." spoke the middle head while handing him the chips. "Now those really fill you up."
He looked at the label and said. "Pegasus chips? They only taste like Pegasus, right?"
"Yes, to an extent."
"W-what else is made out of monsters?" He asked nervously as he put the chips down.
"Well….everything here, except for a few things which might be silk, but no one eats those." relied the middle head. "Apparently it's dry and not as filling, but we stay away from that sort of stuff."
"Wow, how is all of this made?"
"By experts." all three said together.
"Wait, what are the doughnuts made of?"
"Those are regular ones." spoke the right head. "Some customers prefer them cause of how sweet they are."
"Ok, for a second I thought they had pieces of monsters in them, like hydras or something."
"That's silly." chuckled the right head. "No one eats hydra."
"Really, why not?" he asked curiously.
'I say we do it now! He's alone and won't react in time.' thought the left head.
'I-I don't know, I kind of like him' the right head thought.
'What?!' thought the middle and left head together.
'H-he's really nice to us, so maybe we don't kill him?' she suggested.
'He's only like that cause he doesn't know the real us. As soon as he sees our real form he'll pull out his weapon or run, just like the others.' thought the middle head.
'She's right, they're all the same, no matter how we act they'll always see us as a monster' thought the left head.
'Well….isn't there a way to be sure?'
'Well, what do you have in mind?' the middle head thought curiously.
'Um...maybe….we could ask him?'
'How? Hey, Percy, how do you feel about hydras?' the left head thought sarcastically.
'Actually, that might work.' thought the middle head. 'If we get a feel on his opinion on us and monsters in general, maybe it'll give us the answer we want.'
'Fine, but you ask him, and hurry, he's probably wondering what we're doing.'
"Percy, just out of curiosity, ever since you learned about your heritage and monsters, do you feel any pure hate for them?"
"Um, no, not really, as long as they don't try to kill me or anyone else they're fine to me, why?"
"Just curious, for us we figured they're under a lot of hate simply for trying to live their lives and people overreacting."
"I get that, it's not fair to judge something based on what others have told you, though almost every monster I've met has tried to kill me." he remarked while looking at the snacks. "From what I've heard on other monsters I've never fought before, they're pretty nasty and mean, but at the same time, they're part of what we are. Heroes and them have fought, but in a way they're like endangered animals. So few and rare, and maybe if things were less hectic, then it'd be a lot easier on these guests. Actually that reminds me, I never mentioned this but me and my pals are on a big mission for the camp."
"Really, what mission?" the middle head asked curiously.
"Ever heard of the golden fleece?"
"You know where it is?!" the middle head asked in amazement.
"Well you could say that, we have to bring it back to heal the tree or else...well you probably guessed no tree means no barrier."
"Wow, that sounds like a really important mission." the middle head said.
"One that would really mess you up if you failed." remarked the left head. 'And a good opportunity for us.'
'I agree, I think it's best we don't let him continue his quest.' the middle head thought.
'But you heard him, he doesn't hate them like other demigods who we've met.' thought the right head.
'But other demigods do and they'll be wiped out if their camps barriers fall, meaning we won't have to worry about them killing us anymore!' The left head mentally shouted.
'Then it's settled, we eat him and then go tell any monsters we see what's happening.' thought the middle head.
'I wish we didn't, but ok…' the right head thought glumly.
"I hate to cut this short, but I really should be getting back to my friends." spoke Percy.
"Aw, but we really liked having you here, in fact, why don't you stay?" The middle head said with a grin.a
"I can't, we're sorta on a time limit, but it was nice talking to you three." He said as he turned around to leave when suddenly she grabbed his arm.
"We insist." smirked the left head before their eyes turned into slits.
"Wait, what's going on, what happened to your eyes?" he asked with dread. 'Wait a sec, monster doughnut, girl with three heads, nothing but actual monster products, now I feel like a complete moron!'
"Oh, it seems like you just realized we aren't a demigod." the middle head said as her eyes also turned into slits. She moved towards the doors while dragging Percy and tossed him out with surprising strength and let out a growl. "Don't wanna get the place messy, otherwise we might lose a head."
"Lose a head...you're a hydra, aren't you!" He said, finally connecting the dots.
"We're THE hydra." smirked the left head before their body started growing with their hands gaining sharp claws with a tail bursting through the back of their skin began to grow bronze scales and their necks began to grow as their faces changed into a large reptiles head.
'Oh yeah, total moron right here.' thought Percy reaching into his pocket and pulling riptide out and bringing the blade out just as they finished transforming and loomed over him with feral growls. "I'm sorry it had to be like this Helen, I wish we didn't have to fight." He said as he got into a battle stance.
'It sounds like he doesn't want to fight but has no choice, maybe this is a good sign.' thought the right head.
'Shut up, he's probably only saying that so we spare him!' Thought the left head in denial. IT let out a roar before lashing out towards him with her teeth.
"Whoa!" He said as he jumped back, barely avoiding the sharp teeth. He held his sword at the ready and quickly rolled to the side as the middle head tried biting him next.
'He's open, now get him!' Thought the middle head to the right one.
She looked at Percy and opened her mouth, but she didn't move any closer to him and hesitated.
'What are you waiting for, eat him!' The left head thought.
'But he never really did anything to us! We're the ones who started this!'
'And we will end it or he and his friends will!' The left head thought as Annabeth and Tyson ran out of the store.
"Hydra!" spoke Annabeth in surprise while quickly reaching to pull her knife out.
"Annabeth, take Tyson and go, I'll take care of her!" ordered Percy without looking away.
"But Percy, it's a hydra!" Tyson said as he struggled to keep hold of his many boxes of doughnuts.
"Trust me!"
"But Percy-"
"Go guys!"
'He's sacrificing himself so his friends can live.' the right head thought.
'So he can kill us!' retorted the left head.
'Then why hasn't he tried to cut us with his sword yet?'
'He wants us to get tired and mess up, but after all the heroes we've fought, nothing will get past us.'
'Damnit, this sucks, why do I have to fight her, she was so nice!' Percy thought as he dodged the middle head again. "Can't we just talk this out!?"
"Why, so you can kill us easier? I think not!" Roared the left head.'
Percy held riptide up as the head tried gnashing her teeth at him. "I won't, I promise, I'll even throw my sword away from me!"
'Is he stupid or gutsy?' thought the middle head.
"Ok, throw your sword away first and then we can talk!" The left head said with a grin. 'Now he'll show us that he's just as bad as the other heros by refusing.'
Percy put the blade away before tossing riptide a long ways away.
All three heads looked at him in amazement as he turned back to them.
"See? No weapons, just talking."
'What do we do now, we could either kill him or talk, what do you girls think?'
'Kill!/Talk!'
'Well you two are helpful, I say we talk to him, but stay in hydra form, ok?'
'Fine.'
"Ok Percy, let's talk."
He sighed with some relief and cleared his throat. "Alright, so….curious question, but can every monster transform to look like a person? I mean I fought with some cannibals before this guest, but I didn't expect to see that more than once."
"Well, to answer your question, it depends on the monsters intelligence and their original form. Since the giants look human already it's easier to have a human form, but in cases like us our human form reflects our monster form a bit, so that's why we have three heads."
'Well there's an eye opener.'
"Ok, our turn for a question, how come you didn't try to kill us?"
"Well when you get down to it, you technically weren't doing anything to me, until now I mean."
"But we tried to eat you, aren't you mad about that?"
"...maybe a little." He admitted sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I mean wouldn't you be?"
"Good point, also it's your turn to ask a question now." the middle head said.
"Well, are you wanting to eat me just for being a demigod?"
"Well, no, not exactly, we wanted to kill you so you didn't get the fleece, that way the tree would die and a good chunk of demigods would die so they wouldn't grow up and try to kill us one day." she replied like it was obvious.
"Don't you think that's kind of extreme?"
"Have you ever had a head cut off?"frowned the left head. "It hurts like Hades!"
"Well, I bet it does, but the first thing you decided to do was kill me."
"Because all the others tried to kill us." spoke the right head looking away.
"Ok, fair point, but maybe not fighting this time would be the better choice."
"Right, but we can't let him leave, that much is certain." spoke the middle head.
The left head groaned. "Fine, grab him!"
"Wait, what?" He said before the hydra grabbed him with one of her large clawed hands.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt you." spoke the right head.
"But we can't let you leave either, so you're going to be staying with us from now on." The middle head added.
His eyes went wide as they started dragging him back towards the store while Tyson and Annabeth saw this from on top of the hill.
"Percy!" She shouted as she began to run down the hill. But before she could get halfway down she heard a loud horn from the shore. "Oh gods, is that Luke?" She said as she stopped.
"Annabeth!" came a familiar girl's voice from on top of an old ship moving up to the shore.
" Clarisse! You got to help us!" She shouted as she ran back up the hill towards the daughter of Ares.
"I am helping you. I'm back to get you all back to camp, the tree's dying faster than we thought. Where's seabrain?"
"A hydra got him, it's on the other side of the hill!"
"Well we're gonna have to leave him, if we don't hurry then the tree won't make it. You got the fleece right?"
"No, but we know where it is though…" she said slowly.
"Good enough for me, get on." She said as she grabbed her and pulled her onto the ship."You do doughnut nut!" She said as she pointed at Tyson.
"But Percy…"
"I said go!"
"Yes ma'am!" He said as he jumped onto the ship.
Annabeth looked back at the forest while getting on the ship and shut her eyes. 'I'm sorry Percy, we'll come back for you.'