Crossing bridges – to ignore a problem until it becomes an actual problem and/or to reach an understanding.
...
Mythologically speaking, if there were anything Percy hated than trios of old ladies, they're bulls. Considering that he has met (and survived meeting) the Fates, the Grey Sisters, and the Gorgon Sisters (now that he thought about it, Paul's mother and her two sisters also belong in that list), that's saying a lot. But it was the Minotaur that he first faced when he was an untrained demigod and again during the Titan war when he wasn't so untrained anymore. (There was also this time that it also appeared during one of his dates with Annabeth, which also put it in Annabeth's hate list.) And it was the Colchis bulls that nearly destroyed Camp Half-Blood in his second year in camp and did the mess on Leo's innards, just a few moments ago.
But none of them topped his hatred for that bull-headed stupid self-sacrificing Jason Grace.
"Percy!" Annabeth screamed in his ear, trying to get his attention. (If he didn't have ADHD, he wouldn't have noticed it in the first place.) His attention was mostly focused on their resident Human Torch - Leo Valdez. Just because he was fire-proof and the son of Hephaestus doesn't mean he's immune to the damage caused by those stupid bronze bulls. Their horns and hooves did quite a number on his stomach and he winced when Piper dribbled a bit more nectar into Leo's open lips. The wound seemed to be closing but the Latino elf had already lost a lot of blood. Percy clenched his fists as he looked at their army - the Prophecized Seven - a ragtag group of demigods off to save the world. Again.
Well, six and not because Leo was going to the Underworld the easy way. (None of them would allow that.) They were only six because their self-proclaimed leader, Jason Grace, stayed behind to provide a distraction while the rest escaped.
"I'll be back. Just set up the camp here, all right?" he said at the rest of the demigods, who looked at him for leadership. He was never really cut out to be a leader, but since their ever so great and noble leader was too busy distracting the rest of Gaea's army from following them, he had no choice. And besides, it's not as if they can move, not will all the injuries they sustained, despite Leo's condition.
Annabeth was barely sitting up, though she was giving a very lethal glare despite her lethargy from the battle. Frank wasn't as torn up as Leo but it was a close call since the bulls were out to get him before Leo got in the way. Hazel was sleeping on the ground, unconscious because of a concussion. Piper was barely awake as she tended to Leo's wounds. (And he hasn't really begun listing the minor injuries: scratches, bruises, sprains, broken bones.) Percy, himself, didn't come out unscathed but it was raining, or at least drizzling, and he healed up a bit thanks to it. And Jason, gods know how he is since he wasn't with the rest of them.
They didn't have to ask where he was going; they all knew that he was coming back soon. With Jason.
He dashed through the forest, trying his best to remember where they came from. A broken twig, a marked tree, a red flower, these were his signs that he was going the right way. Probably.
He eventually reached a clearing in the forest, the same clearing where they left Jason to fend off monsters of all sorts. And for once, luck was on his side - or was it? - since Jason was still there, fending off monsters left and right.
"You stupid, self-sacrificing, bull-headed, troublesome bastard! Making others uselessly worry about you! Would it kill you to use your brain once in a while?" Percy practically yelled as he entered the fray, dodging a charging bull headed towards him and stabbing it in its mouth as it prepared to unleash a fireball. One monster down, hundreds more to go.
Jason gave an annoyed glance at the older demigod, as if Percy's presence distracted him (but everything is a distraction considering his ADHD), as he stabbed an oncoming centaur and summoned lightning to strike another one coming at him from the back. "You do know I can't hear you over the monsters. Tell me off after finishing the rest of the army," he shouted back at the son of Poseidon.
Percy felt more than annoyance at Jason's reply and the next dozen monsters that approached him were suddenly - and violently - slashed apart before they realized it."No way in Hades am I putting this off!" Percy answered as he jumped over a centaur to avoid it and hacked the Cyclops behind it. "There's no telling how much life-threatening danger you're gonna get into thanks to you and your stupid Roman traditions!" He said before realizing what came out of his mouth.
There were several times during the mission that Percy had the urge to point out their "leader's" traits but Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper always stopped him. But none of them were around and it was about time that Jason knew how much unnecessary trouble they got into because of his stupid Roman traits.
"As if you're one to talk," snorted Jason as he changed his weapon to a spear and went through two monsters before changing it back to a sword to stab at another oncoming Earthborn. "What would you know about Roman traditions, you Graecus?"
"I know more than enough about it," spat Percy as he was forming a hurricane to put out the fireballs and arrows headed towards him. Though he hasn't stayed in the Roman camp for as long as Jason has in the Greek camp, he saw more than enough. "Your stupid Roman honor and sacrifice don't mean shit when you're dead!"
"What right do you have to say that to me?" exclaimed Jason as he spun away from Hurricane Percy, letting the fireballs and arrows that were tracking him hit the whirling mass of water and wind. "Might I remind you that it was the Greeks that lost more lives than the Romans in the Titan war? And why do you think that happened? I'm pretty sure it wasn't for an honorable cause, that's for sure."
Percy couldn't think straight as he violently dispersed his mini hurricane, blowing away most of the monsters. His eyes were raging seas as they focused on Jason. The son of Jupiter couldn't be implying what he thinks he's implying. "Are you saying their deaths were unnecessary?" his voice deceptively calm, like the ocean before it unleashes a tidal wave.
It was only thanks to Jason's heritage that he was able to stand where he was, using the wind to cut through the explosion of wind, water, and debris. His eyes were darkening, much like the sky when a storm is coming. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying," his reply as deceivingly cool as Percy's, like the calm before the storm.
Percy wanted to lash out at the arrogant bastard who dared imply that his fellow campers death was unnecessary. But despite his temper, he managed to say in a calm tone, "Is that so?" The only sign that he wasn't as calm as he pretended to be was the earthquake that kept the monsters away as he confronted Jason. "And where were you Romans during the war? Facing only one titan and a few thousand monsters? We Greeks were facing two titans, three if you count Prometheus, the freaking flying pig, and more than just a few thousand monsters while being vastly outnumbered and protecting the mortals and Olympus," he said, all the while moving closer to Jason until they were only about three feet away.
"And why do you think you're outnumbered in the first place?" Jason asked with venom in his voice and a raised brow. Though his back was also turned away from the monsters, he was using the winds to push them back and keep his balance from the earthquakes at the same time. "Several of you Greeks were fighting with the titans instead of against them."
Percy stiffened, he almost saw a blond smirking augur in place of Jason, implying the same thing. "Are you saying we're traitors?" Percy sounded appalled with Jason's suggestion. "Don't you dare judge us, Roman! You have no idea what we've been through before and during the war," Percy said through clenched teeth.
To be abandoned and unloved, Romans never had to experience that since they were immediately claimed the moment they turned sixteen. And they even had a chance to grow up and become adults, to go to college, to be considered normal among their peers. Romans never had to experience the real world when they have a world of their own. So what right does this Roman to judge them for trying to find a way to actually live, instead of just surviving?
Jason rolled his eyes at Percy's reply and he snapped his finger. Lightning struck down only a few feet away from where they were standing, hitting a particularly pesky monster that amazingly found a gap between the winds and earthquakes. "A traitor is a traitor. You don't see any Roman traitors, now do you?"
Percy scoffed at Jason's answer. "Of course I wouldn't. It's not as if Romans can think for themselves in the first place, only following and obeying whoever like the chained mutts that you are."
"Whoever?" Jason choked on his words as he gave Percy an incredulous look. "The gods weren't, aren't, and will never be just whoever."
"Your Roman gods?" Percy said with a mocking smile. "And that makes a difference, how? Besides, you just stole the Greek gods and called them your own."
"We did not steal them," looking and sounding affronted at the idea of stealing anything. "We adopted them and perfected them."
"Perfected them? So you're implying that there's something wrong with them in the first place?" neither flinched when several bolts struck a few feet near them. Both knew that it wasn't Jason who summoned them. The gods can be so touchy sometimes (well, all of the time, now that he thought about it).
"Might I remind you, Aphrodite caused one of the greatest wars in history by kidnapping Helen. Venus, on the other hand, is the divine mother of Aeneas, the father of Romulus. Basically, the mother of Rome. And Ares only lusts for bloodshed that's why he creates wars, while Mars, sees wars as a way to secure peace," Jason said with pride in his voice. "We made them more honorable and that makes them better. We perfected them and you know it."
"Wow, what wonderful examples," Percy's sarcasm was just flowing from his words. "Love and war. Despite their differences from their Greek counterparts, they're essentially the same. No wonder you Romans are war-freaks, looking up to Ares, of all gods, saying that you can only gain honor through war. Perfected my ass. You made them worse and you know it. If you really perfected them, then you Romans wouldn't fear Nepture. Instead you'd make him the king of the gods or something."
"Are you dissing my dad, too?" Jason asked with wide eyes as lightning crackled around him at Percy's implications.
Percy didn't even flinch when he saw the amount of electricity that was gathering around Jason's body. He faced (well, used to face before this whole mess happened) Thalia on a regular basis to be afraid of lighting. In fact, he learned that water can be his protection as long as it wasn't in contact with his body, hence he summoned the surrounding droplets and moisture to make a small whirlpool with himself at the eye and dry. "He's been wanting to kill me for since I was twelve for existing and apparently stealing his stupid bolt."
"As if your dad is any better. He nearly drowned me several times every time I go near a body of water just for being there," Jason said as lightning and storm clouds swirled around him like a vortex.
Percy shook his head, refusing to believe that his dad would do anything like that. He hasn't threatened Nico nor Thalia when they go near the lake. (But have they gone there without Percy around?) "What do you know?" Percy yelled into Jason's face, his whirlpool violently exploding and destroying several monsters upon impact. "You're no child of Poseidon, much less a child of Greece." Riptide was raised and pointed at Jason.
"And what do you know?" Jason yelled back, his own vortex violently exploding and destroying several more monsters. "You're no child of Jupiter, much less a child of Rome." Ivlivs, in sword form, was raised and pointed at Percy.
"You almost hit me with your stupid lightning bolt. Who taught you how to aim?" Percy yelled as he managed to avoid the lightning and storm clouds by cutting through them.
"Well, definitely not you. At least I actually hit the target," Jason answered back as he quickly parried Riptide with Ivlivs to move closer to Percy and grab him by his shirt with his left hand since his right was holding his sword.
"You nearly roasted me with your lighting," Percy practically growled as he clutched on to Jason's purple shirt with his left as his right was also holding his sword.
"And you nearly drowned me," Jason growled back, showing that he, too, was raised by Lupa.
"So? It's not as if I'd let you drown," Percy said casually though the glint in his eyes said that he can.
"And it's not as if I'd let you get roasted, so we're even," Jason replied in the same tone.
"Like Hades, we're even!" Percy yelled as he yanked Jason's shirt - and Jason himself - to his left as he lunged forward to attack the monsters behind Jason.
"What were you thinking?" Jason asked as he pulled at Percy's shirt to his left as he moved forward to attack the monsters behind Percy at the same time.
"Probably the same thing you're thinking," Percy replied as he stood back to back with Jason as he glared at the ring of monsters surrounding them.
"But why would you do that for me? Roman honor and sacrifice mean shit to you," Jason asked, though his gaze didn't turn away from the monsters.
"Well, duh," Percy said as he rolled his eyes and slowly turned to his left, though his back wasn't undefended because Jason did the same. "But you're Thalia's brother. And Thalia is my cousin, kinda," he added the latter with a pause. Then he created another earthquake, the only stable land was where he and Jason stood, before glancing back to give Jason a small understanding smile. "Which makes you my cousin, too," he said as if that explained everything.
And it should. They were related, however distantly, which made them family. It was messy and there were times that they had to remind themselves to keep maiming to a minimum (like now) but "We take care of each other." Then he smirked before finishing his little speech, "And in case you didn't know, we're doing the Prophecy of the Seven, not he Prophecy of the Six. So do me a favor and don't die too early or anything."
Jason blinked at Percy's monologue before returning with a smirk of his own. "I could say the same to you too. Do me a favor and don't die yet," he said as he flipped his coin to stab an oncoming monster.
...
The rain was over and so was the battle. Only two wounded and weary demigods were left standing, their enemies dissolved into dust, waiting for the next time they could strike once more. They were holding onto each other for support as they headed towards the small camp their friends set up while they were away.
"You stupid, reckless, bull-headed, troublesome bastard cousin! Making me worry about you! Would it kill you to use your brain once in a while?" Jason yelled as he held up Percy though his anger was belied by the exhausted yet amused grin on his face.
Percy lost his energy when the rain was done and his arm that was draped over Jason's shoulders was the only reason why he was still standing. "You do know I can't hear you over the pain. Tell me off after feeding me some nectar and ambrosia cubes," he replied giving his cousin an exhausted yet amused grin in return.