Hi guys, sorry for the wait but I did say updates would be pretty random. Anyways, here's chapter 4, hope you enjoy!
P.S. It gets a little graphic at the end, I don't think it's too bad, but I'll put a warning just in case.
Camp Half-Blood, Poseidon Cabin(the next night...)
Percy POV
I sat on my bunk in Cabin Three staring up at the same ceiling I had been looking at for the past three hours, feeling more alone than I ever have. It wasn't a new feeling, of course, while all of the campers respected or feared me, most never became more than acquaintances. However, every time I thought back I always had someone to stand by my side in my isolation. When I was young and would get bullied and ostracized in school, Mom was always there to comfort me, like an oasis in the vast desert of my troubled school years. When I had lost my mother to Hades and the Minotaur, she and Grover had been there to keep me focused on the task at hand. When Grover went missing she and Tyson had been there. When she was captured by the Manticore, Thalia had been there, and when I had to lead the battles of the Labyrinth and Manhattan, they had all been there to help me once again. Now everything was different; Grover was off protecting the Wild, Thalia was with the Hunt, Nico was helping his father, Tyson was helping Dad with the other Cyclops, and Katie was a summer camper. While Lee, Michael, Charles, Silena, Bianca, Zoe, and...she were all gone from this world. I tried to follow Apollo's advise and talk to some of my old friends, but that turned out horribly.
Flashback...
Camp Half-Blood(earlier that day...)
"Hey Connor, Travis," I said, waving to my friends. "What pranks are you pulling today?"
The twins turned in my direction with smiles, but when they saw who had spoken I saw the smiles melt into scowls while they turned and began to walk away without a word in response.
"Hey guys, wait up! What's wrong?" I asked with concern.
"Take a guess, Perseus," said Connor venomously.
"Did you even care for her at all?" spat Travis.
"Who? Anne-"
"Don't say her name, Jackson, you don't deserve to," interjected Malcolm from behind, hate in his eyes.
"Why are you saying this? What did I do?" I asked confusion and pain reflected in my voice.
"Don't pretend like you don't know, Prissy," snarled Clarisse, walking out of her cabin. "Annebeth was killed to save the god's precious Savior, and what does he do when he comes to? Does he go looking for her body? Does he go to ask forgiveness from her siblings? No, he runs off to Olympus to party until the middle of the night. Then when he finally gets his lazy ass out of bed, he still doesn't ask about his girlfriend, but instead asks about pranks without a hint of sadness on his face. We even waited to burn her shroud because we thought you cared, but clearly she was just another death on your path to fame, just like Silena and Charles."
"I just assumed-" I began before being cut off again.
"Exactly, you just believe whatever is easiest for you, just leave, go back to your precious trophies," sneered Malcolm.
All I could do was stand in shock, each word feeling like a molten hot dagger being stabbed into my chest. Slowly, I could feel my repressed anger rising in the back of my mind and fought to keep it under control.
'Is this what they actually think of me?' I thought. 'No, these are my friends, they just need to take their anger and sadness out at someone, I just need to give them some space.' I clenched my right hand around Riptide until I could feel the muscles begin to cramp in order to hold my rage at bay.
"I know you guys are hurting, so I will leave to give you some space to grieve," I said through gritted teeth.
"We already see beyond the hero facade you put on, and we don't want to hear anymore of your slick lies," growled Travis.
I could feel my whole body begin to vibrate and knew if I didn't put distance between me and camp I would cause something I would regret. Therefore, I blindly dashed off into the woods until I realized I was at the Myrmeke's Lair, where Beckendorf had once gotten captured by the giant ants. I grinned sadistically, figuring this was the perfect place to let off some steam, and released the localized earthquake I had been holding in. I watched with satisfaction as the ground started to shake and crack, throwing even the six-legged insects off their feet. I ran forward, uncapping Riptide as I went, and stabbed the nearest insect right between the antennae, feeling a sick sense of glee at watching the body dissolve into dust. After I had killed about 20 of the worker ants, the rest began fleeing back into the giant hill, while several, larger specimens began marching out of it.
"Oh, so not all of you are cowards, huh?" I sneered, stabbing yet another worker ant from behind.
For some reason this seemed to enrage the approaching arthropods as they began to rush forward, mandibles clicking angrily. I met their charge with my own, and was soon surrounded while I hacked and stabbed with abandon, quickly losing myself in the battle. I didn't even try to dodge their attacks, letting my body take all of the oncoming blows, relishing in the pain. Deep down, I hoped one of their mandibles would get lucky and strike my vulnerable spot, then I could tell Annebeth I was sorry, that it should have been me, and my mother would finally be free from the burden she had always carried.
'The campers were right, I was no hero, no Savior, I lead dozens of demigods to their death when there must have been something I could have done, if I had just convinced Luke to stop, or killed him sooner, maybe Ares was right, maybe I am weak,' I thought bitterly. 'If I hadn't blown up Mount Saint Helen's, maybe the gods could have come sooner.' As I thought back to everything that had happened and everyone I had failed, I could feel myself becoming angrier and angrier, and soon all I could see was red.
I awoke with a start in total darkness, but feeling more tired and sore then I ever had before. As I felt around wondering where I was yet again, I remembered that Celestial Bronze glowed, so I brought out Riptide and uncapped it allowing the soft light to illuminate the area. As I looked around I saw that I was lying in a stone cavern that was covered with the golden dust of monsters. On the walls there seemed to be the remains of larval sacs that had been violently cut open. It was then that I remembered attacking the Myrmekes, which made me believe I must be inside their lair, and pretty far inside at that. Seeing no way out in the direction I was heading, I turned around and began walking the opposite way. After a few moments, I began to see a large shape at the edge of my light, which caused me to tighten my grip on Riptide's hilt in anticipation. As I crept along the side of the cavern, hoping to avoid whatever it was, I soon relaxed seeing that it was just a massive pile of dust and decided to just cut through the middle of the room to save time. When I got around the pile of powder, I saw that there were more than ten exits out of the cavern, and I was about to just choose one randomly, when my right hand began to itch. I paused for a moment to relieve the sensation and when I looked up I realized that one of the exits had a trail of golden dust that trailed into the room. Guessing that I probably made that trail I figured it would be best to retrace my steps.
'Ugh, what happened to me?' I wondered. 'I've heard of people blacking out in a rage, but that has never happened to me before...'
Suddenly, I felt a small tug in my gut that was slightly similar to when I used my powers, although it wasn't painful, like a small child tugging on your shirt for attention. When I looked in the direction of where the feeling was coming from I saw that it went off the trail of dust. I shrugged and stepped off the path figuring I had nowhere else to be right now anyways.
'Yeah, your so-called friends made that quite clear,' said the angry voice inside my head.
'Oh, shut up, they're just grieving,' I said defensively.
At that the voice only chuckled. I hit my head.
"Don't start talking to yourself, that's one of the first signs you're going crazy," I chastised myself aloud, as I began walking again feeling the tugging become stronger, more noticeable. Eventually, I found myself in another large cavern, this one, however, was filled with various shiny items ranging from weapons made of some golden metal, that I sensed was magical, to gleaming aluminum cans. I felt that I was very close to whatever was calling to me and began slowly walking around the room, feeling as if I was playing a magical game of Hot and Cold. Eventually, I found the spot where the connection felt strongest and began digging through the trash and treasure. After awhile I uncovered the very tip of something that was glowing an aqua color and began to dig feverishly. After I uncovered enough to get a good handhold on it, I grasped it with my right hand. The moment I did so the tugging in my gut vanished with a sense of contentment. I pulled the rest of the item out and was surprised to see what looked like a longbow without a bowstring, the most interesting thing, though, was the fact that it seemed to be made out of some kind of sea green coral that glowed in the darkness. I figured it must be some kind of magical weapon because I was pretty sure you couldn't make a bow out of coral through normal means. With that thought I decided to give it to one of the Apollo campers because magical weapons were rare and I was no good with a bow anyway. When that thought ran through my head I almost screamed in fright when the bow turned itself into a watch of the same color and attached itself to my wrist, in what almost felt like a hug. I immediately tried to pull it off my wrist, but to no avail. After I got over my initial shock, I tried to will the watch back into bow form, which it did almost immediately. I then sat the bow back down on the floor and began to back away, fearing that it might be cursed or something like that. After a few steps I felt the weight return to my wrist causing me to curse.
'Oh well,' I thought. 'It's not like it can make my life worse than it already is.'
With that out of the way, I began my trek back to the trail of monster dust, which I found surprisingly quick. As I walked I began to reflect on what had happened.
'Well it seems I won't be able to stay at camp for awhile,' I mused. 'And I can't go back to Mom and Paul, I will just be a danger to them. Seeing as killing monsters seems to be my therapy of choice, maybe I should just grab a few things from my cabin and just wander a bit, maybe save some other demigods or something.'
'You could just kill yourself,' came the angry voice again. 'There is no difference between being killed by monsters or from yourself.'
'No! I refuse to waste Annebeth's life like that, and there is a difference,' I argued to myself. 'If I die to a monster, then at least I'll go down fighting. I don't want to die for no reason.'
'No, you're just too much of a coward to do it, looking for any excuse to hide behind,' snarled back the voice.
"SHUT UP!" I screamed aloud, causing birds to take off into the dark sky.
'Wait, sky?' I wondered, realizing I was out of the dark caves and now under the shadowy sky.
'I should get to my cabin, gather some things, and leave in the morning,' I thought, once again noticing my exhaustion.
When I got back into Camp Half-Blood, I saw that no one was about and the harpies were circling overhead, so I stayed in the shadows until I got to my cabin and slipped inside. I grabbed a backpack and began packing things I would need, clothes, ambrosia, nectar, and some drachmas from my fountain.
'Thanks again, Dad,' I prayed silently.
With that I set my alarm for four in the morning, hoping no one would be up at that ungodly hour, stripped for sleep, and laid down.
Flashback end...
As I lay in my bed, I could finally feel myself falling asleep, so I let myself slip into the abyss hoping for another dreamless sleep.
When my eyes cleared, I found myself at the end of a long, dark corridor that stretched off into the gloom. About every ten feet there were torches set into the walls that burned with dark green color, which, instead of illuminating the darkness, seemed only to make it darker. Having nowhere else to go but forward, I began to walk attempting to make as little noise as possible, since I didn't know where I was or how I had got here, again. After what felt like hours, I began to hear whispering and moaning in the distance, pushing away the thought that it might be a trap of some kind, I began to run to help.
"It hurts...someone help...please...it hurts so bad..." I could begin to make out the whispers and moans, which made me run even faster. Eventually, I saw the hallway opening up into a room from where I could hear the voice originating. As I ran through the threshold I saw that the 'room' was more of a cavern with sand floors and piles of junk all around. The room reminded me of something but I didn't have time to dwell on it as I heard the cries for help becoming more insistent. As I rounded the bend of one of the trash piles, I finally saw who was calling for help, and I almost threw up when I did. Lying on the floor was a young, woman?, it was hard to be sure with the massive amount of electrical burns all over the body, but the small frame and long hair suggested the person was female. I couldn't believe the person was alive, not only because her entire body was blacked with the severe burns, but her legs and lower torso were completely flattened as if the bones had been crushed to dust. The were definitely alive though because I could see the trail of blood in the sand from where they had dragged themselves from the largest pile of rubbish in this dump. That's when I noticed her skin was cracking all over, covering her in blood, and once again I began dry heaving. This time it seemed she noticed me as she lifted up her head and looked me straight in the eyes.
"Percy? Is that you?" the girl rasped out.
"N-no, it c-can't be possible, you died. I saw you die!" I yelled in fear, recognizing the girl.
"Why are you saying that? You promised to protect me. It hurts, help me Percy..." the girl said, coughing up blood.
"No, you can't be here, Talos killed you!" I yelled again, backing up. "You should be in Elysium!"
"Oh, that's right, now I remember, you left me to die, under a pile of rubble, after I saved your cowardly life!" screamed Bianca di Angelo. "You let me sacrifice my life, even after you promised my brother to protect me. And not only that! Then you let my brother run off and almost get himself killed after you promised ME that you would watch over him!"
"I'm sorry, I tried to watch over him, he blamed me for your death, he didn't want to be around me," I whispered defensively.
"He should blame you! I should be living right now, not you!" shouted Bianca. "Do you know how long it took me to die?"
"We thought you died instantly..." I said, shamefaced.
Bianca laughed cruelly. "It took me a day and a half to finally die of blood loss, I tried screaming for help, tried to dig my way out, I thought you would at least look for my body, but no you ran like the coward you are, and didn't look back. I heard they call you Savior now, just like Heracles, you got to be the hero, while you left everyone who got you there in the dirt."
"I am nothing like Heracles!" I roared.
"No? Does anyone remember all the fallen? No. All they remember is Percy Jackson, Savior of Olympus. The rest of us will be forgotten, just like all the people who helped Heracles were forgotten."
sneered Bianca. "But if you truly want to atone, I have a way."
"You do?" I questioned. "What is it?"
"If you let me have your life force, I can return to life once again," replied Bianca
"Really?" I asked hopefully. "You will take my place?"
"Yes and not just me," said Bianca.
"Everyone who died," said Zoe Nightshade, appearing next to the left of Bianca, a giant hole in her stomach.
"Can live again," said Lee Fletcher, appearing to Bianca's right, half of his head missing.
"We can get a second chance," said Charles Beckendorf, hobbling next to Zoe, his left arm and leg missing while the rest of his body is burned. I can feel a part of my mind screaming at me to run away, but I can't bring myself to care.
"You owe us," said Michael Yew, appearing to the right of Lee, his face blue and body bloated.
"You let us die," said Selena Beauregard wrapping her arm around Charles, her face mostly melted off, showing a skull underneath.
"You weren't our Savior," said Ethan Nakamura crawling next to Michael, his stomach slashed open, and his limbs mangled.
"But you could be," said Luke Castellan from beside Silena, a knife still stuck in his side.
"How?," I asked, hoping to be relieved of my burdens.
"Die for us, Seaweed Brain," called Annebeth, both her hands missing. When I saw her I wanted to run and plead for her forgiveness, but it was like I was rooted to the spot, and I didn't deserve her forgiveness anyway, the campers were right and I was going to atone for it.
"What do I have to do?" I asked on the verge of tears from seeing all my deceased friends in this state.
"Simple, just stab your mortal point," stated Bianca simply.
My mind was still screaming that this was a trick of some sort but I didn't care.
'What does it matter if this is a trick? So what, I die, big whoop. If its not, all my friends get to return to the world of the living and I can make up for my mistake.'
'I'll see it when I believe it,' said the angry voice in my head. 'I know you're just a coward.'
'I AM NOT A COWARD!' I roared in my mind. I felt someone put a dagger in my hand, probably Luke, so I whipped my arm around and stabbed it into the center of my back.
Well there you have it, sorry, not sorry for the cliffhanger, you know you love 'em! Who guessed it was Bianca from the scenery? I hope it wasn't too obvious. Also, any guesses why his right hand keeps itching? I really hope that isn't obvious. Finally, remember to tell me what you did or didn't like, I can take it and it will make me a better writer in the end. Until next time, ciao!