Thanks for the reviews!
The cover image comes from CTgraphy by the way. Here's their link (just take out the spaces) http /blog/groupcosplaypercyjackson
Also I do not own Percy Jackson or the Heroes of Olympus. These wonderful masterpieces all belong to Rick Riordan.
They were given food and water twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. The only 'bathroom' they had was a chamber pot in the corner of the room that was cleaned while they ate. The only time they were allowed out of their cell was when they had to fight. At first they hadn't really worried about that; they had faith in their abilities to defeat any monster they were up against. But as knowledge of their prowess grew, the fights became more difficult. The monsters were tougher or there were several of them.
And as far as they could tell, they had no way to escape. They'd tried tackling the guards as they opened the door for their food, but another guard had been there with a spear and had nearly skewered Percy. Every time after that a guard or two was ready with a spear pointing at them, preventing them from getting close enough to try and escape. Jason had at one point managed to take out the guard with a spear, but reinforcements had been called for before he had taken out the other guard and he had been roughed up pretty badly. He still had a split lip from that a week later.
With nothing else to do, they mostly passed the time relating quest adventures or making stuff up. They tried not to think of how worried everyone back at camp would be, and they hoped Leo had found Calypso okay.
But overall, their captivity was rather boring.
Two weeks passed without any part of their status changing. They had each been put in what they were calling the New Coliseum about eight times, and they had made it out of each time with barely more than a scratch or a bruise. Not that they were complaining, but they were getting more and more antsy as their status remained the same.
"I spy with my—" Percy started.
"Gods no!" Jason interjected, sitting up on his bed to glare at Percy. "We are done with that awful game!"
"But I'm so bored!" Percy whined. Frank covered his ears with his hands. Percy's ADHD was not doing him any favors here, and he was easily the most bored out of the three of them. Frank didn't have ADHD, so having to sit in silence for hours on end wasn't the absolute worst thing in the world. Jason said he didn't know if he had it or not, but since he'd been brought up in the legion he had the restraint this needed to not be going off the walls. Though that didn't mean he enjoyed it.
"Go to sleep!" Jason suggested, collapsing back onto the bed and throwing an arm over his face.
"That's all we ever do!" Percy complained.
"Well if you want to try your hand at escaping again, be our guest!" Jason suggested. Percy went quiet and looked at the door.
"Maybe if we pull on it long enough and hard enough it will weaken to the point we can just rip it off its hinges," Percy thought out loud, getting up to try. Jason moved his arm and turned his head to watch Percy. Frank sat up a little.
Percy gripped the handle and braced his foot against the wall and pulled. Jason and Frank glanced at each with brows raised before looking back at Percy.
"Should we tell him it's never going to work?" Frank asked Jason. Jason thought about it.
"Leave him be. It's better than 'I spy,'" Jason decided. Frank shuddered and nodded.
"I can hear you," Percy stated.
"Just keep going, you're doing great," Jason encouraged. Percy looked backwards at him and glared.
"I have this feeling you're being sarcastic," Percy said dryly.
"Then ignore me," Jason said. Percy opened his mouth to argue, but the lock in the door stopped him. He righted himself just as it opened and without thinking ducked under the spear he knew was there to tackle the guard.
Jason and Frank jumped to their feet and rushed forward to help. The second guard grabbed Percy and slammed his head into the wall while the one Percy had tackled got back up. Percy sank to the floor, dazed, and was kicked in the chest.
Jason tackled the guard, knocking him into the other guard and sending them all to the ground. Reinforcements had already heard the scuffle though and were running down the hall.
"Let's move!" Frank said, helping Percy to his feet. Jason tried to get up but was in the middle of a wrestling match with two guards, a match he was losing. Frank let go of Percy to help, pulling one guard off of him.
They lost the advantage they had though, and the reinforcements had Percy and Frank pinned to the wall while the original guards had Jason pinned face-down on the floor.
"Brats," a guard spat.
"Which one did Boss want?" another asked.
"The blonde one I think," the first responded. The guards nodded, and Frank and Percy were tossed back into their cell while Jason was hauled to his feet and dragged to the new coliseum.
A sword was hastily picked up for him as they passed through the armory and it was pressed into his hand as the portcullis rose. He was pushed into the arena, the bright lights blinding him momentarily and the sudden roar of the crowd deafening. The portcullis shut behind him, guards standing on the other side with spears pointed at him.
He took a few steps further into the arena. The ceiling was a good two or three hundred feet above him, but it blocked him trying to just fly out of there for help. He didn't know where any of the doors around the arena were either, and he had a feeling those wouldn't be easy to escape out of either, so he didn't want to fly up to the stands to find out and give away his flying ability.
The portcullis on the other side of the arena rose, releasing his opponent. He gripped his sword tightly, hoping to just get this over with quickly. As boring as their little cell was, at least it was safe.
A lion stalked out of the opening, and Jason paused. They didn't usually put real animals in here…and more importantly he didn't really want to kill an actual lion. Monsters were one thing, but a mortal lion was another. The lion had done nothing to him.
Well, it hadn't, anyway, until it charged Jason. Jason dove out of the way, somersaulting back to his feet and raising his sword again. The lion's hide glinted in the light, and Jason furrowed his brow at it as the lion attacked again. He jumped back, doing everything he could to not actually attack this lion.
Unfortunately, he wasn't seeing another option. He didn't have an escape route, and he couldn't leave the arena until either he was dead or the lion was dead. Since he didn't actually want to die, it was going to have to be the lion.
"Sorry," he muttered to the beast, sidestepping another attack and swinging down at the beast's back.
His sword glanced off the lion's hide. Jason's eyes widened in surprise and the lion pounced at him. Jason dove to the ground, losing his sword under the lion's paw as he scrambled to his feet again.
"What?" he cried, backing up slowly as the lion stalked forward with a growl. An indestructible lion? What sort of monster was that?
He backed up until he hit the wall, the crowd's cheers never-ending. His sword still lay on the ground twenty feet behind the lion. His mind raced, trying to figure out a way to kill this thing if his sword wouldn't work. He could try and summon lightening, but he didn't want to reveal how powerful he actually was if he could avoid it.
The lion pounced again, and Jason once again dove to the dusty ground. Popping back up to his feet, he raced for his sword. Useful or not, he felt better having a weapon in his hand. The lion pushed off the wall and chased him, much closer than Jason would have liked as he picked up his sword again. He whirled to face the beast, catching a paw with his blade. He braced his other hand against his blade to keep the lion from pushing against him, but the lion just reared up on its back legs and swiped at Jason with his other paw.
Jason turned to dive out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. Claws raked across his back, turning his shirt into rags and his skin into minced-meat. Jason cried out, four gashes bleeding crimson on his back. He fell to the ground, writhing in agony. The lion landed on all fours and was about to tear a bite out of Jason's neck, but Jason had just enough presence of mind to raise his sword to block the attack.
His back was pressed against the ground and the lion snapped around the sword. Jason peered up at him through barely opened his eyes, his face masked in pain. His back was fire itself, and he was losing blood fast.
As the lion snapped around his sword though, inspiration struck Jason.
The inside of his mouth was clearly soft…it didn't glint like the outside of it did. It must be the lion's only vulnerable spot.
And if it wasn't…well he was probably going to die anyway, so he might as well try. The lion pulled back, about to lunge in again around Jason's sword. Jason changed the angle just a bit, and the sword went through the lion's throat.
It froze and gagged, choking on the blade. Jason let go of the sword as it stumbled away, and he rolled into a ball on his side. He heard the lion fall as well, and he felt bits of the dust as it dissolved brush against his face.
He wasn't really aware of much else; the crowd around him meant nothing, as did the hands on his arms pulling him to his feet and dragging him along. He focused on keeping his mouth shut, because he knew as soon as he opened his mouth he was going to scream and he didn't know if he would stop.
He felt himself being thrown on his stomach on a hard surface, and he felt his legs and his arms being pulled in different directions. Coarse rope wrapped around his ankles and his wrists, keeping them apart in a star formation. What was left of his shirt was cut away, and then something was poured onto his back.
He screamed then, straining against the ropes. His back arched as he tried to get away from the pain, but there was nowhere for him to go. A rag of some sort was dragged across his back, and although he knew it must have been cleaning the wounds it still hurt like hell.
There was a temporary pause in the care of his back, and Jason looked around blearily while he panted for breath. He was tied down on a wooden bed frame of some sort under the coliseum, a few guards standing around. There was one man leaning over a fire, more heavyset than the others. He turned around, holding a red hot poker in gloved hands.
This man came towards Jason with the poker, and it took Jason's pain-filled mind a moment to realize what he intended to do with it. His eyes widened. "No, please don't!" he begged. He would rather bleed to death than have this man cauterize his back.
The man only gave him a barely sympathetic look before lowering the metal onto Jason's back.
If Jason thought he'd been in pain before, it was nothing to how he felt now. He tore his wrists and his ankles open as he strained against the ropes, he writhed as much as he could to try and get away from the poker, but he was completely trapped. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and he almost threw up when he realized it was his flesh being burned.
He didn't even notice the man walk away to reheat the poker for the next gash until the freshly heated rod was being pressed against his skin. His screaming continued, his only release for the incredible amount of pain. It wasn't really helping, and he wavered on the edge of consciousness.
Every time he thought it was getting better, the man returned with the poker and brought along fresh pain. Jason would rather have had the stupid lion tear him apart than let this man keep burning everything closed, and he cursed his high pain tolerance that kept him awake as long as it did. He only passed out when he knew the man was almost done, only to be woken up again as fresh water was poured over the new burns.
He didn't have anything left in him to scream at the new waves of pain.
"Take him to his cell, and then take him off the roster for the next week. He won't be fighting anytime soon," a guard said. Jason felt them untie his wrists and ankles, and they grabbed his biceps and hauled him to his feet again. He didn't even try and stand on his own as they dragged him down unfamiliar hallways. He just wanted to sleep forever.
Xx
Percy and Frank were a little dazed after the guards had tossed them back in their cell, but overall they handled it well. They stretched out on their bunks and waited for Jason to come back, staying silent while they waited. It was a testament to how worried Percy actually was that he didn't try and start any conversations or frivolous games while Jason was gone.
After the normal amount of time passed, they started to get worried. Usually fights didn't take more than ten minutes when they were fighting, but it had already been about twenty.
That was when the screaming started.
They knew it was Jason, too many battles with him allowing them to know his voice at all times. They also knew he was in pain, and there was nothing they could do. They jumped to their feet and pounded on the door, Frank turning into a bear to try and knock it down again. He would have turned into something larger, but there really wasn't room for anything larger.
The screaming seemed to go on forever, and it wasn't letting up.
"What are they doing to him?" Frank asked, for once sounding like the sixteen year old he actually was. Percy looked the door up and down worriedly.
"I wish I knew," he said. They kept at it with the door, but they made no more progress with it.
Jason's screams stopped, and they feared the worst. They kept glancing at each other nervously, but they couldn't find comfort in the fear reflected on the other's face.
"They would tell us if something happened to him…right?" Frank asked. Percy didn't answer. Several more minutes passed, and they both sat down on the edge of their bunks, watching the door anxiously.
Finally, the door opened. Jason was unceremoniously thrown onto the floor of the cell, the door closing behind him, and he made no move to get up.
Percy and Frank were at his side in an instant. "Jason?" Percy asked, touching his shoulder hesitantly. His eyes slid to Jason's back where Frank's gaze was already locked. "Holy Poseidon," he muttered.
Jason's back was a mess of fresh burns, the skin tight and shiny. Almost all of his back was covered in burns; they could barely make out the gashes that were under the burns, but it all looked like ten different kinds of painful. It was no wonder he had been screaming so much.
"It's just like the real coliseum," Frank realized. "If someone had an open wound, they would seal it by burning it shut."
Percy glanced up at him. "What the hell kind of place have we ended up in? This isn't the ancient world anymore, we have modern technology! They didn't have to do this!"
Frank shrugged helplessly. "I guess they want it to be as like the original coliseum as they can get it," he said miserably. Percy shook his head and glared at the door. This was the first time any of them had been badly injured during this, and it was terrifying to realize that they had no way to deal with it. Whatever care these people provided them with was all they had.
He wasn't at all happy with it. "Help me get him to his bed," Percy said, lifting Jason around his shoulders. Frank picked up Jason's legs and together they moved him onto his bed, again on his stomach. Jason kept his face scrunched up in pain, and they couldn't tell if he was actually unconscious or not. Either way, whatever he had to say probably wouldn't be entirely helpful to their current situation. "Just get some rest Jason."
Jason hardly needed to be told, but knowing they weren't demanding to know what had happened right now meant he didn't try very hard to cling onto consciousness. The blissful abyss that unconsciousness offered him sounded like paradise, and he welcomed it with open arms.
He was asleep in a matter of minutes, and Percy and Frank sat back on their bunks, both staring at him sadly. Percy mussed up his hair. Annabeth…you need to find us soon. I don't know how much longer we can all last here.
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