A/N: Percy was the winner of the vote. Although I only got 2 (both for Percy by the way) SCRATCH THAT 3 votes for PERCY! Just got another vote right after I wrote this :D I was still happy for the feedback. I know I probably posted it at a horrible time (it was like 2 in the morning) I still got quite a few views. Once again you all are amazing. So here is Percy!

Chapter 9

Percy POV

Sick, sore, tired, lazy, and bored are five words that describe how I felt. Now I understand why in movies you see guys chucking bouncy balls at the wall when their in jail. It would have kept me a little occupied and it would keep my mind off of everything that was aching.

Nico moaned from the other side of the room. "You too?" I asked.

"Yep." he said emphasizing the P.

"At least you don't feel like you've just survived an atomic bomb going off inside you."

"Because everyone knows how that feels." he retorted.

Thalia chuckled a little and muttered, "Boys."

I looked at her and cocked an eyebrow, "What about boys?" I asked knowing that Thalia as a huntress has a mouthful about our gender.

She gave me a look that said 'are you seriously asking that question?'

"I can't wait to hear this." Nico snickered.

Thalia's eyes flared in rage... it was a sisterly rage. I was soooo pushing her buttons. "Well for one boys are freakishly annoying."

I made a mental checkmark in my imaginary notepad. I'm good at being annoying.

"And two they are almost always as immature as two year olds."

Was I really that immature?

"Three most of you don't treat women with the respect we deserve."

When did girls ever earn my respect? Oh yeah! When Annabeth saved my sorry butt that one time... and that other time... plus when that thing happened and... I guess at least one girl has earned my respect.

"And then you can't even listen to advise when you're given it! Especially when it comes from a girl! That't because you're too arrogant to admit we were right!"

She suddenly changed from using the noun 'boys' to using the pronoun 'you'. As if it was our fault some men in our world are screwed up.

"And guys are soooo forgetful all the time! It's like they have amnesia or something!"

I have never had amnesia. Wait how would I know? What if I have it but I just don't remember? I laughed to myself. It was not in any plan of mine to ever forget certain things in my life. For example: Annabeth. I will never forget her. Camp half-blood, my mom, Grover, Nico, Thalia, Tyson, and maybe my dad. Nope! I will never ever ever ever forget any of that.

(A/N: Hehe I'm evil. If you've read the HoO series you know why ;D)

"Not to mention how clumsy most of them are."

"Hey! I am not clumsy!" I argued.

She just looked at me like I was an idiot. Nico burst out laughing.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you, Nico." Thals said simply and that shut him up which made my laughter continue.

Then it got really quiet. We all three looked at each other back and fourth. I broke first and laughed harder than I had in a long time. The other two followed in suit and we all were dying on the floor rolling in laughter.

I don't even know what was funny. But it was short lived. Nausea hit me like a brick wall.

"Ohhh." I groaned. Nico and Thalia must have been feeling sick too because the room had gone silent apart from the occasional moaning.

"Being a demigod really sucks sometimes." Nico complained.

"Tell me something I don't know." Thalia said.

A loud bang rang down the hallway and someone yelped in pain. I sat up too quickly and my head spun. My eyes wide with recognition, "That was Annabeth."

"Are you sure?" Thalia whispered.

Another scream rang through the hall and Annabeth's annoyed and pained voice said, "Get you dirty metal mitts off me!"

"Positive." I said confidently.

Thalia gave me the 'no duh Sherlock' eye roll.

One knight strut into the cell without even knocking. Some people just don't have manners. Although I'm not sure it was a person. Probably just an empty shell of armor of a once valiant knight that now bids the wishes of the (fill an adjective of your choice here. I said something not so nice in Greek) Asclepious.

He didn't speak. He probably couldn't. The armor grabbed me from behind by the collar of my shirt and dragged my weak butt down the hallway and into Asclepius' jail. Despite the protests coming from Nico and Thalia he slammed the door before they could get up to help.

"What-" I tried to speak but the suit of armor jerked on my shirt and my airway closed. It lifted me up in the air and I struggled to get bearings. My feet dangled uselessly in the air. I tried to kick his knees but he held me far enough away from itself that I couldn't touch him.

Then we enter Asclepius' cell. The god was grinning. He was pleased with himself. Before I could grasp my surroundings the guard threw me to the floor knocking the wind out of me.

"What was that?" said a voice I knew all to well. "What did that armor do? He just came in and let his fist unclench and then stood back against the wall?"

Asclepius laughed. "It does not matter, Ms. Chase."

Oh my gods! She still doesn't see me. I thought looking at my girlfriend. Annabeth was hurt. Her grey shirt was tainted red around her stomach. From my expiriences I knew there was a nasty wound under it by the way she she was sitting.

I began to sit up wincing as my aching body protested. My head throbbed and it was difficult to breath evenly.

"Annabeth?" my lips moved but it was like my voice had turned off. Not even a sound came out.

"Your friends will not hear you. For they are far enough away that your voice won't carry."

Was he talking to me or Annabeth? Technically my real body was too far away. And Annabeth was too far away for Grover or Phoebe to hear. I hate double meanings.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked though I knew she was buying time. Annabeth already knew.

"I am Asclepius, god of medicines and healing."

Please don't mention Apollo. I prayed that Annabeth would be smart enough not to. She was.

"Oh good. Because I need you to heal a couple of friends of mine. They're really sick and if you would be so kind as to-"

"I know who your friends are. And I know they are sick."

Yeah, I thought bitterly as I glared at him, and you're holding them in the next cell over.

"Oh!" Annabeth looked suspicious, "Could you heal them?"

"I could but what's in it for me, Ms. Chase?" he casually looked down at his finger nails as if they were more interesting than the two helpless demigods in the room.

Annabeth's jaw dropped. Obviously she hadn't expected the god of healing to be this obnoxious.

She took a deep breath as to not explode, "I don't know. What do you want?"

"I want out of these." the god lifted the rattling celestial bronze chains.

"Those?" Annabeth asked questionably. "How? They are celestial bronze?".

Asclepius smirked. "I could get them off if I wanted too. But Zeus keeps me under probation. He has the shackles monitored to feel a pulse. Once that pulse is gone I would get a bolt up my ass and stuck here for five more centuries."

"How long have you been here anyway?" Annabeth was again trying to buy time.

I cringed. That had to be one of his touchy subjects.

Asclepius growled through his teeth, "Ever since I was raised from the dead. After my 'disappearance' everyone just assumed I was coping with the whole 'come back to life' experience and then forgot I even existed."

He scowled, "Zeus is such a hypocrite! He kills me for healing people back to life and then he convinced Hades to allow me to come back to prevent that war that my father, Apollo, would have started to avenge me! And then they decide to put me here for four millennium! It was Poseidon's idea! They didn't even consult with the council. Oh, I hate them." Asclepius was practically boiling, "They will pay for what they have done."

Annabeth bit her lip. I could see it in her eyes. She had just realized who had poisoned us in the first place. "I'm guessing now would not be a good time to mention that the friends of mine that are sick are children of those big three gods?"

Facepalm! Come on Annabeth! You better have a plan to go with this because I will blame you if I get tortured for those words.

"But you already knew that. Didn't you, lord Asclepius? Because you poisoned them."

Asclepius laughed vilely, "Well aren't you clever."

"I get it from my mom."

"Of coarse. You're that famous daughter of Athena that I've heard about for the past five or six years with the Jackson boy, the son of Poseidon." he stared right at me. I glared back and he had to avert his eyes not to show I was there. I felt very accomplished.

"Why would I help you escape after I know you poisoned them?"

"Because you need my help. Knight!" I jumped a little as the suit of armor stomped towards us. "Spray!"

I hadn't noticed the spray bottle in its hand. Squirting over and over again a mist was created. Asclepius fished a golden drachma from his pocket and said, "Oh Iris goddess of the rainbow please accept my offering." and he threw the coin in, "Percy Jackson, Camp Half-Blood."

Did I really look like that? I looked like I was dying. Oh wait, I was. My brow was covered in sweat and my skin was whiter than paper. Each breath I took in the cell was mirrored by the image in the mist. Its probably because we were the same person. Something shimmering gold was like a blanket on me. Was that the golden fleece?

Honestly, it was one of the weirdest things I'de ever seen. Scratch that, this was nothing compared to that one time I was turned into a guinea pig, or that other time I played dodge ball with the Canadian bombers, plus that time when I jumped off the St. Louis arch and that water lady showed up... never mind, seeing myself in a IM was not even remotely strange compared to some of the crazy stuff I've been through since I was twelve.

Annabeth's eyes were wide in fear of what he was doing. "Why are you showing me Percy? I already knew how sick he was. But now I know it was your sick mind that did it."

And at that smart aleck remark Asclepius' temper blew. I wouldn't be surprised if steam started billowing from his ears. Unfortunately he let some steam out on me. He's the dog and I'm one of his favorite chew toys.

Flaring in my bones, the sickness bored through me like an acid. I cringed trying to breath. But something was missing. The burning, it wasn't as agonizing, almost annoying like someone slapping your shoulders when they're sunburnt but on the inside? If that makes any sense whatsoever? It still hurt but not at all like before. The fleece was working wonders.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" Annabeth was seeing me in the IM. I was cringing and curling around myself even with the fleece.

"Free me, daughter of Athena, and I will!"

"No! If I free you you'll just kill them anyway!"

"Make a choice."

"I'll- I'm - STOP HURTING PERCY! I need to be able to think and negotiate! STOP!"

It faded.

Annabeth sighed. The strain of yelling had pained her and the pleased look on the god made me want to punch his face to smithereens.

"I will-" she hesitated.

Gods no, Annabeth! I thought. She should not release this mad man for me. Plus doing anything to protect your friends was my fatal flaw. Not hers.

She gulped down her fear and looked directly into Asclepius' eyes, "I will take your place in the chains. IF! And only if you swear on the River of Styx to heal Percy, Thalia, and Nico from the poison that is killing them."

No! I tried to scream. But nothing came out.

Asclepius saw my distress and grinned, his freedom was just a handful of words away. "I swear on the River Styx to your terms so long as you free me from this castle and these chains."

Even from down there you could hear the crack of thunder that boomed sealing the oath.

I closed my eyes. That was it. No turning back now.

By carefully sliding her butt along the cold stone floor, Annabeth struggled towards the god. A key magically appeared in her hand. Annabeth fumbled at the lock around Asclepius' wrist.

"It's not working!" she said frustrated.

"One key fits one arm and the other will appear when that shackle is locked around a living souls wrist. That way nobody cheats."

She tried the other arm and the lock clicked open easily. After placing the clamp around her own wrist the second key appeared. She unlocked it. Asclepius, now free, jerked faster than I thought he could move and jammed the second one around her other hand.

Annabeth glared at the god, "Now heal them."

"I said I would, I didn't say how."

Storms raged in Annabeth's eyes. I swear sometime it seems like she is going to rain all Hades on someone just with those eyes. "You swore on the Styx."

"I swore I would heal them. I could snap my fingers but what's the fun in that? No. I cannot pain the gods themselves but they will be pained through the slow agonizing healing of their children. And you get a front seat for the remaining hours until Iris decides that you need to pay another drachma. At which time you can pay if you wish. But I'll be long gone."

"Asclepius, you-!"

But he vanished. I suddenly awoke in the infirmary with the gut wrenching feeling that I was falling. Bile rose in my throat and I totally felt sicker than a dog.

I was alive and I was awake. "Annabeth?" I muttered but her side of the iris message wasn't there. Probably like that time Bianca showed me Nico without him seeing.

"Percy!" a flash of curly red hair whisked in front of my face. "You're awake! Thank the gods. That means Annabeth got Asclepius to heal you! I knew she would. But-"

"Rachel?" I groaned everything felt sore. "Go check on Thals and Nico."

"But-"

"I'm fine right now." obviously I wasn't fine but Thals and Nico should be waking soon.

A long groan came from Nico and Thalia's eyes began to flutter open. Then her eyebrows furrowed and looked around. Seeing me she perked up.

"Perce, what happened. What did Asclepius do?"

"Annabeth made a trade. She took his place and Asclepius said he would heal us. But he said-"

At that moment the feeling of needles poking me and extracting the poison was pretty much everywhere inside and out. I tensed and took in a sharp breath and grit my teeth.

Rachel yelped and ran to go get help. But I knew there was nothing anyone could do. Asclepius had started 'healing' us. And I knew it was the beginning of a long awful sickly painful day.

Okay! That chapter was tuff for me. And I'm sorry for the Canadian comment but that's what Rick Riordan calls the northern giants in the beginning of the Sea of Monsters. By the way I posted a chapter to my new fanfiction. You should check it out! Sorry, I know I mentioned the story about Nico but I have a little bit of writers block on that one so it won't be posted 'till I get some ideas to go with the main idea. (the new story is called 'Pasts') Should I do a signature at the end? I'll try it out this time.

Love y'all!
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