"So, how was your discussion with Thalia?" Artemis asked as Perseus sat down across from her, leveling his gaze with his sister's. He shrugged, knowing that Artemis doesn't approve of his tenacious outreach approach, but internally he was shaken up, knowing that he had just broken his promise to that girl. "I see. Well, if you won't be open with me, then maybe I should just call mom?"
Artemis' tone belied an offhand suggestion, but she knew, as did Perseus, which explains why he visibly paled, if Hera caught Perseus keeping a secret, she could get him to tell the truth, somehow. Perseus sighed and opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again and closed it, all the while looking hesitant. Artemis smirked at his indecision, and went in for the metaphorical kill. "Perhaps I should just turn you into a girl again, 'Persi'? I could even invite Apollo over to 'check your condition'?"
"One of these days, revenge will be sweet indeed, until then, I have only one thing to say; you're a jerk." He sighed and laid on his side, staring into the fire, but not really seeing it. "I told her about myself, and about the hunt and I made the suggestion that she join us. I was entirely within my rights to do so, and...I cried." Artemis' eyes narrowed as she slid closer to Perseus, placing her hand on his arm comfortingly.
"Perseus-"
"We're alone, please call me Percy."
"Percy...Did Thalia say something?" Artemis asked, tensing as Percy began to shake. Percy rolled over so he was looking up at Artemis, smiling widely, laughing silently. "I'll take that as a no?" She pushed his shoulder so he rolled back on his side and gradually his laughing slowed until he was still.
"She's...a lot like me." Percy said pensively. "I hope she joins us, she'd be a nice addition to our family." In his head, Percy was mentally steadying himself, preparing for a perfectly logical refute which he would undoubtedly have to agree with.
"Okay...but not yet." Artemis said calmly. "What's rule number thirteen?"
"Wait, listen, kill on time."
"Well, at least you've kept up on your studies, otherwise I'd have to kill you."
"I hope that's a joke." Percy questioned, frowning at the ground. Artemis laughed at his uncomfortable look and patted him on the head before sighing sadly. She knew what was to come, and it involved Percy, even if he didn't know, unless…
"I believe that it is time to send you to the camp." Artemis muttered, barely loud enough for Percy to hear, but he still heard, and instantly, his once friendly demeanor changed into stone. "Wait! Hear me out!" Artemis requested, not used to her brother being anything but happy.
"Sixty seconds."
Artemis' eyes widened and her hair stood on end at that voice. That voice didn't belong to a thirteen year old with a family and friends, it belonged to a psychotic animal, it was a carnivorous growl, hungry for souls. "We can discuss it with the rest of the family, and we can have you stay in my cabin, you can-"
"Thirty seconds."
That growl again.
"I need to go on a private hunt, and you can't come with me, there is no other option, the entire hunt is going and I don't think you want Zeus finding out that you've been living with us for the last seven years. You need to make an appearance eventually though-"
"Time's up."
It was a whisper this time.
"I won't do it. I'll go on my own hunt, I'm going to find Bianca." Artemis flinched, this must be that teenage rebellion that Aphrodite mentioned. "I'll take Zoe and Silena with me. I'm going and if your hunt's really so important, then you won't stop me." Percy turned to look at Artemis, but as soon as he looked away from the door, he was struck across the head.
As he slowly slipped into unconsciousness, he stared up at Artemis, who held her dagger in a hammer grip, her pommel dripping with blood, Percy's blood. Fuck(or the closest age appropriate approximation thereof).
When Perseus awoke, he stared up at the ceiling of Apollo's sun-car and cursed three times before he sat up and looked at the person who was sitting to his left, the seat closer to the front of the bus; Thalia. "Morning, sunshine…" She muttered, her skin more pale than before, her cheeks sallow.
"Oh, the puns to be made…" He replied with false whimsy, causing Thalia to give an extremely feminine snort, and another, more familiar, grunt from his other side, Zoe. "Wow, you two seem friendly...enough." He spoke sardonically, but they had seemed to bond over Percy's unconscious body.
"We've put aside our difference." Zoe remarked, looking out the window. Thalia, however, seemed to be staring anywhere but out the window.
"Heights?"
"What?" Thalia looked startled and cornered.
"You're afraid of heights, right?" Percy asked, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to have brain damage when this is over."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yes, brain damage is usually obvious."
"No, he's just showing off." Both Perseus and Zoe replied at the same time. Zoe had obviously seen the schtick before, but it still surprised Thalia. "He can see things, detect things, just by looking at you, he can know things that shouldn't be possible."
Thalia inspected Percy closer, squinting at his eyes before she backed up and sat up straight. "Do me." She then blushed furiously and cleared her throat. "I mean, deduce me."
"First of two children, fifteen years old, abusive household, alcoholic, you have a nasty habit there miss, killing your liver. You're left handed, and you use a shield, though it's padding is running thin. You prefer to wear black clothes because you have several tattoos that you'd rather no one saw. You hide the bags under your eyes using mascara, and you are currently under undue amounts of stress. You're about to die, but it doesn't matter because you've push-" He came to a stop and clutched his cheek. Thalia had slapped him. Her mascara was running and her hand was still up like she was consulting backhanding him.
"Explain yourself Perseus, because I'm considering encouraging her hitting you again." Zoe said, glaring pointedly at Perseus.
"You speak with words, I listen with everything that I am." Backhanded. Thalia looked like lucky number three may involve a closed fist. "Okay, admittedly, I deserved that, but I can't explain it, I notice things, like smells, sounds, tiny details, even the different muscle densities in your hands. Imagine if suddenly there was someone following you your entire life, standing off to the side taking notes on everything you did, every move you made, and everything that ever happened to you." Thalia nodded and I quirked an eyebrow at her. "I'm looking at those notes right now. There's nothing I don't know about you, except what kind of tats you have, which makes me very curious. But that's not important."
"You're creeping me out." Thalia said, nodding, calming down slightly. She sat down again and sighed. "I-...don't tell Annabeth."
"That's me, secret keeper extraordinaire." He quipped. "There's nothing that I can't learn from mortals, but the only reason I got this ability was because of my eye." Percy reached up and stroked the bandana stretched over his eye and frowned. "I had it plucked out when I was five. I miss the eye, but the perks sorta made up for it."
"You're surprisingly talkative, what's with that, I figured that after years with a bunch of oppressive man-haters, you'd be a repressed hermit, only poking your head out of your shell when you're spoken to." Thalia wondered aloud, drawing the attention of the entire bus on the two of them. Even Zoe's attention was piqued.
"Why are you so comfortable around us?" Phoebe asked, leaning forward, careful to avoid the quiver she was polishing. "Even when we first met, you looked up to us, and you tried to learn archery, even after having an excuse to suck at it. Why?"
"I was raised to hate myself because I was told again and again that there was no hope, there was no point, there was no one who loved me and that I was nothing. But when I got to the hunt, I learned that I define myself. Even though you hated my kind, you didn't hate me, you just treated me like a newcomer." Percy never finished his thought because suddenly, the sun pulled into a sharp halt. He grabbed Thalia's hand and pulled her close to him and Zoe, who had both grabbed onto the edges of the seats.
"What the hell was that?" Annabeth demanded, climbing over seats to where Percy and Zoe held Thalia between them as she slowed her breathing. Apollo looked back at the occupants of the bus with a manic smile on his harshly tanned face.
"We're here."
"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Hunters. You know where your cabin is, do you not?"
"We shall be fine Chiron." Zoe said confidently, taking on a different persona from who she was in the bus. Percy was different as well. His formerly nostalgic and talkative personality had changed. He was the silent wolf, staring down any camper unfortunate enough to be standing around. He was silent and calm, hiding a relentless storm behind the glass of his eyes, he was dangerous. Where Thalia was calmer, almost at home, Percy and Zoe were both distant, angry.
"Phoebe, show the new girls the ropes, try to not get in trouble. Perseus, take care of the bags, I'll check in with Dionysus and get things settled, the rest of you can go ahead and join any lessons you find interesting, clear?" Phoebe smiled smugly and nodded, Percy replied with a terse nod and walked away, and the rest simply slid away, except for one camper, Drew Tanaka.
"So, Perseus huh?" Drew asked. "What kind of parent names their daughter Perseus?" Perseus smirked once and then pulled his scarf over his face, pulled his wolf mask down and drew his writing pad out of his pocket. As he turned around, he wrote something on the pad and handed it back to Drew. "The same kind of parents that would destroy their child's face." Drew sucked a breath quickly.
"Well, it can't be that much of a detriment, you're alive aren't you?" Drew asked, her hands on her hips. Perseus smiled tiredly and turned around, preparing to respond with a tongue lashing worthy of praise until he saw Thalia behind Drew, cocking her fist back. He motioned behind Drew, causing her to turn around, right as Thalia's fist connected with her stomach, bringing her to a coughing fit as she tried to breath through the pain. Thalia smirked at her convulsing form, grabbed Perseus by the hand and dragged him off, away from the fallen daughter of Love.
"The fuck, Thalia?!" Drew screeched, her claws bared. "I was just teasing her, there's no need to overreact, gods, you bitch!" She slowed down, not able to keep up with a sprinter and a hunter at their primes.
"'her'?" Thalia asked, looking over at Perseus. He smiled and shrugged, pulling his mask up his face, suddenly, Perseus stopped, just avoiding stepping on one of the many pieces of paper that littered the field they were currently traversing. Thalia, however, kept going, shaking her head at Percy's antics. Percy leaned down to pick up the paper, but just as he was grabbing it, someone else grabbed it as well.
"Excuse me." The stranger muttered forcefully, pulling the paper swiftly from Perseus' hand as Thalia came up behind her. The mystery girl looked up at Perseus and her eyes narrowed, probably at the scars on his face.
"Hello Lou, how are you doing?" Thalia asked the brunette demigoddess who knelt in front of Perseus. Lou's eyes squinted and she pulled on a pair of sleek glasses and finally acknowledged Thalia. "This is a new pair of glasses, did you lose the last ones?"
Lou looked down and Perseus' eye narrowed as well, taking on a cold and almost dead quality. "Yes, I'm doing fine, thank you for asking."
"That's a lie." Perseus muttered, reaching out to pat Lou's shoulder, but she batted his hand aside and stood up. She turned to him with a glare that could have melted lead. Percy examined her closely and bowed slightly, his eyes closed tight in anguish. "I'm not going to let this sit."
"What are you talking abou-?"
"You're being tortured! You need to stand up for yourself!" Perseus insisted, grasping her shoulders. Thalia stood, agape at the discovery and she reached around and put her hand on Lou's shoulder.
"What do you mean? Why didn't you say anything to me?" Thalia implored, her eyebrows knitted in frustration.
"I'm a witch, you Vlacas, of course I'm being persecuted! I'm hated and disrespected and persecuted! Did you not realize when my things began to disappear and be torn to shreds?! Did you just look the other way when my glasses were destroyed, over, and over, and over again?! Are you stupid or are you just purposefully not seeing it?!" Lou demanded, tears staining her cheeks as she yelled angrily at Thalia, who stood, stock still with her eyes wide in despair.
"But, Lou-?" Thalia began, but Lou cut her off.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I burst your bubble, Thalia 'The-Fucking-Messiah' Grace?" Lou asked, her voice dripping with hatred. "Yeah, life ain't perfect, so grow up-" She was stopped suddenly as Perseus stepped between the two and grabbed both of their hand's, walking toward Artemis' cabin.
"Both of you, don't say a word, especially you Lou." Perseus said, dragging the two girls behind the hunter's cabin. He turned around as the three stopped behind the cabin and turned to Lou. "You are being impetuous and you don't know the whole story, so I politely posit that you should shut your mouth," He turned to Thalia at this point. "you should tell Lou your story, Thalia, and I shall share mine."
"My mother was an alcoholic, abusive and emotionally devoid, she enjoyed putting out cigarettes on my shoulder blades. There was a time when she 'accidentally' spilled a fifth of vodka onto my back before she tried to put out her cigarette, she lit my shirt on fire, and almost killed me, that was the last straw."
"Yeah, I'm sure that bites, but now you're nothing short of the second coming." Lou said, leaning on the cabin.
"And mine? Are you not curious?" Perseus asked. Lou nodded expectantly. "I was five when my mother remarried. The man was abusive and alcoholic from day one. He liked cutting the sorts of words that you didn't say to your mum into my softer flesh. He also liked burning me, usually with hot pans and coffee. He enjoyed using beer bottles to examine my guts. He raped me, horrifically, and he also liked to threaten my mother. The final straw was when he shot me full of heroin, tried to rape me, and got caught by my mother, he pulled a revolver out of his pants and shot her, planning to run away and blame my mother for my abuse. The drugs, the Ichor, the abuse, I exploded and caused every single ounce of water in his body to splatter the walls...It was bright red." He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets as if he didn't care. Thalia looked between her two companions and frowned, plopping down on the grass.
"I was six." Lou began, looking down sadly. "I was a toy to my father, he liked to test out drugs on me, to see how I reacted to different chemicals. He pumped me full of curare, methamphetamine, arsenic, and even cocaine, testing me like a foreign species. I was already born sickly, but he shortened my life even more, by the time I'm thirty, the Apollo campers estimate that I'll be dead." Lou swallowed hard, like she was trying not to cry. "He liked to cut on me, he would perform makeshift surgery on me in the kitchen by strapping me across the island and using butcher knives as scalpels, he was careful though, he would sterilize the knives before he cut me open. He heated the knives up until they were red hot in the stoves starter light, and he dragged the burning hot steel across my chest, cutting straight lines through me like I was already dead. I don't know how my mother could have ever fallen in love with that man."
Lou swallowed again, but the tears were already rolling down her cheeks, her voice wavered, and she sniffled as Perseus rubbed on her back soothingly, muttering words of encouragement. Finally, she broke down and began to sob. "But that's not the worst part. He liked to touch me…He put his hands-...He- He did things to me. I remember so clearly through the drugs, he...at first I wanted to join the hunters, you know, but then...the Ares kids found out about my past...They told me that I wasn't pure enough to be a hunter, and they're right." Lou's entire body was racked with sobs, with Perseus leaning over her, his arm across her shoulders. Thalia couldn't move. She had never felt so similar to someone before now, but Lou and Perseus, they knew where she came from.
"They're not right. Look at me. I was raped as a child, but they took me, they treat me as their own, and I'll make sure they do the same for you." Perseus stated, his hands itching as his instincts told him that something bad was going to happen. "I'll go collect your papers, and talk to Zoe, she's better at this than me."
"Hey, Lou! where the hell's my witch-bitch at?!" A camper called from the other side of the cabin, yelling slurs and insults at Lou. "Come on out you little necro, I wanna see what happens when you drink blood; your own!"
Perseus gave both Lou and Thalia a stern glare, which he did not intend to happen and opened the back window of the Artemis cabin, looking inside and noticing it empty, he threw the bags that were over his shoulder into the cabin and looked at his companions expectantly. "As a brother in arms of Artemis, the protector of maidens, I allow Lou Ellen, and Thalia Grace to enter her dominion and cabin, now hurry up you two, these jackasses are mine."
Lou didn't even hesitate, she hopped into the window and hurried away from where Thalia rolled to a stop inside. Meanwhile, Perseus pulled a flare gun from its holster and fired a flare round into the air, attracting the attention of the hunters who all began a desperate search for Zoe, who was the only one ever able to calm down Perseus, yet always seemed to miss his flares. "I, as a sensible and reasonable human being will give you a five second head start, in that time you have three options, run, fight, or surrender quietly and beg for your lives." He asked, his voice was cold and sharp, sending chills down the neck of the people who were threatening Lou. Thalia saw the numbers and almost stepped outside to help Perseus but something held her back. The boys rowdily began to laugh and draw their various weaponry, idjits one, two and three pulled out xyphos, while idjits four through seven drew spears and shields, each preparing to humiliate, however, Perseus was prepared solely to kill. There was a sudden bustle at the edge of the main field as the Apollo campers came, prepared to make peace between the Ares boys and whoever they were fighting, but they did not expect it to be a lone hunter. Perseus approached the Ares campers calmly at first, but slowly he increased in speed until he was gracefully sprinting straight at the small group, slowly pulling his bowie knife out of its sheath.
"Drop dead, dumbass!" The leader of the pack yelled, charging forward with his sword drawn. Perseus used his bowie knife to parry the slash aimed at his head and flipped the attacker over his shoulder, causing him to land on his back, fetal. This slowed the approach of the rest of the campers dramatically.
"You're nought but children, playing at warriors. You're not in my league, we're not even the same species." He remarked, drawing one of his handguns from his hip-holster, he threw it up in the air and as it fell it's barrel elongated, it thickened, and it began to glow before Perseus caught it by its barrel and twirled it into his grip, firing rubber bullets into the chests of the remaining six opponents. "You'll never touch Lou again, or I'll use real bullets next time."
"What the hell is going on here?!" A tall, burly girl, with a bandanna similar to Percy's screamed, looking between Percy and her fallen brothers, growling at Percy and drawing her spear. "Who the hell are you?! What did you do to my brothers?!"
"I threatened them. Violently." Perseus snarled, looking at Clarisse with an almost placid face, as if he didn't want to fight her. Clarisse, however, had no such qualms, and quickly charged Perseus, her spear levelled with Perseus' chest, but Perseus was ready. The nimble hunter hopped aside and gripped the shaft of the spear before he was launched back by a sudden jolt of five hundred volts, causing him to skid along the grass for about ten yards. "Electricity, huh? I might have something for that, but I'll warn you, you'll regret this."
"Bring it on,apóvrasma!" Clarisse shouted, hefting her spear into the crook of her elbow. Perseus slowly removed his glove, revealing a unique tattoo depicting an open lotus with a skull perched on top of it. Immediately, his Petra Sarka began to lapidify, his hand became covered with scales, his flesh became marble and his bones diamond. As soon as his hand was consumed, he charged forward recklessly, stepping past the point of Clarisse's spear, and finally, grabbing onto the shaft once again, this time, undaunted by the flow of electricity. He tightened his grip, and the shaft shattered, leaving Clarisse holding nothing but a short stick.
The crowd fell silent as Perseus walked away from Clarisse, no one had seen anyone, much less a newbie stand up to Clarisse and walk away unscathed, and if Clarisse had something to say about it, they wouldn't see one today either. She drew a combat knife from her hip sheath and charged after Perseus, stopping only briefly, when Perseus whirled around and backhanded her, sending her toppling backwards, while her body continued forwards. Clarisse looked up as a bandanna, red and worn, obviously well loved, fluttered down to land on her chest. "The last time we met, you told me to never let them see me cry, this time we met, you were a tyrant."
"It sickens me to think that you're the same one who gave me motivation to continue, but I suppose the old adage is true; people change." Perseus ended his speech by stomping hard on the blade of her knife, snapping it in half. "Unfortunately, that means you too, huh?"
Perseus stomped off, while Zoe, who was panting from her mile sprint toward the sound of fighting stared on, amazed at his self-control. As he passed her, he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him toward the Artemis cabin. "She's alive."
"You're observant." He quipped.
"Don't be an ass. Why is she alive?" Zoe replied.
"She's breathing, it's a good start, her heart's pumping, she doesn't have any brain damage, I figure she's got at least sixty years left before she dies of natural causes." Zoe kicked the back of his left knee, but he continued, unfazed.
"I seem to remember telling you to not be an ass. Or did I stutter?" Zoe inquired, her eyes taking a cold edge to them, but Perseus refused to turn around until they were inside the Artemis cabin, where he finally collapsed, falling flat on his face, his head right in front of Lou and Thalia, and his feet almost against the door. "Oh…That explains things."
"Really? Because I'm confused as fuck!" Lou cried out, her eyes wide. She raced to Percy's side and flipped him onto his back where for the first time, the horrid condition of his life began to come to light. His eye was missing. There was no glass eye, there was no stitches keeping the optic cavern close, it was just a black pit, there was no blood, no red, no light seemed to make it into the hole, it was just black. Surrounding the eye were thousands of small incisions, like shrapnel. Another scar went up to his hairline, and finally a scar went from his eye to his ear.
"The Petra Sarka, he calls it." Zoe explained. "He must not have had permission from Nirvana."
"You mean the band?" Thalia asked, truly confused.
"No, you imbecile! The place: the plane on which everything is equal and connected." Zoe corrected Thalia, causing Thalia to growl and stomp forward before she felt a hand grab her ankle, stopping her cold. Perseus was awake, and he looked like death.
"Zoe, Thalia, don't fight, please." Thalia looked down at his pained face and had an urge to lean down and stroke his face, but instead, took a delicate step back, while Zoe looked down, ashamed, and kneeled at Percy's feet, gesturing for Thalia and Lou to lift up Percy's upper body. Lou nodded and grabbed one arm, her thin frame barely able to lift Percy, while Thalia lifted the other arm, her body was compact, but it was nubile and corded with tight muscle. They put him on a bed and Thalia covered him in a blanket as Lou helped Zoe find something in the bathroom. "Psst."
Thalia smirked at his weak smile and leaned down, whispering to herself. "Well, either he's sprung a leak or he has something to say."
"Thanks for not falling for Zoe's goading." He whispered, his voice hoarse. Thalia nodded and patted him on the head. "Well, I think I'm going to pass out now, tell Zoe that I said to be nice."
"Yeah, have a nice unconsciousness, you're going to have a long day tomorrow." Thalia replied and left the cabin. Slowly, but surely, Perseus drifted into Nirvana.