This goes out to my good friend: SamtheKingofHell: because only you seem to share my love of Terry Pratchett, and PS, that song you didn't know: behind blue eyes.
"That meeting sucked balls" Percy said to himself as he rode down the elevator. Then he looked down at his singed and torn shirt and slid down the back wall of the elevator. "Correction; horse balls, that meeting sucked horse balls."
The meeting of which Percy spoke was a witch hunt worthy of the name Salem. Percy was put to trial without a chance to say anything. He was about to be killed until Hestia swooped in and saved his sorry ass:
"Why don't we put Perseus to the test?" Hestia suggested, shrugging in feigned nonchalance. "I'm sure he'd be more than willing to go on a quest to prove his loyalty."
Zeus seemed to have forgotten that Perseus came in with Artemis, as he nodded in consideration and then sat up straighter. "Fine. Perseus Jackson, you will go on a quest to find Artemis, and when you get back, we will vote on whether or not to kill you."
After that, it was a bit of a haze, but Percy remembered being cornered by Ares who attempted to intimidate him, and failed, hence the singeing and the scars.
Back in the elevator, Perseus looked up and groaned. "More scars, great."
"Umm...are you going to the lobby?" A shallow voice asked timidly. Percy looked up and felt a tug in the back of his head. This was a demigod. Percy nodded and the girl stepped in.
"Hi." Percy said calmly. The girl fidgeted nervously and waved without meeting Percy's eye, then it dawned on him. "I must look like hell."
"...froze over." She responded meekly. Percy nodded and closed his eyes. "I'm Piper."
"Perseus." Percy replied tersely, squinting hard at the space directly above the strange girl. "You cut your own hair."
"I'm-...yeah." Piper replied. Percy didn't respond, he was stressed. "How can you tell?"
"You're kidding, right?" Percy asked. Piper's head drooped. "No self-respecting beautician would do that to some poor girl's hair."
"How do you know?" Piper inquired, finally gathering her courage. "I could've sneezed while I was getting it cut."
"The only way that you could have gotten that kind of haircut is if you had an epileptic fit while your blind barber took a weed whacker to your head and then you sneezed." Percy said bluntly. Piper felt a lump in her throat but swallowed it down. It was better than those Barbies her dad liked to hire. "But your ploy didn't work, you're still pretty."
Piper's throat clenched again, but for a different reason. Those kinds of compliments were nice, not fake like those tv personalities. "Thanks...I think."
"Yeah sure." Percy muttered, closing his eyes. Soon the bell dinged and they stepped out into the lobby.
"Um...so, what happened to you? Why do you have so many scars?" Piper asked hesitantly, waiting for Percy to tell her that it was none of her business, and she would leave it alone.
"I was abused." Percy responded without a second thought, not even realizing he had said it. Then he felt it. The flush of blood that moves through his neck, the tensing of the diaphragm, the light heating of his ears, charm speak. A daughter of his aunt, Aphrodite always did have the best jeans.
The walk to camp was mind numbing, Percy was considering the pros and cons of hitchhiking as a startlingly red Maserati purred to a stop beside Percy and a surfer dude with a wide smile leaned his head out of the window. "Hey bro, need a ride?"
Only upon the sudden increased inertia did Perseus realize how bad of an idea it was to have gotten in the car so willingly. "So, I'm guessing you're not giving me a ride to camp out of the goodness of your immortal and undoubtedly healthy heart?"
Apollo gave a small chuckle as the speedometer slowly inched up, eighty turned to ninety, ninety to one hundred, Percy saw the curve up ahead and began to pray to any god or goddess he could think of that liked him. "I love my sister. You know that?"
"I've inferred that over the course of this tantalizing conversation." Perseus replied, buckling his seatbelt as inconspicuously as possible. The speed had hit one hundred twenty. "Are you going to kill me? Because I'd much rather you smite me with one of your other domains, like a sudden death, than a car crash."
"You aren't going to die. You're useless to me dead." Apollo stated plainly. "I'm going to show you a little trick to buying my vote, and if you buy my vote, I'll help you buy some more votes. Save. My. Sister."
He punctuated each word with a sudden push on the gas pedal, the car was moving at over two hundred miles per hour and Perseus was beginning to have trouble breathing, his lungs were being pushed into his spine. "You really think you have to tell me twice?"
All of a sudden, the car was completely still. "What's that supposed to mean?" Apollo asked.
"Do you remember that little girl that you performed surgery on? She was about eleven?" Percy asked, and the pieces began to fall into place. "She needed her muscles replaced. She was going to be completely paralyzed unless you saved her. My name was Persephone, I've still got some of the scars."
"You've been with Artemis for three years?" Apollo asked, his hands draped on the steering wheel. Perseus shook his head. "Longer?"
"I've been with Artemis since I was six." Percy said calmly. "She's my sister too."
"So you worry too?" The sun god asked quietly.
"Always." Percy responded. An understanding began to pass between them and they both sighed. Percy unbuckled and stepped out of the car, heading to the top of the hill. He looked down at his hands to see them quivering as his breathing began to slow. There are scars, and then there are those kinds of scars.
"Perseus?" A voice called from the top of the hill. Percy waved in acknowledgement and began to walk up the hill, his eyes squinting from the bright white of the snow contrasting the dark, almost shadowy figure with the sun on it. "How did the council meeting go?"
"It sucked balls." It was Thalia, apparently she, Zoë and Lou had kept up a lookout guard. Thalia patted him on the back and gave him a sympathetic look. "Though I ran into some interesting people afterward. Come on, let's talk to Zoë about doing some questin'." He said the last bit with a relaxed western accent.
Thalia nodded and looked down the hill, there was a light dusting of snow on the hill and it gave the impression that the whole valley was covered in powdered sugar. "Do you think I'll be able to make the right choice?" Thalia asked, her eyes distant.
Perseus remained silent for a while, thinking. "I think that you need to keep in the forefront of your mind that if you don't, I'll kick your ass."
"Thanks bro, that totally helps to undo years of hate that I feel for the gods." Thalia responded, her voice blank. "Let's just head down to the big house."
"But seriously Thalia." Perseus placed his hand on Thalia's shoulder. "When I'm in a fight against a monster, or a bear, or anything. I don't think about the potential demigods that I'm saving, or anyone that'll thank me later. I focus on one person in particular, and I'm fighting for them. I'm fighting for them because I don't trust their life in anyone else's hands."
Thalia stared at Perseus for a moment, her eyes almost pleading, but then a smile spread across her face. "That's definitely better advice than your threat to kick my ass."
Percy chuckled once and began the rest of the trek up Half-Blood hill. When he reached the peak, he looked down and smiled at the winter wonderland spread about him. Thalia stepped up beside him and he wrapped his arm around her neck, pulling her down onto her side and they began to roll down the hill, and for a few seconds, they weren't heroes, nor people with lives on the line, just teenagers, laughing and joking.
"What the Hades are you doing out here Thalia?" A voice called from above them as they rolled to a stop near the big house. Thalia looked up and saw Luke and Annabeth looking down at them in abhorrence. Perseus jumped up and helped Thalia up as well, both of them beginning to shiver at the melting snow in their shirts and pants. "The meeting is starting."
Thalia's eyes dimmed and she stepped past the two, flinching as Luke put his hand on her waist. Over the past few weeks, he had been pulling moves like that, trying to touch Thalia as long and as intimately as possible. Perseus' eyes never failed him though, he spotted it, and he knew what it meant. So he sidled up between Thalia and Luke and wrapped his arm around Thalia, effectively cock blocking Luke's grab ass attempt.
"Thalia, I'd like you to sit beside Zoë, and save me a couple seats, I'll be right back, I'm going to get Lou." Percy asked politely. Thalia nodded but Annabeth interrupted her.
"Lou Ellen's already in the meeting, Zoë called her in." She muttered. Percy held up his hand and looked at Annabeth challengingly. "Sir."
"Thank you." Percy replied, guiding Thalia into the big house. As they enter 'the war room' Zoë caught Percy's eye and nodded him over. He weaved through the throng and sat Thalia in the chair directly beside Lou.
"Now that we're all here, we can begin." Chiron said calmly. He turned to face everyone and continued. "There has been a quest issued to Zoë Nightshade, and as the quest states, it must be a combined force of both campers and hunters."
"I want to go." Luke called out immediately, standing up. At the same time, Percy and Zoë stood up, yelling.
"No!" Zoë said as Perseus screamed.
"Hell no!"
Luke looked at the two with contempt, his eyes burning, but Percy just stared him down.
"Miss Nightshade does have the authority to choose her fellow questers, and as such, she has the option to say no." Chiron tried to calm Luke, but Luke would have none of it.
"Hell no! I deserve this quest!" Luke demanded, growling, as he slammed his fist on the table. "I'm the best swordsman in centuries!"
"I'm better." Percy said simply. "This is merely a suggestion, but I say that Zoë, Thalia, Silena, Lou and I go on this quest. The land without rain suggests either a desert or a celestial place."
"I concur." Zoë said nodding.
"Umm...I've never been on a quest before." Lou whispered to Percy. Percy smiled encouragingly and patted her on the shoulder.
"Perseus is a skilled tracker and tactician, Lou has proven her ability with magic, Silena's charm speak is the best, bar Aphrodite herself, and I am the senior quester, and Thalia is a child of Zeus and a great asset." Zoë listed, her voice was composed, but Percy knew she was afraid. Her Lady was in trouble and she was afraid she was going to die, there was no way anyone wouldn't be scared.
"Why the hell is that loose cannon going on this quest?!" Luke demanded, gesturing wildly at Percy's still form. "He's going to get all of you killed, and he's going to wreck this quest!"
"This loose cannon has orders from Olympus to go on this quest." Dionysus muttered, walking blearily into the room. "As much as I hate the kid, he's a part of this."
"Thanks Dionysus, cause you're just a peach." Percy muttered, rubbing his eyebrows. Mr. D smirked and leaned back. "Lou and Thalia are campers, and Zoe, Silena and I are hunters. Now, all we need to do is find the bane of Olympus, maybe grab a couple burgers and we'll be set!"
"I'm a vegetarian." Lou piped up, and then continued. "I'm also completely new at this whole questing thing. Maybe someone else should go."
"So are cows, and they end up in burgers. Learn from the cows, don't be a vegetarian." Percy said seriously, patting Lou on the shoulder. "Anyway, you're going to do great!"
"You all are so fucked." Luke growled, stomped and stormed out of the room, but as he reached the door, Percy grabbed his arm and met his eyes with a burning insanity.
"Do you have many friends, Mr. Castellan?" Percy asked creepily.
"Yeah." Luke growled, offended.
"You see, I don't have that many...I don't really have the knack for it, but at the same time, I don't have any enemies at all." He grinned and winked at Luke, his canines showing like a wolf.
"You're a fucking psycho." Luke murmured, his eyes wide in disgust.
"Yes, but I'm willing to give my life for my friends, can you say the same?" Percy whispered in Luke's ear.