A/N: Chapter 6 wasn't so successful, which is a shame. Ah well, I can't expect too much. It had been a hellish week and I guess I need to throw all the rubbish out my brain now.
Thanks to vnienhuis, Daughter of King Orrin, Neurele, Kail990 and Zayad for favoring and following my story. It means a lot.
DeathmatchDrunkard: Everything takes time you know. Don't be bothered by the little detail. They just make the story longer, nothing important. Percy named that kid Plasma because he saw certain traits and features of her which were the same as the gem Plasma. It's just a silly idea. About their mortal spot, yes, it's complicated. I just want to make it different and special. You'll see there are very interesting advantages of their anchors and also really depressing disadvantages. After all, everything has two sides. The coolest thing is that their mortal spots aren't visible. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter even though it might be really bad since I'm not in the mood.
Huy: Thanks for your time. I bet that you really enjoy your time reading, don't you? Just don't be obsessed by it.
DoubleInfinity99: So now you've joined the reading club, huh? Well, that's cool. And also, I can't help myself with that childish jealousy so just deal with it. I understand that your life isn't something nice but just try to cherish it. You'll miss it when you have a new one. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.
AN: Jeez, thanks. It's good to know that you'll let me live until I finish the exam. I hope you're fine with the tests. So it's time to knock your curiosity out.
Troy: Oh hey there, I didn't expect that you still remember me. I guess my effort trying to fit in back there failed miserably, huh? Sorry about the stares you received from the villagers, they're just… amazed. Thanks for spending your time reading my story, that's very kind of you. About coffee, I'd love to go, but I'm in the middle of an exam so I don't think it's possible. Maybe we can meet on January 1st. Here's the next chapter.
DarkKnight (Guest): Thanks for leaving me your review. It's like gold.
To my outstanding partner, Alistair, who sacrificed your time for me.
Chapter 7: Showtime
Percy's Point of View:
I was really glad that I bore the curse of Achilles or my muscles would be screaming by now. Ever since we formed a specific plan, Plasma and I had been training like two crazy… machines. By her calculation, we'd reach camp in two hours and it would be the beginning of drama. When this mad idea flared up in my mind, I'd tried to come up with some solutions to trick my friends into thinking that I betrayed them. Well, it was easy throwing trust away since earning it was so difficult. But somehow, I couldn't bring myself into executing it. Maybe I was selfish?
"Percy, do you want a punch?" – Plasma's plain voice broke my train of thoughts.
"Oh, why, may I ask?" – My eyes widened and looked at her curiously.
We were walking through a field somewhere, but my young companion was sure that the scent of strawberries was already flying around so we were on the right way.
"Those thoughts need to be thrown out of your mind."
"Seriously Plasma, are you sure you're not a mind reader?" – I scolded playfully.
"That emotion of yours is strong and we're connected." – Replied her thoughtfully. – "Whatever that is, I don't enjoy having it. According to your colorful language, it's…"
"Crap?" – Chuckle escaped my lips while I finished her sentence. My Achilles spot was hidden inside her, which was quite frightening, but really irrevocably extraordinary.
She nodded, tilted her head slightly. Plasma was trying to learn to be normal, but she was far from normal. A surge of wonder crossed my soul and I automatically said:
"We won't be staying in camp for long so you don't need to worry. I'll come up with a fake name for you, but whatever it is, it's not important. So we're going to be…"
"Not good." – She cut me off.
"Huh, how so?"
But she hushed me and we both looked around cautiously. Monster. My eyes scanned the area but it was damn hard to see anything clearly. We travelled at night, so there wouldn't be many people around. It also gave us advantage to train our powers without hurting any creatures since they were in their slumber at night. But the great disadvantage was it was easier for monsters to finish us off. Plasma's back met mine, her sapphire-like eyes moved slowly. She whispered but loud enough for me to hear:
"Monster with multiple heads."
God damn it, how the Hades could it reform so quickly? Hydra.
"Plasma, whatever you do, don't slay any of its heads, it would grow more."
"Thanks for the tip."
"Where…?"
"Near, I can see it, but it's still tracking us down." – She mumbled under her breath, and it got harder to listen to what she was saying.
"How can you see it?"
"Tartarus is darker than here." – came the depressing respond but her tone made it sound like "Night is darker than day".
"What's the strategy?" – I asked, even knowing that she wasn't my Annabeth.
"We fight." – short reply, as always, but to me and to her, it was more than enough.
A roar shook the air, and fire flew helter-skelter. Plasma was like lightning, moving fast like a squirrel. I dodged the fire gracefully, due to the Achilles spot and probably many training years, too. We avoided its head and slashed our swords towards it. Water were constantly formed from my hands and fought against the fire. ADHD urged me to do something crazy, but I ignored it and focused on thinking.
"Don't underestimate them!"
"WHAT?" – I shouted back.
"YOUR INSTINCTS!" – She was the opposite of my Wise Girl. But that didn't mean she was dumb, like me.
Maybe she was right, because my numb brain couldn't make out any ways to solve this f*cking monster. I jumped like a kangaroo, avoiding the heads and Plasma from nowhere supported me by pushing my whole torso behind the Hydra smoothly. A head blocked my way but Plasma threw a dagger towards its eye and I successfully landed behind its tail few yards away.
"How about burning it?" – She asked me.
"It'd be a great idea if you can do it!"
The worst thing? It started spitting acid, but luckily, the curse shielded us from being grilled.
"LET GO of your thoughts! Let ADHD IN!"
Should I do that? Annabeth wouldn't be pleased if she was here, witnessing this. I smiled at the image her calling me Seaweed Brain and telling me I was such a reckless fighter. Something hard like a bullet hit my scalp and I groaned startled. My body wasn't used to Plasma's fists. How could I daydream about Annabeth when Plasma and I was in danger? I had no idea.
"We need fire, Percy!"
Even with the Achilles curse, I was still useless. I was a son of Poseidon; I only had powers over water, not fire. A sharp knife of desperation crumbled on me, making me angry. The ground responded to my horrible emotion and I felt our feet weren't stable on the surface of dirt any more. Plasma's eyes widened witnessing the whole crap situation. But to my surprise, her face brightened in the dark of night, she said:
"Keep doing that!"
I didn't understand. Earthquakes couldn't kill monsters, could them? Then I remembered it, there was fire underground, but in the depth that I couldn't reach.
"Fire's too deep down there, I can't reach it!"
"You can't, but we can! Follow me!" - I felt like her strong hand crushed mine when she leaded the way.
This time, I listened to her, letting my ADHD control the whole thing. Magically, my brain was still clear, not totally numb when it happened. I could still aware of where we were going, what the hell was happening and how we could make it. I increased my running speed, caught up with Plasma. It was funny that I could still have a silly thought like we could beat all the runners on this planet during this battle. The kid threw me a warning glance, bringing me back to reality. The Hydra was behind us, but the distance grew wide. It was pissing me off that I couldn't behead it like I could to other monsters.
"There!" – She pointed to a huge fat tree a few meters away and we darted to it. I realized the strawberries field in sight.
The warm emotions filled my body, camp Half-blood was near. Without much effort, I picked Plasma up, she wasn't too light, but not heavy and I climbed the tree in half a second. The Hydra was making its way towards us and I seriously hoped that it would work.
"Prepare yourself, Percy! Give me that emotion of… anger?"
"Yeah that's right, kid!" – replied, forcing myself to focus on the moment Jason shouting at me, insulting my Greek family.
Then I felt Plasma inside. My anger was tripled, how could she do that?
"MORE!"
What was more irritating? My memories were all searched. That was it, first time I arrived at Camp, when mom was abducted! The feeling I had when she was vaporized into a shower of gold lights! A growl escaped my thoughts, my brain shot me a warning but I simply ignored it.
"Hold yourself together!"
The connection was weakened and I immediately got worried. Was something…? But then, I stumbled forward when a force of anger landed on the surface of soul. I gathered everything and knitted them together in one forth second with Plasma holding my torso in her arms, nearly smashed it. An explosion didn't deserve to be the right word to describe what happened. The ground shattered like glass being broken and then came an ear-tearing sound. My closed eyes opened a bit to see the scene that I and this little girl had created. The internal force blew up the dirt and lava overflowed onto the surface. The rough skin of the ugly Hydra was destroyed and before it was completely swallowed by the hot lava, it disappeared into golden dust. I was panting while supporting Plasma to get down but obviously she didn't need it. Our feet met the grass around the ancient tree and again, I let her in. That empty feeling conquered me and I created an ice-road solid and thick enough for us to walk on while the lava was still flowing around. During the past few days, I had mastered my powers with water thanks to Plasma lecturing me after I told her the basic things about emotions and how they worked. With me now, doing things with water was like a piece of cake, but the earthquake thing was completely draining and I had 100% sure that Plasma would be working on this in near future. The next thing I knew? We managed to drag ourselves through the camp barriers and our bodies hit the soft grass.
Nico's Point of View:
I'd been waiting for Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and technically, my cousin or perhaps brother to set his foot through the gate of camp. I couldn't believe that he dumped camp just to get my ass out of that damn jar. When I got back to the "crime scene", the only thing left behind was his war spoils, some pieces of clothes from one of those disgusting giants and the rest was pieces of the other's body. I had a bad feeling but still I got back to camp because I promised Chiron and Annabeth to get back right after I checked if Percy was still around that place. After that day, I'd been staying in camp reluctantly, waiting for Percy to show up so that I can thank him and then knock some senses into his mind. And define waiting for him was every hour I would stand near Thalia's pine near the gate and stared at it for 10 minutes before doing something else. I couldn't describe how relief and grateful I was when I recognized that I was no longer in that thing. Percy really took care of the smallest thing. I wished selfishly sometimes he was actually my sibling, but really, I couldn't ask for more. He'd always treated me like one, and he didn't care about the fact that I was a son of Hades. Right now it was one a.m. but I still got out of my cabin and checked. When I nearly reached it I could feel the presence of fire in the air like there was a huge fire had been set. What happened out there? I ran towards the gate and I knew that I wouldn't regret about this guarding-dog-program-every-one-hour thing. There were two figures lying on the grass. I held my breath as I got closer to them and I saw Percy and another strange girl. Knowing that I couldn't get them into the infirmary by myself, I ran in to call Chiron for help.
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The hardest part was quite ridiculous. Getting both of them into the infirmary wasn't so hard; especially Percy was unconscious and couldn't move while the other girl wasn't heavy at all. Separating them was the challenge. Annabeth's face was priceless; I hoped the Stolls had taken a picture of that. When Chiron said we needed them to be apart so that he could heal each of them, we began "untie" their hold on each other. Percy wrapped his arms around the kids' little torso protectively and unbelievably tightly while his chin rested on her smooth brown hair. When I touched her hair, I couldn't imagine any silk more smoother. But she didn't possess the beauty of an Aphrodite kid so no-one could say anything. The kid was like Percy, arms around Percy's torso but her head buried in his clothes. Her stunning strong legs shielded Percy's so his legs were rested firmly between hers. It looked like they had just got a bloody battle and actually, they did. When people Katie Gardener went out to see if there was anything unusual, we immediately received a scream and went out to see lava flowing on the ground! How Percy did that, we really didn't want to find out. But the best thing was Jason's face when he saw the destruction of the field, he looked like he was about to cry and then his face changed into a funny color of red. Everyone was hoping to hear the exact story when Percy woke up.
Other good news was that there were no injuries, both of them and Chiron announced that Percy had taken the curse of Achilles once again. That made everyone stunned and I was both surprised and relieved. Surprised that he even went into that acidly river again and relieved that he had regained his invincibility. It would be useful in the battle against… Another thing that drove everyone insane in just one morning of the day was that the new girl, she had also bore the curse of River Styx, too and we wondered if that was the reason Percy brought her here, that he didn't want her to be on the bad side. Chiron, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank and I stayed with Percy and the new kid; we wanted to see the son of Poseidon opened his eyes.
It was about eight a.m. when we heard a really low groan coming from the newbie. Annabeth prepared herself like she was going on a fight. Everyone paid attention to the lying figures in the room. Suddenly the girl sat up or more likely bolted up and hissed:
"Percy, GET UP!"
"Hey hey girl, easy there, that's not going to help!" – I quickly protested, approached her.
"Stay away, he's unconscious!" – objected Annabeth, she darted to the new girl.
"Child, calm down. Percy needs to rest and he'll be fine." – said Chiron kindly.
But before anyone could reach her, she turned her head to see us. That was when all of us froze. Her eyes were… blue, very blue, pure blue, not the kind of blue that Zeus and his kids' eyes had, it was certainly kinder, full of mystery, and the depth of those eyes seemed to drag our souls into them. She wasn't gorgeous, or breath-taking like Aphrodite girls, but undeniable that she was pretty. Maybe her face had an expression that clearly said: "Stay away!" so she didn't look good. Then she did something that none of us expected, she punched Percy in the face and said:
"Get up now Percy, nobody's going to win the war for you!"
That was it, one of us definitely needed to keep her away from… Suddenly, Percy stirred and his eyes slowly opened. After that, he was completely still and the temperature in the infirmary seemed to drop really fast. We held our breath and stared hopefully at the son of Poseidon. All in a sudden, Percy jumped out of the bed like it was trying to eat him and scanned the room quickly. The next thing we knew was he hugged the new girl like there was no tomorrow.
"Kid, you did more than great! I don't know what I would do without you!"
"You'd have survived anyway." – She shrugged, then hesitantly, returned the hug by wrapped her arms awkwardly around him.
"You're too modest, kid!" – He shook his head and beamed lightly, looking at the kid with awe and clear admiration.
Then Percy turned to us, the happy expression vanished quickly like it never happened, making us nervous. He spoke:
"I hope you're okay, Nico. How was the trip?"
I didn't prepare myself for this, which was weird since I was the one who expected him to be back the most.
"Mrs. O'Leary brought me back. She said that you rescued me, but you can't go back. Chiron healed me. And Kelp Head, I was WORRIED to death!"
He nodded his head, turning to Chiron and thanked him for healing me. Then Annabeth crashed into Percy's arms and shouted:
"How could you DO THAT to me, SEAWEED BRAIN? Eight months being missing weren't enough to scare the Hades out of us?"
"I'm so sorry, Wise Girl. I beg for differ, but many people need my help out there and I believe that your wisdom and bravery could help you through this hard time. I guess sorry isn't enough, maybe I'll make it up to you some time." – He caressed her blonde hair, hugging back.
"I don't CARE, you're not leaving again!" – Annabeth growled her mad eyes looked straight into Percy's forcing him to promise.
"I can't guarantee that, Annabeth. I truly can't, I wish you can understand." – said Percy soothingly, gently.
We were really shocked that the way Percy talked and spoke was impossibly polite and utterly mature. What happened here? Annabeth kept attacking Percy with her grip, like she would never let go. Poor both of them, the gods made their lives so difficult.
"Child, I'm really glad you're back. We were really worried for the past two weeks. It's unbelievable that Gaea didn't attack." – Chiron cut the mushy moment by reminding us his presence in the room. Percy smiled in relief at this.
"I guess she's bothering someone else at the moment, Chiron."
"Yeah, and Percy, how come there's lava outside the strawberries field?" – Hazel shot the question that we really wanted to know.
Percy was speechless at this question, his eyes glued on the new girl. She returned the stare by a nod, like they were having a silence conversation and that somehow really frustrating.
"It was an accident." – said the girl calmly, she looked straight into the eyes of everyone the room.
"That's understandable, child. You don't want to talk about it. How about giving us your name, my dear?" – Chiron asked, and this time, the newbie frowned at the question.
"Her name is… err…" – Percy raised his eyebrow, looking confused. What?
"Her name is err?"- I chuckled at his stammering.
"Sorry, sir, my name is Pearl. Pearl McKnight." – She replied quickly, earning a satisfied smile from Percy.
"Okay Pearl, maybe you should travel around to see camp. There are a lot of things to learn and do around here. And do you know who your godly parent is?"
"I don't know, sir." – Her respond was plain, like it didn't matter.
"Child, call me Chiron." – The centaur smiled warmly at the kid, but she didn't mind that at all.
A shout hit our ears making me jump. It happened in a blink. Clarisse darted into the infirmary shouting Annabeth's name and waving her spear around and immediately became a threat to Pearl. A flash of light, and we saw a dagger flew towards the daughter of Ares. Percy shouted:
"NO!" – He ran after the dagger, but its destination was already set. We were terrified.
Realizing her mistake, Pearl darted after her own weapon with an amazing speed and then caught the dagger without making any noise.
"I'm sorry; I thought she was one of them." – She looked at Percy, but she didn't look sorry at all. Percy nodded, understanding. It looked like he had dealt with this.
"Sorry Clarisse, Pearl's new and she doesn't react well with sudden shouts and people waving their weapons madly." – Percy smiled a bit, looking at Clarisse who was standing there frozen.
Clarisse turned back to herself and smirked:
"Another punk arrived at camp. I'll greet her later, right now, Annabeth and Prissy; you two have to tell those stupid Romans to stop pestering our campers!"
Percy sighed heavily and gritted his teeth. Pearl tilted her head at Percy and spoke softly:
"Anger won't help you right now. Choose a better emotion."
Percy looked confused at first, then nodded sadly. He told her:
"Pearl, I'm afraid you have to check this camp out by yourself. I'll see you later."
"That's fine." – With that, she left without exposing any emotions.
"That kid, she's weird." – I stated, seeking for opposition.
"Totally, I think we shouldn't trust her, Percy." – Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the entrance like it was Pearl.
"Wise Girl, why do you say so?" – Percy asked in amuse, he looked cocky.
"Did you see the way she threw the dagger? It's like someone had trained her." – Annabeth pointed out, her voice was cold.
"Well, didn't you know how to use daggers before you even saw camp, Annabeth?" – asked Percy back. – "We shouldn't judge people by their appearances, or their skills. I don't say that we should trust her either. But give the kid a chance. Now let's go and help the newborns with their toys, shall we?"
We all walked out of the cabin and Percy wasn't so surprised at the battle field that camp had turned into. He looked tired and seemed older, like he'd just turned into an old man or something. Percy had dealt with lots of sh*t. I guess that was Kelp Head's fate.
Plasma's point of view:
It was brighter than Tartarus, but not much better. People fought, people cursed, people lost their sanity. This place was like a dungeon where insane prisoners wanted badly to escape and ended up stuck then began destroying each other. My creator would find lots of advantages around here, where conflicts and wars happened like sunrises and sunsets, constantly, endlessly, non-stop. I had got used to the fact a part of Percy was my weak spot, but I had faith in his strength for an unknown reason. Maybe I just had to think of it that way. I knew that he trusted in me, too which was odd. But it helped both of us and it was easy to keep my creator in place. He only got out of our holds when Percy was overcome by his weird… emotions, and I wouldn't let that happened so easily. Since he was connected to me, and that jerk was linked with my mind, I had mature conversations with him more often these days.
"Just like your foolish mother stupid girl, you'll get yourself killed."
"I have a name, jerk." – I shot back mentally.
"Oh, is that so? As I recall, my name isn't 'jerk' either." – I felt him snort through the weak link.
"Want respects? Then earn respects."
"Very bold, Plasma. That name really suits you, daughter. Remember where you get the powers from."
"I wish to never be born, I don't care about that. Be quiet." - I pushed a strong force on him; make it clear that he needed to be silence.
I knew that Percy felt Kronos stirring inside, too so I cleared my mind. My thoughts switched to the plan that we had made on our journey. Percy wanted to destroy the Big Prophecy. Even the Fates didn't know about my existence since Ma wasn't a normal mortal, so I could cover the Fates' eyes for him. I needed to pretend to be a really close friend to Percy - he told me. The son of Poseidon didn't tell me how, because he thought it would be real and more convincing if I figured it out myself. We only had a few days, and then we would disappear out of everyone's sight. Tomorrow, Percy would make another important oath on the River of Styx before we left, which would turn his blood into a weapon. It was back-up plan if Gaea touched his blood, she would be back to her slumber. I wanted to find another way, secretly, but he knew before I even thought of anything since our souls and minds were tied together. He said nothing, but his emerald eyes pleaded me to let him go that path. I didn't stop him.
I went deeper into the forest, enjoying the sounds of birds, the whispers of trees, and the movement of life. It was… different. I didn't know what it was, but never would I want it to go away. It wasn't empty like it used to feel, something was there, but not much. But it was enough, for me…
The leaves slammed into each other and I immediately bolted up to a tree. Someone was near, walking around talking. I was on the edge of the forest, where campers could be seen. My stroll must have taken a long time but I didn't recognize. A couple of Roman demi-gods, side-by-side walking together slowly, and their lips stretched slightly. They looked comfortable with each other's company, their muscles relaxed and were let loose. My eyes were trained to see the smallest detail. Their hands were holding gently. Maybe this was the answer to the acting show. I guess I was ready.
A/N: It was a crazy week with a bunch of exams. I really hope you guys like this chapter. I did my job, now do yours, thank you for reading. Love all of you.