A/N: Coming with chap 19 guys, sorry for taking so long to update. I would like to promise regular updates, but sadly i can't, but i still hope you guys can stick around. My beta, dorylover, is on vacation(can't believe she left work to go on vac lol) so i did the editing myself. Tell me what you guys think and if you find any mistakes let me know. Also hopefully this chapter will answer questions you guys posted after reading the last chapter. Don't worry, i didn't make a mistake last chapter lol. Anyways, read, review, favorite and follow. Thanks and until next time, pce out. I don't own anything, it all belongs to Rick Riordan.
Chapter 19
Tal watched in utter silence as her friend assaulted the child of Ares. There was no remorse in his eyes as he beat on the demigod in front of him; only bloodlust. Since the time they reunited in that alleyway, she knew he had changed from his old self, but she never thought that he'd change this much.
She remembered when during the second Titan war, Ace tried to avoid attacking demigods that had been manipulated by their grandfather. She knew he thought of human life as something sacred, but now, here he was beating on a human, like you would do to some wild beast who has transgressed against you. She was starting to worry that he might actually kill the kid, and that worry only increased when Clarisse put a sword to his throat. Tal was afraid that her action would only serve to anger the already enraged Ace.
She looked on as Ace denied all of Clarisse's requests, forcing her to push the sword forward, finally breaking skin. At that moment Tal's worries were replaced with panic, thinking that the golden ichor that was about to flow out of Ace's wound would reveal him to be an immortal, only serving to increase their current problems.
But she was astonished when she saw the red liquid poke out of his wound. At this point, a million question ran through her heads, she felt like a daughter of Athena instead of one of Zeus. She knew that Ace had had used a potion to seal his powers, but did this potion also turn his ichor into blood? Did this mean he was mortal now? Would he die if Clarisse decided to push the sword all the way through? She made a mental note to ask him about this later. Right now she had to stop this skirmish before it got out of hand. She was about to tell Ace to stop what he was doing, when Percy put his sword to Clarisse's throat. She hoped that Percy would try to stop this, but her frustration only grew as he told Clarisse to remove her sword from his friends' jugular. She knew that Percy didn't agree with this situation as well, but he wasn't going to just stand aside as someone harmed his friend.
Tal glanced at Clarisse to see her talking. It looked as if Clarisse was trying to tell her something, but she could no longer hear anything. The blood pumping in her head blocked out all sounds from entering. Her focus was only on Ace, she looked at him with horror filled eyes as he jumped in the air. She closed her eyes, not wanting to watch the outcome of this brutality.
Now that her eyes were closed, she could hear again, and the sickening 'crunch' sound that filled her air made her sick to her stomach. 'How can someone go from being overly loyal to committing acts like this?'
"You're a fucking monster." Tal heard Clarisse sneer to who she could only assume was Ace.
She slowly opened her eyes as Ace replied with a smirk plastered on his face. "You're damn right. Now you'll know better."
Tal silently watched as Ace and Clarisse glared at each other, not knowing what to do.
"What's going on here?" said a new voice as everyone turned around to see Chiron and Dionysus standing behind the crowd.
The crowd of kids parted as the instructor and director walked inside the circle. Luke was following behind them. "Did he go and tell them?" Tal wondered seeing the blonde haired son of Hermes.
"Nothing happened, I just took the liberty of teaching these guys the art of war, sir." Ace said smirking.
"There is no reason for them to be educated in the art of war. We are not at war young man." Chiron asserted. The glare he had sent Ace clearly said that he was disappointed with what he had done.
"You can keep denying it all you want, but that won't change the fact that it's already happening." Ace replied with a glare of his own. Chiron's and Mr. D's eyes widened in surprise. Luke was surprised as well but he quickly covered it up.
Chiron opened and closed his mouth multiple times, but no words came out; he was at a loss for words after hearing that.
"All of you get out of here and continue with your daily routines, and someone get this boy to the infirmary before he loses himself to Thanatos." Mr. D sneered. The crowd started to disperse as Clarisse and one of her other sibling carried her injured brother towards the infirmary. Some Apollo kids were on their tails as well, rushing to treat the wounded half-blood.
The entire area was the now void of all the people that were here moments ago. Only Ace, along with his friends, Chiron, Dionysus, Luke and Annabeth were left.
"Luke, please take Percy and Tal to cabin nine. We would like to have a moment with Ace here. Annabeth, go with them please." Chiron said turning to look at Luke.
Percy looked like he wanted to protest but Ace just shook head signaling that it was alright.
"Luke, please take Percy, I'll be staying here." Tal said, letting her glare tell Ace that if he complained then she'd smack him. She couldn't care less about what Chiron had to say to Ace, she too needed a moment with Ace to figure things out. He smirked before motioning for Percy to follow Luke, who was already heading to the cabin area with Annabeth on his tails.
Tal stood beside Ace as Chiron and Mr. D asked multiple questions, but she just ignored everything. She too had millions of questions, she couldn't care to pay attention to their inquiries. She silently waited for ten minutes before they were done with their interrogation. She watched as Chiron and Mr. D left for the big house, but not before warning them to avoid any more trouble and to quickly join their new cabin-mates in cabin nine.
She waited until the two instructors were out of sight before turning to Ace with a glare.
"I'm assuming you didn't stay here to keep me company." Ace said with a small smile.
"Don't flatter yourself." She joked, accepting his attempt to lighten the tense atmosphere.
"So what's on your mind then?" He asked taking up a look of indifference.
"Okay, well first of all, why is your blood red? Aren't you immortal?" She asked, her expression turning vacant as well.
"It's the side effect of the potion I took. It seals my powers, turns my ichor into blood, etc. But I am still immortal, but not like full god on immortal. My immortality is like how yours used to be when you were still in the hunters; I can die in battle." He explained as she nodded her head in understanding.
"Does the potion stop you from using your powers completely?"
"No, not completely. I can still use them, just at the level of a really powerful demigod. I mean you saw me using my powers to summon Percy's sword before."
After that Tal took a moment to steel her nerves before asking her main question, this would determine if there was any shred of his old self left in him or not.
"What the Hades was this?" She asked, trying her hardest to not let her emotions slip into her voice.
"What was what?" He asked blankly.
"Don't fuck around Pe...Ace, you know what I am talking about. You didn't have to go that far." She said quickly covering her slip up. She sometimes called him by his old name when they were alone.
"I just needed to set an example that would stop them from confronting us every time they saw us. It'd be troublesome if we had to have a scrimmage every time we stepped out of the cabin doors. Plus a couple broken bones is nothing to fret over." He said as he took up a deep frown.
"It's not the broken bones I am concerned about. I am… I am just worried about you." She said. Her emotions had finally overwhelmed her and a tear slid down her cheeks. "What happened to you Percy?" Not correcting herself this time.
There was a moment of silence before he answered. "Your father happened Tal, your father happened. When you see everything you care about being ripped out in front of you, it tends to change you. I am not the same as I used to be. I am no longer the old Percy. No longer will I let people take anything from me, no longer will I stand by and let people act upon their selfish desires. From now on, I'll crush anyone that touches anything that belongs to be, be it mortal, god, or Titan." Her eyes winded as he explained. She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.
"Look Thals, I appreciate you coming with me and all, but it's all pointless if you can't handle the actions I am going to be taking, and this is only the tip of the ice-berg."
"Wh-what…what are you trying to say?" She stuttered out. Tears were now streaming down her face like a waterfall.
"I think you should go back, I can send you back and you can have a regular life in the mortal world. Or you can even ask Artemis to let you rejoi…" The sound of a thundering clap resonated through the air. Ace touched his now red cheek as he continued to frown at his friend.
"How dare you? How dare you say that?" Tal growled as her hand throbbed, her sad tears now being replaced with angry ones. "Am I that expandable to you?"
"Of course n…"
"The how could you even suggest that?" She said cutting him off again
"If you can't stand watching me be like this then why would I put you through anymore of this? I may be a heartless bastard now, but I still care about you." It hurt ace when Tal looked at him like that, like he was some stranger she caught doing something bad. He had gotten quite attached to her over the past year or so, she had somewhat filled up the void that was left by his missing parents and lover. "Look I am sorry that you can't see me act like this, but I promise you that everything I am doing, and am going to do, is going to benefit everyone, not just us, so please just trust me. The way I do things might be different from others, but the ends justify the means, right?"
She looked at him incredulously before wiping her face of the loose tears. "Okay, I don't know what you plan on doing, and I don't want to know, right now, but I'll trust you. But, if you ever try to get rid of me again, I'll send you to Tartarus, god or not." She said glaring at him.
"I believe you." He said giving her a light smile.
She punched his arm lightly before pulling him into a hug, holding him tight as if he was going to escape. "I'm sorry for slapping you. You really say some stupid things sometimes Kelp Head." She muttered into his chest.
Ace buried his face into the nape of her neck, relishing the feel of her presence. "I'm sorry for saying what I said, now that Nico isn't here, you're all I have left, and I don't think I will be able to do this without you"
His breath on her neck sent chills down her spine. "I'll never leave your side" she muttered as a small blush crept on her cheeks. At that moment she cursed Aphrodite, present and future, for making her feel this way.
After their little pact was made, with new found resolve, they walked to cabin nine to join their friends.
XXX
It has almost been a week since Ace and Tal came back to camp, with their new demigod friend, Percy. Days after they arrived, Ace did something that put the fear of man into these children of the gods. After he defended himself against the child of Ares by brutally assaulting him, majority of the campers avoided him, mostly due to fear.
The only ones with enough courage to talk to him were the leader of the Athena cabin, Annabeth Chase, and the people in the Hermes cabin. Though even hey had avoided him at first, but after witnessing the way he normally acted with his friends and Luke, they realized that he wasn't the Devil incarnate that they had imagined him to be. Annabeth, on the other hand, just mostly conversed with Percy and Tal, while only presenting Ace with the casual greetings one would give to a stranger that they had just met.
Ace didn't mind the fact that people avoided him though, in fact he liked it. It saved him time from sorting out unnecessary problems. But he kept wishing that the week would go by faster so the quest could be issued and he could get out of this place. It wasn't that he was hoping to go on the quest with his friend, he just had work to do, and it wouldn't get done while he stayed here playing cabin-mates.
XXX
It was finally Friday, which meant that the campers were going to play their usual game of capture the flag.
Percy had heard about the game from Annabeth, who for some reason went out of her way to talk to him. It's not that he didn't mind her company, it just seemed strange how every time he wasn't with Ace, she would show up.
She told him about her time in camp; from how she arrived, to what age she was when she first came to camp, etc. She even told him about her friend Thalia, who he had heard about from Grover as well. She was a daughter of Zeus who sacrificed herself to save her friends; Luke and Annabeth. Talking about Annabeth's past was how they had come to talk about the game. She explained how it was a simple game where you basically had to go and capture the opponents' flag and bring it back over the boundary line, which was the creek that ran through the woods, the woods being where the game took place. But you were not allowed to maim any of the other campers, which seemed a little dull to Percy.
Nevertheless, he was excited about the game, he wanted the chance to test his skills against these campers. The entire week he had been here, none of the campers ever approached him, which he figured was due to what happened with Ace. He didn't think Ace was wrong for what he did, after all he was just defending himself. But he did feel a little bad for the demigod that had gotten hurt.
The whole day Percy was so excited that he couldn't sit still.
"You think I might be able to steal the flag?" Percy asked Ace while they were eating dinner.
"I don't even know what the teams are yet. But if our strategist decides to put you in the front line, then go for it." Ace said taking a sip of his drink.
"Okay, so what're teams then?" Percy asked turning to face their cabin leader, Luke.
"We are teaming up with the Athena cabin this time, they promised to do our chores for the next week if we allied with them." He said with a smile as small cheers broke out through the table.
"Oh, you think Annabeth will put me in the group that has to retrieve the flag?" Knowing who was going to be their strategist, his smile only broadened.
"Don't get so excited Percy, she always lets Luke take the lead." One of their cabin mates said smirking at Luke.
"That's because she knows I can win us the game, unlike you losers." Luke replied with his own smirk as a couple of "Ooooo's" broke out. Everyone at the table was laughing now, enjoying the moment. Percy always felt that the Hermes's cabin was too crowded with no room to move around, but it was moments like these that made it worthwhile.
After dinner everyone gathered in the Arena as Chiron announced the game, explained the rules, proclaimed himself as the referee, and wished them luck.
After the announcement, Percy followed Ace to the table that was laid out before them brimming with weapons and armors and such.
Since he already had the sword that was given to him by Ace, he decided to put on only a breast plate as armor, feeling that any other extra weight may hinder his movements.
As soon as he was done, he decided to go find Annabeth, to see if she would put him in the lead group. He knew that Luke always led, but it never hurt to ask. When he found her, before he could even ask, she told him that he, along with Ace and Tal were to guard the borderline to the left of them. He frowned as Annabeth led the team to their side.
Percy told Ace what Annabeth was planning to use them for, hoping that his friend might speak up about being used as a mere guard, especially in an area where they might not even see any action.
"Don't worry buddy, I have a feeling you'll get what you're looking for." Ace said laughing as they made their way to their assigned area.
"I hope you're right, I feel like my hands and legs are asleep from the lack of action I'm seeing. At least at school I could spar with you, but now I can't even do that since Luke teaches sword fighting class." Percy groaned, as they weaved through the forest.
"Okay how about this, when we reach the area, me and Ace will hide and let you be on guard duty, alone. That way your chances of seeing action increases, okay?" Tal said smiling at how this Percy was so different from the Percy she had gotten to know after coming back to life.
"That works for me." Percy said smiling as well.
They had finally reached their destination. They could see the edge of the woods and further onto the Long Island sound from their position. Percy didn't think anyone would come out this far, but he hoped that he was wrong.
"Just so you know, since we're hiding we won't help out if you get in trouble." Tal said with a smile as she gracefully climbed a tree all the way to the top.
"You heard the lady." Ace said following her example.
"Thanks guys, I'm feeling the love." Percy called after them as he took a seat on a nearby rock.
He sat there silently as he heard the conch horn, signaling the start of the game.
Minutes after the game started he heard footsteps coming towards him, but instead of from the enemy side, they were coming from behind him. He placed his hand around his key chain just in case as he waited.
Suddenly a camper that he recognized from the Hermes cabin ran past him, crossing the border and disappearing into the trees on the other side.
He let out a sigh as he sat back down. "Can't believe Annabeth, fucking put me on guard duty."
Twelve minutes had passed since the game started before Percy once again heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him. But this time they were coming from the right side, across from the border.
"Yes." Percy said in glee as he walked forward.
Three people in blood red armor ran through the creek before stopping in front of Percy. Percy right away recognized them as children of Ares, one of them being the leader of the cabin, Clarisse. After Luke, she was said to be the best fighter in camp.
"Yes, thank the gods for my luck." Percy said in utter delight. The three campers raised their eyebrows at the newcomer before Clarisse stepped forward.
"Where's your friend, we have some business with him." She sneered. She had come to get revenge for her sibling that had been brutally harassed.
Percy's elated smile was replaced by a glare. "Were you planning to ambush him, you cowards?"
"What the fuck did you say punk?" One of Clarisse's brother growled at him, pulling out his sword. Clarisse raised her hand, stopping him.
"You think you're tough just because you're friends with him." Clarisse asked stepping forward.
"You think you're the shit just because your dad is the god of war?" Percy sneered matching her stride. "Don't worry, you aren't a match for him anyways. I'll be more than enough."
"Fuck you." Clarisse barked, lunging at him with her spear. She thought she had caught him off guard, but suddenly a sword appeared in his hands, which he used to reflect her attack.
She had lost her balance from the momentum of her attack, stumbling to the ground. She thought he would finish her, like his friend did to her brother Matthew. But to her surprise, he had simply ignored her and attacked her brothers, who were trying their hardest to defend themselves. She had assumed he was a newbie with no skills. She cursed herself for assuming that Ace wouldn't give him proper training. She slowly got to her feet as she observed the demigod, waiting for the chance to attack.
As she looked on, she made the mistake of looking at his face, which held a gleeful smile. His look reminded her of Ace, the way he smiled when he broke Matthew's leg. She looked at his eyes which held nothing but bloodlust, but it was somewhat different from his friend, there was no cruelty in them. It seemed as if he just wanted a good fight for no other reason than to have a good fight. At that moment she wondered if these kids were children of Ares, making them her half siblings. The sound of bodies hitting the ground brought her out of her thoughts.
Clarisse watched as her brothers fell to the ground, unconscious from getting hit on the head. She once again cursed herself for zoning out as she attacked before Percy could notice her. She rushed forward, placing her spear head on his back. He froze in his stance, not making a single movement.
Clarisse, instead of stabbing him, clicked a switch that sent volts of electricity roaring through her spear and into the body of the demigod.
Feeling the jolts, Percy jumped forward, landing in the creek, face first. Clarisse smirked, thinking that he had fell unconscious. She thought victory was hers as she walked forward to make sure the demigod didn't die from drowning. To say she was surprised when he jumped to his feet, would be an understatement.
As soon as Percy landed in the water, the sudden pain he felt in his back was gone, in fact he suddenly felt energy rushing through him. He took advantage of that and jumped to his feet, hoping to surprise Clarisse, who no doubt thought he had fallen unconscious.
It worked, her eyes widening upon seeing the demigod standing after getting hit with that much electricity.
"H-how are you still standing?" She stuttered out as she stepped back.
"Just luck I guess." Percy replied smirking as he readied himself to attack.
He felt a tug in his stomach as his newfound strength was drained. Suddenly a water stream rose up from his side and smacked Clarisse, knocking her unconscious.
His eyes widened in surprise as the girl in front of him fell to the ground.
"Well, that just happened." He muttered as he slowly walked out of the water. He suddenly felt tired, also feeling a numbing pain in his back where Clarisse had placed her spear.
He sat down, trying to catch his breath. The electric spear had taken him by surprise. But regardless of his fatigued state, he started to smile, thinking about how alive he felt after a good fight, when he suddenly heard a voice next to him.
"How'd you do that?" Someone said making Percy jump back to his feet as Annabeth shimmered into existence; she was staring at him through narrowed eyes.
"How long have you been there? And do what?" Percy asked frowning, he didn't like being spied on. If he was surprised by the fact that she was invisible a second ago, he didn't let on.
"The thing with the water, how'd you do that?" She inquired. It seemed as if millions of ideas were rattling in her head to explain what she had witnessed.
"Uh… I don't know. I am not even sure that I was responsible for that." He replied trying to sit back down.
But she grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. "Get back in the water." She commanded, giving him a little push.
"Why?" He groaned.
"Just do it." She said sternly.
Percy grunted as he stepped back into the water, once again feeling the surge of energy flowing through him. He didn't understand what was going on. It was as if the water was responding to him, supplying him with energy to rejuvenate his drained body.
"How do you feel?" He heard Annabeth ask behind him.
He opened his mouth to answer but stopped when the noise of a conch horn being blown filled the air. They turned their heads to see Luke being carried by campers as he held the other teams' flag high in the air. They were cheering, having earned the victory over the other team.
"Looks like we won." Ace said walking out of the trees, followed by Tal.
"Where were you? I can't believe you left him alone to fight the campers alone." Annabeth said turning to glare at Ace.
"Says the girl who used us as bait to guarantee victory for her boyfriend." Tal shot back.
"H-he's not my boyfriend." She stuttered as her cheeks turned a shade of red.
"He told us to hide so he could fight alone, he wanted this, so keep your snarky comments to yourself Athenian." Ace said glaring at the descendant of the wisdom goddess.
Annabeth was a little taken back by his remark. The way he referred to her as an Athenian made her feel like he had had used the term as an insult. She was about to retort when suddenly the sound of a fierce growl froze all of them in their spot. They all turned towards Percy, wondering if it was him, only to meet with the face of a hellhound that was the size of a minivan, and it was standing directly behind Percy.
"What the Hades is that doing here?" "How did it get inside the camp?" These were some of the questions that could be heard being murmured within the crowd of campers.
Clarisse, who was slowly coming back to the realm of consciousness, took one look at the monsters before closing her eyes again, assuming she was having a nightmare after being mysteriously knocked out by Percy.
"Percy, don't move. There's a monster behind you." Annabeth ordered, looking at the creature behind him with wide eyes. But, unfortunately, Percy did the exact opposite, and whirled around to face the creature, only to have it lunge at him.
"No." Annabeth shrieked.
"Diimmortals." Chiron cursed pulling out his bow, but he already knew that he wouldn't make it in time.
Ace aside, everyone thought that Percy was a goner as the monster sank its teeth into his shoulder. Its teeth were an inch deep before the hound stopped, letting out a whimper. A bronze sword slowly protruded out its back, making the giant ball of black fur slowly melt away into golden dust as the camper stared with wide eyes.
Percy clutched his sword tightly with his injured hand, sinking to his knees with ragged breath, surprising everyone with his quick thinking and actions.
Seeing the monster return to its home in Tartarus, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"Good job Perce, really would've sucked if you were killed before getting claimed. And speaking of which…" Ace trailed off as, again, everyone looked on with wide eyes while the water from the creek climbed up Percy's hand to heal his wounded shoulder.
After the injury was healed, the water retreated back into the creek when a golden green trident appeared on top of Percy's head, making everyone gasp. Percy, who was just as surprised as everyone else, looked up to stare at the trident above his head.
"All hail, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon; god of the seas." Ace announced, bringing everyone out of their awed state. There was a moment of silence, as everyone realized what had just happened before bowing their heads to the newly claimed son of the earth shaker.
"Told you that you'd be surprised when you found out, now didn't I?" Ace said with a smile, pulling Percy out of the creek and into a hug.
"You weren't kidding there." Percy replied grinning from ear to ear. He always felt the best when he was in the water, and now he knew why. His attitude clearly said that he didn't understand the full magnitude of being claimed as the son of one of the big three.
"You knew that he was a child of Poseidon?" Chiron asked as campers slowly made their way out of the woods, having enough of the sudden surprises, and forgetting about the outcome of the game they had just played.
"I've had my suspicions, the guy practically lived in the pool back at school. But that aside, how do you think the hellhound got inside the borders Chiron." Ace asked, pretending to not know what he already knew.
"I do not, but we will fully investigate this matter in the morning. For now can you help Percy settle into cabin three? It has been an eventful night, and we are all in need of some rest."
Ace nodded before Chiron followed the campers, and headed out of the woods. Luke came forward and congratulated Percy for getting claimed, then followed Chiron out.
"See you in the morning." Annabeth said to the group before leaving as well.
"Well, looks like you get your own cabin now Perce." Ace said patting him on the back.
"Are you jealous that I'll get to sleep on a bed while you will still sleep on the floor?" Percy said sticking his tongue out in a childish manner.
"Why you…" Ace said smiling as he pulled Percy into a headlock.
"Come on, let's go you guys." Tal said laughing at their antics.
Ace and Tal helped Percy move his stuff, which wasn't much, into cabin three before heading to cabin nine and joining everyone in the realm of Morpheus.