Hey so this was meant to be released days ago but it was boring to write, so sorry but that usually means it will be boring to read and because this chapter is a filler (and a boring one at that) the next chapter will come out sooner, like I will write the next chapter ASAP and post it ASAP.
Anyway once again floored to the max at the reception this story has gotten seriously thank you all sooooooo much.
Main Pairings: Percy/Olympians, eventual Percy/Artemis
Side Pairings: Percy/Annabeth
I in no way own PJatO or HoO
It was heartbreaking leaving the boundaries of camp. Honestly heartbreaking, he had fought so hard and for so long to be back at the camp, to feel that loving embrace of safety that could only be granted for him there, only to be told by a goddess in the form of an adorable eight year old, because let's face it Hestia was adorable when she was in her eight year old form. Adorable in the sense that Percy would often have to remind himself not to pinch her cheeks because she was the eldest god and had been alive for a millennia and whilst he had never seen her grow angry or impatient, he thinks that pinching her cheek and unleashing her inner wrath would be apocalyptic, that he had to run away and break off all contact with his friends, family, camp and even his girlfriend for what felt like the second time in a few months.
He really had started to hate and despise the gods, well he tried to, and they did make it easy for him. But while he had seen and heard them to terrible things to each other, other mortals and even to him he had still seen their best points.
Hermes begging Percy to save his son, Apollo basically saying screw the rules and helping Percy find his twin sister Artemis as she was held captive by an evil Titan, his father telling him how proud he was of him, on countless occasions and even Hestia giving him a quick warning that he should run before the gods could catch wind of where he was.
Really though he had to thank Annabeth, his loving and beautiful girlfriend who had kept him sane and holding on for dear life on the hope that the gods were good, that everything he believed in and fought for was for the good of the world.
He wishes Annabeth were here with him. She would know what to do, would hold his hand and smile at him telling him he would be okay and that they would sort all this out then go back home and get some ice cream and live out their days in each-others company.
That is what hurts the most. More than anything is the fact that she is not beside him. Without her there he feels almost empty and cold, he has never felt lonelier in his life.
Thinking back to this morning he resists the urge to let out a strangled sob. He had only just left the cabin and had been just about to enter the wooded area when he had heard Annabeth's frantic calls.
"Percy!" she had screamed, hiding behind a tree with his fist shoved in his mouth to stop himself from calling out to her he had stayed silent. "Perseus Jackson!" she tried again, risking a glance from behind the trunk he had seen her, eyes wide and frantic as she turned in circles.
"Please don't do this to me again." Her lips trembled and her eyes began to water.
Percy had to leave soon after, unable to watch the love of his life cry out for him.
It's for the best. He thinks. His eyes shut halting any and all tears that threaten to spill out. When I get back we will laugh this off. He bites his lip; his eyes open as he continues along the non-existent path. Hestia will watch out for her.
And he believes that to his very core. Of all the gods it seemed like he was now beginning to trust the goddess of the hearth more and more. After all, his dad didn't try to warn him about an impending abduction. He had barely given two Hades that Percy had disappeared and had been subject to yet another highly dangerous and Olympus saving prophecy.
It was as if his father had just given up on him. Percy didn't like to admit it but it was more painful than anything in Tartarus could be.
He loves me. Percy thinks to himself with calming breaths, he doesn't want to lose it. I know he is proud of me, and cares for me. I don't want to end up like Luke.
He clenches and unclenches his fist in irritation and anxiety, Luke had once been like him a happy teenager who praised the ground the gods walked on, willing to do anything to please his father.
Dad has helped me before. He reasons to the roaring waves of anger that push and pull at the walls of his head. He has always tried to help me. But Hermes was only trying to help Luke as well.
He growls loudly and shakes his head dispelling any and all thoughts.
By the time he crosses the Zephyrus Creek that Percy realises there is no going back. Not that he really had a choice anyway. He can't imagine a life without Annabeth and immortality would do just that, it would feel like dying, like falling into Tartarus alone. He would never have given up then and there, he knows it. He isn't as strong as people would guess, he would have given up and slowly faded away from everyone he had once loved and he respects Nico for his ability to face that place alone.
For him this is life and death.
With a sad sigh and a tightened grip on his backpacks strap he crosses the creek on foot, uncaring of the nymphs that watch him in complexity and concern. Campers rarely go this far into the forest alone, unless they have a death wish.
He doesn't realise that nymphs talk more than a hairdresser and soon everyone will know he has left camp. If Annabeth's screams hadn't already given it away that is.
Maybe he does notice the nymphs talking, he has heard them and their gossip about a certain daughter of Demeter and a certain son of Hermes, maybe it's just that he doesn't really care anymore. After all, he has once again been forced to leave everything behind all because of the Olympians massive Hubris.
Percy however knows that he is nowhere near safe, especially seeing as quite obviously nowhere is safe, that they will eventually find him and drag him back kicking and screaming and he is probably better off living in the Arctic away from anyone and everything.
The gnawing sensation he gets in his gut tells him that will probably only escalate the tricky and horrible situation that he is currently stuck in the middle of.
The hairs on his arms rise suddenly, as if someone was watching him and someone was, well not someone more like some things. Percy felt like a walking talking billboard for monsters.
'Come here!' his natural demigod scent said. 'Come and eat me I taste like the sea!'
He makes sure to stay on guard for the time being, until he can find a way to lay low, maybe try and find some kind of mystical demigod scent neutraliser.
If only there was such a thing, he sighs loudly and kicks a random stone that had been innocently lying in his warpath, surely one of the Athena or most likely Hecate kids would have figured something out.
Percy sighs loudly, again, stepping over a fallen branch just beside the road that surrounds the camp. With little other options, because believe it or not Percy isn't the greatest guy for directions, well on land that is, by sea he will always know where he is and which way he has to go to get from point A to point B.
Following the road he keeps eyes peeled for monster and the familiar sight of a Strawberry Truck driven by Argus their friendly hundred eyed security guard.
After walking for what feels like hours, when it's actually only been ten minutes since he has started along the lonely road, he feels a strange feeling that emits from his backpack, almost like a buzzing.
He jumps, literally jumps in the air and swirls around, thinking that something has touched his back. It isn't until the strange feeling continues and of course after a quick scan of the area, that Percy realises that no it's not a strange new type of ancient Greek monster he has never heard of that buzzes its victims to death and yes it is coming from inside the backpack.
Percy only hopes to Hades it isn't some kind of bomb that will explode once he opens the bag and the buzzing stops.
Maybe that had been Hestia's plan all along, get him to wander off on his own and blow him up with some Greek fire bomb two hours later.
Confused and slightly annoyed by the odd buzzing, he drags the bag to behind a bush and sits down on the muddy forest floor, so much is happening right now that he doesn't really care if he messes his shorts up. He is sure he saw another pair in the bag earlier anyway.
Opening the bag he gets another not so long look at the provisions Hestia has packed for him while he searches for the strange buzzing object.
Finding nothing in the back and larger pocket he growls loudly, annoyed and irritated at; himself, the buzzing thing that is driving him crazy and the entire world just for being the world.
The buzzing continues without stopping. This concerns Percy more than it should.
Maybe I pissed the goddess off. He thinks with a frown. Is this Hestia's dark side?
"Di Immortals!" he cries out gripping his hair and threatening to tear it out of the roots. It couldn't be a bomb. Could it? "What in Hades is that?" He knows he should probably know what it is but his mind keeps drawing up mental breaks and images of Greek fire exploding out of his bag.
Annoyed he picks the bag up and throws it a few meters away. The contents of the bag spilling out all over the dirty ground.
It really isn't a good day for the son of Poseidon as he bites back curses and glares at the bag with a look that could kill.
The buzzing continues.
He lets out a large growl that has a squirrel in a nearby tree scatter off in a rush, and a snarl that reminds Percy of Lupa.
Percy gets up off the ground and trudges over to his stuff, kicking it closer to the offending bag that has only just started to cause him trouble, more trouble than any bag should. But that just might be because Percy has had a rough day or because there may or may not be a Greek fire bomb in the bag.
Greek fire would make the bag heavy. The rational part of his brain conspires. Shut up. The rest of his brain screams back.
Picking up the now empty bag Percy takes a longer inspection, looking for any more pockets. He opens the front pocket and finds noting but a small notebook and a pen, he frowns and is tempted to pick the pen up and see if it turns into another weapon. That might be too good to be true however and instead focuses on trying to find that blasted buzzing that is driving him to a point of insanity that not even Mr D can heal.
Opening the back pocket he sees a small zipper of fabric, the fabric is bright as if there is a light on the other side.
"Is it-" he questions reaching in and opening the secret pocket. He picks up the small device with a frown. "A phone?" he questions.
Told you it wasn't Greek fire.
"But where did it come from?" Percy questions ignoring the obvious that Hestia had in fact hidden it for him. He wonders why as he stares down at the phone with questioning eyes, the annoying buzzing sound not so annoying anymore, now that he knows what it is.
The phone is nothing special, not an iPhone or any other type of smartphone Percy has seen around, it's just a regular flip phone like the one his mum had a couple of years ago before she had bought her new phone after meeting Paul.
A number flashes at him the word 'Private Number' written above it on the tiny front screen.
Percy of course is hesitant to answer in case the goddess has actually stolen the phone off a person off the street and their friend is ringing to abuse them.
He isn't in the mood for any of that today thank you very much.
Why would Hestia steal a phone? He thinks with a frown his eyes scanning the screen, as if trying to find out who it was on the other end of the line.
He flips the phone open slowly.
"Hello?" he starts, there is a gurgling noise on the other end that has Percy just a little concerned. Is someone drowning?
"Percy!" the voice cries out after a couple of seconds, he has to move the phone away from his ear lest he burst an ear drum from the sheer volume of the voice on the other line
"RED?" He questions confused and a little concerned if she would try to coax him back to camp. He wouldn't need much motivation to head back to camp, all she would have to say is 'Please comeback Percy, we need you.' And he would go running back and into a trap, into a long life he would never want.
Or she could just put Annabeth on the phone.
There is a sigh, a sigh that sounds so broken and hurt that Percy gives a tree a worried look.
It feels like all he has done since birth was unintentionally hurt people, especially in the past year and the past two to three hours since he had left his cabin in a hurry, with a backpack as his only companion.
A tear wells up in his eyes, how long will he have to keep this up? To stay away from everyone he loves? Will it be for a week? A month? A year? Forever?
"How did you get this number?" Percy questions, it may seem stupid given current circumstances, but the question just seems so important to him right now. Did Rachel Elizabeth Dare know all along that this was going to happen?
A beat of silence is met by his question. "I-I don't know." she sounds perplexed, as if she has just woken up from a dream.
Percy starts to grow concerned.
"What?"
"It was just in my phone." She mutters, Percy can imagine her face right now; can see her pouting in his mind's eye. "So I dialled and then you answered." There is more silence and Percy frowns, unable to figure any of this out. "When did you get a phone?" her voice raises slightly.
Percy shrugs his shoulders before he realises she can't see the movement. "Well, just then I guess."
There is another moment of silence followed by a broken sigh. "I'm so sorry." She says softly, Percy wonders if she has been crying.
"It's okay." He replies, with as much strength as he can muster, he doesn't want her to know how bad he is feeling at the moment.
"No." she says her voice breaks and Percy almost cries out loud. "It's not. I can't believe this." She grunts trying to clear her throat.
"H-how did you know?" he asks his hand on the bridge of his nose, his eyes glued shut. There is silence on the other end. "About this-about everything."
"Hestia." She answers simply. "She, well she spoke to me a little before you met with Chiron."
"What?" Percy asks his teeth grit together, the back of his mind tells him not to grind his teeth.
"I'm so sorry." She sobs this time, sobs that sound so bone cracking and terrible that Percy feels guilty. "S-she told me not to say anything."
"How- never mind." He doesn't remember the goddess appearing around that time, but he remembers how sometimes he could hear his father's voice in his head, he figures other gods and goddesses are no exception. "It's fine." Percy says quickly, he can't deal with all this emotion.
He feels emotionally exhausted and really just can't be bothered to deal with any of this and it's only been a couple of hours. He supposes even if he wasn't emotionally exhausted he still wouldn't be able to deal with any of this. He doubts he would ever be able to deal with any of this.
It all just felt like too much and he had gone through a lot over the years. This just seemed like the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Is everyone okay?" he questions quickly shoving clothes pack into his pack, the phone wedged in between his ear and his shoulder. It's unsurprising that he can't get everything into that perfect fit that Hestia had done just hours earlier.
They both know just who he means by everyone. He needs to know that she is okay though. He needs reassurance.
There is a moment of silence, it lasts for maybe two, three seconds. It isn't really long but for Percy it lasts for an eternity, his heart breaks and rebuilds a million times within those seconds.
"She's fine."
"I'm coming back."
"No!" she shouts into the phone, Percy has to remove the phone from his ear, again. "Percy, you need to stay away."
"But-"
"No buts." She cuts him off sternly. "She will be more hurt if they take you. You know that?" Percy stands up slowly, strapping his pack, his body faces the way he has come with an almost certainty. He understands what Rachel Elizabeth Dare means, he does but going almost three hours without seeing her, the last memory he has of her is her chasing after him and crying. "She understands, Percy I swear she understands." She says calmly, like she is trying to pacify an active volcano.
With a steady and calm breath Percy exhales and looks towards the road behind him. He stands still though unmoving. He doesn't know what to do. He wants to go back, he feels weak and useless and just terrible, but he knows that he has to continue onwards.
"I don't know what to do." Percy sighs turning around in circles.
"Neither do I." Rachel says in return. "I wish I could tell you what to do."
"Does Annabeth know anything?"
There is more silence.
"Rachel? RED? You there?"
"Yeah," Rachel Elizabeth Dare replies back. Percy scratches his arm with a nervous energy. "Yeah I'm here." There is more silence, silence that seems to burn Percy.
"Well?" he tries again. "Does Annabeth know anything?" He hopes Rachel will put her on the phone. He wants to hear her voice again, listen to her tell him that he was an idiot for going off alone.
He needs her so much right now.
"I don't think it's a good idea to involve her at the moment." Rachel answers back quickly, a little too quickly.
Percy feels on edge.
Above his head clouds begin to darken, and Percy realises he has been standing still during this entire phone call and that no doubt a group of monsters are trying to locate his presence.
He turns his back on the camp and continues along the road.
"Why not?" he asks, and maybe he sounded a bit harsh, maybe he should have been a little more calm, because he can suddenly sense Rachel close off over the phone, something that is totally out of character for the red head.
"RED?"
"Gotta go." She rushes back, her voice sounds hushed. "Mr D is back."
Percy is suddenly confronted with the sound of a dial tone.
Thunder begins suddenly, loud and crashing. Percy looks towards the sky with a frown. He knows that right now he is on the run.
"Well," Percy sighs running a hand through his already messy and somehow dirty hair. "I guess the hunt is on."
A few hours later Percy finally manages to get into New York City. Currently it is a little past midnight and the storm of the century has started, close to maybe ten minutes ago and is tearing up parts of the city. Honestly, Percy is a little surprised that there isn't a hurricane on Fifth Avenue.
Seriously, he swears at one stage a car was almost picked up clean off the street.
"Woah!" a man says wandering up to him, his breath smells of stale bear and nachos a smell that reminds him of his old step father Gabe Ugliano. Percy had to turn his head the other way in case he threw up from the rank smell, the man wraps a beefy arm around his neck pulling him into a tight embrace, the wind whipping the front of his fringe around like a piece of paper caught in an updraft. "Bro, talk about storm of the century!" he cries out into Percy's ear before staggering off down the street.
Percy freezes for a few moments trying to put together what just happened, before turning around to watch the man turn down the side of an ally and blow chunks, chunks that seemed to move with against the wind and stain the man pants.
Percy holds back a laugh, he doesn't know if the man will pick a fight with him if he hears, he can't be bothered holding back his full strength at the moment and he knows that right now if he did get into a fight with a mortal, which on the streets of New York City was very likely, he may just very well end up killing them.
"Bro!" he calls out pointing down to his pants.
Percy raises his eyebrows and quickly walks the other way realising the man might not want a fight but might ask for help to clean his pants. No one could pay him enough to clean up Nacho mans vomit stained jeans.
Shoving his now frozen hands in his pockets he continues on his way.
Percy wishes he had worn longer pants because the shorts he is wearing right now, which were perfect for the summery weather of camp Half-Blood are doing nothing for the freezing streets of New York.
Though he didn't really think that he would be running through a blizzard like storm in the middle of the night, rather he had hoped that he would all warm and tucked up in bed.
Hestia, while either forgetting to pack a long pair of pants or simply just not packing a pair of longer pants, (because its summer and who wears long pants in summer?) did however pack him a jacket, one in which he had never seen before in his life but was one hell of a warm and comfortable item of clothing. It was as if the jacket was to make up for the lack of jeans.
If Percy ever saw Hestia again he would be glad to tell the goddess that 'Yes the jacket did make up for the "No Jeans thing."'
Squaring his shoulders Percy turns down his street. The hood of his coat covering most of his hair, just to stop it from whipping around and hitting him in the eyes. Though it doesn't stop Percy occasionally having to hold the hood to his head whenever a freak gust of air decided to blow in his direction pushing the hood off his head.
He was going to get a haircut soon, Annabeth had complained about just after they had gotten back, calling it 'Shaggy' and 'Un-hero like'. Percy had laughed and asked her if she wanted him to get a haircut like Hercules from the Disney movie.
Annabeth told him she would think about it.
Suddenly Percy stops and looks up towards a dark and somewhat empty building across the road from him. Paul's Prius sitting right in front of the building.
"Home." He says softly staring up towards the building with a gentle smile. He wants to walk through that front door and up those steps and barge into his apartment just like old times and hug his mum and never stop hugging her until she asks what's wrong and then instead of answering he will hug her some more.
Because while Percy is a strong man, who has defended and saved Western civilisation countless times nothing can make him feel better like a hug from his mum.
Instead he stands outside in the waling wind staring up towards the darkened building, his eyes looking into the window he knows is the living room.
He doesn't realise the danger he is in, not yet anyway.
But he figures that he is stuck on the Island of New York. He guesses the first thing that the gods would have done was set up a blockade or some kind of security system to let them know if he passed the borders and left the city or something.
The fact they hadn't done that at Camp Half-Blood honestly surprises and stuns Percy, he half expected to reach the border and instead of passing through it, get flung right back against the ground with a nymph standing over him and laughing.
What's even worse is that he may just very well being watched by someone or something now as he stands outside his home.
Letting out a noise that is a mixture between a grunt and a whimper he moves on, barely catching another glance at his home.
She will worry about me. He thinks again chewing his lip as he walks around another corner and into the next street. Disappeared for half a year only to come back and have to leave again. What a greeeaaat adventure.
Percy really hates this and everyone around him at the moment, he even growls at a woman who smiles at him in greeting, concern evident in her eyes as she watches him walk away.
"Probably thinks I am some kind of street kid." He mumbles to himself kicking a bit of plastic along the sidewalk, he smirks slightly not out of amusement but of sorrow. "Guess I kind of am now though."
His legs grow weary and tired, to the point where he has to sit down for a couple of moments on the steps of a local bank. It's here when he is looking up and down the streets unsure of what to do that he sees the dark window that he instantly recognizes.
"Café Grumpy." He says in amusement.
His mum goes there every morning for a coffee with Paul before they would both head of on their separate ways. He had tagged along a few times; before getting annoyed at the constant love eyes the two adults would give each other when there.
Don't get him wrong he did like Paul, he was good to Sally. He was everything his mother deserved in a person, and he was happy that they were married and just together in general. What he didn't like was watching the couple flirt and kiss.
That was his mum, and he didn't need to see that. Ever.
Smiling sadly he crosses the road, almost getting hit once by a speeding taxi with a young man hanging out the window singing loudly while his friend tries to drag him back in through the window screaming at the driver to keep driving.
He smiles slightly, while images like that should be enough to turn him off alcohol and to be proud of his warrior like upbringing, it really just makes him feel depressed. He knows that for the rest of his life, nights like that which would be frequent for people his age would be a rarity with the monsters that are out there lusting after his blood, most demigods didn't even attempt things like that and those that did would either wake up missing a limb or just not wake up at all.
He sighs loudly and leans up against the metal bars looking in at the café, he could see why his parents loved this place, the space inside was beautiful and honestly he doubted if Annabeth could make it look any better, despite the time he had made her come in with him for a hot chocolate, because they made amazing hot chocolates the only thing he could think that was better would be a square of ambrosia and a glass of nectar and that was understandable because it was the food of the gods. Annabeth had looked at it with a questioning smile and immediately he could see a million and one ideas floating around in her head on ways to improve the space.
"How will I let them know I'm okay?" Percy questions looking at the table the couple usually sit at in annoyance.
He needs to let them know what is happening and that he isn't dead or missing, he is just running away.
Yeah, because that sounds so much better.
The phone, now situated in his pocket, buzzes once Percy reacts immediately, fishing it out and reading the text message with a frown. 'Private Number' it reads and Percy gives the store in front of him a knowing look before flipping the phone open to retrieve the message.
'Meet me at the Docks in an hour. - Red'
He flips the phone shut and sighs. He is not too far from the docks now and he could probably get there in twenty minutes maybe less. He bites his lip thinking of what he can do.
It isn't for a couple of seconds that realisation suddenly dawns on him that he quickly reaches for his bag pulling out the notepad and pen he had found earlier lying in the front pocket. He looks up towards the sky and silently praises Hestia with everything he has.
Flipping the first page open he finds a small note written in elegant Ancient Greek, the kind of writing that any person Percy has ever met would kill for;
Thought you might need this
-Hestia
He smiles again and almost fist pumps, only just stopping himself from the movement before setting the notebook against the wall of the building, careful not to stab the paper too hard while he writes just in case it goes through the paper and into the void between the bricks.
Writing out a brief over view of what is happening and filling the rest of the page with, 'I will be okay', 'Stay safe', and 'this isn't your fault.' He concludes with a simple love you, all written in Ancient Greek.
He just hopes his mother remembers the foreign letters and the brief words he had managed to teach her in their spare time months ago. It was as if they both knew something like this would happen.
He smiles sadly folding the piece of paper in half, writing Sally Blowfis on the front and wedging it underneath the door.
He knows that way she will get the message.
Turning his back on the café he continues his way down towards the docks, careful to make sure that no one is following him.
So what did you think? Horrid? Great? What the Hades is this? Let me know in the review section.
Also thinking of instead of having this as just a bunch of fics and just turning it into one giant monstrous fic with different story lines and such, which would possibly involve more chapters than originally planned so please let me know what you think of that.
Though warning, chances are I will do it anyway.
Le Diablo Blanc2: I totally agree with you, I love Percabeth but honestly every second story is Percabeth and it all just gets frustrating and boring. And yes when we meet Annabeth again she will be very irritated and annoyed at the gods. Thank you for reviewing.
monkeybaby: Thank you hope you liked this chapter
Hans50: Thank you so, so much I really appreciate it, this re-write is both tiring and a lot of fun and reviews like this just make it much more fun.
The gods are all starting to panic and we will have a lot more of an inside look in the next chapter into what is going on. Percy is definitely going to be pissed off about this especially when he finds out their selfish motivations.
NicercyPercico: Thank you so much for reviewing. Unfortunately I don't think I will, I just don't think I would do a Percy/Nico story any justice. But I will be throwing in a bit of one sided Nico/Percy in this fic.
KitkatMoon: Thank you so much for reading both fics haha, I'm really excited about where I am taking this whole fic as well, 'No Choice' just seems like a jumping board for this story.
AmeliaJane14: Hope you enjoyed this chapter
YaoiLuva14: Sorry about the wait for this chapter, but thank you for reading and reviewing
×RinneandSharin×: Percy will not be the most stealthy of all people in this fic and he will almost get caught a few times in the duration of this story , but he will have plenty of time with Artemis to learn the basics ;)
Thank you so much for reviewing and I really hoped you enjoyed this chapter
ChaoticMathFreak: hahaha Thank you so much, the Pertamis will be eventual but it will happen trust me. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Utoris Son of Gaia: Thank you for reading and reviewing this story, Percy will be wimpy for a bit of this fic but he will grow more stronger and there will be a time where he will turn slightly evil, it just won't happen right away.