AN: Before I say anything else, I have to give a shoutout to mayaofthefandoms, for not only reviewing my story, but being so nice about it as well. Thanks a ton. Since that was the only thing I have to say, we can all get on with the story.
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A.J
We were approached by another amazon, though from the regal way she carried herself, I guessed that this was the queen.
"It seems you won our bet Percy Jackson. Though I don't recall including this boy in it." She said. Before I could say anything, Annabeth stepped forward.
"The bet was that all of us had to face off against most of the amazons. A.J is one of the people on this quest. He just wasn't here at the time. You never said 'only the people here vs most of the amazons' you said 'all of you vs most of the amazons.' Therefore, A.J was included and anything he did is legal." She stepped down looking rather smug. The queen thought for a moment, then nodded.
"I concede your point." She said. "Now follow me, and we'll get you ready for shipment."
"Wait, you already have means of shipping us to Greece?" Percy asked. "I thought you had to get ready." The queen smiled.
"We did get it ready, just in case you won our bet. Now, follow me." She walked off, and the others followed. I helped Pan walk, as she was still dazed from being knocked out. We followed the others to a massive circled room filled with boxes. Pan's breathing got faster. I looked over at her, to see the front of her shining with sweat. I stopped and picked her up, carrying her bridal style. Her breathing slowed, but it was still quick. I sped up until I caught up with the others, on the other side of the room. They were all standing in front of a large cream colored box. Pan was starting to breathe faster again. I looked down to see that she was staring at the box with wide eyes. I was jolted back into looking at the queen as she spoke.
"This is an enchanted box. It's far bigger inside than outside, and magically protected. You will be completely untraceable the instant you step inside. Not even the gods will be able to find you. Once you all get settled, we'll ship this box, with you inside, to Greece. We'll work on a way of getting you back."
"Thank you, Queen Hylla." Percy said. The queen nodded, and then we were loading up. I was the last person down, and I was immediately struck by the layout of the interior. It looked just like a normal house, with many rooms. These included a bathroom or three, a big kitchen, and a multitude of bedrooms. There was even a training room for demigods. When I entered the training room, I saw Percy and Jason sparring. Frank and Leo were moving boxes around to make some more room. Leo came up to us.
"Hey bro, stop playing around with your girlfriend and help us move some boxes." Then he shoved a bunch of boxes in my face. Just then, Pan flipped out. She struggled so much she put a fish out of water to shame. The movement was so sudden that Leo was pushed back. The scene was further accentuated by the horrified shriek that Pan let out. Her freak out was so sudden and violent that I dropped her right there. Immediately, everyone was running toward us.
"What happened?" Jason asked. As soon as he caught his breath. "I heard a shriek."
"Yeah, me too." Percy said panting. Everybody else nodded, confirming the fact that they all heard a shriek. Pan sat up, breathing in and out slowly.
"I'm sorry. I have Pygmachophobia." She said. "I just freaked out, that's all."
"What's Pygmachophobia?" Piper asked. Annabeth and Pan were both about to say something, but just then, something clicked in my mind.
"It's the fear of boxes." I said slowly. I crouched down so that I was level with her. "Now why would a girl named Pan be scared of boxes? You haven't been entirely honest with us, have you?" I asked her. Pan smiled guiltily.
"So, you figured me out?" She asked. I shrugged.
"That depends on what you tell us. So, are you going to tell us the truth?" I asked her.
"Um, what's going on?" Hazel asked. I looked around. Everyone was in various states of confusion. Even Annabeth didn't seem to know what was happening.
"Come on Pan, they're waiting." She looked around at all their faces, and sighed.
"Fine. I have no choice, do I?" She stood up. "I've been hiding who I really am from all of you." She took a deep breath in and out. "My real name... is Pandora."
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PANDORA
The silence that followed was nearly unbearable. Then, recognition began to dawn on Annabeth.
"You mean, the Pandora? The wife of Epimethius?" She said. I scowled.
"Oh, don't even mention that creep." I said. "Marrying him was the most disgusting experience of my life." Then, Percy seemed to remember something.
"If you're the real Pandora, then I gave your box to Hestia." My scowl deepened.
"Don't mention the box either. I get no end of bad publicity for that little incident." I said.
"Yeah, but didn't you like unleash all the pain and suffering in existence on the world?" Annabeth asked. Then she seemed to get an idea. "So that's why you hid your identity?" I nodded.
"Yes. I didn't know how you would react, so I kept my mouth shut." Everybody was silent after that, except...
"Well, I knew it." A.J said. I looked at him in shock. He grinned. "It all fits. 'Call me Pan' was perhaps not your most creative idea yes? And a fear of boxes is not very common." I scoffed.
"So, now what? What are you going to do with me?" I hate to admit, but I was trembling inside. I was terrified of these people. Against any of them, I will certainly die. I don't want to die.
"I'm going to ask you a question." He said calmly. "And that question is: Why are you here?" I was still terrified, but I told my story.
"When I opened that accursed pithos, the gods killed me. Actually, they ordered Epimethius to do it, and he did it with way to much enthusiasm." I clutched my side, remembering the feel of a blade between my ribs. "I wasn't sent to the fields of punishment like you might think. No, I was sent to Tartarus." I closed my eyes as I remember my near eternity in that hell. "When Gaea opened the doors of death, I jumped at the chance to escape from that place. I joined that legion of monsters of hers out of Tartarus, then got away from them as fast as I could. I found my way to camp Jupiter, though I don't quite remember how. I introduced myself under the name Pan, and was living peacefully. That was, until you" I said, pointing at A.J "pulled me along on this stupid quest. Now I need to go back to that horrible country. AND ITS ALL YOUR FAULT!" I bolted from the room, running through the hallways until I came to a dead end. I entered the first door I saw, which led to a huge bedroom. I slammed the door and threw myself on the massive king sized bed. I immediately began to cry. I didn't mean to snap at A.J, but I was so...so...so... I screamed, because I couldn't quite figure out how I felt about A.J. My emotions were so jumbled up and confused. It felt like I was twirling down a painful spiral with no way of escape. I just lay there, and I wept, spiraling deeper and deeper into this depression I've lived with ever since I was sent to Tartarus.
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A.J
After Pandora ran out of the room, everybody was confused about what to do. Nobody could figure out what to make of this new development. Finally, I had enough.
"You guys can figure this out without me." I said. "I'm going to go find Pandora." I walked out on all the protests and arguments. I made a chain. It snaked its way through the halls, leading me to Pandora. It eventually led me to a door. I opened the door and found her lying facedown on a bed. She turned her head to look at me as I entered. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were red.
"What do you want?" She asked. She didn't sound angry this time, just sad. So, I made my way over to her. I sat on the bed next to her.
"I'm sorry for bringing you along." I said. She sat up.
"Nah, it's fine. Really. It's my fault, if anything, for not telling you who I am." She said. "I just got caught up in the moment. The truth is that I'm scared."
"Scared of what?" I asked curiously. She let out a bitter laugh.
"So many things. I'm scared of boxes, which you already know, so I'm terrified just being in here. I'm scared that I'll do something wrong in Greece and screw things up even more. I'm scared of how useless I am. But most of all" She leaned into me, and I wrapped my arms around her in a hug "I'm scared of dying again. I don't want to die again. I don't want to go back to Tartarus." She tarted crying into my shirt, and I patted her back. She pulled herself away from me. "I'm pathetic, I know." I silenced her with a finger on her lips.
"Now what makes you say that?" I asked her. "Here, I have something for you." I reached into my pocket and took out a bracelet. It was a simple band that read SYNTROPHOZ in Greek letters. "This is an artifact that was given to me by a stranger on my eleventh birthday. This once belonged to Achilles. It was his constant companion. That's what Syntrophoz means, you know: companion." I held it out to her. She hesitated, then took it. As soon as she slipped it on, it transformed into a spear. She looked at it in awe. "That spear will never break." I said, and she focused back on me. "And if you ever lose it, it will always return as a bracelet around your wrist. Now we're alike you and I." I then showed her my hands. On one of my fingers was a simple ring. The only distinguishing part about it was the word inscribed on it: OIKOIGENEIA. "It means family." I said at her confused expression. Then I was confused. "Shouldn't you know that?"
"Know what?" She asked. I arched an eyebrow.
"Oikoigenia. It's Greek for family. Shouldn't you know what it means? Isn't Greek your native language?" Her eyes widened, and she made an 'O' with her mouth.
"See, the thing is, when I died, I lost my memories of the Greek language. I would have probably forgotten everything, but the gods wanted me to remember every last second of my life. Language just wasn't torturous enough for me to remember." She said in a tone saturated with cold anger.
"You despise them, don't you?" I asked. She knew what I was talking about, and she nodded.
"I know what you're thinking." She said to me. "I hate the gods more than anything or anyone else I've ever hated before, but I am also physically and mentally incapable of betraying them. You don't have to worry about me stabbing you in the back." Then she began laughing. "Now I realize how suspicious that sounds. And of course, I have no way to prove it, and I know I can't just say 'trust me' because-" I cut her off by doing the only thing I could think of at the moment: I kissed her. Yeah, I realize that I could have just told her to be quiet for a second, but I had something I had to find out anyway. She was stock still for a split second, but then she kissed me back. I pulled away before anything else could happen.
"Sorry, but I needed to be sure." I said. She closed her eyes and leaned into me.
"Sure of what?" She asked sleepily, as though she just woke up from a dream. She snapped awake as soon as I spoke however.
"Sure of weather or not I need to say 'forget whatever feelings you have for me'." I said. She lurched up so fast that I had to lean back in order to not be smacked in the face.
"What?" She asked me. She frantically searched my eyes, face, anything she could in order to see if I was lying.
"I'll explain it to everybody, but right now, suffice it to say that don't want you to get hurt. Keep your distance from me, and I'll do the same." Then, I stood up. I helped her up, brushed off the few tears she had, then escorted her out of the room. "Now come on, you're not the only one who's been hiding stuff."
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When we finally reached the training room, everybody was waiting. As soon as Pandora and I came in sight, Annabeth ran up to me.
"A.J, we may have figured something out about the prophecy." She said. "Spirit passed through death's known gate" She said without letting me interject "it means-"
"Pandora." I said. "It means Pandora." Annabeth nodded. Pandora went and stood among the others. "I have something I need to confess." I said. Piper looked from me, to Pandora, and back to me. She gave me a knowing grin. I smiled at her implications. "The final line of the prophecy." I said. "The greatest of heroes shall share in his fate."
"You figured it out?" Jason asked. I nodded.
"I figured it out that first day. That's what I was thinking about when we left for this quest." I replied.
"Well, what does it mean?" Percy asked. I smirked.
"The Trojan War is the greatest war in history, and also the most important." I said. "Among the reasons for this are the fact that it gave rise to the greatest hero of all time: Achilles." Everybody nodded, except for Pandora. "My mother was so influenced by this hero that she named me after him. My name is Achilles Johanson." The silence in this room was swift and painless. I saw the blank looks on their faces, and I knew that they didn't realize the implications of what I just said. I sighed in frustration. "The greatest of heroes! That means Achilles. My name is Achilles! Shall share in his fate! Achilles died! Get it now?" I practically yelled. This time, I saw looks of understanding on Annabeth, Pandora, Percy, and Piper. I smiled sadly. "Yeah, no matter what happens on this quest, one thing is certain. On this adventure, I'm destined to die."
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AN: There we go! So many secrets revealed. Did any of you see any of this coming? Was it all just a surprise? Did you enjoy these new developments? Please tell me, I need to know! * cough * Seriously though, please R&R. Thanks.