The pain Percy was feeling was subsiding. He was just getting his wits back from those…flashbacks. What happened? He lost control of himself. Where was he now? He felt a comfortable fur behind his back. It was Aku's. How did the outburst stop? Percy forced himself to remember….Thalia and Nico absorbed the energy leaking out of him. How was he now? Like he bathe in the river Styx, got out, but had no invincibility. What was happening now….someone was bickering?
Percy forced his eyes wide open. For a moment, his brain processed Artemis' beautiful eyes raging like the silver blade you see right before it passes through your heart and kills you. Percy saw Nico 20% groggy, 80% horrified by Artemis and Thalia 10% secretly thankful for Nico absorbing the excess energy she absorbed from Percy, 20% secretly panicking about the situation, and 70% mentally face palming
Percy didn't have time to process this all completely, for as soon as he opened his eyes, the pain went back to him as if a million ants for each square meter of his body bit him at the same time and was stung by a million hives of bees next.
"Urgh!" Percy let out.
Nico's head immediately snapped back to Percy and so did Thalia's. Artemis gaze followed as well.
"Skata" Nico said which basically meant 'shit' in Greek and went over to Percy. Thalia quickly followed and Artemis gasped when she saw the front of The Ace's cloak crimsoned with red, and the fur of Aku he was leaning on was turning bloody.
"Skata, Skata, Skata" Nico snarled as he checks over Percy. Artemis completely forgot her anger towards the lieutenant
Nico ripped Percy's cloak open, and saw that his shirt was red with blood. Artemis and Thalia was about to help when Nico snarled "Get away"
"I will help, boy"
"No! And what? I'll let you treat him, remove some clothing, expose himself, reveal his face?"
"You're leader is dying and you are more worried about his identity?!" Artemis retorted
"This isn't the first time it happened, Lady Artemis" Nico says gently carrying Percy and putting him on Aku carefully. Aku whimpered at his master's current state. "We have secrets, let us keep them" Nico says and with that Aku started running with Pisto and Nico following before Artemis can stop them.
"What the hell just happened?" Artemis demanded from Thalia a few moments after the two boys left them in silence.
Artemis was so confused and she felt like she knew nothing when she's not supposed to. And why did Thalia let the boy's hand linger on her shoulder too long. Was this it? Were the boys going to get close to Thalia and will Thalia get corrupted by them? Will she lose her lieutenant? Was she the 'hunter girl' in Artemis' dreams?
Thalia started to explain what happened, obviously not everything, though. She told Lady Artemis that she was just hunting like she was ordered too. Nix was running with Pisto and seemed to be followed by Aku. She saw the Ace was screaming some stuff and she was quite shocked. The Lieutenant (Nico) arrived soon. It seemed like the Ace was having some kind of energy outburst and that was burning his skin.
The Lieutenant then started to absorb the excess energy as to help his leader, which made Thalia help too. But the Lieutenant would have none of it, so he put a hand on her shoulder, and absorbed the energy Thalia got out of the Ace. That is why the lieutenant looked groggy and Thalia a bit less.
Upon hearing this, Artemis nodded relieved that her lieutenant wasn't forming any….attachments. She dismissed Thalia and Thalia asked if she could take a different route in the woods. She needed some fresh air after what she just saw, she said. Artemis agreed.
Of course, Thalia discreetly went to the Pack's campsite
Nico quickly got Percy to the campsite where the Pack rushed to attend to their leader. They couldn't go to the nearby river. For one, the hunters were there and they might just kill Percy all together if they were to go there, and for another, it will surely be obvious who Percy is if they see the water healing him.
They took him inside the igloo. Thank the gods that it was snowing so all they had to do was to rip our Percy's cloak, goggles and mask so that he could breath properly without that cloak hindering his nose. They took of his shirt which revealed a very scarred (but now opened wounds) back and front body that was bleeding. They now wrapped him with the snow that helped close the wounds.
Nico asked the others to leave them alone.
"Skata" Nico kept muttering. How could he have been stupid to leave Percy alone with his thoughts, especially when they haven't talked about the issue at hand properly yet.
He should've known. Percy...you see Percy has a...lock in him. It's supposed to lock most of his natural body so that his aura and presence would be easier to hide from the gods. Usually, when he was emotionally, mentally, or physically unstable. The lock would kind of...unlock.
The side effects of the occasional slipping energy from the lock was Percy going into what they called 'Rachel-state' (they named it after their friend, the oracle for the thought of Rachel seeing the future or getting a prophecy) and would recall some of the, ehem, past Percy was trying to bury in his mind.
But ever since that...time when Percy got the huge scar in his back and front...well, another side effect came. Because Percy was oozing excess energy, the energy would sort of burn through the scar and thus opening it in a way that hurts... immensely so.
"I made myself weak again, didn't I?" Percy croaks and Nico quickly looks at Percy with relief. "Sorry" Percy mutters. Nico could have faced palmed then adn there. Here he was, bleeding, hurting physically from the scar, and emotionally from the gods know what flashbacks Percy went through, and yet he had time to feel sorry for being what Percy thought was 'weak'
To Nico, it was anything but weak. But then again, good ole Percy didn't change much.
"You really should get your Barrier a rein check, Percy" Nico says gently to his brother. That's what they called the lock to his...erm...energy reservoir: the Barrier.
"I'll get on it, I promise" Percy says chuckling, and adds "Just leave it to me and Aku"
"OH GODS PERCY I HATE YOU!"
A cloaked figure entered the igloo. The whole pack was trying to stop her. Key word: trying. They couldn't stop her. She just walked pass their attempts.
"Leave us alone!" She screeched and the Pack quickly existed the igloo.
"HOW DARE YOU PERCY. WE ALMOST GOT CAUGHT. AND HOW DARE YOU HURT YOURSELF AGAIN!" She shouts
"I appreciate the concern, Thals" Percy grinned, "But this isn't exactly sound proof you know, so could you tone your voice down. Especially while your using my name" Percy grinned.
He tries to get up, winces, and manages to sit up straight running his fingers to his mess of jet black hair.
"'Oh, and know you try to keep it cool. Sheesh, you had us worried, Kelp head" Thalia says and slumps down on the snow in relief
"Sorry 'bout doubt. And thanks for finding me, Thals, Nics" Percy says purposely using the "Nics' nickname. But instead of that Nico just yawns out loud. "You guys owe me both. If I hadn't absorbed most of your energy Perce, you would still be bleeding to death now and Thalia's own energy Barrier would have gone haywire with yours and she wouldn't be able to hold back all her powers" Nico chidded with his eyes droopy
"Oh yes, yes, thank you oh-powerful-drousy-magnificent-sleepaholic Lieutenant" Percy laughs. Leave it to Percy to laugh at close calls.
"So….should we….er, talk?" Nico asks eyeing Thalia carefully. The last time the three of them talked…well, he said some things he'd never wanted to tell Thalia. They talked mentally after that, just the two of them, and they kind of…sort of…somehow…worked it out.
Percy was feeling the tension
"All of us are good, right?" Percy asked. "Right," Percy answered himself and continue "For now, let's just be…careful….alright? I'll try not to slip up anymore—"
"Anymore? You slipped before this incident?" Thalia asked cautiously.
Oops, eh forgot to mention his little chat with Artemis that night. He decided to ignore Thalia, for some reason he wanted to be the only one to know about that night.
"—and I'll have the Pack be careful. We'll wait for the perfect moment, and we'll fake our own deaths, and everything will be good again"
"But—" Thalia didn't get to finish that because a horn from the Hunters was being blown.
"Skata, that horn means either we've got a visitor, or an intruder. I've got to go guys," Thalia said. Hugged Nico, and kissed Percy on the cheek (because if she hugged Percy she might open his wounds) "Take care" And with that, she left.
"Did she just—?"
"Before she left?"
Nico and Percy weren't dumbfounded. Thalia didn't really show her affection to them as her other family. And if she did, it was usually because she was worried that either she or the two boys or someone from the Pack will die. They groan.
"Yuk!"
"Sisterly Love!"
They both muttered at the same time
Thalia went her way deep into the woods before she got back to the Hunt to make it seem like she came from walking and not from the Pack. When she got there a lot of the Hunters were gathering around Artemis' tent.
"What's happening?" Thalia asked. Phoebe grinned.
"We've got a new recruit" She says
"What? How? Wait…how did they find the campsite?" Thalia asked a bit excited.
"She's a demigod, got some help from her mother. She shadowtravelled with her hellhound. You're gonna trip and die and go to heaven when you find our who our new sister is…if Artemis' agrees" Phoebe said excitedly.
"Who is it?" Thalia asked
At that exact moment, a faint silver glow came from the tent and the hellhound Mrs O'Leary came out along with the said maiden goddess and a girl with blonde hair and stormy gray eyes.
"Hey, Thals"
It was Annabeth Chase.
Thalia didn't know what to feel. Happiness? Confusion? And then it hit her. Percy and Nico in disguise was staying with the Hunt. And so was Annabeth. Whatever Thalia was feeling, there was one thing she was sure of: things got more complicated.
"Gamiseme Tora" Thalia groaned/complained at the thought
"What?" Annabeth said. Oh skata, Thalia thought. She really should stop hanging out with Percy. She's starting to get his habits