Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
Note: Well, this is working out better than I expected. Another chapter two days later instead of two weeks.
IIIII
"Feel better, Percy?" Sally asked as Elena finished putting the bandage on the boy's face.
"Uhuh!" Percy nodded quickly in reply.
"Good. I guess it's time we got out of here then." Sally said, letting go of Percy as she slowly put pressure on her injured leg, making sure she could stand firmly on it before taking a step. It was painful, but she could walk. That was really all that mattered in the long run. "I want you to stay close to me, Percy. You can't leave my side... Or Elena's."
"Okay."
Receiving a nod from Elena, Sally grabbed Percy's hand and walked over to the door. Unlocking the latch, she pulled it open just far enough to fit her head through and peeked outside. She trusted Elena, but Sally wanted to see for herself how bad the hallway actually was before they began to travel through it. However, one glance at the destruction and broken bodies littering the place had Sally quickly pulling herself back into the cabin. Bending over and retching into empty air as the bile she could feel building up in her stomach refused to come out.
"I told you it was bad," Elena muttered, a glazed look entering her eyes before she came over, patting Sally on the back.
"Y-You weren't kidding..." Sally coughed, only now noticing the awful smell that she'd somehow ignored at seeing the corpses outside. It was worse than some of the garbage heaps outside of the alleys by central park. Which was saying something as had Sally grown up there and thought she'd long become desensitized to the stench. This... This was proving otherwise.
"Come here, Percy," Sally said as she breathed in deeply, getting control of herself. "Listen, I need you to close your eyes."
"But why?" Percy frowned.
"Because there are..." Pausing, Sally struggled to think of something appropriate to tell her five-year-old that wasn't about human corpses. "...There are things your just not old enough to see... okay?"
Seeing her son's confused gaze, Sally waited until she finally received a nod and smiled. She knew it was a lame excuse, but it was all she could think of right now. "Now come here, Percy. I want you to keep hold of my hand while I cover your eyes. No peeking, understand?"
"Okay, mom."
Her smile growing wider, Sally bent down to give Percy a kiss on the cheek, ruffling the boy's hair. "Good, let's get off this boat."
"About that, Sally." Elena began as she pulled the door open. Having waited until Percy's eyes were covered to do so. "Where will we go? I didn't see an exit or any survivors when searching for the medical crate. And I'm sure you realized the entire ship has flipped. We... We're trapped. Oh, we're... Sally, we're going to die down here, aren't we?"
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out, Elena," Sally replied, trying to calm the woman who'd managed to keep her cool up until this point. The realization that they might very well die down in this ship apparently finally hitting home now that she was no longer concentrating on fixing her and Percy up. "I'm sure there's a way off this boat. There has to be, and if not, we'll make out own way."
"O-Okay."
Seeing Elena begin to breathe out in a more calm manner, Sally gave the woman a reassuring smile. At least that's how she hoped it looked before turning back to the now open cabin door and stepping through it, Percy following her lead. "We came through on the left. So if the ship flipped, that would mean it's now on the right... Right?"
"Madam, the ship merely flipped, not inverted itself. The left is still the same as when the ship was upright."
"Oh, thanks," Sally mumbled, her cheeks flushing as she thought a little more about what she'd just said. With Butler's reminder, her words did sound a little ridiculous. "Um, let's go, right. We came from the left upstairs, so maybe we can find a stairwell down on the right?"
"...Sally."
"Yes?"
"Please just stop and pick a direction. All the left and right nonsense is giving me a headache." Elena sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Right it is," Sally replied, bringing Percy to walk with her in the middle of the hallway. It was the clearest spot all the way down from what she could see. Everything else, metal, wires, and lots of bodies, were all piled on the side. It oddly enough made for a rather convenient pathway.
A few minutes later, with Sally lifting up Percy every now and then during their journey so the boy didn't step on any of the disgusting fluids covering the floor, they arrived at two closed doors. One an elevator, and the other a stairwell. Of course, with the electricity out, the stairwell was the obvious choice. So the small group continued, Sally still keeping her hand over Percy's eyes as they traveled up the stairs. Every time she thought of letting go, they'd run into another dead body. So she didn't let go, which made their pace slower than it could have been, but Sally would rather have that than mentally scar her son for life.
Glancing at Elena from the corner of her eye to make sure she wasn't paying attention. Sally whispered under her breath to Butler. "If we get off this ship. We will be able to teleport back to New York, right?"
"Theoretically, madam."
"That's good enough for n-"
*SCCCRRREEEEEECCCCHHHH!*
Words dying back into her throat, Sally paled as she heard the sound of the ship cracking around them. Pulling Percy against the wall, Sally stayed still, Elena moving close next to her, neither of them having anything to grab onto, unlike the cabin. The railings for the stairs were technically underneath them as they were walking up the stairs the wrong way. So if the ship flipped again, they were sitting ducks.
With bated breath, Sally waited, ready for the worst to happen. Then she waited some more, and more, and more.
"Was that it?" Elena said, and with more bravery than Sally could currently muster, she crawled away from their little corner by the wall and peeked her head over the stairs.
"See anything?" Sally asked after a few seconds. Elena, having gone incredibly still the moment she looked over the edge. "Elena, what's wrong?"
"Sally... Sally, we need to get out of here!"
"What is it, Elena?" Sally asked once more, this time with a little more fear at how Elena was acting. The woman just grabbed her and Percy by the arm and pulled them up the stairs to continue their little adventure. Only this time at a more frantic and urgent pace.
"The ship's sinking Sally!" Elena breathed out, a look of fear in her eyes as she continued. Not pausing in the slightest as she spoke. "There's water flooding down below!"
"What?" Blinking, it took a moment for Elena's words to fully register with Sally. But once they did, she felt an almost paralyzing fear fill her. Somehow, despite the boat flipping, the destruction and dead bodies they saw, and even the wet floors in the hallway. It had never once occurred to Sally that the boat might sink. A problem she now realized was downright stupid to not think of, given that they were on a ship... In the middle of the ocean. The boat sinking should have been the first worry in her mind.
Completely forgetting to cover Percy's eyes, Sally tightly gripped her son and Elena's hand and raced up the upside-down stairs. Percy carried through the air as they took the steps two-three at a time, both women knowing their fate if they slowed down and allowed the water to catch up with them.
A minute later, though, to Sally, it felt more like ten with the constant reminder of pain coming from her thigh. They reached the top of the stairs just as she began to hear the sound of water filling her ears, their stairs climbing apparently far slower than the hole allowing the water into the boat. Trying to ignore the sound, Sally grabbed the door handle, ready to push through it before she froze. Feeling hot lacerating heat shoot up through her hand and arm, burning her palm. Sally's fist tightened around the door handle, unable to force herself to let go even as she breathed in the smell of her rapidly burning flesh.
"SALLY!"
Partly in shock, Sally shuddered as Elena grabbed her arm and pulled her hand off the scorching handle. However, despite her hand no longer touching the hot metal. Sally couldn't feel her palm. Maybe it was the shock, heat, or perhaps the pain was waiting to come later. Whatever it was, she couldn't feel a thing in her left hand. It was like the nerves themselves had been burned away.
"Elena, is mom okay?" Percy's worried voice floated into Sally's ears, pulling her attention away from her hand.
"I-I'm fine, Percy, Mom's fine. Let's just get out of here. Maybe the previous floor will be better." Sally whispered with a grimace twisting her lips, mentally thanking every god she knew of, other than Poseidon, for not opening the door with her right hand, which had the bracelet. That probably would have been far worse given that she still couldn't feel her palm.
"Madam, I'm afraid it's too late for that."
"Huh, what do... Oh." At Butler's words, Sally turned around just in time to see the first splashes of the water rising up. Covering the previous floor, which had their last possible chance of escape now underneath the sea. The white bubbles from the rushing ocean saltwater had sped up faster than she'd thought it would, the pressure from all the water probably enlarging the hole or whatever it had been leaking into.
"...At least we tried," Elena muttered, a bitter smile coming across her face. "Never thought I'd die like this. Drowning on a sinking ship. I'd always imagined it would be different... Maybe a bullet or better yet in my sleep."
Leaning against the wall, Sally slid down until she leveled with Percy and hugged him, regret and shame filling her as she realized they were about to die. Something that could have potentially all have been avoided if she'd just sent her son to camp half-blood where he'd be safe. Sure she wouldn't be able to see him, but he'd be alive.
But no, she'd decided against it, trying to make it on her own. Raising Percy as a single mother, and now she had sent them both to their deaths.
"Percy, listen, sweetie... I can't even begin to say how much I love you and how sorry I am. But listen now, and never forget this. I love you, Percy, more than you could ever imagine." Wiping a few tears away with her hand, Sally hugged Percy closer, pushing the boy's head into her shoulder. Not him to watch what was about to happen to them as the water splashed at their feet, growing ever closer.
"I love you too, mom." Percy's quiet voice sounded from Sally's shoulder, causing more tears to fall from her eyes. She could feel her heartbreaking, unable to think of a solution that would save Percy.
"I'm sorry, madam."
Keeping her eyes closed, Sally nodded. Not holding what was happening against the AI. It had been her choice, and it had been her choice to not prepare but instead have fun on the ship. She'd treated this disaster event like a vacation, and now she and her son were about to pay the price... A mistake Sally would never make again if she had that chance. Though she knew that chance would now never arrive.
As the water climbed up her legs, then thighs soaking her red dress and right through her bandages. The salt burning her wounds, Sally felt the pain and endured it. Almost wishing it hurt more as if that could in some way be an atonement for her reckless decisions. And as the water climbed above her neck, dangerously close to her and Percy. Sally breathed out and rested her head back, not bothering to try and prolong what she knew would be about to happen, a small part of her wanting to die quicker. This way, she didn't have to watch Percy die too.
A minute passed, then another minute, and another minute. Getting an inkling that something was wrong, Sally cracked her eye open and stared, dumbfounded. She was submerged entirely underneath the water, or at least that's how it looked. It certainly felt that way, the icy cold water she could now feel chilling her. But that wasn't the only thing that had her so shocked. No, the real shocking thing was the giant bubble surrounding her, Elena, and Percy. Her son, with outstretched arms and an immense look of concentration on his face.
Staying silent as she didn't want to risk if she could actually breathe the water in the bubble or not. Sally watched as Percy controlled the bubble and floated it down to where Elena had first seen the water rise. Then further down through a large hole in the boat that was now far more still with the entire staircase filled with water. A few minutes later, Percy looking like he knew where to go, they broke through to the surface. The moon shining on them from above, the still sinking ship beside them.
"You are amazing, Percy, you know that," Sally said as her heart drummed in her ears, unable to believe they were still alive. Percy, her five-year-old son the sole reason for it too. "How did you do that?"
Not hearing an answer, Sally looked down beside her and smiled, Percy fast asleep with a grin on her boy's face. Luckily, the bubble he'd created kept together even with him no longer concentrating, so there was no need to wake him up. A quick glance at Elena showed the woman was in a similar state, though whether that was from fainting or an overload of shock at Percy's actions, she didn't know.
Getting into a more comfortable position, Sally decided to follow their lead. Closing her eyes, just missing the flash of searchlights from the helicopters entering the area of the sinking ship as she fell asleep.
IIIII
"Are you sure you have to go, Sally?" Elena sighed, reluctance filling her voice. "You could stay with me, you, Percy."
"Yes, I'm sure. I have things I have to do. Plus, I can't just rip Percy away from all his friends back home." Sally replied, doing her best to hide her wince at the completely bold-faced lie. Percy had no friends. She didn't even let him go to school yet in fear of a monster attack. "But we'll keep in touch, Elena. I promise."
Yet another lie. Sally wasn't sure she'd be able to contact Elena once she teleported away with Percy back to New York. But she couldn't tell the brunette that. Not wanting to hurt Elena after all they'd been through together. Though staying another week after she'd already completed the event probably wasn't helping matters. It would have hurt less if she and Percy had just upped and vanished.
Instead, after they'd been rescued a week ago and were brought to the hospital. Sally had chosen to wait, knowing she couldn't afford the cost of the treatment they were receiving now back home as they got their wounds bandaged before getting sent to a high-end private room. They were even given a change of clothes, three matching pairs of jeans, and a plain grey shirt. So despite Butler's words telling her to leave with Percy. Sally didn't and grew closer with Elena. Having grown to enjoy the woman's company and the feeling of having a friend again. Something she'd missed since her paranoia with monsters began.
However, upon waking up this morning, she'd received a new message, along with a timer which Butler had informed her was a countdown until she was forcefully teleported back. A week was apparently too long for whatever it was that created these disaster events. Hence why, Sally and Percy were sitting on Elena's hospital bed. Saying their goodbyes.
"Alright. but you better not forget Sally." Elena said as she cracked a small smile. "I can be vengeful when I want to be... Kind of."
"I wouldn't think of it." Sally shook her head, a guilty pit beginning to build up in her stomach as she continued to lie to her friend. "We'll be back before you know it."
"Bye, Aunt Elena." Percy laughed, hugging the woman. The boy had grown as close or even more close with the woman than Sally had during their time here.
"Madam, there are only five minutes left."
Nodding her head, Sally gave Elena a quick hug. "Thank you again for everything, Elena... And I'm sorry."
"What?"
Standing quickly, Sally pulled Percy out of the hospital room, leaving the confused Elena still on the bed. "Now, Butler."
[Teleporting in 3... 2... 1...]
Feeling that same unfamiliar and disorienting feeling as the first time they teleported, Sally braced herself, resisting the urge to throw up her lunch on the park ground. Immediately recognizing the location as their local park. Both her and Percy standing in the exact same spots they left in. Still empty, luckily enough. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if they'd teleported in the middle of a kid's birthday party or some picnic.
Ding!
[Event Complete!]
[Completetion Rating... D+]
+ 100 Exp
+ Wish Shard
Reading the information on the screen that appeared before her, Sally felt a bit of annoyance grow. She didn't have to know much to understand that D+ was a bad score. However, Sally squashed that feeling. Knowing she should be grateful to get anything after nearly dying. And really, Percy and her still being alive was probably the greatest reward.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
Without warning, as soon as she closed the other screen, a new one appeared. Just two lines with the words 'you have leveled up' and a warm current coming from the window and weirdly enough entering her body. At least, that's what it felt like to her.
"Congratulations, madam. You've taken your first step in gaining strength. If you open your status, you should be able to allocate any stat points leveling up may have brought you."
Interested, Sally sat down next to Percy, right back in the sand as if they never left, and followed Butler's advice. "Character status."
Status
Name: Sally Jackson | Lvl.3 - Exp: 15/75
Title: N/A
HP: 100/100
MP: 0/?
STR: 2 (+)
VIT: 4 (+)
DEX: 4 (+)
INT: 6 (+)
WIS: 3 (+)
LUK: 2 (+)
Points: 6
Money: $50.23
Item: Wish Shard
Skills: [Pain Resistance] Lvl.1
Raising a brow at her health, Sally subconsciously touched her leg. Knowing there was nothing left but a slight discoloration which was fading by the day. Something that she'd made sure to hide from the nurses at the hospital as best she could. As for her hand, well, that injury oddly enough had disappeared within a few days, unlike her leg... Though she still couldn't feel her palm.
Moving her eyes away from her health, Sally looked at her six points, then at all the plus symbols by her stats. Almost hesitantly, she clicked on the plus next to her vit stat, having a feeling she knew what it would do, but wanting to test it out all the same.
Instantly, the four changed to a five, and her health went up by twenty-five. Making the total amount of health, Sally had a hundred and twenty-five. Looking at her five remaining points, Sally hesitated yet again, then clicked the plus twice for luck, twice for strength, and threw the last point into her vitality stat.
Status
Name: Sally Jackson | Lvl.3 - Exp: 15/75
Title: N/A
HP: 150/150
MP: 0/?
STR: 4
VIT: 6
DEX: 4
INT: 6
WIS: 3
LUK: 4
Points: 0
Money: $50.23
Item: Wish Shard
Skills: [Pain Resistance] Lvl.1
Knowing the one skill she had, Sally barely skimmed over it and closed her status window. "Did I make good choices, or was that too impulsive, Butler?"
"That all depends on you, madam. Though at this stage, it would be a bit early to say which choice is better than the other."
Nodding her head in understanding, Sally looked up at the sky, taking in the shining sun and lack of clouds anywhere in sight. Then she returned her gaze down to Percy. A conflict building up inside her.
When she was sure they were about to die on that boat, Sally had told herself that the next time she got a chance to enter another event, she wouldn't take any chances. She'd prepare and not play around as she did before. But now that they were back home again, Sally couldn't help but hesitate about whether she even wanted to use the bracelet again or not. Sure it could give her power, as she'd just received with those new stat improvements. But did the risk really make it worth it?
There was also the little problem of what she'd do with Percy if she did teleport to another event. Sally refused to take him with her again even if he was the only reason she'd hadn't drowned. She just wasn't about to risk her son's life like that again. So, that left the problem of where he could go and who she could leave him with to keep him safe.
However, Sally's mind drew a blank for anything but camp half-blood when it came to that. The exact place she didn't want Percy to go as it would keep them separated. Yet, at the same time, realistically, she knew living at the camp would keep him safe. Far safer than Percy would be following her into a disaster event... Ultimately though, despite that, she still wasn't sure what choice to make.
Unfortunately for Sally, she was the mother of a greek demigod, one that seemed to attract the ire of the fates like a mosquito to light, which is why before Sally could fully make her decision, an eternal factor appeared to help make it for her.
"Grrrrrrrr..."
Head snapping up at the noise, Sally locked eyes with a black beady red-eyed hellhound. A creature she'd only ever seen drawings of, yet somehow she knew that's exactly what the beast less than fifty feet away from them was.
"Percy... Percy, come here. Slowly." Sally hissed, not taking her eyes off the hellhound as it stayed in place. If it wasn't going to make the first move, then Sally would. By running in the opposite direction as fast as she could.
"I'm almost done, mom," Percy said, poking little windows in his sandcastle. Not listening to Sally.
"Percy now is not the time." Sally hissed again, louder this time, a nervous sweat building upon her brow as she saw the hellhound shift. She didn't know why it was waiting, but she couldn't help but feel that if they stayed to find out. Something really bad would happen.
"Mom I-"
Before Percy could finish, Sally quickly bent, picked up Percy by his stomach then darted out of the sandbox. Booking it down the park sidewalk and towards the bus station. Going as fast and as hard as she could. Using every ounce of energy she had, and some she didn't know was there, to push herself to make it out of the park. Their survival hanging by a thread as Sally tried to outrun the creature chasing behind them.
Seconds later, and seeing a bus come to a stop by the side of the road. Sally pushed herself further, getting a second wind of energy to keep running with the goal in sight. The hellhound's paws on the concrete behind them thrummed like drum beats in her ears.
"DUCK, MADAM!"
Without thinking, Sally obeyed Butler's shout and ducked into a roll. Tucking Percy into her body as she painfully scrapped across the concrete next to the bus, the wind from the hellhound whipping right past her arm as it jumped, missing them by inches before sliding into the street. Picking herself and Percy up, Sally saw the hellhound turn back around, and just as she was about to start running again... a miracle happened.
*SQEEEEEEELLLLLL*
In disbelief, Sally watched as the hellhound got slammed into by a giant garbage truck, the sickening crack echoing in her ears as the creature was flown into the air and smashed right through the window display of a small ice cream parlor. Not willing to push their luck any farther, Sally rushed into the bus and made her way to the back before sitting down. Clutching Percy in her lap, not feeling comfortable enough to release him just yet.
"Mom... What was wrong with the dog?"
"W-What? Oh, oh, Percy. Um..." Biting her lip, Sally ran a hand through the boy's hair, unsure what to say. She'd forgotten he could see what was happening during their little escape. And of course, as a demigod, he'd see a hellhound, not whatever else the people around them had watched get hit by the garbage truck.
"Next stop, people, is Long Island. I hope you're ready. We have a long drive ahead of us."
Hearing the bus driver's voice from the front, Sally smiled bitterly. Recognizing the place as the island Poseidon had told her camp half-blood was located all those years ago. That combined with the hellhound and the bus conveniently showing up a set of events that she couldn't ignore, her little dilemma from earlier now apparently being decided for her.
"I'll tell you on the way, Percy. There's a few things you need to know."
IIIII
Note: Other Disaster events should be longer, but it depends on the world and disaster.