Percy felt a sharp pain emanating throughout his head. He tried to move his arms to support his head from the constant pounding. He soon realized he was bound. The clacking of ice cold shackles reverberated throughout the cold hallways. What made it worse was that he didn't know where he was. His eyes were open, yet unable to see. He soon realized they had covered his head with some form of sack.
"Finally awake?" The sentry asked. Multiple sentries had come and gone switching shifts watching the discovered threat. He had been unconscious for nearly a week. Some of the sentries believed he had fallen into a permanent coma.
Percy stayed silent as the overbearing headache kept his mouth shut. He heard loud footsteps on the hard stone floors. The echo from the loud steps inching closer.
"I asked you a question" The sentry grabbed the sack covering Percy's head. Unfortunately for him his hair was also dragged in the process.
"If you are asking then you know I am awake" Percy responded. His mouth was dry as sand. He could barely muster those words without his throat aching. His thirst became apparent to him. He had been unconscious for a while.
"You have a smart mouth" The sentry yanked Percy's head back as the pain caused him to grunt.
"So I have been told." Percy replied sarcastically. His memories were a bit fuzzy on why they were treating him this way. Funny enough it was a common theme for him. He would show extraordinary feats of power then lose consciousness in the process. Even in the world of the gods when he was sent to Calypso's island. Unlike this world, Calypso treated him like a king.
"Can I have some water?" Percy mustered as his voice cracked. He was so thirsty he was beginning to lose his voice.
The demigod didn't receive a response as he heard the footsteps echo away from him. He was hoping they were going to get him some water. But his hopes were dashed as the minutes he waited became hours. The thirst and the ongoing headache caused him to lose consciousness.
"But father, you must release him now. It's been a week." Yue pleaded in front of his fathers council.
"Yue, you do not understand he is a huge risk. He took out the majority of our city watch." Chief Arnook responded. The chief looked like he had aged ten years after the incident with the refugee. Constant questions from his tribesman on the next course of action. Military leaders in control of their defense forces asked the Chief to turn Percy over to them to mold into a powerful weapon against the Fire Nation. But he could not. Percy was still a threat to his citizens.
"Father, he felt threatened. Can you blame him?" Yue retorted. Yue continued pestering her father to release Percy from the dungeon. The dungeons had never been used. They were created after the constant attacks from the Fire Nation. However, they were unable to capture Fire Nation warriors. Percy was the first ever prisoner held in the dungeons.
"Enough, you are supposed to be my advisor. I will not have you questioning my authority." Arnook silenced Yue. He understood his daughter was young and had taken a liking to the boy. But he could not release him just because his daughter asked him. He would lose face as an authority figure.
Yue stormed from the council room. Arnook became evermore irritated as this showed his citizens he was not in control of his daughter. No matter how much Yue tested his patience he could never lash out or reprimand her. He loved her very much and she was his only daughter. However, Yue did not make his job as chief any easier.
As Yue exited the structure she had her mind set on visiting the dungeons. She constantly tried to visit Percy. However, the sentries on duty never let her through. They were notified that Princess Yue was not authorized to visit Percy under any circumstances. A fact that made her curse her father even more.
She went to the underside of the city. Going through a series of small walkways she managed to find the dark entrance to the dungeons. Yue continued down the circular stairs. Her footsteps echoing the small hallways. Unlike the North Pole's welded snow and ice structures, the dungeons were constructed of stone. The hallways were lit with torches that provided little light. The constant gusts of winds in the dungeons kept them from setting.
The dungeons were frigid, a fact Yue did not understand. She could see her foggy breath as she walked knowing that she still had more stairs to descend. As she descended further she realized she had been able to sneak in as a sentry had left for his shift. The next sentry would soon return to dungeons for his shift.
"Percy." She whispered. The whisper, although slight, carried through the hallway.
Yue heard no response except the sound of something falling to the cold hard ground. She rushed in no longer caring about being secretive inside the dungeon. As she reached the cell holding Percy she couldn't help but gasp at his situation.
She looked at his arms full of scrapes and slight scarring. The shackles ate into his wrists, no doubt from his struggles to get free. Percy could escape if he was fully healthy but he was suffering from starvation and thirst.
The sound Yue had heard earlier was the sound of his head hitting the floor. She imagined he was originally in a sitting position before his body could no longer support the weight of his upper body.
"Oh Percy, I'm so sorry." She choked as a sob disrupted her voice. Yue could not believe the situation that Percy was going through. It was inhumane.
"W-w-water" He managed to blurt out as he attempted to lift himself up.
Yue looked around for any water. Thankfully she found a carafe of water and clay mugs at the desk in which the sentry was supposed to be stationed. Yue removed the sack covering his head and gasped again from the gashes he had from his head. She poured the water into the cup and pressed the cup to his mouth. His lips were cracked and dry.
Percy quickly drank the water without hesitation. He asked for more and finally he could feel the dryness from his throat cease.
"I need you to pour the remaining water on my injuries." Percy pleaded, his eyes dilated from fear as if he was cornered into a wall.
"We can get a water bending medic down here." Yue reasoned but Percy shook his head declining her offer.
"Just throw the water on me." Percy's voice rose startling Yue in the process.
"A-a-are you sure?" Yue stammered a bit confused. Why wouldn't he wait for the healers? Throwing water on someone felt a bit disrespectful.
Percy nodded although painfully as the pain continued to persist in his head. Yue did as she was told and poured the water from the carafe through the cell bars. She noticed that his wounds were healing albeit slowly. The gashes on his face slowly closed up only leaving a superficial wound.
"How?" Yue sounded amazed. She had never seen someone heal strictly from only water. Only water benders who focused on healing could heal wounds.
"I've been blessed by water." Percy partially lied. He wasn't going to divulge he was the son of the Greek god Poseidon who was the god of the seas. Salt water was better to heal his wounds but any water would have to do for now.
Before Yue could inquire more, the sound of multiple footsteps could be heard coming down through the hallway. It wasn't only one person there multiple. Percy's senses were heightened after he was partially reinvigorated from the water.
"Miss Yue?" The sentry asked quizzically. Behind him was her father with a disappointed look on his face.
"You stormed off without your guards and we needed to find you, but I should've known you would be here." Chief Arnook looked towards Percy. The demigod had caused him many problems in such little time.
"Sorry father, I just wanted to see how he was doing." Yue looked back at Percy and remembered he was in worse shape.
"Father, he was in an awful state. You allowed the sentries to treat him this way?" Yue demanded. She couldn't believe her father was so heartless.
The chief of the water tribe looked at his sentry who could barely mutter his response.
"We did not. He barely woke up yesterday. He was thrashing around and he ended up hurting himself. We tightened his shackles to ensure he wasn't able to escape." The sentry deflected the blame onto Percy. The thrashing around was indeed the truth. As for the shackles, they had already been tightened enough to cause as much pain to him as possible.
"Father, we do not treat a human being this way." Yue's voice was full of disappointment.
"Enough." Arnook held his hand up, unable to comprehend how his daughter could openly reprimand him for something like this.
"Make sure to feed him and keep him hydrated. If he needs bathing, let him bathe." Arnook finished giving his orders to his sentry.
"But sir he's dangerous." The sentry pointed back to the demigod.
"Did I say you would set him free? I said you would feed him food and give him water. If he needs bathing let him bathe. I did not say remove his shackles." Arnook responded irritated. Sometimes he didn't understand how much incompetence was within his ranks.
"Yes sir…" The sentry responded as he went to fetch some fish and bread to feed the prisoner.
Long HIATUS. Apologies for that. It's been close to four years so I hope I still got some fun writing in me. Hope you like it.