Disclaimer: i dont own pjo
Author's note: Taking a hiatus for a week or two.
T-T
Pitch black.
Two words that described Percy's current surroundings perfectly.
He couldn't even see two feet in front of him.
His hand reached towards his waist where his sword would be, but it was not there.
Percy probably should've expected that.
Percy calmly walked forwards, or at least what he perceived as forwards.
The dark expanse seemed to stretch forever.
Even then, Percy continued walking despite barely being able to see.
Percy flicked his head backwards.
'Hm?'
All he could see was darkness and nothing else.
But, he was sure that he felt something looking at him.
What was the point in looking behind him if he couldn't see anything anyways?
Percy continued walking for an unknown amount of time.
Strangely enough, he didn't feel tired.
This place was not normal.
He halted his steps and sat down, closing his eyes.
A water ball the size of a bean appeared in front him.
It floated above him, slowly growing in size until it was large enough to size three of him inside of it. Inside his water creation, the water flowed and crashed like the waves of the oceans, except on its own little planet.
Multiple strings of water shot out in all directions, all stopping at a same distance away.
The water at the edge began to spread itself along this invisible barrier that he couldn't see, shrinking the water ball above him at a visible pace.
At this moment, there was a water barrier with the thickness of a piece of paper in the shape of a dome around him.
Although Percy couldn't see this, he could feel it through his water.
The first thing he found strange was that the space he was currently in a large, but with the amount of walking he did prior he should've reached the edge of it a long time ago.
Which could only mean one of two things.
One, he's walking but he isn't making any "progress" like a trend mill. Or two, he is moving and the boundary is moving him back to the center somehow.
Standing up, Percy wanted to test this hypothesis.
Once he began moving, his water began to lose its stability as the outer boundary began to tremble, confirming one of his hypothesis's.
He tried to use his water like glue to stick onto the boundary, but it kept popping off.
The boundary was moving as he was moving.
That was something he was certain with.
It seemed to follow his movements but not precisely like it was reacting to his movements like a puppy.
It was like he was an ant underneath a large bowl that someone else was controlling.
Deactivating his power, the water fell as gravity took over, raining over him like a little waterfall, dousing his clothes in water.
". . ."
Quickly drying himself and tapping the ground with his foot, Percy pondered his next move.
The ground didn't seem fragile enough to break with force. He could tell when he was tapping the ground.
Crouching to get a better look at it, the ground was unnaturally flat, suggesting that it was intentional.
Also, it was not made from a material that he was familiar with.
Blasting water at it probably wouldn't do any good, because there was a thin layer of water that pooled up beneath his feet.
Since the barrier had to constantly be moving then, that should be the area he should target, although who knew how far this barren flatland went on for.
He could try to reach the "end" but he had a feeling that it would be impossible.
The reason why he didn't try anything against the barrier earlier was because it took a lot of concentration to spread out the water.
Thus, he was unable to determine the strength of the outer barrier, only noting that the thin layer of water couldn't penetrate it.
Shooting out a column of water out of his hand, it slammed into the barrier, causing a strip of light to appear at the bottom before disappearing again.
So, he had to somehow be faster than the barrier but also shoot a strong enough water blast to lift the barrier.
With the amount of strength he put in it, it seemed hard, but doable.
But before he was able to act, Percy felt a gaze on him, above him.
Although he couldn't see, their presence or presences made it obvious.
The inside brightened a little bit allowing him to see the entirety of the space for the first time.
It seemed like he was in a trial room, and the people above him looked down at him like an ant.
Their faces couldn't be seen and were shrouded by a fog.
Masking Mist?
"Who are you?"
A hardened voice rang out, reverberating throughout the chamber, "Perseus Jackson, Guardian of Artemis, we are the Council. Admit your wrongdoing and accept punishment."
Chains erupted from the ground, latching onto his limbs.
Percy opened his mouth to say something, but a groan escaped lips.
All of his energy from before disappeared like a leaf in the wind.
There was a sharp pain impaled in his back, holding him in place.
"Council? What are you talking about?"
"In accordance with the Guardian Code, you have disobeyed the core teachings and must be punished. We judge those who have "failed".
"I haven't failed anything.?"
A buzz droned in his ear, making it hard to hear the man's words as a fogged figure moved towards him.
"You have fallen in love. Not only that, you have fallen in love with your protectee. That is a failure to maintain your dedication to the Guardian Code. In the history of the Isles, a guardian has never fallen in love with their protectee before. With your actions, you have disgraced guardians in a manner that no one else has before and as such your guardianship will be revoked."
Re-voked?
The man's last word echoed in his mind.
Guardianship wasn't something that could be revoked. It had never been done before.
"That's impossible..." Percy mumbled.
The man snorted.
"Nothing is 'impossible', child. You will return to the Isles for imprisonment."
"... On what grounds."
"Child, you are misunderstanding something. You have lost all your rights to speak in this matter by violating our teachings. Your imprisonment is inevitable, and your disgrace and failure will be known to all on the Isles."
"Upon what authority are you doing this."
"We have no need to explain ourselves."
"I will not go back."
"This decision has already been finalized. You will return to the Isles."
Percy began to struggle in the chains that cuffed him, lunging at the man who stood a few feet out of reach.
The links of the chains clattered against each other as he attempted to free himself.
His efforts seemed pointless as his strength continued to drain from his body.
"I. Won't go back. I. Re- fuse."
The man stood in silence. It was unknown what he was thinking.
His muscles bulged as he tried to rip the chains out of the ground.
"I. Haven't. Failed... Even. You. Can't tell me otherwise."
The ground began to crack as his bondage got looser.
"By refusing your punishment, you will lose everything. Your position. Your recognition. You will be removed from the Records."
"... Do you think I care about that?"
Percy continued to press on, taking a step towards the man.
"Your family. Your friends. Your master. You will lose all of their respect."
A hint of hesitation flashed in his green eyes before they were replaced with determination.
"I will sacrifice everything if I have to."
The chains loosened as he pulled the chains out with a rumble, standing face to face with the masked man, sweat dripping from the tip of his hairs as they stood in a silent deadlock.
After a moment, the man burst out in laughter.
"Good, good. That is the type of determination a guardian should have."
The mist rolled away, revealing an aged man.
"M- master?"
"Perseus. You've grown."
"How? Are you?"
All of the figures vanished into thin air like they were never there in the first place as his master smiled warmly.
"I always knew you'd pass the test."
"Huh? What test?" Percy asked, genuinely confused."
"This," Percy's master waved his hand around the space, "this entire thing was a test. Did you really believe that no guardian had fallen in love before?"
"..."
Percy stayed silent, but his master knew his answer by looking at his face.
His master looked past him at the outer barrier.
The light was getting brighter and brighter.
"Times running out."
"What do you mean?"
"She's waiting for you."
The first person that came to mind was Artemis.
"Yeah, but-"
"Go."
Percy didn't have time to answer before his vision was enveloped by light.
T-T
In a forest, where the trees stood proud.
"Jayda, let's go back," a soft voice whispered.
"Jayda doesn't want to Mpmh-!" The little girl tried to declare loudly, but a finger pressed against her mouth, preventing her from speaking.
"Mmph Mmmh mphm!"
The young girl attempted to remove the older girl's hand because it didn't feel like there was too much pressure.
Upon trying, Jayda found that she couldn't. It felt like trying to move a metal block.
However, that did not dissuade the young girl at all as she continued trying.
"Mm! Mmmh! Mmm!"
The grey-eyed girl sighed with a sudden tiredness, and it wasn't because she was physically tired.
"Jayda, be a good girl and Artemis will come back soon," Sofia said while rubbing Jayda's head.
In the depths of her eyes, it reflected a knowledgeable look that a girl her age couldn't possibly have.
It was the kind that could only be nurtured after several millennia.
Naturally, the grey-eyed girl that was with Jayda revealed her appearance to be Sofia.
It had been a little while since Jayda ran away, and Sofia happened to be the first one to find her.
Jayda was the youngest out of all of them, and since her initiation into the Hunt her mentality remained that of a child from the scars she held.
Jayda's original mentality was young and not yet developed enough to comprehend the things that were done to her.
As a defense mechanism, she created a duplicate personality, which was also influenced by the Hunt.
It was the only way her young mind could cope from the trauma she had with men.
Her overly spoiled nature and hatred of men was an after effect.
They were a tightly knit group. Sisters without the same mother.
Every girl knew the other, and it would be a happy little family.
Minus, the experiences they've had with men.
Those were not fond memories.
In the developmental stages of the Hunt, they were as close as they could be.
But as the number of girls grew, the intimacy within the Hunt lessened.
Differing ideologies, the reason why they joined the Hunt, and other reason were the driving forces that created cliques.
With Jayda's rather unfortunate set of circumstances, she was essentially pampered by everyone in the group, regardless of clique.
To Jayda, Artemis was somewhat of a mother figure and clung onto her whenever possible.
Recently, they have been spending less and less time together because of the guardian and her duties.
Artemis, who left without a message this time, disappeared without a trace, prompting Jayda to go after her, assuming that she was abandoning her.
Jayda stop struggling when she noticed any further resistance was pointless and eyes turned downcast.
"Jayda are you going to be good?"
"Uuu."
A depressing sounding whine.
She didn't nod and refused to make eye contact.
She seemed like a prisoner resigned to their fate.
Sofia lifted her finger away from Jayda's lips.
"Jayda, let's go home. Everyone's worried about you," Sofia patiently said.
"No. Jayda wants to see Mistress."
"Mistress is going to come home soon. She always does, right Jayda?"
Jayda began thinking with a pout on her face.
"Hmm.. she.. does.."
"Right. Jayda knows that Mistress can be very busy sometimes, so she can't be with you all the time. Mistress was really really busy, so she didn't have enough time to tell Jayda. Jayda knows this right because Jayda's a smart girl, right?"
"Uuuu."
On her face was a conflicted expression.
"Jay- Jayda knows..."
"Mistress left without saying anything because she wants Jayda to be a big girl. And big girls are independent like Mistress. Jayda's a big girl right?"
"Jayda... is a big girl."
"If Mistress knew Jayda ran away, it would make Mistress very very sad. And Jayda doesn't want Mistress to be sad does she?"
The young girl's expression faltered.
"N- no..! Jayda didn't want that," Jayda stammered.
Sofia could see her words taking effect like hypnosis.
The shifts in Jayda's adorable face was cute, and her cheeks looked especially pinch-able.
Sofia couldn't help herself and squished Jayda's little face.
They felt like squishing two marshmallows
"!! Stap- it. Shtap"
Tears began to well up in Jayda's eyes.
"Jayda, don't cry. Sofia's sorry."
"Sniffle."
"Don't cry. It's ok," Sofia coaxed while rubbing Jayda's back.
"Sniff- ok... Jayda wants to go home."
"Ok, let's go home."
Sofia felt a little bad for her.
"Here," Sofia knelt with her arms behind her, "get on."
"... mmm ok."
The young girl carefully placed her limbs around Sofia's back.
Together, the pair started to make their way to the Hunt.
