the winner takes it all
5_m0re_minutes
Chapter 6
Summary:
The demigods of the Big Three decide to have a sparring tournament. Also Rachel is seriously stressing Annabeth out.
Chapter Text
She knows her grip is tight enough to hurt, but Annabeth doesn't really care. Her main focusing is getting Rachel away from Percy, because gods know what she was about to give away.
It isn't her fault, obviously, and Annabeth certainly doesn't blame her. When she'd first seen Percy, it had taken every ounce of willpower not to launch herself at him. Whether to punch him in the jaw or hug him until he suffocated, she still doesn't know. She'd kept herself from showing any signs of recognition.
"Annabeth, what—Ow!" Rachel yells as the demigod roughly leads her down the hall.
"Not here," Annabeth hisses, wanting to make sure they were out of Percy's earshot. She knows better than anyone how frighteningly good that boy's hearing was. It's not until they get into her office that she releases the girl, slamming the door shut behind them.
Rachel rubs her arm, but Annabeth barely feels a twinge of guilt. She studies Rachel, eyes scanning over her form to make sure she's alright. The Oracle wasn't supposed to be back for another week, which means something went wrong. The girl looks fine, though. She's wearing her normal clothes: a pale t-shirt featuring Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam and loose jeans that are covered in paint and pen doodles.
"What happened?" Annabeth asks immediately, crossing over to her desk to check which demigods had escorted the mortal. "Clarisse and Mary Lou?"
"Both fine," Rachel says breathlessly, eyes wide. "Annabeth, that was Percy!"
"I know who he is," She snaps, hating how easily this situation with him is riling her up. She thought all this time, if she ever saw him again, she'd be much more composed. She's really failed her own expectations of herself.
"Well?" The Oracle demands, aghast. "What is he doing here? How is he here? We thought he was dead!"
Annabeth drops into her chair, running her hands through her mess of hair. "He showed up yesterday afternoon, being chased by a dozen monsters. He told us he'd been unconscious for a year and then woke up at the Wolf House."
"The same one that Jason and Piper and Leo rescued Hera from?"
She nods, thinking back to the timeline. That had been around the middle of the war. Annabeth had been…preoccupied when the trio had arrived at Camp Half-Blood. She'd finished with her Quest at the same time as Jason, Piper, and Leo's ended, and it was only at that point that they'd all met each other.
This was the biggest whole in Percy's story, because there was absolutely no way he could have survived what Jason had said occurred at the Wolf House if he was unconscious. He, Piper, and Leo had talked about the massive devastation, Hera revealing her true form, the freaking giant…it was possible, of course, that the three had just not seen Percy during the chaos of the battle, but a demigod's body wasn't really easy to miss. And the odds of them simply not seeing him and an unconscious demigod surviving a battle were really, really low.
But where else would he have been? He was telling the truth when he spoke of his amnesia. Annabeth could tell when people were lying, and there was no way he'd be able to fake amnesia to her. Even though she couldn't read him the same anymore, that she would have definitely picked up on.
"Then where's he been? For a whole year?" Rachel persists, leaning her arms over Annabeth's desk even though she knows how much the demigod hates when people get near her papers.
"Percy says he's been training with Lupa at the Wolf House. She-wolf goddess," she adds in response to Rachel's confusion.
"But you don't believe it?" Rachel asks skeptically. Annabeth's starts in surprise—she forgets how well her friend can read her. "Come on Annabeth, you know Percy wouldn't lie to you, not about this."
She swallows. Figuring this out had been deeply painful, but she hates that she has to deliver this message to someone else who had loved Percy, once. "Rachel," she says softly, her heart splintering at the way her friend's face drops instantly at her tone. "Percy doesn't remember anything. He doesn't remember m-us."
"What?" Rachel gasps, her green eyes swelling with tears that make Annabeth want to cry. "But—but Jason got back—"
"I know," Annabeth says consolingly, getting up from the desk and pulling Rachel into a hug. "Percy told us that Lupa thought Hera's spell had gotten messed up. Maybe that's why."
Rachel lets out a sob, her body shaking with emotion. It takes everything in Annabeth not to break down right with her. She hasn't openly cried in front of anyone in…a while. "Do you think he'll get it back?"
Annabeth shakes her head, even though Rachel can't see her in their embrace. "No. It's been two years, and he's been conscious for one. If nothing at all has come back by now, I really doubt he'll ever remember." She thinks back to what she knows about human health and brains. The closest thing to Percy's situation is post-traumatic amnesia from a brain injury. She's heard Will talking about it with Chris Rodriquez, who'd struggled with mental illness after the Labyrinth years ago.
"If he hasn't regained his memories in the next few months, he never will," Will had sighed, rubbing his face.
Clarisse let out a sob before composing herself. "How do you know?"
Will looked at her sympathetically, which Annabeth knew Clarisse would hate. "Amnesia can last anywhere from a few days to a few months, but the longer it lasts, the worse the trauma was, and the less likely anything will return."
"I'm sorry, Rachel," she says honestly, pulling back to look at her friend. "What ended your trip early?"
Rachel wipes her eyes, her face a little blotchy but otherwise you couldn't tell she'd been crying. "I saw him," she gasps, her voice still a little shaky. "In my dreams, he was…he was there, Annabeth."
Annabeth takes a step away from her immediately, everything in her body screaming to get away. She fills with tension, shaking her head as if it can erase the memories. "No. That's not possible. We closed it."
Rachel's eyes gleam with fresh tears. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. I'm just telling you what I saw. He was definitely there—it's going to happen."
"It's got to have been a regular dream," Annabeth objects, her heart racing. Her breathing isn't coming out right. She wants to run away from Rachel. She wishes the girl hadn't come back and told her this.
"No," the Oracle shakes her head. "It was too vivid. And he had the scar, the one on his eyebrow. It wasn't there…before. I couldn't have know it existed if it was a normal dream."
"I need to go," Annabeth bursts out, stalking towards the door quickly. "There's a match tonight."
"Annabeth—"
But she's already left. She needs to put as much space as possible between herself and the Oracle. She needs to go distract herself and get these memories out of her head. She stalks off towards the arena, her body full of wild energy. She needs an outlet.
The arena is empty with everyone eating dinner, much to her relief. She's glad Percy doesn't have his memory for this room. The throwback is unfortunate, but this location was too good to pass up. The arena looks exactly how it had years ago, when he'd tied Antaeus in his own chains and killed him. She remembers how terrifying he'd looked. She'd been held captive with Rachel and Luke had made Percy fight opponents for Antaeus's amusement. He'd taken out that dracaena so easily and even his fight with Ethan Nakamura had barely taken a few minutes. She'd seen him fight plenty, but the only demigods he'd gone up against at that point had been in practice at Camp Half-Blood, or occasionally against Luke when they were younger.
Seeing how fast he'd wiped the floor with a demigod has been jarring. But what had really struck Annabeth was his battle with Antaeus. Despite the half-giant being so much bigger than Percy, he'd woven around his opponent so fluidly.
Annabeth whirls around, practicing complicated maneuvers with her knives as she recalls that fight. She'd tried to warn him that Antaeus's mother was Gaea, and Percy had used that information brilliantly. He'd taunted the half-giant into a trap, in which he'd tied the monster up with chains—the very chains hanging from the ceiling. The expression on his face as he'd jumped from the pulleys, stabbing Riptide into Antaeus, had been terrifying. He'd hard a sadistic look, he'd wanted that killing blow.
It had unnerved her.
She'd seen him in that state a few times since, where he was eager to kill. Mainly during the Battle of Manhattan, that look had crossed her face as he'd slaughtered armies far too many times for her liking. Every time, his friends had pulled him back and that gaze had vanished. But with two years all alone, she doesn't know what that has done to him.
A little while later, Annabeth hears voices and footsteps, and demigods start streaming into the arena. Most of them go right up to the stands with no idea that monsters had once sat on those benches, cheering as demigods killed each other for their entertainment. It made Annabeth feel sick.
Piper approaches her, holding out a bagel on a napkin. Annabeth thanks her, knowing she needs to eat even though she doesn't have an appetite after that conversation with Rachel. Annabeth, Hazel, Piper, and Rachel had all gotten along really well, but she and Piper had just clicked in a way she'd only ever done with Thalia. Piper and Thalia actually have a lot in common, which is probably why Annabeth is so close with them. Both girls are strong—physically, but the strength of character that she doesn't see so much anymore. They know who they are, what they believe in, and will not bend on their morals. It's the kind of rigid dependability that Annabeth loves and needs.
The bagel thing has become a joke between the pair. When they'd first become friends at Camp Half-Blood, shortly before it had fallen, Annabeth had stolen Piper's bagel at breakfast. It had become a thing, and now they frequently eat off each other's plate and take each other's bagels to the point where Annabeth picks out a poppy seed bagel in the morning, which is Piper's favorite, and Piper chooses an asiago bagel in preparation for their swap.
"You okay?" Piper inquires, her eyebrows scrunched together.
Annabeth realizes she's been spacing out and nods. She knows it hasn't convinced her friend, so she lies, "A little hesitant about this Big Three tournament. You know how it goes with their powers. I worry one of them will bring this place down on accident one day."
Piper laughs, amusement going straight to her eyes, which change colors like a kaleidoscope. "Too true! Don't worry, Jason and I got them all to agree to only minor use of powers."
Annabeth is surprised to find herself disappointed as she follows Piper to a seat in the front. Watching a demigod sired by the Big Three—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—is really incredible to watch. Just as half-bloods are on a different field that mortals, kids of the Big Three are on an entirely different level than regular demigods. She'd also been hoping to analyze Percy's powers, too. Had he lost skill over the past two years? Had he learned anything with Lupa? And Annabeth has really missed seeing him fight, if she admits it to herself. Watching Percy learn to use his powers over the years had made them feel like home—familiar and reassuring. She knew exactly what he could do, how to use him in a fight, and just seeing the way Percy controlled water made her feel fuzzy.
"I am so ready for this!" Grover says enthusiastically, plopping himself on Annabeth's left side. His eyes really are lit-up in excitement. He looks like Nico had years ago when talking about Mythomagic. As a satyr, Grover has always loved watching demigods fight.
She feels more than sees the others settle around her: Frank, Rachel, and Leo. She knows they're all really curious about how this is going to go. Obviously, the Big Three demigods spar together a lot—there's just not many other demigods who can hold their own long enough to get in real practice. But they don't take it this seriously, and they take turns besting each other. But they've all got a competitive streak. Of course any kid of the Big Three wants to know who'd win in a fight. And everyone wants to know more about Percy. While both Hades and Zeus have had at least one Roman and Greek demigod, Poseidon has only had one in a very long time.
"Jason said they're going to going to fight for one Hades victor, one Zeus victor, and then put those two against each other to figure out who's fighting Percy," Piper explains to all of them.
Sure enough, they watch Nico, Hazel, and Percy move to stand against the back wall as Jason and Thalia move to the center of the arena. Around them, the other half-bloods quiet, on the edge of their seats for this fight. Jason draws his sword, flipping the coin and catching the handle. Thalia grins at him, producing her electric spear, and charges.
The fight is fast. The siblings move so quickly, it's hard to keep up. They're both incredibly capable with their chosen weapons, but there's no denying the advantages of a spear over a sword. Jason strikes, but Thalia blocks with her spear, twists it, and gains the advantage. They go back and forth for a while, the Greek and Roman styles keeping them both on their toes. Annabeth thinks they're pretty evenly matched with their fighting skills, but it's the powers that makes the match.
Thalia had told the truth earlier—she can control lightning much better than Jason. She's seen her friend summon a bolt of lightning strong enough to incinerate a half-giant immediately, although that had almost made her pass out. Unfortunately for Thalia, Jason is a son of Jupiter, and electricity doesn't take him down. If anything, it seems to energize him. And Thalia, for whatever reason, doesn't have the ability to manipulate the winds like her brother. He can't fly, exactly, but he can summon gusts of wind powerful enough to uproot plants and knock people down, and he can even levitate himself pretty far off the ground.
When Thalia strikes, Jason knocks her aside with the wind. She swings with her spear, but Jason uses the wind to propel himself over her, catch her spear, and vault it from her grasp. His sword is at her throat not a second later.
the winner takes it all
5_m0re_minutes
Chapter 7
Summary:
Annabeth reflects a lot about Percy when the tournament turns out strange. Oh, and that screaming in the middle of the night? Not fun.
Chapter Text
Piper cheers louder than the rest of the demigods combined, and Annabeth joins her in clapping. Thalia looks frustrated but impressed, and claps her brother on the shoulder good-naturedly. Jason hands her back the spear as they leave the center, swapping out with Nico and Hazel.
Now this will be interesting. The son of Hades and daughter of Pluto are both small, not big and strong like the kids of Zeus. But they hold a lot of power in their bodies, and unlike Thalia and Jason, they have completely different powers.
Immediately when they engage, it's clear who the better fighter is. Hazel is great, fast and lithe, but she can't compete with her brother. Nico is simply quicker than her and moves with more years of experience than she has. Annabeth's actually pretty sure, after a few minutes, that Nico could have ended the fight already.
But then Hazel pulls the cleverest move on her brother. Hazel's powers are mostly around minerals and rocks, but summoning jewels in a fight won't do much more than annoy her brother. Since they promised only minor use of powers, Nico isn't summoning the dead, but he's still got shadow travel, and that's really hitting Hazel hard. She strikes at him, but he simply jumps into a shadow to evade her blows.
Hazel backs him into a corner with her sword, slashing at Nico viciously. As expected, the son of Hades darts back into the shadow in the corner.
Nothing happens. Nico barely ducks in time as Hazel advances, victorious, and Annabeth realizes what's happened. Hazel's used her manipulation of the Mist to make Nico think there was a shadow there, but there's really not. Hazel slices at him, and Annabeth's half-convinced she's going to chop her brother in half until Nico squeezes his eyes shut and her sword passes through his body. He's only translucent for a second, and Hazel's so caught off guard that Nico manages to disarm her, finally.
"Oh my GODS did you SEE that?" Frank's yelling, and Leo's losing his mind next to him.
Annabeth is similarly stunned, although she's not lost all sensibility like her friends. She'd had no idea that Nico could do that. He's clearly drained from it and had barely been able to hold himself in a half-ghost state for a second, but it's insane. And Hazel's trick had been incredible and would have definitely worked if not for Nico's last-minute power upgrade.
Hazel, who still looks shaken, goes to stand with Thalia and Percy, who are clapping.
"You're loving this aren't you, you big nerd," Piper swoons next to her, a shit-eating grin on her face.
Annabeth looks over, realizing she's sitting on the edge of her seat, wrists propped up on her knees, eyes taking in the fights hungrily. She flushes. "I'm a daughter of Athena, okay?" She defends, but Piper's laughing and it makes her face burn more. "Battle strategy is literally my forte."
She's not wrong. When Jason and Nico face each other, the later having recovered enough, she's sizing them up right away. She's pretty confident how this one will turn out. When it comes to damage, Nico can definitely do more. He's only fifteen, but his power is insane. She's seen him summon the dead, banish souls to the Underworld, and one time he'd simply touched an enemy demigod and they'd turned into a skeleton. If the fight is to the death, Nico's winning.
But the goal here is not to kill their friend's, which puts Nico at a disadvantage. While the son of Hades is very skilled, Jason's a better fighter. But what's really going to count against Nico is how much his powers drain him. He can cause more damage, faster, than Hazel, Thalia, and Jason, but it exhausts him more than any of the others. Annabeth knows Jason will play to this weakness and go for stamina.
That's exactly what happens.
They start off with no powers, and slowly start to incorporate them as the fight goes on. Jason propels himself and knocks Nico around with gusts of wind, and with his superior fighting skill, Nico's losing bad. He doesn't have another choice but to start using his shadow travel ability.
Predictably, it drains him, fast. With each jump, he gets slower and slower. Even by the time Jason bats Nico's chest with his sword, signifying victory, Nico's still faster than most demigods. That's how powerful the Big Three kids are.
Annabeth cheers respectfully with the others, but she stops early because she wants to see this final match clearly. This is the one she's really been waiting for, and from the way the crowd falls silent tells her the other demigods agree.
Jason and Percy approach each other, but Annabeth's only looking at the son of Poseidon. She wants to know everything about how he fights, how he thinks. His head is ever so slightly tilted, eyes a storming green as they scan Jason for weaknesses. Everything about him is painfully familiar but also so, so different.
He looks different, for starters. The last time Annabeth had seen Percy, he had just turned sixteen. He was her height, maybe 5'8" or 5'9". He wasn't skinny but he wasn't muscular, his body toned from sword-fighting, but nothing like it is now. Now, he's tall. Gods, he's got to be at least six feet, maybe even taller. He's clearly matured a lot. He's filled out, his shoulders broad, wider than Jason's, although not quite as bulky as the son of Jupiter. His muscles have grown, indicating lots of training from his time with Lupa. His face has narrowed, matured, faint stubble on his face even though he hadn't grown any facial hair two years ago.
He's still Percy, but as Annabeth studies him, her stomach sinking, she knows that this demigod is no longer her Percy. There's something dark and foreign in her gaze that she doesn't recognize. His jokester, carefree attitude has faded. Now he's all hard lines, serious, reserved, and untrusting.
He and Jason stare each other down, neither one wanting to be the first to break. Finally, Percy does, pulling out Riptide. The sight of the weapon makes Annabeth want to sob.
He uncaps it, the bronze blade springing forth. Jason mimics him, flipping his coin. He holds the sword with both hands, pointed directly in front of him. Percy's fighting stance has changed, but it's so him. He stands loosely, in contrast with Jason's tense pose, Riptide extended at his side.
Jason strikes first, and Percy raises Riptide, batting the blade away and stepping into the maneuver. It's so fluid, so effortless. Jason slashes and Percy ducks, extending his sword and turning it, pushing his body weight behind the flat of the blade as he stands up, knocking Jason's feet out from underneath him.
The son of Jupiter crashes to the ground, his sword clattering from his hand. The fight could be over there—all Percy has to do is move in. But he draws back, lifting Riptide, which gives Jason enough time to grab his sword and spring to his feet. His chest is heaving, glaring at Percy with a newfound intensity. And then he attacks.
They move faster than any fighters Annabeth has ever seen. Their speed is incomparable, a flurry of strikes so fast that she's struggling to keep track of whose sword is whose, or what's even happening. Strike, parry, block, sweep, dodge so fast. She's digging her nails into her palms in anticipation.
Frustrated that he can't gain the upper hand, Jason pulls out his powers. He blasts wind at Percy, who rolls to avoid it. The next gust catches him in the chest, knocking backwards. His back has barely hit the ground before he's throwing a hand out. A rope of water materializes out of thin air, slamming into Jason's chest and catching him entirely off guard. They both get back to their feet at the same time, circling each other again.
Jason kicks off the ground, raising his sword as he leaps over Percy's head. The son of Poseidon throws up his hand and more water ropes form, lashing across Jason so fast it knocks him out of the air. Instead of completely falling, Jason summons a wind to knock him backwards, landing on his feet behind Percy. Fast, he's rushing forward, putting his sword at Percy's throat.
"YEAHHHH BABE!" Piper screams, jumping to her feet. The applause is thunderous, Leo and Grover are yelling nearly as loudly as Piper is. The half bloods are also clapping enthusiastically.
But Annabeth makes eye contact with Jason, who, instead of looking proud as he should, looks confused. His brows are slightly furrowed, his lips pinched in the way that means he's thinking, hard.
The demigods start leaving the stands, off to swap out for patrols or get back on with their evenings. Oh, the poor souls on patrol duty right now who had to miss that fight…
Leo jumps right over the seats to go clap Jason on the back, looking positively thrilled. Annabeth wishes she still felt that giddiness that's all but oozing from Grover, but instead she's deeply unsettled.
As the last of the half-bloods and her friends pile out of the arena, Annabeth finds him. He's walking out with the others, but she grabs the back of his shirt and drags him to the side, none too gently.
His sea-green eyes pierce into hers, and once again Annabeth finds herself staring at the soul that she doesn't recognize. It's the closest she's physically been to him in two years, she realizes, and pushes him back.
It's not that he didn't fight well, because he really did. He's definitely gotten much better since sixteen. But Annabeth had though sixteen-year-old Percy could beat Jason. And that winning maneuver shouldn't have gotten passed him. Percy had summoned enough water to strike Jason out of the sky mid-leap. By the gods, if he was that fast there's no way Jason's move should've defeated him.
"I don't know why you're hiding your skill," she told him, something turning uneasily in her when she saw no reaction in his face despite knowing she was right. "But I'm going to figure you out."
Before he can say anything—not that it looks like he's going to—Annabeth stalks off. She walks firmly out of the arena, mind racing. The amount of skill that he'd demonstrated could have easily beat Jason. In the first few seconds, he had Jason flat on his back. If that was Percy hiding his ability—which she was certain was the case—how powerful had he become?
Annabeth keeps to herself for the rest of the evening, trying to think through every explanation she can for what's going on with Percy. He's acting so different—
No, Annabeth stops herself. She has got to stop thinking about Percy, comparing him to how he used to be. This Percy has no memory of that life. All he knows is solitude for two years, never speaking to a single person, or so he claims, until coming here. This Percy is not connected to the life he no longer remembers. She cannot continue to hold him to a life he doesn't know. And that solitude has very clearly impacted him deeply. Alone for years, he's an entirely different person. He makes no jokes. He doesn't have conversations. He is quiet and closed off and watches them with a predatory look that he didn't use to have. He's watching everything, absorbing every interaction as data.
Annabeth needs to distance himself from the old Percy in her mind. She needs to stop trying to compare them, and needs to start seeing him for the threat he is.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Annabeth thinks back to what her mother had once told Percy.
Your fatal flaw is personal loyalty, Percy had recounted for her, using Athena's exact words. You would sacrifice the world to save a friend.
At the time, Percy had complained to her, insisting that wasn't a flaw at all and acting like disclosing his fatal flaw to Annabeth was no big deal.
He's so different now, Annabeth wonders if it's changed.
But now, as she thinks about it, she realizes how dangerous he is, if that's still his fatal flaw. He fought for the gods, true, but not because he was loyal to them. He went on the quest to retrieve the lightning bolt not for Zeus, but to rescue his mom. He went on the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece not for the gods, but to save Grover and Camp. He went on the quest not to save Artemis, but to save Annabeth. Every single quest he went on, every battle he fought, had benefited the gods but wasn't for them. His loyalty was never to them, but to the people he loved.
Percy has no one to be loyal to. He has no memories—there is no one he cares about. If loyalty is his one fatal flaw, and he has no one to receive it, it makes him a very, very dangerous opponent.
Annabeth curses. She hates this, hates that she has to think about him as a threat. She never ever thought a time would come where Percy would be a danger to her. But it has, and he is.
Her dreams that night are terrible. She dreams of fire, screaming, a brown-haired girl tellng her to run. There are monsters everywhere and the edges of her vision are burning.
Annabeth wakes up suddenly, so suddenly that she looks around her office for an intruder. She sleeps every night in the office, having learned on their first night why it was a bad idea to sleep in the room with everyone else. She'd screamed herself awake along with all the other demigods. All half-bloods had unpleasant dreams from time to time, but Annabeth was plagued with them. The things she'd seen haunted her sleep, and she screamed herself awake most nights. It wasn't fair to wake everyone else up, and people would lose faith if they saw how unstable their leader really was.
The screams that wake Annabeth up aren't her own this time. The fact that she can hear them from this far—she is out of her office immediately, her knife already drawn. She sprints down the corridor, blindly feeling the walls as her eyes haven't adjusted.
She bursts into the sleeping room just as Leo lights a torch, pulling it off the wall and igniting it with the tip of his finger. It illuminates the room faintly, and Annabeth can see all the half-bloods groaning and moving slowly, trying to see what is happening.
The screaming persists, terrible hoarse yells that have claws climbing up her spine. They are so anguished, so chilling, it sounds like a person being burned alive, not someone in a nightmare. Annabeth follows the source of the yelling to the back corner. At first, she thinks the figure thrashing around is Grover, but no—that is Grover on his knees next to them.
Percy's skin is covered in sweat, his t-shirt sticking to his body. The veins in his neck and forehead are standing in high relief as he thrashes, terrible tortured yells breaking out of his throat. It is horrible to watch, it makes her skin crawl.
"Percy!" Grover bleats nervously, shaking his shoulders frantically, so overwhelmed the satyr seems to be on the verge of tears.
It isn't working, everyone is starting to panic, and it's killing her to see him like this. So Annabeth does something very, very dumb.
She drops to the floor by Grover and reaches forward, grabbing Percy's side and pulling him slightly off the mattress despite his twitching. And then she reaches behind him, which must look like a lover's embrace from an outsider's view but is really her skimming the soft pad of her middle finger over the small of his back.
The effect is immediate. His eyes shoot open, something dark and sinister blaring to life. Before she can react, his hand is around her throat and he's up and slamming her against the wall. Her vision blacks and swims, sparking as his face comes back into view. He's pinning her down with one hand, her feet dangling above the ground. The other hand is holding her wrist by her side, his body pressed against her legs, completely and terrifyingly immobilizing her.
People are screaming, and someone yells for Piper. Annabeth gasps, struggling for breath in his chokehold. She has never felt so weak, so useless. She cannot move for the life of her, and he doesn't even have a weapon in hand. There's something terrible lurking in his eyes
A familiar face appears in the corner of her vision and Annabeth wants to cry with relief.
"SLEEP," the daughter of Aphrodite commands in a voice full of power, and Percy's eyes roll back into his head as he drops like a ragdoll.
Chapter 8
Summary:
Percy's settling in over the next few weeks and doing a lot of thinking about his situation. Changing his sleeping arrangement makes everything more complicated.
Chapter Text
When he wakes up, he can't move. His brain is fuzzy and slow to respond like it had been when he'd first woken up at the Wolf House, although not nearly as bad. Images of fire and monsters and screaming burn into his eyelids, accompanied with overwhelming feelings of terror and misery and feeling out of control. He's on the cusp of a memory, a really big one, but when he opens his eyes, he doesn't even remember dreaming.
Percy finds himself back in Annabeth's office. The one window shows it's the break of dawn from the pale-yellow light streaming in. His circadian rhythm has been waking him up early in the morning ever since he woke up with Lupa, the she-wolf rousing him at the ass crack of dawn to start training. This time, he doesn't think his return to consciousness occurred naturally.
There's that girl in front of him, Piper. She's stunning, her choppy brown hair framing her sharp features, eyes changing color in a way he's never seen. Even her skin is a gorgeous, smooth amber color, somehow glowing even though their base is underground. And yet, this beautiful girl has him on edge.
The young women flanking her are equally intimidating. It's Annabeth and Thalia because of course they've got to wake him up with the people here who dislike him most. Even Nico is standing in the back corner, but Percy spots Jason with relief. That guy doesn't seem opposed to him, although right now, it's Jason who's got a sword pointed at his throat.
Percy glances down at the ropes binding his wrists and ankles tightly to the chair. He could summon a dagger of ice and cut them easily, but they clearly don't know that. Good. But why is he tied up at all?
He searches their faces for an explanation, but it's not a face that catches his eyes. Annabeth's neck, rather, that gives the answer. The left side has a dark, purple bruise that stands out against her sandy complexion. The right side is worse, multiple oblong bruises and one thick stretch of purpled skin in the front. Memories of the night before come rushing back, and suddenly he recalls a primal instinct telling him he was in extreme danger. He remembers knowing he has to oppose the threat, and surging out to do so, and then…nothing.
It's clear what happened. Somehow, Annabeth had been that threat. Percy racks his brain, remembering faintly that pressure had been applied on the small of his back. It makes no sense why that had triggered it. Had there been more? Whatever she'd done, he had very evidently hurt her for it. Guilt rolls through him, even though Percy isn't sure if she'd actually threatened him or not.
"Do you get nightmares, Jackson?" Piper asks, and her voice sounds different than he remembers. Like it's coated with honey, smooth and calm and inviting, and he wants to do whatever she wants him to.
He shakes his head. "No."
"What did you dream about last night?" She pushes, her voice still containing that silky quality.
"I don't know," he says, feeling disappointed that he can't answer her well.
"Is he resisting you?" Jason mutters, keeping his eyes trained on Percy but very clearly directing his words to the girl next to him.
Piper's lips tense. "No one can resist. He's telling the truth."
Thalia crosses her arms, glaring at Percy viciously, and he wants to wipe that look off her face. "Can you figure out what he wants? If he's going to hurt her again?"
Piper repeats those questions to him, although he wonders why he couldn't have just responded to Thalia directly.
"I just want to know who I am. Lupa told me to come here, so I want to follow her instructions. I'm not planning on hurting any demigods unless they get in my way," he replies honestly, but he's starting to get the feeling that maybe he's saying too much.
Annabeth latches onto that, but when she speaks, her voice is low and hoarse. "Piper—"
"I know," her friend cuts her off quickly, blaring her gaze into his eyes. "What do you mean get in your way? What are you trying to do?"
He blinks, struggling not to answer. He shouldn't tell them that. He doesn't know their intentions. What if they try to stop him? What if— "To destroy the Giants. To vanquish Gaea."
Jason lets out a breath of relief. "Well that's good, right? We've got the same goal in that case."
A figure steps out of the shadows and into view, and Nico's got this deadly look on his face that burrows uncomfortably under Percy's skin. "Not necessarily," he counters, studying the situation carefully. He bends down, whispering something faintly in Piper's ear.
The girl shudders and turns to look at the boy in disbelief. He simply raises his eyebrows, so she returns to face Percy and clears her throat. "Percy, are you defeating Gaea to return the gods to Olympus?"
He grips the chair tightly, so much that his fingers turn white. They watch his struggle, watch as his body shakes slightly with the effort not to tell them this. Piper asks the question again, her voice stronger, and he breaks. "No!" He gasps like a dam has burst, and now the words flow. "They don't deserve it. They've abandoned their children to deal with the giants alone. They don't get to rule over us."
"Then do you plan to—"
"Enough!" Annabeth rasps, holding her hand up. She and the others are visibly shaken, eyes wide and faces pale. "That's enough. He's not an immediate threat, that's clear for now. Jason, I want either Grover or a Big Three half-blood with him at all times. Set up a rotation. He's never alone, understood?"
The blonde nods and transforms his sword back into a coin. He studies Percy warily still, but he's not concerned. After their spar the day before, Percy has gotten a pretty good idea of where he stands. Lupa had trained him well, and he's pretty sure he could take any of the Big Three demigods in a fight. Hazel can't do much damage, Nico gets drained too easily, and both Jason and Thalia, despite being great fighters, each only have a small subset of their father's powers. Neither of their powers is as versatile as Percy's. If they attack him, he's pretty confident that he can escape.
Lupa had been wiser than Percy'd realized when she'd told him Poseidon's specialty came from his powers extending into his brothers' domains. He faintly wonders if that would make it more difficult for them to use their powers against him. Could he battle Nico for control of the ground? Is he capable of taking Jason's hurricane and turning it against him? He'll have to keep that in mind if the situation ever arises.
"Thalia, start with him," Annabeth orders roughly, much to her friend's displeasure. She gestures for the others to follow her, and they get up obediently, flanking her to the door.
"Wait!" Percy calls, the spell of Piper's voice worn off at last. It leaves him feeling rubbed bare, violated in the deepest way. His thoughts and words ripped from him against his will—it feels like they've crossed a line he didn't realize he'd drawn. "Annabeth—I'm sorry."
Her fingers twitch in effort not tor each up to her neck. She dips her head at him but says nothing as she exits, taking her group with her.
At least that was insightful into their hierarchy, Percy muses. Piper, while close to Annabeth, was mainly brought along for whatever persuasive powers she has. Thalia most definitely is her second-in-command, but he's still not sure the line-up with Grover and Jason. Those two along with Piper and Nico must be her closest allies.
If Percy wants to make allies here, he's probably ruined his chances with them after attacking their leader. Maybe Frank or Hazel are still options? Grover seemed to like him, but probably won't anymore. It's not a huge deal. He doesn't necessarily need friends or acquaintances. He just wants to work with them if they're also planning on taking down the giants. That's what Lupa trained him for, the end goal she's drilled in his head.
Unfortunately, the news that the gods had gone off the radar was putting a minor wedge in his plans. If it was true that they needed a god to kill any of the giants…
He needed to find one. Why had Lupa left this key detail out? Why would she not have come with him—being the only god left?
Over the next couple of weeks, he falls into a routine. Annabeth has refused to lift his babysitter rule, so there's someone with him constantly. Grover is probably the one with him most often, although Percy still hasn't figured out why their leader has deemed the satyr to be equally as capable of taking him down as demigods of Zeus and Hades. He does not complain, he definitely likes Grover the best. He knows it's not a good idea to make friends considering he barely knows these people, but he can't help it. He's naturally drawn to Grover—the satyr just gets him in a way no one else does. He knows when Percy doesn't want to talk, knows when he's hoping for company but doesn't know how to say it, knows when he needs to go spar and rid himself of nervous energy, knows when he feels uncomfortable in busy spaces.
A downside of being followed all the time is that he doesn't get to decide what to do with his time. He hasn't been to that estuary spot since discovering it. If he wants to spar, it has to be in the arena with his babysitter, which means he can't really train his full set of skills. He normally spars with whoever he's with—Hazel, Nico, Thalia, or Jason—or by himself when Grover's with him.
He's made to go along with his chaperone and their schedule which actually has the benefit of teaching him a lot of how this place works. He discovers that Thalia is, in fact, second-in-command. Annabeth goes to Piper, Grover, and Jason for advice after the daughter of Zeus. Hazel, Frank, and Nico are also involved a lot but tend to do their own thing most of the time. Everyone obeys Annabeth without much objection—she's clearly earned the leadership role. She has this elaborate rotation going, and Percy's heard the planning of it enough to know how well she plays people to their strengths.
She's put Demeter kids on all things food—they grow food fast, cook all the meals, and make ingredient lists for supply runs. Hephaestus demigods do a little of everything. They make repairs, produce and fix weapons, but most of them are gone during the day. He's still got no idea where they are. Demigods of Hermes are also pretty widely functional. Annabeth puts them on patrols a lot but they usually make up at least half of all supply runs. They go out on a daily basis and return with whatever is needed, somehow finding even the most specific items. There are some trips where they come back empty handed and head straight for Annabeth that makes him wonder if these runs aren't always for supplies, but rather people.
Maybe for gods.
Hazel, Rachel, and Nico are also gone a lot and Percy guesses that they're actually mapping the Labyrinth. He's learned that Rachel is not a demigod but actually the only mortal in their entire underground base. No one has said it explicitly, but considering she goes with Hazel and Nico and returns with papers of sketches, Percy thinks she can somehow figure out the maze, maybe even better than the two demigods.
The Apollo bunch are, of course, almost always in the infirmary. Plenty of supply runs engage quite a number of monsters, so it's normally split half and half with Ares and Hermes kids, many of those demigods going straight for the infirmary when they're back. In their free time, Percy's seen the Apollo group working with Hecate's children on some strange substances. He's also seen them pouring over books and speaking in hushed voices and wonders if that is also related to the missing gods.
What Annabeth does is the most mysterious part. She can be seen walking quickly, normally followed by Thalia and Piper, Jason, or Grover. She also converses a lot with Rachel but he's never overheard what, exactly, they talk so much about with those troubled expressions. She's always busy with something, and he's seen a group of kids that are probably her siblings going in and out of her office pretty frequently. He surmises pretty fast that she's the daughter of Athena—there's simply no other god that could have given her that brilliant glint in her eyes or such incredible fighting strategies. He's seen her spar, and damn. He's got no doubts that she could go head-to-head with any of the Big Three demigods, and if they sparred without powers, could totally take a few of them down. He's itching to practice with her but considering their last interaction had ended with her neck covered in bruises, Percy doesn't think that will happen anytime soon.
An opportunity does arise a few weeks into his stay, although not at all in the way he'd expected. He has no memories of them in the morning, other than fleeting glimpses of fire and screaming, but Percy's nights are now plagued with nightmares. He's got no idea where this is coming from considering he could never remember dreams with Lupa and has never had nightmares before. Yet now, a few times a week, he screams himself awake.
This has caused quite a few problems, predictably, considering he sleeps in the same room as fifty other people. It's gotten to the point, a few weeks in, that everyone's walking around like zombies, dark circles under their eyes. He feels terrible, but there's not that much he can do about it. He's got no idea what's triggering these or how to stop them.
Finally, Thalia leads him to Annabeth's office one day instead of their normal inner patrol shift together. Thalia's barely spoken to him this entire time, handling any times they're forced to be around each other by not speaking a word. He still isn't sure what she's got against him and it's honestly driving him crazy.
"What's going on?" He asks, only keeping up with Thalia's fast pace because his legs are longer than hers.
She ignores him for a moment, making her way down the corridor as if hoping he'll leave her alone if she goes fast enough. Thalia is probably the most unnerving person to him, maybe tied by Nico and Piper. Piper's super friendly but her Charmspeaking, as he's heard it called, is a very chilling power. Nico is just strange, always staying away from everyone and looking haunted and gaunt.
Thalia just sets him on edge. It's not just her blatant hatred for him, although of course that plays a big part in it. He's not sure if his aversion to her has something to do with his past of maybe just the fact that she's the daughter of Zeus, his father's big opponent. They're supposed to be at odds just from their parents. Maybe their godly sides are just so fundamentally different that the hair on his arms and head literally stands up around her, or perhaps that's just the slight electric charge that's always in the air around her.
"Annabeth wants to see you," Thalia mutters at last just before they reach the door.
"Huh?" He snaps himself out of his mind.
She gives him a scathing look. "Go in," is all she tells him, knocking once before opening the door.
He wants to ask what her deal is but knows that it's not the right time for it. Instead, he does as she instructed and walks inside, bracing himself for whatever is coming. Annabeth is leaning over the table, staring down at a scattering of figurines. A sandy-haired boy is next to her, moving eagle figurines. The board is large and moving, markings for a river shimmering and flowing in a way that only a kid of Hephaestus could make. The right side of the board looks like a maze, and five pegasi figurines are clustered in the middle. Across the board is the river next to a hill, which has a lot of eagles placed on it, maybe fifteen or so. The far end has doors and columns drawn on it, but before Percy can get a good look, Annabeth has spotted him and is moving in front of the table to block his view.
"Good, you're here. Malcolm, we'll finish later," she says offhandedly to the boy at the table, who nods and starts removing the pieces. He shoves them into his pockets, keen to get out quickly, and then ducks from the room hastily.
Annabeth closes the door behind her half-brother before turning to him, her face stern. The bruises on her neck have mostly faded, leaving only slight yellow discoloration which is not too noticeable with her honey skin tone.
"We need to talk about your nightmares," she tells him, which is like, the last thing he expected her to say.
He raises his eyebrows. "Um, okay."
She crosses her arms. "You're waking everyone up constantly. We can't continue like this. We need people well rested for supply runs and training."
"Okay," he agrees.
She gives Thalia an undecipherable look before continuing. "That's why I've decided you're going to be sleeping in my office from now on."
"Okay—what?" He startles, not at all anticipating that idea. He knows that Annabeth sleeps in her office at night, so why does she want them in the same room after the incident a few weeks ago?
"We need to get you far enough from the others so you don't wake everyone up constantly," she sighs.
"I could go sleep in the arena or something."
Annabeth raises her eyebrows.
"Okay, well maybe not the arena," he amends, acknowledging how shit of a place to sleep that is. "But like, there's got to be another room somewhere—"
"The bottom line," Annabeth says, scowling and ignoring Thalia's expression, "Is that I don't trust you. I'm not going to let you go off alone."
That's fair, but this arrangement still doesn't make sense to him. "Won't you be woken up all the time though?" He points out.
"I never sleep through the night anyway. Besides, this room is mostly soundproof, thanks to the Hepheastus cabin," she explains.
What does that mean? He wants to ask but that's definitely not his business. Percy supposes he'll find out soon enough, anyway. "Alright."
Thalia really, really looks like she wants to object to the idea, but the fact that she keeps her mouth shut tells Percy they've already argued this topic before.
"Good," Annabeth says. "I'll have your bed moved here tonight, then. If you attack me one more time, don't think I'll hesitate to kick you out. Got it?"
He nods, hoping he can keep to that. He hadn't meant to do so the first time, so he's not really sure he can prevent it.
Sleeping in the same room as Annabeth, alone, is very odd. Percy avoids going to sleep until late in the evening, wanting to spend as little time alone with her as possible. He's not really surprised to see that she's still up, reading through something at her desk by candlelight. There's a torch in the corner of the room that's still burning—when it gets dark outside, Leo runs across the entire base, lighting the torches with his fingers gleefully. It's actually a whole tradition, and people come out of the rooms they're in just to watch and cheer him on like a one-person parade.
His bed has been moved near the door. There's a curtain behind her desk that he assumes has her bed behind it. He feels awkward getting into the bed while she's still at her desk, but she doesn't even acknowledge his presence as he slips off his shoes, socks, and shirt and lays down. He falls asleep surprisingly fast.
He figures out exactly why Annabeth put them in the same room shortly later. He couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour or two when he hears screaming. He bolts out of bed instantly, hand going instinctively to his pocket where Riptide always is. It takes a few moments for him to realize that the screams are coming from inside the room.
He walks towards the curtain, his pen out of his pocket in anticipation. He's got Riptide in his right hand and yanks the curtain back with his left hand, ready to kill whatever monster is attacking Annabeth.
The only monster hurting her that night are her dreams.
Chapter 9
Summary:
Grover slips up a little, and Percy gets ready for a suicide mission with two girls he dislikes.
Notes:
Sorry the last few chapters have been a little slow-paced, but don't worry--action is picking up!
Chapter Text
Percy just pretends not to have noticed Annabeth's nightmares, and she returns the favor. In fact, as the next couple of weeks continue, they both act as though they don't sleep in the same room. He's only following her lead, considering she ignores him all the time. She has people with him all the time but never chaperones him herself.
Eventually, he figures out why Grover is the one predominantly watching him. The two have become friends despite Percy's hesitance to trust anyone. He can't help it, the satyr has just weaseled his way into Percy's life. He constantly knows how Percy feels, so much that it's really unnerving.
One afternoon, as they're on dishes duty after lunch, he figures out why. He's in his head, silently scrubbing a plate that he thinks was Grover's (it's been nibbled on) and thinking about his past. Or his lack of one. It's all he thinks about, normally, but he's been recently wondering if he has parents.
Obviously his father is somewhere in hiding with the other gods. But Percy wonders if he has mortal family at all. From speaking with the other demigods around the base, he's learned that most of their mortal parents are dead. Either killed by a monster before they got to Camp (he keeps hearing about this camp too? And has no idea what that is?) or after the Giants won the war. Does he have a mortal mother out there? Is she alive? Is she thinking about him? He wonders how a mother would feel about who he is now, if she would be relieved that he doesn't know her. That would be the safer option, surely. Or is he missed?
"I'm sure your mom would miss you," Grover says kindly, picking up a crusty fork at the sink next to him.
Percy jumps, dropping the plate, which clatters super loudly into the metal basin. "Okay, that's it," he sighs loudly, leaning his wrists against the edge of sink. "How in Hades do you always know what I'm thinking? It's seriously weirding me out."
Grover looks at him sheepishly. "Uh—"
"Don't even try to make up a story, you're a shit-awful liar," he snaps, flicking soapy water at the satyr.
Grover doesn't even bother wiping the suds from his horns and twiddles the fork like he's contemplating whether to wash it or eat it. "Okay, fine. I'm not supposed to tell you, so you can't go storming off or anything, okay?"
He narrows his eyes suspiciously, giving him a stern glare. "Why would I? Grover?"
His friend holds up his hands in surrender. "Satyrs can read emotions!" He bleats loudly. "I can't control it, so I don't do it on purpose, before you ask."
Percy's stomach drops. Oh gods. Has Grover been reading his mind? Does he know how resentful and distrustful he is of the demigods for keeping information from him? Does he know all the concerns and fears and suspicions he's been harboring? It's Grover, so he doesn't feel violated like the way he does when Piper uses that voice on him. She hasn't since his initial interrogation, but that had been a deliberate use of powers to extract information.
Grover, on the other hand, apparently isn't invading his privacy intentionally. He's not trying to get specific knowledge form him, it's just happening. It still feels like a violation of privacy, but if it's not the satyr's fault…
"Say something," Grover bleats, chewing on the tongs of the fork nervously.
If he wasn't so startled, Percy would laugh at him. He doesn't think he'll ever get over how odd satyr diets are. "I mean, if it's not on purpose, I can't be mad. Wait—is that why Annabeth has you on me like a guard dog all the time? So you can monitor me like a mood ring?"
Grover's cheeks turn pink in confirmation.
He runs his hand through his hair. "Are we not even friends then?" He questions, trying to hide how much that thought hurts. Grover is the only person he actually feels okay with calling a friend. Jason is pretty cool, but he's too stiff and classically a rule-follower, so it's taking him longer to trust the son of Jupiter. "Are you just spying on me, pretending to like me so I slip up?"
Grover shakes his head rapidly, chomping loudly on the rest of the fork. "No no! I promise it's not like that. Well, Annabeth did have me around you, but just to keep an eye on you. Like, if you were feeling aggressive or something. Which you totally are now, by the way."
"I'm aware," Percy growls.
The satyr gulps. "I promise I really am your friend, Perce. I mean yeah, initially it was just to keep an eye on you, but I really like you. I want to be your friend. If you still want to be," he finishes lamely, looking crestfallen like he expects Percy to laugh in his face.
He feels guilty, suddenly. It's not Grover's fault. He can't control his ability to sense emotions, just like Percy can't control how he can sense bodies of water wherever he goes. And he was just following Annabeth's orders. They're clearly good friends, and Percy isn't going to blame anyone for not wanting to get on the daughter of Athena's bad side.
"Of course I want to be friends, G-man." When the satyr's eyes light up, Percy gives him a fake glare. "But this is for stalking my emotions," he says, and sends a stream of water splashing into his friend's face.
He's definitely loosening up with Grover and maybe a bit with Jason but that's mostly it. Frank and Hazel seem a little too nervous to talk with him very long, Thalia, Nico, and Annabeth hate his guts, and both Piper and Jason seem like they don't want to do anything Annabeth would disapprove of.
So he's pretty surprised when Thalia marches up to him as he's heading out of Annabeth's office one morning, and tells him he's finally got his first supply run assignment—and it's with her. And Piper.
He's barely got time to process this information before she's leading him to the entrance hall. Apparently, their trip is happening immediately. He isn't sure what has happened that he's recently gained their trust enough to be taken out on this mission, or why he's been paired with Thalia, who hates him more than anyone here, and Piper, who still disturbs him. Maybe Piper's entire reason for being brought along is to subdue him if needed.
When they get to the open cavern, he's confused to see there's only Piper and Jason waiting for them. "Aren't we going with Hermes or Ares kids?" He questions.
Piper and Jason, who are quietly speaking to each other, look up at his voice. Jason's hands are on her hips, standing too intimately to just be friends. Percy picked up on their relationship in his first week—they're pretty heavy with PDA so it wasn't hard even for someone who lived in solitude for two years. Their position looks pretty funny because Piper's wearing a Dora backpack that's absolutely stuffed. Jason looks a little nervous for Piper, which Percy can tell because the son of Jupiter's fingers twitch as they make eye contact.
"It's just the three of us," Thalia says lowly, stalking passed him to Piper.
He's pretty confused, because he's never seen a supply run with no Hermes or Ares demigods. He's also aware that this team is a loaded powerhouse: a daughter of Zeus, a son of Poseidon, and a Charmspeaker. He is starting to think that this isn't going to be a normal supply run.
"Stay safe, and be careful," Jason murmurs, kissing his girlfriend before finally letting go of her.
Piper rolls her eyes, shoving him away but without actual aggression. "When am I not, Sparky?"
He snorts, but the tension leaves his shoulders. "I hate that name. And don't act like you aren't the most impulsive person I've met."
"Maybe you could learn something from me about having fun," she shoots back.
"Not to interrupt your mating ritual," Thalia grumbles, hands on her hips, "but I am interrupting. We need to get going. You two done?"
Piper grins and flicks her hair over her shoulder. "Yes ma'am. We'll finish the ritual when I come back." Jason's cheeks blossom pink, which amuses Percy. The guy really is so classically a nice guy, getting flustered so easily.
Thalia groans but doesn't comment. Instead, she waves her hand for Piper and Percy to follow and heads down the corridor. He follows after them, not quite running but going at a fast pace. When they're away from the entrance cavern and out of earshot from the patrols, he moves closer to the girls.
"So what's the goal of the mission? This is clearly not a supply run."
"The Hephaestus cabin needs a special material for a project they're working on," Piper explains as they hurry down a corridor.
"We're not going to the Alcatraz exit right?" He asks quickly. "When I came in, there were dozens of monsters staking it out. They know it's an entrance."
"We're aware, Jackson," Thalia says curtly, and although she's in front of him, he can tell she's wearing a scowl. "We're taking a different route."
That's good, at least. "So what's this thing they want that needs two Big Three and a Charmspeaker to retrieve?"
Piper winces at that comment but brushes it off. "It's called an Archimedes sphere. They lost it during the war. It's got some great invention capabilities or something, I don't really speak mechanic."
Fair enough. Percy had discovered he also doesn't do well with technology. He'd found a gaming device in one of the stores he'd raided, but it had gotten destroyed when he'd used his powers. Somehow, water always finds its way into electronics around him. He voices this to Piper, who snorts.
"That's exactly what I'm hoping for," Thalia tells him, slowing to a stop in front of a large boulder. "It's for that particular skill set that I brought you along."
Something heavy sinks into his stomach as he halts as well. Thalia starts running her hand over the rocks, and gears start turning in his head. "Thalia," he speaks slowly, hand reaching toward his pocket. "Where exactly did you say the sphere is?"
She finds the Delta symbol and presses her hand against it. It glows red before a loud grinding noise emerges as the boulder slowly rolls out of the way. The gap that's created is five feet tall, so he ducks through after the two girls. They emerge among trees, on the top of a hill. It's overlooking a tall mountain up ahead that has to be at least two thousand feet tall. Atop the mountain, he can faintly make out a grey structure like a massive temple or perhaps a castle.
What really catches his gaze is the large figure standing at the base of the mountain, a distance away. It's huge, more than two hundred feet tall. The creature is a large golden man wearing nothing but an Ancient Greek kilt and a helmet. He stands stiffly with a hundred-foot sword by his side.
Percy stares at Thalia, his mouth open in disbelief because he knows the next words out of her mouth.
"It's powering Talos," she reveals, pointing at the huge figure. Indeed, in the center of its chest is a small circular object, barely visible at the distance.
"Talos, who is guarding the entrance to Mount Othrys, the base of the Titans," Piper adds, trying for humor but her voice displays only fear. He can't blame her—the giant robot is absolutely terrifying and they're nowhere even near it. This is a suicide mission, and he's enraged that they've brought him all this way without telling him what their mini quest was even for.
"I'm sorry," Percy blanches, fury licking up his chest. "You want us to just stroll up to fucking Talos, bid him a Happy Valentine's Day, and just take the sphere?" He demands.
Thalis shoots him a withering glare. "Don't be a chicken, Jackson."
He scoffs in disbelief. "Seriously? Why does it even have the sphere?"
"In the myth, Talos was powered by a vein of molten lava going from his neck to his ankle," Piper explains in a mechanical way that means she totally was lectured by Annabeth. "It was held in by a peg in his ankle. Medea killed him by Charmspeaking him into removing it."
"The Giants resurrected Talos by taking the Archimedes sphere and using it to power him instead," Thalia adds, her electric blue eyes trained on the target.
Percy shakes his head. "Okay, I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. Talos is guarding Mount Othrys—which, I assume is now the Giants headquarters?"
Piper grins at him. "Conveniently no—that's in Greece."
He rolls his eyes. "Regardless, there's no way that place isn't teaming with monsters. We'll be swarmed, even if we miraculously managed to defeat him and get the sphere. That's suicide."
"That's our task," Thalia shoots. "If you stay at the base you have to be a team player."
"I'm not going to let us all kill ourselves for a fucking ball!" Percy fires back, throwing his arms up. "Why do we even need that shit anyway?" When neither Piper or Thalia respond, he scoffs loudly. "Come on, you won't even tell me the reason why we're about to go get squashed by a giant robot solider?"
"Piper don't you dare—"
"It's for a giant ship," Piper ignores the daughter of Zeus, kaleidoscope eyes trained on him. "We used it in the war, but it was broken really bad. Zeus, uh, slapped it. Being driven underground, and with the gods missing, we don't have the supplies to rebuild it. That's why we need the sphere."
"And why do we need the ship?" Percy cocks his head at her, regarding the demigod with a new light.
Thalia snarls at her to be quiet, but Piper ignores her again, which immediately makes Percy reevaluate his original impression of her. "To fly to Greece for our final stand against Gaea."
A thrill runs through him. So, this is their master plan from all along. They're not just hiding out in the Labyrinth for the sake of safety, they're preparing themselves to make one last, final effort against the Giants. He has so many questions, like how will they get all the demigods there, what's the point if they can't get gods to come (because apparently that's a requirement for killing giants)—but he'll get to that later. What's important now is that they have a chance—more significantly, they have a plan. And that's all the hope Percy has.
"I'm in."
Chapter 10
Summary:
Their fight with Talos goes south.
Chapter Text
If Thalia's surprised at all by his response, she doesn't show it. Piper smiles at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, and man he is definitely reconsidering that initial impression. Maybe Piper is more like Grover than he'd realized. When she'd used her magic voice on him, it had been following Annabeth's orders. And he'd just attacked her leader after all, so it was only fair that they made sure he was safe. Right?
"So what's the game plan?" Percy asks, alarmed to feel himself excited with the upcoming suicide mission. It's stupid and their chances are so very slim, but if they need this sphere thing desperately, he's ready to do it.
Thalia takes charge, quickly explaining their strategy. "Piper's got Charmspeak, so we're going to try to do a repeat Medea. If she can convince Talos to give us the sphere, great. In anticipation of that not working, we're the backup," she points to herself and Percy. "The hope is that with my lightning and your water, we can theoretically take the thing down."
"Wouldn't Hazel have been a better choice for this?" Percy questions as his mind switches to battle mode. "Like, daughter of the Roman god of metals?" When they give him surprised glances, he rolls his eyes. "Oh please, don't act like it's surprising that I've deduced there's a handful of Roman demigods in the maze. 'Son of Jupiter?' 'Pluto?' It's not like you all have been trying to conceal that."
Piper shrugs. "That's fair. And yeah, good point about Hazel. We asked her, but she said she wouldn't be able to control all the metal, it's just too much."
"Alright," Percy throws back his shoulders. "Let's go." He half-expects one of the girls to object and insist they need to plan more, but neither does. It seems both are rash and impulsive like him, and he loves it.
It's a pretty anti-climatic next half hour, considering they still have to walk the sizable distance to Talos. Unfortunately, the Labyrinth doesn't open up right at his feet although the location is pretty perfect, all things considered. Percy's thrilled to discover a stream in the woods, running towards the base of the mountain. That will make his part easier, if Piper's Charmspeak fails.
While Thalia stalks a distance ahead, Percy and Piper hike side-by-side, deep in conversation. Piper's being the first person to really tell him important information, and Percy's agreement to go on a suicide mission with people he barely knows, have really flipped both their perceptions of each other. As they walk along, he discovers that they actually have a lot in common, personality-wise. They're both impulsive and rash, preferring to head into battle instead of plan it thoroughly.
"Something always goes wrong with the plan," Piper complains, throwing up her hand dismissively. "What's the point in wasting all that time on it?"
"Exactly! Exactly!" He agrees so loudly that Thalia turns around from ahead and snarls at him to shut up.
She's got a fantastic sense of humor that has him laughing constantly. It's sarcastic and blunt, and she's got the most spectacular deadpan of anyone at the maze. Granted, Percy's only encountered the fifty demigods in the Labyrinth, but there are some funny people there. No one matches Piper, though. He finds himself wishing he hadn't closed off so much to her originally. Over the six weeks he's been at the maze, he's only made a friend out of Grover. Everyone else, he's regarded with suspicion, refusing to do more than basic polite speech. He realizes how much he's missed out on.
Piper also tells him about her life before the war. She shares how her dad was actually a famous TV star, and how she'd wanted his attention so badly as a kid that she'd started shoplifting. That was how she'd discovered her Charmspeak, she explains to him. She tells him about being moved from school to school until the Wilderness School with Leo, where they'd been only briefly until a cycle of events brought them to Camp Half-Blood as the Second Giant War began. She admits that she'd wiped her dad's memories of half-blood life a year ago. He doesn't miss her past-tense usage when she refers to her father.
"I'd like to think, in my past life, that my mom misses me. But I guess it's better if she doesn't, if she's still alive," he says, surprised to find himself sharing such a vulnerable thought. "I mean, all things considered."
Piper raises her eyebrow, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. "Why do you say that?"
"Huh?"
"When you talk about your past," she elaborates, stepping wide over a large log. "You call it your 'past life.'"
He had not really noticed it. It's kind of just something he's gotten into the habit of doing. "I don't know. I guess, like." He frowns. "Well, that part is over now, right? I don't remember it. I never will get those memories back. So when I woke up at the Wolf House, it was sort of a part two. To life. I know I lived those memories, and I had a life doing gods knows that before, but since I don't remember and never will, I guess I just think of that life as over."
Piper looks deeply conflicted, her eyes slightly glazed like she's thinking hard. Finally, she sighs. "Look, Percy, I should tell you—"
"Hey!" Thalia calls from ahead. She's stopped walking and is staring out of the trees.
Piper and Percy trade a look before walking up to her. They're at the edge of the woods and the hill, and up ahead is Talos. If he was terrifying from back at the Labyrinth entrance, he's bone-chilling now. Even on their hill, he towers over them by a hundred and fifty feet. His massive sword is half his body length. Percy wants to shudder. If Piper's Charmspeak doesn't work on this thing, they're fucked.
"Ready?" Thalia asks them, producing her spear.
Piper raises her first and Percy bops it. "Let's go."
"HEY BIG BOY!" Piper yells, bursting out the trees and waving her dagger. She tilts the blade so the light reflects it, catching the giant metallic monster's attention.
Talos turns toward them, his movements slow due to his size. He walks towards them, lifting his feet high before bringing it down. His step flattens ten trees in one movement.
"What are you waiting for?" Percy hisses, drawing Riptide as the giant comes nearer.
"The closer it is, the stronger my magic," she tells him, standing with her shoulders broad even though Percy can practically taste how scared she is. She waits until he's really close, his hand moving out to grab her, until she yells, throwing her power behind her voice. "STOP!"
It's so strong that Percy freezes, even though he's not the one she's targeting. Talos's hand stills, extended in midair. Gods, he thinks with a thrill. It's working.
Thalia gives Piper a look of encouragement, so she continues. "Give me the Archimedes sphere!" Up close, he can see it high above in the monster's chest. It really can't be any bigger than a baseball. It's hard to believe such a powerful object is so small.
Talos's hand turns and starts to move towards its chest. Percy's blood is pumping fast in anticipation. It's working! Maybe they really will be able to get in and get out.
Of course it doesn't happen like that, because of-fucking-course it doesn't.
When Talos's hand gets near its heart, it slows and stops.
"Give me the Archimedes sphere!" Piper calls again, but her voice has become shaky and panicked. Talos's fingers twitch a little bit, but otherwise he makes no move to obey her. "GIVE ME THE ARCHIMEDES SPHERE!" She tried again, throwing so much power behind her words, blasting it all around, that Thalia moves to obey her even while Talos does not.
The metallic soldier must be too big for the power of Piper's Charmspeak, but the demigods are not. Every muscle in Percy's body is screaming at him to climb the giant automaton and grab the sphere for Piper. It takes ever ounce of willpower not to give in, but Thalia becomes much more affected, for some reason.
As soon as Piper yells, Thalia burst forward, charging for Talos. Piper screams in fear for her friend, and the shriek pierces Talos out of his haze. The giant draws his sword, movements slow for his size, but Thalia does not falter as she sprints for him. Percy's bolting after her now, but not in response to Piper's magic.
Talos brings his sword down on Thalia and Percy dives, grabbing her around the waist and hurling their momentum over the hill to escape the massive blade. She shrieks as they tumble over each other, limbs smacking and twisting painfully. They go crashing down towards Talos's feet and Percy's head smacks something (the ground? A tree? Thalia's foot?) so hard that spots dance in the edges of his vision for the rest of his tumble. When they finally slow enough to scramble up, they barely have time to dodge another sweep of his sword.
He's got no idea where Piper is but she must be on the opposite side of the giant. He curses, rubbing the back of his head as he turns to Thalia. "Plan?"
She shakes her head, the glazed look in her eyes from Piper's magic having thankfully worn off. Before they can discuss anything else, they see Talos smack his hand out. Percy hears a scream and faintly sees a figure duck—Piper. She isn't fast enough and the giant still catches her in the chest, sending her flying into a tree.
"PIPER!" He yells, running forward only to have Thalia drag him back, nails digging into his arm.
"Don't be stupid!" she hisses, eyes blaring. "If you go running to her now like a big buffoon, you'll get yourself killed!"
"Oh so you have some great plan?" He lashes back, jerking his arm out of her grip with more force than necessary.
She snarls at him. "What your tone—DUCK!"
He obeys her instantly, dropping to the grass and catching himself in push-up position. The metallic giant's sword goes swinging, just barely missing them. If Thalia hadn't warned him, they both would have been sliced in half. He pulls his feet up into a crouching position so he's ready to jump. "I've got an idea," he turns to Thalia, a stupid, crazy, absolute insane plan forming in his mind. If he needed any proof that's he's idiotically impulsive, this is it. He fills her in, and the daughter of Zeus shakes her head, nonplussed.
"That's fucking crazy, Jackson," she hisses at him, drawing her spear. "But it might work. Go!" She jumps upward and sprints up the side of the hill they'd just fallen down, waving her spear. "OI! Come get me!"
Percy uses the distraction to run behind Talos, sprinting towards the river as fast as he can. The giant turns to Thalia and slices at her again. She rolls to dodge, just barely getting out of the way. While the giant's movements are slow due to his size, they still have to move incredibly fast to dodge him because he's just so massive.
He's racing towards the water still, coming up close, but Thalia's struggling and needs help. She's going back and forth trying to dodge Talos, but the giant's tiring her out. He still can't see Piper in his brief glimpses to the side, which means she's probably still down. Gods, he hopes she isn't dead.
There's a scream, and he sees the metal man grab Thalia around the middle. Styx, he curses, and flings his hands up. The river is close enough that it responds wildly, shooting upwards. He rides the wave, using the force to propel him as high as he can. He strains, yelling with the effort as he forces the water to counteract gravity and thrust him hundreds of feet into the air.
It works well—too well, and he gets propelled higher than he'd wanted to go. He's high enough now that he's above the monster, high enough that the hairs on his arms stick up and he knows Zeus would smite him if the cowardly bitch wasn't cowering somewhere.
Now he's free-falling, arms raised as he slices back down. The giant is still lifting Thalia, who is, for her benefit, trying really hard to get out of its grip. But it's just too big, and she isn't strong enough to overpower the thing. Percy braces himself as he lands on the giant's head. While the impact sends shocks up his legs and spine, nothing breaks, miraculously. He attributes that to whatever Curse Nico had mentioned on his first day.
As soon as he hits, gravity takes over and Percy starts falling down the back of Talos's head. He raises Riptide and pierces it into the metal, anchoring his fall. He drops to the shoulder, and Talos reaches a hand behind himself to swat him off. One of the fingers catches him in the chest, knocking him backward so hard it would have broken all his ribs if he wasn't cursed. Percy manages to stab Riptide into nape of its neck and grips it for dear life as the rest of his body is swatted backward. He uses the handle of Riptide, the blade anchored in the giant, to propel his body forward in midair to slam his feet into the giant's fist, knocking it backward in a feat that requires abdominal strength that mortals simply do not have.
The move works enough to buy him a little time. Percy grips Riptide again, feet planted firmly on the back neckbone. He heaves downward with all his strength, slicing his sword right through the metal. The monster isn't going to burst into golden dust—it will take more than that to kill something this size, and the metal body poses challenges. But it rips open a gaping hole in the back of this thing's neck, which is exactly what he'd been going for.
"PERCY!" He hears a scream, and darts to the side to see Piper screaming from below. He's so beyond relieved to see her standing, but the reason why she's yelling at him wipes that away.
Talos has refocused on Thalia, and thought dexterity must be difficult at that size, he's tightened his fingers around her. Her face is red, and she's squirming even less. They have to work fast. Percy knows there's no way he's got the strength to pry his grip open—they're only shot is taking this beast down.
He summons the river again, that twang in his gut pinching like broken ribs. None of the special skills he learned with Lupa are really relevant against an opponent this size, but what he needs is to lean back on the purest, most basic power he has.
The river hurtles back upwards, and Percy waves it up over their heads, face turning red and veins straining with effort of lifting so many tons of water. "THALIA, NOW!" He bellows, amassing the water upwards.
Her face is red-purple from being squeezed, but the sky around them darkens anyway. Clouds tumble in faster than normally possible, their color turning from a fluffy white and darkening to a stormy grey like Annabeth's eyes.
Why in Hades is he thinking about Annabeth's eyes right now?
Refocusing, Percy lets out a yell and thrust his hands down, guiding the tons and tons of river water to shoot into that gaping whole he'd made in the metallic giant's neck. The entire length of the neck is open, the river rushing in with extreme force. The air around him fills with static and the stifling smell of ozone, which is his only warning before a huge lightning bolt streaks from the sky. It's thick and huge, the white-hot bolt sparking down strong and fast. He's never seen an actual, big bolt of lightning so close before, and he never wants to again.
Thalia's lightning strikes the water going inside, which works fantastically as a conductor. The voltage must be insane, because sparks start blasting instantly. The white-blue bolts spark, racing along the metal as Talos gets electrocuted. Its limbs are twitching as the electricity splinters through it, short circuiting.
