Chapter Twenty: Out of the Past

Percy looked back and felt his eyes linger on the unlikely pair in slight worry as Jack and Arcee took First Watch. The young man knew different, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Arcee and Jack were too green when it came to the world. Sure, they fought alien robots as much as he and Thalia fought monsters, but monsters could be deadly if you weren't used to the way they behaved. On one hand, monsters were generally smart enough to strategize, but there was also a bestial factor to monsters Percy doubted Arcee could anticipate. The young Child of the Sea felt a little better about Jack because the strange demigod carried himself with a bit of the movement one would expect from monster training. Passively, Percy briefly wondered if Jack's mom trained him a little bit. Percy winced at memories of his second fight with a monster. Without his mother, Percy would have been severely wounded or even killed before he got to Camp. A hand on Percy's shoulder brought him rushing out of his thoughts.

"Percy," Thalia's voice wiped away the teen's racing thoughts the instant her eyes met his. "Are you alright?"

Percy nodded, "I'm just thinking about Jack and Arcee."

"…and Sally?"

Percy nodded numbly.

Thalia squeezed Percy's shoulder gently. "She's fine, Kelp Head," the daughter of Zeus frowned in a bit of worry for her boyfriend. "She's back in New York with Paul, safe."

Percy shivered as they entered a bunk room. "I know that, but an irrational part of me keeps expecting Gabe or Our Uncle to barge in and nab her without me there to do anything." Percy plopped on the bunk dejectedly and put his head in his hands. "It's been four years, and sometimes, I can still smell that bastard's stale cigars and beer!"

Thalia nodded, sat, and simply rubbed his back. I wish I could do more, Percy. The Hero of Half-blood Hill thought even as she fell Percy relax in her comfort.

Percy felt himself begin to zone as he focused on Thalia's touch and used that to ground himself in the present moment. Then, a yawn surprised the young demigod. He laughed lightly and shook his head. "I think I need to lay down before I fall asleep sitting up."

Thalia laughed softly and nodded before she got up and moved to a vacant bed opposite his. "I'll be right here until Arcee and Jack wake us to swap if you need me, Percy."

Percy nodded as he began to drift off thanks to a technique Chiron drilled into all demigods for use during quests. Somewhere between wakefulness and The Realm of Morpheus, a sense of familiarity passed over Percy. He remembered doing this a long time ago with others in his platoon. Platoon? The young man's hazy mind asked, I was never in the army.

An ancient voice echoed in Percy's skull:

Children of Three cursed by Time

One of darkness hides away

Another of lightning in death shall climb

The third of Forgetfulness finds her day

One bears the night

Darkness loses his light

The daughter of Sky howls with fight

When The Sea cannot remove the Blight

"You wish to know the truth of this prophecy, little hero?" The cold, hopeless voice Percy recognized as The Crooked One rattled up from the Depths. "I am not so cruel as to deny you the truths you seek!"

Mortar rounds shelled the land around Percy as his dream self moved up the line. Power, orders, and glory; all of it was Grade A horseshit! Percy noticed a Russian man in the dirt, bloodied and barely alive. Percy felt his body run harder to get to the wounded man, a feeling of familiarly pulled Percy on until he rolled and slid to a stop to sit on his knees in front of the man. On link with the Russian's eyes, Percy would have gasped had he any control of this dream.

Thalia?!

The man laying there dying in the dirt and blood may have had a different body, but he was Thalia, no question. Before Percy could think to stem the bleeding from the Russian's wounds, a shell blasted Percy back and obliterated the Russian's body. Percy was stunned when heard a feminine wail come from his mouth. Then, she growled and tried to run towards the German lines. A few rounds found targets in her soft flesh, but she ignored the pain and instead fed it into her rage. They would pay for this! A sniper's shot threw Percy off her feet. She landed in the mud not two feet from the crater which held the remnants of the Russian. Tears came to her eyes. This soldier knew she was dying. With tears skating down her face, the woman called for her mother: Lathe, remember your daughter, please!

The dream shifted to two flashes: Nico and Bianca going into The Lotus Casino. Nico staring at Percy with rage in his eyes after Percy returned without Bianca.

Then, Thalia knelt by a dying Percy and screamed with the same heartbreak as his past self had for the Russian, even as the stars and moon shown brightly in mockery of Thalia's pain.

Percy shot awake with a gasp. What in Hades was that?! The Child of the Sea put a hand to his head and groaned as he looked over to see Jack standing there in the darkened room, his bright Cybertronian optics giving an eerie blue cast to the room.

"Time to swap out, Percy." Jack nodded when Percy began to move out of bed. Some childish part of Jack wanted to laugh when his optics saw The Child of the Sea. Just like that split second when The Elder Titan pulled Princess Andromeda under the waves to get away from Missy, Jack noted. Only this time, she stuck around.

When Jack moved to wake Thalia, Percy stopped him with a firm hand.

"Don't," Percy said groggily, unaware of the changes. "I'll wake her. It'll be safer that way."

Jack nodded and walked away to leave Percy to it.

When Percy gently shook Thalia awake, the electrical field she maintained around herself while she slept only mildly shocked the young half-blood because he altered the salt content in his skin to make his skin impervious to the electricity. When Thalia felt Percy disrupt the field, she jolted awake and stared for a moment in disbelief. "What happened to you, Kelp Head?" The daughter of Zeus asked in worry.

Percy sighed, "The Crooked One and I had a chat," Percy shivered and felt a strange sensation crawl through every nerve at a mention of the vile Titan. "According to him, we fought together in the trenches of World War I. You were a Russian, but I don't remember which army I served," Percy laughed. "My mother was Lathe, but…" Percy froze when the child of The Sea finally realized why things felt disorienting. "No," Percy growled in vehement denial. "This can't be! I should have complete control!"

Thalia looked at Percy in confusion until she turned on the lights. Thalia frowned in thought as she studied the form before her a moment and gently hugged Perce from behind. "What's wrong?"

"I should have control!" Perce repeated. "I remember. I was six when this first happened. A kind lady helped Mom understand what was going on," Perce explained. "At the time, I thought the person was Aphrodite or something, but knowing what I know now, I think she was Posidaeia."

Thalia raised a brow and turned to look at Perce, "So what?" She asked, "You can change like an immortal?"

Perce shook her head as the pair walked out to their post on deck. "Just like Mother, I can…'Shift'. That's what Mother called it. I can flow between states like water. I haven't done it by accident like this in years and NEVER in my sleep." The daughter of The Sea said before she hung her head and leaned against the railing with a hand over her face. "No one but Mom knew, and now you, Jack, and likely Arcee know."

Thalia shook her head with a small smile and squeezed Perce's free hand. "You dam well know this is mild compared to the other crap we've been forced to do by the gods for the good of the world," the daughter of Zeus sighed and laughed. "I'm not going anywhere, Kelp Head."

Perce blinked away tears she didn't realize were there until her vision blurred. Her mind went back unbidden to the final moments of her life in World War I. Thoughts of Thalia's past life obliterated in milliseconds before her eyes made Perce nearly cry out in renewed agony, but she held it back by the width of a fingernail. The daughter of The Sea's eyes grew distant and glazed over at the unwanted memories the bastard dredged up from unknown depths with his mastery of Time.

"Maybe, The Crooked One forced a Shift to throw both of us off balance," Thalia said as she walked up to Perce after completing an inspection of the ship. When Thalia saw Perce remained fixed in place during the whole walk, she worriedly approached. "Perce, can you hear me?"

At Thalia's voice, Perce's body snapped into a relaxed posture as if someone released tension on a string.

"Y-Yeah, Thales?" Perce whispered softly as a hand flew to her forehead while she stumbled slightly.

"Where were you?"

Perce squeezed her eyes shut. "I…don't want to talk about it," the child of The Sea shivered and puked over the side as the smell of mustard gas still lingered in her nose. Perce's entire expression changed when she felt sea breezes whisk the smell away and fill her nose with the comforting smell of the sea. Thanks, Mother.

Thalia sighed in relief at this mercy and gently pulled Perce into a hug. She opened her mouth to give comfort, but her eyes and attention were drawn away by what appeared to be an island in the middle of nowhere. Perce shivered and looked at Thalia as the daughter of The Sea checked coordinates and let out a curse. "Wake Jack and Arcee, Thalia," Perce said with steel in her voice. "We don't have much choice but to go ashore."

Thalia looked at Percy in confusion as Missy gained speed and continued to gain. Thalia turned to the ship as the speed threatened to throw the daughter of Zeus on her ass. "What in Hades, Missy?!"

"All hands, brace for-!"

Jack and Arcee met Thalia before the Greek could get to their quarters. Jack looked less than pleased as Arcee turned Thalia about to get her running back towards Perce. The young techno-organic looked to be having his own problems with his footing. Arcee helped steady the young Prime, but the crash of ship hitting the beachhead threw everyone to the deck. Thalia rolled just in time to avoid being flatted on accident by the Cybertonian before she slammed into the deck herself.

"Missy, what in HADES is-"

"Thalia!" Jack shouted as he clambered to his feet and watched carefully as Arcee rose back on her pedes. "Missy's avatar is currently down because she was putting all the power she safely could into her engines to try and break the Titan's grip on her hull!" Jack's eyes blazed deep cobalt. "If she had not, the Unicron cursed son of a glitch would have smashed her to slag like wood against rocks!"

Thalia nodded with a shiver at the thought before Perce helped the daughter of Zeus to her feet and looked towards the island with thoughts of Polyphemus trying to eat Grover, Annabeth, and himself. "Be ready for anything, guys. Islands are never a peaceful place for any demigod." With those words, Percy led the way to the the gangplank and began to disembark with the others. Here we go again, Perce thought with a few choice words for Tyche as she kept the water such that Humans only had to wade knee deep while Arcee barely got her pedes wet.

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