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Icy wind howled at the peak of mount Olympus. It blew the stench of blood and rotting corpses around the ruins of a once beautiful palace. Survivors of the previous assault stood in the bright sun, watching as the final and most important battle unrolled before their eyes.
Their hero stood before his opponent, sword drawn and pointed at the man he was fighting. His black hair whipped around in the wind and his face was twisted in a mixture of anger, sadness and regret. His sea-green eyes, haunted by the horrors he had seen in his short fifteen years, were trained carefully on his enemy.
"You'll never win Percy Jackson," The man told him with a sadistic smile.
Percy faltered, doubt adding itself to the melting pot of emotions showing on his face.
"Luke?" he asked tentatively
The smile receded and a hopeless look appeared in Luke's eyes.
"Please, let me do it. Percy, I'm begging you."
A knife appeared in the folds of Percy's garments. He grabbed it and hesitantly handed it to his opponent.
His blind and frankly stupid trust in his opponent of all people caused him to hand his previously disarmed enemy a weapon. Luckily for him, the situation was exceptional.
Percy Jackson was much smarter than everyone thought. Throughout the fight, he had noticed Luke and the one possessing him dancing around each other. Two opposites, trapped and bound together, both fighting for dominance of the rather impressive sack of meat they inhabited.
The fact that Luke was a lot more docile than Kronos when fighting hadn't slipped his attention either. So when Luke's passive pleas met his ears, he granted him a hero's death, as much on Luke's terms as he could afford.
He watched, eyes carefully trained on his opponent as Luke took the knife and turned it onto himself. He forced himself not to flinch when Luke plunged the knife into the kink in his armour. He made himself stand and watch as Luke fell to the ground, the Titan inside him howling.
'This is my punishment' Percy thought, eyes glued to the body thrashing on the ground. 'I should have been more attentive. Now, someone is suffering for my mistakes.'
He was still staring at Luke when his thrashing slowed. Eventually, the dying boy stilled in perfect imitation of the many elegant marble statues that had decorated the palace of the gods before it's unfortunate destruction.
He watched a pair of demigods drag Luke's corpse away to do gods know what with it. When the body was out of sight, he directed his gaze to the pool of blood tainting the marble tiles. The gold and red liquid pooled in the small cracks in between the tiles.
Moving for the first time, Percy knelt and reached his hand out and dipped it in the thick red liquid. He brought his hand up, blood dripping down into his sleeves and onto the floor.
He wasn't frightened by it, nor was he disgusted. He was enamoured with the liquid, the rhythmic dripping hypnotised him and brought a small smile to his face. He brought his hand closer to his face, inspecting the blood even closer and dirtying his armour in the process.
The blood smelled metallic and Percy found it intoxicating. He put his hand on his face, smudging the blood on his nose.
Then he snapped out of his blissful, slightly sadistic trance. His eyes widened in shock and mild disgust when he realised what he had been doing. He wondered why he was so interested with his dead friend and foe's blood.
Sitting down in the pool, oblivious to the red soaking his pants, Percy contemplated his strange reaction to the blood. After a few minutes, he was struck with a realisation. He had had a similar reaction to water for a while before discovering camp half-blood. He could understand the water, he was a Son of Poseidon, a child of the sea. An idea wormed it's way into his mind as though it was a rotting apple. He focused on the blood around him, willing it to rise. To his surprise, it was marginally easy. Shocked, he let the blood drop, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. The throne room had pretty much been cleared out, meaning he had been sitting in the blood for far longer than he thought.
Mildly unsettled, he rose from the spot on the stained marbled floor of the throne room. He intended to help the last of the demigods clear out all their supplies and the carry the injured away but upon seeing him soaked head to toe in blood, the healer, Will Solace forced him into a cot.
"Percy! What the Hades happened to you? Why are you so bloody." He demanded.
Percy tried to get out of the cot but he held him down. He sighed
"It's not my blood Will. Really, I'm fine."
"And whose blood is it? " he sighed, clearly not believing him.
"It's- It's Luke's."
Will's eyes widened. He then gave Percy a sympathetic smile and offered him a hand.
"Well then, let's get you cleaned up. I think there are some spare clothes in the healers' tent."
"Thanks, Will." He told him, already heading towards the tent.
The healers' tent was set up at the perimeter of the space they had cordoned off to treat the injured. Close enough to the battles so that they could get the injured there quickly but far enough away that the healers and their patients were not in danger.
Percy wandered into the tent in search of the clothes Will had mentioned. After a cursory glance around, he found them sitting under a pile of sheets, presumably for the cots.
'I wonder how they had time to set all this up' He mused as he undressed, forgetting that he was in a public place. He placed his soiled shirt carefully in a bin of other dirty things such as bandages and bedding. He grabbed the clean, orange one that had been in the pile and started to pull it on when he heard a startled squeak. He turned around to see a blond boy standing at the door, red as a tomato and covering his eyes. The boy was short and looked to be a year or so younger than him.
"Sorry 'bout that," he chocked with a distinctly British accent then turned on his heel and fled.
Percy chuckled to himself as he continued to change, albeit a little more quickly now. Soon enough, all of his blood-soaked clothes had been peeled off and we're sitting in a bin that they were definitively not supposed to be in.
He ventured out of the tent to see the healers helping their patients into a van that would take them home to Camp Half-Blood. He wandered over to Will who was nearly dragging an unconscious teenage boy to the vehicle. Perci ducked under the boys left arm and helped will transport him.
"Thanks, Perce," he said softly, not wanting to wake his patient. With Percy's help, he manoeuvred the boy into the van. Once everyone was installed, A healer, drove off, leaving the rest of the demigods to pack up any supplies left at the site of the final battle.
"How are you faring Percy?" he queried once the van was out of sight.
"It's a bit too soon to tell. I think I'm still in shock."
Will nodded understandingly.
"Just remember Perce, we're all here for you. Everyone at camp. We're your family and we're all going to get through this together."
A sad smile graced Percy's lips.
"Thanks, Will,"
The healer tipped his invisible hat.
"Anytime"
Percy was about to make a witty comment when he caught sight of the blonde who had accidentally walked in on him earlier. They locked eyes then the boy flushed again and looked at his feet.
"I need to go take care of something Will, Thanks again for everything." He told his friend then set off in the direction of the boy, who seemed to be trying to subtly back away from him.
"Hey!" he called out, forcing the blonde to acknowledge him. He turned around, trying to force his face into a mask of cool-headedness and calm. His attempts were in vain. he either wasn't very good at it or he was more uncomfortable than Percy thought.
"I just wanted to apologize for earlier" Percy said sheepishly. "I should've found somewhere less public to change and I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable,"
The boy stared at him incredulously as though Percy was speaking in Mandarin,"
Percy offered him a hand. "Friends?"
Mercury coloured eyes flicked down to the hand that was offered to him and his lips curled in disgust.
"Of course. I'm not shaking that though." He said, motioning towards the hand. "It's full of blood."
Percy looked down at his hand and, just like the boy had told him, his hand was covered in dried, crusty blood. His arm fell back down to his side.
"I'm Percy," he offered
"I know."
They stood in awkward silence for a moment before the boy sighed.
"You may call me Dray"
Percy's eyes narrowed and an eyebrow flew up. His mind started to feel fuzzy as a wave of irrational anger crept up on him
"That isn't your real name" he stated rather than asked.
"It isn't." Dray agreed
Percy ran a hand through his hair, leaving flakes of dried blood in it.
"It's a bit rude to conceal your name from your allies"
Dray tilted his head.
"You cannot boss me around. You may be the Hero of Olympus but you are no god,"
Percy smiled cruelly, eyes flashing. "Oh, I know,"
Dray's eyes widened and he took an unconscious step back, trying to put space between him and the Half Blood Hero.
"It was very nice to meet you Dray " Percy purred and Dray took many, purposeful steps back.
"Likewise Perseus"
Dray turned on his heel and ran off.
'What a rude kid' Percy thought, his mind clearing as he turned away from the child's retreating figure to help haul out the supplies. To his surprise, there was nothing to haul. Will was the only other person in the hall, and he was leaning against a wall, waiting for Percy to finish what he was doing.
Percy rushed towards Will.
"I'm so sorry to keep you waiting," he apologised when he finally reached the son of Apollo.
"Guess you'll just have to make it up to me then" he winked at Percy.
An exasperated sigh left Percy's lips.
"Archery and medicine is good and all but did you really have to inherit your dad's flirtiness?"
Will shrugged "What can you do? There's no choice when it comes to genetics,"
They endured Will's dad's choice of elevator music as they rode the elevator down to the ground floor and were deposited in the lobby of the empire state building. The pair only received a few strange glances as they made their way out of the building.
The streets of New York were bustling with pedestrians. Cars circulated the streets. Everything was normal. Then Percy collapsed.
He groaned in pain, his internal organs felt as though they had been set aflame. After a few moments, the pain subsided leaving a deathly pale Percy and a worried Will.
"Percy?"
"That hurt like Hades" Percy complained, sitting on the pavement. Will pulled him up and threw Percy's arm over his shoulder to support him.
" 'm okay Will, I just need to sit down." Percy groaned.
They walked towards a nearby coffee shop and settled down at one of the tables.
"Are you sure you're okay Percy?"
"Yeah." Percy waved his hands in a placating gesture. "It may have had something to do with my invulnerability"
Will's eyes widened.
"We need to take it off then! You can't just collapse randomly, invulnerable or not> What if you're fighting? Or eating. You could be swimming away from a deadly sea monster and have an episode and bam! No more Percy."
"You're right. Percy acknowledged. " I think that I can shatter it? This thing didn't really come with an instruction manual..."
"We'll figure it out"
"Right"
The pair ordered drinks and sat at their spot, watching the street through the shop's window.
"We really saved them,"
Percy looked at Will with obvious confusion. "What do you mean"
"Everything. We saved New York, We save the country. Hades, We saved the world Percy"
Percy looked out bitterly. "And they'll never even know they needed to be saved."
Will somehow became more excited at that. " We work in the shadows, Percy! We are needed, but only we are aware of it."
"We saved them and yet, if they ever found us, we'd be experiments or specimen. Our home would no longer be Camp Half-blood. Instead, we would live in cages at the central park Zoo,"
"Ahem-" A voice interrupted them. A young woman was standing behind them clad in a Yellow and Red uniform.
"I'm sorry sirs but we will need you to clear this space if you aren't going to order anything more," She told them rudely.
The same mental static as before took over his mind and a heartbeat that wasn't his own filled his ears. Keeping his temper in check, he gave the woman a feral grin.
"Oh no, it's us who should be sorry. Our apologies for taking up your precious space." His eyes settled on Will. "Come on Will, we have to get home anyway,"
Will nodded, slipping out of his seat. They strode out of the shop, Will staying close enough to Percy that he could catch him if he collapsed again. They hailed a cab to take them out to their camp's mortal front; Delphi's Strawberries.
The drive was silent. Percy stared out the window with conviction, unwilling to talk about his collapse or his temper while Will stared at Percy, worry creasing his face. They rode like this for the 20 minutes it took to get them to Camp Half-blood.
Percy and Will were deposited at the edge of the forest surrounding the camp. They had nothing to carry seeing as everything was already at camp. Will turned towards Percy only to see that his companion was once again on the ground.
Will kneeled next to Percy trying to figure out what had happened. Percy was breathing normally, he wasn't pale or anything. Everything was as it should be except for the fact that he was unconscious and he was ice-cold.
"Percy!" Will shook his friends shoulders, not knowing what else to do.
Finally, Will stop shaking, took his jacket off and put it over Percy's chest. He moved to pick him up when Percy's eyelids fluttered.
"Percy! thank the gods. Come on, you need to get to the infirmary."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that godspawn."
Will froze. "What?"
Suddenly a silver knife found itself buried through Will's chest.
"Percy?"
He found himself on the grassy forest floor. The stab wound in his was throbbing painfully and blood flowed out of it, staining his grassy bed. He lay there, staring up at the sky.
"Why?" Will gasped
A figure loomed above him it leaned down revealing Percy's face screwed into an expression Will had never seen before.
"I'm afraid I need your blood Godling"
Will tried to move his arm to gesture at the blood around him.
"I think you're wasting some of it."
Percy chuckled. It was not a laugh filled with happiness or mirth. It was a dark chuckle, the kind you might expect from a killer clown or a movie villain.
"Witty until the end. I can respect that. You also make a good point sun spawn. It is time to feast,"
Will closed his eyes, awaiting the pain he knew was coming. Instead of seeing dark, however, the eyes of his killer filled his vision. They were not sea green as they should've been. They were a deep, blood red.
"Goodbye Will Solace, Son of Apollo" was whispered in his ear before an unbearable pain invaded his body.
Unable to contain himself, Will Solace screamed.