Chapter Text
Percy
I was sitting on the dining room table, and Carlisle was removing glass from my head. I sat there tiredly, and listened to the sounds of the glass landing in the tray.
plink... plink... plink...
My mind was swirling when Carlisle broke the silence.
"Are you able to tell us what happened?" He asked quietly, directing the question at Bella and I. I looked over at her briefly before having my head moved back into place, and she decided to take the reins.
"We were driving over for dinner, and something jumped out in the road, almost right in front of us. I turned hard to the right to avoid it, and we crashed in a ditch. Percy's head hit he passenger side window, and the car was smoking pretty badly. I started screaming because something reached in the car and pulled Percy out the window, only for something else to come and grab me." She explained.
"It was a Laistrygonian Giant, they're cannibals from the north. I haven't seen one since... wow I haven't seen one since we were in Canada." I reflected. I was earned some odd looks, but I let Bella keep explaining.
"So we were dragged through a crowd of different monsters, and then brought to the middle. This woman came out, and I was only able to see her after I looked through the mist really hard. She had fire for hair and a donkey leg, and she kept changing between that and a beautiful woman."
"She was an Empousa," I supplied. "They disguise themselves as beautiful women to lure people in for them to eat. The first time I saw one was in grade eight, when Kelli and Tammi disguised themselves as cheerleaders and attacked me at high school orientation."
"So the Empousa, Kelli, kept talking to Percy. She tried to taunt him, and get him angry. When it didn't work she grabbed me, talking about hu-something and watching friends die. Percy then attacked her so I could get free, and I ran back to the Cullen's."
The vampires absorbed the information, and a heavy silence settled over the room. Ever the peace maker, Carlisle turned to me again.
"Would you mind if I took a look at your back?" I took a moment to consider, not wanting them to see the scars on my back and chest. I resolved that all secrets needed to be out in the open right now, and that I was making more of a big deal that it actually was.
I nodded and took off my jacket, removing the buttoned shirt along with it and my tank top. I felt cold and exposed, and tried to ignore the stares I felt on my skin. Carlisle just "hmm'ed" quietly and continued to work, removing more glass.
plink... plink... plink...
Jacob broke the silence again and took the attention away from my body, for which I was grateful.
"So Bella mentioned a 'hu-something', what is that?" I sighed quietly before explaining.
"It's called 'hubris' or a fatal flaw. Every demigod has one, it's a character trait that can get you killed, hence the name. It comes in all different forms; some have deadly pride, some have excessive grudges. Kelli was talking about my fatal flaw, personal loyalty."
"And what does that mean?" Seth asked.
"It means that I would give up the world to save a friend, and put their life before mine without thinking. It's dangerous, and has put me in more difficult situations than I can count" I elaborated. Silence lapsed again, and Edward posed the million dollar question.
"Percy... what are you?"
~ ~ ~
"Okay, so there's no easy way to say this." I took a deep breath. "I'm a demigod son of Poseidon. I'm half mortal, half Greek god. I have been trained to survive at a camp for kids like me since I was twelve, and have been on a bunch of quests since then. My best friends are a daughter of Athena and a Satyr, and my half brother is a cyclops." I said bluntly. Everyone was gobsmacked at the cyclops comment, and I was met with too many questions at once.
"How is your brother a cyclops?"
"The greek gods are real?"
"What are quests?"
"What's the mist?"
I interrupted, cutting off the flow of questions. I sighed, and decided to enlist the help of a friend to explain. I hopped off the table and padded my way to the kitchen, against the wishes of the curious people in the other room. I poured a glass of water and returned to my seat, and cast mist into the air. I heard gasps behind me, and I spoke the magic words.
"O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show Annabeth Chase, San Francisco."
I tossed in a golden drachma, and was soon greeted with a familiar face. She was reading in her room, curled up on her favourite chair.
"Wise Girl!" I yelled. She jumped, dropping her book and taking a ready stance. She heaved a sigh of relief once she saw it was me, and relaxed back into her chair.
"Percy! How are you? Why are you bleeding? Are you okay? Whose behind you?" She asked all at once. I chuckled, responding with 'I'm good, monster attack, I'm good and Jacob'. She immediately wanted to know what happened, and I explained quickly. Once she was in the loop, she introduced herself to the room.
"So for anyone who doesn't know, I'm Annabeth Chase - this one's designated ass saver," She snickered.
"Oh I'm sorry, who saved who's ass from atlas?" I asked cheekily. Being the daughter of Athena, she was right back with a witty retort.
"Oh yeah? Well who saved you from a knife to your Achilles heel?"
"And that time with the sirens?"
"You and I both know how I saved you the throne room during the titan war."
"I'm sorry, who fell into Tartarus for you?" This earned some gasps from the peanut gallery.
"Who was smart enough to make you drink fire?"
"Who poisoned Akhlys for you?"
"We both know you couldn't have outsmarted Nyx without me."
"Okay, okay, enough. You win again Miss. Impeccable-memory-Chase." I chuckled. She beamed at me, and eventually all the questions regarding the greek world were answered. We talked for a little while longer, and she told embarrassing stories about our past quests.
"And then, she turned him into a guinea pig!" The room exploded into laughter, and I turned a wonderful shade of red.
"I thought we weren't going to bring that up again!" I whined. She only chuckled and shook her head. She listened to Seth tell a story for a little while, and was struck with an idea.
"Did he ever tell you about the time they offered to make him a god?"
Heads whipped in my direction and I burrowed into the sweater Edward gave me. Peeking out, I noticed the stares hadn't ceased, and I whispered "What?"
"Dude, first of all, they offered to make you a god?! And second, why wouldn't you accept that?" Embry asked in an incredulous tone.
"After we won the Titan war they offered me godhood for saving Olympus - even though Annabeth did just as much as me - and I turned it down because I couldn't bear the thought of leaving her behind." I explained simply.
There were some 'awww's at that comment, and Annabeth gave me one of those secret smiles. It was one that told me we would be okay, that she was proud of us. I was more than inclined to agree.
~ ~ ~
Eventually Annabeth had to go, and the night wound down from there. Edward drove us back home late that night, and I grabbed a cold slice of pizza from the fridge for dinner. I was walking up the stairs to bed when I was stopped by Bella.
"Percy, I just want you to know you don't have to be ashamed of your body. Normal people wouldn't get it, but we do. You went through a lot, and you didn't come out unscathed. And that's okay. Nothing you could put on your skin would make me stop loving you. Okay?"
I smiled, finding comfort in her words. Pulling her in for a hug, I nestled my head on her shoulder and whispered,
"Thank you."