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Percy feels numb. He’s not hurt - not physically anyway, but emotionally? That’s another story.
Percy steps through the apartment, feeling tired, empty and hollow. Distantly he hears something - someone say something - but it flies over his head. He doesn’t hear the individual noise. Robotically Percy takes off his coat, and toes off his shoes. He hears the noise again, and it slips over his head again.
Suddenly Paul comes around the corner, looking concerned. He spots Percy and the concern turns from worry into panic. “Percy? Percy. Can you hear me? Sally!”
His mom appears next, with his name on his lips. Percy hugs her, and doesn’t let go.
Eventually - Percy doesn’t know how much later - they get him on the couch. Paul pushes a mug of warm tea in his hands, and his mom rubs his back. “Percy, what happened?”
Percy turns towards her. “Mom, when… when you were dating dad - Poseidon, I mean - you knew who he was; an Olympian god. Were you ever scared of him?”
Sally looks taken back by the question.
Paul looks confused, and he glances between Sally and Percy. Eventually, he turns to Percy. “Why do you ask?”
…
Earlier that day, he was out with Annabeth. They were walking through New York city for one of the last times before they moved to New Rome for university, and possibly the rest of the times.
Percy didn’t know how it had happened. One moment, he was holding Annabeth’s hand, listening to her talk about the courses in her upcoming architecture program that she was looking forward to, and then the next moment, he was waking up alone.
Percy sat up, and touched his head. His hand came away bloody, and there was a dull throb on his hairline. Had someone - something knocked him out?
Carefully Percy stood up and looked around. For miles, the only thing he could see was hills of grass, in each direction. However, his senses told him that he was on an island, in the Atlantic Ocean. The salty water called to him, and he could sense it’s power at the ends of his mind, urging him towards it.
There was no sign of Annabeth.
“Annabeth!” Percy yelled out, panic with a tinge of hope clear in his voice.
As if on clue, a Giantess rose from the ground several metres away from Percy, making the ground vibrate. As the Giantess rose, Percy saw that it was carrying something in its hand - a tied-up, limp Annabeth.
Percy immediately pulled out Riptide and uncapped the pen. His loyal, faintly glowing celestial bronze sword immediately appeared before him.
Percy made eye contact with Annabeth, and she nodded. She wasn’t badly hurt. It was a little easier for Percy to breathe after that. Percy watched as Annabeth wiggled around in the Giantess’ grip - presumably getting her dagger and starting to cut her way out of the Giantess’ grip.
The giantess glared angrily at Percy. “YOU!” She boomed. “ YOU ARE THE MITE THAT FOILED MY MOTHER GAEA’S PLANS?”
So that’s what this was about then. Percy had assumed that the Olympian gods and the seven had taken care of all the giants during the battle at the end of their quest, but apparently not. There was one more for him to finish off.
There was one problem with that; Percy needed a greek god to kill a Giant. He couldn’t do it on his own. He needed a plan. But until he could come up with one…
Percy decided to stall. He played dumb. “Who?”
The Giantess looked even angrier. “YOU KNOW WHO, FOOLISH BOY! MY MOTHER, THE EARTH!”
“Ah, her.” Percy responded. “That old dirt bag?”
The Giant looked positively murderous, and she subconsciously gripped Annabeth tighter. Annabeth cried out in pain.
“ENOUGH GAMES! ANSWER ME, OR I WILL KILL THE GIRL!” The Giantess held Annabeth up, and visibly squeezed.
Percy watched as Annabeth’s dagger fell out of her grasp as she screamed in pain.
No. No - They didn’t survive two wars, they didn’t survive Tartarus for this Giantess to finish them off here.
Percy saw red.
He stepped forward. “Yes, I’m the demi-god. Put her down, and take me. I’m the one you want!”
To Percy’s surprise, the Giantess started laughing. She laughed and laughed, until she bent in half and used her empty hand to hold her stomach. “‘Put her down, and take you,’ you say little demi-god? No, I will not. You see, I don’t just want to kill you. No. That would be too easy, too painless. I have waited eons, eons for my mother to wake up. I have waited eons in solitude, suppressed by the titans and the gods, waiting for my mother to rise up and take back our rightful place. And then YOU! YOU SPITEFUL LITTLE MITES RUINED EVERYTHING!”
The Giantess started pacing like a caged animal, Annabeth still stuck in her grasp. “No, I will not kill you. I wish to make you suffer as I did, waiting for my mother to return. I wish to make you suffer as I do now, hopeless, wondering if I will have to wait another eon for the possibility that my mother will awake.”
The Giantess stopped pacing, and a slow cruel smile covered her face.
A cold, dark foreboding feeling crept over Percy. He didn’t like where this was going.
“I wish to make you suffer, by doing the same thing you did to me: taking away the one who is most important to you.”
At that statement, large, thick vines sprung from the earth, immobilizing Percy in place, forcing him to drop Riptide and preventing him from charging at the Giantess. A large vine wrapped around Percy’s head, covering his mouth and pinning his head in place, staring at Annabeth. Percy let out a muffled snarl of rage, and fear. Annabeth.
The Giantess laughed, a cruel dark laugh. “I will enjoy this! I will enjoy your pain. It will sustain me as I await mother’s return!”
The Giantess dropped Annabeth like a ragdoll. The moment she touched the ground, large vines identical to the ones that were immobilizing Percy wrapped around Annabeth. As Percy watched in fear, they didn’t stop there. They wrapped around her neck, torso and kept on squeezing. Squeezing the life out of her.
The Giantess walked over and stood next to him, staring at Annabeth like she was a particular interesting tv show.
“How does it feel to watch the one you love struggle in vain, without being able to help them?”
Percy watched as the vines painfully dug into Annabeth’s skin and she flailed, desperate and unable to get away like an insect caught in a spider’s web.
No!
Percy trashed in his restraints, but the vines didn’t give. They kept in him the spot, unable to move an inch or reach Riptide.
“How does it feel to be so useless, as you watch the one you love wither away?”
Percy watched in growing horror as Annabeth’s face started turning red, and her attempts to get away got weaker and weaker.
NO!
Percy frantically reached out with his mind, desperately calling for the power of the Atlantic Ocean. However, despite being on an island there were miles and miles of grass and earth between them. The ocean was too far away, it didn’t respond.
“How does it feel to watch the one you love… die?”
Annabeth stopped struggling, and her head lolled backward, almost lifeless.
NO!
Something in Percy broke free. A wordless snarl erupted from his lips, as the entire island shook. Cracks started appearing over the entire island.
The Giantess staggered backward. “What’s going on? Is that you, mother Gaea?”
The cracks grew larger, and the island continued shaking, growing in intensity up to an 8.0 earthquake.
The Giantess fell down, and she released her grasps on the vines. They loosened and fell. Annabeth collapsed on the shaking ground, gasping for air. Percy immediately ripped his away, and staggered towards the Giantess. Riptide had long fallen through the cracks, and wouldn’t reappear for another minute.
That didn’t matter, Percy didn’t need it to kill the Giantess.
Percy stood over the Giantess, his face a terrifying picture of anger and rage. He extended his hand, and instinctively looked for it; the water-like substance that ran through everyone’s veins, through the Giantess’ veins.
“It’s not Gaea,” Percy nearly growled. “It’s me.”
He mentalled grasped hold of the Giantess’ blood, and pulled. The Giantess cried out in pain and whimpered, squirming and struggling to get away.
Percy didn’t let her get away. He kept her in place, and kept pulling. The Giantess squirmed and begged as golden ichor dropped out of her nose, eyes and ears. She grew paler, until her face was ashen. Suddenly, she became completely still and silent.
Percy gave one last mental pull, and the Giantess erupted into a giantess-sized mound of golden dust.
The anger and fear melted away and Percy turned away from the dust towards Annabeth. She looked back at him in horror. Her eyes seemed to say, Percy what did you do?
In his mind, he heard her screaming in Tartarus, begging him to stop killing Ahkyls. In Tartarus, he had heard her and stopped.
Here, he didn’t stop.
His eyes wet, heart in his throat, Percy stepped forwards. “Annabe-” and then froze.
Despite the tremors in the ground slowly decreasing in magnitude, the cracks in the island were still growing alarmingly fast in size. A large crack, nearly a meter wide and nearly a mile long stood between him and Annabeth.
As Percy and Annabeth watched, the island gave on final shudder - not unlike a dying person taking their last breath. To their left, part of the island collapsed in a puff of dirt, moving below the ocean level. To their right, another part of the island collapsed and fell into the island.
The hills around the island that protected the valley that they were in, were giving away to the ocean. The valley, that lay below the ocean surface level.
Insinctly, Percy knew that they had minutes before the entire valley would be flooded with water. He ran toward Annabeth, jumping over and around the growing cracks in the ground. He helped her up, and yanked the vines away.
“Percy, the water - the ocean, it’s going to -” Annabeth stuttered, scared.
“It’s okay.” Percy replied a plan forming. He had never done something of this magnitude. The last time he had tried holding back the ocean was when he was twelve at the beach fighting Ares, and even then he had only managed to hold a few waves back for a few minutes. However, some part of him knew that he would be strong enough.
Percy took a whistle out of his pocket made out of Stygian Ice and blew it. After a moment, it shattered. It didn’t make a sound, nothing audible to human ears at least, but Percy knew that the intended recipients would hear it.
At that moment, the last of the hill on their left crumbled under the pressure of the ocean, and billions upon billions of gallons of water burst through and headed for them.
Percy held up his left hand towards the upcoming tsunami wave, dug his feet in and thought wait. Stay.
A second later to their right, the hill to their right crumbled, and even more billions upon billions of ocean water poured through, beelining for the lowest point: where Percy and Annabeth stood.
They were surrounded.
In less than a minute they would be overcome. The sheer force of the water hitting them would be lethal.
Annabeth curled into Percy, fear evident on her face. She wrapped her arms around his torso and held on, shaking. “Percy-”
“It’s okay, I got it. We’re gonna be okay.”
Despite having a mortal mother, Percy wasn’t mortal.
He wasn’t even a mere demi-god.
There was a reason why Zeus and the other greek gods wanted to kill him; he was powerful. He wasn’t just powerful, he was strong, strong enough to pose a threat to them, gods.
At the age of 12, Percy had fought the god of war himself, and survived.
At fifteen, Percy had fought Hades, one of the big three, one of the strongest entities in existence and came out victorious, without a scratch.
There was a reason why the marine life called Percy lord, even if he hadn’t realized it at the time. Percy was a lord, he was lord of the seas and oceans, second only to Poseidon himself.
The seas, the oceans, it was his to command.
It would obey him.
Trillions of water thundered around the collapsing island, moving towards them. They had less than half a minute.
Percy raised his right arm, and focused on that part of him, that wasn’t human. On the part of him that he got from his father, one of the strongest beings in existence.
Percy focused on this part of his mind that sensed the ocean, and commanded it to stop.
The ocean rebelled and pushed forward; it did not like to be controlled and tamed. But Percy was stronger. He grinded his teeth together, and commanded it.
STOP!
Instantly, the trillions of water around Percy stopped approaching, leaving a dry clearing of grass about thirty feet around them.
Beyond the thirty feet, the ocean water pooled around, slapping against an invisible barrier, growing higher and higher until it was the same level as the rest of the ocean.
A bead of sweat dropped down Percy’s forehead. He turned to Annabeth. “We’re okay, Wise Girl.”
Annabeth made a strangled sound. Before she could talk, a large black hellhound appeared out of the shadows of the ocean walls, two campers on her back.
“Where - oH HADES! Nico where did you take me?!” Will exclaimed from Mrs. O’Leary’s back.
Seeing the trillions of gallons of water surrounding her, Mrs. O’Leary whimpered.
Nico looked around, just as warily surprised. “I-I don’t know.” Then he spotted Percy and Annabeth. He waved. “GUYS! Over here!”
Percy and Annabeth ran towards Mrs. O’Leary. He helped Annabeth climb on Mrs. O’Leary’s back as Will shuffled closer to Nico, making space for them.
Nico turned to Percy. “You’re doing all of this?”
The ocean strained against Percy’s control, angry and rebellious, but Percy kept his hold on it.
It would not escape.
Percy nodded. “I can’t hold it forever, but we have enough time.”
After Annabeth had settled behind Will looking slightly green, Percy climbed up behind her and held on.
Will turned around to look at Percy. “Are you going to fall unconscious? Because holding all this up -” Will gestures to the trillions of gallons around them. “- has to be taking a monumental effort. After Nico shadow-travelling with the Athena Parenthos to Camp Half Blood, he nearly turned into a shadow. All I’m saying is, if you’re about to fall unconscious, you shouldn’t be sitting in the back.”
In the front, Nico growled. “I did not faint, what are you talking about?”
Will and Percy ignored him.
Another bead of sweat dripped down Percy’s forehead and he shook his head. “I’m not going to fall unconscious. Let’s go.”
Nico bent down and tapped Mrs. O’Leary’s side. “Okay, girl. Take us out of here!”
Mrs. O’Leary was all too happy to escape the watery prison. With a bound, she disappeared into the shadows.
The four demi-gods reappeared at Camp Half Blood in the middle of the training area, startling the Aphrodite and Dionysis cabins that had started to practise their sword and dagger fighting.
Nico, Will, Annabeth and Percy dismounted. Mrs. O’Leary shook herself and yawned before lumbering away, presumably to recuperate. Nico frowned after her. He turned back to Will.
“I’m gonna go make sure she’s okay. We were travelling with her before Percy called, and carrying four demi-gods is a pretty heavy weight. I’ll see you at dinner?”
“Okay. See you there, Death-Boy!” Will smiled as Nico’s scowled before waving to Percy and Annabeth and disappearing after Mrs. O’Leary.
Will turned to Percy. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Percy assessed himself. Sure, he was tired. There was a faint sensation of lead in his limbs, the way one feels when they workout and use muscles that they haven’t used in awhile, but it was nothing that a dip in the ocean, or a sip of nectar couldn’t fix.
Percy nodded. “I’m good, man. Really.”
Will eyed him curiously. “That was a lot of power back there…”
Annabeth cleared her throat. “Will, could you give us a moment?” Again, a sense of foreboding filled Percy. But this was different - Percy could tell that there was no physical threat. His insides turned to lead. “Annabeth-”
Will looked between Percy and Annabeth, as if now noting the tense atmosphere between them. He nodded slowly. “O-okay. I’ll be in the infirmary. Percy, as a doctor I highly recommend getting some rest and nectar as soon as… Yeah okay, I’m gone.” He left.
Annabeth turned towards him, and Percy’s heart sunk. He reached out for her. “Annabeth, I’m sorry -”
Annabeth stepped out of his reach and swallowed. “Percy, you promised you wouldn’t use those powers.” Her eyes were watery, and there was something in them, in the way that Annabeth was looking at Percy, that scared him. “Some things aren’t meant to be controlled. And that island-”
Percy winced.
“It’s gone. Completely gone. You destroyed an entire island and held back the power of the ocean. I can’t - it scares me Percy.”
Percy’s heart was thudding loudly in his chest and his mouth dry as sand. His palms were sweaty, shaking. “What- what are you saying?”
“I-I’m saying I need some space. Just for now.” Annabeth whispered. “I love you, and I know you love me and I know you were protecting me, but - it was scary and I need some place to think. To process.”
Tears rose to his eyes, but Percy forced them back, shaking. “Annabeth I’m sorry. I never meant to - I never meant to scare you. I would never hurt y-”
“I know, I know. It’s just, when you do things like that you don’t look like a demi-god. You look like a god. One of them.” Annabeth gestured up, and Percy knew what she was talking about. One of the olympian gods, that moved mortals, demi-gods and others around them like pawns. That created unimaginable levels of destruction, dismissing all the weaker beings that got caught up as collateral.
The worst part of it was that when Percy had killed the Giantess, when he held back the ocean, he had felt like a god.
“I-” Percy bit his lip, and then nodded stepping back, away from Annabeth, feeling hollow and empty inside. He had scared Annabeth. “I understand.”
…
Percy gives them the watered down, vague version: He and Annabeth got kidnapped by a monster. The monster had threatened to kill Annabeth, and Percy had used his powers to kill the monster. He and Annabeth had gotten away in time safely, but Percy’s display had scared Annabeth. She had asked for space and time away from him.
His mom shakes her head. “I never felt scared of Poseidon when we were together. I knew who he was, but I only had the faintest idea of what he was capable of. He had used his powers in front of me a few times but it was never… combative, for a fight.”
Percy nods, and looks down, his heart sinking even further.
On his other side, Paul nudges him. “Hey, you did it to protect her. Your intentions were good. That has to count for something.”
Percy shakes his head. “She was scared of me. I can’t see her - us getting past this.” His voice trembles. “I don’t want to be like them - the gods.”
His mom hugs him. “Percy - listen to me. You’re not like them. I know you, you have a good heart. This power that you have - it doesn’t make you bad. It doesn’t force you to become like them. Your powers are an extension of you. You were scared and angry, and you reacted that way. These acts, they don’t define you. You, you’re choices - that’s what defines you.”
Percy nods and buries his head in his mom’s shoulder. “And about Annabeth - I’ve seen the two of you grow up together. You’ve been friends since you were twelve. You’ve survived two wars together. Just give her time to process, okay? She is still your friend.”
Percy nods.
Paul clears his throat. “I don’t know her as well as you guys do - but if I had to guess, she’s probably trying to reconcile what you did back there with the same guy who spilled water and lasagna all over himself on his third anniversary.”
Percy’s ears turn red, and Sally reaches over and playfully pushes Paul. But the joke works, by the end, Percy is smiling - albeit slightly - again.
“Thanks - I think I really needed that.”
His mom smiles at him and kisses his forehead. “Anytime. We’re here for you.”
The End.