Chapter Text
Percy’s POV
I woke up from a nightmare sweating. I was currently sitting up in my bed, looking around my cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Now I should probably explain. I am a demigod: half mortal, half god. I have been on quite a lot of quests and wanted a break. Although I doubt I will get one.
Now, you're probably wondering why I had a nightmare. Well, that's because I fell into Tartarus. I was saving Annabeth, my ex-girlfriend, from falling into the Pit, but we ended up both falling in. Ever since then, I felt like we had been slowly drifting apart. I found out after the war that Annabeth didn't have any nightmares or flashbacks. She didn't understand what I was going through.
Flashback
I walking towards the infirmity when I ran into Annabeth. She ran towards me, probably wanting to ask me something. I saw that she was already patched up. Must have gone to the infirmity before this. Her dagger was sheathed on her waist. She had a slight limp because of a monster spraining her ankle.
“Hey, Seaweed Brain!” she exclaimed. “Are you heading to the infirmity?” She was now walking besides me.
“Yeah. I need to get all wrapped up in bandages, Wisegirl,” I told her with a smile. Her blond hair waved around as she laughed. Her gray eyes seemed almost silver as they sparkled. We continued to walk in silence towards the infirmity, my wounds still bleeding. When we got there, a child of Apollo rushed over.
“How are you still conscience!? You should have bleed out by now!” Will Solace, the head counselor of Cabin 7, exclaimed.
“I’m Percy Jackson, what do expect?” I answered, knowing it probably wasn’t a good idea. My Wisegirl just shook her head and wisely, as all children of Athena are, left. Will glared at me.
“What are you still doing standing up? Get in that bed! Now!” I quickly obliged, not wanting to anger the doctor even more. Just as I slipped onto the bed, I felt my adrenaline rush fade away. I slumped on the bed. Will noticed and gave me a pointed look. I just rolled my eyes.
“Can I sleep now?” I groaned. He only nodded as he continued to get everything he needed to fix me up.
“I’m surprised you haven’t already. But then again, you’re Percy Jackson. You always seem to do the impossible,” he answered. I closed my eyes and slowly faded into the land of Hypnos.
Nightmare (In Flashback)
I was eminently caught by a nightmare. See one thing no one ever knew about my time down in the Pit, was that me and Annabeth got separated in his castle. She was just put in a cage though. Cause I bargained with the monster. I would get all the torture and he would leave her alone.
I was back down there again, chained to the wall. There were wet and dry blood splatters on the walls. One stygian iron door right in front of me. The shadows seemed to encompass me. Haunting me. Then the door opened, and he came in.
“Hello, little hero. So brave, trying to save another by taking all the pain,” he taunted me. He wanted to break me, but I wouldn’t let it happen. A long black whip with spikes appeared in his hand. Then he smiled, but it wasn’t really a smile. It was more of a feral grin that promised pain.
“It is that time of day again,” he declared. Then he started. After 100 whips, I stopped counting. It hurt so much. The spikes causing old wounds to open. But I wouldn’t scream. I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of hearing me. A long time later, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, he finally stopped.
“Look at you, so pretty covered in all that blood. Such a pretty color. I suppose I have to leave you now. You are waking up soon. I look forward to seeing you again,” he smirked and disappeared through the door. Suddenly the shadows leapt forwards, covering me.
End Nightmare (In Flashback)
I woke screaming. My back was still bloody from all the whips. See, he haunted my dreams, but everything done there was done to me in real life. When I woke up from my nightmares, I would always have to bandage up my wounds. As I stuck in my thoughts, someone shoved a glass of water into my hand. I looked up to see my friends staring at me. Hazel, Frank, Jason and Piper were all scared and shocked at the same time. Annabeth and Thalia were scared as well, but I could tell they were angry for not telling them. Will stepped forward and started to work on my wounds. I glanced to Nico. A look of understanding went between us.
There was one thing that I didn’t understand though. Why didn’t Annabeth have that same look? Did she not have nightmares of the Pit? I studied her, trying to find out why she didn’t understand. That’s when I found it. The hidden look of guilt in her eyes. I realized what it meant. She didn’t understand because she didn’t have nightmares or flashbacks about the Pit. Only Nico and I did. I looked down at my lap. Will continued to work on my back while the others stood around waiting for something. I figured out what it was a second later.
“I’m done,” Will whispered out, ending the silence. He gave me a bit of ambrosia to eat and some nectar to drink. Once I finished, everyone began asking me questions.
“How long have you been having these dreams?” Thalia demanded.
“Do you know how worried we were?” Hazel told me.
“Yeah! We had no idea what was going on!” Jason continued.
“What were you thinking, keeping it from all of us?” Piper chided.
“How have you kept this a secret from everyone?” Frank asked me.
“What even happened to you? How can something that happens in a dream effect you in real life?” Annabeth shouted. By now I was almost hidden in my blankets. They all kept shouting at me. I was getting dizzy. Their voices became background noise. Suddenly someone grabbed me, and all the voices disappeared. I was in a different place now, but I didn’t know where. I heard two different voices, but I started to calm down. They were soothing, made me feel safe.
“That’s it. Breathe. In and out. In and out,” someone told me. I was pulled back in a chest. I could hear their heartbeat.
“I want you to try to breathe in rhythm to my heart, ok?” another voice told me. I mindlessly nodded, trying to do as I was told. The other voice returned.
“You’re doing better. Just keep breathing. There’s no rush,” the first voice said. I continued breathing until the panic attack stopped. I took in my surroundings. Someone was hugging me to their chest while another person sat on the ground besides us. I finally realized who they were. Nico was holding me, while Will sat next to us. I gently pulled out of Nico’s hold.
“You doing better, cuz?” Nico asked me. His voice was still gentle. I nodded. I glanced around, trying to figure out where we were. Soon enough, I figure it out. Nico had shadow traveled us to my cabin.
“Yeah. Thanks for getting me out of there,” I thanked them. Will just shook his head and Nico gave me a look of understanding. That was the second time that day that he had done that.
“Percy, they weren’t helping you. You needed to get out of there, so that is what we did,” Will told me in his ‘doctor’ voice. Suddenly we heard banging from outside. I sighed and then looked at Nico. He realized what I meant and went to the door. Opening it, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, Annabeth, and Thalia rushed in. They all started to open their mouths, probably wanting to scream at me again for leaving, when Will and Nico both shot them death glares. They all just looked at me, waiting for me to start.
“To answer your first question, I have been having the nightmares and also flashbacks since we got out of the Pit. In answer of your second question, you don’t seem all that worried for me since none of you realized I was having a panic attack because of all the scream, well except for Will and Nico. Piper, I kept it from all of you for this very reason. I didn’t want you treating me any differently. How I have kept it secret is that I got some of the Hestia kids to soundproof my cabin, although it is only active during the night. On the ship I just didn’t sleep,” I told them. Will gave me a pointed look that I ignored.
“As for how this is happening, when we were down there, he kidnapped us-” I was cut off.
“Yeah, but Tartarus didn’t do anything to us. He just left us in cells,” Annabeth interrupted. Nico and I both flinched at the name.
“If you would let me continue, I could tell you what I mean,” I stated. They all nodded. “As I was saying he kidnapped us. He came into my cell first. I made a bargain with him. The only reason he did it was because he said he wanted to find out what made me break. I would take all the torture and he would leave Annabeth and Nico alone. He is the one that visits my dreams. He tortures me and when he does, the wounds appear on my body in real life,” I finished telling them. Nico looked at me then.
“Is that why I don’t have any dreams anymore?” he asked me. I just nodded.
End Flashback
After that happened, they all started to drift away from me, which caused the rest of camp to ignore me as well because the campers didn’t want to get on their bad side for talking to me. Nico and Will were the only ones who didn’t treat me any different, going out of their way to make sure I was sleeping and eating enough. Whenever I had a nightmare, they would always help patch me up. Two weeks later, at the end of summer, I found out the reason why Annabeth is now my ex-girlfriend as of last night. The reason why I’m going to leave and probably not come back. Now, let me explain what happened just happened.
Flashback (I know there’s a lot of flashback stuff, but it's to help explain the situation)
I was walking towards the lake, wanting some peaceful time sitting in the water, listening to the fish talk. As I came up to the dock, I saw two people. They were laughing together. I noticed that one of them was Annabeth, her blonde hair simmering in the setting sun. She seemed happy; her smile so big it could light up the world, her eyes twinkling with knowledge and adoration. I didn’t know who the other kid was, but he was a child of Ares. I had seen him sitting at the Ares table a few times as well as around Cabin 5.
I didn’t know what they were doing together, but I felt like I shouldn’t intrude since they seemed to be having a good time. Just as I was about to walk away, to go down to my secret cove by the beach, I saw the Ares kid lean forward. I soon realized what was about to happen, but I couldn’t make my body move. I was stuck watching my girlfriend and the kid kiss each other with so much passion. I soon saw that they were going to go farther than just kissing and quickly forced my body to run back top my cabin.
End Flashback
I knew that I had to leave, but I didn’t want to leave Nico and Will. Oh, well. I’ll just come back for them or send them some letters. Actually I should probably write a letter to camp as well as my friends. I got out two pieces of paper. On one I wrote:
Dear Camp Half-Blood,
You are probably wondering where I am. I will tell you what happened. I saw my now ex-girlfriend cheating on me and decided that since I don’t have anyone for me here I would just leave. So, I am. You can choose whoever you want for camp leader, I don’t care. Just don’t try to follow me or find me.
Sincerely,
Percy Jackson
Ex-Camp Leader
The second letter was to Nico and Will:
Dear Solangelo,
I know you hate that name, but I love it and you can’t do anything about it. Please don’t try to find me. I’m going to live with my adopted sister. Yes, I know, I have an adopted sister. Her name is Avalon, or Ava for short. She is the daughter of Thanatos. I think she might be able to stop my dreams. If I remember correctly, she can call in a favor from Nyx. I’m going to try to stay on the down low. I’m not going to my mom’s because, well, I don’t feel very welcome there anymore. I feel like my mom is trying to get rid of me so that the family will be safe from gods, monsters, and anything else that wants to come after me. I will try to send you more letters so we can set something up to meet up and talk.
Your Big Cousin,
Percy
I then packed anything I thought I would need: bandages, ambrosia, nectar, food, water, clothes, my Minotaur horn, and drachma. I stuffed it all into a blue duffle bag I had gotten a few years ago for my birthday. I left all the pictures; I didn’t need them anymore. I put the letters down on my sea green bed along with Riptide, with one last command.
“Never come back to me. Go to Leo Valdez, I have a feeling he hasn’t left this world yet. If he has, go to Will Solace, but do NOT come back to me.” After that I walked out and to Thalia’s tree. Peleus didn’t bother me, but he looked almost sad to see me go. I then grabbed the ring that Ava had given to me. It would call the other ring whenever you pressed the gem in the middle. Mine had a Sapphire, but Ava had Tahitian Pearl. (It is a black pearl). Almost immediately, I heard wings flapping. I looked up and saw Ava soaring towards me with her huge onyx wings.
She landed, looked at me and my bag and said, “You’re leaving? And coming to stay with me.” I nodded not in the mood for talking. She sighed, then whistled for Blackjack. A few minutes later, he came swooping in.
Hey Boss. He gently nuzzled me as a greeting.
Haven’t I told you not to call me that? Anyway, you up for a ride. I asked him.
Do I get donuts? He answered. I sighed. Of course he would want donuts. I nodded then climbed up onto his back. Ava gave me my bag and started flying.
Follow Ava. She knows the way. I told him. He kicked off and started flying after my sis. I sighed. I’m finally getting to live my life the way I want. I hope that this can be better than before. Goodbye Camp Half-Blood.