Chapter Text
***Leo***
Leo’s head hit the deck with a hard thud.
His heart beat like a drum at a rock concert, throbbing to some unknown pulse he assumed was his racing heart. All around him, the ear piercing clashing of metal filled the air. His vision cleared slowly, and he caught a glimpse of his fellow crew members, safely on deck. The cold feeling left him, and he curled his fingers to check if he could control his body again.
‘What the hell was that?’ He murmured, dazed. Then, he saw Jason.
Oh, Gods no.
Jason had a large cut above his forehead. He was leaning against the mast, trying to steady himself. Blood slowly trickled down his face like a river, staining his shirt and hair. Percy was at the front of the ship, trying to deflect flying objects and frantically looking for someone.
Leo groaned as he saw beautiful ship being reduced to a barely-functioning piece of kindling. There was a tear in the mainsail, and scorch marks on the railings and balistae. Other than that, everyone seemed fine. Piper was on board, as well as the Roman…Frank, he thought. Leo spotted Hazel on horseback down below, galloping away at an incredible speed.
The only person that wasn’t there was Annabeth. Percy seemed to speak Leo’s thoughts.
“Where’s Annabeth? I have to find her!” He yelled. He started to scale down the ladder, when Jason stopped him, staggering over while pressing a rag to his head.
“Percy…she was in the fields with Reyna. I couldn’t talk long, but Reyna…Reyna said she was trapped under some debris.” Jason said, pain filling his voice.
Percy stopped. He met Jason’s eyes.
“Are you sure?” He asked. His voice was miraculously calm, but his eyes told a different story and revealed his real emotions.
“Percy,” His voice was strained. “I’m so sorry. It’s not probable she survived.” Piper gasped, and tears filled her eyes.
Leo’s vision tunneled, and shifted like a kaleidoscope.
Annabeth…Annabeth. Crushed under debris. Debris that came from a shot he had fired.
The realization hit him like a cannonball.
He’d killed her. It was all his fault. That stupid feeling had taken over, and he had killed Annabeth. Killed the girl who rescued him at the Grand Canyon. Killed Percy’s girlfriend.
Piper cried out.
“No! She can’t be!” She yelled. Jason gave her a hug, and they held each other. Frank eyed Leo like he was an explosive. He hated the way Frank looked at him. It was a glare of pure disgust and fear. Leo’s eyes started to water. He had killed Annabeth Chase. Another person died because he couldn’t control himself.
He knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew he should have stopped, should have held back. But he didn’t. It felt like someone was puppeteering him. This wasn’t real. This was just a bad dream, right?
But it wasn’t a dream. He really had killed Annabeth Chase. Monster. A voice whispered in his head. It wasn’t the same voice that had forced him to do it, though. It was his own.
Breaking him out of a stupor, Leo heard a sound like the rushing wind. He looked up to see Percy standing frozen. His gaze was on the deck, like he was having a staring contest with the floorboards. He didn’t blink. He didn’t cry. He didn’t move. Leo couldn’t even see if he was breathing. He was unfazed by the sounds of battle, and the projectiles whizzing all around them. He stood like a lighthouse in the middle of a storm, casting a red light that shone in Leo’s eyes.
“You” he whispered. “It was you.” His voice was like a winter wind, cutting through Leo’s clothes and skin, straight to the heart. Then, Percy turned his head towards him.
Leo’s stomach dropped. His muscles tensed up. He started breathing heavily. He wanted to run. The Romans didn’t seem horrible then. Sure, they would kill him, but he was almost certain it wouldn’t be as half as bad as Percy’s wrath.
Percy’s gaze turned his blood to ice. His eyes were like bonfires. No, they were like icebergs. His eyes were like two sea-green emeralds, sharp and dangerous. The world melted away. Everyone else seemed to dissolve. All that mattered was Percy’s eyes, and the complete and total hatred in them.He looked at Leo with such loathing, such disgust, such cold, hard anger, that Leo thought just his gaze was fatal. He had never been so afraid of a teenager in his whole life. He had seen Jason, the most powerful demigod he knew, angry, and seen him fight. But it wasn’t like this. His eyes gave a clear message: the price for ending Percy’s loved ones was his life
Leo staggered up, leaning against the railing for support. He glanced down at the Romans below. If he were to fall, would it be fatal? Percy jerked around, and stalked towards Leo. His gaze remained fixed on him.
“You killed her.” His words were like ice.
“I…I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry…” Leo started.
“You’re sorry?” Percy snarled.
“I didn’t want to. Something made me do it. I don’t know why I did it. I didn’t…well, part of me wanted to…it was like I was watching myself do it.” Leo stuttered. “Something was controlling me. I don’t know what happened…”
Percy didn’t stop walking towards him.
“My girlfriend is dead. And you were the one who fired the ballista.” He said, scarily calm. Leo inched closer to the edge. Percy stood over Leo like a terrifying statue. He wasn’t a lighthouse. He was a whirlpool.
“I…” Leo started.
“You killed her. I can’t let you get away with that.” He said.
Leo’s stomach dropped down to his shoes.
“Don’t come any closer.” Leo managed to say.
Percy disregarded his warning. Leo managed to get a look at Piper and Jason. Piper was looking at him with concern. Not hate. Just concern. Like she knew what Percy could do to him. She was weighing her options, trying to decide who was in the wrong. Jason looked fearful, like Percy’s anger might spill over on them.
Neither of them looked sympathetic or protective of Leo. That was probably the worst part. The ship went silent, except for the screams of Romans and the rush of a river. For a tense moment, Leo thought he was safe.
“Get in the river, Valdez.” Percy said, his voice low.
“What?” Leo was caught off guard.
“Get in the river. Now.” Percy ordered. He hadn’t noticed, but they were slowly drifting towards a river on the other side of camp.
“Percy…” Leo peered over the side. Maybe 10 feet below was a raging river, about 11 feet wide. “You can’t be serious.” He laughed nervously. He needed to get out of there as soon as possible.
“I’m dead serious.” Percy said. He inched towards Leo, never breaking his serene state of madness. “You will get in that water.”
“Wanna bet?” Leo said. He didn’t know where the sudden burst of bravery came from, but it was the wrong thing to say.
“Either you go in, or he goes in,” Percy said. He thrusted his hand towards Jason, but the movement was jerky, like a marionette puppet.
“Hold on,” Jason started to say, but he was cut off. Percy thrust his other hand towards the river, and the water turned into a giant hand. The hand grabbed Jason, and held him high above their heads. The Romans stopped attacking in fear. Jason screamed.
“Let me go, Jackson!”
Piper rushed towards him, but Percy put up his hand. She stopped short.
“Stay back, McLean, unless you want to join your boyfriend.”
“Leave her alone, she didn’t do anything wrong,” Leo cried.
“Hurry up, and I won’t have to hurt her. Make your choice. It’s you or him.”
Leo glanced around. His heart was pumping. His chest was heaving. Frank watched in fear. Piper stood, frozen, her eyes wide.
Leo took a deep breath. What he was doing was probably suicide. But he couldn’t let Jason pay the price for his deeds.
“Let Jason go. I’ll do what you want.” He said, his voice shaky.
Percy dropped Jason safely on the deck.
“Fine. Now get. In. The. Water.” He said, and thrust out his hand.
Leo was grabbed by water, rushing towards him. He screamed as he was thrust into the frigid river, and cold water filled his lungs.
***Percy***
Percy jumped from the deck to the river.
His mind was running at a mile a minute. He wanted revenge. He wanted justification. He wanted to punch something. He wanted to break down, curl up into a ball, and cry.
Annabeth was dead.
4 years of friendship and companionship. They had done everything together. They had held the weight of the world together. They had survived Kronos. She couldn’t die like this. It was too early. Percy couldn’t lose another friend. Now she was dead. And it was all Leo’s fault.
Leo lay in the river, gasping for breath. The boy was pathetic, soaked to the bone, and fighting to keep his head above water. The river was a little more than waist deep for Percy, so it was almost up to Leo’s chest. The current kept knocking him off his feet.
Percy stood over him. He didn’t feel bad, or guilty, or even sympathetic. He just felt cold, drowning in grief.
“Do you understand what you did?” He asked. “You just killed Annabeth Chase. My Annabeth Chase.” He said. His voice broke. He started yelling.
“We survived everything together. She suffered for 16 years, survived for 16 years. She held up the sky. Do you understand that? She saved your life about a million times, just by protecting the whole world. She ran away at 7 years old. 7, Leo. She survived the Labyrinth, the Sea of Monsters, the Underworld. And now, she’s dead.” Percy looked over at him. “We were supposed to graduate together. Go back to camp. I just got her back.” Leo was staring up at him in fear and horror. His body shook like a leaf in a hurricane. His permanent grin washed away, his normally mischievous eyes glassy and wide.
Percy turned away. A single tear fell down his cheek.
“It’s all your fault.” He whispered.
“Percy…It is. But I swear, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to. Something controlled me, I-“ Leo started to say.
But, Percy didn’t let him finish. Percy turned around and thrust out his hand. Leo stood up. He looked like a puppet, getting jerked up by invisible strings. Leo cried out in pain as Percy started doing something he had never done before. He started focusing on the water in Leo’s body. He started seeing him as a body of water he could manipulate, like the sea or a stream. He realized, with a wave of nausea, he was controlling the water in him.
Controlling Leo’s blood.
Percy started to feel cold inside, like something other than rage was taking over. Suddenly, he found himself doing things not of his own will. A cold feeling filled him.
He was controlling Leo, but something was controlling him.
A wave of panic washed over him as he tried to move, but his limbs wouldn’t work. His mind felt occupied and heavy.
Leo clenched his hands into fists, trying to fight down the pain. His eyes were filled with desperation.
“Percy…stop…” Leo said through gritted teeth.
He deserves this. He thought to himself. But his voice didn’t sound like his own. It was harsher, colder. Deep down, Percy knew it was wrong. He knew what he was doing was violating and abusive, but kept going. He could control Leo’s entire body. He wasn’t sure he could stop, even if he wanted to.
“Stop it!” Percy heard Piper scream. It sounded muffled. “Leave him alone!”
Leo tried to move, but Percy held fast. He put more of his energy into it. Leo broke. A tear dripped down his cheek, like candle wax, as he trembled with pain.
“Look, I’m sorry!” He cried. “I didn’t mean to!”
“Percy…that’s enough. He’s learned his lesson, now stop,” he heard Frank say. His voice was…scared. If Frank, who had just witnessed his home being destroyed, was horrified with him, how much of a monster was he?
Against his will, Percy gave more power. He tried to stop, tried to let go. But something told him if he didn’t comply with the urge controlling him, he’d go insane. He tried to fight again, but a stabbing pain in his mind kept him from rebelling any more.
Leo screamed, a desperate cry of pain and grief. He started to sob harder, past discomfort into the dangerous sea of torture. Blood started running down his face and arms, even though Percy had never cut him. It was like he was drawing the blood out of the son of Hephaestus. Sweat and tears stained the river. Percy forced Leo to his knees, as the water swirled around them.
He made a whirlpool so deep that he and Leo were on the river bottom. The walls of water roared around them, so that only the members of the Argo II, who were overlooking it all, could see them.
Leo was on his hands and knees before Percy, his face streaked with sand. He struggled and strained, but Percy easily overpowered him. A cold voice, like nails on a chalkboard, filled his mind. It was the voice he heard before.
There. That’s his place. Kneeling before you.
‘Let me go! Why are you making me do this?’ Percy thought.
But he deserved it. He’s a murderer, isn’t he?
‘I don’t want to torture him!’ Percy argued. “I forgive him, really, I do!” The voice laughed, clear and shrill.
Please! He’s a son of the Tinkerer God. He’s nobody. You’re the son of Posiedon. He should be serving you.
“No one should be serving me! He’s just a kid! I don’t want to hurt him. I was just so angry, I took it too far. I don’t want to do this!” Percy pleaded. The voice cackled.
You don’t have much choice, boy.
The voice took over completely. Percy was just a puppet.
“What…” Leo managed to say. “What are you…”
Percy’s gaze hardened. He sent out, involuntarily, another wave of energy, his biggest yet. All of Percy’s power, all of his magic, all of the ichor in his blood was sent to Leo, like a rushing, unstoppable flood after a hurricane. With horror, Percy realized he wasn’t just controlling Valdez. He was making Leo’s own body fight itself, each and every cell turn against each other.
Leo doubled over, clutching his stomach. He screamed, a guttural cry of agony. His nose was almost in the dirt. “I’m sorry! It forced me, I didn’t want to!” He screamed, choking on his own tears. “STOP!” He started to cough up blood, gagging and pleading. Was it just Percy’s imagination, or did Leo look thinner? Did he look…frailer than usual?
The cruel voice in his head laughed.
Oh, I haven’t had this much fun in centuries! What shall we make him do now?
“You’re killing him, stop it!” Piper pleaded from behind. Percy could hear the terror in her voice, but he couldn’t control himself. “Let him go!”
“Don’t you see?” Percy asked. It was like he was hearing himself speak through an old radio, reprogrammed with mechanical rage. “This is all the pain she went through, all combined.” He said. Leo just choked and gagged on his own blood, trying to breathe.
Percy didn’t want to hurt Leo. He was desperately trying to stop, but that voice was so hypnotic. It was so forceful. The cold feeling filled him, gaining in intensity. His body took over. It felt like he was watching himself do everything.
Percy, against his will, drew his sword. “A life for a life,” his mouth forced him to say. Leo’s eyes widened.
“NO!” Piper screamed.
Leo shook, trying to break out of the grasp of the spell. His cinnamon eyes were red from sobbing. He was soaked, his curly hair caked with mud. His frame was so light, so thin. One slash, and Leo would be dead.
“Percy…please.” He gasped, quiet and on the edge of being broken. He paled at the sight of the bronze blade. “ I’ll leave and never come back, I’ll disappear! You won’t ever see me again!”
“This is what you deserve.” His mouth forced him to say it. He wanted to scream “I'M SORRY!” and take Leo back to the Argo II. He wanted to apologize. But he doubted Leo would forgive him. This wasn’t about Annabeth any more. This was something different. This was life and death, and Percy couldn’t control what he was doing.
“Jackson, that’s enough! You’ve gone too far!” Jason yelled at him, rage rivaling his own rising up in every syllable.
“What would Annabeth say, seeing you like this?” Piper asked. “Seeing you torture him?”
“Annabeth Chase is dead, and he killed her.” Percy said. His voice sounded harsher than his own. He desperately wanted to stop. He pleaded with the voice, begged it to let him go. But it just kept laughing.
“It’s over, Valdez. You and I both know you deserve much, much worse than this.” His voice was sadistic and mocking, nothing like his own, “Really, I’m being merciful.”
“Mercy? This is your idea of mercy?” Leo choked.
“Maybe it’s not mercy, but it’s justice.” Percy’s muscles tensed. He looked over Leo, his body broken and streaked with water and blood.
“Any last words?”
Leo managed to lower his head.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered through sobs.
Percy raised his sword, and Leo shut his eyes tight.
One swift movement, and the son of Hephaestus would be dead.
Percy was ready to swing.
Leo managed to tap something on his jeans.
“Get it over with,” he whispered, his voice breaking. Percy wanted to cry, but his face remained hard and unforgiving.
‘Don’t make me do this!’ He thought desperately. ‘Please, just let us go.”
The voice in Percy’s mind cackled with glee.
Do it! It screamed. Oh, the Earth Mother will be so pleased!
His muscles tensed as a tear slipped down Leo’s cheek, clearing a path through the blood staining his face.
He whispered again, “Tell them I love them.”
Percy realized, with a heavy heart, that those words were chosen to be Leo’s last. Tell them I love them. Percy was just about to bring down his blade when something stopped him.
“PERCY STOP!” A voice screamed. Percy spun around, and the spell on Leo dropped. Leo fell on his side, and Percy’s vision tunneled. Annabeth was on deck, her face bloody. Her arm was clearly broken, but that didn’t matter.
She was alive.
She. Was. Alive.
Percy wanted to cry. The voice left his mind, and he felt like he was about to faint. He finally could control himself.
“Leo!” She screamed and pointed beside him. Percy looked at the spot.
Leo had fallen face first into the water, unconscious. The walls of water collapsed on his exhausted body. He was drowning, his body dropping to the floor of the river like a weight. For the first time in his life, Percy had almost suffocated a week ago. Now, he was subjecting another kid to the same thing.
He had taken it too far. Way too far.
Percy pulled an unconscious Leo out of the water, and climbed onto the deck. His head lolled against Percy’s chest, his body limp and cold. Percy could feel Leo’s blood sinking into his shirt, marking him as a murderer and a monster.
Leo was so light. Percy felt like he was holding a baby bird he had just run over with his car. He had definitely done something to Leo’s weight. He could feel all of his ribs, like life had been sucked out of his body.
The Argo II ascended into the sky. Percy lay Leo’s body on the deck.
“What have I done?” Percy half gasped, half whispered. He was mortified, ashamed of himself. He had never done something like this. It just wasn’t him.
He would never—yet, here he was.
Leo was soaking wet. Even though Percy hadn’t touched him, his arms and face were covered in blood. His lips were pale, all the life in him snuffed out. But worst of all, Leo’s chest wasn’t rising. Piper rushed to his side.
“Leo!” She yelled. Jason followed her, and they started tending to their friend.
“He’s not breathing!” Piper cried. She put her hand under Leo’s nose, and checked his pulse. Her face was red from crying. “He’s not breathing!”
“I…I can help!” Percy said, scrambling. Jason stood up and turned on him, his face contorted with anger.
“You’ve done enough!” He shouted.
Woah. Percy never thought, based on the descriptions from campers, that calm, cool, collected Jason Grace could be that angry.
“I’m sorry…I…” Percy stuttered.
“Leo is dying!” Jason yelled, stepping forward like he was about to slap Percy across the face. “I don’t want your stupid apologies.”
“Jason…calm down…” Frank put his hand on Jason’s shoulder. He took a deep breath, and turned back to his friend.
“Whatever.”
Piper knelt over Leo, and got a very determined look on her face.
“You’re not dying here.” She, charmspeaking. Percy could feel the power in it. Her voice cracked with desperation and her eyes watered. “Breathe! C’mon, Leo! You can’t die here! Breathe!”
Leo didn’t obey. His chest didn’t rise. Piper screamed, and punched his chest, hard.
“Breathe!”
All of sudden, Leo leaned over and coughed up the water from his lungs. Water sprayed all over Piper, but she didn’t seem to care. His eyes opened for a second, then closed. His breathing became steadier as he fell unconscious.
“Oh thank gods,” Jason exhaled, kneeling by her. He looked at his girlfriend with amazement. “Did you just restart his heart with charmspeak and a punch?”
“I’m multi-talented.” Piper smiled weakly.
Percy turned around, and met a very angry-looking Annabeth.
“Perseus Jackson. What did you do?” She rasped. “I…” Percy started to say. But before he could answer, his adrenaline ran out, and exhaustion overtook him.
He went unconscious next to Leo.