Chapter 39: Protector
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
Percy makes the call.
-x-X-x-
Cursing, Percy knows what he has to do. He lets Luke go, spinning in the direction of the Pit Scorpion and chasing the damn thing down. Even though it skitters like mad, even though it can jump fifteen feet at a time, he’s able to catch up to it all the same, Riptide at the ready.
Belatedly, the scorpion tries to spin and sting him, but Percy is ready for it. Riptide swings out and the Pit Scorpion’s tail and stinger are cut from its body. Then, he brings the blade down through the monster’s skull and watches grimly as it turns into golden dust.
Of course, the moment he’s sure that the Pit Scorpion is dead and can’t possibly harm anyone back at camp, Percy bolts back towards the border of Hestia’s Domain. It’s only been a few minutes after all… but no. By the time he reaches the last place he saw Luke, the other demigod is already gone and while Percy isn’t some amazing hunter or anything like that, he’s still smart enough to look for tracks.
There are none. It makes Percy think that either Luke had another pair of those flying shoes lying around from his godly father Hermes, or he had some other trick up his sleeve that allowed him to effectively vanish without a trace. Damn it. Damn it all… he’d failed Hestia’s mission. He’d let Luke escape. Percy frowns, his hands curling into fists.
And then, as if suddenly summoned by his thoughts, he feels Hestia’s presence washing over him, her voice a whisper on the wind in his ear.
“You did well, Percy. Don’t berate yourself for things outside of your control.”
Percy blinks, glancing up at the sky and huffing.
“I couldn’t stop him from leaving though. And now he’s out there in the wind, planning who knows what. I failed you, Goddess.”
Hestia lets out a tinkling laugh.
“You did not fail me, Percy. You did exactly as I would have wanted you to do. You led Luke away from anyone he might have harmed, and when he did try to hurt the innocents at Camp Half-Blood, you prioritized their safety above all else. Most importantly of all though, you got him talking. He revealed his true allegiances to you, as well as our Titan Father’s plans. And that… that was invaluable.”
Percy blinks… and then pales a little bit as he realizes he feels more than just Hestia’s eyes on him. The whole of Olympus’ Council is currently gazing down upon him right now. All of them have just watched his and Luke’s confrontation. He can’t even begin to imagine how that conversation has gone. Hestia, Poseidon, and Hades represented some of the most powerful divinities on Mount Olympus, but they still had to explain to their fellow Gods and Goddesses that they’d killed Zeus and usurped his domains.
Apparently they’d at least managed to make the rest of the Council of Olympus sit and listen for a moment, because Percy feels the attention of those Gods and Goddesses on him now. Not all of it is good attention. Some of it feels approving like Hestia. He thinks he can sense his father’s affection among that bunch. But others seem disapproving, either because he let Luke go in order to kill the Pit Scorpion or because of other things he’d done.
And yet, even the most antagonistic of them doesn’t hold a candle to staring down Zeus himself in person. That combined with Hestia’s approval bolsters Percy enough that he’s able to stand tall even under so much divine scrutiny, jaw set and eyes flinty. He dares those Gods and Goddesses who don’t like his decision making to come down and be a demigod and try to do better.
Amusingly, he can tell his reaction has an effect on those who are radiating dislike towards him. For some, it makes them dislike him even more. For others, it actually seems to sway them in his favor just a bit. If only he could tell who was who…
“Do not fret, Percy. The others now know the truth. The danger of our father returning is very real, especially if his power has grown enough that he’s able to influence Ares’ mind as well as manipulate demigods into serving him.”
Hestia’s soothing words are nice, but Percy can’t help wondering how things are really going up there. Even if the threat of Kronos will hopefully now be acknowledged by all of them, they’re probably still all feeling certain things about what had happened to Zeus. But… it’s not Percy’s problem, now is it? Not yet at least. He’s… still a demigod for now.
“Return to Camp Half-Blood, Percy. Tell Chiron what has happened here. And tell him to prepare for the return of your party as well as one other guest.”
Oh, he’d wondered how Annabeth, Clarisse, and Grover were supposed to get back to Camp Half-Blood. Apparently the gods were going to take care of it, just like Hades had taken care of transporting him all the way from California to New York. Bowing his head even as he wonders who the ‘one other guest’ would be, Percy wordlessly makes his way back to Camp Half-Blood.
He feels the divine attention on him receding, but also feels that it doesn’t completely leave him. Several members of the Greek Pantheon are keeping half an eye on him now. Probably nothing more than a fraction of their full attention… and frankly, Percy wonders how he even knows they’re watching him. But he doesn’t really have to wonder too hard. He knows the truth… he’s becoming something more.
Being sprayed with Ares’ golden ichor blood was one thing. Being absolutely coated in Zeus’ lifeblood, also godly and golden in its consistency, was another entirely. On top of that, Percy now knew himself to be the Reincarnation of Adonis. He knew Adonis’ story of course, and it explained why Ares had hated him so much from the first time they met. Still, Percy didn’t want to be seen as Adonis. He was Percy, and he wanted to continue being Percy.
Unfortunately, while he thought he might have a chance to escape his past as Adonis if he remained steadfast in his identity as Percy and obstinate to anyone who wanted to see him as his former incarnation… the same could not be said for escaping his future. If even Hestia herself saw nothing in his future but godhood, Percy didn’t think he would be able to change that fate. Especially not when he already had a godly domain, albeit the weakest one that Zeus had, and weakened further by his demigod status.
Really, what is he supposed to do? In the end, there’s nothing he can do but keep moving forward, head high and both eyes open. First things first, get back to Camp Half-Blood and explain Luke’s betrayal to Chiron. Then, be ready for the arrival of the rest of his party and this ‘guest’, whoever that was supposed to be.
-x-X-x-
“Mom!”
Percy isn’t a kid and hasn’t been for a while now. He’s eighteen years old and an adult in the eyes of not just the USA, but also apparently whatever power lay behind monsters hunting down demigods once they reached the age of majority. And yet, that doesn’t stop him from all but throwing his arms around his mother, pulling her into a hug as she hugs him back just as hard.
“Percy…”
Sally Jackson doesn’t look too worse for wear, thankfully. As it turns out, this is for a very simple reason.
“I don’t really remember anything. I must have been kept asleep while I was in the Underworld.”
Chiron nods from the side at this.
“That makes sense. A living mortal woman like Sally Jackson did not belong in the Underworld. Especially since she is no demigod and thus does not even have that meager protection. In order to preserve her life, Hades would have had to keep her in a form of stasis, or else the Underworld would have eroded her lifeforce down to nothing.”
Percy’s jaw clenches at the thought of his mother dying, not from anything up top in the world of the living, but solely because the God of the Dead took her down to his realm and then didn’t take the necessary precautions to keep her alive. But… no, he lets go of that momentary anger, because that’s not what happened. Hades HAD apparently gone to great lengths to keep Sally Jackson alive, and that was when the Lord of the Underworld still thought Percy was a thief who took his Helm.
While it was probably pragmatism more than anything from what Percy knew of Hades so far, it was still something to be thankful for, given what COULD have been.
Holding his mom for a moment longer, Percy eventually pulls away and turns to the others. Clarisse has already been taken to the Camp’s infirmary so she can sleep off what her father did to her. Fortunately, despite being electrocuted by her own weapon, there wasn’t supposed to be any long-lasting damage.
But Annabeth and Grover were still there, both of them looking rather concerned. Annabeth most of all, given her insatiable thirst for knowledge.
“Percy… what happened after you and Hades left for Mount Olympus.”
Percy lets out a shuddering breath.
“… A lot happened. I’m not sure I’m allowed to talk about all of it. However… what I can tell you is that Luke betrayed us. He’s working for the Crooked One. And not like Ares, who thought he was doing what he wanted but is actually being subtly influenced by the Crooked One. Luke… Luke is a willing servant.”
Annabeth doesn’t look as surprised as Percy might have expected, but she does look a little broken. On the one hand, Luke was her friend, and had been for longer than Percy had been around. On the other hand, she was a smart cookie.
She knew as well as Percy that the shoes that could have dragged one of them into Tartarus came from Luke. And that if all had gone according to plan, those exact shoes would have pulled Percy and a certain duffle bag down into the depths of the Greek Prison, where Kronos would have had not just Percy at his mercy, but also Zeus’ Master Bolt.
It still clearly hurts her to hear that Luke would betray them all like that.
“What… where is he now?”
Here, Percy is forced to grimace and shake his head. Even with Hestia’s words, he still regrets letting Luke escape.
“He unleashed a Pit Scorpion on the camp. I had to let him go so I could chase it down and kill it before it hurt anyone.”
Annabeth does gasp then, clearly knowing exactly what a Pit Scorpion is. She’s definitely more shocked that Luke would unleash one of those on their fellow campers than that he’s turned on them in general. He can see the moment where Annabeth accepts that there’s probably no getting Luke back after this.
Letting out an explosive breath, Annabeth nods and then steps away.
“I… I need a little bit of time to myself.”
Percy watches her go but given she’s asking to be alone and he has his mother back… he doesn’t follow her, in the end.
-x-X-x-
Later that evening, after dinner and letting Chiron show his mother to her guest room in the Big House, Percy finds himself sitting next to Clarisse’s bed in the infirmary, watching her sleep. It had been nice spending time with his mom and forgetting about all of his troubles for a moment, but that didn’t mean he could forget that Clarisse had chosen him over her own father and paid the price for it.
After everything that had happened, his and Clarisse’s original animosity feels so… petty now. Even if Percy knew most of it was one-sided and Clarisse’s fault, he had still played into it. Things had mostly worked out for the best though, hadn’t they? She’d gotten hurt sure, but they’d all survived. Hell, even Ares still lived. That wasn’t something to be taken for granted, not after what happened to Zeus. They were-
“… Percy?”
Blinking, Percy looks down to see Clarisse staring up at him, having woken up from her rest to see him seated next to her bed.
“Hey. How’re you feeling?”
Shifting a bit, clearly checking herself over, Clarisse grunts after a moment.
“Better.”
Grinning, Percy nods.
“That’s… good. Thanks by the way. For trying to have my back.”
Then, he shrugs as he leans back.
“The week is over. You aren’t my maid anymore, just so you know.”
Clarisse blinks at that, before slowly sitting up in bed. For a moment he figures she’ll ignore his gratitude because of how awkward it is, but then she scoffs.
“You had my back first. You could have given me up to Hades for your mom. You could have used the pearls on the others and her and left me behind. But you didn’t.”
Percy hums.
“Yeah, I didn’t. Would have been a scummy move. Besides… all’s well that ends well. Got my mom back anyways. She’s sleeping over in one of the Big House’s guest rooms right now.”
Clarisse smiles at that, actually looking happy for him. But then she frowns.
“What… what all happened, exactly?”
Percy hesitates before explaining things. He doesn’t tell her what happened to Zeus, figuring that’s not his story to tell. But he does tell her about how Ares was being controlled and influenced… and how Luke wasn’t but had betrayed them anyways. Clarisse’s face scrunches up into an angry scowl at that last part.
“Tch… always knew he was too good to be true. Bet Chase is all beat up about it…”
Percy would have expected Clarisse to sound gleeful about that last part. But instead, she actually sounds like she feels bad for Annabeth’s lost friendship. After a moment though, Clarisse looks up at Percy.
“So I’m not your maid anymore, am I?”
Her tone is challenging, but there’s something in her eyes. And… there’s something inside Percy as well that responds to her in a strange way. Like there’s a connection forming between them, or something.
“… That’s right. The bet was for a week. Well, it’s been a week. You don’t owe me anything anymore, Clarisse.”
Clarisse huffs at that, falling silent for a long moment. And then, she speaks.
[X] She still feels like she owes him, she swears herself to his service as a fighter - 56%
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