To Be Mortal (To Feel Pain)

Into the River, Into the Furnace

I blame it all on people sending me asks on tumblr.

Come yell at me on tumblr: Percabeth4Life

This is a dark story, srry not srry.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Percy pulled himself out of the water with his good arm, tears burning his eyes from the pain in his bad shoulder. Did that work?

It was a last-ditch attempt to save them, to get rid of Iapetus.

There were no sounds for a long moment.

Was Iapetus-

"Not a bad attempt, Jackson," said the familiar voice of the Titan.

A splash accompanied it as Iapetus seemed to swim towards Percy.

Percy's stomach dropped.

He was too weak to move away, he was barely keeping the river from him as it was.

He'd tried. It wasn't enough.

A hand landed on his injured shoulder and Percy bit back a cry of pain. The grip tightened, fingers digging into his injury and Percy gasped, tears spilling over as he tried to keep silent.

"A shame that the river doesn't work on immortals," Iapetus mused as he pulled himself out of the water, yanking Percy up with his injured arm and causing Percy to cry out.

"You didn't do too badly at fighting though," he said. "I'm impressed."

Fuck, he didn't even have a scratch. What were they supposed to do now?

Percy fell to his knees when Iapetus let him go, trying to draw air.

"Percy!" Thalia cried, raising her bow, Nico right beside her with undead shoulders charging forward.

"I'm not often impressed," Iapetus drawled. "I think I'll keep you."

Thalia let her arrows fly and the last thing Percy heard before pain exploded in his head was a dark laugh. And then his world went dark.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Percy gasped awake, his dreams of pain and war and Thalia's and Nico's crumpled forms fading away as he jolted up in a bed.

It was a single, just large enough for him to lay on it. The covers were a plain black that matched the rest of the room. The bed seemed to be the only piece of furniture there. He looked around slowly and noticed two doors, on adjacent walls.

He swallowed and took stock of himself. His shirt was gone, but his shoulder was wrapped in bandages. There were a few cuts and bruises on his arms, and his head was throbbing, but otherwise he seemed alright.

He poked his shoulder, wondering if it was healed, and hissed in pain. That was definitely not healed.

He left it alone and tried to figure out where he was. There weren't any windows. Maybe he could go check the doors?

That would probably be best.

He shifted to a sitting position on the bed, wincing when his shoulder rebelled, and was about to get up when the door clicked, making him falter.

The door swung open to reveal Luke in the entrance.

"Hello, Jackson," he said with gold eyes gleaming.

Gold eyes, this wasn't Luke.

This was Kronos.

Kronos' gold eyes studied Percy closely, gaze lingering on his shoulder and a faint smirk crossing his lips.