PERSEUS MEANS DESTROYER

Centuries

Just one mistake is all it will take, we'll go down in history,

Remember me, for centuries.

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They were not thirteen.

The group he had ended up joining—yelling at from the bench off the side, but what do the details matter—was anywhere from fifteen to his age.

The sound of metal on metal carried through the arena.

"Hey! Leather bracelet! Focus on your partner!"

The girl in question flushed before quite obviously returning her attention to her partner, quickly turning the tide of the spar and knocking him onto the floor with another dozen or so exchanges.

Percy nodded his satisfaction when she glanced back his way.

And then Clarisse roared at her.

Percy winced in sympathy as the daughter of Ares ripped into the unnamed demigod.

"Amelia! You will pay attention to your partner at all times, do you understand? Perseus Jackson is not fighting today, so you will not look at him!" She turned her glare to the rest of the arena (the first time she had given Percy that look, he nearly flinched away from her). "Do you understand!"

The rest of the demigods nodded hastily, sideying Percy briefly, before turning back to their partners.

Percy knew she probably meant it as an insult on some level, but he also knew Clarisse was looking out for him in her very distinctly Clarisse way; trying to keep the eyes off the perceived weakest link to preserve the rest of the chain.

It was a common thing, now.

With the demigods his age and older anyway, the ones who had been around for the second titan war (because even though the second giant war had been horrendous, it was over in a few months. It left its marks—too many to count—but it was quick), rather than those who had shown up afterwards, or more recently, after the camp was rebuilt.

Logically, they all knew that everyone here was their friend (but were they? Silena and Luke had hit hard, and Octavian less so, but to learn that someone in such a position of power was still susceptible to Gaia's whisperings was disconcerting, and even though the two Greek demigods had redeemed themselves in the eyes of most of the titan war veterans, they had caused irreparable damage), but it didn't erase the suspicion. It didn't change that fact that they'd been betrayed in the first place, didn't erase the fact that five years of struggling to survive, of fending off attacks, from the time they were twelve to the time they were sixteen, had paid off in a bloodbath, leaving only a third of the camp alive and Olympus in ruins.

Thank the gods for New Rome's resident therapists.

Even if most of them had refused to even think about going to see them ("Are you saying there's something wrong with me?" "No, just—").

Even if they were a few years too late ("Where do you want to start?" "Y'know Mount Othrys? Tam?" "Saturn's base...?" "Riiiight. His base.").

"So." Will raised an eyebrow at his brother as Austin rattled one of the trolleys in his haste to get out of the door.

He bit his upper lip, "I'm pretty sure it's psychosomatic. Psychosomatic disorder. Psycho, psyche— it's your brain. Modern doctors are using it to refer to the mind instead of the soul but— it's..."

Percy bit down in his tongue. He didn't really care at this point, not when two separate people had already told him pretty much the same thing, but Will probably had something important to say or he wouldn't have asked to meet Percy like this.

"It's um, basically you're under a lot of pressure, or your mind is registering a lot of stress, which is, which is normal, after... yeah. It's physical symptoms of pain or illness without an underlying medical cause, usually induced by stress, like I said. Earlier." Will fluttered his hands about, clearly uncomfortable, rushing out the next few sentences in one puff of air. "For instance losing your memory for eight months, doing gods know what on a ship that probably might have fallen apart at any given notice, fighting a war and immediately jumping back to normal, everyday life without any kind of transition of rehabilitation or therapy or anything. Um."

"So I'm fine."

"No. You are not fine. I mean, physically, technically, your leg healed months ago, but, Percy that doesn't mean you're fine—"

"Thanks, Will. I'm..." He wanted to get out. None of it was Will's fault. "Sorry."

He wasn't sure at what point in time Annabeth had shown up in the arena. But it was well after sunset and he was surprised the cleaning harpies hadn't come for them both.

But right now he was hacking away at the dummies at the edge of the arena, waiting for her to say something while she stood in the shadows.

Annabeth sighed. "Percy."

He let Riptide fall to his side. "What?"

"You shouldn't be mad at Will. It's not his fault."

"I— I'm not!"

"He seems to think you are." She frowned at his back. "Turn around, Percy."

His nail bit into his palm as he clenched his fist. "I'm not mad at him. I'm... I'm angry, but not at him."

He capped his sword, shoving it into his pocket and turned to face Annabeth.

She smiled weakly. "We're all angry, Seaweed Brain."

"I just... honestly, it's stupid. I'm not— I'm not mad at Will! I'm angry at myself, and at the gods and honestly I was mad at—" he bit his tongue. "At—" the name wouldn't come out. "I guess I thought they would change. After... after the other year."

"At Luke."

"It's been five thousand years and they haven't, I was stupid to think they would but— I hoped they would. That maybe..." he felt like he was about to choke. "That maybe K— that maybe they would... wake up to the fact that their kids are dying for them."

"Percy."

"I just—! I'm an idiot, I was an idiot to think they could—" he nearly laughed at that, running a hand through his hair and dragging it down his face.

He jumped when she put her hand on his shoulder. "Shit, Annabeth, don't—"

"Percy, for love of Olympus, look at me."

What have we done to you?

It was hard to remember what he was like when he first came to camp, but she knew it wasn't like this.

"Can I—?" She gestured for a hug, leaving it up to him to close the distance (it was important. He did the same for her when she needed it. You couldn't push this kind of thing).

He turned around to face her fully, spreading his arms wide enough to let her fold him into a hug.

She squeezed his torso and he groaned lightly.

"Jeez, what are you trying to do, crush me?"

"Shush. Let me have a few seconds without you yammering in the background."

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First published ::: 11.10.22
First edit ::: n/a
Wordcount ::: 1143
Chapter dedication ::: n/a

<3

Yours,