Percy Jackson: Battle Royale

Crew Expendable

Artemis stumbled back from the impact, and his head was suddenly fine. As he looked around, the ghosts remained, and they did not glow as a spirit should. He looked down, and saw many of their shirts were stained, but not blood red. Various bright colors such as blue and green were splattered on their shirts, and every one of them looked at him in shock.

His heart dropped as he realized what he had just done, and snapped his neck to look at Artemis. She clutched her stomach in pain, and brought one hand away. Blue. It wasn't blood.

"What the- PERCY?! Why the fuck did you do that?!" Artemis screeched, and everyone else in the room winced. Percy was unfazed, looking down at his gun and then back up to her. The pistol wasn't how it looked at all. The tip was orange, like some kind of toy.

"But... huh?" He asked, dazed. Artemis was seething. "I said, why did you shoot me? We were gonna win!" She screamed, flailing her arms around.

Percy pulled the clip out and looked inside. "P-... paintballs?" He wondered, and his eyes widened in realisation. "These were paintballs the whole time!?" He cried, on the verge of breaking down.

"Percy..." Apollo said, approaching him with his arms up trying to calm him. Percy whirled around. "You! You're dead! I saw you die, Artemis was crying and everything!" He said.

Artemis scoffed. "Me? You were bawling your eyes out and hugging him while mumbling incomprehensible shit!" She said impatiently. Apollo nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "She's right, Percy. I got shot and lay down like the rules said, but you cried and it got awkward." He told him.

Percy shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe it. I watched you all die!" He accused, pointing at everyone. Jason shook his head. "The only ones who died were Heracles and Ares, but they'll reform. You guys... you guys really went all in on them, huh?" He noted, looking at the war god hanging from the ceiling.

Apollo frowned and grabbed Percy. "Here, show me your eyes." He said, and Percy's orbs were already wide and staring at him slightly worriedly. Apollo studied them carefully, before sighing. "He's on the comedown from some sort of high. You said you ate some candy?" He asked.

Percy nodded. "Uh, yeah, some homeless guy sold me some gummy bears. But... I'm so confused." He shook his head in distress.

Piper and Annabeth came up to steasy him. "Percy, it's okay, you're safe now. Do you remember what happened." Piper asked. He licked his lips, they were drier than they'd ever been. "I... I came back and Grover was dead, dying I mean. He said the Fates told everyone to kill each other." He said.

Annabeth shook her head. "No, Percy. They announced a paintball tournament. It was paintball, no one was supposed to get hurt. Of course, they didn't really think the prize through, but that doesn't matter. It was just paint, see?" She said, pointing to a yellow patch on her t-shirt.

"Does this mean Percy's king?" One of the hunters asked. Poseidon suddenly walked forward from the crowd, dry paint on the side of his head from Artemis. "Yeah, for the next 24 hours. No hard feelings?" He chuckled sheepishly, but Percy was too confused to laugh. "I would be angry if it was real, I guess."

"Now wait, just a minute." An enraged voice said from behind him. Percy cringed and turned around, to be met with a pissed off Artemis. Steam was practically bursting from her ears. "You thought this was real? And you still shot me?" He seethed, and Percy gulped as the weight of what he'd done finally hit him.

"I- Artemis..." He tried, but was stopped when she held up a hand. "Save it, boy. If you don't care enough about me that you'd needlessly murder me, I don't think you care enough about this relationship." She told him, and Percy's heart sunk. "Artemis, wait!" He said, but was promptly ignored.

"Goodbye, Jackson." Artemis hissed, then spun on her heel and trudged away, clutching her shattered leg. With a flash, the goddess of his dreams was gone, and Percy was heartbroken.

Apollo crossed his arms. "Hey, yeah, why did you kill my sis?" He asked with a pointed glare, and Percy gulped. "I... I don't know. My head really hurt, it wouldn't stop. Something was saying that there could only be one or something, I guess I assumed it was the Fates. I just... I just wanted it all to end." He admitted in defeat.

The entire group looked at him with pity. Apollo sighed, crossing his arms. "I guess I can't really blame you. You were high as shit and in pain. But still, you're gonna have a lot of apologizing to do, and that's if she decides to even listen to you." He told him.

Percy nodded and swallowed. "I promised her that if we won I'd take her on a date. Use my supreme power to order her on one. Do you... do you think that'll work?" He asked. The group all looked at each other and smiled a bit. "Maybe if you let us help you, Kelp Head." Thalia told him.

Percy sadly. "That would be nice, Thunder Thighs." He told her.