The Silence -Percy Jackson Fanfiction-

Chapter Four-Seaweed And Coral

The cave was dark, the walls cast in a eerie blue glow from the many dancing Tunicate. They opened their mouths at him, soundlessly calling for help. But to be moved was to die. 

Percy struggles began anew at the sight of a curve in the cave they were seemingly heading towards, completely covered in a blanket of darkness. 

Percy felt things snap at him, grab at his fin and run their slimy appendages on him. He shivered, feeling the phantom feeling of a webbed hand caressing his hair. 

The only light was a soft glow emanating from the faces of the creatures that had caught him, but it served little purpose than to light their faces with a eerie glow that made Percy's fin flap in dread. 

They held him in a bruising grip, and as they swam further and further into the dark abyss, Percy thought he may not just be his own from their claws. He took solace in the fact that the little decorations on their faces meant there weren't any more around him, as they would glow as well, but that solace was quickly crushed as suddenly he was surrounded in darkness. 

Unprepared for the sudden loss of support, Percy flapped wildly for a moment, trying to regain his balance. He never got a chance, however, as his arms were soon grabbed again and he let out a strangled cry as on roughly grabbed his still recovering scales on his arm. 

"Percy?" He heard the breath of a voice, and he stilled. That couldn't be...

He was roughly thrown into some sort of holding cell, and had to cover his eyes as light suddenly flooded the area, thanks to the Anglerfish. 

Percy squinted, before his eyes widened at the sight in front of him. Ash was chained to some sort of sharp coral wall, seaweed his restraints. His silver hair, now tinged with red flopped to float down into his now dull purple eyes. The Waters around him were red, his body practically mauled. It seemed as though they had ripped all of the almost impossible to see silver scales off his body. 

Percy felt light his heart had jumped into his throat, and went into shock before he was suddenly roughly handled. He gave a short cry as his back scrapped across the same short coral that Ash was chained to. He felt the seaweed wrapping around his hands, and soon he was stuck, in much the same position as Ash. 

The creatures left, and the place turned dark. "Ash?" Percy breathed, voice cracked and filled with emotion. 

"I'm here too," Hunters week voice called out from somewhere next to Percy, and Percy could only imagine Hunter was in much the same state as Ash. 

"How long have you been here?" Percy asked, a mixture of feelings coiling in his stomach as he uttered the words that so wanted to stay lodged into his throat. He didn't want to know how they had been here, left to torture, but he needed to know at the same time.

"A few Perl cycles, I'd imagine, not long after the part. Day or so after." Hunters voice rang in the darkness. And Percy choked on what seemed to be his own emotions.

"Sounds about right," Ash agreed, voice strained. 

"I'm sorry," Percy whispered. "I wanted to stay, to fight. Father wouldn't allow me," 

"S'all good, Percy." Ash said weekly. "Gotta listen to the King, after all. Doesn't help that he's your father...and all that..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"How can you be so calm?" Percy whispered, eyes widened in astonishment even in the darkness. 

"What else can we do?" Hunter broke in. "Panic like little Giant Squid when a Mer-Gup tickles its tentacles?" Though Percy couldn't see Hunter through the darkness, he imagined his face was as bitter as his voice. 

"What are those things, anyway?" Percy asked, voice filled with disdain.

"Her creatures. She likes to boast about them. She made them, didn't she?" Hunter asked Ash.

"Yeah, I believe so. Used corpses and such. She had a name for them as well. The Slice or something."

"No, that wasn't it. Wasn't it...oh yeah! The Silence. Cause they silence things or something," Hunter mumbled, as though not wanting to say it.

"Were there any others?" Percy whispered, dreading the answer he needed to have for his own peace of mind.

"A few Mer-Gups and Mer-Maidens, I think." Ash said lowly. 

"Yeah. There was one girl. Pretty," Hunter commented. "Brown hair, brown eyes. Pink tail and red scales, oddly enough. Said they were from her mother, didn't she, Ash?"

"Yeah. What was her name? Pip or somthing?"

"Nah...Pipes? I donno. Her mother had an odd name. Kinda like your mum, Percy. Aphroditity or something," Hunter muttered. 

"Strange, she was. Her tail didn't match at all. Said it was from her mother. Pink, wasn't it?"

"Yeah...she was nice." 

"Shame." Percy couldn't bring himself to ask what had happened. He felt he wouldn't like the answer. 

Silence enveloped them, the darkness its accomplice. It was suffocating, thick and heavy with the scent of his friends, and another unknown amount of other Mer-Persons blood. Percy felt as though he was choking, drowning in the red substance. 

Blood is thicker than water, his mother had told him when he was a young Mer-Gup. He could almost feel her phantom caresses. He had always thought she meant it in the family sense of the word, but now it seemed to have a reality of truth he had never wanted to discover. 

Light blinded him, just as he thought he'd drown. He blinked and flinched, wincing as his head came in contact with a sharp edge of coral. He squinted in the sudden light, struggling to make sense to the female silhouette. 

He heard his complains groan in despair, and could only assume this was the one that had hurt him. 

As his eyes finally focused on a point in front of his seaweed and coral cell, his heart once again lodged itself into his throat. 

There she stood, brown hair floating about her and green eyes glinting dangerously with a madness Percy would rather die than meet any time soon.

She swam forward into his cell, ignoring Ash and Hunter. He was sure Hunter was straining his ears to hear whatever he could, or maybe he was trying to block out the noises he knew would come. Ash was looking at him with fearful, pitying eyes. 

She swam forward slowly, a smile curving her lips. 

Percy didn't return the sentiment.

In one hand she held a knife, which seemed to be made out of sea glass. The other hand, however, was behind her back. 

"Hello, Perseus, heir to the thrown. Would you like to tell me where your daddy is?" She asked, her voice sticky sweet, an expression adorning her face, as though she was talking to a very small child. 

"Go rot in the explosive beds, Hatchetfish bait," Percy snarled. 

She didn't even flinch.

"You have such a pretty face. I'll have to change that. And beautiful scales. I've never seen that color. I'll have to keep some for my collection," She said casually, grabbing his face roughly and turning it side to side to examine the scales on his face, his head painfully hitting the rough coral behind his head. 

Percy only stared back at her, face a hard mask as he brought the knife to one of his arms, her face thoughtful. 

Intense pain flooded Percy's system as he felt the slowly re-growing scales being cut off, one by one. The pain was similar to that of having a finger cut off, he'd imagine. He struggled not to make a noise as she hummed lightly. 

"No no no, that won't do. I enjoy your screams," She said softly, pausing for a moment before continuing, her movements slightly rougher to get more of a reaction.

Percy bit his lip to the point of almost bleeding. 

She tutted. Percy finally did scream as she stabbed his fin, the blade sticking into the slightly squishy floor of his cell, the knife having traveled easily through the fleshy material. 

Percy thrashed and bucked wildly, but was sealed in place by the blade. Blood rose in a tentacle of color, only serving to drown Percy further. Was this drowning? He'd prefer it, over this torture. 

Gaea didn't stop in her work, easily and delicately cutting off each of his dark purple scales. 

He didn't know how much longer it had gone on after his tail was stabbed, as he passed out soon after. 

He wasn't sure how many days repeated like that. He lost track. He was just thankful she seemed to be focusing completely on him, and not his friends, much to their rage. 

Percy wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He assumed at least several Perl cycles had passed by Gaea's fifth or sixth visit since his capture. He fell asleep soon after she left, gladly sinking into the darkness. 

When he woke up, it was to the sound of a knife hacking through seaweed roughly, and rushed, quiet voiced rapidly exchanging words.