The Silence -Percy Jackson Fanfiction-

Chapter Five-Feeding Time

Percy blinked in the darkness, trying to make out some hazy shape, but it was hopeless. The pitch black surrounded him on all sides, suffocating him. 

"You get the silver one, Nightshade already got the green one. I'll get the Prince," A male voice whispered, and Percy breathed a little easier. It no longer felt like the blood was suffocating him beyond breath. Now it just felt like it was a bit of a hindrance. 

"Right. Don't molest him, Castellan," A female voice, slightly accented replied. 

"No promises Angelo."

Silence fell again, the only sound the hacking of seaweed. Then a groan could be heard.

"Who the hell are you?" Came Ash's startled voice.

"Sh. We're rescuing you," The female voice said.

"Bout damn time," Hunter murmured, making Percy smile.

"Hush, weakling," A new female voice said. 

"Oi! Watch where your putting those hands! At least buy my dinner first!" Hunter squealed, voice high pitched.

"Stop moving around then!" The second female voice said. 

"I got silver. How you doing there, Castellan?" The first female voice said.

"I'm working on it. The Squid Bait locked Prince up extra tight. Go ahead, we'll only be a moment." The male voice replied. 

"Take caution," The second female voice said, somber. The one getting Hunter, is Percy remember correctly. Night-something. 

"No! Percy!" Ash cried out, and Percy could hear struggling.

"Stop moving! Your Prince will be fine!" The first female voice, Angelo Percy believed, shushed. 

Soon, the only noises were the sound of Castal...Castellain...Cast hacking through the seaweed.

"You alive in there, Princy?" Cast suddenly said. 

"Hardly." Percy answered shortly, a smile coming to his lips. 

"That's the spirit. Aha!" Cast seemed to have broken through the restraints. "Damn seaweed. Where did she get this much anyway?" He murmured. Percy was startled to realize he was much closer than he was before. 

He felt a rough, calloused hand griping his wrist to get an angle on the seaweed bounding his restraints, and he blindly moved his hand forward, wincing as he cut it on some coral. Percy hissed as the jerking motion caused his arm to scrape painfully on the coral behind him. 

"Sorry, man. Hey, what was your name?" Cast asked idly, and Percy looked at the direction his voice came from in with an odd expression on his face, not that he could see it. 

"Perseus." He said shortly, hissing as his arm rubbed against some coral. "Or Percy," He strained out roughly.

"Percy. Cute. I'm Luke," His rescuer said, moving to his other wrist. "Goddamnit, where the hell..." He trailed off, seeming to have difficulty finding the strap.

"You sure your qualified to do this?"

"I could leave you here."

"Point taken." 

Percy dropped his head forward while waiting, idly wondering how long it take for Gaea's minions to get here. He wasn't looking forward to becoming Dragonfish food...again. 

"Can you swim?" Luke asked suddenly. 

"No," Percy said disdainfully. "The piece of kelp tore a hole in my fin," He snarled. 

"Whoa there, Tigerfish." Luke said. "Don't get snappy at me. I can carry you." He said, not seeming at all worried. 

"Carry me? You could be as big as a bloody seaweed stocking!" 

"And you've been in here or in hiding for at least a week." Luke snorted. "Besides," He commented, suddenly running a hand down Percy's torso, causing him to yelp at the unfamiliar feeling. "you're not very big. But, damn, nice abs," He complimented, ignoring the scandalized look on Percy's face quite easily, considering he couldn't see it. 

"Get your hands off me and back on the seaweed!" Percy yelped, voice high pitched as Luke's hand continued to linger, before hissing as he hit a spot where Gaea had ripped off his scales. Luke winced. 

"Sorry man..." He said, and Percy could almost feel the infuriating smirk turn into an apologetic smile. 

"Just get me the hell outta here and you can do whatever the hell you want," Percy mumbled, head lolling and words slurring and he started to lose consciousness.

"Anything?"

"Sh..." Percy trailed off, eyes drooping closed. 

"There we go!" Luke finally said, and Percy was helpless as he fell forward, limp into Luke's torso. "Whoa there, buddy, stay with me? You got a promise to keep there." He said putting an arm around Percy's shoulders and waist, picking him up newly wedded Mer-Maiden style. "Wrap your arms around me. Stay awake," Luke urged, and Percy did as he said tiredly. 

Soon, there were speeding towards what Percy assumed was the exit. His eyes twitched as light suddenly flooded them, and he blinked them open. The first thing he saw was his rescuer. 

He was a handsome blond haired man with sky blue eyes, and strong features. He could see glimpses of a tail propelling them forward, golden in color, with dark blue scales dusting his features. 

He blinked as suddenly the blue eyes were turned towards him, as well as a smirk. 

"Not bad, Castallen, not bad..." He murmured to himself, and Percy wasn't sure he was supposed to hear that. He also chose to ignore the searching eyes. He was covered in wounds and scars. No doubt not a pretty sight. "Welcome back to the land of the semi-free, Percy," Luke said, nodding his head to the empty blue vastness. Percy's eyes glinted, and Luke blinked in astonishment as they abruptly changed shades. 

"It's more colorful than I remember," Percy said dully, causing Luke to chuckle shortly, before his face suddenly darkened. 

"Do you know how long you were in there?" 

Percy gulped, letting his head drop onto Luke's chest. He was tired...

"A few Perl cycles, I suppose. Three or four, maybe. Possibly five. She visited at least five times," He murmured sleepily.

"Hey, buddy, stay awak-"

"Luke!" A female voice called. Angel, or something, if Percy was right. Luke started swimming towards there instantly. 

"No!" Percy whispered, suddenly much more awake, adrenaline pumping as tugging Luke away from that direction. Luke stopped, and looked down at him, frowning at the panic clouding Percy's eyes. "They can imitate sound, or voices or something! The creatures! Don't!" He whispered, and Luke looked around them wearily, cautious. 

"And you know this how?" He asked lowly, body tense, mind rapidly trying to figure out a way to keep Percy safe and protect them at the same time. 

Percy gulped. "That's how they got me." He whispered. 

"Come to think of it...Angelo never calls me Luke..." He said suddenly, whipping around. 

Luke and Percy both let out a startled gasp at the shimmery image of one of the creatures in front of them. Her mouth opened, revealing tine, pointed, razor sharp teeth. "Father! Father!" Came Percy's voice from the creatures mouth, and Percy tightened his hold on Luke's neck on instinct. 

She smiled a creepy little smile, bubblegum pink hair clashing wildly with the bright orange tail. "Perseus! Be careful of the coral!" Came Poseidon's voice, however the man was nowhere in sight. Percy's breath was lodged in his throat. That was the warning that was given to him by his father before he had wandered off into the coral mazes beyond their refugee. 

Had they been watching them?

Percy's eyes narrowed. These creatures more likely than not had his father. 

Without warning, Percy moved, suddenly, injured tail smacking the creature in the face. Luke took that as his cue and dropped Percy to slash at the creature with a sea glass knife, which Percy noticed was attached to a small seaweed holder on Luke's shoulder. 

Percy clawed and flailed in the water, trying in vain to swim, but it was almost useless. He could hardly move his tail. He couldn't swim. He looked at the ocean floor beneath him, and there seemed to be a drop off. He should land on the sand beds however, just on the edge if he stayed on course. 

Hopefully, however, Luke would get him before that happened. 

That didn't happen. Percy floated gently to the bottom, helpless to watch as the others came around with Ash and Hunter, three more of the creatures, The Silence, on their tails. They were surrounded. It was Ash that spotted him. 

Percy got his first look at the other two of his friends rescuers. Both had dark skin, but one seemed natural, while the other seemed an obtained, coppery color. 

The first one looked to have natural dark skin, black hair and eyes, red scales and a black tail. Percy guessed she was the one with the accent, as she had Ash following her, and if he remembered correctly she had gotten him. Angelo, was it?

The other was dark skinned as well, with very long, black hair. Her tail was brown, as were her eyes, her scales a deep green. There seemed to be some sort of band around her head, shimmering silver in the slight light from the Great Perl. She had Hunter by the wrist. Nightshade, he believed. 

Ash, upon spotting him, dived down, foolishly. Luke saw this, and twisted around to grab him, swimming away from the others quickly to go after the purple and silver Mer-Man. However, it ended up saving their lives, as The Silence pounced upon the others not a second later. Ash's tail stuttered in horror as he watched his childhood friend be torn to bits, along with the female portion of their rescuers, and Percy ducked his head away and closed his eyes, not wanting to watch the horrific sight as the three were killed. 

Luke swam away from the sight quickly, Ash in tow, and Percy could see that Ash was in better condition than him. He could swim, at the least, even if Luke was tugging him away from the horrific show. Luke spent no time waiting around as he grabbed Percy, hooking his arms under him the same way he had just moments before, Ash stuttering along behind them.

The three sped off, ignoring the screams behind them as The Silence attacked, ripped and chewed.

It was feeding time.