"Send me! Send an army! Send a thousand ships! I don't care, just bring her home. I hate being without her."
[ PERCY JACKSON x FEMALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0016. | A DECISION IS MADE, A LINE TO BE DRAWN
Octavia's hands were cold.
He was holding the ledge of the chariot on either side of her, keeping her close and keeping her safe. His thumbs were next to her pinky fingers, not touching, but close enough he could feel the cold ebbing from her against his skin. He had never been warmer than her before. It was a constant he had grown comfortable with, Octavia was warm like sunlight, but now... Othrys had changed her. He hated that. He wanted her to be healthy again. He wanted her to be warm.
For that reason alone, he drew his tattered hoodie from his torso and pulled it over her head.
It wasn't much. It was cut up and scratched by dragon teeth and Nemean Lion claws and Nereus' scrapping. It wasn't much, but it was something at least. It was all he had left to give. He tugged it over her head and she didn't fight him like she had the last time he gave her his sweater. She was too weak to stop him doing anything to her. For that, he pulled the hoodie over her head and helped her lace her arms through the sleeves. He saw her blue braided bracelet and sea glass poke out the sleeve. His skin prickled with goosebumps from the cold.
She was losing energy. From where he stood, he could see the back of her head smeared black among the orange hair. She had bashed her head somewhere and it had bled. It was caked and thick now, likely clotted and scabbing over, but he knew how much a head injury hurt. It was a wonder she was still standing after everything she had been through.
She slumped against him and he supported her as well as he could. She was heavy and his entire body felt like it was burning up after the weight of the sky.
With courage, he had taken the sky from Artemis so she could fight Atlas and Octavia could be freed.
With pain, he had been freed of the burden. Now, his body felt like it was decaying and crippling. He longed for the wooden strength of Menelaus' old muscles. Even that would be able to withstand the burden better than he had. He had no idea how Octavia had held it for as long as she had.
Hermes landed again quickly.
He had taken them far from the mountain in a short time. Percy didn't recognise where they were, but he was glad to be back on land.
They had gone so far, the rain had stopped, but even still, Percy didn't move his arm from its place around Octavia. He didn't want Hermes getting too close.
Luckily for him, Hermes was distracted by Artemis and Zoë, and Travis was preoccupied by his first sights of his father.
Percy waited until last to descend the anchored chariot. He hopped down and offered his hand to Octavia.
