Home Is Where The Heart(h) Is

Chapter 11: Breathless

Percy had never known what it was like to look death in the eye. Since he was twelve, he'd always been told most demigods never survived past their teenager years, but he managed to survive his quests and the Titan War, and every time he'd been captured, or outmatched, he always had an out, whether planned or unplanned, whether it was his quick thinking or his reactions, whether it was him or her.

He almost chuckled despite his situation. The poison – he assumed – in the arrow had worked its way through his body like a writhing snake, paralysing him. He'd stopped attempting to siphon the liquid out. Whatever it was, it wasn't controllable by him. Immobile. Helpless.

Yet even as he lay on the ground, an arrow plunged into his ankle and spots dancing in his eyes from the pain, his mind wandered. 

Annabeth, he thought.

He wasn't sure what to call her. He had thought she could have been his girlfriend, but after everything, because of Aphrodite's manipulation, it was all messed up, and now he found that his feelings changed course towards her. Still, she was his friend for so many years, and had his back through it all.

So many close calls, he realized, and each time it was either me, you or someone else saving our lives...

And now he would die unknown and unnoticed.

No more close calls. No more people coming in at the last second and blocking the arrow that was nocked, aimed towards his heart, an inch away. No one to save him now.

It almost felt peaceful. Everything seemed to fall silent, the leaves stopped rustling, the birds stopped chirping, the wind stopped whispering, his ears only seeming to focus on the zap of the electrical bowstring and the hiss of the arrow.

He wondered how it would be like when he visited the Underworld as a ghost and not an intruder like the last time. Would he go Elysium? He didn't think himself worthy of that. Asphodel seemed like the most likely choice, and Punishment...

He definitely was not the greatest demigod to live. He made mistakes. He had his flaws. He was sure he had hurt his friends before.

"Any last words, Perseus?" Orion spoke.

Percy met the Giant's gaze of the flashlights that fell upon his eyes. No.

He thought he saw a flash of disappointment on Orion's face. Maybe he expected him to give a long monologue on his achievements or a promise to hunt him down when he was a ghost in the underworld. But Percy didn't feel like giving Orion that satisfaction.

He closed his eyes for the last time.

The bowstring drew taut. The arrow nocked with a electric zap and the arrow flew.

It pierced his heart straight on.

Perseus Jackson breathed no more.

~

Hestia awoke clutching her chest, gasping in pain. Something was wrong. Desperation grasped her heart like a bony hand.

She glanced over at her Giant warden. Much to her relief, Tityos was fast asleep. Figures, she thought, he was young for a Giant, almost infantile.

She slowly got to her feet. Fortunately, Clytius hadn't chained or bound her limbs. Walking over cautiously to the exit in the dark cell, she put her arms forward blindly. Soon, her arms were met with an invisible barrier. She pounded on it frantically, hoping for some sort of miracle sent from Olympus, but to no avail.

Hestia, in melancholy and anxiety, dropped to the ground, tears glimmering at the edge of her eyes, threatening to pour. She knew something was wrong, her heart hurting sharply. She never had this feeling before, it felt unknown to her, but she was certain it was not good. She banged the barrier weakly, wailing for help though her throat was raw with screaming the few hours earlier.

"Please..." She croaked, the agony too much to bear. It burned her insides like tongues of fire, searing her organs and bones. She didn't want to feel this anymore. What she felt was something she never experienced before. Worse than when she saw her father Kronos devour her, worse than seeing her family torn apart by spite and jealousy.

Just before she thought she was about to perish from the fiery blade in her chest, her eyes rolled up in her head and she lapsed into merciful unconsciousness.

Merciful because the goddess could no longer tolerate it, but more merciful because soon the sinister creatures in the Giants' fortress would celebrate and revel in the joy of their victory. Even their leaders and masters, the Giants themselves, would celebrate the occasion. What that had stood between their way of their conquest had been eliminated.

The great hero Percy Jackson was dead.

Soon Clytius would arrive at Hestia's cell and tell her of the news. He would then release her, to tell the demigods, so as to spread fear. The demigods would scour a five mile radius, relentlessly searching for him. They would soon find his body, an arrow sprouted from his chest, the blood already dried up to a husk of maroon. The search party would bring him back and the camp would burn a funeral pyre for the hero. Tears would be shed and faces would be forlorn. Even the leaderless Hunters Of Artemis would return to pay their respects to him. Thalia would be the most affected, while the rest would indeed be fearful of the enemy that had finally done the impossible - to kill Percy Jackson. Maybe they would even recognise the arrow as one of the enemy's: Orion.

Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis would receive the news and be brought into the camp. They would stand numbly, unable to grasp the situation. Sally would sob uncontrollably into Paul's shoulder as Paul would stand as still as a statue facing the burning shroud. Their son and stepson was dead.

The achievements of Percy rivalled not even the greatest of heroes in Greek Mythology. He had accomplished much, both for mortals and immortals. Everyone had a reason to mourn whether him being a close friend, like Grover, or a half-brother; Tyson, or someone that admired him; the Stoll brothers.

And then when the three days of mourning were gone, a council would be held on how to deal with the aftermath: how he was murdered and by whom: his friends would send prayers to their godly parents but receive no reply, for Olympus still remained closed. Whatever hope the demigods had that their parents would answer would vanish in an instant.

But the two people that cared the most for him would lock themselves in solitude and cry themselves to sleep. They would mourn like a person would fast, refusing to eat nor drink. Tears would stain their clothing and their eyes would be raw, unable to accept the death of the person they loved.

Hestia...Annabeth...

You have been through much with Perseus, and you knew him like no one else, and now he has left you when you needed him the most...

For your love for him was great.

But for one, he no longer returns that love, and the other, he is too afraid to return that love.

But now...he can no longer love you.

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