Pernico - Survivor

Ch.12 Just Attack Already

Hi guys! I'm going to keep this author's note short, so enjoy! :)

---------------------------------------------

Nico's P.O.V

I woke up in a cold sweat. I had been dreaming of Tartarus again. No matter how hard I tried, I could never get those horrific images out of my head. Those endless red hills surrounded me, and made me feel small and weak. I shook my head and tried to calm myself down. I learned by now that the best thing to take my mind of Tartarus was to picture Percy. Although I would never admit that to anyone, it always seemed to work.

After I had regained control if my thoughts, I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. 3:34 am. Great. There's no way that I'll ever get back to sleep so I might as well do something productive.

I decided to change into some new clothes before doing anything else. I picked out a new pair of black ripped skinny jeans, and slipped on an old Fall Out Boy t-shirt on under my aviator jacket. I then attempted to tame my hair, but ended up just running my fingers through it and leaving it at that. I looked myself over in the mirror and my head was immediately filled with negative thoughts. My skin was too pale. My body was too small. I'm too short. I turned my head away in disgust and swiftly left my cabin.

It was still pretty dark outside, so I decided to just train for a while in the arena. I made sure to avoid the Harpies as I made my way there. I would rather not get eaten.

The lights were already on when I got there, which lead me to believe that I wasn't alone. I slowly peered in, and instantly recognized the mysterious person. Percy. He was breathing heavily as he slashed at a practice dummy. The floor was covered in sweat surrounding him. A sudden spark of courage ran through me.

"Want to practice with this dummy instead of that piece of straw?" I said loudly enough for him to hear. At the sound of my voice, he spun around and pointed his sword at me. Upon recognizing me, he lowered his sword and smiled.

"Sure." He said as he entered the dueling circle with me right behind him. He raised his sword and I did the same. We began circling each other in a mating dance fashion. For a few minutes, that's all we did. I let my eyes wander his body in all it's glory as he studied me as well. I was caught in a trance and it appeared that he too was distracted by something. Our strange mating dance continued as our eyes took notes of every little detail if each other. We probably would have continued like that if Jason hasn't interrupted.

"Just attack already!" He chuckled.

Both Percy and I jumped away from each other and began blushing furiously. I can't believe I just zoned out in front of Percy! He must think I'm a freak now... I looked back up to be met with the gaze of Percy's eyes before they flickered to the floor. I took that moment to really begin our duel. I swung the flat end of my sword at his ribs, just hitting hard enough to surprise him. He whipped around with a look of shock on his face before promptly jabbing his sword at my legs. I quickly reacted by jumping out if the way. Unfortunately, now my back was facing him, giving him an easy chance to get a hit or two in. When none came, I swirled around to far him. In doing so I caught my foot on an uneven tile on the floor and began falling on my back. I watched at Percy attempted to catch me, only instead he ended up landing on top of me. For a few seconds our eyes met each other and we held each other's gaze. I have to admit, it felt nice being this close to him, but he was actually kinda heavy, and it was starting to get painful. Once again, Jason's voice shook us out of our thoughts.

"So, are you gonna get up, or just lay there all morning?"

Percy immediately jumped up and offered me a hand up. I slowly got up, with the help of Percy, and began rubbing my soon-to-be-bruised back. Suddenly a question popped into my mind.

"Jason, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I couldn't sleep. I'm too excited for today's match. You guys sure made my morning a lot more exciting." He smiled. I flipped him off and left the arena.

When I got back to my cabin, I checked the time again. 6:30. The rest of the camp should be up in an hour or two, so I guess it wouldn't be a bad time to grab something to eat now. I tried again to smooth down my hair, and was met with the same result. This time, I didn't linger in front of the mirror, I just left as quickly as possible. I really didn't need those thoughts right now, when I was hungry for once.

I decided on a simple piece of toast with butter on it. To drink, I had some plain water, because I needed to keep hydrated for today's duel. By the time I was finished, the pavilion was beginning to fill up with campers for breakfast. I left the last quarter or my toast on my plate, and left for the arena. The schedule should be up soon and I was secretly hoping that I would get a rematch against Percy.

I scrambled to the schedule and quickly found my name. Sadly I wasn't getting my rematch, instead I was up against the Apollo cabin, and that meant I had to fight the guy that healed me. Will Solace.

---------------------------------------------

There you go! :) I loved reading about your favorite bands and singers! Thank you so much! I'm really sorry about the lack of plot in this chapter, but next chapter should be more action packed! :D Anyways, I would like to ask another question.

If you had the chance to go anywhere in the world, where would you go?