The Mark Of Athena

- Our Day Promptly Gets Better!

Chapter XVII - Leo

I LET OUT A SIGH OF RELIEF AS PERCY STIRRED. HE WAS ALIVE! I felt great. We could do this, we were going to be fine. Annabeth was feeding him ambrosia, and Hazel was searching for some nectar, while Jason and Piper sat together in a corner. Frank was watching for any more monsters, so I went over to help Annabeth and Hazel. The girls looked at me as I came over.

"We're going to need you to help us flip him over." said Hazel, Annabeth nodded, and I eased Percy onto his front. I winced. The skin on his back was shredded and laced with whip marks, and a knife was embedded hilt deep, just to the right of his spine.

"We should pull that out." I said grimly, steadying my hands on the bloodied blade. Annabeth nodded and I pulled, freeing the knife with a sickening squelch. Blood welled from the wound and Annabeth applied pressure to it with a bandage. Hazel uncorked the nectar and poured some on the wound. It sizzled, and seemed to heal a little. We set to work on the whip marks, which were a little easier, but still left long deep scars in rows along his back. Annabeth was tracing her fingers along them sadly, scowling as I applied more nectar to the stab wound. It wouldnt close up, and left a knot of hard, white skin around the edge of a raw, red wound. Annabeth strapped a bandage over it and the blood soaked through wuickly, but it looked a bit better. We risked rubbing a bit more nectar on and the scars faded slightly, but were still red and the skin on his back started smoking so we stopped.

Hazel flipped him back over as the others came over. I started a fire, and left it to burn and give us some light. There were torches on the walls but they didn't give us a lot of light and were burning down anyway. I sat back down with a sigh. Annabeth had moved Percy's leg, which was still broken, into a straight position, so that the ambrosia could help him heal it.

She fed him a piece. There was an awkward silence as nothing happened. Then, suddenly, Percy shot bolt upright, almost slamming into Annabeth. "WHOAH!!" he shouted.

"But I'm dead!" he exclaimed, looking around, bewildered. Annabeth slapped him,

"YOU STUPID LUCKY IDIOT!" she screamed at him. "SEAWEED BRAIN! YOU DIED!"

She broke down crying and Percy pulled her close, hugging her. We stayed silent as the couple embraced, Annabeth burying her head in Percy's shirt.

"Hey, it's okay, Im here now." he whispered softly and kissed her. I pulled a face.

Annabeth wiped away her tears and Percy tried to stand but she pushed him down. "No way, Kelp Head." she told him and Frank and I snickered. We took turns to hug Percy, who was obviously still in pain but was hiding it. First Annabeth, then Hazel and Frank, Piper and me. I looked at him. His eyes were sparkling.

"That was awesome bro." I told him, and left him with Jason as we set up camp.

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Jason

I FELT GUILTY. MORE THAN THAT, I FELT RESPONSIBLE. PERCY WAS alive, but I couldn't always rely on the gods to save my friends if they died fighting for me. Percy was staring off into the distance as I knelt next to him.

"You saved my life." I muttered to him, and he looked at me. He was smiling lopsidedly, the same smile he had had the first time I met him.

"That's my job." he answered, then paused as I butted in.

"It was my fault you died." I told him and he looked at me sadly. With a start, I realised that he knew that already and he had accepted it. I remembered all the stories he had told us of demigods dying for him, and the empty, sad look he had got in his eyes. He wore that look as he looked at me.

"No it wasn't Jason." He said, and I was surprised. "It was Gaeas fault. You would have done exactly the same if you were in my place." he finished, and drew riptide, using it to prop himself up. He gave me a look and I understood. I wasn't to beat myself up about this, it was over. I helped him up and we hobbled over to the rest of the seven, who were sitting around Leo's campfire. They cheered as I brought Percy over. Frank nodded solemnly. "Man, that was possibly the most awesome thing I've ever seen in my life." he said, and Leo was nodding in agreement. I found myself agreeing too.

"Yeah, you fought back more than a thousand monsters on your own, with a broken leg and huge wounds. You had no armour and no protection, and no Achilles curse, and there isn't any water nearby." I said, gesturing with my hands. he blushed and sat down next to Annabeth. I grinned, they were cute together. I sat down by Piper.

I still wasn't sure of what our relationship was. We had grown really, really close, but there was Reyna, and Piper didnt seem to want anything. I sighed. A good old fight with a monster was much simpler. Girls on the other hand... You couldn't just vaporise them if there was a problem.

Leo was narrating a stupid joke about a Mexican guy in a bar and everyone was laughing. We ate some leftover sandwiches, and I watched Percy. He was stroking Annabeths hair as he listened to Leo, and she would look up at him adoringly every few minutes. After a while, she insisted that Percy had to go to bed, as it would help him heal. Percy sighed and hobbled off, rolling his eyes at Leo and me. I pitied the poor guy, a ticked off Annabeth was scarier than a rampaging Minotaur.

I sighed and stared into the campfire as Leo rambled on, late into the night.

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The Olympian Council

THERE WAS A FLASH OF LIGHTNING AS ZEUS ARRIVED. APOLLO RAISED a hand in greeting, cheerily saluting the god, but Zeus didn't look amused.

"This is getting bad, very bad." he sighed gruffly. He looked over at Poseidon.

Poseidon nodded. "My son died today." he nodded at Apollo. "We need to take action." He and Zeus looked at Hera, who smiled sweetly.

"Im afraid that isn't possible." she purred, as thunder rumbled in the sky and the ground shook beneath their feet.

{Another Kerabithajoni dedication, for always being my most loyal fan.}