The Animal Within

Chapter 8 - Camp Half-Blood

With the door and windows to the basement now electrified and the kill switch on the ground floor, along with the omega's wrists loosely shackled together, Kronos wasn't going anywhere very soon.

And Percy hated it.

He knew after only three days that his initial assessment was correct. While caged, Kronos paced. He paced and he threw himself at the fortified walls. Whenever Percy would join him in his confinement he'd hiss and spit – sometimes literally – and take himself away to the place furthest away from the alpha.

It was like seeing a cornered animal, and like a cornered animal Kronos would lash out whenever Percy got too close for comfort.

So Percy had left and given him his space, listening to Chiron's advice about giving him time to settle down slightly. With only a week of Camp left, Percy wasn't entirely certain of what he could do – he already knew he'd be returning to Manhattan, but could he really take Kronos with him like he'd hoped he could? That week also marked a major milestone for Percy – it was when his first real conversation with the Titan took place. No masks, no barriers and no heat interfering with the omega's mind.

Percy carefully nudged the door open after flicking the kill switch, balancing two plates piled high with food that he'd taken from the pavilion. If there was one thing he'd learnt, it was that his omega could eat for an entire army. And Percy with his Achilles Curse inhaled a ridiculous amount of food.

The warm rush of air that blasted him in the face made Percy frown deeply.

Kronos lifted his head, eyes narrowing fiercely at the alpha as he stepped off the stairs and onto the floor. The Titan had settled beneath one of the electrified windows, the low humming of the current running along the glass – courtesy of Zeus – almost seemed to echo in the room. When Percy took a few steps towards him, he figured out why he'd chosen that spot – it was marginally cooler closer towards the windows.

"I brought you food," Percy quietly said to him. When Kronos didn't move to take the plate, he groaned. "Look, I know this sucks, alright? But at this rate Mr. D will never let you out," he said. "And, believe it or not, I don't want to see you locked away down here forever."

"It's because of you that I'm down here in the first place," Kronos growled at him.

"Yeah, I know. That sucks too," Percy agreed easily. "If you at least pretend to cooperate then I can get you outside, yeah? I mean... don't want you going crazy and killing anyone, so your wrists will have to stay shackled, but if you cooperate a little-"

"What?" Kronos quirked an eyebrow, the anger still there, but his amusement was prominent. "You'll take me for a little walk out in the sunshine? Just like any other pet, right? A dog to hold the leash of before you ask it to perform tricks and roll over for you like a good dog."

Percy exhaled sharply. "No," he growled firmly, "that's not-"

"Maybe before you visit you should take a shit somewhere," Kronos sneered at him, "get it out of your system first."

Well, that was a somewhat polite way of telling Percy that he was full of shit. Percy just shook his head. "Stop looking for problems where there aren't any," he said flatly, moving closer to him – ignoring him stiffening slightly – and nudging the plate towards him before sitting opposite him. Percy was done with giving him space. "That's not what I want, Kronos. I want to be able to trust you – really, I'm serious, don't give me that look – because you hate being stuck here." He tapped the side of his head, letting the omega know that he's getting feedback from his emotions.