The Animal Within

Chapter 17 - Hera

Kronos was gone when Percy woke the next morning.

The demigod wasn't concerned. The night before, Kronos had praised the spaghetti bolognaise to be its own immortal food and had then heavily critiqued Scar's methods at taking over Pride Rock. Since Percy had taken to calling Kronos Simba, the Titan had wanted to know where the name had come from. Hence the movie night. After Kronos had moved on from critiquing Scar to the general film and pointing out all the plot holes in both the first and second film, Percy had to bring their little movie night to an end.

"It's supposed to be a children's story, Simba," Percy grumbled. "Children don't care about the plot holes, only what happens in the story."

"They should," Kronos grumbled. "That wildebeest herd would have had to be nine-thousand strong to have been stampeding for three minutes."

"No, shut up," Percy said, covering his ears. "You're ruining it."

"And why didn't Scar just kill Simba there and then? Save everyone all the trouble."

Percy had thrown a cushion at the omega, managing to get him in the face and causing him to splutter as he swatted it aside.

At that point, Sally and Paul were already asleep, so Percy and Kronos had preceded to not get very much.

Percy took his time showering, getting dressed and then packing his clothes and various demigod essentials for Camp. By the time he had it all together in the hall, Kronos was eating all the breakfast as he tried to assure Sally that they had slept last night.

"We did sleep," Percy assured his mother. "A little."

Both Sally and Kronos shot him scathing glares.

Percy smiled crookedly. "You ready to go?"

"With what? I have nothing to pack," Kronos drawled.

Percy just shrugged. "Great!" He said cheerfully as he snatched up some homemade goodbye-pancakes.

"Have you got everything, Percy?" Sally questioned.

Percy nodded. "Yes. I even remembered my underwear this time." Kronos' nose crinkled, and Percy grinned.

"Of all the alphas out there," Kronos said with a heavy sigh. "I have to have one whom forgets his underwear."

Paul grinned into his coffee.

Percy wiggled his eyebrows. "That's just better for you, isn't it?"

Paul choked on his coffee and Sally gasped in horror. "Percy!"

"What?"

Kronos shook his head in mock despair. "Terrible. Just terrible."

Sally shot Percy a sharp glare. "We need to talk about your manners, young man."

Percy nodded. "Sure. Ok. But we've kind of got to get going to Camp. I want to see how everything's coming along."

"Painfully well, I'd imagine," Kronos mused. "You demigods are like cockroaches. No matter what I do, you come creeping back."

Percy shrugged before grabbing Kronos' arm. "Come on."

"I'm eating, Jackson. Never get between a Titan and food."

Percy stuck his tongue out at Kronos. "Come on. Annabeth's gonna be there earlier too."

"Wait, we're going to Camp early?" Kronos looked horrified. "Why?"

Percy huffed, putting his hands on his hips. "Because I want a nice, relaxing winter at Camp away from any maniac trying to take over Olympus, okay? That means we go early. So get up."