Abandoned- a pertemis story Ψ ☑️

Tides and Flames. Chapter 18

Here comes another installment of Abandoned and I hope you like it. Sorry for the wait but it's finally here! I'll make up for it by making this chapter much cooler.

ΦArtemisΦ
I ground my pencil deeper into the notepad I was using as I grit my teeth and growled under my breath "My brother must love convoluted prophecies!"
Percy leaned back and ran a hand over his face, stopping at his forehead "Seems that way... this prophecy is-."
"Nonsensical and random, yes. Usually prophecies make some sense but none of this is relevant to us!" I slammed my pencil down and leaned back in the booth, crossing my arms and huffing.
Currently we were holed up in a Chick-Fil-A, we'd decided that we needed food and rest after our ordeal. Alexus had taken Carmen away, saying that he needed help and we all knew that he wouldn't be able to go inside the establishment without attracting attention.
Percy sighed and picked up the pencil, fiddling with it over the scrawls and lines of the prophecy on the notepad.
"The moons maybe. Y'know, because your Artemis." He said, tapping the pencil on the first line.
"Yeah, maybe. But I'm only one moon. The prophecy talks about two." I grunted with irritation.
Percy huffed "whatever Moonbeam, just trying to help."
"Sure Kelp-for-brains." I replied, blowing some hair out of my eyes.
We looked at one another.
Percy coughed and started looking intensely at the notepad while I played with my hair and stared out the window.
Mortal feelings are so complicated.
I cleared my throat and gave Percy a meaningful look "we should probably give this some more thought later..."
Percy teetered his hand "yeah, for now let's eat!"

ΛAlexusΛ
I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration "just let me use your shop!" I said to the man in front of me.
He was clearly confused, agitated, annoyed, and uncomfortable "miss I can't just let you use our shop."
And I knew that but I kinda needed the shop. It had all the things we needed and it also had seclusion.
"Is your friend okay?" He asked, peeking over my shoulder at Carmen who was sitting down looking pale.
"He's fine. He's just tired after a long day of... activities." I said, stony faced.
The man tugged at his shirt collar "oh-oh okay... well I still can't let you just come in-."
I hadn't wanted it to come to this "could this change your mind?" I put out a wad of American cash.
The man looked at it and sighed with defeat "you get two hours. That's it." He grabbed the cash and walked straight out the door, leaving everything behind.
I snorted "that seemed... a little too easy."
I went over to my companion and helped him up, supporting him.
"Thank you..." he muttered and I shrugged.
"It's really nothing." I replied though I was legitimately worried for him.
I could not let him die. It felt like failure and I stopped doing failure.
We limped into the shop together and I sat him down "so... what exactly do I do?"
Carmen closed his eyes and breathed for a moment, letting down his jacket and using the same hand to go through the pockets.
He pulled out things that looked similar to a blueprint and handed it to me, immediately going back to hiding his new wound.
"Oh... wow... this is, uh, complicated." I said with surprise as I gazed upon the instructions and the blueprints and all of the measurements scrawled between the important things.
I mean. I thought Hunter traps were complicated, I'd disarmed my fair share of them, but this was an entirely new level of what-the-hades?
There was a sudden knock at the door and I scrambled to open it, clutching my knife in one hand.
"Um... hey?" Dakota poked his head in and stepped inside, looking awkward and tired "you requested that I come?"
I sighed with relief "yes. Thank you! Maybe you can make sense of these?" I hurriedly handed him the blueprints.
Dakota looked at them "you don't understand them?" He looked confused.
I sighed and gritted my teeth "no. Please help."
Dakota shrugged and grabbed some metal off of a shelf. He grabbed chalk and started scribbling things onto the metal.
I watched "are you... dumbing it down for me!?" I asked, a little offended.
Dakota finished and dashed a period "I am. Well spotted."
I huffed "whatever."
He tapped the metal "just read these to me when I ask and console Wolf. I'll get to work on this."
I nodded "fine." I had nothing else to say.
Dakota looked at the blueprints and started to grab things off of the shelf and throw them into a forge.
I sat down with Carmen "how are you feeling?" I asked him in a soft voice.
"Like I'm going to need a new jacket." He flashed a smile but it disappeared with a wince.
I sucked in a breath and sidled up closer to him, trying to keep him upright.
"Take it easy. No wisecracks." I warned him, noticing that his temperature made him feel like a furnace. I decided that if we every went somewhere cold, he was my partner.
"But humor is how I deal with pain." He stubbornly joked.
"Your always joking." I pointed out.
He fell silent. He looked away and took a deep breath.
We turned to watch Dakota who was starting to hammer out metals. He didn't even have protective gear on.
"He's not..." the words failed to come out of my mouth.
"He forgets to often, but don't worry, he'll be fine." Carmen explained, his eyes fluttering.
"I'm more worried about you..." I remarked as I looked an arm around him to steady him.
"I'll be fine. It's just blood loss... Dakota will fix it." He replied, leaning into me.
"Just blood loss?" I muttered. I'd had my fair share of injuries, more than most, but at least I'd never lost a limb or bled out.
Bleeding wasn't fun but I'd never lost so much blood that I'd become straight up delirious.
Dakota put something down into a liquid and steam rose up "ah!" He sputtered, waving it out of his face.
Dakota waved me over so I held up Carmen and shambled over.
Dakota lifted the object out of the steam and grabbed Carmen, letting the bloodied jacket fall.
Carmen yelped out in pain and looked far more alert than he had for a while "HOLY MOTHER HERA!"
I winced. That's a new one...

ΦArtemisΦ
I bit into a sandwich and mentally thanked whatever god sponsored Chick-Fil-A.
Percy watched me, looking amused.
I set down the delicacy and glared at him "what!?" I growled at him.
"You look like your enjoying that." He remarked, smirking.
I leaned over the table, using both my hands for balance, and got in his face "I am."
The corners of his mouth twitched further up "good." He muttered as he leaned in and wiped something off the corner of my mouth with his thumb.
I reddened and felt my face get hot as I backed down and hid my face in my food.
He sat back, not realizing what he did.
My saving grace (no, not you Thalia.) came in the form of my 'daughter'.
Alexus strode into the restaurant with Carmen trailing behind her.
They sat down, Alexus next to me and Carmen next to Percy.
"Everything alright?" Percy asked
Alexus nodded "any luck?" She peered at the notepad, reading our speculations and theories.
I murmured a no but nobody heard me.
Carmen sighed "doesn't look like it."
Percy looked at him, a frown coming onto his face "you okay?" He addressed Carmen.
"Yeah. Better than ever." He set both of his hands on his table and removed the glove that was on one of his hands.
There, in place of his fingers and hand, was a hand made of silver and dark metal.
He flexed and the hand moved appropriately with the accompanying clicks and small moving parts.
The metal reflected the restaurants lights as Carmen turned it.
"Carmen..." I said softly. It was my fault that his hand had to be replaced.
Carmen tugged the glove back on "it'll take some getting used to but... at least I thought to bring these" he looked down at his hand with worry and fear.
"What is it made out of... why does it look so...?" Percy made some movements with his hands as he tried to think of a word.
Carmen sighed "Ethereal Silver and Mortal steel. It's got other metals too but only in concentrated amounts." He explained
"As for why it looks ahead of its time it's because it's a God's design. The council helped me gather the worker gods and make this for amputees. If I recall correctly I got paid a hefty sum for the idea. I never thought I'd have to use it..."
Percy nodded but looked unsatisfied. I noticed that he and I were both staring at the hand.
It's not your fault. Why are you looking at it like that?
I realized he would blame himself. Percy, the loyal swordsman and son of Poseidon, would always blame himself. Even if there was no possible way he could prevent something... even then he would take the blame.
That thought struck a painful cord in my heart. I tried not to think about it.
"What's next...?" Percy sighed, rubbing his eyes.
Alexus was staring at the note pad "hey look at this." She grabbed the pencil and circled the first letter of each line starting from the second stanza.
I read it and sat back. The words resounded in my hand with a foreboding tone.
"It can't be..." Percy muttered, reading them.
It said the two words, one name, that all monsters feared.

Percy Jackson.