Tortured One

The Savior's Awakening

Olympus-Throne Room
3rd POV
In a flash of blinding white light, the moon goddess appeared upon the cold marble floor of the throne room. The auburn-haired goddess shivered, looking around the open space for any sign of life, she saw no one, not even Hestia was tending to the heart of Olympus at the moment.

With the flames flickering eerily at the hearth, Artemis decided not to waste any more time. Gently pulling an arrow out of her quiver, she directed bow towards the ceiling of the throne room.

Pulling the string back, she loosed the arrow, watching as it exploded into sparks of silver light.

Her call sent out, Artemis waited for the rest of the Olympian counsel to respond.

As each flashed in, they briefly lit the darkened room, until, finally, everyone had arrived. 

Reacting to her presence in the room, the hearth grew brighter, illuminating the throne room. Hestia smiled gently, remembering the kind words of the missing hero.

"Well, daughter," Zeus thundered, breaking the silence, "Why have you called this emergency meeting?"

"Yeah, why are we here? I have better things to be doing at the moment!" Ares interrupted.

Glaring at him, Artemis reigned in her temper, and her tongue. Taking a deep breath, she respond, "I have news Father. News of our long lost Sav..."

A gasp interrupted her words. Dull green eyes bored into hers as she looked over at her uncle.

Gesturing for Artemis to continue, Poseidon watched, gaze full of hope.

"We've found him...."

Location: The Hunter's Camp- Infirmary

He twitched. Fingers clenched in the sheets beneath him. His body jerked, as if in reaction to malicious words or unexpected violence.

Eyes concerned, they watched. With bated breaths they listened as he began to mumble and writhe as if in agony.

Exchanging glances, the girls nodded, agree that it would be best to awaken the tortured hero before he hurt himself more.

Line break

His verdant eyes shot open as he landed in a crouched position from his abrupt wake up. The two presences in the room with him exuded calm and reassurance as he wildly took in the room around him.

Focusing on the presences, the man realized that they were clothed in the same silver color he saw before passing out.

Slowly unwinding from the crouch, Percy tried to force himself to relax as he recognized his cousin. His muscles tended as she took a step forward with a soft, "Percy?"

"Thal... Thalia?" came the shaky reply. "Where am I? How did you find me? Are you real?" were asked in quick succession, the last whispered in both hope and disbelief.

Eyes softening at his frightened tone, Thalia nodded, refraining from approaching her cousin, as she could see that he was still tense with adrenaline and paranoia. "You're safe Percy. You're in the Hunters' infirmary tent. We found you. And we are currently in Montana." Thalia answered his questions reassuringly. " I promise we are real, Kelp Head." The familiar nickname seemed to calm him down a little, although it did cause a frown to appear on his face as he tried to remember his nickname for her. "Wherever you were, you are not there anymore."

Approaching cautiously, Thalia held out a hand, as if reaching to calm a skittish animal. Watching her warily, Percy stiffened, and then seemed to gather himself. He allowed himself to believe, believe he wasn't back there, in his prison with his tormentors; Thalia stopped in front of him with her hand out, letting him make the first move. 

Steeling himself, Percy moved. He grabbed her hand--despite the pain it caused him--and in one swift move, pulled her into a hug and buried his face in her shoulder. 

At the same moment Percy grabbed her hand, Atlanta moved into an attack position at the unexpected and swift movement. Her slight cry of alarm alerted the hunters outside the medical tent to the potential danger their Lieutenant and best healer were in.

Rushing into the tent, they all paused at the scene before them. Which is the sight Artemis found when she walked into the tent looking for her missing huntresses.

Line Break

Returning to camp, Artemis was unsure of what she would find. She had news for her hunters, news she hoped they would accept without too much complaint.

Arriving at camp, she frowned, there was no movement, and the silence was pervasive. Where were her hunters?

Walking towards the medical tent, she realized that it had been enlarged, most likely by the daughter of Hecate within her hunt. Scared of what she would find, Artemis slowly opens the tent flap. What she found caused her mouth to drop in shock.

Her hunters were huddle up in the middle of the tent surrounding two people, both with black hair. 

"Hello?" she called. The reacted as one, startling and turning to her with wide eyes, the only one who did not react was Percy, having felt her approach. Twisting in his embrace, Thalia addressed her.

"Milady! You're back already?"

"Yes, and I have some news from the council. However, I believe that it can wait until I hear an explanation as to what is going on here," she replied.

Her hunters glanced at each other, communicating silently, making a decision, Phoebe steps forward to answer the goddess. "We were helping Thalia calm and comfort Perseus." Taking a breath, she collects her thoughts and continues,  "Although he is a male, we can tell that he has been through numerous horrors that have taken a toll on his mind. Even the fact that he has allowed us, all of us, to be this close in proximity reveals the isolation he was placed in as well as the lack of physical touch, specifically, affectionate physical touch."

Artemis was surprised. Surprised that her hunters had willingly comforted a male, the Savior of Olympus in fact, but it boded well for what she was about to tell her hunters.

Line Break

"Did we make the right decision?" she asked her sisters. 

"Yes, I believe we did," one responded. "It is in his best interests not to be surrounded by those who betrayed him."

"Ahhh yes. This way, all of our plans will fall perfectly in line," the third stated. "It is much better this way. Besides, with the way things are progressing thus far, he will not need to stay with them for too long.... Yessss, this will be perfect!"

To be continued...

There y'all are, hope this satisfies you guys for awhile. The next update should be soon, I'm going to start working on it right away!

Stay safe out there!

~Loveuzorra