wrath - percy jackson

19

leonardo - who caleb insisted on calling leon - was currently walking side by side with the son of hypnos carrying twice as many bags as the brunette was.

"man, how do you do it? this shit is so hard to carry." caleb complained as he practically dragged the bags across the hard floor of the pit. leon rolled his eyes but a playful smile couldn't help but cross his face.

"years of experience, or maybe it's because i'm not a wimp." he smirked and continued walking to the direction of the house, quickening his pace.

caleb pouted. "hey!" he shouted as he ran to catch up with the military leader. he guesses this is what he gets when he sleeps in all day.

"come on, cal. we're almost there." leon said as he turned the corner, expecting a dirt house to come into view but instead a gigantic, intimidatingly tall black palace that stretched into the walls of tartarus. he dropped his bags in shock as caleb rushed to meet with him.

"hey, i thought you said you had years of experi- oh." the son of hypnos' jaw dropped at the sight of a tall, black palace that stood in place of their stupidly moronic dirt house.

"what the fu-" he started to say before a grinning kamala stepped out of the palace from the archway entrance. she caught sight of them from the corner of her eye and waved them over.

"hi guys! do you need help with that?" the young thai girl offered as she took a bag from each boy. they continued to stare in shock at the large, onyx building that looked scarily like an olympus palace until kamala snapped her fingers in front of their eyes.

"well? what are you waiting for? come inside." she grinned sweetly, her black hair swishing from side to side as she walked near the entrance, the door opening once it scanned kamala's entire body.

"access granted." an automated voice called out from within the palace's walls. 

"we've got a lot of catching up to do." caleb muttered under his breath. leon nodded as they walked inside. 

the inside was incredibly fancy. the curtains that covered the windows were a velvety red colour that looked like it belonged in buckingham palace. even thought the house's theme was mainly black, there different dark colours like crimson, indigo etc. there were paintings scattered across the walls, each showing a historical event. between every other painting was an intersection and a hallway leading down different places into the castle.

the trio turned on the rights and walked down the end of the corridor and up some fancy stairs that were made out of stygian iron. once they got to the top, kamala pushed open the door to reveal sebastian spread out on the floor, luke had his legs swung over one of the armrests of his throne while his head was rested on the other, looking up at percy who seemed to be falling asleep with his head in his hands.

light snoring filled the room as sebastian slept soundly on the floor with no care in the world. it was weirdly comforting to know that sebastian hadn't changed, that much. 

luke noticed the door creak open and poked percy gently, jolting the boy awake. he looked around, startled and then saw leonardo, caleb and kamala standing awkwardly at the throne room entrance. was it even a throne room? he didn't know.

he took his hands away from his face, leaned his elbows onto his knees and composed himself, smiling gleefully at them. "i'm glad you guys returned safely, was it a good visit?" the son of poseidon asked casually, acting like they weren't just standing in a palace that had not been there four days earlier. he tried to use more manhattan vocabulary but found the words start to become foreign in his mouth. it unnerved him a lot, like he was gradually losing himself and turning into a stranger, a powerful one.

leon nodded as he lifted his bags. "where do want us to put these, chie- i mean percy?" he asked, almost calling percy 'chief' like he had done with his past friends. friends, yeah. it felt right to call them that.

"you can put them in the kitchen." he said simply, pausing when he realised they didn't know where it was. he scratched the nape of his neck awkwardly and gestured to kamala. "kamala, do you mind bringing them to the kitchen?" the girl had learned the layout of the castle quicker than the others had and so she was the perfect tour guide for new arrivals, for now. they didn't have any servants yet so for now they'd have to do the work themselves.

"ugh, finally! these bags are so heavy i feel like my arms are about to give out." caleb complained as they started walking to the east door in the throne room that led to the east win, where the kitchen was. a glutton free chocolate muffin fell out of one of his reusable plastic bags.

"oh, and before you go," percy called out to them once kamala had opened the east wing door. she smiled reassuringly at him and a wave of comfort washed over him. he took a deep breath. "do you mind not calling me percy for the meantime? just until our changes are over, or metamorphic stages or whatever. you can call me whatever you want, just not percy, alright?"

caleb was shocked and staggered forward, pushing the hair away from his ears as he cupped them. "i'm sorry, did i hear that right? not call you percy?" leon, however, just nodded and carried on walking to the east wing door, where kamala stood paitently.

the son of poseidon sighed sadly. "yes, caleb. you're not going deaf. it seems we're going through metamorphic stages. just, please respect my decision, okay?" he said like he was pleading, a humiliatingly desperate look overtaking any confidence that was on his face before. were they even sea-green anymore? percy felt like crying at all the sudden changes, but it felt like it was physically impossible. 

it was the look, the desperate look percy had in his eyes that frightened caleb. he had never seen him look so, vulnerable. he had only know percy for a short time but in that time he knew that this man was strong, unbreakable yet had suffered so much. but he had never seen this man looked so unsettled and it honestly terrified the son of hypnos. he could tell this was unusual, os frighteningly abnormal that it sent an eerie feeling in his gut. caleb nodded slowly as he turned his back on his leader. "all right, wrath."