The Daughter of Artemis ψ Percy Jackson

I Go It Alone

My hands were bleeding and blistered, but it was worth it. I had buried Orion next the the museum, there was no time to place his little body any were else, and I couldn't send his body back to camp for the nyads and nymphs to mourn or place him in the ground there, there was no time. I was left with this random plot of land that I knew I would probably never see again.

I let the tears well up and fall down my cheeks as I stared at the fresh dirt covering my pups body, he was barely a year. It wasn't fair. Why did he die...? Was everything I loved doomed to die eventually? The prophecy about me filled my head: Watch you back because the man in black is after you, Death.

I was going to die in the end anyway. If I was going to die, the gods could have spared this innocent dog. I chuckled bitterly and wiped my tears away, feeling the warmth of the rising sun on my back. Slowly, I bent and laid some fresh picked flowers over the dirt. "You deserved better than this, Ori."

~~~Moments Before:

Percy and the others had kept their distance. Percy had offered to help dig Orion's burial hole, he'd even grabbed his own shovel from the tool shed, but I angrily turned him down. This is my fault, I'd told him. All my fault, and he was mine so it's only right I do this alone. Sorry.

I'd been strong the whole time while digging, thrusting all my anger into the strokes of my shovel and I'd kept back the tears. But once the digging was done and Orion was quietly laid inside by Percy I couldn't help but break down. Seeing his crumpled body in that hole was just too much for me to bare and I broke down and started to cry.

Annabeth and Grover were asleep in the car by this time, so only Percy was there and he had no idea what to do for me.

Brushing away the tears harshly, I quickly scooped black dirt over the body, trying to hide it from my sight, trying to get the mental image to leave, trying to pretend that Orion really wasn't gone. Quietly, Percy kneeled beside me and pushed dirt into the hole, I couldn't help but notice that he was muttering some kind of prayer to the gods as he worked which both infuriated me and made me want to cry out of thankfulness.

Percy smoothed out the mound of fresh soil and placed a smooth grey stone he'd found earlier on top of it, like a tiny grave stone. "You'll be missed, Orion."

Those words were the last straw, the last straw that broke the dam in my head. Quickly, I reached out and wrapped my arms around Percy's shoulders and cried into his chest. We staid like this the rest of the night, me crying softly and him with his arms around me, rubbing my back like my mother used to do when I was crying- bringing on more tears for the dead. No words were exchanged. And that was a good thing, because it meant that Percy knew nothing could be said to make me feel any better.

Once the sky began to grow pink, I had been out of tears for a few hours, yet I was still latched onto Percy. I had to admit that I liked him and my mind had been racing these past few hours that were not spent mourning Orion. I was thinking about Death and everyone I knew who had been taken from me. And Penelope, my sister who is somehow still alive after all these years. I will find her, I needed to find her and that was my problem.

I dropped my grasp on Percy, noticing how soar my arms were because of the position I'd held them in all night. Percy gave me an unsure look, but I just forced a smile onto my face and stood up from the dirt, brushing myself off. "If you don't mind... can I have some time to myself?"

"Of course." His voice cracked from the long time of not using it. "I'll be by the car." I smiled and waved him off then turned back to the fresh grave, sighing. I took off my backpack and zipped it open, taking out a pencil and paper.