Climb (Percy Jackson x Reader)

seven

Percy grunts, the vibration in his chest rattling his broken ribs and creating knife-slices in his sternum. Straining to gather the water from the sand, he creates a thick lasso to yank Kronos away from his friends. However, he lacks the strength to pull, and the water slashes against the Titan's side and front before it falls to the ground.

Percy's breaths are heavy as he stumbles back, Kronos again looking at him. The Titan finally seems to notice the bodies behind the half-blood, his supposed army of demigods all fallen to one boy.

A broken, exhausted, furious boy.

Percy pulls the water in to himself, allowing it to pass through his shirt and wrap around his torso. Blue light gleams from his eyes as some of his strength returns, his ribs snapping back into place.

While his pain subsides, his energy begins to build again, determination flickering on his face when he looks at the Titan. He draws Riptide from his pocket, the sword forming as Kronos nears.

He no longer has a cursed blade. But he has a weapon, all the same.

That's good enough for him.

Percy runs forward, ducking under Kronos' outstretched arm and stabbing Riptide into the elbow groove between his plates of armor-like skin. Tightening the grip on his hilt, he swings upward off the ground, flipping onto Kronos' forearm and running up to his shoulder. The Titan tries to swat at him like a fly, but Percy leaps onto his opposite hand, watching his sword approach as Kronos again tries to knock him away. The moment it gets close enough, Percy wrenches Riptide out of Kronos' elbow, once more switching the arm he stands on as he takes a running leap towards the Titan's head.

Kronos stumbles slightly as Percy jams Riptide into his eye. Fighting for time, the boy guides himself back to the ground using the Titan's limbs, barely watching as Kronos removes the sword with ease and throws it out of reach. Water again rises to Percy's command, attacking Kronos relentlessly.

The Titan combats the barrage as fire generates in his palm, and he sends it forward to meet the water. Steam erupts around Percy, choking him, and he falls back, coughing. He squints through the white fog, his vision completely obscured.

A patch of air grows cold at his side, and he ducks to avoid Kronos' arm.

What he couldn't know was that the Titan had intentionally aimed low.

Percy's lungs empty upon contact, his body exiting the mass of steam as Kronos pushes him away with so much force that he soars like a ragdoll—the air lashes his skin before his head hits the stone wall, and he tumbles to the ground. A whimper of pain escapes him; his vision floods with light. Daggers shoot through his brain, searing his skull as blood runs down his neck. He pushes himself back up, dizzy beyond belief.

His knees buckle from under him, and he falls, a fog of black creeping around the edges of his vision. His stomach churns as the world spins, sand digging into his palms as he fights to stay upright. The urge to vomit worsens as the ground under him ripples with vibrations from Kronos' steps, the agony and disconnect in his body too strong for him to exercise his abilities anymore.

Kronos again plucks the half-blood from the ground, watching with glee as he squeezes his eyes shut in discomfort.

Percy would have mentally prayed for help, had it not been agonizing to think. So he doesn't.