Butcher

V

Confusion was the emotion that Natalie was most familiar with, for one entire day already.

First, she ran half the United States trying to get to a safe place for demigods. Matt only said that it would be safe when they reached New York. Sometimes he would mutter to himself about a camp of some sorts. That unnerved her a lot, as she didn't know exactly what to expect of a camp.

Then, Matthew died. A single blow by one of those snake-women, and he dropped to the floor, lifeless. Natalie screamed, but nothing changed it. She couldn't even hear his last words. She managed to get within the monsters (a feat that she to this day didn't know how she managed) and grabbed his knife, turning to run again. The guilt would burn in her throat every time she thought about her friend's demise. Natalie had even thought that she had started to develop feelings for him. What a wonderful bonding experience, running away from monsters who want to eat, maim and kill you. Surely a date.

Some states later, it was him that showed up. Percy terrified her. To her very core, to her bones, to her soul. The guy was built like a god, and not only in the physical way, because he did he have the body of a god in Natalie's perception. Natalie couldn't contain the blushes that took over her face when she had a peak of his body earlier in that cave. But she wasn't delusional to think that a guy six years older than her (by what he told) would fall for her, a fifteen year old from North Vegas. And Natalie wasn't even sure if she had a crush for him, she just recognized his beauty, because if she did not, it would be a gigantic lie. What really made the man intimidating were his powers. He could kill beings with a snap of his fingers with him being (according to Percy, of course) just a demigod. She didn't fully believe it. How could a mortal man possess so much power? It didn't make sense. Even if you couldn't spell demigod without god, his powers were something that she thought would be exclusive to a comic book super hero, not a real living being. And even so, perhaps exclusive to the gods themselves. Not to someone that was just like her.

But surprisingly, when he talked to her, he was so much nicer than she had expected. She was truly expecting a ruthless killing machine of a man who would only talk about blood and violence. And although he had some... moments, he was very nice. He apparently discovered that he was a demigod, a son of the sea god himself, Poseidon, when he was only twelve, going through so much conflicts that Natalie couldn't even comprehend everything. Having prophecies attached to him that brought him to hell and back. Quite literally, since he did fall into Tartarus, the closest thing to christian Hell just by how the place is built to torture and kill you slowly, according to Percy. Natalie was astonished that he was still alive and well, for all intensive purposes. There was certain events that he talked about with caution, like what exactly happened in Tartarus, and some personal details. But he did told her that both his mother and girlfriend died in a short period of time. It made it even more impressive that he found reason to keep on going.

Natalie told Percy her own story, which wasn't nearly as interesting as his's. She never knew her family at all, so she couldn't even tell if his mother or father was the god in the family. Apparently ADHD and dyslexia were common for demigods, improving their skills and perception on the battlefield. That made Natalie sigh in relief, as that always bothered her a lot. After wandering around in orphanages and boarding schools, she finally became homeless when she was thirteen. Hooray. It wasn't long until the monsters started to pile up on her, and two years later she would find Matthew, and Percy of course, not soon after.

Natalie looked at the latter, on top of a tree, sitting at a branch while smoking a cigarette. She didn't know why, but it was a fascinating sight, watching him blowing the smoke in the air, while looking at the starlit sky. Of course, Natalie wouldn't mind having another opportunity to glance over those eyes of his. The eyes were something that made her almost fall into a trance. It distracted her multiple times when talking to her about her own life and while listening to his tales. Those sea green irises changed a lot depending on his mood, reminding her of the sea itself. When she told him that she was fifteen, the rage that took over his eyes unmatched anyone that she had ever seen before. They truly resembled a storm. The reason for the anger apparently went back to a promise that the gods themselves made to him. And judging by his feats, it wasn't that surprising that he could force the gods to make promises. It just made sense for him to do so much that even deities would have to listen to his will.