Percy protege of Wonder Woman

-15-

—————Percy's POV: —————

I didn't leave my room for a few days. My body wouldn't stop shaking and I found my dreams filled with Aphrodite comforting me, the two of us sitting in her field, small deer and rabbits prancing around us without a care in the world. She held me to her shoulder, a hand on my head as she lightly stroked her fingers through my hair, my eyes set only on the animals.

I wasn't sure what was wrong with me, nothing like this had ever affected me so deeply. Nothing except my capture. The thought sent chills down my spine.

Eventually I had to let up. Diana had come to my room every day, knocking on my door. I only pretended to be asleep sometimes, others I just came up with some excuse. I was ashamed of how I'd been affected and I didn't want her to see anymore. I was supposed to be an Amazon, we were supposed to be fearless. Yet my body shook and stung with wounds that weren't even there. It was embarrassing frankly.

"Percy," Diana called out, her knocking persistent, "your team is worried- I'm worried- please, come out." Her voice pleading for me to leave.

I took a deep breath and slowly sat up. Diana wouldn't give up, no matter how much I told her I was fine, sick, asleep, or dead. She didn't find the last one as funny as I did. Aphrodite didn't approve either.

Aphrodite told me I should let her in, that the only way to heal would be to get help. She said something about kids in a camp, but I'd not listened too intently on that sentence.

After a few days of persistence, I figured I should just relent.

I pushed the covers off me, the cold air invading my warm sanctuary and sending goosebumps running up and down my legs. I carefully made my way to the door, my feet padding lightly against the smooth floor.

"Please Percy, I don't know what I can say to get you-" I opened the door, Diana looked momentarily shocked, her normally beautiful hair laid carefully on her shoulders. I noted that she wasn't wearing her suit but normal clothes. The shock was gone in a moment as she scooped me into a hug, my arms going around her as well as I shut my eyes tight and placed my head on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

I'd heard details of what had gone wrong from Diana as she pleaded through the door in previous days. The green man was someone on her team, he can alter minds, mess with your memories and sense of self. He was supposed to put me into a testing environment, a simple robot attack to see if I'd falter or refuse to save someone. But Aphrodite had intercepted, and her placement in my mind messed things up, it turned the robots to monsters and this division was the main reason for my quite literal splitting headache.

It was no one's fault in every sense of the matter. I'd agreed to do the testing even with the warnings, and just like Batman said, something went wrong. Aphrodite had just assumed I was being attacked and tried to help me. Her intentions were pure.

At the very least, I was assured I'd more than passed the test.

"It's fine." I mumbled quietly. "I'm fine." I sounded much more confident than I felt. I could tell with the way Diana tightened her grip on me that she didn't believe me.

"You're gonna talk with Canary, okay? Just to be safe." I pulled back a bit, Diana setting me down on the ground.

"What?" I asked quietly.

"Canary talks the kids through these things. They can do more damage then you'd think. Damages you aren't taught about on the island." She looked at me, waiting patiently for my response. I didn't want to talk about anything, I was supposed to roll with the punches and aside from some shakiness I was fine. I was fine.