Percy Jackson Champion of the Primordials

Chapter 11

"Looking for these?" I heard from behind me as I spun around and saw Zoe Nightshade sitting in the back seat, with my pills in her hand "Give me those." I demanded, but she shook her head "I want to talk to thou about some things." she said as I narrowed my eyes "What kind of things?" I said suspiciously as she rolled her eyes "Nothing bad. Just about what happened at the museum, what these pills are for, and why you look like you just woke up from a horrible nightmare." she said as I hesitated but nodded as she crawled into the passenger seat "So, what were thou dreaming about?" she said as I spoke "Just a dream." I said but she obviously didn't buy it.

"I know demigod dreams aren't always the best, but you look like you just walked through Tartarus. You were muttering names like Joe, Riley, and Johnson over and over again, you were sweating profusely, and when you opened your eyes, you had this wild and broken look in them. That wasn't no ordinary dream." She said while I stared ahead, not really wanting this conversation to happen right now, especially with someone I see as my sworn enemy outside fully immortals.

"It was from when you were in World War II, wasn't it?" She said with sympathy in my voice "You should really leave and keep your nose out of other people's business, demi-titan." I snapped as she recoiled in shock and slight hurt, then it changed to anger "No wonder everyone stays away from thou. Thou have no feelings, I may be a hunter sworn off love but I do understand what thou are going through. It may not be close to thou but I do understand, sorry for trying to help." she said getting ready to leave but I quickly grabbed her hand "Wait, I'm sorry. It's just-" I tried to find the words but thankfully, she understood as she released her grip on the door.

"Yes, it was from World War II. We were in the forests of Bastogne, sent to hold the line and preventing them from using the crossroads and sending supplies over. It was dawn, we were just keeping watch till an explosion was heard. It was a daily thing they did, pounded us with mortars at dawn, then at noon, we were expecting it so we all quickly hid in our foxholes, one of my friends, Joe Green, was a little farther ahead and more in range of the artillery."

After the first barrage, Joe must've gotten hit and no one heard him, but I did so I ordered everyone to stay in their foxholes while I went to get him." I said as I continued to explain everything to her, while she sat there, listening. It just felt right, having someone to compare to, someone whose felt the same pain like me and been through the same thing. Not as much but pretty close "We were there, watching thee. Artemis wanted us to come with her, in worry of us getting caught in the crossfire. We assured her we would be fine but she didn't listen." she said as I smiled "Artemis said thou were the only decent male out there, risking your life to protect others, even though she didn't know it was thou at the time, none of us did. Not many boys have that kind of courage." she said as I smiled.

"And what are the pills for?" She said "The pills prevent all bad memories and dreams from entering my mind. I didn't take them this morning so I had a dream, as you can tell." I said as she nodded "If thou want to forget the bad memories, then why don't thou have Ananke or Chronos erase them?" she said "I never said that I wanted to forget, did I?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"The way thou say it, it seems like thee want to get rid of the bad memories." She said as I nodded "I do want to forget it all, the killing, the wars, and everything else but I deal with it so I can keep those who I lost in my head. I deal with it because while I may have lockets and pictures of them, the wars keep their voices, the jokes they made, and everything else about them in my head and I couldn't afford to lose that. I have accepted their deaths and moved on, just like how I accepted Crystal's death and moved on, although that one took slightly longer." I said.

"Why did thou burn the pelt from the Nemean Lion?" She said as I looked at her, knowing exactly where she's going with this "I know what you're thinking and I'll tell you right now. I meant what I said before, I don't like Hercules nor do I want to be like him. Who would want to be like a hero who used people and constantly slept with women?" I said shaking my head, disgusted.