recap:
I saw Lexi give her speech, the campers replying with cheers. I saw her fist hit the air like a bullet, her face set in anger and determination.
Behind her, the flames rose higher and higher until they surrounded her silhouette, her hair looking like a dancing ring of fire as it whipped around her face in the heat and wind. Right then, looking so inspiring and fierce, she was so... so beautiful.
Percy's POV
I stared at Lexi as she stood in front of the flames. The other campers rushing around me looked like blurs moving slowly past as they raced towards the only figure that was in focus.
"Hey Per - Ash? You alright?"
A voice snapped me out of my reverie. Luke was looking at me in concern, obviously noticing my vacant expression. His eyes followed my own and I saw his eyes light up with glee when he saw where I was staring.
"Dude, I knew it! You like her, don't you?"
He nudged me in the ribs and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Shuddup." I muttered, pushing him lightly. "Trust me, I've had hundreds of years to think about that, I think I'd know. I was only thinking about how she looks more familiar with her green skin back, that's all."
"Oh, OK..." Luke said, still waggling his eyebrows.
***
We were all heading back to the chaos cabin a few minutes later when Percy stopped. I turned and saw that Nicolas had run out of the doors of our cabin - we had let him sleep there because he was being bullied - and was tugging on Percy's sleeve, pulling him inside.
We broke into a jog and followed Nicolas into the cabin. He led us up to the living room, where we noticed Will standing next to the couch, bending over a figure sprawled over it.
Will looked up when we entered and I saw his face pale. He rushed over to us.
"He's in a stable condition, but he'll take a long time to recover." he said.
"Who?" I heard Percy say next to me.
We dashed round the couch and saw Dionysus lying there. His arms were dangling over the pillows, his eyes shut and his mouth agape, drooling.
"Hey Perce! He looks like you!" I chipped in, grinning. My grin was quickly wiped away when Percy shoved me into Nico.
"Shaddup." he muttered, his face going beet red.
Will cut into our playful outburst with a look that plainly told us we shouldn't be laughing at a medical emergency.
"So... what happened?" Nico asked, looking at Will.
Will did not return Nico's gaze, however, but instead turned to Percy.
"Nicolas here found him on the steps of the big house. He checked for response from the patient, but when there wasn't one he called me over straight away. We put him in here and waited for you."
I laughed inwardly at Will's use of the word 'patient'. Even gods got no special treatment from doctors.
Will was continuing; "He's been out for about two hours now, I've analysed him and concluded that he has the same thing that... that Nico had when he collapsed."
He looked away quickly and Nico did too. Nico was determinedly not making eye contact, but staring at the wallpaper.
"However, Dionysus is a much, much, much more powerful being, so I don't really know what to do." Will spoke, his voice harsh in the quiet room. This time, Will did meet Nico's eyes, and stared defiantly into them without a hint of care or compassion behind his sky-blue irises.
That seemed to be enough for Nico and he strode across the room, pulled open the door and walked defiantly out into the corridor. Seconds later, we heard his bedroom door slamming.
"I'm just... gonna.... go..." Nicolas said from the corner, edging his way towards the door and then darting through it at top speed, eager to escape the awkward atmosphere.
"I'm sorry, but what the f*cking hell was that? You two never argue!" Lexi spoke up angrily from the corner she'd been standing in.
Will's eyes were downcast and he looked upset, but also angry. He was... sadmad. (Home reference!)
"We were sitting on half blood hill and I wanted to see his face so I asked him to take his hood off but then he wouldn't and I said why and there was no one around so no one would've seen him but he still said no so I tried to take it down myself but then he got angry and I know because he called me by my full name and he only does that when he's angry with me and then I got annoyed and I said that he didn't like me anymore and that he liked Percy instead and then I walked off but then I felt really bad so I turned around to say sorry but I saw him going into the shadows so I couldn't apologize and now I'm ignoring him." Will said all this very fast, all the while not taking his eyes off his trainers.
"Will! You said he likes me? You know he's long over that." Percy stated mutely, his arms crossed over his chest. "I can't believe you said that. Do you know how much you've hurt him? It was tough enough for him to come out of the f*cking closet - "
"I'm going to see him." I decided out loud, swiftly making my exit out of the kitchen.
Once in the corridor, I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. That was awkward. Once recovered, I pulled myself together and headed off down the hall towards the jet black door at the far end, opposite my own. Pulling it open, I saw Nico sprawled haphazardly on his bedspread, throwing his metal skull ring repeatedly into the air and catching it.
"Hey." I said, trying to sound cheerful.
"Sup." said Nico. His voice was a flat monotone that I didn't like at all.
"Listen, Nico - "
"Luke. You don't need to say anything. Will is being a jerk about a stupid little thing and he isn't taking my safety seriously. I'm waiting for his apology, not yours, so just don't."
I sighed and closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. I knew Nico's relationships were a sore subject, especially after his younger experience with his feeling for Percy and how he felt about coming out, but I thought there was fault on both sides.
"This is such a petty argument and one of you needs to make the first move towards an apology. If you really love Will and you want to be with him, be the better person and make it you."
I turned and softly closed the door behind me. I thought I heard the clunk of a metal object hitting the floor and a very rude and frustrated word before the handle clicked shut.
***
Percy's POV
I left Will taking care of Mr D and headed out into the sunlight. Running down towards the edge of the camp, I made the split second decision to go and train down at the base of the hill and work off some of my stress. The huge track stretched far ahead of me but the end was in perfect focus thanks to my extraordinary vision.
I knew I couldn't run in my normal cloak and armour. Trust me, I tried the first week I was here. Not cool.
I looked around carefully. There was no-one in sight but I knew my workout bracelet didn't have a hood, so I couldn't take any risks. I quickly glamoured myself and felt my hair shorten from a wavy cheekbone-length to a short, cropped style. It turned a light brown and stuck up straight and wiry. My eyes turned an icy bluish white and my skin paled. My wings vanished.
Satisfied that I looked completely different, I slipped on my workout bracelet and began my laps. The faster I got, the more relaxed I felt, and I could almost see my worries flying away.
Just as I reached my sixth lap, I saw someone running around the other side of the track. I didn't fuss though, it wasn't like I would be recognized.
But as the figure moved closer, I felt a jolt in my stomach when I realized it was Lexi.
There was no way I could avoid her. I tried to avoid eye contact as I ran past, but before I could get out of sight, Lexi backtracked and stopped in my lane.
"Percy?"
"How did you know it was me?" I asked, bemused.
Lexi sighed in annoyance. "Percy, I train you. You wear that same bracelet every time we train."
"Oh right. Well, I'd better be - oof!"
Lexi had stepped forward and thrown all her weight and strength behind a punch that hit me square in the jaw. It... well, it really hurt, ok?
"What was that for?!" I cried out indignantly, my hands jumping to my face as Lexi hopped around, grimacing and nursing her knuckles.
"Jesus, Perce! Why is your face so hard?"
Once she had finished and had shaken her fingers out defiantly, she glared at me. I could practically feel the ferocity radiating off her.
"You lied to me, Percy Jackson. You told me that you had been in my room and seen my plans and ideas about the people dying. What you didn't tell me was that you looked through my personal belongings!" Lexi yelled at me, her pale green skin flushing with anger.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to sound confused but failing miserably. I knew exactly what she was talking about.
"You looked through my photo albums!" she screamed, not bothering to keep her voice down as several large birds took a swift, alarmed flight out of the tree at the end of the track. "Those are private! How dare you sift through my stuff like you own it!"
"Well, technically, I didn't lie to you, I never said I didn't - "
"After what I said to you, that's all you got from this? That you didn't technically lie to me? OK then, I'll change my accusation. You somehow failed to mention that you think it's fine for any old person to come into somebody's room and sneak through their things, and then not even have the guts to tell them afterwards. How's that? Does that make you feel better?" Lexi was a bright, fiery red now, her cheeks flushed and her eyes burning.
"Hey, that's not fair! The only thing I took from there was a feather from my wings! It wasn't yours to take!"
Lexi threw up her hands in what looked like a mix of anger and desperation.
"Boys! You don't understand anything, do you? You are a jerk, Percy! Why do you think I had that feather in the back of that book in the first place? And as for saying that it wasn't mine to take, number one, it had fallen out of your wing, so if you would rather the floor had it, and number two, you shouldn't have seen it anyway because you shouldn't have rooted through my stuff!"
"Plus, why were you so interested in my photos?"
"I didn't know you liked doing that stuff..."
"Percy, I've had that camera since my hundredth birthday, and you haven't even noticed me using it? I've been at your side faithfully for nearly five hundred years, and you don't know the least thing about me. Not one thing! What's my favorite colour, go on, go on!"
"Errrr, green?"
"No! I bet you anything that if you go and ask Luke or Nico anything about me, they'll know, because they actually put in the effort to get to know me! You probably don't know much about them either. Did you know that Nico's favorite colour is actually white? Or that Luke went to see his mum before she died and she tried to kill him? No. You are just a self-centered jerk and I'm not giving you the privilege of my company any longer."
She turned on her heel and started marching away, but I caught up and grabbed her shoulder, whirling her around. She glowered at me but I didn't let go.
"Wait. You never said why you had one of my feathers in your book. Why? Please?" I implored her.
Lexi's face darkened to a dangerous anger. She looked close to furious tears, and she stared defiantly into my face, the icy blue that hid the sea green beneath.
"Because I was in love with you, ok? But those feeling are gone. They're gone."
This time, I let her go. After twenty paces she broke into a sprint, rubbing her eyes on her sleeve with her red hair rippling behind her like liquid fire.
I just stood there, staring at her but not really seeing her. I felt my energy depleting as the glamour slowly fell away from my body, my wings emerging as my eyes deepened to their usual colour.
'But those feelings are gone. They're gone.'
It was too late.
I slowly pulled on my normal bracelet and moved my hood up over my head, walking away with my hands in my pockets and my heart in pieces.
***
A knock at the door awoke me from the depressed stupor I had been in for the last three hours.
Luke's voice called through the door. "Percy, do you want any food? Nico's cooking."
"No."
"Are you sure? It smells amazing."
"Yes."
"Perce, are you alright? Can I come in?"
"Yes."
Luke entered and I saw his eyes soften as he saw me.
"Wassup with you then, huh?"
"Nothing."
Luke kept nudging me, winking and trying to get me to laugh. When it didn't work, he sighed and got up. But just before he left the room, I spoke up.
"What's Lexi's favorite colour?"
"Lilac. She says it's the colour of the sky in Ariem."
"Oh."
Luke, looking bemused, closed the door behind him. I sat back down on my bed, feeling perhaps more heartbroken than I had when Annabeth left.
Lilac.
Hi peoples!
ARGH! Lover's tiffs!
These are so fun to write muahahahahahahaha
I actually like killing people, I think I need to go and see a psychiatrist.
AH WELL!
I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! So, feedback time. Does this make you ship Lercy;
more?
less?
the same?
Tell me what you think and where you think the Lercy ship will sail! (plus I found out that the ship name for Percy and Luke is also Lercy. Just so you know, NOT HAPPENING!)
cheers,
catgirl xxx