[Previously on 'Pain': "I'm guessing Tyche resigned."]
Percy froze and turned away, facing the wall. Annabeth was just plainly smirking and looking around the room, arms crossed. His breathing began to quicken.
Will ran next to Percy, trying to calm him.
"It's okay, take a deep breath," he muttered, which nobody else except the gods heard due to their hearing abilities.
"Percy? Are you okay?"
Poseidon was confused, trying to get a clear view of Percy's face. Percy gave a strangled sob. Will whispered in Percy's ear, unheard by the Olympians.
"No," Percy hissed out.
Will gave up and walked away with a sigh. Piper approached him. The room was so quiet, the only thing that could be heard was breathing and Percy's sobs.
"Percy, come on, it's alright," Piper said audibly, her voice laced with charmspeak.
"Piper, no! I won't! And it- isn't- alright!"
Percy's words got drowned by his sobs. Poseidon gave a quick glance to the other Olympians before getting up and shrinking down to human size. He ran past the thrones, earning a scowl from Zeus.
"Percy," Poseidon said, looking at his crying son. "What happened?"
Percy didn't respond. Instead, he pulled his hood over his head and wiped his tears.
"I'm okay. It's okay," he said, his eyes leaving Annabeth.
Poseidon scowled in annoyance.
"If you're okay, why are you crying?"
Percy gave sigh crossed with a sob and facepalmed.
"It was just a small thing! I'm fine!"
Will suddenly appeared next to Poseidon.
"If you're okay, why did you have nearly five panic attacks?"
Poseidon's eyes widened.
"W-what?"
Will nodded and approached Percy.
"I only know what she," he spat out the word as if painfully, "-did to you. But I know that causes trauma to a range, and this," he gestured Percy, "Is way out of the range. There's something deeper going on."
Percy sighed.
"Yes, there is, but I won't say anything. Not even my mom knows- knew," he said, choking on the word 'mom'.
Poseidon bit his lip and looked at his son sadly. He walked back to his throne and grew to his half his godly size. When he sat down, there was a flash of light and a yelp.
Percy was in his father's lap.
"DAD!"
Poseidon just hugged him, earning disapproving looks from more than half of the council.
"What?! If you have something to say, say it! My son has suffered lots of trauma, and I can and will hug him!"
The council members either rolled their eyes, sighed, or muttered angrily.
"Dad, put me down!"
"Why?"
His tone was whiney and Percy sighed.
"We're in front of 11 Olympians, I think if you wanted to talk, we could talk and hug when we're alone."
Poseidon's eyes gleamed with victory.
"Okay, there's an empty room-"
"Figure of speech! Figure of speech!"
Poseidon chuckled sadly at Percy lying in his lap.
"Can I just go?"
"If you talk to somebody, yes. It can be an Olympian or one of your friends."
Percy sighed as his eyes filled with tears, some spilling. Poseidon hugged him again despite his protests.
"Fine, who wouldn't care to react...Apollo!"
Apollo looked up at his name, confused.
"I- what?"
Percy looked at his dad.
"See?"
Poseidon rolled his eyes.
"Perseus-" Percy scowled, "-wants to tell you what was wrong, if you'll listen."
Apollo had grown quite a soft spot for Percy ever since he had come after his family's deaths. He never let it show, but he did actually care about him.
"S-sure."
With that, there was another flash and they were in Percy's cabin. Percy sat on his bed and silently sobbed and Apollo stood there, frozen with shock.
After he unfroze, he sat next to Percy.
"P-Percy, its okay."
It was a stupid thing to say, and they both knew it. Apollo blushed gold and stuttered.
"I- I mean, it's okay in a- a practical sense- uhm- like- like-"
"You're cute when you blabber," Percy blurted out suddenly.
"I- what?"
Apollo and Percy both blushed. Percy looked away.
"Do you want me to tell you the entire story?"
Apollo saw the tears falling onto Percy's lap.
"So, when I was around 2, my mom married this idiot named Gabe. I called him Smelly Gabe because of how bad he smelled. More to the point, he was a drunk alcoholic who gambled. My mom worked like 4 jobs at once to earn enough money to support us, as all the earned money went to Gabe's alcohol, cigarettes or gambles."
Percy took a deep breath and wiped his tears.
"My mom was working lots, so I stayed home with Gabe about 70% of the time. He- he abused me."
Percy gave a silent sob. Apollo was shocked; how could you expect a cheerful, joking guy like Percy to be abused?
"H-how so?"
Apollo's voice was hoarse.
"I mean mentally. Verbally. Physically. And- and even-"
Percy gave in to a fit of sobs.
"H-he raped me."
Apollo hugged Percy, even though he flinched at the sudden touch.
"I'm so sorry you went through that," he whispered, his eyes pricking with tears.
"Why do you care so much? I thought you hated me."
It was expected. Apollo as a God never actually spent time with or specifically favored Percy.
"I never hated you. If- if anything, I love you."
Percy broke the hug.
"I want the 'anything'."
Percy moved over to whisper in my ear.
"'Cause I love you too."
Apollo froze.
"Like, love-love? Because, I mean love-love not friend-love and-"
His words got cut off by Percy kissing him.
"I think you can guess."
Apollo chuckled softly, but sobered up when reality hit.
"Is there anything I could do? Your childhood seems like a nightmare."
Percy shook his head and turned away, tears blurring his vision. There was a flash of white and Hermes stood in front of them.
"Okay, if you're done, the gods are requesting your presence."
Percy looked up and wiped his tears, taking in a deep breath.
"Yes. Come on 'Pollo, I'm okay."
Apollo got up and kissed Percy's cheek, much to Hermes' confusion. Percy blushed as there was another flash and they stood in the throne room.
More tears fell from his eyes. Poseidon looked at Percy worriedly.
"What?! I told Apollo the entire deal, and now it's done! Why did you call us up here?"
Zeus looked angry.
"Demigods may not-!"
"Okay, if my dad stays out of the way, and your offer still stands, you can give me shot from the master bolt."
Poseidon looked at Zeus, ready to launch at him. Instead, Zeus facepalmed.
"Shut up, godling. I don't like your tone, and you shall speak accordingly to the gods and goddesses of Olympus."
Percy rolled his eyes.
"I only have a like 4 Olympians I respect and would bow down to, and I'm thinking it wouldn't be a shocker if you found out you weren't one of them."
Zeus clenched the master bolt.
"If you could state the said Olympians," Zeus said, gesturing him to continue.
"Is it really that hard to guess?"
Zeus raised the master bolt and Percy just looked at it amusedly. Poseidon gripped the trident.
"Talk," Zeus' loud voice called.
"Fine, fine. First of all, obviously my dad, Hermes and Hestia. Oh, and Apollo," Percy said, winking after Apollo. Apollo winked back, much to the Olympians' confusion.
"And your reasoning?"
Percy sighed loudly and turned to Zeus.
"You're like a 4 year old. If you're just gonna keep asking questions, might as well use the master bolt now," he said, his voice mocking. Everybody knew he meant it.
After a minute when nobody moved, he finally talked.
"Figured. I'm your most useful tool, aren't I? Anyway. The reason I bow down to my dad is because one, he's my dad, two, he's pretty chill, and three, he can be cool when he wants to. Hermes is simple. He and I talked and met before I even met my dad, and it was around the while when I hated him, so really, the reason that my dad and I get along is because of Hermes. Hestia, she's really kind, she's badass and she doesn't act like the other Olympians. So obviously, she gets my respect. For Apollo, he can be nice when he wants to, he's childish and is the least like the Olympians than the rest. So obviously, Zeus has problems with him and anybody who Zeus hates, I love. Do I need more reasoning?"
Finally, when nobody said anything, Zeus cleared his throat.
"Meeting started. You were called here because there was an earthquake and a couple of tsunamis. We thought you might know-"
"Oh!"
Zeus looked at Percy, his veins pulsing.
"What?!"
Percy looked at the ground and mumbled something nobody could hear.
"Loudly!"
"That- was me."
Zeus sighed and turned to Poseidon.
"See what comes out of your mistakes?"
Poseidon gasped, his expression a cross between anger and homicide. Percy looked away awkwardly, not wanting to comment on the subject.
"Percy is not a mistake! You didn't call him a mistake during the wars! You didn't call him a mistake while you were using him!"
Percy walked back to his friends, staying as far as possible from Annabeth. Apollo came over and stood next to him and patted him on the back.
"That was different! It was for Olympus-"
"It was for yourself! You didn't care if Olympus fell, you cared for yourself, as a king, fell!"
"No, Olympus concerns me! I'm ambitious, sure-"
"You used my son, and now you're calling him a mistake-!"
"SHUT UP!"
The gods fell silent and looked at Percy. Zeus was gold with anger and Poseidon was a little gold with embarrassment.
"I know I'm a mistake! I know! I know if I was never born, my mom wouldn't have had to marry that stupid man! I know if I wasn't born, my mom and Paul wouldn't be dead! I know that if I wasn't born, these wars wouldn't be happening in the first place! Don't you think I know that?!"
Percy was getting really annoyed now, especially since he had answered the Olympians' question about the earthquakes and tsunami.
"I'm just a mistake who's trauma, wrapped in skin! I know I'm a mistake! I know I caused lots of people to die! I know that if I was never born, the entire world would be better! I don't need you to tell me," Percy yelled.
Poseidon glared at Zeus before panickedly shrinking down and running to Percy's side. Will also ran to Percy, trying to get his breathing back to normal.
"Can you lead me to Olympus' infirmary?" Will asked.
Poseidon nodded, also supporting Percy as they walked out of the room. Annabeth started laughing. Athena stared at her.
"Annabeth, what-?"
"It's so funny to see a hero's downfall. He's cried like ten times in the past two weeks!" She choked out.
Annabeth lost to a fit of laughter. The gods looked at her uncertainly.
"What do you mean?"
Everybody looked between Athena and her spawn.
"I did this! I finally broke him!" She yelled, her voice full of victory and happiness.
She was still laughing, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
"Chase, what did you do?" Hermes growled angrily.
Everybody looked at Hermes. Apollo was looking outraged and ready to attack, Hestia's eyes were wide and tearful, expecting the worst. Percy had chosen the right people to favor. Artemis was looking uncertain.
"It's probably not her fault, it must be that boy who started it."
Annabeth laughed again.
"No, I'm taking full credit for this," she said, cackling loudly.
Poseidon walked in, growing to his godly size.
"Godly hearing. What the fuck did you do to my son?!" He yelled, his voice underlining his power.
Annabeth cackled more.
"It was my mother, really, who gave me the idea. Loyalty. And how better to destroy royalty, than betrayal?"
She laughed more.
"What did you do to my son?!" Poseidon yelled again.
"He only shared his story with two people. Me and Apollo. I won't spoil it. This was also half of the reason he's like this right now. The other half is me."
Apollo glared as hard as he could.
"After all of that, how could you do this to him?!" He shouted in outrage.
Annabeth sighed and gestured for him to come next to her, in front of the gods. He stepped forward, and Annabeth backed down into the shadows.
"What happened to my son? I need to know," Poseidon pleaded. His eyes were full of tears yet to spill.
"His mom married a man called Gabe when Percy was around 2,3. His mom worked about 4 jobs at once, so Percy stayed home with Gabe every day. What traumatized him so much is that his stepfather was abusive," Apollo began.
There was a collective gasp around the room. Poseidon paled, and his grip on his throne tightened, causing cracks.
"He abused him every way possible. Mentally, verbally, physically... but he did worse. Much worse. And he did it Percy's entire childhood," Apollo said grimly.
Poseidon's throne had chunks fall out now. He was as pale as Nico, which was saying something. Poseidon let his tears flow as he grabbed his throne so hard that actual boulder-like chunks fell out of his giant throne.
Apollo stepped back as Will ran in. Poseidon immediately looked up, his face scrunched up in worry.
"Percy's doing a bit better now, he's had a panic attack and a PTSD attack. He's still hyperventilating, and his heartbeat is too fast. I've given him sedatives now, his sleeping, but I need dad to look at him," Will said. Apollo nodded and got up. They walked out as Poseidon sighed in anxiety.
"Well, you've heard one half of the story! Now, yours truly is in the spotlight," Annabeth said, stepping out with a smirk on her face.
"It was easy, really. Loyalty made him overly trusting. That idiot jumped into Tartarus with me when he didn't have to. After I got him to be my boyfriend, I dated Matt, my boyfriend from the Aphrodite cabin. Anyway, to completely destroy him, I needed to unlock his PTSD to its full potential. He already had PTSD so it was easy to cause. He foolishly trusted me and told me about his step-dad, and I had my key," she said, smirking wildly.
"I raped him," she said with a sadistic laugh.
Everybody began yelling. All except Poseidon, who ran out as soon as possible, going to the infirmary. He had to see Percy.
Just as he was running, he saw Will running toward him.
"Quickly- it's Percy."