Tyson was more than willing to help, he said it would be a great 'bonding experience.' And that brings us to our heroes, all working on the chariot.
"Are you sure?" Nico asked, screwing something in. "Yes Nico," Thalia responded. "I am one hundred percent sure that a Poison Ivy isn't based off of a Demeter kid." Nico scoffed. "Well how do you know? Maybe in the sixties they had really strong Demeter kids." Nico retorted. "Cause that's like, next level stuff! Percy, back me up on this!" Thalia said with a raised voice.
Percy 'Hmmed' a bit, then answered: "What about a group of them? I'm talking like, Ancient Greece till now. Could they do the stuff Poison Ivy can do?" Percy asked, cooling some metal in water. He found it a little predictable that the Poseidon kid got stuck with the water job but he commented on it earlier and he didn't want to play out the joke.
"I dunno, maybe? I mean, making big venous flytraps and stuff would be pretty easy. But plants that obey your commands and are powerful enough to pull a man in metallic bat-suit? That's tricky to say the least." Thalia pondered, holding her breath as she started spray painting the side she was on. They had decided on black with a blue outline. Cause Percy insisted.
"I feel like that would be that one forest gods thing. What was his name?" Percy asked. He could swear he could remember a forest god. He took mythology back in middle school.
Thalia visibly stopped, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "...Pan. The forests god name is Pan." Thalia was looking at the ground, like she was thinking about things she didn't want to think about.
Nico could feel the mood had effectively died. He tried to stay out of serious conversations, he wasn't very good at them. But if his friend was feeling down, he had to try. "Thals? You alright?" He asked.
Thalia had begun to clutch the top of the chariot, her hand stained with the wet black paint she'd just sprayed on. "I'm sorry, it's just... It was always his dream to-" Thalia softly put her head to the chariot as she fell to her knees, silently letting tears fall to the ground. She hadn't trusted anyone enough to show her grief and guilt over his death since Luke and Annabeth, whom she was convinced had poisoned his tree. She'd been able to bury it for a while, but the grief was always building right under the surface. And this poisoning had just amplified it and brought it to the surface. If she couldn't even protect her friends tree, how could she protect those close to her? Nico, Charon... Or Percy.
Percy wasn't really sure what was going on, but as soon she fell to her knees to Percy rushed over to her side, kneeling right beside her, doing that weird side hug thing with one arm. His face was right next to hers, the only difference was Percy was looking at her, while she was still looking at the ground. "Thalia?" Percy prompted, continuing to look at her gently.
Thalia didn't reply, continuing to look at the ground. Her hands let go of the chariot, falling to the ground. Her head were flooded with the imaginary futures where those she cared about died because she failed them. She saw plenty of options for how it could go down. Until she was suddenly snapped back to reality...
By Percy hugging her. And it wasn't a 'Bro hug' either. It was a full on, tight hug. His hands were locked together on her back. At first she tried to push him off, only to be hit with a: "Nope. We're not moving until you give me a laugh." Then she accepted the hug.
Nico was doing his best to help, making a few dumb jokes, but eventually he got her to laugh by pretending to have a make out session with himself.
When Percy finally let her go, they stayed inches apart. A small blush on both their cheeks. "Percy, I-"
Large footsteps could be heard stomping their way towards the group; ruining the moment. "I have idea to save the camp!" The ever lovable Tyson stomped.
"What!?!" The group yelled in unison.
A/N:Thought y'all deserved at least two chapters today.