Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians
Credit goes to Hans50 for the main part of this chapter.
Third P.O.V.
If one were to be walking along the strip of land that was Montauk, Long Island, it could be for a whole number of reason. They could be out for a jog through the beautiful country to get in a good workout and work on their cardio; they could be out strolling along the beach letting the gentle lapping of the waves lull them into a sense of peace. Or they could just be out for a nice walk as they watch the sun dip down through the clouds and watch the stream of colors flash across the sky in a beautiful sunset.
Whatever the reason, the landscape of Long Island was the location that was Camp Olympus. This camp is the mixture between Greeks and Romans. There are different reasons why the two supposed enemies were together in one camp when you ask different people. If you were to ask the king of Olympus, Lord of the sky, he would say it is to keep them safe. But if you were to ask the king of Atlantis, Lord of the seas, he would say it is to keep a watchful eye on the campers. If one were to actually pass through the magical barrier that kept both Monsters and Mortals out of the safe haven of the children of the gods, they would be awestruck by the beauty that unfolded beneath them.
Stretching from the point of Thalia's Pine Tree, there were vibrant, rolling green hills that spanned out in all directions, covered in scores of colorful flowers. On one side of the camp, covering one-fourth of the property was a beautiful forest with trees reaching to the heavens, stoked with monsters for training and hunting. The lake's water glittered in the setting sunlight like thousands of shining diamonds. The variety of cabins that were scattered through the camp were the weirdest and most interesting assortment of building that had ever been seen.
A gentle breeze blew through the camp, bringing soothing coolness to the summer heat. The sky was an incredible mixture of blue with streaks of red, orange, yellow, and gold streaking across the sky as the sun set. All-in-all, it was one of the most beautiful places one could ever see, the very picture of peace and happiness. Yet, within the boundaries of the camp, the atmosphere was completely opposite compared to the serene beauty that the camp exuded.
The mood of the camp was somber, downtrodden, and bleak. All the residents of Camp were sitting down for their annual dinner and campfire, but the air was heavy with sadness and regret. No laughter or chatter could be heard, as silence was heavy over the gloomy dining pavilion as the camper wallowed in self-loathing. The fire that crackled in the center brazier had never been so low, tiny spurts of flames popped up every now and then but it was predominately coals. Even the color was a dull gray that signaled the despondent moods of the campers.
It has been like this for a few weeks now ever since Percy was forced out of camp due to the many betrayals and heartbreak that happened to him. Ever since that fateful day that the campers and Percy's close friends found out that they were influenced and betrayed one of their best friends and unofficial leader, Camp hadn't been the same since. It was like when Percy left, he took with him the joy and happiness of the camp, leaving them with nothing but misery and guilt.
Everyone was dealing with the realization in their own way. The newer campers who were claimed after the Second Titan and Giant Wars all felt awful as they all fell for the lies that spewed from that lying son of Zeus's, Ryan`s, mouth. They were brought up on Ryan`s lies and didn't know Percy as well as the stories portrayed him to be so their faith in him wasn't as strong as those that he had forged in the fires of strife and war. But when they found out that he was innocent of the lies that he was accused of, that he was a true hero and was the one to actually get their godly parents to claim and give a damn about them, going so far as to have cabins built for them…well…the regret and shame hit them pretty hard.
The Romans had a difficult time comprehending that they had betrayed Percy. But once they did, the guilt hit like a freight train. To them, it seemed that someone was egging them to believe that he was a traitor and they believed it. When they realized that someone had been egging them on, they had hope that he would come back. But they had their hopes dashed when it was made clear that it was their choice to believe the lies. When they found out they had been slightly controlled, they demanded justice to be served. They wanted to compensate what they did with justice, but they still felt guilty after Ryan got his punishment.
But that was nothing compared to what the Veteran Campers and Cabin Councilors felt. The relationship that they had with Percy and Percy had with them was supposed to be unlike any other friendship that any normal mortal could ever have. It was a relationship, a friendship that was forged and strengthened over the passing of many years through constant fighting, strife, and war. It was built up and strengthened through conflict, where the demigods could depend on one another and trust each other to have the others back when the shit hit the fan and they were battling for their lives.
It was the relationship that could be compared to those of soldiers in a platoon, the type of friendship where the soldiers have shed precious blood sweat and tears with each other as they fought and protected each other on the battlefield. Where they would take a bullet or jump on a grenade to save the lives of their fellow soldiers and friends. Where soldiers would run through a hail of bullets to get to a fallen comrade to get them out safely, drag them across the barren battlefield and once they were safe, go back into the storm to get more. Through thick or thin, through Hell or high water, they would go the distance to ensure the safety of each other.
And that friendship, the one that had taken years to build through war and peace, was shattered by one jealous, power-hungry demigod's influence and their own paranoia and selfishness. They were not innocent because they had a choice to ignore and resist Ryan's influence or listen and allow their own flaws to rule them. And they failed and now the guilt and regret that they felt in their hearts was almost too much to bear.
Back at the Dining Pavilion, Chiron surveyed the area with a heavy heart as he saw his charges and, dare he say it, his children wallow in sadness. He knew something was going to happen, but he didn't listen. He had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Percy would be like his namesake and have a happy ending. He wanted to be there for him, but he was called away for an emergency meeting with a satyr. When he came back, that's when he knew he would most likely never see him again.
Snapping out of memories, the old trainer looked over each table he sighed and rubbed his beard as he saw that the councilors were nowhere to be seen. Each one of Percy's old friends was off in a different part of camp as they dealt with their guilt in their own way. Sighing once more, he let his thoughts wander as to where his charges could be and what he could do to make their burden a little less heavy. On the other side of camp by the cabins, said councilors were off in their own little world of memories, each one was like a knife to the gut. Not because they were sad, but because they were happy, full of friendship, good times, and joy. Yet now each one was tainted with bitter regret as they were reflecting on how they ruined it when they betrayed their friend, their fellow demigod, and their brother.
Over by the Demeter Cabin, Katie was sitting alone in her personal garden, silently tending to her plants. However, from the way she was working, she just didn't have that much enthusiasm in tending the plants as she used to. Shadows from the setting sun seemed to obscure her face from view, but if you looked closely, you could see the saddened look on her face. She kept tending to her flowers until finally she came to a single plant that just caused her to stop and stare. It was a simple flower by the name of Moonlace.
Bending down slowly, she gently reached out her hand and ran her fingers along the smooth petals of the flower that she had gotten as a gift and was one of her favorite flowers. It was one of the flowers that survived Zane's destruction in his campaign to destroy Percy's reputation. The flower was simple in its beauty with its glowing silver petals, but she knew it was one of the rarest flowers in the world. She remembered the day when Percy gave it to her as a birthday present much to her joy and shock. It was no secret that Moonlace was a very rare plant that only grew on Ogygia and with that happy sparkle in his eye along with a bit of wistfulness, Percy told her the tale of how her got it and with her love of plants, he wanted her to have something special and meaningful to her.
Looking at the plant brought a bittersweet feeling in her heart as a watery smile stretched across her lips. She remembered how touched she was to receive such a thoughtful gift and she saw the look of happiness on Percy's face when he gave it to her. What she wouldn't give to see him smile again, to rectify her mistake and have her friend back. As she starred at the flower, a droplet of water fell upon one of the Moonlace's petals. Katie reached up to her eyes and found that she was silently crying. The memories and feelings were too much as she opened the floodgates and silently cried and cursed the actions of Ryan and herself, the bitterness, sorrow and shame finally overwhelming her.
Not only was Katie acting guilt-ridden and withdrawn from the other campers, but so were Travis and Connor. Ever since the twin sons of Hermes found out that they cut their friendship with Percy over something as menial as a prank, they lost that mischievous pranking attitude that made them the most likable and notorious demigods at camp. Pulling pranks was a rarity for them now and the ones they pulled were clumsy, lacking the quiet finesse that they were known for. Their pick pocketing skills dwindled till they were only half successful most of the time and the stuff they did take was usually worthless. They couldn't shake the feeling of shame they felt when they believed that arrogant son of Zeus over the guy that had their backs ever since he came to camp. Sitting in their cabin, they half-heartedly tried to design the next great prank they would pull, but the guilt weighed too much on their minds as they too allowed the tears to fall from their eyes.
As for Clarisse, well, she felt like she was one of the guiltiest person alive. She hurt her crush over something he was forced to do. She would mostly hung out in the arena beating up straw dummies, only stopping so she could eat and sleep. As she was hacking away with her spear, she was reminiscing about how she first met him. When she laid her eyes on him, she instantly had a crush on him. She just didn't know how to express that crush and she ended up messing up. She then met Chris and she thought she was over her crush, but that changed when she caught him cheating. Her feelings for Percy came back at full force, like a freight train going full speed. She let out a sob as she was hacking away at the dummies.
Each and every one of Percy's closest ex-friends was affected in one way or another, from their personality to their skills. For Will Solace, his sunny disposition melted away as he withdrew into himself, his sky blue eyes dulled, his blonde haired paling, and he rarely smiled anymore. Not only that, but his skills as an archer were affected as well, making sloppy mistakes and missing the target half the time. For Jake Mason and Leo Valdez, it was like the curse of Cabin Nine came back on him with a vengeance. Their forgery skills went to crap as anything he made was either defective or blew up in his face. Needless to say that the big son of Hephaestus and flame user became more like their father as he cut himself off from his friends, preferring the company of machines to organics.
For Hazel Leveque, it was like her curse had a mind of its own. Almost everywhere she went, rare jewels popped up and she had no clue because she was in memory of her brother figure. Frank Zhang`s transformation, was out of control, as well. He couldn't stop remembering how he had betrayed the person who gave him more confidence than anyone he knew combined. Reyna-Ramirez-Arelleno, once she found out that she betrayed her crush, drowned herself in work. She doesn't have a crush on him anymore, but she still liked him.
But their sadness and sorrow was nothing, compared to the unbridled guilt and misery that one demigoddess felt as her actions weighed on her more heavily than the weight of the sky. Passing all the cabins, the camp beach comes into view and overlooking the beach, a lone demigoddess sits watching the gentle rolling waves with a look of longing, regret, and shame. The lone demigoddess was none other than Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena.
Sitting in what she considered 'their' spot, Annabeth could only watch the swirling sea green waters pulse and flow with the beating of the tide with a look of such longing and regret, that it was almost heartbreaking to watch. Ever since the gods had found out about the betrayal to Percy, even if they were influenced somewhat, Poseidon held a deep-simmering anger for the campers to the point where no one could walk along the ocean's shores without being severely injured.
But for Annabeth, it was like a curse was placed upon her. She felt pain every time she tried to touch the ocean's waters; her feet felt like they were on fire whenever she walked along the sands, she couldn't even get close to the Camp Lake and Streams as the Naiads would look at her with such hatred and try to drown her any time she got close to them. But she couldn't really blame the sea god as she had hurt his son horribly and in such a devastating manner.
At that thought, she wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them up to her chest as if trying to curl in on herself. If one were to look at Annabeth right now, they would be shocked at how the Heroine of Olympus looked. Her honey blonde hair lost its brilliant golden luster, fading to looking more like a dull yellow. The princess curls that she was so proud of became unmanageable tangles that not even the Aphrodite children could fix, die to countless sleepless nights to where she forgot to shower. Her skin lost it California tan and gained a pale quality to it that is associated with someone who spends lots of their time indoors. And it appeared that she has lost some weight to the point where her cheeks were starting to look a little hollow and she lost most of her baby fat that she managed to hold onto. But it was her eyes that showed just how different than she was from the woman that she once was.
The sharp, analytical, intimidating and startling gray eyes that had always had a twinkle in them, a thirst for knowledge and adventure, and an penetrating quality like she was developing a battle plan to take you out had changed dramatically. The beautiful gray color had faded to a dull flint gray like the color of rock and stone. The shining twinkle has been snuffed out and replaced with a hollow, sorrowful look that seemed to match that of the River Cocytus. If one looked closely, they could see just how broken Annabeth Chase has truly become and just how much she hates and regrets her actions.
A single tear seeped out the corner of her eye that made a wet trail down her cheek as she made no move to stop it. Her fingers drummed against the tips of her knees and fiddled with a silver ring on her left ring finger that had the picture of an Owl and a Trident engraved on the side.
Grover had been one of Percy`s first friends and created a empathy link, but dissolved it when he betrayed Percy. Though, he looked like he had seen better days as the guilt of betraying his best friend was eating him from the inside out. His once confident posture that he had gained from going through all the wars and receiving the blessing of Pan had all but drained out of him as he slowly reverted back to his old ways. His posture was more stooped, his shoulders hunched over and his head lowered to the ground. There were more worry lines and wrinkles around his eyes and if the dark circles under them were anything to go by, he hadn't gotten much sleep lately. His face looked gaunter and his stomach was sunken in slightly, indicating he had lost weight over the years. He looked like he had aged an additional 25 years as the once rich brown hair on his head and the brown fur on his goat legs were speckled with gray streaks. The years had been tough on the Lord of the Wild and they were only getting harder.
In the direction that he was looking at was by far Annabeth's greatest creation ever; designed and built by her was a monument to the gods that would last for thousands of years in the form of a city: New Athens. This city was one of the only good things that have happened to Camp Olympus over the past few weeks since The Betrayal as Annabeth threw herself wholeheartedly into constructing a city for the demigods that was mixture between Greek and Rome. She stayed up for hours and hours on end, working late into the night and into the early morning, skipping meals and even going so far as to forget to take showers and brush her teeth as she pushed her Athena blessed brain to the max to develop this city. It was the only thing that could somewhat distract her from the pain that she felt constantly in her heart, but once the city was completed, it was a sight to behold.
The campers actually didn't talk to Annabeth for about a month and she was completely fine with that. She felt that it was a suitable punishment for her to have them alienate and break off their friendships with her as penance for her actions, much like what Percy went through. But after a few days, they all realized that they were doing the exact same thing to Annabeth that they did to Percy. After that moment of clarity, they knew that they never wanted to treat another demigod in the same manner that they treated their hero and immediately began to reconcile with Annabeth. While their anger was diminished greatly, they still felt incredibly disappointed in her, but they learned the hard way what happens when they hurt their friends in such a way and vowed to never do that again.
The city itself was like fine art, a beautiful tapestry of elegant shapes, angles and colors that have sprung off the pieces of paper and woven into reality; like enchanting poetry that with each word spoken, brought a different piece of the city to life in marble and stone. The gods themselves have blessed the camp and expanded the land inside the borders to make room for the city as it took up over 20 square miles of land. The layout of the city was arranged in a circle like pattern, flowing and working harmoniously with the land instead of cutting straight into the ground. Hundreds of buildings, some as small as a single story house to well over 10 story apartments dotted the inside of the city, each one being made of a combination of marble, concrete, steel and stone. The Greek and Roman Architecture itself was expressed elegantly in the flawless marbles columns with their scroll-like designs, the archways and bridges with intricate swirls, lines, and edges marked into the stone. Stone roads crisscrossed throughout the mini-metropolis, connecting everything together as they all flowed towards the center of the city. Bronze braziers were placed on every corner of every street so as night fell; the flames illuminated the city in their comforting orange glow.
But not only were there homes for the demigods to live in, but further into the city, there were shopping malls, parks, colleges, and all sorts of other buildings that allowed the residents to get the most out of their new home while they lived within the safety of the camp. Once adult demigods throughout the country heard that there was now a safe-haven within the confines of the camp, they flocked towards the safety of camp with their families in tow and settled in right away. Even now, demigods and legacies roamed the streets, little children running and laughing joyously as their parents had content smiles on their faces as they watched their kids play in safety.
Moving past into the inner most layer of the city was a sight that was purely Ancient Greece as all it was were massive temples of the gods, each one paying homage to every Olympian god and goddess up on Olympus. Not one temple looked similar to the other, much like their cabins, but they were no less extravagant as each one reflected the domain of each god. Flashing bolts of lightning and the smell of Ozone could be seen at the massive temple of Zeus while the sound of crashing waves and the smell of salt water came from the temple of Poseidon. The temple of Artemis glowed like liquid silver with the smell of nature lingering in the crisp night air and moving down the line were dozens more temples, each with their own little spectacle to behold. Celestial Bronze, Stygian Iron, gold, silver, and multiple precious metals was woven into the sides and columns of the temples, giving each one a beautiful, ethereal shine to it that made it seem all the more godly.
And at the very center of the city was the crown jewel of New Athens. Standing at over forty feet tall, stood the Athena Parthenos in all its glory. Her ivory skin gleamed in the setting sunlight as her dress glittered like spun gold. The statue of Nike stood proudly on her outstretched palm and the billboard-sized shield with the sculpted snake shone was firm and defensive, as if ready for battle. The demigods have taken to calling her the Guardian of New Athens; a fitting name for a fitting statue. Her spear that rested on her shoulder behind her shield glowed with power as a white light shined from its tip. And if one was to look very closely, they could see a thing beam of light rising into the sky and forming a dome-like shield of power around the city, giving it an extra coating of protection from any threats that wished to do it harm.
Though, that was the plan. The plans for each building were already drawn out and ready to be built. Even though they only started, they already finished the housing quarters. It was all thanks to the gods who wanted to spend time with their kids. Because they wanted to spend time with their kids, they didn't magic the city into creation. Hence why there was so much work done in so little time.
Though there are many different paths that people take and many roads to travel down. But in the end, they will always end up on the same road when they are old. When you are pinned down and can't see a way out, he will find a way to help you out. If you can't get up, he will always rescue you, and if he is lost, then you will always find him. Even though, things are different and no matter the time difference, he will always be the same.
Should Percy get a harem of Clarisse and Artemis?
Yes -3
No-3
When I closed the poll this was the result, but in light of certain reviews the final result is
Yes -6
No-4
So… yeah. Percy will fall in love with Artemis and Clarisse and they will return the feelings. But next time please use the poll.
Hope you enjoyed. The next chapter will be the Olympian P.O.V. during this time as well, so look out for that. I`m going to say this again, major thanks to Hans50 for letting me use parts of his chapter from Betrayed Son of the Sea. Even though it`s not completed, it's still a pretty good story.
P.S. I got the last paragraph from Brother by Kodaline. Check it out, it's an awesome song.
While I am on the topic, I would like to say sorry to Hans50 for using parts of his story in Chapter 2. I know it`s kind of weird to thank someone then to apologize, but I did, face it. I understand if you are disgusted with me and quite frankly, so am I. But I promise that it will not happen again. So, once again, I would like to say I am sorry and it won't happen again.
Peace!