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~Waking Up

Stony green eyes gazed drearily at the group. In return they gawked at Percy with prying eyes, wondering how on earth he wasn't self-destructing from the aftermaths of Tartarus. Sure Percy was always calm, cool and collected…but even the greatest heroes needed to have a scheduled breakdown …right? Tartarus affected the mind, spirit and body and not even the strongest and bravest could escape its deadly grip…with a beating heart none the less. Was it bizarre that the group wished to see Percy finally let the stream of pent up emotions flow from his eyes? Was it sadistic that they direly needed for him to break down? So there our heroes sat, edging Percy to fall from the cliff of his composure.

Annabeth gingerly stated, "Percy, we've noticed that you've coped very well since Tartarus." An involuntary shudder clambered up her spine at the memory.

Percy shrugged and vaguely agreed, "Yes, that is true."

Grey studied green carefully. Annabeth noted the terrifying fact that if she didn't look away, it seemed as if she would tumble down into a deep void of green. The life that was once in her boyfriend's eyes was slaughtered….but strangely the cause of death didn't appear to be Tartarus; it was something tucked deep inside the depths of Percy Jackson.

Something that Tartarus festered with inside their hero.

Hazel softly whispered, "It's okay to not be okay Percy, you just have to tell us what's wrong."

Without even a flinch Percy retorted dryly, "There's nothing wrong. Percy is fine."

And there was the new and strange habit of Percy speaking about himself in third person.

Jason asked carefully, "Is it Tartarus?"

"No."

Frank responded quietly, "Dude…you look and sound like the living dead. You're not coping."

Percy laughed a bitter and lifeless laugh, "But…he has no need to."

A flash of gold diverted the group's attention. There stood, in all his arrogant glory, Lord Apollo. The god winced and flickered between his Roman and Greek form in discomfort. The demigods bowed and then rose, voicing their numerous questions. Nico frowned at the dark circles under his eyes and the how the sun that shined above them appeared…dark? Apollo ignored them and approached the sitting Percy, kneeling in front of him to stare into his eyes.

Percy deadly greeted, "Good evening Lord Apollo."

Annabeth frowned as the light that haloed over Apollo dimmed, he seemed stressed beyond measure, and he was strangely not bursting into a random haiku.

Apollo stood rigidly and brushed off his jeans, snapping his fingers as if to command the air.

Annabeth's eyebrows knotted as she noticed how the waves ceased to rock the boat and how stray birds were painted motionless in the air. Apollo turned away from Percy and faced the group silently. It was almost if time stood still. Annabeth demanded, "What's wrong with him? Tell me."

Apollo answered, "Percy… Percy is…"

"What? HE'S WHAT."

"Percy is asleep."

Annabeth as well as the others laughed at how ridiculous that sounded, but sobered some when they noticed how dire Apollo's face looked.

Leo joked and tugged on Percy's face, slapping it playfully.

The Son of the Sea responded with an unenthusiastic, "Ouch."

Leo joked, "Yup, definitely awake…Unless he fights monsters and saves the world but is a ridiculously active sleep walker. OR A BUTT KICKING ZOMBIE! "

Annabeth's sharp eyes narrowed at the grave look on Apollo's face, "Leo shut up. Lord Apollo, what do you exactly mean?"

Apollo snapped his fingers once again and an image splayed in front of them. Percy was in his mid-teens, staring deeply into the mirror. It was dark in his cabin except for the tiny lamp that illuminated onto Percy's face. The Son of Poseidon appeared haunted, his face pale and coated with beads of sweat. Ragged breaths escaped his mouth, shaking fingers covering his quivering lips as if a scream would escape. His eyes were glassy, bags painted underneath them, showing how deprived of sleep he was.

A silky voice spoke into the darkness,

"Perseus, you know that you are weak. It is impossible for you to save your friends if you are not even able to stop the nightmares that disrupt your slumber. You need guidance. The weight of your past is going crush the life of everyone you care for. Your emotions and remembrance of the past are stopping you from succeeding, therefore you must annihilate them."

Percy nodded and repeated in a trance as he clawed at his chest "My emotions."

The silky voice cooed, "Yes my spawn... I could help you save your friends. Only for a small price of course."

An image of his friends and family screaming heart shattering pleas for help edged Percy to agree hastily.

The smooth voice voiced its pleasure, "Very good young hero. Now read."

Percy took a tiny step back as he saw the words in Greek painted on his mirror with a strange dirt brown color.

The voice impatiently hissed, "Read. Read now!"

Percy did so obediently.

Annabeth gasped in recognition, "I-is that…a Cold- Blooded spell?"

Nico's eyes widened and his heart began to thud painfully. This can't be happening. Not to him.

The voice hummed, "Very good young demigod…. The price for your new strength is a piece of your soul every other passing year."

Percy collapsed onto to the floor, clawing at his chest as a pain washed over his heart.

Percy gritted out, "What did you do?"

The voice cackled, "I granted your wish. You're being put under a spell, so that your body is "awake" yet asleep simultaneously. You won't remember. You won't feel. You will become the perfect warrior and my spawn when the time has come."

Percy grunted, "You tricked me."

The voice snickered, "Is this not what you wanted?"

Percy sputtered out, "C-Chiron. Annabeth. A-Anyone Please!"

Gaea tisked, "You must learn to hold your tongue."

Immediately Percy's mouth flew shut and he was unable to speak.

She laughed, "You will be unable to speak of this night to anyone, so don't waste your breath. Goodbye spawn."

Once the sparks of agony dimmed, Percy picked himself up slowly staring blankly at the reflection that stared right back. He clawed at his chest, sighing in relief at the new feeling of relief. He really ought to be worrying at this moment, but he simply couldn't bring his mind to panic.

The door was kicked open and an anxious Chiron was revealed, "Percy, what is it? I heard your pleas. I also felt an evil lurking through the camp."

Percy opened his mouth desperately; dirt seemed to coat his tongue, leaving him mute. With much difficulty he stuttered, "N-N-Nothing."

Chiron suspiciously nodded and trotted away.

Percy stared deep into the mirror unsure how to get himself out of this situation, and for a split second it seemed almost as if he would cry.

Almost.

The scene faded and Annabeth screamed at Percy, "Why would you do that? WHY? WHY WOULD YOU SELL YOUR SOUL?"

Percy's mouth opened only to close.

Nico muttered, "But that doesn't make sense, why wouldn't she use this against him before? Why is it so noticeable now?"

Apollo answered gravely, "The madness of Tartarus was beginning to make him remember in vivid detail so to survive and shield Annabeth he unconsciously sold more of his soul to… forget. This is only a shell of his actual soul, merely a sliver of his conscious."

Hazel questioned, "Why would he make a deal to Gaea?"

"Percy is the only one that can answer that."

Annabeth demanded, "What do we do then? How do we get him back?"

Apollo stated, "He needs to remember. With each memory remembered a piece of soul shall be redeemed and the deal will be reversed. If we don't, Percy loses his soul."

Leo commented, "Also the world will end."

Apollo added, "But it will be Percy who will be the world's end. She wishes to see one of your own crush the world and betray you all, crushing your necks as they begin to spread chaos hand in hand."

Fire spread into grey eyes, "How do we make him remember his past and feel emotions again?"

Apollo spread his arms and pieces of film shot out from his arms; they swirled around the group into the air.

Frank muttered, "Unbelievable, Duis memoriae. I thought it was a myth, memory film really does exist."

Apollo gave a suddenly dazzling smile and nodded, "Cool right, my homie Mnemosyne is sick with the god-flu and..."

Annabeth interrupted, "Yeah, yeah, give him some Tylenol. Now continue with your plan to undo the stupid that Percy did."

Apollo pouted and continued, "Okay Okay jeez. So this how it works demi-dudes and demi-dudettes. You take a piece of film and step into the memory and force Percy to watch them. He'll resist, scream and beg for you to stop. But whatever you do, if you want to save Percy's soul. Don't."

Apollo's serious frown was replaced with a smile, "Now go! Go! MAY THE GREAT APOLLO SWAG BLESS YOU!"

Leo made a disgusted face, "Swag? Homie? Oh gods the horrible slang has returned."

Jason and Frank carried Percy to the first memory clip and on the count of three the eight demigods jumped.

1….2….3…

!A/N A/N A/N DUN DUN DUUUUUNN. hehe even though this is probably is not going to be very successful as a story I am having tooooo mcuh fun with this lol. I know you are prob. confused n stuff so please enlighten me. REVIEW if you liked it/ want more