TW: PTSD Flashback, Panic Attack, Mentions of torture, drowning

I am going to make a book based on this chapter

Percy and Annabeth were walking along the beach when Nico came running towards the couple. "Nico!" Thalia screamed running out of the woods. "Sorry!" Nico said real quickly after bumping into Percy. "Its okay. What happened?" Percy asked stepping between the two. "She found out that I wasn't sleeping or eating..." Nico said looking away from the group. "Neeks, you have to eat and sleep. She is only worried okay." Percy said putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now, Thalia, if you know someone hasn't slept or eaten in the past 48 hours, you don't chase them through the woods." Thalia huffed but went up to hug Nico. 

Percy walked to his cabin after the evening events were announced. They would be sparring, one person from each cabin, Greek and roman parents both. He was obviously going to be the representative for Poseidon, Tyson was not at camp today. He sat down on his bed for a few resting, until the shell was blown notifying it was time.

Percy walked over to where the other representatives stood, soon Chiron walked over to them. "Today we will be doing a sparing tournament, now this will be a tournament, meaning you win the first round you move onto the second and so on. These are the ones going first.. Pollux and Dakota. Same rules when training, maiming is okay as long as no one dies." Chiron finished then left the go announce the first two. "The first round is Pollux and Dakota." Everyone started erupting in applause. They walked into the arena, and pulled their swords. Dakota charged at Pollux with his gladius. They fought for a good 10 minutes before Pollux had Dakota on the ground with his and Dakota's sword at his throat. Chiron came out to them as Pollux hands Dakota back his sword. "Good job Pollux." He said then gestured for him to go wait with others, Dakota left to sit in the stands. "Next round is... Nico Di Angelo and Thalia Grace!" He said as they came out. As soon as Chiron was sitting they started to spar. The match lasted a good 15 minutes, but experience had to bow to training. Nico went to sit with Dakota and Thalia went to stand next to Percy. 

Chiron came back out and announced the next round. "Next is Percy and Annabeth!" He said then went off. The two walked out, drew their swords and fought. Annabeth seemed to have the upper hand but Percy swung her sword under her feet and she fell, her sword went flying. When she fell he pointed the sword at her throat, after Chiron stood up Percy helped her up. "Winner!" Chiron yelled then motioned for Percy to go wait with the others, Annabeth sat down next to Nico. 

"Next is..Jason and Hazel!" He announced. The two came out with their weapons and got into a stance. Hazel drew her Spatha, while Jason flipped his coin and got his sword. After a good 10  minutes Jason unarmed Hazel. 

Chiron can out to announce the next round when the Olympians came to sit down. They sat in the front row to watch the final 7 rounds.  "Welcome my lords, the next round is..Clarisse and Pollux!" Chiron left to watch with the others. They came out an started to spar. Every time Pollux got the upper hand Clarisse got close to taking his sword.  After a good 17 minutes Clarisse won. "Good job guys, and Clarisse thank you for not sending him to the infirmary." Chiron said, as Clarisse went to stand with the others and Pollux sat down next to his brother. 

 "Next round is..Thalia and Frank." Chiron said then walked off.  The match started and it got pretty violent, pretty fast. It took about 2 minutes until one got cut. About 8 minutes in Thalia finally got his sword from him. 

"Next round is Percy and Katie." Chiron said then left to sit down.  Percy got out Riptide and Katie got out her sword. They started the match,  Percy swung his sword to try and trip her. Katie jumped up and swung her sword. He dodged it and pushed his sword towards to her try and catch her off balance. "Really?" She asked laughing. He shrugged "Sure." He said blocking a blow at his chest. She shook her head then pounced forwards trying to cut him. He side stepped, so she landed on her knees. He swung his sword again this time cutting her arm. She looked at him her eyes going bright green. Vines and other various plants started to wrap around Percy's legs, he cut them as they came, making them grow faster. Percy noted to himself, 'Never piss off a child of Demeter.' Percy looked at Katie to see her charging him. Percy got his arms at the ready, he lifted his sword and countered her attack. 

Percy disarmed Katie before taking her sword. "Can you undo these please?" He asked pointing to the vines halfway up his legs. She nodded laughing, Chiron came out with a fond smile on his lips. "Next round is Piper and Jason, but we will be taking a fifteen minute break."

After the break Jason and Piper came out with their weapons. Jason took to air and Piper had her dagger out at the ready. Jason charged at Piper as he swung his sword. Piper tried to swing the dagger and hit him. Jason took advantage of this and  disarmed her. After the dagger hit the ground Jason landed and put his sword to his throat.

Chiron came out and nodded at the two, Jason went to stand next to his sister while Piper sat down next to Annabeth. "Next round is Clarisse and Percy. Now I would like, Annabeth and Chris to sit somewhere where they can get to these two quickly." The two nodded and got up and went to the front step near the floor.

Clarisse and Percy came out, "You ready for a beating, Prissy?" She snarled. "You wish." Percy shot back. Clarisse drew her sword and Percy uncapped his. "Leave parent rivals, past fights, and grudges out of this please." Annabeth and Chris yelled at the two. They nodded and started to fight, Percy blocked most of the blows that Clarisse served him, but his arm, leg, and cheek were all bleeding. Clarisse's cheek, arm, leg, and hand were all bleeding. The match lasted a good 20 minutes before Percy was able to disarm Clarisse. 

Chris and Annabeth came out, Annabeth gave Percy a bottle of water to use to heal his cuts, Chris gave Clarisse a first aid kit. When Clarisse saw every one watching in aw, as Percy healed his cuts. "Oh My Gods! You people see him do this all the time!" Clarisse yelled. Percy froze and out the water back into the bottle, "Perce, its okay. Do you want me to do it?" Will asked, Percy nodded handing the bottle back to Annabeth. If you looked closely, Clarisse looked worried as she sat down next to Chris. 

"Why did he freeze?" Poseidon asked Chiron. "Percy has always been self-conscious on what he can do with his powers. All the big three kids are, they are all scared of what they can do and loosing control is always in the back of their minds." Chiron explained to the God of the Sea. Poseidon looked at his son sadly. 

Will glowed as he put his hand on Percy's cuts. Apollo watched proudly as he watched as Will healed his friend. After all of Percy and Clarisse's cuts, Chiron came out and announced the next fight. "Jason and Thalia, your up next." The two came out and smirked at each other.

Zeus watched as his two kids smirked at each other than drew their swords. The fight was going back and forth for a good 10 minutes. Jason soon got the advantage and disarmed his sister. Thalia's sword hit the ground and Chiron announced Jason the winner. Thalia smiled as she ruffled her brothers hair then went to sit next to Nico.

Chiron announced that they would have a break for dinner before the last match. 

After dinner and everyone settled back into their seat Chiron announced that the last match, and the match to decide the winner of the tournament would be Jason and Percy. The two came out and got their sword at the ready. Jason flipped his coin and Percy uncapped his. Percy pulled out some sea shells, earning a chuckle from the Ares cabin. "What you gonna do Prissy throw sea shells?" Clarisse taunted. Poseidon laughed, "Well that's one way." Percy smirked, everyone watched as the sea shells became puddles. Jason got into the air, Percy pulled him down with water, their swords clashed fabricating sparks. Jason got into the air again, flipping his sword into a spear. Percy used the water and disarmed him. Jason got onto the ground and used the wind around Percy to knock him over. 

Chiron called down Annabeth and Thalia to the front. "Get ready to step in, with them using their powers for this one, I need you to be prepared in case they loose control. Annabeth step in if he starts to seem like he did down there, Thalia step in if you feel its no longer safe. Okay?" They both nodded, sitting where Annabeth and Chris sat two a round ago.

Percy felt his gut being pulled, his eyes went wide. He took a deep breathe before pulling more water from the sea shells, pulling Jason from the air. His vision started to get blurry, he felt a familiar tug, he felt a connection he did not want to connect to. He knew Annabeth was near by so he took a deep breathe to calm down. He looked at Jason and stepped forwards, but suddenly he wasn't in the arena anymore, he was in the death mist in Tartarus.

In front of him was Achlys, she was pushing poison towards him, his arm lifted, and the poison redirected. He then took control of her tears and sweat and used that. He enjoyed using it, 'No I don't!' Percy thought, his breathing quickening to short fast breathes. 

Annabeth watched as the water moved towards Jason, her eyes widened as she watched it go in the same path as the poison did. "I need to step in, he mentally isn't in the ring." Annabeth told Thalia, whose eye widened realizing he was having an episode. Thalia went to Poseidon while Annabeth told Jason to move. Thalia got Poseidon's attention, "You need to be ready to redirect all of stuff. Percy has PTSD from being down there and is having an episode. He is mentally back there, and is not in control of his powers, the flashback is." Poseidon nodded getting up, Apollo also got up and headed down to help. Thalia looked at Mr. D, "He is going to need help when he is out of it. Its bad." Mr. D nodded and watched Percy.

Annabeth looked at Jason, "Move. If you aren't in the path of the water you won't be hurt." Jason nodded and moved away, Percy moved the water to where Jason moved from. Jason was now glad he moved. Percy eyes were distant, Annabeth saw his breathing quicken. "Percy?" Annabeth asked not wanting to make it worse. "Percy what as the promise?" Percy seemed to hear her that time. "Not to..not to...not to." He screamed, the water that he was controlling now getting violent. 

Poseidon stopped the water, Apollo got behind Percy ready to catch him. "Percy? Percy? Who do you see?" Annabeth said trying to get his attention again. "NO! I don't like it! I didn't like it!" Annabeth took a deep breathe knowing what he was seeing. "Percy, hey. Breathe, will you breathe for me." Apollo said trying to guide him to reality. "Come on. Breathe." Apollo came up behind him. Hugging him and taking exaggerated breathes. "Match mine." Percy's breathing got more calm though his crying got worse. 

Mr. D got down from the stands heading towards Percy and Apollo. "Percy?" He asked. Percy looked up. All the demi gods and satyrs left to leave Percy, Mr. D , Apollo and Poseidon, to their own. The Gods started to leave but Percy shouted wait. "Percy?" Artemis asked worriedly. Percy looked up, his eyes broken and hurt. "I...I don't trust myself." Hestia looked at the young hero, slowly walking towards him. "Perseus. Its okay. You had to survive. Would you have done that, outside of that place?" Percy shook his head no, "Then you are not evil, or bad, or like the ones you had to fight." Percy let out a whimper that broke the hearts of the many gods who knew him. Apollo looked at Percy, "What happened down there?" Percy looked at Zeus, then his Dad who nodded. "Zeus, if he says something and you feel threatened, just know you have been down there so you know he had to do it to survive." Zeus nodded, gesturing for Percy to start. 

"Annabeth and I were running from Polybotes and his friends. We had to go to Aklys and ask for her help with the death mist. She did, we were covered with the death mist, but she soon betrayed us and started attacking. I tried to control her poison to stop it from getting to me and succeeded. I think Tartarus was affecting me mentally..." Percy stopped trying to catch his breathe as more tears started coming down his cheek. "Percy, what did you do?" Poseidon asked. "I drowned her. I used her own poison and drowned her. She started crying and panicking, so I used her tears and sweat too." Percy gasped as he remembered the cracking sensation. "I don't know if it was because of the powers I was using or her trying to fight me mentally, but as I used my powers to drown her I felt as if something cracked inside me." Poseidon gasped, "Did it smooth out after you quit using these powers?" Percy nodded looking down. "Zeus we need to talk, I don't like this more than you but..." Poseidon trailed off looking at Percy with sad eyes.

"Percy?" Apollo asked, earning Percy's attention. "Can you look at me." Percy looked at Apollo. "You did what you needed to survive, Tartarus is known to twist morals and make it easier to hurt people." Percy nodded. "Perseus,  can you look at me?" Percy looked at Hestia. "You did what you had to, you are not a monster. Now I would like you to breathe, then talk to Dionysus. He can help you. Okay?" Percy nodded then headed off with Mr. D.

"Zeus, the Curse of Achilles takes part of your soul, so he already didn't have a unbroken soul before he fell. Then unlocking those abilities took even more of it. The cracking he described was the same think Dionysus described before we turned him. His mortality is burning away." Poseidon told Zeus, Zeus nodded. "We will tell the council tomorrow, then Apollo or Chiron can tell him before we turn him. He will have two weeks after we tell him to say his goodbyes, since it will probably be a good 50 years before he can interact again in control."  Zeus said then flashed away. Poseidon watch Percy leave with Mr. D, "I am so sorry, son that you have been handed this fate." Poseidon said before flashing to Atlantis.

 Word count: 2590