Chapter 39
Chapter 39:
Percy sat next to Thalia on her bed as they both hung their heads down.
"So you two went to a party," Annabeth said pacing around the Med Bay.
"Technically it was an after party," Percy spoke up causing Annabeth to send him a death glare in response, "but-ah, that really doesn't matter."
"So you went to a party," Annabeth repeated, "you got drunk," she pointed at Thalia, "and then kissed Percy."
The daughter of Zeus nodded, "right, after he tucked me in."
"And then you freaked out," Annabeth turned to Percy, "and pretended nothing happened. But after Thalia almost died you basically said, 'fuck it', threw caution to the wind and kissed her."
"Ah, yeah. I did, that is what happened," Percy nodded.
Annabeth started at the two long and hard. Soon it started to become awkward for Percy and Thalia, it felt like they were being judged for everything they did. Every twitch, every look, Annabeth's grey eyes spotted it.
"So....what are you?" Annabeth finally asked.
Percy and Thalia shared a look. Percy shrugged, "well... I'm not sure."
"I like Percy," Thalia said as she closed her hand around his, "and....the kiss was pretty good."
Percy smiled and leaned towards her, "yeah it was."
"Ahm," Annabeth cleared her throat.
"Right," Thalia said turning back to Annabeth, "ah, well I don't know whether we are dating or anything."
"I mean I wouldn't mind, but this thing just started and....well I don't want it to go to fast," Percy admitted as he squeezed Thalia's hand.
"Oh Gods you two are so irritating!" Annabeth threw her hands up in frustration, "do you know how much of a shit storm you two being together might cause?!"
"Well...yeah, but-"
"-But nothing!" Annabeth snapped back, "a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Zeus. This couldn't get any worse!"
"Relax Annabeth," Thalia said with a smile, "we'll be fine."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at her long time friend, "really? Doesn't it bother you Percy's like 13! He's six years younger to you!"
Thalia shrugged, "does he look like he's 13?" Percy shook his head. Thanks to the Goblin's growth perk he was taller than the average 13 year old, he also looked a lot more mature. "Plus technically I'm 15 right now, thanks to my little 'nap' inside a pine tree so that would make it only 2 years older."
"Plus my birthday is in like a month, so that reduced it to 1 year," Percy said.
"Yeah but my birthday is in December so it kind of get's evened out," Thalia said and Percy scratched his head before agreeing to it.
Annabeth sighed, "fine...but...Gods dammit! For fuck's sake Thalia! You couldn't have picked anyone else?!"
Thalia crossed her arms, "I don't' know why you are so upset. And what's wrong with picking Percy?"
Annabeth massaged her temples, "you both are the most impulsive, powerful and reckless demigods I know. If you two start dating who knows what shit you might cause?"
Percy scratched his head, "come on, we aren't that bad."
"You tried to take on an army from the Underworld by yourself," Annabeth pointed at Thalia. She then turned to Percy, "and you....I don't even know where to begin with you."
"Annabeth look, we want this," Thalia spoke up, "we really do. I haven't been happy in a long time. It's always been me up against this damned prophecy and....and I've had to face it alone."
Annabeth looked saddened at that, "Thalia you were never alone. You had me a Luke."
"Yeah, but as children Annabeth. Luke was like my brother, but I was always the one who had to look out for him. And you....you were a kid then Annabeth. I never had someone who could help me fight, who could help me face the future. I.... I might die Annabeth. And I want to know that the person I'm with," she looked to Percy, "I want to know that Percy can stand by my side if that ever happens."
Percy looked at her, "you are not going to die Thalia. I know I can't guarantee it, but I promise, I won't leave you."
Percy bent down and caught Thalia's lips in a kiss once again. Annabeth sighed, "you two are too stubborn for your own good."
Thalia smiled, "yeah, we are."
Annabeth rubbed her temples again, "fine...if you two are happy then fine. But be carefull, the others might not be....as accepting as I am."
Percy blinked, "first of, you weren't accepting at all. And second, what others?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "the girls who have a crush on you."
Percy blushed, "what?!"
"Yeah, you didn't know?" Thalia asked surprised.
Percy looked at her, "you knew?!"
Thalia and Annabeth chuckled as the daughter of wisdom spoke up, "everyone knew Percy."
"Who was it?!" Percy asked in surprise.
"Well there was Nina-"
"Nina?!" Percy asked in further surprise, "Nina has a crush on me?!"
"Had," Annabeth corrected, "I think it kind of went away ever since the Sea of Monsters quest. Then there was Bianca-"
"What?!"
"Yup, hero worship. But I think she is to shy to say anything. Then there is Nancy, the daughter of Apollo, and the other Nancy from your school."
Percy blushed when remembering the human Nancy back at Yancy academy, boy is she going to be pissed he she found out Percy was taken.
"And...ah, yeah, that's it."
"Holy shit," Percy said in surprise.
"Rethinking this?" Thalia asked with a smile. She might have mentioned it as a joke, but Percy could tell that she was worried.
Percy bent down and kissed her again. He moved back, "not even for a second." Thalia smiled back, this time it was genuine.
"Oh I think I'm going to be sick," Annabeth said as she fake barfed in the corner.
Percy and Thalia chuckled as Percy sat down in the chair next to Thalia. The three then began to talk into the night. Percy and Thalia told Annabeth about their mission and why Thalia was in the hospital bed in the first place.
Eventually Annabeth left them, with a final warning that they should try and hide their relationship for as long as possible to avoid a whole lot of drama. After all the last thing they wanted was for Zeus and Poseidon to get into a fight because Zeus 'accidentally' zapped Percy with a lightning bolt.
Thalia and Percy spoke for a little while longer before soon the daughter of Zeus fell asleep. It had been a long day, and she was understandably exhausted.
While she slept Percy's mind was running a 100 miles per hour. He kept wondering to himself whether this was real, whether she really cared about him the way he cared about her. Did he care about her? Was it just a spur of the moment thing?
Percy asked himself these questions over and over again, but eventually he realised the truth, he did like her, a lot. And these feelings, they had been growing since the first time he met her. Sure before it was purely physical, but now....now it was more than that.
Percy wanted to be with her, help her become stronger, protect her. Maybe it was because of the hero complex he slowly realised he had, but he wanted to make sure that nothing happened to Thalia.
Eventually Percy's thoughts turned to another terrifying thought, did she like him? He wondered that again and again and it kept him up all night by Thalia's bed side. Percy didn't need sleep, but even if he was tired he doubt his mind would allow him to take a break.
'If only I could feel what she felt,' Percy wondered to himself when suddenly it hit him. He could do that. Percy opened his skill menu and quickly looked through it. He found what he was looking for near the end of the list;
Empathy, Lv— MAX
You will understand the emotions of others. This is a skill you can only use consciously.
Percy closed his eyes, 'empathy activate.' Percy suddenly felt himself being opened up to the world around him.
Percy turned his scenes to Thalia herself. He looked at her through his mind's eye and felt her emotions. They were happy. She was asleep, but Percy was willing to bet anything she was having a happy dream.
Percy gently touched her skin and suddenly he felt a new emotion shoot into her. It was warm and fuzzy, like the emotional equivalent of feeling full after dinner.
"Thalia?" Percy asked and suddenly another shot of that warm feeling went through her body. She couldn't react to him, but she heard him speak. Percy focused on that feeling, he gently pressed his lips against her forehead and gave her a small peck.
Suddenly the war feeling exploded up mixing with the feeling of happiness she had. Soon Percy realised what this was. This was love. She loved him.
Percy opened his eyes and slowly let the emotional world he felt slip away deactivating his Empathic powers.
Percy smiled at the girl in the bed, 'she loves me. She really loves me.'
Percy closed his eyes and relaxed. He had nothing to worry about. He slowly let himself be taken into the realm of Morpheus.
The Next Day;
The next day Percy had woken up to Thalia still in bed and asleep. The sun still hadn't risen fully but Percy knew he couldn't stay here all day, plus it would be super weird to be at her bedside all night.
He had gone back to his cabin and immediately Leo had demanded for a plate of bacon and a walk. After taking out a plate of bacon from his inventory, courtesy of the Lotus hotel and casino, Percy took Leo into his ID world for a 'walk.'
The pair had slowly started from the Forest clearing it out of all the zombies. Leo had finally gotten better at attacking. His added mass made him a swift and deadly opponent. Eventually the Forest was cleared giving Leo two additional levels;
Leo
Lv-9
HP: 750/750
MP:110/110
Race— HellHound (1/2)+Wolf (1/2)
Exp— 200/1,700
Str-11
Vit-11
Dex-6
Int-5
Wis-3
Luc-4
Points-15
Percy put 5 points in Leo's Vit and 5 in Str. He also put 2 in his Wis and 3 in his Int;
Str-16
Vit-16
Dex-6
Int-8
Wis-5
Luc-4
Points-0
Percy however wasn't really certain now that the whole going slow approach was working. He wanted to wait before because he wanted Leo and him to grow closer, but he realised that fighting together was their way of growing closer. So with that in mind Percy decided to step it up a notch.
He took Leo for the first time out of the Forest to face the Greek Zombies. It took a while for Leo to get the hang of it, he usually constantly fell prey to the Greek Zombies blades. But eventually he learned how to avoid the weapons and bite of their heads.
After killing around 30 legion zombies Leo gained a total of 2,250 Exp. Resulting in another level up;
Leo
Lv-10
HP: 950/950
MP:135/135
Race— HellHound (1/2)+Wolf (1/2)
Exp— 550/1,900
Str-16
Vit-16
Dex-6
Int-8
Wis-5
Luc-4
Points-5
Ping!
Your companion has reached level 10! It has gained a new Perk!
Strength of the Hellhound— + 5 Str for every level gained.
Percy was seriously jealous of the perk Leo just got. Hell if he had that the first time he started this whole thing he would probably be stronger than Zed by now!
Percy turned to Leo, "Hey Leo, do you feel stronger?"
Leo turned his head to the side, "hm, a little master. Why?"
Percy looked at the hellhounds stats and saw that it was still the same. 'Hmm, maybe the boost only applies from the next level onwards.'
Percy nodded and began allotting the stat points for Leo. Since Str was no longer going to be a issue he figured why not focus on the important stuff. He put 2 points in Int and 3 in Dex;
Str-16
Vit-16
Dex-9
Int-10
Wis-5
Luc-4
Percy then closed the box and looked around. Leo had cleared all the Greek zombies, meaning...
"GRAA!" A roar exploded form behind Percy and Leo. The two turned to see a Legion zombie being formed.
Leo whined, "master I don't like this."
"Why are you so scared? You faced one just like this yesterday," Percy said with a smile.
Leo lowered his head, "it's still so big! And scary!"
Percy smiled, "okay how about this. You just go in there and scratch it. It's strong, but super slow. After that I'll take over, okay?"
Leo whined again, "do I have to?"
Percy rolled his eyes, "damn, I should have named you Cringer instead of Leo. And yeah, you have to, now move."
Leo whined again, but got ready. The Legion Zombie started to charge them and Leo pounched. He moved quickly for a dog, and quickly scratched the Legion zombie's ankle. Leo then went for it' other ankle and managed to cut into that as well. But as he was about to make his escape the Legion zombie's giant hand came down and grabbed the dog picking it up like nothing.
Leo squire in the monster's tight grip, "master! Help!"
The Legion zombie was about to squeeze the life out of the Hellhound hybrid's body when Percy spoke up, "HEY YOU! PUT MY FUCKING DOG DOWN!"
The zombie stopped as it slowly turned towards Percy. Percy could see the fear in it's eyes.
You have succeeded in using Enslavement! You can now scare it into fulling your request.
"Put my dog down," Percy said slowly pacing every word with anger.
The Legion zombie nodded and slowly put Leo down releasing it's grip on him. Leo walked back to Percy, but the demigod could see that the dog was hurt. Percy turned to the Legion zombie that looked scared beyond belief.
"Run," Percy told it and the zombie turned and began to run into the Forest. Percy however wasn't going to let it live. He took out Waverider and transformed it into a trident. He then drew it back before launching the weapon right at the Legion Zombie. The blue trident flew fast and true tearing through the zombie's chest and health bar with it's 100,000 attack.
Percy quickly felt the familiar weight of the weapon in his pocket as he turned to heal Leo. But just then;
Ping!
Leo
Lv-11
HP: 1,050/1,050
MP:185/185
Race— HellHound (1/2)+Wolf (1/2)
Exp— 1,150/2,100
Str-21
Vit-16
Dex-9
Int-10
Wis-5
Luc-4
Points-5
Skills—
Perks—
Strength of the Hellhound— + 5 Str for every level gained.
Immediately Leo's health was back to it's maximum and Leo was up and about moving like he wasn't hurt at all.
'Hm, so the rule of the Game must apply to Leo as well. Must because he's my companion or something.'
Percy looked at Leo who looked at the disintegrating form of the Legion zombie. "Leo," Percy called out, "I'm sorry I made you fight that thing."
Leo looked at Percy, "it's okay master. It was my fault. You told me to only scratch him once, but I got excited and did it twice. I promise I'll do better next time master."
Percy blinked, "ah...okay." Percy had honestly been expecting Leo to be pissed off at him, but lately the dog had started to really take a shine to Percy. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Percy was spending so much time with him.
