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Alex had been, y’know, casually crying in the alleyway behind the school, as one does during finals season, when she heard the sounds of a fight.
Now, she wasn’t stupid, and clearly whoever was fighting wasn’t having a schoolyard brawl, so she did the smart thing… and hid behind the dumpster in the corner.
And then she heard the sound of metal clanging against the wall and promptly curled into a ball.
She did not want to get killed , thank you very much.
"How many of my kind have you slaughtered in cold blood, hero ? How many of my brothers and sisters have taken their last breaths looking into your eyes as you cut them down with that blade? All in the name of your father. You truly are his loyal son, aren't you? A perfect little soldier. A tool to be used and discarded. Tell me, Titan Slayer, which one of us is truly the monster here ?"
What the fuck.
"Oh shut up. Can you just get on with the whole killing me thing? I have a pre-calc test in like five minutes."
Wait a fucking second.
She knew that voice. She also had a pre-calc test in five minutes. That was Percy Jackson. Was Percy Fucking Jackson a serial killer? Had he killed people? What the fuck? Her growing hysteria overrode her common sense and she peeked through the gap between the dumpster and the wall.
Her jaw dropped.
There was some sort of thing , with fur and horns and glowy eyes. It looked kinda cool, actually, and she would have loved to look at it more if it wasn’t currently trying to kill her sort-of friend.
Her friend, who was swinging a sword like it was the most natural thing in the world.
The thing cocked its head. "Do we truly matter so little to you? Hmm.” It paused. ”Very well. I refuse."
Percy faltered.
"...You refuse to kill me?"
"Precisely."
"Okay, uh, so what do you want to do to me? Torture? Curse me? I gotta be honest here, man, I'm drawing a blank. What do you want from me?"
That was kinda sad. And also fucked up. W hat the fuck, Percy?
"Answers."
"Answers?"
It nodded. "You never answered me earlier. Do you even know how many you have killed with that cursed sword? Do we even register with you?"
"Hey! You make it sound like I go around killing for fun. May I remind you that you sought me out, not the other way around? I hardly go out of my way to kill monsters unless they try to kill me first. I don’t hate you. I’m just trying to stay alive ."
"But don't you get tired of it? The constant suffering? The struggle for survival, the will of the gods?"
"Of course.” Here Percy paused, and let out a little sigh. “I'm seventeen, y'know? In the mortal world, that's a child. In ours, it's a miracle."
"Yet you answer their beck and call, eager to please your masters."
Percy barked out a sharp laugh. Alex had never seen him so bitter. But then again, it turns out she hadn’t seen a lot about him. Did she even know him?
She wondered who his “masters” were. What had he done, to get wrapped up in that fucked up life? He did seem like the type to be in a cult, but surely they wouldn’t make children kill. Wait, was he a child soldier? Oh god, that was so fucked up and by the sounds of it, he had been a child soldier for years now oh my god Percy Jackson was a child soldier serial killer and oh god didn’t the thing say Percy was his father’s loyal son? Oh that was so fucked up and now she was spiralling and-
"You talk as if we have a choice. What's the other option? Death? Something worse? The only ones stronger than our parents are worse than them. You keep forgetting that. Yes, it sucks, but what option do we have? And I don't fight for them, I fight for us. The children. Y’know, this morning, one of your friends was trying to eat a demigod? She was only six. Didn't even know what she was. Still, paranoia is in our blood. She got far enough to reach me and collapsed. Did you think I would just, I don't know, let her die?"
Holy shit they had actual kids involved in their cult shit.
"Ah, and therein lies the crux of the issue. We cannot help our nature any more than you can, Perseus. To kill is in our very blood, as it is in yours. We kill yours, and you kill ours, a never-ending cycle. Still, you have given me a lot to think about. For that, I will grant you a boon. Name your price.”
“Wait, for real? Anything ?”
Percy’s voice broke. It sounded so cautiously hopeful, that she found herself pitying him, just a little. Even if he was a killer, nobody should sound so surprised at living to see another day.
“Anything within reason.”
“Can you, and the other monsters, lay off from killing anyone less than 8? And, uh, if you could leave me alone for a bit, that would be appreciated too. I’m– shit, should I be telling you this?– I’m not exactly at peak health right now. To be honest, I’m not even sure whether you’re real or a hallucination. I think the stress just got to me or something.”
“Certainly doable. Very well. I promise, on the river Styx no less, that my brethren and I will grant you a reprieve period of one month. No more, no less.”
“And the children?”
“What about them?”
“Do you want me to beg? I will if I have to. I’m getting real tired of dead bodies smaller than my arm. Please? Just for a little while.”
Oh. Her heart broke a little right there. She had a little brother, an excitable, adorable little thing who couldn’t sit still for even a second. So full of life. The very thought of his body, still and cold, made her heart ache fiercely. God, was this how Percy lived?
“Hm. Alright. I promise-”
“On the river Styx.”
“- On the river Styx , not to kill anyone I believe to be less than eight mortal years of age. For a full year. Happy?”
“Oh. Wow man. Yeah, extremely! Thank you, my dude. Uh, what’s your name?”
“...Damarchus.”
“ Thank you, Damarchus. Okay, I gotta go but like, thanks. If it turns out you were a hallucination I’m going to be so heartbroken. Anyways, uh, bye?”
“Goodbye, Perseus. Good luck on your ‘pre-calc’ test.”
“Thanks, you too! Wait, shit! No. Forget I said that. Um- bye.”
Wow. She can’t believe she was scared of this dude a few minutes ago. He was so fucking awkward. She waited for a few minutes for both of them to leave before booking it towards Mr. Kelling’s Calculus class. She was, of course, late, and given detention for running through the halls, but she had more important things on her mind.
Percy was grinning and joking with his seatmate. If you didn’t know anything was wrong, you would think he was in perfect health. Still, despite the fact that he was sick and in the middle of a math test, he had never seemed more relaxed.
Huh.