Of Greeks And Romans (Leo Valdez x Reader)

XXXVII

You

I wasn't sure when I fell asleep, but I wished I never did. In some ways, it was so lifelike that it felt like i was actually there.

A fat, bald, old man was sitting at a table, a rim of stringy white hair around his head. I was sure that it was Phineas.

Phineas grinned wickedly, his lips turning up at the corners. He closed his fingers around the left-hand vial. "You were a fool, Percy Jackson. I choose this one. Now we drink."

Percy took the vial on the right. His fingers hesitated slightly before grabbing onto the remaining vial. I just wanted to shake my head. Please no, Percy. It wouldn't work out the way you would want...

The old man raised his vial. "A toast to the sons of Neptune."

They both uncorked their vials and drank. The liquid dissipated from the small vials until both of them slammed down the empty vials.

Immediately, Percy doubled over, hands clutched to his stomach as he grabbed onto the table.

"Oh, gods," Hazel said, her brown eyes wide in horror as she lifted on of her hands to her mouth.

"Nope!" A small harpie was fluttering in the air by the trio. It must have been Ella. "Nope, nope, nope."

The old blind man grinned, standing up straighter as the cloudy haze in his eyes started to dissipate.

"Yes!" he cried. "Any moment now, my sight will return!"

Percy's eyes rolled up in his head and his hand fell limp, falling from the table. He nearly fell to the ground were it not for the fact that Frank ran up to him.

"Percy!" Frank gripped his shoulders. "Percy, you can't die!"

Percy gasped for breath, struggling to form coherent words.

Phineas only began to cackle in glee, blinking his eyes as the fog from his pupils started to clear.

"You fool!" He cried. "I have chosen correctly, and you have lost."

Percy groaned, stumbling up from the table and started to clutch his stomach. His eyes were dull, unfocused.

His strength gave way and he sank to his knees as smoke started pouring from his eyes, ears... mouth.

He thought he was looking at Hazel, but at this point, even he couldn't tell. "I'm sorry," Percy gasped out. "I was wrong."

He reached out a hand, the small movement bringing pain to his face. Percy's skin was turning an ashy colour, his skin cracking, drying as if turning to rock. Then, it started to crumble.

Phineas jumped in excitement as his vision returned, but all I could do was stare in silent agony as Percy turned to dust, only the small remains of his clothing and beads falling to the ground. My mouth felt dry as I sank to my knees. I could barely even believe my own eyes.

Would you look at this, came the soft melodious voice drifting through my mind. My gaze turned icy, and a deep feeling of anger filled my bones. Have I finally broke you? Now you can finally understand that actions have consequences.

The scene around me shifted until I was standing at the top of a familiar landscape. The only thing missing were the many buildings, only trees and the lake in the distance the only thing here. Even in the short time I spent here, I could recognize it is the place where camphalfblood was supposed to be.

It was weird seeing the natural landscape of this place before camphalfblood was built, but it was also familiar. Reminiscent of a time before the greek gods and goddesses. There was the lake, the large open meadow area where the strawberry fields always were, and where I was standing, where Thalia's tree grew.