There Was No Moving On (Heroes Of Olympus Fanfiction)

XXXII: Been thanking a lot today. Thank you to you too.

Percy Jackson

My eyes fluttered open. I was still in the tent that the goddess had given me. I was greeted by the faint light of the fire crackling at the center of the tent.

Thankfully, I didn't wake up as a human torch. That would have been bad.

I woke up tucked in a sleeping bag, keeping a safe distance from the fire. I guess the goddess does have a soft spot for me.

Thanks, Percy, for whatever it is you did that made the goddess admire you.

The thought of the 12 year old goddess tucking me in bed and saying goodnight disturbed me.

I shuddered.

In the past few days, I have been waking with a start, drenched with sweat, and a heart that was about to explode into different shades of red. But today, I had a nice good sleep.

Thank you, dream operator, for the gift of sleeping peacefully last night.

Although, I was curious to what had happened to the people in my last dream. I think I'm even worried.

After a few minutes, I decided to sit up. I stretched my arms and yawned, like I was a normal kid, in a normal tent, waking up from exhaustion of doing school works overnight.

Lol, Percy, do you even go to school?

Percy, do you even do homework?

At the right side of the tent, where the buffet was last night, was a regular plate filled with pancakes, bacon and eggs, beside the plate was a glass of orange juice. I guess the buffet left when the goddess left too. Thinking about it made me sad.

No, not because of the buffet. But the fact that I am all alone again, with no one to rely on. Again.

I walked to my breakfast, and picked it up. I knelt next to the brazier, and scraped half of my meal on the fire.

I have no idea why I just wasted half of my perfectly good limited meal, but it just felt the right thing to do.

At first nothing happened. Then I was welcomed by the smell of the ocean, a feeling that I felt like I was used to.

Artemis had mentioned that I was the son of the sea god, then this must be..

"Poseidon" I called. 

I felt a little weird talking to a hearth, but then, again, the last few days had been pretty weird so I gave it a shot.

"Uh" I started, "I've been told you're my dad. A little help would be nice right now." my voice cracked "Just- just help me get through this."

A tear fell down my cheek.

Okay maybe I cried a little. You can't blame me. It had been really hard going around on your own with no idea who you are, where you are, or even what you are.

I cleared my throat and started eating my half breakfast halfheartedly.

After eating, I got dressed in clothes that Artemis had left: a pair of jeans, sneakers, a blue hoodie, and a plain orange shirt.

I held the orange shirt in my hands, studying it. A sense of familiarity hit me. Like the feeling of home. Something tells me that the goddess had left this as a sign for me to keep moving. A way of telling me that I have a home to return to, that I have a family that was waiting for me.

I put it on, along with my hoodie.

I patted my pockets, and there it was. My sword Riptide that kept on magically reappearing in my pocket.

I stood up, shouldered my backpack which contained the supplies given from Artemis and walked out of the tent.

The moment I set foot outdoors, the tent magically materialized itself to a small box again. Which was a relief that it did not transform to a small box while I was inside it.

I picked up the small box and tucked it in the back of my pocket.

I was in a clearing, surrounded by a ring of trees. I looked at the distance, where a perfect view of the mountain stood its place, guessing this was the Mountain the goddess was talking about, Mount Talampais.

The mountain was far away, enough for me to see the circling stormy clouds above it, and the thunder booming, which was weird since all around me it was bright and sunny.

The thunder boomed, and a cold feeling swept through me.

Suddenly, pain hit me. My hands felt cold, every muscle in me turned to fire, my bones felt like they were melting. My knees buckled digging the ground.

It felt like something was crushing me, but there wasn't. It was like an invisible force pushing me to the ground.

From a distance, I heard the menacing laugh of a man, echoing the valley.

Come, Perseus Jackson. Bear the load of the sky for me again! he taunted.

I didn't who this guy was, but I feel like he is my enemy. A guy who wants me killed, obviously.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. The pain was too much.

It's just a memory a man's voice in my head said. Fight it.

I concentrated, thought about good things that had ever happened to me. The people I met, the monsters I fought, the days the I woke up alive.

I braced myself on one knee, gathering my strength to push upward.

Different images came flooding in my head, sailing in the sky, riding the waters, going around a city, the warm glow of a man's smile, blue candies in a bag, the crackling of fire with the voice of different people singing a long a camp fire song.

I didn't recognize any of it, but my body did.

I composed myself, and pushed all the weight that I was carrying off of my shoulders and did the first thing I could think of. I ran.