there must be more than this provincial life.
[ percy jackson x original character ]
[ book three in the belle series ]
[ the mark of athena, the house of hades, & the blood of olympus ]
[ bonus: the lost hero, the hidden oracle, the ship of the dea...
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𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖊-𝖖𝖚𝖆𝖙𝖗𝖊: FEAR AND ANGER
★ 。／｜＼。★
TERROR WAS NORMAL for a Demigod, but this was different. Belle felt her entire body constrict from waves of terror crashing over her. Her joints felt like they had molded into jelly and she felt her heart stop. All at once, her worst memories crowded her mind against her will — hearing the Mount St. Helens explosion back in the Labyrinth and believing Percy was dead; getting stabbed in the shoulder during the Battle of Manhattan; facing Kronos up on Mount Olympus; seeing Luke Castellan's dead body; the moment she found out Percy was gone; falling into Tartarus with Percy; seeing him torture a Goddess; the swirling whirlpool face of the God Tartarus; leaving behind Bob and Damasen . . . her head spun. Her body wouldn't move and she could do nothing but stand there in fear.
Vaguely, she felt somebody tackle her to the ground and some stone shrapnel peppered against her back. That wasn't even enough to snap her out of it. Belle pressed her palms against the floor and began to feel her breaths come sporadically. It became very hard to breathe all of the sudden. The walls seemed to close in all around her. She could hear nothing but muffled words and the sound of her heartbeat in her ears. Her muscles shook around her as she tried to catch her breath, but it only made her panic more. Every bad memory from Tartarus was being compounded and enhanced with all of her other bad memories. It was quite literally too much for her mind to handle. She didn't know what to do or how to calm herself down.
The Giant chuckled. "Oh, that wasn't fair!"
"Belle," Annabeth's voice called, which sounded underwater, and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Belle, come on."
Both her and Piper hauled her to her feet and pulled them towards the far end of the room. The girl didn't really register it. Her chest heaved up and down and her eyes were still wide. Piper and Annabeth kept a tight grip on Belle, because if they didn't, Belle would just collapse right back onto the floor. Belle attempted to grip her hand onto Sunflower tightly to try and regain some feeling, but it was no use. She just continued to panic.
Annabeth forced Belle to look at her as gently as she could. "Hey, look at me. I know you're scared, but Belle, you have to breathe, okay? Follow me. Breathe in, breathe out."
Belle, with tears streaming down her cheeks, attempted to follow her. She found herself following Annabeth's instructions. Slowly yet surely, she regained her breath. She was definitely still scared out of her mind with all of the horrible memories, but at least she was able to breathe a little easier.
