chapter 19-Hugs,We All Need It

Having Hermes stand in front of us wasn't what we expected when we sent Medusa's head through the mail.

"Well, what have we here, a demigod son of Poseidon, a daughter of Athena, and a satyr. A group who are about to create one of the greatest pranks towards Olympus?"

I swear you could hear a pin drop from how the other two reacted to him showing up. I, on the other hand, was calm about this. Which then prompted me to ask him the big question.

"Yup, so you wanna join in?"

"That's the only reason I'm here, thankfully I had just a few minutes in my busy schedule to come here in the first place. Now how about we make that box look presentable."

He then snapped his fingers and the box turned into a blue velvety fabric, with a little bow on top.

"The blue is for the old man, and the bow is for the ladies." He said with a wink.

"Now I have to go, and I will personally send this to the council. Peace." He said with a two-fingered salute.

He then disappeared in a gust of wind.

"Well, that happened," I said.

"Really, That's how you react to this, and what made you think it was a good idea to act disrespectfully to Hermes and ask him to join us in this stupid plan of ours you seaweed brain." Annabeth huffed out.

"Relax Annabeth, it all worked out in the end. I did all the talking while you two were gawking at him."

"Don't tell me to relax. We just talked to Hermes face-to-face," she said in a huff. Still, she didn't argue over me doing all the talking.

Damn, I forgot that you never tell a woman to relax.

"Sorry, but everything went well. He even went along with it. So there really is no need to worry too much."

"Yes, there is. I shouldn't have agreed to this."

Annabeth he'll vouch for us, he even brought it to them himself."

Grover was just looking at a statue like it was a puzzle he had to solve. Stroking his goatee like an old man.

*Sigh"You're right I don't need to get this worked up about it, don't tell me to relax again like that."

"AHA, this is Uncle Ferdinand," He said, nodding his head. "... noo Uncle Ferdinand."

"Sorry about your uncle Grover," I said, Annabeth repeated after me.

Grover looked saddened by this finding but gained a look of acceptance as to what had happened to his uncle.

"It's fine guys, this just confirms what I already knew. It's just sad that Uncle Ferdinand didn't make it that far." He said depressingly.

I thought it would be better to hug him than to say something. So that is exactly what I did, Annabeth joined in as well a moment after me. We stayed like that till I thought it best to leave.

"Come on, we should get going. We don't want to be late." It hurt me to say that but the mission came first... that was wrong of me. I don't know why I thought that. He matters more.

Annabeth then glared at me, "How about you think over what you said."

Her reaction was understandable. I didn't need to be that insensitive about this. This was a dead family member for god's sake.

"It's okay Annabeth, we can go now."

He then stood up and walked away. Leaving me to stew in my thoughts.

We then chose to walk down the road for a while, Annabeth chose to walk ahead. There was silence between me and Grover for a while till he chose to break it.

"You don't need to be so regretful for this."

"Yes I do, that was insensitive of me."

We then went back to our former silence.

"It's sad really, how the forest is. It's the main reason why this searcher license is so important to me."

I knew this much but with how I "don't know" about his backstory I should be somewhat oblivious.

"To find Pan, the God of the wild. This searcher license shows the bravery of many past Satyrs who chose to join a mission that many called obsolete. For Pan was our protector, the world, and the Satyrs."

"That's... an impressive display of willpower. You're right, they are brave."

"Thanks, Percy."

We stopped talking after that but instead of being in an awkward mood, I was more satisfied.

Eventually, we found a map of the surrounding area.

"Look if we keep going forward there's an intersection a mile up ahead that would lead us to an Amtrak station that we will use to take us to the west. We still have time so let's go," Annabeth said in her best strategy voice.

"It's a good thing you got the bags in time or else we would have had a hard time finding a way to pay for the tickets," Grover said in relief.

"Yeah, I know," She said proudly.

Eventually, we made it there in half an hour. We spent the time mainly talking, or playing "I Spy".

Then me and Annabeth started arguing over the little things, I don't know how this even started. Everything was fine, then it changed.

Once we got on the train after getting the tickets and getting a sleeper car the first thing she did was take a nap facing away from us.

"Don't be too harsh on her Percy. She's just stressed."

"I know, I just don't know how it started."

"How about when you insulted her mother's intelligence? When you insult her mother's intelligence you insult her intelligence." Grover offered.

I don't even remember that part. I must have really gotten into the argument.

"You don't need to be so rough with her Percy, she's had a hard life. She's a good person, she's just focused. She even forgave me for what I did."

"Grover if you feel regret for what you did, or if you repented for it. Makes you a good person too. so you deserve whatever she considers forgiveness." I knew this was a hard topic for Grover but I didn't want him to look down on himself for something that was in the past, something that he dealt with at a young age.

"It's not that simple, what happened that night," he let out a shudder, " I failed. I failed miserably. I... couldn't save who everybody wanted to be alive. It should have been me." Tears were coming down, he was still being quiet for Annabeth's sake.

"Grover, never and I mean never think like that. You're my best friend, you're like a brother to me. If you weren't around, my life would have been miserable for the whole school year. I might have even done a crime or something."

That just made him start crying harder. I moved forward to hug him.

We stayed like that till he ended up falling asleep on my shoulder.

Seeing him like this hurt me to my core, the only way I could help him was emotionally and I was horrible at that.

With Grover sleeping on my shoulder all I could do was look out the window.

I saw never-ending fields and trees that touched the sky. A beautiful blue sky with fluffy clouds.

Eventually, I fell asleep as well, leaving the room filled with snores.

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DREAM BEGIN

Waking up right next to a pit was not what I thought would be the first thing I would see. Which ended up making me sigh as I guessed how this would go.

"Percy Jackson, we meet again. Very soon compared to normally."

"Not like I had a choice, it's like you get your kicks of ruining my sleep,"

I saw him grind his teeth in annoyance.

"Boy, I tire of your disrespect. You will either join me or I will bring you pain with whatever power I currently hold."

"No, I won't be joining you. All you want me for is my body and you're never getting it," I said, hugging myself jokingly.

*GRRRR*

"Fine so be it. Feel neverending pain." He then faced his palm towards me then closed it.

My instinct at that moment was to say "Performance issues, don't worry all old guys go through it" but instead, all I knew was pain.

*AHHHHH*

I felt this burning pain inside of me as if I was being pulled apart and being put together again and again. All I heard were my screams and his laughter. It was haunting, that laughter of his. It felt like I'd been here for hours.

Eventually, he relented but it didn't seem by choice. He looked in disappointment when my screams ended.

*Sigh* It saddens me beyond belief that I depleted this much power for only five minutes of your singing, it was beautiful I will admit. Until next time, little demi-god."

I couldn't respond, I didn't understand how he could do that. I mean you can't hurt someone in a dream, can you?

I started hearing voices calling my name. It can't be, did I go insane just by that? They kept saying my name. The voice sounds similar... to Annabeth's. It's warm, soft, and comforting. She keeps telling me it's going to be okay, and that I need to wake up.

I don't want to though. I just want to rest, I deserve it after that. It's insane that it was only five minutes. Hahaha, those measly five minutes, imagine ten, twenty, thirty, an entire hour. I don't want to face that just yet. I couldn't even do anything. I believed myself to be strong, but I was wrong.

DREAM END

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Having Annabeth waking me up felt like the first time I saw her. Still as beautiful as ever.

"Percy, are you okay, you started shaking in your sleep. You are incredibly pale right now." She said in distress.

"I'm sorry." The first words I said after that dream.

"What are you sorry for, that stupid fight of ours? Forget about it, I already did. Now tell me what happened. Was it a demigod dream?"

"Yes, it was. I don't really wanna talk about it." I turned away from her.

"Oh no seaweed brain you are going to tell me what happened, right now," she said sternly with worry in her eyes.

I eventually relented as I couldn't refuse when she had this much worry over me.

"I was being tortured by a man. It felt like he was ripping me apart and putting me back together again. He said it was only five minutes, but it felt like hours to me. He said his name was Kronos."

Annabeth just gasped. She then got close to me and hugged me, it was warm. Seems that today was all about hugs, not that I'm complaining.

"What did he want?" She said,

"He wanted me to join him, I don't think that Hades is our main problem," I said in a joking tone for that last part.

"Don't joke about this, you just got tortured by the king of the Titans, The crooked one." She said quietly.

I looked around me, noticing that Grover wasn't there.

"Where is Grover right now," I asked.

"He went to the bathroom after he ate too much. Now don't change the subject, the fact he even showed up is horrible. How long has this been happening?"

"He's only shown up a couple of times, I didn't see him as much of a threat. I thought he was too weak because of the whole being cut into pieces, I was wrong."

"We need to tell Chiron about this. If he's recruiting then a whole war is ahead of us. You did say no right."

I then gave her an incredulous look.

"Would I have been tortured if I had said yes?"

She looked me straight in the eye, her eyes truly are beautiful.

"Alright, I believe you but if you do anything suspicious I will end you. You got it." I know she said that but there wasn't too much conviction in that sentence, I was growing on her.

"I believe you," still looking her in the eye.

Eventually, we noticed that we were staring at each other too long and separated. We both had red faces.

"I'll uh, go tell Chiron about this yeah, uh bye," she said running out of the room.

I on the other hand had the goofiest smile on my face. Which was wiped out when Grover ran into the room.

"What happened in this place it's like an emotional rollercoaster, negative rather than positive," he sniffed the air for a moment," and something else."

I didn't really want to talk about it so I just pushed the responsibility to Annabeth, "Just ask Annabeth when she comes back."

"Uh alright, are you okay, you seem... giddy."

"Yeah, I'm good. I think I'm going to the bathroom."

"You sure, I mean it isn't in very good condition right now."

"I'm sure to see you in a minute, Grover."

"Okay, bye?" He said confused for whatever reason.

Eventually finding the bathroom I noticed something.

He was wrong, or maybe it's just because- oh I see. The smell is horrible. One of the few moments that I wish I didn't have this Spider physiology of mine.

"WHAT", oh, it seems that Annabeth told him about what happened. Damn that was loud.

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