The Legend of Percy: Book 2 - Through Grief by LookingUpToTheStars(Avatar The Last AirbenderxPercy Jackson

* Sequel to The Legend of Percy: Book 1 - Finding Purpose* The previous chapter.

Summary: What will Azula and the Fire Nation do to deal with this waterbending, earthshaking, storm-creating mystery? With the Fire Lord's plans for Sozin's Comet looming, how will Percy change people's destiny and history? Is there any redemption to be found for the Fire Nation Princess?

Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13974347/1/

Word count:124k

Chapters: 21

1. The Chief in Chameleon Bay (That Went Well…)

Aang groaned, opening his eyes slightly, much to Percy and the rest of the group's collective relief.

The kids, with Percy, sat atop the sky bison, flying over the streets of Ba Sing Se.

Katara seemed to be too caught up in her rollercoaster of emotion that she just collapsed onto him, pulling the young airbender into her arms. Any thought of questioning Percy for turning water into spirit water lost its priority. Aang passed out again quite quickly.

They passed over the walls and picked up King Kuei from their campsite.

The king looked back at his old city, realising what had happened without the need for anyone to tell him.

"The Earth Kingdom… has fallen."

And that was the nice note that they flew over the patchy green of the ground below.

Percy looked down at Appa, from where he was perched on his head. Katara and Aang just next to him.

"Hey buddy." He got a quiet roar that he took to be acknowledgement. "Yeah, I know. Your friend is alive, still. But could you take us to…" Percy turned to the rest of the group.

"Chameleon Bay? It's where our father is." Sokka said.

It seemed like the best course of action and no one argued against it. Appa seemed to have heard because with a flick of his massive tail, they banked over to the east and shot further away from the walls of Ba Sing Se and out towards what looked to be the sea.

They flew the whole way there, going well into the morning of the next day. Out over the ocean, it was a lot more peaceful for the Son of Poseidon. He was getting slight déjà vu from his time aboard the Argo II, but just with a big soft fluffy animal below him instead of a massive flying sea vessel. It also wasn't dissimilar to the freedom he felt riding Blackjack. His homesickness was just becoming a problem when he spotted the blue flags and sails of what was obviously the Water Tribe's small fleet.

They dropped down to the wooden floors of the rather small but clearly mobile ships and Sokka went over to greet his father again.

Percy helped Katara lift Aang off the sky bison and brought him into one of the bedrooms. Barely a word was spoken between anyone as they all saw them pass with the unconscious avatar.

As soon as they laid him down in the room of the boat on his front, Katara moved in a position to pull water out. Percy laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, do you want some help with that?" He asked softly, pulling the water from around him to just over the avatar.

At Katara's nod, they both got started with the healing. Percy, once again, pushed his power into it. This time, he found the water only glowing slightly, not the bright blue of the supposed spirit water that had happened before. The demigod also noticed that he wasn't sweating nearly as much.

He felt the ships begin to move towards the shore of the bay, relying on his trusty instincts while on the water. The salt water rejuvenating him, even by proxy.

Before he knew it, Katara pulled his hands away from Aang. He'd been concentrating too much on his powers and the healing to really pay attention. The mark on the kid's back was visibly smaller, and all the water had just melted into the boy.

"It's okay. We're done." Katara said, in a quick role reversal to before.

"Yeah, okay. Good."

Katara looked up at him reservedly.

"Thank you."

He went to say it wasn't a trouble but she kept speaking. "It really means everything to me, no matter what you say. I'll forever be in your debt for saving my best friend."

"Hey, I couldn't have done it without you, you know?" He said, standing up, only to stumble slightly. Even though that hadn't been much effort, the previous day, staying up the whole night, it had taken a lot out of him. Percy was suddenly feeling very weak and in need of a dunk in the ocean. He had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason he was able to stand was because he was sitting in the sea now. The waterbender across from him stood to help him stabilise himself, but he waved her off.

"But… you- I don't know how you did it, and I know you don't either, but I couldn't have done… that." She continued, gesturing vaguely to Aang.

"Well, I have a theory of how, but I don't know for sure. If I do though, you'll be one of the first I tell."

Katara gave him a grateful look, before kneeling back down at her friend's side.

"And hey, Katara?" She looked up at him. "You don't owe me. I know you want to, but you don't. I don't like being owed things. If it makes you feel better, just help him get better and we'll be even." His tone apparently showed how little he'd debate that point because she didn't argue. "But right now, I am in desperate need of a swim."

She looked at him quizzically, before just shrugging and settling down at Aang's side for what was looking to be a long time.

Percy walked up the stairs towards the wooden deck. They were close to the shore now, close enough that the adult soldiers on board wouldn't be too worried about him taking a quick dive. Before he could do that though, he was greeted by who he assumed was the Water Tribe kids' father.

He held out his hand for Percy. "I'm Hakoda, Katara and Sokka's father."

Percy shook his hand the way regular people did back home.

"I'm Percy, friend of Katara and Sokka."

He was getting a very odd look from the man.

"Were you not expecting me to say that? What?"

"No, it's just…" He trailed off, looking at his hands. "We shake hands like this."

Hakoda let go, and then grabbed onto Percy's elbow.

"Oh. Oh! Nice. Okay."

He managed to continue the shake, which wasn't too odd for him. It was a very soldier-like handshake. Percy then felt the loss of strength from healing and day wash over him again.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, and I'll be glad to greet everyone once we reach the shore, but right now, I'm going for a dip."

"A dip?" He heard the leader of the Water Tribe question, as Percy moved away towards the front of the ship. "Oh, no wait, we're almost at the-"

Percy wasn't really listening though. He moved quickly to the side of the ship and jumped over the smallish wall, feeling that it was rather easier than if he was back home. Much more freeing and he could jump to a higher height.

He curved over the wooden bow of the ship, landing in the water just off to the side and slicing to the bottom of the bay. The rich, undisturbed, unpolluted salt water was like adrenaline and nectar to his system. Feeling completely and utterly rejuvenated in seconds, Percy pushed a torpedo of water behind him, making him jet through the ocean at high speed.

Thinking of a fun way to properly introduce himself to the Water Tribe, he went behind all the ships and pushed them all. One by himself, and the other two with water propelling them along. Percy could almost hear the shouts of worry from above him, but they needn't have worried. Just as they were about to ground out, they slowed to a stop very calmly.

Percy pushed off the ground and, with a cylinder of water below him, he landed on the deck. Toph had a slight smile on her face. She'd probably figured it out but was still sad about the Aang situation. The rest of their group was looking around bewildered until they spotted him.

Hakoda came up to him with a look of reverence and shock.

"You're the waterbender, the one that held up the lake, the one that Sokka told us about." It wasn't posed as a question but Percy answered it like one.

"Hmm I don't think I did that, but yeah, I guess that's me. And I didn't know Sokka was going around telling my story to everyone." The demigod raised his eyebrow at the boy. He managed to get an embarrassed look from the young water tribesman.

Percy knew humour was a powerful coping mechanism, he'd seen that all too often, so he was seeing what boundaries he could push for the moment. The demigod was definitely not lost to the fact that Aang was still down below, in what was essentially a coma.

"That was very impressive, young man. I see Sokka wasn't exaggerating, though it was very hard to believe him when he told us."

Percy just nodded. Not really appreciating the overt attention but if it was a minor distraction, it was better than nothing.

"You a soldier?" Hakoda asked, out of the blue. At Percy's raised eyebrow, the chieftain of the tribe clarified. "Your hands and arms. Calloused and scarred. We all have them. Takes one to know one, really."

"Well, I wouldn't really consider myself a soldier, but I've fought enough times to be one." Percy really didn't like attention being draw to them. Not by people who didn't know how he got them.

The group began to slowly disembark, with Toph creating some jetties for the boats.

"You know, we could use someone like you." Percy winced at the way the chief phrased it. He really didn't like being used.

"Yeah, I don't think so. I'll fight if I have to, and when you guys need me. If you guys have any plans for taking down the Fire Nation directly, I'll be there. But I won't go out of my way to find a fight." He kinda separated himself from Hakoda.

The water tribesman seemed to realise his mistake because he backtracked quickly. Hakoda began stumbling and stuttering about 'understanding but he'd be very useful', though Percy wasn't particularly listening. Years of fighting other people's fights, especially adults' fights, had drained him. The demigod interrupted his ramblings.

"Well, I really appreciate the offer. But again, I think I'm going to stay by the lake. I have a horse. An ostrich horse. She'll probably chew me out for leaving her so long. I'll help you guys to relative safety, for Aang's and the rest of the kids' sake, but then I'm done for now. If the kids need me, I'll definitely help out. But I'm not your soldier."

Hakoda seemed to take his insistence at the conversation being over, because he left him to help the rest of the tribe. He didn't even question his ostrich horse remark.

Percy went over to help Toph and Sokka with the Earth King. Apparently, him and his bear were leaving them to travel the world. He couldn't really fault that decision. Kuei didn't seem like much of a fighter.

"Hey Toph."

"Rough time with the adults huh?"

"Yeah." It was really all that was needed to be said.

Mai was bored. She had enjoyed Percy's company the previous day, and it'd felt… normal, even whilst in the cell. Azula had ordered the taking down of Ba Sing Se's walls, and the Fire Nation army had moved on the palace, but the victory had fallen a little flat with her.

She could tell Ty Lee was thinking of the same thing, as the usually bubbly and in-your-face optimistic girl was focused and looked to be in deep thought. That was strange for her.

Not to mention, Zuko looked a shell of himself. He was usually angsty but he'd seemed… regretful. And Mai intended on getting to the bottom of both of their issues. First, her idiotic boyfriend.

They were on board a Fire Nation ship, destined for the capital. She came up to him on the deck, as he looked out onto the lake at the full moon. His now partially healed scar looked more a deep pink than a red in the moonlight.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"I've got a lot on my mind." Good. "It's been so long, over three years since I was home. I wonder what's changed. I wonder how I've changed." Attempting to get him out of his shell, she replied sarcastically, and with a yawn.

"I just asked if you were cold, I didn't ask for your whole life story." At his frown, she laughed lightly. It was a lot more expressive than she usually was, and Mai was only just getting used to it. But it seemed to somewhat surprise the prince.

Placing her hands either side of his head, she decided he needed some reassuring. "Hey, it'll be ok." She lent in for a kiss, and happily, he responded. "What's on your mind?"

"It's my uncle. I feel…" After a pause, Mai replied.

"You feel what, Zuko?"

"I feel like I've betrayed him. Azula said he betrayed me, but it just- I just can't seem to see it that way."

Mai saw an opportunity. It might've been undermining, slightly, but her and Ty Lee had a plan with Percy. If she could extend plan that to include Zuko, then it'd be beneficial to everyone. Right?

"Hey, what was that thing you always used to mumble? The one you thought no one heard?"

Zuko seemed quite frustrated at the supposed subject change.

"What thing, Mai?" He asked, defensively.

"The one about Azula." Leaving him hanging there, she gave him a kiss to the cheek. Partially because he needed to think things over, but mostly because she'd seen Ty Lee come up onto the other side of the cold deck. It was much later than she'd usually expect her to be up.

Mai left the prince, leaning against the rail, repeating exactly what she wanted. His eyes looked out over the expanse of water in front of him as he seemed to contort his face in the pale moonlight.

"Azula always lies, Azula always lies."

She felt his eyes on her after the first few repeats, watching while she was walking away. Mai smiled to herself, enjoying his attention.

In barely any time at all, she made her way over to her grey-eyed friend.

"What are you doing, Ty Lee?" She said, in typical Mai tones. It seemed to startle the girl, which was surprising. She was typically very aware of her surroundings. That caused Mai to raise her eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing." Ty Lee squeaked. "On a completely unrelated subject, do you know where we are at the moment?"

"Uh, I think we're about to leave the lake and enter the river? I don't…" Before she'd even finished her sentence, the girl in front of her had bolted back down the steps. "know…"

Ty Lee was cursing at herself, saying something about being too late, praying she wasn't. Not a minute later, the gymnast came back up the steps with what looked to be an earth kingdom satchel.

"Woah, wait. Ty lee, what's that?"

She got a very distracted and disoriented answer.

"Oh, it's just, this? This is- He asked-, no he got me-, it's a favour. And-"

"Ty Lee, let me ask the captain how much longer until we leave the lake. I'm sure Azula has him staying up as much as she is right now." That got a hesitant nod from the girl, who had to stifle a snort at the princess' predicament and predictability. Even in her clearly panicked state, the image of the captain sweating in front of Azula made the grey-eyed girl smile a bit. "Don't do anything until I get back."

Mai made her way up to the bridge, to find that the captain was indeed up, with a devastatingly tired and cranky Azula standing behind his shoulder, threateningly. That part wasn't as funny. Both the girls had talked about how worrying the princess' state was.

"Captain, where are we, and how long till we reach the Fire Nation? I'm bored of being on the sea." Mai drawled.

She added the last part for Azula's benefit, not missing how her eyes narrowed slightly. The sleep deprivation had taken a lot of the subtlety out of Azula for the people that knew her well. The captain didn't, and probably wouldn't have wanted to, with what Mai knew she wanted to do to him. Burning him and throwing him off the ship were some of the nicer things the firebender would be able to think of.

With sweat dripping down his brow, he replied to her questions. "We've just crossed the divide between the West and East Lake." He cowered at the growl that came from Azula's throat behind him. "A-and it'll be another day or so before we land back at the capital. Depending on..."

The captain trailed off as a flickering blue and red fire ball landed right next to him. He yelped and dove for cover behind some of his instruments.

"Depending. On. What?" Hissed Azula, stepping out of the shadows cast by the moon.

Oh, she looks even worse than I thought. This isn't good. Mai decided to handle one problem at a time. Ty Lee was probably worrying herself to death below.

Turning, she left the bridge and went down to the deck. Mai looked around and saw Ty Lee standing by the railing. She began talking before she could really see what the girl was doing.

"I think if the captain even so much as thought about the tides one more time, Azula would have him ruined and killed." Mai said, snickering.

Azula had told them all about the captain's 'fascination with the tides being more important than her' when she'd originally picked them up. It was all very Azula-y, wow, I'm starting to sound like Ty Lee.

Speaking of, Mai reached the railing only to see her dangling the bag over the edge. She snatched it up before the girl could drop it.

"What are you doing, Ty Lee?" She whispered, as to not draw any unwanted attention to themselves. There weren't that many guards around the deck at night, but that didn't mean there weren't any. Carrying around an Earth Kingdom bag was already somewhat suspicious enough.

"No! I made a promise. I have to drop it in the lake. I promised-" Mai held her hand up.

"Ty Lee, we still have a lot of lake left to cover." The darkness was obscuring the side of the boat they were on, away from the moon's light, her friend's face was hard to make out. "Why don't we go into your room and you tell me what promise you made, and who's bag it is?"

She phrased it as a question, but Mai was already turning back to the stairs, covering the satchel subtly in her shawl and robes. It was quite a cold night.

Despite some feeble attempts to argue, Ty Lee seemed to give in pretty quickly and followed her down into Ty Lee's room.

As they closed the door, Mai snuck a peek inside it.

"It's Percy's bag?!" She said. That shocked her. Mai was about to say something rather loud, before Ty Lee cut her off.

"Shhh. Okay, yeah. That's what he wanted to talk to me about. Apparently, he wanted to thank the family he stayed with." Ty Lee looked off rather dreamily.

Can she be any more obvious with her crush on him, Mai thought, rolling her eyes.

"And then he wanted me to take his bag and drop it in the lake. I don't know why, maybe he's going to pick it up… somehow. But I promised, and then…"

Ty Lee was now blushing as red as Mai's clothes. She got the sense that there was more to their time in the cell without her that her friend wasn't telling her.

"Then what, Ty Lee?" Screw this, I'm sort of invested now.

"Then I… kissed him-"

"What?!" That was probably the loudest she'd spoken in a long while.

"On his cheek." She quickly clarified.

"Oh, well, okay. That's still good, right?" Mai asked.

Ty Lee finally started to regain some of her bounce. Mai realised that she might have bit off more than she could chew with these… extreme girly emotions. But she was happy for her friend.

My friend, oh Agni forbid Azula finds out about it. She might just collapse on the spot… Or kill Ty Lee.

She let her friend ramble on about possibilities, and outcomes, just being happy that the old Ty Lee was still in there and it was just a momentary worry.

"… But what should I do?" Oh, she's asking for advice? I'm… not the best at that.

"Um, how about, I don't know, a letter?" It was a shot in the dark, but it appeared to more than satisfy Ty Lee.

"Yes! A letter! I'll leave it in the bag."

"In the bag?"

"Yes."

"That's going in the lake?"

"Yes."

"That's going to be submerged completely in water."

"Yes! Mai what- oh. Yeah." A much more defeated Ty Lee looked at her fingers. "But why would he want the rest of the stuff to be thrown to the bottom of the lake."

They both sat in silence for a while.

"Oh!" Mai turned to the once-again-bouncing gymnast. She'd flipped to stand on her hands on her bed, "He's a waterbender! Of course! He can just take the water out of it."

"What about the ink?" Mai asked.

"Hmm, well we can wait for it to dry. Then hopefully it won't get too wet."

It seemed very hopeful to Mai, but with how happy her friend was, she couldn't find it within herself to say how unlikely those circumstances would be. Ty Lee managed to shrug whilst doing a handstand. How, Mai didn't know. But the girl landed on her back on the bed, with a huge dreamy sigh escaping her lips.

"We could give him some money too? We have too much here and I'm sure he'll need it at some point."

Mai agreed, and so they set about writing the note.

They finished, and about an hour later, wrapped the note around a bunch of gold bricks. The ink as dry as it was every going to get. The two girls tried to tie it as tight as possible, Mai was still convinced it wasn't going to do anything, but they both put it all together in the satchel. It sat there along with what looked to be some patched up clothes, some Earth Kingdom money, a few small bags of animal feed and some non-animal rations. Apparently it'd been packed by the family he'd stayed with according to Ty Lee.

"They seemed nice, and after they stopped worrying about my Fire Nation outfit, we had a good talk about Percy."

"And when did you manage this?"

"Oh, you know, when the tanks were rolling through the city. I asked Azula for the day to see if I could find a lead on Percy. She seemed too distracted to really understand me. Said I didn't find anything when I came back."

Well, that might come back to bite them, knowing Azula. Mai shook it off.

The two girls snuck back up onto the deck and walked back over to the railing.

Ty Lee held it aloft, over the slowly moving water below them. She let it drop, whispering her hope to the spirits that Percy would receive her message.

Percy's plan to quickly get to his lakeside residence had gotten interrupted quite fast. He felt, much before everyone else saw, the increased military presence on the waters. A whole fleet seemed to be making their way towards Ba Sing Se. Most from the west, but a few from the east too. Which meant that at the mouth of Chameleon Bay, there were plenty of Fire Nation ships moving around that he could sense.

Hakoda brought every one of their leading warriors, which included Percy, Sokka, Katara and Toph, onto the main ship for a strategy meeting. They left a few soldiers to guard Aang's room.

"If we move to the mouth of the river, we could corral a Fire Nation vessel and take it over. Stopping them with our stink and sinks." He postulated to the group. It seemed like a good plan, but Percy didn't like it. Too many ships, too many opportunities for people to see them. It was in such a vulnerable and easily spotted place. Not to mention his comfortability in saltwater.

"I disagree." That got a lot of heads to turn. Percy had had enough experience in these kinds of meetings to know how to project his voice and get a point across. Granted there was no ping pong table, nor was their Leo's homesickness-inducing Camp Half-Blood visuals, but he didn't mind that at the moment. "I think it makes a lot more sense to attack on the sea. You guys are used to fighting out here, right?"

At the somewhat collective nod, they all seemed tentative to go against the plan of their chief, he continued. "Katara." She didn't seem to be to be paying attention, and was looking out the door towards the room where Aang was still laying. "Katara." he said in a much kinder voice, placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned to him. "Could you cause some kind of cover? Like a mist or fog or something? You can stay on the ship, to be with Aang, but it might help us get in close."

She nodded at him, gaining enough courage within her to look definitive. He gave her a confident nod back.

"Okay, so I say we capture one of them out here. It'll be much easier, especially for me." He pointed to the map of Chameleon Bay, a very specific point. "The closest and most isolated Fire Nation boat is here. Does anyone have a problem if I start moving the boats towards it?"

All the demigod got was dumbfounded looks, so he took that as a yes. Percy knew he was somewhat taking over the room, but they didn't know what he could do. He needed to do this. Get them all in a much safer and more covert position.

There was a tug in Percy's gut as the ships began to turn towards their intended target.

"Okay, Katara, in a minute or two, can you go up and surround us in the fog? Hakoda, you and your men will come with me. Sokka too. Toph, do you want to stay with Katara and Aang here?"

Percy didn't know if she'd be comfortable going onto a ship where she couldn't really 'see' anything. Toph clearly picked up on the reason for his hesitation.

"Oh, I can metalbend now." She said rather smugly. Although from the sounds of it, she deserves to be.

Percy gave her an impressed look, and told her as much. "Nicely done! How'd you manage- you know what, you can gloat later." She rolled her eyes at him. But he'd thought of something that might make her not so happy. "How loud is metalbending?"

At Toph's downcast look, he realised that he was right, it would be too loud for a stealth mission.

"Yeah, pretty loud."

"Sorry Toph." He apologised genuinely. "But hey, how about Katara gives you a signal if anything is going wrong and you can wreak havoc on them."

That thought seemed to get her more excited. "Yeah, that sounds good. Don't worry if things go wrong then." He could tell she was joking, so he laughed along with her. They were the only two.

Percy coughed to get his laughing to stop. "Okay, Katara, how about you get up and start creating our cover. Everybody on deck. Let's make this quick and quiet."

He noticed how they'd all hastened to follow his orders. Percy was surprised to see yet another look of respect on Hakoda's face. That type of leading wasn't so much a skill as it was muscle memory for him. He kind of hated how it was just so easy to flip into that type of mode, but he'd have to live with it.

He followed everyone onto the deck, with Toph holding onto his arm as they walked along the wooden deck of the water tribe ship. Percy felt the other ship, trundling along at a snail's pace. The ships he controlled were moving at twice the speed. He knew the speed of all of them in knots, but figured they didn't seem to have a lot of those sorts of measurements here. Percy didn't want to sound crazy. Or crazier than he already seemed.

Katara was doing an excellent job though. All three ships were perfectly hidden in a natural looking fog. At least, it would look natural to those on board the vessel they were going to attempt to capture.

Pulling the boats along to flank either side of the ship, there were still no alarm bells ringing on deck. Good. The fog was now encapsulating all of their ships. The Water Tribe soldiers seemed hesitant to shoot their grappling hooks, and he realised it was because they couldn't see either. I have to do a lot of this by myself, won't I?

He looked over to see Hakoda, standing next to a guy he thought might've been called Bato or something. Walking over to them, they looked puzzled.

"What now, Percy?" He was glad to find no ego in the question, Hakoda was just genuinely asking for Percy's next idea.

"You two with me. You're both going for a ride."

Ignoring their confused looks, he pulled at the saltwater and created three hands that were to pick them up.

"Remember, fast and quiet. No yelling when I pick you up. And no casualties!" He hissed out the last part.

He had images of the Dai Li sprawled everywhere across the Crystal Catacombs. It'd only been a day, so it was just the freshest of the many experiences that gave him flashbacks. Giving a final 'shush' motion with his finger to his lips, Percy watched, amused, as the watery hands lifted the two men off their decks and onto the enemy's.

The demigod pulled water for himself, launching himself just after them. He landed silently, right as Hakoda seemed to be about to stab right through the back of one of the men patrolling the ship. For a moment, the Fire Nation soldier looked like one of the Dai Li agents right before he was thrown through a crystal by Percy's own hurricane. His mind vividly recreated the scene.

Thinking quickly, he threw a bunch of water and froze it, leaving Hakoda with his weapon stuck in place, standing over a Fire Nation soldier stuck to the deck with some ice around his mouth to keep him quiet.

Percy stormed over to him and stared him directly in the eyes, letting the swirling sea-green hurricanes do all the talking he'd ever need. The wide look on Hakoda's eyes told him he'd gotten the message, so he unfroze the warrior and his sword, and turned to see Bato watching him warily.

He rolled his eyes at that. They deserved to be scared. It'd taken them all of ten seconds to ignore what he'd said. He knew they were fighting a war, but this seemed unnecessary to Percy. Stabbing people in the back wasn't something he'd ever consider doing nor be comfortable doing. Especially when other options were readily available.

The demigod pulled out Riptide, letting the bronze glow show the way slightly in the fog and give the two men with him a good idea of where he was.

Percy signalled for the two of them to follow, whilst pulling pillars of water out of the sea for the remaining four patrolling soldiers. All of them were frozen to the deck in various scattered positions, unable to make a sound, before the two soldiers with him could even think to start killing them.

The full moon began peeking through the mist, which was Percy's first indication that Katara's cover was starting to fade. The second was the soft sounds of grappling hooks latching onto the side of the ship. If they start killing people… He let his own threat hang in his head, because he wasn't sure what he'd do. But he'd definitely get mad.

Percy made his way through the passages of the ship, stopping at every room. He pulled the water he was carrying with him to trap sleeping soldiers to their beds, or attach awake soldiers to walls, but there were very minimal disturbances.

The demigod and two soldiers, rather useless up until this point, made it to the bridge, to see a group of Fire Nation soldiers and a commander, sitting idly on the job. Percy made directly for the commander, taking him out quickly with the butt of his sword to the side of his head. He turned, content to see that his two companions had decided to defer to non-lethal methods of knocking out their targets. It didn't fill him with anything though, as they had previously gone against his word. He saw that the bridge was now empty, so he spoke for the first time.

"Go down and organise a sweep of ship. Remain quiet because we don't want the possibility of a message getting out. I'll close off the bridge to help that." He said succinctly, before speaking coldly to the both of them. "And if I find any Fire Nation soldiers dead, without sufficient reason…" He trailed off, his now verbalised threat hanging in the icy air of the room, and only slightly enjoyed the look of fear on their faces. He was still pissed. At least they got the point.

The two of them snuck back down the stairs and towards the deck to coordinate a search, whereas Percy walked out of the bridge and pulled a whole heap of water up to him. He moved it to both sides of the door, making it frozen fast to the metal door frame.

He decided he needed to move the prisoners that they had below deck. Walking quietly down to the deck, he moved to bring those patrolling guards down with him before Percy heard some scuffling and a shout from the stairs down below.

Rushing, the demigod pulled out his sword once more, letting the bronze glow light his way until he found Sokka, with his machete out, standing over a bleeding out Fire Nation soldier. It seemed Hakoda had heard too, because he arrived just after Percy.

"We're clear. What happened…oh." Hakoda started.

It seemed they weren't as clear as they'd thought. The final Fire Nation soldier had put up a fight, and it just had to be with the person who hadn't really had experience with killing people. The kid clearly defending himself.

Based on his reaction, Hakoda seemed far too comfortable with Sokka having this experience, so Percy motioned for him to console him. The demigod effortlessly pulled some water up to lift the dead body off the ground, and had it follow him all the way back up on deck. All the water tribe soldiers, who'd now made their way to the deck, parted to let Percy through.

He moved over to the side of the ship, and held the body over the water. The ship wasn't moving, so the soft waves of the sea lapping against the metal hull were the only sounds. Everyone was completely silent.

Percy felt Sokka come up beside him, and they both put a hand on the body before pushing it down into the ocean. He could tell that the quiet splash affected the kid.

The crowd of people dispersed, Hakoda coming to ask him to defrost the door to the bridge, which Percy did with the wave of his hand, leaving Sokka alone with him. They sat against the metal railing on the side of the ship in silence.

After a while, he felt the boy's blue eyes on him, waiting to ask a question.

"Does- Does that get any easier?" Not unless you become a psychopath. He felt that wasn't what Sokka would want, nor what he needed to hear. "The seeing death you've caused part."

"No." Percy answered, quite honestly. "It really doesn't."

Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13974347/1/