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Of Wine And War	By : KiriNoTenshi Category: M through R > Percy Jackson & the Olympians Views: 28996 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan does. I'm not making any money for this.

Chapter List
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Hey everyone! I'm glad so many of you enjoyed 'Mile High Club' but now I'm back to with a new chapter! YAY!

Nikki: I posted an answer to your question in chapter 9. I don't know if you've seen it or not yet, but if you're still curious that's were it is.

On to the story!!!
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“Pollux! What in Hades do you think you’re doing?!” Annabeth exclaimed, as two nearby members of Hephaestus’s cabin restrained Pollux.

“Why don’t you ask him?!” Pollux pointed at me. “He’s the little slut who seduced my dad! He thinks that just because he’s the great ‘Percy Jackson, Savior of Olympus’ he can just do whatever he wants, with whoever he wants!”

“Blaa-ah,” Grover bleated. “That’s not what happened. If you’d just let Percy explain…”

“What is going on here?” Chiron demanded as he trotted up to us. He slowly took in the scene: Pollux being held back by, easily two of the biggest guys at camp, Annabeth red faced and fuming, Grover standing nervously next to her, me on the ground holding my broken nose, and of course, the large group of campers who had all stopped to watch the exchange.

“Did you know?!” Pollux yelled, angrily at Chiron. “Did you know about him and my dad?!”

Chiron’s eyes darted to me briefly before he gave a heavy sigh.

“Yes, I knew.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?! I had to find out from a bunch of giggling dryads. How could you even stand by and let this happen?! Did you think I wouldn’t find out? And now I have to share my cabin with that disgusting little whore!!”

“Don’t you dare call Percy that!!” Annabeth moved forward to hit him but she was held back by her brother, Malcolm.

“That’s enough! Both of you are behaving very childishly,” Chiron chided. “Pollux, Percy hasn’t done anything that warrants this sort of behavior from you. As for why you weren’t told, we were worried you’d act like this. It is not my place to comment on other people’s private life, so if you want to know the details I suggest you ask you father.”

Chiron waited to see if Pollux had anything else to say. Annabeth had calmed down and was no longer being held back, something Malcolm seemed relieved about. Pollux stood there glaring angrily between me and Chiron. After a few moments his angry violet eyes locked on Chiron.

“Fine then, I’ll go talk to him.”

“Good,” Chiron said shortly, before turning to the crowd of campers. “The rest of you, get back to your activities. Annabeth, Grover, you two go as well.”

Annabeth looked reluctant but Grover grabbed her elbow and steered her away to follow the retreating campers. I heard some of the campers whisper as they left. Things like: “Percy’s gay, no wonder he and Annabeth didn’t last” or “I always thought that kid was weird” or “Why Mr.D? Percy’s hot, he could have gotten someone better” or “Did you see his blood? I think it was gold.” In no time at all, though, I was alone with Chiron.

“Quite a mess we have here,” Chiron mused quietly. He leaned down and offered me his hand. I just glared up at him, one hand on my nose as I used the other to push myself up. Chiron just sighed and steeped back to give me some space.

“Percy, I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry,” Chiron said. “If there had been any other way to save you I wouldn’t have let the council put you in this situation, but this was the only way to save your life. I know you don’t like it now but maybe, with time you could adjust to it.”

I just kept glaring at Chiron. It’s not like I had nothing to say to him, believe me, there was plenty I wanted to say to him, but my head hurt, my eyes were watery, and I could feel blood dripping down the back of my throat making me nauseous. All I really wanted to do was go lay down for a bit.

“Try not to be too angry at Pollux, either,” Chiron continued, changing the subject. “You know he’s not a violent person, but when it comes to family, he’s very protective. His mother died when he was still very young. After that he and Castor were sent to live here with their father. And when Castor died, Mr.D became the only family he had left.”

There was silence between us for a few moments. Chiron stared at me waiting for a response.

“Fine, whatever, can I go now?” I said impenitently.

Chiron looked hurt but he quickly straightening himself up.

“Yes I suppose you can,” he said sadly. “But Percy, I once told you that it is important that we trust each other. Now more than ever, you need to know that you’re not alone in this. If you won’t come to me for help, promise me that you’ll go to one of your friends.”

“Whatever,” I said as I started to walk away. I was stopped when his hand grabbed my wrist.

“I mean it, Percy. Promise me.”

“Ok, I promise,” I said wrenching my hand free of his.

The rest of the day I spent hiding from everyone. Most of the time I stayed in the forest trying to find a spot where there were no campers, satyrs, or dryads, which was a much harder feat to accomplish then you might think. Eventually I came to the rocky hill that once served as an entrance to Daedalus’s labyrinth.

After I had washed the blood of my face in a nearby stream, I stayed there for the rest of the day. I sat down on one of the larger rocks and tried to clear my head. I didn’t really think about anything, content with letting my mind go blank. Before I knew it I had missed lunch, dinner, and curfew, witch meant that if I left this spot there was a good chance that I’d get attacked by harpies. I curled up on the ground in a spot that was well hidden between a collection of very large rocks. I was so tired that I didn’t care how uncomfortable it was. After shifting around, trying to find a good position, I managed to fall asleep.

The sun’s rays penetrated the thick canopy and cast light right onto my eyelids. I groggily rolled over to get a look at my surroundings. I was still alive, which meant nothing had found me during the night and tried to eat me. That’s a good sign, I guess.

As I sat up and stretched, a purple blanket fell off of me. I know that I didn’t have it with me when I feel asleep and seeing as it was purple, it was pretty obvious where it had come from.

“Well this is about as subtle as an angry Chimera. Why doesn’t he just tattoo ‘property of Dionysus’ on me?” I grumbled. ‘Oh wait, he already has,’ I thought as I ran my hand over my thigh.

My body was sore from the awkward position I had slept in but I gingerly got up and brushed myself off. I looked back in the direction of camp but I still wasn’t ready to return just yet. I figured now would be as good a time as any to try and talk to my father again, even though I know it’s a long shot, maybe this time he might come up to see me.

I made my way to the beach and sat down on the sand. The sun was high in the sky as a few wispy little clouds passed in front of it. I directed my glance towards the bay. Other than some small waves and two hippocampi playing out past the breakers, the sea was relatively calm.

“Hey there! Mind if I join you?” Hermes smiled down at the startled look on my face.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” He asked with a grin, but I didn’t believe for a second that he had come to make small talk.

“Hello, Lord Hermes,” I said. Which I thought was a good move; it’s very difficult for someone to be offended by an innocuous colloquial greeting. I still remember the last and only time I’d ever seen him truly angry. How his caduceus had transformed into a giant, electric cattle prod, and the only thing that had saved me from becoming BBQ was the curse of Achilles. “Um… Whatsup?

“It’s Sunday! TGIS!” He said cheerfully. “No mail on Sunday, which is, incidentally, my favorite thing about the modern postal system. As for what’s up… I think I should be asking you that. Heard you’ve had quite a week.”

“Yeah it’s been…” I paused looking for a word to describe the past week. After a few seconds I just gave up and left the statement hanging in the air.

“I see,” Hermes nodded understandingly. He reached into his mail bag and pulled out two bottles of Coke. He handed one to me with a smile. “Here. As I recall, I owe you one.”

“Thanks,” I said glumly. “So…um… How have you been? Ya know, since…” I let the question trail off. If I kept this up I’d go through the entire conversation without finishing a sentence.

Hermes sighed heavily. “It’s been tough but I’m a god. If there’s one thing we immortals are good at its coping and moving on.” His cheerful expression had fallen briefly as he spoke but he quickly rearranged his face so that he was smiling again.

“Enough about me, I’m here to check up on you. A lot of us on Olympus are wondering how well you are adjusting to everything. We would check Hephaestus TV for updates but Dionysus keeps blocking the signal out of camp.” Hermes chuckled but he stopped when he saw my expression darken after he mentioned Dionysus. We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

“Oh before I forget,” He turned my head to face him as he put his hands on either side of my face.

“Wait! What are you doing?” I asked alarmed as he placed his thumbs beside my broken nose.

“Hold still,” He said. There was the audible crack of bones breaking and I flinched in discomfort. “There, much better. Now you look more like yourself and less like a Picasso painting.”

I felt my nose only to find it straight and mended. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I’ve been wondering; if I have the curse of Achilles, how come I’m getting hurt so often now?”

“Immortality cancels out invulnerability. You can be one or the other but never both,” He said as he went back to watching the surf. “Percy?”

“Yeah.”

“I know you’re angry at Dionysus. And you have every right to be,” He added quickly. “But everything he did was for your protection. You may not understand it just yet, but one day it’ll make sense. In the end, you’ll see that the council made the right decision binding you to him.”

“What!? How can you even say that? After everything he’s put me through! Not just this week, but from the very beginning. When he first found out that Poseidon was my father he threatened to make me spontaneously combust! Or to turn me into a Dolphin! He still pretends he doesn’t know my name! And now all of this! I would have taken anyone else over him!” I was so caught up in my anger I didn’t realize that I was yelling at a god. And not just any god, but Hermes, who had always been cool and understanding, even after the war. But he just sighed and shook his head.

“Anyone, Percy? You should be more careful about what you say,” He said sternly. “I mean it, you could have been paired up with anyone but you were bound to Dionysus. Why do you think that is?”

“Because I have horrible luck,” I said gloomily.

“No,” Hermes chuckled. “You were bound to him because it made sense for you to be. Look at the other candidates: It couldn’t have been any of the women, for obvious reasons. It couldn’t have been Zeus, that would just piss of Hera even more. It couldn’t have been Poseidon, for obvious reasons.” I shuddered. “It couldn’t have been Hades, mostly because he would have achieved the same results if he just let you die. It couldn’t have been Ares, that goes without saying. In the end it came right down to who had the ability to be there and protect you at any given moment. Seeing as Hephaestus, Apollo, and myself are always so busy, that only left one person.”

“Dionysus,” I concluded. “But wait why couldn’t it have been one of the goddesses?”

“Oh boy,” Hermes cringed. “I had really hoped that after what happened with Pan I would never have to give ‘The Talk’ again. Well you see half of them are sworn to be virgins forever, so that removes Athena, Artemis, and Hestia. Zeus would never let you touch Hera; in fact Hera wouldn’t let you touch her, so she’s out. Aphrodite and Demeter are out because of the nature of the bond that needed to be invoked. It required you to receive the essence of a god within yourself. So basically it means that said god would have to ejaculate –”

“Alright, I get!” I interrupted hastily. I didn’t really want to hear him describe it in detail.

“As long as you understand,” He shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t think you realize the weight Dionysus has to bear.”

“What weight? He just sits around and plays pinochle all day.”

“You know that’s not true, in fact he does far more then you’re aware,” Hermes said. “Earlier you said that he still pretends that he doesn’t remember your name.”

“Yeah. He’s just doing it to be condescending,” I have no idea what Hermes is trying to say. As far as I’m concerned Dionysus is a lazy jerk. Case closed. It’s not like he ever went out of his way to hide it.

“You don’t get it,” Hermes said with a heavy sigh. “Zeus could not have picked a more cruel punishment then when he sent Dionysus here. Don’t get me wrong, this camp is a fantastic place for young heroes to learn how to defend themselves, but that’s also the problem. It’s full of heroes. And if history as taught us anything, it’s that heroes are notoriously good at one thing in particular: dying. Zeus wanted him to work with you kids and to train you but that involves getting to know you. Why do you think we don’t interfere more directly in your lives? Yes, in part it’s because we have to let you find your own paths but there’s more to it than that. After 3000 years you learn to distance yourself emotionally from most mortals, that way it hurts less when they die.”

I looked at him puzzled. I’d never thought of it that way, but I guess I always assumed that they had gotten used to outliving their demigod children. I remember someone once telling me that the worst pain a parent can experience is to outlive their child, but if that’s the case for the gods, then why do they keep having children? That’s when Dionysus’s words form Bobby Earl’s birthday party came back to me, ‘The gods need heroes. They always have.’

“Dionysus doesn’t pretend to forget your names to be condescending; all though that is what he wants you to believe. He does it to keep you at a distance. It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s that he runs the risk of caring. That’s way he acts the way he does. That’s way he keeps you all at arm’s length, because if he doesn’t he runs the risk of getting hurt.”

Hermes stood up and brushed himself off, getting ready to leave.

“Then what about his hatred for me because of my connection to Theseus?”

“Well that may be an exception,” Hermes chuckled nervously. “But over time he has come to hold a grudging respect for you. If he didn’t see you as being separate from Theseus before, he certainly does now. Especially after…” He trailed off. “Well anyway, I should be going-”

“Wait!” I called out. “There’s one more thing I want to ask you.”

“Is it about your father?” He asked. I nodded my head.

“Why won’t he talk to me? He hasn’t even tried to contact me once. This week I’ve literally been to Hades and back and he’s completely ignoring me!”

“Well he’s very busy. He’s got to rebuild his palace, and now, with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and hurricane season coming up, he just doesn’t have a lot of free time.”

Hermes paused when he saw me glaring at him. He sighed and then looked around quickly.

“Okay, but don’t tell anyone that I told you this. Poseidon has been restricted from having contact with you.” I opened my mouth to protest but Hermes held up his hand, silencing me. “The reason for this is quite simple. If he had his way he’d take you away to his palace and lock you away for all eternity in some misguided attempt to keep you safe. But more importantly than that, he can’t interfere because you need to work through this on your own. This is just like any other quest, you’ve heard the Oracle’s prophecy and now you need to overcome the challenges that await you. Whether or not you are victorious depends on you. How you cope with your situation, and whether or not you can make peace with Dionysus. You’re the one that your happiness depends on. So, you need to decide what your next move will be.”

He began to glow and I looked away just as he relieved his true form and left the beach. Foot prints and an empty Coke bottle were the only proof that he’d been there at all.

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Alright, that's all for now. I don't know how often I will be able to update seeing as next week I start classes again, Summer B semester. I sorry I can't be more consistent for you guys, but even if it tales a few weeks, I'm not going to abandon this story (not after I went through the trouble of setting up the next story arch which should start in the next chapter, maybe) I'm just really busy. I live in Florida, and pretty much everything Poseidon's dealing with (aside from palace rebuilding) I'm dealing with too. My hometown is on the gulf coast and hopefully I can get back there and enjoy the beaches one last time this weekend before they're covered in oil and sludge. Also hurricane season is starting up but hopefully none hit Miami (where I am now) but if they do I'll have to evacuate. All that aside I'll defiantly be typing at my computer no matter what the situation.

Comments always appreciated. And if you've got a PJatO story bouncing around in your head, don't be shy, go ahead and post it. I'd love to read your works as well.
~Bye
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Of Wine And War