Sorry I Tried to Kill You... Again [for Percy]

[lightningthief]

Apparently I have amnesia. The circumstances are so bizzare, I'll continue wondering if this is all some demented trick, but to my amazement, this whole other-world amnesia story makes the most sense out of any other explanation, so it's probably right. After being away for a while, it's time to return to the hut. The hut that I apparently share with my arch-enemy, a.k.a. roommate, Percy Jackson. When I get there, I knock at the door.

"Percy? It's Luke. I'm better now. I won't go after you, honest. That is, if you trust me at all..."

I'm braced in case the kid goes at me, but I'm guessing he won't. I adjust the ice pack on my head slightly as I wait for him to open the door.

Comments

[percy_jackson]

I stood up as Luke knocked on the door, then hesitated a moment. Most of me knew that he wouldn't try to kill me again. However angry and obsessed he'd been that morning, I'd seen the reality of the Island shaking sense into him. Thalia had talked to him, Valkyrie had shaken him and, most importantly, Aphrodite had gotten through to him.

Had she ever. Thinking back on that, I wonder if she could have gotten through to him back home.

So, on the conscious level, I trusted him. But I also knew that the past couple of years was missing from his mind. It was like a wound that was fresh, sparking, dangerous. But, after a moment's thought, I came to the door. I trusted him. But I also made sure I had a sword in hand, carried in an 'at ease' position, but still in hand. I suspected he'd respect that more than if I came to the door empty handed.

I opened the door and stepped back. "Hey, Luke. Come in."

[lightningthief]

Wow, that was one heck of a validation of this amnesia story. Percy said that like we were friends again. With all the history between us fresh in my mind, I look at him a bit strange, but I just drop it and walk in.

"So, I guess this story about us being friends again is true?"

[percy_jackson]

I nodded. I motioned to the couch and set my sword aside by the door. Now that Luke was ready to listen, I guessed it was time to tell him what he needed to know. I sat down on the arm of the couch. I paused a long moment, thinking about what I should say. Then I launched in.

"I came to this Island just over three years ago," I said. "I walked right out of the sea and wondered where my ability to breathe underwater had gone. Back home, we'd just beaten Kronos' forces back from the opening to the Labyrinth. I tried everything I could to get back home, but it was nothing doing. And so I waited." I shook my head. "It was just like those weeks I spent with Calysto, but this wasn't some paradise or anything. Everybody here was a prisoner, from a whole bunch of different worlds, some of them Earth, but different versions of Earth. For months, I was the only one from Camp Half Blood, and gods, it was lonely."

"Mrs. O'Leary arrived first," I went on. "And then Annabeth, then Thalia. Both of them from the final battle -- in Thalia's case, from just outside the throne room of Mount Olympus. Neither of them knew that I'd gone missing; I was in at the last, they told me. Which didn't make me feel all that better; sure, maybe I hadn't abandoned my friends back home, but I was here a whole year, now, cooling my heels, and for what? My sixteenth birthday passed, and nothing happened. I kind of flipped out and attacked the jukebox because it wouldn't stop playing 'happy birthday'."

I looked over at Luke. "And then you arrived. And we almost came to blows right there. But the Island just played with you the way it played with me, Annabeth and Thalia -- sending us reminders of home, but mostly just forcing us to sit here and wonder what it was all for. And in that relative peace and quiet, we called a truce. It didn't seem to make sense being at war with each other anymore. We weren't friends at that point. You made good friends, but we weren't friends. We were both sure, and for good reason, that when when we disappeared from this Island and returned to our timelines the moment we left them, we'd just resume our war, battle it out in New York City, and see Kronos take Mount Olympus and defeat the gods."

"But then the Island pulled the ultimate mind game," I said. "It gave us a window on the future -- a memoir I was narrating in my own voice, describing the Battle at Olympus. You fought against Kronos' control. Annabeth told me to give you the knife. Said I couldn't kill you -- Kronos would just assert himself and end everything -- but that you could. And so I made the decision that saved the gods. I handed you the knife."

"When the Island told us all this, and it was a pretty public announcement, well, it just blew everything open," I said. "But I knew then the real reason the Island had brought us here -- maybe not the official reason, or any reason the Island itself knows, but still, a good reason. On that day, I knew that when Annabeth, Thalia or I disappeared from this Island, we'd pass through the Battle of New York, and get a normal life. You wouldn't. You'd get a hero's death. Which, while nice, isn't nearly as nice as a normal life. Here, though, the longer you're here, the more of a normal life you'd lead. And I made a promise that I'd help you lead that life. That's when we became friends. We melted Backbiter and Riptide at the forge. We ended the war, here."

[lightningthief]

I sit down and quietly listen as Percy tells me all this. I've already heard a good amount of this from the others. That's why I'm even here. I'm still not too comfortable with the whole idea of me dying. But, it's not like I've lived with that for the past few weeks, at least in the time frame I can remember.

And the part about Percy wanting me to live a normal life... I can't just detach myself like I sometimes could while serving Kronos. This is regarding the final moments of my life. Fixing all I'd broken. I just can't answer right away. I look down and raise my ice pack back to my head again.

"...that's... a lot."

[percy_jackson]

"Well, we've been through a lot," I said, evenly. "This Island may not be Othrys or Olympus, but it kept us busy."

[lightningthief]

I don't feel comfortable showing too much emotion with Percy, at least not yet, but still, my voice isn't completely even.

"I believe you. I trust you, Percy."

I probably went through all this before. But still, knowing my life hasn't been a waste, but knowing it will end... that's a lot for me. This is hard to share with a kid I just tried to off.

[percy_jackson]

I laughed a little. "Well, that's good," I said. "Because as strange as the world we came from, Luke, this Island can do some crazy, crazy stuff to us. This... was one of the craziest."

[lightningthief]

I look back up to him.

"You don't seem to be too upset I went after you this morning."

Or about the time with the scorpion in the forest, or on the Princess Andromeda, or when I sent the skeletal warriors, etcetera. I'm sure it helps that I'm the one with the main injuries, but still.

[percy_jackson]

I tilted my head and shrugged. "Well, it was just ancient history replaying, thanks to the Island. Not your fault."

Though, truth to tell, I was getting an idea on how I could extract some revenge, but that could wait until after Luke got his memories back.

"I will say, thank goodness for Aphrodite."

[lightningthief]

As I take a good look at Percy, my face must be showing quite an incredulous look.

"Percy, do you have any idea how strange this feels for me right now? As far as I know, I was alone in Mount Orthys a few hours ago waiting for Kronos to take me over."

I've had mixed feelings about Percy for a while now. I've blamed him for making the inevitable more painful than it needs to be, especially for me. At the same time, I know why he's been against me, and I also know he's a decent guy. I think I'd like to be friends with Percy again, but it seems so sudden and like I'm missing some sort of catch to all this.

[percy_jackson]

"I think so," I said. "I mean, our first meeting on the Island wasn't much better. The only difference then was that Thalia and I were both there, and armed."

[lightningthief]

"It's hard to believe that things are so good between us that we're living together." But I also add, "It's good, though. I think we would've been friends if it weren't for Kronos."

I knew Percy counted me as a friend because of the Oracle's prophecy just before Percy went on his first quest. I just wish I could've reciprocated.

[percy_jackson]

"Probably," I said. It was true: I had valued Luke's friendship back before he betrayed me. And our time on the Island had told me that it had been mostly true. "This place challenges you, tries to shake you up, but it also gives you time to think, and it makes you value what's important." I nodded at him. His friendship was, indeed, important.

[lightningthief]

I rub the center of my forehead gently with my fingertips. I'm glad Percy and I can be friends, but the part about things being important, or any connection meaning our friendship is important to Percy, flies over my aching head.

"Alright. I'm glad things are okay for now. I think I'm getting a bad headache." I glance over to Percy who I have to believe is my friend now and not my enemy. "So, I guess what I ought to do is go into that room, hang up my sword, and rest." That is going to screw with my head. I'm going to lie down, maybe fall asleep, with my sword right there where anyone who sneaks in could grab it and sink it right into me.

[percy_jackson]

"I know it's a lot to take in," I said, "But you are among friends here. And hopefully this bout of amnesia will go away soon."

[lightningthief]

"I hope it goes soon too." Because I would like to feel like I am among friends. All of this really is too much for me to handle. I could really use a friend to help me through this, but I just can't reach out to any of these people. Maybe Thalia, but... I think Mount Tam permanently changed things between us.

So, I'll do what I always do. Rely on myself. I think I just want to be alone. I slowly get up and start making my way to where I woke up.

I wish Annabeth was here.