Okay.

This was a lot for Jason to try to comprehend.

First, Nico ran to get them because Percy changed and now the side that was always insulting Good Percy, let’s call him... Evil Percy, was now in control of the Percy Body, so Evil Percy was piloting an extremely powerful body and Good Percy was trapped inside Evil Percy’s head.

Okay. Jason got that down. 

As soon as he had entered with the others, Evil Percy was holding Annabeth against the wall by her throat while she’d desperately tugging at his hands, movements slowly becoming sluggish, so he did what he did best and charged his fist with electricity and punched Percy across the face, making him stumble back and away from Annabeth.

That was one problem solved. The next problem was Percy was taller, stronger, better in hand-to-hand combat, and could probably drown Jason in three seconds flat. Oh, yeah, and he was pissed.

Blood dripped down his nose, which he wiped away with the back of his hand with a sneer. “Oh you think this is funny, Jason?”

“Not at all,” Jason shot back, glaring. “Let Percy back in control! Now!”

Percy groaned, dragging his hands down his face. “When are you going to realize? I-” He swung his leg around quicker than Jason could blink, making him stumble back.

“Watch out Jason!”

“Sorry!” Jason shouted, doing his best to not step on the girls and moved towards Percy, though it was a bad move because Percy used the same move again. This time he fell hard against Percy’s dresser, and there was a loud splintering noise as part of it broke.

“Hey! Percy! Over here!”

Frank got Percy’s attention, letting Jason recuperate and grab the nearest thing he could find- A large book, probably Annabeths, and slammed it over Percy’s head.

“You- That fucking hurt, you bastard!” Percy whipped around on Jason, who was genuinely shocked that a book of that size with that much velocity didn’t at least make him stumble a bit more.

“Come on, why don’t we give us some more room!” Nico shouted, taking steps backwards out the door. “That’s right, come on-”

Percy’s head twitched slightly, eyes seeming to flicker as he looked at Nico. His hands, which had been raised into fists ready to knock Jason’s teeth in, lowered an inch or so. He blinked. “N… Nico?”

“It’s me,” Nico agreed, holding his arms out slightly, his voice desperate. “C’mon Percy, you don’t want to hurt us. We don’t want to hurt you.”

Percy shook his head, looking beyond confused. “You… Don’t want to hurt me?”

“Of course not,” Nico promised urgently, glancing at the other two behind Percy. They were prepared to take him down from the back if need be, but Nico shook his head. 

“Jason and Frank are gonna take a step back, okay? We’re not going to hurt you.”

Percy looked skittish as he watched the two boys back away and slowly raise their hands so that Percy could make sure they were empty and not about to attack.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Jason repeated gently, copying Nico’s words.

“You punched me,” Percy spoke, clearly still on guard.

“You were choking Annabeth.”

“She was trying to attack me.”

“Think about what she did, Percy,” Nico spoke softly, sounding surprisingly gentle and soothing. “Did she have a weapon?”

Percy blinked, pausing before slowly shaking his head, brows furrowed. “N-No…”

“Okay. What did she do that made you feel threatened? Do you remember?”

“She- She touched my knee.”

“Did you get scared? Did you feel like she was going to hurt you?”

Percy nodded slowly, his fists lowering more, but still in proper form to throw a deadly punch. “Yeah.”

“Percy, I think she was trying to comfort you. You were freaking out and she wanted to help.”

His eyes flickered again. “Wanted to help. M… Me?”

“Yes, she just wanted to help Percy. You’re not feeling very well recently, are you?”

Percy blinked before shaking his head. “No… I don’t… I don’t feel good.”

“Okay. Percy, can you take a seat on the bed for me? I want to sit with you, if that’s okay.”

Percy hesitated and in the end ended up shaking his head. “No. I don’t… No.”

“That’s okay,” Nico promised quickly, giving a soft smile. Jason didn’t know what the hell was happening, but it seemed to be working. “That’s okay. Do you want to go somewhere you’ll feel more safe? Or do you want to talk just like this?”

“Like this.”

“That’s okay. Do you want the three of us to sit down? You can stand or sit, whichever you prefer.”

Percy hesitated before nodding. Nico nodded to us, and slowly the three of us sat down on the ground while Percy watched warily.

“Okay Percy. We’re sitting. Do you want to sit with us? Or do you want to stand?”

“Stand.”

“Okay. That works. Okay, Percy, can you talk to me for a bit?”

Percy blinked slowly, nodding cautiously. “Yes.”

“Perfect. Okay, hun, what hasn’t been feeling good?”

Percy frowned, thinking before he pointed to his head, not saying anything but looking at Nico expectantly. He nodded, humming softly.

“Okay. I-”

“I got it!”

In half a second Percy switched back, fists up and eyes dark. He no longer seemed dazed or confused. Nico cursed aggressively. “Fuck! Mother of fucking- Leo, you fucking- Oh my gods you moron!”

The last thing Jason saw was a swift kick towards his face and heard a sickening crunch before it was lights out.

x

Annabeth ran towards the cabin, dagger in hand. Nico was cursing out a wide-eyed Leo, Jason was slumped forward on the floor unmoving and Frank was doing his best to deflect Percy’s jabs, but you could tell he was getting tired.

She held out the dagger, facing her heart. “Percy!”

All of them- Save for Jason, but Annabeth didn’t want to think about the state he was in right now- turned to face her.

“Percy, if you don’t get back in control, I’m going to do this!”

Her heart was pounding as she held the dagger, pointed directly at her heart, at an arm's length away. 

If Percy was triggered by Annabeth being in trouble, he could come out of it this way. She didn’t realize it before. She’s broken his trust by using the serum, and now she was going to get him back. Whether it was before or after she took a dagger to the chest, she wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter. As long as Percy was back long enough for them to help, she didn’t care how injured she got.

“Ten,” she called out, breathing heavily. 

“Annabeth, no! You can’t-”

“Don’t try to stop me or I’ll do it now,” she snapped, glaring at Piper who immediately backed down, biting her bottom lip anxiously. “Nine.”

Everyone was watching them now. Annabeth stood in the middle of the U, facing Percy, who looked like he was fighting a battle with himself- Which, she supposed, technically he was. “Eight.”

Her hands were shaking, staring pleadingly at Percy.

“Seven.”

The entire world seemed to be holding it’s breath, waiting for the countdown to end and Annabeth to plunge the dagger into her heart or for Percy to dash forward and take it from her.

At three, Percy let out a loud grunt, dropping to his knees and holding his head in his hands. “Let me- Let me go-!”

“Two,” Annabeth’s hands were so weak she was on the verge of dropping the dagger, but she tensed her arms, preparing to follow through.

“One.”

She moved, but the very last second lightning struck. The dagger went flying out of her hand, the electricity making her feel dizzy and like her bones were buzzing.

Everyone looked towards Jason, but he was still unconscious. “What the-?”

Percy’s head dropped down, staring at his trembling hands. Everyone immediately ran for him, but as soon as he heard them he shook his head, backing away. “No, no no no, no, stay away, I don’t- I don’t want to hurt anyone else!”

“Percy-”

“No, you can’t- You can’t get close,” he shook his head, scrambling back away from all of them. “Please. I can’t hurt anyone else. Please.”

“You’re in control now,” Annabeth spoke softly, taking a few silent steps forward. “We can get you help, we can-”

“No, no, Annie, please.” Percy looked up at her, tears streaming down his face as he collapsed down into a sitting position, pulling his knees to his chest. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I love you so much, but… I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“Percy, can’t what? We’re here for you, whatever you need,” Nico coaxed, but Percy shook his head. They started to slowly move towards him again, but he scrambled back into the shadows of the Poseidon cabin, looking up at the walls of the building and then looking back at the group.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I love you. All of you.”

The shadows from the ground pulled themselves towards him, swirling and shrouding him in a black mist- and then he was gone.

The shadows slipped back into their respective places, leaving no trace of Percy whatsoever. “He-”

“He shadow traveled,” Nico finished, sounding hollow and confused. “That’s- That’s impossible.”

“It was him that- The lightning-” Piper stared at where Percy had been, clearly not able to comprehend what was happening either. 

“How in hell-” Annabeth shook her head. “We need to find him. Now. He has to know what’s going on.”

“There’s no way to tell where he’s gone, shadow traveling is completely untraceable,” Nico started to pace, shaking his head. “This is… This is ridiculous. How does he have mine and Jason’s abilities? That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Do… Do you think he has all of ours?” Leo asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “If he has theirs…”

“That might not even be the case, maybe he’s… Maybe he’s being hosted by someone, or something, and he was trying to fight it?” Annabeth suggested, shaking her head. “If he had our abilities we would have known sooner.”

“You’d also think we’d notice a fucking maniac in our best friend but not everything works out logically!” Nico snapped. He paused and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s… It’s okay. We’re all…”

There was a sound of galloping and they all turned to meet Chiron head to head, Hazel sliding off his back and rushing to embrace Nico and Frank with what sounded like a sob of relief. “Where is Percy?” he demanded, his tone not leaving room for any pretense.

“We don’t know,” Annabeth blurted, shaking her head and tugging at her hair, irritation and panic setting in. “He controlled lightning and then- and then he shadow traveled and- and nothing makes sense!”

Chiron pursed his lips. “If he’s not being obscured by an immortal, the Scrying mirror should work. Come, follow me.”