He Shall Return, The One That Lost It All, A Close Friend Of His Will Fall

Chapter Two (Percy's Point Of View)

Anyway. . . .

"Oooookay . . ." Artemis and her huntresses still looked confused. "When did you know me? You recognized me."

"Like I said, a few million years ago, give or take," I answered. Them I thought about it. "Or was it a few thousand years ago? Time goes differently in different places, especially with a Primordial against you." I stretched calmly. "I wasn't on Earth for all of it. . . ." I trailed off, thinking, listening.

Artemis's eyes widened. Yay. She figured out who I was! (That was sarcasm. . . I'd rather nobody but Gaea knows, and not Annabeth.)

Then a look of horror crossed her face as she realized what I meant by "I wasn't on Earth for all of it."

And she fainted.

"What did you do to her?" Thalia demanded.

"She just realized who I was and where I've been." I stretched some more.

If you're wondering about why I was stretching so much, it's showing them that I'm relaxed and that my past doesn't bother me anymore, even though it fight bother them.

Also, I was still kind of tired. . . .

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

"Well then, who are you?" Thalia demanded.

"I'd rather not tell you that," I said calmly.

"Okay," Thalia grumbled, obviously annoyed she didn't get her way. "Then. . . what do you mean by 'the wild can tell you anything'?"

"That's exactly what I mean," I said. "But I'll tell you anywa---"

I was cut off by Artemis suddenly shooting up and looking at me.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I will explain what I meant by the wild can tell you anything.

"The wild can tell you stories. They remember everything that ever happened, everything they ever heard, anything they had ever seen. They know of magic, ancient and new. They knew of the people who cast them. They're telling their story, the stories of others. The wind carries the messages from the far away and the dead. The wild is filled with stories, more than a library, because every animal, every grain of sand, even a---" I plucked some grass off the ground and held it up "---blade of grass can tell you hundreds, thousands of stories. The plants remember very second of their lives. Like a god. They remember everything that ever happened to them. When the gods forced me to accept the gift I never wanted, immortality, I remembered everything. Things of my past, long forgotten. I remembered things I'd rather forget, made memories that would make a mortal person go crazy. But in the end, it just made me grow stronger. It makes the trees grow taller, thicker, stronger." I stuck the blade of grass back into the ground and I breathed at it. It grew slightly taller than any other blade of grass in the clearing. "They would never forget their mistakes, never forget the painful memories. They never forget any of it.

"I was forced to accept immortality. In fact, I wouldn't have become a god if Artemis hadn't voted for it." I gave Artemis my best death glare, only my sea green eyes visible under my hood. All of the huntresses cowered. "The gods offered it to me twice. I said no both times. But the second time, they voted on it anyway. It was going to be a tie. Half the council.

"Then Artemis joined the side that wanted me to become a god. Apparently she respected me or something like that."

"I still do," Artemis whispered.

I continued anyway. "Whatever. I never asked for your respect. So a while later, I went missing. What people didn't know is that I had been taken to the place of my worst nightmares."

Most of the girls gasped. Thalia had a look of realisation on her face.

"P-P-Percy?" She asked in a small voice.

I swept my hood back and stared back at her. "Yes." Then I stretched and yawned. "So I'm tired. Let's finish this up. So you can hear anything from the wild. All you need to do is know how to listen to it."

"What happened to you, Percy?" Thalia asked. "You were missing for the longest time. Now you're different. What happened to you?"

I turned back to them.

"I'm an open book," I said. "You just don't understand the language of the broken."

And with that, I jogged away and out of the camp.