Dedicated to Bee & Shay ShaylynnArnold + LadyTempus

PJ characters belong to RR

Sol's POV

After Apóvli̱tos left the room we all turned our attention to Durp. He watched Apóvli̱tos leave smugly, but when he felt the burn of our glares on his figure he turned and glared right back at us. Suddenly Apóvli̱tos weapons disappeared from the table top and some of us gave surprised yelps. It was silent for a few minutes after the initial shock of the weapons disappearance and the room regained the taste before it happened, all the tension building up, before it exploded.

"How. Dare. You." Ariel said with barely controlled anger.

"You imbecile!" Belle scolded, fury pouring off of her.

"That wasn't your business." Levi said backing up his spouse.

Spet and Psut just looked disapprovingly at Durp standing behind their daughter who was shaking in anger. Durp was just sitting back in his chair relishing all the insults and disapprovals thrown at him. He lazily lifted a hand freezing the incoming criticism, we all wanted to hear his disgusting defense to his awful act. He smiled wickedly and narrowed his eyes at us.

"For your information," his words slick with a touch of despise "I dared because I can, and I was just being safe." That's went I had enough of it.

"Safe?! You were being safe?! How?! How is that vile act of yours called being safe?!" I all but sneered at him. To think he was leading the Peserts. He smirked.

"You never know who someone really is until you break down the walls."

"Is that why you tricked him into talking about the horrific scars on his body when he clearly wanted to avoid the topic?" Now this was just an interrogation between Durp and I with the mystified silent audience.

"He could have gotten them denying End and eventually gave in." Durp replied with a knowing glint in his eyes.

"What is it with you and End?" I exclaimed out up with his arrogant attitude.

"You don't know what I know," Durp sneered. "He is rising and anybody could be with him. All that power the boy has, there's no way End would ignore that and not try to get Apóvli̱tos on his side. I had to check."

I ground my teeth in anger, because there was a hint of truth in his words, but that didn't mean he couldn't have checked a different way.

"You didn't have to check that cruelly." I hissed. "Could have gone with a different tactic." He shrugged nonchalantly

"I was curious." Was his pathetic reply.

Before we could start another round of accusations a blood curling scream came from the direction  Apóvli̱tos went. We all froze at the sound of terror. Like all women had, a sense to protect a child, Belle and I rushed towards the screaming boy with the others close behind. When we arrived we were met with him sitting upright shaking like a leaf and tears flowing down the already made tear tracks.

He turned to look at us jumping at the sound of the arrival. Absolute terror flooded his eyes and I'm pretty sure he only saw Belle and I. Cold sweat covered him from head to toe, his weapons on or next to his bedside table. His combat boots next to the bed, he was dressed in the same clothing before the planet took them. The blankets were everywhere and his pillow somewhere else.

Once Belle and I got close enough Apóvli̱tos threw himself at us latching onto our waists surprising us because of his lack of wanting to be touched. We gently guided him back to the bed and he buried himself in Belle's chest sobbing silently. That's when I realized that the screams we heard was all in our head. Somehow he was consumed in so much terror he automatically channeled out his silent screams to us from his dreaming state.

I rubbed circles into the teens back and whispered soothing words. He lifted his head when he heard the sound of the rest of the council coming to their senses. Levi appeared in the doorway with an astounded expression. Belle swiftly waved her hand as she asked the winds to close the door and keep the rest of them out. The winds complied and locked the door to keep them out.

A quiet noise in my head slowly grew louder until I could separate it into words. I could tell Belle heard it too. Apóvli̱tos mouth was moving forming incoherent words with his eyes squeezed shut. Griping onto both of us tightly like an anchor as he continued to shed his tears. The repeating noise our heads became two words that we all knew was a lie.

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.

***Time Skip***

Apóvli̱tos POV

All I could hear was the comforting sound of rushing water when sound came to me in the morning. I felt the warmth of two other next to me, but I could also feel the dirt that clung to me from my previous dream. I could still feel them, the first time was the worst, I only told Annabeth of that night, but not the rest that followed. I opened my eyes and was relieved to still find my mask on me.

I turned and observed the room, Sol and Belle were still here, but sound asleep. I gently pried myself out of their comforting but unnerving touch. I hated being touched after those kind of nightmares. I quickly surveyed the room for a shower, I found it in the corner.

I quickly dashed to it closing the door and locking it, then shedding me of the clothes suffocating me in its embrace. Turning on the water and jumping it before it warmed up because I had to get the feel of their touch off me. I grabbed whatever I saw that could be used as a cleaning utensil and scrubbed myself raw. By the time I was finished my whole body was red, but I didn't care because I felt a little cleaner.

I came out of the bathroom fully clothed, but feeling like I was still being suffocated and touched. I payed no heed to the expecting looks being sent my way from the two women who comforted me last night. I summoned everything that wasn't currently on me, on me. I walked to the door and placed a gloved hand on the knob when they finally spoke.

"Apóvli̱tos, are you ok?" Belle asked.

It was a soft worried sound that only women could make. I kept my hand on the door knob and didn't turn contemplating what I should say. After a few seconds of silence and the women burning holes in my back, I replied.

"I'm fine, thank you for comforting me in my vulnerable state and keeping the others out." When I channeled my reply, they both glanced at each other with a knowing glint in their eyes.

"Don't lie to us, but your welcome." Sol said glaring at me like a mother would.

"I am fine." I insisted.

"Come here." Belle said softly and patted the spot next to her.

I approached slowly, but surely. The spot that Belle was inviting me to sit was directly between them. They both scooted over a little so I could have some space. When I sat down I gave a silent sigh, with one mom gone, two try and replace her.

"The only way it will get better, is if you face your past and continue forward." Sol said wisely. I was silent for awhile, letting the quiet bring tranquility.

"I had a nightmare last night." I said stating the obvious. They stayed quiet letting me continue.

"I told you I got most of my scars from hell. Last night I was dreaming of my time in Tartarus, which is my kinds equivalent of hell."

"What happened?" Belle said stone faced.

"Let me tell you how I got to hell first." They both nodded not expressing any emotions.

"My girlfriend went on a solo quest for her mother. I finished my own quest with a couple of friends. We went to retrieve her, but her quest took place with only a weak thin floor between her and hell. Deep underground, we had to blow up the out edge to reach her, it broke the floor and her ankle was caught dragging her to hell. I grabbed hold of her and was her only anchor to the human world. I had a choice to either let go of her or go with her." They both looked at me knowing the answer.

"I chose to go with her because I never wanted to be separated from her again, but here I am. We fell, I shielded her as we landed, luckily we landed in water so I could protect her, unluckily the river we crashed into, focused on misery. We got out alive, but unwell. We traveled to another river that would keep us alive in hell and followed it to our destination."

"By falling into Tartarus we accepted the quest of closing these doors that let monsters from hell into our world continuously and keep them alive. By following he river that let us live we would find these doors. Along the way we encountered this group of monsters that we defeated a few years back. They managed to ambush us and decided capturing us was more fun than killing us."

"We were brought to the heart of hell where two major enemies that we defeated days before, one semi major enemy we defeated a year before, and the leader of the one that captured us tortured us." Sol's and Belle's eyes hardened at that and their mouths set into a grim line.

"I did everything I could to keep my girlfriend from being hurt. In order to do that, I made a deal with them, the terms of the deal was two sided, I would do two horrific things for them and they wouldn't harm my girlfriend." Expressions of admiration and proudness radiated off the two women.

"When they had their torture sessions with me, together or alone, depending on their mood, they competed with each other. I was the game, their prize was my fear. Sure, I screamed and all that, but I didn't absolutely fear the sessions. They wanted terror whenever I would hear their name or see them any way, they wanted to know I was shaking in horror because of them." Belle's eyes widened and Sol's jaw line was a firm line of hidden fury.

"They wanted me to remember the session, every part of it and shake in fear forever in terror. So each session was more intense than the last. The first time terror struck me and stayed with me after was of the dream I had last night."

Both women bit their lips and narrowed their eyes. Strengthening their resolve Sol asked the question they longed, but feared to hear the answer to.

"What happened?" Sol questioned.

"The first time?" Belle inquired, I could almost hear their hearts beating frantically.

"It continued daily after that when they found out that method was sufficient. And for what happened, would you rather me tell you or show you?" I took a deep breath as they contemplated and conversed silently with their eyes.

"For us to understand you more and help you, we would like you to show us." Sol said head strong.

I merely took their hands in mine and looked into both their eyes. Positioning them so I kneeling on the floor and they were sitting side by side. I can channel images and memories just like I do words, although it's easier to get my point across with pictures, I prefer my words because I feel like everyone else when I speak. Before I took them into my horrific memories, I looked them both in their ready eyes and said the words my father said to me before it all began...

"Brace yourselves..."

FLASHBACK

Belle POV

Sol and I disappeared from Spet's guest room and reappeared in a dirt cell with metal bars. The air smelt of blood and dirt. Looking at Sol's shocked face I could tell she was surprised too. Where were we? Apóvli̱tos was no where to be seen.

A groan from the corner caught our attention. We turned and was met with a boy curled up in the corner with cuffs around his ankles and wrists connecting to the wall. A metal collar with large spikes that was clearly uncomfortable was around his neck.

The boy himself had midnight black hair, blood matting it. His clothes were shreds clearly ripped apart before and hastily replaced. His skin was burnt red, his right ankle twisted at a gruesome angle. His back whipped till it was unrecognizable. Bite marks of all kinds all over his body. Stab wounds in his abdomen.

He groaned again shaking us out of our reverie. He mumbled incoherently and painstakingly rolled into a more comfortable position whimpering as he did so. Sol and I approached the boy warily. Once we were were in range we knelt down in the pool of blood. I reached over to brush the hair out of his face to see who the poor boy was when my hand went right through him. I gasped as did Sol.

"Annabeth." He mumbled.

My eyebrows knit together in confusion. Who was that? Where was Apóvli̱tos? What did this have to do with him? Suddenly loud footsteps came as a door swung open and slammed into a stone wall. It did little to disturb the boy fast asleep. The footsteps drew closer and Sol and I were met with two monstrous beings.

One smelling awful, like the sewer version of Punet's water, the other holding jewels in his hair and black liquid in his veins. A bright shining being close behind the two giants, almost as bright as one of our suns. Then a girl appeared out of the bright ones shadow, one leg of an animal not from our planet, another romantic with fire as hair.

Sol and I retreated to the opposite corner hoping not to be seen. Our wishes granted as they slammed open the door oblivious to the sleeping boy. We were invisible, so unfortunately their attention was solely focused on the boy. They all snickered as the sewer monster stormed up to the boy and grabbed his hair lifting him up so they were eye to eye and his wounded legs were dangling.

The boy woke up to that giving a small scream of pain and griping the hand that held his hair painfully with his eyes squeezed shut. The monster shook him roughly earning more gasps of pain. The group all smiled relishing in his pain.

"Wake up, we have more fun planned and games to play. Hope your up for it, last night was kind of rough, you might be a little sore."

The boy remained silent, but silent tears streamed out his shut eyes at the memory of last night causing the group to burst out laughing at this reaction. It grew even louder, half the group even fell to the floor laughing so hard when the sewer monster raised his other hand not holding the boy and slapped his backside. A large shout of pain came from the boy and more tears were shed in humiliation.

"Open your eyes sea scum! I want to see the fear in them." The monster sneered at him.

I froze and I felt Sol do the same. Fear? Wasn't that whole speech Apóvli̱tos gave us about how his tormentors played to see fear in his eyes? Oh Twizne, please don't let that boy be Apóvli̱tos, please don't let that be. His identity was revealed when his eyes opened and we were hit with the same striking sea green eyes as Apóvli̱tos, just without the flow of fire and warm brown band on the outside. Never less it was definitely Apóvli̱tos, his black hair attributed to that factor as well.

Apóvli̱tos opened his eyes and glared fiercely at the sewer monster making the monster uneasy for a few minutes until the jewel monster approached the two and slipped an arm around Apóvli̱tos waist and lowering his giant hand near his lower area dropping Apóvli̱tos glare and leaving him shaking looking down fearfully. Laughing at that, the sewer monster was released from Apóvli̱tos spell capturing him in his glare.

"Nice try Jackson, but your in no possible position to conduct fear." Sewer said smugly. Who's Jackson? Sol and I glanced at each other confused.

"I think I am seeing as how well you reacted to it." Apóvli̱tos gasped with a grim smile.

"Bah! Insufferable demigod, let's just go start the games." Sewer spat viciously dropping Apóvli̱tos to the ground while bright guy unshackled him.

"Get up." Jewel boy commanded kicking Apóvli̱tos in the side. Anger consumed me and fury shone in Sol's eyes.

Apóvli̱tos struggled to his feet. I could see him biting his tongue so no sounds escaped from his lips. He was almost standing to his full height when the sewer monster grabbed the front of his ragged shirt pulling him closer so their bodies were pressed close to each other and his other hand smacked Apóvli̱tos backside again. Crying out, Apóvli̱tos tried to flinch away, but being pressed up against the sewer monster he had no where to go.

"Your taking too long sea brat. Hurry up or worse will happen." The sewer monster smirked. I could see Apóvli̱tos shaking in terror.

All I saw was red, before I knew what was happening I was in front of him and tried to smack him across the face, but my hand went right through. I gave a scream of frustration. I turned and saw Sol beating up the wall, nothing happened to the wall, but she didn't go right through.

By the time we finished our rage, Apóvli̱tos was being pushed through the bars and lead to another room. I covered my ears as I followed not wanting to be exposed to the horrid taunting that was surely taking place. When we arrived Sol and I were met with a sort of outside kind of thing.

A large open space was presented and Apóvli̱tos was shoved in the center to the ground. He spun around as quickly as he could and shoved his hand into his pants pocket pulling out a cheap ballpoint pen and uncapping it.

A blade sprang out of it glowing bronze in the red air, Apóvli̱tos was breathing harshly pointing the weapon at his tormentors. They just laughed and advanced on him forming a circle as they did. Apóvli̱tos kept pointing the blade at whoever got to close, pushing himself up with one hand so he was now standing.

"How dare you." He growled clearly angry at himself and the group. Finally expressing his anger now that he was no longer chained and had a weapon.

"How dare you—you violate me like that!" Apóvli̱tos said with his hand holding the bronze blade shaking in fury.

"And you told Annabeth too?!" Finally fed up with it he made a wild, but calculated slash.

Faking it at the demon girl in front of him, but quickly spinning around and catching his sword in the arm of the sewer monster drawing a roar of pain from it. A poisonous green liquid flowed from the wound, but closed up after a few seconds healing. Then it gave a wicked smile.

"I have no idea what your talking about Jackson!" He announced even though he clearly knew, just saying it to get on Apóvli̱tos nerves.

"I was merely discussing what fun we had and must have been talking too loud when we passed the Athena brats cell." The sewer monster snarled delightedly.

"Fun?!" Apóvli̱tos snarled livid.

"So much, it was worth it." The sewer monster grinned.

"You violated my body without my permission, it's called—." Apóvli̱tos grit his teeth, his eyes so dark they were almost black.

"Yes, yes, I know what it's called and understand your childhood was filled with it, but you better watch your mouth and actions because your girlfriend, Annabeth's next." The sewer monster threatened to the livid Apóvli̱tos.

I stumbled back at the unsaid. This was the torture that haunted him?! I glanced over at Sol and saw her jaw drop and her knee's collapse in surprise and horror. I felt the same as I met the dirt. Oh Apóvli̱tos, poor poor Apóvli̱tos. I understand now, I do.

I just closed my eyes and prayed to the planet Twizne what the monster just said wasn't true, no boy's childhood could be that bad, right? Please no, Sol was next to me on her knees, I could hear her mumbling prayers as well.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Apóvli̱tos whole demeanor changed, he was unnervingly calm with a steady hand pointing his blade right at the sewage monster.

"You touch her and I'll make sure to make you fade slowly and painfully, if it's the last thing I do. I swear it on the Styx." Apóvli̱tos said, his eyes black, that was no empty threat and the other could tell as well. Thunder boomed louder than ever all the way down wherever we were.

"Then let's make a deal, we have two terms. If you follow them, then we won't touch your Annabeth in any way." The jewel monster said.

"Tell me the terms." Apóvli̱tos eyes were unwavering as he stared into all the monsters demonic eyes.

"Term one, we want you to do anything we say with complete submission. No complaining or defiance whatsoever. Term two, get those wretched clothes off, they get in the way of everything. As long as your with us, which will be awhile because we don't plan on letting you go, you will not wear any piece of cloth." The sewage monster bargained. The rest of the group grinned savagely.

I stared open mouthed with Sol right next to me, my thought racing. That pen he got out of his pocket, he wouldn't be able to keep it anywhere, he'd be weapon less and vulnerable. No clothes would insult his dignity and humiliate him to no end. Following the orders of those monsters, I don't even want to think of it.

Apóvli̱tos contemplated with a expressionless face. Eagerly the monsters awaited his answer. Slowly Apóvli̱tos capped his sword transforming it back into a pen and tucking it behind his ear. He tugged on the hem of his, what you would call a shirt and pulled it off his body. The monsters faces grew into a smile as they watched the figure in the center of their circle comply with their terms.

Apóvli̱tos didn't look at anyone as he yanked his pants down and threw them in a pile with his shirt. He had no shoes or socks in the beginning of this... memory. All that was left of his dignity was his boxers. I watched as he slipped a finger in the waistband of his last piece of clothing hesitating.

"Don't tell Annabeth of this deal and any of the violations you decide to commence." He stated.

They all nodded agreeing instantly, eager to have this deal efficiently start. He took one last big breath of his dignity before he slipped out of his boxers depositing them in the pile to the side. The group grinned pleased with the outcome of their deal.

"What I do for love." Apóvli̱tos declared staring defiantly in the eyes of his main tormentor. The sewage monster.

"Let's get started Perseus Jackson."

FLASHBACK END

Sol's POV

Belle and I came tumbling out of the memory gasping horrifically. Apóvli̱tos let go of our hands falling exhaustedly onto his back. It was silent for what felt like hours. Apóvli̱tos was right, much to complicated for words. This boy, he is definitely no spy for End, he's braver than any of us on this planet and definitely deserves to be the first and only Twizne. Durp has no right to question his actions or words, and he was betrayed and lost everything. Still going about to save the people he can, he is truly worthy.

We both looked down at the courageous boy on the floor. His eyes flooded with many emotions, but somehow not expressing any at the same time. He looked at us and channeled with his words that used to sound robotic and not human at all. Now it was filled with emotion from his mind, he was getting better with expression his words like it was coming from his mouth in the same concept. He sounded normal, grasping the voice that used to be expelled from his lungs to expel the same way from his mind.

"What I did for love..."

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