The days inside the Temple flowed by gently, marked only by the movement of the sun across the sky and the steady, rhythmic pulsing of the glowing egg.
It was late afternoon. The air was warm and still, smelling of old stone and fresh water.
"Okay, my turn!" Percy announced, stretching his arms high above his head until his joints cracked. "I'm going to wash up. Don't miss me too much!"
Theo rolled his eyes, not looking up from the book he was reading. "Hurry up. Don't use all the hot water."
"Yes, sir!" Percy saluted mockingly, grabbing his change of clothes and heading towards the back of the temple where the bathing chambers were located.
The heavy stone door clicked shut behind him, and the sound of running water soon echoed softly from within.
Silence fell over the main hall again.
Theo was left alone, sitting cross-legged on the rug, the egg glowing softly beside him.
Usually, he loved the silence. But right now, with Percy just out of sight and the temple feeling slightly too big, his mind began to wander.
His thoughts drifted back to their conversation last night.
"What about your dad? Your mortal one?"
Percy's question echoed in his mind, soft and curious.
Theo looked down at his hands. They were small, slender, and clean. Hands that belonged to a child.
But the soul inside them... was older. Much older.
It was funny, really. When you have nothing else to occupy your mind, the memories you never wanted to remember are always the first to resurface.
Slowly, the present faded away, and the edges of his vision blurred, dissolving into fragments of memories... or rather, the history of this body.
It started with pain.
An explosion of sound, metal twisting, glass shattering. The sickening crunch of impact.
Then... darkness. Absolute, endless void.
He remembered floating in nothingness, watching from above as the scene unfolded like a tragic movie.
He remembered the car, crushed and broken. He remembered the man, this body's father, lifeless and still behind the wheel.
And next to him, the small, broken form of the original Theo.
The boy was gone. His light had flickered out. The vessel was empty, ready to be discarded.
And then... he had fallen into it.
A soul from another world, lost and confused, slipping into the empty shell like putting on a coat.
When he woke up in the hospital, everything was confusing. The world was brighter, louder, and magical. The memories of the original owner were there, but they felt like watching someone else's life story, fuzzy at the edges, distant, like an old movie reel.
So he did the only smart thing he could think of.
"I... I don't remember," he had whispered to the doctors, clutching his head. "Who am I? Where am I?"
Amnesia. It was the perfect shield. It explained why he acted differently, why he didn't know things he should know, why he felt like a stranger in his own life.
But the peace didn't last.
He remembered the room. Cold, sterile white walls. The door opening.
Walking in were his grandparents, his father's parents. They were dressed in expensive, dark clothes, but their faces were not full of grief. They were full of fire.
Hatred.
They looked at him not as their grandson, not as an orphaned child who had just survived a horrific crash, but as an enemy.
"You!" The grandmother had shrieked, her voice shrill and cutting. "It's your fault! You killed him!"
"It should have been you who died!" The grandfather had spat, his face twisted in rage. "Not my son! You monster! You took him away from us!"
Theo, just a child, only eleven years old, newly awakened in this body, confused and hurting, had shrunk back against the pillows. He was so small back then.
"But... I don't..." he tried to say, his voice trembling. "I don't feel good..."
"Don't act!"
The old man reached out, his hand clamping down hard on Theo's small wrist.
The grip was like iron, squeezing painfully, cutting off the circulation. Theo cried out, trying to pull away, but he was too weak.
"You are cursed! You brought bad luck to this family! You killed our son!" the grandfather roared.
"We will not take you!" the woman cried, turning her face away as if he were dirt. "We don't want you! You are not one of us!"
And then... they did the unthinkable.
With a final, brutal shove, the grandfather pushed him. Hard.
Theo stumbled back, losing his balance and falling hard onto the cold floor outside the room.
"Leave!" they ordered, standing over him. "Go somewhere far away! We never want to see your face again!"
The grandfather glared down at him, his eyes burning with fury.
"And don't you dare use our surname! You have no right! You freak child! You are nothing!"
SLAM!
The door had shut in his face. Locked. Final.
Leaving an eleven-year-old child alone on the street, in the middle of the city, with nothing but the clothes on his back and a fake memory that didn't make sense.
For nearly a year, he wandered.
He slept in parks, hid in alleyways, and scavenged for food. It was a hard, brutal life.
If he had truly been just an ordinary, innocent child, he would have surely died out there alone. But he wasn't just a child. He had the mind and will of an adult inside that small frame. He survived by being sharp, by being quiet, and by never trusting anyone.
'Are they out of their mind?!' his mind had screamed back then, a mixture of anger and disbelief. 'What kind of people do that?! To a kid?! To their own grandson?!'
But there was no one to ask. No one to help him.
He learned then that in this world, blood didn't mean family. Love wasn't guaranteed.
The only person he could rely on... was himself.
From that day on, he promised himself that he would never use the surname of someone who had forsaken an innocent child, let alone have his own name attached to it.
And then at the age of twelve, the monsters came.
It was a dark night when things with fangs and claws started hunting him. Things that shouldn't exist.
That was when the realization hit him like a lightning bolt.
This world... wasn't his old world.
He recognized the patterns. He recognized the danger.
He had reincarnated into the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Knowing he couldn't stay in the city any longer, and knowing he needed safety, he set out on his own. No one guided him. No one helped him.
He walked and walked, following the faint pull of destiny, until he finally found the borders of Camp Half-Blood.
Alone.
Theo took a sharp breath, as if surfacing from deep water.
The coldness of that memory, the pain in his wrist, the slamming door, the long year of loneliness, still sent a shiver down his spine, even now.
He hugged his knees tightly to his chest, resting his forehead against them.
That was why he pushed people away. That was why he built walls.
That was why he was so scared of getting close, only to be thrown away again.
He possessed the memories and logic of an adult, but trapped inside this body, he also had the mind and impulsiveness of a child. And most painfully of all, he had the fragile, beating heart of a mortal being.
He could pretend that everything was fine, he could act indifferent, but deep down... he still felt everything.
The hurt, the rejection, the fear of being unwanted. No matter how old his soul was, his feelings were still human.
"I'm not..." he whispered into the empty hall, his voice trembling slightly. "I'm not cursed. I'm not a mistake..."
The egg beside him pulsed warmly, as if sensing his distress. It glowed a little brighter, sending waves of comfort towards him, wrapping around him like a silent embrace.
"You okay, Theo?"
Theo jumped violently, his head snapping up.
Percy was standing there, freshly showered, his dark hair wet and messy, wearing a clean shirt. He had stopped halfway across the room, looking at him with wide, concerned eyes.
He must have seen the look on his face, the distant, hurt expression that Theo couldn't hide fast enough.
Theo quickly wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, forcing a neutral, bored expression onto his face.
"I'm fine," he muttered, looking away sharply. "Just... thinking."
Percy didn't look convinced. He walked over slowly, sitting down beside him, leaving a small but respectful space between them.
"You looked... really far away just now," Percy said softly. "Like you were somewhere else entirely."
Theo was quiet for a long moment. The water dripped from Percy's hair onto the stone floor.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"I was just remembering," Theo said finally, his voice flat and hard, trying to make it sound like it didn't matter.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Percy asked gently, his voice soft enough that it wouldn't pressure him.
Theo just remained silent, staring at the patterns on the stone floor. He didn't nod, didn't shake his head, just... nothing.
Percy accepted it. He understood better than anyone what it was like to have things you didn't want to say out loud.
He wouldn't force him.
Instead, Percy just started talking, filling the silence with easy, simple things.
"You know, I was a total trouble kid back in school," Percy chuckled, leaning back on his hands. "Like, really bad. I got expelled from every school I went to. Sixth grade was the worst, I blew up the science lab!"
Theo blinked, looking slightly more interested. "You blew it up?"
"Accidentally!" Percy defended himself grinning. "But yeah. My mom, Sally? She's the best. She never got mad, just understood. And gods, she can cook! Everything she makes tastes amazing. And she can cook everything blue. Blue cookies, blue cake, blue candy... she even makes blue chocolate chip cookies!"
"Blue cookies?" Theo repeated, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds weird."
"It's not weird, it's artistic!" Percy argued playfully. "Blue is obviously the best color anyway. It's the color of the sea, the sky, it's calming and cool."
Theo snorted softly, looking away. "Green is better."
"Oh yeah? What kind of green?" Percy teased. "Like swamp green? Or slime green?"
Theo punched his arm lightly. "Shut up. Just green." He refused to specify exactly which shade, he just kept it to himself.
They talked like that for hours, about everything and nothing. About favorite foods, about annoying campers, about how weird Mr. D was, and how scary Chiron could be when he was disappointed.
Theo looked at him curiously. "What about Annabeth? Don't you miss her?"
Percy paused, a soft, slightly shy smile appearing on his face. He scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah... I do. A little bit. But it's also kinda nice to have a break, y'know? Just boys' time."
It was strange. Before this trip, they were less than strangers but more than acquaintances.
They existed in the same space, acknowledged each other's existence, but never truly connected. They were never friends.
But now, sitting here in this temple, under the stars, they were learning each other in a way they never expected.
Percy was sure of it now and safe to say. They weren't just acquaintances anymore. They were truly friends.
Night fell deep, wrapping the room in quiet darkness, and they settled back comfortably into their nest of blankets.
Right in the middle of them lay the egg, glowing with a soft, steady light, like a warm, gentle nightlight keeping the shadows at bay.
Theo was lying on his side, eyes already closed, his breathing slow and deep. He looked completely out of it.
Percy lay awake for a while longer, simply staring at him in the dim light.
He figured Theo must have been truly exhausted to drift off so soundly like this.
"Theo?" he whispered softly into the dark. "You already asleep?"
No answer came, only the sound of peaceful breathing.
Since there was nothing else to do, Percy let his gaze drift away from his friend.
His eyes landed on the glowing egg, and suddenly, a strong curiosity took hold.
He had always watched Theo touch it with such care, such gentleness. It always looked so special, so comforting. Percy couldn't help but wonder... what did it actually feel like?
He glanced quickly to the left and right, then turned back to study Theo's face carefully, checking if he was really asleep or just pretending.
Yep, definitely out cold.
Percy looked back at the egg, then whispered quietly to himself, "No one will know, right?"
"I wonder..." he murmured, tilting his head slightly. "What are you going to be when you hatch?"
He took a breath, feeling a little silly but too curious to stop.
"Hey, little guy," he whispered, reaching out slowly. "You listening? You gotta protect him, yeah? Make sure he's safe. Make sure he's happy. He acts all tough and cool, but I know he needs someone looking out for him."
His hand hovered in the air for a moment, driven by that intense curiosity, and then finally... his palm rested gently against the warm, pearlescent shell.
The moment his skin made contact, the egg seemed to flicker. A beautiful, faint blue light shimmered across its surface, weaving perfectly with its original glow, before slowly settling back down.
Percy blinked, his mind still heavy with sleep. He told himself it was probably just his eyes playing tricks.
He didn't think too much about it, instead letting his thumb brush softly against the smooth surface.
He caressed it slowly, feeling the strange warmth, before slowly pulling his hand away.
Satisfied and feeling much lighter, he tucked his hand back under his own pillow, settled comfortably into his spot, and closed his eyes.
And with that, he drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Once Percy was fully asleep, the egg stirred once more.
This time, it didn't just glow faintly, it lit up brilliantly, bathing the room in a magnificent mix of warm gold and deep azure light.
The colors swirled and danced together like magic, bright and alive, before slowly fading back into its soft, original glow, resting quietly once again.