#chiron fanfic

[hearteyes-for-killmonger]

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas countdown to Christmas Day. We've 9 days left!!

Country Girl

Summary: Gabriella to the city and meets a lot of difficulties, but she also meets one of the best people she could've hoped for, Black.

Tags: Black, Chiron, Moonlight, Drug mention, Abuse mention

Black lived and worked out of his luxury apartment in DC. He was two years out of jail and with his connections, his life picked up where it left off. On the clock, he did tech, but his side gig was drugs. Life was easy, but only because he made it that way. When the empty apartment beside him became occupied, he was a little upset. He hoped they'd stay to themself and not come knocking on his door.

Gabriella, on the other hand, was a transplant who didn't know a soul in DC. She'd taken a lump sum of money from her well-off husband Marcus and fled in the middle of the night in her car, driving from South Carolina to DC with anything she could grab, a swollen lip, and a black eye. She was done.

It was lucky that she found the luxury apartments and that the landlord was willing to look the other way about her not having a job so long as she paid him. She could continue to pay him for a few months, then she'd be out on her ass. She needed a job quick, but she was a simple country girl in foreign territory with no degrees. She'd rested in the safety of her marriage, but unfortunately it wasn't safe at all. This was Plan B.

October

Introspective and quiet, Gabriella climbed the flights of stairs to her empty luxury apartment. She'd just nabbed a job as a secretary despite being torn down in the interview. She didn't know how to feel.

"Good afternoon," she tried once more in her southern drawl to her handsome neighbor as he headed out, all wrapped up for the autumn wind. She could hardly see his movie star handsome face as he turned away, which was a shame. He ignored her as usual. In her hometown, it was only natural to smile and talk to strangers, but in DC, people clutched their bags tighter.

Sighing, she sat her bag on the kitchen bar in her apartment. There was no furniture, but she couldn't care less about that. One, it was a beautiful place. Two, Marcus was nowhere near. Three, she had the keys, and as long as she could afford them, she had access to the beautiful balcony view overlooking the city streets.

"Oh my good lord," she whispered, watching traffic over the banister, still not used to it. She showered and made herself a meal, wishing she had a friend or someone special in her life to make the empty apartment a little less cold.

Gabriella woke up early for her day job as a secretary every morning, though it didn't pay much considering the extravagant cost of rent and her bills. She took pride in herself and her work. It was something until she could do better. She didn't have any family or friends to call on. They were all on the side of Marcus. To them, he was still a good man.. So Gabriella was on her own.

"You're late again," Mr. Macklebee complained when she walked in 2 minutes after 8:45 AM with his coffee in hand. She only got paid for 9-5, but he required her to come early. "If you didn't spend so much time on your makeup every morning, you'd be on time."

As much as Gabriella liked to believe the comments didn't get to her, they did. The makeup was a habit from covering her bruises so often. Maybe she didn't need to spend so much time on it anymore.

Gabriella never snapped or talked back, she mostly remained silent, thinking about things.. but her supervisor could be viciously sexist and mean. There was constant remarks about her appearance and competence.

"You look sick," he commented flippantly one morning when she handed him his coffee. She'd gone without the makeup to save time, and that was when he spit the coffee out, some of it getting on her blouse.

"My five year old does a better job listening than you do. I said 3 pumps. I don't taste 3 pumps... This is what I get for hiring a ditz. Oh, and that email? I shouldn't have to tell you there's a fucking typo in the header. Are you trying to humiliate me?"

Being the sensitive young girl she was, there were some days Gabriella would go home and cry. Nothing she did was right. It all built up since there was no one to set her mind at ease. She spent a lot of days in her apartment, trying to write as a way to vent her loneliness and her frustration, but she came up dry every time.

She could only think over the events of the day and sit on the found furniture that she'd had lugged into her apartment over the weeks she'd been there. There was an old couch which she slept on, a table, and four chairs. It was sparse, and adjusting to the city on her own was a lonely process, but she was still very happy because for the first time in a long time.. she felt safe.

November

Gabriella heard giggling out in the hall and then through a portion of the wall that she shared with the neighbors to the left. Britney and Jason. They were a friendly young white couple in love. Always laughing, always having a good time.

Gabriella listened with her ear against the weak point of the wall as she usually did, pretending she was a Britney with her own Jason. It was almost as good as Tubi.

Every now and then, Gabriella would see her any one of the neighbors in the hall either coming or going. Some were nice, but mostly everyone minded their own business and preferred for her to do the same.

The handsome neighbor to the right was quiet as a mouse. He wasn't at all friendly in the scale of city folk. He didn't talk or make eye contact, yet Gabriella found herself fantasizing about him at home and at work. In her mind, he was her Jason, but he was also like Batman, shrouded in secrecy. She wondered where he went at night when she'd watch him through her peephole.. and the type of person he was.

"Gabriella, get in here. What did you do to my schedule?"

"I organized it.. Is that wrong?"

"You don't do anything that I don't tell you to do. Did I tell you to change the format?"

"Well, no Mr. Macklebee sir.."

"Then why.. Gabriella. Why?"

Nothing she did was right. There was no pleasing this man. Still, she wouldn't quit until someone else hired her.

She left work to get groceries for the week, sticking to a strict budget. All her money went to the rent and her car, she couldn't splurge like she would've back home. Marcus was an excellent provider, but his love came with bruises and hospital visits.

"Hey pretty," a man stepped up beside her cart. He was tall and black and fairly good-looking. He looked sturdy and somehow responsible. Could've been the work boots. "You.. You don't want the big milk? Get the big milk," he gestured to the fridge. "And you've got.. what is this," he stared into her basket. It was the most involved anyone had been with her since she moved to DC. "Oh no, sweetheart. You don't want this.. Come on, come on. Get the name brand. What is Fruity O's? Really? Come on.. Get the Fruit Loops." He exchanged the milk in her cart for a big carton and started filling her cart with random food.

"I can't afford all this right now," she admitted sorely, watching him in confusion.

"Nah nah, let's rid of all this here.. I can't let a pretty female like you leave with what you had in this cart. I'll pay this time around and you can pay me back another way, on your time."

They got to talking and he seemed so nice talking about a furniture company he owned. His name was Johnathan.

"It's not a big company... yet.. it will be."

"Do you have room for any more employees?"

"Who did you have in mind? I hope they have a strong back."

"I'm very strong."

"Noooo.. I thought you meant a brother or boyfriend."

"Oh no, I don't have either.. it's for me, I can do the work," Gabriella promised. "I'm not from here. People haven't been all that nice."

She just needed the money and to escape her current job. He was hesitant, but he threw her a bone.

"In good conscience, I can't let you move furniture in the warehouse but I can have you handle the shipping and managing."

So things were looking up. She quit her job with Mr. Macklebee. She showed up to figure out how a day would look like at work for Johnathan. She had a decent salary, and he'd paid for her groceries.

She was so appreciative that she offered to make him dinner.

"I don't have a lot of furniture," she warned as she led the way up the stairwell. "I don't get a lot of company. You're the first person I've had over."

He came with flowers that she put aside because she had no vase. The food was nearly done. He put his arms around her waist and though he was a nice guy and smelt way better than he did on most days, she wasn't ready to dive into another situation so soon after her Marcus.

"Look Johnathan... I appreciate you helping me through such a rough time in my life, me being new and not knowing much.. but I think we've gotten something mixed up. See, I'm not looking for anything romantic.."

"That's fine." He started kissing on her neck. "Ain't gotta be nothing outside of what we make it." He was trying to get under her blouse. She pushed his hands away, and he put them back, still attempting.

Gabriella got flashbacks of Marcus. He would do similar only they were married so it was deemed as his right.. according to her small town. She continued to push his hands away, trying to move from around the stove, but Johnathan was strong.

"Stop resisting me, this is why you invited me, right? To thank me?"

"Johnathan? I don't want anything sexual either."

She pushed him off of her and that's when the scrapping began. He called her ungrateful and though she was no match in physical strength, fought back as best as she could, screaming while he hit her as if she were a man. She was over the counter facing the wall and struggling against him when he released her suddenly. There was a scuffle behind her. Her next door neighbor was full-on fighting Johnathan and she winced as he slung the hot frying pan of butter chicken clocking Johnathan square in the back of the head.

Gabriella watched her neighbor that had never so much as made eye contact.. trap Johnathan in a firm headlock with no effort.

"I'll kill you if I see your face again. Ain't no reason I should know your name."

They were both big men, but Johnathan was easily subdued to his own embarrassment. He knew he had an awful headache as well.

He pushed Johnathan out the door and Johnathan left abruptly after dusting himself off.

"Tired of hearing y'all, I'm tryna sleep," the neighbor muttered on his way out as Gabriella watched with admiration for her personal Batman. She was still in shock from the close call, but she managed a loud thank you as he slammed the door of his own apartment.

Johnathan called the next day to apologize for his behavior. He still wanted her to work for him, but Gabriella didn't trust it. She told him no and to lose her number. Then when she left her apartment again, her neighbor was there.. passing by.

"Don't let him back in here," he warned, turning away to take the stairs.

From that point when Gabriella happened to spot her male neighbor in the halls, he'd give her a subtle nod of acknowledgement. DC was cold and distant, but now it was a little warmer.

Gabriella placed applications, made calls, and waited for someone to accept. It took a week, but she got a call back from a different office who would take her as a secretary. This place seemed way less angry.

Black's hopes for silence had been granted. His new neighbor was quiet outside of the random greetings in the hall. He ignored her, but he wasn't rude. He was the silent type, watching and assessing until he could decide if a person was worth speaking to. Not just anyone could infiltrate his world.

The noise through the wall was unusual and triggered bad memories. Last he checked, she lived alone. He knocked on the weak spot in his wall, talking through it to see if his neighbor was okay, but as he listened, he could hear what was happening. Her door was unlocked. He acted and didn't think, only coming back to himself after he swung that frying pan. He didn't need to go back to jail.

A couple of weeks later, he opened his door to find a cheesecake on the ground with a note. "Hope you aren't allergic."

He wasn't a fan of sweets, but he took it, looking thoughtfully at her door. She seemed like a good enough person. She just had really bad judgment.. something he couldn't hold against her. He decided to write her a small note and leave it at her door. "Thanks for the cake. -Black"

December

The job was going well, and though it wasn't much money, she wasn't being berated. She was being respected for once and she no longer went home to cry.

Since she was in a better mood, she decided to make her fine neighbor a cheesecake and set it in front of his door as a real thank you for showing her that the spirit of kindness did in fact exist in the city. She hoped he wasn't lactose intolerant and that he did like cheesecake. She continued to daydream about him, and suddenly, she had a name to pair with the face.

"Black," she sighed as she typed for her new boss. Here, things were opposite. She did everything right and was hailed a super hard worker.

Now when she passed by Black, he would bless her with that pretty smile and even tell her "Good afternoon." She was completely taken by him, leaving him food every so often just so she could get another handwritten note.

Then the morning came when Gabriella heard unusual bumping from his side of the wall. It started to make her nervous. No one was yelling or arguing, but it felt to her like a serious scuffle. She gathered every ounce of bravery and her frying pan to head over, letting herself in to see Black gagged and his arms tied. He was still holding his own rushing and kicking his assailant. He refused to go down without a fight so Gabriella didn't think.

She gathered the details of the scene within a split second and double-teamed the assailant with her frying pan upside his head. Black grunted desperately, and Gabriella followed his eyes to a gun that was on the floor. The men had been scrambling to get to it. That was what she heard. Gabriella rushed to pick it up to beat the masked man, and when he tried to fight her for it, it went off. She got scared and touched the trigger, shooting him in a vital organ. He collapsed within her arms reach as she watched, her adrenaline high. Black's grunting pulled her out of her trance. She dropped the gun and ran to him to free his mouth of the gag and his arms of the binding. They were intentional knots that took time and skill. She was visually confused.

He held his hand over her mouth and pushed her out of the apartment.

Gabriella asked no further questions. She locked herself into her apartment, and surely enough, within hours, police were there looking for Black and knocking on doors. Gabriella was able to say she didn't know anything. She didn't see anything. She didn't hear anything. Unfortunately, she didn't see Black again. He never came back.

Black got arrested about five miles away from his apartment. The entire thing was a setup that he didn't realize until it was too late. He thought he was having a one night stand with a guy he met when he was dealing in the club. They'd had a good night, and he'd felt okay enough to let the man tie his arms, just not his legs AND arms at the same time.

He didn't expect the cops to go that far just to catch him again, but they did, and he was sitting in jail again, but this time for possession, distribution, and murder.

He wasn't sure he cared to be what was considered a decent and hard-working man anymore. All jail did was harden him and teach him how to get better at crime and manipulation. What else was he supposed to do? He didn't have a degree or the patience for one or an interest in school. Selling drugs was fast money.

It was during the Christmas season when Gabriella saw the news. The story seemed familiar, and she read it through following it to the end. She was able to look him up in the system and see that Black was indeed in custody. She also the charges. Drugs.. it didn't surprise her. In fact, it made perfect sense. Murder..

He was serving for a crime he hadn't committed. But did she have the guts to tell the police that it was her.. if it would lighten his sentence? She couldn't say that she did. She wouldn't last in jail.

But what about him? Did he deserve to serve extra time just because he was serving some? It wasn't fair to him.

She gathered her bravery once more and visited the jail to start the process of seeing him. When she was finally taken in for visitation, the look on his face was surprise. He didn't expect anyone to visit him, least of all her. She wasn't used to seeing him showing any sort of emotion, but here he was.

Did he secretly hope she'd come clean? She wanted to ask him because from the bottom of her heart, she knew he was one of the only pure and kind men on the face of the earth.

"No," he whispered as if reading her mind. He shook his head. He was silent for a while before cracking a joke. "Guess we both have bad taste in men.."

Gabriella chuckled and nodded in silent communication. She was thanking him yet again. She shook his head.

"Merry Christmas... go.. get outta here," he smiled kindly with not an ounce of malice in his heart. He meant it.

It was a short visit. He left almost immediately after he composed himself going back to his seemingly emotionless state. Gabriella knew the truth behind that solemn look at it tore her up inside. He had to act tough.

When she returned home, she sat, and words began to flow from her mind nonstop. She wrote through day and night, only breaking to eat, pee, shower, and work.

She didn't know until the landlord told her that Black, who he knew as Chiron had made payments on his apartment through the next year and requested that she stay in it in his stead. She moved to his fully furnished and fully stocked unit, grateful but also sad about how it came about. He was truly a gem.

With so much inspiration and so much to get out, Gabriella kept writing. She wrote about everything from her life with her abusive husband to her move and all the things she experienced. A lot of what she wrote was about Black.. and his innocence on more than one level. She changed the names in her story and submitted it to a publisher, and to her surprise, her books sold like hot cakes. She put it on his books and in a fund that would be waiting on him whenever he got out and she she was keeping track.

Every other week, she visited Black, and each time, he came to meet her with a small smile.

He couldn't be her man because he was gayer than Winnie the Pooh, but she'd finally made a true friend.. and on top of that..

She was a best-selling author under her alias. She had everything she could want.

@dashhoney25 @lettidarawest @soufcakmistress @ljstraightnochaser @princessstevens @eye-raq @thiccdaddy-mbaku @destinio1 @iamrheaspeaks @hidden-treasures21 @bidibidibombaclaat @forbeautyandlife @blowmymbackout @misspooh @thotyana-in-this-hoe @purplehairgawdess @thegucciwaffle @goddessofthundathighs @nobodybaby93 @theegoldenchild @thadelightfulone @sultanabby @mysticalblackhottie @baekhyunbabybunni @fd-writes @richonne4life @tgigoldie @thehomierobbstark @capswife @blackpinup22 @harleycativy @lishabaybee @playgurlxoxo

#original #moonlight fanfiction #moonlight chiron #moonlight #chiron fanfic #chi'ron #black fanfiction #black fanfic writer

[xspeter]

LOML

luke castellan x fem!reader

angst, angst, angst. mini blurb to help me get my flow back :) based off of LOML by Taylor Swift.

Percy Jackson isn’t sure what’s worse. Luke’s betrayal, or the look on your face when you find out. He’s sure he’ll get nightmares about it.

You’d had a wide smile on your face, the woven flower crown in your hair hinting that you’d just been out at the flower fields with your siblings.

You’d been called to help patch up Percy after what you had been told was a fight, but the somber energy in the room immediately told you something was off. It was too suspicious to have Chiron, Mr. D, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover all in the room for what was supposed to simply be slapping on a band-aid.

The smile on your face fell, and was instead replaced with a subtle frown. Your eyebrows furrowed, and you crossed your arms over your chest uncomfortably. “Is something wrong?” You asked, eyeing everyone in the room.

Percy swallowed and hesitantly glanced to Annabeth, who already had the remnants of tears in her eyes. And if the glossiness told him anything, it was that she was about to burst out crying again. Not that he could blame her.

He watched your frown grow as recognition flashed across your face. You and Luke always had been so in tune to each others emotions, he’s honestly surprised you didn’t notice the lack of his presence earlier.

“Y/N-” Chiron started, but you interrupted him. “Where’s Luke?”

Silence.

Percy didn’t believe in soulmates. It’s weird, because after finding out about greek gods and mythological beings being real, you’d think soulmates wouldn’t be that far off the table. But, they were.

But you and Luke had something Percy could tell was special. It wasn’t just a relationship - it was like a sacred bond bestowed upon the two of you by the gods themselves. Wherever Luke was, you’d be sure to follow, and vice versa. Fuck, you’d practically finish each other’s sentences as corny as that sounded.

That’s why he was so confused Luke would throw it all away so easily.

“Y/N…” Mr. D started, and Percy was sure it was the most emotion he’d ever even seen from him. You immediately began shaking your head, hands trembling as you stared at the ground. “Where is he?” You questioned again.

More silence followed, and Percy knew no one wanted to answer you, and he could understand why. Still, he took a breath and forced himself to look up at you. “He’s gone.”

It was like the five stages of grief flashed in your eyes simultaneously - merging together but still so distinguishable.

“No, he’s not.” You whimpered, “He’s in his cabin. I just saw him barely an hour ago-”

“He tried to kill Percy,” Annabeth finally breathed out. “He wants to overthrow the gods.”

You shook your head, a disbelieving laugh leaving your lips as you ran a trembling hand through your hair, moving up the white flower crown until it was lopsided on your head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” You said through gritted teeth, “Luke wouldn’t do that. I know him. I know him. He wouldn’t. It must’ve been- been a shapeshifter or something. I mean, with all the other monsters out there there has to be a shapeshifter right? Yeah. That’s all it was. It wasn’t Luke.”

Percy squeezed the table in front of him until his knuckles were white, doing his best to choke down his tears. It was a tempting idea, one that he’d have no problem believing if it hadn’t been for the look in Luke’s eyes. No monster could recreate that kind of rage.

“It was him,” Percy spoke up, “I know it was.”

“You don’t know anything!” You yelled, eyes wild and skin paling, “You don’t know Luke like I do! He wouldn’t do this! Sure, he gets mad at the gods sometimes, but don’t we all? It doesn’t mean we’re gonna up and start a whole rebellion!”

Grover attempted to reach out to you, tears forming in his dark eyes, “I know it’s hard-” He attempted, but you practically jumped away from him. “Don’t touch me.” You growled lowly, pointing an accusing finger in his face. Grover didn’t argue.

Everyone in the room stared at you in pity, and it made you sick. You’d show them. Luke was in his cabin right now, probably trying to sleep or playing with one of the younger campers. Because that’s what Luke does - that’s the Luke you know.

You were the love of his life. He’d told you just two days ago during a secret picnic on the beach way past your curfew. You’d choked up, but told him the same through your tears. Luke had kissed you so hard you swore you were seeing stars, and you remember thinking this kiss had felt different than all the others. Almost desperate, like he was trying to grasp onto something he knew he was losing.

No.

Luke was in his cabin.

You’d left the Big House without even a grunt, practically sprinting across camp to the Hermes cabin. You didn’t care about the weird looks the stragglers were giving you, didn’t care about the soft ache in your legs. You needed to see Luke. Needed to feel him. Needed to intertwine your souls again.

You were panting by the time you reached it, throwing the doors open and looking around wildly. “Luke?” You called, voice breaking a bit as you did.

“Y/N?” someone said, you didn’t know their name. Or maybe you did. You honestly couldn’t remember right now, the only thing running through your mind was Luke.

“Have you seen Luke?” You asked.

The camper shook her head, blonder hair falling in front of her face as she did. “Hey, are you okay-”

You were gone before she could even finish her sentence. You spent hours searching for him, like he was a pair of house keys you’d lost and desperately needed in order to go home.

The moon was high into the sky by the time you stop, your vision blurry with tears and muscles burning. You’d even prayed to your father at some point - which was something you rarely ever did.

You fall to your knees in the grass, hand clutching at the golden bracelet on your wrist. Like had given it to you two nights ago on the beach, embroided in it were the letters “LOML.”

He’dtold you it was because you were the love of his life, but right now in this moment, with your chest puffing and knees weak, you think it may stand for something else.

Because while you may be the love of Luke Castellan’s life, he was the loss of yours.

#luke castellan #luke castellan x you #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan fanfic #fanfic #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #annabeth chase #grover underwood #chiron #mr. d #percy jackson and the olympians x reader #angst #percy jackson fanfic #x reader #charlie bushnell #charlie bushnell x reader #loml #loml taylor swift

[veryrockyraccoon]

PJO DC crossover where Chiron joins the justice league

The league thinks he runs a camp for meta-kids to protect them and he lets them

#batman #batfamily #dc comics #dc universe #dcu #batfam #damian wayne #robins #dick grayson #duke thomas #jason todd #tim drake #pjo fandom #percy jackson #fanfic prompt #pjo series #percy jackon and the olympians #percy pjo #chiron

[secretfandomrambles]

Not sure if this would be amusing or horrifying. But I’m imagining a Trials of Apollo AU where Apollo is sent down to Earth in the same physical form that he was in when he fought Python the first time. Which in my mind, for whatever the reason, makes him appear about 7-8 years old.

Most things end up happening the same but no one takes Apollo seriously because he looks like a second-grader. (However, Apollo doesn’t get beat up by Cade and Mikey, and Diana spends a few minutes cuddling Apollo because that’s HER baby brother and she misses him.) Plus, Cabin Seven has more than one moment where they are holding back hysterics and the urge to wrap their Father up in bubble wrap because Apollo is a tiny fragile mortal who supremely overestimates what he’s capable of doing in child-form (and don’t get him started on talking about their mortal parents, this situation is already too weird). Chiron is also despairing because he already dealt with young Apollo being weirdly paternal once before, and now he has to deal with it again (Dionysus is outwardly laughing but inwardly panicking because he’s seen far too many children die and he knows what Zeus is like when it comes to letting other gods try to help someone he’s decided to punish)

Meg is suffering from cognitive disonnance because she was half-joking when she claimed Apollo’s service and is now stuck with a child-like ex-god who has a bunch of children of his own.

Bonus: Zeus is questioning his life-choices because child!Apollo keeps getting himself almost adopted by random strangers for some reason (and a part of him is furious and intending to strike them all down because Apollo is HIS son, not THEIRS) and this was not the punishment the king of the gods intended for him (and all the other gods are quietly side-eyeing him nervously). Leto is furious because that’s her baby and she wants him safe and not to go fighting that evil snake again (at least he isn’t a four-day old baby this time) but Zeus refuses to listen to her.

#apollo pjo #fanfiction #someone stop me already #zeus pjo #camp halfblood #pjo #trials of apollo #lester papadopoulos #chiron #Leto #The Olympians are a dysfunctional family and they all need therapy #artemis #fanfics

[ch4singchase]

The Ballad of Moths | LUKE CASTELLAN

Summary: Eurydice Gaumont receives gifts from her father and one of these proves invaluable as her journey intersects with fellow demigods.

Word count: 4.9K

Warnings: Mentions of blood and Injury, violence, grief, ophidiophobia (since the monster in this chapter is a giant snake), mentions of death, mild language

chapter one, chapter two | series masterlist

chapter 02: I Defend A Bunch Of Kids From A Giant Snake

The rhythmic tap of rain against my bus window played a lullaby, coaxing me into a swift slumber.

Abruptly, I was no longer confined to the bus; the rain had transformed into the hushed serenity of a forest. This was no typical ominous woods of a horror story; its allure lay in a distinct kind of beauty.

Drawing near a tree, my fingers traced the rough texture of its trunk, relishing the tactile sensation. The leaves gracefully danced, swaying in a tranquil wind, as if encouraging a shared nap. Smiling up at them, I entertained the whimsical idea that the tree and its surroundings comprehended my thoughts.

A soft flap of wings echoed behind me, and there it was—the moth that helped me understand where I should go earlier.

This was the same moth, its wings a rich black with subtle brown accents, patiently awaiting my presence in a circular dance.

"Hello, buddy," I greeted cautiously, extending my hand to see its reaction, "How's it going?"

Predictably, the moth remained silent. It alighted on my fingertip and then took flight, leading me along a specific path among the trees, unveiling a concealed trail through the forest. Glancing at the shadows that enveloped the moth's chosen route, a fleeting doubt crossed my mind—was it truly wise to follow?

Without dwelling on the question, I pursued the enigmatic guide, allowing instinct to override rational contemplation.

As I ventured deeper into the forest, the canopy above formed a protective shield against the sporadic drizzle that started. The moth continued its dance ahead, weaving through the foliage with an innate knowledge of the path, as if the trees themselves whispered directions to their winged companion.

Moss-covered rocks and the scent of damp earth under foot marked my journey. The woods seemed to respond to my presence, embracing me in a mysterious symphony of rustling leaves and distant calls of unseen creatures. Nature itself had become my guide, and the moth, my silent escort through this living tapestry.

The path curved, revealing a hidden glade bathed in ethereal moonlight. In the center stood a peculiar tree, its silver bark shimmering in the celestial glow. The moth settled on a branch, and as if on cue, the air became charged with an otherworldly energy.

I looked around, confused. The wind gently brazed my cheeks, guiding some leaves with it and revealing what was hiding in the glade until now.

Moths. A bunch of moths. All joining the one guiding me into a beautiful dance.

Perhaps, when I was younger, I would be frightened, but instead, I was just stunned by it. They were gracious and in an infinity of colors, painting the air like a vivid rainbow in the middle of the night. Even some fireflies had heard their excitement and joined the party, lightning the night in a blink of an eye.

“She’s here, she’s here, she’s finally going home!” They all seemed to whisper, even if I couldn’t understand what they meant by it.

Where was here? Were they following me? Were they the ones who sent the moth to help me?

There were too many questions and no answers.

“No, no,” they all repeated to what sounded like a response, “Our friend did.”

“Yeah yeah,” others agreed, circling around me as they did so, “Your father.”

For the first time since I had seen the moth from before, I ventured to speak up.

“My father?” It was just me repeating what they had just said but, still, it had taken me some type of courage to say so, “He’s dead, how is that possible?”

“Dead?” most of them laughed, as if I had told them a joke, “That’s not possible; he is a god.”

What?

“You heard us,” it seemed like I hadn’t only questioned it in my head, “You’re the daughter of a god.”

I stood frozen for a couple of seconds. A god…?

I recalled what the Cyclops had called me, a Half-Blood. Cyclopes, chimeras, half-blood, all of them were characters that my mother had once told me were tales. Stories in Ancient Greece, myths. Nothing more but stories.

But stories don’t simply come to life. They have to have always been there.

If they were talking about gods, they could only be the Greek ones, right? The Olympian ones and so on.

“How...” I tried to ask... Anything, honestly. But I didn’t even know where I could start; in the end, I was talking to moths, what was crazier than that?

“We can’t tell you everything,” some of the moths mumbled.

“Yeah yeah, he had told us just to help you find your way but we couldn’t stop ourselves,” others complained.

“Once we heard you were still alive, we were so excited,” the moths giggled, holding back screams of joy.

“Yeah, even if one of us ended up saying something about the titan, we wanted to risk a chance,” one in a million of their siblings said, and if almost every one of them were speaking at the same time, I heard it.

Every single one, but one brought my curiosity, “Titan?”

It was all I needed to ask before they went into a deep silence.

The moths hushed as my question lingered in the night air. Their whispering dance seemed to still, and the anticipation was palpable. Then, one moth separated itself from the swirling mass and approached me.

It wasn’t the same one I was already familiar with compared to the others, but its wings fluttered with a measured elegance.

“We should not say anything about it,” the moth said, “It’s just a rumor, a cruel one”

“But the prophecy?” one of the others questioned, daring the one that was speaking for them, “The prophecy says…”

Most of them hushed the little one, giving voice to the same one of before, “As I said, it’s just a rumor. Some things are better left unknown, life must unfold naturally..”

“You said about a prophecy,” I tried to reason with it, approaching the moth, “What prophecy?”

The moth shook its little head, “You must go now, Eurydice Gaumont”

“No” I persisted, stomping my feet into the ground.

But it didn’t matter what I wanted, slowly the scenario around me started to go blurry and slowly the sound of rain tapping returned.

I protested, but the scene blurred, and before waking, I heard the words, "In shadows deep, a reaper's kid must tread..."

Then, I was back on the bus again. Alone.

I looked around, trying to look for something. But despite the sleepy sleepers who snored near me, there was nothing new after the dream. It was still dark, the first sign of sun daring to peek out of their hidden spot.

Sighing, I looked at the sky, searching for an answer. At that point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer came in the form of a god of the sun trying to mime what I should do next. Or sing—I didn’t know much about Greek gods at that time, but I was almost sure that the god of the sun in the stories also sang.

What was that I had heard? A reaper’s kid, right?

Now, what did that mean?

Sighing once more at the dawn of that day, every time it looked like things were making sense, my life would get twisted.

A sound of wings caught my attention when I looked at the empty seat by my side. The moth from the convenience store and my dream was my company once more. If it had a face, it would look like regret or shame.

It flapped its wings, as if to call my attention again.

“I’m seeing you, stupid,” It flapped its wings one more time, perhaps it didn’t like being called stupid, “You didn’t talk like your siblings at that forest right, I don’t remember hearing you”

And I truly didn't. For some reason, I could recognize each moth that had talked in that clearing, but none of them was the one that had been with me since Springfield.

This time, the moth flapped its wings twice.

"Alright," I scoffed, contemplating the sanity of conversing with a moth. "Enough beating around the bush; what do you want to tell me?"

Rather than flapping, the moth took flight, turning beneath my seat. I didn’t know how to curse, but what I thought was similar to a ‘what the fuck?’

Leaning forward, I peered beneath my seat, expecting to find the bags from the convenience store—snacks, sweets, water, a flashlight, and some change. Yet, unlike what I remembered, there was also a backpack.

Which, by chance, was not mine.

It reminded me of the backpacks I had seen at the store or some of the other people on that bus wearing, but I didn't have enough money to buy even a fanny pack.

Puzzled, I picked up the backpack and examined it. It seemed lost, probably belonging to another passenger. To my surprise, my name was on a sticker affixed to it.

Was it truly mine?

I opened the backpack, looking for what could be inside.

If my expectations were set on receiving a cellphone, all-star shoes, additional snacks, clothing, or perhaps a map, I would find myself in a perpetual state of hope until the arrival of the non-existent date of February 31st. Alas, none of those anticipated items were to be found.

What I found was, in fact, a leather wristband with a snap button closure, adorned with small stones. Accompanying it were a couple of coins, featuring a peculiar carving that deviated from any standard penny. Doubtingly, I reached in, confirming the wristband, coins… Plus a map.

At least that.

Exhaling deeply, I hoped my godly father, wherever he was, could hear me. Was this his gift? A questionable assistance from a man presumed dead.

Truthfully, I anticipated something more beneficial for survival, perhaps a letter explaining his whereabouts and the ongoing events. It was the least he could offer after all these years.

My mother had portrayed him as a soldier with a calm heart, unwilling to return to duty but aware of their need for a reminder of peace. How every end no matter how it began, would meet peace. She would always remind me that he would be the one to go down in a nonviolent way, with his hand laying on his chest, above his heart.

Would. She never said he was. Because he was a god, a greek god.

Knowing I was aware of his divine status, he chose to bestow upon me strange money, a wristband, and a map. Well, the map, at least, seemed somewhat helpful.

I stowed away the bags containing my purchases from Springfield into the backpack, arranging the snacks and supplies meticulously to avoid any mishaps during my travels—whether it involved catching the next bus or evading a new monster.

The coins and map found their place inside the backpack as well. However, before I could tuck away the wristband, curiosity got the better of me. It was a finely crafted leather piece, elegant and delicate.

Examining it closely, I wondered if my father had crafted it himself. The mere thought tightened my heartstrings.

Looking at the inside of the wristband, I frowned when I found something carved into the leather. Something was written into another language.

I turned the wristband and looked at it closely, words were always hard to me so if I wanted to understand what it meant, I would have to take my time.  If I intended to understand its meaning, patience would be crucial. Or so I thought.

As the letters began to weave into each other, a surprising clarity emerged. Instead of becoming a confusing jumble, they started to make sense.

Tenebris.

While it wasn't an exact match to what was written, it was undeniably the meaning it conveyed.

Latin, perhaps?

Gazing at the wristband once more, I opted not to return it to the backpack. Instead, I made the choice to wear it.

Perhaps my father had indeed crafted it. Wearing it became my silent expression of appreciation, a subtle invitation for him to emerge from his hidden shell.

Ultimately, it proved to be a beautiful wristband.

When I looked out the window again, the sun was already rising. We seemed to have arrived in New Haven, recognizable to me from a previous visit. It appeared we were near State St, very close to Yale.

There was a time when I thought I might study there, a distant dream from my younger self. Back then, despite never attending a real school, I held onto the possibility.

Revisiting the city at fourteen, a few years later, doubt crept in.

Knowing what I now knew, it wasn't hard to recognize that the odds were always against me. I never had the chance, not before, and certainly not now.

As soon as the bus stopped and the other passengers started to get off, I did the same. I picked up my backpack and put it on, following the others to the street, deciding to be the last one to get down.

For a moment, I waited a bit before finally getting off, looking inside the bus and waiting for the moth from earlier to appear and follow it. But, it didn't happen.

So, I went my way. If I remembered correctly, there shouldn't be another bus stop so far away, I could eat something on the way while I looked and hope my change would be enough for the next ticket. Or, hope they would accept my dad's weird coins.

As I strolled down the street, I seized the opportunity to approach strangers, concocting a flimsy tale about a new school on Long Island and my ailing parents unable to assist with transportation. However, as they began to provide directions, a sinking feeling crept in.

Clearly, I lacked the funds for the entire journey.

Faced with limited options, I considered potential avenues. One option involved seeking employment on the streets, donning a somber expression and appealing to tourists for financial assistance. Ironically, the more morally questionable choice proved to be the swifter means of acquiring funds.

Anyway, I tried to risk it, at least make it to the bus stop that supposedly was the cheapest one to my journey. Maybe, the driver could take some pity on me and take me to Pennsylvania. If not, I would have start to figure how to gain money for the whole trip, I wouldn’t dare to walk all the way to that fucking camp.

I walked, walked, walked and walked down State St. As I traversed the street, covering only a fraction of the distance, I encountered a Thai Restaurant. The sight of it made my stomach protest loudly; I hadn't eaten in a while, and the prolonged walking intensified my hunger.

However, there was no way I would eat in the middle of the street, under the scrutinizing gaze of strangers. That was out of the question.

Despite mustering all the courage, I hesitated to knock on the closed restaurant's door. Even if a waiter were to appear, what excuse could I possibly give for not wanting to dine outside?

So, I found an alternative. In less than a minute, I seated myself in an alley, extracting a snack from my backpack and indulging in it.

In fact, that was within question.

Ignoring the curious glances of passersby, I continued my impromptu meal. Candies followed, accompanied by sips of water. This brief moment of rest was crucial before resuming my walk under the scorching sun.

I just needed two minutes, or maybe ten… Honestly, a whole thirty minutes were enough for me to restore my energy.

As I rested, I took another look at the wristband I was wearing. The more attention I paid to it, the more I noticed a strange energy emanating from it. It was difficult to explain and even less tangible—an unknown aura surrounding something hidden inside the leather, beyond the engraved letters.

When I opened my mouth to express the feeling, the only thing that came to mind was the night of a day or two ago.

My mother was held in the air by the monster's hand, the only one watching her intensely and impatiently, while all she did instead of fighting was ask me to run. And run was what I did.

Until I heard her scream—a stunning, heart-wrenching scream that froze my feet in place, forcing me to witness her body flying to my side, blood overflowing from her mouth. Her torso seemed broken or twisted enough to inflict severe internal injuries.

Still, she had the strength to ask me to keep running. How could I? How could I run and leave her behind?

I couldn't do that. Instead, I stood beside her, ignoring the disturbing footsteps of the Cyclops approaching.

I held my mother's hands, hoping to somehow absorb her strength. Perhaps I did, for even though I didn't follow her request, it seemed to matter little to her. As if, in the end, she felt no pain.

Tears and sobs dampened my face, but I could swear she thanked me. Ridiculous, considering I should be thanking her for being an incredible mother, sacrificing everything for my safety. If only I had known sooner...

After that, everything was a blur, difficult to understand. Holding her hands, a strange sensation tingled down my spine, adrenaline coursing through my entire body. When I saw my mother attempting to say something but succumbing to exhaustion...

The Cyclops was already beside me, reaching to grab me.

Anything between that moment and the hospital was a haze. Fragments of memories. I recalled his hands trying to lift me off the ground, my palms facing his monstrously large fingers. Almost facing a 5-meter drop but feeling no pain.

When the ambulance arrived and I reached the hospital, attempting to explain what I had understood about the situation at the time, they were most surprised that I hadn't broken my legs or at least sprained an ankle. But I think my exhaustion and grief were enough for them to believe me.

I tightened my lips, holding back tears at the memory. What did my mother's death have to do with my father's gift?

Tenebris—was that really the only clue I had?

Gradually, a shift occurred in the air, and it didn't escape my notice.

Within moments, an unsettling realization dawned – something was amiss. The streets teemed with people running in the opposite direction of my intended path once I felt ready to resume my journey. Fear and confusion etched on their faces left me puzzled about the impending threat.

Swiftly, I rose, stowing away my belongings in my backpack and hoisting it onto my back. Approaching adults warned me of an out-of-control truck menacing pedestrians, urging me to find safety. Some chose the rational path, sprinting toward the police station for genuine assistance.

However, skepticism gnawed at me. It didn't ring true. Something felt off.

My eyes caught sight of the unfolding drama a few streets away, just beyond the dog park on the opposite side of my position.

Initially, I perceived three kids, one notably smaller than the others, sprinting from an unseen threat. The girl in black wielded a makeshift spear, while her companion brandished a golf club. How could such feeble weapons aid their escape from an out-of-control truck? Why weren't they going to a store or going to the sidewalk?

Then, I understood.

At first glance, the runaway vehicle resembled a refrigerated truck, careening down the road with a desperate screech. The driver, concealed behind black-tinted windows, eluded my view from this distance.

However, as I advanced, sidestepping the frantic adults, reality emerged.

It was no truck, but a snake. A giant fucking snake. There was no other way to describe it.

All the sense I was lacking suddenly decided to take control of my actions. My brain, which had previously been unable to muster the courage to stand at the door of a closed restaurant, had now regained enough courage to force my feet to run after that atrocity.

For no logical or plausible reason, from one moment to the next, my rationality  was replaced by stupidity.

The monstrous serpent pursued the kids, including the one almost the same age I was when I met Viola. It seemed absurd to consider intervening, given the potential to continue on my way or capitalize on the disturbance to pilfer from unsuspecting pockets. Yet, I couldn't turn away.

Just as I couldn't flee when my mother's cries pierced the air or when she tried to wrench me from Viola's grasp as the Chimera's stinger pierced her chest in the past.

Perhaps it was stubbornness, authentic courage, or sheer impertinence.

It remained unclear where my resolve originated as the idea of confronting a giant snake pursuing a group of children took hold.

The snake, swift and destructive, both hindered the children and itself. Exploiting that and my familiarity with the streets and their shortcuts, I discerned an opportunity to intervene.

I ran like I had rarely ran before, until the tips of the toes hurt. My sneakers had already gone belly-up to that moment, after all the running I have being doing in the past months.

I walked around the streets, without for a second taking my eyes off the scales of that thing. Entering some alleys and following the murmurs and exclamations of the children as they tried to formulate a plan, even though they were at a disadvantage.

Swallowing hard, I took advantage of the shelter outside some buildings to avoid the fragments of asphalt, cement, poles and benches flying everywhere. Gradually but quickly managing to reach that monster.

But that didn't mean I didn’t continue to run, attempting to maintain a good and safe distance between the giant snake and the peculiar trio.

"Hey, girl!" the older girl from the trio shouted, attempting to grab my attention. "Get out of here, it's not safe!"

She wore dark clothes that complemented her short, black hair and extremely light blue eyes. In addition to the makeup on her face, which was almost gone, having been worn away by time for a long time.

It didn't take long to notice her limp, a testament to an injured foot sustained during the chase – or even before.

I just smiled, hiding behind some trash cans and away from the giant snake's senses, hoping it would continue to pay all its attention to that bunch of kids. Which, to be honest, weren't much younger than me, except for the little girl.

"No, you guys go," I shouted back, "Head into the park and blend in with the crowd there. It'll be hard for them to believe that a truck would actually enter a park."

At least, that's what I thought at the time. Nowadays, I know that mundanes would still believe in the idea of an out-of-control truck wreaking havoc, even within a park.

They didn't follow my advice; instead, they halted their escape.

“Aegis,” the girl from before exclaimed, and her bracelet transformed into an incredible shield. She shielded her friends, positioning the protective barrier in front of them, waiting to see my next move. The boy behind her appeared both confused and scared, alternating his gaze between me and his friend as if awaiting an order.

At this point, I was hoping for one too. I had no idea what to do, and I didn't even have a weapon.

However, the giant snake paid no heed. I could distinctly hear its slithering and the destruction of cars in its path. I refused to let fear or my earlier stupidity show on my face.

Instead, I glanced at my wrist, the leather band my father had given me. For a moment, I wished it were a weapon, similar to the girl's shield bracelet.

Despite having the slightest idea of how to handle a weapon, I hoped for anything that could help me assist those three.

Timing couldn't have been worse for it to resurface, but as I looked at a trash can in front of me, the usual moth landed patiently, as if awaiting something.

Perhaps it shared the girl's curiosity about what I would do.

Then, I remembered—the sound of rain yesterday morning, at the funeral, and even at night on the bus, a hostage to "what ifs" that could have transpired instead of my current reality. I remembered the blood, dark red staining my hands and clothes, and how cold it felt against my skin. I didn't care, holding my mother's hands with all my might.

Just like I tried to hold Viola that day, attempting unsuccessfully to move her body away from the Chimera's sting.

The giant snake drew closer, its slithering growing clearer by the second.

Glancing at my wristband again, the carved words caught my eye.

Out of the corner, I saw the snake's scales and its wild eyes. Emerging from my hiding place, a word escaped my mouth like a battle cry before I fully comprehended my own line of reasoning.

"Tenebris!"

A blinding light filled the air, halting the giant snake and diverting its attention towards me. I closed my eyes, feeling the wristband transform within seconds.

Suddenly, something weighed down in my hand, like the sheath of a sword. Its dark sheath matched my wristband's leather, and its slightly curved blade, made of an uncanny bronze material, felt strangely familiar. Bronze. The sword's blade was made of bronze.

As quickly as the light appeared, it dissipated, replaced by a cloud of darkness covering my ankles and part of the street and alley.

The trio gaped at the spectacle. The older girl struggled to maintain her defensive stance, her injured foot hindering her movements. The younger one's wide and curious eyes betrayed a mix of fear and fascination, while the boy among them clutched his golf club with a determined expression that hinted at a desire to help.

Without giving the serpent a chance to recover from the blinding light from before, I surged forward, the newfound sword in hand. The blade cut through the air with a metallic hum, and I slashed at the serpent's scaly underbelly.

It hissed in pain, recoiling momentarily.

In the end, the wristband was a useful gift. I had to remind myself, one day, to thank my dad.

Seizing the opportunity, I circled the serpent, keeping it off balance, continuing to slash its scaly skin. It tried to knock me down with a movement of its body, but before that could happen, I dodged it, cutting its scales once again. But this time I made a point of sticking my sword in, hoping to hit some organ of his, then pulling the sword out.

The boy with black hair, recognizing an opening, sprinted to the serpent's other side, wielding his golf club like a hero facing a dragon from the tales. His fearless determination served as a distraction, affording me yet another chance to strike.

The girl, despite her injury, bravely stood her ground, using her shield to protect us and the little girl. While, said little girl, spurred by a sudden burst of courage, found a dagger in her pocket and joined the fray.

The serpent, now enraged, lunged at us with deadly precision. The older girl skillfully deflected its strikes with her shield, while the boy continued to harass it from the side. The younger girl and I coordinated our attacks, aiming for vulnerable spots between the scales.

As the battle raged on, I felt a surge of adrenaline, my movements becoming more fluid and instinctive. My sword seemed to respond to my will, enhancing my speed and strength. Each strike resonated with power, and the serpent's resistance weakened.

Finally, with a resounding clash, I drove the sword into the serpent's forehead, or what looked like its forehead. The creature convulsed, its massive form thrashing before collapsing to the ground. The dark cloud dissipated, leaving only the echoes of the intense battle.

Breathing heavily, I turned to face the trio, equally exhausted.

They, too, looked weary, particularly the girl nursing an injured leg. Despite their fatigue, they regarded me with awe, as if I had materialized from the pages of a fantastical tale. Given the circumstances, I couldn't blame them.

I didn't blame them, I really had appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm Thalia," the older girl introduced herself, leaning against a wall as her shield reverted to a bracelet. "That's Annabeth," she pointed to the younger dark-skinned girl, now displaying a hint of shyness.

"And I'm Luke," the boy interjected, assisting his friend to stand while keeping a watchful eye on me, still processing the surreal reality of our shared encounter with the monstrous serpent.

"I'm Eurydice," I replied, glancing at my sword and back at them. "It seems like you needed a little help."

“We did,” Luke agreed, looking at me from head to toe, but keeping his eyes on mine while talking to me, “And I think we still do”

Shifting his attention to his injured friend, he examined her leg, revealing a severe wound beneath her baggy jeans. Thalia attempted to whisper something to Luke, diverting his hands away from the injury.

Feeling lost and searching for a solution, my eyes wandered, and I spotted a parked car on a nearby sidewalk—doors open and windows relatively intact. It seemed like an abandoned vehicle amidst the chaos.

"I can drive," I offered, drawing the trio's attention. "I just need to know where we should go and someone who knows how to start a car without a key."

Luke sighed, helping Thalia walk toward me, followed by Annabeth.

"Lucky for you, I know both," the grin he flashed at me while uttering those words hinted at one unmistakable thing: trouble.

#percy jackson fanfiction #pjo fanfic #pjo tv show #pjo series #dionysus pjo #chiron #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #clarisse la rue #thalia grace #luke castellan #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan x you #female original character

[rocknroll7575]

Knight of Olympus: Titans Lullaby - Chapter 2: Hard Lessons

Forgot to post this here yesterday!!! Sorry! But please enjoy Chapter 2!

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The next day, as the campers were eating Jaune was informed about what his duties would be as the new Combat Instructor. He was to train them on how to fight and use their weapons properly, that part was more for the new arrivals, as well as helping them learn strategy, work together, and so forth.

Jaune was a little nervous but he calmed himself and he walked over to the armory, where he found his set of armor, as well as the rest of his clothes, so he put on his old shirt, and then the rest of his armor, and once he was fully dressed, he walked over to the weapons and he found a whole bunch of swords, spears, daggers, bows, and shields.

Jaune sorted through a bunch of swords till he found the right one, the weight of it was good and the balance was perfect. It was no Crocea Mors, but it would have to do. He strapped the sword to his side and then looked for a shield, fitting each one around his arms until he found the right one, and it too felt perfect, it was a little too round for his taste but a shield was a shield.

He looked at his schedule and that's when he saw that he had 5 cabins after breakfast ended.

He was going to have the Zeus, Posiden, Ares, Aphrodite, and Hephestus cabins, which seemed like a lot at first till he remembered that Chiron had told him Percy and Thalia were the only children in the Zeus and Posiden cabins.

As he waited, he had come up with a rather interesting way to test his own strength against the campers as well as get a feel for where they were in terms of Combat, and later he'd just have to do what Ms. Goodwitch did and pit them against each other in one and one combat at determine who needed help and who was rather good, but could still use improvement.

Finally, the campers arrived at the Armory and Jauje smiled at them as they gathered around him, he, of course, saw Percy as well as Thalia.

Once they all were in their respective cabins, Jaune decided it was time for introductions.

"Hello everyone, my name is Jaune Arc, and I will be your new combat instructor,"

Quickly a hand rose for a question.

Jaune looked at them, "Yes...?"

"Drew Tanaka," Drew replied, "I was wondering what God is your parent?"

Jaune smiled awkwardly, "Well, truthfully, I don't have a godly parent, I'm fully human!" Jaune said with a smile.

"But then how are you in camp? Mortals can't pass through the barrier," came the voice of Clarisse.

"Well that's because I'm not from your world," Jaune replied. "I'm a human from a completely different world, kind of like those superhero comics where some are from a different universe,"

Every Camper was shocked and that's when the uproar began, as they all scrambled to ask him a million questions.

Jaune smiled, "Alright! Alright! Settle down now, I'll answer all your questions on one condition..." Jaune began with a smirk, "The best fighters of each Cabin have to knock me off the amphitheater," Jaune said.

"Why there?" Percy asked.

Jaune looked at him with a smile, "Because there's more to today's lesson than just trying to get answers outta me," He said, "Now all of you get suited up and meet me there," Jaune said as he walked away.

As the kids were getting ready, Jaune walked over to the amphitheater, and as he did, he couldn't help but think about his new position now, he was going to be training kids now, who her half his age. Not to mention he would also be accompanying them on a few adventures, so not only was he training them, but he would be responsible for their safety as well.

Was he truly up for the task?

Jaune groaned slightly, "Ugh, is this how Ms. Goodwitch felt about us?" He asked himself.

After a brisk walk, he arrived at the amphitheater and not too long after he arrived, so too did the cabins. Jaune asked them all to sit at the seats and he watched as they all sat down and faced him.

"Good, now that you're all here, I think it's time to tell you what the first part of the training exercise will be," Jaune told them. "So as I've already said, each Cabin will choose their best fighter, said fighter along with the other fighters from the other cabins, will have to work together to push me off the theater or to make me yield,"

Clarisse chuckled, "Sounds easy enough," She said.

Jaune smirked, "But there are rules during this fight," He said. "One, no powers. Two, I'll let you all formulate a plan of attack before starting. Three, and this is important, if either one of you is knocked from the amphitheater, then you all lose and will be forced into my position while another set of fighters will attack you, understood?"

There was silence but the most nodded in agreement and understanding.

Jaune nodded, "Good, now of course, Percy and Thaila are already chosen, as for Ares, Aphrodite, and Hephestus, please choose your best fighters to come up,"

Thalia and Percy got up on stage with their respective weapons and were waiting for the other cabins, but in an instant, it seemed that Ares already had their pick.

"We choose Clarisse!" Said one of the boys from her cabin.

Clarisse got on stage with her spear and had a smug look on her face as she stood next to Thalia and Percy, which Jaine noticed didn't make Percy too happy.

A minute later, Hephestus had their pick.

"Charles Beckendorf will represent us!" Said a girl.

Charles stepped forward, dressed in his armor with a large Warhammer, but it wasn't as big as Nora's.

Jaune smiled at the young man as he walked onto the stage and gave Percy a high five.

Finally, after a good minute, Aphrodite had their pick, which turned out to be Drew, as she stepped forward, daggers in hand and wearing some light armor.

Jaune looked at the five with a smile, "Alright, you guys got 10 minutes to figure out a plan of attack starting... now!"

The five grouped up and Jaune watched them, and he saw that out of all of them, it seemed like Clarisse was the one arguing the most, dismissing a lot of Percy or Thalia's plans, and seemed to be the most stubborn and hit headed one of them all and seeing this, Jaune knew he could use it to his advantage.

The group broke apart and they all took a fighting stance while forming a half circle around Jaune, which made the blond smile, knowing the plan, but wondering who would strike first.

Acting quickly, both Thalia and Clarisse charged forward and trusted their spears at him from opposite ends of the half circle. Jaune quickly backed up from their attacks and smirked.

"Come on, can't the daughter of the God of War do better than that?" Jaune asked as he looked at Clarisse.

Jaune then saw Drew slide under their spears and quickly get up and run toward him. Jaune blocked one stroke with his shield and another with his sword, leaving her open to a kick to the gut from Jaune that sent her on her back.

Then, rushing at him were Percy and Charles, Percy was the first to get close and quickly tried to slash at Jaune but Jaune blocked with his shield and pushed Percy's sword away and then used the shield to strike the young boy in the chest.

Charles then rushed in and raised his Warhammer over his head and brought it down, but Jaune sidestepped the attack and the Warhammer struck the ground, causing a few cracks. Jaune then kicked out Charles's leg, causing the large boy to fall backward hard.

Jaune then saw Thalia and Clarisse charged in once more. Thalia was first and she thrust her spear forward, but Jaune managed to deflect the attack with his shield and then struck Thalia in the gut with the pommel of his sword, causing her to heeld over, and when Clarisse charged in and thrust her spear, aimed directly at his chest, but Jaune sidestepped the attack, turned the blade around and just like with Thalia, he used the pommel to strike her in the chest, causing her to grunt in pain and kneel on the ground.

Jaune stood over the Demigods with a smirk, "Is this what you Demigods are capable of? I Gotta say, kind of disappointed, I mean, I'm just a regular human, I expected more," Jaune told them. 'Rile them up, see if they can keep their cool, mostly Clairesse, see if they can salvage this and devise a better plan,' Jaune told himself.

They all slowly got back up and Drew looked at Percy and Thalia, "Any ideas?" She asked.

"We need to-"

Clarisse got up and glared at Jaune, picking up her spear, "What we need to is simple... rip him to shreds!" She cried as she ran ahead.

"Clarisse! Wait!" Percy cried.

Drew rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Gods damn it!"

Jaune dodged an attack aimed for his head, then ducked under it as she swung, and he backed up, Clarisse pulled her spear back and aimed for his right foot, but Jaune saw this and raised his foot as she stabbed the ground and Jaune quickly broke the head of the spear off.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Clarisse cried as she looked at her 2nd broken spear.

Now that she was distracted, Jaune knocked the rest of the spear out of her hand and put his blade right in front of her face. Clarisse froze up and her eyes widened, while at the same time, the others didn't move, as they realized the situation they were in.

However, acting quickly, Thalia used her foot to kick up her spear, grab it, and throw it at Jaune. Seeing the flying weapon, Jaune was forced to back away, giving Clarisse the chance to back away as well as allowing Percy to charge at Jaune with Drew behind him.

Jaune prepared himself and when Percy came in and swung at Jaune, he blocked it with his sword then saw Drew coming in, so he pushed Percy away and turned to Drew and swung at her, but she managed to block it with her daggers, but Jaune then used his shield to jab her in her rib, and then he kicked her away again, he quickly turned back to Percy and saw him coming swinging at him again, but Jaune blocked it, and Percy pulled back to swing again.

the two were now locked into a duel, with each one simply hitting the other's sword, Jaune looked around him and noticed that he was close to the edge of the amphitheater and realized Percy had pushed him in this direction on purpose, and that was when he saw Charles coming in with his Warhammer and quickly blocked it with his shield, and the blow rattled Jaune's arm but he pushed it away just in time to block another of Percy's swings and pushed him away. 

Thalia then appeared and she thrusted her spear right at Jaune's chest, hitting him, but when she looked at his face, he seemed unfazed, which confused her. Jaune then smiled at her and he decided to drop his shield and grab ahold of her spear, pulling her in when she was close, he grabbed her by the collar of her jacket, and with all his strength he threw her toward the edge, causing her to roll on the ground and fall off the stage.

Seeing Thaila fall off, the others knew that they had just lost.

Jaune smiled as he walked over to the edge and saw Thalia getting up and dusting herself off. "You alright?" Jaune asked.

Thalia looked at him with a smirk, "You mean besides my shattered pride? I'm fine," she said.

Jaune nodded, "That's the spirit," Jaune told her as he held out his hand for her to take and help her get back on stage.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that, Jaune?" Percy asked.

Jaune turned around and looked at the son of Posiden with a smile, "My home world," Jaune replied.  "Where I come from, we are taught to fight more than one enemy, because the creatures we fight sometimes hunt in packs,"

"That's pretty cool," Percy said with a smile.

Thalia nodded, "But what I wanna know is why you seemed unfazed by my attack, I hit you square in the chest with my spear man," she said.

Jaune smiled, "That's because of my Aura," Jaune said, "It's a representation of my soul and also a shield, it protects me from from any physical harm as long as it's not too damaged and breaks, but it also heals some small wounds,"

"That's amazing!" Drew said. "What else can it do?" She asked.

"Well it also helps boost my physical strength, speed, and stamina," Jaune said, "Then, there's my Semblance-"

"Wait, you have a 2nd power?" Charles asked.

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, it's called a semblance," Jaine replied. "We have to unlock it but each one is different, mine, for example, boosts my Aura to a far higher extent than anyone else in my world," Jaune said.

Hearing all this Clarisse stepped forward with a scowl, "Didn't you say no powers!? How is it fair you were using yours!?" She asked.

Jaune looked at her with a smile, "Well, you see, I wasn't using my Semblance at all, and Aura is kind of instinctive, like breathing, you don't think, you just do," Jaune replied. "So my Aura just immediately turned on when I saw Thalia's hit coming and it protected me, plus the reason I said no powers for you is because I wanted to see what you can do physically, I was told Percy and Thalia both have powers, but I didn't know about the rest of you, so I wasn't gonna take the chance,"

Charles nodded, "Makes sense, but just so you know in the future, I don't have any powers like Percy or Thalia, I'm simply resistant to extreme levels of heat," Charles told him.

"Kind of the same for me," Drew said. "The most I can do is see through Illisions, what with my mom being the Goddess of Beauty, she can tell when someone or something is fake," Drew told him.

"As for Clarisse-" Percy began with a smirk.

Hearing him begin to talk and mention her name, the daughter of the god of war turned to the son of Posiden with a glare, "Watch it Prissy! You don't know if I have powers or not!" She growled.

"Do?" Jaune asked with a raised brow.

"...No,"

Jaune nodded, "Noted, anyway, now can any of you tell me what you did wrong? And I'd also love to hear an answer from those seated if they have one," Jaune said.

Charles was the first to speak, "We underestimated you," He said, "We thought we had the advantage with our large numbers and we assumed you weren't as strong or as skilled as us in combat since you were a human," Charles said.

"Very good, Charles," Jaune said with a smirk,

Hearing his full name, Charles got a bit embarrassed, "Uh... just Charlie please, it's what my friends call me," Charles said

Jaune nodded, "Right," he said, looking back at the rest, "Anything else?" He asked.

"We had a chance to regroup and figure out a new plan after you wiped the floor with us in the first part of the training exercise," Percy said.

Jaune nodded, "You did, but you wanna tell me why you didn't have the chance?" He asked.

"Because someone let their anger get to them," Thalia said, eyeing Clarisse.

Clarisse growled as she glared at the daughter of Zeus.

Jaune nodded, "Correct," He said as he turned to Clarisse, "You need to learn to control your anger, it can be a tool, but don't let it control you," He told her.

Clarisse glared at him, "And what would you know about that?"

Jaune looked at her with a small glare, "I let anger get the best of me and it nearly cost me a friend's life," Jaune told her. He then sheathed his sword and walked up to her and he saw her move back a little before he was right in front of her, "I'm going to let you know this now because you are a good fighter, Clarisse, and you still have room to grow, but never, never, think you are better than anyone else, because the moment you think you are, you lose," Jaune told her before turning away.

With that, the day continued, as Jaune forced the losers to fight against five opponents, and he watched as Clarisse was able to win, it seemed like she took what he said to heart, trying to stay calm while fighting multiple opponents.

Jaune also watched them and made sure they were staying safe and not going overboard and as he watched them, he failed to notice bright orange eyes that burned like the coals of a fire, and then there was a whisper in his ear.

"Tonight... come... dear knight..."

Jaune turned around quickly but he saw no one, just the still-burning embers of a dead fire. There was no one there, not a soul, at least, that's what most would think, but that was untrue... there was always someone there.

After all, there had to be someone kindling the fire...

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XXX

Later that night, Jaune sat with Chiron and Mr. D, who were playing a game of poker, one which the Centaur was losing terribly, Jaune looked at both of their cards and smiled, knowing that Chiron was in danger of losing a lot of money.

Trying to distract the god, Chiron turned to Jaune with a brow, "So, Jaune, how were the kids today?" Chiron asked.

Jaune shrugged, "Good, they all seem to be doing good, but I'll be honest, there are a few that need improvement, emotionally and mentally," Jaune replied. "But they all seem to be doing well, and a few surprised me that you never seemed to mention,"

"Oh?" The god asked, "Who may I ask?"

"Drew Tanaka, Charlie Beckendorf, Will Solace, The Stoll brothers, Katie Gardner, and... I think that about it," Jaune said, "They are pretty good fighters and with different talents, I mean, Drew can see through illusions, Will has great healing capabilities, and the Stolls are so smart that if they put their pranks to battle they'd be unstoppable, and Katie can control plants if trained right, they could be just as good as Percy and the others, I even offered them more training later tonight," He told them.

Chiron smiled, "That is good to hear, but I also have to ask, how are you adjusting here at Camp?" Chiron asked.

Jaune smiled, "Pretty good, and Annabeth and Percy have been informing me about your world, which is great honestly, there are a few similarities between Earth and Remnant, well, except you guys don't have Faunus walking around,"

"Faunus?" Mr. D asked.

Jaune chuckled, "I'll tell you about them later, but anyway, I think I got a few students who want some late-night training," Jaune said with a smirk.

Chiron chuckled and nodded, and Mr. D simply stared at his cards, waiting for Chiron to make the move. Jaune left the cabin, but once he did and the door closed behind him, he felt something was off in the air, and he looked around and that's when he saw her.

She had bright auburn hair and eyes that glowed like burning coals, for a split second, he could've sworn he had seen Cinder and was about to attack, however, the woman gave off a more... loving presence.

She wore a red flaming cloak and a white toga-like shirt that exposed a bit of her stomach and had gold designs as well, however, she also wore a white tube dress with similar golden designs on her shirt, she wore no shoes, leaving her feet exposed to the elements.

"Hello, Jaune Arc, a pleasure to see you again," She said.

Jaune was a bit confused as to who she was, "I'm sorry... but I don't think we've met," Jaune told her.

The woman smiled softly, "We have, I'm simply easy to look past," She said.

"Then forgive me for forgetting you," Jaune said. "I just can't believe I never saw someone as... well as beautiful as you," he said with a slight blush.

The woman chuckled with a soft smile, "You are not the first to say that, Jaune Arc," She said. "I am Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and I have come to you, to see the fire I saw for only mere moments,"

Jaune was confused as to what she meant, "Excuse me?" He asked, "Fire?"

Hestia nodded, "Yes, a fire," She said as she closed the distance between them.

Jaune wanted to step back, afraid she might try something, however, he couldn't, not because she had some power over him or something, but because he sensed nothing but warmth, kindness, and love, radiating off of Hesita.

She grabbed him by the face and pulled him close, her burning eyes stared into his deep blue ones and that's when she saw it, the fire she had seen in his very soul.

"Such a beautiful flame," She said. "In all my years not once had I thought I'd see another flame... so similar,"

Jaune's brow raised in confusion, "A similar flame?" Jaune asked.

Hestia nodded, "Indeed," She replied. "You have a flame only I have, a flame of a protector, a flame that carries the burden of others, yes, a strong flame indeed, but so many little flames dancing around it, glowing bright with each emotion... oh my... how cruel,"

"What?" Jaune asked.

"Penny," Hestia said

Hearing her name, Jaune recoiled and looked at Hestia with wide eyes. "H-How do you know-?"

"The flame of guilt burns bright in you," She replied. "Do not fret, Jaune Arc, It was her choice,"

Jaune looked down with sadness, "And I was the only person who could help her make that choice... she didn't deserve to die..."

Hestia smiled, "Who said she is dead?"

Jaune looked up at her quickly, with confusion and wide eyes. "What!?" He asked.

"I sense the flame of every living being, Jaune Arc, and when two new and powerful flames appear so suddenly in my world, I am the first to know," Hestia said

Jaune was shocked, he couldn't believe it, there was no way, no way that Penny was alive... and yet, he had to take the chance.

"Where is she!? Is she safe!? How'd she get here!?" Jaune asked as he stepped toward the Goddess.

Hestia giggled, "Please, calm down, Jaune Arc," She said. "I only know that she is safe," She said.

Jaune looked at her, "And are you sure it's Penny?" She asked.

"She has hair like the color of bronze and eyes as green as emeralds," Hestia said. 

Jaune slowly nodded, sounding like Penny to him, but he began to wonder how she was alive, how she survived... what he did, but then he began to wonder if he even had the right to find her. Did she even want him to be the one to find her? He had taken her life... to him, it didn't matter if it was her choice or not... he had done the unthinkable.

But he still had to try.

"Where is she, Lady Hestia?" Jaune asked.

Hestia smiled and pointed behind him, "It seems you may get your answer,"

Jaune turned around only to see a floating corpse behind him and his body froze in shock as the body floated toward him, if Jaune remembered correctly, she was the Oracle, and it seemed that she had a prophecy for him.

Green mist spawned out of her mouth and in the mist, a shape appeared, he recognized the shape as none other than Cinder Fall. Jaune was stunned to see her very image in the fog and nearly charged at the image before remembering that it was simply fake, why the fog decided to take her image was unknown, but the faux Cinder began to speak.

"To the Knight, who bears a broken heart and two bloody hands"

"Come and fight, and seek the place with the whitest sands"

"Travel southwest, and you shall find the banished mother"

"Like all the rest, face to face with the one who shall become another,"

"Find the blade, and Hades will make you a deal,"

"Accept the trade, and two fates you shall seal"

"Atop the oldest mount, you will beat the mad titan bloody"

"12 by your count, and a king's name you shall muddy"

Hearing such a long prophecy, Hestia smiled, knowing the very long journey ahead of him. "It seems you have been given a quest, Jaune Arc," she told him.

The mock Cinder Fall burst apart and green mist receded into the Oracle and her body floated back up in the attic, and watching the whole thing from the front door was Chiron and Mr. D in shock.

"Well..." Mr. D began, "That was something new, never thought she could leave the attic,"

Chiron looked to Jaune, "She has given you a prophecy?" He asked.

Jaune nodded.

Chiron nodded, "Very well then, come inside and we shall discuss what she said, and tomorrow, we shall gather the head of the cabins and send you forth on your quest," Chiron told him.

Jaune nodded and he turned himself to speak with Hestia, but when he looked to where she once stood, she was gone, but then he heard a faint whisper.

"Gifts will come soon... my champion,"

Jaune was a bit unnerved by her disembodied voice, but he knew that she meant him no harm.

He turned back and walked toward the cabin with Chiron and the two, along with Mr. D, discussed the prophecy the Oracle had given him, however, unknown to the three adults, three others had overheard the Prophecy that had been spoken that night.

XXX

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XXX

It seems Hestia has taken an interest in our hero and he has been given a quest so early!? Wonder what is going to happen on this Quest and who might join him?

Better yet, what do you think the prophecy means?

#rwby #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo fanfic #rwby fanfiction #percy jackson fanfiction #rwby x pjo #crossover #jaune arc #percy jackson #thalia grace #charlie beckendorf #drew tanaka #will solace #pjo hestia #dionysus pjo #chiron #camp half blood

[riptunezune]

My headcanons of Clovis x Child of Aphrodite

*CoA (child of Aphrodite, any gender but in this case mostly female)

-these are also a few fanfic ideas that I have

**More here **

Took a while for Clovis to accept the fact a CoA likes him and for him to acknowledge his own feelings for them (Nico and a few other campers: Pollux, Stroll brothers, and (anyone else) who are close with Clovis and maybe even a particular wine god encouraged Clovis to give dating a try)

Clovis originally wanted to keep the relationship a secret to prevent any potential bullying that may occur to the child of Aphrodite-it didn’t work since CoA wanted to show how serious they were in trying to pursue a relationship with him and felt that Clovis didn’t think they meant it when they asked to date (they were also upset ~rightfully so)

Sometimes when they want affection or a kiss from Clovis, they would ask him in French; flirt with each other in french (if you’re lucky enough, you might see a bashful child of Aphrodite-very rare)

Clovis is passionate and good kisser but he’s always hesitant on making the first move

They took time to learn and make a quilt (night sky theme) from Athena's cabin for Clovis (he treasures it a lot and refuses to let anyone else touch it)

Sometimes they experience emotions that’s not very expected of a child of Aphrodite such as …

Jealousy ,they can get extremely jealous around those that Clovis seems close to or those that Clovis has an easier time to fall asleep on the person’s shoulder /snuggle close to which sometimes they forced Clovis to do a bit of PDA in front of that person~Clovis is a little uncomfortable with PDA as he’s still kinda new to the dating life (Clovis got jealous once and according to that CoA it was “the most hottest thing” they’ve ever seen/ experienced out of all their past relationship -sometimes they often dream about the event to relive the moment)

Insecurity , they heard rumors that Drew and Clovis may had a thing in the past but no one’s really sure and they feel that they’re not pretty as Drew or whatever they do it’s either not good enough (sometimes they feel that way with Clovis’s close friends or the fact others expect them to fit the stereotypes of being an Aphrodite child)

Have gotten frustrated on what to wear because they really want Clovis to like them or get a few more seconds of his attention before he falls asleep (Clovis himself has sometimes worry that their dates might not go as well or he’s not doing enough)

Sometimes they wear something warm and fluffy at the camp fire (which they have noticed that Clovis is more likely to cuddle and sleep on them; can lead to a bit of competition with some of Clovis’s friends who are cold all the time and use him as a heater)

Have used tears to get their way of things (I feel like Clovis is a bit of a people pleaser and hates to see people upset or cry which he can give in most of the time)

Have used charm speak into getting Clovis to do what they want~usually more attention or affection (once they took it too far with charm speaking and they never wanted to put Clovis into that position or feeling again after they realized they took it too far)

Clovis has set up little gifts or surprises ahead of time with some help from other campers to hopefully make the child of Aphrodite happy or feel appreciated-it’s sometimes something that they’ve been eyeing on for awhile

Clovis lets them steal a few of his favorite hoodies if that means that they won’t take his pillows when he wants to take a quick nap

Have used Clovis as an excuse to skip camp activities or cabin tasks because how can they do anything if poor Clovis won’t let them go while he’s sleeping and holding them 😏😏😏

Have made false claims of nightmares or bad dreams just to get some dream dates with Clovis or even spend time with him (they secretly enjoying how he fusses and worries about the nightmares that are affecting them from good quality of sleep/sleeping)

They do push Clovis out of his comfort zone and sometimes drag him to do little errands or places that they enjoy (shopping, beaches, sometimes at their friends’-their friends grew to like Clovis)

Clovis can pick out pretty cute outfits for them if he’s gotten enough sleep and have surprised other children of Aphrodite where his make up skills are a lot better than theirs (only because he does occasionally run into famous makeup artists’ dreams and memories-he does pick up a few tips and tricks which he does help some campers learn if they have the patience with him but also to prevent all the children of Aphrodite from waking him up and having him do all their makeup~boy needs and loves his sleep; he will only make an exception to the one he’s dating which can lead to fights with their siblings about how unfair it is that Clovis only did their makeup but not theirs )

Other campers have learned to respect him as they know it’s not easy to date a child of Aphrodite but also there was a time Clovis left camp without telling Chiron to go to his mom’s place out of spite since he wasn’t getting enough sleep due to everyone kept him up for a week or so for personal reasons as well as a few pranks and he was at his limit~lasted 3-4 days since everyone’s sleep schedule was affected (Ares cabin and Nico were the ones who dragged him back to camp after they found where he went and tried to get him back by asking him nicely several times through iris messaging but it came to a point that they couldn’t wait any longer)

Chiron kinda put Clovis in house arrest (more in Clovis’s favor) as a punishment and had him spend more time with the CoA that he’s dating to reverse the domino effects that Clovis had “unintentionally” put the camp through (Clovis knew what he was doing when he left but things went mostly back to normal-less bullying on Clovis as the other children of Aphrodite made sure of that; Ares cabin also makes sure Clovis is where he’s supposed to be cause 1. He’s their fav go to person when it comes to nightmares, 2. He gives great massages when he needs them to relax to process their bad dreams, 3. They claimed the only reason why they brought back Clovis is because they “can’t perform” well on low sleep, but really they secretly view Clovis as their own)

Campers and staff weren’t able to get good quality of sleep since it was a hassle to comfort an upset CoA who affected other people’s beauty sleep which lead to conflicts for other campers in relationships (kinda like a domino effect), the other children of Hypnos weren’t fully paying attention to Clovis in their dreamscape lessons when he was trying to teach them proper bed care manners while helping those with bad dreams and traumatic ones as well as dealing with more challenging sleep paralysis demons, and Will didn’t want to get his therapist role back because that means less time with Nico which Nico would not be happy and is still a bit mad when Will had to step in for a bit while others were looking for Clovis

Clovis once fractured his neck and both his arms (long story) and they (CoA) had an enjoyable time spoon feeding him or hand feeding~they still do it after Clovis is all healed up and says that they don’t need to, but they want to cause Clovis is just too cute and precious to them (Clovis loves it tho but sometimes feels embarrassed; the Stroll brothers have teased him about it and called him a little baby dreamboat whenever he’s being feed by hand)

They had an argument with Mitchell only because Mitchell is worried that his friendship with Clovis might be affected with the fact Clovis is dating one of his siblings (plus Mitchell was Clovis’s friend first) and fears that his progress of getting Clovis to put more effort in his self appearance and have better self esteem might be undone

Dionysus unexpectedly gets involved in this whole relationship stuff (has to act as a mediator) because there was a huge argument between them (CoA) and Pollux (as well as a few of Clovis’s other friends) about the amount time Clovis spends with each one (Dionysus reluctantly picked up this role only because he secretly really appreciates how Clovis has helped Pollux a lot from the ptsd of losing his brother as well as other trauma from war and doesn’t want Pollux to spiral; Dionysus also sees bits of Castor in Clovis)

*when I saw this pic going around on ig, my first thought was Clovis and a child of Aphrodite 😍😍😍

Part 2

#clovis #clovis pjo #hypnos cabin #cabin 15 #aphrodite cabin #child of aphrodite #ares cabin #will solace #nico di angelo #my headcanons #fanfic ideas #pollux pjo #castor and pollux #chiron pjo #dionysus pjo #stoll brothers #mitchell pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #ClovisxChildofAphrodite #pjo fandom

[themoonplantwrites]

Posted a new story. Enjoy!

Editing this because I realized that maybe I should have put the summary in here:

“That being said, there is one thing I should bring to your attention as well,” Chiron continued. He paused in his examination and looked Percy in the eyes. “It has been a while since I have had any siblings of yours as my pupils, but that doesn’t mean I have forgotten the traits you all seem to share.

*******

In which twelve-year-old Percy learns there’s more to being a child of Poseidon than increased monster attacks and superpowers.

#pjo fanfic #percy jackson fanfiction #my posts #sally jackson #annabeth chase #Chiron (pjo) #percy jackson #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #my writing

[tsarisfanfiction]

Laurels and Labyrinths

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: Teen Genre: Friendship Characters: Lee Fletcher, Clarisse La Rue, Annabeth Chase, Michael Yew Being paired with Clarisse for Quintus' war game? Not a problem. Annabeth and Percy going missing? A problem. Otherwise known as: the war games in chapter 3 of BOTL from Lee's pov. Once again, I attempt something short and it ends up being rather longer than planned. There is a whole pile of headcanons snuck in here, from Apollo kids getting tired at sundown, to the harpies not attacking Apollo kids because they're the healers and have potential reasons to be out after curfew, and various other things in between. Also the logic that Lee knows about the Labyrinth from being the healer brought in to try and help Chris. Reminder that there’s now a discord server for all my fics, including this one! ��If you wanna chat with me or with other readers about stuff I write (or just be social in general), hop on over and say hi!

“Your armour’s crooked, Will.”

“Tha- hey!”

Lee turned around to see Will tilted awkwardly as Michael tugged on the straps, straightening out his breastplate – or what would be straight, once Michael let go and Will could straighten up again.  Will wasn’t much taller than Michael – yet – but it was already enough to be noticeable.  Confident that despite appearances Michael would get Will’s armour sorted out, Lee just allowed himself a small grin at the sight before he turned back to securing his own straps tightly and checking over the rest of his siblings.

Quintus hadn’t said what, exactly, these war games he wanted all the campers armoured up for were, but if it didn’t involve the suspicious crates that had disappeared from the arena during the day, Lee would be very, very surprised.  He knew he wasn’t the only one to think that; most of the confused mutterings he’d overhead since the breakfast announcement had mentioned them at one point or another, until every camper had at least heard about the crates, even the ones that hadn’t seen them.

Lee just hoped that there wasn’t another drakon involved.  He was still tired from chasing off the Aethiopean drakon at three in the morning – it had not wanted to be chased off, either, and if it wasn’t for the protection of the camp borders, Lee was well aware it would’ve tried much harder to kill him and his siblings, rather than just being stubborn to chase off.  He was also aware that Michael was also grumpy from the lack of sleep as well as not being able to kill the creature, and the knowledge that it was almost certainly sent by Luke to scout out their weaknesses.

Well, at least they’d proven that they could still defend their camp, although Lee had his own concerns he hadn’t dared share with any of his siblings.

Clarisse hadn’t wanted to bring him into the know, but she wasn’t a healer, and both she and Chris had needed one.  Will’s aptitude for healing was constantly improving, but this wasn’t something to put on the shoulders of a then-eleven year old, so it had fallen to Lee, instead.

Knowing that the Labyrinth still existed, and seeing the damage it could cause to demigods, was one thing.  Add in the creeping feeling that if it connected to everywhere important as well as several seemingly-random locations, there was almost certainly an entrance within camp borders, somewhere, and if the scouting monsters outside of camp were any indication, Lee bet Luke was looking for it?  Well, Lee was not looking forwards to Quintus’ war game.

Glancing over towards where cabin five were pulling on their own armour and arming themselves to the teeth, he could see Clarisse tensely checking her straps.  He clearly wasn’t the only one – and a brief look towards Annabeth straightening Malcolm’s helmet in a fidget she didn’t usually indulge in told him that all three of the in-the-know campers were in agreement.

Still, Lee couldn’t just pull his cabin out of the war game, even though Quintus wasn’t as terrifying as Tantalus had been and might even let him.  Doing that would signal to the rest of the camp that there was something very wrong, and they couldn’t afford the panic.  Instead, he had to give his siblings one more check – Will’s armour was now straight, as Lee had known it would be, and Sam, who had been in camp for all of a few weeks and still painfully new to anything combat-related, now had his helmet on as an extra precaution – before herding them to where the adult demigod was waiting for them.

The campers gathered in a loose crowd, more-or-less grouped by cabin, although there were a few strays mingling – notably Beckendorf and Silena, and Lee wasn’t an Aphrodite kid but even he was getting fed up of waiting for those two to stop dancing around the subject and get together already – and waited for Quintus to explain what he wanted them to do.

“Gather round,” the assistant activities director instructed.  None of them got too close to where he was standing on the head table, because Mrs O’Leary was scavenging around and no-one was interested in getting bowled over by an enthusiastic hellhound, even if she wasn’t trying to eat them, but the crowd shuffled a little in response anyway.  “You will be in teams of two-”

Immediately, everyone started talking.  Michael grabbed onto Will and glared daggers at anyone else that even looked their brother’s way, and Lee sought out Miri with his eyes, ignoring the arguments breaking out as multiple people wanted the same partner and would fight for them-

“-Which have already been chosen!” Quintus shouted about the clamour.  Everyone silenced for a moment before letting out a chorus of complaint which went ignored as he kept talking.  “Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels.”  No prizes for what was in the crates, then, although Lee would’ve liked to know what monsters Quintus had lined up for them.  He hoped none of them were drakons.  “You must find the wreath before the other teams.  And, of course… you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive.”

Around him, campers started talking again, excitement tinging the air.  Lee had to admit it did sound like fun, even if they couldn’t choose their own partners.  Quintus had never shown any signs of wanting the demigods he was partly responsible for dead, so the monsters he’d brought in wouldn’t be beyond their abilities to deal with, Lee was pretty sure – especially if they were going to be working in pairs, and he doubted they’d all been matched with their perfect fighting partner.  If it wasn’t for the ever-present background Labyrinth worry that had been plaguing him since Clarisse and Chris’ return to camp in the winter, he’d probably be just as excited as Michael, who had bared his teeth in a grin at the concept even though he was clearly still annoyed about not being able to choose his own partner.

This sort of game was right up Michael’s alley, after all.

“I will now announce your partners,” Quintus said, bringing the murmuring back into silence. “There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining.”  From the way Michael was bristling from where he was stood so close to Will that their arms were pressed together, Lee suspected the last order was a lost cause.  Hopefully, Quintus had a good enough idea of camper dynamics to know who not to put together.

If Michael ended up with Clarisse, the monsters were going to be the least of anyone’s worries.

Quintus cleared his throat and unrolled a scroll – a long scroll, because it was far enough into summer that all the expected returning campers had shown up again – and began to read.

“Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregarde.”  Both of them looked delighted, and around Lee, campers started perking up again, because if Quintus was paying enough attention to put those two together, maybe the rest of them were also paired with friends or partners.  “Travis Stoll and Connor Stoll,” made it seem even more likely, and the brothers high fived each other as campers started drifting towards their preferred partners again, in anticipation of the trend continuing.

“Clarisse La Rue and Lee Fletcher.”

It didn’t.  Lee grimaced at Miri, ignoring Michael starting to grumble unsavoury things about the daughter of Ares.  At least Quintus had known better than to pair them together.  Clarisse stepped away from her siblings, and made eye contact with Lee, jerking her head in a clear get over here message.  Michael’s grumbling got louder, only to be cut off by his own name.

“Michael Yew and Drew Tanaka.”

The daughter of Aphrodite screwed her face up in disgust, and Lee’s brother glowered at her in return.  It wasn’t a bad match-up, Lee mused as he finally made his way over to join Clarisse.  Drew’s charmspeak wouldn’t affect Michael, and she was a decent enough melee fighter to go with his ranged attacks.  As long as they actually co-operated.

He saw Michael leave Will’s side to join her with bad grace.  Their matching scowls almost made Lee chuckle.

“They’re going to get each other killed,” Clarisse huffed next to him.  She didn’t sound particularly cut up about it.

“They’d better not,” he muttered back as Quintus continued calling out pairings, which were met with a variety of reactions.  Will got partnered with Malcolm, which was not the worst possibility, even if Lee would really have preferred for Will to not be involved in the war game at all.  At least Malcolm was smart enough to not throw the pair of them straight at the monsters – or really competitive enough to care.  Maybe that pair would just linger at the forest edge like sensible pre-teens.

Lee could hope.

The pairing finally finished with the curious duo of Tyson and Grover – the only satyr to be included, presumably for his friendship with Percy – and Quintus reminded them all that they weren’t allowed to complain before letting them head towards the woods.

It wasn’t dusk yet, but the sun was far enough across the sky that Lee suspected it would be after dark by the time they were done, and wasn’t particularly pleased about it.  They didn’t currently have any Apollo campers young enough that the setting sun was an automatic sleep signal, but none of them liked being active after sundown, let alone in combat – and definitely not two nights in a row.

“I’ll take point,” Clarisse said gruffly, as they arrived at the edge of the wood.  Lee nodded.

“I’ve got your back,” he promised her.  “Let’s get this over with.”

She made a noise of agreement, surveying the shadowed woods in front of them intently, and Lee remembered that he wasn’t the only one that feared a Labyrinth entrance somewhere within the camp’s borders.  Clarisse had no more reason to feel comfortable with the war game than he did.

Working with Clarisse wasn’t difficult, in combat.  Lee had done it several times over the years in Capture the Flag, both as head counsellors and also when they were younger, to say nothing of when they’d had to organise the camp defences the previous summer.  If there was something Clarisse knew, it was combat, and she stalked through the woods on high alert, electric spear silent in her hand.  Lee shadowed her on light feet, not letting himself focus on any one thing, but spreading his attention around them in case they were flanked or approached from behind.

In the gradually fading light of dusk, the woods began to take on an ominous feel.  Branches rustled in faint breezes, in conversation between the dryads that tended not to leave their trees, with the movement of almost a hundred demigods trying to move quietly, and in some cases failing.

Knowing that the noises could mean allies – or in this case, campers and not monsters – Lee forced himself not to shoot at any movement until he knew what it was.  Unlike Capture the Flag, and other games where their opponents were each other, none of the Apollo kids had blunted arrows tonight.  He couldn’t afford stray shots.

Ahead came the sound of skittering on fallen twigs, and Clarisse threw her hand up silently in a clear command to halt.  Lee stopped where he was immediately, nocking the arrow he’d held loosely in his hand onto the string but not drawing, not yet.  That hadn’t been a demigod or a dryad noise, and probably wasn’t the wind either, which meant monster but until he could see it, he wasn’t risking full draw.

Clarisse made another sharp hand signal, exaggerated in the dusk.  Cover me.  Then she crept forwards, fingers flexing around the shaft of her spear, poised to ignite the crackling electricity the moment she needed it.  Lee stayed a little way behind her, padding forwards silently with his bow ready to draw and fire in an instant in his hands.

The skitter came again, closer, louder, faster-

Clarisse let out a shout of victory, silence shattering as her spear surged to life and she abandoned stealth to leap into action, fluid experience ducking her underneath a flailing scorpion tail – pit scorpion venom flashed through Lee’s mind, the discolouration of Percy’s hand, the revelation that Luke betrayed them, but he pushed it aside to deal with later, when Clarisse wasn’t dodging the giant scorpion (not a pit scorpion) and its attacks.

Scorpions were armoured, which was a pain in the half-light when Lee couldn’t see its weak spots so clearly, but they were in pairs for a reason and he wasn’t leaving Clarisse to take the creature on alone.  He waited until she was down low, out of his line of sight, before letting fly with the first arrow, catching it in a chink between head and body armour.

Just like the drakon the previous night, armoured and needing to be shot at in the dark, that wasn’t enough to bring it down, and with stealth abandoned, Lee didn’t hesitate to yank more arrows from his quiver, the shafts whispering against the leather before nocks clicked into place on the string and he fired again.  In front of him, Clarisse threw herself inside the scorpion’s guard, thrusting the spear forwards with enough strength that it impaled the tail and rendered it useless, before drawing her knife and stabbing at one of the gaps in its carapace.

Lee let more arrows fly into more gaps, too, and with one last grunt from Clarisse as she drove the knife in deep, the scorpion burst into dust, covering Clarisse.

Its silk-wrapped parcel likewise disappeared with a small explosion, leaving nothing behind.

“Not that one, then,” Lee commented as Clarisse spat out monster dust from her mouth and drank a swig of water from her water bottle.

“One down, five to go,” she replied, bending down to retrieve her spear and looking it over with a critical eye.  Seemingly satisfied that it hadn’t been damaged by the scorpion’s tough exterior, she slammed the butt down onto the ground.  “Laurel leaves or not, we’re killing them all.”

Lee didn’t disagree.  While he knew the two of them were unlikely to be the ones finding and killing all six of the monsters – Percy Jackson was somewhere in the woods, along with Annabeth, and Michael, and the rest of the Ares and Athena cabins, and really all the demigods were trained for killing monsters – they couldn’t leave until they knew their woods were safe again.

Well, for a certain degree of safe.

“These things aren’t quiet,” he said, kneeling down to retrieve his arrows and check if any of them were bent.  Some were, but not to the point of being unusable, so he put them all back in his quiver.  “Not when they’re fighting.”

Clarisse nodded, looking around.  “This one was alone,” she said.  “The noise hasn’t drawn any more to us.”  She started walking, changing direction and striking out further away from the setting sun, into the darker, deeper parts of the wood.  “So we’re going to them.”

Lee followed without complaint.

They’d started off at the edge of the forest, tracking around the camp’s forest boundary, but now Clarisse was leading them further into the heart of the demigod-claimed territory.  Quintus had probably released them from somewhere in there, near the creek they always used as the territory divider in Capture the Flag.  Lee hoped he had, because that was familiar territory for all but the newest campers, and familiar terrain in combat helped, especially for the younger and less confident fighters.

As they headed further into regular demigod territory, they began to pass other pairs.  Most of the younger kids hadn’t gone far into the forest, unnerved by the dense trees in the creeping darkness, and Lee was glad for that.  Having now faced one of Quintus’ monsters, while it hadn’t been much of a challenge for him and Clarisse, the less experienced demigods would struggle.

At one point, they passed Michael and Drew.  The daughter of Aphrodite had the tell-tale dust in her hair and was furious about it, shouting at Michael about something or other.  From the brief snatches he caught, Lee surmised she didn’t like that she was the front line fighter in their duo, and that Michael was not covered in monster-dust because he’d been shooting from up a tree.

Neither of them were wearing golden laurels, and bringing Clarisse close to Michael while Michael was tired and grumpy and already dealing with Drew’s temper was a recipe for a disaster that Lee wanted no part in, so he forged past them without acknowledging their existence.  To his relief, Clarisse likewise ignored the pair, holding her head up and deliberately not even glancing their way as she continued on her path towards what was hopefully more monsters to kill.

They ended up at Zeus’ Fist, and found three more of the scorpions at once.  They were skittering around the rock pile agitatedly, as though there was something there that they wanted, and all Lee could think of was cornered demigods, even though he couldn’t see any sign of any.

Clarisse growled.  “Shoot them, Lee!” she ordered as her spear crackled into life and she threw herself at the trio of eight-legged, skittering monsters.  Lee didn’t need to be told twice, nocking arrows and drawing his bow back.  With more scorpion than Clarisse in his sights, it was easier to let fly and trust that he wouldn’t hit her, although the steadily-darkening sky made it harder to spot the cracks in the scorpions’ armour.  Clarisse’s spear gave off a faint red glow as Ares’ power coursed through it, enough to throw deeper shadows into the gaps, and Lee used that as a guidance as he steadily emptied his quiver into the three monsters, targeting joints to try and restrict their movement as Clarisse stabbed and slashed with her spear in one hand and her knife in the other.

Not for the first time, Lee suspected that Clarisse was the best melee fighter in the camp, potentially barring Percy when he got wet.  It was hardly a surprise, but that didn’t make it any less awe inspiring to watch as she slowly but surely wore down the three scorpions.  It wasn’t an easy battle for her – even with Lee’s supporting fire and the arrows wedging themselves in limb joints, she was still taking hits, although her armour deflected the worst of them – but there was no doubt that she was going to win, eventually.

Lee’s quiver emptied, the downside of dealing with three scorpions at once when each of them could get turned into a pincushion and still stay standing, and he set his bow to the side, drawing his knife and stepping closer to the fray.  He wasn’t a melee fighter, really, but if he could even play distraction for a few seconds, that would help Clarisse.

“I’ve got this!” she snapped as he ducked under a flailing tail, and promptly proved her words by stabbing the scorpion closest to him through the head with her spear.  A surge of electricity and Lee found himself covered by dust, a small, silk-wrapped parcel dropping down neatly into his hands.  Remembering the previous one, he went to drop it before it went boom, only for the silk to shift and expose gold.  Instead of dropping it, he stuffed it into his quiver and dropped to his knees in the middle of the dust pile, scooping up his arrows and frowning when he realised most of them were damaged in some way or another.  Only two were still useable, and he scrambled back to his bow, nocking both arrows at once as he ran back into the fray.

A few years ago, on one of his trips out of camp, he and some of the other campers had found themselves at the movies, on edge for monsters trying to kill them but likewise fascinated by the movie they’d ended up watching.  Lee was pretty certain he’d technically been too young for the rating, but some of the older demigods had snuck him in anyway.

The elf – Lee did not remember the character’s name – jumping on top of an elephant’s head and firing two arrows point-blank into the top of its skull had stuck with him.  Typically that was far closer to a monster than archers were supposed to get, and the laws of physics dictated that by dividing the force between two arrows, both would’ve been fired weaker than usual, but Lee was a son of Apollo, and while he wasn’t as much of an archer as Michael, his father was still the god of archery, and that came with a few perks – like occasionally ignoring the laws of archery physics.

Lee sprung onto the back of one of the scorpions, the one behind Clarisse as she attacked the other with a fresh degree of ferocity, and ran forwards, ducking the tail that lashed towards him as he made his way to its head and aimed down.

The explosion of dust in his face also made him lose his footing as nothing substantial was beneath him anymore.  He stumbled to the ground as Clarisse vanquished the other one with a cry, breathing heavily but seemingly unbothered by the dust covering her skin.

“One left,” the daughter of Ares said, proving that she had noticed Michael and Drew earlier.

Lee, too, wanted to keep going, but, “I’m out of arrows,” he admitted, picking up the other arrows from where they’d been dropped after the scorpions had dissolved.  All of them were bent or even broken; the two he’d killed one of the scorpions with had shattered entirely.

Clarisse scoffed.  “That’s the problem with you archers,” she said.  It was something Lee had heard her say many times to Michael, who had always taken it as a personal insult and reacted accordingly, usually with arrows.  Lee was not quite so temperamental as his younger brother, and simply drew his knife again.

“I still have this,” he said.  She didn’t look impressed, even though her own knife had already been liberally used to kill giant scorpions.  “Oh, and this.”

He rummaged through his quiver and stepped up next to Clarisse, plucking out the silk-wrapped parcel and wrestling the golden laurels out.

The younger girl gave him a nonplussed look as he deposited it on her head.

“Your kill, your laurels,” he said, and she rolled her eyes, but reached up and positioned the laurels more firmly in her hair.

“Whatever,” she said.  “We have one more scorpion to hunt-”

Rustling in the nearby trees had both of them slamming back-to-back, Lee’s bow abandoned on the ground and his knife clenched in his fist as Clarisse’s spear crackled to life behind him.

Another scorpion?  It was already weird that three of them had been together like that – surely there shouldn’t be a fourth one in their vicinity.

It wasn’t another scorpion, and Lee felt the tension drain from Clarisse’s body as her spear stopped crackling.  Other demigods, then.  He moved around until he could see them; it was Sherman, with his Quintus-mandated partner Jake following on behind him.

Clarisse’s younger brother immediately noticed the golden laurels gleaming in the rapidly-fading light and his shoulders slumped.

“Of course you got it,” he said.  “Pairing you two up was just unfair.”

“How many have you killed?” Jake asked them, looking at Lee’s strewn and broken arrows.

“Four,” Clarisse said shortly, and the younger boys both whistled through their teeth.  “Drew and the short bastard-”

“Clarisse,” Lee sighed, and her jaw tightened.

“-Michael got another one, which makes five.”

“We got one, too,” Sherman said, and now Lee was looking he could see the silvery dusting in his dark hair, “so that’s all of them.”

Lee’s shoulders slumped in relief; he hadn’t been looking forwards to hunting a giant scorpion with a knife as his only weapon.  “That means this game is over,” he said.  “We should get back so Quintus can recall everyone else.”  He glanced up at the sky, where the sun chariot had all but disappeared and the first of the stars were starting to make their presence known.  “It’ll be curfew soon, anyway.”

All four of them were old enough to understand that even with the camp’s defences still active, they didn’t really want any campers left in the woods after curfew, when night had fully set in and there were no more traces of Apollo’s light.

Lee set about gathering up the remains of his arrows; just because the shafts were broken didn’t mean the heads weren’t reusable, and maybe some of the less severely bent shafts could be straightened again.  Jake and Sherman joined him; a glance towards Clarisse showed her scanning the deepening shadows of the trees, standing as still as a sentinel and no doubt keeping watch in case there was something that shouldn’t be in their area of the woods.

With three of them on the case, it didn’t take long to retrieve all the visible arrows.  Lee’s quiver looked a sorry sight as he slid in the last handful of damaged arrows and straightened up again.

“Let’s-” he started, only to be cut off by a familiar horn.  It wasn’t the dinner conch, but it was the summoning sound Chiron used to call all the stragglers in after Capture the Flag was over.  Either they’d hit a time limit, or Quintus had somehow determined that the laurel had been claimed.

Lee wasn’t sure which option he preferred, but it didn’t really matter when it got all four of them jogging back towards camp, away from Zeus’ fist and the dust of slaughtered scorpion-like monsters.

There were several unsurprised eyerolls as the other campers caught sight of the laurels in Clarisse’s choppy and messy hair – the new, shorter hair suited her a lot better, Lee thought, although after so many years it was still strange to see Clarisse with short hair.  The general consensus seemed to match Sherman’s initial assessment – of course Clarisse was the one to win.

Michael was eyeing the laurel with a scowl as he ditched Drew and slunk up next to Lee.  “Why’s she wearing it?” he huffed, thankfully quiet enough that Clarisse, who had gone to round up her cabin as they reappeared, didn’t hear.

Lee shrugged at his younger brother.  “She killed that one.”

“That one?” Michael demanded, eyebrows shooting up.  “How many did you fight?”

“Four.”

“Fucking Hades,” Michael swore, shaking his head.  “Could’ve left some for the rest of us.”

“One was plenty, you bastard,” Drew muttered, passing them on the way to reconvening with her siblings.  “Do you even care how long it takes to get monster dust out of your hair?”

“No.”

Lee couldn’t help a fond chuckle as the daughter of Aphrodite rolled her eyes and stalked off, muttering “of course he doesn’t.  If he’d just let us at his hair…”

Michael’s step to the side, subtly putting Lee between him and the gathering of Aphrodite kids, almost made him smile again.  They’d both heard, several times, that Michael had nice hair if only he’d treat it right, according to the Aphrodite cabin.  Neither of them were quite sure what they meant by that, and Michael was in no hurry to find out, either, even if Lee was secretly curious.

One by one, the rest of Lee’s siblings started reappearing from the woods.  Sam looked pale, and Tris’ eyes were half-lidded with exhaustion, and the rest of the cabin were in varying stages of tiredness.  Two late nights in a row was not fun, and while Lee hadn’t seen any nasty injuries from the returning campers, he was sure there would be a few people with scratches that they’d be expected to deal with before bed.  Will yawned as he separated from Malcolm, the older boy gripping his shoulder briefly, and more or less walked into Michael, resting his forehead on his shoulder.

“Can we go to bed now?” he mumbled as Michael patted his head.

“Once Quintus and Chiron say so,” Lee promised him, scanning all of his siblings for signs of injury.  “Everyone okay?” he asked, raising his voice enough to be heard over the mutters and grumbles of his tired siblings.  Aside from him and Michael, he knew none of them had actually fought the scorpions, so they’d spent the past hour or so of fading dusk wandering around the forest on edge with nothing exciting to show for it.  No wonder they were all crashing now the game was over.

Camp was now fully lit with torches, and the ever-present glow of the hearth.  Their dad’s chariot had long since returned to its temple, and Artemis’ was only giving a sliver of light tonight.  Apollo kids were not night owls and it was getting late by their standards, especially the younger ones.

Even Michael was looking a rather tired, the drakon messing up his sleep last night combined with another late night tugging at him, too.  Lee wasn’t quite fighting yawns, but he couldn’t deny he was also thinking fondly of his waiting bed.

Tyson and Grover were the last pair to stumble out of the forest, both immediately separating and circling around opposite sides of the gathering of demigods.  Grover headed for where the Athena kids had clumped together, while Tyson looked around before saying, “where’s Percy?”

Everyone silenced, and the entire focus of the camp landed on the Athena cabin, because if anyone would know the answer to that, it would be Annabeth, but Annabeth wasn’t there, either.  Grover stopped still, and frowned.

“I can’t feel Percy,” he admitted, four words that sent the whole of camp reeling.  Not everyone knew about the empathy bond he had with the son of Poseidon, but everyone except the very newest campers knew he and Percy were close.

Even the newest campers knew the disappearance of their resident Big Three Kid didn’t bode well.  Lee couldn’t help but remember the first time it happened, Percy and Luke nowhere to be found until suddenly Percy was in his infirmary with pit scorpion venom and Luke was gone.

Why did he keep remembering that, tonight?  He shook his head and stepped forwards, the same time Clarisse did.

“We’d better find those idiots before they go off on another stupid quest without leave,” she grumbled, and Lee remembered the second time Percy disappeared – this time with Annabeth.  No-one had ever got the full story out of that incident out of them, but it was a common theory that they’d overlapped with Clarisse’s quest to get the golden fleece, even if none of them had ever said as much.

Clarisse’s voice was just a little too annoyed for Lee to think there wasn’t something personal in the accusation, though.

“Not all of us,” he cut in, to say his own piece.  “It’s way past curfew and the younger campers need to go to bed.”

“Annabeth’s missing!” one of the Athena kids yelled.  Lee couldn’t see which one, but the voice was young.

“Now, now,” Chiron said, trotting forwards into the centre of attention, Quintus walking beside him.  “They may have just gone deeper than everyone else and are taking longer to return.”  After Grover’s declaration, Lee didn’t think anyone believed that.  “And if there is a problem, it is not your jobs to sort it out.”

“You can’t expect us to stay back and not look for them,” Travis called from the throng of cabin eleven, echoed by Connor.

Chiron raised a hand as more demigods began to clamour, but it was Quintus who spoke.

“A compromise,” he suggested.  “Chiron, how about enlisting the help of our head counsellors?”  His gaze landed on Lee and Clarisse, their weight old and heavy, before he looked up at the centaur.  “Some experienced help.”

More protests exploded from the younger campers, and the Athena cabin, whose head counsellor was the one missing, and Chiron sighed.

“Very well,” he said.  “Head counsellors, select one of your siblings to help you, and another one to take charge of getting the rest of your cabins to bed and staying there.  Quickly, now.”

Lee glanced at Clarisse, and caught her glancing back at him, his suspicions reflected in her eyes.  Disappearing mirrored appearing, after all.

It was barely a moment, before they turned back to their respective cabins.  The choice of who was coming with him was obvious, and Michael stepped up before he could even say anything.  Really, Lee should make him the one in charge of the cabin – they all knew he would be the one to succeed Lee once he went to college in a year’s time, after all, and needed the practice – but he was their best archer and spent more time in the woods than most.  He’d be best suited to the search party, even if it meant having to work with Clarisse.

“Lawrence, I’m leaving the cabin to you.  Make sure everyone goes to bed,” Lee said.  Lawrence was one of the oldest campers, older than him, and due to go to college in the fall.  He’d also arrived at camp the same year as Michael and lived there ever since, making him one of the more experienced demigods, too – and everyone loved him.  “I’m also out of arrows, so if anyone’s got any..?”

“I got it,” his brother agreed, scooping Sam and Tris under his arms.  “Right then, sleepyheads.  Bed time for you guys.  Will, Alice, that includes you two.  Grab them, Morton, and give Lee your spare arrows.  Anyone else with arrows, do that, too.”

Lee accepted the various arrows from his siblings, passing the ones that were a bit shorter than he could comfortably use to Michael, whose quiver could always do with more, it seemed.  Once both of them were once again armed to the teeth – and relieved of their broken and bent arrows – they left Lawrence to wrangling the tired cabin and went to join Chiron.

Most of the other head counsellors were already there.  Clarisse had Sherman by her side, both of them looking impatient at the wait, while Drew sneered at Michael from beside Silena.  Lee glanced over at the rest of the Aphrodite kids to see Miri corralling them back towards their cabin.  She sent him a short wave when she caught sight of him looking, and he grinned back.

Michael, like any self-respecting little sibling, made disgusted noises under his breath, which Lee ignored with years of practice.

Unsurprisingly, Malcolm had elected himself as the head counsellor for the Athena cabin in Annabeth’s absence.  He wasn’t the oldest, or even the most experienced, but he was the one that everyone already knew would inherit the position when Annabeth inevitably went to college one day.  He had, at least, had the good sense to pick one of his older and more experienced siblings as his partner, though.  Beckendorf was accompanied by Jake, Katie had picked Miranda, and Travis and Connor and Pollux and Castor had obviously picked each other.  Lee hadn’t expected anything different from cabins eleven and twelve.

Grover and Tyson finished off the official search party, still keeping their distance from each other but adamant that they were going to be involved, anyway.  No-one was going to tell them no.

“We’ll split into two groups to cover more ground but keep safety in numbers,” Chiron told them.  “Clarisse and Sherman, Lee and Michael, Silena and Drew, Pollux and Castor, and Tyson – you’ll be with me.”

“And the rest of you are with me,” Quintus said.  “And Mrs O’Leary, of course.”  The hellhound let out a massive whoof that made them all jump.

Quintus’ search party looked a little discomforted at the reminder they were going into the woods accompanied by a hellhound, even if she was a friendly one.  Lee was privately glad that he wasn’t in that group.

Chiron gave all of them torches and whistles, “in case anyone gets separated, or to let the other group know if we find them.”  Lee looped his whistle around his neck, while Michael tangled the string around his quiver strap.

Going back into the woods late at night, when there was only the light of their torches and the faint strains of moon- and starlight to show the way, was disconcerting.  Lee didn’t like it, and from the tenseness of everyone else’s shoulders, nor did anyone else.  Stealth was no longer a priority, so Clarisse’s spear was constantly crackling, lighting up with red sparks that made her still-worn laurels glisten as though they were on fire.

“Percy!” Tyson bellowed suddenly, almost deafening them.  Lee had to grip Michael’s arm to stop him firing an arrow at the cyclops, trying to pretend his other hand wasn’t halfway to raising his bow on instinct, either.  “Annabeth!”

“Oi, Jackson!  Wise girl!” Clarisse echoed after a moment, and one by one they all took up the call as they wove their way through the trees, hooves and feet alike making noise on the undergrowth.  Regular animals scattered, and in the distance they heard answering echoes of the same names from the other search party, who had entered the woods at the other edge of the barrier.

It was a similar pattern to the one Lee and Clarisse had taken whilst hunting the scorpions, although they hadn’t had anyone the other side to complete the pincer movement.

Despite being a single search party, as they moved they started to spread out, never losing sight of each other’s torches, but covering a greater area as they combed the undergrowth, in case the missing demigods weren’t-

Weren’t capable of calling back.

Lee refused to think of why, didn’t let himself think of pit scorpions and half dead sons of Poseidon limp in the infirmary, but made sure to check every darker pocket of shadows with his torch, just to be sure.  Above him, he could hear Michael slipping along tree branches, his torch providing far more light from the skies than the distant moon and stars and his voice joining the calls.  He was the only one of their party that could really navigate the trees so easily – not just for his size, but because Lee had known for years that despite his brusqueness with the other demigods, Michael had long since got on the good side of the dryads and was allowed to clamber through them like a monkey, so long as he didn’t damage their trees – and Chiron had swiftly agreed that the additional viewing angle would only help.

For once, Clarisse hadn’t made any snide or antagonising remarks about Michael’s tendency to hide in trees and sneak around, which had only proven how concerned she actually was about Annabeth and Percy’s disappearance.  Lee couldn’t quite kid himself into thinking it was just because Clarisse was worried it meant there was a Labyrinth entrance, and that they’d found it – ever since the fleece quest last summer, she’d been a little less outrightly hostile to Percy, and she and Annabeth had always been more of a butting heads rather than hating each other’s guts relationship.  Lee had known the younger girls long enough to know that they respected each other, when it came down to it.

Lee’s torch picked up a scattering of dust, recent enough to have not been blown away by what wind made it through the trees, and the beam from Clarisse’s torch, next to him in their line, crossed it.  They both paused, and looked at each other.

“The scorpions,” Clarisse said, her voice a little hoarse from the shouting.  It was almost drowned out by the yells of their companions, but she was looking at Lee.

“They wouldn’t be killed by those,” he protested, and she grunted, slashing her spear through the air.

“I’m not an idiot,” she snapped.  “Think, Lee.”

Lee blinked at her, glancing back at the scattered dust.  Around and above them, the rest of the search party kept marching forwards.

“I’m not following,” he admitted.  “What about them?”

She rolled her eyes before stomping forwards again, breaking their search pattern.  Lee hurried to follow, because none of them were going alone.  Behind him, he heard Drew curse as she spotted their torches headed in a different direction.  “Oi, wrong way!”

Clarisse ignored her.  “The first one was by itself,” she said.  “So was the one Drew and Michael killed, and Sherman and Jake.”

Lee suddenly realised where she was going, and where they were headed.  “But the other three were together.”

“Took you long enough,” she huffed.

“They weren’t facing us,” Lee continued to recall, hearing their names also being called, and the frustrated grunts of Michael in the trees above them as he caught up with them.  “They’d been following something else.  But there was nothing there, was there?”

“Enough of the damn universe revolves around Jackson,” Clarisse snorted.  “Why wouldn’t half the damn monsters?”

“What are you two going on about?” Michael shouted down at them.

“Fuck off,” Clarisse snapped at him.

“Clarisse,” Lee scolded immediately, before glancing up at the torch dimly illuminating his younger brother in the trees.  “We’re going to check Zeus’ Fist,” he told him.  “Tell Chiron.”  He didn’t leave it a question, because if he did, Michael would say no, and then he’d be stuck mediating between Clarisse and Michael whilst trying to find missing demigods, and at what had to be well past ten at night by now, Lee was far too tired to be dealing with their arguments.

“Tell him yourself,” Michael groused, because Lee wasn’t the only overtired Apollo kid on the search, and Michael got irritable even with him sometimes, and Lee was not dealing with this.

“Michael!” he snapped.  “Go tell Chiron, now.”

Above him, the torchlight stuttered, and Lee felt a flash of guilt because he never snapped at Michael, but then it turned around and the dark silhouette of his younger brother headed back towards the bulk of the search party.

Clarisse whistled.  “I didn’t know you had it in you, Lee.”

Lee groaned.  “Clarisse.  It is stupid o’clock at night.  We spent a good hour earlier chasing and killing giant scorpions.  Now there are missing demigods.  Michael and I were up last night chasing off drakons at stupid o’clock in the morning.  I am past tired, and we’re both worrying that the Labyrinth is involved even though neither of us can say it in front of the other campers.”  She stiffened.  “Do not push me right now.”

That was the wrong thing to say to an Ares kid – the default response to do not push me with them was always what are you going to do about it, and Clarisse had never been the exception to that rule.  Lee braced himself for the inevitable jibe.

It didn’t come.

“You too?” she asked instead, her voice quiet in a way that Clarisse wasn’t, except when the Labyrinth came up.  Lee didn’t know what, exactly, she’d been through when she’d explored it, but he remembered the injuries she’d come back to camp with.  The scar on her chin was the only one visible in polite company, but there had been several, worse, wounds that were now knotted and ugly scars under her clothes.  The thing with being the camp’s head healer was that Lee saw these things.

“I hope it isn’t,” he admitted, keeping a careful eye on the torches now following them from behind, because even if it was only senior campers, he didn’t want them overhearing this.  Clarisse wouldn’t, either.  “But…”

“Grover could reach Percy from the fucking Sea of Monsters,” Clarisse said, roughly, and adding more weight to the theory that their paths had crossed on the fleece quest.  “If he can’t reach him now, it’s something worse than that.”

And it’s in our camp, she didn’t say, but Lee heard it loud and clear, anyway, and there wasn’t anything he could say to that, because he didn’t think she was wrong, but admitting out loud that she was right…

Well, there was a reason she didn’t say it.

Hooves pounded the ground behind them, and Lee turned around as Chiron caught them up.  “You shouldn’t be wandering off without telling us,” the centaur said, disapprovingly.

“Lee sent Michael to tell you,” Clarisse muttered.  The tree leaves above them rustled, but Michael didn’t say anything else.  The guilt at snapping at his younger brother gnawed a little bit deeper.

“I know,” Chiron said, but he still didn’t sound happy.  Then again, Lee had sent Michael with a message and no company, although he trusted the trees to keep Michael safe better than anyone would’ve been on the ground.  “Why Zeus’ Fist?”

“There were three scorpions clustered together there,” Lee said, before Clarisse could.  “They looked like they’d been chasing something, but there wasn’t anything there.  We didn’t pay attention to that at the time, but…”

“But you now think that might have been Annabeth and Percy,” Chiron sighed.  “I see.  I can’t say I would be surprised; Percy does attract more monsters than the rest of you.”

Not for the first time, Lee was glad to not be a Big Three kid.  He’d seen Thalia’s death when he’d been ten – and subsequent resurrection last summer – and all the chaos Percy had been falling into since his arrival two years ago, and was quite content with not being at the heart of all of that.  It was bad enough getting involved on the periphery.

Percy and his pit scorpion-stung hand in the infirmary while nothing Lee could do helped continued to haunt him.

The rest of the search party kept calling the missing demigods’ names, but Lee and Clarisse kept forging forwards, waiting until they were in earshot of Zeus’ Fist before readding their voices to the now-hoarse calls of the others.

They almost ran straight into Grover, who was also shouting for Percy and Annabeth, completely separated from the rest of his search party.  Chiron didn’t say anything about it, but Lee could feel his disapproval at the satyr striking off alone, especially as with his empathy bond he probably had a better chance at guessing where Percy had last been.

His presence did at least support his and Clarisse’s theory, though.

“Annabeth!” he shouted, as his torchlight picked up more scattered monster dust, the edge of Zeus’ Fist casting a sharp shadow through it.  “Percy!”

Somewhere ahead of him, Tyson roared the names again.

Lee called again, walking closer to the pile of rocks and ending up next to Clarisse once more.

Annabeth and Percy almost collided with them, looking completely unharmed – to Lee’s relief – and confused.

“Where have you two been?” Clarisse immediately pounced, her agitation and frustration finally reaching boiling point.

“We’ve been looking forever,” Lee added, mostly to stall Clarisse’s momentum before she really let loose.  They did not need Clarisse exploding in the middle of the night.  Lee did not need Clarisse exploding in the middle of the night.

“But we were only gone a few minutes,” Percy protested, which was categorically wrong, because Lee was pretty certain they’d been gone for at least two hours at that point.  Thankfully, Chiron appeared behind him, and Lee gladly stepped back to let someone else deal with the younger demigods now they were found and not hurt.

They’d better not be hurt.

Tyson seemed happy to jump in and confirm it; Percy liked Tyson too much to lie to him, or so Lee hoped.

“We’re fine,” the son of Poseidon promised.  “We fell in a hole.”

Lee had been playing Capture the Flag around Zeus’ Fist since he was ten and finally deemed old enough.  There was no hole there big enough to hide two demigods so completely for so long.  The rest of Percy’s explanation made sense – Lee could attest to the three scorpions together, given the laurel one of them had been carrying was now perched on Clarisse’s head, all but forgotten by everyone in the chaos of Annabeth and Percy’s disappearance – but his idea of the timeline was so far out it was…

Concerning, if Lee was honest.  Missing time usually suggested some form of amnesia, but neither demigod were showing any signs of injury at all, let alone amnesia-inducing injury, and, well.  Luke worked for Kronos, now, and Kronos wasn’t just the titan of eating his children.

“You’ve been missing for almost an hour,” Chiron said, which Lee couldn’t believe.  It had felt like so much longer, but maybe the centaur was only counting how long they’d been actively searching for?  Lee was still certain it was at least twice that.  “The game is over.”

Grover muttered something about Tyson sitting on him, which stopped them winning.  Lee hadn’t even noticed them nearby, so he wasn’t quite sure what the satyr was talking about.

Clarisse, unsurprisingly for Lee, given he already knew her concerns, but more surprisingly to his fellow demigods judging by the confused noises he could hear from the others behind them, focused in on the other concerning bit, the one that wasn’t time-related.

Or maybe it was.

“A hole?” she asked, sounding to Lee like she didn’t really want to know the answer, but also needed to.

Annabeth’s deep inhale told Lee all he needed to know.  Her glance around at the gathered audience of demigods all staring at her cemented it.

“Chiron… maybe we should talk about this at the Big House.”

Clarisse’s gasp cut through the silence, the daughter of Ares not able to not react to the confirmation she (and Lee) had been dreading.  “You found it, didn’t you?”

Annabeth’s verbal confirmation was enough to get the other campers demanding to know what was going on, and Lee was both glad that it was only half the head counsellors, and some other experienced campers, and frustrated that they were either going to need to explain it to everyone, or find a way to diffuse the curiosity – which was not going to be easy.

Lee got the distinct feeling that Michael was burning a hole in the back of his head for not joining in the confused questions, and was not looking forwards to dealing with that, especially as he also had to apologise for snapping at him, and both of them were too tired for serious, sensible, conversations this side of sleep.

Chiron raised his hand and slowly, the rest of the present campers faded into disgruntled silence.  “Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place,” he said.  Lee fully agreed with that, suddenly very disconcerted by the fact that he had spent the past seven years playing Capture the Flag right by a Labyrinth entrance.  Having seen Chris, and Clarisse, he had no desire at all to fall into it, even if it was apparently possible to escape quickly enough you didn’t even realise you were there.

Except, no, Annabeth had realised where she’d been, and she’d been researching it thoroughly, so of course she’d known how to escape.  Most demigods, especially those caught unaware, probably wouldn’t have done.

Lee had the sudden urge to get away from the pile of rocks and never, ever come back.  Chiron, thankfully, seemed to be in agreement, as he told them all to go back to their cabins and go to sleep.

Sleep sounded amazing, but as one of the very few demigods already in the know, Lee couldn’t just leave, especially if Annabeth and Clarisse were going to start discussing it once everyone else had gone.

“Lee?” Michael asked him, clearly suspicious, but Lee could not deal with talking to Michael about it right then.

“Listen to Chiron,” he told him, keeping half an eye on Clarisse and Annabeth, who had drawn closer together and were muttering between themselves.  He needed to be involved in that.  “We’ll talk in the morning, Michael.”

“But-”

“Please, Michael,” he all but begged.  “We’re both exhausted and it’s going to be a long talk, which I can’t have right now.”

Michael’s eyes burned into him, but eventually he caved, to Lee’s immense relief.  “You’re telling me in the morning,” he said, and it wasn’t a question.  Lee smiled gratefully.

“Everything I can,” he promised, knowing that Michael probably still wasn’t exhausted enough to miss the massive loophole he was leaving himself, but hoping he would trust him just a little more.  “Go on ahead and get some sleep.”

Michael scowled at him, but after a moment obeyed, turning away and joining the exodus of the other demigods back towards the cabins and their welcoming beds.  Lee watched him go, hearing Chiron blow the whistle to dismiss the other search party, before joining the muttering, concerned huddle that was Annabeth, Clarisse, Percy, Grover and Tyson in time to hear Annabeth filling Percy in on the Labyrinth.

He shouldn’t have been surprised that Grover and Tyson had already been drawn into the loop.

Chiron came up behind him.  “We will discuss this in the morning,” he said, firmly but not unkindly.  “Off you go.”

Lee was more than happy to leave the clearing, and the woods, but when they reached the open area of camp, he hung back as Percy and Tyson retreated into cabin three and Grover disappeared off as well.

Chiron escorted the rest of them to their cabins, one at a time, but Lee knew that the girls were going to reappear as soon as the centaur was gone.  He obediently ducked inside the door of cabin seven, pleased to see that all of the younger kids were asleep, although the older campers were having a quiet conference – centred around Michael, who was presumably telling them that Annabeth and Percy had been found, and hopefully not telling them anything else.  They caught sight of him and waved him over, but he shook his head.

“They’re safe,” he said quietly, glancing back out the window near the door to see Chiron’s shadow slowly traipsing away from the cabins and back up the hill, “but I’ve got to go out again before I can go to bed.  Don’t wait up for me.”

“Lee, you’re exhausted,” Lawrence protested.  “You barely got any sleep last night, and you’re not getting much tonight, either.”

“I’ll survive,” Lee promised.  “And I won’t be long.”  He and the girls could only dodge the harpies for so long.

Chiron’s shadow disappeared, and immediately he saw the door to cabin six crack open again.  He couldn’t see the door to cabin five from the window, but Annabeth headed straight for the Ares cabin, so he knew Clarisse was making her own reappearance.

He slipped back out the door himself, darting across the short distance between the two cabins, and rejoined the girls.

“Go to bed, Lee,” Clarisse ordered, but she couldn’t raise her voice, and Lee was not letting the younger demigods cut him out of the loop now.

“What happened?” he asked Annabeth.  Her face scrunched up.

“Percy summed it up,” she said.  “When the scorpions cornered us, we fell into the rocks.  It was pitch black, no light at all, and I had to grab him to stop him wandering off.  Then I found the Daedalus symbol and pressed it, and the entrance re-opened so we could climb out.  It really didn’t take any time at all.”

“Time moves differently in there,” Clarisse confirmed.  Lee hadn’t known that, but if anyone was going to know that, it was the one that had spent time exploring it.  “That… shit.  That was definitely it.  And if Luke doesn’t already know about it, it’s only a matter of time before he does.”

Lee remembered, again, the day Percy came to him with pit scorpion venom and Luke vanished into the woods, and his stomach curled unpleasantly.

“He already knows where it is, from this side,” he said.  “That’s how he left.”

In the faint moonlight, Annabeth looked completely washed out, but it was Clarisse that finished the thought.

“He’s trying to find the entrance from the inside,” she growled.  “Chris-”

Her voice broke off, and neither Lee nor Annabeth finished her sentence out loud.  None of them needed to.

That was what Chris had been sent in to look for – if not the string, at least the route back to camp from wherever Luke and Kronos’ army were waiting.

“That drakon was a distraction,” Lee sighed, but Annabeth shook her head.

“Two-pronged attack,” she said.  “If they can find a weakness in the barrier now Thalia’s not-  Or a backup plan, if they can’t navigate the Labyrinth.”

Lee still couldn’t reconcile the Luke he remembered with the Luke that was actively trying to attack their camp.  It just didn’t make sense.  But Chris had proven that something was coming, and Luke and Chris had been good friends, for all that Chris was unclaimed.  For him to throw Chris away like that…

The Luke Lee knew clearly didn’t exist anymore.

“We have to tell Chiron, in the morning,” he said.  “This is…”

“Tomorrow will be a full war council,” Annabeth said, confidently.  She looked at Clarisse, and Lee did the same.  The daughter of Ares’ lips were thin where they pressed together tightly.  “After this, Chiron can’t keep it from the other head counsellors.”

And that meant that everyone was going to find out about Chris.

Clarisse growled.  “I know,” she said.

“Patient confidentiality still holds,” Lee promised her.  “They don’t need to know any details.”  He hoped he didn’t imagine her relaxing slightly, but it could easily have been a trick of the moonlight.

“Just the threat of the Labyrinth,” Annabeth agreed.  The words, said out loud, made Lee shiver.

They were out of their depth, now.  This was more than three demigods could handle.

“We can’t do anything about it right now,” he said.  “And the harpies will be along soon.  Try and get some sleep, girls.  We’ll need both of you sharp in the morning, for this.”  He looked over at Clarisse.  “I’ll drop by Chris before breakfast,” he told her.

“Have you worked out how to cure insanity?” she snapped back, and he sighed.

“No,” he admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on him.”  Even if all he could do was make sure Chris wasn’t in physical pain, wasn’t hurting himself in his insanity, he’d keep doing it.

Clarisse looked at him, for once looking like the fifteen year old she was, young and scared.  It was a vulnerability Lee only knew he was seeing because she was tired, too.  Not just physically, but emotionally, too.  Ever since Chris had appeared in Arizona, she’d been struggling, and this seemed like the final straw for her.

Lee was impressed she’d held it together for so long.  He was older, and only tangentially involved – brought in because they needed a healer, and now the only one of their trio that had never been in the Labyrinth – and he already felt like he was about to break under the stress, knew he’d started cracking if he was snapping at Michael and constantly cycling back around to Luke’s betrayal again.  How Clarisse had held herself together for so long, he had no idea.

“Get some sleep,” he said, not gently because even now, Clarisse would not take well to gentle.  “I’ll see you in the morning.”  He glanced up at the moon, now high in the sky, and realised with a sinking feeling that tomorrow had arrived.  “Later in the morning,” he corrected.

“Whatever,” Clarisse mumbled.  Her hand travelled up to her head, gripping the laurels that still sat there, forgotten and ignored.  Their victory hadn’t even been mentioned, with everything else, and Lee suspected it never would be.  She pulled them off, and caught Lee out when she reached up and dropped them on his head, instead.  “I’ll be there.”

She disappeared back inside her cabin before Lee or Annabeth could say anything else.  The boar’s head above the door glowered down at them, and without an Ares kid, it suddenly felt wrong to be standing there.

“Bed, Annabeth,” Lee prodded.  She was looking up at the laurels now in his hair, no doubt wonky – they felt like they were about to fall – but Lee was too tired to bother fixing them.  “Your brain needs to be in working order at the meeting.”  When she didn’t immediately move, her thoughts seemingly taking her elsewhere, he gripped her elbow lightly and began to steer her across the green, towards her own cabin.  She moved without resistance, but didn’t jerk away until they were almost there, coming back from wherever her mind had gone.

“Thanks, Lee,” she said.  “We don’t say that enough.”  Lee gave her a quick, one-armed hug.

“You’re not in this alone,” he reminded her.  “Now, go get some sleep.”

She scrutinised him with eyes that were somehow still sharp, despite the late hour.  “You need to sleep,” she retorted.  “Weren’t you up at three o’clock last night?”

Lee sighed.  “Yes, yes I was,” he said.  “So if you could get inside your cabin so I can be reassured that you, too, are in bed and safe so I can do the same, that would be great, thanks.”

“You’re not my big brother,” she pointed out.

“No,” Lee agreed.  “But I’m the head of the infirmary and do not want to be dealing with a sleep deprived Annabeth in the morning.  So, shoo.”

He wasn’t sure what part of that finally got through to her, but she did, finally, slip back in through her cabin door, leaving him alone outside – and not a moment too soon, as the tell-tale sound of wings filled the air.

“I’m going, Calaeno,” he promised as one of the harpies landed in front of him.  She glared at him, eyes piercing even in the dark.

“Bed,” she ordered, one of her wings coming to loop around him.  “Past curfew.  No infirmary.”

“I know, I know.”  Lee let her walk him back across the green and towards his cabin door.  Being an Apollo kid had advantages, like blanket permission to be out after curfew, for reasonable reasons.  The harpies wouldn’t attack him, although they’d force him back to his cabin more peacefully – like now.

“Stay until dawn,” Calaeno told him firmly.  “Camp safe.”

She and her sisters had not taken kindly to the drakon the previous night, either.  If it had come inside the barriers, Lee had no doubt that they’d have attacked it with the same ferociousness the campers were always threatened with.

He stumbled across the threshold, pushed over by the harpy’s wing, and the door was shut firmly behind her.  Blindly, he groped his way to his own bunk, not even bothering to change and barely remembering to kick off his shoes before he face-planted his bunk.

The mattress gave way weirdly, as though there was already something on it, and more grasping found a small figure curled up asleep on his bed already.  Lee couldn’t see in the dark, and wasn’t going to turn on a light, but he was pretty certain it was Michael.  No doubt, his younger brother had tried to wait up for him, but he hadn’t so much as stirred at Lee’s ungainly arrival.

Good.  He needed the sleep.

So did Lee, and it was hardly the first time he’d ended up sharing his bunk with a sibling – not even the first time said sibling had been Michael – so he didn’t bother to try and get his younger brother back to his own bunk.  Instead, he just nudged him over slightly, so that he could get his own head on the pillow – ow, golden laurel leaves were not comfortable – and closed his eyes.

Tomorrow – today, after the sun rose – was going to be full of awkward conversations and more emotional stress, Lee knew.

Right now, he needed sleep.  Thankfully, it came quickly.

#percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson fanfiction #riordanverse #riordanverse fanfic #lee fletcher #clarisse la rue #annabeth chase #michael yew #drew tanaka #pjo chiron #pjo daedalus #percy jackson #grover underwood #pjo tyson #camp half blood #apollo cabin #will solace #malcolm pace #sherman yang #jake mason #charles beckendorf #silena beauregard #travis stoll #connor stoll #tsari writes fanfiction #laurels and labyrinths

[withthekeyisking-writer]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Luke Castellan & Chiron & Dionysus, Camp Half-Blood Campers & Luke Castellan, Luke Castellan & Percy Jackson Characters: Luke Castellan, Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson), Percy Jackson, Chiron (Percy Jackson), Dionysus (Percy Jackson), Kronos (Percy Jackson), Ethan Nakamura, Silena Beauregard, Clarisse La Rue, Various Character(s) Additional Tags: Pre-The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson), And Then During TLT Too, Luke Castellan Doesn't Join Kronos, Thief Luke Castellan, Luke Castellan Has Issues, BAMF Luke Castellan, Good Luke Castellan, I mean good is complicated he's more like gray morally, Suicidal Thoughts, Dreams and Nightmares, Double Agents, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

It turns out, having a titan in your head constantly giving you terrible nightmares does not lead to great morale. Or inspire loyalty.

(Or, in another world, Luke is still the Lightning Thief, but joining Kronos is another matter all together.)

#fanfic #pjo #luke castellan #percy jackson #annabeth chase #chiron #dionysus pjo #kronos pjo #ethan nakamura #silena beauregard #clarisse la rue

[writer-room]

When Dawn Comes

AO3

Chapters: TBA

Summary:

“Tomorrow is 𝘯𝘰𝘵 the first day of summer.” Eight months after one of the worst weeks in Nico and Will's lives, summer rolls back around. With it comes the sudden bursting of life throughout Camp Half-Blood, and a whole lot of people who were not informed that the two boys they left behind nearly died way too many times. Or got new sets of trauma. Or gained a small pack of cacodemons. The good news is that Nico and Will are not above using this new terrain to mess with people. The bad news is that it sometimes messes with them, too.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Tomorrow is not the first day of summer.”

“It is for us.” Was all Will said, haphazardly dropping arrows into their holsters. It looked good enough. “It’s nearly the end of May.”

“Which is not summer.”

“Since when were you the expert on seasons?” Will snorted, hand on his hip as he raised a brow, looking over his shoulder.

“It’s not summer until it’s suffocating to wear my jacket.” Nico puffed, crossing his arms, doing absolutely squat to tidy up the Apollo Cabin in any shape or form. “This is spring.”

“Well, some schools release in late spring, then.” Will rolled his eyes, striding past the holsters. “Surely you know this?”

“I was never released in the spring. Summer is June. Who the hell gets summer break in May?”

“End of May.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“It’s not.” Will didn’t fight very hard to hide the grin from his face, striding over to the cabin beds, checking under them in case any stray trash materialized underneath it. Or Cocoa Puffs.

“And you’re sure they’re coming tomorrow?” He could hear Nico scrunching up his face, and his smile widened as he crouched. Nothing but darkness and a stray Kit Kat wrapper. He had a sneaking suspicion Nico left that there.

“I’ve been as sure as the last time you asked. And the time before that. And the time before—”

“It could have changed!” Nico scoffed, Will leaning forward to scoop up the wrapper. “I haven’t ever exactly had to pay attention to these things before.”

“Well, now you get to be part of the welcoming committee.” Will rocked back up to his feet, swaying purposefully before turning and holding out the wrapper. “Forget this?”

“Never seen it before in my life.” Nico said, barely so much as glancing at it. “I imagine there would be much better welcoming committees than me.”

“You’re plenty welcoming.”

“I’m really not, you know I’m not.”

“You’re welcoming to me.” Will sighed dramatically, walking over in as casual of a way as he could muster. 

“That’s because you’re you.” Nico sighed, as if he wasn’t smiling, and Will wasn’t grinning right back down at him as he stopped.

“And you likeeeee me.” Will teased, sticking out his tongue, which got a truly pungent scoff in response.

“What are you, eight?”

“Now, that’s just an insult to Harley.” Will chuckled, rocking on his heels, hands behind his back. 

“Oh, yes, my mistake.” Nico drawled. “Seven years old, that was what I should’ve guessed.”

“Uh huh,” Will hummed, rocking forward instead, Nico raising a brow as Will snaked a hand around one shoulder, “doesn’t make me any less right.”

“Then I’d say your claim is an understatement.”

“Sweet-talker.” Will grinned, and proceeded to bap Nico’s cheek with the wrapper still in his hand. “You still need to throw this away.”

With that, he retracted his hand, and that wrapper fell from Nico’s cheek. He sputtered, fumbling more so on instinct to grab it. Will was already spinning right around, a safer few feet away, double-checking his cabin.

“Oh, come on, you don’t even know this was me—”

“It was you.” Will said, not even looking back.

“Says who?”

“Says me.” Will was still smiling, but refused to look back. “And the Cocoa Puffs.”

“They do not say that. They like me.”

“They like me.” Will did look back then, raising an amused brow. “Shall I count the ways I have been smothered in my sleep?”

“Maybe they’re just trying to get rid of you.” Nico puffed, crumpling up the wrapper and shoving it in his pocket. “Keep me all for themselves.”

“Nah, they’re you, and you like me.” Will teased, turning back around and waving a hand. “I think my cabin’s as good as it's ever gonna be.”

“I’ve been saying that for the last hour.” Nico groaned, more dramatically than what was really needed, tilting his head back to stare up at the ceiling as though it would listen to his woes. It would not. “And the Puffs can think on their own, thank you very much.”

“Mhmm,” Will hummed, shouldering open the ajar door and back out into the sunset spreading across camp, and to the rest of the staff puttering about. Most everything had been set for the new arrival of campers already, but last-minute adjustments could always be done, “where are they, anyway?”

“Somewhere.” Nico waved a hand vaguely around as he followed, which didn’t help in the slightest. “Hiding. Hell if I know where.”

“I think they’re just finding the deepest darkest crevices and making nests.” Will guessed, peering around as though he could spot one of the Puffs. “Or exploring, actually. If they wanted dark places, your cabin would be swarmed.”

“Hilarious,” Nico drawled, standing next to him, also watching the camp putter about. “They’ll pop up eventually. They’re just preparing for tomorrow.”

“They excited about scaring the daylights out of returning campers?” Will grinned, all teeth, looking down at Nico. 

“Ecstatic.” Nico confirmed, grinning right back in that mischievous way of his. It was also kind of haunting, but all of Nico’s smiles were like that. It was adorable, honestly. “You said Austin and Kayla still don’t really get what they are?”

“Didn’t get the chance to really explain them, no.” Will confirmed. “And Piper?”

“No idea if she told anyone.” Nico shrugged. “I want to say word can’t have spread that fast, but she might’ve called Leo, and if she did, the whole plan is ruined.”

“That is, if Piper fully understood what kind of Puffs you were describing, and if Leo then understood it.” Will reminded. 

“Oh, true,” Nico hummed, squinting off into the distance, “alright, we should be fine, then.”

“We?” Will snorted. “Is this a joint effort, now?”

“You’re not stopping it.” Nico said by way of answer, turning and beginning the trek further up the houses, Will following after. 

“Well, it will be pretty hilarious.” Will admitted, knocking his arm with Nico’s, which had been meant as a friendly jest, but then Nico was knocking back, and his fingers kept trying to curl around Will’s hand, so he grasped them together. He certainly wasn’t complaining. 

“Do you think Chiron would let me threaten the Hermes kids if they get any ideas about using them for pranks?” Nico wondered aloud.

“He’d probably ask you to be nicer about it.” Will hummed, leaning closer as they walked and nearly dropping half his weight on Nico, head thumping against the side of his and causing him to stumble at the surprise shift. “But I’ll threaten them for you when he’s not looking.”

“You’re so sweet.” Nico grunted, shouldering at Will until he snickered and stood on his own two feet. “Can’t you get in trouble for that, being a counselor and all?”

“You’re also technically a—”

“I do not count and you know it.”

“Chiron thinks better of me.” Will shrugged it off, his nonchalance easily being ruined by a sly little smirk forming. “It pays to have a golden reputation, lets you get away with a lot more.”

“You have to be more creative with those jokes.” Nico puffed, which was also ruined by him squeezing Will’s hand as he spoke.

“Get more creative with your insults, then.”

“I happen to think a skeletal radius shoved up the ass is a pretty creative insult.” Nico raised a brow. 

“That’s not an insult,” WIll corrected, shifting into what he liked to call Counselor Mode, speaking in a purposefully mocking holier-than-thou tone, if only because it made Nico an adorable kind of puffy, “that’s a threat. Two very different things. Also,” He paused, “don’t try that threat with the Hermes kids.”

“What, will it give them ideas?” Nico squinted. “I don’t think they have access to bones.”

“No, but you’ll probably want to threaten with a leg bone going where it shouldn’t, nothing in the arm or hand.” Will commented, making a great effort to watch the harpies fly overhead with what looked like some old fairy lights. Had anyone been using those? “They’ll make comments, and you will not like them.”

“About arm bones?” Nico squinted further. “What would a Hermes kid have to say about—?”

“You know what, how about you just work on the insults?” Will suggested quickly, wondering if he yelled at himself in his head loud enough, a God might hear him. Probably. “Like, bone-insults. Are there bone insults?”

“I dunno,” Nico shrugged, thankfully moving onto the next subject, “I could…say someone looks like their skull would make a great bowling ball?”

“That’s kind of horrific, and also I think that doubles as a threat.”

“Threats work better than insults.” Nico decided, slowing down, and Will realized they were approaching the Hades cabin. “Shuts them up quicker.”

“Oh, well, can’t argue with that.” Will nodded sagely. “Threatening you with twenty-four-hour infirmary supervision? All that complaining about not being able to shadow-travel practically disappears.”

Nico elbowed Will in the side for that, to which he could only laugh. It was kinda hard, but not enough that it had Will doubling over like it did the first few times Nico tried. It was pretty easy to tell that Nico toned it back these days.

“Whatever, agree to disagree.” Nico gruffed, and Will kept it to himself that they were trying to not do that, but he didn’t really wanna ruin the joke with something heavy. “I can’t lure you to be a horrible counselor for tonight, right?”

“It’s not breaking a rule if the rule is about a boy and a girl being alone.” Will grinned, bringing Nico’s hand up and giving it a few squeezes with uneven pressure. Even when Tartarus was months behind them, his muscle strength still didn’t feel as great some days. “What, is the scary Nico di Angelo worried about when I won’t be able to sneak off and cuddle all night without getting caught?” He teased, keeping his voice down just in case any of the staff heard (though, really, he’s sure a good few already knew and had been nice enough to not tell Chiron) and leaning down.

“You did get caught.” Nico muttered, ducking his head with a flush, though he didn’t retreat when Will bonked his forehead on the crown of his head.

“Hardly my fault that the nymph was a fellow early-riser and saw me leave.” Will puffed, pulling an exaggerated frown. “I don’t think she said anything, anyway.” “She totally said something.” Nico snickered, still a bit red, but trying to gain that bit of an upper-hand back. “Did you somehow miss how many smug nymphs there were? They won some bets, I’m sure.”

“I would like to not think about the nymphs betting on us, thank you.” Will sighed, Nico’s giggling increasing as Will ducked further, at a rather uncomfortable angle to be nearly smooshed face-to-face. “Now do you want me to technically not break any rules or not?”

“I thought that offer died?” Nico blinked, suddenly much more alert. 

“In what sentence did I say no?” Will raised a brow, and a hint of Nico’s flush returned.

“You didn’t say yes.” Nico shot back, though it came out more of a mutter.

“Yes, then, I think I’m free tonight.” Will grinned, closing that distance (which was barely any distance at all, really) for a quick kiss. “Because, I can promise you, my siblings will not let me sneak off. That’s a promise.”

“Austin and Kayla—”

“Are, unfortunately, only two siblings, and Apollo kids are kinda loud.” He reminded, leaning further back to stand at a normal angle, though he did untangle his hand from Nico’s to loop both arms around his neck. He was very smug to see Nico seemed very down with this arrangement. “Which is a sentence you should not repeat in front of the Hermes kids.” He added quickly, and immediately wished he didn’t. Good fucking Gods.

“Still don’t get it.” Nico said simply, hands flexing by his chest, a clear, silent worry at where to put them. “And hey, in a pinch, we can just say I had another bad nightmare. One that only my boyfriend can mend, as per usual.”

“Keep it for emergencies.” Will decided with a thoughtful nod. “Can’t use it too often or Chiron might get suspicious, you know.”

“Emergencies?” Nico snorted, hands still flexing. “What, emergency cuddling? In a time of crisis?”

“They’re of grave importance, you know.” Will linked his hands behind Nico’s head, moving just a bit closer. “You look like a pangolin.”

“I— what?” Nico balked, pausing.

“You know, the animals that kinda look like an armadillo and an aardvark had a kid.” Will said easily, smile lopsided. “Gracie loves ‘em, showed me a ton of pictures.” He purposefully angled his eyes down to Nico’s hands, head unmoving. “Look like they’re at their first prom and don’t know how to ask for a dance, the poor little guys.”

“Hey,” Nico puffed up, not unlike a cat (which Will would keep to himself, because he preferred to live), promptly grabbing at Will’s wrists, “I do not look like a pan…penguin?” He squinted.

“Pangolin.”

“I said that.”

“Sure you did. Do you even know what a prom is?”

“Do you think I came into the present last week?” Nico squinted as though he thought Will might genuinely be an idiot.

“You didn’t know that Nike was also a shoe brand.”

“How was I supposed to know that—”

“Holly almost killed me, but it was so worth telling you.” Will chuckled. “Then she almost killed you, which was more fun.”

“I think I’m retracting that offer.” Nico grumbled, glancing over at his door. The sun was nearly completely set now, and already, Will could feel that little internal clock telling him to hit the hay. “You can enjoy your empty cabin while it lasts.”

“Nah, it’s no fun when it's empty.” Will hummed, tapping his fingers along the back of Nico’s neck, making him prickle slightly with the sensation. “And it’s hardly fair to leave your cabin all empty now, is it?”

“I happen to like it some days.” Nico muttered, not protesting when Will straightened up and took a quick survey of their surroundings. “You don’t need to keep lookout, Will.”

“I would like to not have Chiron kick me out cause one of the harpies saw, thank you.” He huffed, slowly unwinding his arms, to which Nico seemed almost remorseful. 

“I really don’t think that's going to happen—”

“It’s Chiron, I call it a miracle he specified that rule was only for—”

“Oi, boys,”

Will jumped, he’s not too proud to admit it. Hands braced halfway out at his sides in some stance that really wouldn’t have done much except smack anyone to his direct left or right. 

Nico’s was subtler, a slight full-body jerk. His eyes moved before his head, wide and darting to the side, head following a few moments later.

The satyr, for his part, didn’t look too bothered either way, even with the massive box labeled SHARP ITEMS in messy sharpie scrawled over the side in his arms. 

“Speaking of perfect timing,” the satyr continued, nodding his head forward, “Chiron wants you.”

Will looked over Nico's head, who fully turned. Sure enough, off on the hill, by the Big House, was Chiron, waving a hand in their direction.

He was silhouetted, the sun nearly completely down behind him. No clue as to what his expression looked like, which could be slightly dangerous.

“Uh, thanks.” Will mumbled, clearing his throat and ignoring Nico giving him a very unimpressed stare.

The satyr just nodded, and if it weren’t for his mouth twitching like he was trying not to smile as he was turning away, Will would’ve believed he couldn’t care less about the two of them.

He was beginning to suspect the staff at Camp Half-Blood thought mortal demigods were much more entertaining than was strictly necessary. 

“Nice lookout duty, Solace.” Nico drawled, already making the trek up to meet Chiron.

“I wasn’t looking that far ahead!” Will protested, hurrying to fall into step, and maybe walk a little faster than needed. 

“It truly is a miracle you’ve done anything subtly.”

“It’s not exactly a specialty of Apollo kids, y’know.” Will puffed, rolling his eyes and jogging the last few meters up the hill. Nico, pointedly, did not do that.

“How’s everything look down there, boys?” Chiron asked, smiling warmly down, even though Will could easily see the stress of nonstop work wrinkling at his eyes.

“Good enough,” Will shrugged, aware of Nico arriving only by a darkish mass sliding into his peripheral vision.

“Suppose that’s the best we can have.” Chiron sighed, weary, and Will tried not to snicker. “It’s truly astounding how much work there still needs to be done last-minute when we’ve had only two campers.”

“I tried to curb him.” Nico pointed a thumb in Will’s direction. “He’s just a mess, that one.”

Will rolled his eyes, shoving at Nico’s arm. Nico only snorted, lightly shoving him right back.

“Certainly,” Chiron hummed, amused. “If I am not interrupting anything, then, I would like to speak with you two before our campers arrive.”

“I’ve already recruited him to be part of the welcoming committee.” Will slung an arm around Nico’s shoulders, tugging him closer and causing him to stumble. “He’ll be the friendliest face for, oh, ten minutes? Best I can do is twelve.” He squinted off, as though lost in thought.

“A rib is about to get real friendly with your throat.” Nico muffled, partially smooshed against his chest, not even trying to push him off.

“Make that nine minutes.” Will corrected.

Chiron chuckled, but even Will could tell it was a tad…strained. Not quite the stress-kind of stained, which was already making him a bit worried. He thought he did a pretty good job of not showing it, loosening his grip on Nico so he could stand normally.

He was sure Nico noticed, if only from how rigid he became under his arm.

“Yes, well, I had meant to talk with you boys before we were so limited on time, but…” Chiron paused, here, and Will tried very hard to not grip onto Nico’s opposite sleeve before he continued, “have you two decided how you’ll handle your story?”

Will blinked. He glanced at Nico out of the corner of his eye, who looked equally confused.

“Our story?” Will tried hesitantly.

“Tartarus,” Chiron said gravely, and Will slumped his shoulders. Some of it was relief because, well, this he could handle.

“Well, that depends on how many people have already heard through the grapevine.” Will shrugged.

“I’m sure some have already caught wind,” Nico brushed it off, “Percy’s not known to keep his mouth shut, and Piper very easily could have told anyone else.”

“Except for Hazel, for some reason.” Will added. “You’re sure you haven’t gotten any angry letters or missed Iris messages?”

“If I did, she would’ve stormed over herself.” Nico glanced at him for barely a second. “If she knew, we would be well aware of it.”

“I only want to be on the same page as you both,” Chiron interrupted, “because I know very well campers will still have questions, and some might not have heard at all.”

“Then we tell them.” Nico shrugged, a casualness that was only moderately forced, Will knew. “We went to Tartarus, had an awful week, and got Bob back.”

“We’ve talked about it a few times.” Will assured. “I mean, I really don’t see us sharing every detail—”

“Gods no,” Nico huffed quietly.

“—but we don’t mind telling it.” He finished, giving a little squeeze to Nico’s shoulders. “The first few times, at least. After a while, they can just pick up the story from someone else.”

“This is how rumors start.” Nico sighed, tipping his head back slightly to stare up at the stars blinking into existence. “They might be amusing ones.”

“The Hermes kids will have a blast, I’m sure.” Will agreed with a chuckle. 

“Very well, very well.” Chiron nodded slowly, seeming more at ease, muscles less tense. “Would you care for us to correct any confusion we may hear?”

“Eh, I mean, unless it’s harmful, I don’t really care?” Will said bluntly. “Nico?”

“So long as no one gets wrong ideas, they can think what they want.” Nico said simply. “We went to Tartarus, and if they can’t figure out any more details, they’ll fill in the blanks themselves.”

“If you’re both sure.” Chiron nodded, paused, then, “and the, um, cacodemons?”

“Cocoa Puffs.” Nico corrected, mostly on an impulse.

“Oh, don’t tell anyone about those.” Will talked over him, grinning. “Nico’s orders.”

“It’ll be the campers welcome-back gift.” Nico said with a mischievous smile, full of teeth. Will failed miserably to never be fascinated how those teeth were just a bit abnormally sharp. “A Cocoa Puff hiding under their bunk.”

“...I see.” Chiron said slowly, and Will thought he looked like he was considering all of his choices that led up to him standing here today. “And…if the campers retaliate on impulse to the sight of one of these demons…?”

“They always come back.” Nico said easily.

“As we have eventually learned.” Will added on. “Do you think they regenerate in Tartarus, or another one just kinda…peels out from the dark, blobby mold? I never actually got that clarified.”

“Don’t care enough to check.” Nico didn’t look at him, and Will just snickered. 

“Right, then,” Chiron said, still slowly. “Well, if there is to be anything else you would like to establish…?”

“Give us a heads up if a furious Camp Jupiter kid comes storming over.” Will said, leaning a bit of his weight on Nico. “Nico can’t really be saved, but I’ll have a chance at a getaway.”

“I will drag you back by the ankles.” Nico warned, giving a glare that wasn’t at all genuine. 

“You and what muscle?”

“Then I wish you boys a safe night.” Chiron talked over whatever rebuke Nico had. “It will likely be the quietest you’ll have for a long time.”

“Here’s to hoping.” Will gave a mock salute, already stepping back, to which Nico followed instead of letting his arm slip free. “See you at the welcoming party!” He called over his shoulder, turning right back around.

“Goodnight, Will. Nico.”

“Chiron.” Nico gave a half-hearted wave behind him, already making a beeline for his cabin faster than Will was walking, and his arm did fall from around his shoulders then.

“Have you prepared the Puffs for summer, actually?” Will wondered aloud, keeping his stroll casual as Nico kept pausing and looking back, very clearly silently urging Will to walk faster, please.

“They know new people will be arriving, and to not attack first. Unless it’ll be funny.” Nico’s mouth twitched at a smile for a moment. “I may have encouraged them to hide until a camper finds them.”

“You’re devious.” Will chuckled, casting his eyes up towards the night sky, to the moon rising in the far distance. He still got all shivery during the night, as though seeing a goddess staring back at him from her millions of stars.

But, if she was, Will found he didn’t care so much anymore. He’d damn well light-blast her again.

“I’m a son of Hades.” Nico said, shoving open his cabin door. “Move before I get some common sense back.”

“Oh, no, the horror,” Will drawled, leaning back to check the ridge where Chiron last was.

Nada, not hide nor hair that looked even remotely equine. Most of the staff was further off, or turning in for the night and deciding what they’d put together was good enough, but there were certainly witnesses.

Also, he hadn’t seen Mr. D since that morning with a concerning amount of soda. He was, apparently, mourning his last ‘semi-free’ day of work before summer kicked up.

“Will.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Will chuckled, giving one last glance before darting in through the door, moving to the side the second he was in. Just in case.

“And you call me paranoid.” Nico huffed, rolling his eyes and lazily pushing the door shut, plunging them both in darkness.

“I’d like to not get caught and kicked out of my boyfriend's cabin the day before campers show up, Gods forbid if any of them are my siblings.” Will said, shaking his hand out a bit and watching as he started glowing ever-so-faintly on instinct. Neither of them had really gotten used to total pitch-blackness again. Not that it was quite as dark as that, but a little glow wouldn’t hurt.

“The horror.” Nico repeated mockingly, and Will could see the faint outlines of his face under the warm glow (and he was never even close to poetic, his siblings had always been much better at it, but he really did think there were two sides to Nico when under a warm yellow or cold blue light. Like two sides of a coin, so clearly a different appearance, and impossible to choose which one could be best).

“Would you like to have that be the first thing Hazel hears about?” Will puffed, and Nico was already turning right around and off towards his bed.

“I’d survive.” Nico said uncaringly, pitching face-forward to fall across his bed.

“Right, of course, my mistake,” Will rolled his eyes, “when compared to Tartarus, sneaking around with a boyfriend is a walk in the park.”

“She likes you, anyway.” Nico muffled into the bed, which mostly came out as grunts, and Will had to translate what he thought he heard.

“Yeah, and my siblings like you.” Will reminded, moving over and sitting, like a normal person, at Nico’s side. “This still won’t stop them from never letting me hear the end of it.”

“Austin and Kayla like me.” Nico corrected, raising a hand as though making a valid point.

“The most, maybe,” Will shrugged, kicking off his shoes, “but if I have a sibling who just doesn’t like you, I’ve yet to hear about it.”

“You’re oblivious sometimes.” Nico hummed, turning his head to the side and looking up at him.

“They like you.” Will assured, turning to the side. “Now scootch. Unless you wanna be crushed.”

“You do that anyway.” Nico grumbled, though he did sit up so Will could fall across his bed the normal way, head just short of hitting one of the pillows. 

“Yeah, but it’s not the fun kind of being crushed.” Will said simply. “We should really just get you a weighted blanket. I promise you, you’ll like one.”

“Don’t need it.” Nico grunted, shucking off his coat and debating for a moment before just tossing it over the headboard of his bed. “You work just fine.”

“That’s very sweet, and I’m very touched,” Will said, silently hoping Nico wouldn’t notice his glow kicking up a few notches at his words, “but you’re about to lose this living weighted blanket come tomorrow.”

“You’ll find a way.” Nico said simply, pitching forward over the bed again, twisting at the last minute and almost landing vertically over the bed. He still missed slightly, and sort of half-fell over Will’s stomach.

“Ow,” Will grumbled, only momentarily having the air punched out of him, automatically curling up and getting an armful of Nico.

“Sorry,” Nico puffed into his shoulder when he adjusted himself there.

“No, you’re not.” Will muttered, obediently shifting until his back was pressed against the wall, and Nico was trying to bury himself under the covers.

“Poor you,” Nico snarked, lightly swatting Will’s arm until he moved up so Nico could pull the blankets back and scurry under it. Will just pulled it over himself like, you know, a normal person.

“You might also want to invest in a night light.” Will looked around the room, and didn’t dare glance down at Nico popping his head back out of the blankets when he said; “that is not me.”

“You’re the best night light, though.” Nico teased, pulling at Will’s shirt like he was trying to claw it off him as he smooshed closer.

“Again, very sweet, but I can’t do this every night.” Will chuckled, turning on his side and partially raising an arm for Nico to crawl himself under, face pressed so firmly against Will’s neck he might as well have been trying to melt into it.

“Figure it out.” Nico puffed, and Will shivered a bit at how he could feel each little movement of Nico’s mouth and every breath of air. He wondered how likely he was to be kicked if he suggested Nico was just waiting for a chance to suck his blood.

“I’m getting you one of the twenty-pound blankets.” Will decided, waiting until Nico had tangled their legs together in what was decidedly the perfect amount, in Nico’s odd little brain. “And it’s gonna have skulls on it.”

“Creative,” Nico muttered, finally stilling.

“I could just find the brightest, sunniest one instead.” Will raised a brow, leaning slightly forward, so he was partially pressing his weight against Nico’s front. He really wasn’t sure how Nico breathed like that, but he liked this setup best. “Even easier to pretend it's me.”

“It wouldn’t be.” Nico said simply, even more muffled, tilting his head slightly so he was nearly speaking directly into Will’s ear, arm wrapped up and over his back. “Don’t care how heavy that thing is, I’m not gonna believe it’s a person.”

“Well,” Will drawled, “there’s these life-sized dolls, but they’re kind of meant for another pur—”

He got a kick to the shin for that. Er, an attempt at one. Nico had tangled their legs so tightly together that it really just jostled them all around.

“I could also choke you with skeletons,” Nico offered semi-sleepily, “there’s always that.”

“You’re very picky, do you know this?” Will teased, resting his chin on Nico’s head, the arm pinned under their bodies eventually making it up to tangle in hair at the nape of his neck. “You’re spoiled, that’s what you are. You’re barely gonna last the week.”

“Says you,” Nico muttered.

“Well, I am a healer.” Will grinned. “And relapses aren’t very fun—”

“Just shut up and be dead weight.”

“That’s more you, Nico.” Will tried very hard not to glow brighter when he could feel Nico’s small smile against his neck.

“Hush.”

“I am, I am.” Will hummed, relenting and settling down, snuggling closer, if that was really possible.

He dimmed his glow, to a degree it was nearly gone entirely. It was usually fine when he let his glowing drop, he usually fell asleep before Nico, anyway, but he didn’t mind keeping it up until he was forced to let it go.

It was always deathly silent in the Hades cabin, joke intended. Even when it was only Will in the Apollo cabin, it was quiet, not silent. There was something outside, or the shifting of old wood together, or some creature skittering across the roof. 

But the Hades cabin? Noise left it, but it hardly ever came in unless someone was screaming rather dramatically. He thought the place was soundproofed to the outside for a long while.

It was nice, though. Meant there was only his and Nico’s breathing, and that was lulling in its own sense.

“I’m not sure…” Came a quiet murmur, and Will was forced to blink his eyes back open, staring at the opposite wall. 

He didn’t make a sound, knowing by now it might result in Nico instinctively not finishing his thought. Sometimes it didn’t happen anyway, either because he knew Will was still awake, or he couldn’t even say it out loud to someone fully unconscious. This, he learned, wasn’t quite Nico closing himself up like a clam, but more so unsure if it was words he meant, or how he wanted to say them. Most of the time. 

As it turns out, learning to open up was still an effort, as much as he knew Nico kept trying.

“If…” Nico started again, after what felt like a long few minutes of silence, “I’ll know…how to live in a camp full of people again.”

“You’ve done it before.” Will murmured, so sleepy it came out more like a jumble of words overlapping each other, but he hoped Nico understood the sentiment regardless.

“It’s been a while.” Nico mumbled, turning his head to the side, head pressed right up under Will’s chin. “I’m not…I’ve never…” A puff of breath, “been in a full camp when…I’m trying to be different.” He finished, sounding like he was struggling to find the right words. “I haven’t—”

“Been like this before?” Will finished with a guess.

“Yeah,” Nico clung tighter, “dunno how the whole changed thing is gonna… work.”

Because it was less familiar. A Nico who held everything close to his chest knew how to navigate camp, and quickly fell apart if that expectation wasn’t met. A Nico with a fresh scar, a boyfriend who was struggling alongside him, and a bunch of trauma cacodemons running around was very, very different.

“We’ll figure it out.” Will promised, echoing Nico’s taunts earlier, curling his fingers in Nico’s hair and tilting his head slightly to press his lips against the crown of it. “I’ll be here, and we’ll learn together.”

He expected Nico to snort that he was being all sappy again. Say anything else, really, even if it wasn’t his usual joking.

No sound came from either of them for the rest of the night. Will’s only condolence was that Nico kept breathing, and he didn’t curl any closer, nor push away. 

Which wasn’t really that much of a condolence. Will wasn’t exactly sure what to think when given no reaction, but…for tonight, he could leave it be.

They had a long summer to rest up for.

#pjo #percy jackson #the sun and the star #tsats #solangelo #will solace #nico di angelo #pjo chiron #camp half blood #writing #fanfic #summer #healing #innuedno #but just a lil bit #dorks

[hearteyes-for-killmonger]

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas countdown to Christmas Day. We've 11 days left!!

Twas the Night

Summary: Chiron stays up with his child on Christmas Eve.

Tags: Chiron x Kevin, dads

Three Christmases had passed since Chiron and Kevin adopted Lil Blue, the blessing that brought so much light and joy into Chiron's life.

The very moment the birth mother laid the tiny baby in Chiron's strong arms was like a dream. He looked up at her nervous in his spirit, as if she'd change her mind, see the perfect small soul that he saw and take him back, but when she didn't.. his eyes began to water in gratitude and after ten minutes of staring at the newborn, it hit him.. this was his baby. He wiped the tears from his cheeks with his forearm, looking up at Kevin for the first time.

Kevin had been through this with the birth of his biological children, he understood the exact feeling floating like a large butterfly inside Chiron and he gave a gentle smile.

Having his own child to love and who would love him scared Chiron. He didn't know the first thing about being a father, but he knew there was a lot of love in his heart.. and he remembered what it was like when he found Blue and Teresa.

He felt safe, welcomed, loved, and warm. These were the feelings he wanted to pass down to Lil Blue.. Which is why he was brimming with anxious excitement for the first Christmas that Lil Blue would truly experience and possibly remember.

For the first year, Santa was a big topic. All December, Kevin and Chiron circulated Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, and all the old cartoons. They drank cocoa with marshmallows and whipped cream. They decorated a tall green tree from Walmart with muliticolored bulbs, and lights, raising Lil Blue high in the air to put the angel on top. She would pray over the house as they slept, Kevin told Lil Blue.

The night before Christmas came, Kevin baked gingerbread and shortbread cookies. Lil Blue was his kitchen helper, messily decorating the cookies and eating the frosting. He was covered in it from head to toe with cookie crumbs on his lip and Kevin could only laugh.

"For Santa papa."

"Yeah, let's save some for Santa," Kevin cleaned the crumbs and icing from Lil Blue's face. "How many cookies should we leave him?"

With wet fingers, Lil Blue arranged a few on a dish, spilling milk all over the table as he poured a cold glass for Santa.

"Let’s put some away for daddy," Kevin said putting away the rest of the cookies. Chiron wasn't a fan of sweets, but he'd eat them if Kevin or Lil Blue gave them to him. "Let's get cleaned up," Kevin whispered holding Lil Blue's head affectionately. "Then you can go tell daddy goodnight."

After a bath, that's exactly what their son did. He found Chiron in bed resting and woke him up to hug him. "Goodnight daddy!"

Kevin laughed silently as Chiron eyed him, but it was their plan. He knew Chiron would regret sleeping through it. It the best idea that they'd been keeping a secret. He settled in bed and watched Chiron get up to tuck Lil Blue into his own bed.

"Twas the night before Christmas.. and all through the house.. not a creature was staring.. not even a mouse," he read aloud watching Lil Blue get sleepier, his little lids heavy. It was cute and when he got a little older he'd appreciate the stories. "Hey.." whispered very quietly. "Do you wanna wait up for Santa?" It was a definite yes as he expected. "Yeah?"

Lil Blue grinned, still sleepy but climbing out of bed in excitement. He wanted to hear more about Santa's reindeer.

Chiron felt like a kid again, just as excited.

"I met Santa," he smiled watching the awe in his son's eyes. "We had a conversation about Rudolph.. Do you know what he told me? He said when Rudolph flies you can see the red light from his nose through your window."

Immediately a red light shined from outside into the window and Lil Blue lost his toddler mind in pure excitement, staring out the window at the sky as Chiron watched with a deep fuzzy warmness in his chest. He knew it was Kevin outside but to their child it was the magic of Christmas.

"Shh," Chiron whispered quickly catching Lil Blue's eager attention. "He's here. He can't know you're up or you won't get any presents.. We can sneak a peak at him but you have to be very, very quiet.."

It was the best Lil Blue had ever listened. He was quiet as a mouse, grinning and staring around the corner from his floor position as Kevin walked through the apartment in a full Santa suit and beard. He ate the cookies, drank the milk, and played it up. And when he looked back, Lil Blue hid.

Chiron put him back in bed and tucked him in.

"Goodnight," he kissed him on the forehead. "Go to sleep because when you wake up.. it'll be Christmas."

Merry Early Christmas

@dashhoney25 @lettidarawest @soufcakmistress @ljstraightnochaser @princessstevens @eye-raq @thiccdaddy-mbaku @destinio1 @iamrheaspeaks @hidden-treasures21 @bidibidibombaclaat @forbeautyandlife @blowmymbackout @misspooh @thotyana-in-this-hoe @purplehairgawdess @thegucciwaffle @goddessofthundathighs @nobodybaby93 @theegoldenchild @thadelightfulone @sultanabby @mysticalblackhottie @baekhyunbabybunni @fd-writes @richonne4life @tgigoldie @thehomierobbstark @capswife @blackpinup22 @harleycativy @lishabaybee @playgurlxoxo

#original #trevante rhodes fanfiction #moonlight chiron #moonlight #chiron #chiron fanfic #moonlight fanfiction #chiron x kevin

[miraclesnail]

A thousand ways to tell the Stoll brothers apart and I can name you one part 44.

#apollo (percy jackson) #connor stoll #the hidden oracle #trials of apollo #fanfiction #ao3 #my wriitng #sherman yang #nico di angelo #will solace #malcolm pace #chiron (percy jackson) #sometimes i remember i created my tumblr to post my fanfic

[littlesilentrebel]

it’s been nearly 2 thousand years since Percy Jackson has died. poseidon has not been seen much after his favorite sons death.

it’s raining and a new camper is being chased by a monster. they get to thalias tree and rip off one of its branches. the child uses it to kill the monster, just before passing out. their father got kidnapped by a god that needs their help. poseidon does not like this parallel

the first person they talk to is chiron, trainer of heroes.

“so what’re saying is that im the child of a god?”

“yes young man, that is correct.” chiron responded while giving the tour to the boy.

“so then it’s my mother that a goddess, correct? do you know who?” he asked as he turned to face the centaur.

“im sorry, but i do not know who your mother is. she could be a minor sea god…” chiron said as he subtly looked towards cabin 3, the poseidon cabin. the cabin that hasn’t been touched in 2 thousand years.

“oh.. well why do you think it’s a sea god? is it because i like water? is it because i kicked the monsters ass while it was pouring??” the boy said as he mimicked punching movements.

“yes, that is why i think that…” chiron said as he continued moving.

the centaur and the boy continued on the tour for a few more minutes before chiron suddenly said, “you remind me of someone.”

this caught the boys attention and he turned to five chiron, “hmm? who do i remind you of?? were they a child of a sea god??” the kid was jumping on their toes and gasped at something they had thought of, “did they come to camp the same way i did???”

chiron turned to look away from the boy, he had dark brown hair, with one sea green eye and on sea blue eye. he had never tried so hard not to cry in his life, he hated how much this 12 year old reminded him of him. he knew if he said this out loud poseidon would not be happy, so he said it wasn’t too important but that, ‘yes you two did come here the same way’ and finished the tour.

—————————a few hours later —————————

“dionysus, they’re so similar it hurts.” chiron said as he sat down across from the god. dionysus no longer worked at the camp, but he had grown fond of it and decided to pop it to help and chat every now and then.

“yea, i know. and if they are a child of a sea god- any sea god, im not too excited to see what barnacle beard would say about that.” the god said as he took a sip of alcohol, “anywho- do you know what the kids name is? cuz i know i sure don’t.”

chiron turned his attention from the ground next to him to the god in front of him, “im sure i had asked his name, but i don’t think i was listening. can’t seem to remember it.”

the two sat in comfortable silencing for a few seconds before they hear the new camper yell, “I GOT CLAIMED!”

chiron and dionysus went out to see who the boys mother was and say a holographic owl above his head, athena, goddess of wisdom and strategic war.

“ah, good’ol war goddess, guess he’s not a sea spawn.” dionysus commented to the right of chiron as the centaur moved forward.

“hello young man, i have a short question for you,” chiron said, then proceeded when they boy said he could ‘ask away’, “what is your name again? many years working here makes it hard to keep track of all the names.

“fair enough for not remembering, i also have memory issues!” chiron laughed at that, “anyways my name is Percy Jackson!”

#percy jackson #percy jackson fanfiction #poseidon #son of poseidon #pjo fanfic #chiron #dionysus #chiron rn be like: oh #so THATS how he killed that monster #also the monster was not the minitour #percy jackson angst #pjo angst #percy-child of athena

[nepobabyeurydice]

Chapters: 1/10 Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians (TV 2023), Batman - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Alfred Pennyworth, Annabeth Chase & Damian Wayne, Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Stephanie Brown & Annabeth Chase, Luke Castellan & Annabeth Chase & Thalia Grace Characters: Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson), Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Thalia Grace (Percy Jackson), Zoë Nightshade (Percy Jackson), Grover Underwood, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon, Duke Thomas, Sally Jackson (Percy Jackson), Aubrey Chase, Tyson (Percy Jackson) Additional Tags: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Black Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson), Biological Parent Bruce Wayne, Angst and Humor, Book 2: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson), Book 3: The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson), Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson), Book 5: The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson), Annabeth Chase has Abandonment Issues (Percy Jackson), Gotham City is Terrible, Batfamily is a Mess (DCU), i'd tag the titans but there are so many of them Series: Part 2 of among the stars that have a different birth Summary:

5 times Annabeth returns to Wayne Manor + 5 times her friends and family do.

#the gray and beamless sky #among the stars that have a different birth #the flail of lashing hail #annabeth chase #batman #pjo x dc #my writing #fanfiction #fanfic #chiron #bruce wayne #tim drake #queue for the queue god

[ch4singchase]

THE BALLAD OF MOTHS | LUKE CASTELLAN

Summary: Eurydice Gaumont harbored a deep-seated resentment for death, a relentless force that had consistently stripped away everything dear to her—her father, friends, and most recently, her mother. It seemed an unyielding entity that only took and never gave, leaving behind an enduring void within her chest. Yet, amidst the perpetual loss, the only constant was her determination to press on.

Following her mother's demise, Eurydice found herself compelled to heed the persistent voice echoing within her mind. Guided by an internal compass, she embarked on a journey, driven by the desperate hope to discover a place where the isolation that clung to her would dissipate.

Now within the confines of Camp Half-Blood, Eurydice anticipated solace, a respite from the relentless grip of loneliness. However, to her dismay, the camp seemed to offer little reprieve, and if anything, the challenges intensified. Yet, amid the chaos and uncertainty, one silver lining emerged—Luke Castellan.

"When will you accept it?"

"What? Death?"

"No... Yourself."

chapters:

01 | The Day I Talked To A Moth (2.3K) | published Eurydice grapples with the recent death of her mother and the haunting memories of Viola's tragic passing. Viola's mother, Nicole, reveals a hidden world of mythical creatures and urges Eurydice to seek refuge at Camp Half-Blood.

02 | I Defend A Bunch Of Kids From A Giant Snake (4.9K) | published Eurydice Gaumont receives gifts from her father and one of these proves invaluable as her journey intersects with fellow demigods.

03 | Sometimes, People Are Just People (4.3K) | published The group of demigods face Thalia's injury, should they continue their journey or look for a way to remedy the girl's condition?

04 | 'Til The Road Begins… (2.3K) | published A god decides to visit Hades' palace.

you can also find this fic in ao3

#percy jackson fanfiction #pjo fanfic #pjo series #pjo tv show #dionysus pjo #chiron #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #annabeth chase #grover underwood #clarisse la rue #luke castellan #luke castellan x reader #original character #thalia grace