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#I was going to put Ares and Percy but I want to show who is the best
callme-l · 4 months
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People who haven't read the books don't know that they have just witnessed the birth of one of the biggest rivalries in the saga (Percy and Ares), second only to Zeus and taking care of his children
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surftrips · 3 months
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SHAPESHIFT | CLARISSE LA RUE
pairing: clarisse la rue x female!reader
summary: clarisse wonders if you know just how much she likes you.
word count: 2.1k
author's note: this is the first part of a two part series i'm writing based on jenna doe's songs: shapeshift + pink slips. this is from clarisse's pov and the second one is from readers' :) lmk if you want to be tagged in part 2 <3
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i. i think you have a type, and it's not me
Clarisse has been watching you from the second you arrived at camp. Since you spent every day doing more or less the same thing, she was able to pick up on your routine pretty fast. Two sugars in your coffee every morning. A walk around the lake in the afternoon. Archery practice before the sunset. 
She felt weird going to practices at the same time as you, but she couldn’t help herself. Whenever she got a chance to sneak away from her siblings in the Ares cabin, she always found herself back in your presence. However, the thought to approach you like a normal person had never crossed her mind. Clarisse is the kind of person that needs to be in control, and talking to you one-on-one would mean letting her inhibitions take over, so she always made sure to keep her distance. 
Once or twice, Clarisse had seen you on dates with another camper. At first, she thought you were just having a picnic with the girl from Aphrodite, until the two of you began holding hands. The next day, Clarisse saw you in the other girl’s sweater, which made her so sick she avoided you for an entire week.
The Aphrodite girl (her name, Clarisse later found out, was Stacy) began showing up with you more often. Stacy wore bows in her hair and pearl necklaces, whereas Clarisse’s mascara was always smudged and accessories that didn’t double as weapons felt wrong on her. For the first time, Clarisse wondered why she couldn’t just be like all the other girls. Or at least, a girl you would pay attention to. 
It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Clarisse tried to make her penchant for you as obvious as possible, while actively hiding it from the rest of camp. This proved to be difficult because at the same time, she also didn’t want to get too close to you because, well— what would she even say to you?
Her flirting consisted of winking at you during Capture the Flag or from across the dining hall. She had an ongoing list of nicknames of what to call you when no one else was around, but those moments were few and far between. Once, she even went as far as brushing away a stray piece of hair that had fallen on your face. There seemed to be nothing left for her to do except put bows in her hair or maybe paint her nails, and the thought of doing either of those things made her almost as sick as seeing you and Stacy together. 
Between her and the Aphrodite girl, she knew which girl you would choose. Had chosen. 
ii. mold me how you want me to be
Still, that was not going to stop Clarisse. She had never backed down from a fight before, and this was no different. Even if Stacy didn’t know it, she had become Clarisse’s number one enemy, even more so than that Percy Jackson kid that had recently shown up at camp. It just wasn’t fair that she had been watching you for so long and here comes Aphrodite’s daughter out of nowhere to sweep you off your feet. 
Since Clarisse knew your routine by heart, she devised a plan to get you alone. She decided that she would finally make a move, and then you could pick for yourself who you wanted to be with. Easy enough, right?
At night, Clarisse lay awake in bed thinking about you, Stacy, then you and Stacy together. Though she didn’t want to go there, her brain wondered what the two of you were doing at that very moment. Her thoughts ranged from tame, to slightly more unhinged. Like, were you lying underneath the stars on your picnic blanket? Or was Stacy doing your makeup as she straddled your lap?
Clarisse didn’t pray often, but ever since she met you, she had taken to silently wishing you would acknowledge her. Each time she saw you with your arms wrapped around Stacy, she yearned to know what that would feel like. Not that she thought you would come near her with a ten-foot pole. Stacy is sweet, like bubblegum or strawberries from the fields, and Clarisse is the opposite. If you tasted her, she might make your gums bleed.
Before you, she was never the kind of girl to care about her appearance. Gods, she was the daughter of Ares, they weren’t known for their beauty but their strength and power and when it came to those categories, Clarisse knew that she had Stacy beat. 
And yet, Clarisse would change just about anything about herself if it would make you like her more. In your hands, she would turn into putty, moldable clay to take the shape of your ideal lover. Hell, she would change her name if she thought you didn’t like the sound of it.
iii. kill anyone if you ask me to 
A few weeks later, the Ares cabin and yours happened to be on the same team for Capture the Flag. It was the closest Clarisse had been to you ever since you began dating Stacy. The proximity to you was killing her, but she had to stay focused—on winning the game and your heart.
Putting aside her wandering thoughts, Clarisse barked out instructions to the campers. When she got to your cabin, she assigned you and your half-siblings to be the second line of defense for the flag. Clarisse figured this way, she could keep you out of harm’s way. Also, this was her one chance to talk to you without Stacy hanging off your body and she wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass. 
After the first conch blew, Clarisse went on high-alert mode. Her team had lost the last game to Luke and Annabeth’s team, but she was not going to accept defeat this time. Her eyes darted back and forth between blind spots in the forest and you and the flag. 
As she absent-mindedly waved her new spear around, Clarisse heard soft footsteps behind her. She whipped her head around with her weapon aimed in the air, preparing to fight whoever had approached her. 
“Shit, Y/N, you scared me.” It was just you. Wait– it was you.
“I’m sorry, didn’t mean to,” you responded, your hands in front of you.
Clarisse almost couldn’t believe her eyes. Did someone poison her earlier and she was hallucinating right now? Okay, keep it cool.
“Is something wrong?” Clarisse managed to ask after composing herself, realizing that you had moved away from your post. 
“Uh, no. I- um… heard about what happened to your spear last week, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” you smiled nervously. 
“Why?”
“Why…. am I sorry?”
Clarisse wanted to slap her hand across her forehead. Why did she say that? She meant to ask why are you talking to me right now? What did I do to deserve this? But she didn’t know how to word that in a way that wouldn't make you think she was crazy. 
When she didn’t respond, you began backing away. “Look, I’m sorry if this is a sensitive topic. I just felt bad, is all.”
“No!” Clarisse began panicking. “I didn’t mean it like that- just, why are you talking to me now? We’ve never had a real conversation before.” 
“Does it matter?” She expected you to be confused, but the look at your face seemed more amused than anything. 
“No, I guess not,” Clarisse couldn’t help but smile. Gods, why was she so awkward? Anyone else, she would’ve been perfectly fine, but in the last few minutes, her mouth had gone dry and her legs felt as though they would give out at any second.
“Great,” you beamed in return. Clarisse’s eyes catch yours and the two of you stare at each other in content for a minute. Or at least, you are. Clarisse is convinced an Aphrodite kid has changed her pupils to hearts. “I haven’t seen you around lately,” you broke the silence. 
“What do you mean? I’m always around,” Clarisse stammered for an excuse. 
“Well, sure. It’s a small camp.” You seemed to be enjoying seeing Clarisse fumble for words. “But I used to see you all the time. At breakfast and archery.” 
Clarisse ignored the implications of your comment. “Oh, I guess we just started going at different times then. You know you’re always with Stacy now—” 
At the mention of your girlfriend’s name, your face contorted into something strange and unfamiliar to Clarisse. But before she could figure it out, a noise behind you caused the two of you to turn around abruptly. 
“Y/N, watch out!” Clarisse shouted at you, but it was too late. Someone had dragged you backwards, knocking your weapon out of your hand. You struggled to free yourself, but whoever was holding you had revealed a dagger and you didn’t want to risk accidentally cutting yourself. 
“If you know what’s best for yourself, let her go.” Clarisse breathed furiously, pausing between the last three words in her sentence. You couldn’t see who was restraining you, but you could feel their heart rate quicken at the sight of Clarisse’s spear getting dangerously close. 
“And what if I don’t?” they responded. You knew that they were just putting on a front, you could feel their chest heaving up and down on your back. Clarisse seemed to know this too, she’s always been able to sense fear in people— mostly because she is the one that invokes it. 
“I don’t think you want to find out,” she grinned, a wicked smile on her face. The next second, her spear had jabbed into the camper’s side, causing them to let go of their hold on you. You dropped to the ground. 
“Shit!” the camper swore, rubbing their ribcage. “You’re not supposed to actually hurt me!” You could see their face now, one of Hermes' kids you’ve seen hanging around Luke. 
“Now, what’s the fun in that?” Clarisse laughed. “Besides, the spearhead is blunt. You’ll be fine, drama queen.” 
The kid scrambled away, leaving behind the dagger they had previously threatened you with. Clarisse ran over, instinctively putting her hands on your face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.” You began to stand up, but Clarisse pushed you back down. 
“Clar, come on, I’m fine.” 
“Are you sure? Let me just get a look at you,” she insisted, ignoring the way your nickname for her made something in her stomach flip over. You relented, knowing it was useless to argue with her. You allow her to scan your body for any signs of harm. Clarisse took her time, unsure of when the next time she would be this close to you again. Most of your body was covered by your armor or clothes, so her eyes drifted toward your exposed arms and the area where the kid had touched you. 
Hesitantly, she reached for the side of your stomach. “Are you sore? Did they leave a mark?” 
“No, I don’t think so,” you shook your head, lifting up the hem of your shirt to see. You heard Clarisse’s breath hitch. “What? What’s wrong?” You were fully sat up now. 
“N-nothing!” Color rushed into Clarisse’s cheeks, causing her to turn her head away suddenly. 
You giggled, her reaction not going unnoticed. “Thanks for saving me, tough girl.” 
“Of course.” Clarisse pulled you up on your feet. “Anything for you, pretty girl.” The words slipped out of her mouth before she could register it. The two of you stared at each other again, it seemed as though eye contact was your main form of communication at the moment. And right now, Clarisse’s eyes were sparkling with something familiar, almost like how Stacy looks at you—
“Oh my god, babe! Are you okay?” Speaking of the devil, Clarisse rolled her eyes at the sight of your girlfriend running up. 
“Stacy! How’d you know something was wrong?” You were pulled into a stifling hug, the air thick with floral perfume. 
“Silly girl, I am the daughter of Aphrodite. I have a heightened sense for these things,” Stacy pulled her arms away and gave you a once-over, presumably to check for injuries, before smothering you with kisses. 
Clarisse coughed, once, and then again a little louder. “Oh!” Stacy turned toward her. “Clarisse, I didn’t see you there.” 
“I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for her,” you said, sensing Clarisse’s uneasiness. 
Now, Stacy’s face contorted into something strange. Shamelessly, Clarisse took pride in being the cause of it. 
“Well, thank you,” she responded tersely. “Come on, let’s get one of the Apollo kids to look at you.” Stacy pushed you away before you could protest. You offered Clarisse a weak smile before turning around. 
Clarisse sighed, maybe if she had been a daughter of Aphrodite, she could shapeshift into someone you walked away with— not from.
That night, she prayed to Ares for the first time in months.
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connabeth · 3 months
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i’ve said it so many times but i will NEVER be normal about annabeth untying her camp necklace and putting it around percy’s neck before his fight with ares as a token of good luck in the books. in the season finale, she does it before he marches up to olympus to face zeus because he’s “tired of running from monsters” (and i could write a whole essay about him equating the gods with monsters and the percy/luke parallels the show draws) but the sentiment still rings the same because the way she’s gifting him a tangible representation of everything that’s ever meant anything to her—luke, thalia, and the home she found at camp half blood, as well as the lingering hope that her father loves her and wants her to the same extent she wants a present father—means so much to me!! like, “here is everything i’ve ever cared about and i want you to take it and wear my love for my home and family, which you are now a part of, around your neck as a shield to protect you from those who are trying to take you away from me” i’m going to SOB…tell me she’s not a softie i fucking dare you
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korizzybee · 3 months
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Clarisse’s younger sister has feelings for Percy Jackson
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Pairing: Percy Jackson x black!fem!reader (romantic), Clarisse La Rue x black!fem!reader (platonic)
Synopsis: the new boy, Percy Jackson, shows up to camp, Clarisse’s younger sister Y/N falls for him.
Warnings: Y/N & Clarisse have different godly parents, Clarisse grabs Percy Jackson, Y/N is daughter of Apollo
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I feel bad for the newbies that come to Camp Half Blood, my big sister, Clarisse, always feels the need to ‘break them in’ as she says. So when she told me she was going to be doing the same to the new boy, Percy, I felt bad for him.
Imagine my surprise when I saw her and her half-siblings storming out of the bathrooms, soaked. I looked to find the cause of her state walking out just a few minutes after her. I stared at him and he stared at me.
“You’re Percy Jackson, the boy who killed the Minotaur, correct?” I asked him, unlike Clarisse I wasn’t that skeptical to not believe him. Sometimes things just happen and you get that adrenaline rush.
“Uh..yea, I am.” He said, he seemed cautious of me. “Aren’t you Clarisse’s younger sister?” He asked me.
I stepped closer to him and held out my hand, I noticed the boy was slightly shorter than me. “Y/N La Rue, daughter of Apollo, best bow user at camp. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.” I said with a confident smile.
“Percy.” He said, shaking my hand and letting it go. For a boy, he had really soft hands. “Percy, did you somehow do that to Clarisse?” I asked. “I mean if you did, I don’t hate you for it or anything. It’s finally time someone here stood up to her, someone who isn’t Luke.”
“I don’t really know how to explain it..” he said to me, looking down at his hands. “Honestly, I’m not even sure I understand how it happened.”
I hummed and looked at the sky for second before looking back at him. “Well it was nice meeting you, Percy. Let’s chat again sometime, okay? Okay.” I said, not giving him the chance to respond as I walked back to my cabin.
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The next day was capture the flag, and as usual, the Apollo kids were on the red team with the Ares kids. Mainly due to the fact Clarisse didn’t want to hurt me since I’m her younger sister.
After the conch blew, the red team let out a war cry. I didn’t of course, I didn’t want to accidentally scream too loud and bust everyone’s ear drums.
I looked at the other side of the stream where I locked eyes with Percy, I smirked and sent him a wink before walking away with the rest of my team. Clarisse was barking orders and I could tell she had a plan up her sleeve, must’ve had something to do with last night.
She turned to me, “you already know what to do, lil’ sis.” She said, ruffling my hair with a smug smile. I put on my helmet then ran into the part of the woods where Clarisse would hunt.
My job was to stay in the trees and shoot down anyone who just so happened to stumble in there. If I was captured, use my sonic scream to let them know where I am and to distract my enemies.
I climbed up high in one tree, part of me couldn’t stop hoping I would see Percy though. In my honest opinion I thought he was kinda cute.
Over the last ten or fifteen minutes I was able to take down ten campers from the blue team. What I love about my cabin being on the red team is that, that means the blue team barely has any campers that are good with bows.
They have the Hermes cabin, of course, but most Hermes kids prefer swords. I could clanking and other noises out in the distance, one distinctive voice I could make out clearly was Clarisse’s.
I like watching her fight so I climbed down from the tree and ran to the direction of the noise. I could see the lakeshore, once I got there, Clarisse let out the most shrilling scream I had ever heard.
A scream of pure anger, and the expression she wore on her face was murderous. Her spear. Her spear was broken. The only thing she felt was the closest she could get to having some sort of connection with Ares, now it was broken.
My eyes flickered over to Percy, I felt my heart beat speed up. I couldn’t tell if it was because I saw him, or because Clarisse stormed over to him and lifted him off the ground slightly by his armor.
Before I could go and stop her, the horn blew and the blue team ran down to the shore carrying our flag. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding when Clarisse dropped him.
She stormed passed me, nearly bumping me in the shoulder. Percy and I locked eyes, I wanted to talk to him and ask him what happened. I wanted to also congratulate him on his first win, but I knew I needed to talk with Clarisse. So, instead, I just gave him a small smile and walked off.
Maybe tomorrow I could get the chance to meet up and talk with him.
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ace-spades-1 · 2 months
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Matchmaker
Pairing: Clarisse La Rue x fem!reader and a bit of Faith x Elijah
Summary: Faith is tired of watching Y/N and Clarisse fall in love with each other because she knows they will never act on it. It’s time to take action and with the help of some friends.
a/n: This is kind of a part two of the Orange Peel Theory but it can be read as a stand alone. Sorry for any grammar errors or if any parts start getting confusing. I wrote a few of these in the middle of the night. I’m so happy with how it turned out. I hope you guys like it too.
Word count: 2.3k
—----
Y/N stood up from the arts and crafts benches and ran to Clarisse, who was trying to murder a dummy. Swinging and stabbing the dummy as if it were a monster or Percy himself. Her stabbing stopped at the sight of Y/N walking up beside her, palm open proudly showing her the beaded bracelet she had made.
Faith watched at the arts and crafts benches as the two conversed with one another before Y/N wrapped the bracelet around Clarisse’s wrist, thanked her and left. Leaving Clarisse standing on the training grounds looking longingly at the bracelet displayed on her wrist. Faith groaned and abruptly stood up from her spot on the bench startling the Athena boy beside her.
“Okay, that’s it! We need to do something about those two!”
The Athena boy looked at her confused, he looked towards the training grounds where Clarisse had started to attack the dummy once again except this time it was thought there was something on her mind.
“Do what? About who?”
Faith gave the boy an exhausted look pulling him up off his seat and making him stand next to her.
“Clarisse and my sister. They’ve been dancing around each other for months and have done nothing!”
Faith looked as though she was ready to start pulling her hair out.
“My sister! The daughter of Aphrodite is afraid of flirting! Can you believe it?!”
“You were afraid of even approaching me when you first saw me because you were so in love. If I remember correctly you had one of your sisters approach me first, princess.”
The girl looked at the boy, face flushed remembering the moment.
“That’s different, Elijah!”
She took a breath to calm down, face still flushed as she looked back at Clarisse,
“Besides, this isn’t about me. This is about my sister and Clarisse. I know exactly what to do. We’ll need some help.”
“Oh boy.”
Faith grabbed Elijah’s hand pulling him towards the big house. Inside, the eldest son of Dionysus kneeled in front of his father begging him to conjure up a Red Bull. At least one just to get him through the day. The door hitting the wall made his begging stop, his attention turned towards the two figures standing in the doorway.
“ISAAC—”
Faith looked at the boy on the ground kneeling at his father her face filled with confusion and shock,
“What are you doing?”
Isaac stood up from the ground, dusting off his pants.
“I just want a Red Bull, okay?! These kids are going to drive me crazy! What do you want?”
“I’m sick and tired of watching Y/N and Clarisse do nothing but give each other longing glances and mild flirting. I have a plan on how we can get them together! We need all the help we can get.”
Isaac’s eyes widened at the mention of Y/N. After growing up together Isaac grew protective of her, never letting any boys near her. Even after arriving at camp he still makes sure no boy gets even ten feet from her, especially the Ares children. More specifically the daughter of Ares. He knew of the affection growing between the two and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Woah! Slow down, cupid wannabe! I don’t want my best friend to end up with the camp bully!”
“You don’t want her to end up with anybody!” Elijah quickly butted in,
“Shut it, Einstein! I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
“Come on, Isaac! Don’t you want her to be happy?! We both know that Clarisse will protect her with her life.”
Isaac let out a frustrated sigh running his hand through his already messy hair.
“Fine! But if she so much as lay a hand on her I will put a curse on her!”
Faith quickly nodded in agreement before grabbing his hand and pulling him and Elijah out of the big house, barely squeezing through the door and running towards the Ares cabin. Once again Faith kicked the door open making the door hit the wall. The children inside startled, pointed their spears toward the door ready to attack.
Only to be met with a panting girl, her hands still clutching the two boys’ hands who were now on the ground.
“Where’s Cealton!”
The kids pointed at a sleeping kid in the corner of the room. A leg hanging off the bed and drooling at the corner of his mouth. Faith let go of the two boys' hands and walked to the sleeping boy. She looked down at him for a moment before throwing him off the bed, making him hit his face on the floor.
Cealton looked at the girl above him rubbing his nose,
“What was that for?”
Faith leaned down,
“I have a plan to get our sister’s together.”
—---
The four of them sat together at the Dionysus table. Cealton now had a bandage over his nose as he ate his lunch, Isaac happily drinking his Red Bull, and Elijah looking at Faith as she paced.
“I need them to confess to each ther in the next 3 days and I know exactly how. First…”
“ Wednesday: We need to show Y/N that Clarisse does like her.”
—-
Clarisse walked towards the archery field, spear in hand. One of her brothers had asked her if she could help him with a bow and arrow as he had trouble with it. She scoffed at the request, annoyed that her brother had bothered her during her rest but agreed anyway. The scowl on her face faded as quickly as it came at the sight of Y/N in the archery field attempting to shoot an arrow. Her brows furrowed, frustrated all of her arrows had either been too far or short.
“Hey Y/N.”
Y/N looked up from her bow, smiling at Clarisse as she approached.
“Clarisse, what are you doing here?”
“My brother asked me to help him with the bow and arrow. How about you?”
Y/N sighed frustrated looking back at her bow.
“Also practicing. I want to get better. I want to do more than just sit around and do nothing during capture the flag. I want to help out, y’know.”
“I can help you if you want. Here let’s start with your stance.”
Y/N let out a shaky breath as Clarisse stood behind her letting her hand guide her. She took a deep breath as she pulled back the string of her bow, her heart beating faster as Clarrise rested a hand on her waist. She ignored the hand and tried to focus on aiming her bow towards the target. After a moment she let go.
Y/N let out a breath, her hand clutching her bow tightly, her eyes wide at the arrow that pierced the center of the target.
“Nice job, gorgeous.” Clarisse whispered in Y/N’s ear.
Y/N looked back at Clarisse, their nose touching. Just as they leaned in…
“Y/N! Could I get some help?”
The two quickly pulled away from each other turning towards an upcoming camper. Their voice is toned out as Y/N tries to calm her beating heart once again their reasoning of interrupting blurred. The camper suddenly started to pull Y/N away making her give Clarisse a rushed thank you before disappearing.
The matchmakers watched the scene unfold from the bushes. Isaac being held back by Cealton as Faith barely held in a shriek of delight watching the two girls nearly kiss.
“I just wanted them to talk for a bit but that works!”
“I guess we can move on to step two?”
—---
“Thursday: Second step. Clarisse should ask Y/N out”
“Tell me again why Clarisse needs to give Y/N something?”
“My sister has always been the one to give her something. It’s time for her to return the gesture.”
“Uh huh, and why am I the one doing it with her? Why not you or Isaac or Cealton”
“Because I want to talk to my sister, Isaac is busy taking over his dad’s job, again, and Cealton is busy teaching little kids how to use a sword. Now go.”
Elijah sighed and cautiously approached Clarisse. After some convincing and a mention of Y/N’s name once or twice Clarisse agreed to make flower crowns with the little kids as Y/N and Faith walked by the shore lines of the beach.
“So are you planning on doing anything tomorrow, Faith?”
“I was planning on having a midnight picnic with Elijah by Thalia’s tree. How about you? Finally going to confess to Clarisse?”
Y/N smiled and imagined herself and Clarisse walking by the shore, hands intertwined. Just the thought of Clarisse made her heart soar. She couldn’t imagine a world without her. She’d go through tartarus and back just for her.
“I think I will. I suppose it is time to finally tell her how I feel.”
“Yay! I’ll help you prepare a speech.”
Y/N laughed at her sister’s excitment. Just then Elijah and Clarisse emerged from the trees (why did they go through the woods? idk) each having a flower crown in hand. Elijah excitedly showed Faith the one he had made, happily putting it on her head. As Clarisse gave Y/N her the two stepped out to the side having their own little conversation.
—----
“Friday: Confession time.”
Y/N had said yes to going on a date with Clarisse and Faith was determined to make everything perfect for their confession. First it started with Cealton giving his sister flowers to give to Y/N, then Isaac, somehow, convinced Chiron and Dionysus to excused Clarisse and Y/N from any activities for today, Elijah and Faith had set up a little picnic for the two by the beach, and time finally came for them to confess to one another.
The two girls were walking by the shore, hands intertwined as the sun set on the horizon. Once again the matchmakers were in the bushes spying on the two,
“Okay it’s sunset. Y/N said she’ll confess to Clarisse when the sun sets. Why isn’t she confessing?!”
“Princess, calm down. Let her take her time, she’s probably still nervous.”
The two girls stopped and stared at each other, a small breeze hitting them. Clarisse took off her jacket and wrapped it around Y/N’s shoulders as she hugged herself shivering from the small breeze. The two looked at each other’s eyes, Y/N’s hands resting on Clarisse’s chest as the other wrapped her arms around Y/N’s waist keeping her close. The two stood there in silence, wishing for the moment to last forever.
“Clarisse, I—”
*SPLASH*
The two were suddenly soaking wet from getting hit by water. They looked to the docks not too far away, to see Percy, Grover, and Annabeth looking back at the two girls in horror. Percy started to run for his life as Clarisse chased after him with her spear yelling profanities and words that would make even Hades blush. Grover, Annabeth, and Y/N running closely behind the two trying to stop the girl from maiming the poor boy.
—---
Faith let out an exhausted groan as she sat on one of the benches outside the Ares cabin with the three boys surrounding her. After successfully calming Clarisse down they led the two soaking girls back to Aphrodite cabin to get cleaned up. Apparently Percy had been practicing his powers when he started to lose control and unfortunately Clarisse and Y/N just so happened to be there at the wrong time.
“All I wanted to do was to make them confess to one another. It’s clear as day that they are meant for each other. Was that so much to ask?”
Elijah’s brows furrowed seeing his princess saddened. He quickly hugged her close to his chest, resting his chin on top of her head rubbing her back in comfort.
“I know how hard you worked to get them to confess. There’s always next time, princess.”
“Yea, and next time we’ll make sure they aren’t interrupted.”
“Yea, but for now let’s focus on you two’s little picnic tonight!”
Faith smiled remembering the little picnic they had planned at midnight. She sighed pushing the thought of the failed attempt of a confession. They were right, there was always next time.
—----
In the Aphrodite cabin Y/N leaned against the door frame as she watched her sister and her boyfriend sit side by side on the benches smiling. Clarisse walked up behind her wrapping an arm around her waist and resting her chin on her shoulder.
“I almost feel bad. Do you think we should just tell them we’ve been together for nearly a year and a half now?”
“Nah, it’s much more fun seeing them try to get us together. Let’s keep them guessing, gorgeous”
Y/N giggled as Clarisse pulled her back inside, closing the door as she did so. She pinned Y/N against the door kissing her.
I guess they plan on keeping it a secret for another year.
—----
Thank you for reading!
a/n: Wooo! Finally done!
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I think the biggest difference for me between projects (like to be clear I think NATLA is not good as an adaptation or a show, and I think the PJO tv show works as an adaptation and a show) is something that feels so basic, but shocked me when it clicked, which is that
NATLA has no actual visual storytelling going on
Which sounds ridiculous, but let me explain what I mean. "Visual storytelling" is how you communicate aspects of character or relationship through visual framing, parallels, that kind of thing, usually to indicate progression or a character's viewpoint. Many people have noticed that NATLA's cinematography leaves much to be desired, there are some shots that are good particularly in episode 6 (the Zuko transition shots between past and present, and one of the ending shots between him and Aang) but that's by and large the exception.
What I mean when I say "visual storytelling" is that NATLA doesn't have visual motifs. It doesn't really have parallels happening that much in the text or in the visuals. And this is something that ATLA did really, really well, all the time, particularly with Zuko's scar. Just take this framing of Zuko and Aang, in particular, from The Storm and The Blue Spirit.
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They even have consistent colour tones of Aang having a warmer, lighter yellow (Air Nomad) and Zuko having a darker, deeper red (Fire Nation).
And this is something I think Percy Jackson does pretty well. They have consistent motifs / descriptions if it were, particularly when it comes to Percy and Annabeth's relationship and her character.
Percy: [Choosing Annabeth] And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed, you want someone who won't hesitate when they do it.
Percy: [literally pushes her down the stairs but to save her life]
Ares: You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. [...] Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. Annabeth: This isn't the Arch, Seaweed Brain. You're not pushing me into the stairwell aagain. Percy: Yes I am! [...] It's why you're here. When I was choosing my team, I told Chiron I needed someone who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice me if the quest required it. He agreed. That was you. [...] You're better at this than me. You just are.
Annabeth: [Refusing to get back in Athena's good graces] It isn't how it should be! It isn't. Eat or be eaten [referencing the Kronos story Ares said earlier]. Power and glory and nothing else matters. Ares is that way. Zeus is that way. My mother is that way. He isn't that way. He's better than that. Maybe I was that way once. But I don't wanna be that way anymore. I won't be like all of you. I just won't.
But we also see this visually.
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And to be clear I think it's well done, I'm not saying this kind of thing is a Masterpiece™ but what I am saying is that if you do these things, it's a great way to convey information to your audience visually and a sense of progress both in individual characterization and relationship development. And it just makes sense to lean on things visually if you're a visual medium, because prose can't do framing like this to the same degree.
And NATLA just... never does it. There's almost no real parallels, there's very little framing happening, and the even more intense overload of exposition does not help matters in this way either. The original series had a lot of parallels steadily built up (i.e. Aang's presence in the SWT and Sokka's plotline in Jet -- hell, even some of the lines he gets at Roku's Fire Sage temple -- were to show how Sokka was moving away from a more xenophobic worldview even if it was still a work in progress). There were also more overt ones, such as Sokka dressing himself for battle versus Zuko having guards/servants do it for him, but both ultimately tether the two together into having to put on a performance of confidence, manhood, and war more so than being the children they actually are.
And NATLA just has... no real visual parallels. The closest we get is the parallels between Sokka-Yue, Tui and La, and Kataang in the finale, but that's about it.
There's not a lot of scenes where a character is presented the chance to make a similar choice only to then make a different one. Even Aang wanting to go to the NWT to make a difference is muted because he never actually ran away in the first place; when you rip away character flaws or mistakes, you also gut their room for growth. When you strip away visual storytelling, it means that what you see on screen is a 1:1 of exactly what you're getting, and that is just a lot more Boring to watch as well as gutting your chances to show more character exposition. And it's just - it's just not good
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greenconverses · 3 months
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Richard saying, "we're going to end up in the same place, it doesn't matter how we get there" pissed me off so much ISN'T "HOW WE GET THERE" THE ENTIRE POINT OF STORIES?! ISN'T THAT WHY THE ENTIRE DAMN BOOK EXISTS?!
So, shocker, I have Thoughts about this post of his. My knee jerk reaction when I saw it last night was an eye roll and an urge to rant, which I kept contained because I'd already ranted and we gotta space that stuff out from time-to-time.
And now that I have had a full night's sleep and I am slightly less cranky, I'm gonna have to go on record and... DEFEND part of his logic, gasp.
For those not in the know, RR wrotes this reply to question on Threads (lol) a few days ago about changes to the plot in the sixth episode that apparently bugged a lot of people:
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And like, I'm deeply annoyed about the "it won't change anything" bit because OH MY GOD STORYTELLING which is a whole other thing but I do have something to say about the man's logic and the difference in the show premise vs the books that I think is flying over a lot of people's heads.
The plot of the show is Percy saving Sally and doing a quest along the way. Sally and Percy's relationship is the A plot, the mythology and conflict among the gods is the B plot. Percy knows from 1x02 that his mom is alive and that changes his priorities immediately; we see him start to care about the overall quest and his place in the world in 1x05, but he's still pushing forward because of his mom. You have to add another pearl to pay off that A storyline, to promise audience members that Percy is going to succeed until he doesn't.
Percy in the books has a feeling his mom is alive or that he can get her back from the Underworld, but doesn't know for sure. The quest and the setting up the overall Big Three backstory is the main plot of the books and what we the readers are focused on. I wouldn't even put saving Sally as a B or C plot in the original TLT. Percy doesn't get confirmation that she's alive until they're down in the Underworld and Hades reveals he took her for leverage, so then only having three pearls becomes a brief but important conflict.
This is where we're seeing a lot of the issues with the show's plot come to a head. It's fine to change the priority of the story from returning the bolt to saving Sally, because it delivers the same result in the end anyway, like Rick says. But you have to bulk up other parts of the script in a way to make up for it and the show has not delivered on that part. (See exhibit A: my rant about any lack of mystery with the monsters.)
I think the most egregious change that he says doesn't matter is the trio missing the deadline. In the books, we're told that natural disasters and weird things have been happening since the bolt disappeared as Zeus and Poseidon fought, and stuff was getting worse the closer the deadline came. We are briefly shown this in 1x05 with Ares and in 1x06 with Luke saying things are "bad" at camp, but imo, it doesn't feel super heavy. The consequences of missing the deadline is that gods go to war and bad shit happens! Lots of mortals are gonna die! Doesn't that matter?
The show could've stepped outside of the Percy and Sally storyline for little bit to give more of a perspective about what was happening at camp or the outside world to bring that weight - you're not limited to just Percy's POV storyline in the medium of a TV show! (Of course, we can step outside of it to give a LMM cameo/stinger because priorities but I digress.)
They didn't and I'm not sure how they're going to "solve" Zeus's response to Percy missing the deadline 'cause like... this is the unreasonable king of the gods that Rick has started yet another series based on the premise of him being a petty bitch who wants to ruin Percy's life. Is the guy gonna walk back starting a war? Is he waiting to start because Poseidon asked nicely? What's the consequence to the world going to be? Clearly nothing, since Rick said the story is going to end how it was always going to end, which is just poor storytelling.
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pandagalo · 3 months
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[PJO SERIES EPISODE 1x08 COMMENT]
What an amazing episode!!
Starting from the RECAP: Poseidon speech as we relive Percy's quest is amazing, not just a montage of what has happened, but actually video editing to tie all together!
Annabeth confused about Kronos, great continuity.
THEY ARE IN MONTAUK. Poseidon is right by his side in the exact place where he met Sally! I know it was for time and budget, but it's a change that I personally L O V E.
WAIT, YOU PUT PERCY'S TRAINING WITH LUKE THERE? AND YOU MIRROR THEM AS IF YOU PUT THE TWO SHOTS TOGETHER THEY ARE POINTING SWORDS AT EACH OTHER. WHAT?!
Fight with Ares check: Percy easily overpowered, he finally has confidence in his powers and distract Ares as he hurts him. Of course Ares thinks Percy is going for the head. Ares thinks everyone in battle wants to kill the other, Percy used his brain and went for the ankle.
GOLDEN ICORE.
ANNABETH'S NECKLACE.
Now to Zeus. That sequence is absolute PERFECTION. We saw kids acting most of the time, now we got two adults that just DELIVER with their perfomance. Zeus is scary, has authority, HE IS A GOD. Poseidon portrayal is such a loving father, such powerful emotions and acting. They killed the scene, I couldn't stop smiling from how good it was.
"DO YOU EVER DREAM ABOUT MOM?"
Now to the Luke scene. Percy figured it out, but this time it was too late. He was already alone with Luke in the forest and was recalling the prophecy. The scene is masterfully portrayed, Luke tries to recruit Percy, only for him to have developed trust in his father, which push him to try and change Luke's plans. But when he mention Hermes, the fight starts.
PERCY APOLOGIZES WHEN HE HURTS HIM. He wasn't being serious, he probably thought it was like sword practice, but this time he didn't have a wooden sword. It's only when Luke hurts him that he understands how grave is the situation.
AND ANNABETH SHOWS UP. Because she had the same thoughts as Percy. She emphasized that they needed CONCRETE PROOF. Something wasn't quite right. She actually followed them with the cap. And when Luke harmed Percy, she understood that they weren't getting their friend back. And Luke couldn't bear her seeing him like that, and he escaped.
MR. D WHAT A SWEETIE PIE YOU ARE.
Gabe wasn't portrayed as abusive and bad as the book, if it was Sally to petrify him it wouldn't have sound right. BUT TO POSEIDON TO DO IT? To send back the Medusa's head, knowing Gabe would have opened their mail? To Poseidon to actually save Sally? (Friendly prophecy reminder: "You will not save what matters the most" in the book is about Percy letting Sally use the Medusa's head on Gabe, it isn't Percy who saves his mother, but herself)
GROVER GOT HIS LICENSE. Well, it's not actually that they never checked the sea, it's just no one ever returned. But probably no one knows it.
In the end, loved the episode and the show. Episodes 7 & 8 REALLY sold it to me. In my opinion, it went from a 7 to an 8/8.5 just because of the last two episodes. I'm really excited about Sea of Monsters, I don't think they will have any problem with the green light for Season 2, as the show is a success and it deserves it.
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happyk44 · 7 months
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i started writing this in my drafts weeks ago but didn't continue much farther than the first sentence - probably put it down to do something else and then passed out lmao. anyway after scrolling past last night wanted to continue it but can't be effed to scroll through my drafts rn (i save everything to my drafts to tag and queue later and my drafts ar like over 250+ rn)
anyway percy who becomes obsessed with finding this grim reaper he saw the night his mom killed his step-dad. he was an abusive asshole and percy helped his mom stage the scene to look like someone gabe owed money to came knocking. they don't have much in terms of expensive shit - just the TV and playstation. it's an old old model that one of percy's classmates was going to throw out as he wasn't into the games he had with it anymore and was getting the latest version for christmas.
it was nice that he gave it to percy with only a fraction of the cost in hand and a promise to give him the rest over time. percy paid him off every monday. it took sally weeks to pay it off, percy chipping in by donating cans and glass bottles he found lying around. the games were old and a little childish, but it was the only entertainment percy had aside from sally's old and crappy laptop that gabe hogged with online poker games.
so it sucked to watch sally dump it into an empty trash bag. it's small, she'd said. the tv would be too big to carry out without causing suspicion, even in mind-your-business new york city, but the playstation, her shitty laptop, and gabe's cell and wallet were things that could be dumped into a bag with no one giving a second look. percy crawls out the fire-escape grateful their shitty apartment building doesn't have cameras. he has to use a couple boxes to really rise himself enough to stuff the bag under the other bags. sally walks out the front door and they go have a late dinner at a nearby cafe.
then go home an hour later and scream in surprise at gabe's dead body in the bedroom, still warm from the heater in the corner boiling up the room that sally promptly unplugs.
percy doesn't think much about WHY his mom was so specific about how to clean his blood off the kitchen floor, about how to stage the scene, about moving gabe's body into the bedroom, about pulling him like he had been then letting him fall flat. heating up the room to keep him warm and fresh, while keeping the window cracked open so the heat doesn't stay by the time the police arrive.
he writes it away as her being a reader, a writer. maybe murder mysteries had been on her mind lately. maybe she watched too many cop shows. maybe she'd thought about this so many times she perfected it. his mom was not a repeat killer. gabe was her first time. her only time. and it was fine.
he sucked.
it's sitting in the chair, feigning distress but not too much, talking to a cop about the scene while he stares off into the air when he sees him. the boy is young, dark-haired and pale-skinned. he's startled by the presence, cutting off in his explanation about how people often came banging on the door for money gabe owed them. how he kept his poker winnings in the now open and empty safe in the bedroom. he wants to draw attention to the boy, but no one else seems to notice him.
he watches idly as gabe is carried out the front door in a body bag. then disappears towards the bedroom.
percy stands and mutters something about wanting to see his mom. the cop guides him to where she's sat on the bed crying thick tears. the boy is there. no one else cares that he's there. the boy reaches out and gabe's body shimmers into view. he's a visage of how he'd looked right before he died - the wide-eyed shock, tensing of his shoulders, mouth open wide because he'd been shouting at percy, threatening him.
he didn't realize how much like his mom he was until gabe fell flat with a knife sticking out of his throat. his mom standing behind him breathing hard. she'd squatted beside his head, pulled out the knife. stared at it. then stabbed stabbed stabbed until gabe's chokes turned to wispy gasps and his wispy gasps disappeared.
"four stab marks," his mom had said. "hopefully that won't look like overkill. but make sure to mention how many times people came screaming at the door just in case."
gabe's white glowing form dissipates into a ball in the boy's hands. he pulls out a baggie from his shoulder bag, then dumps gabe into it with a grimace.
he does suck, percy thinks. be annoyed.
the boy steps away. his eyes catch percy's. percy's arm tightens around his mom's shoulders as he looks into the endless void that is the other boy's eyes. flashes of his own death catch his mind. lying flat on the ground, weakly asking for help, and a dark-skinned man with black angel wings standing above him whispering, i'm sorry, but it's time to go.
then the boy looks away and disappears into a shadow.
grover believes him when he tells him about it. that's the thing percy loves about grover. the mystical and paranormal are easily believed. grover's parents are hippie-like green witches. percy doesn't really get it but has surmised from grover and visiting their house it means they really, really like plants.
"grim reaper," grover calls him. "or a psychopomp. collectors of the dead."
he lists a bunch of names from various cultures until percy cuts him off. "are any young boys?"
grover shrugs. "i mean life is bigger than what the stories tell. there's more people, more humanity. atheists even. where do they go? who collects them? there's definitely more gods and spirits than we think these days. it's not like they all stopped fucking just because the stories ended. there are definitely more gods than we think."
percy doesn't know what to do with that. grover asks him a lot of questions about the boy. but it's hard to answer them. they can't find a culture he could belong to, a way to summon someone without a name. the kid was young, dressed normal in black clothes with a normal black messenger bag. there were no signs of culture, religion, belonging.
he could've blended into a primary school playground easily.
"maybe you need to kill someone," annabeth suggests. the conversation arises a year or so after they first met and befriended her - a new addition halfway through the school year, a few months after gabe's unfortunate death. following a CPS check, her biological mother decided to take charge of her. annabeth spent a lot of time grumbling about her family in california while also missing california ("it's familiar, new york is not, i don't miss my step-mom, i miss the comfort of routine") and bitching about her bio mom's obsession with her grades and extracurriculars.
it takes some campaigning but the three of them manage to create an afterschool club in the new school year for her to find some time to chill and relax and get school work done. it took a lot longer to convince her mom to let her join their "magics and mystics club" - some nonsense about how it'll make her stand-out in college applications.
percy highly doubts any college is looking too closely at middle school extracurriculars, but what does he know? he's either lasting until graduation with grover and annabeth, or getting his GED and dropping out to immediately book it to the first basic entry-level job he can find. school already sucks ass, but his barely medicated ADHD and severely dyslexic ass already twaddles the line of a C average. What's the use of hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that's only growing frantically from interest and a degree he barely achieved with the lowest grades required to shake the hand of someone he's never interacted with?
annabeth spends most of her time in the club doing her homework, while percy gets reeducated on grover's witchy stuff. their club advisor is the drama teacher who only checked in at the beginning of that first meeting then dipped for the drama club. grover's putting together a presentation on the history of mysticism while percy glues pictures to poster board. annabeth will present their stuff. the three of them doubt anyone will care if they did anything productive with their club, but annabeth's mom will so they do their best to make it fancy as fuck.
she already doesn't like either of them.
in the spare times that annabeth isn't doing homework or studying for another class, they talk about the spiritual and paranormal, magic and whatnot. so percy mentions his experience with the reaper.
and annabeth's first suggestion is murder. it's hilarious. grover knows the truth but annabeth only knows the lie. percy makes a note of it in his head. maybe he'll hint around the truth. they're close, but there's still time needed between the two of them. the worst she's told him is about the spiders in her bedroom. but nothing about what kickstarted a CPS investigation and her subsequent arrival into his life.
"maybe he's a murder reaper," she says. she's intellectual, doesn't believe in the mystic magic stuff but tolerates it for grover. "so he only comes around when there's been a murder."
"i don't think reapers are split up by types of death," grover argues. "and even if they were, why would a little kid be sent to deal with murders?"
annabeth crosses her arms. "maybe he's not a kid. maybe he just chooses to look like that."
they get into a weird half-argument, half-civil discussion. to her credit, annabeth doesn't bring science into it. they both descend to the computers and the books grover brought in from his house to search through to prove whatever point they've landed on.
percy is too busy cutting out paper to glue to poster board. and thinking about the murder aspect. he doubts that murder matters. he's pretty sure grover's right, but he likes keeping his balls so he doesn't say. annabeth is probably right too. magical beings are always capable of changing form. maybe little kid is just easy. who would be afraid of going somewhere with a little kid. or a dog.
but death is needed to see the reaper again. percy doesn't live with anyone dying. and he's too young to volunteer at the hospital. besides death is random isn't it? everyone was convinced that their classmate who got diagnosed with stage four cancer was going to die but she returned a year and a half later missing a leg but recovering. and the gym teacher who ran marathons and was known for his obsessively healthy eating habits died of a heart attack over the summer.
and even if he hovered around people on the verge of death, it didn't mean he was going to be there when they died.
but murder? definitely. he'd be right there because it would be his fault.
at that, he dashes the thought away. murder is wrong. he can't kill people just to see a reaper he saw but never spoke to. it's not like he has any questions about his death. he'll die when he dies. dying isn't scary to him. what's scary is dying before his mom and leaving her childless and mourning. but death itself? he's unafraid.
but inside burns a deep need to see the reaper again. not even to talk to him. just to lay his eyes on that night sky hair and porcelain skin. then he'd be satisfied and the need would go away.
maybe.
probably.
hopefully.
it's on his sixteenth birthday that he sees another reaper. it's not the boy he's looking for. he's disappointed. he shouldn't be. he should be more concerned with the dead man lying in front of him.
the letter opener is sticking out just below luke's left armpit. it hadn't killed him. it was too delicate for that, and the spot wasn't vital enough. but it had shocked him enough for annabeth to shove him away in disgust. he fell back, tripping over annabeth's shoes, and smashed into the glass coffee table.
"shit," annabeth breathes. she doesn't notice the reaper - a slender arabic man appear from the darkness and pull luke's soul of his chest with thin hands. he pushes his hands together and the soul vanishes. then he turns into a dog, or... something like a dog, and disappears back into the shadows.
it's take a few minutes to figure out how to stage the scene. they get rid of the letter opener and shove a piece of broken glass into the spot. this time he doesn't escape through the window. just walks out of the room, calm and detached, and sits in his mom's car. when the police arrive, annabeth, crying thick tears, tells them that he had fallen over while she was getting her things ready after percy came to pick her up.
it's not technically a lie. the police wish him a happy birthday when he says he came by to pick annabeth up from her study session because they were going to do laser tag for his birthday that afternoon. when they don't arrest him in the weeks that follow, he relaxes. and considers his options. he googles arab dogs which is an odd search term but brings up jackals and anubis. cool, he thinks. he tells them both about it afterwards. despite the death, grover is excited. annabeth is less impressed.
"i would've noticed, i was there too," she huffs.
"maybe they don't like you because you're a nonbeliever," grover fires back.
is percy a believer? he's not sure. he knows that what he sees is real. if he was suffering from delusions or hallucinations, surely he'd be seeing them a lot more than twice over the course of four years.
"what if i asked them?" he suggests. "to make themselves visible to you?"
"planning on being around another newly dead guy soon?" annabeth asks with a laugh. grover snorts. but percy remains silent and serious so their amusement shifts to concern
grover leans in close. "percy-"
"just bad people," he cuts in with a solemn whisper.
"you can't be judge, jury and executioner," annabeth hisses. "what you think is bad is not always universal? think about jim crow laws or slavery-"
"annabeth," he cuts in before she can go on an historical tangent. "i was hoping you'd help actually."
it doesn't take long for her to click together what he wants out of her. she glares at him. "percy," she snarls through clenched teeth. "i'm not swishing my ass to entice seedy men for you to murder so you can maybe have a hallucination to process death."
"okay, okay." conceding, he raises his hands. "it was dumb, i'm sorry. i just... really wanna see this kid again. sorry."
annabeth watches him carefully the rest of the day. grover doesn't. he knows what percy is, even if he doesn't agree. so it's not too surprising to start seeing grover scrolling through the newspaper on his phone. he startles every time percy spooks him when he's reading. then laughs it off, swats at percy, and keeps reading. it's the obituaries that percy sees the most, but sometimes articles about a death.
whatever he's looking for, some kind of proof it's percy, he must not find because he doesn't say anything. but it's grover, percy's soulmate. so he's sure the slow side-eye that he gets some mornings are a knowing side-eye.
percy doesn't look at the newspapers. if he's gonna get caught, he'd rather be surprised about it other than worrying and getting sloppy.
it's hard to find truly shitty people from first glance. he doesn't have the patience to observe. just slight insomnia that keeps him up until one in the morning prowling the streets. he hovers around in his old neighborhood, where the cameras are for show and shitty people live. it's still difficult. he doesn't want to go around hurting innocent people. less so because he cares, but more because it would disappoint grover and annabeth and his mom. he can't disappoint them.
he does see reapers, including the one who will one day take him, but never the boy. percy tries to envision him older, but even then none of them match. he does try to speak to them, but they ignore him. he wonders if it's some kind of weird curse. he can see them but they can't. sometimes the ignorance seems intentional, but he can't really tell so other than a few short sentences that always go ignored, he gives up and heads home.
some days he wakes up and is certain the police will come for him. but they never do and so he gives it a few days or a couple weeks and head back out again. they're opportunity kills. random and haphazard. he keeps mittens on, which looks normal in the fall and winter, but sketchy over the summer. to counteract his want to see that reaper, he signs up to be a counselor for a summer camp. grover joins him. annabeth is dragged off to university summer classes by her mom. her emails are miserable. percy wonders aloud to grover if annabeth would be happier if her mom was dead. grover eyes him flatly and says he doubts it.
percy gets assigned to the little kids who tell him all kinds of family secrets. some are funny. some are not.
it's not that hard to get into the camp's directory and write down in poor handwriting and with tons of struggle the names and addresses of these secrets. it's not a lot, which is great. but it's more than it should be and come summer's end, he has his start for the fall.
it's clear grover knows what percy's planning. he was there after all when a little secret got whispered too loudly. but all he says is, "sometimes kids get things wrong." the newspaper on his phone comes back into play after summer ends. but he still says nothing, even when glances at percy from the corner of his eyes.
it's two years of scattered kills before he sees him again. the kid is older now. he looks about fourteen, maybe fifteen. but percy knows it's him. he's the only one who makes eye contact. this time percy doesn't see his death. but he sees the endless void.
purgatory, he thinks, before he blurts out, "i've been looking for you." the teen tilts his head and smiles, small, gentle. the sight of it slams hard into percy's ribcage and sinks messy into his heart. "what's your name?"
"what's yours?" the teen fires back, turning away from percy and collecting the pulsing orb into a little baggie like before. his voice is enchanting, smooth and crystalline. there's an edge of an italian accent in it.
"percy," he says without hesitation. "jackon. percy jackson." he shakes his head. "perseus, actually, but everyone calls me percy."
the teen laughs gently. the sound is haunting. somewhere in percy's subconscious he knows the sound should scare him. but instead he just craves it more. "well, perseus jackson, my name is nico."
nico, percy thinks. in his head, the name is surrounded by hearts like a schoolgirl writing out the name of their crush in a movie. "that's really pretty," he says aloud. mentally he slaps himself. that's really pretty? that's stupid.
but nico just laughs again. "thank you." he steps over the dead body and touches percy's face. "perseus was a quite the soul when he was collected." his fingertip ghosts down percy's cheek, leaving light phantom tingles behind. "will you be?"
then he dissipates into shadows, leaving percy with a heavy craving for his ghostly touch and hauntingly enchanted voice.
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plentyoffandoms · 1 month
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Main Masterlist ♡ Percy Jackson Masterlist
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Just like all my other stories, this has not been proofread, but please enjoy.
Warnings: none
Gifs & photos do not belong to me. 1st gif @blueskiesandstarrynights
Requested by anonymous. Hope you like it.
WC 849
Growing up, my mother, Sally Jackson, always insisted on my twin brother, Percy, and I learning about the Greek gods and the stories of ancient great heroes.
I never knew why and would question her about it all the time.
"Why do we have to learn this?"
"Why does it matter?"
Why, why, why.
And all she said was that it would help us later on in life.
When I asked why to that, she just sighed and said it just will.
Then, my life seemed to completely change in the matter of minutes it felt like.
Demi-gods were real.
Our father was Poseidon, King of the Sea.
Percy and I are forbidden children. Not meant to be born, and because we were children of one of the big three, our lives seemed to be more at stake.
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Now, here Percy and I were, standing on Mount Olympus, staring angrily at our Uncle, Zeus.
Percy was trying to stop him from starting this war.
"I didn’t steal it. Neither did any of my friends. We found it. We got it back. We tried to get it to you on time, but…
"You failed." Zeus said to him.
But Percy was having none of this. "Yes. I did. But I had to come. I had to tell you who did steal it. It was Kronos. He’s behind all of it. He’s emerging from Tartarus or trying to. He’s gathering strength, and he’s coming for all of you."
Zeus turned away from the two of us. "You may go."
"But…" I tried to say, but Zeus quickly turned around.
"I know where Kronos is. I put him there." He sighs but continues, "I know who Kronos is. I am his son. Of course, he’s gathering strength. Of course, he’s coming. That is what we do. We snap and plot and strive. It was only a matter of time before he did again."
Zeus sighs once more. Boy, he sure does that a lot.
"Thank you for the news. It is the only reason I’m letting you two leave here alive. I have a war to prosecute now, so when I say, “You may go,” it means be grateful, and it means be gone."
I took a step forward.
"This war can not go on!"
"Girl!" Thunder and lighting appeared above us, letting me know I moat definitely stepped out of line.
"The war proceeds. And it ends with victory. You escape with your lives. That is your prize. What did you think that you two and I would negotiate?"
Percy stepped forward, "I thought you might listen. Kronos wants you to fight our father. He wants you both weakened."
"I will not be weakened by my brothers." I accidentally rolled my eyes at him, which Zeus noticed.
"Do not roll your eyes at me, you insolent little girl."
"You say you will not be weakened by your brothers, but I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you already are. Your family is a mess."
Thunder cracked once more.
"They don’t support you because they love you. They obey because they’re afraid. Ares, your son, he turned on you the moment someone stronger showed up." Percy told him. I was nodding my head in agreement.
"Do you really think he’ll be the last? How afraid of you do you think they’ll be when your dad shows up looking to put you back in your place?" I took it too far.
I could see the anger on Zeus face. I grabbed Percy's hand as Zeus raised his arm, ready to strike us with the lighting bolt. We looked away, ready for the two of us to be killed.
But it never came.
I looked over Percy's shoulder and saw our father standing there between us and his brother.
"I surrender."
"What?
"I surrender. Take your victory. Just spare my children."
Zeus scoffed at Poseidon. "Your forbidden children… who should have never been born."
"The same as your Thalia… whose bravery still inspires all demigods. My children are two of those heroes, and rhat have shown a measure of that bravery today."
The two of them got closer and started to talk to one another, What I can only assume is ancient Greek.
"I’ll have Athena set a meeting. The whole council. We’ll declare my swift and crushing victory… and then discuss… family business." Zeus said in English.
Our uncle turned and looked at us. "Make sure I never see these again."
"Like we would want to see you again." I said under my breath. Zeus went to speak, but my father said something to him in ancient Greek once more, and Zeus left us alone.
Now it was just Poseidon and us.
"Obedience doesn’t come naturally to you two, does it?"
"No...sir." Percy and I said.
"I must take some of the blame, I suppose. The sea does not like to be restrained." He said with a soft smile.
I looked at him and Percy, wishing our mother was here to see this family moment.
Maybe one day.
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demigodsanswer · 4 months
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I don't know how I feel about the overwhelming presence of the gods in the adaptation.
In the books (pretty much all of them), encounters with the gods and signs from the gods are pretty rare. You usually get 1-2 gods a book (save for scenes set on Olympus), and it's almost always because they need something from you. In The Lightning Thief, we only see Ares (who is going to double cross them) and Hades. We don't get a sense of who Athena really is or her role in Annabeth's life, nor do we really get that from Poseidon besides a few key moments like in the Mississippi River.
But now it just feels like we get so much information on the gods. People are constantly telling us things about Athena. Hermes is going to show up. Hephaestus showed up already. The gods feel overwhelmingly present.
And I think this might cause some problems because Luke's whole thing is that the gods literally do not care if their kids live or die. They are absent parents (the thing Percy tells us over and over again in the show). They are shockingly indifferent to the demigods unless they need something. But now the gods seem pretty accessible. Hephaestus just shows up and helps Annabeth. You can find Hermes in Vegas just hanging out. Luke, if you want to talk to your dad, just get on an airplane.
While you could argue that this just changes the kind of emotional pain the gods put demigods in -- they are around and available, they just choose not to make themselves accessible to their children -- we haven't seen them make that choices, besides Poseidon (who has his reasons). Like what do you mean you can just find Hermes at the Lotus Casino?
I'm enjoying the show overall, and I liked the Hephaestus scene for what it was, but I'm curious to see the impact this will have both on the rest of the season, as well as future seasons.
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that-one-scared-gay · 3 months
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friendly reminder that if they hadn't changed the crusty scene in the show they likely would've had to cut him out completely. like this is the second-to-last episode. they did NOT have time for the trio to fall into a monster trap before going to the underworld.
and the scene would've taken up a lot of time if they'd fully followed it, because in the book the sequence goes: trio gets to LA, get chased by some mortal assholes -> go into crusty's shop to hide -> crusty tries to sell them waterbeds, then traps Annabeth and Grover -> Percy tries to talk crusty out of stretching his friends, eventually tricks him into lying on a bed and activates the trap -> beheads the monster, sets his friends free -> they go to look for the entrance to the underworld
that would take TIME. even just the sequence of getting trapped would take time. this is unfortunately what happens when you try to put a 22 chapter book into an 8 episode season. and we all know that's not the writers' fault, it's disney's
they could have cut crusty out completely and just had them go straight to charon, but they probably wanted to tell the fans 'no we haven't forgotten this guy'
as for percy knowing who crusty is, 1. Hermes gave them instructions to get to the underworld. he could have easily told them who's guarding the entrance. and 2. the nereid Percy talked to in Santa Monica could have warned him as well, which would make sense since crusty is also a son of poseidon, so his servants probably know what he's up to
i also wish the show had more of them falling into traps, but i know it's because of time, and honestly i'd rather they cut on the action than the character beats, which i think they're doing a really good with and even adding more than what we see in the books
the vibe of the show, compared to the book, has been less "kids try to make it across the country while monsters try to kill them so the world doesn't end in an epic godly war" and more "kids try to navigate their fucked up family (which involves travelling across the country where monsters are trying to kill them, so their fucked up family doesn't go to war). the gods in the show seem a lot more approachable, and so a lot more accountable for being shitty parents. i'm having a good time watching it, i think most of the changes make sense (i LOVED the whole bit of grover being left with ares, it really showed that he's not actually 12), they're building a fun narrative where the gods are assholes but some of them are at least trying to be better (see hepheastus, hades offering percy sanctuary, poseidon coming when sally called and even giving percy 4 pearls instead of 3, which shows he actually thinks about her)
i understand being frustrated by the tension being repeatedly undercut by them knowing all the myths, but it's not enough to stop my enjoyment of the show for all else it has to offer. i do hope next season we get more time/episodes so this doesn't happen again, and even that the team in charge of the show sees the complaints being made and listens to them, but i'm still having a blast
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white-wolf-buckaroo · 2 months
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Chapter 3: We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium
Third chapter of my daughter of Ares fic! Back at age 12 here. I got a bit carried away with this... this episode of the show was actually really good so I wanted to make it justice. Hope you enjoy!
Word count: 12300 ish words (oops)
Warnings: none I can think of <3
Fic masterlist here!
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Emily threw her dagger against a panel of wood, angry. She retrieved it, walked back to where she had been sitting, and threw it again. Annabeth sat beside her on a fallen tree trunk, watching her let out her anger with the knife.
“You can’t be mad at me forever” she told Emily, arms crossed over her chest “I already told you that I’m sorry. And I told Chiron that you had nothing to do with it”
“Still he thinks that I helped you shove Percy in the lake. And that I let Clarisse almost kill him” she huffed, picking up her dagger again. She traced the Greek letters engraved in the metal with her fingers, trying to calm down “And I would have if you hadn’t stopped me!”
“He survived, that’s what matters. And thanks to all of what happened, he has been claimed. It’s a win-win situation, if you ask me”
“I don’t see where there is the win for me. Chiron has never been mad at me… well, except that one time I accidentally started a fire inside my cabin, but that was on accident! Now he probably thinks that I’m bullying Percy or something, and that I’m becoming just like Clarisse”
“He doesn’t think that”
“If he doesn’t why did he ask us last night to meet him first thing in the morning in the big house” Emily put the dagger back in its stealth, frowning “He’s going to make us clean the stables for a week or… clean the kitchens for the rest of the summer!”
“Chiron’s not going to do that”
“How do you know? He did punish the Stolls once making them repaint the whole outside of the Hephaestus cabin”
“After they covered it in bright pink paint at the beginning of the summer, that’s an important detail”
Emily was about to reply, but the door to the big house opened, revealing Chiron and Mr. D; they both walked out to the porch, Mr. D looking pretty displeased at having to be awake this early. He had a diet coke in his hand, taking regular sips from it so to not fall asleep.
“Annabeth, Emily” Chiron trot over to them, both girls standing up out of respect “Thank you for coming”
“Let’s make this quick, I want to go back to sleep” complained Mr. D, taking off his sunglasses. He sighted, signalling at the two kids “Annie bell, Ellie, did you two push the water boy into the lake?”
“I did it” spoke Annabeth, taking the lead before her friend could; she knew that Emily wasn’t pleased at her or her actions, but she would definitely take the blame on her as well if she let her, so that Annabeth wouldn’t be punished that much “Emily wanted to stop me, she has nothing to do with it”
“But me not stopping her makes me just as guilty” Annabeth looked at Emily sideways, doing a face of ‘what are you doing!’, although she couldn’t hold her back anymore “We’re both deeply sorry”
“It was me who did it, though”
“True, but I let you do it”
“It’s cute, your loyalty to one another” Mr. D took a sip from his diet coke, chuckling to himself “I guess as camp director I’m the one who has to set out the terms of your punishment… but you know what? What you did was hilarious. Do it again. That’s your punishment. Aye, let’s go back to bed”
“I’m afraid we still have other matters at hand, Mr. D” Chiron looked down at him, the god sighting again “The rest of the selected heroes will arrive soon to the pavilion. We have to go meet them”
“I hate this place… gods, I need a drink” mumbled Mr. D, shaking his head. He really only wanted to go back to bed “Just another terrible day at camp half-blood”
He walked away heading to the pavilion, leaving Annabeth and Emily alone with the centaur.
The fact that Mr. D had decided to not punish them was a relief, true, but who they were really scared of disappointing was Chiron: he had been practically raising them since they started living at camp, and the prospect of letting him down seemed terrible.
“What other heroes?” Annabeth frowned “What is happening, Chiron?”
“It’s about our newest camper, Percy. He’s inside the big house now… in the attic”
“He went to see the Oracle?” Emily piped up, her eyes widening “He’s going on a quest!”
No one ever left to go on a quest before visiting the Oracle and hearing what she had to say about it – a quest wasn’t a quest if she didn’t say so. Emily had never seen the old lady, but she had heard things from her about Luke, who had been on his own quest not so long ago: her form looked kind of like an old Halloween decoration, creepy and dusty, but her spirit residing inside was as wise as in ancient days.
“It’s happening, isn’t it?” both Emily and Chiron could sense Annabeth’s hope radiating off of her; she was convinced that this was going to be her chance “This is the quest you promised me”
“Percy will have to choose two fellow demigods to accompany him on his journey. If the fates think that this is your destiny, he will choose you” Chiron put a hand on her shoulder, smiling fondly at the girl “And I’m glad to say that if it’s the case, you are more than ready to embark on a journey like that. I know my opinion as camps’ activities director doesn’t count much… but I’m proud of you, dear Annabeth”
“Thank you, Chiron. It matters, really”
“Now go, girls. Mr. D will surely already be at the pavilion. Wait there for me an Percy to arrive, and we’ll start the selection ceremony”
“Wait, both of us?” confused, Emily raised her eyes up to meet Chiron’s “Me too?”
“You are one of camp’s most formidable warriors, Emily. Of course. I’ve selected the best of the best, and you couldn’t be missed among that group”
“But I haven’t been alone outside of camp in years. I wouldn’t know how to get anywhere, or move around, or help, or…”
“Those are fears you shouldn’t face until the right moment, Emily, not beforehand. If Percy chooses you to go with him, I’m sure you will be an excellent companion”
“You sure?” the centaur nodded “Thanks, Chiron” he had a soothing aura around him that always helped to calm her insecurities. He was the best “Hold on… Percy’s quest, what is it even about?”
“I’m afraid to tell you that… troubling times are ahead. Zeus’ master bolt has been stolen. If it isn’t returned before the summer solstice, in one week, there will be war”
“But what does Percy have to do with that?”
“Well, for starters, he is a forbidden child. Considering who his father is, and that he has been claimed just now, when the tension between Poseidon and Zeus is growing more and more every passing day… The suspicions about who is the thief fall all upon him”
“I thought he has only just found out that he is a half-blood. He can’t be the thief, it’s ridiculous”
“Until proven otherwise, he is the most probable candidate. That’s why he has to go retrieve the bolt, and return it to its rightful owner”
“But who could have the bolt? Who would be interested in a war?”
“Well, both our parents are the deities of war” Annabeth grimaced, shrugging “Although… If I had to pick between Ares and Athena, I think it would most probably be Ares. No offense”
“None taken. I… I don’t know, like… who knows what he’s up to” Emily huffed, playing with a rock on the floor tossing it around with her foot “And why a war between Zeus and Poseidon? I get it, they aren’t the best of friends… but they have other siblings who could have stolen the bolt”
“Hades” muttered Annabeth “He’s always been put behind his other siblings, and he’d be stronger than Zeus and Poseidon if he had the bolt”
“That’s true” Chiron seemed stressed, but he was good at not showing it. Emily and Annabeth were better at seeing the signs, because they had known him for half of their lives now “Percy will have to head to Los Angeles and enter the underworld to get the master bolt back, before the lord of the dead starts a war”
“I’m sure some gods would like it if he failed to do so” Emily made a face, huffing.
“The Gods may have their flaws, child, but also their virtues. They are powerful beings who have been around for ages, yes, but every living being that roams earth never stops learning, including them. All of us can fail, do wrong, but also learn valuable lessons, and become stronger thanks to it” now he put a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly “And you, my dear Emily, have your father’s strength and resilience. Not because you were born with it, but because you’ve fought hard all your life, just like him. Never forget that although our steps can falter, the journey does not end there”
The selection ceremony started soon after.
All selected demigods for Percy to choose stood in the pavilion. Apart from Annabeth and Emily, there was also Luke, his brother Chris, Clarisse, and other half-bloods known in camp for being the strongest or smartest fighters.
Clarisse stood on Emily’s left side, and on Annabeth’s right, between the girls; when Chiron announced that two demigods had to be chosen to join Percy on the quest, Emily wished that if Annabeth was truly chosen in the end, she wouldn’t have to deal with her sister.
She doubted she’d have to, though. Percy didn’t like Clarisse. She had been nothing but mean to him, so it was pretty obvious that she’d stay in camp. Percy would probably choose Luke as well – they had mingled well over the past few days.
“Time is short” warned Chiron to Percy, turning then to the rest of the Demigods “I have selected our most compelling half-blood candidates, from which you will choose two to join you on this quest, and ensure that we succeed-“
“Annabeth”
Percy made his first choice even before Chiron could end his speech, or even start presenting each of the candidates; customarily one waits to at least hear a name or two before choosing, but not Percy.
“This thing, Zeus’s master bolt… we need to get it back, right?” the centaur nodded to Percy’s words ”And it’s gonna be hard to get, right?”
“Extraordinarily”
“And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed… you’d want someone who won’t hesitate when they do it”
Emily looked over at her friend, eyebrow raised; the whole ‘shoving Percy into the water’ incident had left a mark on the boy.
“Then it’s set” Chiron looked over at the daughter of Athena, announcing the final resolution “The first quest-mate shall be Annabeth Chase”
Her dream had come true.
What they didn’t expect, was Percy’s second choice.
Before Chiron could introduce him to the other candidates, he interrupted him again:
“I’m only going on this quest if Grover can come too”
The centaur looked baffled, alongside Mr. D, who stood to his left.
“Satyrs don’t go on quests, Johnson” said the god of wine, looking at the boy “You’re supposed to choose two demigods, not one demigod and a satyr”
“He’s been my protector for the last months, so I want him to come with me” he insisted, firm in his decision “I’m not going if he’s staying”
Mr. D looked at Chiron, and after a few seconds the centaur turned back to Percy, grimacing:
“Percy, a quest is undertaken by demigods. Satyrs are loyal creatures, and I understand your reasoning, but we would be much more comfortable if you chose two demigods to join you instead of just one”
“But I’m not only choosing Annabeth” he replied, looking then at the girl from the Ares cabin who had defended him every time since meeting each other “I choose Emily as well”
Everyone’s gaze turned to her, making Emily feel a bit uncomfortable, but she brushed those feelings away quickly, standing proud on her spot while Chiron announced her as the second quest-mate.
They allowed Grover to come as well in the end. Percy wanted someone he could completely trust, and both Annabeth and Emily could comprehend the boy – in this crazy world he had been thrown in, Grover was the only one somewhat ‘familiar’ to Percy. Both girls were also thrilled to be going together on the quest, so they understood why Percy wanted his own friend to go on the quest with him as well. He trusted the satyr.
Besides, Grover would definitely pack the best snacks.
The rest of the day went by in a haze, preparing for the upcoming trip. Emily filled her backpack with her essentials (some spare clothes, weapons… the usual), and she even went over to the Hermes cabin to ask Luke to take care of her beloved Teddy bear while she was out of camp.
“Are you sure you want to leave it here?” the bear was more of a relic from the first years Emily had spent at camp, from a time where she was younger, but she couldn’t give it away. It was the last thing she had left from her mom, after all “You know how my siblings can get”
“I also know you won’t let anyone do anything to it… and I don’t feel comfortable leaving it in my cabin without me there to protect it from Clarisse”
“Fair enough”
Emily also met up with Grover and Annabeth during the afternoon, to plan how they would start their journey – they wanted to include Percy in the planning as well, but he was somewhere in the woods doing some last minute sword-fighting training with Luke.
“So, who will take the lead?”
“We could vote” suggested Emily “Who votes for Percy?”
“It’s not like I don’t want him to lead” Grover bit his lip nervously after raising his hand on impulse, but then pulling it back down “You guys are more experienced than him”
“I agree”
“Then we girls lead” added Annabeth, looking at Emily for confirmation “Together”
“I’m surprised you’re sharing the team captain title with me, Annie”
“Let’s say you’re my second in command”
“See? There it is. I knew it”
The next morning, right before leaving for the quest, Emily and Annabeth met up in front of the big house, where Percy and Grover would also join them to get one final talk to Chiron before leaving. However, before any of the boys showed up, Luke made his way towards them, smiling fondly.
“You didn’t think you were leaving without saying goodbye properly, weren’t you?”
He engulfed both of them in a bear hug, taking time for each of his girls; they were the closest thing to real siblings they had. Sure, each of them had a bunch of brothers and sisters in their cabins… but their bond was stronger.
“You both take care of each other out there, you hear me?” he had a hand on one of Emily’s shoulder’s the other on one of Annabeth’s, looking alternatively between their faces “You are the strongest girls I know. You can do this”
“We’ll miss you” pouted Emily.
“I’ll miss you too” he ruffled her hair softly, and gave her another side hug.
“I wish you could come with us”
“Me too, Annabeth” Luke grimaced sadly at the girl, but he pinched then one of her cheeks, trying to get her to smile again “But I’m glad that you will at least have each other. I know you will be fine”
After one last hug to each of them, Luke went back to his cabin, and soon after both Percy and Grover appeared with their backpacks, ready to go.
Percy had received a visit from Luke before leaving as well, to say goodbye, and to give him a last farewell gift: a pair of flying shoes Luke had originally received from his dad. They came to life after saying the word ‘Maia’, growing feather wings from the strings of the sneakers – they resembled Hermes’ own flying shoes, able to lift up whoever was wearing them.
Saying goodbye to Mr. D was easy, not so much to Chiron, but the worst was definitely saying goodbye to Thalia.
Annabeth had it the hardest: Emily let her stand by the tree the time she needed, telling both Percy and Grover that they still had to wait for a moment until the girl was ready. Grover immediately understood, but Percy… not so much.
“She’s really gonna miss that tree, huh?”
“When Annabeth first arrived here with Thalia and Luke, they were being chased by monsters” explained Grover “Agents of Hades. Sisters. Furies”
“Mrs. Dotts?”
“Who is Mrs. Dotts?” Emily didn’t know who they were talking about.
“She was our Algebra teacher at Yancy school. Yes, that was Alecto. Back then… Thalia turned back to fight to buy her friends some time. Her Satyr protector tried to stop her but she wouldn’t listen. So, at the last moment… Zeus intervened to save her life, and changed her form”
Emily remembered that day clearly. It had been a terrible night, filled with insecurities and uncertainness because of what had happened to Thalia.
“The most powerful being in the universe’ best idea to safe his daughter’s life… was to turn her into a tree?”
“She was the bravest demigod I ever knew” Annabeth had walked back to them, catching the last bits of their talk “She fought valiantly to safe us all”
“And she met a hero’s fate” added Emily, solemnly.
“She met a pinecone’s fate”
He had not just said that.
“Dude…” muttered the Ares’ girl, eyes growing big “Chill”
“Forbidden children are always in danger, even the strongest ones. Even Thalia” it was obvious that Annabeth felt personally victimized by Percy’s comment, and let’s be honest, she had all the right to do so “And you are not Thalia. Do exactly as I say, and maybe you survive this. Are we clear?”
She didn’t give him any time to answer, as she turned her back to Percy and started walking past the limit of the pine tree.
“You should probably apologize sometime about that comment of Thalia’s tree” Emily patted Percy’s shoulder, awkwardly “I… uh… I’ll go with her”
Emily caught up with Annabeth, as the boys lingered behind a few more seconds:
“Does she think she is in charge?” Percy referred to Annabeth, frowning.
“Technically, they both are. Who did you think would be?”
“I guess I assumed we’d do a show of hands or something… you know, democracy”
Hero’s quests are world-defining events. They have made and broken empires, altered the course of human civilization, changed the balance of power on Olympus… it’s a sacred thing, and to be charged with one is to be in conversation with the gods themselves.
It wasn’t like burning offerings, or praying to them. The gods handed out the missions for them to complete, because they were the only ones able to do so. It as an honour, and a privilege.
Although after being sat in an old uncomfortable bus for half an hour in the backseats right beside the toilet (the worst seats ever), and a huge guy using the restroom for most of that time, Percy thought that there was no way that scared smelled as bad like that.
“We’re soldiers on a mission. It’s not a vacation”
“Thank you for clearing that up”
After leaving camp, the three demigods, plus the satyr, had made their way to New York city to grab a bus that would take them through the country. Chiron had given them their bus tickets, albeit Percy hadn’t expected this kind of ride if the matter was so important.
“If this is so important, why didn’t Chiron spring for plane tickets? Or good smelling seats at least? This seems kind of… low priority, doesn’t it?”
“The smell hides us from the monsters” explained Emily. She was seated with Annabeth, in the window seat, while Grover was by Percy “It makes it more difficult to track us”
“And it isn’t just the monsters who are gonna be trying to stop us” Grover thought someone would have told Percy this, but apparently not “You’re a forbidden child. Zeus might decide to take a shot at you himself. The sky is his domain”
“We’d basically be serving you up on a silver platter to try to travel through it”
“That would’ve been a good piece of advice someone could have mentioned before leaving camp… but yeah, no one did” Percy sighted. He stayed silent for a few seconds, while his eyebrows slowly furrowed “If me travelling through the country is so dangerous because I’m a forbidden child, why did they sent me in the first place?”
“To exonerate you. Everyone thinks you stole the master bolt, so the best way for you to prove Zeus otherwise, is to return the bolt to him yourself”
“That sounds like a lame excuse to me” he huffed, grimacing “You both are much more skilled than me” it was true; both Annabeth and Emily were far more trained than Percy “It would’ve been just as good if you guys went to L.A. to get the bolt and then back to New York to return it. You could even take a plane if I wasn’t there to go faster”
“I may not be a forbidden child like you, but I don’t think Zeus is all that fond of me either” replied Emily “He doesn’t like Ares’ children. I’m by far not Zeus’ favourite grandchild, so I also wouldn’t be safe in the sky. Annabeth would have a shot, though, only because her mom is Zeus’ favourite kid”
“I still wouldn’t risk it” commented the girl, looking out the window.
“Let’s just say Zeus won’t get a ‘world’s best grandpa’ or ‘best uncle’ mug anytime soon”
The bus made it out of New York and stopped in New Jersey at a tank station; most of the passengers stood up to go stretch their legs, buy goodies or use the bathroom, leaving Percy, Annabeth, Emily and Grover sitting in the backseats.
“I’m gonna go get us some snacks” announced Annabeth, unbuckling her seatbelt. Percy wanted to tag along, but the told him no “You’ll stay right there”
“But it smells terrible back here. You’re not the only one who wants to escape this”
“Remember, the monsters won’t smell you here” Emily raised up from her seat as well, joining Annabeth “That’s where we want you”
“I wanna vote” Percy looked at Grover for support “Who thinks that we should all go get to breathe fresh air and buy our own snacks?”
“There’s no voting”
“Chips and sodas okay for you guys?”
“I don’t think you should just get to decide we don’t vote” Percy ignored Emily’s question, going back at Annabeth.
“I’m sorry to hear that”
“Okay… Then I wanna vote on whether you get to decide we don’t vote”
“Grover, please, can you help your…” but Grover interrupted Annabeth before she could finish her demand, clapping slowly “… friend?”
“I really don’t wanna be a tiebreaker” said the satyr, still clapping “I have a better idea”
“Oh, gods, please not this” muttered Emily, but it was too late. Grover started to sing:
“Oh, golly, the road’s gettin’ bumpy ‘cause I got me some friends who just can’t along! Oh, dear! When the team’s gettin’ grumpy the trick to gettin’ through it is singin’ this song-“
Percy cut him off before he could go any further.
“Dude, what are you doing?” he shook his head, trying to make Grover take the hint that he should stop.
“It’s the consensus song. Verse two encourages us to say nice things about each other! You get a few rounds in and you’d be amazed at how disagreements just kind of… fade away”
Emily looked at him unimpressed, slowly shaking her head as well; in all of her years in camp she had grown to love many things there, but the consensus song? Maybe it was her rebellious, aggressive Ares side, but she hated that song. If someone sang it to her at camp to try to solve a disagreement, she would end up punching said someone in the face before they could even start the second verse.
For once, even Annabeth and Percy agreed, looking at Grover just as unimpressed as Emily did. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them.
“Chips and sodas okay then?”
The boys muttered ‘yes please and ‘whatever’, and with that both Annabeth and Emily exited the bus. Emily heard Percy muttering defeated that the voting system was broken, and she almost laughed.
The store at the tank station was huge, or at least, that’s what Emily thought when they entered it. She hadn’t been in any kind of store in years, and she didn’t really remember much of how they were when she was little. Now, at twelve years old, she marvelled at the different aisles, and especially, the candy section.
“Which one do you think Percy and Grover will like the most?”
“Would it be too obvious if we got Percy blue candy?” Emily grabbed some blue chewing gum, showing it to Annabeth “You know… for Poseidon”
“I got it” Annabeth rolled her eyes, but there was a little smile on her face “Do you thing the blue ones taste different than the orange ones?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t had candy since I was six, except that one time the Stolls brought some at the beginning of the summer, and it was yucky”
It was a tough choice to make. Both of them hadn’t tried most of the candies and chocolates they saw in that aisle, and if they had, they didn’t really remember what they were like or what they tasted like like.
“We can grab blue candy for Percy... Green ones for Grover, and red ones for you” Annabeth handed Emily some reddish gummy bears, and the girl thanked her “And some white ones for me. Then we can share and try them all”
Did they end up leaving that aisle with their hands full of too many sweets? Absolutely. Did they think it was too much, or that they could have grabbed less? No, not really. Chiron probably wouldn’t have let them get so much candy, but the wasn’t there to lecture them.
They also grabbed the chips and sodas, of course – it was what they had went to grab originally anyways. The cashier looked them up and down, staring wide eyed at the mountain of candy, chips, chocolates and sodas they left on the counter.
“Oh, Annie, I want a slushie”
“You aren’t five years old, you don’t need one”
“You don’t buy slushies because you need them” she looked at her friend making a face that represented the word ‘duh’ “Hey, you grabbed those chocolate-marshmallow bars even though I didn’t want to. Let me have my own treat”
She did get a slushie, a red one which supposedly tasted like strawberries; having been living at a strawberry farm for six years, Emily could tell that this was definitely not what strawberries tasted like. But it was full of sugar, so she was drank it anyways.
While Annabeth was paying, a woman walked behind the girls, and both of them tensed up.
Just as monsters could sense demigods, trained half-bloods learned to recognize the aura of a monster. Not literally, of course, but Emily and Annabeth had strong intuitive feelings, and even though it could not look like it, they were extremely aware of their surroundings. They knew that if they weren’t, they would be much easier to kill.
The mysterious woman stopped in front of a shelve to their right, and their suspicions grew stronger when she slowly turned her face to them, smirking.
It’s true that monsters are most likely to sense a more powerful demigod, like forbidden children, but it isn’t power exactly, that draws them. It’s more complicated than that. It’s kind of like how bees smell one’s fear: what a monster senses depends on the monster. Some sense inadequacy, the need for glory, shame… if a demigod has to confront one, the monster will attack wherever their armor is the weakest. Nothing will stop them, not even death.
Emily walked a few steps behind Annabeth, slushie in hand; if things got tough, she could easily access her bracelet and use her throwing knife; whereas she was completely visible, Annabeth had her Yankees hat on, hiding in plain sight. The bus was starting to get packed again with all of the passengers making their way back, and as Emily passed by the front row seats, she got that feeling of uneasiness again – especially when she walked by a woman holding a newspaper.
The key to not get surprised by a monster, was to spot them first.
“If you guys were better at your job, we might not have noticed you here so easily”
The woman folded her newspaper together upon hearing Emily’s words, holding a serious look on her face. The girl was still taking sips of her slushie, eyes focused on the woman.
“If Thalia were better at hers there might not be a family of squirrels making her their home”
“That’s a low blow, even for a monster”
“Is that why Hades sent you here?” Annabeth’s voice joined the conversation after hearing Thalia’s name, although she was still wearing her hat. The woman, the monster, couldn’t see her, alas she didn’t know where she was, even if she could sense her “To gloat over a job you almost did right once?”
“How things have changed… You’re not the frightened little girl I came for all those years ago” she looked back at Emily, expression unreadable “And you don’t seem so tough as I had expected at all”
“Don’t kid yourself. I wasn’t that frightened”
“And I can still kick your ass back to the underworld if you decide to make the wrong move”
The monster chuckled, amused.
“Maybe so, maybe so… Either way, now it would seem that you’re both exactly what they say you are. The pride of Athena’s offspring, and Ares’ most treasured child. Perhaps the most formidable demigods children alive”
“You won’t get to us by trying to manipulate us using our parents” Emily scoffed, definitely not buying it – and also not letting her face show how she had felt after the woman said that she was known as Ares’ most treasured kid “What do you want? If you were here to kill us you would already have tried”
“I’m here to collect your friend” she looked back through the gap between the seats, to where Percy sat unaware of what was happening.
“Collect him? For what?”
 “Oh, I don’t question orders. ‘Bring him in, quick and quiet’. That is what I was told” she turned back to Emily, as she couldn’t see Annabeth, but her next message was for the both of them “Lure him off this bus where I can take him quietly away from so many eyes, and your quest goes on unimpeded an unburdened. You and I know he isn’t gonna be of any help to you, and maybe even a hindrance”
“We’re not going to do that” said Emily, firmly.
“Are you not?” the woman raised an eyebrow, looking at the girl’s side and then back to her “Where did your invisible friend go then?”
Emily tried to feel Annabeth by her side, but the hallway seemed empty. There was no body heat beside her like a few seconds ago, and she frankly couldn’t tell where the girl had went.
“Some children must learn the hard way” muttered the woman, sighting “It was a pleasure to meet you, daughter of Ares”
The monster began to transform before her eyes, her clothes and hair mutating into her true form: her once grey updo turned red and feathery, and her black coat along her red shirt grew feathers as well, covering her whole body up until her hands, where there were now long and sharp claws. Out of her bag two wings emerged, like big bat wings, hitting the top of the bus as they unfolded fully.
It was a fury. And where was one, there were always other two.
They had to leave now.
“Percy!” Emily shrieked, starting to get away from the creature “Run!”
In order to get the fury to back off, Emily threw her slushie at her, still full of ice and red liquid, hitting her in the face.
Both Percy and Grover perked up from their seats, and upon seeing what had made Emily scream, they both shot up, aiming for the emergency window behind them to try and open it. When they finally succeeded, the glass fell off of the bus shattering against the ground, and a security alarm went off. The driver ordered through the megaphone that everyone should exit the bus, and everyone started to stand up, slowing down Emily, but also the fury that was making her way to her.
“Emily let’s go!”
She turned to Percy, still looking for Annabeth – where was she?! She couldn’t have really considered the fury’s proposition, couldn’t she? No, her friend wasn’t like that. Emily would never accept, and neither would Annabeth… right?
A shriek coming from outside pierced through the air. Flying in the direction of the bus was another fury – she flew straight through the open window, almost hitting Percy and Grover, causing them fall to the ground.
“Hey!”
Annabeth appeared out of nowhere, and she threw a knife at the monster, who screeched when the metal hit her in the chest. The fury vanished, transformed into dust, and the knife fell on the ground.
“We’re done here, let’s go!”
She grabbed Emily’s arm, yanking her to the open window. Leaving their bags and the snacks behind, all four of them climbed out of the bus – Percy had grabbed the box with Luke’s shoes before leaving, though, and he was now holding it against his chest while they ran. The fury on the bus had been stopped temporarily by all the passengers that were making their way out of the vehicle to the front exit, and the other one who had attacked them was gone.
However, there weren’t just two furies – they were three sisters.
The third one attacked when they were all outside, screeching above them. She flew downward in Percy’s direction with her arms stretched out, terrible claws aiming for his face. He didn’t have enough time to react, turning around to see her almost catching him, when a throwing knife hit her in the middle of the back between her wings.
Emily had been the last one to climb out of the bus, so she had been behind Percy when the third fury had tried to snatch him. He had already started running, so he was a few meters away (alas, the fury wasn’t close as well), so she grabbed her bracelet, and it transformed into her magical weapon. She threw the knife hitting the monster right where she aimed to, and the next thing that happened was that the fury crumbled to dust.
“Come on!” she screamed, picking up her weapon, back to running again “We have to go!”
Ears pumping with the beats of their rushing hearts, they ran to the woods, hiding from the monster left behind. They didn’t stop until they were far enough to not see the tank station, or any building at all, deep inside the forest.
They had no food, or water. Their bags, left behind. They had nothing, except Luke’s shoes, and what they already had on or carried with them.
“This sucks” mumbled Emily, trying to regain her breathe.
As they were now at a ‘safe distance’ they stopped running and switched to walking, trying to recompose themselves but still keep going.
“Somewhere up ahead this turns into a Satyr path” Grover looked far ahead, as if trying to see it.
“What’s a Satyr path?”
There was so much that Percy didn’t know… it was starting to become concerning.
“It’s a road through the wilderness. Satyr explorers use them. Harder to track us”
“That’s… great” Percy still seemed uncertain “But if we stay in the wilderness, how are we gonna find a phone?”
“Why do you want a phone?”
“So we can call camp” it was pretty obvious to him “T-to get help. You know… because we’re lost?”
“We don’t need help. We’re fine” replied Annabeth.
“We’re still alive” added Emily, shrugging “That’s what matters”
“But we haven’t even gotten to Trenton! And we’re wandering through a forest. I didn’t even know they had forests in New Jersey, but we’ve found one!”
“It’s literally called ‘The Garden State’” Emily looked back at him, frowning “What did you expect?”
“I don’t know, but… I would say we’re the opposite of fine”
“We were sent on a quest by the Oracle… by the gods” said Annabeth “What’d you think, it would be easy? It’s supposed to be hard. That’s why only certain people are chosen. If we call camp, we’re basically saying it was a mistake to choose us”
“I’m… completely comfortable with that” Emily knew that Percy’s comment would only make Annabeth more mad. As her best friend, she knew that under that tough leader exterior, was the girl who had dreamed to go on a quest for years. Calling camp, was telling Chiron wrong, and with that, he would be disappointed in them. They couldn’t let that happen “Everyone makes mistakes”
“Why are you so afraid of who you are?”
Annabeth stopped walking, and she turned to Percy, scowling.
“What?”
Grover and Emily looked at each other, quickly picking up the tension rising between their friends.
“You know what’s interesting about this particular satyr path?”
“What so interesting about it, Grover?” Emily’s voice sounded nervous, because she was. If they started fighting again, it would only slow them down.
“It’s actually the one my Uncle Ferdinand took when he set out on his own quest”
“That’s such a cool fact, Grover!”
But Percy and Annabeth ignored them completely:
“What was that supposed to mean, ‘afraid of who I am’? I’m not afraid”
“Yes, you are. You aren’t just a kid. “Just a kid” doesn’t do what you did to Clarisse back at camp. “Just a kid” doesn’t have Hades sending top lieutenants to retrieve them. You know, you are part of something so much bigger than we can understand right now. We have to move forward, whether you like it or not. Whether you want to or not”
“If you don’t want to call camp, fine. Then, at least… let’s call your mom”
“Excuse me?”
If they thought things were gonna get rough, now they definitely were.
“Athena? Your mother. I’d call my father, but we aren’t exactly on speaking terms, because of the lifelong neglect, you know. Or we could call Emily’s dad. You both seem close to your parents. Why don’t we ask them for help?”
“Grover, will you explain to your friend that he needs to pull himself together?” Annabeth was tense. Very much so. Emily knew that she wouldn’t be able to collect herself much longer.
Percy looked at Annabeth, studying her face… and then he realized something.
“You can’t ask her, can you?” he had hit a button. He could see it “When was the last time she talked to you?”
“Grover” Annabeth insisted, but the satyr couldn’t stop him.
“I don’t know why you keep pulling him into this” Percy stood closer to Grover “He’s on my side, just as Emily’s on yours”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because he’s my protector, it’s his job, and she’s your best friend!”
“He was my protector first!”
“First?” he muttered, confused “… What do you mean, ‘first’?”
They both looked at Grover, who looked at Emily, out of words, and then back to their two friends:
“It’s very exciting… getting to walk in Uncle Ferdinand’s footsteps” he completely avoided the confrontation. Typical for satyrs “Next best thing to getting to talk to him again”
There was a frown on Percy’s forehead… he looked at the ground, thinking, and then he spoke up again:
“Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth had a satyr Protector” his eyes locked on Grover, almost accusatively “That was you” Grover couldn’t hold his gaze, which was enough conformation “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Do you guys smell that?”
That was not the answer they had expected. Grover seemed absent, starting to look around, sniffling. Emily did too, although she didn’t have the senses of a satyr – if he had caught the scent of a monster, they would need to be ready.
It wasn’t a monster what he had smelt, though.
“Grover, I’m not kidding-“
“No, neither am I. Just shush…” he continued to sniffle, concentrated “Hamburgers”
“What?”
He took the lead, walking ahead following the satyr path. He was still using his heightened sense of smell to find the way, and Percy, Annabeth and Emily could only follow him.
“Grover, what are you doing?” asked Annabeth, confused.
“Somebody’s making hamburgers, in the middle of nowhere, on a satyr path. Whoever it is… they’re from our world”
They reached a clearing, only it wasn’t a clearing, but a road. It led to a building surrounded by dozens of statues. It wasn’t gnomes or frogs, though, as in other gardens with statues – these were monsters made out of stone.
“Oh, come on”
Emily frowned at Annabeth’s comment, but then she saw the huge sign on a pole that said ‘Aunty Em’s Gnome Emporium”.
Dear gods this was bad.
“What is it?” asked Percy.
“Aunty ‘Em’ has a garden full of petrified stone folks. Yeah… this is someone from our world, all right. Anyone wanna guess what ‘Em’ is short for?”
Her nervousness was justified – no daughter of Athena would want to be in the presence of that specific monster. There wasn’t time to play guess, though. Before they could leave and run for their lives (again), a fury landed a few feet behind them: it was the only surviving one of the three sisters, Alecto.
Percy handed the box with shoes over to Grover, taking out a pen from his pocket. Emily saw it transform into a huge celestial bronze sword, the same one she had seen him fighting with before, once he took the tap off. She also unsheathed her own weapon, this time her dagger, just as Annabeth did with hers.
“You should have accepted my offer when you had the chance” said the fury, staring at the two girls.
“Offer? What offer?”
Percy looked at both Annabeth and Emily, but they didn’t move their eyes from Alecto, watching her every move.
“Not today, friends” the voice of another woman joined them. It came from the house, now behind them, and upon hearing it, the fury immediately looked away, covering herself with the help of her arms and her wings “Not on my doorstep”
Footsteps approached the group slowly, and while Percy looked behind him to locate the mysterious woman, Annabeth, Grover and Emily quickly looked away as well, closing their eyes just to be sure. He did too when he realized, although not completely understanding what was happening.
“If you have something to resolve, why not come inside and I’ll help?” she kept on talking, now closer to them “Alecto! Will you be joining us?” the fury only closed her eyes tighter, turning her head even more, as if the sole sight of the woman’s eyes could harm her “No… well I wouldn’t think you would” She turned her attention back to the children, who also weren’t looking at her “She won’t bother you as long as you’re with me. But it isn’t as though she’ll leave either, not if it means reporting that she failed to retrieve the son of Poseidon”
“How do you-“ said boy squinted his eyes open, too intrigued to refrain his impulses.
“Percy, no!” whispered Emily, grabbing his arm.
“A forbidden child has been claimed, how long did you think that secret would keep?” the woman’s voice was calm, almost soothing, but Emily knew that it was only a trick to lure them to her, to confuse them, and trap them “It’s a pleasure to meet you, son of Poseidon…” their skin crawled, and fear embarked them as she spoke “I’m Medusa”
Oh no this was definitely bad.
“Percy don’t!” warned Annabeth “She’s a monster”
“We all choose who we make our monsters” commented Medusa “But right now, that one ahead of you wants to tear you limb from limb, whereas I am offering you lunch. The choice is yours”
They heard how she walked away, and soon after the door to the house opening and closing again. They were safe, sort of, for now.
“I think we can trust her” blurted Percy, suddenly. A chorus of ‘what?’, ‘dude!’ and ‘no!’ were heard as a response, but he stood firm to his opinion “I can’t explain it, I just… My mom used to tell me her story. And the point was always that she isn’t what people think. And I definitely trust my mom”
Emily remembered her own mother, and the almost vanished feeling after so long of trusting someone blindly as much as she did with her. It made her sad, but she could also understand Percy better.
“I’m going in” he said, serious “You guys do what you want”
He took the first step, and after looking at the house and back at the fury, Grover followed him.
“What are you-“
“Annie, we should go with them”
“Are you crazy? You know I can’t go in there! She’ll kill me!”
“And if we stay out here, that fury will eat us!” she glanced at the monster, who only huffed at her comment “Come on, trust Percy for once. I’m doing it”
“You’re trusting him more than me?”
“I’m not saying that” she replied “I just don’t want to die, and right now, we have more chances to live going inside than staying here. We won’t let anything happen to you. I promise”
Medusa’s house was decorated in an old fashioned way, in a style from a few decades ago. There was a huge dining room, with a big table set for many people to eat. There were plenty of sweets, desserts and other sugary dishes, and it looked almost as if they had entered the candy house of the bad witch from Hansel and Gretel’s tale.
“Thanks for coming” said Percy, after they joined him and Grover inside.
“This isn’t the same for me as it is for you” Annabeth felt nervous, and it was showing. Emily grabbed her hand in hopes of comforting her, but it was rather difficult, especially when Medusa came out of the kitchen to the dining room again.
“You’re concerned I would hold a grudge against you simply because you are a daughter of Athena?” she sounded almost hurt, not offended, but genuinely concerned about Annabeth’s thought on her. Emily had to remind herself that she couldn’t trust what Medusa tried to pretend to be, but what her gut told her about who and how the monster was “You shouldn’t be. We’re not our parents, after all. And you and I might have more in common than you think”
None of them were looking at her, too petrified of catching a glance of her eyes even under the veil of her cream coloured hat. She was wearing a matching dress, that looked like it was from a different decade, like the rest of the house.
“Please, sit and eat” she insisted, signalling to the table.
The boys sat down, but Annabeth didn’t dare to move, and Emily remained loyally by her side.
“So if you’re not a monster what are you then?”
“A survivor”
“You must be a little more than that” Percy served himself some food, and Grover was already munching on something “There’s a Fury out there that seems terrified of you”
“Because she knows what I think of her” Medusa sat down on a stool by another table, crossing her legs elegantly “I don’t like bullies. When one shows up on my doorstep, they end up spending a lot more time there than they planned for… I know you can understand me. None of you like bullies. Isn’t that right, Emily?”
“How do you know my name?” she blurted out the question impulsively before she could refrain her tongue. Thinking before talking wasn’t a skill she had mastered yet.
“A demigod child like you draws attention easily. Not many of you are brought to camp half-blood by their godly parents themselves, let alone if said parent is the God of War. He isn’t particularly known for taking care of his offsprings… not like he cared for you”
“You know nothing about my dad”
“Maybe not, but I��ve been around for some time now… and I’ve heard many stories about your father. He has a reputation he seems to be very proud of” she smiled softly at the child “I’m sure you want to make him proud, don’t you?”
“Of course” she answered, firmly.
“And has he ever shown that sentiment to you? For any of your achievements? For you going on this quest?”
Emily remained quiet, her jaw tense and her eyes on anything but the woman before her.
“He’s… busy” she mumbled.
“I’m sure he is… You know, I’ve had a few experiences myself regarding the gods… and I’ve even had the pleasure to receive a gift from them, which is a privilege not many of their adepts have had” she smiled sweetly, almost humanly “The gift the gods gave me is that I cannot be bullied anymore”
“What my mother did to you wasn’t a gift” replied Annabeth, with her arms now crossed “It was a curse”
“You are loyal to your mother”
“Yes”
“You stand by her?”
“Always” Annabeth shrugged, as if it was obvious.
“You love her?”
“Of course I do!”
“And so did I” Medusa’s tone was nostalgic, still sweet, but also with a hint of sadness “Do you know the story of how I came to be this way?”
“I do!”
All of them looked at Grover, who had answered between bites to his food. He looked up from his plate when he noticed how everyone had turned quiet, blushing slightly.
“Do you?”
“Do I?” he answered back, uncertain.
The bell inside a clock started tolling as Medusa told her tale:
“Athena was everything to me… I worshiped her. I prayed to her. I made offerings… She never answered. Not even an omen to suggest she appreciated my love… I wasn’t like you, sweetheart. I was you”
Medusa’s worship to the gods and the demigod’s worship to them were terrifyingly similar. What made them different from her, a monster? Fact is, she wasn’t a monster in the past. She became one… because of the same gods she adored.
“I would have worshipped her that way for a lifetime… in silence” she continued, her tone still somber “But then one day, another god came, and he broke that silence” she turned her head to Percy, smiling again “Your father. The Sea God told me that he loved me. I felt as though he saw me in a way I had never felt seen before… But then Athena declared that I had embarrassed her and I needed to be punished. Not him. Me”
Her voice, full of sadness, narrated how Athena had decided that Medusa should never be seen again by anyone who would live to tell the tale.
“That isn’t what happened” Annabeth fought back, although she already knew Medusa’s story, and also that what the woman had told them was exactly what had happened. The loyalty to her mom, though, made her retort “My mother is just. Always”
“The gods want you to believe that. That they are infallible. But they only want what all bullies want: they want us to blame ourselves for their own shortcomings”
“That is not what happened. And you are a liar”
Percy, Grover and Emily looked at Annabeth in disbelief, not giving credit to her words: how could she so blatantly talk back to a monster nonetheless, if they didn’t have any way of escaping after releasing her wrath? What was she thinking? The consequences would be horrible! Deadly!
Medusa’s red lips tensed up, just like the rest of her body. Emily watched her discretely, scared of looking too much but also scared of watching too little, and saw her look back to the kitchen, shaking her head.
“Something’s… burning” she sighted, standing up. Her indifference to Annabeth’s words was just as horrid as if she had screamed and lashed out on them “Would you give me a hand in the kitchen, Percy? I think lunch is ready”
The boy looked at his friends, who were all shaking their heads ‘no’, but after Annabeth’s outburst, Percy wasn’t in the mood to listening to her, so he stood up, and followed the woman inside the kitchen.
“Grover” Annabeth called him, stopping her mid bite” Get ready to run”
“What was that what you just did?!” Emily forcefully turned Annabeth to her grabbing her shoulder, signalling frantically to the door that led to the kitchen “Are you really that keen on dying young?!”
“She was insulting my mother” she defended herself, angry.
“And she could also have turned us into stone!” Emily’s heart raced nervously “First the fury, now this…”
“What about the fury?”
“On the bus. Alecto’s offer. You considered it”
“What if I did?” she shrugged, looking away from Emily. She was ashamed of that she had really thought of accepting the fury’s proposition.
“You aren’t like this!” Emily shot back, frustrated “Stop letting your insecurities get to you! I know you want to complete this quest at all costs, but we have to trust each other! And that includes not selling your quest-mates to the first monster that offers to take them away just because they get a bit on your nerves!”
“But I didn’t, right?” Annabeth huffed “I’m sorry, okay?”
“Just… don’t do stuff like that again. And I’m not only referring to almost giving Percy away to Alecto, but also talking back to a monster who could literally kill us with only looking at us”
“Okay, okay…” she sighted, grimacing “I’m sorry, Emi”
“Apologies accepted” Emily hugged her friend, but a cough from Grover made them separate “What is it?”
“Percy’s been in there for too long, hasn’t he?”
They all looked to the kitchen entrance warily, and right a second after they heard small footsteps making their way towards their direction, and the squeak of the door’s hinges as it started to open. All three of them looked to the ground, stealing glances to the door, seeing a hand ever so slowly perking out… and then they recognized Percy’s green flannel shirt, and they let out a sigh of relief.
“We have to leave, like now” he said, whispering so that Medusa wouldn’t hear him. He grabbed the box that held Luke’s shoes, which he had left on the dining table, and he made his way to the entrance when Emily’s hushed voice stopped him.
“Alecto is still outside, we’re trapped!”
There was another option though: the door that led to the basement. Annabeth had located it after entering the house, already forming an escape plan in case things got tough (which was to be expected). They could hide there, and look for another exit – maybe a window, or another door. Anything was better than waiting there for their deaths.
“Grover, grab those shoes and leave the box, carrying things will only slow us down” Annabeth instructed, and the boy did just as she said. She led the way to the basement, and they made their way down the stairs quickly, away from Medusa.
In the dark, they waited – it wouldn’t be possible to hide forever, but they had at least gained a little time.
“Put the shoes on” Emily suggested to Grover “Come on, I’ll tie the laces tight so they don’t fall off”
“You know the word to activate them?” the satyr nodded, groaning when Emily pulled the cords too tight. She mumbled ‘sorry’, before Annabeth shushed them “Quiet… she’s upstairs”
They could all hear her. Medusa’s steps resonated over them as she walked around the dining room, surely looking for them. A sense of dread invaded the heroes when they heard how the monster’s steps approached the entrance to the basement, and how she opened the door – it creaked like the ones in horror movies, creepy, horrifying.
As Medusa started to make her way downstairs, fire erupted along the staircase, travelling all the way down to them, and following ahead. It lighted the basement, revealing the cream coloured stone walls, and a terrifying sculpture that made Percy scream when he saw it.
It was the statue of a woman, captured mid-scream, fear in her features. She wasn’t the only one, though: the fire began to lit up dozens, if not hundreds of torches, illuminating an enormous ancient cavern full of Medusa’s victims.
Not wasting any time, they ran. Away from the monster, ahead into the cave.
“There’s four of us and only one of her” said Grover, panting “If we split up she can’t be watching us all at once”
“I don’t think it’d be that simple”
“It could be” he insisted, stopping them; they were standing behind some huge wooden transport boxes, partially hiding for now “Here’s the plan: I’ll get in the air, I’ll draw her attention. As soon as you hear me say “Maia” you guys start to-“ he hadn’t thought it through, obviously, because once he said the magic word, the shoes listened and grew feathers, starting to fly. In a matter of two seconds, Grover was high up in the air, flying far into the darkness above them “Oh boy! Okay! Um- off! Down!”
None of it worked. And he was gone.
“Great” muttered Emily, looking at where Grover had disappeared to “We’re screwed!”
“We’re in need of a new plan, but not screwed” they kind of were, though.
They didn’t have time to think of one, though, as Medusa’s voice reached their ears. They ducked as fast as they could, listening how she moved forward to their position:
“We are not our parents, until we choose to be. And you three, have chosen” her footsteps echoed against the walls, her feet dragging against the dust on the ground “A daughter of a self-righteous mother, who chose self-righteousness for herself” Annabeth squinted her eyes, trying to find an escape, finding none “A daughter of a selfish man who lives herself out to please him, pushing herself to limits only for his approval” Emily crawled behind a wooden box, trying to be as quiet as possible “And you…” Percy sat on the ground, legs bend to his chest, listening to the monster “You could have shown your father what it means to stand up for someone you love. You could have chosen to save your mother instead of doing your father’s bidding… If none of you will help teach these lessons, then perhaps you should be the lessons”
Medusa’s voice wasn’t sweet and caring as it had sounded before, no. Now it was cold, still smooth, but also carrying a sizzle typical from… snakes. It gave them chills, especially with her now being this close.
“When I ship your statues to Olympus… maybe that will get my point across even better”
They had to move fast, or they’d be dead in seconds. Annabeth nudged Emily’s leg, and when she got her attention she signalled to her invisibility cap. The girl nodded, and she watched her friend disappear before her eyes.
Emily turned to where Percy was, but he was starting at the opposite site to hers. She threw a little rock at him, hitting him on the leg silently, and he looked over – she mimicked Annabeth putting on her invisibility cap, and him taking out his magic pen-sword keeping while keeping his eyes closed, all of that quickly before Medusa reached their position.
Percy nodded, obviously nervous, and she watched him close his eyes like she had instructed, reaching for his pen. The soft golden glow of the weapon grazed his scared features, but he held the sword tightly, firmly, brave as he was.
“Stand up” commanded Medusa, walking straight to Percy. The glow of the celestial bronze had also given away his position, revealing himself to the monster “Let’s have a look at you”
Gathering all the courage he could master in that second, Percy shot back to his feet, whimpering and trembling in fear, feeling Medusa right by his side. She started to caress his cheek and his hair gently, terrifyingly close to him, when a cry above them startled her.
It was Grover! The flying shoes… they were still flying, and he was still not controlling them.
“I didn’t really think this through!”
He blindly dive-bombed into a wooden box, shattering it completely, practically at Medusa’s feet. A rock hit her from behind then before Grover could accidentally catch her eyes, followed by others coming from the darkness, and Emily ducked before Medusa could spot her, having distracted her enough though: Annabeth took off her hat, standing by Percy’s side, and she put in on Medusa’s head, making her invisible!
“Now!”
Without thinking, Percy raised his sword up to where he knew the monster’s neck was, and he sliced through it completely, decapitating her. The head, still invisible, fell off the body, making a ‘thump’ noise as it hit the ground. It rolled a few feet away, leaving a mark on the gravel… and then it stopped, and it was all over.
“Are you okay?”
Percy didn’t answer. Instead he walked forward slowly, moving his foot around… until he hit Medusa’s head. He scoffed in disgust, and picked it up, while at the same time Emily helped Grover to get back up – he was still a bit foggy from his fall, but he would be fine.
“Aw, man” complained the son of Poseidon, groaning.
“That’s gross” muttered Emily; Percy had the head in his hands, still invisible “Wait, guys… We can use the head to get rid of the fury”
“Kill the monster using the head of a gorgon?”
“Well, you wouldn’t be the first Perseus to do so” said Annabeth “Come on, I’ll go with you”
While Emily remained by Grover’s side, helping him recover, both Annabeth and Percy made their way up to the dining room again, which seemed oddly human and quiet now having been under the house in the huge cavern full of statues.
“You want me to take it from here?”
“Non, no. I got it”
Percy and Annabeth stood in front of the entrance, looking for Alecto – as expected, she was still outside, waiting for them to come out if they managed to escape Medusa.
“Just make sure it’s pointing in the right direction before you take my hat off”
“Good tip” he nodded, and she muttered ‘okay’ in response. Percy looked at the door then, and back to the girl, signalling it to her with a shake of his head “My hands are kinda full with the head so…”
“Of course, sorry”
Annabeth opened the door for him, and taking a deep breath in, Percy walked outside. Annabeth watched him as he slowly approached the fury, who spread her wings now that it was evident that Medusa wasn’t around.
Alecto screeched flying up in the air, claws reaching out for Percy, when the boy took the Yankees cap off of the gorgon’s head, raising it up high into the air. The fury had no time to close her eyes or to escape, and with just a glance, she turned into stone; her statue fell to the ground, breaking into pieces as it hit the asphalt.
Percy stared at the petrified monster’s face, putting the hat quickly back on Medusa’s head. Breathing heavily he turned back to Annabeth, and smiled softly.
While they took care of the fury, downstairs, in the cavern, Emily had managed to fetch some water for Grover, and he was feeling much better now.
“This place is huge” the satyr said, looking around “And the ceiling too. I didn’t even reach it”
“This whole place is probably enchanted” she bit her lip, feeling curious, turning back to Grover “Do you want to explore a bit?”
“It can be dangerous”
“Yeah, and fun” she giggled, starting to wander around “Come on! The gorgon’s gone, let’s look at this place”
There were thousands of statues scattered around the cavern, may of them humans, but also mythical creatures, and even other monsters – although it seemed as if Medusa had kept the most terrifying looking ones outside in her yard. They found a table packed with papers, ink, pens and packing material, and a register book for orders; it seemed like Medusa had even been making money out of her condition.
Emily regretted a bit dragging Grover with her around the cave when she found him looking at the statue of a satyr. Percy and Annabeth descended the stairs back to the basement then, and they found them at the same spot, Grover still looking at the statue.
“Uncle Ferdinand” he muttered.
Oh, no.
“Grover, I’m so sorry” Emily put a hand on his shoulder, eyes looking sad.
“This is as far as he got on his quest… We aren’t even to Trenton” he sighted, defeated “But look at him” Grover chuckled softly, even smiling a bit “He’s not like the others, he… he doesn’t look afraid”
Emily squeezed his shoulder, and he smiled in her way. Clearing his throat, Grover asked Percy and Annabeth if they had gotten rid of Alecto using Medusa’s head, and they confirmed it.
“Uh, we probably should get going. It’ll be dark soon”
“But what are we gonna do with the head?” asked Percy “I just took down a Fury with it, and I wasn’t even trying. We can’t just leave it for someone to find”
“You want to take the head with us?”
“No, no. Leave the hat on, and bury it here, in the basement. That ought to keep it safe”
Both Grover and Emily looked at Annabeth in concern, but after looking at the ground for a few seconds, she just nodded, accepting.
“But your hat…”
“It’s alright, Emily” she shrugged, looking back at Percy then “Now, can we talk about the bigger issue here?”
“What bigger issue?”
“Medusa telling you ‘You could have saved your mother’? Like you had discussed it already?”
“Wait, Percy, is your mom still alive?” Emily thought she had died the night the minotaur attacked, this didn’t make sense.
“She’s with Hades. I appreciate your concern, but-“
“Guys, just please…” Grover interrupted them, shaking his head “Stop”
“Oh, I’m concerned” followed Annabeth, ignoring Grover’s ask “What are you actually doing on this quest? And why did I have to hear about this from Medusa?”
“Okay, while we’re at it” shot back, Percy “Alecto saying ‘You should have accepted my offer’? What’s that about do you think?” he accused not only Annabeth, but also Emily “And why did we have to hear it from the Fury?”
“Enough!”
All three demigods looked at the satyr, who really had had enough of their bickering.
“The hat was a gift from her mother. It’s the only thing she’s ever possessed that connects them. That ought to matter to you” he told Percy, solemnly “And Emily never even thought about accepting Alecto’s offer”
“Okay, but how are we gonna make sure this thing is safe?” Percy held the invisible head up, frowning
“I don’t know yet! And you” he turned to Annabeth, who seemed surprise to get a lecture from him, but she would have to go through it anyways “His mom’s alive. Can you imagine how confusing that must be for him? Feeling like he may have to choose between the fate of the world and the fate of the only person who’s ever cared about him?”
“Why are you talking like this?” asked Annabeth, voice small.
“Because all day Emily and I have been trying to keep this quest on track without upsetting either of you! But maybe… Maybe things need to get a little upsetting before they move forward”
“Grover’s right” added Emily, arms now crossed “You guys can’t keep fighting all day. We’re a team! We need to get along to complete this quest!”
“Annabeth asked you a question back in the woods and you never really answered” Grover looked at Percy again, who’s features had turned hard at his words “What are you so afraid of?”
“I don’t know”
“I think you do. You’ve been fighting with us all day-“
“Because the Oracle said one of you would betray me, okay?” silence fell upon them at the revelation “She said… ‘You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, and you shall fail to save what matters most in the end’. That’s the rest of what she said to me. And that’s because I chose Annabeth… because I couldn’t imagine we’d ever be friends. I chose Emily, because she is loyal to Annabeth, and I never thought she would choose my side before hers, so we would also never become friends. And I chose you” he looked into Grover’s eyes with intensity “Because I thought if I can count on anyone to be on my side, no matter what, it was you. And now, I’m feeling so… alone! I don’t know what to think or who to trust. I’m just… a kid”
The silence felt heavy after his words. Hearing what Percy thought of them, his real reasons to choose them to accompany him on this quest… it was a tough bone.
“I didn’t mean it that way”
“It’s okay” commented Emily, almost shyly “I… I’m loyal to Annabeth, yes, but I also stand to what’s right for me. And I trust you, Percy. I’d never betray you”
“Alecto offered to help our quest if we gave you up to her” explained Annabeth.
“What did you say?” asked Percy, curious.
“We killed her sisters”
“Medusa… she offered to help me save my mom if I turned on the three of you”
“And what’d you say?”
“Well… I cut off her head”
They chuckled, feeling the tension dissolving and the air getting lighter.
“None of you chose to be demigods” said Grover “We didn’t choose this quest. But we can decide that as long as the four of us are together, none of us are gonna be alone. And if we can’t do that, we might as well just head back to camp right now”
“I’m not doing that” replied Emily instantly “Not until completing this quest. I can’t go back and have Clarisse mocking me all day” she complained “Please guys, don’t let that happen”
“We won’t” assured Percy, smiling at her “I think I’ve got a better idea for what to do with the head”
He guided them to Medusa’s work table, and he began looking over her register book:
“Hermes express!” he exclaimed “Medusa ship’s these things all over. Some of it even goes to Olympus”
“Percy” began Annabeth, wariness in her voice “You can’t ship Medusa’s head to Olympus!”
“Why not?”
“Because the gods won’t like it”
“At all. Like, ‘at all’ at all”
“Guys, that’s what you do with dangerous stuff. Like batteries, you just send’em back where they came from”
“This is a bad idea. They will see this as impertinent”
“I am impertinent” he replied smugly, starting to put the invisible head inside a carton box, while Annabeth muttered ‘but we’re not!’. He ignored her “Look, Medusa tried to derail our quest. She’s got serious beef with your mom” he pointed to Annabeth “When you look at it that way, this seems kinda like tribute or something, doesn’t it?”
“That’s taken like from really far, Percy”
“Yeah, but… this way, at least-“ he reached inside the box, grabbing the Yankees hat while quickly closing the package “This way, part of your mom is still with us”
He handed the hat over the table back to Annabeth, and after considering it, she accepted it back, thanking him.
“Here, let me help” Emily walked around the table, and aided Percy with the tape to secure the flaps of the box.
“This isn’t exactly what I meant by choosing each other” said Grover nervously “There are actual dangers involved here that cannot be…”
He didn’t finish his sentence though, as Percy interrupted him by starting to clap his hands in a rhythm they recognized a few seconds into the melody.
“You’re gonna sing the song, aren’t you?”
Not this again, thought Emily.
“Oh golly, the road’s getting’ bumpy-“
“Whatever”
“Please stop”
“Consensus!” Percy sang, not remembering the lyrics but making it up.
“Let’s make a pack, please” Emily perked up, having finished closing the box “Never come back to Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium… and never sing that song ever again”
A chorus’ of ‘deal’ resonated inside the cavern, and soon after they were all giggling and chuckling. The quest could go on.
----
Taglist: @strawberryys-stuff @ladysybilchronicles @kyuupidwrites @nhloversblog @beansficreblogs @priyajoyyy @zeeader @lightsgore @gengen64
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beuatifulbuttercup · 8 months
Text
Godly Swap AU
If I had writing abilities I'd write it but I don't so here's a rough outline.
Percy, son of Nemesis, Annabeth daughter of Aphrodite, Thalia daughter of Nike, Nico son of Hecate, Bianca(same mortal mom as Nico) daughter of Hypnos, Clarisse daughter of Apollo, Silena daughter of Poseidon, Chris son of Zeus, Ethan son Hades, Luke unclaimed but son of Oizys, Beckendorf son of Athena, Will and Lee sons of Dionysus, Micheal son of Hermes, Travis and Connor Stoll sons of Demeter, Pollux and Castor sons of Ares, Katie daughter of Hephaestus ,
The Lighting Thief
Silena had came to camp a week before Percy did. When she came she killed the minotaur. Her former PE coach, Gleeson Hedge, was her satyr. She had a strong scent however she did not resemble Poseidon outside of the black hair as she looked more like her mortal father.
Luke, being unclaimed for so many years (it was his mother protecting him as she does not exactly have the best domain) betrays camp shortly after Percy, Annabeth and Grover return from their quest. Silena, who had not yet ben claimed, witnessed the entire situation unfold goes to Chiron as well as saving Percy. She removed the poison from Percy's system and gets claimed by Poseidon.
Percy still went on this quest as Zeus believed that Nemesis told him to steal the bolt. as revenge for what happened to Thalia. Grover goes as he is still Percy's best friend. Annabeth goes because she wants to prove herself as a real hero and not weak as many people stereotype her to be.
Thalia was turned into a tree by Zeus as she was dying against Nike's wishes. Zeus did this to punish Nike by not allowing on of her few children to rest in Elysium.
Ethan was claimed well before this by Hades and many feared he would be the child of the prophecy. He ends up joining Luke as he doesn't feel welcomed at camp.
After Luke leaves Micheal takes over his place. Connor Stoll, counselor of the Demeter cabin, is very excited to have his best friend join the council.
Sea of Monsters
Luke poison's Thalia's tree however this is poison that not even Silena can remove from the tree. The regular stuff with Tantalus goes on and Clarisse is sent on the quest when many believe it should be Silena. Silena, Tyson, and Beckendorf sneak out with the help Percy and Annabeth. They help as they believe Silena should go on the quest and because Grover was kidnapped. *Insert SoM plot here with a pretty big change*
Thalia comes back to life with the fleece. However that is not the only thing different. They had found another demigod, Chris Rodriguez, on their trip. It seemed like him and Silena were constantly bickering and that they could never agree on anything. Chris gets claimed by Zeus. He gets shown around by Clarisse.
Titans Curse
Titans curse baby! Here Silena, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Beckendorf head over to find Grover and the half-bloods he found.
They find Bianca and Nico as well as the huntresses. Thalia seems a bit hostile and even Annabeth seems on edge. However this cut short by the manticore kidnapping Annabeth. Percy gets pissed especially after Zoe insinuated that she would've put up more a fight is she wasn't a daughter of Aphrodite.
They head back to camp and Bianca becomes a huntress. Nico stays with Silena, Beckendorf, and Percy the most but he seems to gravitate to Percy more than the rest. Percy is annoyed as he has to deal with an eleven year old while trying to find out how to save Annabeth. Silena takes care of Nico and shows him around but he'd rather be with Percy.
During the capture the flag fight Silena and Chris get into a huge fight. It's the same one as cannon but Chris adds that if Silena was as great as she acts like she as Annabeth wouldn't have been kidnapped. Ultimately, the hunt wins. The oracle says her prophecy.
Counselor meeting! The only cabin 4 counselor there is Connor as Travis is off on a mission for Chiron. Zoe has a mission and she choses Bianca, Thalia, and two other huntresses to join. Silena and Percy protest saying they should join as well. Beckendorf, Chris, and Clarisse try to calm them down. Silena elbows Chris to get him off her. Percy pushed Clarisse off of her. Beckendorf is the only one who can calm them down from being aggressive, they're still pissed though. Micheal, who also finds some of the huntresses to be big headed, does what the Stolls did in cannon.
Silena and Percy sneak out but they get stopped by Beckendorf and Nico. Nico asks Percy to promise that he will protect Bianca and Percy promises that he will TRY to keep her safe. Beckendorf gives Silena a kiss on the forehead and wishes her luck. Percy teases them and they sneak off on Blackjack.
Everything is pretty much the same expect for a few details. When Percy goes to sleep he sees a vision from his godly mother, Nemesis. She asks him to join her in the fight against the gods. He refuses and tries to ignore her but it's hard when that's literally all you're dreaming about. Then he hear's Bianca's voice. Bianca is able to influence his dream by putting Annabeth and all the people he cares about in his dream. That allows him to wake up to see Bianca touching his head. She gets claimed by Hypnos there. She dies, they go the damn, Percy meets Rachel.
When they get to where Atlas is Percy takes the sky and urges everyone to keep fighting. Zoe gets killed and turned into a constellation as she does in cannon. Thalia joins the hunt because she's tired of being treated differently at camp for being a child of a minor goddess. However, she does not wish to join Luke because she doesn't want to stoop to his level. They contemplate killing Silena but decide against it as Ethan is still alive and they rather have Silena and Chris than just Chris.
Silena and Percy tell Nico what happened. Nico's hands start to glow green. Around him things start to warp and change and he disappears in a flash of green light. Annabeth, Beckendorf, and Grover run to where they were. Silena suggests telling Chiron but Percy disagrees. He says that the powers Nico demonstrated were the ones of children of Hecate. If people find out about this Hecate will try to recruit him as Nemesis did to him. It is best to keep it under wraps at camp because people will think he joined Kronos when at the moment they just don't know.
The Battle of the Labyrinth
Travis comes back from his mission with Katie who has gone insane in the labyrinth.
This time Beckendorf has the quest and he brings Silena, Clarisse, and Chris on the quest. When people ask why he brings both Silena AND Chris he just says not to worry and that he has a plan.
They go on the quest but quickly find that they can't navigate it. They IM Percy and Annabeth and Percy sighs and says he can help. Annabeth glares at him the entire time he's on call with a mortal girl, specifically Rachel.
Racehl joins the team and the regular stuff happens. Nico still has a Stygian Iron sword as Hecate is a chthonic (underworld) goddess. They find Ethan and it's tense as fuck. Silena and Chris try to convince him not to as it would bring more harm than good. When we see Luke Rachel still throws the blue hair brush at him.
Chris is the one who gets sent to Ogigia and they hold his funeral. Silena begins to accept her fate that it's going to be her. She is going to be the child of the prophecy. Yes Chris is younger than her but only by a month. It was between the two of them to stop Kronos. But now it's just her to make sure Ethan doesn't do it. Then Chris crashes the funeral.
During the battle Lee son of Dionysus dies as well as Pollux son of Ares. Nico arrives with an army of skeletons and magical items. Silena can only watch as swirls of green magic cause the monsters to snap out of existence, it was beautiful and terrifying.
Silena turns fifteen and Katie talks to her. She wishes her a happy birthday. Katie looks a lot better but she still had the look in her eyes that told Silena she wasn't all the way there. Silena compared that to how Katie looked when they first met three years ago before Katie joined Luke. Katie had on a necklace that Silena recognized to be Travis'. Katie tells her that she doesn't remember much about the Titan Army but there is one thing that she couldn't forget even if she tries. She tells Silena what is is.
The Last Olympian
Silena goes on a mission with Micheal to see the ship. Cannon does its thing and Micheal dies. Silena begs him not to and to jump off the ship but he stays and wishes her good luck. Silena comes back to camp and Connor is the first one to notice he's gone.
During the meeting Travis announces that the Demeter cabin will not be fighting in the battle as the Ares cabin will not give them the chariot. They try to convince Travis but he won't hear it. A couple members, Connor, Drew, and Lacy, sneak out anyway to help.
Silena members the conversation she had with Katie about the River Styx. After talking about it with Nico she learns that she cannot swim in the river Styx because she needs a mother's blessing and she does not have mom. Nico suggests that Chris or Percy swim in the river instead.
Hades is less than pleased to see them there. Silena decided to skip out on this to have her own adventure. She lives Beckendorf, Clarisse, and Annabeth in charge while she's gone. When Percy asks him if he joined Kronos Hades said that unlike his other chthonic gods he has not chosen a side. He will be like Iris and be neutral to the entire exchange.
Silena learns a lot about Luke's past. She thought maybe she'd learn something to help her defeat Kronos.
During the Battle Silena makes the bridge fall causing one of Will's siblings to die. She thought he was off the bridge but he went MIA.
All of the other canon stuff happens.
Connor, who pretended to be Travis to bring the rest of his cabin to the fight, fired arrows at the drackon as that is what Travis would've done. Connor instead gets fatal injured. He confesses to everyone that he was traitor. Travis, who was now crushed at the death of his younger brother, killed the drackon.
Becekndorf is a badass for the rest of the battle. He is the one leading army and shouting out commands during the majority of the battle. He's the one who kills the Clazmonian Sow in this universe saving Silena.
Ethan gets pushed out of the building and killed by Kronos as he does in cannon. However, this was much more of a difficult decision as Kronos wanted Ethan to be useful for after he kills Silena.
When Luke comes to his senses he stabs himself killing both himself and Kronos. Before he can die however Oizys arrives to look at her son. She holds him and guides him to the underworld.
. End of the battle and Silena and Beckendorf get thrown into the lake.
Ran out of momentum at the end if you couldn't tell. These were just all the ideas I had that I needed to get written down. Someone feel free to write this if they want. I also couldn't really find a replacement for Micheal as I still want Percy and Annabeth to be apart of the seven. Silena, Beckendorf, Percy, and Annabeth are all going on break. And guess what, so is Jason. Thalia, Reyna, and Nico are going on an adventure
As for the HoO characters here's the godly parents I'd put-
Piper- Pluto- camp swap- TLH
Reyna-Demeter- TLH
Frank-Hermes- TLH
Leo- Bellona- SoN
Nico- hecate- camp swap
Hazel- vulcan- SoN
Thalia Grace- Nike-plays the role of Annabeth and IS apart of the seven
Jason- Victoria- not apart of the seven.
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kingdom-of-sins · 3 months
Note
from previous post where it said “When she comes back she hears Area telling Grover how he doesn't care about his kids (according to the tv show)” this would be the part where she said to Ares from the other previous post that she said “he never care about her or his other children back at camp. But to add more salt in the wound, Ares daughter continues saying
“You said the gods would put the others down in order to get ahead right? Because power, glory, and attention is all you guys care about right? Is that why you had me, Clarisse, and the rest? Just to further your own ego and use us to prove yourself to other gods that you’re better than them? *Bitterly laughs* You know after Percy kill Medusa and send her head to Olympus. Your sister Athena was so butthurt that her past actions of what she did to Medusa caught up to her and she took it out Annabeth not even wanting to help her or us because of this so called “disrespectful act.” This whole thing is just game to you guys. The moment we did one little mistake you turn your back on us. But the moment we do something great. You immediately start caring. Like we’re your freaking kids! Everyone back at camp, Percy, Luke, Annabeth, and me shouldn’t be chasing for the gods attention just so we can feel loved and validated whenever we complete a quest to make your guys feel good about your image! You should just love and care about us because we’re children! I mean….out of all the gods I thought you would understand because you know what is like to be unloved by your own parents. So why would you do it to us when you know what it’s like to be unloved? Especially by the people who should care about you.”
Percy and Annabeth comes in just in time to hear their friend going off about her feelings about the gods.
The angst🥺🥺
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evilincoperated · 3 months
Text
My thoughts on Episode Eight (Season Finale!!)
SPOILER WARNING AHEAD
- Aww no Luke :(
- Thats right set up the rules
- NAH WHY ARE WE BRINGING QUEEN SALLY INTO THIS?!??
- KICK HIS ASS
- The wave! Oh my gods that's beautifully done
- FIRST BLOOD YOU WORDED THE TERMS AMAZINGLY
- You're beefing with a twelve year old boy
- Sally?
- He wants his mom back
- ALECTO
- Girlboss
- He has to go
- THEYRE SO IN LOVE
- She loves him
- Bro you need an appointment to see Zeus bffr
- I love how they're setting up Luke and Percys similarities
- Bro is so cocky like you're bragging to a twelve year old
- Dog just listen for once
- OH PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE
- POSEIDON!! TOP THREE GODLY PARENTS IN THIS SHOW
- Youre gonna talk about having forbidden kids? Really?
- Thalia :(
- Hermes cant keep a secret huh?
- DAMN BRO IS TWELVE IS AND BEEFING WITH THE STRONGEST GOD
- He's finally meeting his dad
- Theyre talking about the word for father as father and son thats so sweet
- "Do you dream?"
- This is such a beautiful scene
- "Ares is a moron, of course we dream"
- "Do you dream about mom?"
- HE DOES HE'S SO IN LOVE WITH YOUR MOM PERCY
- Get back to camp
- THE HUG!!
- Clarisse's glare is so silly
- NO DONT LISTEN TO HIM
- DONT GO WITH HIM
- All the stops for King Percy
- The gears are turning in his mind
- "You'll be betrayed by one who calls you friend"
- "Clarisse didn't steal the bolt, you did."
- "I am your friend"
- Luke is such an emotionally complex character and its amazing
- Charlie's acting is so good
- You've gotten so much better Percy its amazing
- ANNABETH! QUEEN
- Wait no scorpion???? :(
- "Wait Percy?"
- "Im 90% sure its Peter"
- Mr. D is so funny i love him
- Final Seaweed Brain of the season!!
- SHES GOING TO DISNEYWORLD OH MY GOD
- The smile he's so in love
- HE GOT IT YIPPEE
- WAIT NO NOT THE SEA
- "Nobody's checked the Sea (of monsters)"
- THE HUG
- KRONOS, HE'S GETTING CLOSER
- WAIT NO ANNABETH IN THE SHADOWS?
- "Grandpa..."
- "Don't call him that"
- We dont get to see Gabe get petrified????
- Percy no offense but i don't want to be a part of this world
- OH WAIT
- SALLY IS DIVORCING YOU HA!
- QUEEN CHANGED THE LOCKS HA
- LMAO HE PETRIFIED HIMSELF
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