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xbaepsae · 3 years

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the ebb and flow | part six

“You’re trying really hard not to laugh. But it’s difficult to suppress laughter when the situation calls for it. So, for probably the first time ever, you laugh in front of Jeon Jeongguk.”

[demigod!jeongguk x demigod!reader]

genre: percy jackson!au, mythology!au, demigod!au, enemies to lovers!au

word count: 2k

rating: pg-13

warnings: language, the usual character tension, a brief moment of softness??

a/n: hi it’s been quite a while since my last update. but i really hope you enjoy this chapter :) xoxo

→ series masterlist!

the fourth summer – in which there is an inspection

The last week of summer at camp is always a memorable one—be it the late nights by the beach or the insane amount of chaos that seems to ensue every year.

For example, last summer, there was a monster that managed to break through the barrier. Fortunately, everyone was able to react promptly, and the monster was sent to Tartarus; at least, that’s what you think happened. At the end of the day, you’re just happy it hasn’t happened again since then.

This summer as the new camp counselor for your cabin—after Jinyoung so graciously handed you his title before heading off to New Rome—has been an interesting one; and least to say, you’re going to miss your little legion of cabinmates. It’s been fun leading them around—to greatness, of course.

But before summer can truly end, you need to make it to your last Senior Counsel meeting of the season.

Running to the Big House, you rush into the Rec Room with hopes that you’re not the only person who’s behind schedule. You hate that the one morning you oversleep is the one morning you have somewhere to be. In the Rec Room, you notice that all of the other Head Counselors have already arrived.

“Why, y/n, thank you for joining us,” Mr. D’s mouth curves into a frown.

You wince. “Sorry for running late.”

“You’re only a few minutes late,” Chiron waves his hand. “Take your place, y/n.”

Bypassing your grumpy camp director, you take your seat in-between Park Jimin and Jung Hoseok around the dingy ping pong table. The son of Ares offers you a narrow look—probably still upset you snatched his flag from underneath his nose last week—which you return with the same enthusiasm. “Can I help you, Park?”

“Don’t mind mister grouchy-pants over there,” Hoseok suddenly speaks up. “He clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“Not all of us can wake up as chipper as you, Hobi,” Jimin uses the son of Apollo’s infamous nickname.

“Well, I can’t help it if the sun makes me happy.”

“Everything makes you happy. It’s quite sickening, actually.”

Quickly, you realize that this little banter could seriously get out of hand. Luckily, you’re not the only one. Chiron takes a quick look at them and clears his throat. “That’s enough you two; we only have one week left of summer.”

“And there’s much you heroes have to do,” Mr. D adds, popping the tab of his Diet Coke. “I cannot wait for you little vermin to be gone; except for you, y/n…you never seem to want to leave.”

“I would if I could,” you roll your eyes. “I guess we’ll just be stuck here together.”

“Speaking of things to do,” Chiron changes the conversation, “there is one major thing left to be done before the end of summer.”

“Are we throwing a party?” Kim Seokjin asks, hair and face looking as perfect as ever.

Chiron frowns. “No, and there better not be anything of the sort happening in Cabin Ten.”

For a moment, you swear the son of Aphrodite’s eyes are shimmering. “Of course not, unless you want to throw us a party. A party seems fun.”

“A party does seem fun,” Chiron suddenly agrees. “We haven’t had one of those in a while…”

Seokjin’s eyes grow wider. “I want huge balloons and an extravagant display table. Also, is there any way to hire a DJ? No offense, but lyre playing is so ancient.”

“That could probably be arranged…” Chiron trails off, like he’s not even aware of what he’s saying.

“Cut it with the Charmspeak, Lim Sejin.”

The son of Aphrodite’s eyes whip to Dionysus. “It’s Kim Seokjin, Mr. D.”

“Lim Sejin, Kim Seokjin—same thing,” the god of wine rolls his eyes. “But seriously kid, cut it out. We’ve got serious business to attend to.”

“Fine,” Seokjin crosses his arms. “As you were saying, Chiron?”

Chiron blinks a few times. “Oh, yes—the major thing that must be done is cabin inspection.”

The entire Senior Counsel seems to tense at that. It’s not that everyone is a total slob, but cabin inspection is so tedious. There’s a reason it’s only done once in a while. And sometimes, you do end up finding some disgusting beds. The Hermes Cabin is always questionable. You’ve never had to do cabin inspection, and you don’t plan on it.

“Are there any volunteers?” Chiron continues. “You all know two counselors need to perform the tasks.”

As Chiron says that, everyone starts to look at Kim Taehyung. When he realizes that you’re all looking at him, he begins to shake his head aggressively. “No way—I did inspection last time. Besides, I’m busy with the Pegasi—I don’t have time to check all the cabins.”

He is right—the son of Zeus does have a lot of other responsibilities. But you all looked at him first because he is just so good at taking on different tasks.

“Okay, so excluding Taehyung…any volunteers?” Chiron asks again. No one dares to look at him. “Come on, heroes. There are worse things to do here.”

While there is some truth to that statement, no one budges. But for some reason, you feel compelled to offer your service? The thought of coming into contact with stinky socks is less than ideal, but you want to prove to Chiron and Mr. D that you’re serious about being Head Counselor of your cabin. And you want to make your mother proud.

So, almost subconsciously, you raise your hand. “I’ll do it, Chiron.”

Everyone’s head swivels toward you. Surprise and interest simultaneously mares their faces. Even Mr. D looks shocked that you spoke up—his Diet Coke spilling from his hand.

“Great, y/n!” Chiron exclaims. “Anyone want to join her?”

“I’ll do it.” For the first time today, your eyes look in his direction. Jeon Jeongguk stares back at you with his signature smirk plastered onto his dumb face. “I’ll help y/n out with cabin inspection.”

Chiron hums, probably wondering why your sworn enemy is offering to assist you. “Interesting. You may join her, Jeongguk.”

“I’ll gladly take anyone else but Jeon,” you groan. “Chiron don’t make us do inspection together. Please.”

“You’ll be fine, y/n. It’s just one day of cabin inspection. It’ll be fun.” Chiron says as he moves onto the next topic, something about the dining pavilion.

“Come on, y/n,” Jeongguk taunts with a smile. “It’ll be fun.”

***

It’ll be fun, they said.

Walking towards Cabin One with your clipboard, you turn around and watch as Jeongguk slowly follows behind you. In his hand, he carries his own clipboard and pen. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Sure, captain,” he mock salutes you, pen now hanging out of his mouth.

You roll your eyes and continue towards Zeus’s cabin. Once you’re in front of the white marble structure, you take in the columns and bronze decorations. Cabin One is the biggest of all the cabins—to reflect Zeus’s position as King of Olympus; you don’t think you’ll ever get over the robust columns and cold exterior.

“This place gives me the creeps.”

“Shut it, Jeon,” you order, knocking on the door. It opens mid-tap, revealing a smiling Taehyung. He opens the door wider, allowing you both to walk in.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” the son of Zeus says, revealing a pretty empty cabin.

You notice a few beds in the corner, but that’s about it for the furniture. In the middle of the room, boasts a rather intimidating statue of the god of thunder himself. The statue seems to stand ten feet tall, and you wonder how Taehyung can even stand to live in such a space. You voice this thought out loud, to which only seems to make the son of Zeus rumble with laughter.

“I’m just used to it, I guess. The others don’t mind either.”

Walking around the room, you can’t help but give Cabin One a perfect score—if anything, you feel like it’s almost too pristine in here. Looking over your shoulder, you notice Jeongguk giving the same score.

“Let’s move on, shall we?” you ask, not waiting for Jeongguk to give you an answer before you’re walking away.

The two of you bypass Cabin Two—which belongs to Hera herself and means no one lives there—and make your way towards Cabin Three. You allow Jeongguk to walk in front of you—since this is his place, after all—and you don’t miss the way sweat begins to bead along his brow.

“I hope for your sake, the cabin’s clean,” you remark, to which he doesn’t say anything.

“I’m sure my siblings cleaned up…” he trails off, seemingly unsure of his own words.

Jeongguk opens the door of the gray sea-shelled building and reveals a dark interior. His half-siblings are nowhere to be found, probably off doing their activities. You follow Jeongguk inside and watch as he switches the lights on. For the first time, you take in the glowing walls and the ceiling that makes the cabin appear as it’s underwater. There is also a fountain that looks like a fish in the room; and as you’re staring at the water sprouting from its mouth, you see it.

The last bed in the row is trashed—the sheets have been haphazardly thrown everywhere and clothes hang from each corner like a monster rolled through the space or something. On the floor beside the bed, there are even more clothes and random things; like miniature figurines of Hippocampi and other sea creatures.

You don’t realize it, but your mouth had dropped open. “Styx…who’s bed is that?”

Slowly, you turn to face your enemy. You expect him to be ready with a snide comment, except he seems at a loss for words. Jeongguk’s face is devoid of color and he looks absolutely horrified. You put two and two together, realizing that the trashed bed belongs to him.

“I am going to kill them,” he barely says above a whisper. For a second, you almost feel kind of bad for the son of Poseidon; then again, why should you feel bad for him? You don’t even like him. “When I asked them to clean up, I didn’t mean for them to give me all of their shit!”

You’re trying really hard not to laugh. But it’s difficult to suppress laughter when the situation calls for it. So, for probably the first time ever, you laugh in front of Jeon Jeongguk. It starts off as simple air passing between your lips, but soon morphs into something full-bellied as you feel laughter vibrate throughout your whole body.

He looks at you with wide eyes—probably thinking you’ve lost your mind—but you can’t help it. You can barely muster the words, “T-This is gold.”

As you shut your eyes, tears practically fall from them as you continue to laugh, you miss something. You miss the way Jeongguk’s wide eyes soften a bit as he continues to stare at you. The softness doesn’t last long, and you probably wouldn’t have caught it because his gaze becomes sharp in a blink, but it was there. It was real. Though he would never admit it to you.

“Shut up,” he says instead, which gradually sobers you up. “This is humiliating.”

You nod. “Oh, absolutely.” This causes Jeongguk to frown. “And I am so giving you a terrible grade for this.”

Focusing back on the task at hand, you give Cabin Three a big fat one out of five—much to the disappointment of a certain cabin member. As Jeongguk grades himself, you raise an eyebrow when he gives himself a modest score of three.

“What?” he asks, feigning ignorance.

“Three? C’mon, Jeon,” you roll your eyes. “You must see the destruction that is your bed.”

He scrunches his face. “But it’s not even my mess!”

You give him a look; one that says don’t fuck around right now. And it seems to work because Jeongguk, albeit begrudgingly, changes the three next to his cabin to a one. By the time he looks up again, you’re already halfway out the door.

“Come on, Jeon; we don’t have all day!”

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astranne · 4 years

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The fear of losing control (Part One)

This is a little crossover with the pairing Bruce Wayne (Batman) and fem!Percy Jackson. Don’t judge me, I love fem!Percy. And crossovers.

So this is like 15 years after the war against Gaea.

(My native language is german, so if there are any erorrs, please tell me or just ignore it :))

Masterlist

---

There is a reason, why humans fear greater power. People who have more knowledge then them, who have more power. It’s quite simple. They can’t control them. They can’t control heroes, like Superman or Wonder Woman, godlike beings. They fear them, because they know, they don’t have any control. And when Aquaman came, the king of Atlantis, they had a new fear. The oceans. So many secrets, so much power. And they can’t control it.

Persie Jackson was rarely afraid. And even if she was afraid, she always feared for her friends and family more. She was afraid of her nightmares, of Tartarus and the loss of her friends. She knows, what is like to have fear or be feared. She knows it too well. And when her nephew came, Arthur and told her about the whispers about landwalkers, their fears, she decided to talk with her father.

Gods knew fear to. They feared Tartarus, Kronos or Gaea. Powerful monsters or the end of their regein. Some of them were panaroid, while others were laid back. And Zeus... he was the one who feared the most. He was powerful, the King of the gods, the King of Olympus. So he had to lose much. And when this sea spawn of Poseidon came, he definitely feared her. Just like many others.

Kraken was a new hero, a new one to fear. Raw power, untamed, mighty and beautiful like the ocean. Long black hair, seagreen eyes and a armor, which showed how much power and skill she held. Everytime, when she came to the surface, people were at awe. Children loved her for her power, the control of water, while teenager admired her beauty and strenght. The parents were glad, that another hero protected them and their families, but villians... they wanted to control her. And as Poseidon once said, the sea does not like to be restrained.

When Batman met Kraken, he was in awe, just like the others. Her skin had tan, but glowed softly in the sun, her hair was braided in a beautiful way, her eyes showed her raw but faszinating power. Her armor was blue and bronze, her weapons sharp. Wonder Woman smiled and hugged her, greeting her cousin.

“It’s so good to see you, little cousin.” Kraken laughed and hugged her back.

“It’s good to see you too, Di. Your sister and brother miss you, ya know.” Wonder Woman smiled again and promised to visit soon.

“Welcome, Kraken, to the Justice League.” The beauty grinned.

---

Batman was hestiant. While he knew, that Wonder Woman and Aquaman were familiar with Kraken, he realized, he had absolutly no information about her. He just knew, like everybody else, that she was powerful. For him, Kraken was an enigma. And he definitly didn’t like that.

---

With a sigh, Persie watched how the city burned. Why does this keep happening? Why was always earth attacked? She looked at the trident in her right hand, the trident of her father. It will grant her great power, power she couldn’t really control. Because nobody controls the seas. Not even her father. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

The Justice League paused, when they noticed a sudden glow, bluish and soft. They saw Kraken, Persie, on her knees, a majestic weapon in her hand.

“Father...“ Her voice carried her sentences through the whole city.

“Father. I call you for help. Help me to guide the sea, not to control. Help me... it‘s too much. Too much power to hold.” A giant wave rolled through the streets, not touching anything but glowing with power. Diana gasped, when she feeled her uncle’s presence. The wave roared high and crashed into Kraken. Her whole body began to glow brighter, until she floated over the ground. The air cracked with pure energy, her glowing white eyes stared the villians down. On the top of her head rested a crown, made out of corals and pearls. Her armour became bigger, more majestic.

“Mortals“, she growled. But there was another voice. Deeper, much more powerful. The voice of a male.

“You came, try to conquer the world? You came like kings? Do you-“ She, he, was interrupted, when some tried to attack Kraken.

“Do you even know, WHO I am? Do you know, who my daughter is? I shall tell you... I am Poseidon! The King over the seas and this is my daughter, the hero and savior of Olympus! She fought against monsters, titans and giants, against Kronos, Tartarus and Gaea themself! And you think, you can win against her? Win against a god?“ The heroes were shocked, they knew Kraken was powerful, but a half god?

“You shall kneel before me, you have absolute no respect for mortal beings. Killing innocent... I will tell my brother Hades of your sins. Even if you don‘t belive in gods, in us, you will suffer in the Underworld.“ Kraken, possessed by Poseidon, slammed the trident into the ground. The earth began to shake, more water made it into the city. A sneer was seen on her face.

“You made everyone suffer, you made my daughter suffer... let me suffer you...“, murmured Poseidon. He slowly walked nearer, ignoring the shocked looks of heroes and civilians alike. The water moved through the streets, extinguish the fire and heal all the wounds of innoncent. Kraken whipped her head around, her eyes narrowed to Psimon. His hand was outstretched, his eyes went big, when he saw that Kraken made her way to him.

“Are you trying to control me? Are you trying to control a god?“ Kraken also streched a hand out, Psimon gasped, when he felt his blood slowly heating up.

“I learnt some months ago, what truly happened to my daughter in Tartarus. She was forced to do some... things, to save her friend. She nearly killed a goddess. Do you want to know how?“ Poseidon sneered again, as Psimon began to levitate and gasping for air.

“She controled blood and swore on the river Styx, she would never do it again. But to your misfortune... I am not my daughter.“ Suddenly Poseidon gripped his head, his daughter’s, head.

“Ugh... she doesn‘t want your blood at her hands. You are lucky, Simon Jones. You are all lucky.“ With that, the glowing slowly faded, the water and trident disappeared and left a tired Kraken behind. She groaned, swayed and almost lost her balance. Batman rushed to her and laid her softly at the ground.

“Kraken? Are you alright?“ She blinked slowly.

“I feel... tired, like really tired. What happened? Where is my fathers trident?“

“Everything is alright. Your father... possessed you and saved many lifes. I‘m not quite sure, if he realized that...“

“He did.“ She paused, until she became pale.

“Did-did I lost control? Gods, please-“

“Nothing happend. Your father- he stopped, bevor it became... nasty.“ Kraken sighed in relief.

“Cousin? Are you alright?“ Wonder Woman kneeled besides her, the other heroes followed, after they made sure, that the villians couldn‘t escape.

“I feel tired, but also refreshed. Like I had a long fight, but in the near of ocean. It‘s confusing?“ She frowned and tried to get up, but Batman pressed her down.

“I understand. Please rest. You just held the power of your father and this quite long. You even resited him!“ Kraken pressed her lips together, but nodded.

——

“Kraken? Can I talk to you?“ Batman didn‘t show it, but he was nervous. He wanted to clear up some things, to answer his questions. Kraken was still at the medic bay in the Watch Tower, her cousin forced her to rest.

“What would you like to know, Bruce?“ He suddenly freezed and blinked.

“How-“ She smiled and sat up slowy.

“Before I became a mortal hero, I talked with my father. And he talked with the council. They were wairy, because they didn’t want to lose me. They... they told me about the secret identities of each hero. I always knew it was you, I’m sorry, if a crossed a boundary there.”

“No. It’s alright... I mean, they are gods... so...”

“My name is Persephone Jackson, but please call me Persie. It’s nice, to finally meet you, Bruce.” A rare smile reached the stoic hero’s face.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” He sat and took his mask down. Bruce paused, until he asked his first question about her personal life.

“Why were you in Tartarus? Isn’t it the greek hell?”

“This is a long story... do you have the time?” Persie smirked and when he nodded, she began with her life story.

“Everything began, when my math teacher turned out to be a fury...”

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minlunae · 5 years

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↳ pairing: yoongi/reader

↳ au: demigod!au | percy jackson!au | domestic!au in the end????

↳ warnings: teeth rotting fluff & yoongi is goth boi on the outside and soft boi in the inside

↳ word count: 3.7k

⁙ summary: daughter of the harvest falls in love with the son of death.

⁙ a/n: this was supposed to be angst but 🤷‍♀️

when you woke to a new morning at camp half-blood, it felt like any ordinary day

as the head counselor of the demeter cabin, you quickly get ready before you make your rounds waking all your younger siblings up and making sure they wash up

you: the substitute mom to all your half siblings and in extension, the whole camp

a whole ass mom friend

“y/n have you seen my favorite scrunchie?!??! y’know the pink velvet one??!????!”

“y/n, tell dowoon to hurry up in the toilet my bladder is about to eXPLODE!!!!!”

you roll your eyes but you yank the scrunchie from under hyoeun’s mattress and notify dowoon that he has exactly 30 more seconds to get his business settled

as you’re tidying the stray things lying around the cabin, you make sure to run your hands across the plants so that their colors look more vibrant and stand up a little taller

you can literally feel the plants sigh in pleasure and that’s why you make sure to do it every morning—a deep sense of satisfaction

you’ve been a full time member of camp half blood since you were only six years old so it’s the only home you’ve ever known

you have 12 beads on your necklace now!!!! 12 years at camp half-blood!

now that you were 18, you were considering whether you should leave and try to make a life outside of camp or maybe stay to help??

it was a big decision so you did your best to not think about it a lot

you had a tendency to push thoughts about the future in the way, way, way, WAY back of your head

like the thought of leaving camp half-blood terrified you!!!

this was your home!!

you don’t even know the ways of the mortal world though you’ve been out for quests and such

but it has never been long term!!!!

anYWAYS

so many of your fellow campers, although they may be not your direct siblings, have come to become your family

y’all grew up together and fought some monsters together how much more bonding do you guys need??

you herd everyone to breakfast and remind them of their individual duties for today

yours is to tend to the orchard

it’s just you today bc all your other siblings had archery practice and such

and the pomegranate trees have been needing extra care and attention which you were very worried about

besides, you appreciated being able to get away from the others for at least a little while

although you love them…..sometimes….it can become too…….much for you..

you are the mom friend but you are also very introverted and recharged your energy by being alone!!!!!

so that’s why you’re like !!!!!! when you seen a black blob by the edge of the orchards

…right by the barrier of the camp

adrenaline is pumping as you approach the unidentified lump

but when you finally get a good look

its a boy

a very handsome boy

a very hurt handsome boy

!!!!!!!

you immediately drop right next to him to check for vitals

you sigh in relief when you feel his pulse

still you’re nervous because his skin feels as cold as ice

and there are pretty big gashes on his face, arms, and legs

…and his left arm is laying in a weird angle

as you’re trying to decide whether it would be a better idea to try to transport this stranger to the infirmary or run to bring hoseok here

when you decide that it’s too risky to try to jostle him when you don’t have extensive knowledge of healing like hoseok does, you turn to run back to the camp

“urghhhh”

you freeze and whip around

hurt handsome boy is struggling to sit up!!!!

“lay back down!!!” you almost yell at him

hurt handsome boy flinches and looks up at you in shock

“you’re safe here now! seeing that you got through the barrier, you’re a demigod aren’t you? don’t worry, just lay down and i’m going to get someone from the apollo cabin to look at your wounds!”

your hands flutter around him because half of you want to push him down to stop him from trying to sit up but the other half of you is scared that you’re going to hurt him

“i-is this camp half-blood?”

hurt handsome boy’s voice…

rip y/n

“yes it is now pls reLAX you’re going to hurt yourself more if you keep trying to move”

you noticed that hurt handsome boy’s lips (don’t @ y/n for staring at his lips they are very nice lips) are very very dry

you charm the surrounding plants into releasing some of their water supply into a big leaf you fashioned into a cup

“here drink some water” you offer to the stranger “what’s your name?”

stranger boy takes long deep gulps from the leaf

“min yoongi”

“okay yoongi, i’m y/n. do you think you can lay here for like five minutes? i’m gonna grab someone to come heal you”

yoongi barely finished nodding before you fly off to go find hoseok

yoongi settles back into the dirt

and ouch

he’s really starting to feel the arm now that the adrenaline from fighting all those monsters was dissipating

tbh when he first woke up, he thought he was in heaven

especially after seeing you with the sunlight behind you like a halo…..

while yoongi is thinking about you when he should most definitely be worried about his injuries, you’re dashing to the infirmary

“hOSEOK WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY”

you make it just in time to see hoseok startle and drop the bandages he was carrying

“y/n you scared me!!”

“what’s going on??” you didn’t even notice your best friend namjoon in the room

“there’s a new camper at the edge of camp by the orchards!!! and he’s badly hurt i don’t think there was anyone to help guide him here!”

hoseok quickly grabs his kit and both he and namjoon rushes to follow you back to the orchards

thankfully, yoongi is still where you left him

“yoongi!! this is hoseok and he’s our best healer let him help you”

yoongi obediently lets hoseok prod about trying his best to keep a straight face despite the pain

“my name is kim namjoon son of athena and the person that’s looking you over right now is jung hoseok son of apollo. how did you get here?”

“i’m min yoongi my piece of shit dad told me to come here after removing his hedge of protection over me” yoongi rolls his eyes

“your dad? is he your godly parent?” namjoon asks

yoongi blows his bangs out of his face and sighs “yeah, my dad is hades”

you’re shocked and you can tell namjoon and hoseok are too

it’s not everyday you see a child of the big 3

“okay, i healed the gashes that you had, but that broken arm is going to take a day to set and heal. here eat some of this”

hoseok offers yoongi a piece of ambrosia and helps place his arm in a sling

“do you think you’ll be able to stand? namjoon and i can help you get to the main part of camp”

the three of you give yoongi space so that he can try to get up

namjoon and hoseok helps yoongi to the cabin of hades and you grab the duffel bag that was lying beside yoongi and follow after them

you grab some extra linens, pillows, and a duvet from the demeter cabin because literally no one else uses the hades cabin and you knew there wouldn’t be anything there

everyone agrees to let yoongi get some rest before he gets bombarded with questions

both you and hoseok promise to come check on him regularly to make sure he doesn’t need anything

you stay behind to make sure yoongi is comfortable

bedding? check. toiletries? check. food and water for yoongi to help himself to when he gets hungry? check.

you finally get a really good look at yoongi and oh my god he’s so cute rip y/n

like you didn’t

even know you

had a type………

but yes,,,,,,,,,yes you do

his bleached white hair and bone white skin contrasts wonderfully with his otherwise black attire

black t-shirt tucked into ripped back skinny jeans with a black worn leather jacket & back combat boots??!!?!?!?!?!

chunky silver skull rings????!!?!

silver hoop earrings???!?!?!?

sign y/n the fUCK UP

hoo

then you realize how long you have been just STARING at yoongi and you want to disappear into nothingness bc he’s now looking at you worriedly

you can only stutter that you’ll be back to check on him in a couple of hours and turn so you can yEET outta there

but

BUT

cold fingers grip your wrist before you can run out

at this point your face is basically a ripe tomato and now you really want to die

and then you know death will come

because

yoongi does this little head tilt thing

and he smiles

THE MOST PERFECT LITTLE GUMMY SMILE

“y/n? i wanted to thank you. i don’t know what i would have done if you didn’t find me to be honest”

and because you’re an idiot you can only stutter you’re welcome before you run away for real

and yoongi is left in the comfortable bed that you made for him and

his heart is going,,,,,,,

booM BOOM

and all he can think is wow i cannot believe i just met an angel,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

anywho

word travels fast in camp seeing that there aren’t that many people in the first place

especially since the effing SON OF HADES IS HERE

and although you said you would check up on yoongi, you were too mortified to be in the same space as him

so you kindly asked hoseok to take care of him

hoseok just smirked at you knowingly and urgh

sometimes you hate that your friends know you so well

days pass and you have been avoiding tHE HECK out of yoongi

you would catch glimpses of him around camp and you would immediately turn the other way and hide

like one time you were sparring with jungkook because he was whining that you never hang out with him anymore

and yoongi in all his blACK GLORY started walking towards you and no no no

you immediately dropped your sword and ran the other way

jungkook is yelling indignantly behind you and pouting because his favorite noona just left without an explanation >:’(

while yoongi is,,,,,,,so confused

he’s thinking: is she……avoiding me??!!!?!??!

:’(

it’s sad because other than a couple of people in camp, everyone is giving him a wide berth

he supposes children of hades don’t give the greatest of impressions

yoongi’s used to it but…..

:’(

he didn’t think you would be one of those that were avoiding him

but you don’t mean to be avoiding him

you’re just not you when you’re around him

yeah, or that’s what you keep telling yourself

lol rip y/n

that’s why you head to the orchards so often because it’s so far from everyone else and it calms you down to be around your fruits of labor

the oranges, apples, and pears are doing gr8

and although the pomegranates are worrying you, under your careful care, they’ll be back to tiptop shape!!!!

you coax the grass under you to grow a little plusher and the branches to reach a little farther so there would be ample shade as you rest

“hm that’s a cool power to have i’m guessing your mom is demeter?”

you literally jUMP OUT OF YOUR SKIN BECAUSE OH MY GODS THERE IS MIN YOONGI

HOW THE HECK DID HE GET HERE WITHOUT A SOUND

WITHOU YOU NOTICING??!??!?!

HOWEVER, you’re not as flustered because you’re in your safe place but you’re still very, very nervous

yoongi keeps talking despite your silence: “all i can do is raise skeletons from the dead”

he exhales loudly and,,,,,,,,,

plOPS RIGHT NEXT TO YOU

“let me get right to the point: are you avoiding me?”

yoongi looks RIGHT into your eyes and all you can do is gape at him

when you don’t answer him he looks away and pOUTS

he mumbles that out of everyone he hoped to become friends with you because he’s been having trouble,,,,getting to know people….

supposedly he looks too intimidating for others to approach him as if his heritage wasn’t a huge obstacle already

“NO NO NO” you gesture wildly so you can let yoongi know that it was ~definitely~ not your intention to have him feel that way

you confess with stumbled words that you get nervous around him and it’s hard to get your thoughts across

it’s only because they’re at the orchards that you’re able to talk so normally to him

of course you are s h o o k when yoongi starts laughing

like full belly laughing

tears in eyes laughing

“then why don’t we meet here and talk everyday?” yoongi finally says when he settles down

your eyes bulge out because why????????

why does this beautiful person want to hang out with you????????? (you don’t say this part out loud but you do ask why)

yoongi wipes the remnant tears from his eyes and shakes his head

“because i like you and i want to get to know you???”

you’re s c r e e c h i n g in the inside

and that’s how your friendship begins

you guys meet at the orchard everyday and yoongi keeps you company as you flit back and forth checking on the trees and making sure they’re happy

like he regards you with such fondness when you’re talking about the pomegranate trees’ progress back to health

like you’re so passionate about it and he can see you come to life

which is so appealing to him,,,,because he’s the product of death??????

like sometimes it floors him that you guys stand for things that are so opposite, but he’s so drawn to you

yoongi raises a particular skeleton dog from the dead that he calls holly who wags his tail and is just so affectionate despite being mere bones :’)

you love min holly

and yoongi loves you for loving min holly even though he’s just a skeleton

WAIT di-did he just say love???!!!?!?!?!?!

YES HE DID

so he tell you a little about his past

like his mother died soon after his birth, but it’s okay because he didn’t have a horrible life

he was raised in the underworld for much of his childhood, but hades thought that yoongi should know his human side too

so he sent him and one of his servants to live in the human world disguised as a complete human

hades had cast a hedge of protection over him so the monsters wouldn’t be able to sense him

but they had gotten into a petty argument over something stupid and hades got rid of the protection and ordered yoongi to find camp half-blood because he’s such an ungrateful son

you gasp at that because although you don’t see your mom much, she’s still very pleasant to be around when you do

she always brings you gifts and compliments too!!!

yoongi just shrugs: tough love i guess

“yoongi you almost died”

“ugh i’m glad i didn’t or else there would be no escaping my dad then”

also you introduce yoongi to some of your closest friends: he already met namjoon and hoseok but they were all super close now!!!!!

yoongi surprisingly clicked well with seokjin, son of aphrodite

also jungkook (son of ares) thinks yoongi is like the coolest person ever

you also introduced yoongi to jimin (also son of aphrodite) and taehyung (son of hermes)

so yoongi isn’t lonely anymore :’)

and lol when yoongi was told he should wear the camp half-blood shirt while he was here

“there’s no way in tartarus that i’m wearing that orange abomination”

you secretly thought to yourself that he would’ve looked like a cute lil pumpkin tho :’)

but alas, yoongi sticks to his all-black uniform all day, everyday

also because everyone in camp knows you so well, they ALL know that you’re harboring the fATTEST crush on min yoongi

you’re not surprised that they know

you have threatened to send grain spirits against anyone who said a PEEP :).

still doesn’t stop people from wiggling their eyebrows suggestively at you when you’re just in the vicinity of yoongi

you’re just glad that yoongi hasn’t caught on

joke’s on you because he DID catch on

so when you rush to him happily with a pomegranate in hand as reached the orchard, yoongi is STRUCK at how radiant you are

you split the fruit and lift it to yoongi’s eyes

the clusters of seeds glittered like gems

like the rubies that were so plentiful in the underworld

“look yoongi!!!!! they’re all good and healthy again!!!!! and they taste so sweet!!!”

you offer some of the arils, your fingers stained by the juice

yoongi can’t help himself

he wraps his hands around your wrist and bring the fruit to his lips

his t o n g u e darting out to swipe the dripping juice off y o u r h a n d

“mmmm it is sweet” yoongi agrees

you just stare at him with your mouth dropped

did,,,,,,,,,,DID THAT JUST HAPPEN

you realize that yoongi’s face is like an inch away from yours and

and his eyes are drawn to your lips

your lips that are stained ruby red by the juice of the pomegranates

and yoongi. just. dives. in.

before you know it

you’re kissing!!!!!!! min!!!!! yoongi!!!!!!!

the boy of your dreams!!!

but jokes on you again because YOU’RE the girl of yoongi’s dreams!!!!!!!!!!!!!

when he pulls away to make sure you’re okay with this, you pULL HIM RIGHT BACK

to where he belongs

on your lips

hehehehe

you guys are the unlikely but so fitting couple of camp half-blood

the next time your mom comes visit you she just sighs because she has lost another one of her favorite daughters to hades

but you bet yoongi charms the sOCKS off demeter

so now your mom is basically your #1 cheerleader in this relationship??????

like “oh darling, yoongi is such a charming little man. thank the gods that he’s so unlike his father you’re doing great sweetie”

and all of your friends are so happy for you!!!!!!!

like finally!!!!

y/n is dating!!!!!!!!!!

especially jungkook is all ~starry-eyed~ because his favorite noona and his idol are dating

so when it comes time for you to decide whether you will be entering the mortal world or staying in camp half-blood

you decide to be brave and try to make a life in the human world

with seokjin and namjoon and of course yoongi

hoseok decided to stay for at least the next year or two so he can keep an eye on jimin, taehyung, and jungkook and he is the camp’s best healer after all

you guys depart with tears in your eyes because you’re leaving the only home you’ve ever known

hoseok, jimin, taehyung, and jungkook tearfully promises to join the rest of you when they’re of age to leave

jungkook is inconsolable :’(

and thank the gods for yoongi bc he’s the only one who’s ever lived in the human world for an extended amount of time

like you being so confused by technology?

yoongi’s KINK

him witnessing you take down monsters targeting you guys all by yourself?

NUT

you get a job at a florist and yoongi is so happy you do

because it broke his heart when you first realized that nature is hard to come by when everything is so urbanized

now you get to be around the flowers and plants that you love so much!!!!

yoongi and namjoon started university studying music production!!!! their interest in music is the reason why they bonded so quickly!!! now they’re just waiting for hoseok to join them!!!!!!!!!

seokjin is making it big modeling bc duh!!!!! he’s the son of aphrodite!!!

yoongi loves living with you even though plants seem to take more of the floor space every time he comes home!!!

your guy’s favorite pastime is to snuggle in bed together after a long day of work or school in perfect, comfortable silence

sometimes yoongi gets very, very emo when he takes a step back and sees how lucky he is to have you in his life

ugh you guys just love each other so much!!!!!!!!!!

oh and seokjin + namjoon lives just across the hall!!!!!!!

how perfect hehehehehehe

anyway both of you guys are just so excited to live life and create something thats yours together

demeter IS the goddess of fertility too y’know

wink wonk

#bts #bts fanfic #yoongi fanfic #min yoongi #bts scenario #yoongi x reader #demigod au #percy jackson au #hades #demeter #kim seokjin #kim namjoon #jung hoseok #park jimin #kim taehyung #jeon jungkook

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braveskyered · 5 years

Text

Knights (Part 11)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

I got the harder times behind us…

Part 11: Hope Trouble Never Finds Us

- - - - - - -

Fingers moved across the keyboard, typing words and looking through various searches while working on some documents.

Thought back to the time before everything went sour. Knew something was wrong, but didn’t do anything to stop it. Filled with shame ever since it was realized just how much impact that person left them. Mother made it very clear how disappointed she is when it was discovered what actually happened.

A sigh. Decided to take a moment to look though something unrelated to work. Checked through articles that long distance friends had posted, browsing through them mindlessly until one post caught attention.

It can’t be… could it?

A hand trembled as it hovered above the keys.

“Ma-… Ma… kuh…!”

- - - - - - -

Arthur could hardly contain his grin as he waited for the children to come home.

The twins managed to graduate out of high school early, and best of all, they got accepted as students at the Cantabile Institute of Technology thanks to the prosthetic arm they made. An arm that could allow the wearer to feel things without it being to heavy on the body. The fact that two young kids had successfully made such an invention with feedback from Arthur was astonishing enough for a newspaper article to be made, which Elaine clipped out and framed.

The first model of the arm had been given to Arthur to test the functions, and both he and Elaine were ecstatic when he actually felt things through his left hand again. Granted, it wasn’t the same back when he still had his real arm, but it was feeling nonetheless. The tears of joy he shed was no doubt something his family will never forget, especially after Elaine recorded his reaction. He tried to get her to delete it, but Elaine refused.

“Nope~! It’s not everyday I see the star of my life be so happy!”

Best of all, it’s October 13th, the children’s birthday! Gwen and Percy will turn fourteen today, and Vivian be three. Oh, how time flies! Not only will Arthur get to celebrate his older children getting accepted into a place where their skills will be pushed to the limit and then some, but also celebrate another year of being with his family.

As always, he repeated the same mantra whenever his children reach a milestone.

You are okay, Arthur. This is your life now. Live for Gwen and Percy. Live for Vivian. Defy those who wanted your life to end, and live on. You matter to someone, and they need you. You are okay.

Taking a breath to steady himself, Arthur went back to his beloved’s side.

While Caelia is keeping the kids in the dark by taking them out clothes shopping, Arthur and Elaine worked hard to put up the birthday decorations in a guest room in Niniane’s mansion. The old woman wanted to make it a milestone birthday, both for the twins to get into a university, and for Vivian to reach the age of three as a rite of passage based on what her father had done for her back when he was alive. Arthur isn’t really sure what she meant, but he shrugged it off and decided to ask her later.

Eleanor came by later with her two daughters Phoebe and Rhetta, bringing in multiple presents wrapped and labeled and ready to be ripped open. Morgan’s husband Miles soon came by and brought the four cakes that will be used to celebrate the birthday, while Eleanor’s husband Nicholas arrived some time later with bottles of soft drinks and some more presents.

Vivienne, whose age started to get the better of her, finally arrived with Morgan. Shortly before Vivian was born, Vivienne had to start using a wheelchair, which Arthur took the time to carefully build and customize just for her at the time. Thankfully, her mind is still intact, and thus she is able to continue being the matriarch of the Knights family.

(Caelia once mentioned that the title of matriarch will be passed down to her eventually, even though she feels Morgan deserves the role more. Morgan in turn would retort that Caelia deserves the title, since despite being the older sister, she doesn’t have a monster form, and made Caelia drop the subject.)

Because all three of his children share the same birthday, combined with the fact that Vivian is still a toddler, it was decided that they make individual cakes for them. Gwen and Percy would share one cake (they insisted), while Vivian would have a smaller one made specially for her. The other two cakes were primarily extra for the rest of the family to eat. After all, you can’t truly celebrate a birthday without having at least one slice of cake!

Elaine got a text from Caelia saying that she and the kids are on their way home. Upon hearing this, Arthur and everyone else started getting ready for the surprise. The many presents are set in a pile, and the cakes are in place. Elaine then got a text from Caelia saying that she’ll enter the door first as planned, then have the kids come in right after.

“You have the poppers ready?”

“I do. You got the streamers?”

“Yep. Who’s got the hats?”

“Get ready, guys. Mom’s coming first, then the kids.”

Right on cue, Caelia came in through the door, gave Arthur and Elaine a nod, then gestured to the three outside.

“SURPRISE!”

“Waugh!”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU THREE!”

“Mom, not cool!” Gwen was scrambling her arms to get the streamers out of her hair, yet she’s smiling.

“Aw, man, you guys scared Vivian!” Percy looked down, showing more concern for his little sister than the surprise party itself.

Speaking of which, Vivian is curled on the floor, her hands over her head, looking like she’s about to cry. Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle as he kneeled down to comfort her, the little girl clinging to his shirt in response before observing her surroundings.

“Happy Third Birthday, Vivian,” Arthur smiled as he slid a party hat on his daughter’s head while minding her long hair, “It’s a special day for you, and your big brother and sister.”

Vivian looked up at him, still looking a little scared, but upon seeing the many birthday decorations and all her relatives, she started to perk up and turned to Elaine, “Thir…?”

“That’s right, Vivian. Third,” Elaine giggled and held up three fingers, “You’re three now, three years old. You’re becoming a biiiig girl. Happy Birthday!”

The surprise birthday party, despite the rough start, has been a huge success. Photos of the birthday kids were being taken with family members, the birthday song has been sung, and the three were tearing through the presents like there’s no tomorrow.

Arthur wasn’t sure what to get for Gwen and Percy at first, but eventually settled for the newest game system and a handful of games he managed to pick up at a discount as the first set. Well, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to play some of the games himself. The most recent Super Smash Bros. came out just a few months ago, after all. The second set of presents for the twins were some advanced parts for their recent projects. While Arthur and Elaine weren’t exactly sure what the twins will do with them, but Arthur knew that each part will have their uses since they experiment so much.

There were many other presents, that ranged from clothes to tools and from toys to games. While Gwen and Percy were admiring the various parts and tools they received, Vivian constantly snuggled her new plush toy modeled after a white fox sitting on its hind legs. …or was it a dog? Arthur couldn’t really tell, since Niniane is the one who brought it, but at least Vivian is happy with it. Arthur then recalled the two stuffed animals the twins keep in their rooms, Gwen’s gray turtle and Percy’s orange alpaca. Has it really been eleven years since he gave those toys to the twins on their third birthday? Time sure does fly quickly.

Speaking of quickly…

“They’re tearing through the presents fast,” Arthur turned to Elaine, “We better get the rest of them.”

“I’m on it, my knight,” Elaine kissed his cheek, “Keep an eye on Vivian?”

He nodded and chuckled softly. Her kisses are always so sweet…

After Elaine left the room, Arthur knelt down next to Vivian to watch her admire her new toy. The three-year-old poked at the ears and tail the fox (dog?) has, gave them light tugs, squeezed the legs with her small hands, then went back to hugging it. Seeing his youngest child examining the toy like that made him smile, happy that she is curious.

…Happy that he is able to celebrate her birthday with her.

“Dad-dee.”

“You took what should have been mine.”

…No. He can’t think about it. He doesn’t want to think about it.

“Dad-dee?” Vivian looked up before reaching an arm out to him, her face showing a beaming smile, “Dad-dee.”

Smiling a little, Arthur wrapped his arms around Vivian. Even now, he finds it hard to believe that he is responsible for her existence, for Gwen and Percy’s existence. The fact that he is married to a woman who loves him dearly, that he is a father to three amazing children who also love him dearly.

That he is happy. Happy and safe.

Granted, the nightmares of the wraith, kitsune, and demon still come and go, but all he has to do is wake up and he would find Elaine beside him. Even now, he still wondered what he did to deserve her, but then her words would echo in his mind. Words that she made sure to repeat at least once every day.

“I love you, my star.”

Come to think of it, Elaine is taking a while. Concerned, he stood up while keeping Vivian in his hold. As Vivian started to babble about something, Arthur walked to the doorway and called out to his beloved, “Elaine?”

“I’m coming!”

Within seconds, Elaine came out from the room where the other presents were kept while holding three of the presents, two large and one small, in her arms. Arthur noticed that her fingers were a little tense, her right arm skeletal with a spectral glow like she does when she fights monsters.

“Sorry about that, my knight. There was a little… uninvited guest that tried to crash the party,” Elaine shrugged with an assuring smile, “I know you don’t like having them around, so I made sure it went bye bye.”

Arthur felt unnerved upon hearing that. A ghost? Shouldn’t Niniane’s home be full of protections that prevent exactly that from happening? Elaine didn’t seem too concerned, and she has done this before in their house, so he didn’t have a reason to doubt her, but…

“Pre-sanssss?” Vivian babbled before dropping her stuffed animal. She looked down and whined, trying to reach for it.

Right, birthday first, ask questions later. Arthur repeated that thought in his head as he knelt down to pick up the toy to give back to his daughter. This isn’t the time to have doubts, and he promised himself that this would be an ideal birthday for the kids. He owed them that much. The nightmare from last night isn’t real.

- - - - - - -

Arthur felt the wraith dragging him away by clenching his throat with a burning hand. He has trouble breathing, the pain in his neck indescribable.

His whole being hurt, his energy sapped away. The cuts and bruises spread all over from being slammed against a wall multiple time before being dragged to another place he couldn’t identify. His head pounded furiously, yet the blood that rushed into his head had been lost, allowing him to think more clearly slightly, yet unable to fully register the pain since he felt so numb. He has trouble seeing. The blood coming down from his forehead and the tears in his eyes didn’t make it any easier.

It’s what he deserved, though. Because sorry isn’t good enough. He shouldn’t have ran away from the past. He couldn’t run away from the wraith’s desires. Not after what he did.

“Where are they.”

Arthur didn’t answer. He couldn’t even if he wanted to. The wounds on his neck made it too painful to speak, let alone breathe. Even if he could talk, there is no way Arthur will allow the wraith to take his children as its own playthings.

“Where are they?!”

The wraith slammed him against the ground upon demanding. Arthur barely felt what seemed to be plush carpet on the fingertips of his right hand, but his head felt like it was slammed against a hard surface. His vision began to darken and blur. He barely curled his lips into a smirk for a split second, as if attempting to talk.

Well, all that monstrous wraith did was make it harder for Arthur to give it the answer it sought. Then again, the children aren’t anywhere nearby. He knew they were hidden and safe.

The wraith slashed at him, shredding his left arm into tiny unsalvageable little pieces with some blood mixed in. Arthur didn’t have the energy to scream in pain anymore, not when the left side of his face had also been clawed at, blinding his left eye.

“You took what should’ve been mine.”

He’s aware. Painfully.

Heh.

The clawed hands were about to swipe at him again, but all of a sudden, the sound of roaring waves crashed through the silence.

The fangs of a kitsune clamped down against his neck, and he saw red with splotches of blackened green.

- - - - - - -

If Vivian hadn’t climbed into his side of the bed back last night and woke him for attention, Arthur felt that he would never be able escape from that hellish dream. She is only three years old, and yet…

“…knight? My knight?”

“Uncle Arthur?”

Arthur snapped out of his stupor as he saw a hand waving in front of him. He thought it was Elaine at first, but then he realizes the title he was just called. Looking up to see who it is, he sees a tall and lean girl with short dark brown hair held up with an orange headband that barely reaches his height beside Elaine.

“Are you all right? Do you need to rest?”

He smiled, “I’ll be fine, Phoebe. I do appreciate you watching out for me.”

He has a hard time believing that Phoebe, who turned nineteen just a few months back, has grown so much since the last major family reunion the year before. She looked concerned, as she usually is, and often worried for his well being in the few times they see each other. As she is the oldest in her generation, Phoebe was told of Arthur’s past abuse from her mother, Eleanor. While Arthur felt fortunate in that Phoebe never pressed for details, he knew that she only meant well whenever she asked about his health, if maybe a little too often. As expected of a child in this family.

“Phoebe, how’s Rhetta doing?” Elaine asked to switch the topic, “I wasn’t able to ask her, since she’s never interested in talking to me.”

“Oh, she’s all right. She’s at that phase where it’s said that speaking to adults is considered ‘uncool’ at her school,” Phoebe sighed with a mix of annoyance and concern while tugging at the collar of her shirt, “I swear, peer pressure is not a fun thing. I’m having a hard time getting through to her, and I’m her sister.”

Arthur knew that term all too well. Back when he used to live in Tempo, Vivi and Lew–

“Dad-dee?” Arthur looked down and realized that he forgot that he’s still holding Vivian. How that’s possible, he isn’t really sure, but…

These memories won’t stop haunting me even though it’s been so long now?

“My knight,” he looked up and saw Elaine smile lovingly at him, her arm already turned back to normal, “Let’s get back to the party. Okay?”

He nodded, and after taking a moment to adjust his hold on Vivian, went back into the party room.

To Arthur, the rest of the events that happen is all a blur. As soon as he released Vivian from his hold, the toddler ran up to Gwen and Percy to tear open the presents, even the ones that weren’t for her to the twins’ chagrin. More toys, machine parts, books, and games were added, and soon, it was decided that it was time to eat the cake.

The twins shared slices from one cake while Vivian sat between them to eat her own. Because Vivian is just a small toddler, Arthur convinced Elaine to have a smaller cake with less sugar in it to be made for her, so it wouldn’t make her as hyper, which she agreed wholeheartedly to. Vivian seems to like it, because she started to dig in to her cake with a spoon before the twins could even start to eat their slices.

“Heh heh! Vivian! You’ve got cake all over your face!” Gwen quickly cleaned the crumbs off around Vivian’s plate.

“It’s cake, Gwen. Of course she’s gonna go all over it,” Percy snickered.

Arthur heard the sound of a camera shutter and noticed Elaine has the camera on hand, taking photos of the twins laughing at Vivian being a mess. Gwen held up a napkin and started wiping some crumbs off Vivian’s face while Percy watched with a wide grin.

He isn’t sure why, but Arthur felt a weight lift itself from his shoulders. He felt lighter than usual as he watched his three children just being themselves.

Happy Birthday, you three. Know that I love you all.

- - - - - - -

A week later, it started snowing.

Granted, getting snow at this section of Tennessee isn’t unusual, since Cantabile is a city within the mountains. Since many of these mountains have outskirts with wide open fields, it gave Gwen and Percy the time of their lives to transform into their yokai forms and let loose, while Vivian tried to follow by her newly discovered ability to fly.

It’s funny in Arthur’s mind, really. To think that he used to be so afraid of various things amongst the paranormal, but upon living and interacting with it on a daily basis ever since he married into the Knights family, some of it wasn’t so bad anymore.

Maybe it’s just because his children helped him find it fun somewhat.

“Come on, Vivian!” Percy dashed past Arthur and Elaine as a kitsune, bounding around the snow in wide circles, “Try to keep up!”

“You’re still it!” Gwen, still in her human form with her hands and feet covered with an icy aura, ran over the snow with ease without leaving any footprints.

While Vivian flew around to chase her siblings in their impromptu game of tag, Arthur watched them with a smile on his face as he tried to keep up with them. Elaine had taken a job by herself and left with Eleanor this time for the weekend, since she felt that it was too dangerous for Arthur and the kids to come along. With that in mind, Arthur decided to spend some quality time with the kids, which led to their unique game in the mountains.

Although he doesn’t have any powers to brag about other than his knowledge of robotics and machines, Arthur still has the ability to run fast for a long period of time even though he is in his late thirties. Running away from the paranormal and just wanting to escape from the horrors back in the old days, Arthur knew that he doesn’t need to run away from his children with paranormal abilities, but to run alongside them.

He always did ever since they were born.

They were on a wide open hill within the mountains, broken only by a handful of trees at the top. Percy still ran as a kitsune, and Gwen took the opportunity to change into her wolf form to let loose. As the two raced downward, Vivian flew after them, trying her hardest to tag one of her siblings. Arthur ran after them from behind in a straight path, but soon he lost his footing and fell. Before he knew it, he kept rolling down the snowy hill.

He isn’t sure how he did it, but soon he managed to recover his footing for a brief moment, only to fall to his back and slid down the snow even further, laughing once he heard the kids do the same thing.

It never snowed in Tempo, which is a desert town. He quickly shoved the thought aside.

Soon, Arthur managed to stop himself from rolling. A good thing, because once the adrenaline began to wear off, he started to feel tired and sore all over as his head felt like it was spinning a little. The area on his left arm where flesh meets metal began to feel cold, too. The sound of snow being crushed by footsteps caught his attention, and he turned and saw a golden fox’s leg.

“Dad, are you okay?” Percy leaned against him.

He reached up to embrace his hold around his son’s neck and buried his face against the fur. Is a kitsune’s fur always this warm?

“Daddy, you’re cold!” Gwen nudged her head against his back.

He looked up from Percy’s fur and saw Vivian floating nearby, her cheeks looking rosy from the cold. He remembered helping her bundle up against the cold, but he guessed it can only do so much against windchill. Holding out his good arm, he beckoned Vivian to come to him, which she obeyed. As soon as Vivian came into his cold, he felt that even she is shivering.

“Dad-dee… C-cold,” Vivian muttered as she wrapped her arms around him for warmth.

“M-m-might be a g-good time to h-head home, then,” Arthur gave a low chuckle as he started to stand up, but Percy knelt down in front of him.

“Get on my back, Dad,” he said, “It’ll be faster this way. The sooner we get you home, the sooner we can get you and Vivian warmed up.”

Arthur didn’t argue. Under normal circumstances, Arthur wouldn’t dream on riding on either of them while they were in their monster forms. For starters, it felt awkward to him, and the two were often rambunctious whenever they romp around. Second, as their father, he never wanted to exploit his children for anything other than loving them as his family.

The fact that Percy is insisting on helping him put that feeling aside. Arthur knew he needed to get home, if to get Vivian warmed up at the very least. It wouldn’t do anyone any favors if she catches a cold. Arthur knew that he can handle it, but Vivian might be miserable.

The ride back to their home wasn’t the smoothest, but Percy being so careful when running the trek back home made up for it.

Once they reached home, Arthur made sure to give Vivian a warm bath.

- - - - - - -

The following Monday, Arthur is back at the university grading some worksheets the students did over the Fall Break. Normally, his boss Mr. Cromwell would be grading them, but the man had to go to a meeting with his fellow deans, so Arthur volunteered for the task until he came back. As a teaching assistant with his own office, it was the least he could do.

He still works at Four of a Kind Queens from time to time, mostly on the weekends. Elaine still works at the family shop, but she encourages Arthur fully when he works at the university, since the twins have been having a fantastic time learning new tip and tricks in the fields the university teaches with their father nearby. Well that, and the paycheck from the university is pretty good, too.

On Vivian’s end, because her powers are so unpredictable combined with her young age, and that her hair is still unnaturally long, it was decided that she is to be home schooled for the time being. Elaine gave a reason to the education board that Vivian has some “special needs,” which is somewhat true.

“I don’t want to get a school destroyed for the third time,” Elaine sighed as if reliving a bad memory, “This is for everyone’s sake.”

Arthur whipped his head at her direction, “Wait, do what a third time?”

“Oh, nothing, just thinking about my school days. I had to be home schooled after I turned ten, so… yeah.”

After he finished with the grading on paper, he had to put the grades themselves on to the online reports. A little annoying to do, since the online grading board is a bit finicky, but Arthur could tolerate it. Upon reaching the halfway point of inserting the grades, the phone rang, which he quickly answered.

“Cantabile Institute of the Robotics Division.”

“Are you… Arthur… Knights?”

“That would be me, how can I help you?” He opened up a window that showed an online planner.

The man on the other line was silent.

“…Sir?”

“Ah, sorry, I, uh… got distracted. Let’s see… I have some questions about the robotics program that my grandson was thinking of applying for next year. I would like to know what qualifications he would need and what classes he needs to take.”

Arthur rose a brow, “Well, that should be on the school website under the Programs tab. Were you and your grandson able to find that, Mister…?”

“Ah…! Er, I-I’m… Snowfield. Joe Snowfield.”

Rather nervous guy with a minor accent. Not that I’m any better on the nervous part. Arthur shrugged, “Mr. Snowfield, got it. Did you find that tab I mentioned before you called?”

“I did, but I… have some questions and I was hoping I could meet with you… personally.”

“I’m actually just a teaching assistant, sir. While I can discuss how to properly register for the classes in which semester and graduate in four years, if you want the finer details for the university’s robotics program while getting the official approvals for registration, you should talk to either Mr. Robert Cromwell, the dean, or to the actual instructors Ryan Kusey or Keith Matthews. They can give you more accurate answers than I can.”

Arthur could’ve sworn he heard Snowfield curse, but it’s probably because of nerves. It’s not unusual for grandparents to have a hard time, but…

“Does your grandson also have the surname Snowfield?”

“Er… Yes, he does.”

“I’ll give you the contact info for Keith Matthews since your surname is among the alphabet of students he handles. Could I have your contact info so I can pass it to him?”

“T-that won’t be necessary! I-I can see his contact info here, so I will make sure to schedule an appointment with him. Do you know if Mr. Matthews will be here on Thursday?”

“He’s here all five days of the week, so I doubt you’ll have any issues reaching him if you email him and if you’re flexible with time.”

“I-I will do that. Thank you, Ar– Mr. Knights.”

“You’re very welcome, sir. Have a good day.”

“Bye.”

Arthur hung up, shaking his head. It’s not the first time he’s had this kind of phone call, but that old gentleman had to take the cake. The man on the other line spoke as if he was overwhelmed by something, or had something else in his mind like he wasn’t completely there. Arthur didn’t think he or the university is that intimidating… right?

When he went back to his computer screen to add more grades in the online grade book, he glanced at the newspaper article he had framed, the article that had Gwen and Percy make that arm that contained a picture of the two standing proudly before their creation. A part of him did wish that he was among them when their achievement was acknowledged, but…

He shifted his focus back on the computer screen.

I can’t have them find me. I can’t have them take me back. If they do…

His fingers faltered.

Who knows they’ll do to the kids.

Gwen. Percy. Vivian.

I…

I’m so sorry you had to be born to a cowardly father like me.

His cell phone rang this time, and he answered it, “Hello?”

“Hello, my knight,” he recognized that wistful voice anywhere.

Letting out a breath with a silent exasperated laugh, Arthur shook his head.

How is it that she always has such good timing?

“My light,” he smiled, “What’s up?”

“I thought I’d just call and say hello. A good thing I did, since you only call me your light whenever you’re anxious. Did something happen?”

“No,” he shook his head, “I was just thinking about whether I should use it more.”

“I wouldn’t say no to that, my star.”

As Arthur filled out the remaining grades, Elaine kept talking about every day things over the phone. She talked about Vivian missing her daddy, talked about how much she misses him, talked about how much she loved him.

“I love you, my star.”

“I love you, too… my light.”

Even to this day, Arthur doesn’t really know what he did to deserve an amazing woman as his spouse.

- - - - - - -

Three days later, Arthur is in his office again, and crossed off the former day on the calendar to show that it’s Thursday today. Mr. Cromwell has to attend yet another meeting regarding the school board, but Arthur’s not complaining. He opened the calendar on his computer to check for any appointments any students have signed up for, but so far, he only saw one. That Snowfield gentleman he spoke two earlier this week had booked an appointment with Keith Matthews like he suggested, so at least he won’t have to worry about that.

“Let’s see,” Arthur muttered to himself as he picked up the binder containing the assignments, “Yesterday was Robotics III, so today is Robotics II, so this means that the assignment that’s due today is—”

Someone knocked on his door.

“Come in,” he turned to see the instructor he just thought about, noticing a cell phone in the man’s hand..

“Hey, Arthur. Do you remember answering a call from a Joe Snowfield on Monday?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I just got a call from my insurance agent regarding my wife’s surgery, and I really need to take it. All Mr. Snowfield needs is a summary of the program and a list of the required tools. Could you help him on that while I get this taken care of? I already have the papers laid out to him out front, I just need you to explain the classes in a bit more detail.”

“Yeah, sure,” Arthur stood up from his desk and proceeded to walk out the door.

After his coworker left with a rather hasty thanks, Arthur rose a brow at the odd behavior before shrugging it off. Grabbing a small notepad, he left his office to greet the guest that his coworker left behind.

“Mr. Snowfield? I was told you need to know more about the program?”

“U…! Uso… It… It can’t be…”

Arthur took a moment to look at the man’s face and went still, as did the man in blue standing before him. The man’s arms went slack as he looked at Arthur with a stunned expression.

“It… It’s really you,” the man, allegedly said to be Joe Snowfield, whispered out loud, the shock never leaving his face.

“Arthur.”

It’s Mr. Yukino.

Vivi’s father.

- - - - - - -

…

What? What was… What was I doing?

It doesn’t look like anything’s happened, but…

Hey… are you okay?

…

Even now, I couldn’t do anything to stop it.

We’ve already hurt him enough as is.

It… It may be time to let him go.

…

Why?! How could you do this?!

None of us wanted this to happen!

I will never forgive you!

…

How can I…?!

After all what you’ve…!

I…! I…!

…

If you’re…

If you’re not happy here…

THEN JUST LEAVE!

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

I’m not freaking out.

But it feels like time is running out.

How did this shit come about?

I’m not freaking out.

Part 12: But…!

#mystery skulls animated #msa fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #msa arthur #arthur kingsmen #msa #elaine knights #gwen knights #percy knights #vivian knights #雪野信寛 #msa knights

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sofiahahaaa · 5 years

Text

Demigod Delinquents | Pt. 10 | Hijacking a Safe

| MASTERLIST |

Summary: There’s a very big prison, and inside of that prison there’s a room, and inside of that room there’s a safe, and inside of that safe is the secrets tO tHe UniVERsE!! (not really though, just some files.)

Rating: ? nothing

A/N: This part is going to be a little long but you guys are going to have to bear with me. That is all, please continue

~~~

Jason’s POV ~

I sat cross-legged on the carpet of our cell while Percy blabbered on and on about this guppy he had once. Leo was snoring on the floor next to me, while Keaton fiddled with his newest plaything– something like a watch. Ari was touching up with Leo’s glamify-mirror, giggling at the bronzed reflection.

“Do you guys… want to do something else?” Mera asked, slumped in her bean bag chair.

“Yeah,” I responded hastily. “Anything but this.” Percy looked at me funny.

“I was in the middle of telling you about the time I let him in the tub!” He protested, pouting. Mera pat his shoulder gingerly.

“Later, Percy.”

“Hmph.” Percy crossed his arms and looked into his lap.

“What was that thing we were going to do again?” I asked them. They hadn’t told me yet.

“Maybe… sleep?” Ari said hopefully. Keaton grunted.

“I get 0 to none these days. I’m surprised your friend over there can sleep at all.” Keaton huffed on the spinning pen gadget, a shrill whistle ringing. I shook my head.

“Sometimes I’m impressed by it, too. But that’s not what I meant. I meant the… potentially illegal thing.”

“Oh, we’re safecracking, baby.” Leo rose from his uncomfortable-looking sleeping position and winked at me.

“I got that.” I blinked. “Yeah, no– that was pretty obvious.”

“Well, if you insist– we’re performing a highly planned surgery on the bowels of–”

Mera took over from there. “We’re going to bust into his 10-digit daisy chain safe. It has all the files of anyone who has ever set foot in this place. We’ll have everything we need.”

“For what?” Percy asked, now over the fact that we had vetoed his guppy storytime. Mera looked at him, then put a hand to her cheek.

“Sometimes I forget that you are naturally clueless. What do you think? We are finding Mr. Richardson’s file! I thought I made that clear.” Mera explained carefully, like she was lecturing a small child. In a way, she was. Leo huffed.

“Well, that was one way to say it.”

“So… are we going to do that?” I asked them, hoping they would catch on. Mera checked her watch.

“15 more minutes, but yeah. Of course, we are!” Leo stroked his machine lovingly before opening the hatch and inspecting the wires.

“We’re all set.” Keaton nodded. I noticed his eyes kept flickering in between Percy and Mera, like he was trying to grasp where they were at. Why would he do that if–? Oh, right. He doesn’t know about Annabeth. I bet Mera does.

I looked towards them. It would be totally weird if she didn’t. I coughed into my fist, and they all turned to me. “Let’s get going, guys.” Ari shrugged. They seemed to shrink into the shadows uncomfortably when I spoke.

Man, Aphrodite’s children were always so different. Ari was nothing like Pipes. Not even a little– besides one small detail.

There was certain insecurity I was sure every child of Aphrodite shared. Their obsessive or confident attitudes just painted over the insecurity– every single one had an obvious fear of being ‘not good enough’. Ari seemed to stick to the back, now. I watched as thy placed a strand of hair behind their ear placatingly.

I felt, somehow, that Piper had gotten over her own insecurities long ago, but I still wondered. It was interesting how much she differed from her siblings.

Ari sure was interesting... I noticed how they barely moved when others spoke to them sometimes, but could easily create conversation when ready. They just needed to come out of their shell.

I unlocked the padlock and pushed open the cell door.

We pushed through into the open atrium and snuck out towards the catwalks. I could hear our small footsteps thudding against the metal grid beneath us. Clunk. Clunk.

I tried to loosen up and found myself looking at Percy ahead of me. Did he miss Annabeth as much as I missed Piper?

I placed another foot in front of the other, careful to keep a steady rhythm.

Percy continued in the front of our pack, his eyes searching the area ahead. His eyes seemed to churn, splashing with vibrance, like waves in the sea. His fingers hovered comfortably near the pocket that held Riptide.

I took a deep breath. I had a simple dagger tucked in my uniform, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to defend myself with just that. I huffed as the cold hilt of the dagger contacted my skin, sending shivers up my spine. It would have to do.

We arrived at the hallway that branched off into the Head’s office. Percy looked to Mera, who smiled and gladly took the advance. Keaton and Percy stood positioned behind her, and Ari, Leo, and I stayed further back.

I noticed that Mera’s fingers also grasped at the air near her thigh. It was a similar flinch people trained in combat had– especially when their instincts told them they were in danger.

Keaton touched his crossbow lovingly, and looked away to retrieve the safecracker from Leo. “Yeah, nice and steady. Don’t drop it.” Leo murmured under his breath as he handed it to Keaton. We started inching closer to the door.

The hallway was clear, but a light shone under the door of the Janitor’s Closet. “Always the janitor.” Ari mumbled, already moving towards the door. I backed them up, ready to knock him unconscious.

Ari fumbled with the door handle, wrenching the creaking door open quickly. The noise made me flinched. I looked over my shoulder to see the rest cringing, but they had reached the door and no sound had come in the upset.

The janitor whistled a tune, and I felt bad for having to punch him. His gravelly voice belched a song I didn’t know. “Oh, happy day… to see the hills, to see the sun… oh joyful day… to be carefree and lovable, oh, son… ha–” He looked up, pausing for a moment, then glared at Ari. “Have I seen you before?”

“Me? No.” Ari ran a hand through his hair and straightened his posture. “We’re just passing through. You don’t remember us doing it at all. We’ll–” I nailed the janitor in the face and he crumpled at Ari’s feet, eyeballs rolling back until we could only see the whites.

“Ew,” I pressed my lips together and poked the body with my foot. “Uh, guys. What were you doing?” I reminded them, putting my hand to my chin. I turned around. “Guys!” Mera shook her head vigorously, and her eyes unclouded. Keaton handled the Safecracker.

“First lock. Easy-peasy. 4-digit code, standard padlock.” Leo told him. Keaton inhaled and set the Safecracker. He clipped it onto the lock, and in a hundredth of a second, the lock clicked open. Keaton detached the mechanism.

“Whoa. That works like– really, really well.”

‘Duh! We made it.” Leo grinned and pushed forward. The dean was not at her desk. I knocked over her pencils and smiled to myself. “What was that, Jason? A little bit of… a rebellious streak?” My nostrils flared.

“I got myself landed here with you. I don’t need rebellious streaks anymore, Leo. I have earned the title of a rebel!” I insisted, trying to remind him that we were keeping a cover for Ari and Keaton. Leo looked at me again, then turned to the next lock on the Head’s door. As soon as we stepped in that room, I’d felt a horrible, sinking feeling. The pudgy man was so familiar to me.

The weird, putrid smell that emanated from his body. The concerning shape of his middle. Even his skin tone. It all took me back to one monster I dreaded.

The Earthborn.

I shivered as I saw him, slipping away into the memory of Enceladus and the forms with six arms. They rose from the ground, loincloths the only clothing they wore. Their eyes were hungry and dark, with almost no white.

I snapped back to attention, my eyes drifting from his picture hanging above the desk.

Leo tapped his forehead, looking over Keaton’s shoulder. “I think this is… 10 digit. Electronic. That’s my best guess.” I wouldn't know. The lock looked like an extra wad of metal glued onto the door handle. Keaton tapped at the settings and clicked the lock in.

It whirred for two seconds, then died down. It beeped angrily. “No. It has to be something else.” Keaton’s face fell. Then, all of a sudden, Leo’s face lit up.

“This is a genius contraption! It is both traditional and digital. The traditional code is– ah, one sec,” He made a strained face, like he was constipated, then turned his chin upwards. “8 digits. Numbers and letters. Plus, the electronic code changes every month. Now that’s smart.” Leo moved Keaton’s hand aside and flipped through the options on the Safecracker.

Mera pursed her lips. “I thought you knew about the ‘changing every month’ part. I made sure to say ‘daisy-chain’, after all.”

“Do you have a program for this, or is it a bust?” Keaton asked, standing to the side. Leo lifted a finger.

“Not yet. Patience, young padawan.” Keaton huffed but looked anyway. “I don’t have a program.” Groan. “Hold up, guys!” Leo grinned crookedly. “Lucky for you, I’m smart, and I just created a new program!”

“In the ten seconds we’ve been standing here?” Ari asked incredulously.

“Yes!” Leo said, oblivious to the challenging tone. “Now try it, K.” Keaton tilted his head, shrugging as if to say: ‘What’s the harm in trying?’

“Okay. Here it goes.” Keaton’s finger hovered over the button.

“Let’s hope this works, or we’ll set off a crazy blaring alarm,” Leo added enthusiastically. Keaton turned to him, sighing.

“Yeah, let’s hope.” He pressed the button, and the whirring started again. We waited exactly one second before the lock popped open without a struggle.

“Yes!” Leo pumped his fists, and rushed us into the office.

It was a mess: papers thrown everywhere, crumbs strewn across the ground. Mera gulped. I could almost see her OCD going wild, her anxiety attack about to hit. She started inhaling sharper, and her eyes rattled from one messy corner to the next. “Oh. My. Lord.” I cracked my neck.

“So, where’s the safe?”

Leo’s POV ~

I dragged a finger along the safe. “It’s a beauty…” Keaton nodded along as I crouched down to admire every inch of the cold metal. I concentrated for a moment, and I could hear the gears working at the very moment. I touched my forehead to the lock. “This baby is going to take a lot of effort– wow! Dios, titanium steel– double forged!” I squealed, busting everyone else’s eardrums along with mine. “I– ¡hijo! This stuff is so rare. How does the government even get ahold of it?!”

“Leo– will you stop admiring the safe we have to crack and get back here?” I jerked my head back to look at her.

“Oh,” My eyes flickered to Mera nervously, but I handled the safecracker and clicked it to the lock. I felt the pulsing gears turning inside of the busty doors and the steady thrum of pure weight in the 50-tooth main gear. “Okay,” I placed a hand gingerly on the area next to the lock. “Keaton, there is a total of 28 digits, alphanumeric. It’s digital. It will change in about a minute, so that’s the time we have to work with.” I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. “Ready?”

Keaton fiddled with the small dials on the exterior of the safecracker. “Yeah. Do I…”

“Go ahead.” Keaton pressed the ‘activate’ button, his hand shaking the entire time, and clasped his hands together.

“I hope this works.” Ari murmured from the back.

“Of course you do! If it doesn’t… we’ll probably die.” Ari sighed.

“Great! I love me some death!”

“Shh! It’s working!” Mera gulped, eyes fixated on the screen and the string of code running down the lines.

“Does that make any sense to you?” I asked her in bewilderment.

“Yeah, some of it…” Her mouth hung open as the machine groaned on. “You don’t?” She turned to me. “You made it.”

“No way, man. I– I just deal with hardware and stuff. This is gibberish. And yeah, I made it, but Keaton was the one who wrote the codes.”

She nodded. “Huh.” The machine stopped whirring and made a pathetic sigh. I flipped to see it.

“What happened?” I asked Keaton.

“I have no idea. It just shut off.” Keaton shook his head in disappointment.

“Well…” I was cut short by the lights, which flickered off.

“Oh, great. A power shortage.” Percy muttered annoyedly. I shivered, eyes traveling across the room.

“I don’t think that was a power outage, man. That was too… perfect.” Jason coughed. I could feel the tension in the room. The door crashed inwards, and we were met by…

“Mr. Richardson? Wha–” Keaton turned so his back shielded the safecracker from view. I shifted my gaze to Mera. She was breathing heavily, the orange folds of fabric hiding her dagger. I stepped forward without a thought.

“Hi there. Sorry, we… aren’t here at a great time. We couldn’t find you earlier.” Ari cleared their throat, looking me in the eye.

“Yeah!” They pitched in. “Just stopping by.”

Just stopping by… I thought.

I shook my head. It’s Ari. Charmspeak. Mr. Richardson’s mouth was open, but he was silent. “Hmm.” Keaton moved, trying to remove the device from the safe. It stuck, and he revealed too much.

Before I could prevent it from happening– Mr. Richardson saw the safecracker. “Ha! I knew it! You were up to something!” He shook his head, a red blush already appearing on his face. “We already talked earlier today! I thought you said you would be good inmates!”

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wildfire-1980 · 7 years

Note

What’s your opinion of Hap x Prairie?

Oh goodness, where do I start? Maybe the beginning, Isuppose, although, I know once I answer this, it will be like the Sanhedrintrial all over again, where the masses are shouting Jesus’ conviction to PontiusPilate, “Crucify him, Crucify him!” So, with that being said, here goes…

Personally, I fell in love with Hap/Prairie in the oysterbar. The way their communication and interaction flowed so easily in the beginningreally left me with the impression that this was not their first meeting. Thewhole scene just resonated with me over and over again, like some booming echoreverberating off the mountain tops, screaming, “There’s more here.” Abackstory of some sorts. Maybe not in this dimension, but one beforehand.Possibly one that neither Hap, nor Prairie remembers. Oddly enough, I didn’tget the same notion with the other characters, especially Homer.

Honestly, I’m operating under the assumption that once thejump is made into another dimension, the memory of everything else; people,places, actions, even past relationships are erased…or either suppressedsubconsciously (although I could be wrong, but the show is not really clear onthat issue.)

You see, there are two types of connections – a heartconnection, and then a soul connection. A heart connection (which isHomer/Prairie) can be severed, it’s more of a natural, physical tie. But a soulconnection (Hap/Prairie) tends to be more ethereal, more supernatural. A definitive force of nature when threatened.I don’t believe that a soul connection can be as fractured as the mind, or leftso vulnerable. It doesn’t forget. The tithes that bind two souls together are notso easily broken by the strains of time…or dimensions. It endures and remainsto the bitter end. It’s the deepest kind of connection to exist because it’seternal. This was my initial take on Hap/Prairie from the very beginning and Iimagine it will be until the show proves me otherwise.

I think John Welwood explained it perfectly: “A soulconnection is a resonance between two people who respond to the essentialbeauty of each other’s individual natures, behind their facades, and whoconnect on this deeper level. This kind of mutual recognition provides acatalyst for a potent alchemy. It is a sacred alliance whose purpose is to helpboth partners discover and realize their deepest potentials. While a heartconnection lets us appreciate those we love just as they are, a soul connectionopens up a further dimension – seeing and loving them for who they could be,and for who we could become under their influence. This means recognizing thatwe both have an important part to play in helping each other become more fullywho we are…A soul connection not only inspires us to expand, but also forces usto confront whatever stands in the way of that expansion.”

Sound familiar?

Prairie’s presence in Hap’s life forced him to reconnectwith his humanity. She was the catalyst behind his undoing. I firmly believe hewas beginning to remember the man he was before his obsession with NDE’s andwas starting to question if he could become that man again…but only for her. Ithink he possibly would have, if he could have reached some sort of emotionalacceptance to initiate change. But Hap was only focused on the emotional defeatof it all. I think that’s why he remained in denial about his love for Prairietill the end and eventually discarded of her. If you get rid of the objectthat’s threatening to tear your defenses down, then an impending surrender issuddenly out of the equation. And let’s face it, after seven years, Hap wasbegging Prairie to run away with him. That’s all the proof you need of a whiteflag slowly ascending the flag pole. But when she said no, then he withdrew deeperinto his jealousy and eventually just lost it when he saw her trying to leavewith Homer after the 5th movement was revealed. Hence, why he wentso crazy. So, in his mind, the only way to get her out from under his skin, wasto get rid of the dilemma that was Prairie Johnson. Problem solved.

Another thing I want to point out about the oyster barscene, if you watch it, you can clearly see that Prairie is actually attractedto Hap. And yes, I know she is blind, so I don’t mean physical attraction inthe traditional sense. I’m talking about his personality, his kindness towardher during lunch, his gentleness toward her disability. The way he genuinelyenjoyed introducing her to the world, despite her inability to physically seeit. He was able to gain her trust in an amazingly short span of time. Perhapsan hour at the least. I noticed also that she smiles a lot around him withinthat hour. Her smile is practically plastered to her face. A sure sign ofattraction. But it’s not the only proof that I have. There is one particularscene that I’ll narrate below:

Prairie closed her eyes and began repetitively shaking herhead.

“Ever since I’ve left Russia, the only thing I’ve thoughtabout every day is how to find my father. And he was the only person” Shepauses a moment, remembering, “…that never made me feel like I was demented or– “

“No, of course not.” Hap interrupts. “You should have neverbeen medicated…Never. Why? Because you had vivid dreams.” His voice laced withconviction.

Prairie began fighting back the urge to smile, to laugh,until eventually she gave in, and this rarity of joy bubbled up out of her.

“It’s insane.” She heard him say, until she had to cover herface, not from shame, but from the disbelief that a man this authentic wassitting beside her.

“I’m sorry, it’s just strange to hear that” She swallowedhard. “…I am weird, but that you like weird.”

He studied her, transfixed by her smile.

“No, weird is good.” He said, “There’s some patheticallyordinary guy somewhere, wearing a t-shirt with that emblazed on it, ‘Weird isgood.’”

Hap watches her intently, enjoying the sound of her laughterand noting sadly, that it’s something that seems so foreign to her.

After a moment, he looks down, closes his eyes and shakeshis head, internally fighting the monster within.

You need to leave.Just walk away. Far away from her.

He takes a deep breath and regards her once again, almostwhispering.

“I have to go.”

There’s three things I want to point out about that scene.

One: They’re clearly flirting, with Prairie being theinstigator of that banter.

Proof: The whole “You like weird” line belies anattraction on her part. And then, when Hap confirms that weird is good, Prairiecan no longer contain her joy over the revelation.

Two: Hap neverintended to take her.

Proof: When he closes his eyes, and began shaking his head,sadly whispering that he had to go. That right there alone shows that he wasn’t trying to manipulate her into leaving with him. He didn’t concoct some master plan to convince her either. Which later tells us that we’re seeing a much different Hap, than when he first exploited the other captives weaknesses against them. And here’s a little side note: This is also the moment when Hap’s internalwar began. His battle to become what Prairie’s presence demanded – abetter man.

Three: Look at Prairie’s face when he announces that he hasto leave and then calls for the check. Her face tells it all. Her smile slowlyfades and she appears to be internally fighting disappointment. She didn’t wanthim to go.

Now what was my point in laying that all out?

Well, I wanted to show the beginning of their attraction andthe slow burn, if you will, of Hap being brought back to life by Prairie in asense. Of course, we all know that Hap fell in love with Prairie, but I tend tobelieve that Prairie cared for Hap as well. That her feelings started all the wayback to the beginning at the oyster bar – perhaps further subconsciously, if mysoul connection theory is correct.

I do buy into Prairie’s story to the C5about her captivity and the other four captives, but I don’t believe that shewas completely honest about Hap, or should I say her feelings for Hap. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe she didn’t want to be labeled with Stockholm syndrome, or perhaps she was too embarrassed to admit it. I don’t know. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Prairie was in love with Hap, but I am saying that there is some sort of hidden affection there. My reason for that assumption are a couple, one which I will go into further detail below and that being the soup from her childhood. The other is when Hap got into his death fight with Dr. Leon Citro and received that famous forehead cut. When Prairie saw him afterwards, he was a bit erratic, borderline frantic. So what does she do? Yep, you guessed it. She asks him about it. Why? What did she care if the guy got his head bashed in or not. Or if his work was challenged by someone else. He was her abductor, the very cause of her current predicament and yet, she is inquiring about his well-being. My point: She. Is. Not. Supposed. To. Care.

Period!

I mean, she loathes the man, right?

Well, you would think. But at times, it seems like her growing feelings for Homer are acounter reaction to what she initially felt for Hap…perhaps still does. Maybeour Dr. Percy wasn’t the only one in denial about his feelings. I know thatscene where Prairie cooks Hap soup from her childhood is also very insightful.For example, when Hap was staring at her in the kitchen and she literally calls him out on it.

“You’re looking at me.”

And he whispers this guilty, “yes.”

The woman literally turns full frontal on him, almost as ifshe was offering herself to him, like a sheep to the slaughter. Pushing againstthe boundaries of his humanity, by offering up the very thing he wanted – Her!And Hap literally looks like he considers it, his eyes actually does thisperusal of her body, then he pauses, as if ashamed and cowers down to theproposition. Now why did he do that? Because I think Prairie misjudged him. Shethought all he wanted was her body, when what Hap really wants is her heart.And how does he prove that? By passing up on an opportunity that will surelynever come his way again. At least in that dimension.

Which that whole scene is a bit of a contradiction when it comes to Hap. He is more than willing to violate her as a scientist by drowning her over and over again. But he cannot bring himself to violate her as a man. I guess his depravity will only go so far in that sense.

Anyways.

I could virtually go on and on about these two, but I thinkit may be best if I just wrap this all up in a nice, tidy little bow.

So to answer your question, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t sympathize withHap, or that I’m blind to the redeeming qualities that Prairie tends to bringout in him. He seems like a man that is desperate to be loved, to feel wanted,needed even. Kind of like Prairie. And just when it seems like the monster within him has overpowered what little empathy is left, he finds this woman that completelyunhinges him. Someone that’s brave enough to save him from his demons. Andcaptivating enough to disarm all his defenses, with her weapon of choice beinga simple smile. I personally think that Hap had given up on any possible hopeof redemption and then, Prairie comes along and suddenly – Hope has a name.

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jinxll · 7 years

Text

Precious

Okay, listen everyone!” Leo sat opposite Nico in the circle holding up a phone. “We’re going to play with this app. It’s really cool. It’s some sort of mixture of Truth Or Dare and Never Have I Ever. I have to type in the names of the players.”

Fidgeting nervously, Nico thought that joining this had probably been a bad idea.–

This is a HOO/PJO oneshot. Sort of Modern!au because they��re using a phone at camp.

3496 words

Solangelo is not canon yet.( ͡° ͜ ͜ʖ ͡°) Also Leo is single because I don’t ship Caleo at all and I just couldn’t bring myself to write them, sorry eeh.

▬

Nico put on his dark jacket grudgingly. He was so not ready for this evening. Well, on one hand he was glad, of course, to spend some time with his friends. Gods, he was actually really happy to be able to call them his friends. They all had been through so much, but they made it. They had worked hard. Every single one of them still dealt with their personal demons of course. This was about healing internally. Scars on the soul, in the heart. But we’re on a good way, Nico thought.

Images of a boy smiling cheekily, blond curls gleaming in the sunlight, skilled hands gently wrapping bandages around Nico’s injuries flooded his mind. The son of Hades tilted his head back and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push away the pictures that filled his body with a burning kind of warmth.

Suddenly light steps could be heard outside of the cabin. Then a few knocks on his door. “Nico, are you still alive in there? By the time you’re at Jasons everyone will be wasted.” Hazel. His sister.

Nico exhaled soundly and shook his head. He opened the door to see Hazel smiling up at him, eyebrows raised in a questioning way. “You okay?”

“Sure.”

“Alright then, let’s go.” She pulled his hand out of his pocket and started walking towards the Zeus cabin. Nico looked her over, noticing the bounce in her step and her somewhat messier hair than usual. “You didn’t drink anything, did you?”

“What?” She gave him an amused look. “Don’t play the big bad brother on me. Of course I didn’t drink anything.” Nico wasn’t convinced. He decided to make it his soul mission for the evening to have a good eye on his sister. Besides, maybe that would keep his mind off other things. Or people. Maybe.

▬▬

Entering Cabin one, Nico was still not ready for this. The Cabin was a chaotic mess with way more people than usually in it. Loud music was coming from who knew where. Hazel hopped over to where Frank was sitting cross legged in a circle with Jason, Percy, Grover, and Connor, deep in conversation with the son of Poseidon. Percy had his legs propped up on Jasons lap and was gesticulating with his hands wildly. They all had cups or bottles standing in front of them. Jason, sitting between the two dark haired boys, was listening to them intently. Hazel set down next to her boyfriend cuddling his muscular arm and kissing the son of Mars on the cheek.

“I got him.” she said and pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Nico, who still stood awkwardly in the doorway. Frank and Percy broke their conversation to greet him enthusiastically. Percy pulled his legs off Jason to stand up and give Nico a sort of half hug. “About time, ghost king. You wouldn’t have wanna missed this party.”

Grinning, the taller boy walked through behind him towards Annabeth and Piper, who were standing at an improvised kind of bar with multiple glasses, cups and bottles. Piper seemed to make some kind of experiment. She had some glasses in front of her filled with a weird beige colored liquid. The surface was strewn with an open bottle of pineapple juice, a toppled over coconut milk can, some pieces of crashed ice and straws in pink and orange.

Percy put one of Annabeths golden curls behind her ear and brought his mouth very close to it to tell her something. When he pulled away after playfully kissing her neck, Annabeths gaze fell on Nico. She waved smiling and Nico waved back. Seeing those two together still gave Nico a slightly bitter taste in his mouth. But he was so very happy for them.

Annabeth gestured for Travis and Leo, who were standing on the other side of the cabin to turn down the music. Nico flinched as he noticed who else was accompanying the sons of Hermes and Hephaistos. Will was crouched down beside some kind of device turning different buttons. He wore a white shirt that looked nice on his tanned skin. His Camp Half-Blood necklace was wrapped around his wrist a few times and there was another bracelet. From his past visits in the infirmary, Nico knew that it was a leather bracelet with a tiny silver stethoscope.

Will seemed to sense someone staring at him. He turned to look at Nico quiet sudden. For a second they just stared at each other. Then, Will stood up and grinned at Nico, waving somewhat shyly. Nico tried to smile back, feeling like a complete idiot.

When the music was less loud the others all set down in the circle, putting their bottles and drinks in front of them. “Di Angelo, finally! Let’s get started guys. This is going to be fun. Nico you need something to drink.”, Leo said quickly, rummaging around behind the bar. Wait, how did he get there? Must have crossed the room while I was busy staring at Will, Nico thought.

“Leo wants to play a drinking game with us,” Hazel explained. “He found an app. Apparently it’s really funny.”

“What? Hazel I told y-“

“Before you start, no I won’t join. At least not with alcohol”

“Aw, Nico is worried about his sister”, Percy teased.

“Well yeah”, Nico said crossing his arms. “I don’t want her to get hurt.” Nico thought he saw a worried expression flicker across Percys face. Bianca. The temperature seemed to have dropped dramatically. “Look, I’m sorry…”

“No, I’m sorry.” Percy said, now back to his easy posture. “I get it. It’s sweet of you to think of Hazel like that.”

“Huh, yeah.” Nico exhaled relieved. This evening was supposed to be about having fun and enjoying each other’s company.

“Don’t worry, man. I’ll take care of her.”, Frank chimed in and put an arm around her shoulders protectively.

Hazel rolled her eyes and pushed him off. “Like any of you’d want to get me sloshed.”

“Hm, I wouldn’t be so sure to trust everyone here.” Nico said looking at Leo.

The Latino boy held his hands up defensively. “Hey, compadre. I’m not doing anything. So what do you wanna drink? Some shots?” He grinned and his eyes glinted suspiciously.

“Uh, no thanks. I’ll start out with a beer.” Nico said.

“Oh, c’mon. You can’t play a drinking game with beer. You should get really drunk you know. That’s the fun.” Leo said disappointed.

“I can do whatever I want, Valdez.” Nico snapped. He couldn’t really hold his liquor very well anyway. Who had time to get drunk when there are constant quests and monsters to take care of? He picked up a beer from the bar and sat down next to Travis and… oh Hades, Will. The blond stopped talking to Connor on his right to grin at Nico.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Is that how you’re going to great me for the rest of my life? “How are you?” I’m good, thanks. It’s not like I’m going to pass out any minute.” Nico answered more confidently than he felt.

Will laughed. The sound sent a chill down Nico’s spine. “Alright, alright. I’m just being polite… Also, be careful.” He added.

Nico rolled his eyes and took a sip of his beer.

“Okay, listen everyone!” Leo sat opposite Nico in the circle holding up a phone. “We’re going to play with this app. It’s really cool. It’s some sort of mixture of Truth Or Dare and Never Have I Ever. I have to type in the names of the players.”

Fidgeting nervously, Nico thought that joining this had probably been a bad idea.

▬▬

Nico had discovered that the game was equally fun and dangerous. Some people had to drink way more than others. Right now, especially Percy and Piper were more than tipsy. Piper was standing at the bar mixing a weird alcohol-free cocktail for Hazel and Percy laughed at everyone and everything. Annabeth sat next to him and shook her head with an affectionate smile on her lips.

“Those who will sleep in a single bed tonight give out 5 sips”, Leo announced. “Yes!” He punched the air triumphal. “Finally that single life pays off. Jason take 5 sips.”

“Seriously? All five?” Jason shook his head but laughed and put the cup to his lips.

“I say Annabeth has to take my five sips”, Nico said grinning.

“No! This evening will end badly.” She took the sips squeezing her eyes shut. Percy kissed her enthusiastically but missed her mouth and ended up smooching the side of her face. She laughed loudly and tried to push him off without much success.

“Hey Will, you’re single! Who takes the sips?” Leo asked.

“Yeah it’s a shame.” he answered with a side glance at Nico, who felt really hot all of a sudden. “Hmm, I guess Leo.”

When Frank and Hazel, who were technically a couple but still slept in separate beds had given out their sips, Leo swiped left and red out the next one.

“Game. Would you rather be able to fly or read minds? Everyone vote at the same time, losing group drinks 4 times.”

“I already can fly.” Jason said smugly.

“Show off.” Travis shouted. “I think flying really is better though.”

“Yes,” his brother agreed. “Imagine all the pranks you could pull on people. Like you could fly above them and drop stuff on them.”

“Dude, I don’t know. Flying isn’t my thing. I say reading minds.” Percy said.

“You really wanna know what everyone thinks about you?” Will asked.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Percy tilted his chin up, raising his eyebrows and looking at Will.

Nico laughed and the others joined in.

“No, but mind reading could be beneficial for fighting monsters. Like, you’d know if they’re lying or what they’re planning.” The satyr chimed in.

“Thank you, Grover.” Percy raised his cup towards his best friend.

In the end, the losing group that had to drink where Percy, Grover and Piper because the rest had chosen flying.

“Virus: Annabeth you’re the eye of the snake! Everytime you meet someone’s gaze, he or she drink 3 times.”

Annabeth laughed. “Hey at least half of you just looked at me. C’mon drink.”

“Oh, no. I won’t be able to look at you at all.” Percy said frowning. “What kind of game is this?”

“Don’t worry. At one point the app will say that she’s not the eye of the snake anymore. It won’t last throughout the whole game.” Leo explained.

“Oh, ok. Fine” Percy said and promptly looked his girlfriend in the eye. “Oh for gods sake!” he exclaimed and took three sips. “This is impossible.”

“Next one. Nico, if you’ve ever had a McDonalds order that was more than 20 dollars, give out 5 sips. Otherwise drink them.”

“I definitely did.” Nico said laughing.

“Wait, really?” Will asked.

“Uhm, yeah I need them for… well…”

“For raising the dead.” Percy finished the sentence for him. “He uses Happy Meals to raise the dead.”

Will stared at him. “What.”

Nico couldn’t help but laugh again at Wills expression. “Well, I talk to them and as a reward I do give them Happy Meals. That’s true. Also I say, Will, you drink.”

Will shook his head in disbelieve and took the five sips.

“Game: Video game consoles, the first to run out of ideas drink 3 times. Grover, you start. Oh, that’s stupid. None of us know much about video games. Let’s change that to… uh…”

“Deadly weapons?” Grover suggested casually. They agreed. “Okay, I’ll say my pipe. It can be very deadly.”

“What, how?” Connor asked.

“I can control the nature around me with a song. Has been very helpful in fights.”

“Katie sure would like that.” Travis said sounding melancholic. “She’s got a green thumb, remember?”

They listed some other weapons until Will didn’t know anything new and had to drink.

“Haha, this one’s good. The hairiest person has to drink 5 times.”

“That’s Hazel. Because of the frizzy wild hair.” Percy called.

“What about, Frank? When he changes into a furry animal?” Jason considered.

“He isn’t an animal right now, Jason. I agree with Percy on this.” Annabeth said.

“Thanks, Wise Girl.” He moved to kiss her but she dodged him. “Hey, you just looked me in the eye.”

“What? Oh, that’s still going? Dammit.”

Piper finally returned from the bar and put a colorful cocktail in front of Hazel. “Here, take your five sips. I made this with my heart and soul, Hazel.” She stumbled through the circle, tripped over an empty cup and let herself fall onto Jasons lap.

“Game. Connor, mime a scene from a movie. The first person to guess the correct movie can give out 3 sips.”

Connor stood up a little shakily. He thought about it for a minute before putting on a really serious face. He reached into his shirt like he would pull out something. Then, he put his hands to his face as if to put on glasses. He took another imaginary object out of his shirt and held it out in front of the group. He moved his thumb as if to push a button.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“That could not be more unclear.”

Connor repeated this at least eight times, before Travis shouted: “Men in Black!”

“Yes, for Zeus’ sake! It wasn’t that hard, c’mon.” Connor returned to his place in the circle.

Travis explained that Connor had put on the protective sunglasses like Agent J and K in the movie and the device to delete the witnesses’ memories. To Nico, the movie sounded really weird.

When Travis had given the three sips to Connor, Leo read out the next one.

“Drink 3 times if you’ve ever spent more than 1200 dollars in a day. Nope.”

“Well, my dad probably did.” Piper said. “But me? No.”

“Right, your father is famous.” Percy said.

“Yup. I’d like not to talk about that.” She pulled a face and gestured for Leo to continue.

“Drink 4 times if you made love within the past 48h.”

“Ah, made love. What a cute way to say it.” Piper said.

Percy gave a short laugh and he and Annabeth drank.

“Damn!” Travis and Connor said at the same time, laughed and high fived.

“Seriously, we’re the only ones?” the son of Poseidon asked.

“Not all of us have a wild sex life like you two.” Leo said grinning.

Annabeth who was a little red faced threw a green drinking straw at him.

He laughed and red out the next one. “People wearing glasses drink 2 times.”

Jason swore and drank.

“If you’ve ever secretly read texts on your significant other’s phone, drink 2 times!”

“Who in their right mind does that?” Frank asked.

The others agreed.

“Annabeth you’re not the eye of the snake anymore.”

“Oh thank the gods!” Percy exclaimed and kissed his girlfriend lovingly.

“The host of this place, give out 4 sips. If there isn’t a host, Leo give out sips!”

“Yes! Nico, take four sips.” Jason said grinning.

“Game: Decide who is the most intelligent person in the room, who must now drink 2 times.”

“Annabeth!” shouted Percy, Piper and Hazel all at once. The others nodded.

“Thanks guys.” She said smiling and drank two times.

“Hey smartie pants, give out 3 sips.”

“Does it really say that?”

“Yeah”, Leo confirmed laughing.

“Okay, Will. Three sips.”

“Game: Would you rather have a rewind button in your life or a pause button? Everyone vote at the same time, losing group drinks 4 times.”

“Pause button, hundred percent.” Percy said bitterly.

Annabeth, Will, Nico, Hazel, Frank and Grover agreed.

“But with a rewind button you could relive all funny moments again and again.” Leo considered.

Leo, Travis, Connor and Piper were the losing group that had chosen the rewind button.

“Would you rather stub your little toe every day or have a shower only twice a week? Vote at the same time, losers drink 5 times.”

“Virus: Be polite to Will, who will now be serving everyone’s drinks.”

“Percy, if you have long and beautiful hair you can give out 2 sips. Otherwise drink them.”

“Virus: Piper, from now on you must repeat each word twice saying something. You drink each each time time you you forget forget.”

“Nico and Grover, read out loud the first message displayed when you type “miss” in the search bar on your phone. Whoever passes drinks 3 times.”

“Percy, write a silly post on Facebook with the words/verbs “damage”, “herpes”, “Queen of England” and “Grover”… or down your drink.”

“Will has done enough, he/she can stop serving drinks.”

“Piper, you can speak normally again.”

“Virus: Frank The Mad Hatter. Everytime you clap your hands, everybody drinks.”

“Game: Would you rather be Gandalf or Dumbledore? Everyone vote at the same time, losing group drinks 2 times.”

“Percy, send “I love you” via text message to a person chosen by Connor, or drink 5 times.”

“Frank is no longer the Mad Hatter.”

“Travis, imitate a turtle for 5 seconds or drink 2 times.”

“Leo, if you stay quiet for 5 minutes, you can choose someone to finish his/her drink!”

“Game: Go around the room and say “thank you” in a language other than English. The first to run out of languages drink 2 times. Percy, you start.”

At this point of their party, everyone was at least tipsy, most of them outright drunk. Only Hazel had kept her promise and hadn’t drunk anything strong.

“Uuuh, sorry. I don’t know many languages.” Percy said with a sad look on his face. His head was laying in Jasons lap and at some point he had taken off his shirt. He moved to take his cup when Annabeth interrupted.

“Percy, you’re a Greek demigod, remember?” she said. The daughter of Athena’s hair was a mess and the floor in front of her was littered with straws and empty cups.

“Oh, right. Uhm, ευχαριστώ? “

„Well done, Seaweed Brain! “ Annabeth clapped her hands appreciatively. “Dankeschön, that’s German.” she added.

“teşekkür ederim“ Connor said. „I have no idea why I know that.” Nico noticed that he was wearing Percys shirt now. His own had been used to clean the place where he had spilled his drink earlier.

Now it was Wills turn. His cheeks were a cute rose color and his eyes glistened a vibrant shade of blue. Nico couldn’t tear his gaze away. “¡gracias!“ Will said loudly.

“Oh no! I was about to say that!” Leo shouted and threw his hands up.

Will gave him the finger and turned to Nico. “Your turn, Di Angelo.”

“Easy, that’s grazie. “ Nico said proudly.

As the rest of the group continued Will moved closer to Nico. “Hey, wanna get some fresh air?”

Nico looked up at him surprised. “Sure.”

They stood up carefully. Nico swayed a little so Will took his hand to keep him from falling down. The other boy muttered a small “thank you”, feeling his face heating up. He followed the blonde out of the Zeus cabin into the fresh night air. The abrupt change of the atmosphere, as the door closed behind them hit Nico like a slap in the face. But in a good way, he thought. The cool air and the soft sound of waves lapping against the shore further northwards relaxed him. Nico closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Suddenly he felt an itch in his neck and whipped his head around. Will was standing beside him observing his face. He caught Nico’s gaze and smiled. “The air is nice, huh.”

Nico tore his eyes away from the blue ones and looked into the distance. “Yeah, I didn’t notice how loud it was in there.” He said with a nod towards the white cabin behind him.

“True.” Will crossed his arms and turned to face into the same direction as Nico. “It’s complete chaos.”

“Yes, but it’s nice. Really nice. Spending time together like this. It’s so…” Nico couldn’t find the right words. Suddenly, his mouth felt very dry.

He knew Will was looking at him when the son of Apollo said: “I know what you mean. For us demigods it’s… precious. It’s not to be taken for granted.” Then, as if he had read Nico’s mind he added: “Wait a second, I’ll get us some water. Don’t shadow travel away!”

“I won’t” Nico replied chuckling. “I won’t” he whispered the words into the dark night air when Will had closed the door behind him. Far away in the woods a creature howled. Southwards you could hear the chink sounds of some Hephaistos kid working the forge. A warm breeze tickled Nicos face and brought the scent of the strawberry fields with it.

In this near to perfect moment Nico felt at home. The door behind him opened, Nico Di Angelo turned around and smiled up at Will Solace.

▬

I hope whoever read this liked it. I guess my English isn’t too bad but I’m sorry if there’s a wrong expression every now and then. I’m very open to writing advice/ constructive cirizism.

By the way, I was referring to a real app here. It’s called “PicoloApp” and is so amazing. If you don’t know it yet, you should try it!

#solangelo #fanfiction #humor #pjo #hoo #nico di angelo #will solace #fluff #humour #picolo app #writing

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meowingjasper · 4 years

Text

Lost Souls Ch 11 Anastasia - Too Many Emotions

We’re almost there! We’ve almost made it to San Francisco! To Nadia! Right, I should back up a bit. So after Keith woke up, we discovered a weird belt around his waist. Whenever someone asked him about it, his eyes became unfamiliar and he’d try to no-so-subtly change the subject to the point we eventually gave up. We also left Sarah behind in the city. Keith tried to protest, but Sarah just shook her head and replied, “No Keith, I was hoping you could move here and join me. And when I saw you, I thought you came for me. But fate had different plans for us. You’ve changed, Keith. If that monster attacked us back when we were dating, you would’ve hid behind me. You’re not the same boy I fell in love with, Keith, and that’s a good thing. You have a mission and people who care about you now. I’d just be out of place. I promise, you can still come visit whenever you want, alright? Everything’ll work out ok. Besides,” She let out a chuckle, “I don’t think I’d want more monster attacks every week.” After that, Keith seemed down, but he managed to accept she was right.

I overheard him say later on, “Heh, of course she was right. That girl knows me better than I know myself.”

The intercom above me snapped me back to the present, “Arriving at San Francisco.”

Silena stood up across from me, “Alright, it’s time for the final challenge.”

Nearby, Thalia warned, “Don’t let your guard down. I have a feeling whoever took Nadia won’t give her up without a fight.”

Keith punched his hand, creating a burst of smoke, bragging, “Oh please, they’ll be no match for us.”

Silena wacked him in the back of the head, “Are you deaf? We can’t afford being cocky now. Not when we’re so close.” I nodded, my chest burning and body practically glowing with eagerness. We hopped off the train and Thalia led the way through the city until we reached a mountain that screamed nightmares just with appearance alone. The bottom half was pitch black with ashy snow covering it. The top half was hidden behind charcoal clouds. Taking a deep breath, I stepped towards the mountain,

“Here we go.”

- Nadia -

Once again I found Tyche at my cell door, she warned, “No funny business. We’re losing our patience with you.”

Desperate, I spoke, “Why? You said you follow him, but surely some part of you knows that what he’s doing isn’t right.”

Tyche groaned, “Not this again. Things aren’t as simple as just black and white. I care too much to abandon him.” Why? Why must she be so stubborn? She stays so firm to her beliefs that… wait. I couldn’t help the smile touching my lips as an idea came to mind.

I asked her, my voice sharp but careful, “That man’s falling further and further into darkness with this plan. Freeing me would mess with his plans enough for him to realize that! If things aren’t as black and white, he’d understand! You want to save him, don’t you?” Tyche froze, and I could tell by her darkened expression that the words sank in. For a second, I felt hope flicker to life inside me.

That was, until Tyche ordered, “Quiet with your naiveness. We’ve wasted enough time.” Without another word, I reluctantly followed her through the crusty halls. The hope inside me dimmed until I realized the path we were taking. I opened my mouth but Tyche turned back to me, smiling as she put a finger to her lips. We found ourselves on the outside, no tail and no fears. Towards one direction was a cliff that dropped into the clouds. To the other a creek that spilled over into a waterfall. And in front of me… was her.

-Anastasia-

I couldn’t believe it. I thought, feared, believed I was back in another realistic dream. One that will snap me back to reality any moment. But it wasn’t. Standing in front of me was the person I cared about most. She had an expression of shock, bliss, and relief. One I surely mirrored. Tears poured out of my eyes, same for Nadia. Neither one of us moved, both too afraid one step would shatter the illusion. To my surprise, my feet decided to take the risk and started moving on their own towards the bluenette. Careful steps turned to speed walking to sprinting and leaping into her arms, sending both of us into the snow. Nadia gave me a soft smile and returned my hug. Neither of us spoke, too many thoughts and no words fit enough to capture them.

Finally, I whimpered, “Nadia! I’m sorry! I’m sorry for not realizing you were in pain! I’m sorry for not being there sooner for you! I’m sorry for not acknowledging the burden you were carrying!” The tears were waterfalls, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Nadia pulled me closer and whispered, “There’s nothing to forgive, Anastasia. You saved me. You gave me hope. You came for me when no one else cared.” Guilt melted into relief as I buried my face in her chest. At that moment there was no past, no future, no burdens, no fears, nothing but the two of us in each other’s arms.

The moment was forced to end as a voice I didn’t recognize spoke up, “Ahem, hate to break this… touching moment. But if you want to leave with your heads, we need to go. Now.” It was then I noticed the girl standing behind Nadia. There was an aura of jealousy and longing around her. It… saddened me to notice.

Behind me, Silena agreed, “No arguments here. I can get us back to the city.”

The girl crossed her arms, “No offense, but who are you? You don’t exactly seem like the trustworthy type.”

Silena stepped towards her, “Why you-!”

Thalia stopped her, ordering, “Stop.” I noticed a glare that was a blend of confusion, hatred, and fear. I followed her gaze to the mystery girl’s waist. Hanging there was a sword that was one half steel and the other bronze. Thalia asked, her tone cold and emotionless, “You. Where did you get that blade?”

The girl smirked as she put a hand on the blade, “This? It’s based on an old legendary weapon called Backbiter. He gave me the idea, said it’s the only blade that scared him.” The four of us, minus Silena, exchanged looks of fear and confusion.

Getting to my feet, I asked, “Who?”

On cue, a male voice spoke up from the shadows, “You disappoint me, Tyche. You didn’t think I’d let you take my key to victory without a fight, did you?” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Thalia’s reaction. Her whole body stiffened and her arms shook. Her eyes were balloons with tears in the corners.

I heard her whisper, “No, please no. I-It can’t be. It can’t be…” All six of us turned to the cave of darkness and I spotted the source of the voice standing in the center. His features were hidden in the shadows save his grey hood. Slowly, he reached up and pulled back the hood. At the same time, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bronze ballpoint pen. He removed the cap and the pen grew into a sword. The glow illuminated his face, revealing messy pitch-black hair and sea green eyes with an unfamiliar malice behind them.

“...Percy?”

0 notes

nsschaintale · 5 years

Text

Link 5: Kindness Is Not Here

CHAINTALE Extra

Chain Link: The Fallen Royal Scientist

Link 5: Kindness Is Not Here

Several years went by and things were starting to look up somewhat. Progress on the Core has increased, and Project Barrier Break is one step closer to its completion. There was even news of a rising star among the Royal Guard ranks in the form of a young fish woman named Ketju. Despite the advances of civilization in the Underground, things weren't exactly going well within the Gadwyn family with Gadwyn himself slightly diverging from his initial path. Ever since retrieving the Soul of Perseverance from Percy, his relationship with Tether has become severely strained. They would argue about the methods used to collect the human Souls, the doubts about the experiment for the barrier, and the loss and cruel death of Tether's first friend he made, despite it being a human. Catena was visiting from Royal Guard training at the time, and tried to diffuse the situation with some success.

Gadwyn: I don't have time to discuss this, Tether! There are more important matters to be taken cared of.

Tether: Dis is just as important! I still 'aven't fergotten what ya did years ago!

Gadwyn: I thought you would have by now!

Catena: D-DAD, TETHER, CAN'T WE DISCUSS THIS LATER!? YOU TWO WILL BE LATE FOR WORK!!

Tether: Tch, all right, Catena...

Gadwyn: Fine... I swear you remind me of your mother...

Tether: Mother?

Gadwyn: ….Shit...

Tether: What about our mother?

Catena: WE HAVE A MOTHER?

Gadwyn (sighs heavily): ...Had a mother.

Catena: WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?

Gadwyn: ...Let's discuss this later on today, all right? We'll be late... (gathers his things and leaves for the door)

Catena: “HAD” A MOTHER?

Tether: I dunno. If it's true, I must've fergotten...

Catena: ….

The day went on as normal, besides the occasional bickering between Gadwyn and Tether. For the majority of the project, Tether has vehemently refused to help the other scientists with studying Percy's body and Soul. He was willing to help with the chosen human body PA02, but anything having to do with Percy was out of the question. Since the project involves the boy, Tether was stuck doing menial tasks, deliveries, and checking on the Core's progress. Meanwhile, some of the scientists had noticed Gadwyn was acting strangely, but chalked it up to stress from overseeing PBB, the Core, and the rocky relationship with his elder son. He had been pouring most of his hours into studying and combining the essences by himself while occasionally glaring at the young human's body. He was even wanting to cut every piece of the boy's body and make it disappear, but he knew the king wouldn't allow such a thing since it would be outside of his scientific tasks, so he had to hold in that desire and not incur the wrath of both King Kette and Tether. Other than that, it was another stress-filled successful day at work. Once the day was over, though, things started to get tense again when the Gadwyn family returned home.

Gadwyn (takes off his coat): So tired...

Tether: ...So...

Gadwyn: What is it now..?

Tether: About our mother...

Catena: OH YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! YOU SAID YOU WOULD TELL US ABOUT OUR MOTHER!

Gadwyn (rubs his temples irritably): ….All right, but let me rest first. We had a long day.

Tether: Yeah..... (watches Gadwyn trudge his way to his room)

Catena (sits down with Tether): I WONDER WHAT OUR MOTHER WAS LIKE.

Tether: Dunno. Hmm...I think I have some vague idea of what she's like, but it's not really coming up.

Catena: WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER?

Tether: Um... I'm thinking flowers....and...a smile...

Catena: UMM...THAT'S..NOT REALLY MUCH TO GO ON...

Tether: Yeah, it must've been years since then. (shrugs) Who knows. Papa'll explain it. Hopefully.

Catena (twiddles his thumbs anxiously): HMN...YOU AND DAD HAVEN'T REALLY BEEN ON GOOD TERMS SINCE THE HUMAN DIED. WAS IT THAT SPECIAL?

Tether: Yeah... There was something about him....I can't really place it... I just wanted to be his friend somehow. Percy, he promised that he'd leave here and take our story to the surface. He wanted to show me what it was like up there. He never got to, because you know. (frowns) The project.

Catena: OH...

Tether: Yeah... (stretches) I guess since he's taking a nap, I should, too. (lays fully on the couch) Wake me when he does.

Catena: REALLY? RIGHT HERE ON THE- (sees Tether fall asleep; sighs heavily) OF COURSE HE DOES...

The few hours Tether and Gadwyn had slept, Catena spent cleaning up the house. He was getting pretty excited to finally know about what his mother was like. He's never had any prior knowledge of his early childhood since he's only known his father and brother. If he did know something about her, he may have forgotten like Tether had. Speaking of his father, Gadwyn made his way back downstairs, finding Catena dusting the TV and Tether asleep on the couch. Once Tether was awakened and the family ate together, Gadwyn reluctantly began his story.

Gadwyn: You boys wanted to know about your mother, hm?

Catena: ABSOLUTELY!

Tether: Of course we do.

Gadwyn: Haaa.... All right. This was long before you two were born....long before we monsters were sealed underground...long before the war...

Tether: Long before...sealed... Wait...are you saying that..

Gadwyn: Yes.. We once lived on the surface. You two were born on the surface...

Tether (shocked): Wha... Are you kidding me!?

Catena: AND IT'S WHERE YOU MET OUR MOTHER?!

Gadwyn: Yes. It was close to Autumn up there and there was a festival going on....

-FLASHBACK: LIFE ON THE SURFACE-

The color of Autumn was slowly creeping up across the land as the air was cooling down. Despite that, the atmosphere in a certain village is much more warm and festive. The annual Autumn Equinox Festival is in full swing as humans and monsters alike were enjoying the festivities. This was during a time where both races coexisted and festivals like this were great ways for them to come together. For one young monster, it would be where his life would soon change. That monster is Aden Beth Gadwyn. He works at a church and was in the process of coming up with a design of a temple the clergy wanted to build nearby. That was before he was dragged to the festival by his equine friend Keldin.

Keldin: Come on, it'll be fun!

Aden: I don't know, Keldin, this looks like too much.

Keldin: Well, yeah, it's a festival! It's supposed to be like this!

Aden: Keldin, I'm supposed to be helping the church wit-

Keldin: It can wait! Come on! (rushes off)

Aden: Keldin, wai- (sees him disappear in the crowd) Aah... Geez... (glances around) Well, now what...?

Left behind by the quick-footed Keldin, Aden started to wander around. Wandering past the food stands, meandering by the random magic shows some of the monsters performed, and browsing the trinket stands, Aden didn't really show much interest in such things. He was never really an outside person unless it was for the church and even then, most of his activities were indoors. He only went outside to gather information about the future temple site and maybe the occasional nature studies before getting pulled away by Keldin. Aden was ready to give up trying to find him when he caught a scent of something peculiar. It didn't match the foods that are present, so it was unique. He wanted to ignore it, but curiosity got the best of him so he followed it. The more he did so, the stronger the smell became, becoming more entranced by it. It seemed to be like some kind of flower. A rose? A sunflower? He wasn't sure, but his vision also started to cloud in a strange way as if a green fog was setting in.

Aden (rubs his eye sockets): Ah? What's going on? My eyes... Everything's turning...green? (looks around at the people) Is...no one else seeing this? So weird....

Aden aimlessly wandered around as he tried to figure out why he was seeing green, not realizing he was heading towards the festival square area. A small group of a lute player, a pipe player, a drummer, and a violinist were playing various songs to keep the cheerful mood up during the festival and a few monsters and humans were dancing along. Lots of people and monsters were loitering around a large wooden square stage as if they were waiting for something while the music is playing. Once the band finished, a man stepped forward, announcing that a performance is about to begin. As the performers took their places, the crowd gets closer to the stage to get a closer look as Aden nearly gets squished by the excited attendants.

Aden (gets bumped): Gah! Watch it! Hmph! (straightens his glasses) What's so special about this-

Aden's mind screeched to a halt when he locked eyes with one of them. The one he assumed was the lead performer. She was a skeleton like him, dressed in white, yellow, brown, and green. She wore a green head wrap with a white stripe and yellow chain print on it, a large gold loop that has a small chain link, a twine necklace with an emerald pendant, a white tunic with a yellow bow under her chest and green stripes and dashes on the hemlines of her top, the left sleeve missing and the right sleeve split from her elbow, a pair of a thin green bracelet and a thick yellow bracelet on her left wrist, a brown leather hoop belt with a long chain link dangling on the right side, brown capri-length pants with twine tied at the bottom, and brown sandals. The grin that graced her face widened as she saw him before she waved at the crowd before the music begin and she shook the tambourine she has in her hand. The moment the skeleton girl started to move, Aden became entranced. Her dance was graceful, entrancing, powerful. Aden has never seen anything like it. Every movement of her body, every tap of her feet, every shake of the tambourine, every part of her dance made Aden think of a thunderstorm. From her hands controlling the rolling clouds to the thunderous stomps of her feet to the jangling rain from her instrument, it was a sight to behold. He never even noticed the other dancers joining her halfway into the dance, he was too drawn to the skeleton girl. So much so, Aden didn't realize the performance ended and the girl was standing in front of him.

Aden (startled): AAH!!

Skeleton Girl (medium-high Irish voice): Oops, sorry! Didn't mean ta scare ya!

Aden (calming down): No, no, I was..j-just was not paying attention, is all! I, uh....I, uh.... (blushing dark blue) I...I liked your d-dancing, it was...it was great. I've never seen anything like it before!

SG: Why, dank yee! I was kinda nervous at how people here would respond, but I'm glad ya like it!

Aden (scratches the back of his neck shyly): Eh heh.. The way she talks...

SG: Yee know, I didn't know dere were other skeleton monsters 'round dese parts. I was surprised ta see ya 'mong the crowd! (whispers to Aden) M'haps, it may be fate...?

Aden: ...Fate?

SG: O' course! At first, I figured a storm was rollin' in 'cause everythin' was turnin' dark and blue, but when I caught eyes wit' yee, it was like a light had broken de dark. Had m'soul aflutterin'!

Aden: R-Really?

SG: Really!

BlondeDancerGirl: Alysída! Come on, we're gonna explore a bit!

SG: Comin'! Well, looks like I'm headin' off. It was nice meetin' ya! (turns away)

Aden: W-Wait! She mentioned your name, what was it?

SG (faces Aden): Ah, forgive me! I'm Alysída! Yours?

Aden: A...Aden Beth Gadwyn.

Alysída: Aden Beth Gadwyn! What a lovely name! Beth, is it short fer 'lizabeth?

Aden: Lizabeth..? Oh..you mean Elizabeth, no, no, it's just Beth. (frowns) Although, I do get teased for that..

Alysída: Dat's no good! Ruinin' a good name as yours!

Aden (rubs the back of his neck sheepishly): Th-Thanks.

Alysída: Gotta go now! See ya next time! (skips away towards her friends)

Aden (waves at her then sighs, having a slight blush): Alysída...

Keldin: Eeeeh? Do I spy someone in looove?

Aden (startled): GAH!!

Keldin: Ha! You lucky guy! You don't see other skeleton monsters around these parts every day!

Aden (glares at Keldin): Keldin....

Keldin: Yeah?

Aden: You left me behind!

Keldin: Whoops!

Aden spent the rest of the festival trying a few foods and chasing his equine friend with attempts to smacking him with his notebook for ditching him. But at the same time, he often had thoughts of Alysída. He does keep her out of his mind while concentrating on the church, but it was slowly becoming clear that he was attracted to her over time, especially when he's found by her in unexpected places sometimes. Aden was looking over the temple blueprints out in a large meadow when he heard a familiar Irish voice from behind him.

Aden (turns to see Alysída): A-Alysída?! What are you doing out here?!

Alysída: I'm here ta relax. I'm after finishing a performance so I'm completely knackered. (notices Aden's confused face) Err...I finished one so I'm tired, I mean, so I just lay about out 'ere. (falls backward carefully)

Aden: Aah! (catches Alysída in a dip stance before she hits the ground) Be caref- !

(they stare at each other before sitting on the ground, blushing hard and silent; Alysída is blushing green, she notices a large rock nearby where she would've landed)

Alysída: How..um...How kind of yee... Didn't spot dat rock dere...

Aden: I, uh...Welcome... Um, yeah, be...uh...be careful...doing that...

Alysída: S-Sure. (feels the breeze blow through) Ya know, I sometimes envy humans.

Aden: Eh? How so?

Alysída: I can barely feel de wind and sun, but not in de way humans do. Does it bother ya while out here, also?

Aden: Hmm...not really. I never really notice things like that, so it doesn't really come to mind.

Alysída: Ah. (notices Aden's open notebook) What's on dere?

Aden: Oh. (picks up the notebook, showing the pyramid designs of the temple) This is the temple the clergy wanted to build out here. I've been making sure nothing diverts the plans for the construction.

Alysída: …. (stands up and looks out at the landscape) ...To turn dis beautiful place into temple grounds.... (puts her hands on her hips) Dis place is already sacred enough.

Aden: To who?

Alysída (glances down at Aden): To nature! Dere's no need fer silly temples when yer blessin's come from all dat surrounds us!

Aden: That sounds.... Hmn...I don't want to say she sounds crazy, but... It sounds...

Alysída (turns away with her arms back and tapping the rock with her foot): Blasphemous, I know.

Aden (surprised): I..That wasn't what I-

Alysída: Ya don't 'ave ta say it, I've been told it whenever I speak of it. Mostly by humans who probably 'aven't got a nature-lovin' bone under all dat skin. Can ya believe it? I can't!

Aden: You love nature, do you?

Alysída: Love it? (does a twirl) I do! It's my muse! Dere's so much harmony and unity dat comes naturally like us monsters and humans. If it gets ruined, it'll be years before it can be restored. (lowers her gaze) Or worse...never return...

Aden: (stands up) W-Will it actually get that bad...?

Alysída: ….It's what I fear...

Aden: …...

Alysída (glances back): Surely, dere's another place...?

Aden: ….I thought of another, but I felt it would be dangerous.... (turns to the direction of a nearby mountain)

Alysída: A mountain?

Aden: Ebbot Mountain. I thought it would be a good place to put the temple before it, but then I felt something would go wrong, so we went with this place. But listening to you speaking so highly of this land, I'm starting to have doubts. Thinking about it, maybe it's better to be closer to the village...

Alysída: …..

-END FLASHBACK-

Catena: SHE REALLY LOVED NATURE THAT MUCH, HUH?

Gadwyn: She did. I didn't think she'd convince me to change locations like that. I guess at the time, I didn't want to upset her. I did upset the clergy, but it was better than nothing.

Tether: No wonder I had thought of flowers and smiles. Sooo, where do Catena and I come in?

Catena: THAT'S RIGHT! YOU SAID WE WERE BORN ON THE SURFACE! WE DON'T REMEMBER THAT HAPPENING!

Gadwyn: It's because you two were very young at the time, Tether being born first then a few hundred years later, Catena was born when Tether was four, according to the humans anyway. To be honest, I hadn't expect us to have two children, but here you two are. She loved you both dearly, to the point of spoiling you. Showed you everything life had to offer, I even had less time at the church because I wanted to be there for you all. (glances at Tether) You even picked up on her odd language which apparently she was from a part of...hmm...someplace... She told me, but it's been far too long for me to remember.

Catena (glances at Tether curiously): IT DID SEEM LIKE HE SPOKE A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE WHENEVER HE SPOKE OR WAS UPSET.

Tether: Really? I never noticed. But um, how come we've haven't seen her since we've been down here?

Catena: YEAH, AND HOW COME I BARELY EVEN REMEMBER HER?

Gadwyn (leans forward with his elbows on his knees, resting his forehead on his clenched hands): …...

Tether: ...Papa..?

Gadwyn: She's.....no longer in this world.....Your mother had...turned to dust....

(the brothers are horrified)

Tether: What do ya mean “turned to dust”?! When? H-How?!

Catena: WHY?!

Gadwyn (straightens up): I mentioned the war, remember...?

Tether: The Monster-Human War..?

Gadwyn: Yes... It was a few months before then. You two were still children in monster terms, but everyone we once knew who were humans, especially Alysída's human friends, were dead and gone. This was getting into a time when there were superstitions cropping up towards monsters and humans alike...and then..that incident occurred...

Catena: WHAT INCIDENT..?

Gadwyn: ….The one that shattered the human-monster coexistence forever....

-FLASHBACK: THE DOMINO EFFECT-

A few centuries have passed and there had been tension creeping across the land. Stories of humans killing other humans due to witchcraft had been spreading and it has everyone on edge. The people and monsters of Ebbot Village felt safe from such things ever since the temple had been built nearby years prior, so it served as a welcoming comfort for them. But as the days went on, some of those stories came close to home in a much different way. It was almost Winter, but snow was already falling. One night, Alysída was returning home from her work at a produce stand when she overheard some people talking. She thought nothing of it at first until she heard something like a screech suddenly getting silenced. Curious, she snuck over to the sound and found something horrifying.

Two men had just finished stabbing a child.

Man1 (laughing): That was easy. It won't be long now.

Man2: We just need a monster to come by and take the blame.

Alysída (hides): Gods above, what did I just see?! I....I gotta leg it and tell someone... de Elder!!

Before the men noticed her, she had rushed off to go tell the village elder in the temple about what she saw. Along the way, she noticed the people and monsters are acting strange towards each other, either with disdain or avoidance. Once there, she found the elder kneeling before the altar, likely to be in prayer. She waited until he was finished, but realized by the time he would be done, the men would try and kill another person.

Alysída (approaches the elder cautiously): Sorry, Elder, but I need to speak-

Elder: I know why you're here....

Alysída: You do...?

Elder: It's about the incidents, yes?

Alysída: Yes, I just saw-

Elder: Don't bother... I knew this day would come.... (stands up and faces Alysída) ...the day you monsters would betray us by harming our own...

Alysída: Betray?! What?! No! I saw two humans killin' a child in an alley a while ago!

Elder: Impossible. No one would dare harm a child...and besides...humans had been disappearing from the village and people had been finding monsters in their blood...

Alysída: No... It... You're lyin'....We would never...

Elder: I have already sent for help... Begone from my sight....

Alysída: …... (turns to leave then stops at the doors) I'll pray to de Gods to have mercy on yer soul.

Elder: Monsters have no Gods.

Alysída: Nor do yee, if He doesn't stop dis madness... (leaves)

Frustrated, Alysída made her way home but was seeing signs of discord cropping up. She had told Aden what had happened, and the pair grew worried about the future. And they had every right to be worried. The few months that went by, the incidents reached a fever point and by the end of the third month, the humans declared war on the monsters. This eventually led to the arrival of the ones whom the Elder had called upon a few months prior. Seven chosen humans with unique powers showed up as the Monster King Kette Diefessel and his armies faced them and theirs. A magic swordsman in red, a dancer, a holy knight, a cloaked man, a scruffy-looking thief, an archer woman, and a Buddhist monk, all of them helped the humans decimate the monsters to the point when it's seen as a massacre. The battles raged on as monsters who can fight held the humans back as their families rush away from the village for safety. After a while, the monsters were slowly being driven towards Ebbot Mountain. Those who tried to escape were either driven towards there or slaughtered on sight, no matter if they were old or young. For centuries, the mountain was already inhabited by monsters, but as a place for those who liked being underground. Many other monsters who lived on the outside mingled among the humans all over the country until now. Any monsters who didn't make a mass exodus towards this mountain were hunted down and executed by the chosen humans along the way. For those living in Ebbot Village, it was easy to send them there. At some point, Alysída served as a healer for monsters who were injured during the battle, but it was becoming too much as more and more monsters were being injured beyond repair to where they become Fallen and turn to dust. Understandably, she was released by Kette due to her fears for her own family's safety, seeing as more monsters were dying than the healers can handle even in an emergency situation. As a result, the Gadwyn family didn't have a choice but to go to the mountain as well. Aden was holding Tether's hand and Alysída has baby Catena in her arms when she suddenly had a thought as she saw some of the monsters rush by to go and aid their fellow monsters on the battlefield.

Aden (stops as he sees her facing the entrance): Alice..?

Alysída: Oh....nothing...

Aden: Then let's hurry. The further we go in, the safer we'll be.

Alysída (looks at Catena as he's crying): ….My sweet Autumn child.... (kisses his forehead)

Aden: Alysída, what are you- (is given Catena in his arms) Wha...

Alysída: My darling Addy.... (kisses Aden)

Aden (watches her lean down to kiss the top of Tether's head, calling him her wonderful Summer child): Alysída...

Alysída (faces Aden): Let's keep goin'. We better crack on before it's get too crowded, ya?

Aden: Y-Yeah...

Aden took Tether's hand again as the family continued further in the caverns into the underground city. When Aden felt Tether stop and turned to see what was wrong, Alysída was gone. Aden went into a slight panic as Tether asked where she went. He wanted to find his wife, but he couldn't leave his children alone. Before he could decide, he felt something painful like a cut shoot through him, nearing making him collapse. He forced himself to sit against the wall so he wouldn't fall forward and hurt Catena. He sat there watching the monsters run by, hoping to see Alysída come by and find them, but instead only spotted Keldin directing a large group of monsters and catching his attention.

Keldin (runs up to Aden): Aden! Why are you just sitting here?! We gotta go!

Aden: Have you seen Alysída?

Keldin: Alysída? No, I haven't. Wasn't she with you three?

Aden: She was, but-

Tether (holding something in Aden's face): Papa!

Aden: Wha-What is it, Tether? Papa's talking.

Tether: Dingie! Papper!

Aden (notices a folded a piece of paper in Tether's hands): Paper? Hmn, I have Catena in my arms, can you get that, Keldin? (rocks Catena gently to calm him)

Keldin (takes the paper from Tether): Sure. (unfolds and reads it)…...............................I....

Aden: What does it say?

Keldin: I can kinda make out what it says, but um…..”Aden, if you're reading this....I'm sorry....I tried my best to tell the humans they were wrong about us....but it...didn't work. There were people who told everyone that we're evil...and need to be destroyed....If a war breaks out...I want to make sure you all survive....If you fell..” I think she meant “feel”...”If you feel....something....in your Soul....I have to break our bond, for our children's sake, so if something happened to one of us, at least we both won't die and leave our children behind. I want it to be you.......Watch over them.....Aden...The years I've been with you have been truly....” (squints at the scratched out word before the word “brilliant”) “Sav....brilliant....and I enjoyed every moment of it. Please stay safe....I do pray that this war ends before I become dust. If it does, I'll return to you and our boys....and we'll be happy again.....” (looks confused) What's this sentence? Grá..go..Deo...? And this symbol- (hears sniffing) Eh? (sees Aden in tears) Aden?

Aden: It's...It's pronounced “graw gu djo”.....Alysída said it means “Love forever”....Damn it...(stands up) I have to go find her!

Keldin: But what ab- (is given Catena gently)

Aden: Tether, stay with Mr. Keldin, okay? Papa's gonna find Mama.

Tether: Kay...

Keldin: Wait! (looks at the brothers worriedly and tries to calm Catena down in a singsong voice to the tune of “Rockabye Baby”) Hushy-bye baby, in my own arms, your Papa better come back ASAP....

Aden rushed past the monsters that were being sent in and when he reached the entrance, he caught a glimpse of a large bird skull unleashing a powerful attack that sent shock waves outward, sending him back inside the cave. The few monsters that lingered behind caught him before he landed on the ground. He scrambled away from them to his feet and rushed back outside.

Aden: Alysída! What is she doing...! ALYSÍDA!!

Alysída (turns to face Aden): Aden?! (feels something pierce through her back out her chest, severing her Life Chain) GuhAAAAA!!... (staggers away)

Aden: NOO!! (sees one of the humans approaching Alysída as she trips to the ground; teleports to her, catching her mid-fall; glares at the humans) STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY WIFE!! VESTER!!!

A large long-snouted animal skull with two wavy horns that reach under its eyes and a long string of chains dangling from the horns appeared and roared at the humans. Aden gave the signal to fire at them and Vester drew in the chains into its mouth, releasing a powerful blast. Once the smoke cleared and the chain shrapnel and Vester vanished, the skeleton duo had retreated inside the mouth of the cave. Aden and the four monsters who fought with Alysída stayed with her as she struggles to stay awake.

Aden: Alice! Stay with me, you'll be okay!

Cat monster (healing Alysída's wounds): The most I can do is heal her wounds-

Aden: It's better than nothing, just keep at it!

Alysída: A...den...Our..boys...

Aden: They're with Keldin. They're safe!

Alysída: Aah....Good....I'm...glad....I hope...

Aden: Alice, you need to save your strength...

Alysída: I...

Bird Monster: Hey....What are those humans doing?

(the group looks out of the entrance and sees the seven humans glowing; Alysída reached out towards the entrance like she wanted to go back outside; the entrance glowed white then seven thick chains of different colors crossed each other in layers and connected from one side of the hole to the other before becoming translucent)

Alysída (almost in tears): Oooh....

CM: What is that...?

BM: I think...it's a barrier.....

Little Monster: They're trapping us here!?

Alysída: …..Our...home...

Aden: Alysída..?

Alysída (crying): De wind.....De sun...De...flowers...We'll...never...

Aden (grabs Alysída's hand): We will!

Alysída: !

Aden: We will all leave this place! You, me, our sons, everyone! I...I'll make sure of it!

Alysída: …..You..will...?

Aden: Yes, then we'll have the life we had before! ...Right?

Alysída: Right....I'm sleepy....

Aden: Rest...We'll meet up with the others soon....

Alysída (drifts to sleep; her Soul dimming and cracking): …...

-FLASHBACK END-

Gadwyn: …..Unfortunately....she didn't wake up from her sleep. She had fallen down and eventually....

Silence fell over the family before both brothers began to weep. They never realized how close they were to seeing their mother die, but were spared of having it dwell within them throughout their lives. It still disturbed them that they only found out about her fate so late, but it was better than not knowing at all. The fact that Alysída had sacrificed herself to save them by severing her bond with Gadwyn in order to prevent him from dying with her when they were young was still shocking to them. But this also made another thing clear: Gadwyn's hatred for humans.

Gawdyn: So you understand now...Tether...?

Tether (rubs tears from his eyes): What..?

Gadwyn: Why I couldn't allow that human to be near you? When you think you can trust them, you'll get shot in the back.

Tether: ….

Gadwyn (hears the wall phone ring; goes to it and answers): Hello, this is Dr. Gadwyn. ….Yes? …..I see....Very well. I'll be there soon. Good bye. (hangs up then turns to his sons)I'm afraid I must head off to the lab right now. (heads to the door and gathers his things)Tether, Catena, I'll let you two stay home to collect yourselves while I work.

Tether: Something....going on at the lab..?

Gadwyn: The alarm was sounded. It appears that another human was caught. It's time for me to go to work.

Tether: …..

As Gadwyn left the brothers to mull over the story, he made his way to the lab. He found out that the latest human named Kindel had tried to go through the surface portion of the lab, but found it was locked. He ended up scaring a lot of the monsters there. He managed to make his way past the lab by inching his way against the building's wall, and ran. The human was later caught in the second level of Hotland after he succumbed to his injuries and the heat. Like the others before him, Kindel's body and Soul were subjected to experiments. Again, Gadwyn's colleagues were noticing odd things about him, but brushed it off.

Or tried to.

(Gadwyn is seen in the Mirror Room, just having finished checking over the report of a broken-down mechanism in the room beyond the Mirror Room)

Gadwyn: Now that we’ve obtained our fifth human Soul, we can now- (notices a black wall) Hmm? (approaches it) …Strange. (touches it) I don’t recall having a single black wall in- (several strings of black ‘paint’ sticks to his fingers) It’s not dry? (the black paint starts to move on his fingers) What in the Un- Aah!

The mysterious black paint crawled its way over his hand, staining the sleeve of his lab coat as he tried to scrape it off. The more Gadwyn tried, the faster it crawled. He soon realized the lower half of his body was already engulfed in the black sludge, and he vainly struggled to escape.

Gadwyn: WHAT IN KETTE’S NAME IS THIS SUBSTANCE?! (his shoulders are covered) I…can’t move…!

Stop.

Gadwyn (freezes): ….Who…?

Resisting.

Gadwyn: My voice..? No.. (looks up) Who-

Gadwyn looked up to see a white face. The left eye is empty and the right is closed. The chain markings, left to the mouth, right up the eye, were black, and the face looked…sad.

At first.

Gadwyn (trying to stay calm): What matter of….creature are you…?

The face just stared for a moment before contorting into something out of a nightmare, and his own voice came from behind him.

YOU. DR. GADWYN.

Gadwyn was dropped to the floor as his name was repeated over and over. When he opened his eyes, one of Gadwyn’s other assistants was tugging at his left arm.

Assistant: Dr. Gadwyn!

Gadwyn: What is it?!

A (flinches): Ah!! Err, I’m sorry, but you’ve been staring at your reflection for the last few minutes. Is everything all right, sir?

Gadwyn: My reflection? But the wall’s- (sees his reflection in a mirror; looks around to realize that none of the mirrors are black) Ah. (clears his non-existent throat) Well.. (straightens himself up) Perhaps there is something in the air. (removes his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nasal cavity) We may need to go and seek out any leakages here.

A: Yes, doctor.

As the duo walked off, his facial reflection kept watching them before disappearing into the mirror. To clear his mind of that terrifying experience, he thought about the story he told Tether and Catena. Thinking about it, Gadwyn could never forget about what the humans had done, and seeing Tether getting close to Percy awoke a deep-seated hatred for the ones who took away the love of his life. That sense of betrayal was turned into revenge when he figured out how to break the barrier. Coupled with Kette's declaration of the hunting of fallen humans, Gadwyn had the freedom to use the Souls to break the barrier and alleviate his vengeful thirst. Tether and Catena were unsure of what to feel after hearing the story of their mother, besides confusion and mostly sorrow. But something did become much clearer to them: the day Alysída perished was the day Gadwyn's kindness was beginning to drain away.

TO BE CONTINUED

#ABGadwyn

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