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#jackson would completely understand wanting to get away from that nasty family though :I
pjo-whore · 3 years
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Percy Jackson At Hogwarts
Chapter 1: Wizards Are What Now?
Look, Percy never wanted to be half-blood.
Being a half-blood – the child of a mortal human and a god – was dangerous. It was scary. Most of the time, on top of having neglectful parents and a dysfunctional and incestuous family that wanted you dead for petty reasons, it got you killed in other painful, nasty ways.
There wasn’t a day that went by where Percy didn’t feel envious of the kids who didn’t have to deal with the mythological world.
Percy Jackson was seventeen years old. Until a month ago, he was fighting a war against a Greek primoradial, the Earth Mother incarnate, Gaea – also known as his great grandmother. Before that, he fought in a war against his grandfather, Kronos, Greek Titan of Time, who wanted to overthrow the Olympian gods and take over the world and the Empire State Building. Somewhere in between he also found time to spend a month in literal Greek hell, Tartarus, who also happened to be his great grandfather, and who also tried to murder him on sight.
Was Percy a troubled kid?
Yeah. You could say that.
And right now, he was still trying to clean up the mess from the Second Giant War.
Now that there wasn’t a war looming overhead, the gods’ recent exploits were coming to light, and new demigods were popping up everywhere, everyday. The number of demigods skyrocketed now that they were actively searching and not waiting for them to stumble into Camp on their own.
But that also meant there were new kids to train, more demigods for the gods to claim, and less time to recoup from the recent war.
Less than a month had passed since Gaea’s defeat.
The days were filled with helping each other get back on their feet, rebuilding the camps, and trying to keep the fragile peace in order.
There was still a lot to sort out, and the gods weren’t as hands-on as most would like. There was conflict building up. News spread about how the gods helped the seven demigods of the prophecy fight the giants, because a giant couldn’t be killed by a mortal alone, and this made many jealous and angry. The gods could pop in for a single battle when it was their own ass on the line, but not when a group of their own literal kids needed to rebuild their home that was dedicated to the gods?
Besides Chiron and Dionysus, the only god to physically stay at Camp Half-Blood following the battle against Gaea due to his punishment from Zeus, there were no other adults. The oldest demigods were barely twenty. Despite age, most, if not all, the demigods looked to the prophecy demigods for guidance and leadership.
Annabeth, Jason, Percy, Piper, and Nico.
The brunt of the responsibility fell on the daughter of Athena, and the son of Poseidon. They led their Camp through the Second Titan War, and now they were survivors of another war.
Things weren’t easy for a long time.
The Camp was completely ravaged.
During Gaea’s seize of the Greek demigod Camp, the cabins were burned by the monsters and toppled by Gaea’s massive earthquakes. Not even the Big House – the staple of Camp Half-Blood, the oldest building on the lot – survived the attack.
Camp Jupiter didn’t fare any better, but their buildings had been more structurally sound, thicker and built of material that didn’t burn and crumble. Enough buildings were still standing well enough to inhabit.
Everything had to be rebuilt for Camp Half-Blood.
Nobody could be sent home – to their mortal homes, with mortal parents, and a mortal life, mortal being the slang for “normal” among the mythological world – despite the new lack of residency at Camp Half-Blood. Kids needed to heal. There were nightmares and PTSD. Trauma and concussions. People to be counted, bodies missing, some so mauled they were impossible to identify. Several bodies were unearthed from the ground, sucked in by Gaea’s attack and suffocated beneath the dirt.
Shrouds were made for those who could be identified, the unknown buried in unmarked graves to be remembered. Those who were missing were given honorary shrouds, unknowing if they were in one of the unmarked graves. The Romans were unable to do their traditional funeral rituals, transporting the bodies all the way to Camp Jupiter, and were burned in shrouds alongside the Greeks.
Mortal parents simply couldn’t help.
They couldn’t fathom their children being in a war.
There were fears that demigods would be taken away from Camp Half-Blood by their mortal parents, horrified at what their kids were put through. Chiron especially worried about demigods who would be kept from Camp by parents, forcing them to live alone without any mythological world support, to defend against monsters on their own, without any magic or special weapons.
So, among the remaining able-bodied demigods, Greeks alongside Romans worked together to erect the new Big House. Tents from the Romans’ siege on Camp Half-Blood were gifted to the Greeks to provide residency until the new cabins were built, while the Romans started to march back home.
During all the chaos, Percy didn’t have any time to sit down and process all that happened.
The whole Camp looked up to him as a leader, but Percy didn’t feel very strong or wise.
He only felt bitter.
There were some who walked by and whispered “lucky” and “prophecy.”
Some who stopped talking as soon as he walked into the room.
Those who acted like he wasn’t even human, just some untouchable hero; but they ostracized him.
Percy was aware that he was one of the so-called “lucky” campers; lucky being compared, because at least he walked away with all his limbs intact.
It didn’t feel like he was lucky.
He wasn’t unscathed. He bore many scars, visible and not. His time in Tartarus was an impossible nightmare on bad nights, and a shadow on good days.
Percy was learning that he had triggers.
He was learning Annabeth did, too.
Neither liked using elevators.
Annabeth’s expression went tight when Percy used his powers around her. She turned away, sometimes completely leaving the area.
She got antsy in the dark, a childhood fear resurfaced.
There were other little things; at night when she had nightmares she would toss and turn in bed, sweating through her clothes and sheets, despite the breeze being cold. Sometimes Annabeth would completely avoid Percy, acting snappish, always coming back and apologizing in the end, and they would hold each other like they were hanging over the chasm again.
Annabeth refused to talk about what she saw in her nightmares, and Percy never pushed. He was one of the only people who could understand what she was going through.
Sometimes all they could do was sit and try to drown out the memories of The Pit.
Percy’s triggers were different.
He developed a deep-seated hatred for empousai. The moment he saw one, his body started to shake with adrenaline and nerves, fire flashing before his eyes.
Percy could no longer look at the stars without feeling a deep loss, tears pricking at his eyes.
He prayed to his father, Poseidon, more often, as if trying to re-establish his connection to the sea, to re-establish his connection to the Overworld, as if that could cleanse him of what happened in The Pit. As if he could wash away the touch of The Pit.
Percy’s nightmares were always blurry and violent. He wouldn’t snap awake like others. He didn’t startle or jerk upright. He didn’t make a single noise. He would wake silently, and lay there in bed, eyes open and unseeing, that shattered glass feeling he always dreaded at the bottom of his stomach. After he could never go back to sleep, and he would get up and sit on the tile in his cabin for hours and look in the mirror and wait for the image to change. He would wait for it to reflect what he feared, though it never did.
*
“Okay, so, how big is the situation? Is it like, ‘Aphrodite lost her hairbrush again’ big? Or is it ‘Gaea has risen again’ big?”
Annabeth frowned. “I don’t know. All Chiron said was that a god needed our help – and I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the sound of that.” She chewed her bottom lip in thought as they headed toward the Big House. They had been asked to attend a private meeting with Chiron, outside of the camp counselor meeting. “He sounded serious, too. Whichever god it is must be an asshole to seek help so soon after the war.”
She wasn’t wrong, Percy thought.
Jason was appointed Pontifex Maximus in Camp Jupiter, and as such he was responsible of advising the praetors, ruling over the Camp Jupiter counsel, and overseeing the work and prayers to the minor gods. His promise to Kymopoleia to bring worship and awareness for all minor gods became his fulltime job, and it was ruled that most gods must go through Jason to request help from either demigod camp.
A god asking for help directly after a full-scale war? Using Chiron as their connection? It was a hit below the belt, and it made Percy frustrated.
A few demigods raised their heads in greeting as Percy and Annabeth passed by the arts and crafts center. Conner and Travis Stoll, who were trying to build bombs with bits and pieces from the forge, took one look at Percy, then at Annabeth, and wiggled their brows suggestively. Percy unsubtly stuck them the bird, and they started to laugh their assess off.
The Big House was smaller now, after being rebuilt.
What could be scavenged from the attic was saved, but most of it was lost. Magical artifacts and ancient texts were burned and crushed. Now the Big House served mostly as the infirmary, aside from the drop-by medicinal tent near the Apollo cabin, where more medical supplies were. The Apollo and Hephaestus cabins had been the first to be rebuilt because they gave needed services.
Aside from the infirmary, the Big House had a commons area for meetings, and housed a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.
Checking in the commons area, Chiron was in his wheelchair. Nico was sitting at the beloved ping pong table, which had somehow survived the siege on Camp, and Thalia was sitting backwards on a chair by the new counselor table, which no one ever used.
Percy sat next to Nico and twirled the ping pong paddle between his hands, Annabeth taking her usual seat during counsel meetings.
Chiron looked tense.
“Now, I know that only a month has passed since the end of the Second Giant War, but –”
The air practically sparked with the collective tension that built.
“– a new quest has been issued.”
Annabeth leaned forward in her seat, interested. “Chiron, you can’t have an official quest without a prophecy. And the last time I checked; the Oracle of Delphi wasn’t working right now.”
“Well, it’s a good thing this isn’t a quest from the Greek pantheon, then.”
Percy cocked a brow and shared a look with Annabeth.
“The Roman pantheon doesn’t have an oracle, and their last augur exploded himself, so –”
“It’s a friend of Lady Hecate, the Triple Goddess.”
Dead silence.
“The Triple Goddess?” Percy parroted. “I don’t follow.”
“The Triple Goddess is of the Old Religion, once practiced in Europe hundreds of years ago by the druids and magic users in general. It belonged to Albion, a land of five kingdoms, before it split into the United Kingdom and Ireland.”
“What does that have to do with us?” Nico said.
“All those years ago, in the middle ages, after the golden age of the Greek pantheon, the Old Religion became very popular in Albion. Magic was something that anyone could practice even if they weren’t born with the innate talent, with the proper training. Through the ages, though, the religion declined, and the New Religion rose and became the staple. While the Old Religion relied on the magic of the land, sea, and sky; the New Religion relied on your inner magical core, and so not everyone could do this new magic.”
Chiron shifted in his wheelchair and pulled out a small stack of photos, but when he tossed them onto the ping pong table, the demigods saw that they held moving pictures.
In one photo, it showed a person standing over a boiling cauldron, on the wooden table beside them, old parchment with a quill that moved by itself, writing on the paper. The picture moved slightly, the character stirring the cauldron. Then the animated picture reset and repeated.
In another photo, two persons stood facing each other, holding purposefully shaped wooden sticks, pointing them at each other. Bright lights exploded from the tips of the sticks, and their robes and hair swayed with strong winds.
In the last photo, a person was wearing a uniform of sorts, with a helmet and pads on their knees and elbows. They held an old broomstick between their knees, and metal hinges held on the back close to the bristles, like a hitch for the feet. In the picture, the person grabbed onto the end of the broomstick and shot into the air, like magic. It gave image to the stereotype of witches flying on brooms in the night.
“The Old Religion died out because the land lost its magic. Only select spots held magical creatures and natural magic. Magic was only preserved through the New Religion, and those who practiced the New Religion became witches and wizards. The lot of them went into hiding and created their own society – the wizarding world.”
“In today’s day and age, magic is passed down through genetics. And sometimes, those with magic cores can be born to those with no magic at all. The population of magic users stays stable, and there is balance in the world of magic …” Chiron winced. “Mostly.”
“But these people have lost contact with the Triple Goddess. They no longer worship or prayer to her. They rely solely on their own magic, not what comes naturally from the land, like in the Old Religion. And recently, war has passed for them. The Second Wizarding War ended four months ago. And this has severely depleted their resources and magic. There is a school for the magic users, used as the stronghold during the war, and now the wizarding world’s hero is returning to finish his studies.”
“His moniker is ‘The Boy Who Lived,’ and he’s called Harry Potter. But he was only a child – is only a child. He and his peers are children who have been used to fight a war that they shouldn’t have had to fight.” Chiron looked very grim.
Percy bitterly sank back in his seat.
“We were kids, too.”
Chiron sighed. “This war has thrown the balance of magic out of whack. The natural magic has been depleted for too long, and there are those who are actively tipping the balance to sabotage the magic for their own gain. It’s suspected that the dark forces from the war – Death Eaters – are still operating in the shadows. It is because of this that the Triple Goddess has called upon you as heroes to help restore the wizarding world and save magic.”
“You would only be obligated to attend the school of Hogwarts until you uncovered the source of oppression over magic, so the Death Eaters can be caught and restrained. If you choose to accept, of course.”
Percy eyed him sharply. “You say that as if we have a choice.”
Chiron pursed his lips. “Despite what you think, yes, you do.”
“But this is from a whole other pantheon,” Nico said. “A group of magical people who don’t even believe in the goddess who brought about their magic. Why do we have to fix this?”
More silence.
Chiron looked down on them unapologetically.
Percy shifted uncomfortably, looking over at Annabeth. Chiron seriously expected them to just up and leave Camp for this quest. Barely a month had passed since their own war, and they were getting by as they were. Percy didn’t believe Camp Half-Blood could afford to lose any support or cabin counselors, even for a short period of time.
“So, let me get this straight,” Percy said. “Basically – if I just ignore the little prologue, you gave there – you want us to go to this magical school, on orders of a goddess that’s almost faded, stalk a kid, and watch out for people who like to try to rob the world of magic – magic, which they use themselves.”
Chiron looked pained. “No, I don’t believe they’re purposefully robbing the world of magic.”
“Oh, well that clears everything up.” Percy threw his hands in the air.
“Regardless, you understand what’s being asked. This is a quest, technically coming from Hecate, as a favour for the Triple Goddess. It’s valid as a hero’s quest. It was decided it would be best that you go undercover as transfer students and secretly watch over Harry Potter, the target for most Death Eaters. Your goal is to prevent trouble before it gets serious, though I doubt that will be hard, as trouble always manages to find you –”
“Wait, hold on,” Percy said, still hung-up on the quest. “How are we supposed to fit in at a school for the magically gifted? None of us are wizards.”
“Oh, that is something that can easily be fixed,” Chiron said, dismissing the problem.
“Excuse me?!” Thalia said.
“Hecate considered this quest from the Triple Goddess for a long time before coming to me.”
Percy rolled his eyes. Out of everyone in the room, he had the least faith in the gods. They never gave him anything to have faith in.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the camp director. “And how exactly does Hecate plan on ‘fixing’ the problem? I don’t see any obvious solutions. We’re demigods, not wizards.”
Chiron shifted awkwardly. “She has not shared that with me. I have only gotten the request that you undertake this quest for the Old Religion, and that she will visit to prepare you.”
Percy felt like grinding his teeth. “Oh, so she just expected us to accept the quest. She never considered us refusing? Why can’t the wizards fix their own problem?” Chiron said nothing. “Camp is still in shambles – we don’t even have all the cabins rebuilt yet! We can’t leave, not now. There’s still too much work to do here, and too many new demigods to watch over and protect. And have you even considered that maybe we don’t want to go on this quest? That maybe we want a break? My entire childhood was prophecy after prophecy, quest after quest, serving the gods. We’re under no obligation to do this. You can tell Hecate that she can stick her magic wands up –”
He didn’t get the chance to finish because Annabeth had already taken a ping pong paddle and smashed a ping pong ball in his direction, the mutual action used to keep order in camp counselor meetings.
“BALL!” Annabeth yelled, slamming her paddle across the table.
Percy scowled and took his seat again.
“Now, Percy,” she said sweetly, leaning over the table. “Where did you say Hecate could put those wands?”
“Nowhere,” he muttered.
Annabeth acquiesced and put the paddle down.
“Where is this school anyway?” Nico asked. He frowned. “And Hogwarts? What kind of name is that?”
“It resides in Scotland, its exact location unknown and hidden by powerful magic. Outside of the school, which is an ancient and famous monument for the wizarding world, there are other magical establishments. One place you will be required to visit is Diagon Alley, a wizarding market. That’s where you’ll collect your resources for going undercover at school.”
“Again, you’re saying all this like we’ve agreed to go,” Percy mumbled.
He was ignored. Thalia raised her hand, her features etched with confusion. “Okay, I hate to be the one to say it – but how are we supposed to blend in with wizards and witches? We can’t use magic, and we know nothing about their world.”
Chiron admitted he didn’t know how Hecate would find ways around the problems. “She has informed me that, only once the quest is accepted, will she come and discuss the details. In fact, she should be arriving any moment –”
What happened next could not have been anymore dramatic.
There was a blinding flash of light – the glow filling the entire room – and it forced the demigods to cover their eyes lest they go blind from laying eyes upon a god’s true form.
All eyes landed on the goddess, technically titaness.
Hecate appeared as a tall, thin woman. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a kekryphalos, the shining coil twisting and adorned with intricate gems and metals. Loose strands of hair framed her sickly pale face, which held sharp chartreuse yellow eyes. She wore a dark chiton robe that draped over her thin figure, and it seemed to ripple like a heat hallucination, like ink spilling off to the ground.
At her feet, she was accompanied by a black Labrador retriever and a polecat.
The demigods all stood as one and politely bowed, as was common for all gods. Percy glared up through his bow as he followed reluctantly.
“Rise, my young heroes.” The goddess’ voice was smooth and rich. She sounded monotone. “You have done more than enough to prove your worth to me, and for that, I know that I can trust you. I have called you four here on special request from the Triple Goddess, who has observed your acts of heroics. She believes you can save the wizarding world, her beloved kin, and magics.”
“You will use the ways of the Old Religion to learn magics and go undercover. As demigods, you already have magical cores. They just need to be trained; refined.”
Percy scowled.
“And will the oh-so-gracious Triple Goddess be visiting us herself?”
Annabeth shot him a scathing look.
“Percy!” She hissed.
Hecate eyed Percy again, as if reappraising him. “No,” she said, after a tense silence. “You will be sent to get your wands from one who still practices the Old Religion and can pair you with an appropriate wand. Your cover stories are fabricated and with the wandmaker. The Triple Goddess does not appear without dire need.”
“Her entire world being in trouble seems pretty dire to me,” Percy muttered under his breath.
Annabeth elbowed him harshly.
Hecate narrowed her eyes.
“This,” she said, pulling a laminated piece of paper out of thin air, “is called a portkey. It is an enchanted item; when touched by the intended people, or random persons, it can magically teleport you to a predetermined location.”
She held it out to demigods.
On it, in fancy letters, it read: Littletree Farms, Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts.
“Touch this, all at once, and you will have accepted the quest.”
Chiron gave them an encouraging nod. The demigods all shared exchanged looks.
“Our responsibilities …” Thalia started, subconsciously reaching up to grab at her lieutenant circlet, from the Hunters of Artemis.
“Will be forgiven for the time while on quest,” Hecate assured. “The Triple Goddess does not ask favours lightly. This has the potential to spill into the real world; to affect our pantheon. The Old Religion is younger than the Greek pantheon, but its reach goes far and wide. The Triple Goddess is powerful; no harm will befall your precious little Camp while you are away.”
Nico hesitated, but was the first to reach for the paper. “If this is really that important … why ask for us specifically? A larger group, organized and planned, could do better.”
“The Triple Goddess has observed you, and believes you are the right heroes to help save magic.”
“But right now? This instant? Can’t we have time?”
“You will come back to your little Camp before you leave for Europe.”
Annabeth pursed her lips, then also reached for it. “Okay.”
Percy looked at her, askance. “Okay? Just like that?”
Annabeth shrugged. “A quest is a quest, and someone needs help. We are in peace right now and have no threats. I don’t see why not.”
“Fine,” Percy said, tone short. He looked over at the laminated paper. “So, this will take us where? What’s in Boston that could be so magical?”
“A wand wood farm,” Hecate said, smiling thinly. “And your quest starts now.”
Percy’s eyes snapped to the paper, where Hecate had pushed it into their collective hands unwillingly. Then the world began to spin, and there was a sharp tug in his gut, yanking him out of time and space.
*
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thenamesseven · 4 years
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Word count: 3k
Warnings: Angst
A/N: FINALLY! I’m so so sorry for making you all wait so much for an update. Truth was school is taking up most of my free time with homework and by the time I get some free time I’m too tired to do anything. I felt a bit desmotivated about writing but I think I’m back again! Thanks for being patience and I’ll try to update sooner, like I used to do before. Sorry again! Enjoy the chapter ^^
When Park Jinyoung called his employees into his office it was extremely obvious something was very very wrong. Being called by the boss to discuss private manners wasn’t something that brought good news, in fact, it was always related with somebody being fired or somebody getting yelled at for doing something wrong.
Unfortunately, even when they thought they would never go through something like that, the day when Jackson and Jaebum were called by their boss came and none of them knew what could possibly be wrong. Since they had spent the whole afternoon trying to come up with a plan to find you and bring you back home with them, none of them had checked out their social media and realize what was truly going on.
Sitting on some stiff yet pretty uncomfortable chairs, the both of them waited patiently until Park Jinyoung spoke, he only looked at them quietly, trying to think of a way to explain the big problem without getting insanely mad at them.
“What’s this”
Jackson and Jaebum jolted slightly scared when the stack of paper JYP had been holding, landed on the desk situated in front of them pretty hard, hard enough to send some sheets away before one of the boys could read whatever was written on them. By the way they looked some of them seemed to be magazine articles, the ones online pages post and the others were things posted in social media, specially Twitter and Tumblr. None of them dared to reach out and take one of the papers to read them though, whatever was going on was bad enough to have Park Jinyoung fuming in front of them when they were more or less, the favorite group of the company.
But by the looks of it, they have fucked up big time.
Since none of the guys seemed eager to reply to the easy question, JYP sighed, attempting to get some answers once again “I’m going to ask again and this time I expect a reasonable answer” He looked at both of them, leaning back against his chair while he pinched the bridge of his nose. Jackson and Jaebum knew him well enough to know that whatever the problem was, it was stressing him out a lot and that it would only made the issue even worse. “What’s the meaning of this?”
It was Jaebum the one that caught the sheet of paper Park Jinyoung tossed away. With insecure hands, he cleared out his throat and held it far enough for Jackson to read it with him. His eyes scanned the paper nervously, not really focusing on the paragraphs below but on the colorful details that could instantly give him some clues about what was truly happening. The first thing he noticed was the name of one of those gossiping magazines that are always following idols around, they had people hidden with cameras everywhere, ready to snap the perfect picture and manage to ruin their lives and careers by revealing rumours or secrets that shouldn’t have been revealed. 
His stomach started turning into tiny notes that made him feel incredibly horrible. Jackson and him were hiding an incredibly big secret after all and it definitely wouldn’t be good if it had been leaked out of nowhere, without them having enough time to prepare for it. It really wasn’t a good time for that kind of drama, specially right after you were kind of missing.
Jackson, who was already fearing the text underneath the name of the magazine, had only managed to read the first sentence before his heart started beating so hard and loudly that he could feel his brain pulsing in synch with it.
The article said:
An anonymous message that has been recently received finally gave some meaning to the pictures we posted earlier! Jackson Wang, mostly known for being a successful rapper and part of the boy band GOT7, was spotted exiting his apartment earlier in an agitated way. The reporter that was there clearly saw how he was crying but also shaking with frustration, impotence for some unknown reasons that now are not so unknown.
Thanks to our anonymous reader we know that apparently Jackson and Jaebum are sharing that same apartment with an old friend who surprisingly is a female. Her name is (Y/N Y/LN) and luckily, our best researcher managed to find her instagram. We won’t post the username here but down there you can see a picture, kind of pretty isn’t she? Who wouldn’t want to date her?
Now get ready my dear ahgases because apparently and trusting the information this anonymous reader passed us, Jackson and Jaebum are in an open relationship with this female. Yeah! The three of them are dating, living together and doing all the heated things you all describe in your fanfics behind doors. 
Jackson was seen crying after-
Jaebum crumpled the paper in his hands, making it a small ball before tossing it away. Jackson kept his eyes down on the floor one of his knees had started bouncing nervously, as a reflex of his body to get rid of some stress, shaking his head dissapointed while his fingers fidgeted with the hem of the shirt he was wearing. Honestly, he wasn’t thinking about the consequences this scandal could have for Jaebum and him, Jackson couldn’t help but think about how stressed you were probably feeling after your face, name and some other intimate things had been exposed to the public so suddenly and without any consent.
“What the fuck is this bullshit?” Jaebum suddenly spoke out, frowning as he looked at JYP straight in his eyes. Jackson, who hadn’t been expecting that reaction, turned his head towards his direction slightly surprised.
“J-Jaebum” Jackson slightly worried his language would only make things worse, attempted to warn him, to shut him up but that didn’t stop his boyfriend
“You better start explaining and pray…Fucking pray that there is an explanation that won’t led to the two of you being fired and kicked out from GOT7” Their boss sat back down onto his chair, breathing heavily as he stared at both males waiting for one of them to start explaining.
“Do you really think I’m dating him?” Jaebum pointed at Jackson with his thumb,the latter only raised one of his eyebrows to glance at him. If Jaebum wanted to die and try to save all of their asses, he better start playing his game too.
“Dude, am I that ugly?” Jackson scoffed leaning back against his chair, rolling his eyes
“This is not something that we should laugh about. This freaking article is appearing in every social media, even in some news channels” The two boys quietly gulped at that, you had seen it for sure then and they didn’t even want to think how their families were probably feeling about this scandal.
“I’m sorry but I really do not understand why the company hasn’t deny this rumour yet” Jackson told him, erasing the small smile from his lips to look as serious as he could “Not only are they damaging our image but they’re also putting in danger somebody who we consider our little sister and not a fuck toy that we could share”
Jaebum nodded to Jackson’s words, poker face on as he stared at his boss. He looked really serious and slightly angry on the outside but inside? He was about to cry and start panicking, Jaebum had never been so scared before “(Y/N) has been our friend for years, she’s been living with us for so long too…Don’t you think that if we really had a relationship with her it would have been leaked by now?”
“With the amount of people that knows us? Probably” Jackson added as if the question had been directed to him “Sir, we never lied to you, we never cause any major problems like this one. Why would we do something like this? Ruin our careers, our success for a girl? No thanks”
“Exactly” The words hurt Jackson, he knew you didn’t deserve to be spoken about like that but if it worked, it would probably safe their careers and your reputation, if that was still possible.
“Then why the hell were you crying Jackson? What the hell happened?” He asked, still not completely believing the words that were coming out of their mouths.
“We had a really strong argument in which we said some pretty nasty things to each other” Jackson explained, he wasn’t really lying, things have been rough for the three of them. The male was just omitting some details that would definitely get them in trouble “It got to the point where she left, only leaving a note behind saying goodbye”
The room stayed in silent, Jackson’s broken tone echoing through the room as silence took over it. Park Jinyoung sighed, leaning back against the chair once again as he stared to the ceiling, attempting to go through the entire situation in his mind. He didn’t believe the guys completely but he didn’t have the clues to accuse them of lying either.
If the rumour stayed going through people’s social media the situation would only kept getting worse and worse and it would simply be impossible to deny the news at some point, ruining the reputation of some of the best idols the company had along with the one of an innocent girl.
Sighing, Park Jinyoung, CEO of JYP Entertainment, stood up and looked down at both of them “Get out of here, let me try and sort this out” 
-○-
Not too far away from that room, Jinyoung sat by himself in the lobby where they usually hang out during their little breaks in their practice sessions. Mark, Youngjae, Yugyeom and Bambam were there too, having some coffee as they talked about Jackson and Jaebum. Since they whole group knew about their relationship, the guys couldn’t help but be slightly worried about them what honestly surprised Jinyoung. Weren’t they worried about their own future? He didn’t mean to be rude but had they stopped to think what would happen to them if the group disappeared? Honestly, Jinyoung hasn’t fought so much for his dream to be ruined like this. You could say that was the reason he hasn’t said anything about yet, or maybe it was because he knew exactly what was going since he had been the one who sent those pictures to the online magazine. 
Leaning back against his chair, with his legs crossed, he kept messing around with his phone, checking out some social media to pass the time when he stumbled onto a couple of tweets that caught his attention. At first, Jinyoung just wanted to read them because of the drama but then when he realized what the issue was, his blood turned cold and his heart stopped beating for a second. 
“We all want that bitch out of our lives, why would she try to get involved with our two oppas?”
“Sluts are meant to be ashamed, you can’t let them do whatever they want”
Those were the beginnings of a trail that was full of original threats and insults that you wouldn’t even know existed. Jinyoung knew immediately who they were talking about, after all this was the effect he had expected after the anonymous message he sent to that online magazine started spreading through the internet. Messages like this will be the ones to make Jackson and Jaebum realize how much their fame could hurt you if anything of your relationship went wrong.
What he didn’t expect was the replies underneath where some people were planning to go and look for you, something that was totally crazy and unthinkable for Jinyoung. Were there fans who would go to that extent for two guys that would never know they existed? Even though something in him knew his plan was going the wrong way and that the backlash you were getting was way worse than he had expected, Jinyoung kept reading, eyes widening when he read the things they were planning to do to you if they find you.
Stumbling, the male stood up abruptly almost spilling his hot coffee all over the table. The guys looked at him, noticing how scared and tense their friend was but still none of them asked any questions and just waited for him to explain what was going on. However Jinyoung knew you didn’t have much time and that explaining everything would only make his chances of finding you smaller. 
“Where are you going?” Yugyeom finally asked, too curious to hold the question back.
Jinyoung only glanced at his direction, face as pale as a ghost, he grabbed his hoodie from the chair and shook his hair, quietly telling them he didn’t have the time for explanations. “It’s (Y/N)” He simply said, pushing his phone out of his pockets to dial your number “Tell Jackson or Jaebum to call me as soon as they get out”
After saying that Jinyoung simply exited the break room, phone glued to his ear as he desperately prayed that you would answer the phone.
Nobody picked it up though and he could just hope that it wasn’t too late for you.
-○-
You didn’t know how much time had passed since you were dragged back into the alley by this unknown girls, all you knew was the pain in your body indicated something was probably broken after all the kicks and punches they threw. You were confused to say the least, since they seemed to know about your relationship with Jackson and Jaebum but none of the guys had called you to warn you about the situation, honestly, you would have never thought that if the fans ever found out about your relationship some of them would react the way these girls did.
They had walked after getting tired, only saying that a bitch like you would learn her lesson after the pain they inflicted on you. Your eyes were dry, there were no tears left to cry at this point and your throat was sore after all the begging you did. Your eyes were staring to get swollen, your vision was becoming incredibly blurred and unfortunately, your body was too weak to move an inch.
You would have called the police or even an ambulance if your phone hadn’t been stepped on and broken in your face, you could simply lay there on the floor praying to whatever God was up there that somebody would find you.
It was scary yet crazy the things some fans could do for their idols. You didn’t blame your guys though, this wasn’t their fault even though it was their fans were the ones that did it. In fact, you found yourself wishing to be with them, receiving all the love and affection they always gave you when you weren’t feeling well….If only you hadn’t ran away.
“(Y/N)!?” 
You tried opening your eyes more, move your head towards the direction of the voice in order to see if you had hit your head so bad that you were now starting to have delusions, it was impossible Jinyoung was in the same alley as you, the guys were probably preparing for their new comeback.
“(Y/N)!?” When his voice sounded closer, you unconsciously frowned. What was he doing here? How did he find you? “Oh my God, what did they do to you?”
Looking down at you made Jinyoung feel like the worst person alive, you were drifting in and out of consciousness probably too weak to open your eyes and look at him. With shaky hands, he kneeled down besides you and rested your bleeding head on his knees not even caring about staining his new sweatpants. You groaned in pain, complaining about the movements as he gently brushed some of your hair out of your forehead, looking around, not really knowing what to do.
He never planned this to happen, the only thing he had wanted to do was scare Jackson and Jaebum to death, separate you from them so when the secret came out you would be far enough to not get hurt like this. You didn’t deserve this, what happened to you was extremely unfair and totally his fault.
“I’m going to get you some help” Jinyoung whispered, trying to dialed an ambulance but his hands were shaking too much and his eyes were full of tears “We’re going to the hospital”
“Where are they?” Jinyoung didn’t need to ask to know who you were asking for, it was normal that in this kind of situation you would want to see Jackson and Jaebum.
“They are okay, JYP needed to talk with them” Jinyoung replied, managing to call an ambulance “You’ll be okay (Y/N), just don’t fall asleep on me alright? You need to stay awake”
Using the last bit of strength you had, you nodded to his words, keeping your blurry vision on his face as he asked for an ambulance to come as fast as they could but tiredness was calling for you, the pain was overwhelming and deep down you knew that as soon as you closed your eyes everything would be gone. Who knows? Maybe all of this was part of a twisted nightmare, those that were too real for your own good. 
“Please come as fast as you can, she’s losing consciousness again” Jinyoung pleaded, gently slapping your cheek with his hand to keep you awake.
“(Y/N)?”
You weren’t opening your eyes anymore, you weren’t even moving your head to him when he spoke.
“(Y/N)!? Oh god, (Y/N)?” He asked again
But nobody answered this time.
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whatelsecanwedonow · 4 years
Note
“Radical empathy”. I like it—I think. If I’m understanding what you mean by just those two words lol... I’m just over/about half way in (though I do know some details of what happens in the back half). Im very curious of your thoughts. Maybe you could answer in broad strokes before the cut then free for all spoilers... and pls tag so that I can come back to it!) I gotta finish, but rn I’m building up to facing the “rat king” or w/e bc I am a massive baby and am v scared lol.
Thank you for asking!! I’ll tag this for you and put it all under a cut, just in case:
Good luck with the rat king, lmao. Nasty ass motherfucker. But the game itself, my thoughts are that it’s built game ever. Every mechanic, every movement, every control interface feels so smooth. It’s all fluid and instinctual. You can feel the detail to creation in everything. My favorite thing may be the sound design, though... the score, the ambient sounds, the sound of gore, the way that different environments feel so naturally different... everything is so real. It’s mastery. I’m already thinking about what this game is going to look like on the PS5 remaster.
As for story, yes, radical empathy!! Not my original idea but it absolutely is what this is all about. This is the darkest, most emotionally distressing... media/art experience? Ever? Surely for me and perhaps objectively, for most people. This game is unrelentingly harsh. It’s physically taxing. It’s extraordinary deep and the detail at every single level is absurd. It feels so natural in the way you inhabit it and live within the world as these people that the line between observing and participating in something is so blurred... obviously that’s the trick of a video game of this caliber, but you feel truly as if you’re an active participant with agency to make decisions in TLOU2, instead of being limited to observing what is to come. The first game did this well, but this game takes it to levels that, again, blur that line so much... I think that’s storytelling taken to a new and profound level.
And there’s all that depth and darkness meant to take you on a journey that in the end, I think. is meant to communicate not just the futility of violence, the sickening reality of the cycle of violence and how it can consume anyone. It’s saying that the best thing we can do, the bravest thing we can do, is care enough to forgive those who have wronged us most. At least, see them as people, see them as people who are equal to you. In every person is a universe, and all people have their own motivations, their own pain, their own trauma. And if you acknowledge that and overcome violent impulses that’s a radical act of empathy that can save so many people. Not the least of whom is the person who may have right to vengeance.
I’ll get more specific here: I think a lot of people are upset that Joel was killed so early on. I think they’re upset that we played so much of the game as Abby (Who I don’t love by the end, but I understand, and care about and like well enough). And it also seems they’re upset that Ellie didn’t bash Abby’s head in, or choke her out in the ocean. Well if you can’t get over that Ellie didn’t murder Abby I don’t think you get ANYTHING this game is trying to do. Killing Abby would destroy Ellie, probably forever. Murdering all of Abby’s friends already took her to the fucking brink. I think Ellie’s villainous actions in Seattle are very much akin to what we never saw Joel do, in the 20 years between Sarah’s death and Boston. She’s been broken. She was broken before going after Abby in Santa Barbara. If she had killed Abby and left Lev to fend for himself and possibly die alone, do you think she’d ever again be able to look who she’d become? She would see herself as being just as evil as Abby was to her. As evil as Joel was before learning to love Ellie. And it’s the thought of Joel, the changed man, the man who changed for and because of her that compels her to take her heroic stand. To spare Abby and refuse to go down the same road and perpetuate the cycle of violent loss.
And I hope it doesn’t seem that I’m taking Joel’s death lightly with those thoughts, I loved Joel. Watching Abby brutalize him and literally beat his brains in was stomach-turning. I identified with him so much not just because he’s a dumbass but because he loves Ellie like I love Ellie as a character. He sees that Ellie is a spectacular, hilarious, wonderful person who has known almost nothing but pain and hurt in their awful world. All he wants is to give her a chance at a world of happiness. And in protecting her and caring for her, in trying to create the opportunity for that happiness to grow, he can find redemption that he thought would never come again after losing Sarah. "If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment...I would do it all over again." That fucking broke me to pieces. Even though I think Joel and Abby’s father are both guilty of taking Ellie’s agency as a person away from her - why did it never occur to either of them to ask the girl at the center of this procedure whether she thought she should die? She was 14, so it’s arguable that she would have understood the gravity of her decision, despite the guilt of what happened with Riley...  but Joel at least did what he did from a traumatized, if selfishly-born, place unconditional love. And the reveal that Ellie knew since two years prior to the main story, I think it proves that she was at least beginning to understand his motivation. As conflicted as she was, as much as it hurt that he lied, she loved him too.
I’ve read thoughts from a few people who have interpreted this the same way that I did, and this is just interpretation... clearly the game is completely ambiguous with the ending. Ellie is, literally, all alone in the world as she leaves the farm. She could be heading off to wander aimlessly as some sort of TLOU Mad Max/Road Warrior. But that would break my heart, lol, I don’t think I can accept that. She’s learned something profound in sparing Abby. I don’t think I can ever accept that she’s just going to drift as an empty shell of what she used to be forever. I think she wants to honor Joel by attempting to live the life both of them wanted to have: one of purpose and meaning, but also lasting happiness and love.
So I find hope in that the game begins and ends on that animation of the moths. At the start of the game it represents Ellie being draw into the fire, into the futile flames of vengeance and revenge. At the end the moths represent her being drawn towards the light - she’s been freed and has made peace with herself and Joel, and is leaving the farm to embrace the goodness inside her and honor the lessons she’s learned. The same growth Joel found by loving Ellie. The same growth Abby found in sparing Ellie and Dina, which is no small parallel to Ellie/Joel in the way that it was Lev that saved Abby from falling into a spiral of violence that she may never have broken free of again.
Ellie’s will always be traumatized, but she’s so much wiser. Two fingers lighter but so much wiser. And now she’s off to Jackson to hope that Dina can find the strength to forgive her. And Dina definitely went back there, by the way, she wasn’t about to try and survive on that farm by herself with JJ. Jesse’s family said she was always welcome, if you read Ellie’s journal you’ll see that was said. So I think, with time, they can work through the pain. It’ll take some unbelievable forgiveness on Dina’s part but Dina is emotionally strong and incredibly empathic. Did you notice the one thing Dina took from Ellie’s art room? She took the portrait that Ellie created of her. She didn’t let go, not entirely. And now I’m going to choose to believe that Ellie won’t ever again, either.
And she’s going to learn to play guitar pseudo-lefty with a pick and tear shit up again. 👌
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i’ve never felt pain like this before
Summary: (Y/N)’s been captured by the death eaters and there seems to be no escape for her, except for the memories and dreams she has about her loved ones. 
Warnings: torture 
Pairing: George Weasley x reader
Word count: 5,035
A/N: I had a dream about this the other day and so I really hope this turned out as good as my dream lol. Let me know what you guys think, feedback is always welcomed! Also, the reader can read minds because she has the power of Legilimency (like Queenie or Voldemort). 
     Pain. That was it. That’s all that you had felt for days. Was it days though? Or was it weeks, or months? You had lost track after the first night there. But where was ‘there’, you had no idea where you were or how exactly you had gotten there. The only thing you remember is Bill and Fleur’s wedding. “Yes, hold onto that.” You mutter to yourself. The images from that night played through your mind. You wanted to try and remember something, anything that might help you understand where you were. Fleur walked down the aisle, looking absolutely stunning. You felt a squeeze on your hand, looking down you saw that it was George’s hand. Smiling up at him, your heartfelt full of love for everyone in this room, but especially for the man standing next to you and judging by the look on his face, so did his. The ceremony went by without a hitch. Then the reception came, and that too was going well. You were dancing with George around the little tent. “You know when this whole war thing is over… it might be fun to do this all again, don’t you think?” George said, his voice sounding distance in your fading memory of the moment. You smiled up at him, “I’d like that.” humming in content. “Then what? Remember. Try harder.” You spoke out to yourself again. This was the farthest you’d ever gotten in this fading memory. Suddenly, a bright blue orb came shooting through the tent, “The ministry has fallen. The Minister of Magic is dead. They’re coming. They’re coming.” Everyone began to panic. George grabbed your hand and began leading you out of the tent. Before you could get far, a black figure ripped through the crowd, sending you to the ground. George got pushed by someone, separating you from him. There were spells flying everywhere. People dying. Suddenly, someone grabbed you and apparated. “Who was it? Focus.” You muttered. Your mind went back to the figure standing above you. Their blonde hair and gray eyes looked familiar. Like you had seen them a million times before. “Draco.” You said, shooting up from the ground where you had been lying. “Yes?” Draco’s oh-so-familiar drawling voice echoed throughout the room. He came into the light, he was holding food. “I asked if I could bring you some food. Figured you wouldn’t be much good to us if you were starved to death.” He leaned down next to you and sat the plate and cup down. You pounced on the food, not remembering the last time you had eaten. “Where am I?” You asked through the food. “Well, you’re the mind-reader here. Thought you would’ve figured that one out by now.” Draco said, leaning against the beam that was next to him. “My mind is so foggy, it’s hard to gather my own thoughts let alone someone else’s.” “Is that why you keep telling us you don’t know what someone’s thinking?” Draco asked, sounding genuinely confused. You nodded, “The cruciatus curse is a nasty one that doesn’t allow me to think of anything other than the pain I’m in. It’s not that I’m refusing to look into their minds, it’s just that my mind is so clouded by pain that I cannot.” Draco stared at you thoughtfully. “Why me? I know that we weren’t exactly best friends in school, but I wasn’t horrible to you.” You asked, trying to put all the pieces together. “I didn’t take you because of how you treated me, I took you because your ability is useful. With you helping us, we can extract information from the ones we capture a lot easier.” “And have I been… you know… helpful?” “Not recently, no. At first, you gave us a few pieces of information here and there. Not enough to expose the person, because that’s not who you are. But enough to keep you from getting tortured. However, the last couple of days you’ve been weak and unresponsive. That’s why I convinced them to let me bring you real food and not scraps. Figured it would help make you strong enough to help us.” Draco explained. “Well, I suppose I should thank you then. For showing me some kindness when it is not necessary.” You were regaining some strength, enough to sort your thoughts, enough to try and look inside his mind. “Yeah, well don’t get used to it. Have you finished?” He said, pointing at your plate. “Would it be possible for me to get some more water? I mean you don’t have to go get it, but maybe you could conjure up some more?” Draco sighed and did so, pulling out his wand and waving it over your cup. “Thank you, again.” You bowed your head a little and drank the water. ‘He keeps his wand in his left back pocket.’ You thought to yourself as you drank, continuing to look down. ‘He plans to bend down and take my dish’ You thought, peering into his mind as you set down the glass. He then bent down and grabbed the dishes from in front of you. You quickly put your hands on his shoulders, “Draco, listen to me, this is not you. All this killing and torture, it’s not you. It doesn’t have to be you.” You slowly took your hand off his shoulder and crept your hand down to his left back pocket. “Of course I do. If I don’t he’ll kill me and my family.” “He’s just telling you that so you’ll be compliant.” Your hand grabbed the wand and slowly pulled it out of his pocket, “You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to. You’re too young for this, too innocent.” As soon as the wand was completely out of his pocket, you thought of a concealment charm, which made it blend in with its surroundings. You slowly put your hand to the ground, making it seem like it had been there ever since you’d taken it off his shoulder, setting the wand down so that he wouldn’t see you holding an invisible thing. Looking into his mind, you knew his thoughts were jumbled and distracted enough that he hadn’t noticed. “You don’t know me, you never knew me. I’m capable of a lot more than you’d think you know.” Draco said, pulling away from you suddenly. “Oh but Draco, I do know you. I know that you’re scared. I know that you have doubts and are unsure. And that’s okay, you’re more than entitled to those thoughts.” “Stay out of my head.” Draco said, shaking his head as if that would get you out. “Alright,” You said, putting your hands up in defense. “Just know that if you ever need someone to talk to while I’m here, I’ll listen. I’ll understand.” You give him a small smile and he leaves without returning it. You didn’t dare feel around you for the wand until his thoughts were so distant that you knew he was far away and not coming back. Once you had a hold of it, you stuffed it in the waist of your pants, keeping the concealment charm on it. 
     Days had passed by, you were surprised that Draco hadn’t come to question you about his wand. Perhaps he thought he had simply misplaced it. Or maybe he knew and he was just waiting for the right moment to torture it out of your grip. This had been the longest time you’d gone without being brought upstairs to help interrogate someone. They had gone back to feeding you scraps, but at least they were feeding you. You weren’t sure how many days had gone by, all you had to go on were the number of meals you had received. There were no windows where you were kept, so you counted the number of meals you’d been giving, and you got a slight indicator that about a week had gone by before you were called upon again. “Come on, time to go.” One of the death eaters came down to where you were and unchained your feet. You were pulled by your arm by him upstairs, the bright light burning your eyes. You hissed a little when he threw you in front of a group of three. You looked up and instantly knew who they were. Ron, Hermione, and Harry Potter. The Harry Potter who they’ve been looking for this whole time. Only he didn’t look himself, with a quick look inside their minds, you saw that Hermione had done a spell to make his face swell. Their faces quickly filled with concern when they saw you. “Who are they?” Bellatrix asked you, wanting confirmation that they had finally caught Harry Potter. “Their names are… Josh Winston.” You said pointing at Ron, “Tiffany Jackson” You said pointing at Hermione, “And Dudley Dursley.” You said pointing at Harry. “You’re lying.” Bellatrix said, “You know what happens when you lie, so let’s try this one more time. Who are they?” You took a deep breath, knowing what was coming. “I’m not lying. That’s what I see when I look inside their minds. Unless you think they’ve fooled me somehow.” You sassed her, knowing full well that you were making everything up. You had to protect them, even if it meant you’d be tortured. “How dare you speak to me like that!” She shrieked, “Crucio” her wand pointed at you. You instantly collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. You let out a strangled scream.
     Pain. That was it. That was all you could feel. You tried thinking about the one thing that had kept you sane this whole time. George. His touch, his voice, his smile, but nothing but pain filled your thoughts. Finally, she had stopped when Draco had come into the room. “Draco, can you tell us if this is Harry Potter?” Bellatrix said, pulling her attention away from your sweating, limp body. You laid there, watching Draco look at Harry intently. “Remember what I told you Draco.” You said, hoping that Draco would spare Harry. “Don’t speak to him you filthy… Crucio” Bellatrix said to you, sending you into another fit of pain. This one, thankfully shorter than the last, as she had other matters to attend to. “Well, Draco?” She turned to him again. Draco glanced at you quickly, then back to Harry. He shook his head, “I can’t tell. Well, have to wait and see if the swelling goes down if (Y/N)’s not going to tell us anything.” “Fine,” Bellatrix said, she turned to some of the death eaters standing in the corner holding other things they found with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. “Where’d you get that!?” She shrieked, pointing at the sword of Gryffindor in their hands. “Found it with them, reckon I’d keep it.” One of them said, shrugging. Bellatrix freaked out at this, blasting the sword out of the one’s hands, and hitting the others with different spells. “Get out! Everyone! Put the boys in the cellar!” She said pushing Ron and Harry out of the room with everyone else but you and Hermione. 
     Once everyone was out, Bellatrix pulled you over to Hermione and said, “Tell me where she got the sword from. NOW! And don’t lie, you know what happens when we lie.” You looked at Hermione’s pleading eyes. “Give me a second, I need to search her past, it takes longer than hearing her current thoughts.” You said, trying to give yourself time to clear your head. It was still foggy from the pain. “Tick-Tock,” Bellatrix said as she paced back and forth behind you and Hermione. You looked in her mind, but you couldn’t find it anywhere. You found Ron showing up with the sword, never giving a clear explanation, and if he did, Hermione’s mind was too focused on how furious she was to remember. “She doesn’t know.” You said, being completely honest. Hermione had no idea how they obtained the sword, Ron and Harry did, but she didn’t. “How convenient. Maybe she just needs some… motivation.” Bellatrix pushed you out of the way, pointing her wand at Hermione’s throat. “What’ll it be darling? Some pain? Some agony? Will that get you remembering how you came across the sword that was IN MY VAULT!?” She began yelling at Hermione. You quickly looked into her mind, seeing that she was completely distracted, you swiftly pulled out the wand you had stolen from Draco. Pointed it at Bellatrix and yelled, “Expelliarmus!” Bellatrix’s wand went flying from her hand to yours, and before she could turn on you and grab it, you yelled “Imperio!”. She froze, her eyes fogging over. “Go get the boys from the cellar.” You told her, and she did as you said. “Where are your wands?” You quickly asked Hermione, “She handed them to Draco’s mom.” “Narcissa.” You searched the place for Narcissa’s thoughts, trying to see if she still had the wands. “She gave them to Draco. He’s in the next room. They all are, they’re waiting.” Bellatrix came back with Ron and Harry in tow. “How long does an Imperious curse last?” You asked Hermione. “You might wanna hit her again, they usually only last for one task.” You nod, pointing Draco’s wand at her and say, “Imperio”, making her eyes fog back over. “Call Draco in here and ask for their wands.” You direct her, and she does as you ask, going into the next room and coming back with Draco. You hid Bellatrix’s wand behind your back, Draco’s was still concealed. “Give me their wands Draco.” Bellatrix demands of him, he hesitates at first but does what is asked of him. “Imperio,” You say to Bellatrix again. “What are you doing?!” Draco said. “Shhh.” You say holding your finger over your mouth, “She’ll be fine. And so will you, if you let us leave.” Draco froze, and you took that as an okay. “Bellatrix, give me the wands and walk over to the corner. Stay there until we’ve left.” She did as you instructed, handing over your wands, and turning her back to you as she walked to the corner. You turned to Draco, “Would you like to come with us?” “You’ve got to be kidding me (Y/N). You’re not actually considering bringing one of them with us!” Ron said in a hushed tone. “I trust him.” You said, looking solely at Draco, “I trust you. Would you like to come with us?” Draco hesitated, “I-I-I can’t. He’ll kill me and my family” “We can protect you Draco.” You reassure him, “But not my family.” Draco said, shaking his head. You nod, “I understand. Thank you again, for your kindness when it was unnecessary.” You grabbed onto Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and apparated.
     You took them to your childhood home, which you knew to be abandoned after your family left. “Where are we?” Hermione said, looking around. You took a seat at the worn-down dining table, setting Bellatrix’s and Draco’s wands down on it. “The house my family lived in for most of my childhood. We had to leave because of structural issues, and no one’s bothered with it since. We’ll have to move again, and soon. They have insiders in the Ministry and they were tracking me along with Harry and that’s how they captured me. They planned to grab you too, but you left too quickly. We can’t stay in the same place for too long. Maybe a day or two.” They all nodded, “But we can stay here for the night?” Harry asked, “You probably need some rest (Y/N), you’ve been through a lot today.” You shook your head, chuckling “That was them going easy on me. Once they brought in this fella who they believed was pretending to be a death eater so they could get insider information. I told them that he wasn’t lying, which he was but I didn’t want them to know of course. They’d have killed him. So they tortured me, knowing I was lying to them. I continued to stand my ground, they ended up using the cruciatus curse on me about five times that day. Later that night, after they had… killed the man, they hung me by my arms in the basement and whipped me. That was one of the first days I spent with them. They wanted to make sure I understood what the consequences were for keeping information from them. Today was nothing compared to the other days. I can leave if we need to, don’t let me hold us back.” Hermione had tears in her eyes, “I’m so sorry (Y/N). I’m sorry that we didn’t find you sooner.” You shook your head, “Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad I was around long enough to help get you guys out.” 
     Everyone agreed to sleep at your childhood home for the night, but sometime early the next day you’d relocate to Bill and Fleur’s home. “How are they?” You asked Ron, but he shrugged “I honestly don’t even know if they made it out of their own wedding. I’m hoping that when we get there, they’ll be there and safe… But anything could’ve happened to them without me knowing.” You nodded, understanding “So does that mean that you don’t know about George?” your eyes clouded with tears at the thought of George not making it out of the wedding. “I’m sorry, but no. We haven’t been able to be in contact with any of them. But if Bill is there tomorrow, he might know.” Ron said, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. You nodded, wiping the tears from your eyes. “Then let’s hope we get some good news tomorrow, yeah?” “What am I going to do without a wand?” Harry said as he watched Hermione conjuring up some sleeping bags for the lot of you. “Oh, Harry, you need a wand?” You ask, and he nods. “I’ve been… I guess… bonding? Is the word for it, with Draco’s wand for the past week so it’ll work just fine for me. I won’t be needing Bellatrix’s wand if you’d like it.” “Is that how you were doing magic?” Hermione asked, “You had Draco’s wand. But, I didn’t see anything?” “When I stole it, I placed a concealment charm on it so that if they came looking for it, I wouldn’t get caught with it if I hid it in some dark corner of the cellar. I kept it on me at all times, unless someone’s thoughts told me I needed to hide it. I think Draco thought he simply misplaced it and has been using his mother’s when needed.” You got up and grabbed both wands from the dining table. “Revelio,” You said, making Draco’s wand appear. You handed Harry Bellatrix’s wand, “Thanks,” Harry said taking it from you. “We should get some sleep, we need to try and move early tomorrow,” Hermione said as Harry turned the wand over in his hands. 
     In the morning, you all apparated to Bill and Fleur’s hoping that they’d be there safe and sound. “Hello,” Bill said, opening up the door as if he was expecting your arrival. “Bill,” Ron said, pushing past everyone and pulling his brother in for a hug “I’m so glad you’re okay.” “You too, mum and dad will be relieved to know you’re safe.” “You can’t tell them. It’s not safe yet for them to know where we are. We’re only here for a couple days then we need to move again. They’re tracking Harry and (Y/N) very closely.” “(Y/N)… She’s with you? Where?” Bill said looking around. Ron, Harry, and Hermione turned around and saw that you were no longer with them. “(Y/N)!” Hermione yelled. “Yeah! Sorry, I just… I haven’t been outside in a while. I was taking it in. Quite beautiful here.” You said, dreamily staring off at the horizon. You walked over to the house to join the others. “Good to see you again Bill.” You greeted, and he hugged you in response. “Where have you been? We’ve been thinking you were dead.” Bill lead you all in, grabbing a kettle to put on some tea. “How long exactly was I gone?” You asked, not sure why everyone assumed your brief disappearance was a confirmation of your death. “(Y/N), you’ve been missing for almost 9 months,” Bill said, and your heart felt like it stopped. “No…” You whispered almost to yourself, “That’s not possible… How… I wouldn’t… I shouldn’t be alive… The things they did to me, not even a powerful witch or wizard could survive that long, at least not without going mad.” “What did they do to you? Who did it to you?” Bill continued. “The death eaters that attacked the night of your wedding. They captured me and I’ve been with them ever since, helping them get inside people’s minds. If I wouldn’t do as they asked, they would torture me. I was locked up in a cellar whenever they had no use for me, surviving on nothing but scraps. I was in so much pain constantly that I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten there. Until more recently, they’d left me alone for long enough that my mind was able to clear up. I was able to remember, but I didn’t realize it had been that long.” You look out the window, tears in your eyes. You’d missed out on 9 months of your life. For 9 months your loved ones have been mourning your death. “George…” You couldn’t imagine what went through his mind when they couldn’t find you. “What?” Harry asked. “George. Bill, where’s George? Is he okay?” You asked a sudden sense of urgency about you. “Yes, he’s fine. He’s with our aunt right now. He’s been a total wreck since our wedding, not knowing what happened to you. He’s been blaming himself, saying that he had a grip on you, but then someone pushed you down and then you were gone. Kept going on about how you were going to marry him, how you’d been happy together and we're going to start a life together, and how it’d never happen because he let you go.” Bill said, sadness taking over his face at the thought of his brother being in that much pain. “I have to go to him.” You said, standing up, getting ready to leave. “You don’t even know where to go… I can’t tell you, it’s too risky with them tracking you, someone could be listening.” Bill said, about to stop you. You looked inside his head to find out where his aunt lived. “You don’t need to tell me.” You hugged Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Bill, “Stay safe, I’ll return soon enough. I don’t want to stay long enough to put them in danger, but I need to see him.” and with that, you apparated. 
     You arrived at the house you saw in Bill’s head. Quickly running up to the door, you knocked. A small woman answered, but it was not a welcome greeting. She swung the door open and held her wand to your neck, pushing you back outside. “Who are you and what business do you have being here.” She said, continuing to push you away from her house. You raised your hands in surrender, showing her that you were not armed. “I’m not here to hurt you. My name is (Y/N). I’m George’s girlfriend.” “That’s impossible, she’s dead. He told me that she died at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Nice try, imposter. Who are you really?” “Please! Allow me to just talk to George, I can prove that it’s really me.” “You’re not getting anywhere near my nephews and niece.” “Look, you can hold onto my wand. You can even tie my hands behind my back. I won’t even step foot into your house until you know for sure it’s me. Just please let me talk to George, I can prove I’m who I say I am.” You pleaded with her. She pondered this for a moment and agreed. She took her wand off of your throat and bound your hands and legs, “Where’s your wand?” “In my back pocket on the right.” She quickly pulled it out and put it in her jacket. “I’ll be back.” She walked back into the house, shutting the door. You fell down onto your butt, “Cute. The first time I’ll be seeing my boyfriend in 9 months and I’ll be bound and on the ground. Just how I imagined it.” you sighed, and looked around, at least you were enjoying being outside. “(Y/N)’s dead. I told you that. Whoever it is… they’re lying.” You heard George’s voice as he and his aunt came toward you. “Who are you and why are you playing such a sick game?” George said, pulling his wand out at you. “George, it’s me, I promise. I can prove it. Ask me anything.” You pleaded with him. He looked you in the eyes, and you could see that it broke his heart to see his girlfriend again, imposter or not. “How did we meet?” “We were in the same house, Gryffindor. We played Quidditch together and I got injured. You came to visit me in the hospital wing, you brought me flowers and chocolate frogs.” “That’s too easy, anyone who went to school with you could know that.” George’s aunt said, taking out her wand again. “Where did we go on our first date?” “We went down to the black lake and you made a picnic. We ate by candlelight. When we finished, you conjured a radio and we slow danced. I laughed because I thought it was so cheesy, but really I loved every second of it.” “Come on, I feel like that’s something only she would really know.” George tried persuading his aunt. “Ask one more question. That’s something she could’ve told a friend who might’ve betrayed her and is now pretending to be her. Ask something only she would know.” “I mean I could just read your mind, but I made a pact with you in our 3rd year that I wouldn’t, since it makes you feel weird that I know your every thought.” You said, thinking that would be something that only you would know. “See! That’s something only (Y/N) would know” George said, getting excited. His aunt still didn’t seem convinced though, and you knew she wasn’t about to let you go. “I know how to tell if she’s an imposter.” She pulled out Draco’s wand from her jacket and showed it to George, “Is this her wand?” One look at it and George’s face fell. He knew that wasn’t your wand. “No… It’s not.” “Then it’s settled, she’s an imposter.” “No! Please! Let me explain!” You shouted, putting your tied hands over your face, hoping they weren’t about to attack you. “Fine. Explain, while you’re at it, tell us who you are and how you knew where to find us.” George said, getting in your face and pointing his wand at your throat. 
     “My name is (Y/N). I was captured by the death eaters who attacked Bill and Fleur’s wedding. They’ve been holding me, hostage, ever since. That wand isn’t mine because they took mine and I have no idea where they put it. I stole that wand from Draco Malfoy and used it to escape with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. We went to Bill’s and he wouldn’t tell me where you were but I wanted to see you so I looked into his mind and I apparated where he saw you.” You were trembling, praying that you wouldn’t die at the hands of your boyfriend, not after everything you’d been through in the past 9 months. “What was the last thing I said to you before you disappeared? Only (Y/N) would know that if she died that night or was captured and didn’t get to tell it to anyone.” George said you could tell that he wanted to believe you so bad. “We were dancing at Bill and Fleur’s wedding and you said ‘You know when this whole war thing is over, it might be fun to do this again. Don’t you think?’” He eyes filled with tears at the last memory he had of you, but that was all he needed. He believed you. He did a spell to take the bindings off your legs and hands and pulled you into such a tight hug you were sure you’d have bruised ribs. “It’s you. It’s really you.” He cried into your hair. You nodded and ran your hands through his hair, trying to comfort him. “It’s really me. I’m here. I love you.” He pulled away enough to see your face, “I love you so much.” he said right before he kissed you. A kiss you’d been waiting a long time for. 
     Pain. That was it. That’s all that you had felt for days. Was it days though? Or was it weeks, or months? You had lost track after the first night there. You groggily sat up, rubbing your eyes which were filled with tears. You weren’t sure if it was from the pain that you seemed to constantly be in now, or from the amazing dream you’d just had. You’d made it home, you’d made it back to George. But that could never happen, Draco would never bring you real food out of the kindness of his heart. You’d never be able to steal his wand and use it to enchant Bellatrix. You’d never been able to get out of here and see your Georgie. It was all a dream. A cruel but wonderful dream. You sat up, wondering if the time that was spoken of in the dream was true. Had you really been here for 9 months? It seemed like longer like years had gone by. All that you knew was that if you did ever get out of this place, you’d rain hell down on the people who put you here. 
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Percy Jackson, The Avenger
Summary: Percy has an encounter with Nick Fury. A year later, he’s being called on to help protect the world… again. He’s not alone in this Avengers Initiative. A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist; a super soldier; a green scientist; a Norse god; and two secret agents. What could go wrong?
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This chapter has 4,205 words
6 – The Shaquille O’Neal of Lying
There were certain things Percy could live without. Quests, over-arrogant and dramatic gods and goddesses, pranks from the Hermes cabin that left him covered in peanut butter and harpy feathers... but the one thing Percy probably hated most was demigod dreams.
As soon as Percy had fallen asleep, he found himself in the last place he wanted to be—Loki’s cell. The green glass prison formed around the son of Poseidon. Across the cell from where Percy stood, Loki was sitting on the small cot. He was staring at the camera that the others had watched him from earlier.
Loki finally shifted his gaze from the camera to Percy. “What a pleasant surprise,” he said in a tone that made Percy know that this wasn’t pleasant nor a surprise. Loki spread his arms wide, gesturing to the small cell around them. “Welcome.”
Percy crossed his arms in front of him. All of a sudden, he was glad that he had fallen asleep in his clothes, instead of standing in front of Loki in his PJs. “What do you want, Loki?”
“I want to offer you a proposal.”
“Uh, sorry, but I already have a girlfriend.”
“A business proposal,” Loki stressed. “I know you want to avoid this upcoming fight. You’re not prepared. You haven’t practiced or so much as swung a sword in three years. You’re hopelessly outmatched for what’s coming. But, if you agree to work with me, then you won’t have anything to worry.”
Percy remained unmoved. “I assume this proposal isn’t free.”
“Listen carefully, for I will only offer this once,” Loki stated. “If you agree to work with me, you will lend me your forces, your armies, then I will make you powerful. You can have mortals kneeling at your feet, and all you have to do is give me command of Olympus’ armies. Together, we could control those pathetic mortals.”
The son of Poseidon remained silent for a couple seconds. His hands drifted down towards his pockets. Percy curled his hand around Riptide, ready to pull his sword out in case things went south. “I think you’re forgetting what I am. Sure, I’m the son of Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes, but I’m also the son of Sally Jackson. Half human, half god. You, on the other hand, are a mixture of vegetables and Ares’ sweat—nothing but plain nastiness.”
Loki’s smug smile melted away as he sneered. “You’re a fool. Letting unlimited power go for what? A family that has used you as a pawn before? For a world that would shun you if they knew what you truly were?” Percy’s hands tightened into a fist as Loki kept talking. “Join me, Perseus. Together, we can show those mortals what real power is.”
“I’d rather die protecting my family than live knowing I betrayed them.”
Loki rushed him. Percy pulled out Riptide and held the sharp blade carefully against Loki’s neck. The Norse god froze. Loki carefully eyed the blade, before raising his hands. He gave a small laugh. “Fine. When the Chitauri come, you’ll fail, and you’ll realize that you should’ve accepted my offer while you had the chance. You will die knowing that you had the chance to save yourself but threw it away.”
The edges of Percy’s vision started fading, the green cell disappearing. Just before Percy’s dream took him elsewhere, he whispered, “Go to Tartarus.”
Loki’s face disappeared and suddenly he found himself in a different place.
Space, to be exact.
A gasp escaped Percy’s mouth as he floated around. Living in Manhattan, Percy had never seen many stars. Instead, city lights lit up the night. There had been a couple times when he’d gotten the chance to get out of the city and see the stars, but none of those times could ever compete with what he was seeing now.
Hundreds upon thousands of stars surrounded Percy, larger and brighter than he had ever seen. Percy was struck by the beauty of it all. He couldn’t help but think of Bob, the titan who sacrificed himself to help Annabeth and him escape Tartarus. Bob, whose last request was to say hello to the stars.
A loud roar came from behind him. It took the demigod a couple seconds to turn around—having to move like he was swimming without water—before he could see the cause of the noise. High above him was a large spaceship, something straight out of Star Wars. Flying in and out of the ship were the equivalent of alien whales. Huge, swimming, aliens that vaguely resembled whales. In space. Oh gods.
One of the space whales let a big roar or scream. A sick feeling settled in Percy’s—not like the time he had gotten on the Cyclone after eating one too many hotdogs despite Annabeth’s warnings (that hadn’t been a pleasant experience for either of them, nor the dude that sat in front of them). That was a different sick from what Percy was feeling now. His neck was tingling, and his stomach was twisting in knots. These had to be the Chitauri that Thor had mentioned. The thought of having these creatures invade Earth, his home, didn’t sit well with the Greek demigod. Loki had to be stopped.
The dream changed again, and Percy finally found himself in a place he recognized; a large loft overlooking half of Manhattan, paint supplies scattered around on the coffee table, and a big mural on one wall that featured the cabins of Camp Half-Blood. He was in Rachel Dare’s apartment.
Rachel herself was sitting on one of the leather couches, probably an old gift from her father when she had first moved into the loft. A sketchbook sat in her lap. Percy could sense that she was frustrated with something, most likely with the picture not coming out right. The demigod had seen some of her art blocks before and they were never fun to be around.
Percy wondered if she was working on a piece for college or for one of her clients. The demigod could still remember the big fight that had occurred between Rachel and her father that had led to her taking on clients to help pay for her college after her father dropped the pay. In the months that had followed, Rachel had made a decent amount of money. Percy had seen the amount some people paid for a small painting, and it made him wish he knew how to draw past stick figures.
Out of nowhere, Rachel jerked up. Percy reached out for her when he noticed that her eyes had turned green. The son of Poseidon reeled back a little, watching as green mist started swirling around them. Rachel’s mouth opened and the haunting voice that belonged to the oracle started speaking.
It comes from day as dark as night,
After evil's rule, the final fight,
They're gone, they're broke, they come together,
Charged to protect, earthly tether,
Rolling Stone, purple reign,
All must end in blazing pain.
As soon as the prophecy was done, the green glow surrounding Rachel faded and she started swaying. Percy rushed forward to help her, but she fell safely back into her couch. Her sketchbook fell off her lap and onto the floor, landing upwards and revealing what had been plaguing Rachel.
The sketch showed a tall building that Percy didn’t completely recognize, but he would know the surrounding skyline of New York anywhere. High above the city, in the sky, was a huge hole where Percy recognized the Chitauri flooding though. Just as his blood turned to ice, the dream started fading away, pulling him back to the real world.
Percy shot up in his bed, heart racing. He scrambled out of bed, reaching for a golden drachma and heading into the bathroom to make an IM. Percy turned on the shower and let the water flow through the light. He tossed the drachma through the water, asking Fleecy to patch him through to Rachel’s home.
Rachel’s distressed face appeared a moment later. “Percy!” She cried. “Why are you—”
”I had a dream about you last night.” Percy interrupted Rachel, cutting her off. She frowned.
“Please tell meet wasn’t one of those sexy kinds of—”
“No!” Percy shouted. “No, not that kind of dream. Although I’m not sure this is much better.”
“Percy, anything is better than you cheating on Annabeth.”
“You gave a prophecy.”
Rachel’s face turned serious. “What about?”
“I think it’s about the upcoming battle with Loki.” He paused. “I also saw the sketch you drew.”
“I was actually just about to call Chiron. Show him the sketch.” She turned around to pick up her sketchbook. “I just drew this last night. It wasn’t until this morning that I recognized the building.” Rachael held up the sketch. “That’s STARK Tower. I don’t know what those things are, but it’s obviously not good. What was the prophecy?”
Percy recited the prophecy. Rachel wrote it down in the corner of the sketch, like an artist’s signature. When Percy was finished, she sat there for a moment silent. “Blazing pain? They’re broke? This doesn’t sound like a typical prophecy.”
“What are you thinking?”
Rachel frowned. “I’m not sure. I might talk it over with Ella, see if there’s anything similar to this. Something I don’t understand, ‘the final fight’? What do you think that means?”
“I don’t know.” Percy shrugged. “Most times, the meaning isn’t clear until it’s happened. The only line I’m worried about is the last one.”
“I can see why. Make sure to stay away from any fire that might cause blazing pain.” Rachel sighed. “I’m going to call Ella, compare some thoughts, ideas.”
“Got it.” Percy gave her a wave. “See you later.”
“Later,” Rachel said before waving through the rainbow, leaving Percy standing alone in the bathroom. His mind wandered to his dream conversation with Loki, and the sick feeling he’d felt earlier returned as he came to the conclusion that prophecies were worse than dreams.
\~*~/
Percy didn’t know if he was allowed in any part of the ship that wasn’t the main area and his own room, not even one of the small supply closets in the halls. Fury didn’t seem to be the sharing type. That didn’t stop the demigod from wandering the huge ship.
After talking with Rachel, Percy had found the urge to escape the confines of his room. He started walking through the vast halls, trying to let go of his thoughts for a little while. It wasn’t too long in that he’d gotten lost. Percy was sure that he’d passed the same section of doors three times now.
“Mr. Jackson.”
Fury stalked towards Percy, clearly angry and annoyed with the demigod.
“Hey Pirate,” Percy gave him a wave. “Just checking out your man-o-war. Got a bit lost. Do you have maps to hand out?”
The director sighed. “Cut the pirate lingo and come with me.”
“Aye.”
Fury didn’t even bother with a glare at Percy’s remark. Percy followed Fury through the halls as the director led him past the residential hall and the main area and eventually into a conference room, complete with a fake plant in an attempt to try and make the room look cozier.
“What’s happening?” Percy asked.
“Please take a seat, Mr. Jackson.” Fury pulled out a chair and took a seat, gesturing to one of the empty chairs around the long table. “I just have a couple questions I’d like to ask you.”
“What kind of questions?”
“SHIELD does their homework, and we do it well. But even we can’t figure out everything sometimes. We just want a little help to make sense of some things.”
Percy hesitated a second before he pulled a chair out. “What do you want to know?”
“We’ll start easy. What’s the extent of your training?”
The son of Poseidon shifted in his seat. “Uh, I can fight with a sword?” It came out more of a question, unsure if that was what Fury was looking for. “I started when I was twelve. Um, I have control over water.”
“What all can do you with water?” Fury interrupted. “I know your father is Poseidon, but just how does that work? Do you have hydrokinesis?”
“Yeah,” Percy nodded. “I can also breathe underwater and even talk to sea animals. Horses too.”
Fury frowned slightly. “Horses?”
“My dad created them out of sea foam to try and win and be the patron god of Athens. But then Athena went and invented olives and for some reason they liked that better.”
“Mr. Jackson—”
“Just call me Percy.” The demigod told the director. “My father isn’t Mr. Jackson but hearing that just sounds weird.”
“Okay, Percy, I’m curious. This is the second time I’ve seen you wear that shirt.” He pointed at Percy’s CAMP HALF-BLOOD t-shirt. “What is Camp Half-Blood?”
Percy suddenly felt uncomfortable sitting in his chair. “Nothing really. Just a camp that I’ve gone to.”
Fury leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “Percy, I’m interested in helping everyone, keeping the world safe and protected. I need you to tell me the truth. If you want, you don’t have to answer, but if Camp Half-Blood provides a danger to anyone, I need to know.”
“No one at Camp is a danger,” Percy assured. “It’s just a safe haven for demigods; a place for them to train and not have to worry about monsters hunting them down. If you’re worried about us trying to take over the mortal world or something, don’t.”
“Okay,” Fury leaned back but kept his hands on the table. “Okay. I just want to make sure. Can we continue?” At Percy’s nod, he asked, “What are the locations to the entrances of the underworld?”
“I’m sorry?” Percy said. “You want to know what now?”
“You heard me.”
“Pass.”
Fury sighed. “Fine. I suppose you won’t tell me the location of Olympus either?”
“Gods no,” Percy snorted. “I may not be the brightest, but I don’t want a death wish. My uncle would gladly kill me before that ever happened.”
“Just needed to ask.” Fury told Percy. “As I said before, you don’t have to answer questions you don’t want to. But,” he added. “it would be better for all of us if you were more forthcoming.
“One more question and I request that you answer this one, please.” Fury said, throwing in the please as an afterthought. “Is there anything that might warrant watching? Any threats?”
Percy thought for a second. There were several things he could mention, monsters for starters, but those weren’t the big problems. “Watch out for titans and giants. Most of them are still in Tartarus, the monster prison,” Percy explained. “but they just reform and come back. I don’t know how soon they would though after the wars.”
“What wars?”
Percy opened his mouth to start explaining about the war against Kronos and the one with Gaea, but a loud beeping noise stopped him. Fury seemed to tense as he pulled a phone out of his pocket. With a quick glance, he scowled. “Stark,” the director muttered with distaste before leaving the room.
Jumping up to join him, Percy followed Fury through the halls and into a lab were Tony and Bruce were sitting. Fury stormed into the room, Percy following just a couple steps behind. Tony and Bruce looked up as they entered. Fury stood in front of Tony who seemed to be watching a computer intently and not looking at Fury. “What are you doing, Mr. Stark?” The director asked.
“Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you.” Tony rebutted.
“You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract.”
“We are,” Bruce interjected. “The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile.”
“And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss,” Tony promised. Percy watched the billionaire frown as the computer beeped. “What is PHASE 2?”
There was a loud thud behind Percy. Steve had set down a large gun on the table, looking pissed. “PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow.”
Fury turned towards the captain. “Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're...”
“I’m sorry, Nick.” Tony interrupted Fury, turning the computer around to show what seemed to be plans on building weapons. “What, were you lying?”
“And earlier you told me you wanted to help people.” Percy scoffed.
Right at that moment, Thor and Natasha walked into the lab. Banner turned to Natasha. “Did you know about this?”
“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?”
“I was in Calcutta; I was pretty well removed.”
“Loki's manipulating you,” Natasha told him.
“And you've been doing what exactly?”
“You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.”
“Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy.” Banner grabbed the computer and pointed to the weapon on the screen. “I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”
“Because of them.” Fury pointed at Thor and Percy. Percy’s eyebrows raised in shock.
“Wait, what?” Percy asked at the same time Thor asked, “Me?”
Fury sighed. “Last year, not only did earth have a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town, but also learned about the existence of immortal gods whose affairs have started countless wars since forever. We learned that, not only are we alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.”
“My people want nothing but peace with your planet,” Thor said.
Percy stepped forward. “Mortals have gone for centuries without knowing about the existence of the Greek gods living among you and you’ve been fine. We take care of our problems.”
“But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled.”
“Like you controlled the cube?” Steve asked, clearly not believing Fury.
“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies,” Thor informed Fury. “It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war.”
Steve frowned. “A higher form?”
“You forced our hand. We had to come up with something.” Fury tried to explain, but by that time it had all descended into chaos.
Tony argued, “Nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down.”
“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?”
“I’m sure if he still made—” Steve started saying before he was interrupted by Tony.
“—Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is—”
“—weapons, Stark would be neck—”
“—this now about me?”
“—deep… I’m sorry, isn’t everything?”
“I thought humans were more evolved than this,” Thor commented.
Percy whirled on Thor. “Oh, I’m sorry, but out of all of us, who’s the one blowing up other planets?
“Did you always give your champions such mistrust?” Thor questioned Fury, ignoring Percy’s remark.
Everyone started shouting over one another. At one point, it got too hard to tell who was saying what.
“You understand that—”
“I can’t believe—”
“Are you boys really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats.”
“Captain America is on threat watch?”
“We all are.”
“Just a little concern, Doctor.”
“You're on that list?”
“Stark, just one more word…”
“Threatened. I feel threatened.” Tony shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.
”Cool it, tin can.” Percy shot. “They just said that everyone in this room is on that list, including you.”
“My suit isn’t tin, it’s a titanium-gold alloy.”
“You speak of control, yet you court chaos.” Thor’s voice boomed.
“It’s his M.O., isn’t it? I mean, what are we, a team?” Bruce started ranting. “No, no, no. We’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We’re… we’re a time-bomb.”
“You need to step away.” Fury told Banner.
Tony threw his hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?”
“You know damn well why!” Steve pushed Tony’s hand away. “Back off!”
The two squared each other, turning face-to-face. There was a fire building in Steve’s eyes as everyone else turned to watch the showdown. “Oh, I’m starting to want you to make me.”
“Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?” Steve asked him.
Without missing a beat, Tony replied, “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”
Percy’s eyes bounced between the two fighting men. It was like watching a tennis match, serving the ball back and forth to each other.
“I know guys with none of that worth ten of you.” Steve took a small step forward. “Yeah, I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”
“I think I would just cut the wire.”
Steve let out a small chuckle. “Always a way out… you know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”
“A hero? Like you?” Tony scoffed. “You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!”
Immediately there was a change in the air as the room grew tenser. Steve’s face grew tighter and his jaw clenched. “Put on the suit, let’s go a few rounds.”
Thor laughed. “You people are so petty… and tiny.”
“As opposed to looking like a hippie surfer.”
“Yeah, this is a tee…” Banner muttered.
“Agent Romanoff,” Fury started to order. “would you escort Dr. Banner back to his...”
“Where?” Banner asked. “You rented my room.”
“The cell was just in case...”
“In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!”
Everyone turned to Banner at his confession. The doctor took a second to regain some of his breath. “I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!”
Banner was getting more and more upset. He looked at Romanoff, who for the first time that Percy had seen, actually looked unnerved. “You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff?” Banner asked the redhead. “You wanna know how I stay calm?”
Percy reached for Riptide as soon as the Doctor grabbed the scepter. Out of the corner of his eye, the demigod noticed Fury and Natasha reaching for their guns. “Let’s not do anything rash now,” Percy spoke. “Put the scepter down and we can all go home happy and in one piece.”
Banner looked down and noticed he was holding a glowing scepter. His grip loosened, but he didn’t drop it. Shocked, the doctor stared at the scepter in his hands.
The computer beeped, breaking the moment. Banner quickly put the scepter back on the table and made his way over to the computer. “Sorry, kids. You don’t get to see my party trick after all.”
“Located the Tesseract?”
“I can get there faster.”
“Look, all of us…”
“The Tesseract belongs on Asgard,” Thor said. “No human is a match for it.”
“That’s fine,” Percy agreed. “As long as no one else on your planet tries to use it to take our planet.”
Tony turned to leave, but Steve held out one of his hands to stop him. “You’re not going alone.”
“You gonna stop me?” Tony argued.
“Put on the suit, let's find out.”
“I'm not afraid to hit an old man.”
“This is stupid!” Percy shouted. Everyone turned towards him. “Look, none of us by ourselves can defeat Loki and whatever army he’s bringing. We can only do this if we work together.” Percy took a second to scan his eyes over the group. “I don’t care if you guys think that the others are lame, I don’t. You can butt heads later. All I care about is making sure that New York City is still standing tomorrow.”
Everyone was quiet. Steve’s head hung a little, like he was ashamed. Tony just stared at Percy, looking away when Percy made eye contact.
At that moment, Banner, who had been looking at the monitors, gasped and said “Oh, my god!”
The ship shook violently, and a big burst of fire came up from the vent underneath, throwing everyone in different directions. Percy landed hard on his back just a couple feet from where he had been standing originally. He was left winded, desperately gasping for air. The room was filled with smoke. Percy heard Steve from somewhere in the room yelling, “Put on the suit!”
The demigod pulled himself up just in time to see Tony and Steve run out of the room. Fury and Thor were still getting back up. Percy ran a quick scan of the room, not finding Natasha or Bruce.
“Styx,” Percy swore as he headed for the door.
7
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