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#me watching Chiron offer her up for a quest like WHO PUT MY GIRL THERE STOP BRINGING HER INTO SHIT SHE DOESNT DESERVE THIS
mo-mode · 4 months
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Okay but the camper in the wheelchair either has a super tricked out celestial-bronze plated magical flying wheelchair with wings gifted by Hermes himself, or Chiron just gave zero shits about how inaccessible the outside world is because there is no way she’d survive a cross-country road trip while being chased by monsters in a normal wheelchair. If they offered me up for a quest like that, I would have wheelied my ass tf out of there. She chose a long-range weapon for a REASON
If the wheelchair IS tricked out, however, then I require a scene where her magical chariot-wheelchair hybrid flies her up above the big battle as she takes out monsters with flaming arrows, or the show is ableist. I don’t make the rules—
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rose-wild · 3 years
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heroes of olympus ranked by the saddest/worst childhoods:
(my opinion. you don’t have to agree, that’s okay).
1. HAZEL - i think this is self explanatory. black girl in southern america in the 30s, bullied badly. then watched her mother get possessed by the earth mother, father didn’t care, forced to move on her thirteenth birthday to alaska. was repeatedly told she was a bad, sick child. then was forced to do unspeakable things by marie/gaea, used her powers to make a body for a giant, then had no other choice but to kill herself and her mother to stop gaea from rising. THEN gave up elysium so her mother wouldn’t get the field of punishment. in the Son of Neptune, during one of her backstories, Hazel says, “Hazel felt as if she were expanding to the breaking point, just like that spire in the pit. Her misery would soon become to great to hold inside, and her skin would shatter.” excuse me while i go and sob 😭
2. Reyna - girl her backstory is so fucking sad. watched her dad become insane and paranoid. her dad collected weapons and turned their house into a fortress, and locked her in her room, and when she and her sister would sneak out and get caught, he would throw furniture and yell at them. then he becomes convinced that reyna and hylla are the enemy. ghosts of her ancestors would watch reyna from afar (creepy af). then julian becomes a mania and after they snuck out one day, reyna was TEN, julian got so angry he started glowing, ripping up their house and threw a chair at hylla. reyna then thought her sister was dead as it knocked her unconscious, then had no choice but to kill her own father. a ghost appeared before her and taunted her, telling her she would never flee her crime and never forget her past, calling her a murderer and traitor. then she went to circe’s island and that got destroyed by yours truly percy jackson and annabeth chase, then she was kidnapped by the pirates (who did gods knows what to her) for months and then managed to escape. then she and her sister parted ways after all those years together where they had no one but each other. okay, maybe reyna should be number one.
3. Nico - lots of people would think he needs to be 1, but i don’t think so, and i’m talking about backstories only. he saw his mother walk into a hotel and then watched it explode after it got struck by lightning. then he got his memory wiped and then they were left with a bank trust and a lawyer would come in to check them every once in a while. oh, and then he got stuck in the lotus hotel for seventy years, which they only thought was a month. then westover hall. then bianca dies. yeah.
4. Jason - ugh this boy. his mother left him at the wolf house and told him that she’d be back, but never was. so jason, a little two year old boy, was left crying in the ruins and yelling for his mom and thalia. he was then taken in by wolves (can you imagine how scary that must’ve been for a little boy?) and was raised and trained like a roman soldier. there was no weakness. he wasn’t allowed to, or else he would be eaten alive. yeah. then he made it to camp jupiter and was offered first cohort for being a son of jupiter but denied it. he befriended the least popular kids and went on the least glamorous quests, but was still considered a prince and had everyone’s eyes on him from such a young age. he spent twelve years in the legion and was always the leader. then he led the assault on mount othrys and defeated the titan krios with hand to hand combat, and toppled kronos’s throne. this isn’t tragic, but what is tragic is that he and the legion never got a thanks from the gods.
5. Leo - his fucking nanny tia callida laid him in an actual fire pit and sang him lullabies like some sort of psychopath. and tia callida gave him knives when he was three. she told him to poke a rattlesnake in the grass with a stick (oh that’s super smart for a four year old boy to do). his cousin raphael bullied him. his aunt rosa made him eat with dead people. then, when trying to hurt gaea, she made him angry and made his hands catch on fire. leo fell into a rage and tried to save himself and his mother, but accidentally killed his mother and burned her alive. and then his aunt rosa turned his entire family against him (called him the devil) and told the social care workers to take him away and stuffed him into foster care. he was bullied badly and would run away from his foster care homes and, when he was in between foster homes, would sleep under an actual bridge.
6. Annabeth - since she was a demigod, annabeth was a target for monsters which caused constant fighting between her dad and her stepmother who felt like she was putting everyone (as in her two twin stepsiblings) in danger. she was assaulted by spiders, her worst fear, for three days each night as a seven year old girl. she would scream for her father but he was never there and her stepmother didn’t believe her. as a seven year old girl, she believed her family hates her, so she ran away and smashed monsters with a hammer with the guidance of her immortal mother for MONTHS. then she was taken in by luke and thalia and they became her family. then they found grover and were chased by monsters sent from hades, who was looking to kill thalia for revenge. grover took wrong turns and led them into a cyclops lair on accident. then the cyclops lured everyone except annabeth, who stabbed one of the cyclops in the foot. the group was chased by a pack of hellhounds and all three furies on their way to half-blood hill. she was forced to watch thalia be overran by monsters and killed and dragged away by luke. she heard the great prophecy when she was ten and had nightmares about it because chiron told her she “would have a big part to play”, and that brings us to tlt. damn.
7. Percy - strangled a snake at a day care center when he was two (this is pretty traumatic). was bullied and abused by his stepfather from a very young age and had to watch his mother be in an awful relationship. was bullied badly by other people. he was in military academies where they believed “paddling is good for the soul.” he was stalked by a cyclops in the third grade.
8. Frank - his mother died in a military accident and was then raised by his grandmother. he was then told, at his mother’s funeral, that his whole entire life depends on this little piece of fire wood that if burned, he would literally fall over dead. then, that same evening, he was told he was going to be shipped off to wolves and then to camp jupiter (if he survived its trials ofc).
9. Piper - she fell off a horse when she was six and drove past a meat processing place that made her sick 😭 (this is a joke). but for real, her rich super star dad avoided her and didn’t pay any attention to her, which caused her to act out. she was bullied for being cherokee. and then she finds out months of her life was just a trick of the mist and that her boyfriend doesn’t actually like her at all? sad man.
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gaarasgirlfriend · 4 years
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claimed
bakugou x reader - demigod/pjo au!
in which the son of ares guides the cute new camper to her cabin 
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“dude have you seen the new arrival? she’s smokin’ hot! 10 drachmas says she’s an aphrodite kid.” kaminari, son of apollo, told his friends.
hours ago, kaminari was on his way to bother chiron again, wanting to go on a quest because he was ‘bored out of his mind’ but before he could even get a word out he was met by a stranger. a very beautiful stranger. a stranger who kept glancing down at chiron’s hooves.
ah. she was new to the camp.
chiron was telling the girl about the camp’s layout, pointing over to the volleyball court where kaminari’s sister, jirou, also a child of apollo, was playing with momo who was a daughter of athena.
“i know it’s a lot to process.” chiron said, a sympathetic smile on his face.
“no kidding. the other day i was just taking a nap trying to do my algebra homework and now you’re telling me that greek gods exist and that medusa and minotaurs are real and would very much like to kill me.” the girl said.
“the woes of being a demigod...” chiron mused.
the centaur looked up to see kaminari watching the pair, “ah kaminari my boy, come here.”
‘gladly’ he thought, checking out the girl.
“y/n this is kaminari son of-”
“kaminari, son of apollo. it’s a pleasure.” kaminari grabbed her hand and kissed her hand.
“do all children of aphrodite do this? because i’m more creeped oout by this than any gorgon sister honestly.” y/n said, taking her hand back after kaminari kissed her hand.
“i’m actually a child of apollo but i’m sure that my good looks confused you~ it’s okay~” he chuckled.
“this whole interaction will be so funny if i ended up being a child of apollo.” she suddenly mentioned, which made the blonde-haired boy freeze up. 
“i- are you-” he started to say.
“don’t worry though, it’s my mom who left.” she said, with a slightly hurt tone that kaminari picked up on, after feeling the same way for 13 years he could recognize another lonely person from a 100 miles away.
he suddenly smiled, “ don’t worry, you’ll find family at this camp.” he patted her back as he directed her over towards the cabins, waving bye to chiron as he left to scold mineta, a satyr, for harassing yet another wood nymph again
“bet you’re hoping that you’re not part of that family after flirting with me.” she snorted.
kaminari’s face flushed, “it’s a habit!”
currently he was telling the bakusquad (nickname given by mina after the five of them were on a quest) about the girl he was with earlier.
“ i hope she ends uo being your sister. that’ll really teach you not to flirt with every girl you see.” sero, child of hermes, said while shaking his head. 
“i guess falling for relatives runs in the family. izuku’s dad for example.” mina joked. izuku’s father, zeus, wed his sister, hera, who had no children at this camp out of loyalty. 
“be careful saying shit like that you pink haired dumbass! you never know when zeus is feeling less merciful than usual.” bakugou, son of ares, seethed.
“aww! bakugou~ you care for me~” mina teased the boy who was sharpening his sword.
a pair of crimson eyes rolled as the owner scoffed, “better pray to morpheus because that would only happen in your dream you fucker.”
the group laughed at the blonde boy who continued raging at the pink-haired girl. 
“anyways, i’ll take you up on your offer kaminari! we had an aphrodite kid two weeks ago so i don’t think we’d have another one so soon.” kirishima said.
the redheaded son of hephaestus was sitting on the floor, tinkering with some weapons, with sero and mina sitting down with him. 
“me too.” bakugou’s gruff voice called out.
the group looked back at him, eyebrows raised.
he gave them a wicked smile, “i’m just praying that she ends up being a child of apollo.” he started to cackle, the rest of the group, excluding kaminari, joining him.
“where is she now? i want to meet her!” sero said, standing up. 
“yeah me too!”
“same here!”
“i was going to show her around but then jirou and momo took over. jirou said that i ‘wasn’t to be trusted with any girl’. it hurt! i wasn’t going to pursue her until after she got claimed!” kaminari sighed, shaking his head.
“as they should. they probably saw you kissing the poor girl’s hand and decided to save her.” mina said.
“yeah, yeah, whatever. anyways sero! you ready to fight bakugou?” kaminari said.
the boy got his sword and stood up, “been ready but you were on that tangent about that chick.”
“whatever. anyways let’s start.” bakugou said.
meanwhile while they were fighting, you were with momo and jirou. it really surprised you when you found out that they were brother and sister, given his bold personality and jirou’s chillness.
“okay so sero is going to show you to the hermes cabin, where you’ll be staying at until you’re claimed.” momo explained to you.
“got it! is sero a son of hermes?” you asked.
“yes, he’s been at this camp since he was 12. most of the campers have been here since they were 12 but once in a while we get an older kid like you.” jirou explained.
“how about you guys? how long have you been here?” you asked curiously.
“we actually arrived together. we went to the same school and we er, ran away together after a cyclops attacked us while we were camping.” momo said.
“oh gosh, that was probably terrifying.” you mumbled.
“it was. but luckily there was a satyr there who helped us.” momo said.
talking a bit more, you guys finally made it in front of the arena where sero supposedly was. the arena was a huge conference building that towered over most of the other buildings. it was between the cabins and the armory.
“oh my god, this is the arena?? it looks like the roman coliseum! it’s huge!” you said, amazed by the big building.
“wait till you see the amphitheater and climbing wall.” jirou snickered.
“a climbing wall? what?” you looked at jirou.
momo chuckled, pulling you inside of the building, “come along now.”
walking inside of the building, you were met with about 50 people inside of the building. a few of them spared you a glance or waved to momo and jirou but other than that, everyone went back to their training. the room was lined with dummies and weapons. the sounds of angry grunts, yells, and swords clashing seemed to fill the air as you looked around in amazement.
‘holy shit! that kid’s hands are glowing! and he’s? making the dummy levitate? who is he the child of and can i have magical powers too?’ you thought to yourself.
you looked towards the back of the arena to see a small group circling two swordsmen. one of them had black hair and pale skin, although he seemed to be knowing what he was doing, he was losing to the other guy.
‘oh damn.’ was your first thought when you looked over at the blonde haired boy.
he was tall, with a muscular build that was adorned with a black tank top and sweats which was a bit strange as most of the other campers were donned with the standard orange shirt. but you weren’t complaining. he looked good. his body was coated with sweat, and his muscles flexed with each swing of his sword. he was gaining distance on his opponent. his crimson eyes were narrowed in concentration, a slight scowl on his face as the black haired boy dodged his sword.
that soon ended when the blonde guy suddenly disarmed the ravenette, his sword clanging on the floor as it fell about 5 feet away. the blonde boy had his sword pointing at the other boy’s chest, his own chest heaving up in down.
the black haired boy sighed, with his hands up, “i give up.”
the blonde haired boy smirked, and you could feel yourself almost gasp.
you would’ve believed in all of this greek mythology shit a lot sooner if they showed you this boy. he was literally carved by the gods themselves.
the boy went over to his friends as the small crowd dispersed. a red-haired boy handed him a towel.
“hey sis! hey momo! bold of you to show your faces around these parts when you stole y/n from me.” kaminari said.
jirou rolled her eyes, “i have a legal obligation to protect all women in this world from you. thank god the hunters of artemis haven’t met you. you would’ve been killed on the spot.”
“whatever! hey y/n! missed me?” kaminari said, walking up to you.
“how could i miss the guy who may be my brother even though he flirted with me?” you chuckled.
he suddenly looked up to the sky, “whoever y/n’s parent is please claim her! u-unless it’s you dad!”
they laughed at the boy’s dumb antics. kaminari then took them over to where his friends were sitting.
“hey guys! this is y/n! she’s new here so be nice! looking at you bro~” kaminari said.
you looked over to see he was talking to the guy who won the fight. your eyes made contact with his before he suddenly looked away with a small ‘tch’.
“he’s like that sometimes. you get used to it. i’m kirishima, son of hephaestus, nice to meet you!” the redheaded boy said as he was putting together a weapon. he seemed like a very kind person.
“hey girl! i’m mina, daughter of dionysus!” the girl with pink hair waved to you.
“i’m sero, son of hermes! i’ll show you to your temporary cabin!” the black haired boy grinned.
“nice to meet you all! i’m y/n, like kaminari said and i hope we get along!” you said.
you looked over to bakugou since he didn’t introduce himself yet, “and who might you be?”
“...bakugou, son of ares.” he mumbled.
“son of ares huh? that makes sense. he’s the god of war right? you were amazing with that sword! well granted i don’t know much about swords or anything like that but it looked badass! you too sero, you did amazing!” you said.
“thanks! i wonder what kind of weapon you’ll wield...” sero said as he tapped on his chin.
kirishima suddenly jolted, “y/n! you have to let me build your weapon once you find out what you like!”
you nodded, “of course!”
“we’re gonna be heading out now! bye y/n!” jirou and momo called out to you.
“bye guys, thanks for showing me around," you called out to them.
you turned back to face the group when sero suddenly said, “we should probably head out soon too-” he was interrupted when a young boy around the age of 8 or 9 came up to him,
“sero! you’re still gonna train me right? i haven’t gotten the hang of my new sword that kirishima built for me.” kirishima grinned at the fact that the young boy was taking training so seriously with the weapon he built for the boy.
sero squatted down to the small brunette boy and ruffled his hair, “of course lucas! let’s go over to that dummy to practice!”
“yay! thank you sero!” the boy said, energetically dragging the older boy towards the dummy.
sero looked behind him to look at you, “sorry!”
you only smiled back, “it’s okay!” if a kid as cute as lucas ever asked you to do anything, you didn’t think you could say no to him either.
“well now that sero’s plans have been foiled i will take it upon myself to deliver y/n to the cabin of hermes.” kaminari declared.
“oi dunce face, i’ll take her. after what happened earlier i don’t think you’re to be trusted with another girl for at least another 100 years.” bakugou snorted, earning a laugh from you.
kaminari pouted as bakugou gestured you to follow him. the remaining bakusquad members only stared at the leaving duo as they made their way out of the arena. 
“no way.”
“i agree.”
“bakugou just offered to walk a girl back to her cabin? kaminari did you hex me again?” kirishima said. 
“so what’s the story behind the nickname dunce face?” you asked as you walked beside the tall boy. 
finally being close to him you could see him even closer. he had faded scars littered all over his arms, but there was a scar that was underneath his collarbone that stuck out to you. it was quite big, probably from a monster’s claw. his skin was slightly tanned, from being outside training, you assumed. his spiky hair looked very soft and you had to stop yourself from touching it. but oh lord did you want to pat his head.
bakugou snorted in response to your question, “that idiot was in a prank war with the hermes cabin. he tried to hex them but messed up and ended up hexing himself to be dumber than usual for a whole 24 hours. amusing as it was, it was tiring taking care of him.”
you laughed, “i barely know the guy but i can say with full confidence that that is something he would do.”
his lips quirked up for a second butt you didn’t seem to notice, “yeah he’s a dumbass.”
“how long have you been at this camp? and how long did it take for you to get claimed?” you asked curiously.
he shrugged, “about 6 years. a hellhound attacked me while i was on a school trip but chiron was disguised as my substitute teacher so after a phone call to my mom, we arrived here. it took about 3 days for ares to claim me. it was right after a game of capture-the-flag, my team won courtesy of me. i guess dad was so proud he decided to proudly show me off or something.” he smirked.
“woah, that’s cool!” you said, looking at bakugou in amazement.
“damn right it is.”
a few minutes passed as you guys walked towards the cabin.
“how’d an idiot like you even find this place? a satyr help you?” he suddenly asked.
“yep. his name was mineta, i think? i was about an hour away from this place before a hellhound attacked me. mineta was nearby oogling at some chick and he helped me here.”
bakugou suddenly looked at you, “MINETA? that perverted bastard? i hate his ass, he should be fed to cerberus.”
“i agree with you on that one buddy, while we were hiding he kept on staring at me. what a creep. but he was pretty helpful when we were running away. guess he decided his life was more important than a pair of boobs and actually got serious.”
bakugou’s ears suddenly got very hot as he sputtered, “y-you idiot girl! you’re even more perverted than that dumbass mineta!”
you only laughed in response.
“we’re here.” bakugou said.
you guys had reached the cabins and you were gazing at them in awe. all of them were huge. there was one that was made out of pure gold, one was made of silver, one looked like a mini aquarium, another was covered with barbed wire and housed some very loud kids. you guessed that that one was the ares cabin.
you saw a kid with half red and half white hair come out of the black cabin that looked like a haunted house. he went up to the house in the center of the half circle of cabins to meet up with the green-haired boy walking out of the cabin that had a big lightning bolt etched into it. 
“woah…” was the only thing you could say.
“okay bye.” bakugou said, suddenly walking towards the cabin cabin that had a pair of kids wrestling in front of the doorsteps as other kids cheered for them.
“huh? wait!” you grabbed his hand.
“let go of my hand dumb idiot!” he said, a small blush on his face.
“you have to walk inside with me! I don’t know anyone.” you pouted at him.
he rolled his eyes, “only if you let go of my hand.”
once you let go of his hand, you guys headed inside.
the cabin was normal enough, but it was slightly bigger than the other cabins. you assumed it was to take in unclaimed demigods such as yourself. it was filled with about 50 bunk beds. but only about 20 kids were in their bunks, most of them taking naps.
“incoming!” you heard a feminine voice say from above you. 
before you could look up, bakugou pulled you into his body as he moved towards the right. a storm of water balloons that seemed to be enchanted was hurled at the stope you were standing at. 
“rin! you said you would finally get them outside the cabin this time! at this rate the apollo bastards are gonna win.” you heard a girl say.
“relax yuki! i’m gonna make it this time i can feel it!” rin said.
“sorry about that!” they both called down to you.
you paid them no attention. how could you when you were chest to chest with bakugou right now? you could feel his firm chest against yours and you could’ve sowrn you felt a set of abs underneath that thin tank top. 
“dumbass, you didn’t even move out of the way. just accepted your fate, huh?” he teased.
he gently pushed you away and saw the slight blush you had on your face, “did being that close to me have that much of an effect on you?”
“shut up~” you whined as you hid your face in your hands. 
he chuckled and you suddenly looked up at him, he was cute when he laughed.
“hey! are you a new camper?” an orange-haired girl walked up to you.
“looks like it, poor thing has been following this aggressive bastard all day. i saw them in the arena!” the blonde boy next to her laughed. he was suddenly elbowed in the stomach by the girl. you decided that you liked the girl.
“i am! y/f/n unclaimed and at your service,” you said.
“so lame…” you heard bakugou mumble underneath his breath. it was now your turn to elbow him.
“i’m kendo! this is monoma! both children of hermes!” the orange-haired girl said.
“i bet she’s a demeter kid. i get nature vibes from her.” monoma said.
“what the tartarus does nature vibes even mean?” bakugou asked. was he getting offended on your behalf? how sweet. also what the hell was tartarus?
“she looks weak-” bakugou’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the boy’s response.
“anyways! we’ll take over from here bakugou!” they walked away, motioning for you to follow them.
you took a step towards them before glancing at bakugou, “thanks for bringing me here bakugou! it was nice talking to you, you’re a fun guy to be around!” and with that, you walked away. 
‘a fun guy? me?’ a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.
it suddenly dropped, “oh shit.”
he suddenly looked up towards the sky, “dad, please tell me you kept it in your pants for her mom.”
the sky gave no response.
“ya know, i usually hate the color orange but i’m liking this shirt! makes me feel like i’m apart of something exclusive!” you told kendo as you checked yourself out in the bathroom mirror.
“i know the feeling girlie! but you look good in that shirt! also what’s up with you and bakugou? you two a thing?” she teased to which you blushed in response.
“n-no! i mean he’s cute but-“ 
“aha! i knew it! you two are so cute! but i’d wait until after you get claimed… ya know… so you know for sure you’re not siblings.”
“oh it’s fine! it’s my mom who’s gone!” you said.
“oh then you’re good!” she smiled at you.
“but does he know that?” 
your smile dropped, “uh oh.” 
“DUDE! can’t believe you’re in the same boat kaminari was in!” kirishima howled as he clutched his stomach.
“SHUT UP BEFORE I HAMMER YOUR FACE IN WITH THAT NEW SHIT WEAPON YOU MADE!” bakugou growled.
“i mean i would ask her if it’s her mom or dad that’s gone.” kirishima said after calming down.
bakugou went quiet. he often did this when kirishima said something that bakugou did not think of. like this for example.
“thanks.” he mumbled very quietly. to the untrained ear, it would’ve sounded like bakugou said nothing. but kirishima knew better, “go get her buddy.” 
it was finally time for the campfire and you were excited! granted, any situation that called for s’mores made you happy. walking to the campfire where most of the students were, you waved at monoma and kendo before heading over to where kaminari and sero were.
“hey guys!” you smiled at them.
“hey y/n! liking the shirt!” sero said.
you laughed, “finally one of you guys!” 
“how was the hermes cabin?” kaminari asked you. 
“chaotic. there was a prank war going on between your two cabins. but it was kinda fun! monoma swiped me some apollo kid’s bow but i had no idea what to do with it.” you shook your head.
“y/n! hi! ohh i see you’re finally one of us now!” mina said as she arrived with bakugou and kirishima.
“yep!” 
“gather around campers!” chiron said before starting the camp fire songs.
you couldn’t really participate, as you didn’t know any of the songs, but you were still enjoying the experience.
“hey.” a gruff voice called out to you, breaking you out of your stupor.
“bakugou! woah you’re actually wearing the orange shirt for a change… consider me impressed.” you teased.
with a minuscule smile on his face, he sat down next to you on the tree log as you both stared into the fire. his body heat was arguably hotter than the fire itself. he was very warm and you wanted to cuddle up in his arms. 
“so how was your first day of camp?” bakugou asked.
“kind of crazy honestly, never thought that satyrs or centaurs would exist. nor did i expect to be attacked by a scary ass dog while i was just strolling through the city. but it is nice to finally get some answers as to who i am. plus i met some pretty cool people along the way.” you looked into his eyes and grinned.
he laughed, “yeah, i find kaminari cool as well. even if that shithead is currently burning his tongue with that marshmallow.”
you rolled your eyes and punched his arm, “i hate you.”
“hate me? you’ve literally been following me around today like a little duckling. i don’t know if you could call that hate.” he nudged her with his shoulder.
“who else was going to show me around? kaminari? would you have let him?” you mused, leaning a bit closer to him.
he chuckled, a smile on his face, “maybe, who knows.”
he suddenly realizes that you’re very close to him and he leans back, both of your faces hot.
you realize that you need to tell him about your mother before he decides to stop to pursue you. 
“hey bakugou… i need to tell you about my parents…” you suddenly say, bakugou meeting your eyes once again.
“yeah, what about them?”
“well my mother is actually-” you started before you noticed he was staring above your head. you looked around to see almost every camper looking at you. you looked up to see the image of a glowing pink dove.
“huh?” was all you could say before you looked down to see yourself in a white ancient chiton dress. you lifted your dress and saw yourself in golden sandals. your arms were adorned with gold bands. you touched your hair and felt that it was done perfectly. you felt your lips coated with gloss, so you assumed your makeup had been done as well.
“the fuck…?” you muttered before looking up at everyone. 
they all were bowing to you, bakugou included.
“all hail, y/n l/n, daughter of aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.”
“well at least he doesn’t havent to worry now.” kirishima mumbled to his friends.
“nice meeting you camie and shindou!” she waved at the pair. they were her siblings. that would take a while to get used to.
“call me sis!” camie squealed while shindou rolled his eyes at her and walked away towards the rest of the aphrodite kids.
“looks like kaminari didn’t have to worry after all.” you heard bakugou say behind you.
when you turned around to look at him, you felt him suck in a breath. did you look that different?
“looks like it.” you smiled.
“s-so what was that thing you were going to tell me?” bakugou cursed himself for stuttering. but who wouldn’t curse while in your presence? makeover or not, you were still probably the prettiest girl bakugou has ever seen.
“oh… i was going to tell you that my godly parent was my mom, not my dad.” you mumbled.
“oh?” he smirked, “and why did you feel the need to tell me that?”
you rolled your eyes, “you know why you idiot.”
“please enlighten me.”
“it’d be really weird to want to date your brother, so i just gave you the go ahead.” you said, suddenly finding the ground very interesting.
“did aphrodite make you bolder too along with that makeover?” bakugou questioned, snickering to himself.
“huh? i’ve always been bold! remember when i talked about boobs-”
he clamped his hand over your mouth, looking around the camp to make sure no one overheard.
“you’re crazy. wouldn’t be surprised if you were a dionysus kid.”
“whatever…” you rolled your eyes, a smile on your face.
a moment of silence pass as you looked around the camp, many of the campers were heading back to their cabins and you decided it was time to leave.
“i think it’s time i head out, everyone is leaving.” you said.
“see ya.” you heard him ay, a slight look of disappointment on his face.
you took one step towards the cabins before you turned back towards the blonde haired boy, “actually i can’t seem to find my way back to my new cabin. could you help me out?”
he smiled, “you really are a dumbass.”
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asyeralovelies · 3 years
Text
ICARUS - percy jackson x oc (chapter one)
word count: 3,909
trigger warnings: gory description (mrs dodds) , implied physical abuse
a/n: lmao i posted this on wattpad first (@/asyeralovely) so you guys can check it out there too. also on ao3, same user as my wattpad.
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"My, my..." Dittany celeste murmured as she looked around Yancy Academy, a private school in upstate new york. Her satyr friend, Grover Underwood, and her mentor at Camp Half-Blood, Chiron, or tío as she liked to call him, had asked for someone to help in picking up a demigod in the school. Apparently, it was so hard to get the half-blood that they needed another one from camp.
Well, Dittany wasn't really "just another one at camp."
The dark haired girl had been left at camp borders when she was a mere one year old, the only information of her mother she had was that the woman's last name was "Celeste."
Honestly, she didn't know what to feel about the woman. Did she leave her there to train early at camp to learn to protect herself? Did her mother simply not want a child and left her there to fend for herself? The daughter of Hephaestus had no clue.
The only other long-timers at a young age in camp was Annabeth Chase, another friend of hers. The daughter of Athena had been there since she was seven.
Dittany snapped her fingers, willing the mist, a veil that covers up the Greek Myths world in mortal eyes, to make her seem like another student in Yancy Academy. She had learned that trick when she was ten, after six years of pestering her tío.
As she walked casually around the halls of the private school, her mind went through notes about the new demigod. His name was Percy Jackson, a boy with black hair and green eyes. He was in sixth grade and seemed to have attracted a very dangerous monster, because Grover had been panicking when he Iris-Messaged her about the situation.
Finally, the girl caught sight of a certain curly haired satyr talking to who she assumed to be Percy Jackson and stalked towards them. She snapped her fingers again, willing the mist to make it seem she was already friends with the two. Well, to Percy. Grover already knew her, without the mist.
The green eyed boy met her own dark eyes and he grinned as if they really did know each other, as if the scars on her face were a natural sight, and Dittany grinned back, acting her role.
"Hey, Perce," she said enthusiastically, using the first nickname that came to mind. She sent a subtle nod to Grover, who gave her a quick thumbs up. "You two having fun without me? After all we've been through!"
Percy rolled his eyes and smiled fondly at her. "Shut up, An. Grover was just saying something about being worried for the field trip tomorrow." He looked at her with a raised eye brow, like he was saying, "can you believe him?"
Dittany was a great actress. "What? You afraid our teacher's gonna turn into a monster and slash us to bits?" she asked Grover, mirth in her eyes. The satyr narrowed his own eyes at her, clearly too worried to laugh in amusement.
"No," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm just.." he couldn't seem to find an excuse for his nerves.
"Just?" said Dittany amusedly.
"Whatever." he grumbled.
Dittany only smiled teasingly at him.
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"I'm going to kill her," Percy mumbled. Nancy Bobofit, a red haired girl with kleptomania and freckles that seemed spray painted with crushed Cheetos, had been throwing wads of her sandwich into Grover's curly brown hair.
Dittany knew Percy wouldn't do that, because according to Grover, the demigod was on probation and had been threatened by the headmaster himself with death by in-school suspension if anything remotely strange happened.
See, from what she had gathered with observations in one day, the boy had ADHD and dyslexia, like most demigods. Dittany didn't have dyslexia, meaning she could read perfectly fine, but she could still read Greek. In truth, she didn't know how that worked, but she didn't question it.
"It's okay. I like peanut butter." Grover said. Being thrown at your hair, Dittany mused. Hope you're not serious.
Grover dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.
"That's it." Percy snapped, standing up, but Dittany pulled him down by his shirt.
"You're already on probation, Mr Jackson," the girl air quoted the last part. "Anything remotely shitty happens and you're out of here." then she smirked. "Wouldn't want to leave your two best friends in the whole world, would you?"
That shut him up.
When Dittany willed the mist, she made it so Percy thought she had been here since day one and only had Grover for a friend. The daughter of the forges had noticed that the only things keeping Percy from straight up leaving was because of his friends who would be all alone without him and his mom who would be disappointed that he just gave up.
Sally Jackson was a nice woman, from last night when Dittany had Iris-Messaged her. She informed the mother that she was also going to keep watch on Percy, since the situation was getting desperate with the really powerful monster. But Dittany had assured her things would be fine when Sally started panicking about the statement.
But today, Dittany's senses were on high alert.
She knew immediately that Mrs Dodds, the other chaperone for the field trip, was their monster. From the way her eyes had widened when she caught sight of Dittany, who had not been there before, and seeing the students just pass by her like she had been there all along. From the way the monster had glared at her, like she was silently asking, "how dare you interfere!?"
She had glared back at the woman. The students saw it as "what're you gonna do about it?" because in their mist memories, the dark haired girl liked to stir trouble. The "what're you gonna do about it?" glare really meant that she was challenging the monster.
Ever since Dittany had left for a quest with Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes and a mutual friend with Annabeth, about two years ago, the twelve years old wasn't so terrified of monsters. Well, she never was, really, but she got to see the real world. She knew what it was like to fight monsters in life or death situations and not just for practice.
She remembered the days very well.
Luke had been offered a quest by his father. Well, not personally, but according to tío, Hermes wanted Luke to go to the garden of the Hesperides and get a golden apple like Heracles had once done.
Luke immediately took it, consulting the oracle.
He had went back down the attic ladder looking confused. He had said the oracle required him to bring only one other person along with him.
The Hermes boy had asked Dittany because she was the most skilled person in combat at camp, partly because of staying the longest there and partly because she trained relentlessly to spite her unknown mother for leaving her at the borders by herself.
They had travelled to San Francisco together, stopping every once and a while for take out food or fighting monsters.
When they were outside the garden, just about to enter, Luke had told her the prophecy.
SEEK THE LAND WHERE THE GREEKS ARE FORBIDDEN,
FOLLOW THE TRAIL OF THE HERO OF TWELVE LABORS,
ENTER THE ONCE SO BEAUTIFUL GARDEN,
FAIL TO PROCEED WHAT SHOULD BE DONE BY SCAR'S FORCE,
TAKE ONE COMPANION OR YOU'RE DOOMED FOR DEATH,
A DISTRACTION, AN ILLUSION, WILL FALL FOR THE THEFT
TAKE A CHANCE WITH FATE IN A HERO'S TRUE END
THE GAMBLE OF HERMES, A GAME OF PRETEND
Unlike Luke, Dittany caught a meaning to it. Well, the first part, at least. The demigods were never allowed in San Francisco unless for a quest because, apparently, it's where they're most likely to get killed off. They were doing one of the labors of Heracles. They were about to enter the garden of the Hesperides.
She didn't understand anything from the second part except that Luke needed one companion or he'd die and Hermes apparently had a gamble going on.
When they entered the garden, at first, Dittany didn't understand why it was only "once beautiful." It was mesmerizing, reminding her of those religious bible stories about the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve used to live before their sin. But the longer they looked around, she felt like a part of the place was missing. Like a song cover with missing lyrics. It could still be beautiful, but it just wasn't right without those missing parts.
Then they approached the hundred headed dragon, Luke warning her to stay put before he called signal so they could both have a role. Luke would distract while Dittany would go for the apple.
The whole time with the ordeal, Dittany felt like she was being watched.
In the end, Luke ended up with a scar running from above his eyebrow down to his jaw. Dittany had to step in the distraction to save him from the dragon's other claws that were going for a second strike and got Dittany's face and shoulder instead. It looked like three knife slashes on her face going diagonally and a scar from her shoulder to the small of her back.
They failed to steal a golden apple, but Dittany felt like they were meant to fail.
They came back with heavy injuries because of going back to camp and facing more monsters while they were already scarred. From then on tío banned quests, not wanting anymore heavy injuries.
Luke had felt like he ruined chances for everyone, but Dittany assured him that he didn't. She told him she should have kept with the plan because Luke could protect himself, but then Luke told her that he would have died without her.
Luke told her he also felt like his father was making fun of him for thinking he could do it, and Dittany silently agreed. But she didn't voice out her thoughts. She just hugged him and told him that one day, someone would clear for the camp and quests would be allowed again. Someday, things would get better.
But both Luke Castellan and Dittany Celeste knew that things only ever get worse for demigods.
Annabeth had taken it to herself to cheer up both of them, saying corny jokes that were so bad they were funny and reading random facts about architecture to distract them.
In the present, Dittany found herself smiling sadly. Luke was better now, and so was she, but sometimes the girl would find the sandy haired boy looking grim and trying to stop the tears.
She knew the boy wanted to make his father proud, prove that he was a hero, but instead he had failed. Dittany would walk up to him, sit on the seat next to him and make his head fall to her lap so that he could cry. She would never ask, because she already knew. She didn't whisper comforting words, because someone's presence and knowing they're there for you was enough.
Sometimes Annabeth would join them and would just tell silly stories where she describes the places in the story.
They would pretend they were a normal mortal family where Luke was their father who was overwhelmed with work and needed comfort and Annabeth would be the one to tell him about her day while Dittany made snacks. A normal, happy mortal family.
Dittany found herself following Mr Brunner— aka Chiron or tío— as he led the museum tour. Tío already knew she was there, and he played his part of acting like she always had been.
He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding the class through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.
It blew Dittany's mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand to three thousand years. What, with the gods' tempers and tendencies to destroy things? Wow.
He gathered them around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling them how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about their age. He told them about the carvings on the sides.
Dittany noticed Percy was trying to listen to what he had to say— she didn't really need to now— because it was kind of interesting for him, but everybody around was talking, and every time he told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs Dodds, would give him the evil eye.
Dittany would back him up discreetly by smirking at Mrs Dodds and playing with her sword's hilt that stuck out of her sheath, right at her waist, and was disguised as some chain belt in the mist. But the monster saw right through that mist and only settled for keeping away from her while keeping eyes on her weapon and on Percy.
Tío kept talking about Greek funeral art.
Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and before Dittany or Grover could stop him, Percy whirled around to face the redhead and said, "Will you shut up?"
Dittany had a feeling he had said that louder than he meant to. She silently watched him in pity as his face reddened from his own realization.
The group of kids laughed, tío stopped his story.
"Mr Jackson," he said, effectively adding more attention to the embarrassed boy, and making Dittany want to face palm at the centaur. "did you have a comment?"
"No, sir." Percy said, looking down to hide his face.
"Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"
Damn it, tío, Dittany thought, but her lips were pursed.
Percy looked up with a face of recognition. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?" he said with uncertainty. Dittany looked away and curled her lip in disgust, remembering about reading the "myth."
"Yes," Chiron said, not sounding very impressed. The Celeste girl rolled her eyes. "And he did this because. . ."
"Well, Kronos was the king god and— " Dittany turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised, forgetting that he still didn't know he was a demigod yet and didn't think the Greek Myths were worth the read.
He caught her gaze and cleared his throat. "Titan. Titan.. Lord." he corrected himself.
Dittany nodded, looking away again.
He continued, "And... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"
"Eww!" said one of the girls behind Percy and Dittany, making the latter roll her eyes and smirk. She, too, was disgusted when she first read the story, but then she joked around about it just to annoy campers.
"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," Percy continued, "and the gods won."
Some snickers from the group.
Behind them, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"
"And why, Mr Jackson," tío said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
"Busted," Grover and Dittany snickered.
"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. Grover only smirked and looked away and Dittany stuck her tongue out childishly.
At least Nancy got packed, too. Tío was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.
Percy thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."
"I see." Chiron looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"
The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.
Grover, Dittany and Percy were about to follow when Chiron said, "Mr Jackson."
Dittany internally face palmed, having been used to her tío's dramatic tendencies.
Meanwhile, Percy knew that was coming.
Dittany turned to Chiron with an are-you-fucking-serious-right-now look before heading outside with Grover.
When they reached the fountain, they started talking.
"Ten drachmas that tío'll be ominous again and confuse Percy," Dittany immediately said. Grover replied, "Twelve that he actually gives him a clue."
The scarred girl rolled her eyes, muttering with a smirk, "Yeah, right."
They sat in silence after that, waiting for the boy in question to come outside.
Dittany zoned out, staring at the water. She realized she looked like a stereotypical skater girl with a grey sleeved shirt under a black tee. Her ripped denim jeans were just a quick in-the-moment choice that Silena Beauregard, a close friend and her older half-brother's crush, would have not approved of. The sapphire eyed teen would have chosen black jeans to match the "aesthetic" or whatever the hell it was. Dittany just wanted something to wear.
The she caught sight of Percy approaching her and Grover. He sat down between them with a brooding look.
"Detention?" Grover asked.
"Nah," Percy said, but he still looked grim. "Not from Brunner. I just wished he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean— I'm not a genius."
Grover didn't say anything for a while, and when he opened his mouth, Percy thought the boy was going to give some deep philosophical comment to make him feel better, but instead he said, "Can I have your apple?"
The raven haired boy didn't have much of an appetite, so he let him take it.
Dittany saw Percy look to the road with a longing expression, and she did, too. But her reason was the want to get hit by a car, feeling restless at just sitting. At least she'd have a reason to be still. She was hit by a moving vehicle! Of course she can't move right now!
As she mused the thought, Nancy Bobofit was suddenly in front of them, or maybe the Celeste girl just didn't notice the redhead approaching.
The bitch had the audacity to dump her lunch in Grover's lap, and Dittany felt her hands prick and warm up, like a flame about to ignite, but she quickly calmed herself. No one knew about that power. She wasn't going to let the secret out anytime soon.
Percy wasn't so calm.
Dittany swore the fountain's water had suddenly lurched forward, grabbed Nancy, and pulled her in the fountain.
Poseidon, Dittany thought immediately. You three gonna do this in order, she silently asked the three gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Thunder rumbled and the earth slightly shook beneath her feet. She rolled her eyes.
She was referring to Thalia Grace being the first child of a broken oath, and Percy now being the second. All she had to do was wait for a Hades child and it'd be a complete set. Thunder rumbled again, and the earth shook, but specifically only under her.
How terrifying, she thought sarcastically.
She was splashed by the fountain's water in the back, but her clothes were quickly made dry so Poseidon seemed innocent. She discreetly flipped off the god.
With her interactions with the three gods, she had missed Mrs Dodds taking Percy away and Grover looking at her with an exasperated look, like he knew exactly what she was doing.
When the brunette finally noticed that Percy Jackson, apparently the son of Poseidon, was gone, she looked to Grover with an eyebrow raised. He only shook his head worriedly.
She stood up and ran to her tío who was watching the museum doors worriedly. He took out a pen and looked ready to follow inside when he spotted Dittany.
Chiron handed her the pen and nodded, emphasizing she could get there quicker.
Dittany took it and ran up to the entrance, swinging the doors open and just in time as Mrs Dodds was ready to slash Percy to bits.
A fury!?, she thought furiously, hopefully sending her thoughts to the god of the underworld. How petty can you get, Hades?, she huffed.
"Percy, catch!" she yelled and tossed the pen in the air, the said boy whipping around to meet her dark eyes and catching the pen, watching it turn into a double edged celestial bronze sword.
Dittany would have taken out her own weapon to help, since a fury wasn't usually killed at first try, if Percy hadn't immediately sliced through the monster.
The girl's eyes widened but she didn't stay, immediately running out. She had a feeling Chiron would want Percy to think it was all just an illusion, so she immediately went back to the fountain with Grover, sending a quick thumbs up to her mentor.
She took the face towel Grover offered to dry her sweat, partly from running and partly from seeing the fury.
She sent a look to her tío, silently asking him if she should will the mist again to make up some new teacher, but he shook his head. He had it handled.
A few moments later, Percy came out of the museum looking dazed. It had already started raining, and Dittany was soaking while Grover hogged the only cover.
Percy said something to Nancy, and the girl looked at him like he was mad before scoffing and walking away. Then he walked over to Dittany and Grover.
"An," he immediately looked to Dittany. "Where's Mrs Dodds?" He wanted to know if this was a dream or not.
As was said earlier, Dittany was a great actress.
"Perce," she said slowly, emphasizing that she was trying to see signs if he was going insane. "Who the hell is that?"
Percy looked desperate.
"Mrs Dodds!" he exclaimed. "Our pre-algebra teacher!"
Dittany looked at him in concern. "Percy," she started. "We never had a teacher named Mrs Dodds."
Percy looked to Grover.
The raven haired boy would have believed it was all an illusion if Grover hadn't looked around nervously, like preparing to make an excuse, and said, "She's right, Perce. Are you okay?" in the most unconvincing voice ever.
Dittany mentally face palmed.
Percy looked to Dittany. "But.. You gave me the pen, only it wasn't a pen, it was a sword, and—" he raised his hand, which was holding a normal ball point pen. He looked at it with wide eyes suddenly, like it wasn't a pen the previous moment.
Dittany let her eyes widen, too, but to say, "Hey! That's mine!" in a playfully accusing tone. "Well, I only borrowed it from Mr Brunner.. But still!"
She snatched the pen from him, but the boy was still in shock.
The dark eyed girl ran to Chiron, quickly giving him the pen. She glanced back at Percy who looked to be in a crisis.
"What monster?" her tío silently asked.
"Kindly one." Dittany said simply.
Chiron heaved a breath and the demigod only shrugged.
"Could be worse, honestly."
And... she jinxed it.
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yukippe · 4 years
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soft as she is
for @pjofemslashweek day 1: firsts (first heartbreak, first love, first kiss) | read on ao3 | word count: 7.4k
chapter one
  the war is coming. that’s the whisper coming from everyone’s mouth. drew hears it in every one of her siblings' sighs, she hears it at all the tables at meals, she sees in it chiron’s always tired face. 
  years ago, before the fall of the labyrinth or the revival of thalia grace or even the claiming of percy jackson - drew used to use charmspeak for fun. she’d convince her friends to go on the tallest roller coaster with her, or get her dad to take her shopping, or get off scot free when prank calling someone. when she tried to convince the world to get her a visit with her mother her voice ran dry. aphrodite didn’t even bother to visit her dreams and her charmspeak didn’t work for months. drew doesn’t use charmspeak much anymore, no matter what others say. 
  silena’s had her practicing everyday. silena is the only sibling older than drew in camp. and silena wants them to fight in the war. when drew and silena were the youngest in cabin 10 they’d stuck together, though now drew can’t remember what it was like to know all of her sister’s secrets. but, silena had whispered that her charmspeak could be more when they were little. now, silena is doing her best to make it so. 
  silena believes they can win the war that ends on percy jackson’s birthday. drew doesn’t have her faith, but she can fight by her sister if that’s what silena needs. she thinks of charles beckendorf and how silena refuses to hear anything on breaking up with him - and drew thinks of katie gardner in cabin four who never remembers to touch up her chipping nail polish. if drew’s only big sister left can have the type of love that lasts - maybe drew can too. the war is coming. drew doesn’t have much time left to take a chance.
  halfway through june, right after katie comes back to camp, drew decides to completely innocently take up hours at the strawberry farm. she tells silena she’s testing out how charmspeak works on plants (surprisingly well) and she tells her friends she’s testing out a strawberry aesthetic (it turns out so well she ends up making earrings and ordering a new flavour lip gloss). drew doesn’t need to do much, it’s not like anyone would ever guess why she’s there. 
  nobody knows she likes girls, besides silena, and silena would never guess she likes katie. because katie’s good. katie doesn’t turn down quests, or work and she always reports travis and connor stoll to chiron when they’re about to pull a prank. she runs her cabin with her half sister miranda and drew’s never heard anything honestly bad about her, except for maybe the stupid jokes the stoll brothers say. if everyone knew she liked girls they would expect her to like someone like herself, drew thinks. someone obviously pretty and not covered in dirt who never wears makeup and doesn’t bother to alter the camp t shirt. 
  but katie’s katie. katie’s one of the campers that’s been around forever. she’s been at camp one summer longer than drew, when katie was ten and drew was nine, katie showed her around camp while they both waited to be claimed. 
  katie and drew came early. they weren’t the youngest, that was annabeth who had years on them both. katie was a summer only camper, but drew’s dad had told her she had to stay at camp until high school when he dropped her off that summer. he’d known her mother was a goddess - the story he’d always told was that he prayed for a muse and he got something even better. he didn’t know which one though. 
  so drew tanaka was left crying in the big house in camp full of kids too big with no clue who her mom was and her dad off to get back to his world of models and galleries and trips to europe. chiron had left her with a box of tissues, but he’d been busy trying to keep some children of the war god from starting a fight, like that was something normal around camp. drew just wanted to go back to her room with her fluffy carpet and her plans with her friends and her dad who normally listened to what she wanted when she phrased it the right way. she couldn’t get the words to take the right sugary taste and the perfect soft roundness they had when people listened. no one ever seemed to listen without it. but it took so much work to get them to sound perfect and drew was tired of it. 
   and then katie gardner passed by with a potted cactus in her arms. she’d only had a summer and a year on drew, but she’d put down the pot at the bottom of the steps and walked up to wear drew was sitting on the porch swing and sat next to her. 
  “i’m katie gardner,” she offered. “this is my second summer and. well i guess i kinda know how you feel. i cried a bunch last summer, but this place is nice. there are people like us here.”
  drew had wiped her tears away and crossed her arms and looked katie up and down. “i’m drew. what’s your mom in charge of?”
  “i don’t know, i haven’t been claimed yet,” katie said. her face got a little screwy at that and drew didn’t want to have to try and comfort another girl when she was already upset so she stuck her hand out to shake katie’s. 
  “your mom’s stupid then,” drew said. katie smiled softly and teary at that and drew didn’t mention it. 
  “so,” drew said, still holding katie’s hand because it felt right. “what is there to do around here?”
  katie’s smile grew a little bigger and she stood up, pulling drew with her by their still linked hands, “the strawberry fields are my favourite spot, but the arts and crafts centre is also nice. we could make friendship bracelets there, if you’d like?”
  “sure,” drew said, trying not to sound too eager. “i um. i’d like that a lot. Thanks.”
  the rest of the first summer was a haze of flower crowns katie made for them and sneaking to the waterfall without luke noticing and drew painting katie’s nails in the bottom bunk they shared - all the other bunks full - and katie and drew lying lazily on the beach and trading flavoured chapstick and hoarding the smelly markers during arts and crafts. it ended with drew and katie both being claimed after they helped the cabin win capture the flag. then katie left to go home and when she came back the next summer they were in different cabins.
  different cabins mean more when you’re eleven and ten. at sixteen and fifteen they don’t mean much at all. drew’s closest with her half siblings, but she’s friends with malcolm from athena and sits at the campfire with lou ellen and butch who’re claimed but both still stuck in eleven with no place else to go. She still isn’t friends with katie from though, what she wants is more. 
  there’s war coming. drew can want more as long as she lives, but she only has two months guaranteed left. she does her hours in the field at the same time as katie and she does a free block in the stables when katie does, even though she’s never liked the pegasi much, and she just so happens to make it to the scarce few parties in the woods (far fewer than any other year, there are less campers to go and less energy to bring to them) that she knows katie is going to. 
  and then, finally, she gets a chance. the stolls get called away with percy jackson on one of the little skirmishes that are popping up too often for anyone's comfort and that leaves the camp store unmanned for a day. they signed katie up to do it for them without asking and she’s angrily packaging berries in baskets when drew goes for it. she’s closing the baskets wrong - though she’s normally perfect at it - so drew plucks the basket she’s holding out of her hands and closes it properly, her perfectly manicured nails clicking the lid into place, before reaching out to pause katie’s trembling hands. 
  katie’s endlessly pretty when she’s mad. drew understands why travis always tries to mess with her, as she has katie’s eyes on her. “hey,” she says. the word comes out round and pink and drew’s heart races - her charmspeak isn’t what she needs now so she pushes it down her throat. “i heard the stolls stuck you with their camp store shifts, do you want a hand?”
  she hasn’t been this nervous since she was nine and had katie’s arms around her while they watched the end of summer fireworks. drew’s never liked to look vulnerable so she hasn’t let herself be since before she lived in cabin ten with half siblings she could never quite trust. 
  the look in katie’s eyes shifts and the tenseness that was taught in her skin relaxes and she smiles, “sure, drew. i’m in tomorrow at two pm - don’t be late.” the last bit comes out a little teasing and drew smirks back. 
  “i’d never dare be late to meet you, i’ll see you then,” she winks, carefully, and then she slips past and around katie, her heart still racing but her face carefully composed, as she heads to her cabin. she sneaks a look back over her shoulder to see katie watching her go and she turns back quickly to hide her blush. tomorrow at two pm. she won’t be late. 
  instead, she’s early. silena had asked her where she was going and lacy and val had watched her get ready from one of the top bunks, but she hadn’t let anyone slow her down. she’d fussed earlier in the morning but she didn’t let any of it show as she left her cabin to meet katie. lou ellen had the shift before katie and she rose an eyebrow at drew as drew took her place, but she didn’t say anything. that’s why drew liked lou ellen so much, she’d wait to bother drew later. 
  katie arrives at two pm on the dot and giggles when she sees drew is early. “i knew you wouldn’t be late, but i didn’t think you’d beat me here.”
  “i didn’t want to miss any time with you,” drew says with a shrug. the words themselves are soft, but she makes sure she says them with an edge. she’s taking a chance, but she isn’t ready to soften all her sharp bits yet. 
  katie wanders through the aisles, still giggling. “okay, sure drew. i’m just gonna make sure everything’s stocked up in the aisles and then we can just hang out.”
  drew nods when katie looks to check for her reaction, and doesn’t let it show that it maybe kinda hurts that katie doesn’t believe her. katie doesn’t have any reason to think she was being honest - drew’s always had a bite to her and if katie likes her back like drew thinks she might, then hopefully they’ll have time to learn when the other is telling the truth in the time they have left. drew tidies up the till in the meantime. she’s never liked things messy, beauty and love can be messy all they like but the aphrodite cabin has always gotten perfect on cabin inspections for a reason. 
  finally, katie walks back around to where drew is. katie hops onto the counter and grins down at her and drew finds herself playing with her bangles. “so,” katie says, her legs swinging on the other side of the counter. “what made you want to join me here today? i know you don’t typically take shifts here.”
  yesterday when drew got back to cabin ten after talking to katie in the strawberry fields silena had been talking about how she and beckendorf got together. silena’s told drew the story multiple times, but it’s a nice story. it’s a good love story. 
  “okay, okay, shut up everyone!” silena says, half laughing in her bunk, pillow clutched to her chest. the cabin all quiets down. every single one of drew’s half siblings know to pay attention to a love story. 
  “okay,” silena says again, catching her breath. “i’d maybe kinda saved charlie from giant ants-” at this, drew and all of her siblings shriek, they can’t help it, it’s family pride.
  “omg shut up!!” silena says, sitting up. “do you want to hear the story or not?”
  “oh you know you love it, just keep going!” mitch calls from the bunk under silena’s. silena throws her pillow at his face and he laughs, but silena finally gets back to it. 
  “okay! okay, so everyone had known he had this massive crush on me for years and i thought it was kinda cute i guess - but he didn’t do anything about it! and you can like a guy forever, but if he never does anything nothing’s gonna happen. it was capture the flag and we were running out of summers together so i was maybe flirting-” wolf whistles interrupt her, but silena shushes them all. “anyways! it was capture the flag and annabeth and i captured percy - but then he pointed out that charlie had been kidnapped by the myrmekes and i was so scared - though don’t tell anyone i was scared! - but i got it together and the three of us not only put together the giant bronze dragon in the woods we also freed charlie from the ant hill he almost died in and then! we destroyed charlie and percy.”
  “um,” lacy says. “what about him asking you out?”
  “oh yeah,” silena looks at her nails. “hm.” drew throws her pillow at silena and silena laughs. “okay! okay, so we got back from saving charlie and charlie had just jumped on the dragon to turn it off and it was like. super brave and very hot, you know? anyways after turning off a dragon i guess he figured out how to be brave enough to ask me out so he asked me to the fireworks - and i said yes thank you very much! i told him i’d been waiting for him to ask me the whooole time-”
  “get it!!” cam calls. 
  silena laughs, “yeah so i tell him that, and then i kiss his cheek - just his cheek we hadn’t even gone on a date yet! but i kiss his cheek and charlie reaches for my hand, and after i kicked his ass in capture the flag we snuck out that night to go stargazing and - no more yelling okay it’s late!! and we made out by the waterfall - no yelling i said - but the best part wasn’t even that. it was when he lead me to the waterfall and told me he didn’t know how long we were going to have together but he wanted every minute with me, because he said i was worth every minute and he wanted as long as possible to learn what love was with me. and well, now we know!”
  drew’s siblings shriek and laugh at that, even though it’s late and silena just told them not too. drew lets herself relax back into her bunk after she steals silena’s pillow from mitch - they always end up trading pillows like this at night when they tell love stories - and she thinks of tomorrow. she’s never had the love silena has. And yeah, silena should’ve dumped beckendorf and broken his heart like they were taught by their long gone older siblings. but, if silena can get happy ever after with her first love… drew can’t see why the same can’t be true for her. she doesn’t have much time left, so she wants as much of it as she can get. 
  “katie,” drew starts. her voice is shaking so she pinches her wrist and starts again, katie’s listening with a smile, it’s just as soft as the day drew met her. “katie i like spending time with you. that’s why i’ve been hanging around the strawberry fields recently, too.”
  “i like spending time with you too, drew.” katie says. katie reaches out and places a hand on drew’s wrist. drew’s eyes watch as katie’s chipped green nail polish glimmers against her bangles. katie’s fingers separate the bracelets one bye one and drew’s breath catches.
  drew breathes, slowly, “katie. katie i should tell you something.”
  katie looks up into drew’s eyes, face warm and drew screws up her courage and okay this is the most nervous she’s ever been. yesterday isn’t even close. “katie i like you. you’re cute and you’re sweet, and i think we could be something special.”
  drew bites at her strawberry flavoured lip and titls her head at katie. she’s - hopeful. and then katie looks away. katie’s legs have stopped swinging, coming to a standstill that drew has never seen katie ever have. and then katie pulls her hand away from drew’s wrist and drew wants to cry. 
 “drew i. drew i’m sorry but, i just.” katie looks back at drew and drew knows katie’s sorry but it doesn’t help. Katie keeps talking, but the words wash over her and she shifts her dumb hopeful smile into a smirk. that’s stronger. she nods at the right things and waves it off. 
 “don’t worry about it,” drew says and she lets her voice turn sugary with charm. “it’s chill katie. anyways, i’m gonna go. byeee.” and then she walks around the counter and as she leaves she doesn’t look back.
  the war is coming. it makes sense. to her it meant a last chance, to katie it means there’s no point in worrying about love. (to say that to a daughter of the love goddess - drew knows that that, at least, katie didn’t realize)
  it’s drew’s first heartbreak. seeing silena after beckendorf is her second. her third is when she sees her sister's face, melted and scarred and unrecognizable and - still painfully beautiful. the fourth is when she finds the charm around silena’s wrist as she burns her shroud and learns silena was a traitor. the war comes and goes and drew’s heart broke and broke and broke and she learns her stupid lesson. 
  after that, drew closes the door to her heart and she closes it on her siblings as well. silena didn’t want to break beckendorf’s heart, but she was a traitor. she would’ve traded cabin ten for kronos’s army - even if it wasn’t where she was in the end at some point she would’ve. drew turns the cabin sharp. she doesn’t think about first loves and she doesn’t think about telling her siblings the shape her love takes - instead she spends her rite of passage with a boy from nike who made fun of her when they were younger and she smiles when she breaks his heart. she doesn’t think about katie gardner. 
  (no, thats a lie. she thinks about katie gardner way too much. she’s different, everyone is, and even as drew lets herself harden she can’t help but watch as katie kisses travis at the fireworks. katie gardner breaks her heart again when she kisses travis and drew looks away and turns to malcolm to make fun of one of the new hermes kids.)
-
chapter two
  the war is over. drew barely believes it. the first war made drew close her heart. it and everything it caused made drew meaner than she thought she could be. the war is over. But it doesn’t feel any different. when piper mclean swings into camp and goes on that dumb quest drew bites her lip and she sharpens her words even more than before and she’s just so fucking angry all of the time and the war is over but another one is right there and-
  (she spotted katie and travis kissing at the campfire jason was claimed at but she just made a mess of herself and she’s so fucking tired of that. she’s so tired of not being right)
  piper mclean comes back from her quest and everyone knows there’s a second war on it’s way. the first war is something drew tries to forget. she lost friends to it. she lost her family. The war is over. their lives were supposed to reach some level of normal. the fates don’t seem to give a shit, they seem to want everyone to live through it again. the first war was a nightmare but it’s over. drew wants anything but another war. except - the second war is giving her another sister. piper is the first new aphrodite camper that wasn’t already in camp since before the titan war. 
  piper takes the cabin counsellor role and drew lets her have it. the war is over. does that matter when there’s another one? but - the second war isn’t like the first. the titan war was her siblings crowding in their cabin together, holding onto everyone and hoping they wouldn’t lose anyone. it was learning her big sister was a traitor the entire time. it was. it was full of death. the second war isn’t free from loss, but instead of taking everything it gives them a sister camp. drew does her hours in the combat arena for the first time ever and she lets her new half brother michael teach her how to use a sword and she only puts up a little fight. at camp jupiter they live together into old age. the only demigods drew knows that lived to old age have dispersed through the world, available to call once or twice, but drew will never get a city with them. stupid annabeth chase wants a city, drew can see it, but it will be for the campers now. not the ones who left because there was no other life for them. the war is over. drew doesn’t know what that means. 
 for piper mclean little ms movie star, it means her best friend is dead. piper needs her to soften her words and drew does. she tells lacy to start sharing love stories at night when piper starts shaking and drew remembers what it’s like to spend her nights laughing with her half siblings again. the war is over. drew stops waiting to see what it means and decides that herself. she does butch’s toes in the rainbow pattern he likes and runs jewellrey making sessions in the arts and crafts center and she even participates in capture the flag for the first time since before the last war. she doesn’t open her heart up but she relearns her mother's domain. and she practices her charmspeak because piper might be her sister and she might be hurting, but drew’s not going to make everything easy for her. it’s not worth it if it is. 
  the last few weeks of summer are spent like that. drew enters junior year and ignored bratty sadie kane who thinks she’s special now that she’s a sophomore. she takes the lead in all the drama productions that are school wide and even bothers to help lacy learn how the lights work when she signs up so she can hang out with sadie. It’s...fun. the war is over. drew is still learning what it means to know she’s going to survive. 
  drew’s a daughter of aphrodite, but more importantly she’s the oldest camper and the longest serving camper in cabin ten. she’s seen her half siblings leave camp and never come home. she knows where they went, though, when they left the strawberry fields and canoe lake in the dust. 
  “where are you going?” drew asks. she’s twelve and her head counsellor is leaving with no plans to come back. arabella sighs as she packs her bags and turns back to look at drew, slumping onto her bunk as she meets drew’s eyes. 
  “drew, baby, i’m too old for camp now,” she says it sweetly, not quite the way drew’s charmspeak sounds, but close. “i’m gonna be a star, drew. another one of our siblings got me a spot on a new show and i’m gonna be on it. remember camilla, the head counsellor from last year? she’s in europe now doing fashion shows. mom might not visit us, but she did give us something special. when we have the drive we can be the biggest stars in the sky.”
  drew nods, carefully, and then she holds out her little address book she bought from the camp store. if arabella is going to be a star, drew is going to have her contact information. she tells arabella that and her sister laughs and fills in her information with no hesitation. “drew, i’ll do you one better. i’ll give you all of the contacts of our siblings that i have too. when you’re ready for the spotlight reach out to any of us and we’ll get you what you need.”
  the smile on arabella’s face grows as she signs the bottom with a signature that is clearly well practiced and fitting for a star. drew takes the book back and holds it close to her chest. over the next few years as siblings leave, drew carefully writes down their information. later, she adds it to her laptop and phone and backs them up as many times as she can think.
  she has siblings on magazine covers, broadway stages, oscar winning movie posters. and drew has their numbers programmed on her phone. drew never knew what her calling was, now she thinks she has an idea. before she boards the bus to go back home with lacy she calls up arabella and she promises her an agent when she gets back from camp. the war is over. she can set her roots down anywhere and….she can leave camp without being a traitor. 
  when she and lacy get in a shoving match as they walk past thalia’s tree drew doesn’t dig her nails in to lacy’s arm to get her to stop. instead, drew pops a stick of bubblegum into her mouth and offers one to lacy. this could be her last summer at camp. part of her wants her siblings to ask her for her contact information before she leaves like she did for all of the cabin ten campers before her that made it out alive. lacy takes it, examines it carefully, and shoves it in her mouth. 
  then, drew pauses. “wait a minute. hon, didn’t you have braces?”
  lacy nods, and then she curls her lips up as she smirks at drew, displaying perfectly aligned brace free teeth. “i got them off three weeks ago!”
  “hm,” drew says. “they look half decent. fix the pigtails and i’ll maybe let you borrow something from my closet.” she keeps walking as she says that, chewing her gum. it’s strange looking at camp and not recognizing most of the faces. new campers arrive every summer and fewer leave. she turns to ask lacy if she knows who the group clustered around the big house porch are -
  lacy is still back where she was when drew gave her the gum. drew raises an eyebrow and lacy stumbles forward, looking a little lost. drew grabs her arm and steers her towards cabin ten. lacy snaps out of her haze after a bit and manages to get into the cabin by herself. drew rolls her eyes and claims her bunk. she finds a few papers waiting on the table the typically stick shared accessories on and picks it up. It’s a bunch of head counsellor information and drew skips over most of it up to - assignments for older campers. drew still has to do some activities with her cabin but she’s outgrown some of the others, in the space where she used to have monster 101 and ancient greek and the like, she now has hours supervising and running events at the arts and crafts centre and - drew drops the papers and turns back to her bunk. 
 she’s almost completely settled in when piper walks in, leading a new boy with valentina and mitch. the four of them claim their bunks, there’s only one bunk left. drew’s eyes stay on the bunk. cam’s bags are left unpacked on their bed, lacy is in the bathroom, the new boy is being shown the ropes by val and piper, mitch is a year rounder...sometimes bunks are empty. 
  the war is over. silena’s bunk is still empty. drew closes her eyes. 
  “drew?” there’s a new girl sitting on the top bunk by the closet. drew memorized every single one of her siblings' names and faces at the end of last summer after her claiming before they all went back home for school, so she knows this girl is new. she’s wearing a headscarf with a pretty flower pattern and her eyes are a glittery pink. and she looks like she’s the same age as drew. there hadn’t been any summer campers her age last year in cabin ten. 
  “yeah,” drew says. she doesn’t say anything else. the new girl doesn’t seem to mind. 
  “i’m silena beauregard,” she says smiling. “we’re sisters i guess. it’s nice to meet you, i don’t have any siblings outside of camp.”
  drew eyes her carefully. and then she walks over to silena’s bunk and climbs up the ladder. she reaches out and shakes silena’s hands and carefully examines silena’s nail polish, now that she’s up close. “me neither,” drew says. “i like your nail polish.”
  silena’s smile gets even bigger and her back straightens up, “i brought it with me! can i do your nails?”
  drew shrugs, but she’s smiling too, “sure.”
  drew walks over to silena’s bunk and lifts her hand to brush against the wooden rail that kept silena from rolling off onto the ground for years. 
  “drew!” piper’s voice calls. drew turns over to see piper holding the papers up. all of drew’s siblings are back at the cabin now drew drops her hand from the rail. “you have most of your shifts in the arts and crafts centre, but you also have a few in the strawberry fields. cool? cool. okay mitch you’re-”
  “strawberry fields?” lacy asks, popping her head out of the bathroom to eye drew carefully. “piper are you sure about that one? drew doesn’t work in the strawberry fields.”
  cam coughs awkwardly, “she did. once. with katie gardner.”
  “uh,” piper says. “okay, well it says here you have your first shift with katie so i guess it’ll be fine. it’s thursday at two by the way, so you have a few days to fight chiron or whoever on it. um, anyways, mitch you’re on lifeguard duty during canoe lessons - that’s pretty cool mitch, i didn’t know you were a lifeguard.”
  her first shift is with katie gardner. she knew that already of course. she had just hoped she read it wrong. drew decides to ignore it until it’s thursday. 
  on tuesday, her friends decided to crash her arts and crafts lesson. she has the nike and nemesis cabins so it’s really just turned into a race. drew maybe made it worse when she said whoever had the best earrings would win a prize. drew hasn’t decided what the prize is yet. butch starts making a pair next to her while lou ellen sabotages the kids she thinks are doing too well. malcolm asks her how she’s doing. 
  “i’m fine,” drew says. “i’m scheduled for the strawberry fields with katie gardner on thursday.”
  malcolm hums at that, “you know, when i was trying to get connor to ask me out last week - shh i know he’s in love with your brother shut up - anyways he told me his brother and katie are over.”
  drew doesn’t say anything to that. she just reaches over and straightens the wire on butch’s earrings he grins at her and bumps into her shoulder and she shoves him back into his seat. it’s been a while since her sister was the only one who knew she liked girls. 
  “anyways,” malcolm says. “is your brother going to ask connor out or not? connor’s so mopey over travis being gone, mitch will have to make the first move.”
  drew rolls her eyes, “i don’t pay attention to my siblings love lives. anyways, i’m thinking about not coming back next summer.”
  butch blinks at her, “what?” then he throws a piece of clay at lou ellen to get her to pay attention. “lou ellen, drew says she’s not coming back next summer.”
  lou ellen mirrors butch’s blink. “drew, what the fuck?”
  “well,” drew says, playing with the clay in front of her as she avoids her friends eyes. “one of my older siblings is getting me an agent, but she told me they film mostly during the summer. and it would be my last summer anyways.”
  “an agent?” lou ellen says, her voice quieter. “that’s a big deal.”
  “i know,” drew says. malcolm looks like he’s about to tell her why an agent is stupid and not coming back to camp is stupid and why she should just listen to the athena kid, when a tiny daughter of nemesis drops a perfectly made pair of clay earrings in the shap of bloody knives in front of drew. 
  “well,” she says standing up. “we have a winner!” the rest of the kids start shouting, but drew just holds up the earrings and they quiet down. no one really wants to fight with a child of nemesis who won fair and square (more or less, considering lou ellen’s interference) with knife shaped jewelry. 
  when drew sits back down the kid has her arms crossed and a glint in her eyes, “i want my prize.”
  drew shrugs, “what do you want that i can give?”
  the kid lights up. “i want an aphrodite makeover.” 
  “well,” drew says, beaming next to her friends who have started to crack up, “i cant happily arrange that.”
  her friends have to filter out after that, but butch catches drew’s arm as he leaves and he looks her in the eye, “we’re still your friends, even if you don’t come back next summer. you know that, right?”
  drew rolls her eyes at him, but it’s fond. “yes i know, you’ll get dibs on my autographs and everything.” butch smiles at her as he leaves and he dangles his new earrings in her face as malcolm doubles back to pull him to their next activity. 
  after that, drew manages to push the thought of her upcoming unavoidable time with katie to the back of her mind. 
  when the day finally comes, she pulls cam and julian over to her stuff in the closet after they get their hours and she makes them pick between her altered camp shirts for her. there’s the one she ripped the sleeves off of, the one she cropped, the one she made into an off the shoulder, the one she fringed the edges of, and the one she dyed and embroidered a heart onto. 
  cam sighs at her as she fusses, “what are you trying to do here? drew you know she had that thing with travis for like, ever.” julian elbows cam for that and tells drew to go with the cropped one. drew smiles at him, only mostly fake and then she turns to cam.
  “why would i care that katie was making out with travis for the past two summers?” drew asks, her words sugary, her charmspeak slipping out gently. 
  “because you’re still kinda into her,” cam says. julian elbows cam harder this time. drew blinks at them both and the two of them shrug at her. 
  “well,” julian says. “cam didn’t have to be a dick, but yeah. we know you used to like her. you wouldn’t spend so much time in a field for anyone.”
  “oh,” drew says. drew had thought this whole time that silena was the only one of her siblings who knew she liked girls. julian seems to realize what she’s thinking, because he slings an arm around her shoulder and squeezes as he directs her towards the bathroom so she can do her makeup. cam trails behind them, but is quiet enough so drew doesn’t say anything. 
  “now i don’t know if you actually want to win her over or whatever, but i do that eyeliner thing for you that i did when i got cecil to ask me out,” julian smiles at her as the two of them stare at the bathroom mirror and drew smiles back, sharper and small, but she smiles back. she’d heard rumours from lou ellen about him and cecil but she’d never asked. 
  drew looks at the carefully colour coded makeup products displayed in the bathroom year round and picks out her favourite pink pencil, “i don’t know if i want to win her over. but i want her to see me at my best.”
  julian squeezes her shoulders and turns her around and does her eyeliner perfectly. when he’s finished cam passes her her strawberry shaped earrings and drew smiles at them both, softer than she normally does when they can see. 
  and then drew walks over to the strawberry fields for the first time since before the war. her pink eyeliner is perfect and her camp shirt is cropped to wear her high waisted denim shorts reach and her strawberry shaped earrings swing in the air. katie is at the edge of the bushes holding two wicker baskets in her arms. she’s wearing a flower crown in her hair and drew’s breath totally doesn’t catch. 
  she takes her basket from katie and they start walking through the bushes. they aren’t the only two in the fields, but they seem to be the only demigods. the others are nymphs and satyrs. drew reaches for a malformed strawberry. when she touches it it shimmers lightly, she plucks it and pulls it up to her eye. it’s in the shape of a heart. 
  drew swallows and puts it in her basket and turns to look at katie. katie’s busy plucking strawberries. drew blinks and turns back to the bushes, she must’ve been seeing things. except, it keeps happening. drew almost confronts katie, and then she realizes that she’s just going to stop getting the heart shaped strawberries if she says anything. it’s probably just their godly inclinations getting confused. 
  after the eleventh heart shaped strawberry they start to get bigger. when drew picks a heart shaped strawberry the size of her hand she stops brushing it off and she puts down her basket. 
  “katie gardner, what the fuck is this?” 
  katie stands up slowly and puts her basket down on the ground. “well,” katie says. “um.”
  drew shoves the strawberry at katie and katie plucks it out of drew’s hands, “wait! wait, wait um.”
  “are you trying to make fun of me? this isn’t funny katie gardner.” drew’s face is flushed and her fingers have curled into fists. she could put up with spending time with the girl she was halfway in love with once, but she’s not going to put up with her mocking her. 
  “no!” katie says, and katie’s face is so open and sorry that drew even believes her a bit. drew lets her hands relax by her side and she gestures at katie to keep talking. “well,” katie says. “i heard you were thinking about not coming back next summer.”
  drew raises an eyebrow at her, “and?” she doesn’t know where katie’s heard that from, but she’s suspecting some convoluted train of malcolm and lou ellen and cecil and connor. 
  “okay, um. okay. we’ve. well we’ve known each other forever, since we were little, and at first i thought i was just upset because if you were thinking about leaving it meant our time was running out. and then i started thinking about our time running out and - and i remember what you said back a few months ago before the titan war,” katie takes a deep breath and drew sees she’s fiddling with a bracelet on her wrist. and. drew recognizes it. she has a matching one underneath her bunk pillow from their first summer at camp together that katie and her made for each other. katie clears her throat and continues, “and at the time - at the time i was dumb. i didn’t even know if i liked girls but i thought if i liked any girl i would like you, but i was so worried about the war and one of my little brothers had just gone to the other side and i didn’t want to lose anyone too close. and then i thought you might ask again after the war, but you didn’t.”
  “i thought you didn’t like me at all,” drew says, quieter than she means to. 
  katie laughs a little, but it wavers and drew freezes as she realizes katie has started to cry a bit, “that makes perfect sense. ha. but, i didn’t know because i was dumb. and then travis was being sweet to me all day and he asked to kiss me and i saw yes because i just really wanted to be held. and everything with travis was so good, and i’m not sorry about it really, because i liked him a lot and i don’t regret being with him but. but we broke up when he went to university and i’m going in september, so we both knew it was coming to an end. but, but i never saw you anymore. and i’d missed you so much in the time between the summer when we were little and the months before the war and then you were gone again and. and then i heard you were leaving and i knew i had to do something and i saw you today with your perfect eyeliner and your really cute earrings and-”
 katie cuts herself off, blushing and crying a bit and drew reaches out. she’s not used to reaching out and she’s not sure she can be as soft as she needs to be, but she catches one of katies hands and squeezes it. “yeah?” drew asks. 
  “and. and i saw you in that crop top and i wanted to scream a bit,” katie admits. “i really, really like you drew. and i know you probably don’t like me back, but i had to try-”
  “wait,” drew says. “of course i like you back.” because of course she does. katie broke her heart, but drew would rather katie break her heart than let anyone else close to touching it in the same way. katie with her heart shaped strawberry plan and beautiful brown eyes and soft sweet smiles. 
  “oh,” katie says. “really? because you’re drew tanaka and you’re kinda the most beautiful girl ever. and you were the best friend i used to dream of when i was a kid that summer.”
  drew links her fingers with katie’s and steps close, “your nail polish is still chipped.”
  “sorry?” katie says, a little confused. 
  “nothing, ignore that,” drew bites her lip and tastes strawberry. “katie, will you go out with me?”
  and then katie smiles the soft smile she’s had since they were little that drew’s been in love with for years and nods, “yeah. i’d like that a lot.”
  “cool,” drew says. and she smiles back with the smile she’s only let katie have. katie steps closer to her, and with her free hand she presses her thumb up against drew’s mouth. drew hopes that katie can’t hear her heartbeat race, and then katie meets her eyes right on. 
  “drew,” katie asks. “can i kiss you?”
  drew answers by taking katie’s other hand and leaning in. their lips meet, and drew tries to memorize the softness of katie’s lips against hers. 
  when they seperate katie giggles, “i always thought your lips would taste like strawberries. guess i was right.”
  later, drew and katie will talk about their plans and the schools and programs they’re planning for and they’ll get to know each others friends and each others siblings. katie’s lips will taste like strawberries because she’ll steal drew’s lipgloss and they’ll make out in all the spots they frequented as kids. 
  now, drew laughs with katie and kisses her again, and again and again until all she can taste is strawberries. the war is long gone, and their future is starting. 
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gideonloser · 3 years
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Chapter five: The night's just begun
Once the stress of the cow monster trying to fight was over, the three found themselves in a pickle. Ash hopped down from the car and Farrah was able to get to her feet without help and seemed more or less steady, but then they were three kids, on the side of a road through a forest, next to a stolen and wrecked BMW, and a cow patterned pelt. The pelt was easy enough to deal with- Ash explained to Teddy that some monsters left behind trophies for the heroes that slayed them. She thought he should take it, as it was his quest, but he and Farrah both agreed it was hers, as she shot the Hail Mary that saved the day. Perhaps under different circumstances she would have argued more, but instead she just shoved it into her backpack and turned her attention back to the problems that weren’t so easily solved.
It was a quiet road, but someone was still bound to come by eventually and the three agreed it was best that they not be there when they do. A compass Farrah produced from her bag told them which way was West, and they started walking. That part seemed a little stupid to Teddy, as they weren’t exactly going to walk all the way to Salt Lake, but he didn’t object as he didn’t have a better plan. Eventually they found a place that was deemed far enough away from the crash to be non-suspicious- even if investigators did find them, Farrah would undoubtedly be able to come up with some kind of bluff that would explain why three teenagers were out in the middle of nowhere, and deny hearing or seeing anything about the crash, and at the distance they were, it would (hopefully) be believable.
After all the excitement, Teddy would have been perfectly happy to just flop down on his sleeping bag and sleep for days, but Ash insisted they all needed food first, and he couldn’t deny that a warm fire did sound nice. While Farrah sorted out what they could prepare with the skills they had, Ash insisted Teddy make the fire. She said since Apollo was the god of light and fire created light, he could have a special bonus there. Still, try as he might and with Ash right over his shoulder walking him through it, he couldn’t do it. When Farrah declared they could do hot dogs and had everything all ready but he still didn’t even have so much as a spark, he threw it all down in frustration and yielded to Ash.
As he watched her make the fire (which she got quickly, because of course she did), it occurred to him that he really didn’t know very much about her. As her face lit up dimly in the sparks, he thought about how he didn’t even know where she called home when she wasn’t at camp. This girl called herself his sister, and was willing to put her life on the line for his quest without even being asked. Once she sat back, satisfied with the blaze, and Farrah had distributed the hot dogs, he asked.
"Ash, what is your real life like?"
She turned to him and quirked an eyebrow.
"My what?"
He made a face at himself when he realized he had worded it a bit weirdly, and took the time in his head to make sure his internal translation wasn't lagging, as he sought a better way to word it.
"Like, where do you go when you're not at camp? What's your human family like?"
"I go to my mother's in Los Angeles. She, her husband, and my stepsister Zoe all live there. I do not have any half siblings on that side, though I do have one full sister, Q."
There was a lot to unpack there. First was that she had a full sibling, did Apollo like her mom so much that he came back? Second was that any full sibling of hers was also a half sibling of his, but he had never even heard of this Q, or seen her around camp. Third was the name Q. Was that supposed to be, like, Queue, or was it a nickname? And if it was a nickname, what was it short for? Quin, maybe?
He wasn't sure where to start with all his thoughts, but luckily Farrah seemed to sense his confusion and jumped in.
"Tell him more about Q."
"Q is my twin sister. It's short for Queenie. She joined the Hunters of Artemis a few years ago."
Farrah nodded along as she spoke, evidentially already knowing the story, but meanwhile Teddy was a little lost.
"The what?"
"They're an asexual immortal girl gang." Farrah answered in a helpful tone, but Ash shot her a glance warning her that it was not helpful, and Ash knew damn well that Farrah was aware of it when she said it.
"You know who Artemis is, right?"
"Apollo's twin sister. Goddess of..." That gave him a moment of pause. What exactly was she the goddess of, after all? He was still so new to all of this, and trying to keep everyone straight was hard. "...The moon?"
"Yes, among other things. Including the hunt and chastity." Ash started her answers quickly, almost as soon as Teddy finished speaking- probably just to cut off Farrah before she could contribute any more technically true but confusing nonsense. "So she has all these attendants- girls who pledge to serve her and to forsake the company of men, and in return Artemis makes them immortal. The only way they can die is being struck down in battle. Those are the Hunters."
"And Queenie is one?"
"Queenie is one." Ash confirmed. She suddenly busied herself with her hot dog, and what part of his face he could see while she did seemed sad.
"Do you ever get to see her?" He wasn't sure why he kept asking, especially since he could tell it was a sore spot, but she kept answering.
"Yes. Occasionally the Hunters visit camp, and we do try to Iris message once a month or so." She said, somewhat sadly. "It's just... weird. I mean, I keep aging but she doesn't. And for so long, she was always right by my side, and now she's just... gone."
Teddy went quiet. He understood that, probably more than anyone thought he did. His thoughts turned to his own private grief, which Farrah picked up on. In response, she did something very impulsively, that was also strangely selfless: she threw out her own pain that she had been carefully hiding for all to see, to distract him from his own.
"Ashley," She announced, shifting her body to fully face Ash, but still keeping an eye on Teddy out of the corner of her eye. "I think it's time we talk about Luke."
Teddy didn't need to know who Luke was to know whatever this was was bad news. The temperature seemed to drop and Ash sat up straight, raising her chin and looking at Farrah evenly. She crossed her arms, a gesture that Farrah mirrored, but when Farrah did it, it looked petulant and childish. When Ash did it, she held herself with an air of nobility and carried herself confidently.
"My name isn't Ashley, but okay. Let's talk about Luke."
"Who's Luke?" Teddy asked, hoping it would break the thick tension that had settled, but the girls didn't even break their eye contact.
"Why don't you answer that?" Farrah asked, feigning politeness. "He's your boyfriend."
"He was my boyfriend." She replied, stressing the past tense. "He is your brother."
"I don't care who answers it, can someone just do it?!" Teddy snapped, a little harsher than intended, but whatever had just come over the two girls freaked him out. Finally Farrah forfeited the staring contest, looking over at him.
"Remember the counselor I told you about when you first got to camp? The one who snapped last year and attacked another camper?" He gave a small nod- he didn't remember the details, but he did remember the gist. "That's Luke."
"Why do we need to talk about Luke?"
"What did you know about what he was planning?" Farrah asked, turning her attention back to Ash and ignoring the question.
"Like I already told Chiron," Ash replied, a hint of restrained anger in her voice. "Nothing. I wasn't a co-conspirator. He didn't even say goodbye before he attacked Percy and left."
"Which you didn't know about?" The question was somewhere between an accusation and a confirmation, but Ash nodded.
"Which I didn't know about."
"Wait, Percy Jackson?" Teddy interjected, and both girls nodded. "You hate Percy. You told me yourself that you hate Percy."
This time Ash looked over at him, irritation on her face.
"I think he's annoying, but that does not mean I asked or wanted my boyfriend to try to murder him." She replied, which did seem like solid logic. He nodded, and she looked back at Farrah. "What did you know about what he was planning?"
"No more than anyone else!" She said, immediately defensive. "He complained about our father all the time, but I didn't think he would actually do anything about it!"
"Why does anyone have to know anything about Luke?" Teddy interrupted before Farrah started full on screaming, which got both of them to look at him.
"What?" One, or possibly, both asked.
"Why does anyone have to know anything? Why couldn't Luke have just acted alone and nobody knew anything?"
That idea seemed to calm both of them down considerably and when they looked back at each other, there was sympathy.
"I'm sorry that you lost your brother." Ash offered, her voice still a little guarded, but overall kind.
"Thanks." Farrah said, a bit measured but overall offering an olive branch. "...Do you still love him?"
Ash went quiet, and both the younger teens couldn't help but wonder if Farrah had overstepped as she stared into the flames. The shifting light cast sharp shadows that accentuated all the emotions, of which she seemed to have many, across her face. It seemed odd that she could all but accuse her of conspiring to murder a twelve year old and that was fine, but when she asked about an ex, that was off limits.
"I don't know if I ever loved him." She finally answered, still staring into the fire. "He was my first... Well, my first everything. I can't make that ever go away. And I would always rather be behind his shield than in front of his sword."
Suddenly she looked up. It seemed a second fire had been lit behind her eyes, which glowed with intensity as she looked at them.
"But if I'm called on to defend my home or my family, I won't hesitate. I'll fight to his death, or mine."
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olyia-stories · 4 years
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A response to @teasockschocolate ‘s AU about the soulmate AUs in the PJO universe. Since this is a companion piece it doesn’t matter which one you read first, but make sure to check out @teasockschocolate and @demigodsanswer out.
Annabeth hated soulmates.
Ever since her dad met his, Annabeth’s life had just gotten worse. Admittedly, she and her dad hadn’t been particularly familyish, but it had been the two of them. He used to let her fall asleep in his arms while he worked on his thesis paper, he took her out for icecream in the park after his classes, and he would ask her opinion on which human models to put on his battle of the Somme replica. They had been fine on their own. They didn’t need Lori.
The only reason her dad even liked Lori was because the first thing she said to him was written on his arm. And not in the “he tattooed it on because he loved her” thing, but because it was a silly soulmate mark. Annabeth just couldn’t understand why her analytical father would rely on a process for choosing who he loved as flimsy as “the universe decided for us.” And clearly, the universe got it wrong. Lori was awful.
All Lori ever did was complain about everything Annabeth ever did: “Frederick, tell Annabeth to stop playing “science” in the living room.” “Frederick, tell Annabeth to stop drawing on herself.” “Frederick, tell Annabeth to go to sleep.” “Frederick, if you don’t tell Annabeth to stop getting out of bed, I will.” Lori only saw Annabeth as a stain that needed covering up.
Then the monsters started attacking. Of course, they were attacking because Annabeth was a half-blood, but it’s not like she wanted them to come. But Lori blamed her.
“There must be something you can do,” Lori was talking to Annabeth’s dad. Annabeth should have been asleep, but the spiders were too much for her. Lori went on, “Don’t look so shocked, I know you tried to get her mother to take her back, all I’m saying is that maybe someone more like her could take her off our hands.” Annabeth stood very still, she had not known that her dad had tried to get rid of her, she thought he loved her.
“Lori, I don’t know what to do, Athena sai-“
“Athena isn’t here!” Lori cut Annabeth’s father off. “Even Athena didn’t want that girl. I think it would be best for our boys if we found a new living arrangement for Annabeth.” Annabeth didn’t wait around for her father’s response; she knew he would give in he always gave in to Lori.
Annabeth was not going to give Lori the pleasure of sending her away, and she didn’t want to live a moment more under the same roof as her stepmother. Annabeth decided to leave.
She didn’t know where she would go, so Annabeth wanted to be prepared. She grabbed a marker and made a packing list on her arm. With the list on her arm, she quickly packed her backpack. She pulled on a hoodie and snuck out her bedroom window. It was on the second floor, but the window opened onto the porch roof and from there she shimmied down the gutter. And just like that, Annabeth was free.
--
“Child, in order to be a successful demigod you must be skilled in a wide-range of activities.” Chiron studied Annabeth from where he stood on the porch. Annabeth had come to complain. She didn’t understand why the camp made them climb lava walls, and swing swords at straw dummies. She just wanted to spend time in the Athena cabin’s library. She had never seen so many books, and she wanted to read them all.
“But Chiron, knowledge is power! Therefore, I should spend my time learning as much as I can.”
“Ah but knowledge is power; you must learn as much as you can, which includes being knowledgeable in fighting and survival tactics. Now I believe your cabin is going to the forge for arts and crafts, you should hurry along.” Annabeth thought about what the centaur had said while she walked to the forge. She decided She would start by learning archery. She wrote it on her hand, so she would remember to ask her siblings to teach her later. For now, she was going to create a masterpiece.
--
Annabeth lived year-round at camp, so she had independent lessons during the school year. Chiron trusted her siblings to educate her, but they quickly realized that she was capable of teaching herself so long as she had the right books. So, they let her alone. Annabeth would read, and write notebooks full of her discoveries, and when she came up on things she wanted to study further she would write a note on her arm to look it up later.
--
Finally, she met him. The person she had been waiting years for. This boy was who Chiron had told her about. He was going to take her on a quest. Well, he would once he stopped drooling in the med ward.
Percy Jackson would get a quest; Annabeth was sure of it. He was the son of Poseidon, one of the major gods, that was the deal. Chiron told her she would go with him on a quest. She HAD to go with him.
So, when Percy was taken to the big house she was right behind him. She had on her magic Yankee’s hat, a gift from her mother when she made it to camp the hat made the wearer invisible. She listened to Chiron explain to Percy the war brewing among the gods. She watched Percy enter the big house and listened for his footsteps recede up the stairs before she took off her cap.
“Blah ha ha!” Grover yelped. “You can’t sneak up like that Annabeth! You’ll give me a heart attack!”
Chiron sighed, “I suppose you were listening to all of that?”
“Yes,” she respected Chiron too much to lie to him. “I want to go on this quest.”
“Annabeth, you know that it’s Percy’s right to choose his companions,” Annabeth was in the middle of formulating a convincing argument when Chiron added, “But, I will tell Percy that you have volunteered to go, and if he wants to choose you, you may go. Child it will be dangerous, and I would rather both of you would stay at camp and train. I fear, however, that peace will only return to the Olympians when the bolt is returned. The quest must happen.”
Annabeth nodded. Satisfied with Chiron’s promise she waited for Percy to come back down. She was going on a quest
--
Annabeth still didn’t regret volunteering for the quest. It quickly went up, down and sideways and veered left from there. They have so far blown up a bus, wrecked a statue garden, ruined a national landmark, almost died by mechanical spider, and now they were heading south in the smelliest truck on the highway.
The animal fumes must have gotten to Annabeth because she found herself talking to Percy about her dad. She plucked at her dad’s college ring as she talked. “I guess my dad never really wanted me. He met Athena while he was working his way through grad school. She admired his dedication and helped him develop his thesis. To reward him, she pulled me out of her thoughts. He wanted her to take me back. But he took care of me. Once he met his soulmate, Lori, he decided he didn’t want me.” Annabeth glued her eyes to the ground. She found it easy to talk to Percy, but she couldn’t look at him and tell him what had eaten at her heart since Lori said those stupid soulmate words. “He had her and then they had their kids and they were that meant-to-be family. I was just in the way from them being perfect.” Annabeth stopped. She needed to collect herself, she hadn’t talked about her dad in years.
“I’m sorry.” Just two little words, and yet they made her heart soar. Percy put so much emotion into his voice, it was clear that he had experience with family issues. “My mom had a soulmate, but I don’t know who it was. It’s not my stepdad, that’s for sure. I think it could’ve been my dad.”
“Gods don’t soulbond.” How could he believe in soulmates when his mom had to put up with his stepdad? Poseidon couldn’t have been his mom’s soulmate. She winced, “sorry, that was mean.” She hadn’t meant to be rude, but she struggled to be anything but critical about the soulbond.
Percy shrugged, “S’fine. It’s true.”
Annabeth thought for a second, then asked. “What about you?”
“What?”
“Do you have a soulmate?”
Percy clutched at his wrist. “Yeah, I do.”
Annabeth wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but this confession still surprised her. She looked into his eyes and asked, “Really?”
“Do you?”
“No.” at least, she never thought enough about soulmate marks to check. “What’s your mark? Do you know your soulmate?” Annabeth didn’t know why she wanted to know, she just had to learn all she could.
“Uh,” a blush crept up his face. “it’s a writing one and no. I’ve, uh, never talked to her.”
“Why not?” If it had been Annabeth, she would have found out who it was. Even if she didn’t believe in soulmates, having someone you can communicate with without speaking or technology, that could be useful.
Percy shrugged, “I don’t know…”
“You should.”
“Maybe someday. I’ve got enough going on now.”
“That’s true.” She paused, then added, “I think soulmates are pretty dumb.”
He gave her a strange look. “Why?”
She felt his defenses rise. “Believe in them all you want. But wouldn’t you rather choose who you be with? The universe shows you one person and that’s it. And isn’t it doomed to fail? The expectation of who someone wants their soulmate to be is always going to be so big that they’ll never live up to it. It’s just setting both of them up to be disappointed.” She had thought this argument through more than once.
“But it’s the one person that the universe is saying is perfect for you. I think that’s pretty amazing.”
Annabeth knew she wasn’t going to change his opinion. “Good luck. I’ve never seen a soulbond work out.” Feeling like her last sentence was a bit gruff she offered, “I don’t mean to… discourage you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I mean, that doesn’t encourage me.”
She knew it, she had let her bitterness show. “Maybe the people I’ve seen just haven’t cared as much about it. You haven’t given up.”
He smiled. “I’ll make sure mine works. Even if it’s just so you can be wrong about something.”
--
Annabeth didn’t think much about that night on the zoo truck. The summer passed, and the school year came. She decided to try living with her dad again. She studied like she was back at camp, writing notes on her arm, reminders, and doodling to pass the time in class.
San Francisco felt calmer than when she was little. Her dad’s house felt normal. No monster attacks at first, but Annabeth couldn’t help but feel on edge. She was just waiting for the bubble to pop.
She was in her Algebra class when she felt it, a burning sensation on her left palm. It felt like she was bitten by a spider. Annabeth yelped. The classmates gave her a weird look, but that was normal. She was the only seventh grader in a high school class.
Annabeth looked down at her hand and saw a little blue dot on her palm. It looked like a pen mark, but Annabeth hadn’t put it there. Annabeth thought back to the summer, when she had shared a hay-filled ride with Percy, and he had shared what his soulmate mark was with her.
Annabeth couldn’t be sure, but perhaps she did have a soulmate. She needed more evidence; a stray pen mark didn’t prove anything.
Perhaps she should pay Percy a visit.
--
Getting up to Percy’s fire escape was the easy part. Calculating which window was his based on the outside of the building was more difficult. Annabeth climbed the fire escape ladder and peaked into his window, she had her Yankee’s hat on, so he wouldn’t see her watching. She had to know.
Annabeth pulled the cap off her pen and drew a little flower on her arm, while she drew, she watched Percy’s arm. There it was, her little four petaled flower. She smiled. Why did this knowledge make her happy? Percy was her best friend, but she didn’t like him like that… did she?
--
Stupid! Annabeth that was stupid! Why did she charge the manticore? All she had on her was her Yankee’s hat and her dagger, and she jumped a monster. She should have known better, but when she left the gymnasium and saw Percy there. His shield up and his sword out, she knew in that moment that if anything happened to Percy, she would never forgive herself. She did the only thing she could and distracted the manticore. She didn’t realize that he would simply take her. That Luke wanted her, but he didn’t want her like Annabeth had always hoped. He was using her as bait. She was how he would catch a goddess.
Annabeth needed a plan. But she could barely breath, let alone think. The weight of the sky was literally threatening to crash down on her, and all she could do was kneel under the pressure and hope Luke would come to his senses. She felt a prickling on her arm, when she looked the words were written out in red pen, “We’re coming.” Her arms surged with strength. Suddenly the weight of the world felt lighter. She knew who that was writing on her arm. Percy knew she was alive. He was coming for her. She wouldn’t give up. She couldn’t.
--
Annabeth knew Percy was in trouble from two blocks away. She could see the smoke billowing up from Goode high school. Annabeth and Percy were supposed to go on a date to the movies, she had taken the LIR from camp into the city that morning to meet Percy after his high school orientation.
Unfortunately, plans were void whenever Percy was around. She saw the smoke and hurried up the block just in time to see Percy jump out onto the street from a window, followed by a red-haired girl. She had freckles everywhere, and paint stains on her clothes. Annabeth wondered who she was while she watched the girl pull a marker out of her back pocket and felt the tingling sensation as the girl wrote her number on Percy’s arm, and Annabeth’s right arm copied it.
She stared dumbfounded at Percy, before turning on her heel and leaving the red-haired girl behind. She hailed a cab and waited for Percy to catch up. She crossed her arms, hoping to hide the thick black numbers. The cab came. They sat in silence.
How could she be so stupid. Soulbonds never worked out. She was a fool for thinking maybe they could overcome all the evidence she had collected saying otherwise.
Percy cleared his throat. “Could I… call my mom?” right, she had probably heard about the fire, his mom would be worried. Annabeth wished she had someone to worry over her. She fished her phone out of her pocket, careful to keep her right arm at her side. He quickly finished the call and handed Annabeth her phone. She again kept her arm close to her side. “Cold?” His voiced broke through her thoughts.
“What?”
“Just… since you’re…” He gestured to her folded arms.
She had hoped to quickly pass the cab ride in silence. “No.” she answered truthfully, hoping to stop the conversation there.
“Oh.” Percy continued. “I, uh, have a jacket in my backpack if you want.”
“No.” she couldn’t let him see the stupid number on her arm, and she didn’t want to talk to him. She turned towards the window and watched the familiar landscape of Long Island to take shape.
As soon as they got to camp she ran to her cabin. And pulled on a sweatshirt. She only hoped the marks would soon be gone, and that she hadn’t been too obvious.
--
The mountain exploded behind Annabeth. She didn’t let herself cry. Percy was a powerful demigod, and resourceful, and just plain lucky. He would make it out. She was sure.
She made it back to camp on her own. Hoping the whole way that Percy had beat her there. But no one had seen him. She tried not to notice her friends giving her pitying looks and hoped every day to see her seaweed brain crest the hill or walk out of the ocean. It got harder to hope as the weeks came and went. Annabeth pretended she was fine. She led her cabin through their activities always glancing towards the ocean, hoping to be the first to spot him. He didn’t show up.
The day with its tasks kept her mind busy, but the night was hard. She couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned, trying to make a plan that would bring Percy home. She decided to write him a note. She put the pen to her hand and tried to think of what to say. But everything she wanted to write down seemed to swirl in her head. She instead wrote, “Hello?” That’s as far as she got before she couldn’t see with the tears welling in her eyes.
Two weeks passed, and still no word. Chiron decided to hold Percy’s memorial, to send him off properly. Annabeth stood at the fire pit and put the green silk cloth on the flames. She choked on the words, “He was probably the bravest friend I’ve ever had.” And the stupidest, “He…” she looked up at that moment and saw the impossible. What she had been waiting to see for weeks. “He’s right there!”
Annabeth vaulted up the amphitheater steps. And hugged him tight. He was alive!
--
It was August eighteenth. Percy’s birthday. Annabeth paused for only a second before writing out on her arm, ”Happy birthday.” She knew who was on the other end of this connection now, and she didn’t care about her data that said otherwise. She wanted Percy to know, she wanted them to work out.
“Thanks.” Was all he replied, and somehow that was all she needed. She couldn’t wait to see him again; they were going to make it through together.
--
Annabeth couldn’t believe this boy! How could she have ever liked him. They were standing near the tetherball court. She couldn’t believe he wanted to talk to her about his mortal friend Rachel. Sure, last summer she’d been helpful in the Labyrinth but that didn’t mean that she and Annabeth were friends. “What do you want me to say?” he seemed to put a lot of trust in this Rachel girl. How could he be so ignorant. She was a mortal, mortals don’t have visions. And besides he was just using this as an excuse to run away. She looked him in the eyes and spat out what she was thinking. “You’re a coward, Percy Jackson!”
Why had he never said anything. She was certain he knew, and their world could end any second. Beckendorf was proof of that. Why couldn’t he just talk to her! Why did every conversation turn into a shouting match? Why did she open her heart and let him in, when she knew that soulbonds never work. She couldn’t look at his green eyes anymore, she stormed away towards the strawberries, giving the tetherball a good whack as she passed it.
--
The war was over. They had won! And Rachel was now the new camp oracle. More importantly, Percy had turned down immortality. She was sure. She wanted to him to be her soulmate. She found him in the pavilion, lost in thought. She got out a pen and wrote out, “Hey.” He looked down at his wrist, then turned around to find her.
“Hey.” He had a little grin on his face, she smiled in return.
“Happy birthday.”
“What?” he looked puzzled.
she silently cursed herself, did she get the day wrong? “It’s August 18, You’re birthday, right?”
He nodded, and she let a breath out, she offered him the misshapen lump of birthday cake. It was delicious.
After a few minutes she couldn’t keep herself from asking what had been on her mind all summer. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“About what?” Annabeth couldn’t look at him, she was too scared. “I… I didn’t know for sure. If I was yours. And then last year… There was just so much else going on.”
Annabeth finally looked at him, she softly said, “I know, I thought I didn’t have one. I mean, I wrote on myself all the time when I was little.”
“I know,” he laughed, “I thought I was going crazy.”
“Why didn’t you write back?” She had to know. “When you said you had one… I thought it was someone else.” She didn’t say all that she was thinking, that she had hoped he didn’t have one, that she had liked him even all those years ago in that truck.
“I didn’t know what to say. But no, it was always just you.” Those words, the same way she had felt. Now she knew, Annabeth through away her caution and kissed him. He tasted like salt.
**Edit: I read the original fanfic on @demigodsanswer‘s blog but the AU “Whatever Souls are Made of” is by @teasockschocolate
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musicfeedsmysoul12 · 5 years
Note
Hey, I recently found your blog and I love your writing! Is it okay if I ask for some headcanons of Daughter of Hephaestus!MC from that one L&L/PJO crossover post? I know that it was it’s an older post.
OF COURSE, IT IS. Old posts or not, I definitely have ideas. I am super pumped people like my writing. Like… it super motivates me to keep going.
Alright, given that this is about a specific MC, I’m naming her… *looks up Greek Heroes* Atlanta. Atlanta Copperfield. As well, we’re going to have some general headcanons before going into the other ones.
LONG ASS POST
General
Atlanta fought in both wars. She’s not the best smith of the cabin or anything, but she was really good with armor and weapons. 
All Hephaestus kids have a Spark that lets them build amazing things. It’s part of their gift from their dad.
Has one of those enchanted belts you can put anything in
Is wicked strong. Like scary, scary strong.
Is semi-immune to fire- not like Leo but can withstand very high temps.
Has a lot of scars from the battles and has a hard time being anything but a fighter.
Left camp due to her PTSD and hatred of herself as she did have to kill siblings during the war. 
May or may not secretly hate the Gods.
Does love her dad but in a very distant way. 
Her mother died protecting her from a monster when she was six. She really hates Hyrdas. 
Witch Queen spell went wonky and the soul latched onto baby Atlanta. Her body changed to match the WQ appearance but no one really notices because God Genes are WEIRD. Seriously- her sister has purple hair. It’s weird.
Atlanta fully accepts she’s in a whole new world because she is used to weird shit.
Reiner
Reiner shows Atlanta around and she just freaks about the not so great armor some of the guards are wearing. Insists on making new ones for them. He shows her to the smithery.
Atlanta becomes a huge help in the castle. Reiner finds himself often sitting with her in the evenings as she designs things. The two build a strong friendship this way.
Thing is the generals don’t realize she looks like the WQ for a while. Mostly cause Atlanta isn’t thin and with long hair hanging down. She’s quite muscular and has her hair in a bun or a ponytail like 99% of the time.
They only figure it out when Atlanta lets her hair down while going for a walk with Reiner in the village, who all now know Atlanta isn’t the WQ cause she’s so nice and builds stuff for them.
Everyone ships her and Reiner. It’s adorable.
Demigods have super quick relationships because most die by like thirty so she is down for a wedding. Yep, oooh, can she make armor for them as their wedding outfits?
Atlanta being semiposessed by the WQ is really fucking scary cause of her demigod blood making her more sturdy and her Spark.
Now, it turns out the Gods are watching and when she gets possessed also get worried because even they feel the WQ is a big fucking deal. Soooooooo… they come to that world. 
Yep, Gods appear in Reiner’s castle and don’t care they see them. (Zeus may actually like the fact they believe)
Atlanta loses her Spark to protect it from the WQ until she is either free or dead. Atlanta as well goes into a heavy depression and is very much a zombie during this time because a Spark is part of her soul.
Reiner is literally the only thing keeping her from giving in.
(Wow this is getting long) Being free gives her Spark back and she throws herself into building weapons and armor. It actually takes Solaire yelling at her to have her realize that Oh shit, Reiner is not acting like himself because she was in a giant fog of working.
Big fight with her and Reiner. Both are really bad at acting like adults with their work because he was worrying over her thanks to Ryland and she was worrying over him…
Atlanta is fucking scary with a shield. She is very strong and can even knock down a wall thanks to a strange metal that appeared in her belt one day. She thinks it might be an apology from her dad…
She totally takes him to Camp while in her original world before they leave. Sophie comes to now that she remembers. Chiron likes him and with his help they create a stable portal.
Her siblings approve.They do make them recite a blessing for Hera and jump over a fire but that’s it. They’re married.
Atlanta makes him a crossbow that is enchanted to shoot fire or ice arrows. 
August
August totally thinks she’s the WQ for five minutes and then she starts ranting about his sword.
Nope, no longer WQ, now she is a sword buddy. They get along fantastic after that.
Atlanta doesn’t run off beginning season2, instead, she stays because running off would be stupid. 
Atlanta dislikes sword fighting. She’s good at it and likes swords but she’s wicked strong so she likes to try and have her fighting resemble that. 
She ends up making a wicked heavy sword that lets her smash all she wants. August is appauled.
“Look, I used to ride a pegasus. Horses do not have wings. That is why i suck at this.” “No, you are simply bad at it because you are to stiff-” “I RODE A FLYING HORSE. OF COURSE I AM STIFF.”
August’s mom loves her when she ends up like fixing everything in their inn because her hands just won’t stop. Asta is like “Marry that woman.” August blushes.
The Gods come to yell when they’re in council. Apparently this is her quest and she must defeat the WQ because *some reason*. Her Spark is removed for a year as punishment for letting her gain a body.
It’s awful. August is terrified for her, she’s a zombie. He prays to the Gods, begging. Eventually Hep is like: fuck this and gives her back her Spark early. Just in time for battle.
Atlanta brings Sophie to the Camp. They all pitch in but still Sophie has to stay for now. She hates it but now knows other magic people!!
Atlanta also brings back necter and stuff but still ends up cursed in the end. 
August Dad is eh about her. Heard rumors but didn’t believe until she lifted a tree off him and did some pretty cool stuff.
Also again, let her at the broken stuff. She’s good at it.
When August’s sword breaks she offers to make a new one but like… for some reason she can never make the right one. it’s super frustrating for the both of them and she is wicked upset about it. And then they meet Aisetha.
“I could make a better sword.” “No you cannot.” “I’m making one that talks to.”
Aisetha does let Atlanta make the armor to it’s wishes but it does look badass so fine.
These two fuckin hate each other, it’s the best.
The wedding has traditional vows and Chiron, as well as a bunch of siblings, come through a portal to party.
Saerys
Saerys does not think this girl is the WQ. It’s obvious she uses physical strength and the WQ is pure magic.
Atlanta does not go to his room in the beginning- she knows this shit is real. But she and Saerys bond over being really strong and soon they end up having contests with picking shit up.
Atlanta picked up Saerys who was picking up Reiner once. 
Atlanta fixes everything still. Also builds random shit everywhere. Eventually, she has to stay with Saerys in his room cause Ryland and Solaire get annoyed when she takes stuff apart.
She can’t help it. Literally. She actually confesses she’s a demigod to Saerys because she feels alone here without any siblings. She may have left camp but she had called them. 
Saerys gets being alone.
Atlanta ends up dropkicking Lennox out of town after she gives everyone a speech about his armor and how they’re all idiots for not realizing it was WQ general armor.
Atlanta isn’t affected by Saery’s heat or strength in Turbo Mode and can hold him down. 
Dying at the hand of the Witch Queen but being brought back removes half of her Spark. She has a harder time making things and thinking. Saerys is there to help though.
Saerys and Atlanta spar a lot.
Chicago also brings them to find the camp and Saerys realizes they will be in danger no matter where. 
The demon gods team up with the Greek Gods to bring Saerys back to life and restore the full of Atlanta’s soul. This also reveals that Atlanta is a demigod to everyone.
Atlanta’s Spark is twisted a little and talks now to her, urging her to create and build weapons. Like messed up weapons of mass destruction.
Saerys and Atlanta struggle a lot with the demon souls possessing Saerys- it’s hard to control them when you also have a nutjob Spark yelling to build things.
At least the stupid Souls like her now, thanks to the Spark giving them ideas.
They warn the Camps about the WQ maybe invading and they get ready.
Atlanta whispers a wedding blessing when they pass each other the rings because they’re already married demon style. Let’s do it demigod.
Altea
Okay, like Saerys she figures that Atlanta is not WQ quick thanks to Atlanta being shit with any magic that is not building things.
Atlanta is given scrap metal because of her need to build things. She doesn’t realize she’s making jewlery with one person in mind until she makes a pretty pair of pink earing and oh.
Atlanta’s crush on tiny Altea is hilarious. Everyone does given Atlanta is the type to give pretty things to her object of affection. Altea is very happy.
Only once did Altea ever agree to be picked up by Atlanta in battle. Never again. Very undignified!
“But fun.” “Stop it my raven.”
Altea meets her family in Chicago and they figure that Iris Messaging still works in the other world afterwards so they chat a lot.
Atlanta’s demigod status is revealed to Altea in Chicago and the two worship Hep and like Athena and stuff but it’s revealed to everyone when Hep comes to give her this special metal so she can make a sword for herself to fight the witch queen.
Atlea compares the Spark to Magic.
Meeting Mireille and finding out Altea’s a princess makes Atlanta feel scruffy. Sure, she’s a demigod but… princess. She’s just a smith.
Altea makes sure she doesn’t feel that way for long. 
Atlanta makes a ring for Altea as a proposal thing. She loves it.
seeing her go fully Magical Girl Mode makes Atlanta fall for her all over again.
Meeting her family is hard, given she is very much a smith, but they do warm up. They also Iris Message some friends so that the Queen and King realize they’re telling the truth about Atlanta being from another world and the demigod stuff.
Lional now wants to learn to smith. Atlanta just wants him to stop poking at the fire.
Iseul
Okay, Iseul does not think she’s the WQ because she doesn’t have the right feel.
Atlanta may have punched him once in annoyance.
they may end up in a fight a few times. They just irritate each other to much.
Their first kiss is during a fight. Everyone was betting on it.
Atlanta’s Spark goes into haywire at seeing the bow Iseul has because she has SO MANY IDEAS
Iseul loves it. Every bit. He is always bragging about this girl to everyone in the village when she goes to get fun stuff to play with.
Imohn ends up liking her when she comes up with an arrow that when fired goes into a dragon made out of fire.
atlanta and Iseul are the worst together. Seriously. No, do not… Atlanta, do not make that! Iseul says it’s okay! NO!
The whole demigod thing comes out when the Gods come during a council meeting to yell at Atlanta for letting the WQ out. She points out she did not know what would happen and no one said this was a quest.
Zeus is not pleased but she lives. Barely. Her Spark is taken from her and she falls into a deep depression.
Iseul is struggling to help her and get his mother to accept her. It all really goes to shit when Ishara ends up in a coma without accepting Atlanta.
Atlanta manages to fight through the depression and help Iseul. They wake up Ishara who accepts her. She also gets her Spark back because that was a lesson she had to learn.
 “It was a fucking shitty lesson.”
Chicago is nuts. “How on earth… you were supposed to be created only a few years ago!” “Go bug Chiron for that… or maybe like Hecate or something.” Camp is a nightmare.
Magnus is horrified the rumors of her being a demigod are true. Ha, fuck you buddy.
“I’m pregnant!!! OH! I HAVE IDEAS FOR THE NURSERY!!!” “NO ATLANTA!” “YES MY LOVE!”
Just these two idiots are awful.
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pjo-hoo-nextgen · 6 years
Text
The First Quest X
Andy attempted to gain some knowledge as to why Maria and Jaxon were no longer on speaking terms, but not many people knew what had happened.
“I don’t get it,” Andy huffed, resting his chin on his hand. “They always fight but this is different.”
“Wrench,” Sol held out her hand expectantly and Andy placed the tool in her grip.
“If anything they’d have fixed it by now.” He paused in thought for a moment, tapping his fingers against his chin.
“Maybe they just need time apart.” Sol suggested making an unusual attempt at conversation.
“They hardly touch one another with an eight foot pole. They have plenty of time apart.” Andy laughed. Sol hummed in reply and settled her goggles back on her face. “I mean the bickering gets old but the silence is just...uncomfortable.”
“Some people have odd ways of doing things.” The motor Sol was working on gave a small attempt to start before fizzling out. “Crap. I swore I fixed it.”
“Try jiggling the knobby thing.” Andy pointed at a protrusion on the machine.
“That’s not what it’s called,” Andy noticed the small smile on her face and couldn’t help but sit up a bit taller. She took his advice anyways and sure enough the engine gave a mighty sputter before maintaining a low hum. “Yes! Finally!”
“Great! Now you can put it on the motorized dummy track for the training arena!” Andy hopped up from the stool he’d been sitting on.
“That’s the plan.” Sol nodded, moving to turn off the device. With a satisfied nod she tugged off her goggles and gloves.
“You got a little something.” Andy gestured to his own nose indicating the spot where Sol had a fair amount of grease plastered on her face.
“Again?” With a grunt of frustration Sol used the hem of her shirt to scrub at her face. The grease only smeared further over her nose and cheeks.
“Don’t do that!” Andy laughed. “You got it everywhere!”
“Ugh! I hate my life!” Sol huffed.
“Sit down. I got this.” Andy offered her the stool. Sitting, Sol watched him curiously until he came back with a squirt bottle, a surprisingly clean rag, and a mirror. “I will be your stylist today. I was trained in the art of beauty!”
With an impish grin Andy did a clumsy spin and struck a pose, spinning the bottle on his finger as if it were a ring of car keys.
“I hate you.”
“I know.” Andy winked. “Now let the master work.”
Sol sat perfectly still as Andy worked at cleaning away the stubborn residue. She’d had experiences like this before and her skin was often left red and raw from the rough material. This time, however, it was different. Andy managed to perform the task with ease being surprisingly gentle.
“Aaaaaaand, done.” He declared. “Take a look babe.”
Andy held up the mirror for Sol to check her reflection. “Not bad Grace.”
“Clean as a whistle.” Andy nodded. “Like I said...I’m the master.”
“Of dorkiness.” Sol scoffed tossing the dirtied rag at him.
“My feelings.” Andy feigned offense. “Anyways, we have a game of capture the flag to prepare for.”
“Indeed.” Sol nodded. “I have a feeling this will be very interesting.”
— — —
Indeed it was. Maria and Jaxon were inevitably on the same team once more. Only this time, Grey was left trying to manage the forces.
Maria and Jaxon had both adopted personal agendas and didn’t bother to acknowledge the rest of their team.
“Okay, so...I’m on defense. This is cool.” Andy talked to himself as he paced beside the flag.
“What’d you expect? We got our moment of glory last time. The other kids were destined to have a shot.” Sol frowned sitting on a rock and sharpening her blade. “But the schedule goes Wednesday-Friday for Capture the Flag games. We get another shot soon enough.”
“Yeah, but I expected more entertainment.” Andy paused in his pacing to kick a rock into the trees. At first neither of them noticed it but then it became quiet clear.
There was a commotion going on at the center of the battlefield. From the sound of it nearly everyone had stopped to watch. “Okay, I know we have to guard this but-“
“Come on.” Sol was already running in the direction of the noise with Andy following hot on her heels. The two stumbled from the woods to find a very alarming sight.
“Oh my Gods they’re trying to kill each other.” Andy breathed.
Despite being on the same team Jaxon and Maria were locked in a heated duel. Maria had a score to settle and she intended on restoring some of her pride.
Sol was the first to do anything. Being small she managed to worm her way through the gathered crowd. Andy squeezed his way through with a bit more effort.
“I said go to the right.” Jaxon growled.
“What I do is not up to you.” Maria replied slashing at him with her sword. Jaxon stepped to the side and lashed out in return. Maria arched her blade behind her back ending the strike. “You made it quite clear.”
Spinning Maria slashed angrily at Jaxon’s ankles. Leaping he twisted in the air sending a blast of air far more violent than he should have. Maria was knocked to the side, she tumbled a bit, before coming to a rest.
“Jaxon what are you doing?!” Andy demanded latching onto his brother’s arm.
Maria crawled to her feet, rolledher shoulders, and gave a twirl of her sword; a challenge.
“Enough. Both of you.” Grey stepped between the two raging demigods. “Knock it off.”
“Step aside Grey.” Maria’s voice was full of authority, dripping with the power only a true leader could muster.
“Make me.” The eldest boy raised his chin in defiance.
“Sorry.” Maria gave him an apologetic look before charging at Jaxon and using her elbow to nudge Grey aside. Jaxon shoved Andy away, who stumbled back into the crowd of people.
Sol’s anger flared up and despite herself her arms ignited in bright orange fire. Jaxon made another strike but Sol deflected the blade and caught hold of the weapon. The blade sizzled before the gold began to melt.
Jaxon looked down in surprise before it dawned on him that Sol was ruining his father’s blade. He’d just gotten it back from Thia via Hermes’ messenger friends: wind nymphs. Now, Sol was melting the gold into a bubbling puddle. On instinct he reacted.
Sol was blasted back into Maria causing both girls to collapse on the ground. There was the sound of a painful snap and a cry of pain.
“What is the meaning of this?” The demand came from Chiron who had finally made his way to the commotion.
Jaxon looked with teary eyes at the ruined heirloom in his hand. He had grown up using the blade, dreamed of smiting enemies as dangerous as his father had. It was gone now. Ruined.
Grey knelt beside Sol and Maria. “Are you two alright?”
“Ugh, yeah.” Maria mumbled rubbing her head. She glanced over at Sol only to find the young girl crying and nursing her very broken wrist. “Oh Gods.”
She wasn’t the only one to notice the injury. Grey’s eyes widened and he moved to help her. Andy flew into a rage. He tackled his brother to the ground despite his smaller stature and let his fists fly.
“What is wrong with you? Huh?” His fists stung painfully. “You can’t hurt people like that!”
“Stop!” Jaxon held his arms up to protect his face. “Andy, stop!”
The younger boy was thrown off with a buck of Jaxon’s hips. Jaxon wrapped his arms around Andy holding him still.
“Get off of me!” Andy yelled, squirming violently.
The commotion ended only when each of the demigods was dragged to the infirmary.
— — —
“I have no idea what’s gotten into all of you but you need to figure it out.” Jason stood with his arms crossed looking at each of the kids who sat nursing injuries. Grey was the only one completely unscathed.
“You cannot go around trying to kill each other! That’s not okay!” Annabeth who had also been selected to give the lecture pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I didn’t do anything.” Andy protested.
“You pummeled your brother.” Jason glowered. Andy opened his mouth to reply but Jason held up a hand. “Andy Clay Grace, do not argue.”
“So what’s the punishment?” Grey asked glumly.
“You’re all staying here until you sort it out. No leaving or going home.” Jason determined.
“That’s not fair!” Maria cried.
“Some of you can go home, Grey, Sol. You are both allowed to leave.” Neither of them made a move. “Or you can stay here if you wish.”
“Figure it out.” Annabeth shrugged. “It’s that simple. There’s no unity in anything if infighting this bad exists.”
— — —
And so they were left there to solve their problems. Maria selected her own little corner of the infirmary and claimed it her own. Jaxon did the same.
“Let me see it.” Grey knelt in front of the bed Sol sat on and gently took her bandaged wrist. “It should heal relatively well, maybe a bit of physical therapy will be needed, and no forge for some time.”
“Your dad said all of that already.” Sol mumbled. Sniffling she wiped her nose on her sleeve.
“Well, I learned from the best.” Grey stood and ruffled her hair. “I’ll be back. I’m going to get cleaned up.”
“Was it wrong to punch him?” Sol startled at Andy’s remark. He’d been so quiet she had hardly noticed him there.
“Yeah.” Sol nodded. Andy’s head was bowed and his bottom lip began to tremble.
“I just got mad. I didn’t mean to hurt him that bad but-I don’t like him when he’s like this.” Andy hardly cried and so Sol was left with a brief moment of surprise. She wasn’t sure what to do. She’d never been the best at comforting someone.
“Hey, don’t cry.” Sol gave a light punch to his arm with her good hand. “People mess up.”
“Yeah, but a good brother doesn’t punch his sibling.” Andy sniffled.
“A good brother also doesn’t push his sibling.” Sol slung her arm around Andy’s shoulders. He didn’t say anything else after resting his head on her shoulder. She let him cry and pretended not to notice for his sake.
— — —
Jaxon sat staring at the deformed blade. He couldn’t believe it. He wanted to cry. With an angered grunt he chucked it across the room where it clattered to the floor. “Stupid.”
Maria glanced in his direction and felt a tiny amount of sympathy for him. She did know how much the weapon meant to him. “Your dad won’t be mad you know.”
“Yeah right.” Jaxon huffed.
“He’s not that big of an ass.” Maria noted dryly. The conversation ended quickly and the infirmary was bathed in a permanent silence. Slowly the demigods began to drift off to sleep and the silence would remain until the morning.
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