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blookmallow · 5 years ago

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and finally, the conclusion of the dark brotherhood questline

i have been through so much and lost so much but i gained the one thing that matters most of all..... cicero’s heart

-----

well

these aren’t the real emperor’s clothes but i have this still,

i put it on the dawnstar sanctuary mannequin with the jester hat lmao

:( my favorite guard friend who hangs out around the shops in the mornings with me is onto me

hes not hostile or reporting me to the jarl or anything at least tho

Dont woRRY About It

i did have guards after me for a while (i had. several just go ‘ok ill let you off this time :)’ bc. i. asked nicely. after attempting to assassinate the emperor of skyrim) but eventually just paid my bounty and they were like ok you’re good and now apparently everyone has completely forgotten That Time I Tried To Murder The Fucking Emperor

anyway after the fucking massacre that happened at the sanctuary i was absolutely Out For Blood

i mean like....... i realize maro is completely justified here. we are in fact a league of assassins guilty of murdering A Lot of people, we very much did make a real attempt on the emperor’s life (and killed his double, who was less important but still like, an innocent guy, presumably)(or even if it was like that death note thing where its actually a criminal on death row anyway, like, we clearly didnt know that) and i did personally murder maro’s son and ruin his reputation, so. like. we are the bad guys in this situation no matter how you look at it lmao but STILL THOSE WERE MY FRIENDS, FUCKER

so i decided to murder him out of pure spite, but. uh

I DONT REMEMBER WHAT I DID TO CAUSE THIS BUT I ACTUALLY GOT THE SOLITUDE GUARDS TO MURDER HIM FOR ME LMAO I DIDNT EVEN HAVE TO DO ANYTHING

im trying to remember what the fuck even happened here im clearly. underwater, i think maybe i like. confronted him and he got hostile but i jumped off the pier and the guards were like “woah that guy’s losing it” and intervened but he fought them too or something ??? ?? I DONT KNOW BUT THE GUARDS KILLED HIM FOR ME :’) thanks guys

then after everything we still kept the contract, and... the new plan.... was for me to sneak onto the emperor’s ship before he leaves skyrim and kill him there.... WHICH I COULD HAVE FUCKING. DONE IN THE FIRST PLACE. THIS IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN... KILLING SOME OFFICIAL’S SON AND PLANTING FALSE EVIDENCE AND TRACKING DOWN THE GOURMET AND MURDERING HIM AND IMPERSONATING HIM TO TRY TO POISON THE EMPEROR AND IMPLICATING A RANDOM CHEF WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT AND

EVERYONE IS DEAD!!!!! WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED ABSOLUTELY ALL OF THIS. WAS ASTRID GETTING ME ALL MIXED UP IN THIS WILD GOOSE CHASE ON PURPOSE FROM THE BEGINNING ?? ? ? SORRY!!! IM ANGRY

i got all the way here without anyone even seeing me (i used a couple invisibility potions for the really tricky spots, but still) i could absolutely have just done this and avoided the entire everything. god

anyway i again dont really understand the politics of skyrim but. the real emperor was expecting me to find him one way or another. he had already accepted his death and made peace with it. it was. actually kind of sad. i dont know enough to say whether he was actually a decent guy or not but he seemed like he was. i couldnt bring myself to steal his clothes so i still just have the duplicate emperor’s clothes but it looks the same anyway

i took a war axe from one of his displays though. i dont remember if i already mentioned my ongoing tradition of always taking something from my victims and enchanting them later to mark who it belonged to, but thats a thing ive been doing. little murder scrapbook

im not really sure how murdering the emperor counts as “serving the empire” but sure ok

i also killed this guy lmao the emperor’s last wish was for me to kill whoever it was that betrayed him and i dont like this dude in the first place so i was like yea you got it

i built a memorial with the weapons rack in my room in the dawnstar sanctuary

enchanted special weapons for each of our fallen members (left to right it’s astrid, arnbjorn, festus, gabriella, and veezara) (i also later added another dagger for lis bc i had one space left)

theres also gemstones on the floor beneath each weapon but they keep sliding out of place :’ |

ANGEL DARLING SONG OF MY HEART LIGHT OF MY LIFE YOU’RE ALIVE

you can see the game autosaving in the corner bc i had Just come out of the sanctuary lmao thats how lightning fast i reacted to this

[sobbing] baby boy.... baby.... i was SO WORRIED

i murdered the fucking emperor of skyrim bc i was so desperate to continue this questline to see if cicero would come back I DID ALL OF THIS FOR YOU.....

(he pranked me and pretended he was gonna kill me at first. i almost lost it thinking he STILL wouldnt forgive me but it was ok :’) u got me, )

sniffs...... best friends forever........ this is the best possible outcome this is all ive ever wanted it was all worth it for this

we got our window back!!!!! also ft cicero subtitle photobombing me with his boundless enthusiasm for murder but i forgive him

oof we also have... a bunch of torture victims hanging around now too :’ ) oh

i kinda feel bad about them but there doesnt seem to be an option to let them go,

i mean i could just kill them all i guess. i killed one guy to see if i could. you Can. his body is still there. nobody seemed to care that i killed him

I TURNED AROUND AFTER NAZIR SAID THAT AND CICERO’S JUST. LOOKING AT ME LIKE THIS,

i fuckign love this cute little shit. what the fuck. this is such justice too everyone was so rude to him, everyone made fun of him and talked down to him, everyone wanted him dead after he went after astrid, but she sold us out and got everyone killed, he was RIGHT, and now hes the right-hand-man to the Listener who is now ALSO the leader of the brotherhood. he’s basically second in command to the entire organization now and nobody can do a goddamn thing about it bc they all KNOW not to fuck with me now

i also realized hes taller than me and i dont like it, :’)

im still deciding medea��s taller than him anyway i dont care. she would be taller than the character model is allowing for

he likes to randomly start singing/humming really off key/dancing around its SO cute.... im lov him...............

darling..... calm down, :’)

hes so completely devoted to me now im in pain

i realized i could tell him to go to sleep and he actually did it the absolute madman

he gets up if you try to sleep beside him though

i mean. not that i tried that or anything

he stands SO close to me all the time.... i turn around and hes right there beaming adoringly at me. i cant do this

he kept saying mother needed some flowers so i took him out to collect some nightshade for her n dropped them around her feet

“whats the point of thievery lol like..... just kill them?????? stupid”

having cicero constantly two feet behind me jus making cute comments and/or half singing The Weirdest Shit I Have Ever Heard is absolutely delightful

ur so cute when you’re threatening people

he also hates the forsworn see we’re in sync

I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE AGAIN

me, the leader of the brotherhood, in full brotherhood armor, with cicero following right behind me giggling to himself about murder:

#lucy plays skyrim

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percyjacksonfan3 · 7 years ago

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Finding Home (Part Eight)

Part One: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home

Part Two: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home-part-two

Part Three: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home-part-three

Part Four: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home-part-four

Part Five: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home-part-fiive

Part Six: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home-part-six

Part Seven: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home-part-seven

Hazel’s a light sleeper. She has been for months now. Years of expecting monster attacks, fighting wars and sudden cohort drills have left her quick to wake up.

Tonight she wakes up to the sound of Leo muttering to himself and pacing the campsite.

“Come on, Festus, let’s go.”

She opens her eyes and lets them focus. The fire’s low, almost going out, and she dimly sees the shapes of the others spread around it in a loose circle, all asleep.

After they’d all rejoined each other in the clearing (having found nothing in their search) they’d started cooking food and waited for Frank to come back. None of them had realized just how far away he’d flown and when he arrived they’d just been starting to eat.

Of course all the food was practically forgotten when he told them about what he found. Annabeth had immediately grabbed a map and made Frank point out exactly where he’d been.

They’d all talked it over and, after Leo pointing out it was getting dark, they’d decided to all go to the cave at first light. A few of them had protested, saying they should go tonight, but Leo had again pointed out that going into strange territory at night against a monster they knew nothing about and another monster that almost killed Percy when he was 12 was a really bad idea.

No one had wanted to risk the others, so none of them had protested.

Which made it strange that Leo was getting up to go somewhere, since he’d been the one who said it was too dangerous in the first place.

Hazel opened her mouth and started to get up but then remembered what Frank had told her earlier. Leo and Chiron, the demigod trainer from Camp Half-Blood, were being controlled at random moments by their enemy.

Hazel put her head back down and pretended to sleep, leaving her eyes open only a bit, enough to see Leo but not enough for him to be able to tell she was awake if he looked over at her.

The worry that had filled her at the news of Percy’s disappearance grew as she listened to what Leo was saying.

“Toothbrush, toothpaste, clothing, food, toilet paper and anything else he might need. How good do you think the security is around the nearest convenience store, big guy? Think I can disable all of the alarms and cameras?”

Hazel felt fear grip her. It was Leo was speaking, but he sounded weird. The tone of his voice sounded nothing like the demigod she knew.

When Hazel realized what was happening it was too late to stop her friend.

Hearing him speak had disoriented her long enough for Leo to jump on the automaton’s back and Hazel only barely managed to stand up and start saying his name before they took off, neither Leo nor Festus hearing her.

“Leo!” She yelled. “Come back!”

The others started stirring at the volume of her voice and she turned to all of them. “Get up! We need to go after him!”

She went to kneel by Frank and shook his shoulder, forcing his eyes to open and look at her blurrily in the dying light of the fire. “What is it-”

“In a second,” she said, before moving to Jason, seeing Piper already up and looking around.

“Hazel?” Jason asked her as he sat up. “What happened?”

“Leo’s gone.”

“What?” Piper asked sharply. “Where? When?”

Hazel stood her ground at the look on Piper’s face. “Just now, he left with Festus and they-”

“And Annabeth?” Jason asked her, making Hazel falter and look at him.

“What?”

“Annabeth must be with him.” Jason said, watching Hazel curiously. “Since she’s not here.”

Hazel gasped and looked around. She was met with three blank stares.

“No.” She said, shaking her head. “Annabeth wasn’t with him.”

There was a moment of silence before Piper cursed. Jason moved over to her as Hazel looked at Frank helplessly.

“She’s been taken by the monster too?” She asked, not expecting any of them to be able to answer her.

“Annabeth wanted to go and find Percy tonight.” Frank said finally after looking around quickly. Hazel saw him frown in thought. “Remember, she made me show her exactly where the cave was on that map? Annabeth’s gone. The map’s gone. Her pack’s gone. I bet she’s not captured, she’s just gone to go and find Percy.”

Piper broke away from Jason. “She waited until we were asleep to leave so none of us would stop her.” The daughter of Aphrodite shook her head angrily. “Stupid.”

“Who was on watch?” Jason asked. “Wouldn’t they have noticed?”

“Annabeth was on watch before Leo. She must have left sometime after waking him up, and maybe if Leo was already being controlled he didn’t notice her leaving.” Hazel said, putting the pieces together. It must have been Leo’s watch when Leo left too, otherwise one of the others would have been awake to stop him.

“We have to get them back.”

Frank nodded at Jason’s words. “Annabeth’s on foot so she’ll be easier to catch than Leo-”

“She might have over an hour’s head start on us.” Piper interrupted. “And she has a map. We have to navigate through the woods in the dark with no idea if we’re going the right way.

While they were talking each of them had been strapping on their weapons, rolling up their packs and packing the food away. Hazel called Arion over to her. “Frank will probably be able to catch Leo the fastest. I have Arion, but all of the trees will slow him down. Jason you can fly but only short distances. How do we want to do this?”

“Frank’s the only one out of us who knows where the cave is, we need him to be able to follow Annabeth.” Jason points out. “The rest of us were never able to find it.”

“And when we catch Leo I’m the best bet of breaking him out of whatever trance he’s in.” Piper says. “My charmspeak can get through to him, I know it can.”

Both couples glance at one another. “So the girls together go after Leo and we go after Annabeth?” Frank says finally.

Piper nods and makes sure Katoptris is firmly on her waist before walking over to Hazel. “Makes the most sense, yeah?”

Hazel glances at Frank, seeing the worry she feels reflected in his eyes. “Yeah.” She says finally.

She notices Jason walk over to Piper and them starting a hurried but hushed conversation so she moves to Frank. “Be careful. We don’t want anymore girlfriends looking for their kidnapped boys.”

Surprise crosses Frank’s face and Hazel curses internally.

They weren’t dating anymore. Not really. The others didn’t know anything about it, but Hazel had told Frank that she was too young and wanted to wait a bit.

Which basically meant they acted the exact same as always, just without the kissing and stuff. Which kind of sucked because Hazel liked the kissing. She just didn’t think she should tie Frank down when she was so inexperienced.

He was free to be with someone… more appropriate? She guessed.

Not noticing the mini war she was having in her head, Frank cups her face, stroking his thumb across her cheek. “You be careful too. Who knows what Leo might do.”

Hazel covers his hand with her own. “I will. Piper will get through to him, I know it.”

Frank nods and Hazel steps back, their hands falling between them as she backs away. He squeezes once, quickly, before letting go and Hazel turns around to meet Jason who’s coming over to Frank. “Watch out for him.” She says quickly, accepting his nod. “And for yourself. We’re all surviving to make it to New Rome, alright?”

Jason almost smiles at that. “Be careful, Hazel.”

Hazel meets Piper’s eyes as she walks up to her and Arion. She sees Piper take a deep breath before forcing a smile. “Ready?”

Hazel walks to Arion’s side and hoists herself up onto his back, reaching down to help pull Piper up behind her. “As I’ll ever be.”

With one last worried look at Frank Hazel sees him smile at her before she nudges Arion’s sides and they’re off to find their friends.

oooOOOooo

Leo’s screaming.

He’s screaming and screaming with all he has, but nothing is coming out of his mouth. His mouth doesn’t even open. The cool brush of the night air against his face jolts him to reality and blows his hair back before it bites at his lips, but they don’t part. They stay firmly closed as he sits astride Festus who has no idea that it isn’t Leo guiding him to the nearest town.

It isn’t Leo’s hands that quickly disable the store security cameras once they touch down. It’s not his feet that walk him past each shelf, looking for each item the voice had told him to get. He grabs toothpaste, a toothbrush and deodorant from the personal hygiene aisle. He finds toilet paper one row over and on the other side of the shop there’s cold cuts, bread buns and packaged ready-made potato salad. He throws that in for food. He catches sight of a package of chocolate chip cookies and throws those in there too for some reason. Then he adds an armful of water bottles

The entire time he does this Leo tries to stop himself. He uses every bit of willpower he possesses to make his hands stop moving. He tries to make his fingers release the basket full of items. He wants to go out and reset the cameras and alarm system but his body doesn’t listen.

When he gets out of the store Festus cocks his head at him, eyeing the basket full of things warily, but Leo’s face stretches into a reassuring smile and he says to the automaton, “Don’t worry buddy. One more thing to do before we go check out this cave.”

Leo screams louder, trying to give Festus some sort of sign, some kind of warning, but the dragon only lowers himself for Leo to climb up onto.

Then they’re off, flying through the air once again and Leo loses self-awareness once more.

oooOOOooo

“So how do you want to do this?” Jason asks Frank, eyeing the son of Mars a little warily. He doesn’t want to end up having Frank change into an animal Jason will have to cling onto for dear life. He also doesn’t want to end up dangling from a claw in midair or something.

Frank glances over at the trees around them. “The leaves are probably too thick for me to see through if we fly,” he points out. “We’d never be able to see Annabeth through them. It’ll have to be on foot.”

Jason looks at him. “We’ll never catch up to Annabeth just walking.”

Frank grins and shakes his head. “That’s not the kind of foot I meant.”

Before Jason could ask what he had meant Frank disappears and instead of a teenage boy in front of him there’s a sleek black panther in his place. A very large, very intimidating black panther.

“Woah.” Jason says, not even pretending to hide the awe in his voice. “Yeah, this works.”

He turns to look in one of the panther’s eyes, a wild grin spilling across his lips because this is so cool, and Frank stretches out his right front leg, lowering one shoulder.

With a whoop Jason climbs on, using the winds to make sure he settles down at least a little gracefully.

With a snarl from Frank and a yell of excitement from Jason, the son of Jupiter feels muscles shift beneath him and has time to dig his hands the best he can into Frank’s fur before they leap forward and set off to find Annabeth.

oooOOOooo

“Hazel, look!”

Piper points up at the sky towards the dark shape coming towards them. Both girls look up and catch a brief glimpse of Leo sitting on Festus’ back, flying overhead back the way they’d just come from. It’s only a second they catch a glimpse, Festus is flying so fast above them, blocking out the stars, but it’s enough for the girls to see who it is and where they’re going.

“He’s going back!” Hazel shouts.

“No!” Piper watches Festus and notices he’s not going back straight the way the girls had just come on Arion, he’s going slightly to the left. Piper’s mind races before she realizes. “He’s going to the cave!”

Hazel brings Arion to an abrupt halt, making the horse rear up and causing Piper to shriek grab for her friend frantically to stop herself from falling off.

“Warn a girl next time!” Piper says breathlessly and Hazel just laughs.

Arion wheels around quickly and then they’re off again, following the automaton’s wingbeats, leaving a steaming trail in their wake.

oooOOOooo

Annabeth is walking forward and trying really hard not to think about food.

Specifically cheeseburgers.

Despite the mess her life can be at times (read: all the time) Annabeth has more than a few good memories. Meeting Luke and Thalia, going on her first quest with Grover and Percy, kissing Percy for the first time after the Titan War.

One of those good memories is a lunch she spent after the Titan War eating cheeseburgers and fries with Thalia and Percy at the hotel on West 57th. They’d been comparing stories of what they’d been up to when the three of them had been apart and Annabeth had sat back and watched as Percy and Thalia had worked themselves up trying to come up with stories to outdo one another.

(Percy had lost, of course, and both Annabeth and Thalia had gotten a free meal that day.)

Annabeth keeps thinking about how back then they’d all thought that was it. No more quests, no more battles or wars and no more ancient immortal deities trying to kill them and end the world. There’d been the weight of grief hanging over them all, but at least they’d been hopeful for the future. At least they’d thought the war was worth fighting because they’d saved everybody.

Since then Annabeth’s learned not to let hope cloud her judgement.

Hope didn’t help her when Percy was taken (the first time). It didn’t help her find where he was or design and build the Argo II faster. Hope failed her when she followed the Mark of Athena and ended up falling into Tartarus and dragging her boyfriend down there with her. Hope didn’t stop Gaea from rising and killing Leo, leaving her to grieve for her friend for months.

To Annabeth, hope is starting to be a very useless emotion.

Yet she can’t stop hoping right now, as she pushes her way through the dark and the trees, that she’ll be able to find Percy tonight and the two of them will get out of here.

She’s not being rash or emotional. Annabeth rarely acts without thinking first (usually Percy is involved when she does) and now is not one of those times. Hades, she waited six months to see her boyfriend after he’d been kidnapped by the Queen of Cows, Hera, and if that doesn’t show restraint she doesn’t know what does.

Annabeth’s not being rash. She’s being smart. Pragmatic. Somebody dies on this quest and she’s not going to let any of her and Percy’s friends put their lives in danger like that.

(She’s trying to ignore the fact that her and Percy being the only two involved really narrows down the list of who the death could be. Maybe Annabeth hopes more than she’s willing to admit. The two of them had beaten worse odds before.)

Annabeth looks at the map again and then stops to look up. It’s hard to see the stars through the trees and their branches covered with leaves but she’s sure she’s going the right way. She’s been walking for close to an hour now, if her wristwatch can be believed, and if she’d calculated correctly earlier the cave should be just a few more minutes ahead.

With renewed energy she keeps moving, making sure to step carefully so she’s quiet, fingering the pommel of her sword in case she has to use it unexpectedly.

That’s when she hears it.

Wing beats.

Annabeth uses the sound to cover her footsteps as she moves faster and then suddenly she’s standing being the last line of trees. Beyond them is a clearing in the shape of a rough circle. It’s dotted with stray rocks and grass, which is all Annabeth can really see in the dark, but it’s definitely empty of trees.

At the opposite edge of the clearing is the mouth of a cave.

Pride sweeps through her and she would have started edging around the clearing, using the trees for cover, to get to the cave and check it out if it’s hadn’t been for the sight of Festus circling overhead and then landing.

If that shocked her, the sight of Leo sliding from the automaton’s back carrying a pack and an unconscious body rooted her feet to the ground.

Leo was supposed to be on watch back with the others, what was he…?

Her mind raced and eventually put the pieces together. Of course.

She looked closer, trying to see who the person Leo was dragging to the cave could be, but she couldn’t recognize them. It was a woman, dark hair and skin close to the same shade as Hazel’s. If Annabeth had to guess she would say the woman was around mid-twenties.

Her heart beats faster. Without getting closer it’s impossible to tell if the woman is alive, but Annabeth hopes, for both the woman and Leo’s sake, that she is.

Festus is shifting anxiously and sniffing the air and for a second Annabeth swears his head lifts and he meets her eyes from where he’s standing. She feels fear grip her and for a second she’s scared Festus is going to give away her position and Leo will discover her. Then the dragon turns from her and opens his mouth, making a creaking noise.

Leo stops from where he’s panting slightly, hunched over from the weight of the body he’s holding/dragging. “Don’t worry Festus, I told you, this is all to help us get Percy back.”

Festus makes another noise and Leo looks up, irritation plain on his face. “Don’t worry, I said. Just stand there and wait until I get back, then we’ll go to the others. Now be quiet, or else I’ll put you into suitcase mode.”

A low growl sounded from the gold dragon’s throat before cutting off abruptly as he moved to nudge Leo gently with his snout.

Leo didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m coming!” He yelled into the cave, even though Annabeth couldn’t see or hear who he could be talking to. Leo made it to the edge of the cave. “Hey, Percy.”

That was the last thing Annabeth heard him say as her mouth parted in surprise and she started to move, loosening her sword in its sheath.

Percy. Percy was in there. And he was alive. Leo had talked to him.

But it was too late to get her friend’s attention, because Leo and the woman he was dragging crossed the entrance of the cave and disappeared from sight.

oooOOOooo

Hazel ties her hair into a messy bun at the nape of her neck before she bends over to speak in Arion’s ear, urging him on. “Faster, Arion, come on!”

She’s gripping the base of his mane tightly with one hand, clapping the side of his neck with the other to encourage him further, and behind her Piper keeps muttering to herself.

“You’re not going to die, Arion’s a nice horse, he loves Hazel, Hazel won’t let you die.”

Hazel grins and leans back a bit. Piper’s arms are wound around her so tight there’s not much maneuverability between them, so when Hazel turns her head to look at her friend Piper’s chest is pressing against her back and her face is only inches away.

“We’re okay,” she says to her friend. Sometimes Hazel wished she had Piper’s charmspeaking abilities. It would certainly come in handy in stressful situations like this.

Piper’s multi-coloured eyes meet hers and Hazel feels her relax a bit. “We’re okay.”

“We’re going to find Annabeth and we’re going to find Percy. We’ll get through to Leo,” Hazel says, speaking loud enough to be heard over Arion’s footfalls and heavy breathing. She glances ahead every few seconds to make sure there aren’t any low-hanging branches that will knock them off. “I promise.”

Piper’s grip tightens around her. “Don’t promise things like that.”

Hazel stops patting Arion long enough to put her hand over Piper’s that are clasped together at Hazel’s midsection. She knows how dangerous a promise can be but Hazel knows how Piper’s feeling and right now she thinks they both just need some comfort and reassurance. “I promise. We’ll all be fine.”

Piper’s breath ghosts across the back of Hazel’s neck. Her hands are warm under Hazel’s and one of them turns up so Piper can link their fingers together.

Neither of them speak but they don’t have to. They’re both just there, holding hands tightly, watching out for branches. Two teenage girls on the back of a horse looking for their friends who want nothing more than for everybody to be okay.

The silence between them is broken when they reach Jason on the black of a huge black panther.

“Woah!” Hazel calls, stopping Arion as they pull up alongside Jason and… “Frank?”

The panther stops moving when Arion appears beside him and looks up at her. It gives a yowl and Arion whinnied nervously but Hazel pats him once more and makes soothing shushing noises.

“What are you guys doing here? Where’s Leo?” Jason asked anxiously. His hair was a bit ruffled and there was a twig with a few leaves still attached caught in the collar of his shirt.

“Leo and Festus flew back overhead and we realized they were going to the cave.” Piper explained. Frank makes a low noise in the back of his throat that nobody tries to decipher as anything except a growl. Hazel shoots him a look and he immediately quiets. “We’re following them there.”

“It should be just ahead, I think.” Jason said.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Hazel says. “Let’s go.”

Frank leaps forward and Hazel has to admit that Jason riding the back of the huge, sleek cat looks pretty intimidating.

She nudges Arion and he takes one last bite of the gold nugget she’d brought up for him to nibble at during their brief rest.

The four of them move on, weaving between the trees as close together as possible, going to save their friends.

oooOOOooo

Seconds after Leo disappears Festus roars, Arion jolts to a stop with Hazel and Piper on his back right in front of Annabeth and a black panther that Jason’s riding slinks up beside them.

Annabeth would have shrieked- no, yelled, she’s a war veteran, gods dammit, she does not shriek- in surprise if it hadn’t been for Piper sliding from Arion’s back and covering her mouth with a hand.

“What were you thinking!” Piper whispers furiously and Annabeth can’t help but look into her friend’s eyes. “How could you just disappear in the middle of the night like that? We had a plan Annabeth, we were scared something had happened to you-”

Annabeth pulls away from Piper’s hand, noticing Jason slide off the panther right before Frank suddenly stood in it’s place. “I’m sorry-”

“What if we hadn’t reached you in time?” Piper goes on. “What if you were hurt, or- or killed and we came here to find your body-”

“Pipes-”

“No, Jason!” Piper’s voice is climbing and Annabeth winces. “You can’t do that, Annabeth, you should know better than anyone that you can’t just leave!”

Piper heaved in a deep breath before pulling Annabeth into a sudden hug. “I was worried sick!”

“We all were.” Hazel says, a bit more considerately thank Piper, but pointed all the same.

“I know, I’m sorry, but I need you to leave!” Annabeth says, bringing out her sword. “All of you have to go back.”

Jaws dropped. “You’re kidding, right?”

Annabeth shakes her head at Frank. “I shouldn’t have let you guys come on this quest to begin with. Earlier today, when I went to see Rachel… she gave me a prophecy.”

Annabeth recites it, seeing their faces grow grim.

She also sees their expressions turn determined and she gets desperate. “Don’t you see? Someone’s going to die if we do this. I need to make sure it’s none of you. Go back before anything happens to you guys. I’ll get Percy and Leo and we’ll get out of here. If the three of us aren’t back by morning then go to Camp and get more help. But I need to get them out. Percy’s in there right now and he needs me.”

Piper’s shaking her head before Annabeth’s even done talking. Jason reaches behind him to unsheathe the gladius strapped to his back as Hazel brings out her spatha and Frank moves forward.

“You should have told us about the prophecy,” Frank says, and the others nod.

“But there’s no way we’re letting you do this without us.” Hazel finishes, and the others nod again.

“Together.” Piper says. “Like we always do.

We’re staying together. You’re not getting away from me. Never again, rings out through Annabeth’s head. As long as we’re together.

“Leo and Percy are our friends too.” Jason says. “We’re getting them out with you.”

Annabeth looks at them all, meeting each of their eyes. “Someone’s going to die.”

Piper turned Katoptris in her hand. “If we left, someone would still die. You can’t stop a prophecy.” She looks up to meet Annabeth’s eyes. “We’re not leaving you guys.”

Annabeth opens her mouth but closes it again, knowing protesting is futile and would only waste time. Several minutes have passed already and she’s itching to go and find her boyfriend. “Fine. But guys, right now Leo is in that cave behind Festus with Percy and we have bigger things to worry about.”

Four pairs of eyes look past Annabeth.

“The cave looks empty.” Jason points out.

“It’s not.” Hazel says frowning, looking forward. “It’s just very heavily guarded. The Mist around it… it’s so strong, can’t you feel it?”

Frank nods but the Annabeth, Piper and Jason look at her blankly.

Hazel looks towards the cave before nudging Arion forward. “I can break through it, but I need to get closer-”

“We don’t know what’s in there!” Frank says. “What if something comes out that we can’t see and attacks you?”

Hazel looked down at him. “That’s what you guys are for.”

Annabeth turns around to look at the cave again. “It’s not much of a plan.”

“We have Festus.” Piper points out.

“Do we?” Jason retorts. “He went along with Leo when he was doing… whatever he was doing.”

“There’s a mortal in there.” Annabeth says, remembering the lifeless body Leo had dragged in. “We have to help them. And Percy. I’m not leaving him. Hazel, I’m with you.”

There was assent from the other three as Hazel moved forward, Arion trotting out to lead the group in the clearing.

Festus gave them a look and Annabeth could have sworn the dragon was saying, Well it’s about time.

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered. Right now was really not the time to nag her about how long she’d taken to come and find Percy, she was feeling sick at the amount of time that had passed already.

“Can you get through it, Hazel?” Jason asked.

Hazel was looking at the mouth of the cave intensely. “There’s something… something’s fighting me-”

“Guys?”

Leo appeared in front of them, stumbling as if he’d been pushed. He sounded confused and when he looked at each of their faces he paled. “What are we doing here?”

“Leo,” Annabeth and Piper spoke simultaneously. Annabeth pulled back for Piper to speak. “Leo, is it- are you really you?”

“Of course.” His tone spoke as if it should be obvious. There was a beat of silence before Leo’s expression clouded in realization. “What did I do?”

Piper opened her mouth but Hazel shouted out before she could say anything. “I did it! Hurry, the giant’s fighting me!”

“Giant?” Frank squeaked and Annabeth turned to the cave and gasped.

Standing just behind Leo was a green scaled son of Gaea, wearing nothing but a skirt of leather strips. His dark hair hung down to his shoulders, his fingertips ended in claws and his toes in talons. He towered over Leo and his eyes glowed emerald green as he smiled predatorily down at them.

Clutched in one of his hands was a figure. He was wide eyed and his jaw was clamped so tightly shut that tendons stood out on his neck. The strain was obvious in his face and Annabeth got the feeling that he was trying desperately to speak but couldn’t.

She met Percy’s eyes as the giant spoke.

“Demigods, we’ve been waiting for you!” The giant’s smile widened. “Are you all ready to die?”

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