#* ｡ ･ the earth gives to you ; its time to give back ( about thalia ! )

[mediumgayitalian]

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Twenty minutes later, Solace hurries out of his cabin in cowboy boots.

And jeans.

Nico gapes at him.

“Go go go go go, questions later,” Will hisses, herding him behind the Apollo cabin. “We are on a time limit, we gotta —”

“You’re wearing close-toed shoes.”

“Yes, yes, sometimes I wear the clothes that I own. Wild. Let’s go.” Will tugs, uselessly, on his arm, but Nico’s half-certain his jaw has taken root in the ground, cementing him in place, because what the actual shit.

“Solace, you wore flip-flops to the snow-smothered bus stop in January. I thought you had, like, a condition!”

“I do have a condition. It’s called You Are Not Hurrying, Death Breath, let’s go —”

This time when he pulls, Nico stumbles after him, ducking under windowsills and inching around flower gardens. Every time someone so much as looks in their direction, Will plants both hands on his chest and shoves them into a corner somewhere, craning his neck to watch until they move on. Every time he does, another piece of Nico’s soul breaks away from his body and descends into hell. There is an actual trail of bones and tilled earth and dead grass behind him. Will doesn’t need to worry about being stealthy — the death aura of Nico’s dignity is large enough to scare off anything within a four mile radius.

“In here!”

Undeterred by the death aura, for some reason, Will seizes his bicep and shoves him in a crack between the Hypnos and Dionysus cabins. He slips in a millisecond later, crowding him against the warm bricks, forearm pressed awkwardly next to Nico’s head.

“Hnggh,” Nico gasps, mournfully wishing his last sliver of self-respect goodbye. Rest in fucking peace. “Do you have to be so — close, Will, gods —”

“Shhh!”

“If you shush me again I am going to rip your throat out —”

“Go, go, go!”

Yanked forward again, Nico doesn’t have the time to finish his threat. This time, at least, they sprint the final stretch to the shed without any more hiding and shoving.

Thank all the fucking gods. One more second of Will’s stupid torso — since fucking when does he wear polo shirts, huh, what the shit fuck is up with that — pressed against his and Nico’s bronchitis was going to come back. And this time he’s going to succumb to it.

“Okay,” Will says. He stands in front of a tarp-covered lump, gripping one side and jutting his chin out at the other. “On three, we tear this off and start pushing. We need past Thalia’s tree in under thirty seconds. Got it?”

“No,” Nico says stubbornly, “you still haven’t explained what the rush is —”

“One two three go!”

Will, unfortunately, has been tricking ADHD teenagers into doing things they don’t want to do for years, so Nico’s ripping off the tarp and shoving the chariot out of its stall faster than he can register what he’s doing. He practically sprints to keep up with Will, chariot wheels creaking happily as they rush over stones and sticks and forgotten weapons.

“We’re leaving now, Chiron! Bye!” Will hollers, moving too fast to give him a second to respond. Luckily, Chiron is similarly busy, galloping after a speeding Harley without more than a backwards wave and a sharp don’t die, please!

“That dynamite I gave Harley’ll only keep everyone distracted another thirty seconds,” Will mutters, ignoring Nico’s alarmed the fucking what you gave Harley, “so we need to move, let’s go.”

“Will — slow down a half fucking second, Christ, not everyone is seventy percent leg — we don’t even have pegasi!”

“Will you keep it down.” Will looks back and forth, eyes wide, like he’s worried someone is going to pop up with a pack of the winged animals. “Just — stop asking questions! We’re almost home free!”

“You’ve gone insane. It’s finally, actually happened, after all these years, who woulda thought, fully bonkers at age sixteen —”

“Oh, shut up.”

Muttering his complaints, Nico helps him push the infernal chariot down Half-Blood Hill. Among his grievances, he makes it abundantly clear that 1) this is stupid, 2) he did not agree to physical labour, 3) he would not have agreed to come if he had known about the physical labour, and 4) this is stupid.

“Just a few more yards, then we can —”

“Okay, no, that’s it.” Nico lets go of the chariot, letting the wheel dig into the soft ground and send the whole thing halting. He meets Will’s pout head-on; arms crossed, jaw set, foot tapping, refusing to give into those big blue eyes.

“C’mon, Neeks.” A faint explosion sounds off in the distance. Will’s eyes get more pleading, more hopeful. “We won’t have much time after the diversion wears off…”

“You have three seconds before I turn the hell around, Solace.”

“Please?”

“One.”

He pushes uselessly at the chariot. It spins a sad little circle without someone pushing the other side. “Neeks!”

“Two.”

“Alright, fine! Help me push again and I’ll explain on the way down.”

“Much easier when you just do as I say,” Nico grumbles, starting to push the stupid (horseless and therefore useless) chariot again. “Isn’t it?”

Will, predictably, rolls his eyes, although he can’t quite help the smile that pulls at his lips. Nico tells the butterflies that go buck fucking wild in his stomach to go to hell. This does nothing.

“How much do you know about the chariot?” Will asks eventually, after a couple minutes of shoving the stupid thing past a deep trench in the soil, leftover from the war. (Nico is going to set the fucking thing on fire. It’s a flying chariot — shouldn’t it be lightweight? Why is he suffering?) They’re nearly three quarters down the hill, and it takes everything Nico has not to risk it all and shadow travel the last couple dozen feet. Yeah, it might kill him, but then his problem would immediately go away. Tempting does not begin to cover it.

“Uh, big source of drama, right? Apollo and Ares worked together to seize it, argued over who got to keep it?”

He cuts a careful glance over to Will, well aware it’s a sensitive topic. He knows the question isn’t a trap — Will would never do that to him — but it’s probably best to tread lightly. As far as he’s concerned, this is a sore point that’ll take more than a couple years to heal.

Luckily, there’s no tension to Will’s face. “Mhm. I wasn’t there for much of the planning, ‘cause I was busy in the infirmary and also, like, twelve, but it took a lot of time on both sides. When Michael and everyone seized it, though, it glowed gold.”

“…Ah.”

Will snorts at his awkwardness, nudging his shoulder. “Yeah. Sure made it hard for the Ares cabin to claim, as dicey as it may be. Here, help me park it on the side of the road.”

There’s a thatch of weeds and undergrowth separating the road from the base of the hill, so dragging the chariot over is a struggle and a half. Nico can’t help but think that this task would be very easy if the chariot was harnessed to a couple pegasi and flying over the fucking thatch, as it is meant to do. When he voices this very valid thought, Will does not respond.

He does walk into a thistle, though, so Nico feels considerably better about the whole ordeal.

“The thing about the blessing —” Will grunts, yanking the chariot onto the gravel shoulder with one final tug — “is that it’s not that big of a deal. My dad blesses shit all the time. Our cabin is blessed. The infirmary is blessed. Hell, half my scalpels are blessed, and I throw those things out all the time ‘cause they’re dangerous when they get dull. Just because my dad blessed it doesn’t mean we actually have to keep it.”

“Okay…” Nico says slowly, “then why was it such a big deal?”

“The blessing on its own wasn’t.” Will’s voice gets fainter as he lowers himself onto the pavement, dragging himself under the belly of the chariot. Nico is confused for a full three seconds before a particularly rough patch of asphalt snags Will’s shirt and drags, and wow, are those jeans low rise. His throat is suddenly very dry. “Blessing a chariot on the other hand…”

Will makes a dorky little noise of success, crawling back from under the chariot. When he resurfaces, he’s grinning, carved piece of wood the same material as the chariot clenched in his hand. There’s soot smeared across his left cheek, his curls have tangled themselves into more of a mess than usual, and there are three separate scuff marks on his nice jeans.

Nico ducks his head, hiding a smile. What a dorky loser. Even dressed up as he is (boy, has Nico fallen low, if he’s calling jeans and cowboy boots dressed up), he still manages to look like…Will.

A really, really hot version of Will, but. Whatever. Details.

“The hell is that?”

“This,” Will says grandly, feeling around the wall of the chariot until he finds a specific spot, “is the reason my brother gave a fuck about a dumbass chariot.” He sticks the edge of the wooden tool in a tiny groove, wedging it open to reveal a hidden panel and a small, golden button. Nico meets Will’s grin with raised eyebrows, impressed.

“What do you know about Michael?”

“Uh, not too much.”

“You think he, in any reality, would have had that much interest in a hunk of wood?”

Nico had scarcely met him more than a couple times, but Michael Yew made an impression, that was for sure. For someone who was shorter than Nico when he was ten years old, he sure took up a lot of space. In the few times Nico remembers seeing him, he’d been concerned with his bow, his camera, or showing any given person who so much as blinked at him wrong just how quickly he could turn their ass concave. If Nico is correct, actually, the one time he and a pegasus had been in the same vicinity, they’d hissed at each other. Nico didn’t even know pegasi could hiss.

He tries to find a delicate way to say this.

“He seemed more interested in other endeavours,” he says politely.

Will laughs loudly. “He would rather shove an arrow in his eye than race a chariot!” His bright smile is impossible not to match, and Nico is relieved to find him totally comfortable, relaxed; hell, even excited. Usually, any talk of his siblings, even fond, makes him quiet. He’s glad for this change, however unusual. “Man, I loved my brother more than anything, but he was the most ornery motherfucker I’ve ever met in my life. He taught me every swear in every language by the time I was nine, just because he knew it would drive Lee batty. He didn’t care about some spoil of war.”

He smirks, wide and devilish, and Nico’s knees go weak. Dimples like that should be illegal.

“He was smart, though. And he figured, if dad’s blessing made this chariot anything like his own…”

He reaches out and presses the golden button with his thumb, letting go and standing back once he registers a faint click. After a couple seconds, the chariot begins to glow, soft at first, then brighter, then Nico has to squeeze his eyes shut to avoid the stinging burn, and then when he opens them, it —

He gapes. Will grins.

Where the chariot used to be, is now a shiny, brand-new, black and yellow motorbike, two helmets gleaming on the sparkling leather seat.

“…Then it might be a little more than some lousy chariot.”

Without waiting for Nico to pick his jaw off the floor, Will rushes forward. He tosses one of the helmets to Nico — which he barely manages to catch, still working on processing what the fuck just happened — and tucks the other under his arm. Nico happens to notice how his biceps flex with the action, and then vows to have his father bankrupt the entire polo shirt industry, because he can never be caught lacking like this by any mortal soul. It’s humiliating.

There’s a click as Will unlatches the seat, lifting it up to access the compartment under it. He pulls out a bundle mass of black fabric, and with a flick of his shoulders reveals it to be a fucking leather jacket and oh, gods, Nico takes back the polo shirt complaints, he can live with the polo shirt. This is too much. This is —

“Any time you’re done ogling at me, you can climb on,” Will calls out. He doesn’t even have the good grace to look in Nico’s direction, instead sliding on the seat facing resolutely forward, amused smirk on his face. And because he wants Nico to die, actually, he straightens his jacket, making sure it fits his shoulders right (by the gods does it ever) brushes his hair backwards (there is no genuine reason for someone’s hair to actually shine in the sunlight) and slides his helmet on. When he finally does look back in Nico’s direction, through his raised visor, the combined sight of his sparkling blue eyes and the cut of his face under the angular helmet actually gives him tachycardia.

“I hate you,” Nico croaks. “Not joking.”

Will throws his head back and laughs, baring his long, tanned throat. Nico follows the bob of his adam’s apple like Tantalus does the forbidden fruit. It’s horrible, and what’s worse is that Will is visibly preening like the fuckin’ peacock he is. Someone should remind him he’s basically a dressed up turkey. Or something. Nico’s brain is operating at twenty percent capacity, his ability to metaphor properly is a secondary concern.

“Just get over here, you goober. We’re on a time limit, remember?”

Shoving his helmet on to hide his flaming face, Nico does, sliding on with a healthy four inches of space between them.

“Mm, not gonna work, ParaNorman. This thing’s enchanted, we’ll be going well over a hundred. Hold on properly.”

Praying to seven different gods for strength, at once, Nico scooches the agonizing few inches closer.

“Hands around waist, Death Boy.”

“I’m fucking — I’m getting there, you asshole, gimme a goddamn second.”

“Do you need help?”

“I need you to shut the fuck up so I can focus.”

Maybe it’s the healer in him, or maybe there actually is a god looking out for Nico and they decide to have mercy. Maybe it’s a third option. Either way, Will reaches back and wraps his callused hands around Nico’s wrist, tugging them gently forward and resting them on the narrow curve of his hips. Nico holds them there, along with his breath, until some of the panicky tension starts to loosen in his chest, and he relaxes forward, resting his chest against Will’s back.

“There,” he says quietly, humming with approval when Nico’s arms link properly around his waist. He squeezes his clasped wrists once — a silent you good? — and waits for Nico’s minute nod, face buried in the back of Will’s neck, before starting up the engine, revving it twice before leaning forward, body flush to the bike. Nico can practically feel his grin, it’s so clear in his mind’s eye, in the delight thrumming through Will’s entire body, that he can’t help his own smile, too, can’t help but feel the thrum of the machine, the sharp smell in the air. He tightens his hold and Will lets out a loud, whooping laugh.

“Let’s ride, baby!”

With a push off the ground and a twist of a thrusters, they’re off, leaving behind only the echo of the roaring engine and the joyful, startled sound of Nico’s shriek.

———

next

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 18: THE PARTY PONIES INVADE

Percy only heard Will's voice read the new chapter title, not the actual words, let alone what Magnus and Jason were asking about so excitedly. Only finally having an upcoming battle with Luke deterred him from sitting around worrying about the how's and why's of someone he'd instinctively known was a friend from the moment he'd seen her. Whatever Thalia's part in this, it had nothing to do with him being replaced...he was mostly sure.

"One on one," I challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of?"

"Losing, probably," Jason said confidently. Percy had already beaten him once on a practice sparing match, and he'd had so much more experience since then. He'd taken down Ares, and Polyphemus. Luke would be an even match at best, and they were still right on the ocean front property.

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.

Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus I'd ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied.*

"Wow," Percy said right along with everyone else, even as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration and wondered why on earth a deck of cards came to mind.

I could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius and Luke some names so bad Chiron would've washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.

"Chiron can understand horses too?" Nico asked keenly.

"How do you think he always knows the gossip around camp?" Will grinned.

"Sir!" Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!"

"Ready to murder," Alex said, he didn't need to read the flying horses mind to know Luke wouldn't make it to the airport.

  Luke kept his eyes on me.

"I told you last summer, Percy," he said. "You can't bait me into a fight."

"And you keep avoiding one," I noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Luke glanced at his men, and he saw I'd trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse.

"Percy for the triple win," Jason applauded that was three plans working back to back.

"Gods I hope I don't do everything in three's," he frowned as he instantly imagined three or more bad things crashing around him soon enough.

For my part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could. On the down-side, I knew how good Luke was at sword-fighting.

"What exactly was the upside again?" Thalia frowned at him. "Aside from pissing off Luke."

"That's not worth any downside?" Percy smirked.

"I'll kill you quickly," he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my own sword. Its blade glinted with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. I didn't know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process.

"Doesn't someone die in every Greek story?" Magnus had gathered. "I get the feeling newly minted ones get no better a treatment."

Thalia pursed up her lips and decided against informing him this blade wasn't new at all. It's original owner had used it to destroy Ouranos.

Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.

He grinned at me wickedly.

"Luke," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."

"You must love she hasn't tried to scold either of you for fighting," Will said conversationally. "No, no, keep the fight fair boys."

"A great warrior indeed," Percy grinned, but it wasn't very confident. She was rooting for him to win...right? And yet, would she ever forgive him if he mortally wounded Luke?

"Sorry, Annabeth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."

"Tell Annabeth to toss you her hat," Jason pointed out, "same rules as he just used."

"I can't ask her to do that," Percy whispered. He was already worried about the outcome of this, the less she was involved on every level except escape, the better.

The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill. I thought back to Chiron, who'd told me to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. Now I was going to pay for not listening to him.

Magnus and Jason exchanged excited looks about Chiron showing up any second to scold Percy about this in person, it was perfect! He'd already been mentioned in Florida, and what else could that chapter title mean?

Percy frowned at the two geeking out this much over his teacher giving out an 'I told you so', if he ever saw him again.

Luke lunged and almost killed me on the first try. His sword went under my arm, slashing through my shirt and grazing my ribs.

Percy rubbed at the graze now and looked around, waiting for someone to start laughing at him or make reet, reet noises. None did. They seemed surprised, worried even. He'd faced monsters and gods without a scratch, who was Luke to be doing this...

I jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed my blade away with his shield.

"My, Percy," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."

He came at me again with a swipe to the head. I parried, returned with a thrust. He sidestepped easily.

The cut on my ribs stung. My heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, I jumped backward into the swimming pool and felt a surge of strength. I spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke's face.

The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. But before I could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again.

Will was reading as calm and steady as ever as if he didn't notice Percy was having some invisible fight with a game controller, his hands and feet in constant movement, his whole body twisting and moving from a fight he was trying his hardest not to be a part of. He'd yet dealt a real blow back to Luke and the only thing he could let himself focus on was if the others had made it off that ship.

I attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn't even faze him. He dropped to a crouch and jabbed at my legs. 

Percy hissed, his adrenaline momentarily disrupted by clamping his hands down on his leg at the remembered pain instead of throwing the might of the ocean into Luke's face!

Suddenly my thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed. My jeans were ripped above the knee. I was hurt. I didn't know how badly. Luke hacked downward and I rolled behind a deck chair. I tried to stand, but my leg wouldn't take the weight.

"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated.

Thalia grabbed Percy's wrist and squeezed tight to stop him choking Will out. "It's okay Percy, you know he's okay," she fervently reminded.

His best friend had been through so much, exchanging one hostage situation for another in mere hours and Percy felt like a failure as he went limp in his seat. He'd lost. He'd let them all down...

I rolled again as Luke's sword slashed the deck chair in half, metal pipes and all.

"Someone's not having fun on the pool deck," Percy muttered, the rapid fire part of his brain remembering the pink towel underneath he'd leapt away from, the scent of sunscreen and blood in the air. He wondered if that family was somehow still alive while he fought for his own.

I clawed toward the swimming pool, trying hard not to black out. I'd never make it. Luke knew it, too. He advanced slowly, smiling. The edge of his sword was tinged with red.

"One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy." He looked at the bear-man Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth and Grover by the necks. "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetit."

Thalia's nails dug in tight, on any other person she would have broken skin as she flashed with a murderous outrage of her own she was forced not to act on. Some piece of her would never believe Luke would idly stand by and watch something terrible happen to Annabeth, let alone give the order. That same part was now dwindling into a twisted black mess as she slowly released Percy's wrist, but her fingers just contracted into a useless fist on nobody in here.

"He-he! He-he!" The bear-man lifted my friends and bared his teeth.

That's when all Hades broke loose.

"Did Hades change his mind about killing you?" Alex asked in surprise.

"Just what I need, more skeletons," Percy was blinking like a bright light was in his eyes though.

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius's mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck.

"The Hunters?" Percy asked in confusion, looking at Thalia.

"Were you not paying attention?" Jason demanded in shock. "How did you miss a word of this?"

"Well I'm so sorry I don't have attention perfection disorder instead," he huffed.

"Rescue," Thalia quickly intervened, "that's the important part here. Go on Will!"

"Brother!" Agrius wailed. He let the pegasus's reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head and fly away free over Miami Bay.

"Now that's a noble steed," Magnus said in delight.

For a split second, Luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins' bodies dissolve into smoke.

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

"Ponies!" Tyson cried with delight.

My mind had trouble processing everything I saw.

Percy sympathized with his past self, it wasn't any better remembering, nor having it second hand described with how chaotic these creatures who were so unlike Chiron could be, while his mentor was mixed in made it all the more eccentric.

Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses.

Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER. Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number I.

"So, for once, I would have accepted the answer of both to our game," Alex whispered in Magnus's ear.

"Good to know who you break the rules for," Magnus grinned back, "I'll be sure to find that centaur and tell him."

Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.

They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even Luke was stunned. I couldn't tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack.

"Why not both?" Will asked sincerely, it really was what they were best known for.

Apparently both.

"You don't get credit for that, knowing this already," but Nico was smiling at how proud of himself Will seemed for quoting the book.

"I'm sure I can find some way to get extra credit down the road then," Will shrugged.

As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end.

"I wonder who his favorite superhero is," Magnus snorted in delight.

It smacked Luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

'I know he's mine now,' Hearth cheered, 'you think if I made one he'd sign it for me?' Making Magnus laugh all the harder.

His warriors scattered. I couldn't blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it's a centaur, armed with a bow and whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

"Can confirm," Jason assured.

"And who are you to claim being the bravest warrior?" Percy rolled his eyes.

"A man with confidence," Jason smirked.

Percy wasn't impressed, but he was a little jealous. Wasn't the guy as blank on his past as him?

"Come get some!" yelled one of the party ponies.

They let loose with their paintball guns. A wave of blue and yellow exploded against Luke's warriors, blinding them and splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip and fall.

Chiron galloped toward Annabeth and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited them on his back.

Percy breathed a sigh of relief for that at least and even exchanged a smile with Thalia. It was nice they weren't the first to be rescued, even when he was the one bleeding to death.

I tried to get up, but my wounded leg still felt like it was on fire.

Luke was crawling out of the pool.

"Attack, you fools.'" he ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed.

I knew any second we would be swamped by Luke's reinforcements. Already, his warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn.

Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay.

But more warriors were coming up the stairs.

"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said.

Jason bit his lip uneasily at the call. It was the right one, better to take this victory and retreat, regroup, but the nagging worry bothered him. If this surprise attack of highly formidable creatures hadn't even made a dent in this army, what was going to be capable of stopping Luke?

"You won't get away with this, horse man!" Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deck chair.

"Revenge from its brethren," Nico smirked.

"No chair shall ever let him forget it," Jason chuckled.

A palomino centaur hoisted me onto his back. "Dude, get your big friend!"

"Tyson!" I yelled. "Come on!"

Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after us.

"A sad but valid need for interrupting that very important work," Alex nodded.

He jumped on the centaur's back.

"Dude!" the centaur groaned, almost buckling under Tyson's weight. "Do the words 'low-carb diet' mean anything to you?"

"Depends on what you call an all peanut butter diet?" Percy was rubbing absently at his leg without a care as he beamed for his little brother getting to live out his dream right then of finally riding on a 'pony.' The smile on his face was almost worth the multiple stab wounds.

Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase and not ten stories above the ground. I was sure we were going to die.

"I've been confident of that several times," Will chuckled, "you've yet managed it."

"And you're always telling us not to tempt the fates," Nico scoffed in agreement.

We plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as we raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

I have no idea what the Miamians thought as we galloped by.

"Circus," Alex offered.

"A really strange motorcycle gang," Jason shrugged.

"The clowns taking over a rodeo," Thalia said with confidence and a snap of her fingers, and then a smug look at Percy.

He had no clue why, but he gave her a finger back for good measure.

Streets and buildings began to blur as the centaurs picked up speed. It felt as if space were compacting—as if each centaur step took us miles and miles. In no time, we'd left the city behind. We raced through marshy fields of high grass and ponds and stunted trees.

Finally, we found ourselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions and mini-refrigerators and mosquito netting. We were in a centaur camp.

Magnus whistled in surprise at the idea, wondering how welcoming they were to homeless people stumbling into them. Did they invite them in for a drink and a rest, in-between the near death stunts?

"Dude!" said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "Did you see that bear guy? He was all like: 'Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!'"

The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. "That was awesome! Head slam!"

The two centaurs charged at each other full-force and knocked heads, then went staggering off in different directions with crazy grins on their faces.

"I've finally found the ancient ancestral act of this," Thalia said, "and I wish it had gone extinct."

"But then what would the jockeys do to wake up their brain cells?" Alex rolled his eyes.

Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth and Grover down on a picnic blanket next to me. "I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. They don't have the brain cells to spare."

"Ooh, Chiron burn," Percy smirked, "never thought I'd hear that."

"Chiron," I said, still stunned by the fact that he was here. "You saved us."

He gave me a dry smile. "Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name."

"Is that all it takes to get a rescue from him?" Will chuckled.

"I don't think that's permission to set him up for something else," Nico mock rolled his eyes.

"Darn, there goes Connor's plans for the summer," Will sighed.

"But how did you know where we were?" Annabeth asked.

"Advanced planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami."

"Wow teach, tell me how you really feel," Magnus was laughing all the same for whatever the reason.

"Gee, thanks," Grover mumbled.

"No, no," Chiron said. "I didn't mean ... Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal. Iris and I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. It then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. As you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. Distance for us is not the same as distance for humans."

I looked over at the campfire, where three party ponies were teaching Tyson to operate a paintball gun.

"That's a terrifying idea," Will frowned. "What's next, monsters with assault rifles?"

"Those already exist," Nico muttered.

"I think it's cool," Jason smiled, "I call him on the next capture the flag game." No one really wanted to know what Jason would be loading that paintball gun with considering that diabolical smile.

"Like hell, he'd be on my team!" Percy protested.

Thalia cleared her throat loudly and waved Will to keep going before this escalated.

I hoped they knew what they were getting into.

"So what now?" I asked Chiron. "We just let Luke sail away? He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway."

"So who's going to announce the countdown for the ship getting blown up?" Alex asked enthusiastically, though Percy wasn't the only one who winced, Will did too. Alex pursed up his lips and resisted the urge to keep asking, even as he exchanged a concerned look with Magnus why that could ever be considered a bad thing.

Chiron knelt, carefully folding his front legs underneath him. He opened the medicine pouch on his belt and started to treat my wounds.

"Oh good," Thalia snorted, "I was starting to wonder if he was just going to let you bleed out while expositioning."

"I'd rather bleed out than hear what I already know," Percy said tragically.

"I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organized enough to pursue us. Nobody won."

"But we got the Fleece!" Annabeth said. "Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now."

Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. "You are all true heroes. And as soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you."

"You're coming, too?" I asked.

"Oh yes, Percy. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music.

"Someone you should endeavor to look in on," Will gave Nico a hopeful look, "he's Italian, maybe you and Chiron can have a karaoke night."

Nico gave an unimpressed smile now and thought Will wouldn't think himself so clever if he just asked Chiron for another boombox to take into Tartarus incase he needed to scare away more monsters.

Besides, I must have some words with Mr. D. There's the rest of the summer to plan. So much training to do. And I want to see ... I'm curious about the Fleece."

Percy looked from Thalia to the book and back several times like he'd developed a bad twitch. He'd been wrong about Luke, but his doubt had made him think the worst of Tyson when he should have trusted his instincts about this little brother. He didn't want to do the same again about Thalia...maybe he even did want her to be the child of Prophecy.

I didn't know exactly what he meant, but it made me worried about what Luke had said: I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it.

Had he just been lying? I'd learned with Kronos there was usually a plan within a plan. The titan lord wasn't called the Crooked One for nothing. He had ways of getting people to do what he wanted without them ever realizing his true intentions.

Over by the campfire, Tyson let loose with his paintball gun. A blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backward into the lake. The centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck and blue paint, and gave Tyson two thumbs up.

"You're little brother is in heaven right now," Thalia gave him a winning smile to which he had no doubts in.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "perhaps you and Grover would go supervise Tyson and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?"

"I've heard nothing but good things from all of this," Alex scoffed, "if he wanted them to leave, at least be subtle!"

Annabeth met his eyes. Some kind of understanding passed between them.

"Sure, Chiron," Annabeth said. "Come on, goat boy."

"But I don't like paintball."

"Yes, you do." She hoisted Grover to his hooves and led him off toward the campfire.

"That satyr has been punished enough for a lifetime," Will huffed, "let him go find some tin cans and get some rest for peats sake."

"The part of the story that always gets glossed over," Nico agreed in amusement, "naptime should definitely be in order." Percy hadn't always been the prefect hero, Annabeth didn't have all the answers, but it was nice to think some things he'd always thought about camp were still true. Will probably had hauled in Grover and locked him into a bed when he got back for just this.

Chiron finished bandaging my leg. "Percy, I had a talk with Annabeth on the way here. A talk about the prophecy."

Uh-oh, I thought.

"It wasn't her fault," I said. "I made her tell me."

"Yes, you held your sword point to her and demanded it," Jason raised a brow, "you absolutely did not logic your way into her spilling the beans."

"Like Chiron would have believed that either," Percy scoffed, "this was faster."

His eyes flickered with irritation. I was sure he was going to chew me out,

"A legit worry with two stomachs to contend with," Alex nodded seriously.

but then his look turned to weariness.

"Thankfully the nonlethal one won," Percy sighed.

"I wonder which that is though?" Magnus grinned. "Horses are plenty deadly, so it probably was the human teeth set in."

"You guys are dragging this out way to much," Thalia told them with an unseemly grimace, she did not need the mental image of Chiron switching out dentures for his meals!

"I suppose I could not expect to keep it secret forever."

"So am I the one in the prophecy?"

Chiron tucked his bandages back into his pouch. "I wish I knew, Percy. You're not yet sixteen. For now we must simply train you as best we can, and leave the future to the Fates."

The Fates. I hadn't thought about those old ladies in a long time, but as soon as Chiron mentioned them, some-thing clicked.

"That's what it meant," I said.

Chiron frowned. "That's what what meant?"

"Last summer. The omen from the Fates, when I saw them snip somebody's life string. I thought it meant I was going to die right away, but it's worse than that. It's got something to do with your prophecy. The death they foretold—it's going to happen when I'm sixteen."

Chiron's tail whisked nervously in the grass. "My boy, you can't be sure of that. We don't even know if the prophecy is about you."

Percy's face settled into a grim expression for several daunting moments. The others all braced themselves for something, the room to bend to his power again, Percy to start screaming in pain as he remembered something, but he exhaled quickly enough and waved Will on. Still, the uncomfortable look lingered, and Percy knew he was still missing something. Maybe even something Chiron and Annabeth themselves didn't know about all of this.

"But there isn't any other half-blood child of the Big Three!"

"That we know of."

It took little effort for Nico to school his features and pretend he'd heard nothing of importance, he was used to being overlooked, and that had been plenty true at the time. He actually found himself smiling for a moment as the four not in the know glanced to Thalia, and back to the book. For the first time down here, he actually wasn't looking forward to these books ending. Anonymity was nice.

"And Kronos is rising. He's going to destroy Mount Olympus!"

"He will try," Chiron agreed. "And Western Civilization along with it, if we don't stop him. But we will stop him. You will not be alone in that fight."

A smile came naturally to Percy's face for that assured knowledge, but he still had an uneasy feeling about this matter. This prophecy mess made him almost wish the Camp would abandon him to this for a moment so nobody else would die like Tyson almost had, even if he knew he'd never make it alone.

I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but I remembered what Annabeth had told me. It would come down to one hero. One decision that would save or destroy the West. And I felt sure the Fates had been giving me some kind of warning about that. Something terrible was going to happen, either to me or to somebody I was close to.

That same shadow passed over Percy's face again, and they recognized it this time as grief. For a knowledge he no longer knew about, but a tormented memory none the less trying to overwhelm him. He worried at it now, not wanting to let go of the answer. Annabeth was tied into this key, something had happened he knew he must remember-

"Percy," Thalia said in a very long suffering kind of voice as she glared at the pile of books still to come before smacking his knee. "Don't force it," she finished sharply.

"Right," he jolted back to the here and now, still rubbing his temple, still wishing he could tear into all of those now and just find the one stupid page that would make all of this make sense, but he knew he couldn't. Even the ocean might not heal that, and if his father had wanted him to, he would have appeared here to do it himself without all the run around. There was something in these books he had to wait for.

Boy was he not the patient one.

"I'm just a kid, Chiron," I said miserably. "What good is one lousy hero against something like Kronos?"

Chiron managed a smile. '"What good is one lousy hero'? Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain said something like that to me once, just before he single-handedly changed the course of your Civil War."

"Let me guess, child of Hermes," Magnus sighed, finally convinced nothing would surprise him anymore.

He pulled an arrow from his quiver and turned the razor-sharp tip so it glinted in the firelight.

"Celestial bronze, Percy. An immortal weapon. What would happen if you shot this at a human?"

"Nothing," I said. "It would pass right through."

"The fletching and all?" Magnus's eyes glazed over in confusion for a moment as he imagined the immortal weapon on one side of him and the shaft stuck right through the middle. The weapon might just be the tip, but the rest of that could still hurt someone!

'Intent matters,' Hearth seemed to be saying that's exactly what would happen though as he shrugged.

"That's right," he said. "Humans don't exist on the same level as the immortals. They can't even be hurt by our weapons. But you, Percy—you are part god, part human. You live in both worlds. You can be harmed by both, and you can affect both. That's what makes heroes so special. You carry the hopes of humanity into the realm of the eternal. Monsters never die. They are reborn from the chaos and barbarism that is always bubbling underneath civilization, the very stuff that makes Kronos stronger. They must be defeated again and again, kept at bay.

Alex and Magnus exchanged amused looks. Hearth would swear Alex mouthed a name, but he couldn't follow exactly how that translated to dumbdoor.

Heroes embody that struggle. You fight the battles humanity must win, every generation, in order to stay human. Do you understand?"

It was a hopeless speech made to someone who would never give up, so Will somehow made it sound empowering. Every hero in that room straightened just a little in their seat in a silent promise those words would be true for them.

"I ... I don't know."

"You must try, Percy. Because whether or not you are the child of the prophecy, Kronos thinks you might be. And after today, he will finally despair of turning you to his side. That is the only reason he hasn't killed you yet, you know. As soon as he's sure he can't use you, he will destroy you."

"You talk like you know him."

Chiron pursed his lips. "I do know him."

I stared at him. I sometimes forgot just how old Chiron was. "Is that why Mr. D blamed you when the tree was poisoned? Why you said some people don't trust you?"

"Indeed."

"But, Chiron ... I mean, come on! Why would they think you'd ever betray the camp for Kronos?"

Chiron's eyes were deep brown, full of thousands of years of sadness. "Percy, remember your training. Remember your study of mythology. What is my connection to the titan lord?"

I tried to think, but I'd always gotten my mythology mixed up. Even now, when it was so real, so important to my own life, I had trouble keeping all the names and facts straight. I shook my head. "You, uh, owe Kronos a favor or something? He spared your life?"

"Percy," Chiron said, his voice impossibly soft. "The titan Kronos is my father."

"So?" Percy's scowl was ready to defend his teacher from anybody in here who had a problem with that. "That still never should have put any of this at Chiron's fault."

"Zeus wouldn't even admit Kronos was coming back, so it's still a piss poor excuse to kick him out," Alex agreed testily.

"Nobody at camp really got it either," Will soothingly agreed.

Alex watched Magnus carefully to see what he thought of that kind of news, but he just looked pained as he said, "man, that cannot be fun to live with. Hope Annabeth doesn't have that in common with him." He'd never found out why she left home again this time and was very worried his Uncle Fredrick was still making her life miserable just like that Crooked One was to his kid.

Nico watched Will hand the book to Jason still feeling a little baffled at the underwhelming response. He found it hard to believe not a single person at that Camp had really not blamed the centaur for his fathers actions, but Will was a nice guy. Maybe he just hadn't heard any of the bad rumors, or wasn't sharing them.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*Question that has bothered me for years, is this supposed to be Blackjack? Percy says in the next book this is the same horse from Luke's ship yet Blackjack's male, when this is a mare. Did Rick change his mind and change the horse's gender, or were there more pegasi that escaped and Blackjack stuck around, which seems least likely as none others were mentioned. If the first, why not just keep Blackjack female? I'm so confused by this unimportant change.

My ultimate conclusion is Blackjack was the first genderfluid character and we never got to see any of Blackjack's feminine days. Sorry Alex.

[flwerpower]

tj’s powers !

(  will be added to as i develop her character ! )

PLANT EMPATHY: the user can understand the well-being and conditions of plants + interpret their emotions / communicate with them.

tj always had a green-thumb and a knack for gardening since she was old enough to stick her hands in the soil ;  it only felt natural to be able to understand and communicate with the plants she cared for so deeply.  the plants verbally communicate very clearly,  almost like talking to a person directly in front of her.  she finds it easiest to describe it as voices in her mind,  as scary as that may sound to others.  while tj uses the verbal and emotional connection to understand and tend to the plants,  they often utilize it to communicate and protect her.  it’s like having a heart-rate monitor 24/7,  the plants can sense when she’s happy,  sad,  panicked,  etc,  and act accordingly.  for example,  if she laughs hard enough,  flowers will sprout from the ground seemingly out of thin air.  if she’s uncomfortable,  or even scared,  an assortment of very strong vines won’t hesitate in attacking the person closing in on tj.

HEALING: the user can heal themselves and others using plants and / or their own life-form. life can be transferred from the plant or user to persons.

this power specifically pushed thalia to become a nurse.  despite initially being employed in the emergency room,  management is sure to give her rotations around the hospital to treat particularly ill patients.  she always leaves a plant,  typically flowers,  by their bedside depending on the person’s preferences.  with the plant’s permission,  she can transfer their healthy life form to the patient.  within days,  the patient under her watch is almost fully healed or cured of their ailment.   (  the time-span varies depending on the severity of the patient’s sickness !  ) 

PLANT AURA: the user can surround themselves with a plant-like energy like aura, gaining enhanced strength and can cause plants to grow in their surrounding area.

tj doesn’t utilize this power to its full ability.  causing plants to grow connects to her emotional link to them.  the plants’ ability to enhance her strength is only used under desperate circumstances ;  when she’s very sick,  weak,  or injured.  she doesn’t necessarily control this power as well as the others.  the aura itself decides based off her personal need when to activate this power,  whether it be to heal or protect her.   (  if ever attacked,  this power would become lethal.  as previously stated,  the plants --- and tj --- will not hesitate to snap under duress.  tj is not defenseless and her powers always come to aid if she allows them to.  )   

[mmvalentine]

Hi, it's CoN rhys and First Kiss anon, come to terrorise you with more weird promp requests😈haha. Okay so like no pressure at all lol, but would you consider maybe writing a Hades/Persephone type fic for Feysand? You're such a brilliant writer and I love all your fics. But seriously no pressure at all. Bye! 🖤

Hello sweet thing! I finally got inspired to start on this after reading @asteria-of-mars's latest masterpiece, and I have to say I'm enjoying it! I think you're my lucky charm anon because your other prompts First Fall and Fuck You, Feyre Darling are now two of my favourites. Anyway here's a soft and Gods inspired piece x

Pomegranate Part 1

Rhysand strolls through along the border of the Spring Court and gazes over the fields of flowers. Although he will always favour his own territory, even the Lord of Night has to admit that Spring is pretty.

It is twilight now and the dusk is settling in. The girl in the field notices Rhys watching her, and smiles shyly. He lifts a hand, and she walks over to him.

“Hello you,” she says. Her voice is soft and high, like falling petals, and it seems to reach right into Rhys.

“Hello little one,” he says back.

“I’ve seen you walking around here,” the girl tells him. “Do you come to see the wildflowers?”

“Yes,” Rhys replies, “although there is one particular blossom that is much more beautiful than the rest.” His eyes wander to the fresh bloom on her cheek, and he is not lying.

The girl drops her gaze as she smiles, and the loss of her blue-grey eyes is more than Rhys can bear. His hand darts out of its own accord, and gently lifts her chin.

“You have such stormy eyes, for a season so tranquil,” he says. She ignores him.

“I know who you are,” she tells him. “My father says to stay away from you.” Rhys’s brow furrows.

“Your father… did not like my father.” His face lightens. “Then again, I did not much like him either.” He grins, and the daughter of Spring tilts her head to one side to watch him. “And you?” he says. “What is your name?”

The girl feigns scandal. “What a question!” she says in mock horror. “Give you my name, so you might enchant me to follow you?” Rhys’s lips curl upward.

“I could just steal you away right now. No one would know.”

“My father would come after you.”

“How would he know it was me?”

“Because he didn’t like your father.”

Rhys’s eyes light. “But he might like me if he got to know me. Many find that they do.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

Rhys is grinning again now, despite himself. He puts his hands in his pockets.

“But you know my name?”

“Yes Rhysand, I do.”

“Mm. It sounds so good when you say it.”

“Well maybe I’ll have you follow me around.”

“I might do it anyway.”

“Still think my father might like you?”

“I’m not scared of old Tambourine.”

The girl giggles at that, and the sound of it rings in Rhys’s ears for minutes after.

“I’ll tell you what,” she says. “Come and see me tomorrow. If I spend a bit more time with you I might decide to trust you with my name.”

“Spend time with me now, I’m not doing anything.”

“Well I am,” she says. “Now go away and leave me be.”

“I don’t think I can leave my court two evenings in a row.”

“Then you’ll never know my name.”

“But that’s hardly fair!” Rhys protests. “You already know my name, should I not have something of yours?”

“Fine,” she says, and steps in close. Rhys barely has time to be surprised, before she stands up on her tip-toes and presses a kiss to his cheek. “Now you have something of mine too.”

And with that she wanders off, leaving Rhys standing in the field of flowers with his fingers on his face.

//

The next day, Rhys walks through the Spring field but didn’t see the girl. He thinks about the way that he had teased her, and wonders if she might have stayed home and laughed at him. Then something grabs his ankle, and he almost falls.

“Hello you,” the girl says. Rhys stares down at where she is lying amongst the long stems.

“My favourite flower,” he said. “I almost stepped on you.”

“The evening is warm, come and lie down with me.”

Rhys glances around, and finds the field empty again. He gets down on the ground and lays his long legs out beside her. Above them, the sky is peaches and cream.

“Why are we lying on the ground?” Rhys asks. The girl surprises him again by taking his hand and lacing her fingers through his.

“Because from here you can hear things growing in the earth,” she says. “Listen.”

She closes her eyes and breathes deeply. Rhys tries to listen too, but is distracted by the freckled serenity of her pale face in the stretching shadows.

“You’re not listening,” the girl scolds, without opening her eyes. “Don’t you know it’s rude to stare? We hardly know each other.”

“But you’re holding my hand,” Rhys points out. Now she does look at him, and he could drown in the ocean of her eyes.

“I’m a child of Spring,” she says, and then gives him a smile so lovely his heart breaks. “And Spring is the season for love.” He falls for her, just a little, right then and there.

Rhys rolls onto his side, and brings his thumb to her lower lip without letting go of her hand.

“My court is Night,” he said. “No wonder we’re friends.”

The girl shoves Rhys lightly in the chest. “Night is for lust, not love,” she teases. “And we’re not friends yet.” She goes to pull her hand out of his, but Rhys catches it back and she lets him.

“Then tell me how I can be your friend.” The girl’s eyes sparkle.

“Visit me again,” she says. “My father is very… protective. And I am lonely.”

“I can do that.”

The girl picks up his other hand now. “Visit me everyday.”

Rhys laughed. “I’ll visit you every day, for a month. If you tell me your name.”

She frowns at his fingers, even as she strokes his knuckles.

“For six months,” she says.

“Two.”

“Five.”

“Three.”

“Four, and I’ll give you a kiss.”

Rhys grins at that. “Deal,” he says. He untangles his hand from hers, so he can slide it behind her hair and cup the back of her skull. The daughter of Spring looks up at him through lidded eyes.

“Your cheek, Rhys,” she whispers.

“But nights are for lust,” he says, and then kisses her open mouthed and hungrier than he meant to. She tastes of rosewater and sweet pear. The girl’s arms twine round his neck and pull him closer, and without thinking he rolls her on top of him. Her weight is delicious along the length of his body, and the evening breeze blows her honey hair across his face.

Finally, the girl pulls back and looks at him from above. He tucks a curl behind her ear, and she flicks his nose for taking more than she had offered. Rhys thinks she might tell him off, but instead, she just says, “Feyre. My name is Feyre.”

****

Read Part 2

PS Big time thanks to everyone who reblogged some of my fics after I asked for some extra love for them!!! I appreciate it so much and hope you enjoy this new thing. I reckon there might be... seven parts.

MASTERLIST

TAGLIST: @ghostlyrose2 @highladysith @stardelia @feysand-loml @tillyrubes10 @ratabrasileira @live-the-fangirl-life @maybekindasortaace @annejulianneh111 @thebonecarver @rowaelinismyotp @loosingdreams @whythefuckdoiexist @inejsarrow @swankii-art-teacher @sjmships @courtofjurdan @teddytdr @positivewitch @thalia-2-rose @darling-archeron @rapunzel1523 @fairchildjace @philosophorumaurum02 @story-scribbler @allthecolorsneverseen @asteria-of-mars @fandomstalker27 @realbookloverproblems

[ofieugogyshz]

Hiya! Its nice to meet another Ancient Magus Bride self shipper! How about Zeus, Demeter, Athena, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Persephone, Calliope, Thalia and Melpomene for Nevin?

I'm over at @sugar-and-pearls by the way

Hello! Nice to meet you! Thank you for the questions, these were actually a lot more fun than I thought they'd be!

I don't have an s/i for tamb despite how beautiful and absolutely magical (no pun intended) the universe is, so I'll do my best to answer them as though I did.

Zeus: How did you first meet your f/o(s)? How did you feel about each other at first?

meta answer: thru the anime!

in-universe answer: idk yet. iirc Nevin's not moved for centuries, but you know, it'd sure be something if my form of magic allowed me to distance connect with Grandpa Nevin thru a tarot reading or clairvoyance or something, idk what. And he thinks of me in a similar way as he does Chise, sort of like a lost bird that's hurt and doesn't know how to fly its way home or to happiness or something, idk LOL.

I'm sure I wrote about that one before, actually, when I was considering adding him...

Demeter: What’s your favorite season, and how do you like to spend that season together?

Mine's either spring or fall, idk tbh which lol. it just changes. lately more towards spring, i guess?

I suppose spring's a good time to see the young drakes being active and playful and most of their growth? and maybe helping Lindel gather spring seasonal stuff if i'm allowed to hang out for his supplies.

Athena: Are your f/o(s) interested in any particular hobby or interest of yours? Have you taught them about it, or let them watch you, or anything similar?

I'd like to think that Nevin is interested in hearing my stories even though most of them are just fanfic. He offers suggestions in the way that one would impart wisdom to a person with a problem, like "why would the [character] do that? would it not be better for them to [suggestion]?"

He's lived a long time, too, so swapping stories (mine fictional, his lived) and asking for permission to share (and being quickly/harshly denied even though i'd vow to write it as fiction and it couldn't sell as nonfic anyways) and getting inspiration from his stories.

also bonus thought while writing this:

me: "...Grandpa Nevin, do you think that there's a spell to bring a fictional character to life?"

Nevin: "That I do not know, young weaver. But, would it not be better to find one's own happiness, than to rely on magic?"

me: .... ;>>

Aphrodite: How do you and your f/o(s) like to show love to each other? Feel free to include your love languages, if you find that helpful.

i'll have to say words of affirmation and quality time, as that's about all Nevin can do rooted to the spot LOL

I don't really got anything else, just him giving a lending ear and mouth LOL

Dionysus: What do you like to do with your f/o(s) for fun? Is there anything fun you’d like to try with them?

Share stories! Discuss magic, too, since I'd probably be self-taught/without a mentor.

I'm terrified of heights, but if he could still fly, I think I could trust him to be the earth beneath my scared feet LOL

Persephone: How different are you and your f/o(s)? How do you deal with each other’s differences?

Other than species? I'm a little hot-headed. Not as much since getting on mood-stabilizers, but when I'm allowed to be myself or get too into myself, I get knee-jerky reactions. Probably bc of the adhd, since we tend to feel things at 100 instead of 10. He is patient and kind though, and waits for me to come back and apologize or talk about why I got so upset or headstrong about something.

Calliope: Do you have any poetry or literature excerpts (or other quotes) that suit your ship?

Honestly, his interactions with Chise hit me pretty hard, especially during That One Scene where he chides her thought/envy. So I'd probably get a similar lecture at some point, especially the first time I'd see him in person. Chise is a big mood throughout her entire growth arc tbh.

Thalia: Discuss any fluff ideas you have for your ship. What kind of affectionate or sweet scenarios do you like best for this ship?

I don't really have any ideas. Just hanging out and enjoying the breeze and tranquility. Swapping stories, real and fake. Legends he knows of. etc. Me trying to hug his huge ass tree trunk of a leg.

Melpomene: Here’s your dedicated angst question: discuss any angsty or hurt/comfort ideas you have for your ship.

see aforementioned Chise Moment but altered to what I was going thru back then.

.

Now I miss grandpa Nevin and his energy :(

[thebigqueer]

👉👈 if you wrote the whole I just delivered a baby feel my hands interaction from Will's perspective I would love you forever

okay, i specifically had to read this scene again and let me tell you, i high key cringed because i just remembered how kinda bad the ending of blood of olympus was alskjskfdkfsd

anyway, i hope you love me forever because i will definitely be granting your wish. thanks for the prompt, and i hope you like this! 

and, as always: i usually do minimal editing on these, so please don’t judge my writing too much alskjjlkdf

Will will admit, the morning has been quite an adventure in itself. 

It started when his cabin awoke with the cries of a distressed Clarisse, who slammed open the door of the Apollo cabin at exactly 3:43 AM and screamed at the top of her lungs, while also banging pots and pans, “THE BABY IS COMING! THE BABY IS COMING! William Andrew Solace, GET your ass over here!” 

In all his life, Will’s cured lots of sicknesses and injuries. But never has he had to take care of a woman giving birth. 

All in all, he thinks he did pretty well. Save for the almost-fainting part of the birth, he got the baby delivered perfectly healthy and relatively easily (although he’s sure Mellie would disagree), and Coach Hedge was there to even see it. 

After handing over the child, the exhausted son of Apollo, savoring the sweetness of the new family’s moment, smiles and excuses himself. He's sure he is going to pass out any moment from both tiredness and excitement, and he is ready to recount all of the past two and a half hours to Cecil and Lou Ellen. 

He steps out of the infirmary, surprised by how much lighter the sky has become. The sun rises, spreading its golden glow over the camp, and he has to shield his eyes from the brightness. Despite the beauty, though, there’s a dread that’s settled over the camp, a nervous electricity that has demigods buzzing left and right.

Demigods trudge to Half-Blood Hill, decorated with armor over their bodies. Will frowns, his own heart thudding faster. He can’t quite believe there’s another war about to happen, in just a little bit, after just barely surviving one last summer. 

With a jolt, Will remembers the lives lost, the people who’ve slipped from his grasp in the last battle. His face burns with the shame of losing them, of failing them. Why couldn’t I have done better? he scolds himself. 

With the prospective battle, he feels an even larger weight on his shoulders, the mass of stress crushing him. He feels as if he is Atlas, carrying the bulk of the universe on his body, doomed to serve this job for the rest of eternity.

The pressure of tears and anger presses against his throat, threatening to let loose. He swallows, trying to suppress it, but he can feel himself failing at doing so; his body shudders, his fists clench. He wants to drop to his knees and sob right here, right now. He’s so useless to everyone here. He’s failed so many people. How many will he fail today? 

A voice calls his name from the distance, and for a second, Will stops thinking about all the horrors he’s seen. He turns his head in the direction that he heard the voice, but he can’t seem to find it. He frowns. 

“Psst!” the voice calls again, and this time Will realizes it is clearly feminine. He swivels his head to the bushes in front of him, and almost screams when he sees eyes peering at him through the leaves.

For a second, he doesn’t recognize the faces that stare back at him. Only after he rubs his eyes does he realize that it’s Lou Ellen and Cecil. A shaky smile wavers on his lips. “Hey, guys. What are you doing?”

The two wrestle out of the bushes, shoving twigs aside. They rush over to the son of Apollo, excitement plastered over their faces. “Wanna help us scout the enemy?” Lou Ellen asks, her voice rising with enthusiasm. A mischievous sparkle twinkles in her eyes. “I’m practicing my Mist-controlling powers, and I think I’m getting pretty good.” 

Will looks at Cecil, who nods in encouragement. “Come on, dude. You’ve been in the infirmary all day. I’m sure delivering a baby is probably more exciting than us, but...” He shrugs, and a sadness envelops his face. “I guess we just don’t know how much longer we have. Don’t you wanna spend it together?”

Will’s heart clutches and his skin prickles with goosebumps. He looks at his two friends, people he’s known for so long. He realizes that Cecil’s right; they don’t know how much longer they have with each other. The realization hits Will right where it hurts. 

Taking a deep breath, he nods. “Alright, I could use a break. Let’s do it.”

~~~

Fifteen minutes later, Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen are clad in black clothing, giggling in the bushes on the outskirts of camp. They watch the enemy wander around, setting up their equipment, shouting to one another. Peering at them, a spark of confusion consumes Will. They look like normal demigods; why are they warring, anyway? Who decided on this? Why can’t they just get along, share their similar stories? The entire thing is pretty pointless and sad, Will thinks, since they could have been friends. But instead, the two camps decided only on warring, setting their differences first and foremost. 

It’s a little disheartening, to say the least. Will knows that this is the nature of humankind, that people tend to only see differences. But they are demigods; aren’t they a little above humans? Shouldn’t they know better?

But even then, they still have humanity in them. And as ugly as humanity can be, it’s still humanity. This is what humans are like. People must learn to accept. Will only sighs at this thought.

As he mulls this thought over, Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen skitter over to Thalia’s pine tree, hoping to get a better view of the Roman demigods. Their faces brighten under the rising sun, illuminating their faces. The warmth seeps through Will’s skin, sinking into his bones. He want to keep that warmth there, absorb the light. He’s afraid of the darkness that might come after the war. 

As they reach the tree, Will almost stops in astonishment. Because standing righ there, in a ridiculously bright Hawaiian T-shrit and black jeans, a Stygian sword at his side, stands Nico di Angelo. Will almost trips over himself. 

For a second, Will stumbles. What on earth is he doing here? Didn’t he leave camp? Didn’t he go rogue? Didn’t he leave Will here, in the very same place, on a morning much like this one, just a year ago? 

Cecil and Lou Ellen stop with him, confusion spilling over their features. “What’s wrong?” Cecil asks, nudging Will. “Dude, we’re in the light. Let’s go.” 

Will only shakes his head in response and hurries over to the son of Hades, a strange feeling sparking in his blood. Is it resentment? Is it relief? He’s not quite sure. All he knows is that he never thought he’d see Nico again, and especially not dressed like that.

When Will reaches him, the son of Hades doesn’t seem to notice he’s right there. His dark eyes are also focused on the Roman demigods, peering over them, oozing hatred.

“Nico?” Will whispers, his voice quiet in the morning. Lou Ellen and Cecil crouch by Will, peering over at him in surprise. 

Nico whirls suddenly, a look of fear in his eyes. He snaps his sword in their direction, just barely missing Will. The son of Apollo stumbles a bit, trying to jump past it. 

The son of Hades’ eyes focus, clearing up as he stares at the three demigods. His face betrays a series of emotions: first confusion, then shock, and finally irritation. He opens his mouth to speak, but Will snaps first. Gesturing to the sword, he hisses, “Put that down! What are you doing here?”

Nico blinks, surprise written over his face. Then he shakes his head and frowns at Will. “Me?” he asks, eyebrows furrowing. “What are you doing here? Getting yourselves killed?”

Will’s blood boils with Nico’s tone. Their first time meeting in over a year, and that’s how he’s going to talk to Will? The son of Apollo scowls. “Hey, we’re scouting the enemy.” Spreading his palms, he assures, “We took precautions.”

A dark eyebrow rises on Nico’s face, a look of doubt painting his face. “You dressed in black with the sun coming up. You painted your face but didn’t cover that mop of blond hair. You might as well be waving a yellow flag.” He rolls his eyes. 

Will’s face feels warm, the heat of humiliation coursing through his nerves. “Lou Ellen wrapped some Mist around us, too.” 

The two looked over at the girl, whose eyes were widened in surprise. Suddenly put on spot, her own face turns as red as Will’s. She greets Nico and tells him that the demigod next to her is Cecil, a son of Hermes. 

A moment of hesitation burns between the four demigods, waiting for the next move. Nico’s eyes switch over the three of them, deciding what to do, testing how great they are. Will puffs out his chest, a look of determination in his eyes. You know me, he wants to say. Don’t play this way. 

Finally, Nico kneels and asks about Coach Hedge and his arrival at camp, whether he got here safely. Despite his irritation earlier, Will allows a smile to come over his face at the mention of the satyr. Lou Ellen giggles, and Will nudges her, though a bout of elation envelops him, too. He smiles at Nico, assuring him that the satyr is fine. 

Nico asks about the child, a look of momentary excitement passing over his face. The smile on Will’s face widens despite himself, elated to talk about the new baby. “He’s fine, too,” Will promises. “A very cute little satyr boy.” His skin crawls again, but this time with the memory of the birth. He’d never seen such terrifying yet beautiful scenes in his life. A shudder echoes through him. “But I delivered it,” informs the son of Apollo, grimacing. “Have you ever delivered a baby?”

Nico frowns, a look of confusion and disgust rolling over his face. “Um, no.” 

Will shrugs and tells him that he just needed the fresh air; the mission with Lou Ellen and Cecil would help him. A grin takes over his face again as he announces, “My hands are still shaking.” He holds out his palms and blinks at them. “See?”

Without thinking, Will takes Nico’s hand. In hindsight, he probably should have considered how Nico would react, and how strange this interaction might be after not seeing each other in months, but he isn’t quite thinking. With the baby’s birth, the potential battle, and with Nico’s sudden appearance, can anyone blame him for feeling frenzied and dazed, with having practically no brain functionality at such an early time in the morning? 

A buzz echoes through Will’s palms, electrifying his nerves. His bones resonate, hum, emanate energy. He isn’t sure why this is happening; it’s as if being with Nico again, feeling his fingers in his, he’s unlocked something. For a second, Will sees and feels and hears nothing but the son of Hades. But then, just a split second later, he feels it: a cold, empty darkness, seeping from Nico’s hands. Will’s not sure anyone can quite feel darkness, so this is quite the strange interaction for him. He feels void, alone, as if no one is around. He almost pulls away when Nico does it first. 

“Whatever,” he grumbles. “We don’t have time for chitchat. The Romans are attacking at dawn, and I’ve got to-” 

Will frowns, but what else did he expect? Of course Nico’s going to want to move straight ahead. A buzz of annoyance echoes in him. He doesn’t like that he’s talking to them as if they don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. Before Nico can continue, he snaps back, explaining that they know what’s going on. He raises an eyebrow at Nico. “But if you’re planning to shadow-travel to that command tent, forget it.” 

A look of rage passes over Nico, darkness roiling in his irises. “Excuse me?” he growls, eyes glaring. Will feels that he’s pushed too far, too much, but he stands his ground. Nico just got back to camp; he’s not going to risk his life just for this. 

Will holds his chin high. With a look of determination, and as much bravery as he can master in front of the son of Hades, he informs him that Coach Hedge was very descriptive in his warnings of Nico and his shadow-travelling. “You can’t try that again.”

Nico’s jaw clamps hard, anger pouring in bouts. He watches Will daringly, as if saying, Watch me. “I just did try it again, Solace. I’m fine.” 

Will almost scoffs. If that darkness he felt just moments ago was any indication, the son of Hades is not fine. Rage boils over in Will’s body; why can’t he just understand that maybe there are people here who actually care that he doesn’t risk himself again? Why is he always the one to put himself in danger? 

And yet, he feels a connection to Nico. He knows what it’s like to want to push yourself to the extreme, especially if it means that you save the ones you love. And for this reason, he finds himself even more irritated in Nico. If they’re so alike, then Will finds him just as equally annoying as he finds himself. 

He rambles to Nico about how he can feel the darkness oozing from him, the risk he’d be making if he makes that jump one more time. As he does, he watches the son of Hades raise his eyebrow, not surprised, as if he knows what this jump could mean. With a jolt, Will realizes that maybe that’s what Nico wants - to not exist anymore. Red hot tears push against his throat, but he grounds himself. “You are not shadow-traveling. Doctor’s orders.” 

Nico opens his mouth and starts streaming excuses about the Romans, but Will won’t have it. He’s not losing Nico after only just now seeing him again. The son of Apollo assures Nico that they’ll take care of them, that it’ll be fine. Lou Ellen even has the Mist to control; they don’t need Nico risking his life. 

Nico looks as though he wants to argue, say something, but he chooses wisely to keep his lips sealed. Instead, he stares at Will, dark eyes bearing into blue ones. There’s a depth to them, Will realizes. It’s as if he’s seen terrible, dark things. He looks shattered; broken; cracked. Will’s body relaxes with pity, with remorse, but he stands his ground. 

Will’s been begging the gods for Nico to come back for months. He left with barely an explanation, leaving Will at the summit of Half-Blood Hill so many months ago, wallowing in his confusion. He won’t let Nico escape his grasp again, not when he’s only now returned. 

A fiery hot tension stretches between the boys as they stare each other down. Will knows Cecil and Lou Ellen are watching them, surprised. The boys hold each other in this strange staring competition, trying to get the other to relent. 

But Will’s stubborn, just like Nico is. There will only be one winner in this battle. 

Will won’t let Nico slip away again.

Nico sighs in exasperation, throwing his hands up. “Whatever,” he grumbles, and a wave of white hot elation washes over Will. Relief consumes him. He won’t be shadow-traveling, Will thinks, relaxation taking over his body. 

Nico continues glaring at Will, but the son of Apollo doesn’t even care. Nico juts his chin forward, and dark wisps of hair fall into his eyes, fluttering over the dark brown irises. “You’ll follow my lead.” 

Will smiles, relishing the win of the silent argument. He spreads his hands in a placating gesture. “Fine. Just don’t ask me to deliver any more satyr babies, and we’ll get along great.”

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (based on the incomplete fanfic Son of Underworld) (3/5) (Son of Hades! Percy AU)

Before reading, check the masterpost - and read the warnings before proceeding :)) Good reading!

Percy goes back to Yancy, and things proceed as normal. He has nightmares, he misses his mom, who he only saw for a week. He thinks back on last summer and asks himself if it's worth going back to.

Annabeth tries to go back to her father's family. It doesn't go well, but at least they could keep contact using a landline for the three months she can deal with the monsters in her father's new location. There's a weekend he tries to visit her in San Francisco - but he still isn't perfect and lands in Sacramento.

It takes him an hour and a half to reach her - and it's the best weekend of the year, even if he doesn't meet anyone in her family - she is afraid they'll double the monsters in her house.

And her stepmom is racist. So there's that.

Annabeth makes fun of his Academy Uniform, the blazer and the black gloves, the red tie that he hates, and he calls her Wise Girl - he is two grades over her because of her years as a runaway.

It feels a little like a date. There's pizza, and they hold hands when she takes him to see the Golden Gate. He notices that Annie's eyes look literally like molten silver - every demigod carries a trace of their parent, he finally notices.

He can't come back after that - they were attacked by a Hydra, and killing it was only possible because he managed to use fire - a green, weird fire that he did not know he had - to cauterize the stumps.

Blackjack shadow travels him back to Yancy Academy and he and Annie keep the contact for another two weeks before she has to go back to Camp since San Francisco is becoming too dangerous.

It's his last year of middle school. Next year, he doesn't know if he'll continue in Yancy or go for a scholarship at Phillips Academy, in Massachusetts.

It's far. It's almost four hours from his mother, it's six hours from Camp. But it's the best school on the East Coast.

He does his midterms exams. He is in all high of A+ in Geometry, Algebra II, Economics and Government, Ancient World History, and Health&PE.

U.S. History and Science keep between B- and D+, and he is okay with that.

Language Arts and World Cultures can go die in a hole. He hates reading, writing makes him anxious and the only language he can get a C+ is Latin.

They give him a tutor for English - his GPA is only sustained by math. His grades raise a little: They go from F to E+.

There's a girl being tutored with him. She is Cherokee and a grade below him - her name is Piper.

He hates verbs. He hates To Kill a Mockingbird. He will kill a mockingbird if it stops them asking him to read again.

He cheats in his essays - makes skeletons write them for him. They suspect - it's not his handwriting, it's not the way he writes, it has no errors.

They can't prove it, so he scrapes Language Arts with a D+.

His midterm GPA is amazing. He goes see his mother for Christmas, even though he thinks there's no Christ. Maybe. Who knows? He is not celebrating Jupiternalia anyway.

He barely put his bag down when his four weeks with his Mom go down the drain - Thalia and Annabeth appear in his door. He grabs his backpack, his weapons, and go.

Annabeth looks at his hands with wonder - it's the first time she sees them bare in two years, but he puts his gloves back quickly enough.

Thalia is less skittish around him, and that's good. Better, at least. He notices that her eyes aren't only green - there are waves in them, it's like looking at the sea. It changes with her humor, perhaps? He doesn't know.

They make fun of his uniform - but they are going to Westover Hall, and he will merge better if he looks like a preppy kid from a boarding school.

Percy knows about the Mist this time. He helps Thalia to control it - his heart aches when he thinks of his friends. Its been a year and a half now. He misses them.

The daughter of Zeus asks him who taught him.

"The same person who taught you"

She looks at him appreciatively now, but he knows he'll come short of whoever she is measuring him against.

They see the kids. There's a girl looking nervous and overlooking the gym, and a boy by her side fiddling with his cards. Their hair is black just like his - he wishes for a brother and a sister.

Their skin is not like his - but it doesn't matter that they have a different mom, does it? In the end, it's family. Grover says they're powerful - so Big Three might be a possibility.

They're not children of Poseidon - their skin lacks the tan and the hair lacks the messiness, the windswept look - And Zeus is a lot of things, but a hypocrite isn't one of them, is?

Percy dances with Annabeth, and he feels alive. Then, he is running to save the children.

He doesn't shadow travel them. Shadowtravelling with more than one person is tricky, and he still hasn't mastered not going to Wyoming.

He kills the manticore with his Warhammer, but as it crumbles to dust, Annabeth falls.

The earth trembles at his feet - but it's Thalia's hand in his shoulder that remembers him there's two kids here, and Artemis Hunt is all looking at him with varying degrees of disgust and fear.

It's nothing he is not acquainted with. For being black (and not even a normal shade of black), for his clothes, for not having a father, for having a father and it being Hades. Just now, he was being judged for being a man.

Misandry is news for him. His mother raised him to respect all genders (even when he discovered a few months ago there's more than two), that women deserve the same as men. Annabeth fights alongside him frequently enough. Clarisse wipes the floor with his ass. Katie Gardner doesn't - it doesn't make her weaker, or less deserving of respect.

He knows women have to fight for their place in society much more than he has to. He knows these women are probably traumatized by violent men and unable to fight back.

It still doesn't make it right for them to be bullies. It gives a reason, but not a justification.

And when they take Bianca Di Angelo, who has a little brother and barely has any idea of what she is doing, who was just attacked by a thing that shouldn't exist and is probably still in shock, he wants to scream.

Artemis sees something in Bianca - and he finally looks at the girl's eyes. There's a storm raging in them.

Zeus is a hypocrite, after all.

But it's not his place to say anything, nor to the children, nor against Artemis, so he just leaves the tent and goes ask the only other boy here to teach him Mythomagic.

Nico Di Angelo asks way too many questions and has an infinite source of energy. He is prideful - a trace common of all Zeus children. His eyes aren't stormy like his sisters, there aren't clouds in his irises. They are white, like his probable father's lighting bolt.

Nico asks him why he has green eyes - and why they turned black after the question. He doesn't know the answer.

Apollo appears and says something about flying in the sun car - it's the first time he and Thalia agree on something.

But calls for Blackjack. He is not flying, not even under a god's asking. Apollo understands.

Thalia goes with him. Better through shadows than through air. He doesn't want to leave Nico with the misandry archers - but he has Grover, and Percy would probably land them in Iowa.

The daughter of Poseidon holds his waist while they ride on the hellhound. He focuses the best he can - and, for the first time, he lands exactly where he wants to land: in the woods at Camp.

Thalia helps him get to the Big House under weird looks of the year-rounders. They are there at least three hours before Apollo.

"You're kinda heavy, Corpse Breath. But that was cool."

"Shut it, Kelp Head"

He is anxious to just leave and go back to his mother, but Annabeth is in danger: They need a quest.

He has dreams. He can't fault Annabeth for doing what he would've done without a second of hesitation. It's Luke.

He helps Nico settle at Cabin 11, and avoids the huntresses. Connor hugs him, and Clarisse wipes the floor with him in wrestling - they are his friends now.

Clarisse, Connor, Annabeth, Grover, Charles. Luke, Ethan, Alabaster. The scales are tipping. He doesn't care for masters - he cares who is the defending.

Artemis goes missing, and they finally get a quest. Zoe Nightshade doesn't want a boy in the quest but tough luck: He is the most experienced camper here right now AND the quest goes through a desert, so he is going.

There's some doubt about taking Thalia - she is a daughter of Poseidon and can't do much in the wasteland.

So it's decided: Phoebe, Bianca, Zoe, Perseus, and Grover. No one is happy about it, and Percy knows Thalia is going to follow them.

He introduces himself as Perseus to them. He is stoic and doesn't smile around the girls.

Capture the Flag is horrible. He doesn't leave his post and blocks Zoe with skeletons for enough time that Thalia manages to snag the flag and cross the river.

The huntresses get mad and try to fight the campers - Phoebe tries to hit Nico with the pommel of her sword and a lightning bolt hits her, putting her out of commission.

He is claimed. Bianca isn't, but it doesn't matter: She is not a camper, she is a hunter. Her loyalty is to her half-sister now.

They leave in the morning without Phoebe before anyone wakes up.

Bianca looks at him weirdly because of his soft white and blue sweaters and scrunchies that he started using to take off hair from his face, and the contrast it makes with his dark skin and demeanor.

Newsflash: He doesn't care for a prejudiced daughter of Zeus's opinion.

Zoe doesn't even look at him twice: They have trans girls in the hunt, they're caught up with modern times. Except for the misandry and the exclusion of genderfluid, agender and non-binary people. But sure, caught up.

Nico asks him to protect his sister. He says he is going to try, but he understands death better than some. He says it'll be dangerous, but he'll do his best.

For some reason, Nico doesn't look worried.

Thalia joins them in the Space museum. She came in her Pegasus, Porkpie, and they fight the Nemean Lion together. His hellhound startles the hunters, and Thalia laughs.

They kill the Nemean Lion, and Perseus thinks he finally perfects his power over the earth when he uses a stone spike to pierce the monster through the mouth and barely gets tired.

The duster is not his style, but beggars can't be choosers. Zoe is warming up to them, he thinks, but he doesn't care either way: his objective is Annabeth.

He still hasn't managed to open the ground or to control metal's proprieties, but he controls the earth beneath his feet, shadow travels (very badly controlled, but sure), raises armies of skeletons and money and gems just sprout when he wants them. He has power.

But he isn't completely in control yet, so he doesn't want anyone touching him. And it's been such a long time since anyone except his mother ever been close to any skin below his neck.

Perseus has dreams. He is grateful that Artemis took the sky for Annabeth, so he burns the coat in her name.

Thalia says she has met Apollo, and Perseus is glad at least one god is on their side.

Perseus feels in the air: life. This town is cloying with the smell of life, of forests and waterfalls. He hates it on principle but wishes she could enjoy it.

He kills a spartoi. He doesn't manage to kill more, but now he knows. He wishes he could open the ground and swallow all of them, but even his own skeletons he only manages to turn them into piles of bones.

The boar carries most of them: it's still just a boar and they are five, so both he and Thalia enjoy Blackjack, who now is almost the size of a small rhino.

Perseus meets Ares awake this time. He didn't snitch on him to the gods, but he wishes he did.

Meeting Aphrodite is awful. Percy looks at her, and he sees blonde hair that he can't decide if it's golden or brownish, he looks at her eyes and see the blue and grey fight for dominance in the irises. Her skin flicks, and he sees a scar crossing her eye.

For a moment, her skin turns as black as his - his desire for family.

He hates her more than he hates Ares when she looks at him with a smile and says that his love life will be the most interesting tale she has ever woven.

They cross the junkyard. Bianca dies for a figurine of Zeus, and Perseus wants to scream at the skies for the injustice. He isn't close to Bianca, he won't miss her, but he blames himself.

What if he was good enough at shadow traveling to take all of them away? What if he was able to kill Talos before? If he saw the figurine in her hand, if he was clearer in his warning, if, if, if.

He is a son of Hades, and death follows him. The stench of it grabs at his clothes, but he doesn't cry. Bianca is not the first to die in the name of the gods - she won't be the last one.

Perseus tries and tries to reach for any part of her body - everything is gone.

The Hoover Dam goes exactly the same way - Percy finds the mortal girl cute, but he doesn't ponder on it. It's not the time. He tells her his name is Percy, because why not. He is not seeing her again.

He laughs at the dam joke and feels a little freer. He cares about Zoe. It's difficult not to.

They fly away, and Perseus doesn't like it, but he barely flinches.

They get closer - all of them. Perseus always makes friends in quests, and he is happier for it.

Thalia catches Nereus - and she tells them all about Bessie, the ophiotaurus. Percy thinks that, for a serpent cow, it's pretty cute.

Grover leaves with it back to Camp Half-Blood and away from the temptation that Thalia feels. He knows it - he feels it too, deep inside of him, the urge to kill all of them.

But is Kronos any better?

They meet Annabeth's father. Her stepmom caught a glance at him and sneers like he is covered in blood.

Luke is in Mount Othrys. Percy doesn't join him. He wants to. The drachma is still in his pocket. But Luke needs to pay for what he has done to Annabeth. This is not about the war that looms on the horizon, this is about his best friend.

They fight. Perseus holds the sky, but the thing in his fingertips is not the earth, it's something older and harder, that presses him to his knees. He draws strength from the earth, and he holds on.

They win, but at what cost? Luke falls. He cries and throws the drachma over the cliff - a promise gone with one of his first friends.

Zoe is dead. Three people dead, for a goddess who couldn't care less about them. Perseus wants to go back in time and accept Luke's proposal.

He wants to cry and he doesn't. They go to Olympus. Thalia joins Artemis, and he feels betrayed: just because she is afraid of power, she is going to throw the weight of this prophecy on him?

And on top, she just joined the eternal misandry group, and something in his heart festers. He thought he had one more friend in her, but she was just another pawn.

Annabeth basks in her mother's praise. He wants to vomit - two people are dead, but who cares.

Thalia pleads for the ophiotaurus life, but she doesn't lift a finger when they talk about his death. He hates her. He holds a grudge for his cousin just like his father holds one for his brother.

He just saved their asses for the third time, and they're talking about murdering him because he might not save them a fourth.

The gods. They take and they take and they take and the demigods keep giving.

His father saves him - no one dares to go against Hades' vote to let him live, because he is a hero.

They go back to camp, and Perseus is charged with the task to tell Nico.

"Well, so bring her back"

The boy says it non-chanlantly like he is counting on it. Percy feels guilt creep at his heart like a plague, all the ways he failed to save Bianca. If he just had a better grasp in his powers, if he was just better. And here it was, something else he couldn't do.

"I can't, Nico"

Nico yells at him. He screams that he killed his sister. Percy starts to retract, and they end up in the pavilion. Everyone is there, and they don't lift a finger to help.

Percy is so tired. He hasn't seen his mom since October. He just lost one of his best friends. He was on a mission for a week. He held the sky in his hands. Zoe is dead. Thalia is gone. Death follows him. The guilt claws at him - for not being enough.

Nico shouts and shouts. The final straw is when he says that he shouldn't have trusted a son of Hades, how everyone told him not to. He tells no one wants him here, and before anyone can say anything to contest it, spartoi appear.

People scramble for their weapons, but Percy opens the ground and swallows all of the skeletons. When they're gone, so is Percy.

Turns out? Percy doesn't want to be here anymore either.

Nico is prideful. People in camp scrambled for his attention. A couple of kids of Aphrodite tell him that Perseus wasn't a good company, trying to get in his good graces. This time around, there's no one to sing the praises of Percy Jackson.

Grover takes him aside and explains, a little against him own will, what happened with Bianca. He gives him the figurine.

Nico feels guilty. He is too prideful to admit, but he feels it burning in his heart - so he tries to understand what he just did. Grover tells him about the last two years. The guilt now fights with admiration, and resentment battles with adoration.

Some people steer clear of him for a while. Charles Beckendorf is too kind to isolate him - but Nico sees the sadness in his eyes. Annabeth doesn't talk with him - she just lost three best friends in a swoop. Grover reluctantly tells him more about Percy. Clarisse wipes the floor with him - and he doesn't complain when he wakes up and his makeshift bed in Cabin 1 is crawling with bugs - He is pretty sure Connor hates him.

Katie Gardner doesn't talk to him anymore. Will Solace - who is his best friend - consolates him. He tells Nico he was pretty awful to Percy last summer, and Percy still came back.

Pretty awful doesn't even begin to cover what Nico did. But he nods and settles. It's going to be fine.

Perseus wanders the Underworld. He plays with Cerberus, and it's finally time to go make peace with his father and meet Persephone.

There's the heavy weight of a drachma in his pocket.

[morsquiesa]

 THE SMELL OF ICHOR HEAVY IN THE AIR, THE SOUND OF IMPERIAL GOLD BLADES CLASHING, HIGH-PITCHED SCREAMS THAT NO ONE TURNS THEIR HEAD FOR. Shining hills of the camp littered with tents, catapults, legionnaires of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata merging with the residents of the camp. Ichor. Blades. Screams. Blood. It is all too familiar, all too much of a home. Home, it feels like, the only home demigods could have ever found for themselves, in a world that has been designed to swallow them whole then spit them out. Now the cabins are coming down, roofs sinking, the dark smoke of the flames that surrounds everywhere rising to the sky, blocking the sun, making the day darker than it already is. Chaos is there, violence. Death is there, knives drawn for the innocent lives from a misplaced hatred. Underwood is in the midst of it, shouting orders for the other satyrs, trying to push back the enemy out of their breached lines. Thalia's tree is there, witnessing the horror with all its silence and might, bright leaves and branches all fading slowly with the slim protection it had to offer now shattering. La Rue is there, on top of her father's chariot, a battle cry passing her lips as she and her siblings run into the battle with all their glory, children of Ares wielding their weapons against the Romans. Solace is there, some of his siblings carrying out the wounded and the others on top of the trees on their pegasi, bows and arrows in their hands all aiming the catapults, all defending their home with a fierceness that will not yield, will not bow.

“ Drop your weapons!” 

 Nico is there. His sword clutched in his hand, standing tall to greet what he knows is coming. He has the face of a soldier, dark eyes unable to reflect anything but a stoic silence, standing tall but he is tired. Tired than he ever was, all the journey he has taken to get here for this moment draining him of the strength that a glimpse of it would have been enough to make the false praetor repent on his knees, begging for mercy. Perhaps this is why the blond boy and the dark-haired girl remain calm near him- Lou Ellen Blackstone, daughter of Hecate is holding onto the colorful bombs in her hands despite Octavian's call to drop their weapons. She refuses to, eyes burning with a fire that cannot be faded easily. The boy next to her reaches instead, his hand finding hers and a silent gaze passes between them. Lou Ellen slowly lets them to the ground.

 Octavian stands only a few meters away from them, a feral look in his eyes that lets them all know that he is blood-hungry, way past the point of return, way past salvation. “ Graecus saboteurs,” He hisses, and his hand gestures to the soldiers of the first legion waiting by his side with their weapons drawn like restless lions waiting to be unleashed from their cage. “ Tear them apart.”

 The rage Bianca feels inside her veins is something she has never felt before, with each beat of her heart a different memory plays in the back of her head. A different memory of pain, grief, misery, a different memory of everything she's ever lost, everything that has ever been taken from her because she has let it. Because you were weak, the voices whisper to her, where she stands unseen in the shadow of Thalia's tree. Because her claws hadn't been strong enough to sink in, fingers too nimble to grasp and hands too gentle to hold onto it, scared of the blood and scared of the pain, scared of losing what she has lost. You have lost everything. Maria is gone, now. Piera is gone, home is gone. Phoebe is gone, Naomi, Themia, all gone. The only one that she is yet to lose stands right there, in front of her, leaning into Lou Ellen Blackstone to not collapse to the ground. The only one that has ever mattered to her, the only one that will ever matter. Yield, Bianca.

 Everything happens so fast. A sword is swung to Nico's way, and Bianca flexes her wrist. A wave of darkness slams into the soldier out of nowhere with an agonizing scream, flying back before he collapses to the ground only by hitting another soldier on his way, taking him down too.

 I am the daughter of Hades. She thinks, and it feels like hundreds of voices are talking in the same in her head, but not in disagreement this time. There is defeat, now, in them with the realization that dawns on her. I yield to no one.

 All gazes turn to Nico, Octavian's expression priceless with a mix of rage and disbelief. “ You...” He hisses, shaking with anger, teeth trembling. “ I will crush you, ambassador. Cohort, attack!”

 Nobody moves. They do not dare, after a glance taken to the fallen soldier that now lays lifeless on the ground, life drained out of him. Nobody moves, except for Bianca that steps out of the shadows, shadows gathering around her feet with each step like a dense fog. She still hears the whispers, but now they don't only belong to the undead. Now they belong to the legionnaires, wide-open eyes on her, weapons drawn with no courage to wield one against her, all waiting for an order that won't come. “ What are you waiting for?” Octavian screams, fingers pointing to Nico, who is too distracted to care about the false praetor's tantrum with looking at his sister, the same look of wide-eyed shock also present on his face. “ Take him down!” 

“ Try, and you're dead before you blink.” 

 Her voice cuts the air like a blade, as Octavian's head snaps towards her, a look she cannot name darkening his visage. Bianca only feels hatred, with a deep passion that comes from her heart. There is only hatred and wrath now, tangling within the darkness that bends to her will. There is only justice.

“ Hunter of Artemis,” Octavian calls like he is unsure if he should be in awe, or if he should be running away, the sword in his hand now tilted towards her, as the legionnaires that surround her. Bianca pays them no attention, her scorching gaze only glued to the liar that has the audacity to stand before her with such arrogance. “ Have you come here to join your brother in his fate?” He tries to mock, but Bianca hears the undercurrent of the hesitation in his voice. He's scared, as he should be. He doesn't know what is coming for him, but she knows he can feel it, too.

“ Octavian of Apollo's legacy,” Bianca calls in return, steps slowing down as she walks toward him with her head held up, jaw clenched with a faith that cannot be wavered, faith in her, faith in everything she ever was and everything she will ever be. “ I have come here to end your nonsense war,” Faith in the power that lies ready for her, if she has the guts to reach for it. “ I have come here to burn your reign to the ground.”

 And it all builds up to this moment, the ground starting trembling beneath them, catapults shaking and the battle stopping in the sake of finding a place to hold onto, running away from the earth that cracks right underneath their feet. It spreads like a disease, and Bianca thinks it should have exhausted her, it should have drained, but all she feels is the power that runs through her veins. She faces the so-called prophet and raises her hands to her sides, they both know what is about to happen. “ No!” He shrieks, grabbing his sword and lunging towards her, and perhaps he would have gotten to her if it wasn't for the daughter of Hecate that met him halfway, a purple wave of energy that rises with a battle cry of hers crashing into Octavian again to knock him down, and it is the only second Bianca needs. The ground erupts, and thousands of bones claws their way out of it, horrified screams around her soaring as chaos breaks free.

 Bianca looks around her, watching everyone trying to save their lives from this unknown threat, both the Romans and the Greeks, watching the terrified eyes eventually find her, but there is only a pair of them that she cares about. She walks towards Nico, her brother, pushing aside all the resentment between them, all the heartbreak, and all the misery. This is not about her, and this is not about him. They are the children of the underworld, and they will write history as they have done once before. She offers him a hand and waits in patience for him to take it, breaths held by the ones who are watching. Nico looks up at her, and there is an unspoken understanding between them, everything falling into harmony, in perfect sync. He catches her hand, and she pulls him up to his feet, no need for any words to be said. “ Cursed!” Octavian shrieks once again as he tries to rise to his feet, Lou Ellen finding her place with the siblings, as ready as she could be. “ You are cursed!”

The army of thousands that eventually gathers behind her must be intimidating enough because once Octavian grabs his sword again, there is unveiled horror on his face. Bianca's hand raises in her sides once again, palm facing upwards, but this time to dare. She doesn't have the fancy commands he has, perhaps, but she doesn't need it. She gestures to the legionnaires for a second, now backing away, turning to their praetor for his command and his help, who is unable to give either. But they are not the enemy just as this is not the war that needs to be fought. So her hand shifts to the side, now gesturing towards the hoards and hoards of monsters, all lined up and ready for battle. “ My father may not be here,” She says, but to everyone, not only to him, to know that his kingdom will shine with all its glory even if Hades is gone. “ But we stand tall, stronger than we have ever been.” 

“ House of Hades,” She calls for her army, calmly for a moment before she, too, screams. “ Tear them apart!”

 And with that, the hills of Camp Half-Blood sink into darkness and chaos for a war that will be won.

[cartoonfantic8]

Friendships in PJO (Part 1)

I know a lot of people talk about headcannons of the couples or ships and sometimes people forget some pretty great friendships in the books. These are headcannons of friendship that didn’t really happen but I think these would be pretty good friendships.

Trials of Apollo Spoilers

Also I’m ignoring Jason’s death because I don’t consider that cannon.

Percy and Piper

A lot of people talk about this pair and honestly these two would be such a good duo.

One night, Piper wakes up from a nightmare from the war. Jason was at Camp Jupiter so she went to go the Posiden Cabin. She knocks on the door and Percy answers. They both couldn’t sleep and start talking about there nightmares and they really bonded after that.

They would be such a sassy duo. Like both of them would not really listen to authority and pretty much piss of the Gods a lot.

They like to go skateboarding together and make stupid vlogs about all the tricks they would do or something stupid stuff like either of them falling. Afterwords they would get their nails done and this was mostly Percy’s idea, and sometimes when they go to a mortal salon, someone might give Percy a dirty look. Saying some excuse like “Oh he’s a boy, boy’s shouldn’t get there nails done that’s for girls”. Piper curses that person and is like “Bitch no!” Otherwise they go to the Aphordite cabin and those guys are chill and really don’t care, they like to make people feel beautiful or handsome.

They both go surfing togther too. Piper misses the beaches in California and Percy takes her to the closest beach near Camp Haft-Blood. They like surf and collect seashells by the beach. Percy likes to take Piper underwater using his water bubble thing and they see all the sea life and coral under there.

They watch “Dance Moms” or any drama show, and get so invested in all the drama.

Piper and Percy cuff there jeans and listen to Sweater Weather togther. They would blast it at full volume in the Posiden Cabin at 3:00am, singing it at the top of their lungs. Sometimes Leo joins them (those three are all bisexual, no one can convice me otherwise). They like to go to Pride together with other LGBTQ+ campers and they both paint small bi flags on there cheeks.

They also help each other set up dates for Jason or Annabeth, during anniversary’s or just dates in general.

They both would really support each other in anything and have a very chaotic friendship full of teasing and so much sass.

Jason and Frank

At first Frank never really knew Jason. Jason was missing for a while and let’s face it, at Camp Jupiter, Jason was talked about like a hero. To Frank he was important and once he met Jason, he was a normal guy. During Argo ll, they never really got to know each other since they were saving the world from LITERAL MOTHER EARTH

After the war, the Romans were going back to there Camp meaning Reyna, Frank, and Hazel were leaving soon. Jason had to go, to bring his stuff and move to Camp Haft-Blood and teach Frank about being a Praetor. During there few lessons, they became close and got to know each other.

Anytime Jason gets stressed, Frank turns into a kitten and calms him down. When Frank gets stress from being a praetor, Jason tells him to rest and take a break.

They love to watch cheesy Rom-coms and Disney Channel Original movie and either laugh about stupid it is or cry of how sincere it is.

They like to train together and honestly they are both the moms of the demigod friend group (The Seven + Nico and Reyna) They plan hangouts for there friends.

There really just a nice, chill duo who hangs out and just have fun.

Rachel and Hazel

Hazel and Rachel never properly met. Mostly because Hazel is Roman and at this point Rachel is just Greek like everyone just considers her a Greek. One day, Hazel came to visit CBH, to see her friends and Nico.

Chrion asks if she would like to help Rachel out repainting the Camp’s van and making it more different and less boring. She agrees and properly meets Rachel. At first Hazel is sort of scared because Rachel is the Oracle but once she gets to know her, she’s really just a goofy, fun-loving person and they really hit it off.

They like to paint or draw together and just talk. Sometimes Hazel would be Rachel’s muse or Rachel would be Hazel’s muse. Rachel would also go on art rants and Hazel’s a pretty good listener, so she listen’s even though sometimes she has no idea what Rachel’s talking about.

Rachel introduces Hazel to Disney which she got hooked on. They like to have Disney marathons in Rachel’s cave and will spend hours watching Disney.

Rachel also helps Hazel navigate the mordern world and technogly. Hazel also taught Rachel how to ride a horse.

Rachel is pretty adventurous which Hazel loves and they try new things every time they visit each other.

They were overall a very fun loving pair of friends who are artisy and obsessed with Disney.

Nico and Leo

I know a lot of people ship Valangelo, I love these two but I personally see them as a really great friendship. Sorry to Valangelo shippers but here’s there friendship.

At first Nico and Leo hate each other. Nico just finds Leo annoying and Leo just thinks of Nico as the creepy Hades kid. After hanging out a lot more since there in the same group of friends, they become closer.

If Nico ever feels sad, Leo would always cheer him up with a dumb joke which surprisingly makes him laugh. Anytime Leo is sad, Nico will attempt to make a joke and Leo would look surprised and yell across the room “Hey guys, Nico made a joke!”

When Leo overworks himself, Nico will go to Bunker Nine and brings him a Happy Meal. Leo takes a break and they both play Mythomagic, which Nico got back into.

Leo built them motorcycles and they like to race around the woods with them, Calypso and Will would be cheering on the sidelines being supportive.

Leo introduces him to Pop Culture a lot more and even gives him (and Hazel) lessons on what’s been going on in the world and how it’s changed since the 40s

During the days when Bianca and Esperanza died, most of there friends and campers would leave them alone execpt there significant others (or annoyance in Will’s case) and each other. Nico and Leo both empathize with each other because Esperanza and Bianca were there rocks and there only family (besides the gods but there not really around)

Overall, they would be the Keith and Lance duo. Leo being the more jokey one and Nico being the more tough and cynical one. Its one of the more unexpected friendships.

Reyna and Annabeth

Reyna and Annabeth never were really friends at first because of the whole Greek and Roman war going on and once Reyna helped them, the seven had to go stop Gaea and she had to go deliver the statue to Camp Haft-Blood.

After the war, the Romans and Greeks became friends, Reyna and Annabeth made a peace treaty/alliance togther. They became pretty good friends after that.

Annabeth helps Reyna make renovations to New Rome and Camp Jupiter. Reyna helps with a few new battle plans for Camp Haft-Blood so there a lot more prepared for another war or battle.

If either of them are stressed, they will play Minecraft or Animal Crossing online. Like they both have those gaming headsets and will go online for each other.

When they visit each other, they go to a small, quiet coffee shop and get coffee or pastries and just chill and catch up with each other. Afterwords, they go to Centeral Park or a park in California and have a walk.

Annabeth introduced Reyna to Harry Potter. They both finished the movies in like a week and the books take them longer because of there dyslexia but Reyna fell in love. Reyna takes the Pottermore quiz and gets Gryffindor. Annabeth and Reyna are that iconic Slytherin and Gryffindor team.

Once Reyna becomes a hunter, Annabeth, Reyna, and Thalia all go hunting together. I feel like all three of them have completions of who can hunt the most. Sometimes Annabeth will tag along with the hunters and go camping. Artemis is fine with it because she likes Annabeth.

They would be that badass duo that you don’t mess with or else they won’t hesitate to snap your neck.

[rose-solace-daughterofapollo]

Welcome to part three of things my friends have said as riordanverse characters ( yes I’m back yes there will be more yes I didn’t forget about all of your guys spam for more )

Katie: ☘️🌹🌲🌻🌿🌼🪴🌸🌱

~~~~~P P L A N T ~~~~~

Reyna: Omg even more reactive, where did you learn just artistry of emotion

Piper: .... 👀👄👀

——————————————————

Annabeth: I have a theory

So Santa claus supposedly has a list where he separates black and white morality

However, most people say he isn’t real right?

Well to be fair, if this dude is always watching (creepy af but that’s a discussion for another time), you’re bound to not fit in with his personal subjective good moral at least once

So therefore I conclude, it’s physically impossible to be on the nice list

Hence why your parents give you presents instead to make you feel better about yourself as a person

Also that is so manipulative and hypocritical. Santa can watch you and stalk you (a crime btw) 24/7....yet we have to fit in perfectly with his utopian version of morality in order to get a gift every once a year?

He’s also breaking into your house and stealing your cookies

Idk about you but if were to see a creepy old man climb into my chimney, take my cookies, and then leave me a toy I can get from target, I will judo flip this dude into the South Pole

Also “Ho Ho Ho” who tf laughs like that- you try and imitate Ho Ho Ho in laugh form

Also everyone is saying how we should fear the government trying to get hold of private info or whatever....NO

We should be afraid of SANTA!! He is immortal, and people don’t believe in him bc they aren’t moral enough to be on the nice list in the first place. He has both the element of surprise and power and human ignorance! He has the power to watch over every single person on earth!! He could ruin anyone’s life in an instant!!

*Percy just trying to sleep hugging his Nemo plushy *: ...

Annabeth: ✨I rest my case ✨

——————————————————

Leo: Love my conspiracy theories

Piper: That usually make 0 sense

——————————————————

Leo: I can sense that Christmas 2021 I’m getting eaten by the reindeer

——————————————————

Meg: “TAKe Me TO IKEA”

Lester: “ILL WORSHIP LIKE A DOG AT THE SHRINE OF YOUR— wait nvm”

——————————————————

Magnus :

“Oops sorry let me put my gay back in its bag rq”

Percy and Jason: If I randomly disappear yk why

Katie: 👁👄👁🌱p l a n n r

..

T

Katie: Okay we Stan 🌱

Katie : p l a n t

Dionysus: n i c k - o

Octavian: Frank is way too good i don't trust him

Also Jason is way too perfect, I don't trust him either

—————————————————————

Lester : Willian Andrew Solace

Will: William*

—————————————————————

Grover : NEVILLE SHOULD HAVE HAD MORE SCREENTIME/MORE MENTIONS IN THE BOOKS

Rick: I mean

U love the trio

Naturaly I am tempted to break it

But I have plans for them

Lou Ellen : I’m gonna build a marauders shrine

—————————————————————

Sally: (look i’ve been dead for awhile okay)

Percy : ( ok mom )

Percy: ...

Percy: ( well I kind of saved you from the underworld so I know )

—————————————————————

Burning Maze Spoilers :

Thalia: Do you ever wonder what Jason grace is doing in Elysian

Leo: Hugging bricks and eating staplers

[intelligentdumbass]

Can't I Get a Break? (part 1)

(Again, beware of typos. I have no idea how this turned into what it is now, but it is what it is.)

Hermes pushed the door open and nearly tripped on one of goldie’s many stray brushes. The floor was also littered with paintings and marble statues of varying shapes and sizes scattered all over.

“Apollo?”

“You need something Herms?”

The blonde was in the corner, sitting down on a cushion, his eyes still focused on the canvas on his lap even when his brother was already standing over him.

“Dude, what’re you doing here? The wedding is about to start!”

“Eh? I thought it wasn’t until two months from now?”

Hermes stared, and wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Look, I don’t know what day you think it is, but I wasn’t lying when I said that the wedding is about to start.”

Apollo frowned, but then laughed when his instincts told him Hermes was telling the truth.

“Ah, shit. The girls are probably wondering where I am-” He immediately stood up and ran off into another room. “You can go on ahead Herm! I swear I’ll catch up.”

When the god took a glance at the painting he left on the cushion, he suddenly understood. It was a work in progress of Asclepius’ worktable covered in ashes.

---------------------------------

Olympus’ garden was breath-taking; bioluminescent flowers blooming under the moonlight. The gods were having the time of their lives, drunkenly singing under the serene night sky.

Hermes couldn’t help but subtly gaze back at Apollo every now and then. Despite all the fun the sun god was having dancing with the muses, their conversation in the studio made him felt like something was off.

Then someone caught him off guard by wrapping an arm around his shoulder, and he instantly knew who it was the second he smelled the wine in his breath.

“Jealous?~” Dionysus wiggled his eyebrows.

Hermes raised an eyebrow. “Jealous of what?”

Dionysus motions to the muses; it was at that moment that Calliope had her arms wrapped around Apollo’s neck as the god gave her a small kiss. Hermes rolled his eyes, but oh little did he know, he was faintly blushing.

The younger brother sighed.

“Look man, if you’re going to keep this up, then you‘re absolutely hopeless. I mean, at this point literally everyone except the distracted dumbass you haven’t confessed to knows that you want a piece of that-”

“Hahahaha, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Anyway, have you seen Eris? I heard she wasn’t invited-”

“Hey! Don’t change the subject.” Dionysus glanced back and frowned. “Huh, where’d he go?”

Hermes followed his gaze and sure enough, Apollo was nowhere to be seen; just the muses chatting amongst themselves, along with a few other immortals. The wine god scanned the rest of the guests at the party, and gave his friend a confused look, who just shrugged in response. Then before he knew it, Hermes was being dragged by the arm over to the group of gossiping sisters.

Urania saw them first and waved, while Thalia gave the messenger a knowing grin.

“You looking for Apollo?”

He internally cursed. His brother was right, everyone did know. Before he could say a word, his companion answered for him.

“Yeah. Wasn’t he with you guys just a minute ago?”

Melpomene and Polyhymnia gave each other a look, before turning to Calliope. She sighed.

“He said something about taking a break.”

“Apollo? A break?” Dionysus looked up, at the moon. “But it hasn’t even reached midnight yet.”

The goddess’ smile became just a tiny bit strained. “I know.”

Hermes frowned. “Did you manage to catch where he ran off to?”

---------------------------------

The garden was huge; its depths filled with paths most don’t even know of. Luckily Hermes knew his way around it like the back of his head. After all, he’s got good experience sneaking inside the garden from one of its many secret entrances.

The other deities’ slurred laughter were getting more and more muffled, until it was replaced by the crickets and the foliage crunching under his steps. Then out of nowhere came the familiar sounds of a certain lyre. His brisk walk slowed into a halt. He found the god of music sitting down on top of a small hill, back resting against the trunk of an old oak. He had a feeling he would’ve found him here. This spot was one of their favorites, because it also happened to be right in front of a giant crevice that overlooked a big chunk of the earth. The view was spectacular.

Apollo didn’t notice Hermes’ presence until he had already sat down next to him, which made him flinch.

“H-” “Hermes!” He glared.

“What?”

“You could’ve at least said something! Gods, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

The messenger resisted the urge to laugh and just innocently grinned, while his friend sighed. His gaze then went to the turtle lyre in the musician’s hands.

“I still can’t believe you kept that. I mean, it’s not just that you kept it. It’s the fact that I always see you actually use it.”

Apollo smiled, with a look in his eyes that basically said, ‘Why wouldn’t I?’

“It’s a very good instrument, even if it was just made by some annoying toddler. Besides, the other one gives me bad memories.” He pauses for a moment. “What’re you doing here? You couldn’t find someone to flirt with?”

“I was looking for you.”

“Did someone need me?”

“Nah, if that were the case then I would’ve already told you. I was just… concerned?”

The blonde seemed confused; now Hermes was the one who sighed.

“Did you really spend two months just, holed up in that room?”

“Maybe, what of it?” The lyre went silent.

Hermes frowned, but after a few moments of thought decided to stand up.

“Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but considering what happened, you probably just wanted some alone time-”

“Nono, it’s fine.” His voice was so soft he almost didn’t hear it. “Please don’t leave.”

And so the god sat back down, this time inching a little closer so that their sides were touching. Apollo saw him glance at the lyre again.

“You want to play something? Go on ahead.” He hands it over. “I suddenly don’t.”

For a few minutes that’s all it was, Hermes strumming on his lyre while the crickets sung; Apollo staring into the distance.

“Wait.” For a brief moment, Apollo’s eyes lit up like a pair of miniature suns.

“Hm?” Hermes paused.

“Nonono, keep on playing. It was just… isn’t that the song you played to me? When you tried to convince me that it was totally worth trading half of my cows for?”

“Y-” “Yeah.” He was surprised. ‘How do you still remember that?’

Hermes continued to strum, but now his cheeks were starting to burn up. It doesn’t look like Apollo noticed though.

“Am I unreasonable, Hermes?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m one of father’s older kids, hell, his literal oldest son. You’d think I’d get used to this now.” He picks up a handful of dirt and just lets the soil fall through his fingers.

“Well, it… wasn’t really a natural death now, was it? Dude, if that happened to my kid I’d be pissed at dad too even if he had a reason for it.”

“I don’t know I’m just… I’m so tired of this.” At first it was a hand on his shoulder, but he quickly ended up hugging him; pulling him even closer and wrapping his arms around the messenger’s waist. “I’m so fucking sick of this shit.”

Despite how much that had startled him and the fact that he was internally screaming right now, Hermes still managed a smile. At this point, the blonde had his face buried into his shoulder. The younger god stopped strumming on the lyre and gave his friend a gentle pat on the back.

“I know that I shouldn’t be making a big deal out of this but-” “but I can’t not!” His rants were loud murmurs; like yelling but in soft whispers with the occasional muffled sniffs and whimpers. “I can’t stop thinking about things like this. I don’t know why. Is there something wrong with me? I know everything dies and that what Asclepius did was a crime against the fates, why can’t my brain just shut up about it!”

“Hey, Hey look at me.”

After half a minute of silence, Apollo reluctantly looked up.

“Don’t beat yourself up like that.” Hermes putted the lyre aside and wiped away some of the tears trailing down his cheeks. “You’re not unreasonable. I mean, have you seen the shit the rest of this fucked up family tree of ours has been up to? I’d argue you’re actually one of the most reasonable.”

“Oh, of course you’d think that-”

“Shhhh” He cut him off by giving him a small kiss on the forehead.

Apollo faintly blushed and then started staring off into oblivion again; resting his head on Hermes’ shoulder.

“I guess at least…” He murmured. “At least you guys aren’t going to suddenly die on me.”

“I don’t know about that. I can’t exactly guarantee that I won’t do a very stupid prank that might get me kicked into Tartarus.”

“Tch. Well, there might be a chance that I would’ve been stupid enough to do it with you, so at least with that we’ll both get chucked down into the abyss. Hey who knows, Dio might join us too.”

Hermes laughed, and even the blonde himself couldn’t help but crack a smile.

---------------------------------

“Well” Apollo sighed. “Thanks for putting up with that.”

“Of course.” He takes a quick look at the moon. “Maybe we should go back now. Someone might get worried.”

“I guess.” For a moment there, the god looked like he really didn’t want to leave.

“I mean, I don’t mind spending a few more minutes here if you want to-”

“No, it’s fine. You’re right; we really should be going back now.”

Apollo stood up first, and picked up the lyre; the messenger standing up not long after. The two deities had started to walk back when the younger god suddenly stopped.

“Wait.”

“Hm?” Apollo turned around and frowned. “Something wrong?”

“I… I need to tell you something.” He suddenly felt a little nervous, and couldn’t help but stare a little; maybe even briefly glancing at his lips.

Hermes took a step closer.

“I-” “ACH!-”

But before he could do or say anything else, he felt something hard smack him right in the face. He probably would’ve fallen back onto the ground if Apollo hadn’t caught him.

“Are you alright?”

“What…” Hermes rubbed his nose. “What the FUCK was that?!”

Then there was a distant cackle, and it sounded oddly familiar; almost like it came from a certain goddess of chaos.

Out of the corner of his eye, Apollo saw a speck of yellow on the ground. It was an apple made out of solid gold, and there was an inscription scribbled onto it, but that wasn’t why he was staring.

Once his brother had fully recovered from the shock, he let go, for him to stand on his own. The fruit glimmered and sparkled under the ambient moonlight, enticing the immortal to come closer. He crouched down and picked it up. It glowed against his hand, and it flashed against his eyes.

First he felt the heat, like the sun’s solar flares were gently flicking and liking his skin. Then he smelled the stench of thick, red, mortal blood. His limbs were heavy and his stomach tied itself into a knot; his head filled with the slow rhythmic beat of drums, except it wasn’t drums. He wasn’t in the garden anymore; he was in a temple, his temple. He knew because of the statues, but they weren’t the only company he had in this large, hollow room.

There was a stranger in front of him; their steps the source of those loud, steady thumps as they gradually got closer, and closer…

He was a god, he knew he could easily kill them, but instead he found himself backed up against a wall. Then they grabbed him by the throat, and drew their sword. In the heat of the moment, he somehow managed to catch a glimpse his reflection in the glint of their blade.

What he saw wasn’t his face.

But the face had his eyes.

Apollo instinctively dropped the apple and cursed fruit quickly fell back onto the ground. His face was drenched in sweat; his fingers twitching; breath hitching and heaving.

“Apollo? Goldie?!” Hermes rushed towards the blonde and cupped both of his hands. “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?”

The god inhaled, and exhaled; closing his eyes. He squeezed both of the messenger’s hands and forced himself to calm down. When he started coming back to his senses, he glanced around, but the apple was already gone.

“Hermes, where did that cursed piece of golden shit go?!”

Hermes blinked, surprised. “I… don’t know?”

But what he did saw, was a few black feathers as dark as the sky above them. They were scattered along the path that led back to the main event.

“…Hermes I need that fucking apple.”

“Huh? What? Why-” “Hey, HEY! APOLLO WAIT!!”

Apollo had started to run back towards the wedding, and Hermes was right behind him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next

[flwerpower]

WHAT TRAIT MAKES YOUR MUSE LOVABLE?

PEOPLE LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU’RE: A GIVER.

generosity of spirit is your strongest attribute. you’re everyone’s go-to when there’s a problem. you never hesitate to drop everything to help out your friends and loved ones. because of your nurturing, optimistic, and accepting attitude, you have a calming effect on most people. you also have a large group of friends, you’re the kind of person everyone wants to keep around. TAGGED BY :  @amerougc TAGGING :  @petrasplaining​ @yuppied​ @darlinghearted @goldcntouch @solestarlet @ofphotokinetics @atomotus !

[blackjacktheboss]

madness of hera au

Percy’s heart stopped and he fell to his knees as tears began to stream down his face. “Annabeth,” he whispered.

She rushed towards him and he wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her stomach.

She gently ran her fingers through his hair while cradling his head, attempting to soothe him through his sobs.

“It’s okay, Percy. We’re okay.”

He swallowed hard and concentrated on slowing his breathing, letting her familiar smell fill his lungs and bring him the peace he had been searching for so desperately

Finally he was able to pull his face from her, while keeping her waist firmly in his grip. “Are you... I mean, is this...”

She placed her hands on either side of his face, gently stroking his cheekbones with her thumbs. “This is real, Percy. I promise.”

As he looked up at her face, he couldn’t help but mentally trace every line, comparing them to the memories he had been replaying in his head since the moment he lost her.

He found himself taking an inventory of her:

Princess curls still in tact, perfectly framing her face 

Eyes still grey, though a little sadder than he remembered them

Her arm still scarred from when she had taken a knife for him

Her hands, still holding his face, as soft and gentle against his skin as he dreamed about

She was really here

She was solid under his touch, not dissipating  like the misty figure of her he chased in his sleep

She was glowing, which was definitely new, but it was faint. Just enough to notice, but nothing that couldn’t be outdone by her smile or the shine in her eyes as she looked down at him

After a few moments she pulled Percy to his feet, and he grabbed her hands from his face, instead holding them to his chest.

He wondered if she could feel his heart simultaneously thundering like the hooves of a thousand horses and coming to a complete standstill like a fish frozen in a lake

He swallowed hard, trying desperately to compose himself. “I, uh.. I made kind of a mess while you were gone. Well, made one because you were gone, really.” 

She smiled, letting her hands soak in the warmth of Percy’s. “I heard. And I gotta say, restructuring an entire pantheon in my honor? Very hot.”

They laughed into each other’s mouths as they joined for a kiss, and Percy silently thanked the Fates for whatever part they played in this. 

He decided then and there he would spend the rest of his life praying to whoever he needed to pray to in order for this to always be his reality

One in which Annabeth was within his grasp

When they pulled away from their kiss, foreheads resting on one another, a million questions began to race through his mind. Only one made it across his lips. “How?”

Hades, who had walked in behind Annabeth unnoticed, stepped forward then.

“Hi,” he said a bit awkwardly.

He looked younger than Percy had ever seen him, and his energy was almost giddy. “Well with those two gone, it seems a throne has opened up on Olympus and I... well, truth be told, I’m a sucker for a good love story. We don’t get too many down there. Which is why, Percy Jackson, you are the first hero to ever successfully bring back a loved one from the Underworld.”

Apollo whistled dramatically. “Orpheus is gonna be pissed.”

Hades grimaced. “Believe me, I’ve already been hearing about it. But a deal’s a deal, people! And this young man made the journey metaphorically which made it much easier to sidestep the official rules, by which I mean Persephone. So good job, kid.”

Athena stepped forward. “Of course there are still some rules we must abide by, and since you didn’t formally go down to retrieve her there were certain limits to what service Lord Hades could provide.”

“She will have to always be on or very near Olympus or Olympic protected lands, but other than that, she is as mortal as she was before.”

“And the glow?” Percy asked.

Hades brow furrowed, “Can’t quite get it to fade but I’m working on it. Got a call with Hecate scheduled for later this week.”

“Elysium problems, am I right?” Apollo said, but no one acknowledged him. 

“It’s ok. I like it,” Percy said, turning back towards Annabeth. But then his face turned serious.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” he asked. “Because I would understand if-”

Annabeth placed a hand over his mouth. “Together, remember? Anything, as long as we’re together. Besides, it gives me plenty of time to work on New Athens.”

He smiled wide as he moved her hand from his mouth, surging forward to wrap her up in another kiss.

Percy can honestly say he had never wondered what it would be like to make out with Annabeth in front of a handful of Greek Gods but turns out, Aphrodite gets everyone to applaud before shooing them away “to give the kids some privacy”

So overall, he didn’t hate it and would likely be fine doing it again

What he did hate was sharing Annabeth for the next few days

All he wanted was to steal her away and hunker down in their own little world, an underwater bubble if that’s what it took, but if the war had shown him anything it was that he hadn’t been the only one to miss her

She spent an entire afternoon with Chiron on the porch of the Big House sharing a pot of tea and playing chess

She squeezed every single one of her siblings, especially Malcolm

Jason and Piper arrived from California to tearfully welcome their friend back, Jason spewing a million different apologies which Annabeth told him were not needed  

An evening was spent with Thalia under her old tree, and while Annabeth never really shared with Percy what they talked about, the way Thalia spoke to him seemed to change and he assumed it had something to do with that

Even Nico made an appearance, assuring Annabeth that he had checked over her paperwork himself and there were no secret clauses or loopholes for her to worry about

The week culminated in a welcome back party put on by the Hermes cabin, the self-proclaimed kings of hospitality

On behalf of the Ares cabin, Clarisse presented her oldest nemesis with a gift in the form of a new and improved war banner

It was bluish gray and showed an owl with its wings outstretched holding a trident in its claws.

“It’s fire resistant too,” Clarisse mentioned. “Since you’re apparently impossible to take down, we figured your family banner should be too.”

Annabeth smiled from ear to ear and proudly displayed the flag for all to see.

“Clarisse are you being nice?” Percy teased

She socked him in the gut and then, when he was hunched over, she roughly patted him on the back. “Enjoy it while you can, runt. Cause when our dad gets out, it’s over for you.”

“Can’t wait,” he huffed.

Percy regained his breath and looked over at Annabeth who was showing off her gift to Chiron 

He knew Clarisse was right, that he hadn’t changed things forever

but he had changed things enough

And he had changed them at least for now

As long as Annabeth Chase was walking the earth, alive and well, he would deal with whatever else came

Plus, he had it on good authority that nothing else would come for a long time (Apollo was quite chatty after a victory)

Long enough, at least, for him and Annabeth to live a long life

Together.

[arosnowflake]

thinking about how everyone (including me, yup, I’m not immune to hating characters for unsubstantiated reasons) hated Jason at first and how this ties into reader bias and how Rick could’ve avoided it and I’m gonna ramble at it because this is my blog and I can do what I want.

so anyway the reason Jason was so incredibly disliked when he was first introduced was that a) he was a replacement protag, b) he was stupidly overpowered to the point where he’s Percy’s equal, and c) he was a super important person who: was the leader of some massive society, was partially responsible for Chronos’s fall, and was also Thalia’s long lost brother.

are those fair reasons to hate a character? no, not really. nothing in point b) or c) are things out of the realm of possibility, in fact Percy was about as powerful and important as Jason and we never hated him, but the big difference between Percy and Jason was this: we spent an entire series with Percy. we didn’t with Jason.

while Percy is stupidly overpowered and definitely a power fantasy, we spent five books with that guy watching him become that. while he was never what you’d call ‘weak’ (see also: murdered the minotaur with his bare hands at 12 with 0 training), we’d seen him struggle with his powers, self-esteem, and finding his place in the world, so when he finally DOES get complete control over his powers, become confident in himself, and find his place in the world, we cheered him on. 

it also helped that the Percy Jackson books were written in Percy’s snarky first person perspective, which tended to downplay just how powerful Percy really was. for example, remember that one time Percy created an earthquake so powerful it released Typhon? I’m gonna be honest, I forgot about it, because Percy was unconscious for most of the time that was going down and we never really saw Typhon ourselves. if that had happened in Heroes of Olympus, perspective would’ve switched to another character, who would’ve described the way Typhon broke free of his chains and rose to the Earth and whatnot, and it would’ve just looked a lot more impressive than it did in Battle of the Labyrinth, despite it being functionally the same feat. 

so basically, while Percy is an overpowered overly important motherfucker, we spent five books with the sarcastic kid watching him become who he is today and growing attached to him, so that when we get to Heroes of Olympus and get the ability to properly put his overpowered nature into perspective, we’re not raising an eyebrow at how stupidly powerful he is, we’re cheering for the kid we followed and adore.

Jason didn’t have that leg up. Jason was dropped in as a protag in a series where people wanted Percy, and THEN he was established to be just as powerful as Percy without any of the build up he had, and THEN we’re told that he’s the leader of some kind of society we’ve never seen before, that he had some significant role in taking down Chronos despite the fact that there’d never been any hints, and that he’s Thalia’s long lost brother whom she’d never thought to mention before. like. no wonder people were skeptical about him. 

truth is, Jason would’ve had a tough time with the fandom no matter what Rick did, because of him being a replacement protag, but I do think that a bit of proper pre-planning could’ve made him a lot easier to swallow. 

the Romans came basically out of nowhere, which made Jason being their leader seem like some bullshit nonsense mostly put in so that he looked as powerful as Percy (despite the fact that actually, this was an interesting character note for Jason that developed nicely throughout the series). I think that, if we had known or at least suspected that a Roman or at least non-Greek society of demigods existed, we would’ve had an easier time swallowing that the/a new protag for the new series would be its leader. it’s the difference between ‘hey, this rando you’ve never met is the leader of a super powerful society you’ve never heard of before!’ and ‘hey, this rando you’ve never met is the leader of that society that’s been hinted at since the first series, but who you’ve never seen, so this rando is actually your first glimpse into that society!’, you know?

second, if Jason just... hadn’t started out as powerful as Percy. I do understand how that might’ve made it seem like the Greeks were more powerful than the Romans by default, but I think that could’ve been avoided by the fact that, well, the Romans have more discipline and better strategy than the Greeks, not to mention the fact that the Romans had historically defeated the Greeks before. I don’t think Jason needed to be as strong as Percy right from the first novel; while it makes sense for the leader of the Romans to be, he’s a co-leader with Reyna, and I think they could’ve emphasized that their strength didn’t come from any individual’s power, but rather the collective. He should definitely be powerful, don’t get me wrong, but I think that if he was less powerful than Percy, it would’ve been harder for readers to see him as ‘just some blond Percy’. if we’d seen him grow over the course of HoO, only to realize during the last book that he and Percy are equally matched now, I think that could’ve gotten the same ‘hell yeah!’ response as we had to seeing how overpowered Percy was.

third, maybe give a couple hints that he helped defeat Chronos/that he’s Thalia’s long lost brother in the previous series? because right now, those plot points really felt like they came right out of nowhere (which is because they did, of course, but still). if, during the final battle with Chronos, Percy had remarked on Chronos physically cringing for no reason and suddenly being much weaker than before, and THEN it had been revealed in the sequel that that the cause of that was Jason toppling his throne, that would’ve been a neat reveal instead of some blatant attempt at trying to make Jason and the Romans retroactively relevant in the PJO series. 

likewise, if Thalia had mentioned during PJO that one of the reasons she ran away was that her mother fucking lost her little brother in the woods (or something among those lines), then attentive readers could’ve picked up on the fact that some motherfucker with lightning and flight powers might be a Zeus kid, and oh hey, now the readers are getting excited because they’ve figured out a mystery! and even if they don’t figure it out, the fact that it’s been foreshadowed makes it seem less like a blatant attempt at making Jason relevant in the PJO series and more like genuine pay off to a mystery. 

basically, I think that almost all of the early fandom’s issues with Jason could’ve been prevented if his existence/the Romans’ existence had been properly foreshadowed, and if he’d been maybe a bit less powerful than Percy in the beginning (though honestly that last part is optional). so basically, almost the entire reason for Jason’s lack of popularity can be traced back to Rick’s sucky continuity. 

[jflashandclash]

Traitors of Olympus IV: Fall of the Sun

Thirty: Calex

Power Naps and Why I Don’t Like Them

           Calex had done his part. He’d caught the primordial god’s attention.

           Now, they were going to die because of it.

           Calex wished he’d been able to watch one more Arsenal game on the tellie with blokes that actually cared about football or knew what sport he meant when he talked about football.

           Everything surged around them. The nausea was maddening. The air exhaling out of his lungs felt like it was dissolving as Kaos’ massive, star-dust hand reached to crush them out of memory.

           “JACK! JACK! NOW IS A GOOD TIME!” Calex screamed.

           He knew the kind of love he’d given Kaos.[1] He knew it would smash them to pieces, defying logic, to force that box into its presence.  

           Calex had begun to spin on his vines again. Similar to how he hoped Kaos had a heart that he could affect, he hoped Kaos had ears that Jack could offend.

           Calex frantically glanced to his side as best he could while he spun.

           About four meters away, Jack dangled off Euna’s belt. His mouth moved.

           Despite the plant goop earplugs, the pressure in Calex’s ears increased. He couldn’t tell if Kaos’ presence was filleting them, or if Jack’s cacophony had erupted, or if the Angel’s Trumpet had finally gone to his head and—if he were lucky—he’d wake up staring at the skies of Alnwick Castle with his family teasing him about this rubbish nightmare.

           Although he couldn’t make out the words, the force of Jack’s song was deafening. The feeling of being deafened without being able to hear? Utterly horrid. Calex would recommend crossing it off one’s bucket list without real attempt.

           His skull felt like it was being crushed by Hercules’ hands. Meanwhile, the gravity of Kaos’ presence tore at his sweater and skin, threatening to rip him to pieces.[2]

           The next time Jack’s mouth moved, Calex felt like he’d been tackled by Mrs. O’Leary.

           One of his earplugs cracked.

           Calex screamed in pain.

           He suddenly understood why the ground parted for Jack. Anything—anything would be better than this, better than the mounting intensity in his own skull, threatening to shatter his bones and muddle his brains to goo. Calex had half a thought to cutting lose the vines along his legs. Then he wouldn’t need to experience—

           The blurry form of Kaos’ hand eroded as it approached Jack, like Jack’s voice shook the particles and nonmatter apart. [3]

           Just one finger reached for Euna, still large enough to poke both their heads off if it made contact.

           And it was about to.

           Euna’s skin gleamed eerily amidst all the chaos. Her vines suddenly righted her, so she could heft her sickle to full height, upright. Her hair and tattered clothing wiped violently about her. Backbiter’s shaft seemed to grow in her hands. The two-toned blade glistened fiercely with all the colors flickering around them.

           One vine held Persephone’s rosewood box out towards the approaching finger, like the tiny bait light of an angler fish, playing chicken with a megalodon.[4]  

           Euna’s vine opened the box.

           The pressure against Calex’s skull suddenly vanished. Euna’s vines—Calex’s included—swayed towards the magnitude of that box, pulling him closer, maybe two meters away.

           The gap of nothingness under them seemed to hold its breath.

           Kaos’ finger stretched against Jack’s voice, desperate for that box. The closer it got, the more the exterior shaved down against the song. Despite that, Calex could feel the first layer of his skin start to tear off at Kaos’ proximity.

           Euna lunged, making their vines swing towards the vortex. Sweat dripped off her brow, smattering into nothingness below. Her body trembled.

           Kaos was a meter away.

           Euna swung at the finger from the side.

           She brought her sickle down.

           For an instant, Calex held his breath. He waited to see Backbiter dissolve, to see Euna sucked into this primordial god and spat back out as angry, lunch-seeking particles.

           Backbiter maintained its shape.

           Euna didn’t explode into the maelstrom.

           Instead, her sickle cleanly sliced the finger in half.

           The half closest to them exploded forward, caught in the suction of Persephone’s box. Without its anchor to Kaos, the box’s gravity won. The vine immediately snapped the lid shut.

           The other half of Kaos recoiled back into the vortex below.

           Dogs Bollix! Calex thought.

           Despite all the nausea, horror, and panic, Calex wanted to laugh. They had actually done it! They had cut off and borrowed a piece of Kaos! He was going to vomit a good four times, tidy himself up, give Euna a proper hug, maybe try to snog Merry when they got back (after a good teeth brushing) and make Kally come back with him to the UK to attend the next Arsenal vs. Manchester United game.

           “Euna!” he called, knowing she probably couldn’t hear him but unable to help himself.

           The daughter of Demeter glanced in his direction. Backbiter shrank back to sword size, and she shoved the blade back into its sheath. She snatched Persephone’s box from one of her vines and jammed it into her pocket.

           She wobbled.

           Her eyes fluttered open and shut.

           The earplugs fell from Calex’s ear. Jack must have stopped singing. All Calex could hear was the roar of the vortex under them and the pound of his heartbeat as Euna went slack.

           She flipped upside down, caught on her vines, and dangled limply.

           Without her stabilizing them, Calex swung the extra two meters into her. As he crashed against her, he wrapped her up in his arms. Pain swelled along his legs. Gravity—of the Earth and Kaos—tugged him downward; the plants were no longer readjusting to accommodate his movement.

           “Euna!” he shouted hoarsely.

           No response from Euna. But a snide jingle from Jack’s head, still dangling from her belt:

           “Remember my warning? Careful how we tread.

           Without proper heed, we’ll all wind up dead.”

           “Oh, shut it!” Calex shouted. He frantically searched around for anything to help. There was no way Calex could scale up the twisted vines and roots back to the cliff face, not while carrying Euna and Jack. (Not that he needed to carry Jack. Now was, in fact, the prime time to go Jack-free.) What if he knocked the vines loose?  Or, gods forbid, he dropped Euna into the pit under them?

           He gently tugged on the vines and had a harsh reminder: he’d just made a primordial god fall in love; his arms had the same consistency of jam. There was no way he could climb with how exhausted he felt.

           Everything rumbled violently.

           Although all the blood couldn’t physically drain from Calex’s face, being upside down and all, it would if it could have.

           Kaos surged towards them, apparently not pleased about being short a finger.

           “JACK, SING!” Calex shrieked.

           “ASSHOLE, CLIMB!” Jack said.

 Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed :D Good to see Calex and Jack form a work relationship. XD Stay tuned next week for Reyna’s chapter: Between Evisceration and a Hard Place.

 Footnotes:

[1] In my re-read this sounds SO dirty >>’’’

[2] Mel asked, “Are they going to appear top side MORE exposed afterwards? OH MY GOSH! IS EUNA GONNA HAVE CLOTHES WHEN SHE GETS OUT??”

Jack, “Alas, TOO I-IV needed to keep its current rating, so I couldn’t have hot child of Demter and sexy child of Eros running around naked. It would have changed the course of the battle upstairs, especially when Axel gets flustered and tries to run away without looking at Euna, trips, and falls into the pit of Kaos, and Thalia gets flustered, trips and falls into ANOTHER flower trap.”

Past Jack, “Wait—but Pax got to be naked in book 2!”

Jack, “Yes, and it left Kally catatonic for two weeks. That’s why she actually passed out between book 2 and 3. It had nothing to do with Phobetor. It was delayed shock.”

[3] Mel note, “That… is one powerful demigod head.”

I don’t know WHICH one of us said it, but beside the note on my hardcopy is a scrawled, “I’m sure his dick is also powerful.”

[4] An encounter, Jack needs to clarify, that could probably have happened. Angler fish can go down to 3,000 feet, and various sharks, like the Greenland, goblin, Frill, and Cookiecutter have all been found at depths much lower than that. It is quite possible that megalodons feasted on the tiny angler after the angler lost a chicken fight.

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (inspired by the incomplete fanfic Son of Underworld) (2/5) (Son of Hades! Percy AU)

Check the other parts in the masterpost - read the warnings before proceeding. Good reading!!

After the worse summer, Percy goes home.

Luke's proposal keeps swimming in his head - the blonde is not wrong, but Percy has been scammed before - he remembers once that a "friend" convinced him to be a lookout for him to do something shady at the Dean's Office and then put the blame on him.

And he was blamed - Percy is black, and black kids are never the innocent ones - but now he knows better.

Being a child of the Underworld gods is not that different from being black. 

Percy is comfortable with his skin though - his mother is incredible, and most people at Camp are mixed up. Charles is African-American. Selena's father is Muslim, and the Stoll's mother is Jewish (half the reason they are year-rounders). Clarisse's mom is from Nicaragua. Michael Yew has a Brazilian grandma with Japanese heritage.

He isn't friends with most of them - Charles is like a big brother to him and Michael Yew taught him how to shoot an arrow, but Clarisse is at most a good spar partner and nor the Stolls nor Silena care for his company very much.

Percy tells himself that he doesn't care.

He packs his bags - a blue and red backpack and a few surf shirts from the amusement park where he destroyed a pool and made the ground swallow mechanic spiders, both the Minotaurs horns, now fashioned into very cool knives, his Warhammer and his ax slung across his back. The only sweater he has, the one he came here with, the blue one, is warming him up to the chill of autumn.

Chiron asks him if he doesn't want to stay. He touches the willow standing in the furthest shore of the river, the one that marks the barrier of Camp Half-Blood. It used to be Thalia Grace, daughter of Poseidon.

Chiron looks to him with pity. He doesn't need to know that Percy is planning to murder Gabe Ugliano.

Percy goes to do that. He travels, by car. He has enough money - he has money appearing in his pockets all the time now, his father must be truly guilty.

Then he opens the door of his old apartment - but Gabe is not there, in the living room. There's just his mom, on the couch.

His mom

Alive

Percy cries, and they hug, and then they trade stories. She tells him she was asleep in Olympus, and Zeus gave her back when the bolt got to his hands.

He is less angry. But the heavy weight of indignation seats in his stomach. 

There's no time for it now: Percy is going back to Yancy Academy - his grades were not bad - and Gabe is now a very charming statue for someone very rich (later, he will discover it was Persephone who bought it).

He tells her everything, safe in her arms, no shirt, no gloves. His mom can touch him everywhere - not even a cell in his body would attack her.

He is so touch starved he keeps sleeping in her bed for a week, and, at night, he cries. Percy has horrible nightmares - he is just twelve and he has killed.

He tells her about his meeting with his father in hushed whispers at an evening where the sky is blue and pink - just how he likes it.

Sally almost goes to the Underworld herself smack sense in her ex-lover, but she knows Persephone would do so for her.

Percy tells her about Luke - not about the Rebellion, lest any gods hear him, but about Luke and Alabaster and Ethan and those kids, alone in a Cabin of rejects.

She says she is going back to college - and that she'll do her best to go see him every weekend at Yancy.

He tells her about his powers. Sally doesn't like the risks but say he should start practicing for his own safety.

They cuddle and Percy clings to his anchor like a lifeline. Percy wants to go to the Underworld again sometime - more to play with Cerberus than to do anything else.

He takes the bus reluctantly - he offers to stay and go to public school, but he knows his chance lays at Yancy.

Percy study Math. He is in seventh grade now - the real Math is here, the financials and calculus and they keep putting him in "Gifted and Advanced" classes for it.

His English still sucks. Biology, for all that should be easy for him, its way too boring - he prefers dead bodies, thank you very much.

He excels at Math and Health&PE (which summer camp took care), passes with acceptable grades in World History, Geography and Social Studies (he nails a project about demographics with some really helpful ghosts), does badly in Science and fails tragically at English and Literature.

They call him a genius - and a genius has areas they specialize in. His grades in math are enough to push him to the eighth grade.

At weekends, when his mother can't come to see him, he locks his dorm and practices his shadow traveling and his powers over the earth and metal manipulation.

His shadow traveling is a mess - once he ends up in Ukraine, and panics trying to come back, just to end up in Wyoming. Again.

Thrice, he manages to reach the underworld. It's winter - Persephone is somewhere down there, but he doesn't want to see his father. He plays with Cerberus when he has some energy - the first two times he just cuddles up with the dog and sleeps a little.

The last time he goes to the Underworld, it's the last day before summer break - he still has not made any contact with his dad, he still doesn't know if he wants to join Luke, he still doesn't know if he wants to go back to CHB.

He goes back to his Mom's house with a hellhound puppy and makes kitten eyes until she lets it stays - if he trains and feeds him and whatnot.

He has dreams about Grover in a bride's dress. It freaks the hell out of him because there's a cyclops in it.

Percy is crossing the street with groceries when he sees a cyclops. He doesn't give the creature a chance to see him - he goes to his room and start packing - it's too dangerous for him, and he can't lose his Mom again.

He cuddles his Mom and the puppy - which he named Blackjack - and calls Chiron.

Chiron is sending Annabeth - apparently, something happened to the borders of the camp.

Percy decides to help, for Annabeth, for Grover, for the small kids at Cabin 9 and 11, and the newbies (there's one, Will Solace, who isn't even eleven yet and he has been there for a year).

He packs his colorful sweaters (rebelling, but in the opposite direction of his father’s aesthetic), put his puppy in a leash (it's bigger than a mastiff now, but all dogs are puppies) and wait for his best friend.

She meets him with an expression of someone who is announcing a funeral - Grover is lost in his searches for Pan.

Percy thinks the little tremor that shook his building it's a good enough hold in his powers, nothing is broken and no one is dead, so it's fine.

He hugs Annabeth and feels warm inside. Health classes covered changes in his body, but he didn't expect to be that quick. Annabeth is taller than him by at least five inches and much prettier.

He picks up his Warhammer and his ax (how does the mist occlude that? do everyone think he is doing cosplay?), throws a duffel bag in his shoulder, his loyal puppy beside him.

"Are you getting into the dark vibe, Corpse Breath?"

"Shut up Annie"

The camp is being attacked - they get a weird taxi thing, pay extra and are given three random locations in the mainland.

Percy doesn't forget the names. There's Agramonte, in Cuba; Okeechobee, in Florida; and Pic La Selle in Haiti.

CHB is being attacked when they get there - by bronze bulls no less. Percy goes to battle with a weapon in each hand, like a war god.

Clarisse does way more damage than him, bashing bull metal skulls left and right like a master. But he kills one of five and does damage to other two.

She claps him in the back - he is glad he has a sweater on, even if it is a horrible shade of brilliant orange.

Charles and him take the weapons to the Forge to correct any damage. Charles hugs him and then starts gushing about Silena.

Charles and Annabeth takes him to see the new Camp Director.

It's Tantalus.

Percy laughs so hard he almost falls down, and Dionysus looks bored - but Percy isn't dumb, he sees mirth in his eyes.

He wants so badly to do a smart comment. He wants to see if his powers can rip a ghost that his father reinstated. He wants to taunt Tantalus.

"What are you laughing about, metic?"

"Nothing, you remind me of someone."

But Percy fends off other questions, and sits at the Cabin 11 table obediently. He wants to startle that man so badly he won't ever sneer at Percy anymore.

He knows just the people for the job. They aren't in any way close, but they all up for mischief. His opportunity comes with the chariot race announced - Percy corners the Stoll Brothers.

"Let me race with you" He starts, and they look surprised by any emotion coming from him in their direction (Percy smiles were reserved for Annie and Grover and Luke and Alabaster and Ethan).

"I want to startle Tantalus and you want victory - I can give you any chariot, if you let me swarm the whole road with skeletons"

The Stolls look at one another, and mentally say something, before doing a random coin toss.

"I'm racing with you" Says Connor.

They mark a time to see the chariot in the next day. They take the whole Cabin 11 with them to prevent attention - Percy is not letting this game go.

Percy gets a chariot directly from the underworld, black obsidian (not Stygian iron, way too rare) and silver, with blue gems that glisten under the sun, a Helm with wings marking its front.

There are four horses pushing it - skeletal horses, incapable of feeling pain or thirst.

It's the first time Percy feels like he belongs - this is a competition, and he is going to win.

Connor and Travis have an array of contraptions and grenades and smoke bombs.

They arrive at the start line at last, for maximum impact. No one is expecting this - they're waiting for Hermes' old chariot, a rickety thing that should be scrap years ago, with any Pegasi they managed to gather in the stables.

They forgot something: Percy exists. It's normal, and Percy it's okay with it in this instance.

The Stymphalian Birds appear - and are countered by his skeletons hitting their spears and swords on their shields. None of them hit him, and the Cabin 11 arrives at first followed by a disgruntled Clarisse after she fought at least 20 skeletons.

Tantalus tries. He really tries to accuse Percy of cheating, but it's pointed out - with approval of Dionysus to boot - that the Demeter kids used their vines to place third and Pollux and Castor did the same to get the fifth spot - just behind the giant contraption that was the Hephaestus chariot.

Clarisse is not happy with the second spot and the silver laurels, but she claps him in the back anyway - Ares is the god of war, not bad sportsmanship.

The Hermes Cabin is in euphoria - Apollo, who placed last, after Aphrodite since they unleashed a dozen doves with a sleeping potion in their faces, it's doing all of the Cabin 11 chores for a month - and they are having a feast of the gods.

Just that night, Percy sacrifices a big pomegranate for Hades and one for Persephone - forgiveness, can you imagine?

He sacrifices to Hermes, as always, for taking the small kids. He sees the joy in their faces - and while Percy is a person reserved to his friends and now he is mostly stoic Perseus, son of Hades, forge gremlin, he always hugs the kids that have nightmares.

It's not what he wanted - it's weird to be touched. It's weirder to have someone want to be next to him. Percy is a cactus, he is prickly. He never smiles. He misses his mom - she would know what to do.

But the little kids trust him. Lou Ellen is unclaimed since the ending of last summer - Percy doesn't know if she has someone to return to.

Those kids at Cabin 11 deserve more then a couple of teens taking care of them. Those kids deserve better, they all deserve better.

There are seven-year-old children there. They barely know how to read. Percy teaches - Annabeth teaches history and myths and Greek, but is he who takes on math to the younger ones, the ones who barely know how to multiply.

He considers staying year-round. They all had Chiron - but it isn't enough. It isn't a family. It isn't. Percy is not their family either - he doesn't overestimate himself - but at least he cares. Not because of their godly blood, but because they are children.

He still hates touch. He is never without his sweaters and gloves. He never smiles at anyone that isn't Annie or Grover or Luke or Alabaster or Ethan.

These days, he only has Annie.

He misses Luke, and he wants to scoop all of these children and take them with him to Kronos, away from the gods. But for what? Another master to fight for?

Was Luke the one who poisoned Thalia? Would he do the same to Percy if Percy denied him?

A mission is issued to go after Golden Fleece - it's in the same place Grover is, it's what Annie and Percy agree on.

Percy is a calculating boy. He deals in numbers, in measures. He is completely oblivious when it comes to feelings and anything that's more subjective than an equation.

But she thinks he likes them. Her and Grover, and those little kids that follow him around sometimes.

She likes the way her yellow hair contrasts with his dark skin, the way his curls flop in his forehead. She likes the specks of green in his eyes. He is her best friend. It's not the love she has for Luke, but it's something akin to admiration.

Percy and Connor are chosen to go on the mission - and Tantalus tries and bullshits some reason for them to go alone, but Percy shakes his head.

"The oracle said, three people"

He is bullshitting them. Tantalus makes him take Clarisse, and Annabeth stays behind.

"I doubt you can get in the sea of monsters without crossing water, eromenoi"

Perseus laughs and laughs, and his eyes are dark as the night without moon. He shoves his hands in the pockets of his soft blue hoodie, and motions for Connor and Clarisse to follow.

Before he leaves, he kisses her cheek softly. It's going to be okay. He will bring Grover back.

He shadow travels the three on them for the closest location the Grey Sisters gave him. It’s difficult, even with a hellhound. He aims for Okeechobee and lands in Miami.

Percy needs to sleep for at least a day, so they use the time to reach their destiny by car. Connor is a very adept child of Hermes, and soon they’re on the road in a red old pickup.

“So Corpse Breath is the hammer, and you’re the polishing stone? Fitting” snorts Clarisse, and just like that, they are bonding.

Percy expects them to trade shitty childhood stories and stupid hobbies or badmouth their deadbeat godly parents, but that was another trip, with very different people.

Clarisse La Rue is sixteen. Her favorite weapon is a javelin or a spear, but she will always prefer hand to hand combat. She loves Led Zeppelin and thinks Silena’s white hijab is the cutest thing in the world. She speaks Spanish - a relief because Percy barely speaks English.

Connor Stoll is fifteen. He prefers gas bombs to grenades - and he does a mean Molotov. He did graffiti until he was twelve. He thinks the Gardner Sisters from the Demeter Cabin are both cute - but Pollux got hot during the winter.

That’s how Percy discovers bisexuality - in a stolen car with a giant hellhound, a girl who has arms larger than his thighs and drives like a grandma and a boy who is two seconds away from spontaneous combustion.

He thinks that explains Luke and Annabeth - but he doesn’t voice it. 

Percy doesn’t smile to them for a long time - he knows not even muscular spasms are free of charge.

He stays stoic until they stop to sleep - and Connor has wings in the back of his underwear and its the most ridiculous thing ever.

They reach the city and wander. They do encounter someone - Hecate herself.

She says to Percy it is her last favor - and he knows she already left for Kronos. Luke’s drachma burns in his pocket. She opens a wall of stone - a passageway the Huntresses use sometimes.

“My son waits for you” his quest mates pretend not to hear it - and he pretends nothing is happening. At least Alabaster is okay.

They walk across the cave for what it feels like a day. He is almost sure Hecate has plans to kill them when they find the exit: In an island spa.

A girl comes and analyze them. She looks at them with a kind smile - but Percy knows smiles have prices.

They go meet with the owner: C.C. He doesn't recognize her, but Connor takes one look at those weird guinea pigs and tap Percy's hand twice.

It's a code: Danger.

They are patient. Clarisse is looking at the flimsy girls with their togas and golden braids - she is not going with them.

C.C. Apparently accepts that Clarisse is "more male than a female" like gender is something defined by dresses and makeup.

As soon as the girls are out of the room, Percy taps Clarisse's hand, and she runs her spear through C.C.'s belly. The woman bleeds ichor - but disappears in a cloud of golden sand.

They go through her things for money while Connor explains that he learned about her from Charles. Charles's first mission almost ended up with him as a guinea pig. At least now they know they are in the right place.

Percy takes all her money and their weapons back. He straps as many knives he can throw in his pants and belt: One can never have enough weapons.

They find some hoods and sneak out to the boats on the beach. Connor steals again. Percy hates water: But the Sea of Monsters is beyond Poseidon's direct control, and Percy is going to hole himself up until they get to the next island.

He vomits. He is so seasick, it's not even funny. He hates boats. He hates large bodies of water. Anything bigger than a pool, and he is out.

Clarisse thinks it's funny. She laughs at him - and weirdly, he smiles back a little. The daughter of Ares plays with Blackjack, and they bond.

They are not friends - but they would kill for each other. They find it weird they had no godly intervention from Olympus - but then, Percy remembers he is just a son of Hades, and the Olympians hate him.

He burns food to Hecate. He doesn't burn food to Hermes, who appears in everyone else's quests, but avoid his own son's.

None of them has enough hubris to try and listen to the sirens. Clarisse's fatal flaw is bloodlust and Connor's is arrogance - the idea he can do anything, steal anything, and he'll never be punished.

They don't hear anything. Their next stop is the Isle of Polyphemus.

This time around, Connor is Nobody, Clarisse sneaks under a sheep to save Grover, and Percy gets the Fleece. They try to escape through a passageway that Percy's powers say lead to Haiti, but the cyclops colapses it with a boulder.

Percy hates cyclops.

They shadowtravel. Percy isn't any better at it, and with Grover tagging along, it's pretty obvious what happens, even if he is wearing the Golden Fleece like a giant blanket of strenght.

They end up in Wyoming. Percy sleeps for a week: he is starting to flick, like a ghost, and the magical sheep skin can only help so much. In this week, apparently, they meet the Party Ponies.

Chiron takes Percy in his back to CHB with the Fleece, but his friends stay behind because the centaurs won't let them mount, and they can't keep up on feet.

Clarisse, Connor and Grover meet Luke, Ethan and Alabaster in their way to an airport. It goes badly, but no one dies. They tell him Ethan only has one eye now, and that Luke looks tired and mad.

Percy thinks joining Kronos might be a bad idea. But then, he goes back to Camp, save the tree, and things don't change. The kids are still kids, alone and sad.

Will Solace was claimed. He says he misses Cabin 11, and some of his brothers don't want him to talk to Percy anymore.

It hurts. They try and keep contact for the following week, but peer pressure pushes Will away. Percy doesn't blame him.

The tree spits Thalia, daughter of Poseidon. She has black hair with green accents, green eyes, uses heavy makeup, and looks like a "Hades spawn" should look.

Percy likes her. He has no need for being the leader, and he has Annie and Grover (and Luke, and Alabaster, and Ethan, he thinks). Annie and Luke love her, so she must be amazing. He tries.

Thalia doesn't like him. She hates Hades, the one who killed her. She doesn't trust him or the fact that he never touches anyone.

Perseus tells himself he doesn't care. And suddenly, Thalia goes from "could be a good friend" to "better stay away".

The Camp celebrates Thalia. He is the hero, he brought the Fleece back, he is also a child of the Big Three. But they hate him, just like the kids in school hate him for his skin colour.

Annie has no time for him. Grover goes back to his search. He doesn't think he is going to join Kronos, but the drachma is still in his pocket.

He goes back to his mother, and then, to Yancy.

This summer, he was the hero. But no matter what, he was still the son of Hades.