#all this PJO talk reminds me of that one time I almost got kicked out of a PJO fandom forum thingy bc I kept posting about a characters bda

[reverie-starlight]

bro pls give us something. is it good ? i need snippets

zoya pls it's awful

like, the writing for 14 year old me wasn't horrible, but the concept, and the forced dramatization of the sentences??? it's too much.

and not to mention the plot was... something. and this y/n's personality was... fun! but also extremely flawed. wow.

all this for a percy jackson character half the fandom doesn't like and I now feel very neutral about.

r.i.p. to him tho, I'm still mad abt him dying.

[dykeseinfeld]

u asked someone to remind you to post about your pjo dual protagonist thalia/bianca au and i am SO intrigued by this idea please say more

anon asked: hey queen hope your homework went good yesterday 🌸…now what were you saying about thalia and bianca 😳 ?

ok y’all i’m here...the moment almost none of y’all have been waiting for....bianca/thalia protagonists with alternating pov’s au

warning it’s kind of super long and may or may not read like a 2nd grader’s semi-coherent game of pretend so under the cut it goes!

so the main things you need to know about this au are 1. thalia survives and 2. annabeth’s + luke’s ages are a lil diff bc canon is my sandbox 3. i can’t decide if percy exists in this au or not (maybe y’all can help me decide?)

so the first book:

would start a few months after grover brought thalia (12), luke (13), and annabeth (10, not 7)  to camp half blood. they were chased by monsters sent by hades on the way, and thalia almost didn’t survive, but ultimately she got lucky and managed to send a bolt of lightning through her spear for the first time and they made it into camp

it’s been some time so annabeth is happy as a clam in the athena cabin doing her 10-year-old-with-severe-mommy-issues thing and luke is actually pretty popular with the hermes cabin bc he actually Met Their Dad Holy Shit and also he’s getting pretty good with a sword

at the same time, thalia is alone in the zeus cabin. everyone has been freaking out bc they all saw the huge bolt of lightning that incinerated a couple hellhounds as they made their grand entrance and What The Fuck Child Of The Big Three???

she’s also further isolated because chiron will take her for private training sessions sometimes, since she is clearly really powerful already and also Hades Himself was trying to kill her (chiron told her the reason was the big three’s pledge not to have kids, and maybe about the great prophecy? if he tells her that then she’s sworn to secrecy)

once grover leaves on another protector assignment, thalia mostly hangs out with luke, and annabeth. luke + annabeth both will try to eat meals with her at the zeus table but annabeth doesn’t want to get in trouble and luke is genuinely making friends in the hermes cabin so thalia will feel bad sometimes and send him back

kronos, seeing this bitter isolated child of the big three’s dreams: it’s free real estate

MEANWHILE

hades is Pissed that thalia survived and zeus got to break their oath And get the glory of a prophecy child

so he sends someone to take bianca (12) and nico (10) out of the lotus hotel and casino a little early.

grover is still their protector, but since the Stirring hasn’t begun in earnest yet and hades is lowkey determined to keep them safe, they make it back to camp half blood with no escort/incident

bianca + nico are put into the hermes cabin, and luke kinda takes them under his wing bc while he’s not bitter he still needs therapy bc this 14 year old has never met a pre-teen he couldn’t try to parent

luke introduces nico and annabeth since they’re the same age and they become really good friends!! she Loves mythomagic and he thinks her dagger is super cool and they’re both just really excited about camp <3

bianca is more reserved and resistant to the whole thing, and she wanders around alone exploring and runs into thalia in the zeus cabin

at this first meeting they get into a bit of a fight bc bianca is still in shock/denial about the gods being real, but thalia at this point has zero patience for this

anyway after that and maybe another scuffle during capture the flag or something they hit it off and become best friends in the way girls can, especially bonding over how they’ve both had to take on raising annabeth and nico basically on their own at the age of 12

~QUEST TIME~

thalia is given a quest for [unspecific reason] and chooses bianca and luke, they go off leaving annabeth and nico frustrated at home

quest hijinks etc, bianca is trying to figure out her parentage + her weird mysterious powers? and thalia is arguing with luke because he’s settling into camp/hero life really well actually but she’s getting progressively angrier with the gods for trying to kill her and also keeps getting dreams from kronos and doesn’t get why he doesn’t seem to remember all of the shit that the gods have put him through

bianca + thalia have las-vegas-style-heart-to-hearts where thalia shares her tragic backstory about her mother and her brother and how hades tried to kill her and even about the great prophecy and how she’s trying on this quest bc of that and her dad but at the same time these dreams are making her suspicious that he might’ve been responsible for her mom’s death.

bianca then shares her own stuff, about how terrified she was being on her own with nico having to protect him but also not remembering most of her childhood and not remembering her parents or how she ended up in the care of this lawyer and just the absolute mindfuckery that her memories/past are

luke is asleep in those scenes i guess lol 🧍‍♂️

anyway eventually they finish their quest in this massive climactic battle where bianca discovers her powers in a huge-showy-”i’m the ghost prince”-way and is formally claimed by hades which thalia sees as this Massive Betrayal obviously and bianca is horrified too because she knows what hades did to thalia but at the same time she’s just so happy to finally understand at least part of her past

thalia just reaches a breaking point though because everyone around her just doesn’t understand her anger and just when she thought she had found another sympathetic person who understood what she was going through she joins hades??? no. no fucking way. kronos reveals that he’s the one who has been sending her dreams, prob by sending some messenger who he possesses or smthing and when he offers thalia the chance to join him? she does (dun dun dun)

main beats of the rest of the series:

thalia and bianca on opposite sides of the war training to be the prophecy child, they come together a Lot and have like melodramatic fight scenes where they talk out their anger and try to get the other to join them bc they don’t want to kill each other

luke is extremely conflicted/betrayed and there’s a titan’s curse moment prob towards the end of the third book where they’re fighting and thalia is trying to get her to go with him but here he actually does go to join her (gasp!!) and is evil for at least one book but his heart’s not in it and he goes back to the good side eventually

by the point of luke’s betrayal, annabeth and nico are growing and developing and old enough to go on quests w bianca and by the last book they’re a main trio of sorts and their hypothetical character development is already making me emotional

there’s just a lot of general sexiness with foils and inner conflicts and bianca doesn’t even want to be the prophecy child but she needs to for the fate of the world and bianca is so angry at thalia bc thalia is a daughter of zeus and could control her powers and is perfect and just meant to be the prophecy kid, not some daughter of hades who they didn’t even have a cabin for before

hm maybe by either the last or second-to-last book thalia + bianca are close to reconciling or at least their interests are aligned for the moment and they read the text of the prophecy together and things go Wild bc they both think “single choice shall end his days” either is about luke or nico and it turns up the gas to their fighting both of them care about both of them and yeah

and then i can’t decide if there’s romantic arcs at all but if there were it would go like this:

just a dash of thaluke where at first it was luke having a one-sided crush but thalia misses him a Lot after she goes to kronos and wonders if it’s that she misses him or if it’s something More until to get him to defect there’s like a melodramatic moment in the fight where thalia kisses him and they go off to be Evil Together but it ends bc luke doesn’t believe in the cause and only joined her in hopes of getting thalia back to his side

once luke leaves/is kicked out thalia realizes that she didn’t love luke she just wanted a family and also in the second half of the series she realizes she’s a lesbian as a parallel to her redemption arc

bianca meanwhile is unconcerned w romance until she has her botl-hoe-moment where within one book she 1. runs into the hunters on a quest and has a thing with zoe nightshade who tries to get her to join plus tells her about that time she met thalia, 2. she goes to calypso’s island and falls in love w her in the moonlight or w/e and has her what-if moment, and 3. when they meet up that book thalia somehow knew abt zoe + calypso and seems almost angrier abt them  than the war?? weird bc bianca knows that thalia is Totally Straight right??

my main point is that bianca/thalia is our friends-to-enemies-to-lovers endgame thank you i will take my pulitzer now

[miraclesnail]

Writer’s Month Day 10: Dark AU

Fandom: PJO

Summary: So alternate dimensions exist and guess what! Turns out in one of those dimensions, I am on Kronos’s side. Who woulda guess? 

(Sorry, this is my self-indulgent fic for Kronos-side!Travis and Connor. I actually have a lot more ideas for this and once I’m done with the published wip I have on ao3, I’ll turn this into a multi-chapter! I used this prompt to kick start the first chapter which is always the hardest for me :P)

Content Warning: graphic violence 

Words: 3.7k

When you think of Travis Stoll, what comes to mind?

Powerful? Important? A main character in the grand scheme of things?

Hell no. 

Weak, insignificant, and a side character more like it, right? 

That’s who he is. A minor character, someone who doesn’t get quests, whose contributions barely make a ripple, and only remembered as that one guy who likes to prank. 

So why — why, why, why, why, why — is he being chased by a man in stupid black sweatpants and a stupid black turtleneck in a stupid black motorcycle helmet holding a stupid, blood-stained, 13 inch knife?

This is something Percy gets into. Or Nico. Or Jason.

But not him.

Never him. 

Travis leaps over rubble, feet catching on the granite, and tumbles forward. He curses loudly, but rights himself and continue running. He doesn’t dare look back (he heard the stories. You look back to see where the killer is and you end up tripping and dying), so he keeps his eyes train up ahead to the not quite darkness, but close enough darkness that objects are just a dark fuzz. 

Rain is pouring a thunderous downpour, a drumming so loud it’s like a waterfall. The occasional lightning gives him a clear snapshot of his surroundings and those few milliseconds where he could see the rubble, he engraves in his mind. 

A fallen cabinet, a broken desk, shattered computers, a houseplant, a family portrait, cracked tile floors, a hole-ridden hand hanging over a toppled swivel chair— 

Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope. He did not saw that. That is not what he thinks it is. That has to be doll or a mannequin. Something fake and plastic. Not real and flesh, because if it is then that means there’s something wrong! Something is killing people! (plague, monsters, aliens) And Travis don’t have time to think about that just yet. 

There’s a turn up ahead. Left? Right? Right is always right so right it is. 

He slows only a little bit, if only to make sure to doesn’t crash into the wall, before running full speed again. He prays to his dad that there’s no rubble in his way. 

And like his prayer is answered, lightning flashes, thunder booms and Travis skids to a stop, sneakers barely gripping the wet tiles that otherwise would have sent him careening over the edge of the crumbled building wall. He clasps his shaking hands together and take a deep breath, commanding his pounding heart to calm down, that no, you did not die. You almost die, but you didn’t. So stop beating so fast.  

He takes in the surrounding, noting the clouds first. They’re dark grey and expands as far as the broken, tilted buildings allow him to see. It blots out the sun and explains the darkness even though just a few minutes ago, it was as sunny as Camp Half Blood could be. His eyes lower to the buildings, all with broken windows, missing sections of bodies, and most tilted too precariously to be considered stable. He lower his eyes even further and gulps when he couldn’t see the bottom. A heavy mist permeates a couple feet down that not even the heavy rain could dissipate. For all he knows, the fall could be 20 feet or 150 feet.

Is there a way to get to the floor below him? Maybe if he just cling to the wall and — nope, the moment his hand touches where the wall meets air, it crumbles. There’s no way he can descend to the floor below. 

Macaroni.

This is a dead end. 

He turns around, fumbling and tripping over his shoulders, but freezes. 

Someone is turning the corner. And the glint of that wicked knife in their hand tells him it’s not Chiron dressed as Santa Clause. 

Cheese sticks, he’s trapped. Maybe he could hide before the man sees him and wait till — the man turns to the aisle to him and walks right in the middle towards him. 

Oh holy sandals. Travis takes a step back and his heel pushes the rubble off the ledge, a grim reminder that there’s no exit behind him. He glances behind him, a who-knows-how-high-drop into the abyss, then back to the front, a cynical man with a loose grip on his knife. 

Which is the better chance? Should he just jump? Does he even know if the man is dangerous? 

He has a knife and it’s stained with blood! Of course he’s dangerous! Travis bites his lips. If Connor was here, he knows what to do. 

The man is drawing scarily close now, close enough for Travis to see the black, tight-fitting sport shirt with long sleeves and collar up to his chin. Close enough for him to see his belt ladles with all sort of pointy objects. Close enough to see the brand of his black pants. Close enough to see black, hiking boots and definitely close enough to see the ocean blue of his eyes past the tinted shield of his Motorcycle helmet.

They’re cold, terrifying cold. 

If Travis wasn’t so scared for his life, he would ask the man where he shops. He’s sure Nico would like to know. 

He glances over his shoulder to the abyss again and stiffens. He can’t survive a high fall. He’s not Percy or Jason. There’s no way he can buffer his fall, but he’s a good talker. He’ll talk his way out of this like he always have with his pranks. So he snaps his eyes back forward and steels himself. 

“H-Hey!” AH NO his voice cracked! “Pal, buddy, amigo, I don’t know if this is your idea of a joke or a prank or just a very elaborate plan to get me to pee my pants, but can you please stop?”

The man didn’t even falter, didn’t even miss a step. 

“Look, I applaud you. Your dedication to your role is amazing, like your costume is some A+ design.” 

Oh gods, he’s still coming. And he’s actually tightening his grip on his knife!

“Unless you really are here to kill me to which I say, please don’t. I don’t even have a weapon to protect myself! That’s not fair, you know?” 

And finally, finally, finally, the man stops walking towards him, only standing two arms length away. He raises his free hand and Travis jerks his body into defense, but the rising hand only rubs the man’s neck. He raises his chin and talks. “Are you done, Connor? I don’t have time for your jokes.” 

The response is automatic, years of being called the wrong name ingrained this reflex in him. It’s natural to him, something he doesn’t even think about. As soon as the man finished his sentence, Travis was already saying, “I’m Travis.” 

The man falters and so did he. 

Most people never hear their voice before, most probably can’t identify their voice. But Travis hears his voice every day and before he left for college, every second of his life. They all said he shares everything with Connor, even in voice. 

“You… have the same voice as me,” Travis says hesitantly. 

The man isn’t advancing, his wide eyes train on Travis. He could see shock, surprise in those eyes. Or maybe it’s mania. It’s easier to differentiate emotions with the mouth in view. He stares for a few more seconds, looking up and down his entire body although his stare linger most on his Camp Half Blood shirt. 

“You’re… Travis?” he whispers.

There’s no mistaking it. That’s definitely his voice and there’s only one person Travis knows who shares the same voice as his. 

“Connor, you donkey. This isn’t funny. You really scared me!” The man freezes at his words, but Travis didn’t really pay much attention to it. Serves Connor right. He should have realize his older brother isn’t that stupid he can’t figure out this whole situation is a prank. 

He kicks the rubble, all tension leaving him. “I have to admit though that this is so cool. Who did you bribe to make this? Hazel? Lou Ellen? Annabeth? Wow, this place is so realistic.”

He saunters over to Connor. “And your costume is so cool. Did you got it from Nico?” 

He’s standing in front of Connor now, but his grins falter. Something is off. There’s fear in his eyes. Connor fears nothing. 

“Connor?” he asks, worry creeping into his voice. “What’s wrong?”

He raises a hand to take the gloved hand into his.

It happen then.

Travis is falling backwards, feet kicked in from below him. As he falls, he sees the fear melds into panic, rage as his back hit the tile and an arm raising a dagger that is definitely not celestial bronze and he watches as the dagger comes closer, closer, and closer to his face. 

It stops an inch from his eye. 

He didn't move. 

The hand holding the dagger looming dangerously over his face is shaking. Shaking rather badly. He wonders if he could ask Connor if he could just move that dagger out of way a bit.

“Why.” 

He spoke again. That’s definitely Connor’s voice. 

“Why didn’t you run? What are you doing? What game are you playing, Connor?” The voice is shaking so badly, more bad than his hand that is holding the dagger too close to his face. His instincts kicks in. He’s not playing along anymore. 

He grabs the hand with the weapon and tugs it off to the side. He stands up and picks up Connor with him too. “Let’s stop with the pranks for the moment. Are you okay?” he asks. 

Connor shakes his head, backing away.

Now Travis is really worried. “What’s the matter then?”

He doesn’t get an answer. Instead Connor rubs his neck. He takes a shuddering breath. “Oh gods. Oh gods. Oh gods.” 

Travis takes a step forward. “Connor, come on. You’re really sca—”

“I’m not Connor,” ‘Connor’ snaps. “I’m — I’m not who you — I’m just a dream. You’re dreaming. Now you’re gonna wake up. 

Not-Connor shoves his hand through his plumber’s belt and takes out a clover leaf the size of his palm. He holds it by the stem, twirls it once and let if fall. The air ripples as it descend, shimmering and and waving until the gray canvas that was the wall became a patch of beautiful yellow and grass.

“You’re dreaming,” Not-Connor repeats. 

Travis didn’t say anything, because really, this burn in his side? This heart pounding from his near fall off the ledge? This pain in his chest from the worry? It all feels so real to him.

Maybe this is how lucid dreaming is. It doesn’t matter. The man in front of him is in pain. The man shares his and Connor’s voice. Dream or no dream, he can’t let his brother imposter suffer. So he lingers. He looks to the side. He opens his mouth. “Hey, are you really—” 

Then Travis is falling for the second time that day. The man grunts and shoves him to the side with a hand. His other hand raises a shield, Athena’s Aegis shield, the shield with Medusa’s face that could with one look turn anything to stone. No sooner did he realize that and tries to avert his eyes (Annabeth’s lecturing voice always coming to haunt him with Greek lessons), did he sees  an arrow fly past him. It hits the shield with a thunk and Travis looks back to see the man recoiling from the impact. He’s falling back, falling right into the shimmering canvas with the pretty grass and sunkissed trees. 

That moment, their eyes met. One in shock, the other with fear.

Their hand reaches out, grasping at nothing, the blue in their eyes gleaming with despair and he was gone. The shimmering canvas is gone. The man is gone. Travis is all alone sans the crunch, crunch of boots stepping on broken tile. 

Travis turns his head sharply to see who’s coming and winces at the sudden voice from the end of the aisle shrouded in dark. “Listen to my orders or I’ll shoot again.” 

He listens, head down and a sick feeling in his stomach. This isn’t a prank, is it? This is real. This situation is real. “Hands up, all the way up.” 

As Travis complies, he could see leather boots in his peripheral vision. Even though he’s scared shitless and just as clueless, his curiosity beats over every emotion he has. And with his brother’s voice yelling in his voice about how he’s stupid and dumb and reckless, he raises his head up slowly. 

Past the brown, leather boots.

Past the tears-riddled jeans.

Past the cloth-covered arm and the crossbow in that arm, arrow notched and pointed at his face.

And to the scrunched up face that’s really familiar. 

He didn’t change much at all. He’s still short. His hair is still black. He’s still scowling. His face is still scrunched up like he stared down the shaft of his arrow for too long. The only thing that’s different is the bow — he always justs a traditional bow, not a crossbow — and the hostility. 

His friend never looked at him like that. 

Michael Yew glares at him like he’s Kronos himself and says with hate Travis didn’t know Michael has, “Travis. I swear on my left arm that if you move one more time, I’ll make sure you won’t be able to walk.” 

////////////

He’s tumbling back. It strikes him that the portal site is behind him. 

But it’s too late. 

He can’t plant his feet in time. [no.] 

He’s falling. [no.]

His eyes meet the boy’s with the painful orange shirt and they’re wide, clueless, still bright with life, not dead like his are. 

He’s passing. [no.]

Not the kid in front of him. 

Not the kid. 

And he’s out there. 

And shit. Fuck. shit shit shit. [do something!]

He reaches out, praying, hoping, that his fingers snag on his.

But it didn’t. 

And he’s falling.

.

falling 

.

falling.

.

The ground comes faster than he expected. 

He groans, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, and opens his eyes.

Blinding yellow, that’s the first thing he notices.

Speckled blue and swaying green are the next. 

Colors. Real colors. He’s seeing real colors. 

[what is this? what’s going on?]

He leans forward, hands crunching — no, something crunching when he uses his hands as leverage to stand. Green, he sees, and brown. Soft green, hard brown. 

He stares at it, knowing what they are, but the names… their names aren’t coming to him. None of this are. It’s been so long since he saw them, or even uses their words.

But he eventually recalls what they are. Leaves and sticks and the sun, the sky, the trees, the — 

[we shouldn’t have these]

He bolts to his feet, stumbling heavily. It’s too hot. It’s too warm. It’s suffocating. He rips the helmet off and tosses it aside. But it isn’t better. He can see more, could hear more, could smell more.  (The clouds, the wind, the birds, the chirping, the trees, the swaying )

Someone’s breathing heavily and he spins around out of instinct, expecting a stumbler but only seeing more trees (pine trees, birch trees, willow trees) 

[calm down you need to calm down]

It’s him. He’s breathing too loud and he stops gulping air, holding it in. And then letting it go. He can’t panic here. He needs to find a way back over. He’s in danger. He’s out there. He saw him, saw them running. He knows they’re there. He needs to get back now.

He fumbles with his thigh pouch (the ground, it’s so dry) his hands won’t stop shaking (he could see the the sky) he could see the inklings of the green leaf among the black inside of his pouch (the sun feels so warm) and he grasps it in his gloved hand. 

They crumble into pieces that the wind blew away.

He stares at the crumbled pieces, not comprehending, not understanding.

This is a dream. It has to be a dream. There’s no possible explanation.

His neck twinges and he cups it. 

It hurts. 

It hurts. This isn’t a dream. It can’t be a dream. It hurts.

So this is real? [it’s real] Is all this real? [it’s real] Or is it just another twisted image the Gods are giving him? [i can’t believe this is real.]

He starts when a branch cracks behind him and before he could turn around, a man’s voice rings out,

“Travis! There you are!” 

It’s familiar. But also not. 

“Where you been? We’ve been looking for you for over an hour.” 

A remnant of a memory from so long ago floats to the surface. 

“Come on, I have arts and crafts with your cabin. Tyson is stoked for it.” 

And he turns around to see him. The one that haunts his dreams. That terrorizes his sleep and stalks his conscious.  The one with black hair (caked with blood) that hangs over sea-green eyes (fill with bloodlust) and a grin (a glower) on his face with a 6 (6?) beaded necklace over a sickening bright, orange T-shirt.

Son of Poseidon, Perseus Jackson.

His blood freezes.

His heart stops. 

His throat closes. 

[kill him.]

And a hazy, belligerent red washes over him. 

[don’t. you need to run. you’re in danger] [no. you should kill him]

[get out of there. he’ll kill you] [kill him. end this life]

[run away now][get your revenge]

“Travis? What’s the matter?” Perseus asks, his voice infuriatingly friendly, light-hearted.

Perseus takes one step towards him [run] [attack] and another and one more till he’s within arms reach.

[within stabbing reach. do it. do it now.] 

[don’t. run. please. just run.]

[aim for his torso. let his organs trail.]

[stop it.]

[you’re going to run like a coward? after everything he did to you?] 

[don’t listen to him. run away.]

[don’t be a coward.]

[you need to survive.]

“Travis? You okay? You look like you’re out of it.” And a hand touches his shoulder. 

He made his decision then. 

He pulls the knife from his thigh and lunges forward with every intention of stabbing the face clean of skin, muscle, and bone. 

Perseus leaps back, stuttering, “Hey! What are doing?”

He shot forward. The chest is just as good as the face. Probably more painful too. 

“Travis! What the heck! What’s wrong? Hey!”

He didn’t answer. All that matters is getting his dagger into (unmarred?) flesh and twisting it free and thrusting it back in. Again and again and again. Till he’s dead as much as the others. 

Perseus turns tail and runs. 

He follows. 

“Crap, crap, crap!” 

He catches up in seconds, kicking his feet out under him so he’ll tumble to the ground. He’s on him the next second, pulling the arm behind Percy’s back and across to rest against his hips. He pushes down at the wrist. The yelp that follows didn’t quench the red haze. Maybe if he sees actual red, actual blood. He raises his knife. Perseus bucks and tries to throw him off  and he nearly did, but he locks down more. A knife in the spine should stop his struggling. He tightens his hold on his handle, lift it higher and — 

someone rips it from his hand.

Another pulls him back by the shoulder till he’s off completely and on his back. 

And a third is trying to restrain him by digging their knee into the cavity of his throat.

He slips his dagger from behind his back and jabs the knife right above where the kneecap should be. He slices out. Blood splatters across his face and screams break out in multiple directions. One in pain. Several in terror. Zombies don’t scream. Zombies don’t bleed. The knees retracts and he rolls out from under the restraint and onto his knees. 

But a hand is already on his upper arm the next second. He grabs the owner’s arm and their ugly orange shirt, sweep his leg out, and tugs down. The fourth person fell. 

But a fifth and sixth person already have hands on him and they shove his face into the dirt and pin his wrists behind his back. 

He struggles for all he’s worth, but there’s more hands and more force and more yelling. So he struggles harder. 

“Shit, what the fuck is wrong with you Travis!” 

He kicks a shin.  

“Clarisse! Clarisse!! Oh my god. Oh my GOD!”

He bites a hand. 

“Get out of my way. I’m going to kick his teeth in!”

He headbutts someone in the balls. 

“Dude, calm down! Piper, charmspeak his ass!”

[Piper?] and he stops struggling. 

Hands are locking his wrist together. But the only thing he can think about is 

[Piper? But Piper is—]

“Forget charmspeaking. Someone get Connor! Wait, I see him. Connor, get over here! Your brother went off the radar.” 

“Travis.”

He raises his head an inch and stare at the monster. At the man. At the horse. A centaur. A familiar face. A face from before the apocalypse. What was his name? 

“Travis, will you please tell us what is ailing you?” 

Gods, what is his name? What is his name? 

[a bastard]

“Travis? Can you understand me?”

What was it? Cylas? Chance? Camdyn? Caelan?  Charon? Chiron? 

“What are you wearing, Travis? ”

Chiron. It was Chiron.

“Travis, can you speak?”

Chiron Chiron Chiron Chiron Chiron. That’s Chiron. But how, why, what?

“Tra… vis?”

And he trace it to the source, eyes landing on the face he sees everyday. The ocean blue eyes he etchs down to memory. The unruly, unbrushed brown hair he knows down to the last curl. But the orange shirt. The brown khakis. The 9 beaded necklace. That thin line running across his left brow. The surprise, the worry, the unsureness is all new. 

That isn’t his brother.

The beads don’t match up. The scar don’t add up. Something’s wrong. 

Another man comes up beside Chiron. He looks familiar too. But he recalls his name in an instant. Dionysus.

Dionysus waves a hand and his eyes fall shut without permission. Before passing out, he hears Chiron, in his scold he haven’t heard for so, so long, “Mr. D!” 

[ithinkimtheresponsibleone]

backstory for both owo

Okay, fair warning in case you don’t block tags or whatever;

Tw for: Transphobia, Dysphoria, Manipulation, and Self Harm

Okay? Okay.

OG Universe

Ace took a shaky breath, hiding in his room. He could still hear his parents yelling at each other downstairs. Oh, why did he think it was alright to come home late?

Hot tears brimmed his eyes as he sunk to the floor, hearing ‘she’ and ‘her’ along with ‘it’- as if he wasn’t her child but instead a robot or something she held no emotional connection with. He hated being called that so much- being thrown around as if he hadn’t already tried to correct his mom numerous times already. Each felt like a stab to the stomach, dropping the pit that rested there further and further until it felt like anything he would eat would just sit in his throat instead of his stomach.

And now? His mom and dad were arguing over if he had a right to feel comfortable in this home- no, house. In this house. The term home didn’t seem all that applicable anymore.

As the yelling got louder, he flinched, immediately darting up. Now standing, shaking ever so slightly. Tears blurred his vision as a spike of panic ran through his system. He looked at where his tank used to be- it used to house his rosy boa named Duke. It was no longer there of course, snakes weren’t a pet for good girls. Ace didn’t understand it, of course, that snake was his only comfort at times and had offered a sense of usefulness, even when he had told her numerous times that he was a boy and a feeling of worthlessness settled in his gut, but she dismissed it all with a simple “you’re not old enough to know yet” and “all girls feel like that, it’s okay, it’s normal. You’re still a girl.”

He wanted to destroy himself. Destroy every aspect of himself that could be associated with anything feminine; which at the time was all of him.

He took a shaky breath as a sob squeezed the air out of his lungs, pushing the tears off his cheeks with shaky hands. Ace could still feel the faint burn of the cuts across his chest, stinging from the rapid expansion and deduction from the short breaths. He bit the insides of his cheeks hard, in hopes to distract himself.

He laid on the bed and pulled the covers up and over him, pretending that it would shield him from whatever was happening elsewhere in the house. He knew whatever comfort he was gaining from this would be quickly ripped away from him as soon as the yelling settled, as his mom had a habit of ripping off the covers in order to talk to her ‘lovely daughter’ face to face because apparently that’s what kids should do even if it embarrassed and humiliated them in the process.

He pulled the blankets tighter around himself as the yelling subsided, shaking. Why was it so hard to please adults? That’s all he wanted, the fighting to stop, the loudness of everything to be put on hold too. For Zane- his younger brother by five years- to not be subjected to this when he grows old enough to understand the words that were being said, and for Amelia- his older sister by two years- to stop avoiding the house in hopes that she wouldn’t have to sit through and watch her brother suffer in silence.

There was a knock on the door and Ace held his breath as if that would help anything in the slightest. Maybe the blankets would let him suffocate and pass out so he wouldn’t have to deal with anything, he could just fade into warm darkness until all of this passed and he could wake up a million years into the future. He was sure people a million years in the future wouldn’t make him feel like this. They’d call him a boy. Ace was sure of it.

“Nicole,” his mother spoke softly as if speaking to a misbehaving infant, knocking on his door again and louder, “please open the door, I just want to talk.”

He didn’t respond, either way he knew he didn’t have a say in the matter. If she wanted to talk, they would talk. There was no way around this and no safe way out. Ace just continued to hold his breath as his eyes were left with no more tears to cry- or maybe they stop unconsciously, knowing that his mom would spend more time with him if he was visibly still upset and just try to explain herself and her thoughts that physically hurt him and made him wish for nothing more but the heat of a flame back on his arms.

“I’m coming in.”

No, leave me alone.

His mom opened the door slowly, walking over to his bed and, as expected, tore the blankets off of him until it was just him curled up on the mattress as dried tears were still felt on his cheeks. Only then did he exhale his breath, refusing to look at her as she sat on the side of the bed as if she didn’t rip away the last shreds of comfort he was trying to hold onto.

“Nicole, you know I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m your mother, I’m just worried.” She started, grabbing Ace’s arm tightly and forcing him to sit up beside her on the bed, practically making him look at her.

“You know this, right? I just want whats best for my daughter.”

No you don’t. “Yes, I know. I’m sorry for overreacting.r” Ace replied quietly, wishing that she would leave right now. Instead, she moved her arm to cup his face and wipe away his tears with her thumb. Her hands felt like a weight chaining him down in place.

“When I was you’re age, I would have been so jealous of you,” She said as if it would make anything better, “you’re so pretty, like a little flower. I would have loved a body like yours, you’re lucky! What your feeling is normal, all girls hate themselves in one way or another, trying to look like a boy and hiding from your insecurities does nothing to help you.”

Except, they weren’t insecurities. An insecurity is something you’re sensitive about, not something that makes you want to cut it off entirely and makes your brain feel like it’s going to combust from uncomfortability. Not all girls hated themselves- in fact, Ace could go so far to say that almost all the girls he knew loved themselves. He didn’t even want this body anyways!

He got pulled into a tight hug, reminding him of everything he hated about himself, as he was struck by his mom’s strong perfume that made him feel sick.

“I love you so much Nicole, more than the whole world.”

“…I love you too, mom…”

PJO Universe

He didn’t quite know what to expect, Ace never did spend a lot of time in the US except that one time he had to attend school in New Jersey because of his dad’s work. Besides that though? He wasn’t sure about nearly everything in the US and the lack of french everywhere made him feel… less than welcome to say the least.

Ace took a breath as if that would fill him with the ability to kick whatever anxiety was wiggling aggressively in his gut and filling his mind with the buzz of doubts and ‘what if’s. The air made him cough just a little bit. Just a bit. Though, he walked into the nome not long afterwards, mentally telling himself that everything was out of his control and was going to go horribly wrong anyways so what was delaying it really going to do in the end?

“Birdie!”

Of course that’s what he was greeted with when he ended up in Nome 21. The all too familiar screech of Kitlyn, who quickly threw her entire weight onto him. He stumbled back a few steps, having forgotten what she was like when excited.

She smiled up at him innocently, “hi! I missed you!”

He couldn’t help but start laughing, hugging her tightly. “I missed you too Chaton.”

“So, important questions first, do I need to kill anyone?” Kitlyn asked, wiggling out of Ace’s grip.

“Nah, no murder.” Ace shook his head, “I can do that by myself, Chaton.”

Kitlyn stuck out her tongue at him, “but I’m offering!”

“And I’m saying no.” Ace sighed, crossing his arms with a small smile still resting on his face. At least there was someone familiar here.

“Rude!” Kitlyn huffed, stomping her foot and crossing her arms as well.

“Eh, not really.” Ace shrugged.

[flightfoot]

Continuation of discussion on Olympian Pain Ch.4

flightfoot

Yeah, I noticed that you actually said Tartarus after I wrote that.  …Honestly I think that Zeus being tossed to earth and having to take Apollo’s place on his quest would probably be a better punishment, but in his case, he’d probably be left there until he dies. I really like the idea of Zeus having his own redemption arc where he has to live out three mortal lifespans as a demigod with no memory of who he really is, and achieve Elysium each time. I’d like that even if Apollo doesn’t die or get dissolved, actually.

I’ve had this little imagining in my head for awhile where Apollo dies fighting Python while protecting Meg, and his godly essence nearly sputters out, but Meg manages to get ahold of it unknowingly as he’s dying (kinda like how gods can possess godlings in the Kane Chronicles). Zeus transports Meg up to Olympus, blames her for Apollo’s death (because someone has to take the blame, and you know it won’t be Zeus), and she just TEARS him a new one… and then he incinerates her. The other demigods who were present at the battle and were also called to Olympus immediately start attacking Zeus, and their godly parents help. Meg manages to bring herself back as the god redemption and rebirth (she’s got dryads in California who seem to worship her, that might be enough to obtain godhood. Plus she has Apollo’s essence still with her, and there’s no WAY she’d let him be disintegrated completely) and is able to bring Apollo back with her. He’d probably be a baby though, since those reincarnated dryads still started out as saplings. Plus his essence was almost completely gone, it would take a while to recover from that. She dishes out her punishment: Zeus would be reborn three times on earth as a demigod, with no knowledge of who he is and only with the powers a demigod of his parentage would be expected to have. Meg would be the only one who would know when and who he’d been reborn as, to keep things fair. Upon his third death, the council would reconvene and decide whether to give him his powers back.

In this little idea I had, Apollo would become Camp director for Camp Half-blood once he had recovered, so he’d know Zeus well in each of his lives… especially his last one, where he’d be reborn as Apollo’s son. Apollo would bond with Zeus closely, like he would with his other children, and would confess that Meg had told him that Zeus was on his last lifetime. He’d talk about how nervous he was about facing his father again, how he used to punish Apollo brutally and blame it on his lightning bolt, of how Zeus reminded him of both Nero and Caligula, and how furious and scared he was when he learned that Zeus had vaporized Meg. Zeus (in mortal form with amnesia of his true identity) would be furious at Zeus for inflicting such pain on Apollo, and shout about how he would fight against Zeus if he tried to hurt Apollo, even if it meant his own death - which Apollo isn’t happy about, but Zeus is stubborn regardless of form. Then he dies and remembers that HE’S the one who committed all those wrongs.

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authorgirl1111

If it helps I’ve thought it a ridiculous amount of times about Apollo succeeding Zeus as king.

I have a story both on tumblr, DeviantArt and A03 about what could happen the final chapter of if the final book in the TOA series and in it, a new prophecy is uttered that basically says that Zeus is going to be kicked off the throne. I wrote an essay on why I think Apollo would succeed Zeus as king. (It’s not that good. I published it but it’s not that good.)

I think there’s a story (not finished) on this sight, About Zeus becoming human except he doesn’t have amnesia.

“I’ve had this little imagining in my head for awhile where Apollo dies fighting Python while protecting Meg, “ Yeah cause actually blaming Python or the Triumvirate would actually make sense yeah? LOL Zeus never makes much sense.

Huh, actually that would be interesting. Would Apollo age quickly too? Like he first did when he was first born?

Meg getting incinerated given her mouth actually makes sense. (Though Zeus has never incinerated Percy…. then again I don’t think Percy ever mouthed off to him in such close proximity. I don’t know about the worship of dryads would give her immortality, I always thought it was the worship of humans that determined immortality in riordanverse… ehh it could probably still work.

Three times? Why? Cause Zeus is just worse then Apollo? I wonder how meg would know though. She has power over plants not the dead… or maybe Hades tells her?

ooh that would be awkward his father reborn as his son? Yeesh.

That would probably grant him a healthy dose of guilt wouldn’t it? Yeesh.

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flightfoot

Apollo succeeding Zeus as king WOULD be an appropriately climatic end to his character arc, though I think we’d have to have a second book series to get him to the point where that would make sense. It would be kinda tricky to pull off convincingly - I doubt a lot of the other Olympians would just agree to go along with Apollo being the ruler without a good reason, plus it wouldn’t feel right if him becoming king came across as just being a reward for getting to the end of his trials - but it would be much better for the PJO universe as a whole. Zeus is a REALLY sucky ruler.

Oh, I’ve read both your story, and that “Zeus turns mortal” story. I like the general idea of yours, but the prophecy needs to be WAY less obvious. It basically just sounds like Apollo will become king because destiny says so, and because he becomes strong enough to dethrone him. But part of Apollo’s character arc is about learning what it’s like to be weak, and needing to rely on others, and make friends. I want him to become king kinda the same way Percy became the leader in The Last Olympian - because everyone respects him and most people like him, not simply because he’s stronger than everyone else.

I do really like the rest of your fic, though. Apollo just kinda folding Nico into his brood of children will never stop being adorable and heartwarming! Plus him continuing to comfort Meg was great, really showed that he was still the same person, even after having his godhood restored.

As for that “Zeus turns mortal” fic (It’s on wattpad, btw)... I like the concept, but not the execution. It came off as very mean-spirited to me.  Even when I agreed with the Olympians that Zeus deserved the punishment, the way they talked about it made me dislike them, ESPECIALLY Apollo. Plus the author put in a bunch of swear words in ways that were just awkward and uncomfortable.

Zeus managed to blame Apollo for the Giant War, when his only real contribution to it was not discouraging Octavian. Zeus insisting on keeping Gods and demigods apart was far more harmful, but he never owned up to his own mistakes and deflected almost all of it onto Apollo, even blaming him for things that weren’t remotely his fault, like saying that him allowing the Prophecy of Seven to be spoken by Rachel helped to trigger it, even though the Romans had had that Prophecy for millennia. With Apollo’s death, he’d be ESPECIALLY eager to deflect blame away from himself, since HE would be responsible for Apollo being put in that position, and not receiving any help. If he didn’t just blame Gaea and the Giants for the Giant war, then I doubt that blaming the Triumvirate and Python for Apollo’s death would be sufficient.

I figure he’d age at an accelerated rate, but not as fast as he did when he was first born. Apollo and Artemis both gestated quite a bit longer than they should have because of Hera, so they were more developed when they were born than most gods are. Plus Apollo would need to recover from almost having his essence snuffed out. I figure he’d age at the rate of maybe a week per year, until he reached maturity around 16~17, so at about 16 weeks. And in the meantime he could visit his various friends while he’s still growing up. I REALLY want a little 5-year-old Apollo to stay a night at the Waystation while there’s a furious thunderstorm going on outside, and for him to be unable to hide how scared he is of it (since his physical form does somewhat impact his mind), and for the residents of the Waystation to comfort him, and be horrified about how Zeus used to hurt him. I want Calypso to sing him a lullaby, Jo and Emmie to tell him what Zeus did was wrong, and for little Georgina to offer him a stuffed animal and some advice for what her moms used to tell her when she got scared of thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, Lityerses is just kinda hiding because he figures that mentally, emotionally, and physically, Apollo is five right now, and would be scared of him. But Apollo has none of it, seeks him out quickly, says he trusts him and he’s happy to see him again, and snuggles up in Lit’s lap for a nap. And Lit just sits there with tears in his eyes, stroking Apollo’s hair while he sleeps, not seeming to believe that this little kid who he once tried to behead, now trusts him and loves him so much. He still can’t believe that ANYONE loves and trusts him, much less someone he used to enthusiastically talk about murdering.

Oh, and back at Camp Half-blood, the whole camp would basically adopt Apollo, and Harley would decide that he’s his little brother. And he’d still insist on that fact even when Apollo became an adult again.

Eh, Riordan has been making it fairly easy to become a god lately, if simply instituting mandatory worship is enough, even in cases where the whole nation hates them and doesn’t respect them, like with Commodus. And he never says that humans have to be the ones worshipping, so I’m going with it for now.

Poseidon’s also generally considered more powerful than Demeter, and would DEFINITELY be REALLY pissed if Zeus harmed Percy. We don’t really know Demeter’s feelings on Meg, on the other hand. I mean, she’s never bothered to communicate with Meg. She claimed her so she definitely knows Meg exists now, but she still hasn’t visited her, even in a dream. Plus, yeah, I think Meg would mouth off more in close proximity to Zeus, and his temper would already be running high with stress from Apollo dying, and a desire to deflect blame to save his own skin, so he’d be raring to punish Meg anyway.

Partly because he’s worse and has been so terrible for so long. I don’t think he actually learned anything from when Apollo, Poseidon, Athena, and Hera tied him up to try and tell him to be a better king. But there’s another reason too. Managing to achieve Elysium three times in a row and achieve entrance to the Isles of the Blest is considered like winning the Good Person Lottery. If Zeus managed to fulfill those same requirements, It would be a good sign that he really HAS changed,and won’t simply revert, like how he reneged on his promise to be faithful to Hera.

My thought is that Meg would become a full goddess, with actual powers and a Sphere of Influence. She’d be dead and would feel that Apollo’s essence was with her, but was slipping away, and if she went to the afterlife like she was supposed to, he’d be gone for good. So she holds onto his essence and desperately tries to avoid going to the Underworld, and then notices that there are some thin little cords connecting her to the mortal world, connected to the dryads that worship her. She follows them back, hard though it is. Those cords will let her return, but not Apollo - and that’s unacceptable. But she refuses to give up. She’s not quite sure what all of this is, what all is going on, but she feels like she can do SOMETHING. Apollo’s essence is like a seed, she thinks. He needs a casing to protect him. She feels around for something to keep him safe and comfortable, and senses something. Her dress. A present from a mother, a kind stranger, who only wanted to help make her comfortable. A present that had gotten ruined many times, but that she still insisted on getting repaired, because of what it meant to her. The dress may not be physically here - it was incinerated along with her body - but the feelings embodied by the dress, the essence of it, remains. She “tears” off a portion of the dress, and wraps Apollo’s essence in it. This time, the cords acquiesce.

Meg materializes in the throne room on Olympus, right where she was incinerated. A chia plant and a yellow daisy spring up at her feet. She’s holding a small green bundle tight against her chest. The throne room had clearly just been through a massive battle. Thrones were damaged, there were scorch marks everywhere, and the gods and demigods she could see all looked tired. Zeus was tied up in a celestial bronze net on the floor. Everyone just GAPED at her, not believing their own eyes. She’s still not entirely sure what happened, but at least Apollo’s safe. She unwraps his head and turns him towards the others, so everyone can see him. Artemis knows who it is immediately - how could she not recognize her baby brother? She delivered him, for Gods’ sake! She rushes over to them and breaks down sobbing as Meg gently transfers the baby Apollo into her arms, just glad that he’s back in SOME form, even if she’s not sure whether he retained his memories. At least he’s HERE, and SAFE. The tension breaks, and all the demigods plus most of the Olympians rush over to Apollo, Artemis, and Meg. Hades, Poseidon, and Hera remain with Zeus. Hades and Poseidon to make sure that Zeus stays trapped, and Hera because she really doesn’t care for Apollo.

After reassuring herself that Apollo is safe and protected, Meg approaches Zeus. She senses that she can cause Zeus to be reborn, kinda like how she just seemed to know how to summon a satyr. As the one who was just now wronged by Zeus, she floats the idea that Zeus should be sent to Earth, to be reborn, without his memories. If Apollo could learn so much from his stay on Earth, perhaps Zeus could as well, and finally become a better person. Hades suggests (with no small amount of glee) that Zeus should be reborn three times as a mortal, and have to achieve Elysium each time. If he can prove worthy of the Isle of Blest, then he may prove worthy to be a god again. If he fails... well, the council can decide on his fate if it comes to that. Meg agrees, with the stipulation that only she would know who Zeus was in each lifetime. She didn’t want the other gods to interfere, and potentially sabotage him. She also stipulates that Zeus will be unable to be granted immortality while  Zeus curses and shouts at them, but to no avail. Meg sends him to be reborn.

Time passes. Apollo grows up again and becomes Camp Director. Meg hangs around Camp Half-blood most of the time. Even if she’s a goddess now, she still behaves like Meg. Zeus is reborn. First time he’s born as the son of a minor Greek goddess. Apollo spots him from the sun chariot, and escorts him safely to camp. He’s weirdly bristly with Apollo at first, and even he’s not sure why. He warms up eventually though. When he hears about Luke, he considers him a hero for making sure the minor gods got recognized. He’s quite cocky, but he still dies a heroic death, and is granted Elysium. As soon as the judges give their decision, he vanishes, immediately reborn. This time he’s reborn as a legacy of Jupiter in New Rome. He has few powers, but he’s still a valuable member of the legion. He grows up hearing of the brave son of Jupiter who led the charge on Mount Orthys, a member of the Seven who took down Gaea, and who died protecting his comrades. He wishes he could meet Jason or Jupiter, get to know those members of his extended family, but Jupiter’s been sentenced to some punishment which most of the campers don’t know the details of. He eventually meets Thalia and asks her to tell him about her father and brother. After hearing from Thalia’s perspective, he wishes he could meet Jason more than ever, but he’s kinda glad that Jupiter has been sentenced to live out three mortal lives. Any asshole who would murder an innocent twelve-year-old just to try and deflect blame deserves a long punishment. If anything, he thinks it’s too lenient.

In this second life, Zeus dies defending his comrades, and once judged, is immediately reborn for the last time - this time, as Apollo’s son. While he’s raised by his mother, he often gets visits from kind men. He knows they’re secretly the same man, since they all have the same smile, even though they look different. He goes along with it, though, and pretends that the disguises fool him. He’s a little kid, cheering him up when some kids pick on him at school. He’s a street musician, who first coaxes Zeus into singing in public. He’s even a teacher’s aid once, who sits with Zeus and helps teach him how to read, even though his dyslexia makes that difficult.

Then one day, when he’s about ten, Zeus sees his first monster. He panics and runs and prays that someone will help him. A moment later, an arrow is sticking out of the beast. It crumples to the ground and vanishes. Zeus looks at the man who shot the beast and recognizes him as the same man he’s encountered throughout the years. The man introduces himself as Apollo, explains that if he had stayed with Zeus and let him know who he was earlier, then monsters would have been able to find Zeus earlier as well. It was a moot point now, though, so Apollo drove Zeus to camp in the Sun Chariot.

Zeus is swarmed by his half-siblings upon entering camp. Apollo had told them that he was gonna have to retrieve him soon,and they’d been looking forward to meeting him. Apollo didn’t have children nearly as often as he used to, but he made sure to pay attention to each and every child, and they were all excited to welcome someone else to the family.

Zeus gets to experience a happy family life, staying with his mother most of the year, but spending summers at Camp Half-Blood. He bonds with Apollo quite closely over the years. At one point, when he’s around fourteen, he sees his father looking worried and scared, and coaxes him into opening up. Apollo confesses that Meg told him that his own father, Zeus, was on his third life, and may die and have his divinity restored in the next few years. Apollo doesn’t really know how to deal with that. Zeus will have proven himself a good mortal, achieving Elysium three times in a row, but this was still the man who liked to electrocute Apollo, who tried to murder Meg and even sorta succeeded. He wasn’t sure he was ready to face him. Mortal!Zeus got pissed at Zeus, and silently promised himself that until Apollo could talk about Zeus with no fear on his face, that he wouldn’t forgive Zeus.

Mortal!Zeus dies about a year later. Apollo’s devastated. He escorts his son down to the Underworld, and watches as he’s judged. As soon as they declare him worthy of Elysium, sparkles surround Mortal!Zeus, and he transforms back to his regular divine state, receiving all the memories that had been taken from him. Both Apollo and Zeus are shocked. Zeus remembers everything he’s done to Apollo, and done to other gods and mortals over time, and teleports away to sort out the immense guilt he feels. Apollo stumbles around, trying to figure out WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED.

They later reconcile, Zeus apologizing for everything he’s done, admitting that saying sorry isn’t really enough to make up for his actions over the years, and that he’ll stay away from Apollo, if that’s what he wants. He has to let Apollo know first though, that he was the best Dad he could ever ask for. Apollo tells him not to stay away, and pulls him into a hug, Zeus crying all the while. It’s still super awkward, but they would make it work.

Well that kinda turned into a fanfic there. I think Meg becoming the goddess of rebirth and redemption would make sense, since agriculture is often associated with rebirth. The redemption part is because Meg has seen how people can be redeemed, people like Apollo, Lit, Crest, and even herself. There is no god of redemption currently, so she will become one. It kinda goes along with rebirth, anyway.

[skyruemonroe]

It's a Chicken Nugget Hazel Levesque. Tfw u tried to write a pjo fic even tho the series has been dead for u since 2014

After years of being lost in the fields of Asphodel, Hazel Levesque was brought back to life to be a part of a prophecy. The Prophecy of the Seven destined seven half-bloods to rise to the call and defend the world as they know it against an ancient Earth goddess, Gaia. Out of the seven demigods, only six were defending the world “as they knew it”. Hazel had been dead since 1942. Hazel’s half-brother Nico Di Angelo jail broke her out of Asphodel and threw her into a new century. The 21st century might as well have been an entirely different world versus the time she’s from. Buckets of information were poured into her head with every passing day. Nothing reminded her of the 1930s and there were no familiarities besides her newly made friendships with the rest of the seven. One of the seven gained a little more than her friendship. Frank Zhang took affection with his cheeky smile and stole her heart with gentle gestures. Frank had become the praetor of New Rome after the war with Gaia had ended. They haven’t been able to spend too much time sharing stories and giggling flirtatiously  His post kept him busy, but Hazel was kept busy with her lessons about the modern day.

Camp-Half Blood had such a slower pace compared to the rest of the world.  Instead of obnoxious, horn blowing and car engines growling there were trees rustling, birds chirping and the sweet, relaxed chatters of campers. Although, chatting was more so cheering and groaning when war games were in session. As far as she was aware war games weren’t planned for the rest of the week. More time to relax and enjoy her friends’ company.

Friends. An ethereal smile flooded into her face as she headed towards the Hestia cabin. Tight, copper curls bounced against her shoulders as she started to skip. Her eyes were a gold sun and they shined brighter with every friendly wave from campers lingering in the ring of cabins. The canary letters printed on her purple SPQR shirt, along with the brown in her knee-height boots created a casual accent against cinnamon skin and high-waist blue jeans.

The Hestia’s cabin door swung open before she could raise her hand to knock. “Miss Underground has arrived,” a pointy eared, scrawny boy announced. He grabbed Hazel’s hand and yanked her into a room of laughable cheers. “It’s thanksgiving Charlie Brown and we’ve got taste testing to do.”

“Leo, it’s not thanksgiving and who’s Charlie Brown?” Hazel’s eyes widened as his bony arm pulled her to the rest of the group. It was odd seeing everyone letting their guard laze and unscathed. Leo was wearing a clean, stainless, white t-shirt and brown cargo shorts rather than an almost grey with filth button down shirt and jeans.

“Darling Hazel…Grasshopper you’ve still got much to learn. I, the qualified Percy Jackson will show you Peanuts after food. “Percy closed his eyes put his right hand on his chest and held his right arm out to Hazel as if he was making an oath. A small smirk flickered on his face as he awaited a face palm from his beloved girlfriend. Hazel’s right eye scrunched as her left eyebrow rose. Are peanuts not food? Are they slang now?

“Seaweed brain. Why are you like this?” Grey eyes rolled as a blonde haired girl spoke. A soft chuckle tumbled from her lips as she tugged on of her curls.

“Anyway~” Leo interrupted the couple before flirtatious bantering could hit off. “Courtesy of the Hestia cabin. Today you’re going to try chicken nuggets and other 21st century foods. ” His brown chucks tapped against the ground softly as he walked backward into a chair. His curls matched the brown choppiness of a girl who was leaning towards a blonde boy with thick, black glasses. “Maybe you’ll eat the vegan stuff Piper likes. ” He jutted his thumb to the girl behind him.

Hazel rolled her eyes at the brown haired girl’s spot on jazz hands behind Leo’s head. “How many other foods?” The smell of oils and modern day convenience stores wafted all through the cabin. “Why couldn’t we do this at the dining hall?” Hazel figured it make more sense to take advantage of the dining hall’s magical properties than to have Hestia campers do all the cooking.

“Lots of foods will be tested. Foods I will eat.” Piper finger gunned at Hazel. Reminding everyone that she wasn’t going to be consuming chicken nuggets or any other meat products. “We wanted to do it here because homemade is the best way to have food. ” Piper pulled herself up onto a wooden table in the center of the cabin. Then playfully leaned forward to flick Leo and Jason’s heads. “I’m a vegetarian. Not vegan…yet. ”

Jason turned around with puffed out cheeks, narrowed blue eyes and pursed lips. “Pipes owh. I didn’t say anything.”

Percy giggled as Leo slyly un-tied  Piper’s grey converse. “Piper you might want to hop down from the table. If we’re going to be eating I don’t want your butt where my food will be.”

Piper gave an understanding nod and hopped down from the table. Her shoe lace on her left foot got caught under her right shoe, throwing her forward onto her face. Hazel looked away as Piper shot back up. Should she have said something so Piper wouldn’t have fallen?

Maybe she shouldn’t have said something. That was quite hilarious though. In order to hide the corners of her smile Hazel pretended to cough.  

Annabeth sat in the corner eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed firmly together  like she was about to explode. “They’re all frozen foods. It doesn’t make sense to have it here in the Hestia cabin.”

Before more common sense could spill off her tongue a Hestia camper came out with bowls filled to the brim with chicken nuggets. “The blue bowl has tyson chicken nuggets, the green bowl has vegetable based nuggets and the purple bowl has breaded chunks of chicken. Or homemade chicken nuggets. ”

“Thanks!” Five of the kids chorused in unison.

“Why didn’t you just say homemade chicken nuggets? Why make it more complicated?” Percy scooted his chair towards the table. The screeching sounds of the chair legs against the floor were so irritating. Annabeth kicked Percy’s chair forward flying him all the way up to the table.  Instead of multiple fragmented screeches there was one big scooch.

Piper immediately started snatching nuggets from the vegetable bowl and stuffing them in her face. Jason followed her actions but much more slowly. At least Piper wasn’t intense and mean. Hazel hasn’t ever seen her trash or make a scene over people eating meat. Frank was making his way into becoming vegetarian as well. Percy and Leo would tease him about how soon his heavy armor would turn into eco-friendly grass woven shirts.

Giggling, Hazel walked over to the table and picked up a homemade chicken nugget first. They looked delicious, she thinks. Hazel hasn’t seen any other homemade chicken nuggets to compare them to.

The moment Hazel popped a chicken nugget into her mouth. A boy solidified through a shadow cast on the wall by a bookshelf. “I knew you all would do this. You got nuggets. You didn’t get McNuggets. You’re dead to me. ” Once the boy was completely visible his pale skin stuck out like center piece against all the warm colors in the Hestia cabin. The bags under his eyes were an unsettling grey. Did those bags ever go away? What would he look like without fatigue weighing on his skin. Does Will ever make him sleep? Hazel bit her lip into a smile as she thought about her brother and his hot mess of self care.

“Nico!” She dropped the next chicken nugget she was about to eat onto the table and ran over to give him a loving hug

“Hay! Be careful you’re going to hurt the happy meals. ” His grip tightened around the gold m-shaped handles. He lightly kissed her cheek then smiled back.

“Hay Hay back a way way!” Percy grinned. All eyes turned to a young man balancing a stack of chicken nuggets on his nose.  A few Hestia campers were watching the group from afar.  Their heads tilted and eyebrows raised.  Were these dorks really the brave heroes to save the world? In the full picture they looked like the weird group of misfits who’d sit a table away from the ‘squares’ at school.  "Someone is missing. “ He looked around at everyone in the room.

The room was filled of people. "There’s no one missing. Frank already told you he couldn’t make it. ” Hazel took a Happy Meal from Nico’s hands. Her eyes widened as she noticed the teeth and tongue painted onto the box. “Why does it have a face?” The corner of her upper lip raised while the skin on her nose scrunched up.

“To make it more kid friendly. ” Leo offered an explanation and then turned to Percy. “Calypso couldn’t make it because she isn’t feeling well. ” Leo stuffed as face in the midst of talking in order to cover up the immediate look of love sickness.

Percy shook his head. “No, not them. Someone that’s Nico’s TYPE. ”

Everyone in the room let out an annoyed sigh.  "LET IT GO. “ The entire cabin shouted.

"Percy you’ve got me, your girlfriend. You can’t hold on to Nico growing out of his crush  forever. ” Annabeth smacked the back of head, causing all the chicken nuggets to fall onto his lap. Nico huffed and picked up a glass full of a red drink from a platter just being brought in. Hazel looked over to the Hestia kids.  Why were the so distant? This wasn’t a selective food party. It’s an everybody food party. Hazel opened her mouth to call everyone over but was cut off by Percy’s revenge.

“Annabeth. There’s a spider right behind your head. ” He pointed and forced a look of surprise upon his face.

“Kelphead. Do you really think that’s gonna work on me? I found the Mark of Athena. I’m not scared of spiders anymo-”

Leo took his shoe off and started to get up, “I’ll kill it. ” He looked to where Percy was pointing. Annabeth flew into Percy’s arms that millisecond. All the chicken nuggets on his lap fell onto the floor. A hestia kid groaned in the background. They’re going to have clean up the mess when they all leave.

Hazel felt dirty for laughing so hard. The guilt faded away as Piper joined her. Hazel’s hair smushed against Piper’s shoulder as she leaned into her jean jacket.  Looking to Nico her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you drinking blood?” She understood the term edgy now. Wasn’t this taking 'edge’ a bit too far? Her pupils shrunk a bit as her mood was tainted with fear and disgust.

Everyone laughing at Percy and Annabeth now laughed at Hazel’s confusion. Nico’s head jerked back as his eyes bugged and he spit his drink out of his mouth. “No! It’s not blood. Good gods Hazel. It’s Kool-Aid. ”

The blonde boy behind Nico nodded. “Yeah Hazel it’s just a soft drink. It comes in a ton of different flavors and colors. It tastes pretty nasty unless you pour half a bag of sugar in. ”

“Jason you’d only put the amount it said to put in until I showed you how to make Kool-Aid. ” Leo raised his eyebrows and looked over to the Hestia campers. “Are you guys going to chill with us?” A toothy grin sprawled across his face as Leo waved them over to the table.

Jason looked to the side. It’s not his fault he never experimented outside of instruction. Some people are made to be set in stone. Hazel laughed at Jason’s face then turn to see the Hestia kid’s expressions. There was a bit of confusion and hesitant nodding. “It’ll be more fun with you!” Hazel twirled over to them and extended her hand to the eldest looking camper.

“Well I don’t see why we’re all sitting back here. ” The Hestia kid took Hazel’s hand and they both went back to the table. The other kids followed. “So, you’re Hazel Levesque?” They noted her copper curls, SPQR shirt and bond with the world’s saviors. “How’s the 21st Century treating you?”

Hazel let go of the Hestia camper’s hand then spun around to come face to face. She looked up a tad because she only came up to their chin. “I am Hazel Levesque. It’s. It’s interesting. Not like anything I’ve ever witnessed but I love it!” Hazel bashfully tugged on one of her curls and gazed down at the floor. “I still feel like I don’t know enough to really contribute. ”

The Hestia camper chuckled lightly. “You don’t have to learn to create. You create to learn. Bring in what you do know and then go from there. ” They patted Hazel lightly on the shoulder.

Hazel’s golden eyes rose to meet the Hestia camper’s blue eyes. They weren’t as chilling and intimidating as Jason’s but they were even more infinite and capturing. “Thank you. I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name?”

“You can call me Jace. ” The Hestia camper grinned. “You’ll have more fun in this generation if you stay away from 5sos and meme stans and… Politics. ” Jace popped the P in politics and slid in a chair across from Piper. They grabbed a veggie nugget and poked it into their mouth.

“What’s a five sauce stan? What’re memes?” Hazel paused before trying a veggie nugget. For Frank. She’s doing this for Frank.  He’s going vegetarian. That means she has to get more acquainted with vegetable based products.

“Memes are the best thing about the 21st century. Ever. ” Leo firmly stated while llaying upside down on his chair like a bat. His curly hair rested on the floor. “Five S.O.S Is actually an acronym for a ban named Five Seconds of Summer Piper likes them. ”

Piper scoffed. “You say it as if being a fan is derogatory. ” She kicked Leo’s chair over a bit. His head rubbed against the floor.

“Beauty Queen you’re so violent today. Look up what Stan means on urban dictionary Hazel. It’ll boost your Internet skills. ” Leo pulled himself and leaned over to pinch Piper’s cheek.

“What’s the urban dictionary? ” Hazel looked away from Jace to Leo.

Leo’s mouth had just opened but Percy’s laughter spilled before he could say anything. “We’ll show you after Charlie Brown. You’ll need it. ”

Annabeth poked Percy’s cheek. “Jace if you don’t mind me asking, how were you born?” She cringed as the words fell from her mouth. That question was so annoying to ask and be asked. Her need for knowledge made it so she had to know. “Why’d she change how she felt about cabins?”

“With each home Hestia blesses a child is brought into the picture from their hearth. We’re not really born. A lot of us were adopted into a home and blessed by Hestia or we were literally created from the sentimental warmth of a fire place. ” Something along those lines. Jace rolled their eyes. “Also, I’m not sure. Ask her. ” This lot is something else. “Hey Hazel have you ever tried nachos? ” Another one of their siblings brought out chips draped in cheese fondue. “You’ll love 'em. ”

Hazel giggled and shook her head. She’d heard of nachos before. One time Percy, Annabeth and Hazel went to a video gaming arcade, Percy naturally went straight to the restaurant area. Annabeth followed after rolling her eyes and asking why’d he order food if he hated it the last time. Percy replied he was going to get something different. Over all the cheering and beeping Percy’s voice declared her wanted nachos with extra cheese. The woman working the counter nodded with a straight face and and loud groan. She must’ve been in a terrible mood because she gave Percy a plate of nachos.

[aeon-wolf]

Betrayal - Chapter 6

Now that Lena has joined her father and the Titans against the Gods, her loyalties made clear. Her betrayal of all she once held dear haunts her every day. But she made her choice and as the war between the Gods and Titans draws near, Lena’s allegiances will be put to the test. Does she help bring about the end of the reign of the Gods? Or will her love for Kara Danvers and the friendships she made along the way be enough to stop the daughter of Hyperion.

Or

A PJO inspired Supercorp series. Part Two: Betrayal.

Read it here on AO3

I.

“James!” Kara cried frantically as the older man trudged up the steps of Demos, the blonde running down to meet him and throwing her arms around his shoulders. He grunted slightly, wrapping his own arms around her waist. “What happened?” She questioned, wanting answers, but James didn’t speak immediately. Rather silently holding his friend, thoughts racing through his head.

“We were all so worried! When Conner and Alira’s... “ Kara hiccuped. “Without you, we all feared the worst.” Kara had tears dripping down her cheeks.

“I’m okay Kara. I’m okay. But we all need to talk.” He said seriously, stepping away from Kara, giving her a grim look. Kara frowned.

“Who is ‘all of us?’” She questioned, but James just gave her a critical look.

“You, me, Alex, Mon-El, Maggie, Winn, and J’onn. We have a lot to talk about.” He said.

“Can it wait? You look exhausted.” Kara tried to convince her friend to rest first, but he shook his head.

“It can’t.” He said with a tone of finality. Kara nodded once.

“I’ll get everyone in J’onn’s office.” She said quietly. “I’ll meet you there?” She questioned and James nodded.

“Thanks, Kara.” He said with a small smile, the blonde squeezing his shoulder firmly before scampering off. James watched Kara’s retreating form, a grim look on his face. He knew she wasn’t going to react well to what he had to say. And he hoped that they all a good reason for keeping Lena’s role in the coming war from him.

II.

It only took Kara about ten minutes to gather everyone in J’onn’s office, James stood by the door, everyone else sitting in chairs, J’onn at his desk. “So what’s this all about James?” Winn questioned, looking up at their friend. He frowned.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Lena was still alive?” He asked bluntly. Almost everyone’s eyes widened, though J’onn frowned.

“I… we….” Mon-El stuttered, but J’onn cut him off.

“They were instructed to not tell anyone. The Gods decided that Lena’s defection to the Titans was to be kept quiet. They were made to swear on the River Styx to never tell anyone, including you.” J’onn said. James nodded once, glad that there was a real reason they hadn’t told him. But that didn’t alleviate all his concerns.

“Wait. Let me get this straight, you came across Lena?” Kara asked for clarification. James nodded curtly.

“She was there. And another halfblood, I didn’t recognize her. But they forced a fight. The other halfblood killed Conner and Alira.” He said. “Lena and I… we fought, and she had me on my back.” He recalled. “But she let me go.” He admitted. Alex furrowed her brow.

“Really? I find that hard to believe.” She said. Kara glared at her sister angrily. But Alex wasn’t fazed by it.

“I… no. She was different, yes. But she had her boot on my chest. Sword ready. But she didn’t. She let me go. And I think you had something to do with it.” He said, addressing Kara.

“Me?” Kara asked softly. James smiled, nodding at his friend who was obviously still quite affected by Lena.

“Yeah. I know you haven’t seen her since…. Yeah. But her eyes are a strange shifting red, orange and yellow. But when I mentioned you. And you still care for her, her eyes flashed back to green.” He confirmed. Kara’s brows raised slightly. “And she let me go. She said it would be a better message, but I think she didn’t want to kill me. She couldn’t do anything for Conner and Alira after that other halfblood went after them. But she wouldn’t kill me.” He said. “And she had orders to do so.” He finished. J’onn appraised James silently.

“Do we know that it wasn’t just part of some greater long game?” Alex asked cautiously. “Lena has always been a good strategist. And I’d imagine after training with the Titans for two years that she is probably even better now. There has to be an ulterior motive.”

“Alex, can you not even fathom the idea that maybe Lena isn’t bad?” Kara argued.

“Kara, when are you going to realize that Lena isn’t on our side?” Alex shot back. Maggie placed her hand on Alex’s arm.

“Alex…” She warned. Alex huffed, sitting back in her chair. Mon-el, who was sitting next to Kara, put a hand on her shoulder to get her to calm down a bit.

“I think Kara is right,” James said to everyone’s surprise.

“You do?” Kara and Winn said at the same time. He just nodded.

“She was different. Granted. She isn’t the same kid we took under our wings. She’s grown up.” He said, parroting her words. “But there’s something about her.” He said thoughtfully. “She’s not beyond redemption.” He argued. Alex frowned but stayed silent. J’onn just sighed.

“I know you all want to believe in your friend. But we have to go off of what we know. We know from our spies that the Titans are preparing to launch their attack on Demos within the coming weeks. I was going to wait until our next meeting to tell you this, but since you’re all here…” J’onn trailed off, eyeing Kara carefully.

“What is it, J’onn?” Maggie jumped in. The man just sighed.

“We got news that Lena has been promoted to their ground commander. Officially. She’ll be leading the attack on Demos herself.” He informed them. Kara just blinked. Alex warily looking at her sister, knowing that this was just further proof that Lena was their enemy. She was about to open her mouth before Maggie gave her a warning look.

“So we’ll come face to face with her for the first time in two years,” Kara said with a small voice. J’onn nodded in confirmation. Kara’s breath caught slightly. James looked down at her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Do we know anything about their forces?” He asked. J’onn looked directly at James, then sighed.

“I suppose you have as much right to be here as the others now.” He said. “Nothing solid. We know they have roughly between fifty and sixty halfbloods and countless scores of monsters. And of course the Titans themselves, but there is nothing of if they are planning on joining in on the fight. I highly doubt it. If they’ve promoted Lena to ground commander, they probably won’t plan on entering the battle themselves.” He finished.

“Lena wouldn’t have been promoted without some sort of test or something…” Mon-El trailed off, looking up at James. “Do you think that’s why it was her that was going after you?” He asked.James shook his head.

“I doubt it. She was ordered to kill all of us. Conner and Alira clearly didn’t make it.” He said sadly. “But if that was supposed to be her test, why didn’t she kill me?” He reasoned. “I don’t know what it was, but I don’t think it was that.” He said with a shrug. Mon-El nodded.

“So what do we do?” Winn asked. “We know that Lena has become a master. James, what’s she like?” He asked, looking up at the only one of them to have seen Lena in the last two years.

“She’s… like nothing we’ve ever fought before.” He recalled. “She’s a patient and elegant fighter like we all knew she eventually would be.” He said. They all nodded, knowing how much raw talent Lena had. “She wields two swords now. And your information is right, she’s a master. I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but she made pretty short work of me, though I did get a couple of hits in.” He admitted. “But she’s a dangerous fighter. Not someone that should be taken lightly. Especially if the Titans have seen fit to make her their commander.” Maggie nodded in agreement.

“I had her pegged for a good fighting talent rather quickly,” Mon-El said. “That first day she held her ground against Kara.” He said wistfully, remembering a better time when they were all having fun together. Before things got complicated.

“You know, I was going to actually disarm her first thing, just to tease her. But she blocked me appropriately. And went on to actually give me a challenge considering how little she was trained.” Kara said. “I knew she’d be good.”

“None of this really helps us guys,” Winn said. “I mean, yeah, we all knew she was going to be good, but she’s going to be gunning to try to kill us!”

“I agree with Winn,” Alex said. “We need to know what her weaknesses are and how to exploit them to our advantage.” She said, her strategic mind kicking into gear.

“Well…” James started but decided against continuing.

“What?” Kara looked up at James. He shifted uncomfortably.

“I think her weakness is still you.” He admitted. “She hesitated when I first brought you up. I almost think she let me go because she was reminded her of you. I also did bash her on the head with my shield.” He added. “She was wearing a helmet!” He insisted after Kara gave him a dirty look. “I actually didn’t even know it was her until I dented it and she had to take it off.”

“So she’s not unbeatable is what I got out of that,” Maggie said. And James shrugged.

“I guess not. But it’s probably going to take a master swordsman to stand up to her.” He said. Everyone looked at Kara, who frowned.

“No! I’m not going to. I can’t.” She cried.

“You are the best at fighting out of all of us Kara,” Mon-El said. Kara raised an eyebrow.

“High praise from Mr. Ego himself.” She teased, trying to make light of the situation. He just chuckled, shoving her lightly.

“We still have some time to get prepared.” J’onn stepped in. “James, I’d recommend you get some rest. Everyone has been worried about you, but you must be exhausted.” James nodded, his fatigue finally starting to settle in. “We’ll resume this in a few days.” He said. Everyone nodded and filed out of J’onn’s office.

III.

Kara was lying on her bed, running her hand over the book that Lena had given her. “There’s got to be a way” She mumbled to herself. There was a knock at her door. “Come in!” She said. The door opened to reveal a more well rested James. “Hey! Feeling better?” She asked. And he nodded, stepping into her room and sitting down in the chair at her desk.

“She give you that?” He asked, pointing at the book in Kara’s hand.

“How did you know?” She questioned and he just smiled.

“She loved reading. And you were giving that book a sad look.” He said with a sad smile. “I’m sorry by the way. I know you really liked her.”

“I… yeah. I loved her.” Kara admitted softly. “I still love her. I don’t believe like J’onn, Winn, and Alex that she’s beyond reach. She just needs to be reminded that we’re always going to be here for her, no matter what.” Kara insisted. James nodded.

“I know. I agree with you Kara.” He said simply.

“You do?” Kara said, a little surprised, but he just nodded.

“I do. When Lena started here and joined our little circle, she was new. I think somewhere, she was a little scared of our world. And she latched on to us because we welcomed her into our world. She just needed a little acceptance and she jumped in head first. I don’t think that has changed.” He reasoned. Kara smiled, nodding.

“Yeah. I guess I’m the one scared now. It’s been a long time since I last saw her. Two years. I still believe in her, but sometimes I wonder if she still believes in me.” Kara admitted, sharing the fear lingering in the back of her mind. James leaned forward and placed one of his hands on hers.

“She still believes in you Kara. I know that. I know I didn’t go on the quest with you, but even before you left, Lena always gravitated towards you. Sought you out before anyone else. Shared things with you that she didn’t with anyone else I’m sure. She cared for you Kara. And she still does. She didn’t respond to me. She responded to you. I think she’s just scared. And you’re right, two years is a long time. Who knows what the Titans did to her. I’d probably be scared for my life if I was in her position. She’s strong Kara. She always has been. Don’t give up hope. Not on her.” He reassured his friend. Kara felt a tear or two roll down her cheek.

“Thank you, James.” She said, leaning in and hugging her friend. “Everyone else has steadily given up on her. Even Maggie and Mon-El. But I can’t. She’s not evil. I know it. I know her.” Kara said, her chin resting on James’ shoulder. James wrapped his arms around the blonde, rubbing her back.

“I know. You don’t have to justify yourself to me. I believe you. And I’ll support you, Kara. Whatever you decide to do.”

Hello! Sorry I haven't posted in a week and that this is a little shorter than normal. Life has been really hectic with school. Dead week is this week. I had an essay and case study due yesterday and today respectively. But I wanted to at least get you a short update before finals next week. Then updates should go back to every two or three days. And back to their usual length.

I figured we had spent a lot of time on Lena, and while this is a Lena centric series, I also wanted to visit Kara and friends briefly before they all come face to face again. I also wanted to include James more in this one. So he'll be a bigger presence in this one than the last.

Also can we discuss how amazing 2x18 was? I know they're trying to set up evil!Lena but damn that episode was good.

[percy-the-sorcerer]

A Winter’s War: Chapter One

A PJO/Game of Thrones AU

Ok so here it is!! The first chapter of the AU that the amazing @preatorpercy and I have been working on! I’m not going to say much more other than I hope you like it :)

Annabeth

As Annabeth traveled North, heat faded to warmth, and soon warmth sharpened into an icy cold.

“I miss the south,” Annabeth grumbled.

“As you keep reminding me every two minutes,” Silena sighed.

Annabeth was too miserable to come up with a clever retort.

She had never hated Queen Hera more, and that was saying something, for ever since she had grown up in King’s Landing, Hera had always rubbed her the wrong way. But sending her to the North under the pretext of being a 'Lannister envoy', was harsh, even for her. Though she didn’t say it, Annabeth knew the true reason... a marriage alliance between the great powers of the North and South would be greatly beneficial to Westeros.

“It’s a very important role, Annabeth,” Hera had told her. “I hope you do well.” There had been a menacing undertone to her voice.

Of course, Annabeth’s mother hadn’t protested. She’d barely even cared. So Annabeth was stuck on this path to desolation, with only a few servants to accompany her, plus a guard. In Annabeth’s opinion a number unfitting for the journey she was undertaking; talk of highwaymen and low-level criminals running free on these roads was prevalent in her mind.

The carriage wheeled across the bumpy road, every rock sending an uncomfortable jolt up Annabeth’s spine. The carriage itself was a picture of luxury. The seats were stitched with red silk, soft and plush, but that didn’t make up for the rocky road.

“How long till we get to Winterfell?” Annabeth asked. They’d been traveling for four days and nights already. Each night they had stopped at a different inn, and Annabeth had been so fed up with the day’s travel she was thankful for a bed, despite the fact it was nowhere near as luxurious as her bed back in King’s Landing.

“Well, look who’s changed her tune,” Silena marveled. Annabeth nudged her foot. “We’re nearly there,” Silena promised her.

“I’d rather be at Winterfell than traveling in this carriage any longer,” Annabeth defended.

“Look out of the window,” Silena suggested. “There are so many wonderful things. We’ve passed rivers and fords and forests and-”

“I’ve seen it all, Silena,” Annabeth complained. “I’d just rather be back at King’s Landing. At home.”

Silena’s face softened. “I’m sure you’ll be home sooner than you think.”

“Unlikely,” Annabeth muttered under her breath.

“And who knows,” Silena said excitedly, not having heard her, “Winterfell might be amazing. You’ve heard all the stories about it. The stone fortress of old, strong against the cold, home to the Kings of the North.” There was a dreamy quality in Silena’s voice that made Annabeth’s eyes roll.

“I’ve read about Winterfell,” Annabeth said distastefully. “And it always sounded too cold for my liking. Too cold, and miserable, and well...it’s not a place for a Lannister.”

“You sound just like your mother right now,” Silena said pointedly.

Before Annabeth could respond, the carriage shuddered. “Oh, no, tell me this thing’s not going to break apart under the stress of the road,” Annabeth said, annoyed.

Silena frowned. “We’ve stopped moving.” She moved to the door of the carriage and placed her palm on the handle. “I’m going to check outside for a second.”

Before she could open it, the door swung open. Outside was a man Annabeth most certainly did not recognize. He was thin and gaunt, dressed in a weathered grey tunic. His beard, short but scruffy, had hints of grey in it. His eyes had an animalistic, desperate look in them that made Annabeth shudder.

But what made Annabeth genuinely fearful was the gleaming sword in his hand. 

“Out,” he rasped. “Out, or I cut your throats.”

Silena shrieked.

Trying to stay calm, Annabeth put her hand on Silena’s back. “We’re getting out,” she said quietly. “Silena, come on.” Annabeth not too gently pulled Silena after her.

Together, they stepped out onto the road. There was a bitter breeze. Annabeth saw her guardsmen knocked out, a large rock next to his head. His sword, missing by his side, was now in the man’s hands.

The rest of her servants were standing by the side of the road, looking fearful, shivering in the wind.

“What do you want?” Annabeth asked him. “Why are you doing this? Do you have any idea who I am?”

“I don’t care who you are,” the man said in a raspy voice. “I just need money.” He pointed at the bracelets on Annabeth’s wrist. “Those.” He licked his lips. “I want them.”

“They’re family heirlooms, I-” Annabeth began, but she stalled as the man approached her. The man approached her.

“Give them to me,” he said quietly. “Or I cut your pretty friend’s throat.” He used his free hand to point at Silena, who was visibly terrified.

Reluctantly, Annabeth held out her wrist. The man warily approached and started pulling the priceless bracelets off her wrist. Annabeth’s heart started beating faster as she prepared herself.

The man had the bracelets in his hand now, and for one second examined them, a delighted look on his face.

Annabeth curled her lip, deciding this was when she would make her move.

With a swift movement, something she’d only read about and never actually tried, she kicked out at the man. She wasn’t sure where exactly she’d hit him, but it took him off guard, and he doubled over, dropping the sword.

Quick as a flash, adrenaline rushing through her, Annabeth picked up the sword. It felt out of place and heavy in her hand; she’d only ever used a wooden practise sword.

The man looked up in bewilderment. Annabeth held up the sword, but her hand trembled under the unexpected weight of the steel. The man seemed to pick up on that, and for an awful second, Annabeth thought he might attack her.

Suddenly, a pebble, grey and smooth, sailed through the air. It struck the man on the shoulder, and he cried out in pain.

Annabeth glanced sideways and saw Silena had thrown it. Suddenly the other servants started throwing rocks too. Annabeth wanted to move forward, take back her bracelets, but she was too busy trying to avoid getting hit. The man stumbled away from the road and started to run away.

“He’s got my mother’s bracelets!” Annabeth cried out. For one insane second, Annabeth considered running after him. As if she had read her mind, Silena placed a hand on her arm.

“Annabeth,” she said, her voice tremulous. Annabeth realized she was still shaking from that encounter.

“It’s okay,” she tried to say reassuringly, her tone uncertain. Annabeth had never been very good at comforting people. The moment of insanity passed, and suddenly Annabeth was acutely aware of their situation. “Help me carry him into the carriage,” she said, gesturing to their guard.

Together, they heaved him into the carriage, as he lay unconscious (Annabeth made sure he was still breathing). She instructed the servants to continue on their journey.

“The sooner we get to Winterfell after that, the better,” Annabeth said grimly.

It was only an hour later, when she was sitting in the carriage, the guard’s sword in her hand, that the reality of what had happened sunk in. She had fought a man. And she had won. That was something she’d only ever read about before. 

Annabeth liked the feeling.

A few hours melted together, passing by quickly. Annabeth didn’t even notice the bumps anymore. It was only when Silena called her name was she shaken out of her state.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“Come look.” Silena gestured for her to follow her out of the carriage.

For the second time that day, Annabeth descended into the chilly air. But this time, the moment she set foot on the ground, she froze.

A few miles away from them was the castle of Winterfell. Nothing Annabeth had read could’ve prepared her for the sight. The grey stone seemed intimidating, even from such a distance, it seemed to fit with the harsh landscape, almost as if it was an extension of it, twisting turrets and towers leading upwards. It took Annabeth’s breath away. It didn’t have the beauty of the Red Keep, nor any of its vitality, instead, it felt powerful, but detached.

“It’s…” Silena struggled to find an end to her sentence. “Like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Annabeth was inclined to agree. She turned to her servants. “Let’s keep going. Our next stop shall be Winterfell.” She turned to Silena, and suddenly anticipation and fear bubbled up within her. She steeled her nerves and nodded to her companion. “It’s time to meet the Starks.”