#bianca di angelo x reader

[lydscare]

Hi! Could you make a preferences/hc of the pro/hoo characters how they cuddle and/or sleep with there s/o?

cuddling hcs with pjo/hoo characters

a/n: these kinda went into general pda hcs, but hopefully it's still good tho

warnings: possible hints of angst + trama, cause who dosen't have it :')

reader tends to be gender-neutral //  my masterlist

annabeth

i feel like when cuddling w/ annabeth that there's not really a big spoon or little spoon posistion

it's mainly just your arms wrapped around each other, just a tangle of arms and limbs

dosen't really hug you too much in public but always needs a goodbye hug from you before you go somewhere

she also likes acting out as your pillow with you head on her chest/lap (she probably reads you a book too :))

bianca

her hugs are really comforting and warm

she always knows when you need one

she can just tell

she's memorized your body language to a t

might whisper some comforting words here and there

could make any surface feel soft when her arms are wrapped around you

calypso

i think she likes to be held more than to hold someone

she can hold you tho, and she's great at comforting you

likes to hum or sing you little songs and melodies

she likes when you play with her braid too

overall good experience

clarisse

i feel like she gives good bear hugs

she has some meatystrong arms so her hugs are kinda firm, like she's reminding you that she's there and no one can hurt you

her hugs are also surprisingly warm so they're extra comforting

connor

connor's hugs are a little more firm then travis's but still all the more comforting

he likes taking his time with hugging and cuddling

he likes spinning you around too when he gets excited

travis

travis hugs are very playful and warm

likes to come up from behind and give you a surprise hug

also moves around a bit when cuddling but it's fine, he just wants to get in a comfy position :))

also loves spinning you around

ethan

i kinda feel like he's a side hugger

so not too big on cuddling

he's not exactly avoidant of pda but he's not looking for it

might put his arm around you every once in a while

when cuddling he likes to be the big spoon, he finally feels like he can be of use and protect you from the cruel world :')

frank

gives the best bear hugs (both literally and metamorphically)

at first he's pretty awkward w/ hugging but grows to love it

he can shapeshift into just about any animal to have a different cuddling arrangement

one day you're being snuggled by a dragon, who's wrapped protectively around you, and the next you're holding a cute lil labrador puppy in your hands

needless to say it's an overall wholesome expierence :)

grover

the first time you hugged him, poor goat bby didn't know what to do

like where is he supposed to put his hands??

but after a while gets used to them

not to big of a hugger but enjoys it

has to get over the awkwardness of it at first tho

but afterwards enjoys it

just never sneak up on him

hazel

i don't know how else to describe her hugs other than sweet

her hugs are super comforting and grounding

just sneak up on her and give her a surprise back hug

she lets out the cutest giggle whenever you do it :')

even though she probably heard you coming

always wants to make sure you're comforting when cuddling, she dosen't want to overstep any boundaries of yours so

jason

not exactly looking for cuddles or pda in general, but he's not going to hate affections either

he'll most likely be wanting cudddles after a long day of praetor duties, helping at chb, or school

he won't want anything else, just to be held by you for a few good long minutes

with that being said however, he is more of a big spoon type of guy

leo

he's like a human furnace

always super hot warm

very comforting and cozy

he loves snuggling

in general he's a very touchy person so a arm's usually always around you

loves holding you

after a long day of working on little trinkets and fixing up things he likes to be held by you (arms around your waist, face on your shoulder)

play w/ his hair pleaseee it's very soothing

luke

sturdy?

he has some pretty strong arms so his hugs are a bit firmer than he'd honestly prefer

likes to put his hands around your waist with your hands placed over his

also he likes when you just play with his fingers or stroke his arms lovingly

((also has a really good grip

nico

he isn't much of a hugger, to other people anyways

but with you, he practically craves your touch

it always has to be in a closed off space tho

he's not the biggest fan of pda, but alone with you,,

he practically clings onto you like a lil koala bear

loves wrapping his arms around your waist and burrying his face in your neck

he just needs someone to touch every once in a while to keep him grounded :')

side note: he is pretty cold, like ALL the time so ye

percy

percy the pillow jkjk

fr tho, he likes just placing his head on your chest as his arms around your waist when cuddling

also is a fan of getting his hair played with

he goes back n forth between lil spoon and big spoon

he also just finds your presence itself very comforting

and your smell

goes to sleep with the biggest grin on his face

piper

another hummer

she likes it when you braid her hair

she also like brushing her nails through your hair and scratching at your scalp

she likes holding you more than being held

can be very comforting

a quick hug from her also brings a great feeling

rachel

appreciates signs of pda in general

enjoys holding you and playing w/ your hair

can just walk up to you, give you a hug and walk away randomly

she is moreover a quality time person sooo

reyna

not really a hugger tbh

she has lots of walls built up sooo

she's also not much of a physical person

but she might be good with a hug or two after a long day

if she were to cuddle she'd be pretty stiff at first and need to ease her way into it

thalia

likes wrapping her arms around your neck and just looking at you with so much adoration in her eyes

she really likes being held from behind when sharing a bed

also likes to play with your fingers

will

his hugs are so warm and comforting (obvs)

i feel like he'd be the type to just be gossiping w/ you while you two are tangled together, he's playing with your fingers and all but still has your undivided attention

probably majority of the time os the big spoon but would like being the little spoon on especially hard and stressful days

zoë

as much as i looove zoë, i don't think she is much of a hugger :'(

she's very stiff at first bc she isn't really used to soft touches or touching in general

but then eventually relaxes and will end up not wanting you to leave her

she likes when you play with her hair

she can give good back rubs

she proably will end up being the little spoon on most days tho

also gets tired and ends up wanting cuddles

it helps give her a space of calmness after a long day out hunting

it's soothing

[kaciebello]

Sibling rivals, sibling allies

Masterlist

Nico Di Angelo x Hades! reader (platonic) Summary: Nico was aware his sibling loved him, to the point that lectures were inevitable. Warning: Angst, Siblings written by an only child, no use of y/n Author note: English is not my first language so I am sorry for any mistakes beforehand. I am not very good at angst so I hope I did this some justice. I also tried to make it gender-neutral as the request did not specify, however, this is my first time writing like that so I am sorry if I missed anything. All right to the artist of the fanart, I could not find them, but if you do, let me know and I will tag them.  Proofread by me and me only (Ｔ▽Ｔ) request: Yes word count: 1,3k Song: Lean on - Major Lazer ( ft. MØ, DJ Snake )

 Sibling rivalry was something everyone expected when having more than one child. And who especially expected it were the Greek gods. They even encouraged it. Sadly, for Hades, his children got along and refused to fight each other.

Usually, Nico would play mythomagic with them or just lazily exist in the camp. Only a few people would talk to him. But he is used to it now. That's why he was confused when they ran into the Hades cabin and suggested training with said two. He agreed nonetheless, not wanting to disappoint his last older sibling, and he also thought Percy was okay-ish.

That is why he was standing in the area, watching them absolutely beat Percy's ass. Annabeth was standing beside him but did not look very happy about what was happening. He can't blame her, he would not be either if the roles were reversed. Also, the Hades children weren't really known for their good temper, so it made sense.

So when Percy tapped out, he wasn't surprised. However, the girl next to him made her way to help her friend up.

“Close your mouth, flies gonna take it as an invite.” They said, slightly tapping his chin to close it. Nico glared at them but did not argue. they were covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Nico was sure it was from the sun, not the fight, as he dubs Percy would give it much. If anything they more likely only tickled each other with swords. Although he was warned, that activity can cause accidental stab wounds and immediate visit to the infirmary.

The other two campers joined them. Percy bleeding from his scratches and Annabeth frowns on her face. He knew it was his turn now. That's what they agreed on. He did not think putting him, a child of one of the 3, against Annabeth was fair. Granted, were it a few months back when he thought he had a crush on her, before releasing he had a crush on Percy, it would have been harder to fight her.

“Come on whip, it's our turn.” Says Annabeth and gestures her knives at him. Nico can only tighten his hold on the sword he was holding. He takes a few steps to face her.

“Annabeth.” Sounds behind him warningly. The girl in question just huffs before charging at him. He moved out of the way, but it was like she already knew his steps before him and stuck him in the leg.

He winced but kept on his feet. She charges again, but this time he manages to avoid and block her from sighting him. Annabeth did not like that. Not only she was a fast thinker, but Nico would also forget she had been trained by Luke, one of the best swordsmen in the last couple of hundred years. Annabeth strikes again and Nico has no time to even register what is going on. She slashes his Achilles. Nico yelps and falls, having no strength to put weight on his leg. Annabeth manages to get hold of his sword. She was not standing above him with the tip of his sword at his throat.

“Get up,” she says with a sinister smile. He won't admit it but he was scared for a moment. That was before Annabeth got slammed by his sibling and rolled away. Percy yelped in surprise and went to help Annabeth while the siblings helped each other. 

“What the fuck was that for?” Argued Annabeth once she regained her composure.

“You immobilized him! What the fuck do you mean get up!” His sibling yelled still kneeling next to him. Nico has sat up now, trying to move his leg but when pain shot up he decided against it.

“Monsters are not gonna hold back just because he can't stand!” Annabeth was now making her way to them. Percy was trying to stop her but was very unsuccessful.

“Monster my ass Annabeth. You knew very well what-” A roar cuts her off. All of them freeze in their spots. A rustling in the trees got their attention. A distant yell is what got them moving. Nico felt four arms lifting him.

His sibling and Annabeth were trying their best to get his limping ass away from whatever there was. Percy was surveying the area when he saw it.

“Fuck.” Was all that left him. there stood, an automatic bull, as big as the house. All of their eyes widened as they tried to hurry up. unfortunately, the bull has seen them and charged at them. Nico could feel his weight bearing but only on Annabeth as his sibling went to aid Percy in trying to distract the beast. He wanted to stop them, but he was no use at the moment.

Annabeth stops and props Nico on a tree.

“What are you doing?” He hisses and she just rolls her eyes.

“I'm going to help them.” She says making sure Nico is comfortable.

“You can't leave me here.” Nico could see that she took that as a challenge. before she could leave him however they both heard Percy yell. turning their attention to him they can see a giant boulder heading their way. Nico makes eye contact with his sibling before he feels something tackling him on the ground.

“NICO” Was all he heard before the world became black.

 When Nico came to his senses, he thought that perhaps, Dad pulled him aside, that maybe travelledow travelled. And Brehabs a small hope of seeing Bianca was there. However, when he heard his sibling absolutely destroying their vocal cords from the yelling, he knew he was mistaken.

Opening his eyes, above him stood a well-known Apollo kid, his name was Will or something like that. The light from his hands makes Nico turn his face away and to the side. Only to be faced with a comic view. Annabeth sitting on a bed having her hand looked after by a different Apollo kid. Percy is next to her, holding her other hand. And his sibling, going off on both of them, mostly Annabeth by the looks of it.  Annabeth's head was hung low, it was apparent that she got an earful from Percy beforehand.

Nico is enjoying the situation. Not only is he not getting reprimanded, but he is also getting taken care of by a cute guy. His freedom is shored, however, as Percy nudges the other Hades kid and points to him.

His sibling turns to him at lightning speed, when they see he's awake, they rush to him kneeling by the bed. He can see they are worried even when all of them are out of immediate danger. When they saw he was okay they jumped in for a hug. Will jumped back startled and Nico could only groan in pain. Letting him go just as quickly as they hugged him

“Sorry, I just. I just thought I would have to bargain with Dad.” They say with a smile on their face. Although tears were streaming down their faces making them look a little bit hysterical.

Nico smiled at them.

“I'm fine, I did not even see Dad.” He says, trying to reassure them that he in fact did not die and came back. They just chuckled and nodded.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Annabeth with Percy walked up to his bed.

“I'm sorry.” She says. Nico expected her to continue but she didn't. So Nico just nodded, taking in that they were all still startled by what happened.

Next to him, his sibling stood up. It was like a switch turned in in them. Manually they made both Percy and Annabeth sit down at the end of his bed. They took a deep breath before starting.

“I am lost for words!...”

And despite being lost for words, they continue to yell at them for the next 45 minutes. Nico would not want it any other way.

Tag: thefallensacrifice

[nockstormbringer]

Percy Jackson: Extended Universe

↳ Characters Im writing for!

Requests are opened; headcanons only

Camp Half Blood

Percy Jackson || Cabin 3

Annabeth Chase || Cabin 6

Grover Underwood || Stayr

Thalia Grace || Cabin 8

Zoë Nightshade || Cabin 8

Leo Valdez || Cabin 9

Piper McLean || Cabin 10

Luke Castellan || Cabin 11

Bianca Di Angelo || Cabin 13

Nico Di Angelo || Cabin 13

Clarisse La Rue || Cabin 5

Will Solace || Cabin 7

Charles Beckendorf || Cabin 9

Silena Beauregard || Cabin 10

Drew Tanaka || Cabin 10

Conner Stoll || Cabin 11

Travis Stoll || Cabin 11

Pollux || Cabin 12

Clovis || Cabin 15

Ethan Nakamura || Cabin 16

Camp Jupiter

Jason Grace || Praetor

Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano || Praetor

Frank Zhang || Cohort 5

Hazel Levesque || Cohort 5

Octavian || Cohort 1

Gods

Apollo || Lestor Papadopulous

Aphrodite || Venus

Ares || Mars

Hephaestus || Fulcan

Hades || Pluto

Persephone || Perserpina

Hermes || Mercury

Dionysus || Bacchus

Extra

Lityerses || Son of Midas & Demeter

Rachel Elizabeth Dare || Oracle of Delphi

[starless-nightz]

zoë and bianca x reader dating headcanons ( separat)

Zoe dating HCs

note -> ZOE NIGHTSHADE MY WIFEEEE!!! Also i'm no longer writing romantic Bianca, since she is 12 years old and it feels wrong to write for her in a romantic way, especially because i'm turning 15 and i know there are a bunch of creeps on the internet. Btw In these HCs hunters are allowed to date each other.

warnings -> none.

content includes -> fluff, teasing, kissing, cuddles, hunts.

Zoe is a very caring and attentive lover, she can read you like a book, always knowing whenever you are sad or just need space

She always has youe back when hunting monsters, she doesnt want to lose you, so she always stays by your side or at least far enough where she could get to you if you need help

Zoe isnt very found of teasing, she always gets annoyed when the other hunters start to tease you two about your relationship, whats even worse is when Artemis joins in, which is rare but it still happens

She isnt a big fan of PDA, but she welcomes the small touches you two share or giving you kisses on the forehead

When in the privacy of your shared tent, Zoe turns into a big softie, showing her softer side to you and you only

She loves to kiss you and have her arms wrapped around her, scared that you might disappear if she lets you go

[nickeverdeen]

Percy Jackson books masterlist

Match-up:

Thalia Grace

Thalia

Nico

Leo

Preferences:

Nothing yet

Sorting your cabin:

Nothing yet

Percy Jackson

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Annabeth Chase

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Grover Underwood

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Luke Castellan

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Smut:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Nico di Angelo

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nico di Angelo x INFP!fem!reader who’s Hades’ daughter and his half-sister

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Clarisse La Rue

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Smut:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Will Solace

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Smut:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Bianca di Angelo

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Smut:

Nothing

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

Leo Valdez

(Not my fanart)

Imagine:

Nothing yet

Hcs:

Nothing yet

Alphabet:

Nothing yet

[stvrryyami]

Being The Oldest Di Angelo Sibling

>Alec Mores

A/N: I don’t know if I’ll make a part 2, but this was a little rushed. I was just chilling in the living room and had this funny little idea. I hope you enjoy! TITANS CURSE SPOILERS!

Warnings: Major character death (Bianca and Moria), mourning, sibling drama, semi angst, Percy and Reader make bad decisions, happy ending, gender neutral reader, readers age is mentioned but if you don’t like it you can change it no big deal

Word Count: 1k (1,350)

Being the oldest of the Di Angelo siblings, and a child of Hades, AND growing up in the 1930s, you had A LOT of responsibilities.

You often helped your mom with Nico and Bianca, chores around the house and anything that she really needed.

Nico and Bianca always went to you first for help, with homework or fixing something or really anything .

They always looked up to you, like, a ton.

Imagine you were old enough to know who your father was.

You knew he was Hades, god of the underworld, a literal Greek god, but you didn’t tell your siblings in fear that the monsters would come for them.

You tried to hide it from them as long as you could, your mother would watch them as you fought any monsters that would come for you and your siblings.

You cherished your family, besides your father, and loved them more than anything in the world.

That being said, your mothers death struck you the most.

It happened right in front of you, in front of all of you but you tried to hide the scene from your younger siblings.

Zeus, your uncle, had struck her right from the sky while she was with your family, including your father.

As Hades mourned his Maria in his arms, you couldn’t help but stare at the scene as you held the bodies of your sobbing siblings.

You were alone. You had to watch these children, not even in double digits, yourself. Gods know how much “help” Hades would truly grant you.

Age isn’t really too important, but if you want an age I'd say you're two-three years older than Bianca, making you 4-5 years older than Nico.

Your dad put you in the Lotus Casino after the death of your mother, causing decades to fly by while you hardly ever aged.

You were 14-15 when Percy, Grover, Thalia and Annabeth found you at school.

You weren’t aware that a faculty member in your school was a freaking manticore, or that one of your fellow students was literally part animal.

you did notice the peculiar teenagers at the school dance, yk, the ones from camp half-blood, that part you didn’t know.

When the disguised manticore took you and your siblings away, you assumed those kids were dangerous and that everyone was being evacuated.

It was only until you realized no other students were with you is when you started getting worried.

After the giant battle that resulted in the blonde girl being launched off a cliff, you stayed close to your brother as Bianca walked away with the so-called “Hunters of Artemis.”

You didn’t trust them, but you did trust Bianca’s judgement. That didn’t stop you from being insanely worried.

After you found out that Bianca became a Hunter of Artemis, you being livid was an understatement.

You were happy she’d found her place in the world and that she seemed happy, but you believed the decision was too rushed, and she hadn’t even consulted you!

You chose to stay with Nico at camp while the others went on the quest, and you were there for Nico and Percy’s conversation.

As Percy promised Nico your sister would live, you were doubtful. Still, you informed Percy that he would pay the price for her death.

Not because it was his fault, or that he didn’t try hard enough to save her, but because he had the nerve to promise a ten-year-old boy something he couldn't guarantee.

When they returned, you followed Nico as he asked Percy about his sister,but you knew. You felt it. Your sister was dead.

You didn’t cry, you couldn’t. You had to wait to be alone, you had to be strong for your brother. He needed comfort, and you were ready to provide that for him. The consequences for Percy’s selfish promise could wait.

They didn’t wait, however, as Nico’s emotions exploded.

Nico blamed Percy for his sister’s death. He broke his promise. He was to blame.

You tried to calm Nico down, but when he turned to you, face broken and tear stricken, his breath hitched.

“You knew.” He said, almost a whisper, a whisper of betrayal. “You knew and you didn’t tell me.”

You stayed silent, hesitant. You felt when she died. You knew who your father was, and you knew when death greeted your sister in a silent, cold black blanket.

That was Nico’s last straw.

He left behind only painful words and granted Grover, Annabeth and Percy with the very knowledge you tried so hard to keep hidden from everyone all of your life.

You and your siblings are children of Hades.

The trio said they wouldn’t speak on this secret for the time being, you thanked them.

And then, because of your foolishness, you mourned the loss of two siblings, the only people in your family you had left. Your father didn’t count. He wasn’t there, and now they weren’t either.

You wanted to search for Nico, he was only ten. He couldn’t survive alone, cold and scared, but they wouldn’t let you. You had to stay at camp, that was the rule.

So, as much as you hated it, you did. You only just found a permanent home, even if it didn’t feel like it, even if people didn’t like you, that’s what it was. It was home, it had to be, because nothing else was.

Percy constantly tried apologizing to you, you could tell guilt consumed him, and you were glad.

You didn’t punish him like you said you would, you were too tired and could tell the regret he felt for his actions was punishment enough.

You weren’t friends yet, but you weren’t enemies either. You were allies, yeah, that was a safe word, allies.

When Percy ran to you, informing you that he saw your brother, you nearly died. At least, you felt like it, it was as if your breath was caught in the wind.

Your brother? Was he alright? Did he look happy? How was he doing? Did he miss you like you missed him? Where was he? Does he hate you? Millions of questions consumed you, but you never spoke one.

Percy told you most of what he saw, you couldn’t tell if he was holding anything back, but you didn’t care. He saw your brother. Your baby brother.

You wanted more than anything to see him, but Percy talked you into staying at camp. You really didn’t want to, but Percy threatened to tell Chiron who your father was, so you listened resentfully, suddenly not counting him as much of an “ally” anymore.

One day while you were hanging out with Silent Beauregard in the strawberry fields, you sensed another presence of death

At first you thought someone in camp had passed, but it was a different feeling. A feeling of another child of Hades in the woods, and you ran to it while ignoring Silena’s worrisome calls.

Your brother was there, in your sight, in front of you, looking much older than before.

He was thirteen now, his dark eyes observed you with so much emotion, though his face was neutral. But he couldn’t have found much before you engulfed him in a breathtaking hug.

Tears filled your eyes as you felt him stiffen, suddenly remembering your last interaction you were about to retreat when he suddenly relaxed a little and hugged you tighter than you were hugging him.

“Hey, y/n,” he said in a breathy, crackly voice, and you sobbed out a sigh of relief, hugging him impossibly tighter. His voice was so different, he was so different, but it didn’t matter.

Your brother was here, with you, hugging you, talking to you. After almost three years of nothing, no knowledge about him, if he was okay, he was here. He was here and he didn’t hate you, at least he didn’t act like he did.

You knew, in that very moment, you’d do anything for him. You’d follow him anywhere, you’d never let anyone hurt him.

And you, yourself, would never hurt him again.

[arte-rose]

Grover Underwood multiverse 💚

[cece693]

Stupid Crush Pt. 2 (Nico di Angelo x Son of Poseidon)

Because many of you keep requesting a part two of my original post, I couldn't help myself :) However, you might hate me for this but I want to practice writing sad endings, so if you aren't comfortable with that, I suggest living blind.

link to part one

tags: breakup, no making up, reader tries to move on, major character death, ambiguous ending, heartbreak

Nico di Angelo had never been one to give up easily, and when it came to you, he refused to let you slip away without a fight. Even after your breakup—after the heart-wrenching conversation that left him feeling gutted and empty—Nico couldn’t accept that it was truly over. He loved you. He knew he had made mistakes, but there was no way he could let that be the end.

For weeks after your relationship had ended, Nico threw himself into trying to prove his love. He started small, hoping that maybe you’d notice: he’d offer to help with your tasks, leaving small reminders that he still cared. He lingered around the Argo II, hoping for a chance to talk, to catch your eye. But every time, you kept your distance.

But then came the war.

The final fight against Gaea loomed over them all, leaving little room for anything other than survival. The battle was brutal, stretching the demigods to their limits, and for a while, Nico had to push his desire to win you back aside. They were fighting for their lives now. There was no time for hearts and feelings when the world was on the verge of collapse.

Even as he fought with everything he had, one thought kept Nico going: you. He clung to the hope that when this was all over, when Gaea was defeated, and the war was behind them, he would have another chance. Every swing of his sword, every shadow he manipulated, every ounce of his energy was fueled by the need to return to your side. He had to survive. He had to make it back to you. The war didn't come without a cost; many campers had died in battle, and with restoration efforts taking everyone's time, Nico didn't breach you or the topic until a week later.

He took it a step further. If you didn't want to see Nico, he will leave reminders of his love. This gesture alone should tell you how much you meant to him; he was always someone who kept his emotions buried beneath layers of coldess and sarcasm. But for you, he would try. He left small letters under your door—handwritten notes that declared his love in ways that were unfamiliar to him. They were never long, just a few lines scrawled in his messy handwriting, but they held every ounce of sincerity Nico could muster:

I’m sorry. I love you. I’ll never stop loving you.

You were never the second choice. I wish I could make you see that.

I’m still here. Waiting.

He even placed his skull ring inside one of those notes, hoping that action alone would make you answer his pleads, but to no avail. Finally, after countless sleepless nights and too many failed attempts to reach you, Nico couldn’t take it anymore. He needed closure. He needed to hear your voice, even if it ended with you punching him (rightfully so.)

It was late in the evening when Nico made his way to your cabin. The sky was painted in hues of deep purple and orange, the last remnants of the sunset casting long shadows across the camp. Nico’s heart pounded in his chest, dread and hope warring within him as he stood outside your door. He knocked, and after a long moment, the door creaked open.

You stood there, framed by the soft glow of the cabin’s lanterns, your expression unreadable. You didn’t say anything at first, just stared at Nico, waiting. Nico swallowed hard, his hands trembling slightly. “Can we talk?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

You hesitated, but eventually stepped aside, letting him in. The cabin was quiet, Percy nowhere to be seen. For that, Nico was thankful. He wouldn't be surprised if you had told Percy what occurred that day. He stood there for a moment, unsure where to begin. He’d rehearsed this conversation in his head a thousand times, but now that he was here, in front of you, the words felt heavy, stuck in his throat.

“I—I’ve been trying to show you that I’m sorry,” Nico started, his voice shaky. “I know I messed up. I know I hurt you. But I never wanted to. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

"Nico." You whispered softly, eyes softening. "I-I'm trying things out with Will."

Nico's world shattered. "What?" was all he could muster. He blinked rapidly, unable to process what you had just said. His mouth opened, then closed, and for a moment he looked like he was going to crumble right in front of you.

“I…I’m trying things out with Will,” you repeated, a bit more firmly this time. Your voice was gentle, but there was a finality to it that made Nico’s heart twist painfully. His gaze dropped to the floor, staring at his shoes as if they held some kind of answer he couldn’t find in your eyes.

The silence stretched on between you, heavy and suffocating. Nico’s hands clenched into fists at his sides, the weight of all his efforts—the letters, the gifts, the endless nights of regret—collapsing under the simple truth of your words. He wanted to scream, to beg you to reconsider, but his voice failed him. When he finally managed to speak, his voice was barely a whisper.

“When did this happen?” His throat felt tight, like the air was being squeezed out of him, but he forced himself to look up, to meet your gaze even though it hurt.

You hesitated, biting your lip. “A few weeks after the battle with Gaea. Will and I…we just started talking, and things…they just happened.”

Nico’s heart twisted again, sharper this time, like a knife being driven deeper. The battle with Gaea—the war that had forced him to pause his desperate attempts to win you back, the war he had survived just so he could return to your side—had been the turning point for you, but not in the way he had hoped. He’d come back, bruised and exhausted, believing that his chance would come after the fighting was done. But the war had ended, and you had already found someone else.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

You exhaled slowly, the sadness in your eyes deepening. “Because I didn’t want to hurt you. I was waiting for the right moment, but there never seemed to be one. You’ve been trying so hard, and I didn’t know how to tell you that I had moved on.”

He flinched, feeling the sting of those words cut deep. His hands trembled, and he shoved them into his pockets, trying to stop them from shaking. “Moved on?” The disbelief in his voice was raw, painful. “I never stopped loving you. Every day, I thought of ways to make it right, to show you how much you mean to me.”

“I know, Nico.” Your voice was almost pleading now, as if you wanted him to understand. “I saw everything you did. The letters, the ring—you don’t know how much it meant to me. But it’s not about how much you love me, Nico. It’s about trust. It’s about how I felt and how I still feel.”

“Then why did you keep the ring?” he asked desperately, his voice breaking as he gestured towards your desk, where his skull ring still sat, untouched since the day he left it there.

You looked away, your expression pained. “Because a part of me will always care for you. You were my first love, and I’ll never forget that. But Will, he’s been there for me in a way I needed. He’s open, and he doesn’t hide from me. I needed someone who could be honest with me, and you never were.”

The words felt like a slap to Nico’s face. He stepped back, his breath hitching as he tried to hold back the tears burning in his eyes. “I wanted to be,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I tried. I tried so hard.”

“I know you did,” you said softly, a single tear slipping down your cheek. “But sometimes trying isn’t enough.”

Nico’s chest tightened, and he felt the darkness inside him stirring—the familiar, suffocating void that had always been there, lurking just beneath the surface. He’d fought so hard to keep it at bay, to be stronger for you. But now, standing in your cabin with the truth hanging between you like a wall he could never break through, he felt it closing in on him again.

“I—I have to go,” he choked out, turning away before you could see the tears welling up in his eyes. He couldn’t bear to look at you any longer, not when the weight of your rejection was crushing him from the inside out.

“Nico, wait—” you called after him, but he was already halfway to the door, his footsteps heavy and unsteady. He paused, just for a moment, his hand on the doorknob, and for a second he thought about turning back, about begging you one last time not to leave him behind. But he knew it wouldn’t matter. Your mind was made up, and no amount of pleading would change that.

Without another word, Nico stepped out into the night, the cool breeze washing over him as he made his way toward the darkness beyond. The camp was quiet, the stars twinkling overhead, but all he could see was the shattered remains of his hopes and dreams, lying in pieces around him. He had tried—he had tried so hard—but in the end, it hadn’t been enough.

As he walked away, the darkness swallowed him whole, and for the first time in a long while, he didn’t try to fight it.

Three days later, the camp was still buzzing with post-war activity. You threw yourself into helping with the rebuilding, avoiding thoughts of Nico and the painful conversation that had ended it all. Will was always by your side, his presence a comfort to your wounded heart. It wasn't that you didn't love Nico anymore; you would perhaps love him for the rest of your life, but it was time to put yourself first.

One afternoon, you were helping organize the infirmary with Will when a sudden, cold chill ran down your spine. You froze, a sense of dread settling over you. Before you could say anything, a shout rang out from outside, a voice filled with panic and fear. “There’s been an attack!”

You and Will bolted out of the cabin, following the frantic crowd toward the forest’s edge. Your heart pounded in your chest as you pushed through the campers, the anxiety mounting with every step. When you finally reached the clearing, you saw them—several demigods huddled around a small, motionless figure lying in the grass.

“No,” you whispered, your blood turning to ice as you caught sight of the dark clothes, the familiar face pale and still. “Nico…”

Will was already kneeling beside him, his hands glowing with golden light as he tried to heal the deep, ragged wound that marred Nico’s side. But you could see it in his eyes—the terror, the hopelessness. The injury was too severe, the damage too great.

“No, no, no,” you said, falling to your knees beside him, your hands hovering helplessly over Nico’s broken body. His eyes fluttered open, just barely, the shadows that had once seemed so invincible now dimmed to a fragile flicker.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice a faint rasp that barely reached your ears. His gaze was distant, glassy, but somehow he managed to find yours, a small, sad smile ghosting across his lips. “I never meant to hurt you."

A sob caught in your throat as you cupped his cheek, your hands trembling. “Nico, please…Just hold on,” you begged, your voice cracking under the weight of panic and grief.

Nico’s smile wavered, his chest shuddering with the effort to breathe. “I’m…I’m so tired,” he murmured, his eyes beginning to drift shut, the pain etched into every line of his face. “I wanted to make things right…to make you…happy.” Each word came slower, his strength ebbing away with every breath he took.

“You did,” you said, your voice fierce despite the tears streaming down your cheeks. You squeezed his hand harder, as if the strength of your grip alone could keep him tethered to this world. “Nico, you did make me happy. You still do. Just stay with me. Please, Nico, don’t go.”

A tear slid down Nico's pale cheek, mingling with the blood that stained his skin. “I love you,” he whispered, the words barely a breath, his eyes locking onto yours with a desperate intensity. “Always…love you.”

“I love you too,” you choked out, pressing your forehead against his, your tears mingling with his. You felt his body go slack, his hand falling limp in your grasp. “Nico! No, please! Nico!” You held his body close, your heart breaking all over again as the truth settled over you. The boy who had fought through hell for you, who had bared his soul and faced his deepest fears, was gone.

His last breath had been a promise—a truth you’d never doubted, even when he had hurt you. But now, that truth lay heavy in your arms, lifeless and still. His body felt too small, too fragile, for someone who had carried so much pain, who had survived so much darkness. The only comfort you took was that you would see Nico again. That was a promise.

[ameagrice]

Capsize

percy jackson x fem reader

chapter thirty-six | everything in its right place

It wasn’t a real spider. Not completely. But it moved like one over your hands, and so you’d thrown it so far away with one almighty shriek that the spider jumped—a tiny automaton thing, built by Hephaestus himself.

The whole thing felt like one, big joke on you.

It begun as a silver chain previously in Eurytion’s possession. He said he didn’t need it, and had no need to go into the Labyrinth or make contact with Hephaestus. If you needed to find the god, this would lead you right to him. At first, turning it over in your hands, you felt grateful that finally somebody was helping you properly. Until you pressed down on the tiny button in the middle, and it turned into a spider.

The good news: it led you straight to him. Right to Hephaestus’s doorstep. Or, entryway, for a better word. The spider had been scuttling and crawling along the tunnels for a good distance, enough so that you were starting to get tired. Percy had been nearly bouncing in place, both with anticipation for what you might find, and eagerness to get this over with; he wanted out as much as you and Grover.

If you weren’t so good at running, you might have lost the creepy little thing. By the time it finally stopped, all eight legs perched like broken wires, you were hot on its trail and pretty breathless. Grover slowed to a pace at your side, raising his hands to run over his sweaty t-zone from the exertion that was chasing the mechanical spider. Percy slid into your back, and brushed himself off like nothing happened.

You could have described it as developing a funny feeling that something was about to happen.

You stopped only because of one thing.

The giant cave, a spectacular hole in the ground inches away from the tips of your Converse. You watched from the corner of your eye Grover settling back from the jagged edge, and became aware of Percy’s fingers winding round your backpack. Human nature or stupid curiosity, you dug for your flashlight in your pocket, and leaned forward over the abyss. Percy tugged violently on your strap.

“Hey, come on, dont.” He sighed. “If you fall down there—”

“I’m not gonna fall down there!” You protest.

“Do you see with your own eyes right now? You’re literally leaning over a cavern.”

“I’m not gonna fall. But if I did I’d just take you down with me. For company ‘n all.” You drawl, turning to face him with a sly smile. Your brows jump, and Percy huffs, giving your bag one last tug until you avail, and step back.

“How kind,” he deadpans.

“I try my hardest.” You shrug.

“I think we have bigger problems than falling right now,” croaked Grover. He raised his flashlight and flicked it on and off to highlight the problem: a series of metal bars strung up to the ceiling, half-corroded.

You bark a sudden laugh at your luck. “Hope everyone’s had their tetanus shots!”

Between the rotting bars jammed into the cave roof, the tiny spider was swinging across with its strange silky webs, and crawling with its sticky feet across the ceiling. Unless you wanted to stay stuck down here at this junction, you’d have to follow it. And heights were not your speciality.

You clap your hands together; it echoes in the vast space. “So, any first takers” Neither boy answers you. “Brilliant. So, the thing is, I’d rather die than do the monkey bars. Do you guys see my arms? They weren’t made for this shit.”

“Have a little faith,” gulped Grover. “If a mechanical spider with no physical brain can do it, we totally can!”

“I like your enthusiasm!” Percy snapped his fingers. “It’s just the kind of leadership style we need!” He leaned forward and clapped Grover on the shoulder. “Onward, my friend!”

Grover tittered on the spot, and a nervous belch boasted loudly in the air. All the while he argued back and forth with Percy over how he should go first, you decided that it was best to shove down your nerves for the sake of the ever-furthering spider, and stepped back twice. The boys hardly noticed, caught up in their silly back-and-forth debate. You made your choice, and decided to make a run and jump for it.

The second your hands touched the first metal rung, they stung from the impact. You couldn’t prevent the shriek escaping your throat, but everything after that was blocked out. The brain has a funny way of focusing when it senses danger; it blocks out everything it deems unneeded. In this case, you knew though you couldn’t hear them that the boys were probably yelling something. You focussed on the strain in your shoulders, reaching forward for the next bar with halfway decent momentum. Halfway across, your palms started to sweat, and the panic set in even further.

“Guys—” you swallowed, choking on it. “What are the chances I die on impact? Don’t answer that—I already know the answer. It was in this book I read a while ago. It was 31,000 people in 2000. That’s the last time they looked at the statistics. They’ll probably go up—”. Your hand slipped from the bar, and you wiped your palm on your pants before reaching for the next one. You take deep breaths as your body is suddenly hit with panicked sweating and heat, and you know you’re not too far from a panic attack. There’s nothing anybody can do to help you here—it’s all on you. And it’s a horrible feeling knowing that.

It’s hard to move when your fingers start to tingle and grow stiff, another oncoming sign that your body has had enough, it’s working too hard. The brain works in tandem with the limbs—the control centre tells everything else what to do. If it says calm down, it’s going to calm down everything else; even hundreds of feet above a plunging cavern.

When you touch the ground again, you feel rather shaky. But there’s no proper time for rest, or to wait for the boys. The spider is scuttling further away, and it’s literally a race against time to catch up to it. With legs like jelly, you bolt as fast as you can after the spider, the tiny clicking of its mechanical legs sounding through the narrowing tunnel. It’s dark and damp, and your flashlight is beginning to flicker as the batteries run out. You lose all sight and sound of Percy and Grover, and your chest screams with the exertion of holding yourself above ground for so long and then moving instantly into a sprint.

The spider really doesn’t care, though.

You run and run, until something crunches under your feet. You ignore it until you can’t anymore, and gradually slow down, as the crunching becomes too loud. You bend down to inspect the pieces: wood chips, like from…pencils? There’s a shard of lead from the end of one just laying around, and another a bit away from it. Who the hell needs pencils down here? Is somebody else lost, too? The pieces slip through your fingers as you get to your feet, falling back down.

You pick up your flashlight from between your neck and shoulder where you’d been holding it, and twist it in your hand. The light still flickers, except this time it has enough of a glow to show you just who left the pencil scrapings.

Skeletons. Dead, very dead skeletons.

And they look a little different to the ones in gothic movies.

Some are white, like they’ve been bleached, but mainly they’re a weird yellow-brown and mottled, rotting away. They don’t smell, weirdly. They could almost be props. You’re not naive enough to believe that though.

A set of footsteps is growing louder nearing your position. It’s Percy, calling your name. And when he falls to step next to you, a hand on your shoulder, you can’t help but nodding grimly to the skeletons he hasn’t seen yet. You flash your light on them, and he gags.

“Let’s keep going,” you say, and nod to the literal light at the end of the tunnel. You can already see it opens into a big room. “I don’t wanna meet the thing that left those.”

You wait for Grover to catch up before you move on towards the bright light at the end of the tunnel. It feels weirdly intimate, all quiet and settled as you near it.

But…yeah, you take that back. Because you meet the thing that left those skeletons pretty quickly. Just when you thought things couldn’t get weirder down here.

You stop short, and can’t help your jaw dropping in disgust at the creature perched on the glittering dais on the far side of the room. With the body of a lion and the head of a woman, you quite honestly feel like vomming. She wore makeup like a clown, and her stringy hair was tied back way too tightly—how the hell did she even do her hair, with paws?

Grover gagged. It echoed. “Sphinx.”

You scrunch your nose in response. “Ooooh, are we talkin’ that weird thing that does riddles?”

“Funny way of putting it, but yes.”

You want to reply to Grover, but you��ve lost sight of the spider, your only way forward. You can hear it in the quiet, tapping away down the only exit: right next to the Sphinx.

You try your luck; you suck in a deep breath and make a run for it, but the creature is quicker than you are, and it dives down to block your path, roaring in your face with such ferocity that you’re left only with shock. Your face stings with the heat. You gag, and step back. Metal bars slammed down across the exit, and the way you’d come in, blocking your way out indefinitely. Looking longingly through the bars, you lost sight and sound of the spider, heart sinking.

When the bars were settled, the creature smiled. Somewhat horrifying, the voice to leave its mouth was on par. “Welcome, lucky contestants! Are you ready to play…GUESS THE RIDDLE?!”

Spotlights cranked into place and blinded Grover, who slapped a hand over his eyes. Canned applause blasted like there were a dozen soundbars in the room. Something popped from the ceiling, and glittering rained down, sparkling purple, pink and silver in the spotlight.

The Sphinx prowled the room and flicked back her head like you would tossing your hair over your shoulder. “Pass the test, demigods, and you get to advance! Fail, and I eat you for dinner! So! Who will be our contestant tonight?”

“Grover,” you point instantly, and then feel terrible because he looked rather sick. Coincidentally, both boys looked at you. “What, you think I’m smart enough for this shit?” You hiss.

“Absolutely!” Percy encouraged. “And we’ll be right here to fight for you!”

“Totally!” Nodded Grover. He reached into his pocket and produced a stick, and began munching on it instantly. A nervous habit, you’ve come to realise.

“How romantic,” you roll your eyes to Percy, but inside your stomach says SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! You deflated at the shoulders, and squeezed your flashlight between your fingers. Approaching the CONTESTANT podium, it wasn’t difficult to notice the dusty skeleton in a school uniform still leaning over the platform, jaw hanging open.

Holding your flashlight by the very end, you gave the skeleton a shove, and then a kick for good measure. It toppled off the side and clattered to the ground, bones rattling. You side-eyed it and quickly looked away. “So sorry, man.”

“Welcome, daughter of Athena!” The Sphinx cried in a cheesy, televised tone. “Are you ready for your questions?”

You point your flashlight at her. “Uhhhh—no.”

“I need an answer!”

“Sure, yeah. Give me the question, then.” At the side of the room, Percy sends you what is supposed to be an encouraging set of a thumbs-up, and a large smile, nodding his head.

“Riddles, actually, get it right dear. Anywho! Twenty riddles coming your way!” A drumroll sounded overhead, rattling your organs the bass was so deep. There may as well have been a band up in the ceiling. Hell, maybe there was. “What is…the Capital of Bulgaria?”

Embarrassingly, you almost fall flat. “Pffttt, I know this.”

“You know this!” Encouraged Percy from his place, except when you turned to look at him, he was leaning against the wall and sweating. Very encouraging. “You’ve got this, B!”

“Isn’t it, like Sofia, or something? And that isn’t even a riddle, that’s just basic knowledge—”

Applause screamed above. The Sphinx smiled too sweetly, and her sharp canines showed. “Correct! Now, mark down your answers in the booklet with the yellow pencil.”

You eye your empty hands. “What pencil—?” With a solid POP! the pencil, sharpened to a point, appeared on top of the little booklet like magic.

“Now,” said the Sphinx. “If you need to erase an answer, be sure to do it COMPLETELY! Or else the machine is unable to read the answers.” She smiled with closed eyes. A horrible sight, really. The nightmares will be anticipated, when you’re out of here.

Waving around your pencil, and growing slightly annoyed with the creature, you huff. “What machine?”

With a large paw, the Sphinx made a pointing movement to the giant bronze thing situation to the side. It had appeared under a spotlight, and was covered in the Greek letter Êta. If you weren’t wrong, that was Hephaestus’s mark.

Another nail in the coffin of life being a total joke.

“Now!” The Sphinx clapped her paws. “Next question!”

“Shit question,” you mumbled. You set your hands on either side of the podium and waited.

“I beg your pardon?” The Sphinx grew still instantly, clearly annoyed.

“Nothing. Continue.”

“What is the square root of sixteen?”

“Oh. I cant do math. Uhm…”

“Ten seconds on the clock!”

A loud and irritating ticking began with an audible countdown from invisible voices, making your eyes ring. Suddenly uncomfortable, you dip your head and discreetly look at Percy, whose hand moves at his side.

“Four?” You frown.

A bell rang off. “Correct! Which United States president signed the Civil Rights Act?”

“Lyndon. B. Johnson? I th—”

“Correct! Which planet spins clockwise?”

“Venus?”

“Which part of the human body is incapable of healing itself?”

“I think it’s your teeth?” You shift on your feet, feeling way too under pressure.

“Need a definite answer!” The Sphinx pointed to the ceiling with a paw, and the countdown began.

Tiredly, you drawl, “It’s your teeth.”

“Correct again! What comes into the world with more bones than the adult human?”

“A baby?”

“Correct!”

The questions go on, and on until your mind feels like a battered sieve, bent out of shape and a little corroded. You passed twenty questions, and stared at Percy, unimpressed, as a dozen layers of glitter and confetti rained down upon you. A techno electric song began blasting over the invisible speakers in celebration. Grover was taking deep breaths, mumbling under his breath, probably thanking the gods. When you found your place next to Percy, he huffed a laugh, and glitter shifted from your face as he did.

“Oh, you did great!” He offered. The metal bars ground out a horrid noise as they rose back to where they came from. “I knew you could do it.”

“You offered me up like paint at an artist’s house.”

Grover, still praying, took off with his eyes closed, doing a little jig. The Sphinx took a seat at dais, eyes closed. She looked somewhat frozen, barely breathing. When Grover passed on by, it was as if she’d never moved at all.

Clapping a hand down on your head, Percy shook the confetti and glitter like dust from your hair. “I’m sorry,” he said, though he said so with a humoured smile. “I’ll never do it again. Friends?”

“Suppose so,” you shrug, and glitter dances to the ground.

“Let’s go, disco ball. We need to find that spider.”

You skedaddled past the Sphinx whom paid you no mind, and out the tunnel way, leaving a trail of glitter. After a few wrong turns, and following Grover’s voice, and finally managed to locate your friend and the spider, which threw itself at a metal door, a little bit of light spilling out underneath it. In the middle of the door, old and creaking despite not touching it, was nailed a big sign, wilting like it had been melted, dashed with the same sign as the answering machine ten minutes ago: the Greek Êta.

“Are we ready to meet Hephaestus?” Grover asked nervously.

“I’m ready to ask why he spends his time down here,” you grumbled. “Why not somewhere nice?”

Deciding you’d done enough today, Percy reached out around you for the door handle, and gave it a good push. The door screamed, slowly opening, revealing all inside.

The room was bigger than words could describe. It was filled to the brim with machines and makings, some working, some not. There were cars, half-built just lying around, and bits of mechanical animals waiting to be put together. A fire burned in the corner of the room, not tended to though. A dozen tools hung from the walls and were splashed across work tables.

Nobody noticed him until the door slammed shut, you screamed, and he shifted out from underneath a car. A giant man in dirty work pants, and a leg in a metal brace.

“Well, what do we have here?” He boomed. Maybe it was wrong to be so terrified, but you were, and you found yourself shifting slowly, subtly, taking your place beside Percy.

Unfortunately, your slinking act didn’t last for long. When Hephaestus stood properly, he towered way over the three of you.

“I didn’t make you demigods, did I?”

Percy coughed. “No, sir.”

He was tall, and his beard was smoking. The metal spider perched on his head.

“Good. Terrible workmanship.”

“We’ve met, sir,” said Percy.

“Have we, now?” His tone indicated that he couldn’t care less. “Well, if I didn’t get rid of you the first time I won’t need to now, I suppose. And a Satyr. Wow. You’re all far from home. There better be a good reason for disturbing me.”

“We’re looking for Daedalus—”

The god’s beard flickered ten times brighter, and he seemed to get taller. “Daedalus?” He roared.

“Yes, sir, please.” Grover pleaded nervously.

“You’re wasting your time.” He stomped over to the corner of the room, and began to tinker with some pieces of metal. “I understand you met my mother.”

“Yes, sir,” Percy nodded.

“What did you think of her, daughter of Athena?” You jolt at your place, and wish the ground would open up and take you. Side-stepping, you remain half behind Percy, grimacing. “She’ll smile to your face and talk about important values, family values. Didn’t stop her pitching me off of Olympus.”

Why me? You wish you could ask. Why are you asking me?

“I thought that was Zeus?” Percy tries to deflect.

Hephaestus spun on his feet like a top, facing you. “She likes telling that version. Makes her more likeable doesn’t it? The truth is, my mother loves families, but only certain types of families. She influences, and she lobbies. She likes to get involved.”

Finally, he looked up from the metal in his large hands, and focused on Percy. “Oh, this one doesn’t like me. I’ll bite, demigod—what do you want?”

“We told you,” Percy snapped. “We need to find Daedalus. It’s important. There’s this guy, a son of Hermes, and he’s working with Kronos. They’re trying to find a way to navigate this maze to take over everywhere. If we don’t get to Daedalus first—”

“And I told you, son of Poseidon—you’re wasting your time. He won’t help you.”

Hephaestus shrugged his heavy shoulders. “Some of us are thrown off of cliffs and some of us learn not to trust people. Ask me for gold, or a new sword. I can grant you those things. But a way to Daedalus? Well, that’s an expensive favour.”

“So you know where he is?” Asked Grover. “He’s down here at least?”

“It isn’t wise to go looking.”

But isn’t looking the nature of wisdom?

Hephaestus made a deep, rumbling sigh. “If I help you, there will be a price. I need a favour, too.”

“Name it,” demanded Percy.

“You heroes! You like making your promises. How very…refreshing.” The god reached out with a giant hand to push a button in the wall, and it instantly changed. The concrete and metal combined twisted and glowed until it became a television screen, showing mountains, and a forest. Smoke bellowed from the background.

“One of my forges gone, but this used to be my favourite.”

“But that’s Mount St. Helens!” Pointed out Grover. “But you said it used to be your favourite?”

“Well, the monster, Typhon, is trapped there.”

“What do you want us to do? Fight him for you?” Ah, Percy; ever the brave.

Hephaestus snorted meanly. “Well that’s suicide. Someone or something is using my forges there. They sense me coming, and they go, when I try to search it. There is something ancient and evil waiting there, and I want to know who has invaded my territory.”

“You want us to find out who it is.”

“Correct!” Your brain aches, thinking back to the Sphinx. “Find what you can and report back to me, and then I’ll tell you everything I know. Promise.”

“Fine,” Percy nodded. “How do we get there?”

Hephaestus clapped his hands together, and the mechanical spider fell from the rafters, right at your feet. You jumped about ten feet in the air, and screamed so loud it was bolstered by the metal walls. “My creation will show the way. Try to stay alive, young ones. Humans are much more fragile than automatons.”

For a while, you followed the spider without any trouble. The paths seemed unusually normal, just straightforward tunnels of concrete, or metal park slides the whole way down. But the ground began to change to dirt, and trees sprouted in the darkness, and a singular tunnel led away from the original path—Grover was headed straight for it, as if in a trance. He slowed, and slowed and stopped, just before the entrance.

“Come on,” you groaned. “Let’s go, man, It’s not far.”

“This is the way, guys!” Grover mumbled. “This is it! I can feel it!”

“What way?” Probed Percy. “You don’t mean…you know he’s there? Pan? Really?”

“Yes!” He exclaimed, suddenly reinvigorated. “This is it, guys!”

You followed after the spider, intent on not losing it, but held back when neither Grover or Percy followed.

“I have to follow this. I won’t get this chance ever again. You know that, right?”

On the one hand, you wanted to tell Grover to not be selfish. This was the original quest and it was important. But on the other, saying that would mean you were being selfish, holding Grover back from the only thing he wanted. He’d gone along with your plan for a while now, and outwardly telling him that he shouldn’t be doing the one thing he’d ever wanted would feel like stabbing him.

“Percy,” said Grover, “we will find each other again. We have the empathy link, remember? I have to do this. I have to; he’s…so close!”

Because, at the end of the day, this was all Grover had wanted for so long. Really, it felt cruel to tell him no.

Percy sucked in a breath through his teeth. “I hope you’re right.”

“I swear it, I am.”

“Just be careful, yeah? And find us, afterwards.”

Maybe it was to be your last sight of Grover. Perhaps you’d never see him again, although you really didn’t want to think so. You looked after him, as he wandered into the tunnel surrounded by darkness and tree roots winding from the ground until finally he’d gone completely.

It left a strange feeling that something was going to happen.

“We shouldn’t have split up,” you shake your head. “This is a horrible idea!”

“We’ll see him again…” Percy tried to sound confident, but even he fell a little short. He chewed his cheek, still looking at the tunnel Grover had left through. “Don’t worry. Come on, let’s catch up with that spider. It won’t wait for us.”

And it didn’t. The tiny spider scuttled through tunnels and tunnels, down slopes and up them. They grew tighter, and hotter, until your face dripped with sweat. The flashlight slipped in your hand, and you’d been forced to put away your dagger for fear of it slipping away.

More than once you had to stop in place and wipe the sweat dripping into your eyes, sticky and slippy. Your hair grew damp, uncomfortable around your face.

Percy seemed to be struggling the same way. When you turned back to him, his cheeks were bright red like cherries, highlighting the green in his eyes. Somehow, he managed a smile, nodding encouragingly. You swallowed hard, throat as dry as anything.

“Keep going!” He urged. “It’s not far, now, I know it.”

You didn’t want to tell him that he was a little too optimistic for it to be true, but who were you to burst his bubble?

It realistically didnt take a long time, but it certainly felt like it did. Eventually, the spider stopped short and curled into a ball, rolling down a little decline before it popped back open, and crawled a small distance. At last it waited for you and Percy.

The room before you now was the size of a large football stadium, times two thousand. It was so big you could scarcely see each end. The worst part, when you pushed aside the fact that you couldn’t really see properly, was the fact the floor was not floor at all but a plaza of bubbling lava, and your only way to get across should the need arise was two lengths of metal bridges, which ultimately, if the pool of lava was anything to go by, would be too hot to walk across for human beings. Here and there on little platforms were machines bigger than you, rumbling, whirring. Perhaps they weren’t the weird things though—the creatures, dark and shapeless and moving around the solid concrete platform around the lava, paid you no mind. Maybe they’d yet to see you.

“Let’s go, while they’re not looking,” hissed Percy. He snatched up your hand and pulled you along, despite how sweaty you were.

“Hold up!” You pulled back on him, but he persevered. “Percy, wait! We need a plan.”

“We don’t need a plan. We just need to get some information and get out of here.”

“Exactly why we need a plan!”

Your eyes began to burn from the heat of the lava, and your lungs ached from the smoke. It became difficult to even see, so it didn’t take long at all for something to go wrong.

“Agh!” Percy screamed, and you reached out blindly in the smoky haze to slap your hand over his mouth—you missed, and your palm found his eyes instead. “Ow!”

“Shut up, idiot!” You couldn’t help but laugh. “What did you do?”

“Kicked a cart by accident. I can’t see a damn thing with all this smoke.”

Near enough four years ago, when you met Percy, you wouldn’t have thought you’d be creeping around a pit filled with lava and carrying a deadly weapon in your backpack. At most, you’d believed you’d go through high school and eventually Percy would find other friends. You would see each other in hallways in brief glances and walk on by. Maybe in another life. In a normal life, if you’d been born to both mortal parents. You might have even had a dog in the mix. It was strange to think about, as he pulled you down behind a crate, not caring even a little bit about your sweaty palm, or the fact that you’d accidentally slapped him in the face. Life worked in funny ways. The Fates certainly chose you two for a reason, though you couldn’t be sure what that reason was, yet. Maybe, when you’d asked to be born again, the Judges in the Underworld decided you needed some more excitement in your life. Or maybe they hated you, and you’d done wrong before, whoever you were before, because to be here now you’d have to have been here once—after seeing the Underworld with your own eyes, there was no more questioning life after death. Did you reach Elysium? Were you a nice person?

Being a demigod had its pros, its cons, and its questions. It enabled deep thinking.

“Come on, just go around it,” you nodded to the sight up ahead. Percy went to climb to his feet…

That was when you heard the voices.

“Shit! Get in the cart!”

Pulling back the tarp, stinging your fingers, Percy clambered over the edge and into the pile of metal pieces, flat and smooth between the hot cart. He raised his hands, holding up the tarp as you shot a hasty look in the direction of the voices; shadows were growing bigger on the wall. You flopped into the cart in an uncomfortable position of squashed-up legs, Percy’s longer set digging into your side. You tried to move over as far as you could to make room for him but really there wasn’t much point. He flipped the tarp over your heads, and together you held your breath.

It turned red. With the tarp now covering the pair of you, light from the flowing lava pit illuminated the red tarp, casting an amber glow.

Riptide? you mouthed to Percy. Your dagger sat in your backpack, crushed under your weight and between the cart.

He raised his hand ever so slightly, and twirled the pen in response.

“Bring it in?” One voice asked. It was deep.

“Yeah, movie’s just finished.”

Lowering your gaze from the side of the cart, you meet Percy’s. Movie?

Suddenly, the cart jerked, and tipped forward. You jostled into Percy, and thrust your hands out to either side of the cart. The metal was warm. You slammed your mouth shut, hoping nobody heard the surprised squeak.

“Hey! Thought you said this was a small load? Thing weighs a ton!”

Rude.

“It’s celestial bronze, idiot,” the other voice laughed. “What did you think, it’d be light? Hurry up and set it in the back, for crying out load. Hey, younglings! Watch the damn movie. I’ll answer your questions later.”

Had you found some secret school? Were people living here? Younglings didn’t sound very human, however. Nobody in their right mind would use that language.

But a movie did play. You strained your ears, trying to make some sort of sense of where you were. Growth spurts, and hygiene working in the forges.

“And lastly, don’t neglect your flipper hygiene!” The soapy voice rang over speakers. “Good flippers equal good mind!”

Percy spun Riptide between his fingers, dashing back and forth and swapping hands. His dark brows furrowed in concentration, tired eyes pinned on nothing in particular. They seemed brighter in here, somehow. More ‘calm before the storm’ rather than their usual ‘storm’.

“So, younglings, what is the correct name of our particular species? You, at the back!”

“Sea demons!” A voice cried.

“No,” the ‘teacher’ flatlined. “You?”

“Telekhines!” Another voice grumbled.

“Brill! And why are we here, guys?”

“Revenge! Revenge against the Greek god Zeus, for casting us down to Tartarus!”

“Indeed! And only after we created their weapons, might I add!”

So, you were dealing with a bunch of salty monsters. Great.

“Zeus cast us away,” the teacher continued in a mocking, sad voice. “Down to Tartarus. We had no control in this, young ones, no choice! Which is why now is our perfect time for a takeover! We will start here, in the very forges of Hephaestus! And soon after, the undersea furnaces, too!”

There was a huge uproar of applause and yells, some barking, some screaming. Terrible noise, honestly. And that was only the very tip of the iceberg.

You’d done your research after being at camp for so long. You’d come across their names, the Telekhines, but the gross result of the previous Titan takeover remained a subject to be avoided. To you, even reading about the ugliness of that period was enough, never mind looking at pictures of the creatures produced then. Maybe Ares was right, so long ago—you valued prettiness and vanity so much that you may as well have been a daughter of Aphrodite rather than Athena. Is that why your mother wouldn’t connect with you? Did she see her sister, rather than her daughter? Brains and beauty go hand-in-hand, but the Gods have their own set of values and expectations. You didn’t live up to too many of them. Maybe you were vain—perhaps a little too much. Probably ignorant, too.

On your head it was, then, that you had clue what you were up against.

“Who do we serve, Telekhines?”

“Kronos!”

“And when you all grow to full maturity, who will you serve? Whose army will you fight for?”

“Kronos!”

“Lovely. Now, at the back we have brought some scraps for you to practice making weapons with. Go ahead and take a look—but share! We don’t need any arguments today.”

You scrambled in place. Percy’s elbow kneaded into your stomach as he tried to set up Riptide early. Reflexively, your foot shot out at the feeling, and booted his knee cap. Your hand fell to his shoulder, urgently whispering, “backpack. Open my backpack!”

Alas, you both prepared too late. The tarp was thrown away by…human hands. Except the creatures they belonged to one-hundred percent were not human beings. A dozen faces looked in, with snouts like dogs, wet and slimy, and bodies of sea lions, all black and shiny.

“Demigods!” One growled.

“Eat them!” Cried another; from the back of group, there was a sound like nashers clashing.

Fortunately for you, they had also prepared too late. Riptide appeared in full form, and in one strong swoop, Percy decapitated the whole row. They disappeared in puffs of dust, sent straight back to where they came from.

“Back off!” Percy yelled, jabbing at another one.

You swung your arm back with your torch still in hand, and swatted one on the snout. It barked, but retreated, giving you the room you needed to clamber out of the cart.

You came face-to-face with a hunched over, crouching Telekhine with the features of a Doberman, snarling. Your shoes squeaked the further you backed up, right to Percy’s back. The back of his head very briefly knocked the top of yours. He had your back, and you most definitely had his. Very slyly, his free hand rose and made contact with your side, following the strap of your backpack and skimming across it blindly. What was he doing?

“New lesson, class,” said Percy. You clutched the flashlight harder, as the six-foot Telekhine began to advance, its fangs making an appearance briefly. The zipper of your bag jingled, and—ah, Percy was trying to get your dagger. “Monsters tend to vaporise when slashed with a celestial bronze sword. Just like this—!”

The Telekhines dove, driving Percy into gear. He abandoned your backpack, taking one firm swipe to the next set of monsters. They dissolved instantly, little clouds of ash and dust sending puffs in the air. The warm handle of Riptide was pressed into your palm straight after, and you dropped your flashlight. With both hands around the hilt, you swung the sword over your shoulder and back again like you would a baseball bat. The speed at which you did so enabled you to get a surprise hit on the advancing, taller monster, and you split him down the middle. Its essence went up like a bomb. The rest of the monsters were backed up, but you didn’t have long.

You threw the sword back to Percy blindly. Turning, he reached out a hand for yours. “Let’s go!” With eyes wide in anticipation and adrenaline, still furiously red in the face, he pulled you along. In tandem, you made a dive for the exit tunnel, where a door had been placed.

Bingo. Sliding into the safe space, you threw your body back against the door and held it in place while Percy’s deft hands made quick work of the wheel handle, spinning it until it locked. Monsters thudded on the other side, the sound like thunder in this winding tunnel.

Back in the open lava room, you noticed a couple of things that weren’t there before: one, four sea demons even taller than the rest, at least nine-feet; two, the statue and work of which they hammered away at in the middle of the room by the first bridge; three, the harsh language they spoke did not register in your mind. An old language, then. Old as hell.

“What are they making?” You muttered, trying to get a good look without exposing yourself. Sparks flew from the large piece of metal between them.

Percy sighed. “Whatever it is, it isn’t good. They were banished to Tartarus by Zeus for a reason. Now, I don’t like the guy, but I’m pretty sure he’d have a good enough reason for doing something like that.”

You’d nearly forgotten about the locked door at the end of the tunnel, until the creatures came falling through. Crawling over each other, they began to run towards you.

Percy grabbed you by the shoulders, sword dangerously close to your face. He’d never let it touch you, you trusted, but even the aura of it was unsettling so close to your skin. “Start running. Get a head start.”

You shook your head and scoffed. “Ha, no. We leave together.”

“We don’t have time to leave together!” He exclaimed, “I’m gonna hold them back while you get a head start. If you get to Hephaestus first, he might help us. Tell him what we found out, and I’ll be right behind. Got it?”

You liked to think, later, that the final look in Percy’s eyes was determination. It certainly seemed that way, storming bright, his mouth set firmly. You weren’t to fight a whole army with a flashlight and a dagger stuck deep in your bag with no time to grab it.

“Just go!” He ordered. You took a single step back, unsure, until he reached out with one strong hand and gave your shoulder a confident push. “I’ll be right behind you. I promise.”

The army advanced and by this point, the taller, grown ones had taken notice of what was happening. More of those came out of the walls, too, and the dark shapes from earlier finally paid attention to the two of you.

In one movement, not thinking at all, you threw yourself forward, and threw your arms firmly around Percy’s neck. He smelled like sweat and boy and dirt from being down in the maze for so long, but you didn’t care one bit. He was warm and solid and sure and here, and his free hand touched your back, before tugging on your shirt. You moved away, to see something not unlike real desperation on his face.

“Now go,” he ordered, one last time.

And you listened.

You made a run for the way you’d came, and the sounds of the forge were drowned out the further you ran away. At first, it was fine—lights like the metal ones of an old Cold War bunker lit your path. Nausea reigned, until you and your heaving chest took a break against a wall just for a second. You hadn’t gone too far, but the Telekhines weren’t here yet. Percy said he’d be right behind. You’d wait here for him.

Or you could go back.

Kneeling, you slid your bag from your back and unzipped it. Percy had moved the zipper not even halfway in his mission to get your dagger for you. It sat between your jacket and your packets of food. You pulled out a water bottle and sipped slowly. Shrugging your bag back on your shoulders, you waited a second on weak legs, trying to regain some strength.

The tunnel remained silent if you excused your laboured breathing. The lights on the ceiling began to flicker, dimming and brightening again, probably trying to move you along and change itself. It wouldn’t have been unsettling if Grover and Percy were with you, but they weren’t, and you felt completely alone in this maze despite knowing they were still down here too. You laid your hand on your forehead and ran it through your sweaty hairline, trying to wipe the remains of your overheating from your face. As you did, and slowly got to your feet, the lights flickered even more intensely.

That was just before the ground began to shake. At first it was a tiny amount of trembling, and soundless, beneath your feet. Its intensity grew in size pretty quickly, from a little shaking to full-blown rumbling, like an explosion was popping off and heading your way. You stepped back once, trying to make sense of the direction, and only looked up the way you came just as the lights went out silently. It was like a bomb exploded, or some part of the tunnel had blown apart. A fierce gush of wind blew, so forceful you had no choice in being shoved to the wall, hot air hitting you square in the face. Bits of debris and dirt were blown in your eyes, gritting and painful. Just as it began, it ended, and the sound of the maze changing again came through loud and clear.

Which left you with two bouts of knowledge:

One: Percy had definitely just been killed.

and Two: you were totally, utterly lost, without even a flashlight.

Standing in the aftermath of hot, diffusing air from the direction of the forges, breathing in bits of explosion, there was absolutely no denying that your best friend had just been blown to smithereens. Nobody survived an explosion like that. Nobody.

Even so, your mind turned on autopilot. What happened after the explosion was numbed and distorted, like looking through murky water and only half-awake.

“No,” you mumbled, “no, no, no. Not happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.”

Horror began to sink in, and you felt suddenly extremely, permanently wounded. Percy was, without a doubt, very, very dead. You scarcely moved, scarcely breathed. Staring at a wall replacing what you thought was where you came from, but now couldn’t be completely sure, because you’d dropped your flashlight back in the blown-up cavern, and your best friend was lying in bits and pieces of body somewhere you couldn’t reach. The mind runs rampant in panic. All you could think of was blood, and bones.

You might have screamed. You thought you did. Your throat turns sore and raw, and you figure you’ve been screaming for a while in the darkness on your own.

How strange it was that Percy had been the only thing keeping you safe this whole time. Without him, you feel exposed even when nothing can see you. They can definitely sense you. You hear something coming, like a body being dragged along the ground, and decide now would be a good time to get up and go. But your hands and feet are numb and tingling, evidence of a panic attack. Your head swims without sight, and you can’t feel the wall when you touch your fingers to it.

Your feet hurt when they take step after step until you’re running, dragging your fingers blindly along the dark tunnel as some semblance of a path finder. The walls change, and twice you fall. It’s embarrassing, scraping your chin on brick, eating dirt. You stumble up stairs, walk through cobwebs and feel things crawling up your neck, and scream now and again out of sheer annoyance, sheer exhaustion. You begin to pray, muttering insanely under your breath to anyone who will listen: first your mom, and you beg her to forgive any doubts you had. Then you beg Hermes, the patron of travellers, to at least give you direction here. And finally Ares, because the only thing fuelling your body is determination to not die down here.

Someone has your back.

Just as you’re beginning to freak out again, you feel the wall begin to curve around, and dip. And…grow…lighter? And it is, growing lighter. There’s a glow coming from a door at the end of the tunnel, and you’ve seen this door before.

You’ve made it back to Hephaestus’s workshop in one piece.

You think about knocking. And then you realise how stupid that idea is, and burst right in.

Heaving, sweating, and rubbing your sore chin, you stand wilting in the doorway of his workshop. He’s hanging from the ceiling on some sort of platform, but jumps down when he notices you.

“Ah,” he cleared his throat. “It’s you.” Hephaestus raises his hand to his beard and pats at it, putting out a great deal of fire burning there.

“Percy’s dead. And Grover is as good as.” You swallow, and kick the door shut blindly. “I want a way out of here, and you’re going to help me.”

“Look at you, making all the demands!” He laughs. It’s bellowing, and it rumbles the room. “Little demigod. Get a hold of yourself. You’re getting tears on my floor.”

You flinch in place at his cruelty. “My best friend just died!” You yell out. “Percy’s dead, because you told us to do something. This is your fault.”

Hephaestus looks up from the screwdriver in his hand, to meet your eyes head on. It’s like tiny fires are burning there. “Hold your tongue, daughter of Athena. It’s unbecoming. And I didn’t kill the other one—whatever was in there did that.”

“Telekhines,” you spat. A gritty tear rolls down your cheek. “That’s what’s in there. Or, was. It’s all blown apart now. So we went there for nothing. I hope you know they’re all against you. Kronos’s army is rising, and they’re coming for you.” And I can’t say I blame them.

He paused, raised a brow briefly, and scoffed. “Demigods don’t scare me.”

“No, but Kronos does. And he’s still coming whether you like it or not. You killed my friend. So I have a request.”

Hephaestus threw down the instrument in his hand, colliding with a metal worktop and echoing somewhat off the walls. You cringe, but refuse to back up. “Look at you, demigod, making all the requests.” He pauses for a moment. “But I cannot deny you, I suppose. You did as I asked. You want a way home.”

“Of course I want a way home,” you seethed.

He cocked his head and huffed. “Go out of here. Follow the tunnel left, and all the way down. You’ll find your way home, daughter of Athena.”

Without a ‘thank you’ you find yourself marching out of his workshop, abandoning the door. You do as he says, and it feels ridiculously easy, hand on the wall again and sliding your fingers across to follow the way it bends. Left, and all the way down. Your fingers hit a bump in the wall, and that little bump instantly begins to glow dark blue.

It makes you think of Percy, but you have no energy left to cry with.

Hephaestus wasn’t misleading you, then. Stepping away from the hole opening up over your head, dirt caves in and crumbles around your feet. A dirty ladder begins to shake its way out of the dirt wall, all the way up to the new gap in the earth.

You hear voices, as you heave up the ladder. It’s short, and doesn’t take long to reach the opening at the top, where a hand has reached down to help you up, a face peering in—Clarisse.

Her expression is one of apprehension, and it’s as serious and firm as ever. Her muddy eyes flick over your face, and you imagine you must look a state. Your chin still burns with your ground collision, cheek smarted.

For a second, as she pulls you with a strong hand from the Labyrinth, she doesn’t say anything. You barely look at Clarisse, crawling out of the hole. A distance away you can hear voices.

“They’re all patrolling that way,” she grumbled. “Bit of a stupid move on our part. You’re lucky I was here, and not…” she trails off. You’re not quite short who you were lucky she wasn’t to be, because you can’t find anything in yourself to question her.

Instead, you shake your head. Clarisse pulls you to your feet, and you’re vividly aware of the smell of camp, strawberries and the smell of the trees. The air is a cold shock above ground.

Finally you look up. You meet Clarisse’s somewhat concerned look. She stares expectantly.

“Percy’s dead,” you swallow. Clarisse’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second, then everything falls from her face. “Grover’s gone. And I need to talk to Chiron.”

“Wait—” you stumble past her, tearing your arm from her grip. The world feels blurred. “They’re—they’re both dead?! They’re gone?”

“That’s what I said, Clarisse!” You snap, raising your arm to wipe your eyes.

“We all thought that you’d be fine down there!” She follows after you. “You’re—capable, at the least! I don’t understand!”

You walk quickly through the woods, tearing past groups of people on guard, and some kids playing by the cabins. Up ahead is the Big House, your destination. People call your name when they see you, but there’s nothing left to answer them with.

You wished you could smiled, walking into the house. You wished Grover and Percy were right behind you, laughing at something stupid as usual. You might have been greeted by your friends with cheers, quest completed successfully.

Murphy’s Law says anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. If you have a handful of opportunities of things that can go wrong, the one most likely to cause damage will occur. You’ve deducted that Murphy’s Law is charging your life.

So, you walk the creaking, fading steps of the Big House and along the porch. You thought of Percy at the very beginning of all of this, recovering on this porch. It made you think of returning here after Bianca passed. You throw open the door, bordered by white drapes, met with silence.

“Hey,” calls Clarisse. “Hey, look, I know how you feel. But we should get you to the med bay first. You look about to pass out.”

And you feel it, too. But you can’t rest until you’ve settled this.

Chiron’s face lights up when he hears you, standing in the doorway. Brown eyes warm and welcoming sadly fade, like he knows.

You choke on a sudden flow of tears, the back of your hand flying to your mouth. “He’s dead,” you tell him outright. “Percy’s dead.”

That’s the most important thing to tell. Not that you didn’t find Daedalus, or that you insulted a god down there, nor that you abandoned Nico. After all, it is the worst thing imaginable, in your eyes. All-consuming horror, taking over every inch of you. Your best friend, your longest friend, is dead.

“He saved me,” you whisper shakily.

There’s a lot of hush on camp, after that. The daylight was already fading when you came up above ground again, and it’s nearly gone now, the sky a dull, sad shade of dark-blue. Clarisse declared the time to be six o’clock in the evening exactly when you climbed out of the Labyrinth. You spend two hours going over everything in excruciating detail, from the second you stepped foot in the maze and the meeting with Hera, the blown-up forge, and what you saw. Everything feels strange after spending, as Chiron tells you, a week in almost complete darkness, with no way to tell time, in a setting altering itself every few minutes. The distant sound of laughing campers and the kids playing by the lake are long gone, as if the whole camp knows what has happened—maybe they do know. But nobody can feel the grief you feel, the struggle to really accept what happened. Logically, Percy is very, extremely dead and gone. Your heart is beginning something to change.

You don’t sleep well that night. Chiron writes down every little thing you say, and has Clarisse bring up some food for dinner for you. It’s kind, and unusual for her. She keeps her gaze lowered the whole thing you’re there, but she isn’t mean, so that’s something.

It’s nearly nine o’clock, and you’ve washed and dressed, ready for sleep in the spare room on the third floor of the house. There’s absolutely no way you can face company tonight—you’re drained completely, and know the second you hit the pillow you’ll be out. Nursing a cup of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows per Chiron’s sympathy, you settle at the table, swirling around the pink and white delicacies in your mug with a teaspoon. It’s a kind thought to make it for you, but you don’t need hot chocolate; you need to scream. You need to grab the nearest bat, and smash up the kitchen. You notice a rolling pin hanging from the wall…

“We need to talk about the maze,” says Chiron in a low tone.

It’s late and you want to sleep. “We already did.” You clink the spoon against the mug.

“It’s just…my dear, nobody navigates the maze like that. The way you described, coming back in the dark… Chris Rodriguez and Clarisse were down there for weeks, separated, and neither managed to find a way out alone. Someone found them. Alone, they might have been stuck down there for a lot longer than they were. They were the last people to go down before yourself, Percy and Grover. You walked alone, and found your way not only to the workshop, but back out of the maze again in one short go.” He pauses. “How did you do it?”

You swallow and breathe in order to ebb away the annoyance you’re feeling a lot of. You shrug. “I uh…I just knew what to do. Hephaestus told me which way to go before Clarisse found me but—well, I just walked the rest. Couldn’t see a damn thing.”

“You just knew?” He repeats. Raising your head, Chiron is frowning deeply. “To me, it doesn’t seem right. Put it this way, my dear—nobody has been able to navigate the maze like that since Luke.”

You slam down the mug in an instant on the hard wood table, spilling the contents all over the table, dripping to the floor. “Alright, so you think I’m working with Luke? Because I walked a couple of tunnels alone? If you really believe after my best friend was killed by the very people Luke is working with, that I’d work with that guy, your head needs a good tap, no offence.” You stand up swiftly, knocking the chair back. He calls your name but you ignore it and stomp up the stairs to your temporary bedroom.

In there, you lock the door, get on your knees, and pray. Your tears soak your clasped hands at the side of the bed. You get on your knees, and you beg.

I’ve added the song ‘everything in its right place’ by Radiohead to the capsize playlist on Spotify if you want to give it a listen! Figured it worked well with the end of this chapter. After all, these things are Fated to unravel whether our main gal likes it or not ☺️ the song absolutely hits me in the gut. It’s the epitome of ‘oh, it didn’t go the way you planned? tough. it’s meant to be this way’ and the realisation that things are falling as they should.

taglist:

@bl6o6dy @embersparklz @lilyevanswhore @rottenstyx @rory-cakes @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @marshmallow12435 @lantsovheiress @distinguishedmakerpandapatrol @twsssmlmaa @gayandfairycore @padsfirewhisky @emu281 @charlesswife @jessiegerl @tojismassivemantiddies @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx @nothankyou138 @obxstiles @mxltifxnd0m @cxcilla @itzjustj-1000 @sp00kcanwrite @randomesthings @fratbrochrisgf @prongsflower @bugszi

[cabotwife]

Play the Game (masterlist)

the hunger games x pjo au

plot : everything changed for you the day you got reaped. Mags and Finnick prepare you the best they can, but can anything truly prepare you for what is to come in the arena?

relationships :

- percy jackson x annabeth chase

- clarisse la rue x y/n odair

- finnick odair x annie cresta

- johanna mason x y/n odair

info :

- main characters

- side characters

shorts :

- annie comes home

chapters :

- (i)

- (ii)

[folklorewoods]

A Nico sketch I did recently🐈‍⬛

[wheelsvoid]

NEW WORLDS ; PJO

⇢ you suddenly arrive in the percy jackson world, at the start of the titan’s curse

masterlist

genre: platonic, angst

word count: 1,537

warnings: panic attacks, weapons, violence

fanart by frostbite studios

original plot rights go to rick riordan

When I could see again, I was back on my feet. Sound buzzed in my ears—the sounds of voices, music, laughter and anything that I should not have been hearing after passing out on the sidewalk.

I examined my surroundings; kids my age or younger were bustling around in what looked to be a school gym. Some were dancing, others were just talking in small groups, and some were keeping to themselves.

How did I get here?

I heard voices close to me, and nearly jumped out of my skin when they addressed me.

"Y/N?" A high pitched voice came from my right, and I turned to see a small boy, around my height, with olive skin and dark silky hair. The boy was shuffling trading cards in his hands, looking at me expectantly. Next to him, a girl stood with a scowl on her face that seemed to be slowly fading as she looked at me with concern. She wore a green cap on her head, which seemed to be covering part of her face. I assumed it was done on purpose.

I wasn't stupid; I knew this scene looked scarily familiar to one I had read—no! That was ridiculous. There's no way.

"Are you okay, Y/N?" The girl asked. I felt a chill run down my spine. They knew my name. I didn't even have a second to panic further before the boy spoke.

"I was asking you which one was your favourite." He said, holding out the cards. I eyed them cautiously, as if they might melt in his hands, and I would wake from a strange dream in Westover Hall. Because Westover Hall didn't exist. This wasn't real.

"Um..." I stuttered, glancing around with nervous breaths slowly leaving my lungs.

"Y/N," the girl persisted, placing a hand on my shoulder, "are you all right?"

"I just—" I looked through hazy vision, my eyes scanning the room as I held back my emotions and tried to wake up.

A new group entered the room through a set of double doors.

Wake up, Y/N!

I saw two girls and two boys. One girl had bright blonde hair, which was wildly curly but beautiful all the same. I avoided looking her in the eyes. Another girl had short, spiky dark hair. She looked tougher than the first, and more in charge than the others. One of the boys had a red cap over his curly hair, and his eyes scanned the room as he seemed to be searching for something. The last boy had tan skin and a mop of dark hair on his head, he seemed to be listening to the other boy who was speaking about something that I couldn't hear.

But I knew how this story went. I didn't want to believe it, but if I was right, I knew exactly what they were talking about.

The boy with the red cap—if I was right—would soon spot the two siblings to my right. I ignored the siblings, despite how desperately I wanted to ask them for their names for confirmation. I ignored them despite how hard they were trying to get my attention.

The boy in the red cap laid his eyes on the trio across the gym. He nodded, and began speaking. The others followed his line of sight.

I was sure I was going to pass out, but I couldn't do that just yet. This wasn't enough confirmation to panic. Not nearly enough.

Wake up!

A few more words were spoken before the boy without the red cap—I decided to call him Boy 1 because I would absolutely not be calling him the name of who I thought it was—began to walk forwards, but the girl with spiky hair stopped him.

Her eyes found something across the room, nearby the siblings and me. I felt a sense of panic return, recalling the lines of a certain book that I hadn't gotten a chance to reread before passing out. Slowly, I turned my head and made eye contact with the meanest looking man I had ever seen.

Wake up!

No matter how many times I tried to assure myself I was dreaming, I couldn't get past how real this all felt.

I looked back to the kids on the other side of the gym. If they were who I thought they were, I felt safer keeping an eye on them and their progress rather than the man who looked ready to kill.

They seemed to be arguing over something stupid, but through my panic, I couldn't remember what it was. I was sure it wasn't too important, given that I remembered all the major plot points with ease.

Plot points? You're dreaming!

I heard a yelp, my eyes followed the spiky hair girl who dragged Red Cap to the dance floor. "You can if I'm leading," I remembered the line clear as day now. "Come on, goat boy."

The blonde smiled, and Boy 1 frowned in confusion. I watched in a daze as the scene played on. I felt glued to the floor. Should I warn them? Was this even real?

If I could brush off the panic like it was nothing, I would have. Then the presumably di Angelo siblings wouldn't have to attempt to calm me down as I tried to stop my slight hyperventilating, and the man I assumed to be Dr. Thorn wouldn't have forcefully snatched mine and Nico's arms and yanked us out of the room, leaving Bianca fo trail after us as she tried her best to get him to stop.

I focused on Dr. Thorn's grip on my arm, feeling the tightness and the pain. The sound of the music drifted away, replaced by Nico and Bianca's poor attempts at calling for help and gaining freedom.

This was real, I realized. This was all real.

I regained some sense of awareness by the time we made it to what I assumed was the main entry hall, and Dr. Thorn scuttled away in a dark corner, hidden. I knew this part. I just had to wait for him to show up.

Footsteps echoed in the halls. In a flash, Percy Jackson shoved a door open, spinning around to examine the room. His eyes landed on me and the di Angelos.

Percy slowly made his way towards the small group. He lowered his sword. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." None of us said anything in response. I just stared at Percy's sword, watching the celestial bronze glow dimly, my jaw dropped. "My name's Percy," I nearly passed out at that, "I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe."

I glanced up, looking behind Percy and my eyes widening as I remembered something a second too late. "Percy, look out!" I pointed. I heard a growl, which made it clear that Dr. Thorn was upset with me revealing his hiding place before he decided to make his presence known. But he was fast, and he attacked all the same.

Percy stumbled as a black spike grazed his shoulder, going straight through his jacket before pinning him to the wall. I felt guilt wash over me, but could he really defeat a manticore on his own anyway? Were my efforts to warn him futile?

Percy slashed with his sword, but it only sliced through air. "Yes, Perseus Jackson" Dr. Thorn chuckled, his French accent thick, "I know who you are."

I felt the panic return as Percy tried to free his shoulder. I knew it was poisoned, and I knew Percy was realizing it too, even through his hazy vision that he was sure to have.

A dark silhouette now moved toward them. Dr. Thorn stepped into the dim light. I stared with wide eyes—because for the longest time I had dreamed of meeting Percy and Annabeth and Nico, and here I was, but Dr. Thorn was here too. I knew other monsters lurked around the world, searching for demigods on the daily.

I blinked back tears; I wanted to go home.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym," Dr. Thorn said. "I hate middle school dances."

Percy tried to swing his sword again, but the monster was just out of reach.

WHIIIISH! A second projectile shot from somewhere behind Dr. Thorn. I knew where it would land, and despite the knowledge that it wouldn't actually hit Bianca, I pulled the girl closer to me in a moment of fright. 

Bianca yelped in surprise, her wide eyes staring at the black spike in the wall.

"All four of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."

I knew this story. I knew he wasn't bluffing. It took everything in me not to cry out, I just wanted to go home to my mother.

(if you liked this, it’s also a wattpad story. it’s called Madness, and my username is the same. just thought i’d share some of it here)

[mathitas]

MAY I REQUEST LIKE A NICO X READER HCS THING WHERE HE HAS A YOUNGER SISTER WHOES A LOT LIKE PERCY, JASON, AND LEO (MAYBE BIANCA TOO)???

!!

Sorry if I’m only making this now, I’m rlly busy ever since school started!

Nico Di Angelo and Younger!Sister!Reader headcanons

Honestly no one would believe you guys are siblings. Like yes, you look alike, and you’re really close, but they would never actually guess it.

You’re so different from Nico, yet it’s obvious you understand him the most.

Ever since you’ve met him you’ve always been scared you were just a replacement for Bianca. You and Nico never really talked about it, until things got too overwhelming for the both of you. Nico was trying to handle all the grief and you really just wanted to be his special little sister.

So when you open up to him, which is mostly by accident, he worries and you end up telling him everything.

He reassures you, of course he does. You would be stupid for even thinking that. You’re his little sister, his only family left (except for Hazel) and all he wanted to do was protect you and keep you by his side.

You ended up shedding a few tears, and he ended up being way softer to you the following days.

Your guys’ dynamic is truly something else.

You’re so chaotic at times, and he would seem the calm one, but we all know he really is not. Honestly, you both are so dramatic, it’s like… genuinely so funny to be around you.

Don’t even make me start about you guys fighting. Holy Hephaestus.

You’d go through Tartarus for him, and he would do the same for you. Nobody really gets him like you do, and the same thing goes for him.

At first, you had a hard time understanding him. It was truly frustrating at times. He would just not open up to you, and lie. Until he realised —well, you made him realise— that you were there to love him, no matter what.

He eventually opened up to you about his sexuality, his feelings, his past… and when you accepted him, he just never stopped counting on you.

For you, it was quite easy to open up to him, you probably did it before he did, and he was always there to listen. He wasn’t the type to talk much when you vented to him, but he would take in every information and keep it in mind. You’d notice how he changed around you, accommodating your needs, and how the people who did you wrong somehow always got punished.

You realised you had to stop telling him the names during your shit-talks sessions.

He’s very possessive and protective of you, but he calms down when he realises that people also want the best for you. If he’s not convinced, they will be going through hell just to speak to you.

You’re Nico Di Angelo’s little sister, what do they expect?

He wouldn’t trade what you have for anything else, and he’s so glad you’re here everyday. Just like you are with him.

[apollowhoo]

Yooo what’s upp???? Dude your writing is super gooddddd I was wondering if you could do an eldest daughter of Hades (born early 1900’s and got placed in Lotus Casino, and biologically older too)- and times with her little siblings bonding and growing close with her, like Bianca during the Titans Curse quest, Nico after the Labirynth after Bianca was gone and coming back to camp, and Hazel during the Argo II?(btw if you can can she be apart of the prophecy?)-

Sorry if it’s too long or specific, it’s fine if you want to edit it a little bit- Thank you so muchhh<3333

ELDEST DAUGHTER OF HADES!READER X BIANCA, NICO, HAZEL

omgg this is so interesting, love the idea!! Btw so sorry but i couldnt add the whole prophecy thing:((

The eldest daughter of Hades had lived through the chaos of the early 1900s, trying to survive a world at war, before her fate was stolen away. Trapped in the Lotus Casino, she was frozen in time as the decades slipped by. When she finally got out, the world she knew was gone and so were the people she’d loved. Alone in a strange new era, she found herself drawn to the one thing she still had: family.

Each sibling carrying their burdens, lost in their own way. As the eldest, she felt a deep responsibility to be the sister they needed, even when they didn’t realized it themselves.

Bianca’s Wish

Bianca was brave and strong-willed. When they met, the bond between them was immediate, unspoken yet undeniable. During the quest for Artemis, as they ventured into the unknown, Bianca was torn between her desire for independence and her need for family.

One night, while the others slept under the starry sky, Bianca found her sister sitting by the fire, eyes lost in distant memories. She approached quietly, her expression soft yet curious.

“Do you ever miss it?” Bianca asked, sitting down beside her. “The time you came from?”

The eldest daughter smiled, a bittersweet glint in her eyes. “Sometimes. It was a different world, Bianca. Simpler, but harder in many ways.” She paused, glancing at her little sister.

Bianca stared at the fire, her fingers playing with the zipper of her jacket. “I just… wish I could’ve grown up with you...maybe know you better.”

The eldest sister wrapped an arm around Bianca, pulling her close. “We’re here now, and that’s what matters. You, me, Nico—we’re family, no matter what.”

Bianca leaned into the embrace. For the first time in a long while, she allowed herself to relax, to trust that someone would be there to catch her if she fell. In that quiet moment, they was nobody; it was just them, finding solace in each other’s company.

Nico's Darkness

Bianca’s death broke Nico. It didn't matter how much time had passed. He was angry, lost, and consumed by a darkness that seemed to grow with each passing second. He pushed everyone away, including his eldest sister, who tried talking it out of him, knowing that she couldn’t force him to heal—he had to find his way back on his own.

But she never stopped trying. One evening at Camp Half-Blood, she sat by the campfire, strumming a tune on her guitar, a melody from her past that had no place in this world. Nico lingered in the shadows, unsure, his expression serious.

“Are you gonna stay there all night, or do you want to join me?” she called, not looking up from her playing.

Nico hesitated before finally slowly coming over and sitting beside her. They didn’t talk about Bianca—Nico wasn’t ready for that. Instead, she began telling him her old memories, half-truths and half-myths about Hades and the strange little moments that made him seem like a normal person then a god.

“He tried to cook once,” she said, grinning slightly at the memory. “It was terrible, of course. Burnt everything. But I’ve never seen him laugh so hard at himself.”

Nico snorted almost in a mocking way. But at the same time, a genuine smile was breaking through the sadness. “Dad? Laughing? That’s hard to imagine.”

The eldest sister gets a little serious “He’s different than you think, Nico. He’s not just the Lord of the Underworld. He’s… complicated. Just like us.”

They sat there for hours, sharing stories that they never told anyone else, all filled with a warmth that Nico had been missing since Bianca’s death. In those moments, he found a piece of himself that he thought was gone forever and he believed that he finally found someone who understood.

Hazel’s Struggle

Hazel Levesque was a wonder to her sister. A girl out of time, so strong yet burdened with the weight of two lives. On the Argo II, the eldest daughter watched Hazel with a mixture of pride and protectiveness, seeing so much of herself in the younger girl.

One afternoon, while the others were busy, Hazel was on deck, practicing her swordsmanship as always. Sweat dripped down her brow, her face set in concentration. But there was a hesitation in her movements, a slight uncertainty, almost like something was bothering her.

“You’re thinking too much,” her sister called, stepping forward. Hazel glanced up, her eyes wide, but she didn’t move. The eldest took the sword from Hazel’s hand, her movements fluid and graceful as she demonstrated.

“Feel it,” she said, her voice encouraging. “You’ve got power, Hazel. You just need to trust it.”

Hazel watched carefully. When she tried again, her sister guiding her hands, it was different. She moved with much more confidence, and for the first time, she felt in control.

Afterward, they sat together, the ship rocking slightly beneath them. Hazel rested her head on her sister’s shoulder, sighing deeply. “I never thought I’d actually have this. Family. A sister.”

The eldest grins slightly, this was all too familiar to her. She wraps her arm around Hazel. “You’ve got us now. Forever. And I promise, I’m not going anywhere.”

[starless-nightz]

just a silly idea. But uhm. Maybe Bianca with an Amy rose reader? (like- personality wise; the opposite of Bianca's shy and reserved personality. Bubbly, outgoing/sociable, etc)-

Bianca with a Amy Rose! S/O

note -> I absolutely love Bianca shes my bbg.

warnings -> none.

content includes -> fluff, shy Bianca, cute Bianca, mentions of Nico.

Bianca loves you, she finds your outgoing and bubbly personality cute, even tho she is shy she wouldnt mind going to social events with you

She preferes to keep to herself, shes uncomfortable with physical touch most of the time, but shes only comfortable with you and Nico

Bianca practically has hearts for eyes as she watches you entertain her little brother, both of you are so bubbly and outgoing so you quickly bonded

She loves going to cute picnic dates with you, somewhere quite where you two can just relax and enjoy each others company

[nightfang22]

I wanna write Percy Jackson fanfic so bad but I feel like I need to finish the series before I can accurately write anything because book Percy is TOP FUCKING TIER