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halothenthehorns · 5 months ago

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Chapter 8: I DRIVE MY DOG INTO A TREE

"Perseus!" Alex yelped in a truly dangerous tone of voice, Annabeth felt the need to reach for her dagger she didn't have. "What do you do to Mrs. O'Leary?!"

"I swear it's an accident!" Percy looked genuinely stung if he'd hurt her, so much so Alex immediately became gruntled over his outburst.

"Okay, well, head like hers, I'm sure it hurt the tree more," Alex said for both of them.

"I bet she becomes the branch manager of the whole forest," Will snickered.

Alex grinned in delight and tried to continue the mayhem, while Percy groaned at the pun.

"Maybe she even takes it along as a toy, you still owe Cerberus a game of fetch, what if-"

Sweat broke out on Percy's brow, he took a sharp, painful breath and trembled in his seat as his mind flashed with broken, disjointed images of the Underworld, his dog leaping into shadows-

Alex nor anyone protested as Jason started to read, his voice level and ignoring the stirring water starting to pull along them. Annabeth was rubbing gentle circles into the back of his hand until he finally came back.

... saw me first...pretty good trick since she's the size of a garbage truck.

Magnus's stomach still pitched like someone had shoved him down a flight of stairs at the idea of her being real. Of perhaps having to see this monstrosity of a wolf-like shaped creature sometime in his future if he ever wanted to visit camp and eat actual food not out of a garbage can again. She would just, be there, roaming around, ready to pounce on people from the shadows.

Everybody around him burst out laughing in obvious affection for the description and he tried to manage a smile along. He knew she was a sweet girl who would just lick him to death in theory, but he still worried they'd all laugh themselves stupid at him when he had a heart attack upon actually seeing her.

... huge paw on my chest and an oversize Brillopad tongue licking my face.

Thalia plugged up her nose and waved her hand around. "Thank the gods that smell came out." She'd been around plenty of her own wolves to know that breath reeked like the dead things they ate tried to crawl back out.

"Thank the gods my skin resists that kind of torture," Percy chuckled, it had felt probably a lot like what he put those flesh-eating horses through. A painful powerwash from hell.

... pretty much drenched in dog drool.

"Note to self, Percy's powers do not work on dog drool," Jason nodded to himself.

"I already knew that from his own drool," Annabeth smirked, resisting the urge to reach over and rub his chin with just the pad of her thumb to make him blush like a new species of deep-sea fish.

She was rewarded for her restraint by getting to see him just sighing and giving her a friendly, aggravated smile for the teasing, which was just as nice.

...By the way, Mrs. O'Leary is the world's only friendly hellhound.

"And I thank Daedalus every day for that," Alex chuckled, still remiss he couldn't ask him exactly how that had worked out. Maybe he could get Nico to take him down to the Underworld one day.

...Beckendorf took care of her when I was gone... been her best friend.

"He really was great about taking in everything I needed him to," Percy said, thinking of Tyson and all his Annabeth woes mixed in. He hated how his smile already felt forced and tired, how he could sense somewhere not too deep this feeling would increase as time went on. He could traverse as deep into the ocean as he'd like, but that feeling could stay buried where it was as far as he was concerned.

...made me sad all over again... threw the shield more because Mrs. O'Leary insisted.

"He has a problem saying no to girls who know what they want," Alex muttered with a smirk that terrified Percy even if he hadn't heard him.

Magnus just shook his head slowly in defeat he was not going to be able to stop Alex from mocking his cousin or Percy about this anytime in the future.

Soon she started barking—a sound slightly louder than an artillery gun—

"Good thing my earbuds are just as resistant as the rest of me," Percy said as he rubbed at the faint crackling noise that had reverberated for a few seconds.

...didn't think it was funny when she went in the arena...caused slip-and-slide accidents.

There was an unfortunate combination of spluttering and laughter in the room from that visual, helped nothing by Annabeth reluctantly adding to the noise, "Clarisse threatened to make that the new initiation ceremony if we didn't make some kind of schedule for her. She volunteered for at least half though."

"Clarisse is going to ride that dog into battle and Kronos is just going to make a run for it," Alex nodded with confidence.

"If only," Magnus grinned along because it would be nice if life was that easy.

... Even dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close.

"Dragons?" Magnus's hands flailed uselessly, and they were pretty sure he wasn't just trying to sign distress. "As in more than one? Wasn't the metal one enough!"

Annabeth felt awful she couldn't deny that, that the casual part of her day was clearly affecting him. "Well, there are different types, and we have-"

Will succinctly cut her off, knowing from experience that wasn't going to end any better. "Pay attention Magnus, they don't go near the enormous hellhound, so Percy won't meet one this time."

Magnus looked at him like he'd decided to start chewing on his feet, obviously declaring that didn't make this better, but the others were trying to suppress looks of amusement and failing poorly. Annabeth still tried to catch his eye, she didn't want him to go back to the surface and run off to never speak to her like was clearly half on his mind after just this tid bit...but then he just sighed and waved Jason to keep going.

Hopefully he had that Chase resilience in him, the kind she'd always grudgingly admired about her dad. The kind of laser focus that wouldn't stop him from doing anything, like giving an afternoon with her a try away from this crazy world he'd been thrown into.

... in a clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial.

"Sounds like a place that needs a good hellhound," Jason grumbled. Those old goats probably didn't just chill in there eating grapes and waiting to ruin the hopes and dreams of the next satyr, but it was a nice idea for a moment for Mrs. O'Leary to come in and put the fear of an actual leader into them.

... the thrones had lost all their leaves. That's not what surprised me.

"Is she attracted to the smell of death?" Magnus frowned at the sudden idea her very footsteps might be causing this effect. She was called a hellhound, and he knew Nico could do that, maybe creatures of the Underworld could too.

"No more than other animals," Nico shrugged, reminding Magnus unpleasantly of the amount of times he'd seen cats nibbling on something a little too big to be a dead dog and just nodding to get through that memory.

In the middle of the glade stood the weirdest trio I'd ever seen:

"Including you guys dads?" Magnus asked, it hurt his brain a bit to imagine all three side by side as different as they were.

"Including Annabeth, Percy, and Grover saving the world," Jason shrugged, the idea still felt like an odd flashing light in the back of his brain of a trio who shouldn't exist if he thought about them all too long.

"That time Annabeth, Rachel, and Calypso all stood there watching Percy be an idiot," Alex smirked.

"Alex, that hasn't happened," Percy scowled at him continuing to try and make his life worse.

"I know, but I really want it to," he chuckled.

Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.

"Somehow Percy's reality once again beats whatever we come up with," Jason looked mildly impressed indeed at this chaotic trio.

"Nico's back!" Will cheered.

"I will shove you in a vortex if you don't knock that off," Nico sighed.

"Do I get to pick the vortex?" Will asked mildly.

Nico considered him for a moment. "Sure."

"Fair deal!" Will beamed.

...He was only twelve, but he looked much older and sadder.

"Comes with the territory," Nico said promptly before any pitiful looks could come his way.

"Nico over here trying to be a minor god already," Jason rolled his eyes.

"King of the Ghosts wasn't good enough for him," Alex joined in. "Nooo, he needed to get the whole aesthetic down now of being God of the Ghosts."

"I didn't marry Melinoe," Nico rolled his eyes, "and even if I did, it doesn't work like that, we wouldn't share a domain."

Alex looked very much to argue his pointless point, but Jason decided not to let that escalate like the smart kid he was.

...he'd probably been traveling in all sorts of hellhound-friendly places.

"Somehow the most accurate observation Percy has ever made," Thalia nodded in surprise. "Including all the ones he made about Annabeth."

"And what do I get for finally being the one to deduce why Nico's such a restless spirit?" Percy chuckled.

Nico looked at him, unimpressed. "Nico not kicking your ass for that stupid conclusion I do what I do for a dog."

"True, bad form on my part," Percy nodded. "You don't even bring her actual treats. Poor form man."

... "Will someone—what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!"

"I wasn't out there to get her attention, but I would have been happy to," Will offered, but his tone was just a shade shy of being sarcastic for that old goat calling that 'his forest,' like she didn't have just as much a right to be in there.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a saint," Percy snorted, considering he had a pretty good feeling he did jack-all to call his dog off such a pompous old sot.

..."Sorry, Leneus," I said. "That's your name, right?"

"The fact that you remembered which is which," Annabeth said, clearly impressed.

"Frankly a miracle," Magnus nodded in surprise. "I don't remember any of their names, exactly how many times has he even spoken?"

"Once, if I recall right," Jason frowned.

"Once while being rude to Grover, it was more than enough," Percy scowled.

...His belly would've made him an invincible bumper car.

"Satyr bumper cars," Alex nodded, clearly already plotting a world tournament from those three words. "I see sponsorships and a lot of eating chairs in the future, not to mention the fights that would break out during the championships game."

"Jason can't organize them into a Pan searching machine anymore so Alex will turn them into the next WWE," Percy sighed. "Yeah, sure, can't go anywhere else."

...Don't tell me you've forgotten a member of the Council so quickly.

"The Council that did absolutely nothing for literal centuries while Pan was about a dozen feet underground in a maze where your best disgraced Satyr found him?" Thalia snorted.

"The same Council that did nothing but take away licenses and ruin kid's dreams?" Percy said deadpan. "That Council?"

"Nah, he must be talking about another one," Annabeth nodded with all the nonchalance one could have.

... She was pretty in a dryad-y way, with her purple gossamer dress and her elfish face,

Annabeth tried very hard, and failed miserably, to suppress a snort of amusement. At least now she knew to never put on a purple gossamer dress and worry about highlighting any elvish features she had.

... He wouldn't stay gone this long if he wasn't in trouble. I was hoping that Leneus—"

"She must be desperate to have come to him for help," Alex sounded more kind than disparaging, but still managed a little bit of both.

"Percy ran out of punch cards for saving his ass, someone banned him this time I guess," Magnus scratched awkwardly at his neck.

Annabeth gave the book a cold, dead kind of stare that freaked Percy out. She knew exactly how Juniper was feeling, she'd just got done living through it.

Percy sighed and sunk heavily into his seat. It's not like he wouldn't have gone looking for Grover...if he had the faintest clue where to start. It had given him an inkling of an idea how his best friend must have felt all those years, longing to be the one to find Pan but with no path that led to more questions. He was alive, it was just a feeling, that's all he'd had to go on.

"I told you!" the satyr protested. "You are better off without that traitor."

Thalia winced. "Man, it's a good thing you've got Nico there, he's got practice digging graves."

"If I didn't smash him to a pulp the first time we met, I suppose I wouldn't now," Percy mock quoted Heaphetus of all gods at a time like this. The pang in his heart didn't lead to much imagination why.

...Nico looked like he was trying to not crack up. "I'll walk the dog," he volunteered.

"I do notice Percy was making zero effort to control his wonderful pooch," Jason grinned.

"Why would I? She was doing such a good job speaking for me," Percy rolled his eyes.

..."You tried to vote him into exile, Chiron and Dionysus stopped you."

"Percy, with the important distinction for this chapter!" Will grinned.

"And boy was it deserved," Percy tried his hardest to smooth out his scowl to prevent drowning the east coast because of this annoying satyr.

"Bah! They are honorary Council members. It wasn't a proper vote."

"I cannot believe he actually said that out loud," Alex looked mildly impressed at this gumption.

"Let's see that defiance last when the first thing Mr. D does when he comes back is turn him into poke'," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I'll tell Dionysus you said that."

"I never took you for a tattle-tale," Nico picked absently at his nails as he studied Percy in curiosity for that. He tried to keep his tone light, used a silly childish way to put it to make sure Percy knew Nico wasn't over here judging him...he wanted to stay on Percy's good side considering he didn't expect great results for what was fixing to happen.

"I hate bullies," Percy reminded, his voice remaining stiff no matter how much he didn't want it to. "If I can't put them in their place, someone can."

...Grover's a liar and good riddance. We're better off without him."

Percy's anger was swelling, his lips twitching into a true scowl. Grover had been out there risking his life for years while this fat lump sat around, and even now, he was more useless than the kids behind him in camp arguing about who was right!

"Where is Juniper's tanning stick? I need it to make a reappearance," Annabeth demanded in outrage for anyone talking about Grover like this.

...Looks like your Council hasn't been meeting lately."

It was an interesting observation nobody knew what to do with. Will would love to know more about this, but considering the council was now gone, he'd just have to hope Grover had an answer next time he came around.

..."They're just taking some time off to think. It's been a very unsettling year."

"Wow, I haven't seen that kind of head in the sand view since I watched the last presidential debate," Annabeth frowned. She had Percy's hand held tight in both of her own to stop him reaching for that pen again, the results being his fingers twitching like spiders in her grasp and it was seriously making her sick to her stomach even as she didn't let go.

"How long you think it takes that kind of thing to kick in for adults?" Percy asked, his voice as all over the place as his hand as he struggled to get a smile back for her. "I don't expect to live long enough for it to, but I'd like a reference for when the stupid takes over."

She really wanted to let go of his hand and slap him. A part of her recognized that's exactly what he expected to happen too. Instead she snipped, "idiots choose to be that way, stop trying to jump in early."

He grinned, a real one, and bobbed his head before turning back to the book, the shaking finally starting to slow.

...I've heard nothing. Perhaps he's dead." Juniper choked back a sob.

If Percy's temper didn't snap, somebody's was going to, Annabeth winced. It was a comforting feeling, to be surrounded by so many people who would absolutely not just stand there and let a tree-nymph choke on a sob without doing something about it, but at the same time, she didn't particularly want to know what Oceanus would do about it at this moment if any of them did.

... I didn't push him hard, but he was top-heavy...ran away with his belly jiggling.

Annabeth felt a flurry of heartbeats so strong she almost pushed Percy back away so he wouldn't panic at her having a heart attack. She'd seen him fight every monster and walk away with a cloud of dust as if it were nothing, but something of Percy standing up to someone who really was no threat to him, basically one step up from a mortal was something new. Putting him in the world and seeing him be a hero anywhere.

"Grover will never be accepted! He will die an outcast!"

"Not from the people who matter," Percy said in a scary calm voice. He knew all about not being accepted, and he'd never let Grover feel that way as long as he was around.

... "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to get you involved.

"I wish she'd come to me sooner," Percy sighed. He didn't really know Juniper that well, they hadn't all hung out together because it felt major league awkward double-date territory that neither he nor Annabeth ever wanted to acknowledge, and when it was just him and them he felt like an awkward third wheel even when they didn't do it on purpose holding hands while walking along camp.

He liked Juniper enough, he just never seemed to have time anymore to get to know her better while at camp. Maybe that could change, he glanced hopefully at Annabeth, holding his hand with a look of concentration on the book. When all of this was over, maybe they could go on that double date.

Leneus is still a lord of the Wild. You don't want to make an enemy of him."

Percy watched as they all threw their heads back and laughed with his own grin. Some of them probably thought it was as ridiculous as he did, calling Leneus an enemy when he had bigger gods to deal with, and the rest of them were probably just laughing at even the notion Percy could walk away from that without a new enemy.

"What's he going to do?" Alex managed to get his breath first. "Put you in air jail with that apple floating spell?"

"You think Zeus would consider that punishment enough he wouldn't smite me?" Percy sighed.

"Your luck would never be that good," Thalia scoffed.

"No problem," I said. "I've got worse enemies than overweight satyrs."

"Exactly what we were saying, glad we're all on the same page," Jason chuckled.

"You'd be terrible at this whole reading thing if we weren't," Percy smirked.

Jason considered ripping every page once he finished it and stuffing it in Percy's available piehole. Only for a brief moment.

... Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well."

"Mom always said my specialty was shaking all the ingredients together," Percy said with pride.

Annabeth smiled at the idea of Percy sitting on the counter at six years old, grinning as he handed his mother a perfectly blended together bowl with a tell-tell bit of chocolate on his lips.

..."Welcome back. Did you come by just to see Juniper?"

"Yes Percy, because Nico has always gone out of his way to say hi to Grover's girlfriend," Thalia shook her head at him.

"Better than saying get lost?" Percy offered.

"No," Will frowned.

"Have you tried having a conversation with him that isn't about the end of the world?" Magnus hinted.

Percy thought about it for a moment. "No, actually."

"First he'd have to get past his inability to hold a conversation," Annabeth smirked, Nico even snickering along to her bewilderment, but it was a nice expression to see on his face for a change.

... kind of, dropped in the middle of them." "He scared us to death!" Juniper said.

"Not literally," Nico insisted to nobody, trying to refrain from blushing again.

"Best get used to hearing that stupid phrase now Nico," Will rolled his eyes.

... she pleaded, putting her hand on his arm. "Anything at all?"

Nico's cheeks got even brighter red. "Uh, you bet. I'll keep my ears open."

"It is surely now his top priority case," Alex tried to nod as if this were a matter of the highest order.

"He is going to flee and never return if that girl doesn't stop touching him," Magnus said in understanding.

Nico just barely resisted the want to pull his jacket over his head to hide his continued blush. Gods beyond, he'd never even talked to a girl this long before dealing with Juniper and it had been every layer of awkward it was possible to be as he struggled to keep eye contact and having her so close. Percy had been right there and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be feeling, so of course he'd just been getting beamed with a little bit of everything at once in joy- someone was asking for his help- confusion- girl? touching?! nothing...?

He sighed as he rested his head against Will's arm for a few extra moments. He wished he'd been friends with him at the time, but it was whatever now.

... There must be a simple reason why he hasn't contacted us."

"Nothing has ever been simple in your life, why would you lie to her like that?" Thalia frowned.

"Same reason I lied in that council meeting," Percy frowned. Sometimes people just needed to hear the lie even if they didn't believe it to get through another day.

...I know about dogs and trees. I'm gone!"...disappointed, she lumbered off to find another target,

"Awww," Jason couldn't help but laugh as he pictured her head hanging down with sorrow. "I can only imagine how hard it is for her to pee out there without constantly having nymphs shoo her away."

"She gets by peeing on the grass most days," Percy assured.

leaving Nico and me alone.

"Have I mentioned how good that dog's timing is?" Alex asked.

"Can I revoke my agreement?" Percy sighed.

"No," Will and Alex told him this time.

Nico smiled because he knew Percy was kidding around. He hoped Percy was kidding around. Was it just him or was the water getting a little colder in here as Percy kept studying him? Crap, what if it was just him and Percy figured out how to just trap him in a block of ice?

Well, he'd be taking Will's arm with him.

... They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse and scampered off.

"That was adorable," Alex instantly decided.

Nico grinned at him, ruffled his brow in concentration for a moment, and then several bits of skeleton began creeping out of the floor. In moments, a skeletal fish was swimming around them, gave a happy twirl once through Alex's massive hair, and then darted out the giant hole in the door.

Alex laughed in delight and Magnus didn't even scream while the others moved on as if this were an everyday occurrence.

"You've gotten so much better with your powers than even just a few months ago," Will said admiringly. He wished he could do something half as useful.

"Practice makes progress," Nico happily quoted back with a pleased smile. How was it possible he still got a warm flush every time Will met his eyes like that?

... never get used to this kid spending more time talking with the dead than the living.

Nico sighed. He'd never get used to the fact that Percy would see him as a forever kid when he'd probably traveled as much as Percy by now!

"We all have our own hobbies Percy," Alex rolled his eyes. Percy would probably think some of the people he hung out with on the streets were weirder than the gods.

"Yeah, I know," Percy promised. He really was trying not to glance awkwardly at Nico as much anymore, but moments like this where Nico didn't even deny the claim still kind of reinforced the idea Percy wasn't sure they'd ever really get along as friends.

... He figured you'd be beating yourself up, and he said you shouldn't."

"Beckendorf is just as wise in death as he was in life," Jason nodded solemnly.

"He will be missed," Percy murmured.

... Said he's waiting for someone. Not sure what he meant, but he seems okay with death."

Annabeth's hand tightened painfully around Percy's, it was the only thing to stop her falling to the floor. She'd spent the worst hours of her life wondering if she'd finally find Percy down in Elysium and how she'd ever move on from that place no matter what he told her.

... "I didn't mean to be spying on the Titans, but I was in the neighborhood."

"Doing what?"

"I assume you don't use the entrance at DOA much?" Thalia looked around at him in surprise, and suspicion. Exactly how long had he known about this other Camp?

"I came out of the Underworld in that general area," Nico said, but he managed to say it like such an evasive kid as he darted his eyes away then back it was almost like he wasn't even trying to hide the fact he was hiding something.

Thalia narrowed her eyes but let it be, for now, assuming it was in Percy's best interest.

Nico tugged at his sword belt. "Following a lead on, you know, my family."

All Will seemed to hear was how uncomfortable this was making Nico, and he muttered something gently to him. Thalia really hoped Will didn't see Nico as just an innocent kid being put on the spot though, he could be as devious as his father, he'd already proven that with how many secrets he held so well.

... After Bianca died and left Nico alone, he'd been obsessed with finding answers.

Jason read that line with a little too much intensity. Percy nearly had his whole life pieced back together and here Jason sat, with somehow more questions than ever with his stinking sister in the room and no clear memories of his own!

"Why on earth did you just mentally recap all that?" Annabeth chuckled into the ever-growing awkward silence.

"Don't look at me," Percy sighed. "These books are nuts. I don't have to actually remind myself once a day of everyone's backstory."

"Well that's a relief," Annabeth grinned with a tease. "Sometimes I worry about your ability to remember anything past where all the good snacks are hidden."

"I remembered you, didn't I?" Percy said casually.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes, and it occurred to Thalia she hadn't yet told her sister that the first thing Percy asked when they were thrown in here was where Annabeth was, if Thalia knew her. Percy had known her before he'd even had his own mother's name given back to him. It truly was a sickeningly sweet thing how badly he loved her, so much so even Artimes might begrudgingly admire Annabeth's stance to never give him up.

..."What's the lead?"

Nico chewed his lip. "That's not important right now. You know why I'm here."

"I think I'd rather talk about you right now," Percy groaned, trying not to shield his gut from impact of what could be coming. He didn't imagine the end of that story would go better than Nico's but he was all for avoiding it anyways. "What's up with these leads, how can I help?"

Nico gave him an impressed look. He knew full well Percy was either joking now, or just trying to change the subject off his curse. He couldn't really blame him, what kind of living hell it must be to have the answer living in the same skull that refused to let you hear it without it hurting? But that didn't mean he wanted his own problems on display either. It would go worse.

...show up occasionally and press me for an answer, but I kept putting him off.

Jason winced a little more with each word he'd said in that paragraph. It had been obvious from the start Nico and Percy weren't the closest, too much bad blood from the moment Percy had come back without his sister, but whatever this plan was Jason had faith it was a good one. That Nico only had Percy's best interests to help after everything that happened in the Labyrinth.

He couldn't help but wonder if anyone else had been suggesting this plan if Percy already would have done it.

... Most of the Titans are unleashed and on their side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."

Annabeth bit at her lip and went back and forth pointlessly over how good an argument that was. This had already been done, her input at the time could have changed the course of history if she'd tried to caution Percy against this even agreeing extreme had likely saved them all, but it didn't make her feel better she hadn't been consulted by Percy with this.

...This comes down to you and Luke. And there's only one way you can beat Luke."

Percy wondered how long Nico had known. He'd never told Nico anything, like Luke's fall from the side of a mountain, or the way he seemed to glow with power on the Princess Andromeda, which meant Nico must have come to his own conclusions over time. From spying on Luke and Kronos? From ghosts?

Then, how long had it taken him to find out the process, to be confident enough to share with Percy this mad plan? He was way too confident in all this when a year ago he'd been fooled by Minos for Percy to really have faith in this plan.

...I wondered how Nico had heard the prophecy. Probably from some ghost.

"Why do you always assume it's ghosts?" Nico sighed. "I know gods too." In this case his dad had told him, one of his many comments about how Nico had a lot to live up to let him put the pieces together.

...Nico had a strange, hungry light in his eyes. "You can become invincible."

He was always so strong and powerful, from the moment Nico had met him he'd sensed something in Percy he'd thought for so long he could live up to and be a part of.

He knew now that had been childish, wishful thinking. He couldn't 'sense' Percy was also a child of the Big Three, and they were virtually nothing alike.

He was still sure it had all been worth it, even if Percy never fully trusted him again because of the price. They were all alive, Will's home was intact and, you know, the planet too.

"Maybe we should wait. Try to fight without—"

"No!" Nico snarled. "It has to be now!"

"Temper, temper," Magnus frowned. He wasn't actually afraid of the guy, but he obviously had some anger that ran deep that was best not coming out on Percy, the guy who could fling Nico across the state by accident if provoked.

Nico didn't answer. Not to laugh, not to blush, not even to look embarrassed or angry now. He was just growing a little bit more pale every page and clutching his sword a little tighter.

Oh. Well that wasn't going to go great.

...I hadn't seen his temper flare like that in a long time. "You sure you're okay?"

Will's leg jiggled around, jostling Nico and generally disrupting his moody silence. He knew Will wanted to ask, wanted to help, but even now after all this he was still pretty sure Will wasn't going to just let slide what he'd done to Percy.

...my sister gave her life to protect you. Honor that. Do everything to defeat Kronos."

A part of Nico had honestly meant that. Bianca had wanted to do good in the world, he had vague memories of her cooking and smiling, offering the spoon to everyone who passed to share. She'd joined the Hunters not just to get away from him but to find a cause for herself.

The other part of him was starting to sweat and nearly gave the game up with trying not to wince at pulling such a card, doing anything to get what he wanted out of this deal even if it had been for a good reason.

I didn't like the idea. Then I thought about Annabeth calling me a coward, and I got angry.

Annabeth sighed, her hand slipping out of his so she could run it through her hair. Oh yes, what a great contribution to saving the world! Making the hero impulsively angry at you!

Percy watched her, his hand feeling empty, his chest feeling cold. What if that had been the last thing she said to him? He didn't want her to be more sorry about the enormous guilt of the last words they'd said to each other over being alive.

..."All right," I decided. His cold creepy smile made me sorry I'd agreed.

That had quite literally been the best thing Percy had ever said to him. No possible hidden meanings, no begrudging talking to him. Percy had just agreed with his idea! And he was supposed to learn more about his past from this! It had probably been one of the happiest moments of his life before Will kissed him.

And Percy had called his smile creepy. Yeah, he scolded his brain. Really the guy you should keep crushing on!

His brain didn't respond.

...retrace Luke's steps. We need to know more about his past, his childhood."

"You don't, know how he did it?" Jason asked in concern, Nico had been apparently bugging Percy about this for months and didn't know all the steps?

Nico hesitated answering, and then lowered his voice so only he could hear, "it was important to replicate the steps Luke did, just to be sure. Trust me."

Jason nodded like that was that, and Nico savored that feeling while he had it. That old joke about tying him up and throwing him in the bathroom might still come to pass when they all found out what he'd actually done to Percy.

Alex and Magnus looked on, jealous they didn't get to hear the answer, while the other three exchanged weary looks like Nico was planning world domination and trying to leave them out.

..."I've already tracked down his mother. She lives in Connecticut."

Of course Luke had a mother, Magnus nodded to the tiny pit in his stomach without surprise. Hearing that he'd grown up on the streets, he knew quite well not to just assume the mother was dead. No, the question was, what had been the breaking point to drive Luke away? Had she been an over-controlling, gaslighting nightmare? Had she just not cared and probably not noticed for weeks? Abuse? Some mental problem she couldn't control but the kid couldn't be around anymore? He'd heard it all and more.

... I'd never thought about Luke's mortal parent. I'd met his dad, but his mom...

A lump formed in Percy's throat. He somehow instantly knew he didn't want this memory to continue. That he'd rather go hunt down Annabeth and have her call him a coward a dozen more times. Luke's mother...April? No, but the memory was tantalizingly close to the surface, and clinging to stay where it was.

... made me wonder what was wrong with her. What kind of horrible person could she be?

Annabeth and Thalia glanced at each other and quickly away. Annabeth had been too young to really understand at the time, and they hadn't talked about it after they left. She wasn't looking forward to hearing what her young mind hadn't been able to grasp about what felt wrong about that place, like there was a monster lurking in every stacked Tupperware container.

Thalia was just, tired of this. Annabeth got Percy back, that was the goal going into this. Now that it had been fulfilled, she wanted to stuff this book in a blender and move on. She wanted to hear about Jason's life, she wanted to get out of this stinking underwater prison! Instead she was stuck here in memory lane, her back aching from sitting so much, her heart slowly dripping into a puddle at being force-fed every word of Luke's life a second time.

...He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary came loping out of the woods.

"Your dog can shadow travel!" Alex gasped in excitement.

"News to me," Percy said with an uneasy smile in place. Apparently he wasn't going to be very good at directions and Alex might just throttle him if he ran her into too many trees before figuring out which one would make them disappear into a black void of possibly no return.

Nico managed it easily enough though, and he trusted his dog to not get them lost. More like a dozen pit stops on the way to sniff everything.

He hoped nobody would be looking for him any time soon.

...Mrs. O'Leary was certainly big enough. I climbed onto her back and held her collar.

Percy was used to riding Blackjack by now, the way his legs spread uncomfortably over the massive body and riding on a heartbeat with attached lungs, their circulatory system driving them to powerful feats even his half-blood legs couldn't dream of. How warm she was just like his horse, feeling every twitch of her body along her spine as she shifted her weight beneath him, being so high off the ground he felt like he could touch the sky and not get struck by lightning for it.

Percy's heart started thudding, but he recognized it as excitement for once in this crazy mess as he sat forward in his seat. Annabeth was still sitting smushed up in hers, arms crossed and clearly not looking forward to a word of this, but he couldn't help the crazy grin splitting his face at what was going to come next.

... creatures of the Underworld can use it as a road, or a door."

Percy remembered Thalia saying something similar trying to explain why demigods had such crazy dreams. It didn't make much more sense coming out of Nico's mouth.

He glanced at Annabeth, wishing she'd volunteer how to explain this, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't get the answer any better. He just liked watching her mouth move more.

... Tell her Westport, the home of May Castellan." "You're not coming?"

The idea of climbing up there had been like molten lava pouring into Nico's body. His vision had doubled painfully of what could be worse. Climbing behind Percy, trying to put his hands on his waist- trying to climb in front of Percy and his arms-

Nope. Just. Better to go his own way. As usual.

...Just before we hit, we passed into shadows as cold as the dark side of the moon.

Magnus sighed as Jason looked up and around and he was up next. Of course he'd get one where he'd spend the entire chapter empathizing with the psychopath who continued to ruin Annabeth and Peryc's life. He would have much rather passed this on and spent the time watching Alex make faces, which was a lot harder to do with the book up his nose.

He shook his head and got up though. Every kid deserved to have their story told, and Luke wasn't here to do it. They knew Luke's side, the guy who claimed the gods didn't care and he would rather watch the world burn than try like Percy did.

Time to see who had a hand in putting that mindset there.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #Annabeth Chase #Magnus Chase #alex fierro #will solace #nico di angelo #solangelo #fierrochase #percabeth #children of the big three

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flusterfluff · 6 years ago

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We were outnumbered, and our head cleric called out sick. Shame, because she was the Leader’s wife. The Support squad needed a new lead, our one Seeker, the only spare person with experience leading a squad, was required in the Archer team. After the battle, I learned that it was something along the lines of fifty two enemies to our measly thirty-some. But first, let us back up a bit.

Ruthless was a rather... well, Ruthless faction, for lack of a better word. In our latter days, we had somewhere around 150 to 175 members. Hard to tell specifics with everyone leaving here and there because the decaying state of our guild. Of these, lets say 175 because it makes math easier, the ranks fell as follows:

Leader. We’ll call him Brillopad. Or, Brillo.

Leader’s Wife/Director. She’ll be Onyxia.

Marshals. There were four slots at this rank, but we only used three. The most trusted of the leader duo. This was myself, DPS squad leader, and I think the Tank squad leader.

Executors. Ten of these, basically incredibly active and loyal players used for managing the lower ranks.

150 other people, hand-picked by Marshals and up for their combat ability, or ability to farm for guild mats.

There was a weekly event where various factions fought for control over the world map, to have their faction’s name present along the zone name when loading into any given area. These battles got... heated to say the least, but I’ve talked on the mechanics here before. The important thing to recap is that player limit is 80 per team, but the most active factions can only field 30-40 at a time.

This meant that Ruthless divided it into four squads. Each squad of ten people was led by someone that would normally use voice chat over Raidcall to call the shots and the squad’s targets. Normal leads were:

Brillo, leading either Tanksquad or Archersquad.

Onyxia, leading Support squad to lend help wherever needed on the battlefield, basically a flex position

Nameless Seeker, leading Archersquad when Brillo was on tank duty. Archersquad was mostly DPS oriented, using their head to debuff a group of targets and make them take more metal damage

Nameless Barb, who led Tanksquad while Brillo was on his archer. Basically just to pull catapults to damage towers and... Mechanical things.

One of several random people leading StraggleSquad, for people that came in late. Often used to reinforce Archersquad.

As stated above, Onyxia called in sick, and she was the only one experienced in leading the Support Squad. Normally, we’d have Nameless Seeker lead support, but he was needed in Archersquad, because Brillo was down a tank in Tanksquad and had to fill there. So, he calls for me in Raidcall, and tells me that he’s going to have me lead the Support Squad. Problem being that, at the time, I didn’t have a microphone. And also no experience shotcalling. I told him this, and got reassured by both Nameless Barb, Nameless Seeker, Brillo, and one of my best friends in that guild that I would do fine.

Brillo, the fool, the idiot, made the fatal mistake of asking me what I needed in order for my unique role as a Heavy Armor Venomancer to function at its full potential. This day, and never again, I was given reign over the composition of my squad. He asked what classes I needed, I called out in Guild chat nine names. Not classes. Not roles. I needed BeefCake the Barbarian, MysticHeal, the off-meta Mystic that specialized in, whaddaya know, healing, TANK, two Clerics, one of which being my best friend in the guild, the other being infamous for trying to DPS instead of healing, a Venomancer that I had briefed beforehand on how to operate in a squad with me and had trained with, and “Whoever else you can spare for DPS”. Brillo, the madman, let me have our second and third best tanks. From his own squad. We were operating crippled, missing half our potential catapult pullers due to my insane request, our best healer due to “illness”, and, ten minutes into a two hour war... Our leader.

Brillo left early to go help Onyxia irl. I worked together with Nameless Seeker to lead the fight in his stead. The Raidcall was in panic, but I had everything under control. Together, the squad leaders (And BeefCake, who left to go help the CataSquad mid-match), directed the fighting while I called out general strategy. While typing. And directing my squad to specific targets. Via typing. While we were in a voice call. This was while playing the single most strategically complex and reflex-intensive build in the game.

Battle highlights:

1) Brillo leaves without designating a leader, Archersquad gets wiped, Catapults get reset, Support Squad and StraggleSquad, sixteen people in total fend off a wave of three mixed seven to ten man squads, protecting our tower. Three assassins jump our healing cleric. I peel, drop their attack speed and damage, and the DPS cleric works with an archer to get a combined triple kill while I shoot a cleric out of the sky by turning it into a cat. 2) BeefCake gets reassigned to CataSquad on respawn because he got combo’d by two Wizards at once. Ouch. Said Wizards feel my wrath. One gets Kittified, the other gets sent back to spawn with my trademark OHKO combo, amped by a local Metal Mage (Read: DPS cleric) to bypass his buffed defenses.

3) My biggest Purge ever. This is why I’m Sage. My Debuff Purge gets a small five foot AoE. I hit eight people with it at once. What happens next? You hear Nameless Seeker CACKLE on voice, call target, and arrows rain from the sky, wiping a full squad after he debuffed them and triggered charms.

4) The Coup de Grace. This one deserves its own post, but to summarize, it’s the story of how I killed an entire army of fourty plus people with little more than psychological warfare. Oh, and a targeted transmog that turned someone into a cat for six seconds.

6) Reinforcements. FeedMy/PoL/arm, the enemy leader, got reinforcements, Brillo came back to see us still alive, got ignored, raged in VC for a bit, took control of his faction back by force, and proceeded to lose us a won game. I consider this TW a victory. I won. I don’t care if we lost the land. We might not have. Our enemy faction lost face, and I finally considered the score even for the one time the enemy leader continually spawn killed me for teh lulz.

The conclusion of this entire territory war is fuzzy in my memory. We might’ve won. If so, only barely. We might’ve lost. If so, only to enemy reinforcements pushing a 32v40 to a 33v52 in their favor. What does matter, more than who won the fight, was the aftermath. Within a week, Ruthless fell apart. I think the leaders got divorced. Both yelled at me for siding with the other because I chose to be neutral. That’s another story, as well. You could say we lost the aftermath, either way...

But our opponents, our biggest rival at the time? Completely lost face. I’m told their leader was screaming on voice chat, cursing me specifically for my tricky dickery that got him killed. Many of his followers lost faith in him, and soon... They crumbled, too.

And that’s how I killed two of the largest factions in EPW at the time by taking command of ONE battle! This is why you don’t let me lead things, Brillo. You fucking numbskull. This is why I can’t have nice things.

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