#i know even when grover told him that it was to save him

[levforfakes]

the scene when the headmaster goes percy do you have anything to say and then grover goes i have something to say and then percy goes grover and then grover goes percy told me he wanted to get back at nancy and hes not telling you the whole truth and percy goes grover and the headmaster goes are you saying that you saw percy assult nancy and then grover goes yes

[helenofsparta2]

Having the whole plot between Nico and Percy be resolved simply with “You’re not my type” in Blood of Olympus was such a huge disservice to both characters

They are pivotal parts to each others journey. No person in PJO influenced Nico as much as Percy did, aside from Bianca, and no person represents Percy’s guilt and the responsibility he had to shoulder more than Nico does. The writing for both characters really suffers through this lack of a real satisfying resolution.

First to talk about what Percy represents for Nico:

Percy, first of all, represents Nico’s introduction to the mythological world

He is the first demigod Nico ever came in contact with

He saved him and Bianca from the manticore (somewhat)

Nico stated in Blood of Olympus than Percy had reminded of the heroes of his mythomagic game come to life

Nico wholeheartedly believed that Bianca would be safe, if Percy was with her and created this image of the perfect hero in his mind, putting Percy on a pedestal

2.

In Nico’s mind Percy is irrevocably intertwined with Bianca and everything that happened to her

Despite Nico naively believing, that Bianca would be safe if Percy were around, he was instead the last person to ever talk to her, and present when she died

Percy informed Nico of her death (Dead silence. I stared at Chiron. I couldn’t believe nobody had told him yet. Then I realized why. They’d been waiting for us to appear, to tell Nico in person, Titan’s curse)

Nico turned him into the scapegoat for her death, so that he could let all his grief and anger and bitterness out on him

Bianca sent Iris-messages to Percy, so that he would find and help Nico (“Percy has been worried about you, Nico. He can help. I let him see what you were up to, hoping he would find you.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Her ghost only appeared to Nico when Percy was with him

Percy is the only person Nico knows of, who also grieved for Bianca (“Bianca,” I said. My voice was thick. I’d felt guilty about her death for a long time but seeing her in front of me was five times as bad, like her death was fresh and new. I remembered searching through the wreckage of the giant bronze warrior she’d sacrificed her life to defeat, and not finding any sign of her. “I’m so sorry,” I said. Battle of the Labyrinth)

3.

Percy is the person who protected and cared for Nico more than anyone else in pjo

Tried to convince Bianca to think more deeply about her decision of joining the hunters, especially thinking of him (“Biance, this is crazy,” I said. “What about your brother? Nico can’t be a hunter.” (Titan’s curse)

Searched the woods in the dark for hours after he had disappeared (Annabeth and Grover helped me search the woods for hours, but there was no sign of Nico di Angelo.)

Didn’t tell Chiron about Nico’s parentage to protect him from the Gods. (I don't think Nico understands who he is. But we can't go telling anyone. Not even Chiron. If the Olympians find out—") Titan’s curse)

Decided to completely commit to the prophecy, solely so Nico didn’t have to bear that burden and go trough any more suffering(It was the last thing I wanted, but I didn't say that. I knew I had to step up and claim it. "I can't let Nico be in any more danger," I said. "I owe that much to his sister. I… let them both down. I'm not going to let that poor kid suffer any more." ) Titan’s curse)

Searched for Nico in the months after Titan’s Curse (Now, six months later, I hadn’t even come close to finding him. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Battle of the labyrinth, chapter 3))

Saved his life on Geryon’s farm. (“Either way, you get my friends,” I said. “But, if I succeed, you’ve got to let all of us go, including Nico.”)

Always offered Nico a place at camp half-blood to the best of his abilities (“We missed you at dinner,” I said. “You could’ve sat with me.”“No.”“Nico, you can’t miss every meal. If you don’t want to stay with Hermes, maybe they can make an exception and put you in the big house. They’ve got plenty of room.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Invited him to join him on his birthday (“Is that… is that blue birthday cake?”He sounded hungry, maybe a little wistful. I wondered if the poor kid had ever had a birthday party, or if he’d ever been invited to one. “Come inside for cake and ice cream,” I said. “It sounds like we’ve got a lot to talk about.”, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Reminded him that he was still a child (I smiled. “Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while.” I tossed him the statue, Battle of the Labyrinth)

Helped him to get the sword of hades back to impress his father (Then I looked at Nico. Unfortunately, I recognised the expression on his face. I knew what it was like wanting to make your dad proud, even if your dad was hard to love., Sword of hades)

Acknowledged everything Nico did in The last Olympian and is one of the main reasons why Hades has a cabin at camp. ( “But your children should not be left out. They should have a cabin at camp. Nico has proven that.”)

4.

Percy was Nico’s first, and after Will, his biggest love

Nico had feelings for Percy, which didn’t leave him for around 2 1/2 years, and accompanied him throughout the most challenging parts of his life. 

Feelings, which were so deep, the god of love personally acknowledged them.

Favonius even called Percy, the person Nico cares about most in House of Hades.

This was more than just a mere crush

Percy is so completely intertwined with most aspects of Nico’s character arc, in both PJO and Hoo, be it his feeling of ostracism, his relationship to Bianca or him coming to term with his own sexuality, that them not having a final interaction, makes his writing feel shallow and unfinished. Especially Nico coming to terms with his crush on Percy opens up the opportunity for a really heartwarming conversation and a moment of character growth and maturity for both of them, instead of it being wasted on one throw-away line.

And it’s the same the other way around. Nico is also a huge part of Percy’s journey.

He especially represents Percy’s biggest failure.

The first five Percy Jackson books are characterized by Percy having to take up responsibility and him being afraid of not being able to fulfill them. Be it responsibility for camp, the world, Bianca’s death, the prophecy, his friends, teh unclaimed demigods, or everything else. Most of the time, Percy was able to make sure everything turned out fine. He saved camp, he saved Olympus, he finished his quests, made the right decision for the prophecy, and he made the gods swear upon teh styx. But there’s one exception. And that is Nico.

Percy did everything in his power to make sure Nico would be spared any more hardships. He took up the burden of the prophecy, explicitly, so that Nico doesn’t have to go through any more hardships

He searched for him after Titan’s curse, kept his identity a secret and even risked himself, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson dying if it meant saving Nico

Still, Nico is one of the characters, if not the character, who has suffered the most in PJO and Hoo, even partly because of Percy (though, of course, Nico having a crush on him was not Percy’s fault at all)

He lived alone at 11 years old on the streets and in the labyrinth, while getting manipulated by an ancient evil spirit

He was isolated and ostracized at camp half-blood

He experienced the horrors of Tartarus completely on his own

He got captured by the giants and slowly suffocated to death in a small jar

He had to deal with internalized homophobia and his complicated feelings regarding Percy

He has been a vital part of two wars at only 15 years old

Had to admit his crush involuntarily in front of Jason, etc.  

One of the things Percy battles with in Heroes of Olympus is this overwhelming sense of guilt. He blames himself for almost everything that went wrong over the last few years. Be it for Iapetus, Calypso, or especially Nico. Having Percy acknowledge this complicated relationship he has with him during House of Hades, but not allowing the two of them to talk it out is genuinely baffling to me, and one of the (albeit many) reasons why I really don’t like most of Percy’s writing during Heroes of Olympus, despite the fact that he is my favourite character by far. This could have led to a moment of character growth, where Nico helps Percy to aknowledge that he feels guilty for things he had little to no control over, while Nico himself realizes how important he actually is to Percy.

They are also so similar in terms of who they are and what they’ve been through, that even if you ignore their history with each other, it seems insane, that they didn’t interact in any meaningful way:  

Both were ostracized at camp half-blood because of their parentage, and so far are the only two half-bloods we know of with that experience

They are (together with Hazel) the most powerful demigods in the Riordan verse, and have feats which far surpass anyone else’s

Both are in some way afraid of their powers

Both went through Tartarus

Both have relatively similar relationships to their godly parents

Both have gone through immense trauma and loss

And if you read heroes of Olympus, it actually very much seems to build towards a final resolution of their relationship

Percy and Nico were, aside from Frank, the two people closest to Hazel; both saw her as a little sister, and Hazel treated them both like her brothers

Nico was the first person Percy met from his old life

Percy was the one, who received the visions of Nico being captured

From everyone present, Percy trusted Nico to lead the others to Greece in his moment of greatest desperation

They both had introspections about the other in house of Hades, Nico having to deal with his crush and Percy with his guilt in Tartarus

But, in the end, after they met again, nothing happened. The only scene we really got was the “You’re not my type” line and Percy being surprised by it for a couple seconds. That’s it.

We saw no meaningful conversation between the two of them, no acknowledgement of what they’ve been through together, no lasting feelings. Nothing.

In regards to their relationship, Percy acknowledging everything that Nico has been through led to nothing. Nico acknowledging his feelings for Percy and finally letting go of this pedestal he had placed him on led to nothing. You could argue that their entire relationship, which has been built up since Titan’s curse led to nothing. And considering that they are so important characters for each of their character arcs, their characterization very much suffers from this writing decision.

The two of them, together with Hazel, are my three favourite Riordan verse characters by a long shot, but some very important aspects of both of their characters fall so flat to me through this lack of a satisfying resolution.

 Both of them deserved so much better.  

They are the friendship with the most missed potential in the entirety of the Riordan verse and probably the most fleshed out and nuanced relationship Rick ever wrote.

R.I.P.  Nico di Angelo, and Percy Jackson, you will always be brothers in my mind.

[blondejellykitty]

₊♡ ˚⊹ i know all your secrets ₊♡ ˚⊹

୨୧ percy jackson x mortal reader ୨୧ percy's never told you what or who he really is, a hero, a demigod, the son of an olympian god. when he finds you reading a book of the history of the very family he's secretly apart of its safe to say he isn't too happy. a/n: (1.06k words) the plan i had isn't planning, i hope you see the vison i had for this 🩷

Percy had gotten an iris message from a newer satyr. One, his good friend Grover had introduced him to, asking for help on his first demigod retrieval mission he originally said no.

Not because he didn't want to help him, he actually quite liked the guy but because it was one of the few days he wasn't busy with classes at New Rome. And he was looking forward to spending that time with you, his lovely girlfriend back in New York.

But the sooner the day arrived the more Percy felt worse for not even offering to help the younger satyr. He used one of his professors' phones to call you.

Percy promised you he'd be back the following day at the latest. He'd hoped that it wouldn't take too long to get back to you, especially since the unknowing demigod was in New York already.

By the time he traveled all the way back to Camp Half-Blood, the early hours of the morning had come and gone. Meeting said satyr he was willing to help and off they went to find another godling.

Percy in all honesty lost track of time.

Sure he was paying attention to looking for a 'wild troublemaker with curly brown hair' also known as another child of Hermes. But most of his attention was in his own head thinking of all the things he wanted to do when he got back to you.

Lunch had long been and passed, so the thought of eating dinner with you made him walk a little faster.

They'd been practically up and down all of the city looking for this one half blood. Their scent being carried in the wind or hiding amongst the mortals.

Finally they were led to a big beautifully mosaic building, After staring at the bold lettering above the huge open doors for a moment longer than usual Percy read 'Historical Library'.

The inside was just as elegant as the outside. He could almost feel the dirt his shoes were bringing in with each step on the shiny marble floor. As imposing as the outside looking, the inside seemed even bigger. The pair had agreed to split up and began their search.

Walking past row after row of towering shelves stacked with books that the more he walked the finer and older the books got.

Once he'd reached the end most of the books were sitting in rows on tables encased in plastic, which needed a key to be opened. The faded books looked frail and aged with time. Only one case was open and the book inside was gone.

Behind the long bookcases was a small area to sit at, with tidy seats and clean desks. There in a far corner was no doubt the fragile book. Along with notebooks and paper scattered on the small table.

A small stack of books were stacked next to the desk to save space. But more importantly sat there delicately flipping a page, was you.

Percy knew you lived in New York obviously that was how he met you, but not in this area. As he made his way over, all thoughts of the reason he was here left him.

He could read what you were reading, he could read it perfectly because it was greek. Why were you in a historical library reading an ancient looking book about Greek mythology he had no idea, he was about to find out though.

"Beauty?" He had to remember to whisper.

Your head whipped up from leaning down to read looking at his wide eyed making you look like a deer in headlights.

"Percy! What're you doing here?" Your nervous laugh rang through his head as you tried to place some blank papers in order to cover the book you were reading.

Why didn't you want him to know. Was it because you'd started to pick up on the Greek names he'd accidentally dropped in conversation or was it that deep down you knew he wasn't normal? Either way it left a whirlwind of nausea in his stomach.

"I'm here because uh- actually never mind. Why are you here?" He couldn't even lie to you, he'd tried much earlier into your relationship, when he had to go back to camp. He ended up saying he had an apprenticeship at his dads fishing company...

"It's nothing really just uh, learning?" You couldn't even meet his eye. You were still picking at the edges of the paper in front of you as he sat down on the old wooden chair next to you.

"Please tell me?" Percy was glad you both were in such a quiet place because he was sure his voice was quieter than a whisper.

You huffed and unwillingly leaned towards him. You bore an angry glare which in any other circumstance he would have thought was cute but right now made his heart sink with fear.

"You know I can't lie to you. All I'll tell you is that it's a surprise. Okay?" Your eyes seemed to shine with worry as you looked up at him from your hunched frame.

"A- a surprise?" Percy had never been more confused in his life.

So you hadn't figured out about him? Or maybe you had and you just didn't care. No, no that couldn't be it. You just had very odd luck that you'd picked a Greek mythology book and not something else.

"Yes, for your birthday. Now go back to whatever you were doing and forget all about this hm?" You spoke with a soft smirk.

For a moment Percy truly wondered if it were possible you were a child of Aphrodite and had used your charmspeak on him, he did always feel completely compelled to do whatever you'd ask of him.

A loud thud echoed through the large room and a curly haired boy dressed in yellow went running through the middle of the room.

Chasing after him was none other than the young satyr who seemed to have forgotten both his hat and his boots in the chase.

Percy glanced back at you, although startled by the sudden noise you made no note of the half goat boy who'd made a quick appearance.

Leaning down to kiss your soft cheek he uttered a quick goodbye and went running off to catch up with the chaos unfolding down the hall.

[asapjens]

GOOD LOOKS

PJO: perseus jackson x fem!reader

SYNOPSIS: you think percy’s dad is hot

CATEGORY: fluff

WORD COUNT: 365

The sun beat down on the group as they trudged up the hill towards Olympus, the home of the gods. Percy's sword was strapped to his back, Annabeth had her trusty dagger at her side, and Grover was nervously fiddling with his reed pipes.

As for you, well, being the daughter of Hermes, you were just glad to get out of the city and stretch your legs.

"Alright, everyone," Percy said, squinting up at the golden gates of Olympus. "We need to convince them to help” Percy said. “Remember to be respectful, even if they're being difficult." Annabeth said, while looking at you.

"Difficult is their middle name," you muttered, adjusting the strap of your satchel. "Especially when they're arguing with each other."

The group made their way through the gates and into the grand hall of Olympus. The gods were gathered, some lounging on thrones, others bickering with each other.

You couldn't help but roll your eyes as you spotted Hermes, your father, reclining on a cloud and looking far too pleased with himself.

"Father, we need your help," you called out, trying to catch his attention.

Hermes looked down at you, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Ah, my dear daughter, always getting into trouble. What can I do for you?"

"We're on a quest to you know, the usual, save the world bla bla bla, and we kinda need help," you explained.

Before Hermes could respond, a loud argument broke out between Zeus and Poseidon, their booming voices echoing through the hall.

Annabeth stepped forward, trying to mediate, while Grover attempted to calm himself, because he was getting agitated by all the yelling.

You exchanged a glance with Percy, who smirked at you. "This is going to be a long day."

After what felt like an eternity of bickering, the gods finally agreed to the requests of their children. As the group made their way out of Olympus, you turned to Percy with a mischievous glint in your eye.

"Your dad is kind of hot, you know," you teased, nudging him playfully.

Percy's cheeks turned a deep shade of red as he rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Don't be ridiculous."

“I’m not being ridiculous!” you told him holding a laugh.

You grinned, nudging him again. "Well, I guess you had to inherit your good looks from somewhere, right?”

“Now that i think about it, Mrs. Jackson is also kinda- Before you could finish your sentence Percy gave you a sharp look.

“Don't worry, you're still the best looking” You winked at Percy

Percy chuckled, shaking his head. "You're impossible, you know that?"

[birdiewriteslit]

omg omg i would LOVVVEEE if like [reader] and luke were dating behind percy’s back cuz of how sassy he would be n stuff but after like a date or kiss from luke the reader would gush about it to either annabeth, grover, or clarisse and one of them tells percy by accident during a convo and then percy like goes up to reader and confronts the reader about it and like scolds the reader and give them a whole lecture about how luke isn’t the right guy then luke overhears and like joins in <333

i love this idea!!

luke castellan x daughter of poseidon!reader

warnings: persassy (once again), fluff, mention of kissing, ignorance of the plot of the show for the sake of my happiness

nobody: me gaslighting myself into thinking i could fix luke:

You and your boyfriend had an agreement. Your relationship was private. It wasn’t necessarily a secret, but it was private.

This was a conclusion you came to before Percy arrived at camp, before you knew you had a brother. At first, you didn’t care much if he figured it out.

That was until you realized what a sassafras he was.

Percy was always sassing you about chores, about activities, and especially about camp boys.

You thought it was cute in the beginning, your little brother being protective over you, but then it became a real nuisance.

“Y/n, stay away from the Ares boys, I don’t like them.”

“Y/n, don’t date an Apollo guy, he’d write you some crappy poetry.”

“Y/n, for the love of gods, stay away from the Dionysus twins, I never want to have Mr. D as a relative.”

These were the types of things you would hear throughout the day as Percy got to know the other campers better.

You thought it better if you kept a low profile when you were around Luke, at least until Percy calmed down a little.

Most of the older campers knew about your relationship, but they were used to it and rarely talked about it.

“Having marriage problems?” Annabeth asked you one day during arts and crafts, where you were both about to give up on your ugly collaborative birdhouse.

“What? I’m not married,” you said, trying to fix a particularly garish looking bird.

She set her paintbrush down, officially proving she was over it. “Obviously. I mean Luke. I noticed you haven’t been around each other as much.”

You could tell she was a little worried. She wouldn’t be asking if she wasn’t. Annabeth had known you and Luke longer than any other campers, and she looked up to both of you. Plus, she always wanted to know about your experience with romance.

“It’s not what you think, Annabeth. We’re really fine,” you said. “In fact, just last night, he took me out on the dock.”

Your nightly meetups with Luke had always been a thing, but had become more frequent as of late.

“And?” Annabeth prompted.

“And, we hung out.” You were now furiously painting over the entire bird you failed to fix.

“You mean you made out,” she said, giving you a knowing look.

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t think you were interested in that part,” you said. “Now pick up that paintbrush, missy. I’m not doing this whole thing myself.”

Annabeth reluctantly dipped the brush in some blue paint, looking like she wanted more details about your date.

Private means private, you thought dismissively.

At campfire, you discovered that private didn’t mean private. You were sitting alone when Percy plopped down next to you. You frowned because you were saving that spot for Luke.

“Annabeth has just told me something very interesting,” he said, glaring at the spot where Luke stood, talking to one of his brothers.

“What would that be, Perce?” you said absentmindedly.

“Apparently Luke was macking on you last night.” He made a sound to imitate vomiting.

You grimaced. “Please never say that word again.”

“So? Is it true or not true?”

You sighed. No point in denying it now. “It’s true.”

Percy somehow managed to look even more disgusted. “Ew, why him?”

You rolled your eyes. “Oh, gee, I don’t know, maybe because I’ve known him for years, he’s kind, strong, and handsome. Wouldn’t you think that had something to do with it?”

“Oh, gods, forget I even asked,” Percy said, retching. “I just think you could do better. Look at all of these lovely candidates. Apollo guys are poets.”

“I thought that was too cringe for you.”

He ignored you and went on, “A Hephaestus guy could forge you some nice jewelry, and Athena guys are smart. You deserve a smart guy. Not Luke, no, he doesn’t have any good qualities like that.”

You noticed a figure approaching you over Percy’s shoulder, and you tried your best to hide the amused smile threatening to break across your face as Luke came to a stop behind him, waiting for the right moment to interrupt.

“All in all, Y/n, I think Luke’s a pretty bad guy for you. You should really reconsider.”

“Oh, I’m a bad guy, am I?” Luke finally spoke up, smirking as Percy slowly turned around to see him peering down at him.

“Not like a bad guy- just, you know, not right for my sister,” Percy said, his confidence leaving him.

“What makes me not right for her?” Luke asked, clearly loving the reaction he was getting.

“I- uh- you know,” Percy stammered.

“Oh, knock it off, Luke. Leave the poor kid alone,” you said, failing to hide your laughter.

“That sound is music to my ears,” Luke said seriously. Jeez, he was really laying it on thick.

Percy’s face returned to the look of disgust. “I’ll be leaving now,” he excused himself, hurrying off to where Grover and Annabeth were sitting on the other side of the fire. You could still see him glaring at Luke as he sat down next to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders.

You leaned into him, relishing in the combined warmth of the fire and his body heat. “What do you think? Am I getting sassed out tomorrow?” Luke asked, looking down at you.

“No, he looked pretty grossed out. I’m hoping he just avoids the topic altogether,” you said, trailing your fingers over the fabric of his shirt.

“We both know that’s not going to happen,” he concluded, smiling as he pressed a soft kiss to your temple.

[leaawrites]

It's nice to have a friend

Percy Jackson x mortal fem!reader

Warnings: use of Y/n, mentions of almost dying, Percy's stupid at some points, friends to lovers

Summary: Percy can't let your hands freeze to death, only because he had to make you lose yours in the first place.

Masterlist

Looking out the window Y/n saw the frozen water falling down from above. Their heritage, the clouds, were a dark color of white, however the snow didn’t make the scene dark, it made it comfortable. It gave her a type of warm hug, a feeling she couldn’t forget. A feeling she wanted to save for the warm summer days, the same as she saves the sun for rainy days, and the rain for when the flowers bloom.

The bell rang, signaling that the lesson, and the school day therefor, was over. Y/n sighned, she did want to walk through the streets covered in snow, but her hands would freeze to death in the meantime, since she lost her gloves a year before.

With her hands in the pockets of her coat and her gaze on the floor, watching the snow squish under her boots, while new one fell onto them, she concentrated on the music in her ears. Only looking up when she heard child’s laughter. On the other side of the sidewalk, 4 kids were having a snowball fight, laughing together when one gets hit by the snow. Y/n stopped, admiring the fun in their eyes.

“You wanna join them?” A voice beside her asked.Turning around, she saw her best friend, Percy.

She would still concider him her best friend, even when he started to ditch her every summer for some summer camp he couldn't tell her too much about. She liked the boy, she really did. But something about his behavior when she asked him about it didn't sit right with her. It was like he didn’t want her to know. Before this, Percy would've told her everything. No matter what, she used to always be the first to know. Whether it be about a new school he was sent to or someone that bullied him on that day. It was always her. Now it were his new friends.

She tried to tell herself that it was because Percy wanted to leave some of his old life behind whenever he went to summer camp. Like it were two seperate worlds. But she knew that Grover, another friend of Percy's, was also there.

"I can’t," she answered. "I lost my gloves last year, after you had to take me to one of those." She pointed to the kids, smilling at the memory of back then.

“Oh, yeah.” He remembered, laughing at the memory as well.

Both of them were prepared to make the other go down and suffer in the snow that day a year ago. It was a simple and nice idea, until Percy decided he had to help a duck on the lake. At that time he hadn’t had snow gloves himself, so he borrowed Y/n’s.

Long story short, the duck ended up almost drowning, together with Percy, but could rescue itself, while the gloves were sliding from Percy’s hands and fell into the freezing water. He hadn’t bought her new one’s, he insisted on doing so, but she refused to accept them when he got them for her. She didn’t want him to spent his money on her, so she said she would buy new one’s herself. Since it was technically her own fault for giving them to him, when she knew they wouldn’t end up on her own pair of hands anyway. However, she forgot until it was too late.

"You almost died that day, how can you laugh about it?" She asked the pale boy. With the white snow surrounding him he fit right into it.

"t was a fun day, you can’t deny it, can you?" He asked her, searching for the comformation he always craved from her. He wanted her to agree with him in everything, so that he knew that they were still balancing on the same thin line like before all the sudden changes in his life.

Spending time with her always kind of made him feel more at ease. She was his home. She was who he was so used to, he could tell her everything. Besides about camp and his now second life. It was too dangerous. So, he keot it to himself. Rather have her angry than dead, right?

"It was a fun day," she agreed, stuffing her hands further into her pockets from the cold temperatures.

"Have mine," Percy said, holding his gloves into her direction, after seeing her shaking body.

"No, thanks,” she said, continuing walking home. "I’m not even that cold."

But the chattering of her teeth betrayed her and Percy looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"Then have one at least," he tried to compromise, looking into her eyes with that certain look. Raising his eyebrows, Percy moved the glove more to her body, until she couldn’t refuse to take it anymore. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, she put the black glove over her freezing hand. Feeling the warm of his hand from before, made an slight blush creep up on her face. Which she played off from the cold.

"What is with the other, genuis?" she asked. She didn’t want a second glove but a conversation.

He only took her hand into his, beginning to walk again, not looking at her once. Her face grew even hotter and her body was filling with warmth as their bare freezing skin touched and exchanged body heat. Both were burning from the desire of this being more than a friendly encounter.

[ajbullet]

My thoughts on episode 1 and 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: (spoilers)

- The ACCURACY of the little Percy casting was unbelievable. They look identical.

- The SARCASM 🫶🏻👌🏻

- I’ve never been able to connect with Sally Jackson as a mother-figure in the books just because of my own rocky relationship with my mom, but the way she’s played really made me believe in her character and her love for Percy. It gives PERCY’s character more grounding and their relationship really drives the show.

- Sally just sitting in the rain with Olivia Rodrigo playing. Mood.

- “You fell in love…with Jesus?”

- The friction and “betrayal” between Percy and Grover was super interesting to see and I’m really glad they touched on that more than in the books

- I’ve been pronouncing Brunner wrong. Dam.

- Sally saying goodbye to Percy, knowing she was probably going to die 😭. Percy screaming for her.

- the Minotaur fight was awesome

- “YOU DROOL WHEN YOU SLEEP” Omg I can’t believe she said it. Leah’s delivery was different than how I imagined it but I loved it. She’s so matter-of-fact

- Again, I’ve always struggled with connecting with Luke’s character just because I felt like he was a little two-dimensional in the first book and then after that, you know, he’s evil and while I understood his motivations, I just didn’t really…care? Idk but his portrayal really helped me understand the depth of his betrayal and just how heartbreaking his story really is. I already love him more than I’ve allowed myself to from the books

- “She’s my little sister” I love their relationship while it lasts. Seeing how close they are really adds to the layers of both of their characters

- I’ve also been pronouncing Thalia wrong. Double dam.

- THE BLUE CANDY. PERCY BURNING IT NOT TO TALK TO HIS DAD BUT HIS MOM. That scene broke my heart.

- Leah. As. Annabeth. I’m going to be completely honest, Ive loved Leah from everything I’ve seen about her but I was nervous just because of how precious of a character Annabeth Chase has always been to me and I didn’t know if ANYONE, not specifically Leah, could live up to those expectations but omg I love her. Her bluntness. Her facial expressions. Her voice and delivery. Her sure movements and confidence and self-assuredbess that has come from success after success and training for so long. The way she is so unashamed to admit to using Percy and only watching him to see what he could do for HER. In her short amount of screen time so far, Leah was able to add layers to this character I’ve loved for so long that I didn’t even know where there. I never wanted her to leave the screen. My only complaint is that she didn’t have more lines. She is my Annabeth Chase. She’s not from the books. She’s not from the movies. She’s her own version and she stole the show.

- Luke saying Annabeth has a plan and that Percy will know what to do, only for PERCY TO BE FLOSSING AND PEEING AND PETTING GECKOS and trying so hard not to drive himself crazy with his ADHD and having nothing to do. I genuinely laughed out loud. Might be my favorite part.

- the fight scenes are so well choreographed.

- CLARISSE. She’s too pretty. I can’t hate her. And her ELECTRIC SPEAR. When it broke and she screamed, I got chills.

- The trident.

- Annabeth KNOWING Percy was Poseidon’s before anyone else cause she’s “always 6 steps ahead”

- People already keeping such important info from Percy “for his own good”

- “You are Poseidon’s son” “No, I am Sally Jackson’s son!” Might just be my favorite line. It’s so true. She raised him. She sacrificed everything for him. She loved him and cared for him and taught him that he wasn’t broken, he was singular, a miracle. She died so that he could live.

- Sally Jackson is parenting goals

- The way Percy instantly changed his decision to go to the underworld as soon as Grover told him his mom could be saved. Their relationship is unmatched

- Walker Scobell is already pretty well known, but I have a really good feeling his popularity is going to skyrocket after this show. He is such an amazing, dedicated actor. I know exactly what he is felling 100% of the time.

Overall, I absolutely loved it. In two episodes it’s become a comfort show that I can’t wait to continue watching!!

[thebaronsilver]

First of the bat, let me say this as a disclaimer. I love the og Percy Jackson series. Secondly, my fav character is Nico and then the Percy from the og series.

Do you know why I make this distinction? Because, Heroes of Olympus ruined Percy's basic characteristics.

Just think, this is the percy who was bullied in almost every school he attended (except, maybe, Goode). Even, camp half blood,till he came back from the first quest. This is the guy with so strong a sense of loyalty that he was willing to get into trouble with the teachers for Grover when they studied together, was willingly an outcast because he would rather be friends with the one guy everyone picked on and thus be bullied himself. He was pretty excited to have a brother once he got over the whole Cyclops thing, too. This is the same guy who spent all his free time looking for a runaway kid who said he hated him. Maybe it was out of misplaced guilt. Maybe it was due to the fact this guy big brothered everyone he could get away with. (Atleast, I felt like that.)

While we're on that issue. Was Nico right to blame Percy for Bianca's death? Absolutely, not. But he was also a grieving ten year old who just lost his only family (even though she had, in a way, already left him behind. But that's an entirely different rant on the Hunters as an institutions. Bianca was also a child, remember.). And considering that Nico changed his tune once he found the truth out and even helped Percy and the camp willingly afterwards, I like to think he more than made up for that mistake.

There's even a part where Percy refuses to burden Nico with the prophesy and claims it for himself. Considering that till then he was trying not to even think about it, I believe we can easily claim that Nico was in some ways important to Percy. Maybe not in the same way his Mom, Annabeth Or Grover was to him, but still an important person.

Then we have in the last Olympian, Percy using Nico as an example why Children of Hades shouldn't be treated as Pariahs. Because if not for him and the reinforcements his powers brought (not even counting the three whole deities he brought along) the casualties would have been higher. (It was Hades who locked Percy up. He even confirms that Nico hadn't had a clue. Nico in turn broke him out and got himself in trouble. Then in a turn of events, Percy starts to blame Nico for something that wasn't in his control. A reversal of roles so to speak. I had thought that it had been momentary anger on Percy's part, but apparently considering all the references to how Nico betrayed him in the HoO, it wasn't. He'd pushed it aside momentarily, it seems.)

Percy was not to blame for what happened to Nico in the original series. Life isn't fair and it just happened to be extra unfair to Nico. Even then Percy went out of his way to look after the kid, to make sure he had a safe space.

This is the Percy who I liked. The Son of Neptune only emphasised this. Even without his memories, he took Hazel and to a lesser extent Frank under his wings. He actually recognised Nico in a vague way. Not just Annabeth (which is something else I have beef with. What about his mother? Why didn't he remember Sally till a lot later and even then he didn't let her know he was safe till a lot later?)

Then comes the Mark of Athena. He apparently told so many horror stories to the 7 that there was a debate on whether or not they should save a 13 year old demigod, the brother to one of them, from a preventable death. This wasn't like the Titan war were demigods could be the enemy. Then why was there even a debate? It's like all that loyalty disappeared. This is the guy that was once bullied at every school he's attended. Doesn't he know the impact of telling tales when people aren't there to defend themselves? To tell the whole story? Then House of Hades. Every single person in that ship thought that Nico was spooky, creepy whatever and all that poor kid was doing was exist. He made himself scarce, barely spoke unless necessary and even then they were like ew, creepy. It's like Percy's personal loyalty became loyalty to just Annabeth. Fuck whatever happens to anyone else. It upsets me.

The later books ruined Percy as a character. And I will stand by this.

[eu-nicola]

Betrayed - Luke Castellan x Reader

based on a request.

summary: Percy, Annabeth, Grover and you find out what Luke has done and confront him about it.

no warnings

At that moment we found ourselves outside the camp when we finally discovered the truth about Luke. The tension in the air was palpable as you, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover faced him in a silent forest.

You looked at him with eyes filled with disbelief and disappointment. "How could you do this, Luke? We trusted you," you whispered, your voice shaking.

Frowning, Percy approached Luke, his expression filled with suppressed anger. "You saved our lives, you helped us on our missions... How could you betray us like this?" he asked, his voice almost like a scream.

Annabeth, with her arms crossed, looked at Luke with a mix of sadness and anger in her eyes. "I thought we were friends, Luke. Was this all just a game to you?" she questioned, her voice filled with disappointment.

Luke looked at us without saying anything but with a small smile on his face as if all this were just child's play. Silence took over the forest, Luke and his followers looked at each of us, his eyes did not show any type of regret and his face even less so. We knew that this confrontation was just the beginning of a larger battle to come.

"A new life for everyone is yet to come, the Gods despise us and I despise them, war is the only solution so that we finally have our place."

“I can't believe you're planning a war, actually I do, but isn't what you did enough?” You asked, moving closer to him.

“It's not so bad princess, I still give you the benefit of joining me like you once wanted to do.” You weren't expecting those words that came out of his mouth and the boys just turned to look at you wondering what Luke was talking about.

“I – I never, ever!”

“I didn't expect you to agree right away, but think about it, if you join me, you will be able to have power and protection. Together we can achieve great things.” He said she with a cocky smile.

“I'm not interested in anything that comes from you Luke, not anymore.” It had been a while since the boys understood this behavior of Luke towards you and you knew that you were in for a long interrogation after this.

"As you wish. If you change your mind, i will be here waiting." Those were his last words before disappearing with his followers like ghosts.

After that the boys confronted you about what had happened a moment ago.

“What's it about joining him?” Annabeth asked, approaching you.

“I never said it but there was a time when Luke and I were together, at that time we thought about being together and if at any time there was a danger you were going to join us but I didn't know that the danger was him and when I knew it we walked away ”. You were sincere when you said it, although Luke was still part of your heart, you were still in constant denial about what he was.

After that the boys internally decided that they would not talk about it anymore and would trust you completely, although there was still something in the air that Percy was bothered by the fact that the oracle told him.

“You will be betrayed by the one who calls you friend,” and now it was in his thoughts if maybe that friend is not you.

[paprikashpannash]

PJO Characters as things I did/happended with me when I was little

Percy Jackson - when I was 5, I was swimming in a lake and a huge fish jumped into my arms, making me let out the most horrific scream ever

Grover Underwood - when I was little I kept putting bugs, worms, spiders, snails and stuff like this into my pockets to "save them from humans". And then I even brought them into our house. You can guess what happended when I was excitedly putting every single of them on the couch to introducte them to mom

Annabeth Chase - I went to a grammar competition as a joke and ended up winning it. Period

Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano - I was one of those girls, who kept playing that they're in a magic world with pegasuses, unicorns and other magic-horses and we had elemental powers (I had Earth powers. THIS TELLS MORE THAN YOU THINK)

Piper Mclean - Once one of my guy classmates jumped on my back and I flipped him over into the ground as a reflex then just walked away

Jason Grace - One of my friend's brother got into the hospital because he was wearing his headphones connected to his PC with a cable when a lightning struck into their house and I made a joke about it in hope to cheer her up (I failed)

Leo Valdez - In a summercamp my friendgroup and I wanted to make a campfire and I almost set a tree on fire. Lucky us we had a bottle of water with us just in case

Frank Zhang - From 1 to 4th grade my homeroom teacher was my relative and I just casually called her mom sometimes

Hazel Levesque - In 7th grade I threatened a guy to beat him up if he's continue being rude and in 8th grade I did tried to beat him up after he made a teacher and a few of my classmates cry. The principal told us to stop, but the guy literally ran into the principal and shoved him against a shelf because "it's none of his business to stop a fight" and then he ran out of school without any of his stuff and disappeared for half a day. We still doesn't know what he did during that time

Luke Castellan - My class hated a teacher SO MUCH that we started to write down the rude things she had done into a notebook I had. Once during a lesson the teacher said something pretty rude about us not doing our tasks so I just casually took the notebook out and started writing down what she says. Because I was sitting in the last row, the teacher only saw that I was writing and she thought I'm doing my task so she started praising me and calling me a Golden Child for being the only one who does the tasks, listens to her and has good grades and behaviour. I even got a 5 (that is equals with an A in my country) for my "work during the lesson"

[veyveyx]

DREAMY NIGHT

percy jackson― dreamy night, lilypichu. remembering how it felt when percy was missing.

it was one am. your eyes closed, slowly falling to the music as your hands hit the keys of the piano, in your own atmosphere.

now and then you could feel the lights around you fading softly, all over you while you remembered the past year.

when you were alone in your bed, unhappy thoughts in your head and living silently inside.

you were glad you asked leo to install a piano on the argo ii. you hummed as you played, eyes still closed.

it was so late in the night, your mind was drifting away. dreaming about times you wished for a new, happier day. a day with percy, annabeth and grover. a day with luke and thalia. a day where you could get away from the gods and just be a normal teenager.

if a hand could reach out now, and save your life somehow. you were prophesised to die and all you wished was to face the sun again, as soon as this dreary night ends.

your hands slid down the piano and with those thoughts came a more dreary sound.

you didn't want to go down like this. your head was in a place that you didn't miss.

so ugly, so grumpy. sleeping in the meantime, just stay comfy.

once everything was said and done, you'd be gone but it would be okay they would all overcome.

you were hoping, you were coping, you were here.

you remembered last year, when you were on olympus with luke, kronos, annabeth, grover and percy. it was you who killed luke because kronos had taken over him once and forall.

"hey. you got out of bed." percy said, sitting down on the seat beside you. "i don't need you sitting here with all those unhappy thoughts in your head, don't live silently inside."

"i'm just keeping to myself. i always wished we could be somewhere else, not fighting a war, not going on quests every year. but, that was when all i could do was hide." you told him, looking up towards the stars in the sky where zoe was.

"it's so late, if you stay up any longer your mind will start drifting away to places it doesn't need to be." he said, following your eyes up towards your old friend.

"well, when i sleep all i do is dream about times i wished for a new, happier day." you looked back towards him, smiling sadly. "if a hand could reach out and save my life somehow, i'd grab it."

you'd face the sun again, as soon as this dreary night ends.

"i'm the one who's going to die, percy. not jason, not piper, not frank, not leo, not annabeth, not hazel. not even you. it's gonna be me, i know it."

"it's late, your mind is just drifting away."

you'd face him again. as soon as this dreamy night ends.

[aficionadoenthusiast]

(kind of a continuation of this post but this is the most notes one of my pjo posts has gotten without garnering some kind of discourse and i dont really wanna touch it but i need to say this)

thinking about annabeth, the toddler daughter of a phd student whose dad already barely has time for her to the point that she is pretty much responsible for herself

annabeth, five years old, watching from the sidelines as her dad married someone she sees as a monster, moving onto things bigger and better than her, replacing her with people and kids who get more attention from him individually than she ever got in their five years alone

annabeth, seven, deciding it's time for her to move on because she's not getting any more love out of that relationship than she's already squeezed out

annabeth sometime around here learning that it's not that her mother doesn't care about her, she just has more important things to do

annabeth, barely any older, contending with thalia's death, a girl who was both a friend and a caretaker for a brief but incredibly formative time

annabeth, again, barely older, watching luke get a quest and leave her behind, hoping and praying he makes it back home to her, and then when he does, realizing he didn't come back quite right and that now even he's moving on from her, once again leaving her for bigger and better things that he keeps saying she's too young to undestand

annabeth, ten, learning about the prophecy and being told she's gonna be a part of it and starting to form an idea of how one day she's gonna find her More Important Thing if she just works hard enough, because isn't that what happens to everyone?

annabeth, 12, meeting percy and actually demanding to be a part of his quest because even though he'll probably be dead by 16, she'll be damned if she lets her chance at the More Important Thing slip away and be left behind again, so she fights like hell for her dreams and her place in the world

12, and knowing she wasn't enough to keep luke from leaving

annabeth, 13, and having to rescue grover from his More Important Thing and then watching him continue on his More Important Thing

13 still and being tempted by the hunters because if it hasn't happened, maybe the mortal world won't give her her More Important Thing

(then getting kidnapped and forced to hold the sky, no idea if anyone is coming for her, scared that everyone is too busy with their More Important Things, and finding out percy never once thought of not going after her, and beginning to realize he doesn't have his More Important Thing yet either)

14, still raw from thalia joining the hunters, and watching percy with rachel, seeing him blast himself to ogygia, and being terrified he's going to realize his More Important Thing is another girl or saving the world or something equally as more important than annabeth

15, and still scared, except now his birthday is coming up, and he might just die before she can ever get her feelings out, and then why bother?

16 and watching him reject immortality for her to help the demigods, and knowing deep in her bones that there is no More Important Thing because that's just not who he is

16, and knowing for the first time in her life that she can trust another person with her heart

16, and being somebody else's More Important Thing, and maybe letting percy be hers too

that is all

[helenofsparta2]

Headcannon: Percy is immensely popular among nature spirits and "minor" gods

Oceanids & Nereids

It starts small.

The Nereids and Oceanids are naturally curious about him when they find out about his existence, that’s already canon:

She (a nereid) nodded. “It has been many years since a child of the Sea God has been born. We have watched you with great interest.”

Suddenly, I remembered faces in the waves of Montauk Beach when I was a little boy, reflections of smiling women. (The Lightning Thief, chapter 17)

Later, at the latest by the time Titan’s curse happens, nereids and oceanids see him save ocean creatures from fishing gear, or whales stranded on beaches, or him helping mermaids with hanging nails. (Titan’s curse, chapter 7)  We see him be considerate and respectful to nereids through his interaction in the fourth book at the ranch.

She looked like she was ready for a fight. Her fists were balled, but I thought I heard a little quaver in her voice. Suddenly, I realized that, despite her angry attitude, she was afraid of me. She probably thought I was going to fight her for control of the river , and she was worried, she would lose.

The thought made me sad. I felt like a bully, a son of Poseidon throwing his weight around.

I sat down on a tree stump. “Okay, you win.”

The naiad looked surprised. (The Battle of the Labyrinth, chapter 9)

It’s pretty good established in the books, that smaller gods and spirits don’t get treated with respect most of the time, especially not from heroes of old like Herakles and the Olympian gods. The reaction of the naiad adds to this sentiment, so we can pretty easily conclude that the way Percy treats them, is relatively rare.

In-between the books, Rick often sprinkles in some interactions between Percy and naiads, which further underlines their positive opinion of him:

I looked over the edge of the boat and found a couple of naiads staring at me. They looked like regular teenage girls, the kind you’d see in any mall, except for the fact that they were underwater.

Hey, I said. They made a bubbling sound that may have been giggling. I wasn’t sure. I had a hard time understanding naiads.

We’re heading upstream, I told them. Do you think you could-

Before I could even finish, the naiads each chose a canoe and began pushing us up the river. (Titan’s curse, Chapter 14)

Satyrs & Dryads:

The satyrs know that he, Clarisse, Annabeth, Tyson and Grover were the ones, who returned the golden fleece to camp half-blood and so, have stopped satyrs from getting killed by Polyphemus. During the battle of the labyrinth, Percy is the one who extinguished the fire and stopped the trees and dryads from getting burnt to death. Not to mention that he is best friends with the guy, who discovered Pan and has the title of Lord of the Wild.

“Minor” Gods:

The non-Olympian gods, like Hecate, Nemesis, Eros, Hebe and Morpheus were probably curious about him, even wary, but nothing more at first, until Percy managed to stop the civil war between Zeus and Poseidon at the age of twelve.  

We know that canonically, this already earned him the respect of many different beings:

As I walked back through the city of the gods, conversations stopped. The muses paused their concert. People, and satyrs and naiads all turned towards me, their faces filled with respect and gratitude, and as I passed, they knelt, as if I were some kind of hero.” (The Lightning Thief, chapter 21)

By the time the war with Kronos further escalates and they join his side, this obviously changes again. From this moment on, Percy is their enemy, and probably nothing more for most of them.

But then, they lose, and probably expect the worst of consequences.

Gods who have crossed Zeus have suffered severe punishments before. Prometheus was bound to a rock, with an eagle eating his liver every day because he stole fire from the gods, gifted it to humanity and tricked Zeus, the titans were banished to Tartarus after the Titanomachy. After some of the gods rebelled and tried to overthrow Zeus, Hera got hung in the sky with golden chains, where she cried out all night in pain, while Apollo and Poseidon were forced to work as labourers for King Laomedon of Troy.

They probably expected to get thrown into Tartarus with the rest of the Titans, get stripped of their immortality, or worse. Instead, however, their children finally receive cabins at camp half-blood and they themselves receive full amnesty.

All because Percy Jackson, this 16-year-old teenager, decides to change the entire thousand year old status quo on Olympus.  

He could have wished for anything after their victory over Kronos and the titan army. The choice was not between the oath he made the gods swear and him becoming a god. He could have wished to be left alone, or to never have to do a quest again, or live a happy, and peaceful life away from the pain and wars until the end of his days, or literally anything else, but he didn’t. He made the active choice to make Olympus fairer, and to create equality among the demigods, without even thinking about it for too long.

No one can convince me that this, and his already mentioned other actions, didn’t earn him the respect of huge parts of the mythological world.

Not even Rick himself (no matter how much he may try in his new books)

[janovavalen]

I NEED PT2 TO RECKLESS.. MAYBE WHEN THEYRE AT THE GOLD CHAIR THING??

an: GTFO OF HEREEEEEEE THESE R AMAZING WTHHHH IM LITERALLY UP AT 12:54 GOING THROUGH IT SO BAD RN THIBKIJG IF I SHOUOD GO TO BED OR DO THIS RNNNNN OMG OMG OMG YES?

✧NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOU. || percy jackson x fem!reader

summary: in which the group make their way to their new destination only to run across a bit of a bump in the road.

word count: 7,939 (what the actual…)

warnings: awkwardness between percy and y/n, near death experience, the gods literally shipping y/n and percy lowkey bc why not, slight argument. (a little twist in the story<3)

as the group walked and walked on the endless road somehow thinking they’d get somewhere with this pace. y/n walked in the middle of percy and annabeth.

percy would momentarily look at y/n who didn’t meet his gaze. lot to lie to himself but that probably stung almost as bad as the stinger from the chimera.

deciding to talk along the quiet atmosphere around the group, percy began—‘i’ve been thinking.’ as he started, his words gained all their attention.

‘i didn’t steal the master bolt— you guys didn’t steal the master bolt. we’re pretty sure hades has the master bolt, but he couldn’t have stolen it himself. i mean—we don’t even know who actually stole the thing…or why…or, how deep this thing goes’

as they walked and listened to percy speak who talked his thoughts he looked between the group and let his gaze set upon y/n who turned to look at him the second he turned away.

after seeing grover and annabeth not talk or back him up he came to the conclusion—‘i’m the last person to realize this aren't i?’

‘yup—‘ y/n spoke while still not making contact with percy who turned almost immediately to her direction to see she hadn’t been looking at him which he didn’t want to admit but it kinda hurt in a way.

‘yeah’ annabeth spoke while grover nodded to percy who almost rolled his eyes at how he’s just now catching up.

‘okay, so…maybe when we started my head wasn’t fully in this…but since the river…’ looking at y/n who sucked in a breath and turned her head, she turned to the horizon as percy kept talking—‘it all feels different somehow.’ he boldly claimed.

smiling to himself as he thought of two things—mostly one over the other but maiming the second, he spoke once more—‘he saved me. my dad. i guess i just never really thought that’s something he’d do for me. so maybe i gotta take things more seriously now—‘

as he spoke and the group listened, grover couldn’t help but hear something approaching. y/n seeing his head turn to the road behind them she turned as well to see a small dot in the distance.

‘car.’ grover told them. the sound of the engine becoming more prominent as it got closer.

‘that can’t be a car you hear how loud that thing is?’ y/n squinted her eyes trying to see.

‘that’s not a car, it’s a bike. just let it pass.’ annabeth told them, seeing that they had people looking for them on a most wanted, y/n lightly tapped percy’s arm—‘come on’ she spoke as he turned and followed but not without looking behind him.

the group hurrying to hide behind a concrete block on the side of the road to hide; they all sat down into the grassy dirt. their legs outstretched in front of them. annabeth sitting on the side next to grover as percy sat on his other and y/n sitting next to percy.

‘i’m saying, we’re not just trying to retrieve a thing. o think we might need to be detectives here, too.’ percy looked at the group as they listened to him once more to his continued talk.

‘yeah.’ y/n agreed silently as she fixed her legs in front of her along with her pants that had still felt a bit wet. percy looked at her as she looked down at her legs and he felt a slight twinge in his stomach that felt horrible.

reading her face he noticed she was back to her quiet, and awkward self with him—did she somehow hate him again? he just saved her life doesn’t he at least have his name on a talk to list?

‘why are you being weird with me again? i thought we were doing that anymore.’ he asked out loud. grover and annabeth turned their heads to the two to see y/n look up for a second and only squint her eyes and turn her head back down, letting out a sigh as she began—

‘i’m not being weird?’ she frowned her eyebrows as he nodded a bit.

‘yes you are. you’ve been weird since we left the arch.’ he told. as he said this she felt herself get awkward again and blinked her eyes while turning around.

annabeth could almost laugh at this, grover however had never seen her like this before.

‘oh…i get it.’ he boldly claimed while blinking in understanding. did he possibly? y/n turned to him with frowned eyebrows once more.

‘it doesn’t have to be a thing; you know. that we had to—‘

‘stop! it isn’t that, we don’t talk about that—‘

‘i mean, we’re like friends now, best friends. that seems like a best friend thing to do, at least i think they do?’ percy tried so hard to get y/n to speak to him as she closed her eyes and shook her head slowly.

grover fired his best not to crack a smile or even laugh to earn a hit from anyone so he bit his lip and shook his head—annabeth could practically feel y/n begging for help so she spoke.

‘i saw the fates. back at the arch, i saw the three fates and i saw atropos cut a piece of thread.’ she told them. y/n could almost celebrate when her mind was fed something to distract her.

‘and that’s bad or…?’ percy cluelessly asked them.

‘the fates weave the life of every living thing. when you see a string cut—‘

‘it means one of us is going to die.’ y/n said while looking over at percy.

percy however didn’t catch the hint yet so he claimed—‘we’re all gonna die eventually.’

‘soon. it’s a warning’ y/n told him as annabeth nodded her head.

‘an omen’ annabeth added.

as percy looked at y/b for a bit longer they heard the engine of the motorcycle approaching them from behind.

‘okay guys, we need to talk about this whole fate thing. three old ladies with a ball of yarn can’t know what's gonna happen. what i choose to do changed what’s gonna happen, and i can choose to do anything i….want’ as they listened to the fact the engine didn’t pass them y/n frowned her eyebrows along with annabeth.

‘need some help?’ a man asked.

as the group turned to the brick in front of them as if they could see who spoke they turned to each other before raising to their knees to peer over the brick that stood in their way.

as they poked their heads over the group, they seen a man biker with a long leather jacket that draped over the backside of his black and silver bike. he wore a black helmet and had a large beard on his face.

‘beg pardon?’ grover politely asked.

‘i asked if you could use some help.’ he repeated.

grover looked over at y/n who had wide eyes as she slowly shook her head, which percy noticed and smiled too.

‘nope. no we’re—we’re good. appreciate you asking, though. so long.’ he furnished as the group slowly turned back around to hide once more as y/n gave a awkward tight lipped smile.

the man sighed as he looked ahead of him before saying—‘you don’t seem too good.’

y/n decided to turn and talk this time—‘we don’t need help and we don’t really need anything from you’ she claimed while lowering back down behind the brick and next to percy.

‘you sure? because you guys are so behind schedule’ he scoffed.

as the group heard him say this they immediately rose from the ground to reveal their full bodies and confused faces.

‘i mean, summer solstice is just a few days away. and as much as i’d love to see a good war pop off, as your big cousin, i feel like, maybe, i wanna give you a hand.’ percy frowned as y/n and annabeth knew right away. grover as well but he decided to play a bit cool.

‘cousin?’ he confusing asked as y/n turned to him—‘he’s aries—‘

‘you two girls must be athena’s kids. always gotta be the wisest one in the bunch.’ ares squinted his eyes as he leaned forward on his bike a bit.

‘why would you help us?’ annabeth asked.

‘how do you even know about what we’re doing here?’ y/n asked as well.

‘because i’m doing exactly the same thing as you. zeus sent all of his kids looking out for the master bolt, too. listen dummies, im hungry. there’s a halfway decent dinner up the road. if you want my held you’ll meet me there. but done dawdle. won’t wait forever.’ he finished before placing his sunglasses on.

before he even fully left he gave a look to them before driving away.

‘that’s my cousin? what kind of family is this?’ percy kind of in awe asked.

‘he didn’t want to offer a ride…?’ y/n squinted as she looked off into the distance.

annabeth sighed before tapping grover, ‘come on’ she told them as they began to walk into where he went off to.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

after a bit of their walking they finally arrived at a pretty quiet dinner of which they saw the bike of aries.

walking into the restaurant with the sound of the doorbell and a few distant talking from the people inside, percy made sure that the door stayed open for y/n who gave a small nod and smile which he was quick to return.

looking around as they looked for them they were all met with the sound of loud laughing and a table slap. turning to see ares himself laughing at his phone as he had two plates, a mountain of fries and five big cheeseburgers in a stack.

‘guess this is the right place’ percy told the three as y/n walked forward along with grover, annabeth and percy who was close to y/n.

aries let his outburst of laughter die down as the group walked behind him which he acknowledged and looked at them—‘gimme a second, i’m just starting a fight on twitter here.’ he told them. annabeth slid into the booth first then y/n who was followed by percy and grover.

‘nothing makes me happier than a good old-fashioned, burn-it-down fight. ah…okay, done’ he clicked his last words before looking at the them.

‘so your quest is going to fail. ask me how i know’ he grinned at them as y/n rolled her eyes in annoyance then only to reach forward for a fry which ares seemed to not really care about, percy noticed this and suppressed a smile.

‘it isn’t gonna fail—‘

‘sure it is.’ ares cut of percy with a scoff—‘for starters…’ pulling out his phone once more to show a video of percy’s step dad.

‘percy was always troubled, but i never thought he was capable of something like this.’

‘wh—who’s that?’ grover asked percy who stayed focused on the phone, his face frozen in shock—‘my stepdad, what’s he doing?’

‘and in addition to the destruction at the gateway arch…’ a news reporter added before ares scoffed with a smile—‘wait for it’

‘you believe he may also have had something to do with your wife’s disappearance?’

‘a kid that messed up? what wouldn’t he do?’

‘what?’ percy frowned as y/n looked at him in a bit of pity before back at the phone.

‘wild right? the FBI is already spreading your picture around.’ ares added as they still listened to the phone.

‘it’s a camaro. i really—we really loved that car…so much…cut!’ his stepdad cried like a baby over camera as they stopped the recording.

‘i’m gonna kill him’ percy angrily promised as he shook his head.

‘i knew i was gonna like you’ ares nodded his head with a smile.

‘but safe to say, the chances of you three idiots hitchhiking the rest of the way to L.A. without getting arrested are slim to none.’ he told them.

y/n tiredly scoffed a bit while trying to somehow lean further back into the seat.

‘why are you sitting here then? if you had this to say you could’ve said it back at that brick before you rode off into the sun.’ y/n asked and mumbled with a roll of her eyes. annabeth pinched her a bit, leaving her to aggressively push her arm into annabeth.

percy sighed softly and looked at y/n, noticing how tired she was and made his way a bit closer to her without her knowing it. he hoped she’d at least try and lean on him for a bit of comfort compared to this wooden chair.

‘if your supposed to be looking for the master bolt too, shouldn’t you be out there looking for it?’ annabeth picked up for y/n as she frowned her eyebrows.

‘hmm there’s no fear in the two of you, is there?’ he asked the girls who started him down in the eyes with nothing but pure confidence.

‘doesn't matter. whether the bolt’s retrieved or not, zeus is going to war with poseidon.’ he told the four as they all looked at percy who looked at them before back at ares.

‘no. the oracle said if we return the bolt, there wouldn’t be a war.’ percy told ares.

‘is that what she said? or is that what chiron said she meant?’ as ares finished his sentence he noticed percy’s hesitation who looked around the room before back at ares.

‘yeah. your new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. see, years before i was born, my grandpa kronos ate my aunt and uncle’s. yeah. then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked ‘em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate.’ the bunch taking this in as they looked at each other letting ares continue.

‘olympians fight. we betray. we backstab. we will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. and that’s why i love my family so much’ he smiled as percy sighed and leaned back a little.

‘my dad knows he’s not getting this bolt hack with quests or goose chases. he knows there’s a war coming. and in reality i think he’s okay with that. i think he feels it’s just time for a way; so we’re gonna have a war.’ as he finished his sentence y/n cringed her whole face as he placed a balled fist on his lips and inhaled.

‘isn’t that great?’ he asked then as if they would even agree. well, maybe y/n, she made bets with people on who would win in a war if there ever was one any time soon and she betted on loads of books.

‘we’re completing this quest. we’re stopping this war. you said you can help. can you?’ percy asked ares with his hard face expression.

‘okay, so here it is. there’s an amusement park up the road. i left my shield there. you get me my shield back, and i’ll get you to the underworld by lunch tomorrow with a plan to invade hades’s palace’ he explained to them.

‘you left your shield? like…you forgot it on the merry-go-round?’ y/n squinted her eyes at him once more as annabeth sighed in annoyance at her sisters words.

ares leaned forward and under the light the hung above to get closer to y/n who leaned forward as well.

‘okay. the chirping was funny to me for a minute, but it is getting old.’ ares warned her as she squinted her eyes and tilted her head a bit.

‘y/n…’ percy whispered trying to get her attention but she still looked towards ares.

‘so do we have a deal, or am i killing all three of you so i can eat in peace?’ he angrily shouted a bit at the bunch as percy became a bit nervous and looked around to see y/n biting the inside of her cheek.

‘okay.’ percy accepted leaving ares to smile and lean back—‘great. one catch. i really do need that shield back, so i'm gonna keep the satyr and wise girl here as collateral so you can’t run off—‘

‘what? no your not keeping them that’s not—‘ y/n shouted as she frowned only to be cut off by annabeth and grieve who spoke at the same time with—

‘okay.’

‘no way’ percy said while y/n turned to annabeth and shook her head immediately.

‘we don’t split up again—‘

‘it’s okay.’ grover reassured as annabeth nodded.

‘if he wanted to kill us, we’d be dead by now.’ grover told them as ares grinned at grover who asked—‘can we just walk them to the door?’

ares sighed and allowed it letting a wave of his hand go in front of them giving them the signal to walk.

‘okay look, don’t engage with him—don’t speak too much and don’t try to make friends, he’ll want to get your riled up, get in your head and you can let him.’ y/n tired to stress as grover shook his head.

‘it’s okay. really. i know what im doing. go. get the shield. we’ll be here when you two get back.’ grover told them.

‘there’s nothing to worry about y/n. besides, this will be quick knowing you’ annabeth added as y/n sighed and nodded a bit.

as the two of percy and y/n hesitated to leave the two they slowly turned around to the door before leaving grover and annabeth with the god of war.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

as the night sky had fell over everyone and the town, percy and y/n walked to the dimly lit amusement park with the sign that said ‘Welcome to Waterland’

‘i haven’t seen a lot of horror movies but this seems like exactly the kind of place they’d suggest to avoid.’ percy commented as the two stopped and stood in front of the entrance.

‘well…i never seen any kind of movie, is it good?’ she asked while looking over to him as he shrugged.

‘okay then, i’d have to take your word for it—‘

‘wait never? what do you mean never like, never-never?’ he asked almost completely shocked at the fact she’d never seen a movie before.

‘is there another kind?’ she responded as he lightly nodded his head.

‘well, if neither of us is dead in a few days, we really ought to fix that. your missing out.’ he told her almost as a promise as she lightly nodded her head in agreement.

‘in the meantime, we should probably get this over with, though.’ as he walked in front of her she slowly followed a bit far behind.

as percy walked through the metal moving doors right when y/n realized what he just did—‘wait, percy stop.’ she told him as they listened to the sound of ticking above percy.

‘what just happened?’ he asked frantically.

‘just hold still—don’t move at all okay?’ she instructed with her hands out to keep him where he was.

‘let me think…’ she replied. the sound of the metal moving against one another above percy clicking.

‘in the mechanism there, that’s Celestial bronze—‘

‘oh, fascinating. y/n, what’s happening right now?’ percy interrupted not too much interested in the subject of bronze.

‘Celestial bronze is what your sword is made of. if your human, it’ll pass right through you. if your a monster or a demigod…’ she trailed off as percy used the rest of his imagination for the rest of her sentence.

nodding slowly he breathed a bit more heavily—‘well what’s it doing there?’ he asked her while looking up, focused on the bronze.

‘i’m wondering the same thing. safe to say this place isn’t some fun amusement park for everyone. a god built this.’ she finally came to the conclusion.

‘what kind of god builds amusement parks?’ percy asked.

y/n looking around and scratching her brain for a answer she finally answered—‘Hephaestus.’

‘why would Hephaestus build an amusement park?’

‘maybe he finds them amusing?’ she answered with her hands lifted a bit.

‘that’s really not funny, y/n.’

‘it could be a little funny, i’ll say the joke again later and you’ll laugh.’

sighing as he rolled his eyes a bit to focus on the situation in hand y/n still looking at the tucking bronze she mumbled—‘oh…oh, look at that.’ she felt mesmerized by the bronze turning and clicking more—‘that’s kinda cool’ only for percy to get her back to reality—y/n!’

snapping back she closed her eyes and focused a bit more—‘just relax, i’m thinking okay?’.

as the two of them looked up at the clicking she finally sighed—‘i get this. just…push through it.’ she instructed.

hyperventilating, percy turned to her with a look of uncertainty—‘push?’

‘yes.’

turning to do so he stopped before actually going and turned to her—‘cause weren’t you the one this morning who was all, “the Fated says one is us is gonna die and we should take it really seriously?”

looking to the side as she recalled her words she rolled her eyes a bit and in a calming voice—‘percy?’

‘yeah?’

‘just push.’ she told him once more.

sighing with nervousness, he placed his hands on the metal bars and started to walk, pushing them on front of him. the gears of the machine clanging together he finally got thought and hurried his way on the other side before anything could happen.

looking up at the yellow boxed of 0’s one turned into the number 1.

‘what’s was that?’ percy asked with a sigh.

‘the machine isn’t designed to hurt us. it’s meant to scare us. it’s a test.’ she told him as she made her way through.

the one on the yellow boxed turning into a 2, representing the number of people who’d entered.

‘Hephaestus wanted to know any time one of us came poking around his playground. i guess now he knows.’ she commented as they took their last look at the machine and started to walk.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

back at the restaurant sat annabeth, grover and the god ares who laughed at his phone.

annabeth and grover gave each other side eyes before he sighed and nodded his head slowly.

‘we’ve met before.’ he told him.

‘been around a long time, little boy. i’ve bet a lot of people.’ ares told him as he still poked at his phone with one finger.

‘i’m 24’ grover told him.

scoffing he replied with—‘good for you.’

giving a tight lipped smile grover continued as annabeth sat back and listened—‘we met at the solstice. on Olympus.’

sighing with a small groan ares mumbled—‘protester.’

‘oh i wasn’t one of the protesters. i’m a fan.’ annabeth looking at him a bit before back at ares who’s finally looked up he replied.

‘i think you got me mixed up with someone else, kid.’ before looking back at his phone, grover shook his head with a small smile.

‘no i don’t’ he stated with a head shake.

sighing ares placed his phone on its face on the table and spoke—‘Satyrs eat tofu. Satyrs worship flowers. Satyrs sing songs about their feelings. Satyrs are no fans of mine.’ he told him with full confidence.

‘Satyrs are children of nature. nature is brutal. red in tooth and claw, right?’ he asked getting a bit more comfortable in his seating next to annabeth who nodded her head as ares looked up at him—‘maybe unpleasant. but that doesn’t make it untrue. you are the champion, all of that. i respect it.’ he told him.

ares squinting his eyes a bit began to speak—‘so what are you like, a casual World War || buff? you’ve seen Saving Private Ryan, have you?’

nodding a bit he looked to the side before looking back at him—‘i prefer the Turbot War. the Lobster War. the Three Hundred and Thirty-Five years’ war. your deep cuts’

‘huh…those are wars where hardly anyone died.’ he noted as grover nodded a bit.

‘i like your mellower stuff. there’s something cool about overwhelming force and a quick surrender.’ he tells him as ares begins to think.

‘no one talks about those anymore.’ he remembers.

‘they should.’ grover told him truthfully while looking him in the eyes, annabeth agreeing.

sighing ares sat a bit closer—‘so tell me where we met again?’ he asked as grover smiled a bit.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

back at the quiet amusement park, y/n and percy walked around as they looked at things trying to find where ares long lost shield was.

‘oh wow, look at that. tell me the god of craftsmen didn’t build this. have you ever seen anything like this?’ y/n asked as she was interested and amused at the rides around her.

‘if it belongs to the god of craftsmen, what was the god of war doing here? aren’t they enemies? then why’d he split without his shield?’ percy asked and wondered while y/n listened to his questions.

‘if i’m guessing…ares has always had a thing with—‘

‘aphrodite. she’s Hephaestus’s wife. oh your kidding, he met her here? in her husband’s park? that’s so wrong—‘

‘in so many ways’ y/n sided with him as she and him walked side by side.

‘they must’ve got caught and he had to leave in a hurry. one thing ares was telling the truth about…this family is a mess.’

as she finished—a song started to play, grabbing the two’s attention. as they looked over they see a pink sign that blinked the words ‘Thrisd Ride O’ Love’ with a small heart above it and a tunnel with pink.

y/n felt hers grow a bit sweaty along with percy who’d looked over at her, the sense of him looking catching her attention as her eyes stayed forward—‘don’t you even try to tell me not to be weird about this.’

‘i didn’t say anything’ he said while looking back at the pink tunnel.

‘yeah but i can feel you thinking it…this must be where ares and aphrodite got caught. the shield must be in there. we just…gotta go get it i guess.’ she said.

percy turning to her and when she turned to him he faced forward, sighing he said—‘sure. let’s go check out the scary ghost ride. why not?’ he said while walking forward.

‘it’s a tunnel of love. what’s so scary about that?’ she teased only for him to roll his eyes.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

after boarding the boat made for two, they sailed along the water in silence, the only noise being made was an occasional light flicker and the water moving together.

y/n letting her face stay forward to avoid any awkward eye contact, they both heard a sudden thud in the distance making percy turn to her as he adjusted his seating in worry.

suddenly the lights made a quicker more aggressive flicker only to hear the song—‘What Is Love’ played throughout the whole tunnel.

the lights dim and the tension gets very awkward.

‘are you kidding me right now?’ y/n commented as she looked around the tunnel brick walls.

‘feel like i’ve heard this before. i think from an orthodontist’s office maybe?’ he tried to remember.

just then a decorative multicolored light stuck down the tunnel, the pair following its glow. the colors now painted a purple that showed over the two. percy looking at y/n but before he could notice she looked at him back once he faced forward.

just then they focus on a back cartoon figure on the wall with a crown on and multiple legs, it moved along the wall to grow and show a small boy who was birthed from the figure.

‘wait. i know this.’ watching more of the cartoon on the wall he finally came to his conclusion—‘it’s hephaestus’s story.’

the two watching as the cartoon hephaestus hammers down onto something and tried to reach and give what he built to the other figure only for it to turn away—its signs of rejection. perturbing to y/n and he turned only for her to look at him then face forward.

‘rejected by hera. rejected by aphrodite…my mom told me these stories all the time. i remember this. she said…’ as he went a bit quiet y/n turned to him studying his face.

‘what?’ she asked.

‘she said this is what the gods are like to each other. this is the kind of family they are.’ he told her.

frowning her eyebrows y/n asked—‘why didn’t you wanna say that just now? she was trying to keep me away from you guys.’ with a bit of shock y/n let her eyebrows lift up while looking at him.

percy turned away and shook his head—‘maybe you were right. maybe she should have been preparing me better.’ he said.

‘maybe she was preparing you. so when you got to us, you’d be different than this.’ y/n told him as he looked at her for a bit longer he finally turned as the cartoon life story of hephaestus finished with him falling on the ground in failure, the light around them turned off.

suddenly a tunnel of green was in front of them and the duo was shot forward and down the waterfall—screaming in shock as they held onto the boat tighter. both of them being thrusted and moved around aggressively, percy looked over at y/n to see if she was okay and once he say that she was he turned forward, her doing the same.

the opening at the end showing more water—‘is it a bad time to say i barely know how to swim?’ y/n exclaimed while frowning, percy looked over to her shaking his head—‘it’s okay!’

as they reached a more settled but aggressive moving water they looked over to see a stage of a gold chair and a gold woman holding ares shield.

‘there it is. ares’s shield.’ as they looked forward to seeing the end of the tunnel as an empty boat was thrown off the ledge of lightning striking in the air they both looked at each other in worry.

‘jump!’ he said as she took a deep breath in and followed him.

panting as y/n struggled to stay afloat she sunk underwater unable to keep up with the pressure. percy swimming under with his hand outstretched with hers, he heard her yell his name in a muffled voice.

outstretching his hand towards her more a force of water threw itself at her then a bigger one once again only for the both of their worlds to go dark.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

waking up with a gasp as they panted for air, the two laid down on their stomachs next to each other on the floor. coughing a bit they both sat up and looked around to see they were face no longer in the water and on the surface of the chair and the woman statue.

‘did you just pull me out of there with that water power stuff?’ she asked while he looked around the floor in confusion.

‘no.’ he said.

‘did you just—‘

‘i don’t know. maybe? i’m figuring this out as i go.’

‘yeah well, u owe you twice…’ she said as the two of them sat to their knees, looking up at the golden statue and the chair in front of it.

‘how are we supposed to get that thing down?’ percy asked as they looked at the shield being held and the chair. y/n studying it she noted—‘these things are connected somehow. it’s a machine but how do you start the machine?’ she asked herself.

the town of them looking around for any clues as to where to begin.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

‘i hate kids. all of ‘em. i hate my own kids.’ he told the two as they listened and only could really nod.

‘um, maybe less than other kids, but still not fond of them.’ scoffing as he recalled some of their prayers to him—“look what i made”, “what are butterflies for?”, “my knee hurts.”—he finishes with a groan.

‘i love my job, but that night everyone's kids show up for the winter solstice and i have to sit through their “presentation.” that night is the worst night of the year, every year, by far.’

‘this one in particular, it seems. since one of those kids somehow walked off with the master bolt.’ scoffing ares shook his head a bit—‘says you. who knows who actually took it. plenty of people hate my dad enough to try.’

‘maybe, but not many people could pull it off.’ he reminded as ares took that into account as he turned his head to the side.

‘someone hades could’ve recruited for the job.’ he tries to say only for ares to shake his head—‘says you’ he replied once more.

‘and someone who could slip away long enough to do it without being missed, bold enough to cross zeus, stealthy enough to get their hands on the thing—‘

‘en—enough. not everything is a puzzle that needs to be solved. your as bad as my sister.’ he groaned. the mention of her mom bringing her attention a bit more making her think about y/n.

‘was she always like that?’

‘who?’

‘your sister, athena.’ grover told.

‘what do you mean?’ ares asked him.

‘always making things more complicated than they need to be so people will think she’s smarter then you.’ as the tension got tight and his eyes staring down grover who was growing a bit nervous along with annabeth who almost gulped—ares slammed his hands down onto the table making a loud thump scaring the two as they jumped in shock.

‘thank you! i can’t be the only one who sees it right?’ he asked.

‘no, not at all.’

‘it certainly feels that way sometimes. and seriously, she’s the smart one? really? if she’s so smart, explain the owl. she talks to it, like, all the time. this fat nasty little feathers rodent. and it’s like her best friend’ he told him in aggression as annabeth thought about her and y/n’s mom with a owl.

that might explain why y/n thought about getting one not to long ago, she definitely had to tell her about it later.

‘and we’re so sure that she’s a genius and i, no owl, am not?’ he said as grover replied—‘totally!’

‘it’s like people only see what they wanna see and ignore anything at all that doesn’t fit the story they like to tell themselves.’

‘exactly! like you being the one to find the lighting thief and not her.’ ares had gone quiet once grover exclaimed this making annabeth a bit tense as the two did then looked at ares who leaned forward.

‘what did you mean by that?’

‘by what?’ grover asked as he played confused.

‘found the thief. we both know your friend didn’t steal the bolt.’ he told him.

‘yeah, but zeus thinks he did, which is kinda all that matters, right?’

‘shut up.’ he instructed grover who watched as ares began to think.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

as y/n and percy looked at the golden chair, the two of them trying to figure out what to do next.

‘it was a gift with a hidden purpose. hephaestus offered it to hera, but as soon as she sat in it she couldn’t get up. all the gods tried but the machine was too smart. it was too strong. it was too much. even for them.’ percy told y/n who looked over at him with her eyebrows scrunched.

looking up he continued—‘finally, they said if hephaestus let hera free, aphrodite would be his wife.’ looking over at y/n as he licked his lips a bit he told her—‘the chair is the bargain. one of us goes in, the other gets the shield—‘

‘i’ll do it.’ y/n immediately said as she began to walk forward.

‘what? wait a minute.’ percy was quick to grab her wet sleeved arm—‘whoever goes in, isn’t coming out. that seems pretty clear.’

‘i know, that’s why i said wait—‘

‘this isn’t the arch, seaweed braid. your not telling me to stay behind, it didn’t work then and it won’t work now—‘

‘yes, i am and yes it will.’

‘i’m not going to let you do it. it doesn’t work that way.’

‘it’s why you’re here.’ he told her as he scrunched his eyebrows, his eyes looking at her.

‘what’s that supposed to mean…’ she asked him.

‘when choosing my team, i told chiron i needed someone who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice me if the quest required, he agreed, that was you.’ he told her as she sadly shook her head and faced forward.

‘you were right, i can’t believe it but the fates were right. there’s no getting around his. we dodged it at the arch, barely, but…maybe this isn’t something you can dodge forever.’

‘the oracle chose you. the gods chose you!’

‘stop! it isn't about that.’

‘what could it possibly be about if it isn’t about that?’

‘your better at this than me.’ when he told her this y/n couldn’t help but sadly look at him in the eyes with her brows scrunched together.

‘you just are. and you know it.’ shaking her head in denial he continued to talk—‘believe me, i wish there was slither way this quest succeeds. i just don’t see it.’ he finished as she sadly looked over at the chair, her heart clutched in a way she can’t explain.

as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the pen she gasped when she knew what he was trying to say.

‘percy no…’ she told him while shaking her head. looking up at her ad she kept her eyes focus to his hand with hers pushing it away slowly, he confusingly shook his head.

‘i’ve let you sacrifice your life for mine twice..and i’m not letting you do it again. i owe you a great amount for saving me and this is the way i’m going to do it—‘

‘y/n no this isn’t how it goes—‘

‘it’s how i want it to go! i want it to happen like this and it will. you will get the shield and get out of here to get the bolt and save your mom. you will see her again and you will finish this quest. percy, we barely know each other and you’ve saved me twice. let me return the favor please.’ she told him. he shook his head in denial while his eyebrows frowned only for her to give him a small nod and smile.

placing her hand in his before giving it a squeeze she let go as he could only stare in the spot she was once in and turn his body to where she walked towards the gold chair.

‘can you promise me something?’ she asked while turning around—‘i’m not going to let annabeth get sad and stop the quest.’ he told her as she nodded.

‘i was going to say maybe try and come back with annabeth and get me out this chair? i don’t want to be forever young in an amusement park.’ she tired to lighten the mood, making him scoff with slight tears in his eyes as she smiled.

‘do you really think you had to ask?’ he asked her as she smiled a bit—‘just reminding you’.

turning around to climb up into the chair, she sat down with both of her hands on the sides of it as it started to make noise. looking a bit worried, percy looked at her as she looked around.

‘this is kinda weird. it feels…warm.’ she told percy who had tears forming fast.

looking down, gold started to run up from her shoes and started to make its way up her body.

‘this is a bad idea—y/n stand up!’ he told her.

‘i can’t…’

‘y/n stand up, i mean it!’ he told her more urgently, his face growing more sad but he second as his heart clutched.

‘it’s okay percy…i’m okay….im okay…im—‘ just then the gold finished consuming y/n’s body as she turned into a gold statue in the chair.

shaking his head, percy sadly looked around as he watched the shield fall loose. making his way over it he ignored it and immediately went to work on the gold chair y/n sat still in.

not knowing what he was going he just started to twist random screws and geers. just then a man walked through a door with a beard and a cane.

‘can i help you?’ he asked him only for percy to ignore him completely and try to get y/n out of the chair.

‘do you need some help finding your way out?’ the man playing a flute as it made steps appear out of the water below.

‘so off you go.’ he told him as percy shook his head and started to turn random things once more—‘i’m not leaving without my friend.’

‘yeah that isn’t really how it works. it’s kind of a one way sort of thing. it can’t be undone.’ he told percy who rolled his eyes.

‘how do you know?’

‘because i built it.’ he revealed himself—hephaestus.

‘i’m not leaving here without my friend.’ percy told him once more. ‘and if you aren’t going to help me, could you maybe leave me alone so i can focus?’

‘in spite of what my brother might have told you, i am not someone who’ll be pushed around.’ignoring him as he continued to turn geers and try to get y/n out, hephaestus continued to talk—‘i know her mother was displeased with her recently, but how will your father feel if i told him this?’ he asked percy, making him almost focus on what he was saying.

‘you might not know how he gets, but i do. and this is a lot. even for him.’ standing up for a second percy listened and looked at hephaestus who’s hand held the railing in front of him.

‘you leave out of here with that shield, your a hero, on your way to the greatest glory. he will be proud and your friend might even be forgiven. and all will go back to being as it always has been, always will be, as it should be—‘

‘but it isn’t how it should be! it isn’t! eat or be eaten. peer and glory and nothing else matters. ares is that way, she’s is that way her mother… is that way.’ he told hephaestus who started to look to the side.

‘she isn’t that way. she’s better than that. maybe she was that way once, but she didn’t want to be that way anymore. we won’t be like all of you. i just won’t.’ hephaestus listening to percy as he sadly looked down and turned back to the chair, he almost went back to work only for hephaestus to blow his flute again and the geers started to turn.

clicking and making noise, percy hurried and made his way in front of the golden statue of y/n. her naturally colored eye started to show as she blinked it and the rest of her face coming back to normal, breathing heavily as y/n looked around at herself in the chair, the rest of her body coming undone.

percy happily looked at her as she looked up at him and loved her hands.

getting up as she stumbled forward to percy who grabbed her immediately he held her hands in his while looking over her face with a small smile and a tear dropped from his eye down his face.

‘some of us don’t like being that way either. your a good kid percy.’ hephaestus told him as he held y/n’s arm who worked on standing right.

‘i’ll put in a good word with your dad for you…same with you y/n with your mom.’ as he turned away from the two who looked at him before each other. the door he once went through shut.

ㆍ୨୧ㆍ

at the restaurant the three heard the bell of the door chime through the restaurant to reveal y/n holding the shield and percy close behind her. annabeth let out a breath of relief she didn't know she was holding as grover did the same, ares looking at the two not really believing they did it.

as they walked over to the table, she placed the shield down into the table. y/n and percy looking at ares whilst annabeth and grover looked at percy and y/n.

‘where’s our ride.’ percy started off.

as they walked outside to ares standing behind a semi truck both y/n and percy said—‘your kidding’

ares with a straight face clicked his two fingers together as the doors opened to reveal animals and stacks of hair in buckets and boxes.

‘get in, don’t. i really don’t care. but in a few hours this thing is gonna be at the Lotus casino in vegas. hermes hangs out there, you play your cards right and his personal driving can get you to L.A. in minutes.’ ares told them as he threw a bag at percy who caught it.

‘here. clothes, cash, drachmas to summon hermes. i’d wish you luck, but what good would it do you?’ he told them in his honesty.

‘we’re not gonna fail.‘ percy told ares who grinned.

‘don’t worry. your dad had plenty of kids he stopped caring about once he lost interest. you’ll have lost of company.’ ares tried to make percy feel bad but it didn’t work.

‘we’re not gonna fail, and i’m getting pretty tired of you saying it.’ he started as y/n looked at annabeth and grover.

‘percy…’ y/n and grover said his name in a warning town as ares’ face dropped from its grin.

‘you think you know who i am but you don’t.’ he stated while walking up to ares who kept his eyes trained on him—‘and if you're not careful…your gonna find out—‘

‘percy…’ grover and the two sisters walked up to his side as y/n placed her hand on his arm. percy’s glare not leaving ares’s who stayed the same.

‘so, thank you for the emotional abuse and the cheeseburgers…and the ride! we’re gonna take you up on that, too.’ grover told ares as he looked back at percy who finally walked off as he was being dragged by grover and given a push by y/n.

the group walking into the bus as ares looked at them as they stood in the portable barn, grover asked—‘hey, do you think we could get some paper towels or something, it’s not that nice in here.’ he finished while they looked around.

ares however only grinned before clicking his fingers once more as the doors shut.

‘well…this smells.’ percy commented.

‘if it gets us where we need to go, that's all that matters.’ annabeth told him as y/n nodded.

‘assuming ares was telling the truth.’

grover turned and picked with his hands as he shook his head—‘he wasn’t…not entirely, at any rate. he was holding something back.’ grover told him.

‘how do you know?’ y/n asked.

‘because, i think i got it out of him. i know who stole the lightning bolt.’

[takaraphoenix]

soulmate prompt #2! countdown-pernico??

first of all, SORRY for the long wait! I hope you like it ;)

--

Every person was born with a counter on their wrist, counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until they would be meeting their soulmates. Nico di Angelo was sure that his timer was broken though. His nonna did the math for him and his timer still had over seventy years to go. That just could not be right at all. Nico would be so old by the time he met his soulmate! And he himself had done the math on that one, learning he would only meet his soulmate in 2006. That was the next century, that was so, so, so far away! That was a nightmare, it was unfair.

/break\

Percy had never really questioned his timer. He would be twelve years old when he met his soulmate. That was exciting, that was like super early! Most people had to wait until they were adults to meet their soulmates. So Percy spent all his life looking forward to 2006, because it was going to be his year. The year he was going to meet his soulmate and be happy forever.

2006 was not his year. At all. His mom revealed that she’d lied to him all his life, and then proceeded to get nearly killed by the Minotaur and did get abducted by Hades, and Percy found himself stranded at a summer camp for demigods, because apparently he was a demigod.

Percy barely even had time to think about his soulmate, but when he did, he considered that, oh, yeah, this made sense. The year he learned he was a demigod, a whole new world was opened to him, a world he would be part of from now on. Of course that would be the year he met his soulmate, because his soulmate was probably also part of this world. And there were so many campers, so when his timer was still going by the time him, Annabeth and Grover left for the quest, he was sure there were just campers he hadn’t met yet, he would meet when returning to camp.

And then they were stranded in the Lotus Hotel, the whole visit kind of a blur once they left. The only thing that truly stood out was the fact that Percy’s counter had run out. While he had been in the Lotus Hotel, he must have met his soulmate. Percy wanted to return as soon as he realized, but he also had to save his mom and they had a pressing deadline and his soulmate would be safe and okay in the hotel until then, right?

/break\

So many more things happened after that. It felt like everything was happening at once. The visit to Hades, the fight against Ares, returning the helmet and the Master Bolt, the reveal that Luke had been the traitor, and Luke nearly killing Percy. Honestly, a lot.

He wanted to return to the Lotus Hotel afterward, but everyone told him not to. It was dangerous, there was always the danger of getting lost. The trio had been lucky to find their way out as fast as they had. And everybody kept telling him that soulmates were destined to meet, that if they met once, his soulmate would find their way back to him. But how was Percy supposed to know? If the counter didn’t count anymore, how was he supposed to know when he actually met his soulmate again? This was stressing him out. He knew they were right that going back, he would also not know which one was his soulmate, but still. This was so frustrating.

For the most part, the ongoing war distracted Percy from fretting about the soulmate he had met and forgotten. Between going to the sea of monsters, going to retrieve the di Angelos and ending up losing Bianca and having to free Annabeth and Artemis from a kidnapping, getting lost in Daedalus’ labyrinth and stranded on Ogygia, all the way up to the battle of Manhattan.

It was like Percy barely got a moment to breath between quests and battles. And if he wasn’t busy with those, he also had school and his mortal life to deal with. Plus, looking for Nico di Angelo, because he had run away in anger after Bianca had died and Percy felt so guilty. Despite blaming Percy, Nico still came to try and save Percy in the labyrinth, which was just confusing. Either way, Percy wanted to make it up to Nico, wanted to bring the son of Hades to the safety of camp.

Even when the war ended, Percy didn’t manage either. Not bringing Nico back to camp – even though Nico had gone and found the Achilles Curse, which ultimately saved Percy’s life during the war, even though Nico had rallied Hades into joining the Olympians during the final battle, despite all of that, Nico still refused to come to camp. And Percy also failed to find his soulmate. Damn it. But hey, at least he saved the world. That was something, right?

/break\

Percy Jackson was frustrating. He was so pretty and so impressive. He had also promised to keep Bianca save and then Bianca had died. And even though Nico wanted to hate him for it, he just… couldn’t. Despite not even really knowing Percy, there was a part of Nico so attached to Percy already that he could not hate the son of Poseidon. In fact, he kept risking his life for Percy. Why. Why was he doing that. Why was Percy making him act like that, so irrational.

All of this, the loss of Bianca, of his sister and only family, the reveal that monsters and gods were real, the chaos and isolation and fear and anger, it was so overwhelming and very distracting from the one thing he had always looked forward, all his life.

Because him and Bianca had been freed from the Lotus Hotel in 2007. Which meant he had met his soulmate a year before they got out. Who was it? Were they still in the hotel? Or had they left by now too? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Him and Bianca, they should have gotten to go looking for Nico’s soulmate together. Instead, he was all alone now. No Bianca, no mamma, no soulmate, nobody. Just Nico and his anger and frustration and the boy he was chasing for no reason.

Until he found Hazel. He had a sister, a half-sister, and he could help her. He put all his focus onto Hazel, onto getting her out of the underworld, bringing her to the Romans – because she was a Roman demigod, Romans were separate from Greeks, they had their own whole city and all of a sudden, Nico had a whole new world to explore. He kept going there, as the ambassador of Pluto, and though the Romans detested Pluto, in a weird way, Nico felt at home in the Roman city. More so than the American summer camp where kids were supposed to live. What even was that.

This could have been good. He could have made a home there, with Hazel. Get a new start. Move on with his life. And then Percy Jackson disappeared and Nico’s life came to a halt again.

Why was he so hung-up on this stupidly pretty boy. There were other pretty demigods! And besides, Percy was probably soulmates with Annabeth anyway. What was the point pining for him, just because Nico had no idea who his soulmate was? This was getting embarrassing, really.

So of course did Nico spend near every waking hour trying to find Percy. He got his first lead when Jason Grace disappeared from New Rome. These two had to be connected. Nico was right on the money, as proven by Percy just… appearing at Camp Jupiter. Without his memories.

The two got introduced to each other. Percy, the new camper, and Nico, the ambassador of Pluto. Only that Percy was looking at him with recognition and wide-eyes. Why? How?

“You…” Percy’s voice was a soft, awed whisper. “You’re my soulmate.”

/flashback\

Percy was in the Lotus Hotel and he’d gotten separated from Annabeth and Grover. He got distracted by a cool looking game, which was the whole concept of this hotel, he guessed.

“Hey. You wanna play with me? My sister ditched m-”

Someone had spoken to him and then stopped mid-sentence. Percy turned toward the other person, who had a hand resting on Percy’s shoulder to get his attention. When he was facing the other boy, with dark eyes and messy curls, Percy noticed him staring stunned at his own wrist. Following his line of sight, Percy saw that the other boy was staring at his own counter, on zero.

“It’s you,” the other boy whispered before rambling in a foreign language at too fast a speed.

Percy’s own eyes dropped to his own counter and. It was on zero too. He hadn’t even. How had he not been obsessively staring at it, if it was this close to zero? But then time worked differently in here, they had been here for days even though it felt like hours at most.

“You’re my soulmate. We’re soulmates. I can’t believe-” the other – Percy’s soulmate – interrupted himself. “I’m Nico! I’m Nico di Angelo. What’s your name? What do you like?”

“I… I’m Percy Jackson,” Percy blinked in awe at his very excitable soulmate. “Hi.”

Lame. So lame. He cringed at himself, but his soulmate didn’t seem to care. He just threw his arms around Percy, pulling him into a tight hug. Oh. This was nice.

/flashback|end\

Percy’s mind had been wiped by Hera, all memories gone. This blank slate allowed other forgotten memories to be triggered again and as he looked at Nico di Angelo, he was overwhelmed by a memory he didn’t even know he had. Of meeting Nico in the Lotus Hotel. Nico had run off to find his sister and introduce her to Percy, but then the hotel’s magic had made them forget and distracted them and then Percy had left the hotel again with Grover and Annabeth.

“In the casino. You wanted to play a game with me. And then you noticed your timer had run out.”

Nico looked as overwhelmed as Percy felt. Of course did he know he must have met his soulmate at the casino and technically, he knew Percy had been to the casino – the Lightning Thief quest was famous at this point. Percy Jackson was his soulmate. The boy he couldn’t hate, the boy he couldn’t help love, the boy he kept risking his life for over and over again.

“Of course you are,” Nico whispered before he started laughing, relieved and hysterical at the same time. “Of course you are. This is the only thing that has ever made sense.”

The next moment, Percy found himself swept into a hug just like he had the first time they met. This was the happiest Percy had ever seen Nico. And he hoped he’d get to see it many more times. He felt overcome with happiness too, because he had finally found his soulmate.

~*~ The End ~*~

[twoidiotwriters1]

Almighty (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Guys I'm oficially a Licenciada 😌♥️-Danny Words: 2,148 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

XLV: This Guy Is So Cancelled

"Gods, it would be easier if Coach were a demigod," Ara huffs. "I could just close my eyes and know where he is..."

Grover glances at her with curiosity. "About that... how does it work?"

"Don't know. I suppose I multiply, but I have no control over it. I get pulled into places by request of the callers. Eventually, I might learn to control it, but until then I hope I'm not forced to use my blessings, they seem to weaken my... willpower."

"I'll help you," Lester offers kindly. "I've never taught anyone how to be a godling before, and I'm kind of forgetting how it felt to be one—but I'm sure I can be useful, somehow..."

"What?" Ara turns to him frowning. 

Lester blushes and changes topics. "Grover, in the greenhouse, you mentioned something about search parties?"

Grover's expression falls a bit. "The heartiest satyrs and dryads—they've been fanning out across the area for months. We don't have many searchers. With the fires and the heat, the cacti are the only nature spirits that can still manifest. So far, only a few have come back alive. The rest... we don't know."

"What are they are searching for? The source of the fires? The emperor? The Oracle?"

"Everything is connected. It has to be. I didn't know about the Oracle until you told me, but, if the emperor is guarding it, the maze is where he would put it. And the maze is the source of our fire problems."

"When you say maze, you mean the Labyrinth?"

"Sort of. The network of tunnels under Southern California—we assume it's part of the larger Labyrinth, but something's been happening to it. It's like this section of the Labyrinth has been... infected. Like it has a fever. Fires have been gathering, strengthening. Sometimes, they mass and spew—There!"

They look up to spot a large flame shoot up, bright and angry, though it lasts only a second. "That's not normal," Lester says anxiously.

"We already had enough problems in California: drought, climate change, pollution, all the usual stuff. But those flames... It's some kind of magic we don't understand. Almost a full year I've been out here, trying to find the source of the heat and shut it off. I've lost so many friends."

Grover kneels and cradles a bunch of carbonized leaves that fall apart as soon as he touches them. "Too late. When I was a seeker, looking for Pan, at least I had hope. I thought I could find Pan and he'd save us all. Now... the god of the Wild is dead."

Ara kneels next to him, sympathy etched into her expression. "The world has changed, but what he stood for, that's still within you," she presses a hand on his chest. "As long as those who honor him live, there is hope."

"Pan would be proud of your efforts," Lester agrees.

Grover stands up and helps Ara do the same. "My father and my uncle sacrificed their lives searching for Pan. I just wish we had more help carrying on his work. Humans don't seem to care. Even demigods. Even..."

"I wish I could give you my everything, but..." Ara glances at Lester, though she's not really looking at him. "We are built differently for a reason, the world needs balance. Sometimes that balance keeps us divided."

Lester looks almost embarrassed as he starts walking again, making them follow. "You said everything is connected," he continues. "You think the third emperor created this burning maze?"

"Yes, but we don't know how or why. We don't even know where the emperor's base is. As far as we can tell, he moves around constantly."

"And..." Lester swallows with difficulty. "The emperor's identity?"

"All we know is that he uses the monogram NH, for Neos Helios."

Ara stops. "New sun? That's it, then." Grover looks at her without understanding, so she clarifies. "I think... well, correct me if I'm wrong, Lester, but when we were grazed by the flare it felt almost... sentient. I've said this many times, but the labyrinth can be a contention spot for monsters, things that wouldn't survive in the outer world. What if... what if it's him, trap in there?"

"Him, who?" Grover asks hesitantly.

"Helios." Ara says matter-of-factly. "Three emperors, all wanting to take Apollo's spot. There is no power to steal from Lester—not with me in the picture. If they got a hold of Helios's lingering essence, the labyrinth would be the perfect cage. Helios is so ancient, he is pure energy waiting for a vessel, and the emperors are getting stronger, so they could be that vessel if they figure it out."

Lester and Grover stare at her until the mortal boy speaks with a frown on his face. "Every time you have one of your articulated genius moments, it's ten times scarier than when you trample an immortal with your bare hands."

"Agree," Grover shivers. "It's almost unnatural."

Ara pouts. "That's so rude. I'm actually pretty smart, you know? Just not math smart."

"We know," Lester says, walking past her, "but you're always choosing to be dumb, and it catches me off guard when you remind me you're a quick-witted killing machine, makes me want to sleep with an eye open."

"Awe, Lester, I would never hurt a pretty little thing like you," Ara teases him with heavy sarcasm.

Lester's ears turn bright red and he walks faster, concealing his face so she doesn't get to see the effect those words have on him. "Don't talk to me like that!"

Ara scowls at the sign above their heads. "What does that say?"

"Macro Military Madness," Lester reads. "It looks closed—Must be the wrong army-surplus store."

"No. That's Gleeson's car." Grover points to the parking lot.

"Hmm," Ara looks around. "Seemingly empty shop? Yeah, this isn't for mortals..."

"Stop using your brain," Lester gives her a grumpy sideglance. "Let's go get Gleeson."

There's something in his grumpy impatience that feels familiar in a slightly uncomfortable way, and before she can help herself, she mutters, "What's up with him? He's the one who offered to come, no one needs him here..."

Grover shakes his head as he walks. "Sometimes it's hard to believe you and Percy aren't blood-related..." 

Ara pouts again, unwillingly guessing what he meant. As they enter the shop, Ara gets the usual goosebumps that signal godly magic is around. The shop feels like a mirage, larger than it was on the outside, aisle after aisle of weapons and armory. The girl pays attention to the workers, assessing exits and planning an escape route in case they decide to snap out of their apparent idle state. Without meaning to, she begins to glow red. 

"Gun shops usually have some extra protection, so if things get complicated the first thing we should do is ensure they can't lock us in—"

"I thought I told you to stop with the smart talk? You're glowing, if you're not careful you'll buzz out on us."

"Buzz out?" Grover asks. 

"She hears this buzzing every time she's about to faint—you heard it when we were climbing out of the labyrinth, didn't you?"

"How did you...?"

"You told me that's what happens," Lester huffs like it's obvious he would remember. "Anyway, knock it off, don't think."

Ara feels weird about Lester's display and decides to shut up and focus on finding Hedge, a little uneasy over the way Lester has been changing. Luckily, she doesn't get to dwell much on it, running into Hedge in the guns section.

"There you are, you old goat!" She whisper-yells.

The satyr gives a start, then smiles widely. "Jackson, my MVP! Is that Underwood with you? Cool, great, you're right on time, help me pick some land mines..."

"Land mines?" Grover asks with concern.

"Well, they're just empty casings, but I figured we could fill them with explosives and make them active again! You like the World War Two models or the Vietnam-era kind?"

"I like the kind that rots without ever being used," Ara takes them away. "Coach, this is Lester—er, Apollo, I mean."

Hedge turns to the boy in confusion. "Apollo... like Apollo Apollo? It's even worse than we thought. Kid, you gotta do more core exercises."

"Thanks. I've never heard that before."

"I could whip you into shape—I built this mighty powerhouse," he proudly pats Ara on the back.  "But first help me out. Stake mines? Claymores? What do you think?"

"I thought you were buying camping supplies."

"These are camping supplies. If I have to be outdoors with my wife and kid, holed up in that cistern, I'm going to feel a lot better knowing I'm armed to the teeth and surrounded by pressure-detonated explosives! I got a family to protect!"

"Well, Coach, now you've got me and I count for double of that," Ara pulls him away from the aisle. "Besides, you've got Mellie worried sick, man, you've been here all day!"

"No, I haven't!" He looks around. "Wait. What time is it?"

"After dark," Grover states.

"Seriously? Ah, hockey pucks. I guess I spent too long in the grenade aisle."

Ara frowns and looks around too. "Could be that, or maybe—"

"Excuse me," interrupts a man behind them. Lester and Grover yelp and hide behind Ara and Hedge, both stare down at the guy—or up, really, since the guy is over seven feet. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, we don't get many celebrities and I just—I had to be sure. Are you Apollo? I mean... the Apollo?"

"Don't answer that," Ara says promptly. "Who wants to know?"

"My name is Macro. Welcome to my store! And who are you?" 

In retrospective, Ara should've known better than to underestimate the reach of her reputation after mauling one of the emperors, but being fair, the guy appeared to be such a character outside of Ara's world that she didn't think it mattered.

"Ara Jackson," she answers. 

"The daughter of Olympus? So that is Apollo!" Macro squeaks excitedly and glances at the boy, then at the two workers on each side of him. "Let's cage this one up and bring out the red carpet so we can roll Apollo up in it, will you? But first let's make the satyrs' deaths quick and painless. This is such an honour!"

"Wait!" Lester shrieks. "I, um, er... What if I'm not really Apollo?"

"Well, then, I'd have to kill you for disappointing me."

"Okay, I'm Apollo," Lester sends a look at Ara as if saying 'sorry, I tried.' "But you can't just kill your customers. That's no way to run an army-surplus store!"

"I know it's terribly rude. I do apologize, Lord Apollo."

"So... you won't kill us?"

"Well, as I said, I won't kill you and the girl. The emperor has plans for you. He needs you alive!"

"Plans," Lester glances at her nervously. "B-but my friends, you can't kill the satyrs. A god of my stature can't be rolled up in a red carpet without my retinue!"

"Hmm," Macro ponders. "I'm sorry, Lord Apollo, but, you see, this may be my only chance to get back into the emperor's good graces. I'm fairly sure he won't want the satyrs."

"You mean... you're out of the emperor's good graces?"

"I'm afraid so. I certainly didn't ask to be exiled to Palm Springs! Alas, the princeps is very particular about his security forces. My troops malfunctioned one too many times, and he shipped us out here. He replaced us with that horrible assortment of strixes and mercenaries and Big Ears. Can you believe it?"

Ara looks around and it clicks. "Automatons."

"These are the emperor's former troops?" Lester raises a brow.

"Alas, yes. They are fully capable, though. Once I deliver you, the emperor will surely see that and forgive me."

Ara feels like a weight has been lifted. Automatons? She can mess them up in her sleep, and she doesn't even need to use her blessing!

"Naevius Sutorius Macro," Lester says suddenly.

"I can't believe Apollo remembers me. This is such an honour!"

"You killed Emperor Tiberius. Smothered him with a pillow."

"Well, he was ninety percent dead already. I simply helped matters along."

"And you did it for..." Lester gulps. "The next emperor. Neos Helios. It is him."

"That's right! The one, the only Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus!" He spread his arms as if waiting for applause.

"G-Gaius who?" Grover struggles to keep Hedge from pouncing. "Apollo, what does that mean?"

Lester stumbles as he retreats. "It means we run. Now!"

"DIE!" Coach tries to charge at them and Ara hauls him over, carrying him on one shoulder.

"No!" They run in the opposite direction, Ara's mind running miles per hour. "Lester, I could mess them up—"

"Let go! I can take them!" Hedge hisses.

"Apollo," Macro calls, "there's no point in fighting my automatons. This is a military-surplus store. I have fifty more just like these in storage."

"On stand-by?" Ara's eyes shine. "Wonderful."

She drops Hedge and starts running to the back of the shop. She hears them calling for her but she doesn't look back, at this point, all entrances are probably locked, but Macro isn't expecting his own guards to work against him. She finds the storage room and sneaks in to find lines upon lines of dormant automatons.

 "Hello," Ara smiles devilishly. "At last, I get to have fun."

Next Chapter –>

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