#just imagine her doing this with Thalia but I think Thalia shuts her down quick before she can make her paragraphs lol

[swordmaid]

also by nature of shri’iia just being so arrogant and pompous on her beliefs I think that transfers to anyone she likes too and she WILL hype them up that it gets ridiculous, borderline embarrassing. like if she’s standing off with an enemy and they’re starting talk about how they have one of the most powerful fighters in the realm shri’iia is just like ‘well MY arlussrin, who is one of the most beautiful creature that deigned this land, is ALSO a very strong vampire with a deadly set of teeth (that I’m intimately familiar with) and he will skin you alive while letting you bleed out because your blood is so foul and disgusting and not even worth drinking (not like mine!!!). and you are so shit compared to my love who is so very strong and perfect and lethal and a hundred creatures would kill themselves to have a sliver of his attention and be grateful that he deigned you worthy enough to be in his presence otherwise I would’ve just smited you right off.’ meanwhile astarion in the back is like ……actuaalllyyyy I would’ve preferred if we took them out quickly and quietly I don’t really want to get in a long fight but thanks babe I guess

[angloie]

Charms. (6/10)

> Annabeth would rather not have her ordeal with some of the world's biggest malefactors exposed. Not when her multi-million dollar company could be on the line. But a certain sea green eyed assassin had a little thing out for herー things consisting of attempting to eventually kill her.

assasin! Percy x CEO! Annabeth

warnings: little violence, swearing.

How come of all times, Percy feels insecure now?

Grey sweatpants that hang loosely off his hips are supposed to accentuate his thin cotton button-up. It's comftorable and all, so why does it feel so... out of place here?

Its probably because Miss Chase is wearing lush silk. And because she's wearing thousands dollars worth if jewelry, and that's just know one hand. He can only imagine how cheap he must look.

Percy smoothens his pants down, wrinkles flattening at his fingertips. The least he could do is act proper. Not that he cared all that much.

Despite all that- Percy's greatful for the chance. Its It's just where he wanted to be.

Here.

Wait- scratch that. Not here, with Annabeth and her two energetic stepbrothers, laughing their lungs out at whatever lame joke comes out of their mouths. Bobby has a weird expression on his face: a result of having to laugh and wince in pain every time his face moves. The bruise can't be feeling all that well. Matthew's head lolls off the leather seats lazily only to jump at every little bump of the vehicle. Which wasn't very much; that car could seriously give a smooth ride.

But, hey, they were kids having some fun. Percy was just thankful that the pair didn't overhear their conversation.

Or more specifically: a deal made between him and Annabeth.

A shit-ton-of-money kind if deal.

"And if I perhaps decide I don't want to be part of this and double-cross," Percy leans back in the seat. "What would be in store for me?"

Annabeth laughs. "We," Luke, Thalia, "Won't let you get far. Not alive, of course." Venomous. A warning, Percy notes.

"I didn't imagine so." He says blandly.

The rest if the car ride is tense.

By the time they arrive, the two kids have drool running down the sides of thier mouths, eyes painfully screwed shut. Annabeth closes the car with a light slamー careful to not wake them up. 

“You should expect a call later,” She's sure to remind him. “And I expect you to answer.”

“Got it.” Percy watches the cars pass by them, engines mixing with the rest of the nights’ clammor. “You know,” He grimaces at a flashing camera. “Theres a lot of nosy people here.”

“Shit, yeah.” She’s quick to cover her face with a hurried hand. Damn paparazzi. “Look, Percy. I only decided to recruit you becasue this was last minute. Don't make me regret this. And don't make yourself regret this, either.”

Was that true? Well, Annabeth did recruit him due to the last minute search. But Percy... He was different. There were many people she had considered. All brooding, or tough-looking, but none of them had quite this aura. No malice. Charismatic. Kind, even. If she managed to use him correctly, he could be...

Deadly.

But Percy could already manage that himself, couldn't he?

Innocence, Annabeth thinks, is a key part in fooling. It can work on anyoneー even her at times. She just hoped he wasn't using it on her right now.

“Oh, I didn't plan on it.” Oh yes he does. How ironic.

“Well.” Annabeth chews down on her bottom lip, eyes flicking nervously towards her left. “Before I go, I'll have your clothes delivered to you soon. I-I know, I should've got it now. But I'll see you later, right?”

“Yup!” He nods vigorously. “See you.”

Watching her retreating figure, Percy’s not sure on whether he wants to scream out of pure giddiness or from his heart beating way too fast. Both, possibly. He saves it for when he's back in his hotel room. 

“Apollo!” Percy scream excitedly into the phone. Is his face on fire? 'Cuz it feels like that. “Guess what?”

“Hm?” He asks lazily into the device. 

“Annabeth- She just- Like- Fuck, um-"

“Okay, you having a seizure or something?” He rolls his eyes. “Or perhaps a stroke?”

“No! Annabeth just recruited me!”

“What?!” On the other side of the screen, Percy swears he hears Apollo falling off something, landing with a loud thump. And then a groan. “Wha- For what, Exactly?”

“Their heist,” He snickers to himself. “You know how I mentioned that I brought her back here?” Became aqquainted and all, got to eat some breakfast. Pretty regular stuff.

“Yeah?”

“So I beat up some dude from two kids. Turns out they're her stepbrothers. I save them, heroically, and she sees me beat the crap out of him! Thinks I'm all innocent and asks to join her with Luke and Thalia.” Percy takes a breath, hands fidgeting. “I think you already know what I said to that.”

Annabeth trusts him. Trust? Percy? Not two words that exactly go together. 

“Holy Hades..” He takes a moment of silence to process, and then it seems to hit him all at once. “Are you being serious?!”

“Totally!”

“Holy fuck,” Apollo murmurs. “You better not screw this up. I-Ill... I'll tell the agency! Gotta go!” He hangs up, the line going dead with a ringing.

Holy fuck indeed.

Two more days.

The next morning, Percy wakes up to a package at his door. Just ask Mrs. O'leary- she was barking like crazy after licking his face at five in the fucking morning. That way of waking up was something he would never get used to. And trust him when Percy says that- he's been by the canine’s side for years now.

“Okay, okay- geez!” He rubs the back of his head. Percy must look like absolute rat shit right now, his whole head of hair one huge cowlick. Bleh. Curse him and his uncontrollable bed hair.

As Percy opens the package (finely woven in a silk bow and paired with a notecard) he notes the message scrawled down.

To: Percy Jackson.

Is that all? Okay, sketchy. Room service definitely could've handled this. Percy flips the card warily.

From: Annabeth Chase.

Oh.

The neat handwriting almost seems like a font; and Percy can tell it's her handwriting by that way the blue pen is slightly uneven. 

Inside lays his clothing he lended. Laughing to himself, Percy dogs further. Lets see. There's a few sheets of paper. He can read those later. A earpiece. And a phone.

But that isn't the only package.

Another bag lays limply in the hallway, the black material refecting weirdly ioff the hanging hotel lights above. As Percy holds the bag, he sees yet another shirt. It's something like a dress shirt, this time black instead of the usual white. It feel different on his hands. It's light, but tough as it out thick. 

There's a note pinned onto it.

Dyed golden fleece. It can withstand small slashes and cuts, as well as shield your body from any toxic air. Has healing compounds when used properly.

Cannot be used against major wounds.

“Golden fleece?” Apollo gasps in surprise when Percy asks him about the material. “You have some of the golden fleece?”

“Yeah. Annabeth delivered some today, actually.” He listens intently to his answer.

“Oh my gods...” The man’s eyes widen impossibly large, orbs . “You are one lucky bastard.” Bastard? Why's Percy a bastard all of a sudden?

It soon comes to his attention that the golden fleece is a one of a kind. In the entire world, for that. It was heard to be stollen a few years ago by an unknown personage- (personages, actually,) but he'd never think that those three would be in possession of such a item. And the fact that they were giving some of it to Percy? They must be desperate of this heist. Desperate enough to to use some pretty valuable things. The thought makes him think. If Percy wasn't careful or working at 120%, Annabeth would find his true intentions. He knew that she wasn't stupid. Or dumb, or foolish.

He might need to get a little serious, too.

One more day.

Even at this late stage, Percy has yet to meet the two infamous criminals Annabeth class 'Friends'. Its fine, though, he can wait.

Nevermind. 

He can't wait.

Not at all.

The stress and worry are eating him up from inside, crumbling his usually calm and laid back temperament. And, fuck, he's begun hyperventilating. Of course, Annabeth had told him the gist of the plan. It was simple-minded; yet so intricate and complicated at the same time. Now that he thinks about it, how much people know about Annabeth's ordeal with the criminal world? Her co-workers? Assistants?

Percy could only imagine what could be in store for him if he perhaps leaked all that info. Then again. What would be in store for him if he did so? That warning in the car had no lies. No hestitancy. All seriousness and all malice.

During his whole self-thinking, he failed to realize his murmuring to himself. And Mrs. O'Leary, being the bright dog she is, decided to investigate further.

“Ack!” Percy yelps as the dog gets on it's hind legs, slobbering mouth level at his own face. He winces at the long stripe she licks at the side of his face, leaving one long trail of dog slobber. “Okay, geez! Here,” Percy tosses a bone-shaped treat into the air, only to be caught in Mrs. O'Leary's mouth.

WOOF!

“You know, that was pretty reckless of you.” 

Luke crosses his arms, eyeing Annabeth as she speaks.

“I have to agree with Luke. This isn't quite like you, Annabeth.” Thalia chides her as she frowns a bit. “Do we even know this guy?”

Being gathered in Atchase's headquarters wasn't something out of the ordinary. But when security is tight and it's broad daylight? That was something out of the ordinary. Not to mention reckless- like the topic as of right now.

“N-No,” Fiddling with a pen, Annabeth trails off. She clears her throat. “But this guy is different. In a good way.”

“Do you trust him all that well?” Luke brings up that touchy subject.

She sighs and shakes her head. “No. Not yet.”

“So why-?” Annabeth cuts Thalia off.

“He might be a little off point, but I swear he's good intentioned. You know the guy I told you who took care of the old man that took on my brothers?”

“What about him?”

“That was Percy. That time I got drunk and couldn’t go back to my place. Him too. It's risky, but based on the fact that he hasn’t tried anything... I think I can work with this. We can work with this.” Annabeth takes a sip from the glass on her desk, hands grasping the glass like a vice.

His skills. They couldn't have come from naturally. But where they come from, however, is what Annabeth fears most of all. The lingering worry isn't natural for her.

Please, listen. She pleads internally. Not only to them, but herself. Please agree. This is our last hope.

“...We’ve worked with much less than this.” Luke agrees after a beat.

“But I still don’t exactly work with this.” Thalia says finally, exhaling lightly. 

“And that's fine. We'll do this, sucsessfuly, either way.” Annabeth beams proudly, eyes glimmering with a newfound hope.

“Definitely.” 

EXTRA ;;

- Annabeth's driver called the cops on the old man a little while after

- where he was thrown in jail for a while

- you get what you deserve, OLD MAN 

- Thalia's wearing another wig at Annabeth's building , this time bright blue

MMHJBVFG okay okay this took so freaking long to update 😭😭 writers block sucks (T_T)

also no one asked but here's some pics of geese crossing from heading back from my beach trip::

MNAHAJSBNA why are there so MUCH OF THEM CROSSING 😫

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (inspired by the incomplete fanfic Son of Underworld) (2/5) (Son of Hades! Percy AU)

Check the other parts in the masterpost - read the warnings before proceeding. Good reading!!

After the worse summer, Percy goes home.

Luke's proposal keeps swimming in his head - the blonde is not wrong, but Percy has been scammed before - he remembers once that a "friend" convinced him to be a lookout for him to do something shady at the Dean's Office and then put the blame on him.

And he was blamed - Percy is black, and black kids are never the innocent ones - but now he knows better.

Being a child of the Underworld gods is not that different from being black. 

Percy is comfortable with his skin though - his mother is incredible, and most people at Camp are mixed up. Charles is African-American. Selena's father is Muslim, and the Stoll's mother is Jewish (half the reason they are year-rounders). Clarisse's mom is from Nicaragua. Michael Yew has a Brazilian grandma with Japanese heritage.

He isn't friends with most of them - Charles is like a big brother to him and Michael Yew taught him how to shoot an arrow, but Clarisse is at most a good spar partner and nor the Stolls nor Silena care for his company very much.

Percy tells himself that he doesn't care.

He packs his bags - a blue and red backpack and a few surf shirts from the amusement park where he destroyed a pool and made the ground swallow mechanic spiders, both the Minotaurs horns, now fashioned into very cool knives, his Warhammer and his ax slung across his back. The only sweater he has, the one he came here with, the blue one, is warming him up to the chill of autumn.

Chiron asks him if he doesn't want to stay. He touches the willow standing in the furthest shore of the river, the one that marks the barrier of Camp Half-Blood. It used to be Thalia Grace, daughter of Poseidon.

Chiron looks to him with pity. He doesn't need to know that Percy is planning to murder Gabe Ugliano.

Percy goes to do that. He travels, by car. He has enough money - he has money appearing in his pockets all the time now, his father must be truly guilty.

Then he opens the door of his old apartment - but Gabe is not there, in the living room. There's just his mom, on the couch.

His mom

Alive

Percy cries, and they hug, and then they trade stories. She tells him she was asleep in Olympus, and Zeus gave her back when the bolt got to his hands.

He is less angry. But the heavy weight of indignation seats in his stomach. 

There's no time for it now: Percy is going back to Yancy Academy - his grades were not bad - and Gabe is now a very charming statue for someone very rich (later, he will discover it was Persephone who bought it).

He tells her everything, safe in her arms, no shirt, no gloves. His mom can touch him everywhere - not even a cell in his body would attack her.

He is so touch starved he keeps sleeping in her bed for a week, and, at night, he cries. Percy has horrible nightmares - he is just twelve and he has killed.

He tells her about his meeting with his father in hushed whispers at an evening where the sky is blue and pink - just how he likes it.

Sally almost goes to the Underworld herself smack sense in her ex-lover, but she knows Persephone would do so for her.

Percy tells her about Luke - not about the Rebellion, lest any gods hear him, but about Luke and Alabaster and Ethan and those kids, alone in a Cabin of rejects.

She says she is going back to college - and that she'll do her best to go see him every weekend at Yancy.

He tells her about his powers. Sally doesn't like the risks but say he should start practicing for his own safety.

They cuddle and Percy clings to his anchor like a lifeline. Percy wants to go to the Underworld again sometime - more to play with Cerberus than to do anything else.

He takes the bus reluctantly - he offers to stay and go to public school, but he knows his chance lays at Yancy.

Percy study Math. He is in seventh grade now - the real Math is here, the financials and calculus and they keep putting him in "Gifted and Advanced" classes for it.

His English still sucks. Biology, for all that should be easy for him, its way too boring - he prefers dead bodies, thank you very much.

He excels at Math and Health&PE (which summer camp took care), passes with acceptable grades in World History, Geography and Social Studies (he nails a project about demographics with some really helpful ghosts), does badly in Science and fails tragically at English and Literature.

They call him a genius - and a genius has areas they specialize in. His grades in math are enough to push him to the eighth grade.

At weekends, when his mother can't come to see him, he locks his dorm and practices his shadow traveling and his powers over the earth and metal manipulation.

His shadow traveling is a mess - once he ends up in Ukraine, and panics trying to come back, just to end up in Wyoming. Again.

Thrice, he manages to reach the underworld. It's winter - Persephone is somewhere down there, but he doesn't want to see his father. He plays with Cerberus when he has some energy - the first two times he just cuddles up with the dog and sleeps a little.

The last time he goes to the Underworld, it's the last day before summer break - he still has not made any contact with his dad, he still doesn't know if he wants to join Luke, he still doesn't know if he wants to go back to CHB.

He goes back to his Mom's house with a hellhound puppy and makes kitten eyes until she lets it stays - if he trains and feeds him and whatnot.

He has dreams about Grover in a bride's dress. It freaks the hell out of him because there's a cyclops in it.

Percy is crossing the street with groceries when he sees a cyclops. He doesn't give the creature a chance to see him - he goes to his room and start packing - it's too dangerous for him, and he can't lose his Mom again.

He cuddles his Mom and the puppy - which he named Blackjack - and calls Chiron.

Chiron is sending Annabeth - apparently, something happened to the borders of the camp.

Percy decides to help, for Annabeth, for Grover, for the small kids at Cabin 9 and 11, and the newbies (there's one, Will Solace, who isn't even eleven yet and he has been there for a year).

He packs his colorful sweaters (rebelling, but in the opposite direction of his father’s aesthetic), put his puppy in a leash (it's bigger than a mastiff now, but all dogs are puppies) and wait for his best friend.

She meets him with an expression of someone who is announcing a funeral - Grover is lost in his searches for Pan.

Percy thinks the little tremor that shook his building it's a good enough hold in his powers, nothing is broken and no one is dead, so it's fine.

He hugs Annabeth and feels warm inside. Health classes covered changes in his body, but he didn't expect to be that quick. Annabeth is taller than him by at least five inches and much prettier.

He picks up his Warhammer and his ax (how does the mist occlude that? do everyone think he is doing cosplay?), throws a duffel bag in his shoulder, his loyal puppy beside him.

"Are you getting into the dark vibe, Corpse Breath?"

"Shut up Annie"

The camp is being attacked - they get a weird taxi thing, pay extra and are given three random locations in the mainland.

Percy doesn't forget the names. There's Agramonte, in Cuba; Okeechobee, in Florida; and Pic La Selle in Haiti.

CHB is being attacked when they get there - by bronze bulls no less. Percy goes to battle with a weapon in each hand, like a war god.

Clarisse does way more damage than him, bashing bull metal skulls left and right like a master. But he kills one of five and does damage to other two.

She claps him in the back - he is glad he has a sweater on, even if it is a horrible shade of brilliant orange.

Charles and him take the weapons to the Forge to correct any damage. Charles hugs him and then starts gushing about Silena.

Charles and Annabeth takes him to see the new Camp Director.

It's Tantalus.

Percy laughs so hard he almost falls down, and Dionysus looks bored - but Percy isn't dumb, he sees mirth in his eyes.

He wants so badly to do a smart comment. He wants to see if his powers can rip a ghost that his father reinstated. He wants to taunt Tantalus.

"What are you laughing about, metic?"

"Nothing, you remind me of someone."

But Percy fends off other questions, and sits at the Cabin 11 table obediently. He wants to startle that man so badly he won't ever sneer at Percy anymore.

He knows just the people for the job. They aren't in any way close, but they all up for mischief. His opportunity comes with the chariot race announced - Percy corners the Stoll Brothers.

"Let me race with you" He starts, and they look surprised by any emotion coming from him in their direction (Percy smiles were reserved for Annie and Grover and Luke and Alabaster and Ethan).

"I want to startle Tantalus and you want victory - I can give you any chariot, if you let me swarm the whole road with skeletons"

The Stolls look at one another, and mentally say something, before doing a random coin toss.

"I'm racing with you" Says Connor.

They mark a time to see the chariot in the next day. They take the whole Cabin 11 with them to prevent attention - Percy is not letting this game go.

Percy gets a chariot directly from the underworld, black obsidian (not Stygian iron, way too rare) and silver, with blue gems that glisten under the sun, a Helm with wings marking its front.

There are four horses pushing it - skeletal horses, incapable of feeling pain or thirst.

It's the first time Percy feels like he belongs - this is a competition, and he is going to win.

Connor and Travis have an array of contraptions and grenades and smoke bombs.

They arrive at the start line at last, for maximum impact. No one is expecting this - they're waiting for Hermes' old chariot, a rickety thing that should be scrap years ago, with any Pegasi they managed to gather in the stables.

They forgot something: Percy exists. It's normal, and Percy it's okay with it in this instance.

The Stymphalian Birds appear - and are countered by his skeletons hitting their spears and swords on their shields. None of them hit him, and the Cabin 11 arrives at first followed by a disgruntled Clarisse after she fought at least 20 skeletons.

Tantalus tries. He really tries to accuse Percy of cheating, but it's pointed out - with approval of Dionysus to boot - that the Demeter kids used their vines to place third and Pollux and Castor did the same to get the fifth spot - just behind the giant contraption that was the Hephaestus chariot.

Clarisse is not happy with the second spot and the silver laurels, but she claps him in the back anyway - Ares is the god of war, not bad sportsmanship.

The Hermes Cabin is in euphoria - Apollo, who placed last, after Aphrodite since they unleashed a dozen doves with a sleeping potion in their faces, it's doing all of the Cabin 11 chores for a month - and they are having a feast of the gods.

Just that night, Percy sacrifices a big pomegranate for Hades and one for Persephone - forgiveness, can you imagine?

He sacrifices to Hermes, as always, for taking the small kids. He sees the joy in their faces - and while Percy is a person reserved to his friends and now he is mostly stoic Perseus, son of Hades, forge gremlin, he always hugs the kids that have nightmares.

It's not what he wanted - it's weird to be touched. It's weirder to have someone want to be next to him. Percy is a cactus, he is prickly. He never smiles. He misses his mom - she would know what to do.

But the little kids trust him. Lou Ellen is unclaimed since the ending of last summer - Percy doesn't know if she has someone to return to.

Those kids at Cabin 11 deserve more then a couple of teens taking care of them. Those kids deserve better, they all deserve better.

There are seven-year-old children there. They barely know how to read. Percy teaches - Annabeth teaches history and myths and Greek, but is he who takes on math to the younger ones, the ones who barely know how to multiply.

He considers staying year-round. They all had Chiron - but it isn't enough. It isn't a family. It isn't. Percy is not their family either - he doesn't overestimate himself - but at least he cares. Not because of their godly blood, but because they are children.

He still hates touch. He is never without his sweaters and gloves. He never smiles at anyone that isn't Annie or Grover or Luke or Alabaster or Ethan.

These days, he only has Annie.

He misses Luke, and he wants to scoop all of these children and take them with him to Kronos, away from the gods. But for what? Another master to fight for?

Was Luke the one who poisoned Thalia? Would he do the same to Percy if Percy denied him?

A mission is issued to go after Golden Fleece - it's in the same place Grover is, it's what Annie and Percy agree on.

Percy is a calculating boy. He deals in numbers, in measures. He is completely oblivious when it comes to feelings and anything that's more subjective than an equation.

But she thinks he likes them. Her and Grover, and those little kids that follow him around sometimes.

She likes the way her yellow hair contrasts with his dark skin, the way his curls flop in his forehead. She likes the specks of green in his eyes. He is her best friend. It's not the love she has for Luke, but it's something akin to admiration.

Percy and Connor are chosen to go on the mission - and Tantalus tries and bullshits some reason for them to go alone, but Percy shakes his head.

"The oracle said, three people"

He is bullshitting them. Tantalus makes him take Clarisse, and Annabeth stays behind.

"I doubt you can get in the sea of monsters without crossing water, eromenoi"

Perseus laughs and laughs, and his eyes are dark as the night without moon. He shoves his hands in the pockets of his soft blue hoodie, and motions for Connor and Clarisse to follow.

Before he leaves, he kisses her cheek softly. It's going to be okay. He will bring Grover back.

He shadow travels the three on them for the closest location the Grey Sisters gave him. It’s difficult, even with a hellhound. He aims for Okeechobee and lands in Miami.

Percy needs to sleep for at least a day, so they use the time to reach their destiny by car. Connor is a very adept child of Hermes, and soon they’re on the road in a red old pickup.

“So Corpse Breath is the hammer, and you’re the polishing stone? Fitting” snorts Clarisse, and just like that, they are bonding.

Percy expects them to trade shitty childhood stories and stupid hobbies or badmouth their deadbeat godly parents, but that was another trip, with very different people.

Clarisse La Rue is sixteen. Her favorite weapon is a javelin or a spear, but she will always prefer hand to hand combat. She loves Led Zeppelin and thinks Silena’s white hijab is the cutest thing in the world. She speaks Spanish - a relief because Percy barely speaks English.

Connor Stoll is fifteen. He prefers gas bombs to grenades - and he does a mean Molotov. He did graffiti until he was twelve. He thinks the Gardner Sisters from the Demeter Cabin are both cute - but Pollux got hot during the winter.

That’s how Percy discovers bisexuality - in a stolen car with a giant hellhound, a girl who has arms larger than his thighs and drives like a grandma and a boy who is two seconds away from spontaneous combustion.

He thinks that explains Luke and Annabeth - but he doesn’t voice it. 

Percy doesn’t smile to them for a long time - he knows not even muscular spasms are free of charge.

He stays stoic until they stop to sleep - and Connor has wings in the back of his underwear and its the most ridiculous thing ever.

They reach the city and wander. They do encounter someone - Hecate herself.

She says to Percy it is her last favor - and he knows she already left for Kronos. Luke’s drachma burns in his pocket. She opens a wall of stone - a passageway the Huntresses use sometimes.

“My son waits for you” his quest mates pretend not to hear it - and he pretends nothing is happening. At least Alabaster is okay.

They walk across the cave for what it feels like a day. He is almost sure Hecate has plans to kill them when they find the exit: In an island spa.

A girl comes and analyze them. She looks at them with a kind smile - but Percy knows smiles have prices.

They go meet with the owner: C.C. He doesn't recognize her, but Connor takes one look at those weird guinea pigs and tap Percy's hand twice.

It's a code: Danger.

They are patient. Clarisse is looking at the flimsy girls with their togas and golden braids - she is not going with them.

C.C. Apparently accepts that Clarisse is "more male than a female" like gender is something defined by dresses and makeup.

As soon as the girls are out of the room, Percy taps Clarisse's hand, and she runs her spear through C.C.'s belly. The woman bleeds ichor - but disappears in a cloud of golden sand.

They go through her things for money while Connor explains that he learned about her from Charles. Charles's first mission almost ended up with him as a guinea pig. At least now they know they are in the right place.

Percy takes all her money and their weapons back. He straps as many knives he can throw in his pants and belt: One can never have enough weapons.

They find some hoods and sneak out to the boats on the beach. Connor steals again. Percy hates water: But the Sea of Monsters is beyond Poseidon's direct control, and Percy is going to hole himself up until they get to the next island.

He vomits. He is so seasick, it's not even funny. He hates boats. He hates large bodies of water. Anything bigger than a pool, and he is out.

Clarisse thinks it's funny. She laughs at him - and weirdly, he smiles back a little. The daughter of Ares plays with Blackjack, and they bond.

They are not friends - but they would kill for each other. They find it weird they had no godly intervention from Olympus - but then, Percy remembers he is just a son of Hades, and the Olympians hate him.

He burns food to Hecate. He doesn't burn food to Hermes, who appears in everyone else's quests, but avoid his own son's.

None of them has enough hubris to try and listen to the sirens. Clarisse's fatal flaw is bloodlust and Connor's is arrogance - the idea he can do anything, steal anything, and he'll never be punished.

They don't hear anything. Their next stop is the Isle of Polyphemus.

This time around, Connor is Nobody, Clarisse sneaks under a sheep to save Grover, and Percy gets the Fleece. They try to escape through a passageway that Percy's powers say lead to Haiti, but the cyclops colapses it with a boulder.

Percy hates cyclops.

They shadowtravel. Percy isn't any better at it, and with Grover tagging along, it's pretty obvious what happens, even if he is wearing the Golden Fleece like a giant blanket of strenght.

They end up in Wyoming. Percy sleeps for a week: he is starting to flick, like a ghost, and the magical sheep skin can only help so much. In this week, apparently, they meet the Party Ponies.

Chiron takes Percy in his back to CHB with the Fleece, but his friends stay behind because the centaurs won't let them mount, and they can't keep up on feet.

Clarisse, Connor and Grover meet Luke, Ethan and Alabaster in their way to an airport. It goes badly, but no one dies. They tell him Ethan only has one eye now, and that Luke looks tired and mad.

Percy thinks joining Kronos might be a bad idea. But then, he goes back to Camp, save the tree, and things don't change. The kids are still kids, alone and sad.

Will Solace was claimed. He says he misses Cabin 11, and some of his brothers don't want him to talk to Percy anymore.

It hurts. They try and keep contact for the following week, but peer pressure pushes Will away. Percy doesn't blame him.

The tree spits Thalia, daughter of Poseidon. She has black hair with green accents, green eyes, uses heavy makeup, and looks like a "Hades spawn" should look.

Percy likes her. He has no need for being the leader, and he has Annie and Grover (and Luke, and Alabaster, and Ethan, he thinks). Annie and Luke love her, so she must be amazing. He tries.

Thalia doesn't like him. She hates Hades, the one who killed her. She doesn't trust him or the fact that he never touches anyone.

Perseus tells himself he doesn't care. And suddenly, Thalia goes from "could be a good friend" to "better stay away".

The Camp celebrates Thalia. He is the hero, he brought the Fleece back, he is also a child of the Big Three. But they hate him, just like the kids in school hate him for his skin colour.

Annie has no time for him. Grover goes back to his search. He doesn't think he is going to join Kronos, but the drachma is still in his pocket.

He goes back to his mother, and then, to Yancy.

This summer, he was the hero. But no matter what, he was still the son of Hades.

[arysafics]

Another One

Summary: Bellamy and Clarke already have three kids, but Clarke wants more.

Rated E, ~2.6k words

“You can call us if you need anything,” Bellamy says, transferring a wriggling one-year-old into his sister’s arms. Octavia meets Clarke’s eye, and Clarke shakes her head pointedly. He says it every time, even though he should know by now that Octavia and Lincoln are perfectly capable of handling the three girls on their own. And it’s good practice for when Octavia finally pops a few months from now.  

“Do not,” Clarke mouths over Bellamy’s shoulder. Octavia raises an eyebrow, lip curling in an uncontrolled smirk. Bellamy looks to Clarke, noticing the exchange, and Clarke meets his disapproving look with an innocent smile.

Listen, she loves their kids as much as he does, but all she wants for tonight is to have her husband all to herself. She does not want Octavia calling up every five minutes to ask menial questions like if the girls are allowed to have ice-cream. Even if they’re not allowed to have ice-cream, it’s basically Octavia’s job as the cool aunt to give it to them.

“Don’t worry,” Octavia says. “I am not going to even bother trying to call, I don’t want to interrupt you mid fu—” she glances at Thalia, who’s now grasping at her aunt’s hair. “F-U-C-K.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes. “Nice save,” he says sarcastically.

“What?” Octavia says defensively. “She can’t spell.”

Clarke grabs Bellamy’s hand before he can start an argument with his sister, and eat into their alone time even more. “Come on,” she says. “Let’s say goodbye to the girls and go.”

“Ow! Thalia!” Octavia says, trying to extricate her hair from the baby’s fist. Clarke grins. Octavia will learn to keep her hair up soon enough.

Clarke pulls Bellamy into the living room, where Lincoln is sitting between Dylan and Noah, Frozen 2 already playing on the TV.

“You started without me?” Octavia says, pretending to be offended as she joins the others on the couch.

“Noah, Dylan, Mommy and Daddy are going now,” Clarke says.

“Bye!” Dylan says, not even looking away from the screen. Frozen is much more interesting to their five-year-old than her parents are. Clarke gets it. Noah, however, runs over, and Bellamy scoops her up, raining kisses on her curly head. All three girls look so much like their dad, with dark eyes and curly hair, and soft brown skin. Clarke feels a surge of fondness for all four of them.

“Bye, sweetie,” Bellamy says. “We’ll pick you up in the morning, okay?”

Dylan nods and Bellamy sets her feet back on the ground. Clarke bends down to hug her daughter, and kiss her on the forehead.

“Be good for your aunt and uncle, okay?”

“Okay,” Dylan agrees. Clarke gives her a nudge, and she hurries back to the sofa. There’s a chorus of I love you’s, and get out of the way Mom, when Clarke refuses to leave without a hug from her eldest daughter. Lincoln pauses the movie so they can say goodbye properly, then Clarke and Bellamy are out the door and back in their car.

Bellamy drives slow—too slow for Clarke’s liking. And okay, he’s doing the speed limit, but Clarke wishes he’d care less about road rules and more about the fact that his wife needs to be fucked as soon as possible. She’s soaked through the lingerie she put on while he was getting the girls ready, having had this on her mind all day, and she’s barely able to sit still in the passenger seat.

“We’re almost there,” Bellamy says, turning into their street, sensing her desperation. But then, his knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel, his posture stiff, the hand on the gearshift tapping anxiously—perhaps he’s talking to himself.

They both knew having kids would change their sex life—they’re less spontaneous, more careful, their trysts less frequent. They don’t want each other less—Clarke is happy to know she can still get him hard just by showing him a bit of cleavage, and she’s turned on by the simple act of watching him be a good father to their daughters. So, all the time.

But Noah and Dylan have both almost caught them in the act, wandering into their parents’ bedroom in the middle of the night, while Clarke and Bellamy try to cover it up, and pretend like they’re not both horny and unsatisfied. They’ve agreed both girls are too young for the sex conversation. Plus, it’s kind of a mood killer. Being caught by Bellamy’s college roommate when they decided to fuck in his bed was hot—being caught by your own kids is not.

So they steal moments where they can, always quick and passionate, and when they can, they drop the girls off at their aunt’s or at their grandma’s, so they can have a night to themselves.

They hurry inside, and Clarke feels like a giddy teenager, sneaking around with her hot older boyfriend. His lips are on hers as soon as the door is shut behind them, pressing her up against it. His hot, frantic kisses prove he’s been anticipating this just as much as she has. And yet, even though it feels like his hands are burning holes through her sweater, they make no move to do anything but kiss each other, and soon his tongue turns languid and teasing. Clarke’s cunt is throbbing, and she knows his cock is hard and aching—but they have time tonight.

Bellamy eventually pulls his mouth away from Clarke’s, and rests his forehead against hers. “You want to eat something?” he asks.

Clarke shakes her head. “I need you now,” she whispers. “We can eat later.”

“Okay,” Bellamy says. Clarke can hear the desire in his voice. “And where would you like me to ravage you?”

“Living room first,” Clarke says. “And then every other room after that.” Sometimes she misses the freedom of being able to fuck her husband wherever and whenever she wants to.

He drags her to the living room, both kicking their shoes off as they go, then Bellamy falls onto the couch, pulling Clarke onto his lap. They’re both grinning as Clarke lowers her mouth to his.

“I love you,” Bellamy murmurs against her lips.

“I love you too,” Clarke whispers back. She pulls back, enjoying the heated look in his eyes as she drags her sweater over her head and discards it, leaving her in a bra made of sheer red lace, her hard nipples visible through the fabric.

“God,” Bellamy groans. He leans forward to bury his mouth in her cleavage. Clarke giggles, wrapping her arms around his head to squash him closer. She’s well aware her tits are his favourite part of her body, and she loves using it against him.

She lets him go, and he looks up at her, hungry for her. She bites her lip, heart beating faster. Now seems as good a time as any to ask him—perhaps it’s wrong to wait until he’s so horny, and maybe she should’ve asked him earlier, when he was in his right frame of mind. She hopes his answer will be the same either way.

“Bellamy,” she says slowly.

“Yeah, baby?”

She kisses him, then grinds against him. She can feel heat pulsing between her legs. “I want you to make me pregnant again.”

Bellamy groans. “Clarke,” he says. “Are you sure?”

She nods enthusiastically. Of course she’s sure. She loves being pregnant with his baby—loves the visual reminder that he fucked her and came in her, loves that everyone else knows. She loves seeing him with their kids, so tender and loving. Watching single women fawn over him in the grocery store, then watch their utter jealousy when they realise he belongs to Clarke—made even better when she’s obviously pregnant. Plus, she knows he gets off on it too, on knowing she has his child growing inside her. She loves how possessive and protective he gets.

And of course, she loves their kids—they always wanted a big family, and she’s not done yet. They never really agreed on exactly how many kids they would have, just that they would discuss it and stop when they’re ready. Sometimes Clarke isn’t sure she’ll ever be ready.

“I’m sure,” she says. “Please.”

“Thalia is barely one,” Bellamy reminds her. “You don’t want to wait until she’s a little older?”

Clarke shakes her head. “I want your baby inside me now,” she murmurs, dropping her lips to his ear. His breath hitches. “Don’t you want a little baby boy?”

“You know I don’t care about that,” he says. But Clarke knows he would secretly love a son. “And what’s gonna happen after baby number four, huh? How long until you’re desperate for me to get you pregnant for a fifth time? Everyone is going to think we don’t know how to use birth control.”

“I don’t care,” Clarke says. To be fair, three kids in five years is already a lot. But Clarke can’t help it.  “I want them all to know how good you give it to me.”

“You just want to show off,” Bellamy says.

“Uh huh,” Clarke nods, smirking. “Want everyone to know you’re mine. Want them to know how good we are at making babies.”

“Okay,” Bellamy agrees. “We can start trying again.”  

Clarke grins as she kisses him again. He wasn’t hard to convince—he must have already been thinking about it too. She pushes his shirt up, fingers trailing up his stomach. He helps her remove his shirt, and then he’s lifting her off his lap, flipping their positions so she’s lying on her back on the couch.

He unbuttons her jeans, kissing the stretch marks on her soft stomach. She’s a little chubbier now than she was when they first got married—he is too. But he still worships her, still looks at her like she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. He tugs her jeans down her thighs with some effort, and pulls her socks off too, admiring her in her sexy red lingerie.

It took Clarke a while to feel confident in her body again after Noah, but Bellamy never stopped wanting her. Never flinched at any change of her body. He kisses her stomach again now, and Clarke giggles. She wonders if he’s already imagining her fat with their fourth child.

She slips her fingers into his hair, playing with his curls. In turn, he presses his fingers against the red lace covering her cunt, and her clit throbs fiercely in response. He strokes her between her legs, moving his mouth up to her breasts, pulling the lace down so he can kiss her skin.

“Bellamy,” Clarke whines. She wants to be patient, really. But she needs him so much, and the light, tender way he’s touching her isn’t enough.

“Clarke, baby,” he moans back. “Can’t wait for you to be pregnant again. Haven’t stopped thinking about it since Thalia was born.”

“Why’d you argue then?” Clarke asks breathily.

“I wanted to make sure you really wanted it,” he says. He moves his fingers from her slit to hook into the sides of her panties, and starts dragging them down. “I was trying to be sensible. Didn’t want you to make decisions just because you’re horny.”

“But you really want another baby too, right?” Clarke asks.

Bellamy gently slips Clarke’s panties over her ankles and tosses them to the floor, then leans over her again, bringing his face back to her eyelevel.

“Yes,” he promises.

“You’re not just turned on by the thought of me being pregnant?”

He smirks. “That too,” he whispers. He kisses her. “I love when you’re all swollen with my baby,” he says. Her slips a hand under her back and unclips her bra. “Tits all big and sensitive. Love making sure everyone knows I still know how to fuck you good.”

“Me too,” Clarke breathes. “Please, Bellamy. Fuck me. Put your baby in me, please.”

“Okay, baby,” he says. He sits up, fumbling with the fly of his jeans in his haste to get them off. He sheds his pants and boxers, lets his hard cock spring free, dripping with precum. Clarke’s pussy pounds in anticipation. God, he’s so hot. And he’s all hers.

Clarke reaches for him as he kneels back on the couch. She makes a tiny fist around his huge cock, then licks the tip, gathering the taste of him on her tongue. Even though their sex life is mostly made up of quick blow jobs and hand jobs, she can’t get enough of having him in her mouth.

Bellamy tries to laugh, but it comes out as more of a strangled moan. “Fuck, baby. That’s not how this works. I gotta come in your pussy if you want a baby.”

Clarke nods, and she releases his cock, before surging up to kiss him, her arms wrapping around him. He lowers her down onto her back again, kissing her, his arms cradling her body.

“I love you so much,” he whispers, his cock pressing against her slit. Clarke nods. “I’m gonna get you pregnant, baby.”

“Please,” Clarke begs. He sheathes himself inside her, and she gasps. “Yes, Bellamy. Fill me up. Put a baby in me.”

He fucks her hard, like they’ve both been aching for since the last time they were alone for this long—three weeks ago now. They cling to each other, both wrapped up in the idea of Clarke being pregnant, the thought of it causing them both to spiral quickly to the brink of orgasm.

“Come on, baby,” Bellamy coaxes roughly. “Need you to come on my cock. Wanna knock you up so bad, but you gotta come first.”

“Uh huh,” Clarke agrees absently. She’s almost there.

“I’m gonna come in you,” Bellamy grunts. “Can’t wait until you’re so pregnant you can barely walk. Tits so big they ache. Nipples dripping with milk.”

That does it. She cries out as she comes, shuddering against him, fingernails digging into his back. He moans as she feels him release inside her, his seed filling her up, and she doesn’t know whether it triggers a second orgasm, or whether she’s still going from the first.

“Oh my god,” she groans. She can’t remember the last time she came like that. Probably when they were trying for Thalia.

“Good, huh?” Bellamy murmurs, kissing her cheek. He’s holding her, his cock still inside her, keeping her cunt full of his come. Clarke just nods and hopes he understands.

They lay like that until Clarke can’t take his weight any longer, and gently pushes him off her. They both sit up, but Bellamy is quick to bundle her up in his arms again. She’s not even pregnant yet and he’s already acting more protective of her than usual. Or maybe it’s just because they finally have the time to just be with each other.

“I love you,” Clarke says.

“I love you too,” Bellamy returns, kissing her hair.

“Do you already have a list of baby names?”

“You know I do.”

“Okay, well we better make sure I’m good and pregnant then,” Clarke smiles. “You can fuck me in the kitchen this time, so we’re close to the fridge for a snack afterwards.”

“Okay,” Bellamy laughs.

When they’re done in the kitchen, they head to the shower, and then go one last, slow, soft round in their bed, before they fall asleep, sleeping into the afternoon the next day, with no kids to wake them early in the morning.

Nine months later, they come home with another beautiful baby girl they both adore.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get the son you wanted,” Clarke teases.

Bellamy rolls his eyes. “You know I don’t care about that.”

Clarke ignores him. “I guess we’ll just have to try again for a boy.”

[just-dreaming-about]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS #2

So here I am again! This time I have the part 2 of my first fanfiction about Spider-Man where our protagonist (Thalia) is going through too much for her and everything is out of control. This is more angst than I pretended but I kinda like the way this is going. Anyway, enjoy!

The redhead was in a poorly lit room with a couple of lamps and entertained herself by punching a punching bag, in the center of which was a red spray drawing of a spider. The sweat running down his forehead was proof that she had been there for several hours. She was tired, frustrated, angry, but one more punch was the difference between winning and losing. She didn't bother to turn when the sound of the door indicated that someone had entered the room but was forced to stop when that person entered her range of vision. A blond boy with brown eyes dressed in a white shirt and dress pants was staring at her so intently that she was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

-This had better be important -she growled, taking off the gloves that protected her knuckles to grab her water bottle.

-I wouldn't bother going down here if It wasn't -he replied annoyed- Prepare yourself, I want you out in a hour.

Thalia spat out the water in surprise and coughed several times to catch her breath. With her hand she wiped the water from her face, which was now glowing with joy and impatience.

-Out? Back to work? I'm going for my suit!

Before the girl could take three steps he cut her off.

-Civil clothes, Thalia. Recon mission, they won't risk you.

As if it were a balloon deflating, Thalia turned to look at him disappointed just in time to receive a folder of papers that he had thrown at her.

-Recon?

-Vigilance, actually. That is your goal. Do not lose sight of him and better that you are not discovered this time. You are in testing period again, do not risk it.

-Okay -she growled in frustration, heading for the exit much more slowly this time.

-Thalia.

The redhead only turned with a raised eyebrow.

-You should go see your father.

Thalia's heart stirred uneasily, struggling between guilt and pride.

-It's none of your business -she muttered resentfully, opening the door and slamming it shut.

_________________________

Later on the streets of New York.

-Target in sight, radio silence until further notice -the girl whispered before turning off the hearing aid hidden in her ear.

Captain America in all his glory was a couple of meters from her, with a group of men and women he was helping to train in the park. They stretched and flexed as she sat under a tree drinking water and pretending she was enjoying a peaceful morning.

When more than half an hour had passed without anything interesting happening, Thalia simply let her imagination run wild. Spider-Man's words were repeated over and over in his head since their last meeting. Anger and frustration filled her and focused on her fist, which began to squeeze the water bottle she was holding until it doubled over. With an eye on Captain America who had now been joined by Sam, she got up to drop the bottle and then buy herself another at a stall a few meters from her position. This also served as a cover, pretending to be normal something she hadn't known for a year and a half at least. That was what she didn't like about vigilance, too much time alone with herself. For a year now she had been trying not to be left alone with her own thoughts, which were arguing with each other at a speed that was difficult to continue reviewing her greatest mistakes and criticizing her exploits to be better.

So deep in thought was she that didn't see the person she ended up colliding. He was a boy a little taller than she, with curly brown hair and edgy chocolate eyes, wearing plain jeans and a shirt with an atom joke on it. The boy was handsome but he was a bundle of nerves, he just apologized and asked if she was okay.

-Peter Parker -he introduced himself with a nervous smile after helping her up.

-Nice to meet you, Parker -she said absently looking around.

It seemed as if the boy was waiting for her to introduce herself and that made her feel a little uncomfortable.

-Thalia -she finally said- Thalia Strand.

-Nice name -the boy smiled almost relieved that the girl wanted to continue talking- Do you come around often?

-Not really -she replied, her gaze wandering around the park almost about to panic because she couldn't find Captain America.

-Have you lost something? I can help?-the boy continued offering himself.

She looked him one last time, up and down, making the boy more nervous at times.

-I'll manage on my own, thanks -her response was a little too abrupt but she wasn't going to stay to apologize.

She left the park in the direction of the busy streets and looked everywhere. How could someone as famous as Captain America go unnoticed in New York? She couldn't report her situation because she had been on silent radio for hours and because it would make her look bad after her last failure. Frustrated, she took out her cell phone and started searching in social networks, someone have to post something about him because everyone loved Captain America and the social red it's a good place to freak out just seeing captain America at the metro. And there he was, at a little cafe two roads at her right. So she went there without hesitation and saw him easily from the window of the cafeteria taking pictures with the workers.

She decided to hide in the bookstore across the street where she would go unnoticed and could easily monitor her target. Hiding among the shelves that were displayed in the middle of the street, a cover caught his attention "Spider-Man friend and neighbor or a danger to our city?". Thalia's small laugh was heard, she couldn't agree more with that writer named Jameson. Then she heard a small noise and she felt her body tempt in anticipation, an automatic response after what happened on her last mission. In a quick motion, she had a boy's arm against his back and he was crushing his face against the bookshelf.

-It's me. Peter Parker. We just meet at the park a few minutes ago. I... -the boy was interrupted by Thalia who speak like she wasn't believing what the boy was saying. In fact, she wasn't believing a word at this point.

- You have been following me? That's creepy, you know?

-Like a girl who looks innocent but she can push me against the bookshelf without a hand? Yeah. Creepy.

-You don't know how to talk to girls, right? -she said as she leave the guy so he can take care of his arm.

-Really? I just came because this fell from your pocket when we collide.

In the boy's hand was a little blue pendant. It wasn't too much, it was just a little pendant of a turquoise stone obelisk with a silver chain. She freak out a bit at the realization that the necklace wasn't in her pocket.

-Don't worry, I just came to return this to you. I thought it was important to you -smiled this guy, Parker, while he leave the necklace in her hand.

She was so confused right now. This guy, whom she didn't know, came to her from the park just to give this to her just because he tough it was important to her. Something inside her made her feeling weird.

-Thanks -she muttered a little shy.

-Nothing -the always smiling boy stood there as if there was something that Thalia had forgotten.

The weird feeling that Thalia was feeling before just go away. Now the suspicious was on her mind. This guy, Parker, was waiting a reward or something?

-What now? I have thanked you.

Suddenly Parker realize that he was staring at her too much so he blushed abruptly and start rambling about incoherent things like he didn't want to stare or like it wasn't like she wasn't pretty enough not to stare because she was, pretty he wanted to say she was pretty but he wasn't her to feel uncomfortable with him.

At this point Thalia was just enjoying the sight of this cute boy just freaking out. It wasn't something she was used to. The flirt, if this was flirting, and the nervous. Things like that was just left behind when her dad started feeling really bad. And this little thought brought her back to reality. Where was him?

-Not again -she growled really frustrated now.

-I... I'm sorry if I'm bothering you.

Thalia look at this guy one more time. She thought that if she wasn't in this situation maybe she would invite Parker to a cafe and would flirt around just to make him freak out and rumble about things because was cute and funny even if they wouldn't meet never again just to enjoy chat with someone new. But she had no option.

-Look, I think this is funny and you're cute but I'm doing something important so thank you again for the necklace but I have to go.

She spoke so fast that the guy didn't have any chance to say anything more. The girl ran away from the guy and looked everywhere for her objective but it wasn't around. She swore under her breath. Why was happening this to her? She was happy two years ago, when things were simple and everything was okey and she didn't have to grow up and take care of herself.

This wasn't supposed to happen to her.

She was about to cry. She knew that. It was that feeling growing inside her.

She took a breath. Then another breath. And then one more just to be sure.

And here we go again. Running through the busy alleys, looking for the objective when a explosion obstructed the streets. She almost freak out but composed herself. People started running everywhere and screaming. And there he was captain America just fighting a lizard man who came out of the sewer.

She hid in an alley from where she could see everything. She thought about disabling the radio silence and reporting what was happening but she didn't. Wondering to herself how a person would choose to take care of things like that. How anyone would choose to be a hero? Was it something that everyone would choose except her because everyone was brave enough to choose this? That makes her a coward? Because in her worst moment she choose to be a criminal, following instructions like stealing or spying. Her dad wouldn't approve it. But he wasn't there to take care of her, she was the one taking care of herself and her dad.

The lizard man throw captain America and she hide more so he can't see her hiding there. And she noticed something on her back.

-Hello criminal who doesn't hide her face this time.

There was Spider-Man. And she was so upset about that hero.

-You have to be kidding me.

-In fact, I make some funny jokes but almost nobody appreciates it.

She took advantage of the always talkative hero and walked back away. But then the hero throw a web to her wrist and pulled her to his chest.

-Not this time, my little criminal.

And then the lizard was thrown into that alley and captain America came running.

-Spider-Man? What are you doing here?

-Oh, hello captain! -waved the hero with his free hand a little too much excited.

-Take your girlfriend away from here!

Captain America was containing the lizard man so he can't attack them while both of them started rumbling about they weren't dating, this wasn't a date, she never would date someone like him or she was a criminal that he had to stop.

-I don't care! -answer the superhero- Just go away! This is dangerous!

-You need help, cap? -offered the arachnid.

-Go. Away.

The looks that captain America gives them was enough to scare Thalia and she was almost relieved when Spider-Man took her in his arms and swing them out of the fight.

-Let me go, you bastard! -Thalia was fighting with the hero without results because it was like she wasn't punching the hero's chest.

-Stop doing that or we'll fall from there. Do you want to become a crushed mosquito?

And then she stop fighting with the hero. At least until they reached the roof of a building where she pushed the hero away from herself and put in a defensive position.

-Why do you always want to fight? -he complained almost upset with this.

-Because you are the hero and I am the criminal?

-But you told me about this guy forcing you to do this. Even if you ended stealing the tiara I thought you were serious about that. I still believe you. If you have any problem them just...

-Just take care of them -she interrupted the hero- at my own. I don't need a hero to save me.

-But maybe you need a friend?

And that's how Thalia asked herself when were the last time she had a friend. But throw away this thought and reforced her defensive position.

-Stop confusing me! I don't need you!

-If you're confused maybe it's because you know I'm telling the truth? Please, I want to help.

-Why do you care? You don't know me.

-I learned that it's better offers help first than fight and then ask. I stopped more criminals like this.

And then something happened that surprised both the hero and Thalia. She started laughing. Just a little at first. And then a lot. It was funny the idea of ​​a hero offering him a help that nobody had wanted to give her a year ago. The hero was so surprised that didn't know how to act. And when she stop laughing she started crying. She was so upset of this. A new mission failed, now she wasn't be able to found captain America again and she didn't even knew why she had to spy him. Neither she know how to safe her dad on her own. And that was too much for her.

-Ey -whispered the hero, too close suddenly- it's okay to ask for help when we can't take it anymore.

-Why do you care? -she asked in response.

-Because I'm your friend and neighbor Spider-Man. It's my job.

Thalia was jealous how sure the hero was about his role in his life. She was too lost in her own life.

-Do you want to talk about it? -asked the hero in a whisper almost if he was afraid that she would freak out and go away if he speaks louder.

She didn't answered as she still crying out all her stress. The hero just sat there making her sure he was there with her. And when the cry stops, she looks at him with her puffy eyes and the red nose and the hero held his breath unconsciously.

-I don't want to talk about it -was her answer.

-Then don't talk. Just take me with your boss.

She really thought about it. Her boss was a horrible person and deserved to be in prison. But then her father would be helpless again. Hammerhead was the only one to accept taking care of the bills while she make stuff for him. At the beginning were only simple stuff like help his minions with the food and the cleaning and then started the training and at some point they were taking her in their missions. She really never noticed it.

-I can't -she answered defeated.

-But you want to paid for your boss? You want to go to prison for him? It's that important your boss for you?

She shook her head looking at the hero.

-You don't understand anything.

-Then tell me -his hand took hers to encourage her- I want to understand.

She had the impulse to tell him everything because she was so tired of pretending she was strong enough. She remained silent with that puppy eyes that the hero understood he would be screwed if he still staring at them also he thought he was pushing her too much. So he got up and headed to the edge of the building without a word.

-Where are you going?

-That lizard man was giving a hard time to cap so I'm going to help him.

Thalia nodded, not knowing why she felt a new wave of sadness.

-Will I find you here when that lizard thing is over?

The question was so surprising to her that she had to think twice before answer.

-I don't know... I have to return home.

The hero sounded almost sad when he spoke again.

-Oh... Then be careful.

And that sounded a little dumb in the hero. The question was written in Thalia's face.

-Because this is New York and weird things happen everyday. Like that weird lizard man for example or that weird guy that looks like a goblin...

Thalia laugh while the hero still rumbling incoherently.

-Like weirdos guys in weirdos suits jumping around the city?

Spider-Man stopped talking to look at her.

-Is that a joke or you're just being mean?

A playful smile grow up in Thalia's face.

-What do you think?

Spider-Man let a nervous laugh scape and passed a hand over his head in an unconscious gesture.

-I'll see you next time you're doing illegal things.

He jumps out of the building and Thalia could heard him calling himself stupid.

_____________________

Later

Thalia never had been so nervous to enter a simple room. She took all the courage she could and open that door that was so scary. The room in front of her was all white and in the bed was a man that looks way more old that he really was connected to a lot of machines that were beeping. Thalia needed all she had inside her not to cry again. The man open her eyes and look at her with renovated energy.

-Is that my little Thalia who came to see her old father? -he tried to sit properly but failed- I'm glad you can make time for your old father with your study.

Thalia walk to the bed and stay in with a guilty smile.

-You're not that old, daddy.

Her dad took her hand in theirs with a meaningful look.

-What is bothering you, pumpkin?

-It's nothing, daddy. I'm just tired.

-You're studying too much, are you sleeping well?

-Yes, daddy. It was just a good book.

Her dad laughed at that but then he coughs loudly. After the man calm down his daughter, they still there just chatting about nothing while the girl was containing a cry.

-Now tell me, pumpkin.

Thalia looks at her father's eyes and she knows she couldn't lie.

-I have a friend that it's in troubles, daddy. This... friend have to make a choice and I don't know how to help her.

-You and your heart -he laughed- Accept a advice from this old man? Just do what your heart demands, it can't be wrong if you do it with your heart.

-Even if that thing could make someone suffer?

-Well sure your friend have that tiny voice inside her mind. You know what I mean.

-You mean that tiny voice that says us to do the next thing right? I think you tell me about it before.

Thalia just stayed there with her dad 'til visit hour finished. The words of her dad in her mind just confusing her more.

[jflashandclash]

Tales From Mount Othrys

             The Versatility of a Guitar String

                                       I

 Warning: Depictions of Violence.

***

           “Forget your family.”

           Flynn’s melody murmured in my dreams like the silkiest spider threads rocking a slumberer’s hammock. “You deserve to enjoy this: the start of your new life. Let yourself forget.”

           Her words cradled my mind in a tranquilizing solace. At the time, the only response I could utter was, “What other family? You’re all the family I need.”

 --Memoirs of a Talking Head[1]

 ***

         When Jack agreed to tear down the gods, he didn’t think it would involve him snorkeling in a toilet.

         It did.

         Jack thrashed and twisted, barely getting a gulp of air before being submerged again. His orange converses squeaked uselessly against the bathroom’s floor tiles.

         The girl shoving his head into the water bowl was much stronger and larger than he, despite being several years younger. Between dunkings, her and her friends’ laughter reverberated off the walls.

         This, unfortunately, wasn’t the first time someone had forced Jack to be well acquainted with the most vital part of a restroom. Last time, Ms. Daisy Blackwell, one of the prettiest girls at his church, had taken Jack behind the church after his solo at one of their concerts. She had said she wanted him to sing to her. When Tommy Higgles, her boyfriend, found out that she asked Jack to do more than sing to her, he and his friends cornered Jack in the boys’ bathroom at school.

         Last time, Tommy had emptied all of Jack’s medication into the toilet bowl. “That straightening out your memory, freak!” Tom had shouted.

         This time, the water was cleaner. Or, at least, it wouldn’t give him an overdose as he choked on it.

         Last time, Jack had no idea it was going to happen. Ms. Blackwell had heard Jack “confused” things a lot, and that he was “confused’ about her relations with Tommy. But, afterwards, Ms. Blackwell wouldn’t acknowledge him in public, or that anything had happened between the two of them, like the other boys and girls that had taken an interest in Jack at his small high school.

         This time, Luke had warned Jack that it was a Camp Half-Blood hazing ritual, one from which Luke could not spare him. Jack had to either fight off a hulking daughter of Ares or get humiliated.

         Despite the warning, Jack felt himself thinking the same thing he had before: I’m going to drown.

         The water seeped into his lungs during his squirming. Pressure mounted in his chest. There wasn’t enough time to cough. Panic made his heartbeat thud inside his head. His head smacked into the toilet bowl with each thrash.

         The worst difference surfaced as he forced his limbs to stop fighting. Last time, Jack knew he would reach eternal salvation if he died the humiliating death of a toilet warrior. This time, as Jack willed his body to give up, he wondered, Do half-bloods even have souls?

         The fingers clenching his hair pulled his head back, stretching his body in a strained arch.

         He sputtered and coughed out the water.

         Clarisse La Rue’s sneer loomed in his peripheral. “Had enough of a swim?”

         At least there was a toilet directly in front of him, so no one would have to clean up the content of his lungs and stomach. That would be rude to any godly janitorial staff. He hacked, unable to talk for a moment.

         Clarisse released him.

         Jack barely missed cracking his head against the toilet bowl. Blurrily, he searched around, trying to prop himself up on the cool, slick floor.

         The laughter echoed around the room. The massive girl stood.

         “Why?” Jack finally choked out.

         “To show you the pecking order,” Clarisse said. She and her friends got up and left the bathroom stalls.

         Jack trembled. The first time he tried to get up, his legs felt like jelly. Finally, he got to his feet and stumbled to the sinks. He turned one on and dunked his head under, reminding himself that he was in control of the water rinsing him off.

         The monsters on the Princess Andromeda had been way nicer on his first day. They at least ignored him or said he smelled good.

         Someone shook Jack’s shoulder.

         He flinched.

         “Hey, we’re not really supposed to be in the girl’s bathroom.”

         Jack tried to look through the water at his escort: a thirteen-year-old child of Apollo named Ryan. He had tan skin and an athletic build. Once he got Jack’s attention, he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows.

         After a few more moments of feeling the water against the back of his head and his neck, Jack shut the sink off. He let his dripping bangs plaster onto his face and soak his flannel shirt. The top was already drenched. As it turned out, toilet water: not refreshing.

         “Why didn’t you help?” Jack asked. To still be there, Ryan must have stood by the entrance the whole time, watching.

         Ryan’s expression was skeptical. Like everyone else who had commented on how old Jack was, Ryan seemed disappointed by what he saw. “You think I can put a dent in a child of Ares?”

         Jack shrugged. “You could have run to get help.”

         “No one is going to help against Clarisse.”

         No wonder Luke hates Ares and his children.

         Although the room felt warm with the climate control, Jack hugged himself. It took every ounce of control not to tug at his hair and to, instead, dig his fingers deep into his ribs. He promised himself he wouldn’t mess this mission up and that meant acting as normal as possible.

Mission? Quest? Had Kronos called it a quest?

         This was the exact time Jack should be asking Ryan questions. Phil and Luke both said Jack was perfect for this type of quest, because he was so unassuming and genuinely curious when asking questions. Charming and harmless, as Ms. Blackwell had teased him.

         “Doesn’t that bother you?” Jack asked. “Were you dunked?”

         Jack tried to imagine coming in here as a young kid, before he met Flynn and knew Greek monsters were real. He would have thought this was whole place was a cruel prank or a bad dream.

         “All new people get dunked,” Ryan said. He looked impatient. “You get over it.”

         Jack felt like his tongue was four times too large. That didn’t seem right, but he doubted saying so would get him any points with Ryan.

         Only twenty-four hours, Jack reminded himself. Twenty-four hours before Luke, Lucille, Lou Ellen, and I need to get out. You can be normal for twenty-four hours.

         He hoped.    

Summer solstice was a day away. From what Luke got out of a quick Iris Message and a dream vision with Kronos, some kid named Percy Jackson should be starting some massive war with the gods. Percy should have been be dragged into Tartarus with something called the Master Bolt. Then, this camp wouldn’t be safe. It would crumble into a battlefield between the gods.

         “Just remember when Clarisse dunks you that she’ll be killed in the crossfire. I’ll make sure of it,” Luke had said.

         Jack didn’t want Clarisse and her friends to be killed in the crossfire. He just wanted her to be less mean. Seeing her in person, the former seemed much more likely.

         Ryan sighed. “Come on. Let’s see if you you’re as bad at horseback riding as you are with archery.”

         Jack shuffled forward. He guessed Ryan didn’t intend to sound so critical, but no one at camp could believe Jack had survived on his own for so long, being a son of Apollo. Although Phil immediately stated that Jack had been claimed—he hadn’t, whatever ‘claiming’ meant—whispers went around that maybe he was supposed to be in the Aphrodite cabin instead.

         “At least he’s good for the girls to look at. Don’t think he’ll do much in the coming war,” he had heard Lee Fletcher, his cabin counselor, muttering when Jack accidentally elbowed Chiron in the chest during their archery lesson.

         Jack knew he wouldn’t have survived on his own, but Luke had him under strict orders not to mention Flynn or Luke or anything about Kronos. As for that day, they didn’t know each other, which was a real shame. Jack wanted Luke to show him Thalia’s pine tree.

         The rest of the training was similar. Fortunately, his cabin mates—is that what they were called?—and Chiron were too distracted by the fights that kept breaking out between the children of Athena and Jack’s siblings. Something about Poseidon being in the right to take a stand against Zeus? Jack had only recently learned the gods and titans were real. He couldn’t keep the internal bickering straight.

         Most people were too distracted and tense to pay Jack much attention for the rest of training, which was a problem. That meant he couldn’t complete his mission either. He hoped Lucille was having more luck in the Aphrodite Cabin and Lou Ellen in the… where had Luke said she’d go?

         Luke’s words haunted him. “Either we turn them or we consider them sword fodder. Anyone on the Olympic side will need to die, so you’re doing them a favor if you can show them how corrupt the Olympians are.”

         Flynn, Jack’s girlfriend, understood immediately. That’s why Luke had sent her on a mission to a place called New Rome. Luke said that would be too difficult for Jack to tag along.

         This quest was a test for Jack, Lucille, and Lou Ellen: a way to prove they were worthy of Kronos’ next world.

         Like introducing people to Jesus, Jack mused. He remembered walking through the sterile halls of Botin’s Hill Hospital, how the sick welcomed him inside to hear him sing church songs. Pity he didn’t know any about our savor, Kronos.

Jack frowned. Luke and Phil kept saying he could heal people with his song. But, the sick people didn’t always get better when he sang. Sometimes…

         “Jake, right?”

         Jack flinched. The Apollo cabin was setting up for the campfire. He’d zoned out, watching as the Hephaestus campers stoked the flames. Everyone else referred to the cabins by numbers, but Jack couldn’t keep those numbers straight, so he tried to catalogue everyone by the few gods he did know.

         A friendly, blond nineteen-year-old stood beside him. The familiar scar made Jack grin, despite his feelings of being a failure. He shouldn’t want to talk to Luke. That would mean reporting that he’d had no luck converting any of his siblings, or even seeing if they could be converted down the road. The children of Apollo seemed to love their—his—dad wholeheartedly, though Jack hadn’t gotten any specific person’s story yet.

         Luke squeezed Jack’s shoulder. “How’s your first day going? You came in at a rough time.”

         Jack knew that Luke had to pretend they’d never met before, but the convincing, detached quality of Luke’s voice was demoralizing, especially with how he got his name wrong.

         Jack managed to nod at him. He hadn’t realized that, when he sat down on the log, he’d pulled his knees up and was rocking.

         Almost frantic, Jack straightened out his legs and stopped rocking. Normal for one day. Normal for one day. He repeated to himself. Then, he could tell Flynn that he’d done a quest, right? He could show Luke that he’d be worthwhile in his army. Besides, the campfire was all about singing. This is where Jack could shine.

         Jack gave Luke a much more confident smile.

         “Just keep it together, buddy,” Luke said, his grip on Jack’s shoulder becoming uncomfortable. “I’m sure the rest of your night will be a success—”

         Another camper, an Athena boy, raised his voice in middle of a discussion, drowning out Luke. “—maybe because someone needs to keep order in this camp—”

         “Oh, can it! You’re still pissy at Poseidon for a rivalry that you won. Get over it! There’s no reason you’d be on Zeus’ side otherwise!” one of Jack’s siblings shouted at the Athena camper.

         More shouts broke out. The campfire flickered uncomfortable, dark red. The flames looked too low on the wood to still be lit.

Jack felt like something was about to go wrong, something important.

         One of the Ares campers shoved the Athena kid—Malcolm? He stumbled, barely dodging around the fire. He slammed into another camper to keep his balance. And—

         The movement was too fast for Jack to dodge, not that he would have thought to.

         One of Jack’s siblings toppled backwards.

         Pain flared in Jack’s throat, as the kid’s—Will’s?—elbow smashed into Jack’s windpipe. Will hadn’t meant to, he’d been trying to pinwheel to keep his balance—

         Jack flopped backwards, clutching at his neck. He coughed. Each breath rasped painfully.

         Hands gripped Jack’s shoulders. They dug into his skin, dragging him away from the campfire. Another member of his cabin went to pummel Malcolm, even though the incident hadn’t been Malcolm’s fault.

         The yells were jumbled. The bodies crashed into a scuffle—they looked more like a random mob of strangers than cousins and siblings. All Jack could think was, My throat—Dear God—can I still sing?! What if they crushed it? What if they crushed my windpipe?

         A more logical part of him said that his windpipe would be fine. He needed a few minutes to recover. That would be it, right? What am I without a voice? That’s my only useful trait. Would Flynn want me anymore?

         He wheezed.

         Whoever was dragging him pulled him up onto his feet.

         The pain lessened, but the panic made Jack clutch at his neck. He tried to talk. His voice came out a squeaky rasp.

         He expected Luke to be his savor, to be chastising him for over-dramatics.

         The person beside him was a foot too short.

         “Come on. We have throat lozenges in the cabin,” Ryan said. He released Jack and started walking back towards the housing.

         Jack pointed frantically back to where the campfire had become a battle zone. The Ares and Apollo campers teamed up against Athena. A centaur already stood in the fray, pulling teenagers off each other.

         “Chiron will take care of it,” Ryan said, “We plenty outnumber Cabin Six and you’ll be in the way if you stay.” This time, the irritation in Ryan’s voice was unmistakable. “You’re really not cut out for this, are you? You had plenty of time to move.”

         Jack trembled. He reminded himself that Ryan, like other kids that had mocked him, was a child of God’s and that all God’s children were…

         Something flipped in Jack’s head. They weren’t equal, were they? And God—the gods—didn’t love them equally. Luke said that Percy Jackson—the son of Poseidon that Luke had framed for the thievery of the Master Bolt—that kid could control water. Thalia had been able to shoot lightning. These gods, the Greek gods, didn’t treat them as equal, else Thalia wouldn’t be a pine tree.

         By the time Jack got enough of his voice back to talk, they approached the golden exterior of Apollo’s empty cabin. “You seem like such a natural,” Jack said. His voice was raspy, but functional.

         A tightness squeezed Jack’s stomach when he examined his little half-brother. Throughout all the training that day, Ryan had excelled.

         Ryan sighed. Tension released from his shoulders as he opened the cabin door. He paused. After a moment, Ryan held the door open for Jack. “My mom told me I was a half-blood when I was very little. She knew Apollo was a god, so she set me up with archery lessons as soon as I could pull back a bow. She was a pediatrician and let me play with all of her college text books.” He shrugged. “The other campers think I’ll surpass Chiron with a bow one day, and I’m already a better healer than Will, but I had a head start.”

         This is was it! What Jack was supposed to be doing all day! Getting his new cabin mates to open up: about themselves, their feelings about being demigods, their opinions of their parents. For some reason, Jack didn’t feel better about the success. The tightness in his stomach squeezed until he felt his breath going short again. He wanted Ryan to shut up.

         “You knew the monsters were real,” Jack said. He hadn’t realized that would be an option. He stepped inside.

         “Well, yea, we all did,” Ryan said like it was obvious. The cabin door shut behind them. No one else was around. Ryan walked past the corner stacked with instruments to the medicine cabinet. He withdrew the lozenges and handed them to Jack.

         Jack frowned, examining the packaging: ambrosia coated. Even with simple things like pain killers, he always checked ingredients in case they conflicted with his medication. Jack popped one in his mouth and bit down hard.

         Everyone knew that you were supposed to suck on lozenges; but, Jack wanted a sharp sensation in his mouth. Cinnamon spiked his taste buds.

         Ryan gave Jack a wary look. “Listen, Jack, maybe you’d be better off at home with your mortal family,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t want you here, I just don’t know if this is the safest place for you with this war brewing. Tomorrow, Summer Solstice, this camp might be about to explode, and you’re not really trained for combat yet…”

         Ryan looked genuinely concerned. “We can loan you a weapon from the armory. Since you’ve made it so long without any help, I doubt your aura is that strong or ever will be strong enough to attract monsters. It’s not that we don’t want you here—or that Dad doesn’t want you here. I mean, he claimed you. That’s a big deal. It means he loves you and all, but—”

         Jack bit down harder on the lozenge, wanting to crush it. He hadn’t been claimed.

         “How soon were you claimed?” Jack interrupted. The twisting in his stomach kept getting tighter. He felt like he was on the cusp of something important and that something would make all the tension disappear. It had to do with what Ryan was saying, but he wanted the kid to stop talking.

         “As soon as I stepped foot into camp,” Ryan said. He rocked onto his tiptoes, like he was getting impatient to go back outside. His gaze shifted back to the door as though the eye motion could shove Jack back out.

         Jack hugged himself. “Apollo… Dad. You speak really highly of him.”

         Ryan glanced at the door again, then back at Jack. He sighed, rolling back onto his heels. “Yea… I—I owe Dad. He’s kinda awesome.”

         These campers seemed to know so much more about him. How could you say that a Dad you’ve never met was awesome? Had Ryan met him?

         At Jack’s silence, Ryan got a sad smile on his face. “I guess I can tell you about it. My mom never fell in love after him. She said it was impossible after she had a full summer with him—”

         A one night stand. A one night mistake, Jack remembered his mother assuring Steve about his conception, when Steven got nervous about the guy before him. They thought Jack hadn’t come downstairs for a nighttime snack. His Mom had never held that one night stand against Jack, had she?

         “—so I was raised with my cousins like they were my siblings. My older cousin, Cindy, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Mom and I prayed to Apollo every night and I sang to her every night for a week. She… she got better. Way faster than medicine by itself should have allowed—”

         The package slipped from Jack’s fingers.

         The individually wrapped lozenges scattered across the cabin floor.

         “Wow—you okay, dude? You look like you’re about to be sick,” Ryan said. The smile vanished from his face. He knelt down, plucking some lozenges from the ground.

         Jack should have apologized. He should have knelt down to help. Normal for one day, echoed in his mind. The thought couldn’t penetrate his other ones. It couldn’t stop his hands from clutching at his hair.

         What would it have been like? To grow up with a family that knew what was happening to him, to know he wasn’t crazy. Not to be medicated. Or outcast. No “you’re just confused, sweetie.” No, “All children are equal in the eyes of God.”

         In that instance, Jack realized something. People treated life like it was a living thing that chose to be fair or unfair. It wasn’t. It just existed. People were made unequal. They would be treated unequal. These gods, their gods, played favorites.

         “Ryan…” Jack whispered, trying not to hyperventilate. “You saved your cousin with your singing. Could you kill someone with your singing?”

         His vision had tunneled. All Jack could see was the smaller boy, crouched under the instrument table, gathering a lozenge from a guitar. There were spare strings on the table. When Ryan put his hand on the table for balance, he knocked them to the side.

         Then, Jack couldn’t see Ryan.

Shelby was the worst. Her body was sprawled in the middle of the hallway, on top of Charger, their German Sheppard. The other bodies—those Jack could easily pretend weren’t real. But, Shelby, had face-planted in a pool of her own vomit. The bile plastered her black hair around the wooden floor like a drowned victim’s hair splayed into a water halo… She was impossible to ignore. Jack had to carefully edge his way around her and Charger’s bodies, hoping the real one would show up and tell him to stop being silly, and terrified the real one would show up since they might increase his medication.

The day after they found his family, Jack had been too scared to tell Luke and Flynn why he thought their deaths were his fault.

He had been singing in the shower. He was thinking about how angry he was at his family while he sang. Then, they were dead, just like some of the patients at the hospital died as soon as he finished singing to them.

         Why could Ryan save people, his loved ones, with his voice, when Jack could kill?

         The pressure in Jack’s stomach made him feel like he’d throw up. That tension was wound so tightly, Jack knew it would snap. It was about to snap. He couldn’t stop—

“I guess, in theory,” Ryan said, beginning to rise from under the table, “I’ve never heard of someone—”

         There was a loud thwack.

         Jack didn’t know he’d cracked Ryan’s skull into the table. Not until the second time he did it. Ryan’s hair felt silky under his fingers. The head under his hand resisted the first time. Not so much the second.

         Jack’s heartbeat thudded in his head, deafening. He didn’t hear the noises Ryan made. He didn’t feel Ryan’s head slip from his hands or how Ryan kicked backwards—how Jack’s leg gave out under the kick so Jack was level with the instrument table.

         He saw Ryan’s mouth move, to sing to heal or call for help. Some autopilot took over, shut him up. Shut. Him. Up. We’ll make the two of us equal. We’ll play favorites the way that gods do.

         A dull ache nagged at Jack’s knee, where he’d collapsed behind his little half-brother. He fumbled for something in the room to gag Ryan. His fingers snatched up something thin, metal, and pliable.

         Jack didn’t remember shoving Ryan back to the floor; he must have. The intention was to wrap the guitar cord between Ryan’s teeth. Just to soften Ryan’s screams.

Then the metal cord pinched the skin around Ryan’s neck. The small kid bucked and thrashed. Ryan’s nails dug at metal. Those fingers fumbled backwards, swatting at Jack.

         None of his attempts reached Jack. Jack’s knee now pressed into the small of Ryan’s back. The guitar cord was long enough that Jack could pull it taught at such a distance that Ryan couldn’t touch him.

         The way Ryan squirmed, Jack’s own screams, the pain in his bruised knee as Jack simultaneously kneed the back of Ryan’s spine while jerking Ryan’s neck backwards: it felt distant, muffled.

         Until someone covered Jack’s mouth.

         “Be quiet!”

         The words brought Jack back into reality. So did the hands that dragged him backwards.

         “Holy Hera!” another familiar voice said.

         There was a clop of hooves on the wooden floor.

         Until that someone removed the hands from his mouth, Jack didn’t realize what he’d been screaming over and over.

Why does Dad love you more?

         Ryan wasn’t moving.

         Dad couldn’t love him now.

         Jack trembled. He stared at his hands. Cuts lined his palms, where he had wrapped the guitar string to anchor them. Bruising would follow. His breath tightened. That tension inside him had snapped. He didn’t have any energy left. No anger. Just a sense of queer calm.

         That same autopilot took control. Guilt nagged at his consciousness the same way pain nagged at his knee.

“No,” Jack said, “No—no. I—I’m sorry. I’m so sorry—”

“Shut up,” Luke repeated, slapping Jack upside the head. He sounded terrified.

Jack clutched at his hair. The strands felt slick with sweat. A sob caught his throat. What was happening to him? Had he just—

“Watch it, Luke.” Someone stepped around the two of them. Phil’s furry legs blocked off Jack’s view of Ryan’s body. “Flynn isn’t going to like it if she hears you’ve been smacking around her Jackie-boy. Now, let’s see. It’s been a long time since I needed to sneak a corpse out of a cabin. You sure like to keep me young and spry, don’t you, Jak-Jak?”

Phil’s comment was light.

No answer would come from Jack’s lips, at least, not beyond a whine.

Phil turned towards Jack and knelt down. Those dark eyes glittered with something that made Jack nauseous: compassion. He put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Kid, I need you with us. We gotta move fast. Which blanket won’t be missed if we wrap Ryan in it?”

*****

My betatester was very angry at me for the deficit of hugs and happiness for Jak-Jak. Don’t worry. Part II is more lighthearted. Okay, PHiL says it’s more lighthearted, though that guy could probably say that at a wax clown museum.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned next week for the last part of this short! I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween! :D

Footnote:

[1] I’m going to write this one day.

[sassysweetstories]

always find you

Request: “Hi I was wondering if I could get a Thomas from the maze runner and a plus size reader imagine where it’s set in the death cure and Thomas goes to save her and Minho. When he finds her she’s insecure which is weird because she was confident before but they help get her back to normal”

Ship: Thomas x Fem!Reader

Warnings: angst, mentions of insecurity, body shaming, kidnapping, mentions of blood, fluff, swearing, fighting, yelling, etc. could be triggering please be aware and safe. 

Notes: none of these gifs are mine, credit to owners

Tagged: @bailey-hoover @kiralivelove @thalia-prior-of-ravenclaw @anamcg317bellasett @queentiffanyyy @archer-whovian-violinist @beingmadinwonderland@princessisabelle19 @violence-and-velvet @lachicadelamanzana 

Third P.O.V

Thomas turned over his shoulder towards the sweet voice that called his name. And when he saw her, time seemed to slow down. Her smile was a bright as the sun that shown down on her beautifully soft skin. “You gonna help me with this work, shank? Or will I have to do everything myself as per usual?” The little smirk grew into a full fledged grin as she rested her hands on her big hips. He could never get tired of looking at her vivacious body. Thomas only wished he could worship every part of her. She presses her hand up against his peck and he nearly faints at her demanding stature. “Come on, shank. We’ve got work to do.” (Y/n) presses a small kiss on his cheek before she walked away. Her body fading like mist into the wind. 

“Thomas! Thomas! Wake up, you bloody git!” Newt shook him awake, sighing. “We’re here.” Thomas jolted from his knapsack, upset he was pulled from such a lovely dream and back into reality. The only good thing about it was that reality meant he would get his girl back. Which is all the motivation he needed. Jorge turned the corner and parked the car in a secluded area, running the car quietly. “Good luck, amigos. See you on the other side.” Thomas quickly nods to the older man, not wasting anytime to reunite with his friend and lover. The corridors were dark and barren as the boys walked carefully down the hall, the lights flicking every so often. The quiet patter of water drops and machine creaking sent a nervous shiver down Thomas’ spine. 

Your P.O.V

few weeks ago... 

I threw my head back screaming as two guards dragged me by my arms. Their grip was constricting and painful, tightening the harder I thrashed against them. “Damn big girl has a lot of power.” One of them snide to the other as if I weren’t there. I slam my shoe down on his boot, cursing as he cusses loudly. “THIS BIG GIRL IS ABOUT TO BEAT YOUR ASS!” I push the other guard off to the side, not strong enough to unlatch his arm from mine before another held my shoulders upright. “Fucking, bitch.” I never stop moving. I won’t give up against these bastards. Minho can’t be far. As my thoughts wander, my sight shifts. And for the first time in my life as my vision begins to blur, I feel a wave of fear wash over my body. 

now... 

“Pathetic. I don’t see why the doc still gives her food, honestly. What the hell are they even tracking?” One of my guards crudely says to the other on duty, speaking as if I weren’t even present. It’s so dehumanizing. Instinctively I curl up further into the corner of my room, wishing more than anything to just disappear. My shirt is not tight enough that it shows off my curves but it seems to be just enough fuel for the officers on duty who revel in watching a teenager weep. Minho’s cell is next to mine but I haven’t him. He’s been taken to be analyzed by the doctors nonstop. Without him here as my anchor, it was becoming harder and harder to not shatter completely. Their comments continue and without Minho, I’m forced to listen. 

I don’t remember when I clamped my ears shut with the palms of my hands. I can only hear the loud ringing in my head and my unsteady breathing. I can’t tell if their voices cease because I’m too afraid to find out. Keeping my eyes and ears shut, heart hammering out my chest. When a pair of soft hands rest on my shoulders, I jerk away in fear. When they return, they feel familiar and warm. I can feel my hands growing hot as I pressed them further to my ears as the unfamiliar palms pull them away. “(Y/n)-” A voice whispers. “Angel, it’s me, Thomas. Newt’s here, too.” I shake my head, scared of whatever new sadistic thing the guards have come up with to get off on my pain. “No, no, no, no, no. You’re not real... You-” The tears come too quick. 

Thomas’ impersonator rests his hands on my cheeks and I feel my heart clench in pain. “Just look at me.. Please..” Maybe it’s my heart that ached for him that made me cave in. There he is, Newt and Minho over his shoulder with warm smiles. “I’ll always find you. C’mon angel, lets get out of this hellhole, okay?” I nodded, unable to form words as I ran my hand down his cheek. I follow but flinch when he rests his hand on my hips. The action doesn’t go unnoticed by my two best friends. “What did they do to you, love?” Newt asked quietly as we slipped out the back and into the car. Thomas doesn’t let go of my body, running his hands up and down my arms. An action that is both soothing and uncomfortable. “They got to you didn’t they?” Minho practically growls, “Those bastards emotionally abused you..” Thomas pulled closer, lifting my chin up so our eyes met. “What’s he talking about, angel?” 

I bury in myself some more, wanting to hide away from the world completely. “They- they made me feel... gross.. they used cruel words and-” I choked on my own tears as Thomas pulled me into his arms. “Nobody is ever gonna hurt you again, I promise. I love you angel and nothing will change that. I couldn’t fucking think straight without you by my side. We will all remind you, every second of every day how you beautiful and gorgeous you are. I swear on my life you will always feel loved. I promise.” Newt and Minho nod along as Thomas laces his fingers through my hair, whispering words of comfort. “Things will go back to normal, I promise.” 

(I hope you guys liked it) 

[avengers-nextgen]

We Are On XX

Chaos was the only word that could describe the aftermath of the war. The medical wing- packed with injured and non injured personnel-smelled strongly of blood and sweat.

However, news travelled fast and it was discovered that two had fallen in battle aside from the countless injuries inflicted and received.

Alex sat staring blankly at the floor with the same scene playing over and over again in her mind. The echoing shot and blood bursting across pavement sent her heart dancing. James had fired his weapon just as the sniper was firing too. The intended target-Killian-collapsed in the street sending the bullet plunging into Jame’s shoulder.

He fell like a limp doll unmoving in pools of water that turned pink then red only to be washed into street gutters. From the upper floors of the building it’d been nearly impossible to tell if he’d been killed. Alex recalled the way her heart had skipped a beat, the way her breath froze, how her eyes refused to look away, and the way her world grew fuzzy.

While it wasn’t a fatal wound her heart still ached for James. He’d tried so hard to talk Killian down. Her callous brother wasn’t so callous after all and he’d paid the price for it.

Blinking back tears, Alex raised her head to observe the room around her. Arthur sat in a chair beside the single room labeled ICU with a bowed head and shivering shoulders. Nathaniel sat beside him trying desperately to comfort the younger boy.

Inside the small room, Chloe was on life support. The amount of voltage that hit her system had stressed her heart forcing it to shut down and consequently kill her. The doctors were doing their best to revive her and she’d come around briefly only to fade again. Still, there was hope the doctors assured.

Downstairs, Piper was working with a team of doctors trying to repair Bianca’s mangled form. The metal prosthetics had been torn and demolished leaving carnage in their wake. No one knew the repercussions of such injuries, and Alex feared they would be permanent.

Two beds over from where James rested was Thalia still sedated from surgery. Bloody bandages lay in thick layers over her chest where Kubu’s claws had torn her open. The damage had been severe but the surgeons had done their best to play damage control. The tell tale signs would be the healing process.

Surrounding her bed though, was a supportive family. There was Thor, Loki, Siyanda, Sif, Valkyrie, Enzo, and Sage who bounced back and forth between her cousin and Bianca.

Meanwhile, Bucky paced the hallways in anxious silence unable to find rest for his body or mind. Steve would leave his son’s side on occasion to offer words of comfort to his age old friend, but words only did so much.

Fox sat in an interrogation room with Harper across from her. It felt wrong to question her after all that had happened, but the truth needed to be known. They needed to understand the extent of what went on amongst Killian’s ranks.

Maria stood on the other side of the one way glass watching with a heavy heart.

Not more than three doors down the hall, Drew was floating in a clear glass tank. An oxygen mask ensured her safety while numerous wires monitored her vitals. Screens indicated brain activity and neural images as Tony tried with Stephen to undo the programming.

Orion could only imagine what it was like for Stephen working on a project while his daughter was dying close by. When he asked, when he insisted that Stephen leave, the man refused. It was best for him to focus on something trivial than to dwell on the fluctuating state of his daughter. He couldn’t handle the thought of it for longer than a handful of seconds.

So Orion waited anxiously for a sign of success because he knew that if these two men couldn’t help Drew -no one could. And all he wanted was for her to be happy. For Drax to smile and embrace something he’d once lost. For Drew to have a proper family again. But it seemed impossibly far away. He was starting to doubt happy endings.

And he wasn’t the only one. Max stepped into the building knowing full well what would happen, but still they knelt in surrender and let the agents cuff them. The guilt had worn away any resolve or faith they’d had in Killian.

No matter who was right or wrong, good guy or bad guy, Max had betrayed the moral code they’d once upheld. To be a good person. That’s all Max wanted to be and it had slipped away just like that.

With a rough tug Max was pulled upwards and guided through the halls to a waiting cell. It was small and clean but Max was certain they didn’t even deserve that much. Not after what they’d done.

Swallowing tightly, Max sat on the cot watching as the agents closed the door. Never once in all of the years they’d been alive did it occur to them that they’d be sitting in a cell. Somehow, that made it even crueler. Max was farther from the person they’d wanted to be than ever before. Hockey games seemed like some distorted past now. A past unlikely to become a future.

— — —

“How is it going?” Fury asked, resting a careful hand upon Maria’s shoulder.

At first she gave no reply, but then she remembered who was beside her, “Well. She’s a good agent you know.”

“So I’ve heard,” Fury nodded, retracting his hand. “Top scores in her class, quick witted, intelligent, street smart, and young.”

“You should have seen her,” Maria shook her head, “the way she handled everything. The other agents would have just shot Harper. “

“From the way people describe this girl, she reminds me of someone I know,” Fury smiled thinly.

Silence strung out between the two for some time until Maira broke the silence, “What are we doing to these kids, Nick?”

“The best we can,” Fury sighed, running a hand down his face, “because that’s more than the world offers them.”

“Yeah,” Maria nodded, feeling her throat tighten. She’d watched each of the kids grow up from the moment they were first born to their first steps to their first days of school. Even those who’d recently become members of the family had grown on her. “You get some rest Nick, this is gonna take a while.”

“I guess I should prep for the fallout of this,” He chuckled. Maria gave a tiny smile and let her colleague go. The door eased shut with a soft sigh.

Maria stood there in silence for hours watching the two girls exchange words and the more she watched the more her mind wandered and the more an idea blossomed into something of fruition.

— — —

When the interrogation had ended the building was still and quiet except for Fox and Harper. Silence seemed to be their friend as the two studied one another with tired eyes. At last, Fox drew something from her pocket: a folded piece of paper. She slid it silently across the table for Harper to read.

“Your family can stay there. I was told it’s being remodeled. No expenses need to be paid. It’s not much money and I own my parent’s bar so I make enough to pay the bills. I’m currently setting something up so you can pay for your brother and sister’s funeral service,” Fox explained. “And before you refuse, don’t. My pride always kept me from accepting help. It didn’t do me any good. Don’t make my mistake.”

“Thank you,” Harper sniffled, folding the paper with care and setting it aside. “It’s...it’s strange feeling like I finally have a friend in this big world. I didn’t know I was so...”

“Lonely?” Fox smiled thinly, “that’s the funny thing about it. You spend so much time convincing yourself you’re not lonely, that loneliness becomes your only companion.”

“Can...can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Fox nodded.

“You said someone helped you once. Who was it?” Harper asked.

“Someone you’ve met,” Fox laughed lightly, “and he’s currently in the hospital believe it or not.”

“Then why’re you wasting time here?” Harper’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Because he’s not going anywhere. If there’s one thing I know about him-he’s a pain in the ass and stubborn as hell. He’ll fight death before he leaves this shithole planet behind,” Fox grinned earning a laugh from Harper in return. “Anyways, it’s late. Maria will get you set up in a spare room. If you need anything let me know.”

“I will,” Harper promised, standing slowly and following Fox from the room.

Once she was certain Harper had been taken care of, Fox wandered quietly down the hallway to the medical wing. The lights were on low and only one person remained in the room. Arthur was fast asleep curled awkwardly in a chair.

Letting the boy be, she made her way to sit beside James’ cot. His arm was in a sling with bandages surrounding the shoulder in neat fashion.

“Hey,” James greeted, opening his eyes slowly, “it’s late.”

“It is, and yet you’re awake.”

“I’ve been on drugs. I’ve slept most of the day,” James grinned clearly still on some drugs from the wonky slant of his lips. “It’s also hard to stay awake when your Mom keeps running a hand through your hair.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Fox shrugged. “Usually I just had hair pulling so I’d do chores.”

“Really? Well it’s like this,” James ran a hand through his own hair and then-still with his good arm-did the gesture to Fox. “See? Soothing.”

“I think you gave me a bald spot.”

“Ha Ha.” James rolled his eyes whilst smiling.

“You’re really loopy aren’t you?”

“Sure am!” James laughed.

“Do these sort of drugs have the same effect on your sister?” Fox asked.

“Nah, she’s all super soldiery so it’s not as bad,” James assured. “Anyways, I heard what you did.”

“Really?” Fox couldn’t keep her surprise in check.

“My sister has a habit of bragging so once I came around she spilled all of the beans. Barbecue beans, pinto beans, re-fried beans, and black beans. All on the floor.” James looked down at the tiles as if the ‘beans’ were still present.

“You’re hungry aren’t you?”

“Sure am.”

“I can get you something-“

“No. Shush!” James placed a lazy finger to Fox’s lips which she half wanted to bite and half wanted to brush aside. She went with the less violent option. “I think you did something really cool. I’m proud. Harper’s gonna come out of this okay cause of you. Be proud of that.”

“Uh, thanks.” Fox nodded. “Means a lot.”

“No problem,” James waved his hand slowly through the air as if brushing aside the reply.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you something,” Fox sighed, clasping her hands together as if she were praying.

“Go for it,” James encouraged.

“Do you maybe...uh, want to go out sometime? Like, to the movies- or something exciting if you want. It doesn’t matter to me,” Fox shrugged casually but she was holding her breath while waiting for a reply.

“Yeah. That sounds cool. I haven’t gotten to hang out in ages and be normal. Totally a date. But I get all of the popcorn. It’s my favorite,” James smiled once more like the Cheshire Cat.

“Sure thing,” Fox laughed. “I gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

“Yep,” James yawned going from spastic to tired in a matter of seconds.

“That boy,” Fox breathed on her way out of the medical wing, “is a piece of work.”

[littlemissnack]

The Next Generation Part 3 Chapter 10

The story of Albus Potter, Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, and the countless adventure’s they get into in there years at Hogwarts.

To start reading from the beginning click here: http://littlemissnack.tumblr.com/tagged/fanfiction

Here is the fanfiction link if you would prefer to read it on there: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9303697/1/The-Next-Generation 

And AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/807773 Or if you prefer to read it on here, here you go:

And Movellas: https://www.movellas.com/story/201309292252551812-the-next-generation

After Sienna’s revelation the gang had began exploring the edges of the forbidden forest in hopes of find Morana. After Albus reminded everybody about the man that had attacked him for his ‘mistress’ it became clear to the group that they were servants of Morana. Rose devised a careful schedule that allowed for Albus and Thalia to spend as much time as possible on the journal and her, Scorpius & Sienna to patrol the edges of the forest in case there were any more trespassers. Rose had everybody’s day scheduled down to the minute in order to allow time for examining the journal, patrolling the borders of the grounds, classes, homework, food (with the unfortunate sacrifice of certain meals a day) and a few hours of sleep a night. At first Albus thought this to be completely over the top but when he found himself barely awake in his 3pm potions class with no clue whether he had a free period for journal study in the common room, quidditch practice or his allotted eating time he found himself thankful for Rose’s colour coded schedule.  

As the looming celebrations got closer and closer Albus became more and more thankful for the welcome distraction from thinking about, what felt to Albus, a glorified press conference with his parents Infront of the entire school. Rose on the other hand had gone into full planning mode, preparing her outfit, preparation interview questions for when the paparazzi inevitably hounded her and various poses and outfits to be photographed in on top of all her other commitments. Rose often prided herself in her time management skills and wonders how she’d cope with being the daughter of the minister of magic without it. Scorpius wasn’t worried about the upcoming events however, as he had already planned his escape to the room of requirement as soon as the inevitable questions about his death eater father came. at least he didn’t have to worry about his father being there like Albus did, it was clear his father wasn’t welcome here.

With Albus and Thalia completely preoccupied with journal deciphering in their free time and Rose in full on preparation mode without a moment to spare, Scorpius found himself left with Sienna often. Scorpius held nothing against Sienna, but he hadn’t spent an awful lot of time with Sienna, of course they’d had their group meetings together, but she was mostly focused on Albus during this time and they hadn’t really been alone a lot. But now with Rose’s scheduling system it meant that Scorpius, Sienna and Rose rotated patrol in pairs, so Scorpius had many hours now patrolling with just Sienna, which Scorpius found were the quietest times. When he patrolled with Rose she almost couldn’t seem to shut up, discussing theories as well as their upcoming homework and exams came naturally with Rose, it was easy for Scorpius to talk to her. But Sienna and he had little to talk about, every now and again one of them would attempt small talk but it never got far, that is until the particularly hot summers day the day before the celebration when Scorpius and Sienna were patrolling in between there care of magical creatures and Ancient Runes exams. As they were approaching the boating house Sienna unexpectedly turned to him in another attempt to make small talk and asked,

“Excited for tomorrow?” Scorpius could see it was just another attempt to make their patrol more exciting but as with all their attempts at conversation, they had little to talk about.

“I’m not going, I’ll make a quick appearance, watch Albus’ Dads’ speech then I’ll head up to the room of requirement for the rest.” Sienna’s eyes narrowed slightly in confusion as they sat down on the boat house steps as Rose instructed them to do while patrolling the perimeter.

“Why? Everyone’s talking about how epic it’s going to be. There’s supposed to the grandest feast hogwarts has ever seen, and I saw Harlow setting up the quidditch pitch earlier so you know there’s going to be some kind of contest, and Penny swears she overheard Longbottom and Hart discussing a fireworks display…” Sienna rambled to try to fill the silence but was quietened by Scorpius’ response.

“And a bunch of press. Forget the feast, the only thing we know for certain that will be there are press. I don’t really feel like getting a camera shoved in my face and being asked if I’m a death eater, or if my father approves of my Gryffindor lifestyle, or where my mother is” Sienna was quieted for a moment before smiling slightly and asking.

“Don’t know why they’d bother asking you that when your scandalous love affairs are far more interesting! Who wants to read about politics and death eaters when you could read about a torrid affair between you and Rose and Albus!” Scorpius snorted as he laughed with her for the first time in what felt like a long time.

“Me, Rose and Albus!?”

“Oh, come on! You know that slimy Rita Skeeter been all over you, Rose and Albus’ friendship since you all started Hogwarts, it’s only a matter of time before she starts reporting about how your breaking Rose’s heart with your romantic rendezvous’ with Albus!” Sienna held her arms out as if she were imagining a newspaper title “I can see it now ‘Malfoy caught with Potter in a secret shameful love affair breaking Weasley’s heart!’” Scorpius was laughing down to his core now, desperately trying to catch him breath as he and Sienna were nearly doubled over in stitches.

“Oi you’d better watch it tomorrow, if you get caught with Albus you’ll be the Slytherin temptress ruining his heroic Destiny” Scorpius countered making Sienna almost choke with laughter. As the continued to imagine various newspaper headline and the imaginary stories the press would run with them it was 17 minutes after there expected leave time from there post that Sienna and Scorpius finally calmed down and realised how late they were. As they began walking along the lake Sienna turned to Scorpius to ask,

“You can’t let the rubbish they write effect you. None of what they write matters. You’re a good person and you’ve got friends that have your back and that’s all that matters, not the way a bunch of idiots who hang onto the Daily Prophet’s every word sees you as. You should come tomorrow, have fun.” Scorpius was thrown by Sienna’s profound insight and was once again reminded of how much of a mystery she was to him.

“Thanks. But It’s not so much the fact that the press will be there but the fact that it’s just another reminder of who’s not.” Scorpius looked down at his feet as he tried to regain his composure.

“Look I know what it’s like to get constantly reminded of what you don’t have, believe me I get it. But at some point you have to stop focusing on the fact that you don’t have a mum and focus on the fact that you’ve got us, stop fixating how you don’t have a dad and remember that you have Teddy and the Weasley. You could spend your entire life feeling jealous of what you don’t have but you’ll never be able to appreciate everything you do. At some point parents stop mattering as much as having a support system around you to call family. Couse we’re each other’s family now, you, me Rose, Albus & Thalia were a family, we’ve got each other’s backs. So yeah, your parents aren’t there but who needs them!? Your family will be there with you.” Scorpius studied Sienna’s firm expression and it became clear that this talk wasn’t just for him.

“Are your parents not coming either?” Scorpius tentatively asked, he knew how well prying into Sienna’s private life usually went.

“Don’t have any. Care home kid.” She responded he pace quickening, so she was slightly ahead of him.

“Oh…. I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

“Don’t be sorry, can’t miss what you never had.”

“But you can miss the idea of it. The idea of that perfect family life you always imagined having, parents to come home too in their little cosy house, you can miss the idea of a family without ever actually having one.” Scorpius thought about all the times he’d imagined what it would be like to live in a simple little cottage with his parents tucking him in and reading him stories and healing scraped knees. The memory of all those nights spent wondering still stung Scorpius today. Sienna’s face softened as she allowed Scorpius to catch up with her and Scorpius wondered if she too and stayed up at night imagining what a real family might feel like.

“Yeah not having parents sucks. Especially on days like tomorrow when you look around at everyone with the perfect happy little families and wonder why you don’t get to have that. And as much as I like Albus seeing the way he complains about his parents just makes me want to rip his head off…”

“It’s like he doesn’t even realise how lucky he is! He has a mum and a dad that just want to love and care for him and he doesn’t even appreciate it!” Scorpius interrupted finishing Sienna’s thought.

“Exactly! I can’t even listen when he’s in his whiny complain about his dad mode! Like he expects us to feel sorry for him because his dad loves him too much!” Sienna rolled her eyes.

“I thought you liked Albus?” Scorpius dared to be brave now that Sienna’s guard was lowering to try and figure out more about what was going on with Sienna and Albus.

“I do.” Sienna saw the analysis on Scorpius’ face and raised her eyebrow in defiance. “Just because he’s cute doesn’t mean I can’t also find him annoying, I thought you and freckles would understand that blondie!” Sienna smirked.

“Rose… no… we’re not... I mean...” Scorpius looked over at Sienna’s smug face and realised how pointless denial would be at this point. “Rose doesn’t think of me like that.” Scorpius sighed in defeat.

“Rose doesn’t think of anybody like that right now. She’s so wrapped up in organising and scheduling and schoolwork to see anything else. Doesn’t mean she doesn’t have feelings though.” Scorpius tried to hide the optimism in his face, but he judged by Sienna’s smirk that he hadn’t done a great job.

“So, if you think Albus is so cute why haven’t you made your move yet?” Scorpius countered to try to let the blush in his face go down.

“Same reason you’re not making your move on freckles. He’s too busy with that stupid journal and Thalia to take a second look at me right now.” Sienna noticed the look of silent judgement on Scorpius’ face and her eyebrows knitted together in frustration. “What!?”

“Oh, come on! That’s such a load of rubbish!” Sienna opened her mouth to protest but Scorpius cut her off before she could even continue.

“If you’re so wise about MY love life, you tell me mister know it all why haven’t I told him yet?” Scorpius studied her face for a moment, challenge and defiance written all over it.

“You’re scared. You’re scared he might turn you down. You’re scared of letting someone in, only to have your heart shattered. You’re not holding back because he’s so busy, you’re holding back because he’s been so busy with Thalia. Your worried that you might tell him how you feel only to have him reject you for Thalia. You can act as tough as you want but your just as scared of rejection as the rest of us!” Sienna was stunned into silence for half a moment before taking a deep breath and raising his hand ready to object but as Scorpius looked at her with his eyebrow raised in challenge, Sienna realised it was pointless, after all the stuff she’d already said to Scorpius today what was one more secret. So, against her better judgement Sienna sighed as her body deflated. No words seemed to be able to leave her mouth as Scorpius met her eyes and all the was able to do was shrug.

“it’s okay to let yourself be open with him. You may get your heart broken, you may not, but the important thing is you tried. You gave it a shot which means you won’t spend your life wondering what could have happened. It’s okay to let yourself be vulnerable every now and again.  You don’t have to keep this guard up.” Scorpius placed his hand on her shoulder as he sat next to her against the quidditch pitch which was there next designated post on patrol. Scorpius thought Sienna might cry he’d never seen her show this much emotion. Sienna seemed incapable of words as she feared the second, she opened her mouth her body might betray her, and the tears may fall instead.

“I mean if you never give it a shot, you’ll never get to be the slytherin temptress pulling him away from his torrid love affair with me! What will the papers write about then!” Sienna couldn’t help but laugh as a few tears escaped down her cheeks and she quickly brushed them away.

“You’re such a hypocrite Blondie! You’re telling me what to do when your too cowardly to tell Freckles you dream about her every night!” Sienna rolled her eyes trying her best to deflect from the heavy stuff Scorpius had said that was still sitting in her chest.

“Hey! That makes me sound like a lovesick puppy… I’m not that desperate…” Sienna raised a knowing eyebrow, Scorpius started to protest before letting out a big groan. “I’m pretty pathetic, aren’t I?”

“Pretty pathetic? You’re a mess!” Sienna and Scorpius laughed.

“She’s just so driven, especially with everything going on lately… I just don’t want it to get in the way for her…” Sienna rolled her eyes in disbelieve

“Dude! You gotta toughen up! Rose Weasley is a headstrong badass, that girl will eat you alive if you don’t Gryffindor up! Freckles needs someone who can’t be bossed around by her. She needs someone to bring her back when she goes to far and push her when she starts to doubt herself, if your gunna stop pining after her and start being with her your gunna have to be brave enough to stop letting her tell you what to do all the time! If I recall in first year you didn’t take any of her bossy stuff, what happened to that?” Scorpius thought back to first year for a moment, how frustratingly stubborn Rose had been and how he’d stuck his ground against it. It was different then; she wasn’t like she was now… or maybe he wasn’t. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something had changed.

“It was different back then…”

“Look do you want to be Rose Weasley’s boyfriend?”

“Yes” Scorpius reluctantly admitted

“Then you need to stop letting her treat you like your little pet and make her realise you’re here and a viable option. And that starts with telling her how you feel, even if she’s too busy to hear it. Put yourself out there.” Scorpius realised she was right as he thought back to the many times he’d put her first without even thinking of his own feelings, now was the one time he needed to think about himself and stop thinking about whether it inconvenienced Rose and tell her how he felt.

“I will if you will.” Scorpius challenged. Sienna read his face for a moment realising how serious he was.

“Okay fine. By the end of the summer, I’ll tell Albus if you tell Rose.”

“Deal.” Scorpius and Sienna shook hands and for the first time Scorpius wondered how he and Sienna had avoided properly talking up until now. She felt like the first person to really be able to understand what he was going through; he felt a kinship with Sienna he hadn’t felt with anybody else. Maybe this was what it felt like to have a sister, someone to always have your back even when she’d constantly annoying you.

“Come on Blondie, if we waste anymore time Freckles is going to have us hung, drawn and quartered by the school gates!”

“I don’t get it! Why do you keep calling me Blondie, your blonde too!” Scorpius finally spoke up about the question that had been bugging him since he met her. Sienna laughed as he leant up to put her arm around his shoulder and rustle his hair.

“I have my reasons, not that you’ll ever find them out, Blondie.”

   The next morning the Hogwarts ground became entirely unrecognizable almost over night. Banners, streamers & balloons had filled the grounds, the quidditch pitch had been transformed into a competition and entertainment ground with a duelling ground on the one side, a wizard on a pedestal doing various transfiguration tricks to an impressed group of children, a flying display from the English national quidditch team and various other attractions, mainly designed to keep the large number of young children and teenagers occupied. Between the pitch and the castle a multitude of tables of covered in every food and drink known to man had been prepared,  thousands of blanket and sun blocking umbrellas had been set out next to it for families to sit and eat the prepared food in a picnic style. At the base grounds of the castle a podium had been set up ready for the number of speakers the ministry had managed to procure, highlights included the opening speech by Minister for magic herself, Hermione Granger, a message on the importance of preserving Hogwarts by former headmistress Minerva McGonagall and a most anticipated inspirational speech from the man himself, Harry Potter. A number of benches had been set up between Hagrid’s hut and the Herbology green houses to view the speeches, Headmaster Harlow had tried to place some under the Whomping willow but the tree had simply swatted them away until they simply gave up trying and moved the benches just out of the trees reach. Many local businesses had set up stalls for people to sample and buy their products in the designated stall area by the lake reaching around to the boating house. By far the most exciting though was the huge preparation area along the right-side of the lake where a multitude of fireworks were being set up for what was sure to be a fantastic closing display.

               As Albus watched the mass crowds began to seep through the mass security set up at the gates. He knew he wouldn’t be catching a glimpse of his father among the crowd, oh no. His father would already be in headmaster’s office. Both his Father and Rose’s Mother were far to important to be let in with the rest of the crowds, they’d likely be preparing their speech in there already. Albus was thankful when all the other boys in his dorm room had began to filter out so he could enjoy at least a few moments peace before he had to meet his father and play perfect son again. As Albus buttoned up his smartest maroon shirt and dark blue jeans he couldn’t help but wonder how it felt to just have a normal family. Not to have a hundred photos taken of him or every watching and listen to him as he spoke to his dad. But just to be able to simply be with his dad like any other normal kid. But he wasn’t any normal kid and his dad wasn’t a normal dad, he was a Potter. He learnt long ago that came with sacrifices when it came to the press. As Albus did up his shoelaces Rose stuck her head through the door.

“Are you still not ready! Professor Harlow was very clear that we were to be in his office at EXACTLY 9am! Come on!” Albus quickly finished his shoelaces and examined his hair in the mirror, desperately trying to get it to lie flat, if it lay flat maybe he’d look a little bit less like him… but just his luck even his hair failed him. Eventually he gave up and turned to follow Rose who Albus couldn’t help but noticed looked perfect for the occasion. Rose’s hair looked neater than he’d ever seen it Albus wondered how long it had taken her to get it to fall flat in the twisted bun behind her head. Albus hadn’t seen Rose in makeup before at least not that he’d ever noticed. Her eyes had a hint of blue eye shadow behind and her peach lip gloss was undeniable. Albus hadn’t been aware till now that Rose even had her ears pierced but the blue studs in her ears looked lovely next to her sapphire sun dress. As he came closer, he noticed she seemed taller, almost the same size of him now and he realised she was wearing heels. He hadn’t seen Rose in formal wear before, he was used to her jumpers and tights he supposed he shouldn’t have been that surprised but she looked so comfortable in her formal wear that Albus was painfully reminded of how much more she fit into this famous parent world than he did. Everything about Rose exuded the daughter of the minister of magic whereas nothing about Albus screamed son of a famous hero. As he and Rose met up with their siblings and headed towards the office a looming sense of dread filled into Albus’ gut. As they opened the doors Albus was first greeted by his mother in her tight green dress who gave him a hug. Albus found his mother was a lot easier to deal with than his father most of the time, but events like this often reminded Albus that his mother was also a famous quidditch player as well as a war hero, meaning she was just another person for Albus to let down. As his mother straightened his brother’s shirt and brushed off his sister’s skirt, she talked the three of them through various things the press might ask them and what to say and what not say. Albus tried to focus but all Albus could focus on was the mounting tension filling in his gut. In a few moments he’d step out there and thousands of pictures would be taken all day of him and his parents and if he didn’t do everything just right they’d all be discussing how he was the disappointment of the family again, no matter what his mother was telling him Albus knew there was only one rule today, don’t be himself. No one wanted him today they wanted the perfect little image they’d created of Harry Potter’s son and he needed to be that, or he’d disappoint everyone. The all too familiar buzzing filled Albus’ ears as his thoughts flooded with all the things he had to do and say to make sure everything he did was what they all wanted. Suddenly Albus was brought out of his spiralling thoughts by his fathers’ hand on his shoulder.

“You doing okay bud?” Harry looked down at his youngest son. Albus gently nodded. “Should be a fun day all in all.” His father stared out of the window listening to the gathering masses outside.

Albus couldn’t help but think about how easy it was for his father to go out there and make all the public appearances and still have fun doing it. Albus couldn’t enjoy a day filled with worrying about what everyone else was going to think about him or print about him, how could he do it all so easily? The speeches, the press, being that heroic person, they all wanted to see. Of course, it was easy for him Albus thought, he’s not pretending like I am, that’s just who he is, none of this is me.

“Is Uncle Charlie coming today dad?” Lily asked as she came up next to Albus. Harry was brought away from his thoughts and looked down at his daughter with a smile.

“Of course! He’s the one in charge of the dragon they’ve got opposite the greenhouses.” Lily’s face immediately lit up and Harry chucked as he watched his daughter’s immediate excitement.

“Look guys, if nothing else please just remember this, just be on your best behaviour and remember your representing not just yourself but all of us today… that means you James! I don’t want to deal with another junior marauders prank today, especially not Infront of all this press!” Ginny’s strict expression turned towards her eldest child who smiled wickedly at her.

“Wouldn’t dream of it mum!” James laughed at Ginny’s narrowed eyes.

Albus once again wondered how the thought of representing the ultimate war hero didn’t absolutely terrify his siblings the way it made him almost want to vomit. He noticed Rose and Hugo talking with there mother on the other side of the room and wondered if they were getting a similar speech or if aunt Hermione and uncle Ron just knew that Rose and Hugo would be perfect representations of them.

“It’s time” Professor Harlow gently tapped Aunt Hermione’s shoulder and Albus took a deep breath knowing what that meant… time for the charade to begin.

  Thalia was excitedly showing her parents and little sister Violet around the school, and with Albus and Rose preoccupied with their parents, Scorpius had no choice but the find a bench and sit alone waiting for the opening speech, that was until Sienna sat down next to him.

“This seat taken?” Scorpius gestured for her to sit down and smiled over, realising that she wasn’t just making sure he wasn’t alone, she was making sure she wasn’t alone either. Scorpius’ smile faulted as he caught sight of a figure behind her in a smart coat, a coat Scorpius recognised, as the stranger turned to face him Scorpius was left to wonder, why on earth his father was here.

  As Thalia sat Violet on her knee while the minister gave her speech on the importance of coming together as a community. she was reminded of how amazing magic had felt to her at 6 years old too, the wonder in Violets eyes reminded her of the first time she’d seen hogwarts.

“Balloon!” Violet shouted in excitement as she caught sight of a bunch of green, red, yellow and blue balloons meant to represent all the hogwarts houses. As Thalia watched her almost jump out of her arms pointing at the balloons she smiled.

“Go on then, go get one” She resigned herself much to her 6-year-old sister’s joy. Thalia placed her onto the ground and watched her run off to man nearly handing out the balloons to the children. Thalia glanced up to see Rose solemnly stood by her mothers’ side and was realised how well Rose fit into the role of minister’s daughter, her put together demeaner made her perfect for the role. Thalia made a mental note to remember to introduce her parents to Rose, it would be nice for them to see she had some friends here.

Thalia glanced back over to see if Violet had selected her balloon yet and her heart skipped a beat as she realised, she couldn’t see her anymore.

 After her mother’s speech Rose had taken multiple photos for the press and answered some of there questions, after which she had some time to enjoy the day. She, Hugo and their parents had enjoyed a lovely lunch on one of the picnic blankets before entering the stadium, formerly the quidditch pitch. Rose knew how anxious these public events made her younger brother, so she resolved to keep him close to allow her to step in if needs be with any pushy photographer or rude interviewer. As Rose was taking note of the fantastic quidditch display and remarking to her father how much more remarkable it would be if they’d got the Chuddley canons, her and her fathers’ favourite team. Rose felt her arm being tugged away. She looked up to find a particularly star eyed woman who’d just snapped a photo of her.

“Rose! What’s your opinion on your mothers new law allowing the recognition of centaur land rights?” As Rose gave her standard rehearsed answer, she got hounded with more an more questions, each one she tried to answer with the same composure, she’d practiced this after all Rose noticed her family had moved on and quickly excused herself. It wasn’t long before she found her fathers familiar orange hair and re-joined them. Only to notice one significant member missing, her brother Hugo.

  “What are you doing here!” Scorpius hissed, after the speech he’d excused himself from Sienna and made his way over to the bench his father was sitting on alone. He had managed to gain significant attention; it was hard for Scorpius not to hear the whispering as people stared at them.

“There are no restrictions on who can attend this event, and as a father of a pupil at the school I felt it my place to…” Draco failed to meet the desperation in his sons’ eyes willing him to be anywhere else.

“It’s NOT your place!” Scorpius tried not to raise his voice so as not to attract anymore onlookers.

“Scorpius, you don’t talk to me like that!” The all too familiar firmness filled Draco’s voice mixed with a hint of surprise at having his son speak back to him.

“I will speak to you however I want. Go home father. This is a celebration, a day of remembrance and joy and your presence here is unwelcome” Draco looked down his nose at Scorpius meeting his eyes for the first time.

“You haven’t been home…” Draco began changing the subject Scorpius quickly cut him off.

“I’m staying with extended family. Now why are you here.” Scorpius met his father’s eyes with a fierce defiance his father didn’t recognise in him. There was a hint of pride in his face that filled Scorpius with hatred.

“I’m just as entitled to be here as anyone else. Are you going to join me in seeing the activities of the day?” Scorpius’ body filled with disgust; this was a press opportunity for him. A chance to parade his son around to show their family paying their respects and making amends, except he didn’t mean any of it.

“No. This may just be a chance to be seen for you, but it actually means something to those people who fought in the battle, lost people… how could you use that as a publicity scheme!”

“I…” Scorpius cut him off by walking away. It made him sick to his stomach to stay there a moment longer, he looked out to try to find Sienna but found she’d left her seat at there previous bench and saw trace of her.

  As lunch time began to approach Albus mentally congratulated himself for making it through half the day without breaking. He’d smiled for all the photos, answered all the questions and withstood all the stares. But as he stood in the transfiguration yard with his father and brother listening to his father rehearse his speech Albus knew his real challenge would be in the next few minutes. Getting through his dads’ speech without breaking would easily be his hardest task, luckily, he was saved from his downwards thoughts by his mother’s abrupt entrance to the courtyard that had stopped his father in his tracks.

“Any sign of her?” Harry asked Ginny, fiddling with his cue cards out of habit.

“Nothing! Last I saw her she went to see Charlie and the dragon, but Charlie said she wandered off, I can’t seem to find her. We’ll just have to do it without her!” Ginny sighed. Lily’s frequent wondering trips had often been a point of annoyance with his parents.

“Oh, Merlin it’ll look awful if it’s just the boys, I can see the headlines now, they’ll say we’re neglecting her!” Harry argued, Ginny sympathetically met her eyes.

“You’re on in 2 minutes there’s not a lot we can do. Hopefully she’ll turn up, but you know what Lily’s like! What else can we do?” Albus’ wondered what adventure his sister was having this time and as his parents discussed their options Albus’ couldn’t help himself but wonder towards the window and glance out at the crowd. Wondering where his sister had disappeared off too this time.

[jflashandclash]

Tales from Mount Othrys

Luke: Uncomfortable Beginnings IV

 “Did you kill them? Who are you and what are you trying to recruit me for? Us for,” Fēi Lín asked.

Luke knew he didn’t need to hide the answers to those questions, but his mind still raced. What if she asked about something else? Something about Kronos that he wasn’t willing to share?

         “I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t even heard of Jackie boy before today. Again, embarrassing considering that someone must have written about his healing, even if a wack journalist,” Phil said, putting his hands up in a surrender position. Either that or showing off the ligaments that he might be about to lose. “Though, if he only sings in choir or hospitals, they could have attributed it to God or doctors.”

         “Same,” Luke said, his mouth working before he could plan the words. “About not knowing Jack or his family. I don’t read wack journals. We’re recruiting you to help destroy the Olympic gods because I’m mad at my dad.”

         Hatred burned in Luke’s chest. He did not like disclosing that last part so casually to strangers. That made it sound so simple; it undermined what he wanted to do to the Olympians and the pain he went through. What Thalia had suffered.  

         “Smooth, kid,” Phil said.

         Fēi Lín tapped the driver wheel, glaring at the satyr. “And you? Why do you want to recruit me?”

         “Hey, I’m good at my job, lady, and I’m proud of dredging through your records. People that get in your way, they do things that they wouldn’t normally do to hurt themselves. Recruiting you will put a shiny spot on my record and I’ll get all the fuzzy feels about helping a kid, since I feel like you’ll do way better at Camp Othrys than Camp Half-Blood. And as to why I’m doing this job—do you think all satyrs like being Dionysus’ slaves?” Phil spat out the window. “I don’t even care if we win the coming war and I don’t really care about our boss. I just wanna be a thorn in that bastard’s toe.”

         Luke made a mental note about how Phil didn’t care if they won. That could be detrimental later.

         Fēi Lín tapped her steering wheel again. “Everybody out,” she said.

         Luke jumped out of the car. Phil was half a second behind him. Luke bit his lip. He wasn’t entirely sure if she’d forced him out of the car or if he’d hopped out on instinct.

         Jack slowly slid out of his seat, hugging himself.

         “Where are we?” Luke finally asked.

         “Somewhere you will act respectfully and ask a minimal number of questions,” Fēi Lín said. She jumped out of the car and flicked her keys around one finger, leading them towards a side door that looked more like an entrance to a scene from Scream.

         In a small town like this, Luke had an uncomfortable feeling that this girl would know exactly where to hide their bodies.

         “The Dǒng residence,” Phil said, “Kid, I know you’re dyslexic and all, but, uh, you can read the files that I slaved over making you, right? They’re in Greek.”

         Luke scowled. With the Kronos dreams at night, directing Cabin Eleven during the day, and then sneaking out during his off hours to set up Camp Othrys and gather an army, he thought he deserved some slack. He couldn’t exactly read files on potential campers at the pavilion with all the tiny Hermes hands hoping for some blackmail on each other. “You could also tell me about them on the way over here,” Luke spat back.

         Fēi Lín led them through the door and down a hallway that’s carpet might have been cleaner if it came from a dumpster. Lights flickered and water stains seeped down the once-white walls. Each door was a faded color, perhaps originally bright greens and reds. There was a piece of trash here and there and, to Luke’s disgust, a used condom.

         This really did look like somewhere she would strap them into a chair and start a very different kind of interrogation.

         She stopped at a bend in the hallway, in front of the single freshly painted red door.

         Jack perked up and rushed to stand beside her.

         Once Fēi Lín finished unlocking the door, Jack reached for the handle.

         She paused and examined him. Her stern expression broke. “Jack…” she said in the best we talked about this voice.

         Jack gave her the world’s weakest smile. He cleared his throat and his tears. “After you, Ms. Davidson,” he said, his voice shaking as he opened the door for her and gestured the three of them inside.

         Fēi Lín’s discolored cheeks lit up. It took Luke a moment to process that she was blushing and to realize Jack and Fēi Lín might not just be friends, or, at least Jack wanted them to be more.

         Fēi Lín briskly entered.

         Luke swallowed, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t walking into some kind of trap. Not that she needed to trap him considering what she did to the cops.

         He could hear running water and music. The room was brightly lit, nothing like the terror he’d been expecting from the earlier hallway.

         Jack continued to hold the door and motioned them forward, that shaky smile probably the least encouraging thing Luke had seen.

         Phil walked in without hesitation. Luke followed and also made a mental note to talk to Phil about his willingness to walk into situations that had “death” written all over them.

         “Shoes off,” Fēi Lín said, already setting hers onto a floor matt beside the door. She slipped on some smiling bunny slippers. Not what Luke was expecting. “Zài jiā! Zǎo shang hǎo, Nǎinai,” she said, louder. “Jack hé wǒ de liǎng gè péngyǒu yě zài zhèlǐ.”[1]

         Phil frowned down at his hooves. He’d already kicked off his boots when he assaulted the cops. “Anyone got some plastic wrap that I can slap over these suckers?”

         Fēi Lín shot him a glare.

         Jack took off his neon orange converses and slipped on a pair of dragon slippers that must have been there for him. Luke followed Jack and Fēi Lín’s lead and put his shoes on the floor mat.

         The apartment was small and minimalist. There wasn’t a hint of clutter. On the right, there was a small kitchen with plants hanging and nesting in every open space. The windows beside the counter were open and showed off the apartment building’s modest garden. On the left, there was a table with four chairs and a small box TV that looked like it was from the 80’s.

         A massive framed mirror lined the left wall, reflecting the window’s view. A tiny fountain gurgled beside the doorway.

         There were two closed doorways in front of them, one Luke guessed was a bathroom and the other he assumed was a bedroom. Opera music came from under one of the doors.

         Fēi Lín walked to the door with the music and slipped inside, shutting the door behind her without a word to them.

         Walking into the apartment seemed to calm Jack. He stepped over to the kitchen and set a kettle on the stove. He hesitated, looking at Phil and Luke. “Um, do either of you want anything to drink? Flynn says that Mrs. Davidson, her grandma, doesn’t really like me drinking soda, since it’s bad for my voice, but…” Jack leaned forward a little bit, his weak grin becoming goofy. “I hide some Coke behind the extra trash bags in the cabinet if you’d like one. It’ll be our secret.”

         Phil snorted. “Jeeze kid, the Coca-Cola scandal. How did a goodie church boy like you end up with Ms. Pleather Pants? And coke for the kid. I’ll take a mug if you’re making a pot of tea.”

         Jack’s freckled face went bright red. For a split second, it was like nothing had happened to his family. “I—I don’t know. Flynn can have anyone she wants, and does when it suits her fancy.”

         Luke stomach twisted at the way Jack said it, though the younger guy didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. Something about that felt very wrong. Luke realized it would be dumb to point out how Fēi Lín’s facial scars might limit her partner choices, especially to someone sweet on her.

         One part stuck. “We could have been saying Flynn this whole time?” Luke asked, glaring at Phil.

         Phil shrugged, smirking. “I thought a little enculturation would be good for you.”

         Jack pulled two mugs down from a cabinet and withdrew two Cokes. He brought the Cokes over to the table. He motioned for them to sit down.

         Luke took a Coke from him and collapsed in a chair. Phil sat beside him.

This was proving to be a complicated day. Even though the drink was warm, it felt refreshing after how tense he’d been. Just having a break from Fēi Lín—Flynn?—was nice. How much time had they spent out though? He needed to make sure Mr. D wouldn’t get suspicious. The Stolls, two of his most promising campers, could only cause organized chaos to cover for him for so long.

         At least Jack would talk, even if he did seem a little absent. Luke imagined finding your family dead would do that to you. “So, you and Flynn?” he asked, unsure if they could uncover anything else about Jack’s family and nervous Flynn would storm out the moment he asked where she went.

         Jack’s blush grew redder. “Yea. Her family was new to town. Everyone around here knows each other, so—uh—she was cool. She saved me from a monster attack. She—she’s so awesome.” His eyes turned wistful as he glanced at the closed door.

         The kettle began to whistle. Jack robotically walked back to fill the two mugs. “She told me that I wasn’t broken in the head, that I really could help people. Like…” Jack brought the two mugs over. Again, he conspiratorially leaned closer to Phil and Luke as he set the cups down. “She said her grandmother hadn’t acknowledged anyone since Flynn moved in with her. Sometimes, after I sing for them, Mrs. Davidson will even smile at me.”

         Jack giggled in delight, grinning from ear to ear.

         “Uh—huh,” Phil said, glancing at Luke. “Kid, you can definitely heal people. I guess I’m just wondering… with Flynn’s record, I take it your parents didn’t like you spending time with her or her grandma?”

         It was Luke’s turn to kick Phil’s hoof. This guy had just lost his family. Luke remembered how unstable he was before he found Thalia, when he ran from his mother, and how quick he’d come to tear people down if they criticized Thalia’s clothing after they got close.

         Jack frowned. He sat down beside them, his posture rigid. He stared at his untouched bottle of Coke. “Aston told them the stupid rumors going around the school about her.”

         Phil leaned back. “Is that what you guys argued about last night?”

         Jack fiddled with the bottle. His eyes were so red-rimmed and sunken. “I…. I asked Flynn to prom yesterday, when I was carrying her books to her English class. She gets so mad when I fuss over her.” He cracked a small smile. “But, I like, asked-asked her, not just as a friend.”

Luke took another swig of his Coke. He had to wonder if Thalia would have hit him for asking her to a dance. He suspected she’d secretly be thrilled. He hoped, with everything they planned with Kronos, he’d get to find out one day.

         It sucked that Jack asked Flynn the night before his family died. Ways to bum out an occasion.

“I’d been planning how to ask her for weeks—I mean, I didn’t think she would actually say yes with how stupid she thinks that stuff is and—I mean—I’m just a junior,” Jack continued. His bashfulness died with the next comment. “Mom and Steve already don’t like me going out because of my condition, but the idea of me dating Flynn… especially since they don’t like her telling me I’m not crazy…” Jack’s hand shook as he peeled the label off the bottle. “They’re wrong about her.”

         For a moment, only the fountain gurgled.

         That was a motive for murder, but Luke still didn’t buy it.

         Jack set the bottle down, eyes wide. “B—but you can’t tell her that’s what we argued about. I don’t want her to think—”

         “Jack.”

         Jack’s lips pressed shut and he ducked his head down.

         Flynn stepped out of the room, giving them a critical look. There was a duffle bag over her shoulder. She walked over to Jack and held a hand out to him. “Mr. Sunny?” she asked.

         Jack exhaled in relief. He fumbled around in his pockets and withdrew a—a weekly pill organizer? Luke blinked. They’d named it?

         She snatched it and went to fumble in the cabinets. “This place you want to recruit us to, do they have access to Clozapine, Olanzapine, or Aripiprazole?”

         Phil snorted. “Those aren’t exactly interchangeable, but, yea, I can get them for you.” He scowled.

         Luke’s stomach took a sharper turn as he visualized the inside of his closet, where lights flickered and his mother’s scream tore into his hiding spot. The glow of her green eyes would still perforate through the cracks of the closet door.

         She took pills like that. They didn’t help his mother’s “condition.”

         Extra saliva had built up in Luke’s mouth. He swallowed it away. “Do you… see prophecies? Vision of the future” he asked carefully. He never wanted to be near someone that could do that again.

         Jack blinked, looking confused. “No. I see monsters,” he said.

         “And your parents had you medicated for that?” Phil asked, anger making his voice shake.

          “Well, yea. I see monsters,” Jack said.

         “Di Immortales,” Phil muttered. “This is why kids should never tell their parents anything.”

         Luke’s fingers began to shake around his Coke bottle. This was just like his mother. This is why the gods needed someone to put them in their place. “And your dad just let that happen? Let you think you’d lost your mind and didn’t claim you or send any help?”

         Like Hermes did to Luke and his mother.

When May Castellan did take pills and didn’t have a fit, she was practically brain-dead: lethargic, drooling, and dizzy. Luke tried not to picture Jack like that. He wondered how recently the guy had taken his medication.

         Jack stared at the table, the red-rims around his eyes growing more pronounced. “Steve was the one who drove me to the doctor. He said a boy my age shouldn’t be afraid of silly things like monsters.”

         That must have been his stepdad.

         “That’s not who he means,” Flynn said. She brought Jack’s pill box back over. Her duffle bag rattled with his extra pill bottles. “We can’t go back to Jack’s house and this is the first place the cops will look for him.”

         For the first time since Flynn had opened her mouth to talk that day, Luke felt back in control. He knew how to do this pitch and now he knew, for sure, that he wanted these two at camp. He’d have to talk to Kronos to make sure Flynn couldn’t usurp control, but Luke guessed that Kronos could easily read through her parlor trick. “The cops won’t find Jack or you with us. We’re small right now, but we’re expanding. There’s food and shelter. We’re working to take down the gods so this—” He gestured to Jack. “—doesn’t happen again.”

         Flynn nodded. She glanced around the small apartment. “I’ll need to come back once a week and bring Jack.” She stated it as a nonnegotiatiable fact.  

         Luke wasn’t used to demigods wanting to see their family. He, Annabeth, and Thalia had run away from neglect and abuse. If neither of Flynn nor Jack had run away yet, and Jack was this at-home with Flynn’s Nainai—whatever that was, grandmother?—then she must have been alright. Flynn and Jack would have to worry about private investigators and the cops early on, but he didn’t see why they couldn’t orchestrate their return. “We’ll make it work.”

         Flynn gripped the strap of her duffle bag so tightly, her knuckles turned white. “So, we join your squad to kill our godly parents. Do we need to wear jackets or something that’ll make us targets to monsters?” She glanced down at his bright orange sweatshirt.

         Luke wanted to punch Chiron in the face. “No. We work with monsters that are under a truce. You just need to swear loyalty to Kronos and forsake the Greek gods.”

         Jack’s lip trembled. “Swear loyalty to a false god to work with demons?”

         Luke wanted to laugh. That sounded like a pitch that Thalia would have signed up for in a heartbeat.

         “Technically he’s a Titan.” Phil blew on his tea. “And they don’t really like being called ‘demons.’”

         “If you’re swearing yourself to him, what happens to your soul after you die?” Jack asked.

         Luke opened his mouth. He paused and glanced at Phil.

         “Huh,” Phil said, “I mean, I turn into a daisy no matter how this shit goes down.”

         “You swore fealty to a deity without asking what it would do to your soul?” Flynn asked skeptically.

         “Once we take over, it’ll all be fine,” Luke said, shaking the thought off. He didn’t know why they were so worried. They were talking about vengeance: here and now. Sorting out the Underworld could come once they had disposed of Hades and his crew.

         Jack set his Cola down and hugged himself again. They would definitely need to come back to the whole religion thing later.

         Flynn stared at Luke.

         “Who do you think is my godly parent?” she asked slowly.

         “Oh, with the power in your voice and that physique?” Phil snorted and took a sip of his tea. “Definitely Aphrodite.”

         Jack glared at him.

         Luke had to agree.

On the wall, Luke had been trying not to look at a picture of a fifth grade girl. Although the distortion of features made it hard to tell, Luke was fairly certain that girl was a younger Flynn. Even at age ten, she looked beautiful and had facial features that would probably have matured to make her gorgeous.

It took Luke every ounce of self-control not to ask her if a hydra had spit acid in her face before she went to middle school.        

         Flynn frowned. She glanced back towards the door with the opera music, her expression blank and eyes hollow. “The goddess of sex and beauty, right?”

         “Yea. Love, beauty, pleasure,” Luke said, remembering how Silena scolded the boys and reminded them to leave the last one out when talking to younger campers.

         Flynn released a laugh, one that contained no mirth and had no smile. Luke felt like he’d missed out on a joke that he didn’t want to hear. His curiosity about her scars vanished.

         “Yea,” she said, “I’ll help you kill my mom.”

         The conviction in her voice made Luke grin.  He stood and held out a hand. “Let’s restart this. I’m Luke Castellan.”

         Flynn gripped his hand tight enough to make him wince. “Flynn Davidson.”

         Jack swallowed. Uncertainly, he stood. He started to reach his hand out, flinched, then fully extended it. Luke took it. Jack had a gentle, comforting handshake, especially when compared to Flynn’s. “Jack Flash.”

         Phil stood up and pinched his shirt like he was wearing overalls. “And I’m Phil: the trainer of fucking heroes.”

         Flynn scoffed and nodded to the exit. She made no indication of needing to say goodbye when she said, “Let’s get out of here and fuck up our parents.”

And, with that, Luke formed a partnership that would last their entire (very short) lives. He just didn’t realize how soon after things would start to go wrong.

 ***

Thank you for the read! I hope you enjoyed the introduction to Luke’s elite squad! Stay tuned next week for The Versatility of a Guitar String, where you get to see what happened at Camp Half-Blood when Percy was looking for the Master Bolt. Follow Luke and Jack as they go undercover to recruit more half-bloods and Phil gets to juggle a corpse—wait—Phil, that’s unsanitary. Please wear gloves!

  Footnote:

[1] I’m home! Good morning, grandmother. Jack is here, along with two of my friends.

[jflashandclash]

Traitors of Olympus IV: Fall of the Sun

Thirty-Three: Axel

Stairs: The Real Villain in This Series Part II[1]

           “Move!”

           Someone grabbed Axel’s arm.

           Reyna dragged him and Calex away from the cliff. Axel hardly had time to snatch up the Leonis Caput helm. Thalia was a half second behind, slashing the vines off Calex and Euna’s legs with her two daggers. The huntress, with a grunt, lifted Euna in a fireman’s carry, with the daughter of Demeter slung across her shoulders.

           Axel wanted to protest that he or Calex could help, but Calex could barely stand and Axel almost tripped on his bad ankle.

           They stumble-ran from the edge, rushing past rock spires without checking for hidden enemies, splashing through muck pools, disregarding any form of stealth for what speed they could manage. With each time the earth quivered, Reyna egged them on, shouting at them to continue.

           The cliff, the Leonis Caput growled.

           Yea, shut up. I know, Axel thought back.

           Axel could imagine it now: Euna successfully slicing off a piece of Kaos, them successfully pulling Calex, Euna, and Jack out of that horrible hole, and then all of them dying. The culprit? Faulty architecture.

           Pain ignited along his leg each time he stepped. His breath came in short gasps and the air felt icy in his lungs.[2] Axel struggled to focus on the darkness ahead of them.

           Maybe it was the lack of tactful movement, or maybe it was because the floor could fall out from under them at any moment, but the trip back to Euna and Jack’s tunnel felt like it took way less time than getting to the cliff.

           “There!” Thalia shouted when the flowery cavern became discernible in the dimness.

           Another tremor hit the earth hard as they reached the entrance.

           Calex staggered onto the third step. “Just a sec,” he said. He hunched, gasping for air.

           Thalia didn’t complain. She dumped Euna, unceremoniously, on the next step down.

           “Watch it, huntress,” Jack growled from Euna’s belt, his voice muffled by the way her stomach currently crushed him.

           Axel and Reyna stared out into the abyss, with its layers of black spires that reached from the ground, and ended—the cliff and the entire world—at the drop off to Kaos. A quote that Alabaster used to say surfaced in his memory. Axel glanced down at the Leonis Caput helm in his hand, thinking, Whoever fights monsters should see to it that, in the process, he does not become a monster.

           They held their breath, waiting to see if the edge of the cliff would crumble away into Kaos’ nothingness.

           The ground stopped trembling.

           A hush suffocated the sounds of Tartarus.

           They all glanced at each other uncertainly.

           Axel puffed up his cheeks and popped them. In the cold dankness, the sound was soft.

           “Huh,” Jack said. “That was kind of disappointing. When we get back, we should tell everyone the cliff collapsed. That’ll make a better story. I’m telling Pax that the cliff collapsed.”

           Thalia scowled down at Jack with disgust.

           “Kaos isn’t chasing us,” Axel said. His mind had been floundering for a plan if she did decide to chase them.

           Calex choked out a strained chuckle. “I couldn’t make her fall in love for long, mate. She probably doesn’t even remember that box exists. Sorry for borrowing your emotions and all that. Should be back by now.”

           Axel and Reyna glared at him.

           Axel cleared his throat. “Calex, my emotions have been messed with a lot in the last day, between the love potion and what Ares and Aphrodite did to me. I know why you did what you did, but, when we get out of here, I’m hurting you. And I won’t go easy.”

           Calex opened and closed his mouth.

           Axel was annoyed, though understanding, that what Reyna said next seemed to scare Calex more.

           “So, you’ve decided to side with them?” she asked, nodding her chin towards Axel.

           Calex’s eyes widened, something that looked painful once Axel saw the broken blood vessels in Calex’s eyes, tinting the white a pink. “No! That’s a bit of a jump, innit? I’m on the side of saving the camp,” he spoke quickly, without certainty. “Euna promised she’d come topside to slog Phobetor in the face.”

           Axel thought about the Leonis Caput’s scream, One of my brethren is in danger, something it had never done before. “We need to get topside,” he said.

           He examined the sheen on the helm. It needed a good polishing after its literal blood bath. The thought that something had happened to Pax was too much. He wondered if the helm could always sense when the other helms were in danger and if it knew whether or not Pax was alright now.

           “The trip up will be much quicker than the trip down,” Jack said cheerily. “I couldn’t exactly shake the earth apart with my voice without a few breaks. These vocal cords aren’t what they used to be, and we didn’t exactly have throat-coat-tea. But, the path is already cleared for us now.”

           Thalia rolled her eyes at him. “Oh my gods. We are not taking that thing back to camp. And we’re not carrying Euna either. I’m waking her up.”

           Axel and Calex flinched. They reached for Thalia.

           “Stop!” Calex said.

           “Don’t—” Axel started.

           Thalia didn’t do what Axel expected. Axel figured the huntress would shake Euna awake. If Euna punched Axel before she had demigod training or enhanced god powers, he was terrified of seeing what Euna would do to Thalia upon waking now.

           But, Thalia didn’t shake Euna.

           She zapped her.

           A bolt of electricity shot from Thalia’s fingers and arched into the slumbering daughter of Demeter.

           Highly effective.

           Euna sat up, eyes wide with fury. She lashed a hand out, and, mimicking her movement, a vine swatted around in a circle.

           Calex had already wisely hit the deck.

           Axel and Reyna ducked.

           Thalia stuck a hand out and grabbed the vine. She didn’t even flinch at the, likely, immense pain that rattled down her arm.

           Euna’s scowl narrowed on her.

           “Oh my gods! Euna—NO!” Thalia said, “You’re not allowed to get all huffy on me after jumping off a cliff. Do you know what I had to do to get here?! I had to swim through a river of blood! I had to let a child of Eros shoot me! I had to be locked in a room with Axel when he was naked for 15 minutes!”

           Euna’s expression softened to sleepy confusion, like she was about to roll back over and hit snooze on Thalia’s very valid complaints. “Isn’t that last one a good thing?” she asked. Her gaze lazily drifted over to Axel, and he could tell she was thinking about lying back down and would say anything to go back to sleep. “I mean, aren’t a lot of people into you?”

           Calex burst into laughter.

           Thalia went bright red.

           Heat flared in Axel’s face. He opened his mouth to respond only to discover that he had never, in all his years as a trained tactician, prepared for a comment like that from Euna. Axel refused to look at Reyna’s reaction, though he heard her snort.

           Jack chuckled. “You should have seen it at Camp Othrys. All the monsters wanted his Mist tail. To think of why he turned them down.” Jack tutted his tongue towards Reyna. “You should hear the story of how he reacted when someone stole his first kiss—”

           “We’re leaving. Now.” Axel grabbed Euna and Calex’s arms. “Euna, Calex, up. Jack, shut up. Thalia, Reyna, start going up.”

           The hike up was exhausting, mentally and physically. For some reason, Axel kept thinking going to Tartarus would be harder, with navigating the Labyrinth and the impromptu side tour of Xibalba.

           At least Xibalba had diversity that kept them alert, like whether or not a passing rabbit could talk or would end up being a psychiatric, bloodthirsty, bunniac. Ascending the stairs that stretched from the surface to Tartarus was dull.

           Everything smelled dank and stale. Air hardly moved down the corridor. The tunnel never curved. It continued at a consistent, steep 50 degree angle upward. The glow off their weapons and armor made the world sombrous. The walls altered from different types of clay and rock. Occasionally a pretty gem would show up. Calex chiseled three out of the walls on one of their breaks, claiming he wanted Glad You’re Not Here souvenirs for Kally, Merry, and Pax.

           Otherwise, Axel felt like he was on an escalator going the wrong way.

           At least, after this, their thigh muscles could be used to crack nuts from the World Tree.

           After the first twenty to thirty minutes, his ankle behaved more regularly and the ache ebbed.  They had taken a quick pause to patch up everyone’s cuts and bruises, though Thalia didn’t have nearly enough bandages for the number that Kaos had done to Calex’s skin.

           The worst part: Jack literally couldn’t stop making noise, whether it be singing, humming, talking, or raving.[3] Although Axel had spent many nights with Pax and other recruits around a campfire, listening to Jack’s multitude of never-ending, entertaining (often longwinded) stories, this was much more extreme.[4]

           “Orpheus’ curse,” Reyna muttered, the third or fourth time that Calex told Jack to shut up and Jack hummed louder.

           Reyna and Axel ended up ahead of the others. Whether that was by Calex’s design or not, Axel was unsure.

           Axel had a lot he wanted to say to her. In this eternal climb, where the repetition of the walls became hypnotic, and Jack finally settled into a soft, whispered drone, instead of tales—sometimes teasing and humiliating, sometimes horrid and grotesque—from Mount Othrys, Axel had nothing but his thoughts. Nothing could be done for Pax, Alabaster, or Kally until they reached topside. There was no way to plan a more effective way to climb the stairs.

           His gaze kept slipping to Reyna, how her purple cloak swayed behind her, how she’d undone her braid since it was falling into such disarray, how her armor gleamed in the darkness.

           With real curiosity and little thought to her reaction, he asked, “If Kronos had forced you to kill Hylla, and you had one last chance to get a real weapon to defend yourself from him, would you have made the same choice I did back there?”  

           Reyna pressed her lips together and said nothing.

           They continued in relative silence—Jack was still humming and Thalia’s anger could he physically heard in the form of tiny crackles and sparks that flared up every so often.

           Axel decided—if he, Kally, Alabaster, and Pax really made a new camp—punishment for skipping out on chores or training would be climbing a set of Jack’s-voice-crafted stairs.

           “Axel,” Reyna said, “We should focus on the up incoming battle and how to defend the camp from gods.”

           “Yes,” Axel agreed. Each step felt easier. Reyna had called him by his real name, not his helm’s moniker. Her comment also left the doors open for discussion.

           An indiscernible amount of time and number of steps later, something strange happened that cut their tactical discussion to a halt.

            While Axel frequently fought the Leonis Caput’s whispers and growls, their presence was natural in his head, like a gravely echo of his own mind.

           A voice, one he had never heard before, but that felt so comfortable and welcoming, chimed and reverberated, Hello, Tomcat.

           From a quick glanced around, he could tell no one else heard the women’s deep, sensuous alto. Reyna was in the middle of discussing Eris’ potential weaknesses through comparison to Bellona (a goddess Eris was often intermixed with).

           The female voice purred, I’m doing a favor for one of my kittens and you’re the first feline I’ve found in a half-a-mile’s radius. My warriors can be easily spooked by the presence of ghosts and ghouls, but you’re a brave enough warrior to fight off the terrors of the night, aren’t you, Tomcat?

           “Axel, are you okay?” someone asked beside him.

           Axel struggled to nod in a convincing way. He thought, I don’t appreciate anyone breaking into my mind.

           I can’t break into something that is already mine. Her tone wasn’t controlling, like Aphrodite’s. It was almost… gentle, endearing like the voice of a commander that cared for her troops. Axel remembered shouting to his soldiers, riling them for battle, reminding them their souls were already pledged to Kronos, so what did they have to lose?

           Axel chose to let it go for now. Ghosts, ghouls, and terrors. You speak of Phobetor and Melinoe?

           If those are the gods attacking the Greek demigods, then yes, she continued, I think we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement. So, my handsome Tomcat, shall we make some intra-cosmic magic?

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed :D

Footnotes:

[1] Part one is chapter 35, which was named first. It felt rude to chapter 35 if I made that Part Two when it was the original XD Don’t mind my feverish politeness to chapters.

[2] One of my all time favorite betacomments from Mel, since she answered her own question, “ARE THERE GHOSTS ABOUT??

….

….

Well, that was a ridiculous question considering where they are XD”

[3] Mel betacomment, “I know you mean the raving conversation, but I just imagine Jack performing a one-head-rave

Jack, “They’ll use my head as the beach ball.”

[4] Oh… oh, Jack knows….

[avengers-nextgen]

All Things Grow I

“The news is so depressing,” Nathaniel grumbled clicking off the television, “everything’s all about the bad stuff happening in the world. Uhm hello? I experience it first hand people!”

“It’s what’s engaging unfortunately,” Wanda sighed having been watching it too, “the only way to attract an audience.”

“Yeah, well it sucks.”

“You sound like my brother,” She laughed.

“He was smart.” Nathaniel remarked. “Not to mention I can hardly turn on the tv without politics showing up every five seconds. I can see the headline, ‘local senator eats out at family restaurant. Guess what he eats.’”

“Shrimp, a cup of self righteous wine, and a bunch of carbs.” Fox glanced up from her tablet. “What? I pay attention sometimes.”

“You have a habit of being really quiet and then scaring people when you talk.” Nathaniel explained.

“My bad.” Fox wasn’t apologizing at all, instead she was storing that info away to be used later. “Welp, I have work to do so have fun being depressed.”

“She’s a wray of pitch black,” Nathaniel snorted.

“We have to go.” Nathaniel glanced over his shoulder hearing Enzo’s voice from the hallway.

“What’s he carrying on about?”

“Bianca and Enzo are trying to convince the others to go to a hockey game.” Wanda explained. “I think Scout’s going. He finds it mildly interesting, and Orion looked the sport up on YouTube. He’s going in hopes there’s a fight.”

“I’m not surprised.” Nathaniel sighed. “Are there tickets for everyone?”

“I believe so.” Wanda frowned, “Piper made sure to get extras.”

“Great. Then I guess I have something less depressing to do.” Nathaniel decided. “Enzo!”

“Yeah?” The boy scampered out of the hallway dressed for the cold rink.

“I’m coming along.”

— — —

“Churros.” Thalia didn’t even care about the size of the stadium. She’d spotted the concessions right away and so had Penny.

“Mountain Dew.” Penny grinned.

“More like Mountain Dew not drink it.” Chloe frowned. “You’ll have to pee every five minutes.”

“I have perfect control over my bladder.” Penny glowered. “Right Arthur?”

“Yes?”

“That’s a really uncomfortable question.” James mumbled. “And you just...agree?”

“Hey, I’m not about to start an argument.” Arthur whispered back.

“We are not going inside yet.” Enzo stated. “We are waiting like good people.”

“For who?” Siyanda asked, holding Thalia’s hand to keep her from running off.

“My friend.” Enzo said.

“There they are.” Bianca pointed out the blonde kid in the crowd.

“He’s small.” Sage remarked, “How can he play hockey if he’s so skinny?”

“Not he,” Enzo corrected, “they, or them.”

“What-oh shit. Sorry.” Sage winced.

“Not scoring any good big sister points today are we?” Piper teased.

“Shut up.” Sage glowered. Enzo ignored their banter and waved his friend over.

“Max, this is my family.” Enzo stated. “That’s Nathaniel. Nathaniel say hi.”

“Hi,” Nathaniel smiled kindly and waved.

“That’s Piper and that’s her best friend Gen. They’re weird. That’s Siyanda and her girlfriend Thalia. She likes food so guard it. Then there’s James. He’s really cool even if he looks scary. Then there’s Fox and she’s just...honestly I don’t know. Penny is fun you’ll like her. Arthur and Chloe are twins. Bianca you’ve met.” Enzo smiled.

Max seemed to relax a bit upon seeing a familiar face and waved at her, “Heya.”

“This is Alex she’s really nice and we all love her.” Enzo teased, “and this is my sister who is Alex’s girlfriend and she’s not as scary as she looks.”

“She’s pretty scary.” Max admitted.

“Nice to know I still have that effect.” Sage smirked.

“Oh! Almost forgot.” Enzo interrupted. “That’s Scout. He’s kind of shy but he knows nearly everything about everything. Next to him is his boyfriend Orion.”

Orion waved casually trying to seem as normal as possible. With the help of Scout and Piper he’d managed to cover his green face with paint for one of the teams. He’d made sure to wear gloves and dress warmly too.

“Well it’s nice to meet everyone. Enzo talks about you guys a lot. He says you’re all really cool.” Max smiled. “Anyways, I think the game is gonna start soon so we should get our seats.”

— — —

The group took up a section of the stands sticking close together and watching the players warm up with curiosity. Max was rattling off statistics to Scout and Enzo who both listened intently.

“If there isn’t a single fight I’m going to be mad.” Sage admitted. “I want to watch some losers knock each other out.”

“For once I agree,” Fox shrugged.

“Ew. Don’t ever say that again.” Sage frowned.

“I got churros!” Thalia grinned proudly having two in each hand.

“You’re sharing,” Siyanda reminded her plucking one from the Asgardian’s grasp.

“I know. You can have the fresh ones. But only because I love you.” Thalia stated.

“Oh she can have churros but I can’t?” Penny pouted.

“We have to limit your sugar intake.” Arthur reminded her. “Or you’ll be asleep halfway through once you come down from the rush.”

“We could always leave her in the stands.” Chloe remarked dryly. James stifled a laugh.

“Okay that’s just rude.” Penny rolled her eyes.

“Hush. They’re gonna do the preshow.” Bianca bounced excitedly in her seat. Sure enough the lights dimmed and color beams danced across the ice.

“Like a kid in a candy store,” Nathaniel snorted, setting a hand on Bianca’s shoulder to still the girl.

With the display of color and the excited announcement of players taking the ice the group was completely enthralled. Each seemed to pick a favorite player right away just based off of attitude and facade.

When the game started both Sage and Fox were pleasantly surprised by how physical it was. Players were slammed with sticks, pushed into walls, and shoved about with ease. Orion seemed to be the only one aside from Thalia who could easily follow the black speck ricocheting across the ice.

James’ brain went into tactic mode as did Bianca’s. The girl was rattling off strategies to Max who nodded in agreement. Siyanda studied the keeper’s finding their reflexes very impeccable.

Nathaniel boasted that with his aim he could have scored early on but Enzo was quick to shush him as tension built into a push on the attack. The buzzer sounded and the crowd yelled excitedly.

“Can you imagine hockey with rockets on the skates?” Piper grinned evilly.

“People would die, Piper.” Gen reminded her.

“But it would be so fun to watch!”

“I’d participate in the sport.” Orion smiled. “Seems exhilarating.”

“Not the smartest idea,” Alex warned knowing very well that Piper could and would test rocket skates on Orion.

— — —

At one point a fight did erupt which ended up being almost everyone’s highlight of the game. The gloves flew off and the men went at it swinging wildly. Even the refs took a bit of a beating.

“Max, do you ever fight anyone?” Thalia asked.

“No. I do school and club hockey which both give strong penalties for it you fight,” They said.

“Bummer.” Sage sighed. “I’d have enjoyed this as a kid.”

“The women don’t really fight,” Scout stated, “they’re much more socially sophisticated about the game.”

“Thank you captain encyclopedia,” Piper teased.

“Only trying to clear the air,” Scout shrugged.

All in all the game ended in a draw which was fine since none of them had a particular team to root for. Thankfully for Thalia the end of the game meant she could finally take that bathroom break she’d been waiting ages for.

“Gotta say I’m glad I came to watch this,” Nathaniel groaned, stretching his arms happily overhead.

“How’d you get into the sport?” James asked.

“Since I was little. My uncle got me involved, he’s from Canada, and then my parents indulged it. They don’t talk to him anymore though,” Max shrugged, “but I’ve liked it for as long as I can remember.”

“Nice.” Orion grinned. “Mind giving me a big stick I can hit people with?”

“Orion, you can get a big stick outside.” Scout rolled his eyes.

“It’s not the same.” Orion argued.

“Big stick energy.” Nathaniel mumbled and Piper and Penny were goners. The two dissolved into laughter which lead to tears.

“I don’t understand,” Thalia frowned having returned from the bathroom.

“My aunt showed me as did uncle Peter. It’s a meme: Big dick energy, except they made a parody of it.” Siyanda explained.

“Big dick energy? Seriously?” Scout huffed. “There’s nothing amusing about that at all. It makes no sense.”

“Just...drop it.” Arthur sympathized. “Let’s get going shall we?”

“Sure!” Enzo nodded. “See you at School Max. You have a ride don’t you?”

“Yeah I’m good.” Max nodded. Enzo gave his friend a quick fist bump before scrambling up the steps of the stadium to follow his family.

“I say that was a success.” Nathaniel decided.

“More or less.” Chloe corrected. “Let’s not forget that joke of yours.”

“It was legendary. Don’t be so bitter about it.” Piper laughed. “Man, Nathaniel I adore you.”

“You too kiddo.” Nathaniel smiled.

“We have Bianca right?” Alex asked glancing about. “And....we lost her.”

“Oh yeah she’s in the gift shop!” Enzo smacked his forehead. “I’ll be back.”

“From now on we have to do a headcount.” Nathaniel decided. “We cant afford to lose anyone. Not my little ducks.”

“Quack.” Sage glowered.

“That’s the spirit.” Nathaniel smiled.

“Anyone want quackers?” Thalia asked. It was a stupid joke but the look of pride on her face was enough to draw laughs from everyone else. Siyanda kissed the blonde’s cheek good naturedly. “I told you I was funny Si!”