Son of Smintheus, Daughter of the Forge
Description: It is an average day at the beginning of summer, 2008, until some old nightmares return, with a vengeance.
in other words, two new demigod are introduced to their new reality.
Word count: 6805
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Justin and Lucille Peters were never exactly ones to fit in well with their peers. They always felt different for so many reasons, including their family type, especially for where they lived, a small town outside St Cloud, Minnesota. All they had was each other and their mother, a wonderful woman who made instruments for a living. What made that worse for his family was that Justin and Lucille looked incredibly different, due to their different fathers. Justin was pale and blond, his hair the colour of pure gold, with shining, icy blue eyes, whereas Lucille had darker skin, as if she spent every minute of her life outside, which was far from the truth, with copper brown eyes and bronze coloured hair. Neither of them looked like their mother all that much physically, but it was clear with how they held themselves. The three of them were calm and confident, always wore a smile, and were very people oriented.
However, they still had their problems. Justin had terrible dyslexia, and had a reputation around his peers that he was cursed. You see, people seem to get very sick, very quickly if they upset him. Sometimes it was just throwing up for a few days. other times it was so much worse. obviously, nothing could be traced back to him, so his journey through school was rather simple, but he was always alone, for the safety of others. Sometimes he felt like the curse was real. Luckily, he always had his family. Lucille loved her brother, always wanting to play, and just enjoyed being in his presence. He kept her calm, and made her feel safe, which was rare for her, as she had ADHD, and had a terrible case of red-green colour-blindness. This led to a lot of bullying from her peers, due to her awkward nature and easy confusion when it came to colour. But their mother always offered comfort, and they always had the friendship between them, so they were perfectly happy.
That was, until the first week of summer, when a strange creature appeared, throwing their lives out of balance forever.
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Justin woke to the sound of his mother knocking on his bedroom door and calling for him to wake up.
“Justin! It’s ten o’clock, wake up!” Sounded her melodic voice. despite the rush in her voice, she still sounded sweet.
“Ok, mom!” Justin called back through a yawn. He sat up and stretched, rolling out of bed, and quickly changed out of his pyjamas and into a pair of blue jeans, a grey t-shirt, and his favourite blue jacket. Stretching and flexing his muscles, Justin trudged down the stairs to the kitchen, where he found his mother, Diana, and his sister, Lucille, siting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Lucille seemed distracted, as always, fiddling with some cuttings of the E-string of a guitar, paper clips, and buttons between bites. Despite the fact she was joyfully playing with her materials, she looked tense, her movements stiff and little shoulders squared. Her copper eyes kept darting towards the window, as if she were expecting someone to be peering in through the window.
“Morning, sleepy head!” Diana teased as Justin emerged from the corridor. He grabbed a glass and poured himself some juice, them prepared himself some toast for breakfast.
“Morning, mom. Hey Lucille!”
The 8-year-old looked up, just realising her brother had arrived, and smiled wide, immediately bouncing on her seat and greeting. She was definitely the morning person between the two. The tree shared pleasant conversation, Justin attempting to wake up quickly, as they were going to be working in Diana’s shop that day.
Diana owned a music shop, selling, making, and repairing instruments of all kinds, and sometimes teaching music. The siblings loved working in the shop, but they had very different reasons for it. Justin loved the music side of it, practicing on the instruments, making sure everything was tuned perfectly, and helping with researching the types and makes of instruments they sold. Lucille, on the other hand, liked the making and repair of instruments. Lucille, despite her young age, is a master with tools, and knows exactly what to do to fix even the worst of damaged goods, making it seem as if brand new. Lucille was a good musician in her own right, but simply preferred the construction of it all. She struggled a little with finding the specific tools she needed, as she was colour-blind, with protanopia to be specific, so struggled to differentiate between the tools, as they were colour coded, so her and Diana had come up with a system and ordered the tools in a very specific way, so they could find everything easily. Everything was in order, and everything had it’s place.
The three of them finished with their breakfast and were fully dressed and ready to leave, out of the door and starting their small walk to the main street of their small town, when Lucille started getting squirmy and clingy. She was grumbling and gripping her mother’s hand tighter than usual, pulling on her sweater with her other hand, and looking around frantically.
“Are you ok, Lucy?” Justin asked, trying to follow her eyes, but they changed direction constantly, so that was pretty much impossible. Lucille replied with a simple concerned groan, and quickly turning her head towards the woods on the other side of the road, nuzzling closer to her mother as they walked.
“What’s wrong honey?” Diana asked, slowing down and kneeling down. The older two believed she was either under or over stimulated, that happened a lot, but the girl was not acting how she normally did. Instead, she appeared... fearful?
“Hear something...” She mumbled, slipping her hands into her sleeves for protection.
Diana sighed and brushed a lock of hair out of Lucille’s eyes. “Honey, there’s nothing dangerous around, trust me. I know you’re on edge because of your nightmare, but you’re safe with me. I’ll always protect you.”
Lucille glanced at the wooded area one more time, but returned her gaze to her mother, who offered her a comforting look. Justin followed Lucille’s stare, just to see if his sister was just being paranoid. He inhaled sharply when, for the quickest second, he locked eyes with a woman, pale as fresh winter snow, with sleek black hair, hiding in the bushes on the edge of the woods. As quickly as Justin spotted the woman, she disappeared, almost as if she dissolved into the shadows.
“Right Justin?” Diana snapped her son out of his daze. “We’d never let anyone take your sister, right?”
“Um, yeah, of course!” Justin smiled down at Lucille, who’s nerves had seemingly fizzled out, as she looked up at her brother with hope. Justin puffed his chest out and put on a brave face, making her laugh. “I will always save you, dear sister!”
Lucille laughed and smiled at her brother, comforted by his protectiveness.
“Alright, not that that’s settled,” Diana stood and took Lucille’s hand. “Let’s get to the shop, we open pretty soon!”
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The trio spent the day doing average shop work, occasionally seeing to a customer and their needs. Lucille was in the back room, happily fiddling with a broken stand that usually holds about eight guitars. It had been knocked over accidentally by a customer a few days prior, damaging the joints and hooks, so Lucille had a perfectly stimulating job to do for a few hours. Her neatly ordered tools were sitting on her workbench, ordered by type and size. Justin was busy tuning the string instruments that had just been delivered, preparing them to be displayed and sold. Diana was logging the shipment into their system and tying labels with a description, barcode, and price on them. All was good, and all was peaceful.
After a few hours of working, a woman walked into the shop and looks around. She consistently glanced at Justin, who was carefully watching her, trying to think of where he knew her from. She was strangely dressed, wearing a long flowing, silk dress, shining a dark green. That would be fine on it’s own, but she had matched it with a deep purple velvet cloak that trailed down to her ankles, with long, flowing sleeves, and a long pointed hood. She had thin, sleek hair, as dark as the night sky, greased back tight. Her pale skin could be matched with a piece of paper. Her chin was pointed to an abnormal extent, the bridge of her nose wide, reminding Justin of the snout of a cat, and her black eyes were sunken into her head.
Diana finished logging a particular shipment of Benson guitars, and went into the back room to check on Lucille, leaving Justin alone with the strange woman. She saw her chance as the other adult left and she approached the boy.
“Hello, Justin...” Her voice was quiet and raspy, she spoke with an abnormally large and toothy smile, her canines scarily long and sharp.
How did she know his name? Justin was certain he would remember that face. She was certainly familiar, but he could not place it for the life of him.
“Who –”
“My name is Mormo...” The woman hissed, her smile never faltering. Justin stepped back from the counter as she leant over it. Her gnarled, clawed hands gripped the counter tight, her nails digging into the wood and permanently scratching it. “I met you when you were young...”
That’s it. When Justin was eight, he dreamt about a woman with a cat like face and gnarled hands, who would lean over his bed late at night, whispering about him coming with her, how he would have fun with her. She would take him to her world, she would tell him. Luckily, she would disappear every time he called for his mom.
“Mom!” Justin yelled through the shop, panic striking though his voice. He never broke eye contact. He didn’t think he could. The woman recoiled as he shouted, shooting her stare at the door, as Diana rushed through, Lucille close behind. At the sight of the little girl, Mormo’s smile returned, showing off her vampiric fangs. Lucille squeaked and stumbled back, fear enveloping her face. Diana rushed forward towards the counter and pushed Justin behind her with one hand, and placing the other under the counter, seemingly reaching for something.
“You!” Diana raged, her normally melodic voice gruff and furious. “Get away from my children!”
Mormo growled and hissed. “They are wanted by the titan! They belong to him!”
Diana grabbed what she was looking for and lunged over the counter, tackling the creature and pushing her into a line of keyboards, knocking them all over and pinning her to the floor, holding a bronze pointed dagger to her throat. The beast shrieked and, deafening the two children, and thrashed on the ground, kicking and clawing at Diana. She finally gripped the back of Diana’s polo, digging her claws into her back. Diana called out in pain, but kept her form well enough to keep the monster on the floor, away from her children.
“The titan king has called for them! He will receive them, whether you like it or not!”
Mormo dug her claws in deeper and ripped Diana off her, throwing her to the side. Diana hit the wall with a crash, making the bass guitars displayed on the wall crash to the floor, and she dropped the dagger as she slumped to the ground. Mormo rolled to the side and crouched like a cornered animal, hissing at Diana, then stood, slowly, her too-wide smile returning, this time aimed at Lucille, who was half hiding behind the doorframe.
Hell. No.
Justin meant what he said earlier that day. No one was going to hurt his sister on his watch. He let his instincts take over, and vaulted the counter, landing beside his mother, grabbing the dagger and turned towards the creature. Mormo had leapt towards the door with clear intent, but Justin was surprisingly quick. He trusted his instincts, reaching out with his left hand, tensing his fingers into a clawed shape, imagining the pain he wanted to inflict on the creature who hurt his mom and threatened his sister. No one hurts his family. The creature dropped to the floor, choking on air as she kicked and scratched at the floor. Her mouth started to fill with a thick, lumpy, golden liquid, and her eyes started to stream with tears. These tears turned to gold as the creature writhed in pain, choking on her golden liquid, her coughs spraying the liquid across the room. His right hand held the dagger. Before he could think, he marched towards the woman and thrust the weapon down towards her face, stabbing the blade through her piecing black eye.
With a deafening shriek, the monster reached out with her claw and scratched Justin’s bicep. Before his eyes, his old nightmare crumpled to ash, leaving a thick coat of grey on the carpet floor, partially covered by the velvet cloak. Justin’s breath was deep and rapid. His hands shook at what he had just done, and he dropped the dagger in the dust.
“Justin?” The quiet voice of Lucille echoed from the doorway, as she peered out. Her lower lip was shaking, and tears were filling her eyes.
“Lucy... Come here, it’s ok!” He reassured, opening his arms for a hug, and she rushed into the embrace. “We’re ok. I wont let anything hurt you.”
The children heard shuffling behind them and the turned to see their mother shuffling to her feet.
“Mom!” The two cried, rushing towards her. Justin helped her up and guided her to a stool. Lucille sat beside her, hugging her and crying into her side. Diana comforted her daughter, stroking her short bronze hair, muttering comforts to her. Justin rushed into the back room and grabbed the first aid kit, offering to clean the wounds on her back. Diana agreed, trusting her son more than most would expect, but told him to put up the closed sign and put the window cover down so customers would not see. She removed her shirt and hugged her daughter close, wincing at the sensation of the cleansing alcohol whilst comforting her daughter. Justin dressed the wound, it was relatively long, but shallow, so no need for medical intervention, and Diana put her shirt back on. Lucille had stopped crying, but not it was Justin’s turn to be emotional. However, crying was not his response.
“What in the world was that?” He yelled, his voice cracking mid sentence.
“That was Mormo, an Empousa.” Diana sighed sadly.
“Im sorry, what?”
“A creature from ancient Greece. She’s been after the two of you for a long time.” Diana was avoiding eye contact with her children. “Both of your fathers told me she would be.”
“What are you talking about?” Justin’s voice cracked in desperation. Lucille looked between her family members, fear in her copper eyes, her gloved hands gripping her sweater tight. “Our fathers? Ancient Greece? Mom, what are you not telling us?”
“You two are special in some very specific ways. It’s your fathers’ doing. I knew it would happen eventually, but I hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.”
“Mom...”
“We have to go home. You two need to pack. I’m taking you somewhere safe.”
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After two hours of packing the bare essentials into duffle bags. Justin packed spare shirts, another jacket, jeans, shorts, and pjs, along with his pan flute, a notebook, and his wallet. Lucille packed the same amount of clothes, along with a notebook of her own, some tools, and stray materials to make things with. They both grabbed a blanket, and Lucille took her teddy bear, hugging it close to her chest as she watched her mom pace around the room. As Justin lugged the bags to the car, Diana made a phone call. She spoke in a hushed tone, sounding panicked and upset the whole time. The call lasted about ten minutes. Once she was done, she called the children to the car and they set of on a long journey.
The mysterious trip took all night and all day. Lucille slept with her head on Justin’s lap the whole night, and a good way into the morning. Justin barely slept. He tried to engage is mother in conversation, but she refused to explain what was happening.
“All I can say is it has to do with your fathers…”
That is the only explanation she could muster. Her voice cracked as she spoke, Justin knew not to probe deeper. Therefore, he decided to play with Lucille’s short hair to distract himself, making her nuzzle into his lap and groan a little. The little 8-year-old never failed to make him smile. For the rest of the trip, Justin fell in a chasm between being asleep and being awake. This was not a fun trip at all.
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“Mom, where are we?” Justin asked. He looked around the area they had stopped. It was a small clearing in the thick pine woods just off the main road, at the bottom of a tall hill. Justin adjusted the straps of his backpack to fit better on his shoulders as his heart started to flutter with nerves. His mother was making sure Lucille was fully awake, and tying her shoes. The little girl looked very scared, hunched over, and hugging her teddy close to her chest. Justin locked eyes with his sister, her copper eyes starting to fill with fearful tears. Diana looked up at her daughter, noticed the tears, and quickly wiped them away, whispering comforts to Lucille as she pulled her out of the car.
“We’re meeting a friend of your fathers. Both of them. He will help you with the recent… problem…” She sounded extremely apprehensive. She squeezed Lucille’s hand and pulled Justin close to her.
“You mean the monster?” Lucille squeaked, hiding her face into her bear. Diana breathed sharply and forced a smile.
“Yes honey. I mean the monster.”
“Mom, we’re in the middle of the woods! There’s nothing around here!”
“We just have to climb that hill. That is where he said to meet him.”
All Justin could think was ‘Is my mom sending us to our deaths?’. She was being so cryptic, nothing like her normal chipper self. She was stiff, constantly looking around. Justin swore he could see tears starting to fill her eyes as she pulled Lucille out of the car. She took her daughter by the hand and put a hand on Justin’s shoulder.
“Let’s go.”
They climbed the hill, Justin carrying his duffle, Diana carrying Lucille’s, slightly slipped off her shoulder to avoid the wound on her back. The short hike uphill was quiet, only filled by the sounds of the forest, and the laboured breath of the three. They stopped at the peak of the hill, next to a giant pine tree with a golden fur laying at the base, and stood at the base of a wooden arch, with writing carved into the banner. It appeared to be in Ancient Greek, but for some reason, Justin could read it clearly.
Camp Half-Blood...
“Miss Peters! You have arrived!” A man’s voice sounded from a few feet away, making Justin turn. He jumped at the sight of the man. Well, half man. Before him was a pure white stallion, but where the head was supposed to be, there was the torso of a man with shoulder length curly hair and a thick, neatly trimmed beard. “Thank the gods you are all safe.”
“Well, I’d like to keep it that way. If only I could wait...” Diana responded. She was definitely tearing up now.
“You do not have to worry. Your children will be safe here.” The half-man looked between the children, who were staring at him in utter awe. “You must be Justin and Lucille! It is a pleasure to meet you!”
Justin just continued to stare, clear shock on his face as his icy eyes glanced up and down between the two halves of the man. Lucille spoke up.
“What are you?” She spoke with fascination in her voice, slightly bouncing on her feet. The man chuckled and the horse half leant down on it’s front legs.
“I am a centaur, young hero. Half man, half horse.” He smiled a kind smile, He reminded Justin on a wise grandfather. “My name is Chiron. I’m going to keep you safe for a little while in my camp.”
The centaur and three humans conversed for a while, explaining what exactly was happening. Apparently, the Greek myths were real, and their fathers were not just deadbeats, but they were deadbeat gods! Not only that, but this was a camp meant just for kids like them, other children with a godly parent, Demigods. Their mother was going to leave them here for the summer, she would come back for them in late August. Here, they would train to defend themselves against monsters, like Mormo.
Justin and Lucille were wanted by an evil group of people for some unknown reason. Chiron guessed they were particularly powerful. He said he could sense it. That power was desired by someone named Chronos. That was apparently a terrible thing.
This is the summer that changed their lives forever.
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Diana left her children in the care of Chiron, tearfully saying goodbye to them, and staying at the top of the hill waving them off. Lucille was holding her bear close to her chest, and Justin was gripping her hand with intense strength. Not enough to hurt her, but it was tense. Chiron took them to a large wooden house, and sat them down on a soft, long couch and continued their chat, introducing them to the crazy world they now lived in. Lucille was cuddled into Justin’s side, mostly staying quiet, but occasionally making noise if Chiron made her laugh. Justin was far more serious, keeping a level head. He needed to, or he’d break.
This took all afternoon. The two new demigods were hungry. Luckily, it was close to dinner time now. Chiron had called for an older camper, a boy named Conner Stoll, who was apparently the Head Councellor of the Hermes cabin, where the children of Hermes, the children of minor gods, and the unclaimed kids stayed. Conner introduced himself and took them to the mess hall to meet the rest of the cabin residents.
Justin perched on the end of the crowded table, with Lucille practically sitting on his lap, their meals left untouched in front of them. Justin tried to converse with Conner and Travis Stoll, but there were so many interruptions from the rest of the table that conversation was essentially impossible. Instead, he focused his attention on Lucille. She was nuzzled into his side, quietly playing with a piece of wire she had in her pocket. Justin tried to engage her in conversation, asking about what she wanted to do with her wire, but she could not speak to him. She missed their mom. As did he.
After an hour, the siblings had managed to eat half of their plates, Justin almost forcing food down his sister’s throat so she would not be hungry in the middle of the night. The centaur, Chiron, cleared his throat and dismissed the demigods to the amphitheatre for a sing a long and campfire. That made the siblings perk up a little, Justin liked to sing, and Lucille liked campfires. The atmosphere that announcement brought was full and exciting, which made them more excited as clearly that meant this campfire was going to be fun. Justin took Lucille by the hand when the Hermes table stood and they followed the other campers through the dim evening light towards a classic style, three quarter circle amphitheatre with a large bonfire in the middle, waiting to be lit. as the campers entered the arena, laughing and joking about with each other, the pile of wood burst into flames, a bright yellow and orange colour, quickly growing larger the more campers entered the theatre.
“The fire is controlled by surrounding people’s moods.” Justin’s thoughts were interrupted by the feminine voice of a camper Justin did not recognise. She was beautiful, to say the least. With dark hair, shining brown in the fire’s light, and eyes that were an unrecognisable colour, switching between blue and brown with every flicker of the flames, Justin struggled to think of how he would describe her to people. “The happier the camp is, the bigger and brighter the flames. I’m Silena, Counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin.”
“Urm,” Well done Justin. He snapped back into reality when he felt Lucille pull down on his hand, the way their mom had taught them to do when they needed to snap Lucille back into reality. He finally found his voice and responded. “I’m Justin. This is my sister, Lucille.”
“Well, hello there, Lucille!” Silena’s perky voice made Lucille smile properly for the first time that day. Justin silently thanked the gods that apparently existed for that smile. “And hello Justin. Do you know who your godly parent is?”
“All I know is they’re different guys.” Justin shrugged. “Mom never told us about them.”
“She probably doesn’t know herself, sadly.” She sighed slightly, but her smile never faltered. “It happens a lot. Don’t worry, I have a feeling you’ll get claimed pretty quick.”
At that, the trio turned to the voices of several people, Silena was being called by her cabin, and the siblings were being called by Conner. They bid their goodbyes and went to sit with their cabins. Chiron and Dionysus stood in front of the fire and greeted the campers. Chiron continued to speak, talking about the events of the week. Justin was not really paying attention, he was too focused on holding his sister close to his side, and scanning the pavilion, trying to see where they would fit in. The campers were sitting in eight groups, all with incredible similarities. It was all very overwhelming. What made it worse was when he heard his name.
Chiron’s speech had ended with him acknowledging the two newest campers, which sadly were him and Lucille. Lucille hid in Justin’s arm, and Justin smiled awkwardly, waving a little, as the campers all turned to look at them. Many of the girls cooed at the image of the small girl hiding in her brother’s arm. The boys chuckled a bit at Justin’s awkward behaviour.
“Justin and Lucille Peters, our newest campers, came to us earlier today, escorted by their mother. Let us pray for a quick claiming for the two of you!”
Once Chiron had finished his speech, the sing-along started, orchestrated by the Apollo cabin. it lasted for a long time; it was pitch black by the time they were to go back to their cabins to sleep. Lucille was drifting off by this time, and was leaning on Justin as they stood to walk back to the cabins. the crowd was bustling and thick. That is why it was so obvious when it stopped, and everyone stared at Justin. He was confused at first, not noticing what was happening since he was concentrating on his sister, but he quickly realised there was a bright yellow glow shining above his head. He looked up, seeing an apparition floating above his head.
“What the—” He muttered, then looked around for an explanation. Chiron was the one to give him one.
“Well, it looks like half our prayers have been answered!” He smiled and clapped his hands together. “Praise Justin, Son of Apollo!”
A cheer erupted from the crowd. Justin just squeezed Lucille’s hand. He knew this meant their first night away from their home would be spent separated from each other. How fun.
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After collecting Justin’s belongings from his spot on the floor, he was escorted out of the Hermes cabin to be taken to the Apollo cabin by the counsellor, Lee Fletcher. Lucille was next to him, looking extremely anxious and upset. Justin hitched his bag over his shoulder and went to stand up, but was lightly tackled by Lucille before he could. She whimpered into his shirt, her shoulders shaking as she hugged him as tight as she could.
Justin was to collect his items and be escorted to the Apollo cabin by their counsellor, Lee Fletcher. He was struggling, as Lucille had caught on to what was happening, and was not letting him. She was attached to his side, seemingly attempting to stop him from moving. The rest of the cabin avoided looking at the scene. The demigods are used to heartbreak, they are used to untimely death, but watching this scared little girl be separated from the only person she knew, from her brother, this was truly heart-breaking.
Justin finished grabbing his things and flung his bag over his shoulder. He attempted to stand, but Lucille is surprisingly strong for an eight year old. It helped her case that Justin did not want to leave her. But sadly, he had to. You have to sleep in your godly parent’s cabin once you’re claimed. Justin couldn’t help but think this was a dumb rule.
“Come on, Lucy, I have to go...” He muttered, half-heartedly.
“No.” Lucille hid her face, holding on to him tighter. Justin leg his shoulders sag and he crouched down, pulling her into a tight, enclosed hug. She almost disappeared in his embrace. He held the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her short hair.
“I’m sorry Lucy, I have to go. Trust me, I don’t want to, but I have to.” He sighed and pulled a way, wiped escaped tears from her eyes, forcing the kindest smile he could. “Don’t worry, I’m only two cabins down, and ill see you in the morning!”
“Promise?” She said quietly.
“I promise.” He gestured vaguely to the other people in the room. “While I’m gone, you gotta trust these people, they’ll make sure you’re ok. They’ll keep you safe.”
“Justin, you coming?” The voice of Conner Stoll echoed from the door. Justin called back he’d be a second, then pulled Lucille into another hug, kissed her forehead, and said goodnight. As he stood, Lucille whimpered.
“I love you...”
“I love you too, Lucy.”
And off Justin went, escorted to the Apollo cabin to spend his first night away from his mother separated from his scared little sister, and in a cabin with a group of other kids just like him. He did not sleep well. He was too worried about Lucille.
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Lucille watched as her brother left the cabin. As soon Conner closed the door, tears started to flow out of her copper eyes. As she started to cry, She felt a hand on her shoulder, and heard shuffling at her side. She looked up, and locked eyes with a girl about the same age as Justin, with tanned, mocha skin, icy blue eyes, and what Lucille safely presumed was deep brown hair. Her colour-blindness at least let her see dark brown properly. She looked kind, soft, comforting eyes staring at Lucille as the little girl let some tears flow.
“Hey, I’m Clara.” The girl introduced herself. Her voice was calm and sweet, deeper than expected coming from her small, slim frame. She had an accent Lucille could not place, all she knew was that it was not totally American. “It’s Lucille right?”
Lucille nodded, sniffing and wiping her eyes.
“Nice to meet you.” She said, followed with a sigh. “I know it’s scary being her all alone, but you’re safe her. Why don’t you come with me, me and another new kid are gonna play a game before bed. Wanna join?”
Lucille nodded and followed Clara to sit with a boy with shaggy black hair and shining dark eyes. They played a card game called MythoMagic for a while, Lucille struggled a bit, as the attacks were organised by colour, and well, being colour blind is so fun, but she memorised the order they went in. The trio had some fun before sleeping soundly. Lucille found that Justin had left his Jacket on her bed roll. She slept curled up, covered by her brother’s jacket.
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The next day, Justin arose to a room that appeared to be glowing in the morning light. The sudden change from darkness to light hurt his eyes, the room appeared to be glowing in the morning light. Whether that was because of the bright white and yellow paint covering the walls and furniture, or because the building was actually glowing, he could not tell. He would not put it past this camp to have glowing buildings. He swore the silver cabin across the courtyard (Artemis’ cabin maybe?) was glowing last night.
“Wakey wakey newbie!” Lee Fletcher bounced up to Justin’s bedside, far too happy for this early in the morning. “Breakfast is soon, and I have to show you around the camp today!”
Justin grunted and gave Lee a thumbs up in acknowledgement.
“Not a morning person, huh? Good luck with that.”
At that, Lee went off to get dressed himself. Justin took another then minutes to get himself up, only encouraged by the thought of greeting Lucille. He pulled on an orange camp tshirt and blue basketball shorts, with blue canvas shirts. It wasn’t long until it was time to march their way down to the mess hall for breakfast, and for Justin to see if his sister was ok.
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Lucille was woken up by the girl from the night before, Clara. She was told to get dressed, as breakfast would be soon, and Clara gave her a small tshirt coloured a strange greyish yellow, with the words Camp Half Blood on it. The residents of the Hermes cabin got dressed and slowly filtered out to the mess hall, Clara waiting for Lucille as their cabin mates passed them. Lucille was slow, still tired from her late night, and it showed. She was yawning constantly, and her eyes were drooping.
“Hey Lucille, you gotta hurry, we’ll be late to breakfast.” Clara was hungry, but remained calm with the little girl. She knows how she feels, Clara had come to camp alone the year prior. Being young and coming to terms with staying here is daunting. She looked out of the window and smiled as she saw a familiar blonde haired boy exiting the Apollo cabin. “Justin’s outside, we should go meet him before eating!”
That made Lucille perk up. She rushed to put on her shoes, messing up the laces and needing Clara to fix them before they left. Lucille rushed outside and ran to her brother, who had waited outside to greet her. They shared a strong embrace and spoke quietly to each other, Clara waiting behind Lucille as she they caught up. Clara zoned out to give them privacy, focusing on the bustling crowd of campers wandering to the mess hall, until her heard her name being said by the little girl.
“She did, did she?” Justin looked up to her and smiled. Noticing she had zoned out and didn’t hear them, he elaborated. “You comforted her last night?”
“Naí, of course.” Her accent caught Justin off guard. She sounded vaguely European to him, but he could not place it 100%. “I’m not exactly going to let a little one suffer. I’m Clara Ostá, unclaimed.”
“Great to meet you.” Justin stood and smiled at Clara.
The trio wandered to the mess hall, Justin joining his godly siblings at their table, promising to meet up with the girls after his tour of the camp. Clara promised to look after Lucille. Breakfast lasted for an hour and a half. Chiron made an announcement before the campers were allowed to leave and go on with their day, basically explaining that there was something new in the lake, and the heads of the Ares and Athena cabins must come to speak to him. After that, he motioned for them to leave, but everyone stopped suddenly when a red light appeared above Lucille’s head. Lucille looked extremely confused, the red light appearing a dark yellow and blending in with the yellow sunlight, so was near invisible to her. The symbol within the light was a flaming hammer, which apparently shocked one of the tables, as they muttered between each other about her being so small. Chiron broke the silence the same way he did last night with Justin.
“What a pleasant start to the day! Praise Lucille, daughter of Hephaestus!”
The campers clapped for Lucille, the table that was muttering cheered. They must be children of Hephaestus too. As the campers dispersed, a tall, muscular kid, several years older than Justin, walked over to Lucille and introduced himself as Beckendorf, the Head Counsellor of the Hephaestus cabin, and her eldest brother on their dad’s side. Justin, along with Lee Fletcher, walked over to the pair, and Justin immediately congratulated her for being claimed. After some explanation of who Hephaestus was, Lucille got extremely excited. Justin joked that her fiddling with materials and affinity with tools made so much sense now. Clara bid her goodbyes, saying she was going to train, but would meet the two later in the day.
The two Counsellors took the siblings on a tour of the camp together, hyping up all of the training facilities and leisure activities, as well as the classes like ancient Greek, and the Introduction to Myths and Monsters. Suddenly, this whole event was a lot less scary, and so much more exciting. They passed the amphitheatre where sword training was taking place, where they saw Clara thrashing her opponent with immense strength and grace. Justin’s jaw dropped slightly, but he was snapped out of the trance when Lee patted him on the shoulder as they moved on. They stopped at the archery range, where Lee told Justin to have a go, to see how natural his skills were. Lee coached him on how to stand, hold the bow, and draw an arrow without hurting himself. His first arrow was a bullseye. The two counsellors got extremely excited and applauded him. Lucille did too, but she definitely did not know what was happening. She was too busy fiddling with a spring. They had Justin shoot a few more arrows, all hitting the bullseye, before they moved on. As they walked to the forge, where Beckendorf said Lucille would likely spend a lot of time, the counsellors asked what brought them to camp. Justin explained the monster attack, adding on the details of what Mormo said, and how he dreamt of her when she was young. Lee explained the dreams were normal, and what she said was concerning, but she was dusted, so they should be fine for a while. However, when Justin explained how he killed Mormo, thrusting out his hand, and her writhing in pain, the older campers shared a concerned look.
They reached the forge, and Beckendorf turned his attention to Lucille, explaining what they did there. Justin interrupted, explaining that she was colour blind, and Beckendorf acknowledged this, reassuring the Peters siblings that he would do anything in his power to make her experience on the forge more accessible. That made Justin feel better.
“Hey Justin, why don’t we leave these two to investigate the forge?” Lee offered Lucille appeared extremely eager to explore, and Beckendorf seemed trustworthy and eager to introduce her to her siblings, she he hugged her goodbye and promised to see her later.
Lee beckoned for Justin to follow him. He explained that they needed too talked to Chiron, as how Justin defeated Mormos was not a normal Apollo power, and he needed an explanation. Justin was worried about that. Had Apollo made a mistake in claiming him? Was he actually the son of some other God?
Le and Justin appeared at the main cabin, called the Big House. They spoke to Chiron, who had hidden his horse half in a wheelchair, explaining the story of the monster attack in full. The centaur questioned Justin on his past, asking about any incidents involving his emotions and people getting sick. Justin explained the many unexplainable times someone had gotten a headache, or thrown up, or even fainted when they annoyed or upset him. Chiron became quiet and pondered this information for a moment.
“That explains why the titans want you.” Chiron brushed a nervous hand through his hair. He kind eyes turned serious as he stared into Justin’s soul. “You, my boy, are the son of Smintheus Apollo. You have inherited Apollo’s abilities of plague. Children like you only appear once every century. You, Justin Peters, are the Plague Bearer of the 21st Century.”
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Primal AU - Void
I still have this going. Just been trying to think of things to write in it.
Then a song kind of inspired this. In to Hades from Domina Noctis. A Eurydice song.
Kivera curses to herself vehemently. The things she does for Divinity. The reaper traverses the different realms and dimensions till she finds one swirling with anger and sorrow.
“Ah, I found you.” She had just seen Divinity enter into Dusk Vigil, and she herself only has a few hours to work before a tragedy takes place. A voice rings in her head.
“You know what you are doing goes against what is set in motion.”
“Bite me Kronos. She’s not dead yet.” Kivera barks at the voice, and shuts the god up out of her head.
“And what do you plan to trade in for this soul?”
“Nothing. She is not dead yet. The underworld does not own her yet.” Kivera puts a finger to her lips.
“Now silence!” She uses a spell to quiet the time deity up. Kivera approaches one of the masses in this void, the fight against Mormo had began, and now she really only has seconds to snare her out.
There is a mantra of sorry repeated in hushed strained voice. Kiya curled in on herself, locked into this, from Kivera’s guess since she entered it.
“A possession.” Kivera kneels to the soul, waving a hand in front of her to get the miqo’tes attention. When green eyes meet matching green eyes. Kiya almost swears she is looking into a mirror. Only one that is much more stunning than her own profile. The face concealed by an elegant mask.
“I didn’t want this...” Kiya starts.
“I know. You do not have to say anything. If you can talk, come with me.” Kiya is dragged to her feet, and watches as this being lights a path, mirroring the one she had ran through from the World of Darkness.
Kiya is on shaking feet, her soul ached from having her aether drained so much by Mormo. Kivera sees this and lifts her mask and briefly gives a kiss to Kiya to share in some of her own energy.
“Come now, we only have minutes before you are killed.” Kiya knows the battle raging on, she feels the blows on her body from fire, sword, and lance. Kivera pushes Kiya in front of herself.
“Walk to that gate now!” She swats her back and makes her move. Kiya does not hesitate and makes a run on her feet. She starts to turn her head back.
“Don’t you dare look back! Or you lose everything!” This keeps the miqote on her feet and looking forward. Behind her the path she is on lights in fire and starts crumbling after her steps. Kiya feels jagged thorns in the soles of her feet and stumbles. She feels a surge of white magic through her, and energy returning.
She makes a run for the gate, and once she does she feels heavy, but surrounded in warmth yet cold. Kiya is overwhelmed in her emotions as she feels her very soul healed and reached.
“Aymeric! I am sorry! I am so sorry! Forgive me!!” Tears brim her eyes, and she buries her face into the shoulder belonging to Divinity. Kiya passes out brief as her mind and soul adjusts back to her body. Having lost weight to it from the years she spent in Dusk Vigil.
Divinity says something she can’t make out to someone else. She is helped to her feet, but quickly loses footing till she is carried on Divinity’s back. Kiya felt safe and protected on her back, she was warm and curled in towards her.
Once they reached outside the stronghold, Kiya perks her head up hearing a familiar voice to her. Aymeric. She suddenly feels guilty and her heart ached in sorrow. She ducks her head down and turns her head away. Kiya feels eyes on her, and closes her own tight to avoid Aymeric’s stare, afraid if she looks into his eyes, she’ll remember all her mistakes she made.
Hands press to her face, warm and strong.
“Please... look at me... Is it really you....” Kiya hears the hope in his voice, and opens her eyes. She is greeted to searching blue eyes. Her own green eyes search his even as she is pulled off Divinity’s back. Kiya’s eyes brim over in tears once more.
“Come on now, isn’t there something you want to tell him? You were crying it earlier.” Divinity’s voice is soft and reassuring. Kiya turns her attention back onto Aymeric.
“I-I’m so sorry! Aymeric!! Please forgive me.... I’ll never do it again! I’m sorry!!” Kiya in a quick blur of arms clings to him, and feels strong arms wrap around her.
“Kiya... my Kiya... my love, My Love!” Kiya sees absolute relief on his face, like she saw after she awoke after Ghimlyt Dark. Aymeric pins her down onto the cold stone floor. She yelps and squirms as her body registers the cold. She has lips crash into hers, and feels hot tears against her cheek. If he could hold her tighter he would, but her form makes him delicate.
After he breaks the kiss and feels relief at having his beloved back in his life. He reaches his hands to her face and helps sit her upright. Lucia bringing a cloak co conceal Kiya’s nude form.
Aymeric brushes his hands over Kiya’s cheeks sweet and tender. Then grabs hold of her cheeks and pulls on them in a manner that makes people around them wonder and realize not to make him mad.
“You have any idea what you put me and your friends through!? What I had signed? Your death sentence!?! Those adventurers in there... I sent them to slay you! How you survived and were brought back... is beyond me.. I am grateful... but you! I will never forgive you for what you did!” He keeps hold of her face, for the first time since their very first fight. She sees the anger in his normally gentle ice blue eyes, reminder of how piercing they can be. His tone holds his emotion. She is crestfallen at his words how he won’t forgive her. She tries to look to the side, but his hold on her face keeps her still.
“However, you can spend the rest of our life together making it up to me.” Aymeric presses his forehead to hers and locks his eyes as they soften. Full of love and warmth for her.
“Soul crystals, all of them.” He holds a hand out for her to give him all of her soul crystals. Kiya doesn’t hesitate in giving them to him. Seeing him hold them, his thumb gently pressing over her black mage stone.
“Three years. Hear me? Three. Years. You will not travel, and you will not go and put yourself in harms way. Understand me? Till you are strong enough to handle these roles again.” Aymeric keeps her stare, and she nods.
”Yes, Aymeric.” She says.
“Yes, Lord Commander, Ser Aymeric. Say it.” He corrects her.
“Yes! Lord Commander, Ser Aymeric!” Kiya repeats his words back, and after she does. Aymeric tucks the crystals away, then pulls her into his arms giving her the tightest hug she can ever feel. She is overwhelmed in emotions again. She feels herself lifted into Aymeric’s arms. Another knight approaches, and Aymeric wears an expression not wanting to deal with more than he needs.
“Ser Aymeric? Aren’t you not concerned of whether or not she might be enthralled? Or lingering effects from being a primal?” The knight is met with a sharp annoyed stare.
“Look at her. Does she look enthralled?” Kiya ducks her head down, seeing the way people are scared of her.
“The threat has been neutralized.” Divinity pipes up.
“I saw to it myself. Kiya is returned and this day does not end on a tragic note. I say.. leave them alone.” Divinity continues, and the knight does not miss the look from Aymeric.
“I will not hear of anyone within my line of hearing slander her. Let us count our blessings. She is much returned in the same manner Estinien was spared from a needless death. If I hear anyone else speak ill of her. I might lose mine temper. Not another word.” He warns. He earns nods out of several people understanding.
“Lord Commander. You should get her out of the cold before she freezes to death.” Lucia urges him on to get her to Ishgard. Aymeric nods, and is thankful for her to draw attention back to what was important.
Divinity lingers back and sees a broken mirror in a hallway. She is curious and peers into it, she is met with green eyes.
“I had a feeling this was from you.” Divinity smiles, making the reaper blush enough that the green flits to pink.
“You owe me. I pissed Kronos off.” Kivera looks away with a huff. Divinity only smiles.
“I know. Thank you for stepping in.” Kivera looks over Divinity’s shoulder and spies Estinien regarding the interaction. Divinity straightens herself up, and Kivera vanishes from the mirror in wisps of smoke.
“Do not mind mine presence. Carry on.” He had chanced on them talking. Kivera he had encountered a few times since their night together.
“She is still a bit shy, forgive her Estinien.” He does see green eyes peer around the corner of the mirror like a wall.
“Aye, word of wise however. This place is not suited for conversations with those from the void. Too many onlookers. My place or the Inn would be better.” Estinien regards both of them.
“Agreed. Then we’re visiting you tonight? To celebrate?” Divinity smiles as he nods.
“I believe returning our friend and Aymeric’s beloved is celebration enough.”
Kivera regards them both.
“That should be payment enough for sparing her life.” Kivera chimes in, and disappears for now. Estinien does not know how he came to have these lovers. But glad to have Death on their side.
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