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halothenthehorns · 4 months ago

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Chapter 26: WE SAY GOOD-BYE, SORT OF

Let’s all just pause and take a moment to exult that I’m done with one set of books! This is an accomplishment I will never fail to revel in no matter how many more I have to go! It’s been a ride I wouldn’t trade a word for!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Alex, who had started all of this by picking up the first book she remembered fondly, took it from Magnus casually with a hopeful smile as she read, "We Say Good-Bye, Sort Of. That's just like you Percy. Gods forbid you commit to anything."

"I commit to important things," he promised with a casual kiss on his girlfriend's temple.

Camp went late that summer. It lasted two more weeks, right up to the start of a new school year, and I have to admit they were the best two weeks of my life.

Alex couldn't help but read that with a tinge of confusion to her voice though. She had about as much clue to that idea of a solid length of time being happy as Percy had to a normal life. She liked it better when he was killing math teachers, at least that she could wrap her head around.

Of course, Annabeth would kill me if I said anything different,

"For just a moment I thought you were done holding people hostage at knife point Annabeth," Thalia said with, wagging a 'for shame' finger at her. "Let the poor boy go this instant!"

“I’m relieved, can’t let her go getting soft now that she’s in love,” Jason snorted.

"A lesser person would hold you to saying that as some kind of blackmail Thals," Annabeth chuckled.

but there was a lot of other great stuff going on too. Grover had taken over the satyr seekers and was sending them out across the world to find unclaimed half-bloods.

Jason felt a giddy sense of pride that his reaction all the way back at the beginning of this hearing how unorganized they were had been given its own resolution. Gods he wanted to shake Grover's hand and meet him so bad to see what his chart looked like covering all of this.

So far, the gods had kept their promise.

"For all of two weeks," Will nodded seriously. "Yeah, we were shocked too."

New demigods were popping up all over the place—not just in America, but in a lot of other countries as well.

"We can hardly keep up," Grover admitted one afternoon as we were taking a break at the canoe lake. "We're going to need a bigger travel budget, and I could use a hundred more satyrs."

Alex resisted the urge to joke about an orgy with great restraint. Grover was a real person to Percy, not just an abstract joke.

"Yeah, but the satyrs you have are working super hard," I said. "I think they're scared of you."

Grover blushed. "That's silly. I'm not scary."

"You're a lord of the Wild, dude. The chosen one of Pan. A member of the Council of—"

"Stop it!" Grover protested. "You're as bad as Juniper. I think she wants me to run for president next."

"And I'd vote for his hindquarters!" Nico snorted. "He'd do wonders for environmental issues."

"Given you and Thalia are the only one's here old enough to vote, I guess we'd just help put up campaign signs," Percy chuckled.

He chewed on a tin can as we stared across the pond at the line of new cabins under construction. The U-shape would soon be a complete rectangle, and the demigods had really taken to the new task with gusto.

Nico had some undead builders working on the Hades cabin. Even though he was still the only kid in it, it was going to look pretty cool: solid obsidian walls with a skull over the door and torches that burned with green fire twenty-four hours a day. Next to that were the cabins of Iris, Nemesis, Hecate, and several others I didn't recognize. They kept adding new ones to the blueprints every day. It was going so well, Annabeth and Chiron were talking about adding an entirely new wing of cabins just so they could have enough room.

Jason felt like getting up to high five Chiron. Of course Percy had been right, change was happening!

The Hermes cabin was a lot less crowded now, because most of the unclaimed kids had received signs from their godly parents.

"What a concept, all the kids having a bed and a whole foot of space for themselves," Nico said dryly.

"I hope you're not expecting a thank you card," Percy rolled his eyes.

It happened almost every night, and every night more demigods straggled over the property line with the satyr guides, usually with some nasty monsters pursuing them, but almost all of them made it through.

'Almost all of them,' Magnus shook his head sadly he couldn't even feel real surprise and shock at how casually that was just put down.

"It's going to be a lot different next summer," I said. "Chiron's expecting we'll have twice as many campers."

"Yeah," Grover agreed, "but it'll be the same old place."

He sighed contentedly.

I watched as Tyson led a group of Cyclops builders. They were hoisting huge stones in place for the Hecate cabin, and I knew it was a delicate job. Each stone was engraved with magical writing, and if they dropped one, it would either explode or turn everyone within half a mile into a tree. I figured nobody but Grover would like that.

"Define, everyone?" Alex asked clinically, wondering if it would work on the cyclops, who were already nature spirit adjacents.

"Been there, done that, don't recommend," Thalia huffed.

"I'll be traveling a lot," Grover warned, "between protecting nature and finding half-bloods. I may not see you as much."

"Won't change anything," I said. "You're still my best friend."

He grinned. "Except for Annabeth."

"That's different."

"Yeah," he agreed. "It sure is."

"I miss him," Percy needlessly told her. "We need the three amigos out in the world!"

"I have a feeling you'll get your wish soon," Annabeth promised, but with the kind of smile that at least made him hope it would be fifty fifty on the fun/ death scale.

In the late afternoon, I was taking one last walk along the beach when a familiar voice said, "Good day for fishing."

My dad, Poseidon, was standing knee-deep in the surf, wearing his typical Bermuda shorts, beat-up cap, and a real subtle pink-and-green Tommy Bahama shirt. He had a deep-sea fishing rod in his hands, and when he cast it the line went way out—like halfway across Long Island Sound.

"Hey, Dad," I said. "What brings you here?"

He winked. "Never really got to talk in private on Olympus. I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? You came to the rescue."

"Yes, and I got my palace destroyed in the process,

Percy sighed loudly, he just knew that was going to come up again!

but you know—palaces can be rebuilt. I've gotten so many thank-you cards from the other gods. Even Ares wrote one, though I think Hera forced him to. It's rather gratifying. So, thank you. I suppose even the gods can learn new tricks."

"Yada yada old dogs," Magnus nodded.

"I'd leave at least half of them at the pound," Thalia smirked, causing Percy to laugh hard in agreement.

The Sound began to boil. At the end of my dad's line, a huge green sea serpent erupted from the water. It thrashed and fought, but Poseidon just sighed. Holding his fishing pole with one hand, he whipped out his knife and cut the line. The monster sank below the surface.

"Not eating size," he complained. "I have to release the little ones or the game wardens will be all over me."

"Little ones?"

"Game warden?" Jason felt he was asking the far more important question.

"I'll bet it's Grover," Will smirked.

He grinned. "You're doing well with those new cabins, by the way. I suppose this means I can claim all those other sons and daughters of mine and send you some siblings next summer."

"Damn," Alex snorted, "your dad is ice cold for that joke."

"He had to have that side of him somewhere, the ocean isn't all dolphins and maytai," Annaebth shrugged without surprise. Percy was to busy sitting in nervous silence to answer.

"Ha-ha."

Poseidon reeled in his empty line.

I shifted my feet. "Um, you were kidding, right?"

Poseidon gave me one of his inside-joke winks, and I still didn't know whether he was serious or not.

"He, wouldn't, have," but Jason sounded as confused and unsure as Percy did, and when this guy was on the same page as him, they were all in trouble.

Percy loved his little brother in Tyson, but a small, secret part of him had also kind of enjoyed the idea his mom was special. That it was Sally Jackson herself that had made Poseidon break his oath and sort of regret him being born until he proved otherwise.

...besides, no way could other half-blood siblings have been out there all this time, still alive and awaiting to be discovered. They were supposed to be extra monsterlicious or something. Right?!

"I'll see you soon, Percy. And remember, know which fish are big enough to land, eh?"

With that he dissolved in the sea breeze, leaving a fishing pole lying in the sand.

"Did you keep it?" Alex asked casually.

"It was probably cursed," Percy said like that was an answer.

"And?" Alex spluttered in disappointment. Percy gave her a tragic look that he felt spoke all he needed to about enticing such ideas.

She turned grumpily away and muttered some more curses, though Percy wasn't quite sure if he meant the artifact kind or the cussing him out kind. He had a feeling Alex could manage both equally well at any rate.

That evening was the last night of camp—the bead ceremony. The Hephaestus cabin had designed the bead this year. It showed the Empire State Building, and etched in tiny Greek letters, spiraling around the image, were the names of all the heroes who had died defending Olympus. There were too many names, but I was proud to wear the bead. I put it on my camp necklace—four beads now. I felt like an old-timer. I thought about the first campfire I'd ever attended, back when I was twelve, and how I'd felt so at home.

That at least hadn't changed.

It was one of those things Percy hoped never did. His love of the color blue, how much he loved going fast on his pets, how much he looked forward coming to camp every year. He expected his feelings for Annabeth to change and reform, he accepted he'd keep feeling like a freak in his own head around all these different people who saw him as something special, but it felt good to fall back on simple things too.

"Never forget this summer!" Chiron told us. He had healed remarkably well, but he still trotted in front of the fire with a slight limp.

"Errr, Percy, he's always had that limp," Annabeth told him kindly.

"What? No he hasn't," Percy frowned. "I'd notice that."

"Yeah, sorry Perce," Will agreed. "It's not super obvious, but it's there. He got it from that Hercules incident."

Percy looked at them dumbfounded and was pretty sure they were pulling his leg...but he also still couldn't prove there wasn't some secret play they put on every year he'd never heard of so he was kind of at a loss.

"We have discovered bravery and friendship and courage this summer. We have upheld the honor of the camp." He smiled at me, and everybody cheered. As I looked at the fire, I saw a little girl in a brown dress tending the flames. She winked at me with red glowing eyes. No one else seemed to notice her, but I realized maybe she preferred it that way.

"Yeah, I think Hestia is my spirit goddess," Magnus grinned.

"We can throw you in the fire?" Alex asked with mild excitement.

"You're going to save the world by being handed a jar?" Percy asked blankly.

"Screw both of you," Magnus chuckled.

"And now," Chiron said, "early to bed! Remember, you must vacate your cabins by noon tomorrow unless you've made arrangements to stay the year with us. The cleaning harpies will eat any stragglers, and I'd hate to end the summer on a sour note!"

"Do we taste sour?" Nico asked, unimpressed.

"Don't say it like that," Will whined. "Chiron doesn't join in them eating us!"

"Well I'm so sorry I didn't get the correct interpretation out of that death threat," Nico rolled his eyes. He'd left this night, it had been the last thing he heard Chiron say. It had been a pretty memorable last stance.

The next morning, Annabeth and I stood at the top of Half-Blood Hill. We watched the buses and vans pull away, taking most of the campers back to the real world. A few old-timers would be staying behind, and a few of the newcomers, but I was heading back to Goode High School for my sophomore year—the first time in my life I'd ever done two years at the same school.

"In the sea of your life, that is a particularly depressing statement my friend," Jason said with a strange feeling of not being able to relate to Percy on that one. It was nice, he supposed, not to have a deep rooted parallel lodged in him about such a sad thing to hear, but somehow made Percy's life even more tragic than his own blank one for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah, news flash at ten, traffic or whatever," Percy shrugged, but it was still a good feeling. To smile and hope that they were just on winter break and he'd be able to actually continue this trend. The world wouldn't end because he'd accomplished something, it was all he'd wanted once upon a time.

"Good-bye," Rachel said to us as she shouldered her bag. She looked pretty nervous, but she was keeping a promise to her father and attending Clarion Academy in New Hampshire. It would be next summer before we got our Oracle back.

"You'll do great." Annabeth hugged her. Funny, she seemed to get along fine with Rachel these days.

"Very, very strange, yes," Alex said in a posh, scholarly voice. "Next he'll sit around and ponder the existence of bread or something."

"Well documented history of something all human civilizations create," Annabeth helpfully said to his blank look.

"Ah, thanks," he said.

Rachel bit her lip. "I hope you're right. I'm a little worried. What if somebody asks what's on the next math test and I start spouting a prophecy in the middle of geometry class? The Pythagorean theorem shall be problem two. . . . Gods, that would be embarrassing."

"I think that would make her the most popular girl there though," Thalia grinned. "Teachers would never understand how the kids keep cheating, she wouldn't charge anyone for free answers to the test, just works out for everyone really."

"Don't get me started on how our education system is trash," Annabeth said with a sharp look at the book like Rachel was in front of her to debate this with on whether that would be of any help.

Annabeth laughed, and to my relief, it made Rachel smile.

"Well," she said, "you two be good to each other." Go figure, but she looked at me like I was some kind of troublemaker.

"You can't say anything Percy, you called yourself a trouble maker first," Thalia grinned.

"It was shocking I tell you, I'd never been labeled as such before," Percy insisted wide eyed, causing them all to laugh lightly again.

Before I could protest, Rachel wished us well and ran down the hill to catch her ride.

Annabeth, thank goodness, would be staying in New York. She'd gotten permission from her parents to attend a boarding school in the city so she could be close to Olympus and oversee the rebuilding efforts.

"Guess that living in Cali. thing didn't stick?" Magnus asked, one part nervous for her, one part hopeful she'd just finally decided where she wanted her home to be.

"Not so much," Annabeth agreed, but the sad smile didn't linger as she turned back to the book casually. She'd keep in contact with her dad as long as he wanted to. She'd even offer to say hi to her step mom if she wanted to stop and chat on the phone. She'd come around for holidays or birthdays even. It just wasn't a necessity to her. She finally had her question answered of her place in his life.

"And close to me?" I asked.

"Well, someone's got a big sense of his own importance." But she laced her fingers through mine. I remembered what she'd told me in New York, about building something permanent, and I thought—just maybe—we were off to a good start.

"Well the bones of your relationship are at least well set in good sediment," Nico tried to say that in a complimentary way, but Percy just got another 'over my head' look and Nico shrunk in his seat rather than admit he'd spent hours in a museum once looking up niche facts of where dinosaur fossils were usually discovered.

The guard dragon Peleus curled contentedly around the pine tree underneath the Golden Fleece and began to snore, blowing steam with every breath.

"You've been thinking about Rachel's prophecy?" I asked Annabeth.

She frowned. "How did you know?"

"Because I know you."

Annabeth gave a mock, tragic sigh. "Am I already that predictable?"

"I don't mind a little calm and steady see-thoroughness right now," Percy promised. He could see that feeling hadn't faded at all with time too. She hadn't stopped studying Jason with those intense gray eyes every time she was sure he wasn't looking. A lesser guy would have been jealous. Percy was secure enough to know better it wasn't that blonde hair and blue eyes holding her attention after quoting that prophecy.

She bumped me with her shoulder. "Okay, so I have. Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. I wonder who they'll be. We're going to have so many new faces next summer."

"Those poor suckers have no clue what they're in for," Magnus said with experience.

"I'm still trying to hold out hope it won't involve us," Percy groaned.

"Well then, don't give the jar to Magnus," Alex reminded with an impish grin.

Annabeth chuckled along quietly, her eyes still darting between Jason, her cousin, and Alex. To much of what Artimes had said made sense with her dreams.

"Yep," I agreed. "And all that stuff about the world falling in storm or fire."

"You don't get a choice about the world ending that time," Jason agreed sadly. "You pick your poison and you like it."

"Bet I can find a loophole where one of the poison's tastes like blue-raspberry at least," Percy offered half-heartedly.

She pursed her lips. "And foes at the Doors of Death.

"Which is a particularly strange line," Nico nodded. "The Doors of Death are always moving, they're set in no spot, in Tartarus! No half-bloods would survive down there to bare arms against each other long enough."

"Not a theory I'd like to start beta-testing," Annabeth reluctantly agreed, though it was a soothing feeling for a moment to have a niche expert on at least one line at minimum.

I don't know, Percy, but I don't like it. I thought . . . well, maybe we'd get some peace for a change."

"What on earth gave you that strange thought?" Thalia asked her in concern.

"My recent visit to the delusional land of Olympus where everything was sunshine and rainbows by design," Annabeth sighed.

"Wouldn't be Camp Half-Blood if it was peaceful," I said.

"I guess you're right . . . Or maybe the prophecy won't happen for years."

"Could be a problem for another generation of demigods," I agreed. "Then we can kick back and enjoy."

She nodded, though she still seemed uneasy. I didn't blame her, but it was hard to feel too upset on a nice day, with her next to me, knowing that I wasn't really saying good-bye. We had lots of time.

"Race you to the road?" I said.

"You are so going to lose." She took off down Half-Blood Hill and I sprinted after her.

For once, I didn't look back.

Alex smiled as she closed the book to finally indicate she was done, this one was done. It was a strange feeling of relief and accomplishment when it had nothing to do with her in particular, just one that always came with finishing a new story. Having someone else's life given a tangible place in her world was usually such a fleeting thing.

Percy jumped up and did a lap around the room, arms up in a delirious victory. He would have been shouting like a loon at the top of his lungs if he wasn't worried about drawing the cranky Titan back.

The others couldn't blame him in the slightest, letting him work off his energy as they waited for Jason to stretch and offer, "don't worry, I can wait one more day to deal with the next stretch of my mess. We can all hit bed for the night."

"Thank you," Annabeth said politely, though she and Thalia exchanged almost disappointed looks. They almost didn't want that. They'd known everything of their past, but there was a hunger in them to get a look at the other side of a gods face and see just what Jason had gotten up to.

Alex, Will, and Nico were already walking off however, talking about death auras and color theory in a disturbing crisscross conversation, and Percy was starting to slow his frantic run and rubbing his stomach, so they weren't going to argue the point tonight and let it go to take a breath at minimum.

Magnus lingered on the couch where he'd been sitting by Alex, head tipped back and staring at the ceiling with a forlorn expression.

Annabeth sunk down uneasily beside him and asked, "thinking about Hearth?"

He nodded, an uncomfortable position for his neck for sure at the awkward angle as he didn't look around. "I feel like such trash, he's my friend, and here Percy just went and made sure the world was safe for all of his, and I waved mine goodby on the word a Titan wouldn't just chuck him off the planet by accident."

"Percy isn't perfect," Annabeth corrected with a fond smile. "I know you know I once jumped on the back of a manticore, and he beat himself up over it too."

Magnus finally turned to face her, waving his hand around in the water to show how much that comparison didn't work.

"I know," she agreed. "Just, I know you're going to beat yourself up, but try to leave some skin unbruised too. If Hearth left of his own accord, I can't see him blaming you."

Magnus sighed and nodded in agreement. He wanted to believe that, at any rate.

Annabeth watched, seeing him now studying the empty seat with a faraway look in his eyes she knew all to well, the lost expression of not knowing what to do about a situation wasn't just for his friend.

"You like her," Annabeth said astutely, tucking her legs underneath her and studying him, "I could tell that after being here half a day. Have you said anything to Alex?"

Magnus bit his lip and wasn't sure how to say it.

"Is it because you're only attracted to her, half the time?" She kept fishing.

"No, no," Magnus quickly corrected. "I, find her just as intriguing on her he days. I mean, I've never been attracted to a guy before, but it's not, I mean, I like Alex, no matter what gender she or he is."

"So what's the problem?" Annabeth repeated, pure sympathy in her tone.

He clasped his hands and tapped his fingers against his chin, there was no nice way to say it. "Not sure what's going to happen when we get back. I'm still, I'm not sure if you're camp, well, up there-"

His cousin's eyes filled with regret, she leaned forward in her seat, feet spilling back onto the floor to support her weight as she automatically went in to hug him, before she hesitated and leaned right back. He smiled at her in relief and forced himself to relax, not even realizing he'd tensed up until she'd sat back in her seat, but still leaning on the edge.

"You're homeless." She said it as a statement, not a question. He didn't bother to deny it. What would be the point when she'd find out the second they got out of here? Her face flooded with the one thing that didn't send him running away though. Understanding. "Magnus, I am so sorry about that, if I'd known-"

"How could you," he brushed off any responsibility on her part. "As bad as things apparently are between your dad, if he even knows, you've had your own troubles going on-"

"I asked about you though," Annabeth insisted, she was twisting her hands up in her lap and he smiled to imagine her Yankees cap there. "When he told me about Aunt Natalie, that first summer I'd seen him in so long, I cried all night. He said he tried to find you but the system had no record of you, and my step-mom was just in the kitchen the whole time making her kids lunch like nothing was wrong, well, it didn't set a good precedent for that summer. I just thought, I don't know, you were living with Uncle Randolph, safe, I was still fighting with them so much-"

"I don't blame you," he insisted to her guilt ridden face.

"I should have looked for you," she insisted too. "You could have been at camp with us all along."

"I don't know about that," he frowned and looked up at the ceiling again, then reluctantly, the door. "That's why I'm, well it doesn't help I'm a tongue tied idiot around her, but I don't know what's going to happen when we get back. The last thing I should be worried about is a crush when, well I have no clue about my parentage and," he trailed off with his face burning red and his own hands gripping painfully tight to each other.

Annabeth bumped their knees together as she leaned forward without being forceful about it, her tone dead serious. "Chiron will not turn you four away. You'll have somewhere safe to be Magnus." Then she looked over her shoulder, and back to him with a promising smile. "I can tell you really have feelings for Alex, and you shouldn't wait on something like that."

He was blushing again even as he answered, "it's not like it's just me. Alex is, so confident, about everything! I still think she's just been messing with me! If she did like me, I think she'd say something about it, she's so bold." He was smiling by the end, he could hear to his own ears how gently he spoke of her and couldn't even find the blush to be embarrassed about it anymore, even as Annabeth's smile increased.

She still spoke candidly, but there was a hint of worry for the first time. "Maybe, well, she has feelings for somebody else up there right now."

Magnus's heart plummeted, he hadn't thought of that.

"Maybe there's, other things going on in her circumstances," Annabeth relentlessly went on, "but Magnus, you'll regret it if you don't at least ask. Trust me."

He did trust her. He didn't envy the two living through the end of the world before finding peace in each other. He didn't want total destruction to get up the courage to say something to Alex and wondered what other obstacles between near constant death by monster and kidnapping's might circumvent them giving each other a chance.

Magnus knew the moment Percy must have walked back in the room by watching her face light up, shifting around in her seat as if her first reaction were to go to him. She stopped herself and smiled back at him.

He nodded to be left alone, so Annabeth just gave him a promising smile as she stretched and stood up, going over to Percy and putting her hand in his like it was the most natural thing in the world as they discussed what they wanted for dinner with Thalia.

His mind was so preoccupied trying to figure out what exactly he was going to say to Alex on the way to her door, he had no clue how long he was standing in front of it only to see it was open. Wrapping his knuckles sharply on it anyways and very cautiously easing his head around, he called out for her with no answer.

It was as bland as everybody else's, if he hadn't subconsciously noted which one she'd come out of yesterday he'd never have guessed who's it could be, but there was also something so uniquely Alex about it he was sure he wasn't wrong. The smell of wet clay lingered in the air, there was a sewing kit resting beside the pillow, and a plate of Hershey's Kisses on top of the fridge, all unwrapped and arranged in a nonlinear way.

His first impulse was to swipe them into his mouth and book it, but this was Alex's room, and he'd never stolen from someone he wasn't pretty convinced didn't deserve it, so he instead opened up the door below.

Instead of food, what he found was a bowl. A beautiful work of pottery with intricate, almost 3D looking designs all along the side of a caterpillar weaving itself into a cocoon and coming out, only for its wings to beat for all of one image and begin withering in the very next to turn to dust, a telling story all the way until he spun it back around to start.

The kind of thing he would have scoffed and been disgusted at the price of, only someone living the lap of luxury could afford in a window. His hands felt grubby holding it.

He swiftly set it on her bed before the worst could happen and bumped into the fridge door, closing it to hide the evidence he'd found such a thing while the chocolate all moved around on the plate.

Then his mind seized in a panic, wanting to put it back before she found he'd saw it, and he had to grab something else out to prove he hadn't of course! But what- his eyes darted to the chocolate, and he frantically slammed and yanked the door too quickly, the universe glitched as it delivered so fast, but a bag of Kisses fell onto his shoe. He ripped the bag open and hastily shoved one in as he kicked the door back shut, feeling the strange crinkling sensation on his tongue and realizing he'd forgotten to unwrap it-

"Magnus?"

He choked, his hands fumbled, and for some reason his brain screamed at him to hide the evidence. The rich chocolate fell to the floor, scattering to every corner as the half-unwrapped one sat on his tongue as he whirled around to see her dark brown and amber eyes were glittering at him from across the room as she sauntered over. She stopped right in front of him, eyeing his lips clinically.

Magnus swallowed and knew he should open his mouth, say something, like why he was invading Alex's privacy and something else very important, he was sure he'd come in here to say something but really couldn't remember right now as Alex leaned in.

Alex planted a hand firmly on his shoulder and kissed him.

It was not gentle, but neither was the way Magnus's knees literally gave out on him and he fell back against the wall, his hands had pulled Alex's shirt with him, so that Alex was fully pressed into him and her lips were still a tantalizing breath apart.

She braced her other hand against the wall right by his head, he felt her shift her weight and his eyes snapped open as he began to apologize and let go only to see her nose to nose with him and smiling, not leaning back an inch. "I'm homeless," he blurted out, and gods he was the most idiotic person on earth as he licked his lips. He was surprised he wasn't choking on that wrapper and probably dying and hallucinations all this.

"I guessed that, I am too," she nodded. Some of her hair had fallen out of the updo, curling back around her shoulders. They were so close, his golden strands were twining together with hers. "I'm a child of Loki."

Judging by her reserved tone, how she was still shifting her weight around, he probably should have had some revelation to that. Even he'd heard of that god. "The god of trickery? Thor's brother?" He was running his tongue over his lip still where they tingled and had never wanted someone to move away less. Maybe he had a chocolate allergy he'd never known of.

She gave him a joyless smile, the nails on his shoulder digging in just a bit, for all the world like she was still fixing to lean back but had yet to do so. "How those Greek kids speak of children of Hades, as outcasts, untrustworthy, that's how our kind will see me Magnus."

"You're not seeing anyone else are you?" He blurted, again. He wasn't touching her anywhere but where his fingers were still holding onto the edge of her odd shirt, the material crinkled like she’d wrapped herself in foil, just the tips of his fingers.

Her smile was very sad as she leaned in and kissed him again, fully capturing his lips. The world might have actually ended by the time she leaned back again, his protection had possibly evaporated into her he was left breathing so shallowly like all the oxygen had been deprived from him. "No," she finally answered in the gentlest voice Magnus had yet heard from her. Her eyes were closed as she stayed right where she was. "Give me time to tell you about Adrian." Her breath caught on the name. Then she opened her eyes, and finally pushed off him and took a step back.

There was chocolate smeared across her lips now and he found himself swallowing none left in his mouth.

"Okay," he promised, thinking Percy would have to come in here and pry him off this wall before he figured out how to move again. "I, um, you're gorgeous," he finally, stupidly, remembered what he'd wanted to come in here and tell her, and the compliment seemed very underwhelming now.

She laughed, that same crooked smile playing across her lips he didn't think he'd ever want to look away from. "And you're an adorable goof."

"I can work with that," he nodded so much he may or may not have broken his neck.

***

Percy finally held her tight that night.

“All coming back to you?” She couldn’t even put a tease in her voice as she lovingly curled into his chest without hesitation and his arms just circled her tighter.

There was comfortable silence for a while. But they both knew. It was a pause of their earlier fight, and they were both testing the waters to see who would break it first.

Percy did, cutting right to the heart of it. He’d seen that look on her face and known what it was. “I got lost, and it wasn’t your fault.”

She said nothing, her nails digging tight into his back. He could feel the hitch in her voice as she fought back a sob.

“The day you can tell a god or goddess or Titan what to do with me is the day you get crowned Queen of Olympus, and Zeus is doing a shit job too, so, I actually like your odds better,” he concluded with the contemplative simpleness she adored about him so much. He had a very black and white view of the world, one she didn’t share but admired.

“I think what’s killing me is, that Artemis had to help,” she admitted. She could only admit this to him, since she was being honest here.

He nodded, because he understood that too. “I’m sure your mom would say good counsel isn’t unwise?” He tried and failed to offer, knowing the answer. “Your mom might never have liked my help, but she can’t claim to have never needed it. She has demigods to do her bidding too.”

“Her counsel, perhaps, but I, I don’t know Percy. I hate the idea, of not knowing what they have planned for you. Of what they’ll ask you to do before this is all over.”

“What they’ll ask us to do,” Percy reminded, she could hear the grin of his voice from the comfort of his beating heart in her ear. “Oceanus might be an idiot, but he made it pretty clear he didn’t pull all of them in here by mistake. Now, you are a part of it, and we’ll make the right call.”

“I hope you’re right,” she murmured. Her mind was on Jason, and her cousin and Alex. Her mind was on those books, and how no god’s gift came without a price. Her mind was on Artemis still, and what she’d ask of them too when they got out of here.

And that would only be the beginning.

PJOPJOPJO

I don’t want to promise when I’ll start the next set of books. I want to get into a new fandom I’ve never explored before and really get invested without fretting in the back of my mind about writing. I want to say I’ll start posting the first chapter around the end of December with a possible first bonus chapter early that month, but if I wait a bit into New Year’s don't be alarmed either. My heart is SET on finishing these, I just don’t want to force it when I’m still playing around with a few ideas.

I will give the minor spoiler and promise I’m kicking around some new characters to bring in, but I would have to take some out too, I won’t go over my limit of eight.

Tell me which you’d prefer? I’m angling to bring in Leo and Piper or Reyna and Frank, both have merits, but I know you all have your own ideas.

#pjo #hoo #Percy Jackson #Jason Grace #Thalia Grace #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #fierrochase #will solace #nico di angelo #solangelo #Annabeth Chase #percabeth

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talesfromthesnogbox · 4 months ago

Text

Oh, and I Told my Sister

Summary: “And Bea, who found out when she walked in on one of their after-dark FaceTime sessions, leaving Henry capable of nothing but flustered British stammering and thousand-yard stares for the next day and a half.” Henry's POV of the most mortifying moment of his life thus far. An extension of a moment from Red, White & Royal Blue, chapter six, page 182.

Word Count: 3,931

Rating: Explicit

AO3 Link

It was a gloomy Saturday night in April, and Kensington Palace was absolutely silent. Pip and Martha were on tour somewhere in Australia, Catherine had returned from her own time abroad, but had holed up in her room all day, Henry had David snuggled up in his room watching Bake Off, and Bea, well Bea was catching up on another one of the trashy romance novels she loved.

Mr. Wobbles the cat had seemingly decided to spend the night with her for once, and lounged on the end of her bed, tail swishing gently. Even he’d been fairly quiet on that rainy early spring night, until he let out a loud meow and headed towards the hallway. “Hang on…” Bea said aloud as the aforementioned beagle circled around himself and laid down just outside her bedroom door. It was nearing half two in the morning, and Henry, though an insomniac, rarely left his fluffy companion out of his room at night. In fact, he’d rather have both David and her stubborn cat take residence on the end of his bed than let David roam the halls once the lights had gone out.

She put the marker in her book and stepped into a fuzzy pair of bunny slippers. David lifted his head as she approached, tail wagging slightly. “Hey little Prince, why aren’t you with your dad?” Bea bent down, patting David on the head, and he stood fully to lick her chin. David’s best friend Mr. Wobbles had joined in, pawing at his tail, but he paid the cat no mind. “Alright, let’s get you back to bed now.”

Although Mr. Wobbles had no intention of leaving the warm dim light of Bea’s bedroom, David followed behind her dutifully down the hall. Henry’s room was not far from hers, just down the hall and around the corner. She fondly remembers being a little girl and hiding around this same corner so she could scare Henry. It usually worked, and her dad usually got upset with her, but every once and a while she’d pull the same trick, and still get him every time.

“C’mon Davey, I know you’re tired but we’re almost there.” David groaned, following behind the redheaded princess. “See, wasn’t so bad, sweet boy. Now, we should give dad a little scare.” She snickered, putting her hand on the doorknob as quietly as she could so not to rattle it. Then, swinging the door open in a louder voice, “Henry, you seem to have forgotten—OH MY GOD!”

~~~~~

Henry had insisted he didn’t want anything for his birthday, but Alex was nothing if not persistent. A brown box with the White House’s return address was dropped off with his morning mail in mid April after Alex had pre-warned him he didn’t listen, and Henry immediately was filled with warmth.

In the months he’d been finally talking to Alex again, their flirting was kicked into overdrive. What used to be casual teasing now carried heated undertones, their phone calls verged into dangerous territory on more than one occasion, and earlier that month he’d even sent Alex off with a hickey or two… which he knew Zahra was not happy about. Henry had been skeptical about the whole friends with benefits thing right from the get go, but he’d been easing up on the idea recently. The flicker of fear still whispered in his ear whenever he felt himself getting too close, thinking things about feelings he needed to avoid, but other than that, their friendship had been stronger than ever.

Henry eyed the box in front of him. Inside the brown shipping package was a slightly smaller box, wrapped in black and gold paper with a gold glittery ribbon. A typed note rested atop it that read:

Open when alone… I’m serious 😉😘

Dear God.

Though he was a prince, he still had matters to attend to, so Henry put the box out of his mind until later that day. Finally when he was ready to see what was inside, he opened his text conversation to shoot Alex a message.

HRH Prince Dickhead 💩 [3:05 p.m.]

What’s this I’ve received in the mail after I specified no gifts?

Alex Claremont Diaz [3:06 p.m.]

a surprise 😉

have you opened it yet?

HRH Prince Dickhead 💩 [3:08 p.m.]

No, you cretin. Should I be scared?

Alex Claremont Diaz [3:10 p.m.]

nah it’s a bit of fun

but call me later

you’ll see why

He rolled his eyes, but took the wrapped package out of its shipping box and made his way to his bedroom. Truth be told, he was a little giddy at the idea of Alex picking something out just for Henry, wrapping it, and sending it on its way. They talked about their arrangement, and Henry knew it was purely just sex, but little gestures like this made him feel special, important, loved. He could never have Alex the way he wanted him, but at least he knew what it was like to have him at all.

Butterflies unleashed themselves in Henry’s tummy as he pulled the knot of the ribbon. Carefully, he pulled the paper off the box, and immediately his cheeks burned at the sight of what was inside. He knew the branding, well if he was telling the truth, but he didn’t have this little gadget (it was still on his wish list). His mouth gaped open, he lifted the lid of the box to see the little remote control that was supposed to be included was suspiciously gone, all that lay inside was the sleek looking prostate massager and the charging cable. Immediately, Henry called Alex.

“I take it you opened my gift?”

“A-Alex, what in God’s name?”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry I should have asked…”

Henry chuckled as he touched the soft black silicone. “No Alex, it’s not—you just have to be careful sending things to me at KP, they scan all our packages at the gate for security.”

He hears Alex breathe a sigh of relief. “So you’re not mad?”

“Quite the opposite, this one has been on my shopping list for a while, saved me a trip.”

Henry could feel Alex’s eyes going wide through the phone. “What, do you have a collection or something, your highness?”

He smirked. “Hm, I guess you could call it that, though they’re not something I keep out on display like some other collections. I’ll have to show you sometime.”

“It’s a date,” Alex replied lowly. “Hey, so I, uh, I kept the remote. And I can control it through an app as long as you have the app too, so um… I was wondering, uh…”

“Alex, I’m well aware of how this little thing works,” he whispered, nerves creeping into his voice. He’d purchased from this brand before, even had the app when it was more convenient than the little remote control that ran through AAA’s like they were water. But Henry had never used the remotes or app for its intended purpose, that being with someone else. “Would you like to try it with me?”

“I—only if you’re okay with it.”

“Sweetheart, I… I’d look forward to it.” He grinned to himself, feeling the excitement stir within.

~~~~~

The rest of the afternoon saw Henry floating on cloud nine. He was unable to focus on anything, quiet all through dinner, and even more in his own head than usual. By the time nightfall came around, he could only think about Alex’s gift.

He tried watching reruns of Bake Off, tried picking up one of his favourite books, hell, he even took David around the palace grounds for a midnight stroll. But by two in the morning, Henry was still keyed up and wide awake.

Throwing himself on his bed, he groaned, lacing his fingers together over his forehead. He couldn’t get Alex out of his head, his broad shoulders, dark curls, chocolate eyes…

“Fuck.” He sighed, feeling his cock stir in his pants. Henry grabbed his phone, his thumb hovering over Alex’s contact.

Alex answers on the second ring. “Isn’t it like two am in London? What, are you gonna ask me what I’m wearing or something next?”

“What are you wearing?” Henry deadpans.

Alex lets out a laugh from the other side of the ocean. Henry swears he can feel it in his chest, and cracks a smile. “Your royal highness, are you trying to initiate phone sex?”

“No… switch to FaceTime I wanna see you.”

Alex huffs. “Wait, you’re serious? Are we doing this now?”

When Henry rolls his eyes, he’s sure Alex can practically hear it from the White House. “I’ve been at half-mast since opening your gift this afternoon. Alex I swear to god…”

“Do I make you horny, baby?”

He lets out an exasperated sigh and switches immediately to FaceTime. Alex is giggling, and shirtless, and red from laughter, and shirtless, and sitting in his bed, shirtless.

“If you ever want to touch my prick again you will not quote Austin Powers when I’m trying to have perfectly good phone sex with you.”

“Shit baby, you really weren’t joking about this. Did you—“

“No, I didn’t really… prepare for that so we’ll have to use the toy another time. I just want to see you when I come.”

“Fuck you’re so hot.” Alex drops his phone for a split second, and there’s rustling on the other end of the line, and Henry knows he’s over there getting good and naked.

“Two minutes, I really don’t want to scar my dog.” Henry puts the phone down and carries David out of his room. “Sorry my boy, but daddy needs some alone time.” He sheds his shirt and pyjama pants on the way back to the bed, and by the time he’s face to face with Alex again, he’s begun palming himself through his Calvins. “You are alright with this, yeah?”

Alex smirks. “What do you think?” He flips the camera to show himself mirroring Henry’s own ministrations, his cock hardening in his hand. “God Henry, I wish you were here. The things I’d do to you…”

“Mmmmm, tell me?”

The camera flipped back to Alex’s face, his eyes dark and sultry as he blinked through his lashes. “I will, but you’ve gotta be a good boy and not touch yourself until I say so. Can you do that for me sweetheart?”

He whimpers, nodding frantically. Reluctantly, Henry moved his hand away and rested it beside him on the bed. Normally Alex followed Henry’s lead in the bedroom, so seeing him confidently take control of the situation that Henry started had him feeling dizzy. He’d already been so keyed up, he knew this would be over quickly, and he wanted to savour every second of sexual tension with Alex.

“Remember when I came to see you play Polo a few months back?”

Henry nods. “You have no idea how often I think about that mouth of yours and just what it accomplished that day.”

Alex smirks. “Okay before the rich white people sex dungeon happened. Can I walk you through what was going through my mind?”

His grip on the sheets tightened, and Henry worried his lip between his teeth, nodding in invitation for Alex to continue.

“Never thought I’d go for a horse girl but fuck sweetheart, I couldn’t take my eyes off your ass. You’re a very… adept rider, got me thinking about what you might look like riding something else.” The camera angle widened, Alex’s tight abs and the angry looking head of his cock came into view.

“Please—”

“Go ahead baby, spit into your hand and show me how you touch yourself.”

Henry did just that, groaning as he finally took himself out of his briefs. “More Alex, tell me more.”

The chuckle that left Alex’s lips was low and sultry. “Oh, you’re ready to go there baby? You want to hear about how fucking good you’d look riding my cock? How I think you’d get drunk on how I feel filling you up? I bet you’d go dumb with pleasure, taking whatever you can for yourself. Your ass in my lap, my hands on your thighs, your nails in my shoulders… fuck baby I want it so bad.”

His head rolled back against the headboard with a light ‘thud’, and his hips bucked up into his hand unconsciously. “Sh-shit, would you let me touch myself if I was with you?”

“Absolutely not. I want to see you demonstrate firsthand if the prostate is really that sensitive before I give myself some hands on experience for myself.”

“Christ, I promise you it is. Next time I’ll show you, can’t wait for you to torture me with your gift. I’ll go hands off and all, would you like that Alex?”

“Fuck yeah, can I tie your hands together with that leather strap you locked the door with?”

Henry parted his legs further and exhaled, watching a bead of pre-cum dribble from the tip of his dick. “God, I’d fucking love you to.”

Alex’s groan on the other end of the line sent Henry’s heart into a frenzy. The only sound between them was their heavy breaths, the slick sound of skin on skin, and the occasional groan. He was so lost in the moment, he’d missed the voice coming from the hall, and instead jumped to tuck himself back into his pants at the sound of his door flying open.

“OH MY GOD!”

“BEATRICE!”

A third, distinct sounding shout resonated through the speaker of Henry’s phone as Bea retreated, hand over eyes.

“Henry, what the fuck!”

“GET OUT!”

Bea deposited David just inside Henry’s door, and promptly ran, closing it behind her.

Henry’s hands shook, he wiped a hand… the wrong hand… across his face with a grimace. “I cannot believe that just happened.”

Alex let out a hearty laugh as the tips of Henry’s ears turned pink. “Glad to know royalty or not, older sisters will still have no concept of boundaries.”

“Please don’t.” He sighed in disappointment. “I’m investing in a lock for my door. I’m sorry Alex, I don’t think I can continue tonight.”

“Understandable, I’d have a hard time keeping it up too if my sister saw my dick not five minutes ago.”

Henry winced. “Too fucking soon. I’m hanging up now.”

The grin on Alex’s face was blinding, happiness radiating through him. “We can try again some other time. You can actually get yourself ready and we can test out your new toy, maybe when I need a break from finals?”

“That sounds lovely, but I will not be thinking another sexy thought for the next five to seven business days.”

~~~~~

The next morning, Henry waited until Bea was gone to leave his room. Shaan gave him a questioning frown, to which Henry shook his head at.

He managed to avoid her through breakfast and well into the afternoon, an easy task when you live in a palace as big as Kensington Palace. David even came to lay with Henry in his bed just after dinner thinking his human was having a dark day. He didn’t leave his room again until the next day.

Unfortunately, it was inevitable that they’d eventually have to interact before Henry had the chance to forget about what happened.

It was lunchtime, and Henry was looking forward to catching up on a podcast he’d been listening to while he ate, but fate had other plans.

“Ah Henry, there you are.” Philip was the last person he’d expected to be there alongside Bea. “Come sit, we were just going through the proceedings for Gran’s birthday parade.” He cautiously approached the table and sat across from his siblings. “I’m doing the speech at the gala, and Beatrice will be riding alongside her in the parade, I thought maybe you could play her a piano piece at the gala after my speech?”

“Yeah, great, sure.” He said, only half hearing what Philip was saying. His voice was drowned out by the feeling of Bea’s eyes on him, and Henry could feel himself going redder and redder with each passing second. He wasn’t getting out of this meeting unscathed, as much as he just wanted to eat his lunch in peace.

“Henry!”

“Sorry, what?”

Philip rolled his eyes, standing up. “Won’t you listen? Friday afternoon, two o’clock sharp we meet with the event planners at Buckingham. Be there.” With the shake of his head and a mutter under his breath, Philip left the room.

“Wanker.” Henry shot Bea a look, shock in his eyes. “Sorry not you, him. I know he’s trying to take the lead and all but he can be such a prick about it.”

He nodded, face reddening again. He was worried he’d be stuck with a permanent blush after this whole ordeal. “So, um, how are you?”

“Oh my god Hen, can we please just forget that I saw what I saw?”

Henry let out the breath he was holding and dropped his head to the table. “Yes please, you have no idea how mortifying that was.”

“Trust me, as your big sister, I have some idea. It never happened, I saw nothing, we’ll continue to live our lives.”

“Right. Yep. Nothing to talk about.”

They both nodded, the silence dragging on, until Bea’s curiosity got the better of her. “So who was on FaceTime then?”

“I thought we were dropping this—”

“I know! But as your big sister I think I should get to know when you’re dating someone!”

He splutters, wringing his fingers together. “I-I mean, I wouldn’t call it dating per se…”

Bea gasps. “Are we seeing a rare appearance from Oxford slut phase Henry again?”

“No! No, I resent Pez for telling you about that. It’s just the one man, but we haven’t really… we’ve agreed to just keep it casual.”

She raises her eyebrow. “Do I know him? God, it’s not one of Philip’s dryer than toast friends again, is it?”

He chuckles. “No, couldn’t be any more different to be honest.” When he glances at his sister, the look on her face is a genuine one, interested, supportive… since rehab, Beatrice had been able to read Henry like a children’s book. Without the extra substances in her system, he was loud and clear, a whole other person than she’d known growing up, with hopes and dreams, a romantic soul underneath that stony exterior. So when Henry mused on how different this boy was than any of them before, she could tell that this wasn’t just casual to her brother. It was the sparkle in his eye, the lingering smile, the faint blush, Henry liked this one.

“Good. So who is the mystery man then?”

Henry chances a look at his sister. “If I tell you, you have to promise to keep it secret. I don’t think he’s even out yet really.”

She made a zipping motion across her lips. “Swear it.”

He nodded, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, wincing a bit when he said, “it’s Alex.”

Bea tilted her head, furrowing her brows. “Alex…”

“Claremont-Diaz.”

She gasped dramatically as the realization hit. “As in the American president’s son, Alex?”

Henry reached across the table to shush his sister. “Oh my god what did I say, not so loud!”

“Sorry, but my baby brother just told me he’s been low key hooking up with the guy he’s been crushing on for years? How else was I supposed to react, Henry?”

“Hey! I have not been crushing on him for years.”

Bea shoots him a look, a single eyebrow raised, challenging him. “And I never had a crush on any of the Jonas Brothers. Are we going to continue lying about things that are clearly true?”

“Wh-what… how… I barely even knew him until Pip’s wedding, how could I be crushing on him?”

“Did you forget how you clammed up at the Olympics that year? And how you’d always go red when his family was even mentioned? That weekend he was here at KP and you were absolutely peacocking. Oh, what about New Years? I’ve known you your whole life Hen, did you forget? You rolled your eyes at the invitation, but you still had that hint of a smile there. You like him.” Bea slid her hands across the table to take one of Henry’s. “I knew you seemed lighter. These past few weeks, months, whatever. You came back from that gala at the White House and something about you had changed, you had a pep in your step.”

He was silent for a few moments. “Pez is the only other person who knows, but he never read into it as much as you did. I’m scared Bea, I’m scared to say it out loud, cause it’ll make it real.”

“It’s just me Hen.”

“I—I just… I’m worried that I’ve buggered it up right from the start. I told him we could only be casual.”

“And is that what you really want?”

Henry looked up, dared to glance into his sister’s eyes. “Do you really think a world exists where I can have what I really want?”

“Pardon my French, but fuck that old cow. You can have what you want Henry, even as a prince. You know dad told me to remind you of that every once in a while before he passed? I’ve not been so good at remembering to do so, but I’m telling you now. You deserve to be happy.”

With the hand that wasn’t in Bea’s grasp, Henry pinched the bridge of his nose as the tears came.

“Sorry, sorry I just…”

She handed him a tissue, shooting him a watery smile. “I know you miss him.”

He nodded. “I really like him, Bea. Alex I mean. And I think dad would have too.”

Bea laughed, wiping away a tear of her own. “I’m sure he would have loved him. I’m happy for you, Hen.”

“Thanks Bea. And I’m sorry you walked in on… well that.”

She giggled, rolling her eyes in mock disgust. “So how did it happen then?”

“W-what the other night?”

Bea took a hand away from his and whacked him across the shoulder. “No, idiot. I mean in general. You two. Doing… whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Oh. Um, I kissed him on New Years.”

“At midnight? How romantic!”

“Well, after midnight. See, Nora, you remember her from the wedding, she kissed him at midnight and well, my ego was more than a bit bruised from that so…”

He continued on, telling her the story of their first kiss, how he’d avoided Alex, and then reunited all in the same month. By the time he’d finished telling her their entire history (save the really dirty details, those memories were just for him), nearly half an hour had gone past, and Henry’s phone was buzzing with a text.

“Is that him now?” Henry blushed, but nodded confirming her suspicions. “How sweet! Send him my love, and that I’ll see him at the next event.”

~~~~~

“And who knows about this?” Zarah looks green, and in just about as much shock as Henry thought she would after finding him in Alex’s hotel room half naked the morning of the DNC.

“Literally no one but you. And the secret service.”

Henry winced. “And Percy.”

“Right, and June and Nora.”

He brightened. “Oh, and I told my sister.”

The smile on Alex’s face made his own wider. “Aw, I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, she was really happy for us.”

#firstprince #rwrb #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry x alex #firstprince fic #red white and royal blue #rwrb fic #my writing

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jomiddlemarch · 2 months ago

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Room at the inn

“Liv and Alex are gonna stay with us a couple of days,” Joel announced, if you could call it an announcement. He’d used the same tone he’d use to tell her Tommy was wanted some help with the framing of the place three doors down with the rotting sills or that Ellie had used up the last of the milk, again. He was leaning against the wall by the front door, the two younger people, dirty, in the hodge-podge of ill-fitting clothes that meant they’d just arrived and were lucky to have escaped frostbite, stood slightly in front of him, as if he’d wanted to make sure she wouldn’t shake her head and say, like hell they are.

Like hell she would.

“Sounds good,” Grace said. Something changed in Liv’s face that meant the young woman had expected to be turned away.

“Ellie said she’d take the couch, so they could have some privacy,” Joel said.

“Might be a tight squeeze,” Grace said, not clarifying whether she meant Ellie, who’d grown several inches in part due to always using up the last of the milk, on the couch or the two newcomers in the room that barely held Ellie’s twin bed, a chest of drawers and a book-shelf Joel had cobbled together from some scavenged lumber.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine,” Joel said.

“I can put together some fresh sheets, towels. And there’s a few spare toothbrushes in the bathroom, if you want to get cleaned up,” Grace said, remembering how much she’d missed bathing when she’d been out on her own. When it had been too risky to ever take off her boots, let alone her parka and long johns.

“We’ll eat supper in about an hour,” Joel said. He straightened up and started walking over to Grace, which effectively herded Liv and Alex toward Ellie’s room. He put his arm around her waist, a casual possession they’d be sure to notice, registering that Joel and Grace were a couple, that it was safe enough to be casual about revealing who you cared about. “It’s through there, your room, and the bathroom’s across the hall. If you’ve got anything that needs to be looked at, Grace’s our doctor. She’s patched me up more times than I can count—”

“Because you won’t count over three,” Grace muttered, playing along.

It worked. Liv smiled, just a little, and Alex’s shoulders dropped, the fist at their right side opening up. Liv nodded and they walked into Ellie’s room, shutting the door behind them very gently.

Grace walked into the kitchen and went to go look around for what would make a supper that stretched to two more mouths, ones that would probably kill for something heavy on carbs and whatever sauce conveyed the feeling of being cooked for a long time in a home where someone would call out Supper’s ready, someone needs to set the table.

“My night to cook,” Joel said. It was, but it was also a pre-emptive strike, a peace offering, as if either was necessary.

“You don’t think I mind you brought them home?” Grace said.

“You’re always doing for everybody else and this was a surprise,” he said, tying an apron around his waist. She went over and held his hands still where they were behind his back, the apron strings loose. She wasn’t tiny and he wasn’t huge, but standing like this, it was impossible not to notice how big he was, built like a brick shithouse as they used to say when people made bricks instead of scavenging them. He was under her command entirely by his choice. They were in a funny sort of embrace but they found themselves like that more often than not, which made sense, since Joel was more a man of action and Grace found it easier to show him how she felt than tell him. Before, she’d been someone who’d bought into the whole Nora Ephron chatty rom-com definition of love. Before, when love was something you fell into, deep as the ocean. It had been over a fucking decade since she’d seen the ocean and she probably never would again.

“I’d’ve said yes. I would have brought them home and I wouldn’t have thought you needed an apology or any sweet-talking about it,” she replied.

“Maybe I like sweet-talking you, Gracie,” he said.

“Then do it for that. Not because you’re worried about pissing me off bringing people home who need a roof over their heads and a warm meal and a good night’s sleep,” she said.

“A good night’s sleep’s a tall order for two on Ellie’s bed,” Joel said. He hadn’t made a move to tie the apron or put his arms around Grace. He liked being held this way, though he wouldn’t say so. He wouldn’t think he needed to and he was right, he didn’t.

“You know what I mean. Plenty of times I would’ve given anything to be taken in. Plenty of times I wished I could offer someone a safe place, a safe harbor,” she said, moving a little closer, so she was pressed against him, offering and claiming more inextricably blended than the old shampoo-and-conditioner 2-in-1 that no one under twenty had any context for. Suave, that had been the cheapest, and she’d gotten the strawberry bottle, a pale pink like a bride’s manicure.

“Maria would’ve found them a room somewhere, but I didn’t think you’d like that, even if we’re a little crowded,” Joel said.

“I wouldn’t,” Grace said. “A room somewhere’s not as good as a home. And what’s the good of a home if you don’t take people in when they need it?”

“You’re gonna have to let me go, if I’m makin’ supper,” Joel said, but before she could step back, he leaned in, grazed her temple with his lips. “And you’re gonna have to keep it down tonight, when I make you come, darlin’.”

“You like it when I say we’re home,” she answered.

“I do,” he said softly, in a voice she never would have believed him capable of when they’d first met. Tonight was in a fair way to turning into right here, right now, and while Ellie was out of the house and had learned the hard way to knock, Liv and Alex were guests who deserved a hot dinner and the ability to come out of their room unexpectedly to ask for a glass of water.

“You making your famous chili?” Grace asked.

“Nah. That needs all day to be any good. I figured I’d do spaghetti with a Bolognese,” he said.

“Can’t go wrong with a huge bowl of pasta,” Grace said. “That’s my favorite comfort food.”

“Yeah, I know,” Joel said.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! This gift-fic is for @tessa-quayle and @daisyyydaisyyydaisyyy who are probably my two biggest fans of Joel/Grace. Here's something warm and domestic for the holidays.

#tlou #tlou au #joel miller #joel miller/ofc #grace yang md #grace yang on call for the apocalypse #domestic #warm #seasonal reminder about the value of welcoming strangers #found family

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sparring-hyena · 1 year ago

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reconnections.

being an adult is hard and so is reconnecting with old friends after nearly two decades.

OR, the one where they didn't get their happy ending but maybe they deserve a second chance.

she tells herself that it will be easy.

she tells herself that she won't even stay for long, so who cares if it is messy and awkward because she'll be at home, on her couch with a glass of wine and good book before nine. she'll be alone, but Becca's found over the years--decades, really--that it's easier to not dwell too much on details.

"just here's fine," Becca says to her uber driver.

the car stops along the side of the road, a busy intersection ahead of her and further up is the bar where everyone is, presumably already inside. Becca wonders if they even notice she's late.

she hopes they don't notice. hopes she doesn't fill them with the same disappointment she can still occasionally see in her father's eyes. but then, she also hopes they do notice. hopes that even after all this time, she can still count on these people to miss her presence.

she looks down at the invite that had found its way into her inbox two weeks ago. mostly it's a way to reassure herself that yes, they do want me here and no, i'm not intruding.

Abbie had sent the invites; she can't really imagine anyone else using email as their preferred method of communication. it was smart, really; her number's changed twice since they were all part of each other's lives. she knows Alex's did when she went and lived abroad, and always sort of assumed that she got a new one when she came back.

Becca assumed a lot of things.

the fresh February breeze cuts at her face, and Becca has to shake herself out of a memory. she crosses the busy street and steps into a mostly empty bar. not unusual, all things considered; Tuesday's aren't exactly popular for a night out.

she sheds her coat and drapes it over her arm. there's a group of three over by the pool tables and a few people hunched over the bar, occasionally looking up to watch the ice hokey on the crappy TV. she hasn't been to a place like this in years, but she misses it all the same.

she spots Chris first, up at the bar placing an order for food. Becca decides it might be easier to greet him first and then find where the rest of their group are sitting.

"hey, stranger," she says it casually, like it isn't taking everything in her to not turn on her heels and pretend that she was never here.

Chris turns and smiles warmly. he's aged a little since she last saw him--she tries to quickly remember when that was, his wedding, maybe--grey hair at his temples and crows feet at the corners of his eyes.

"Becca!" he greets her with a hug that doesn't feel at all awkward and actually might just be exactly what she needed. she really has missed him. "hey, everyone, look who's finally here." he looks over his shoulder and waves to all their friends huddled around a table that Becca had missed when she first stepped inside.

her heart beats a little faster in the second it takes them all to realise that Becca's here now. they all stand to greet her with hugs and cheers and playful chiding that makes her feel like she's twenty-one again.

"is Alex coming?" she doesn't mean to sound as hopeful as she does, but it's easy to slip into old habits with these people.

"she said she'd try," Abbie says.

"sometime about getting stuck on the other side of the city for a late meeting," Kaitlyn explains, and Becca feels something green ad ugly flare up in her heart. she wonders if Kaitlyn and Alex stayed in touch. she wonders if they all stayed in touch and she's the one who drifted away.

"oh, that's okay," Becca says, and then adds: "i'm sure we can all catch up some other time."

they all hum and make promises to do this again and Becca wonders if they will. wonders if this time they'll actually make the effort to stay connected. she silently hopes they will.

the night carries on, and one-by-one, they all slowly leave until it's just Becca, Abbie, and Tyler sitting in a booth.

"ready?" Tyler says, hiding a yawn behind his hand.

Abbie nods and hums. "i'll meet you outside."

Tyler smiles and says goodbye to Becca.

"thanks for tonight," Becca says, "it was nice seeing everyone again."

"almost everyone," Abbie says.

Becca smiles but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "it's okay."

"she did want to be here. she said she was excited to see you again."

"all of us, you mean."

"well sure, i'd hope she would be, but you were the one she really wanted to see. the one she probably missed the most."

"it's not..."

"i know it's complicated, but just know that it wasn't easy for her either."

"are you two still close?"

Abbie shrugs. "we talk a little. maybe every couple of months. not so much to the others though. i think she always hoped that after the break up you would lean on us"

"but i didn't--"

"want us to pick sides, we know that." Abbie smiles sadly. "and we never would have. we would have still been friends with both of you and been here for both of you. but Alex knew it would be hard for you. she just wanted you to have people to fall back on."

"oh."

Abbie hums and studies Becca for a second. "don't stay out too late, yeah?"

Becca hums and the Abbie leaves and she's alone. she's alone for a while, maybe another half hour, before she decides it's time to call it a night. and just as Becca's gathering her things, a voice startles her out of her thoughts.

"hey you."

Becca's head snaps up to the familiar voice.

Alex is there. Alex is here and for just a second it feels like twenty years haven't fallen away and they're both finding each other in some crummy bar just off campus.

"you're here," Becca says.

"i am." Alex just grins. "buy you a drink?"

and all Becca can do is nod and feel a familiar calm settle in her heart.

#becca davenport #becca x mc #my writing #playchoices #the freshman #the junior #the senior #the sophomore

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vvivacious101 · 2 years ago

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Rewatching RWRB ALREADY?!

I rewatched the film. And, I can say this for a fact that I liked it a whole lot more the second time around and I already liked it the first time around but watching it for the second time made me appreciate it a whole lot more!

This has never happened in my life, I have never rewatched a movie in a single day! So, RWRB is making my personal history as well.

I remember the director mentioning the fact that Nick or Taylor are in every scene of this movie and they really are! They really carried this film.

Under the cut are all my thoughts that I had while rewatching this movie for the second time. There are spoilers galore. So, you have been warned!

Also, if you make a drinking game out of every time I use the word 'good' you will be dead by the time you reach the end!

With all that out of the way, let's get into it!

"When the revolution happens it will be because of this wedding." Henry's first line in the movie is so underrated!

Cake-gate is AMAZING! I love the fact that Henry pushes Alex down while getting up! Poor guy deserves a little revenge. I had never heard the song ‘Bad Reputation’ before but I'm in love with it!!

Everyone who said Zahra is the BEST thing in this movie is right. I can't get over her railing Alex with a pillow.

“What if I set myself on fire?” Alex is the king of comebacks! “We'd ship the ashes to Heathrow.” But no one is getting one over Zahra.

Taylor as Alex is so good! I can't get over how perfect he is!! Also, I love how Henry is just upstaging Alex in the damage control portion of this movie. Like, Henry's revenge arc is not over yet!!

I feel bad for Alex, every time he tries to one-up someone he just ends up backing himself into the corner.

Okay, the CLOSET SCENE AKA ONE OF THE ONLY SCENES THAT I REMEMBER FROM THE BOOK IS EPIC!!!

The beginning of it with them flailing around is peak physical comedy and then Henry just casually admits to smelling Alex... it's too much and it's only starting.

I just love how Taylor fidgets in this scene, he is like trying to find space for himself so badly but when he turns to confront Henry that moment is so good!

“I need to get out of here.” Ugh, I feel for Henry.

Okay the threat neutralized bit is comedy gold. I hope it becomes a viral meme!

We need to talk about Oscar. There is something very weird about Alex's parents. I feel like the writers of the film were very conflicted about their relationship and instead of having them be together or be divorced, they just left them in limbo. We never see Ellen and Oscar interact in the film. In the one scene, they do appear together, Alex is in the middle and it feels weirdly symbolic like he is literally the thing keeping them together.

We need to talk about this coffee shop scene. We all hate Miguel. But seeing Taylor as Alex in this scene is everything. He comes across as so charismatic and gorgeous. Just look at him!

We have got to talk about how many strong female role models Alex has in his life – his mom, Amy, Zahra even, Nora.

Zahra literally puts on a lot of hats in Alex’s life. She is like his big sister, substitute mom and friend and she does all this while looking supremely put out with Alex. This one’s a multitasker.

This is what I actually want to do in parties!

Henry is so awkward, I love how squeaky he sounds when he first meets Alex at the New Year Eve's party, poor boy is so awkward. And, then when he gets left alone he just completely shuts down. Henry, I love you!

I love how Alex just pulls Henry onto the dance floor.

Henry isn’t even dancing he is just getting progressively more drunk and flustered.

Henry looks so devastated in this scene. I literally feel for him. But, I can’t get over the fact that the song playing in the background is 'Magic' originally sung by Selena Gomez for Wizards of Waverly Place the movie. I loved hearing it here even though they are using a remix in this instance.

Their first kiss is so GOOD! I have seen it umpteenth number of times thanks to the trailer but it hits me in the feels every time. Also, I love how panicked Henry is and how shocked Alex is after the kiss.

“More like the first 50 rows of a Gaga concert kinda gay” is absolutely sending me. Also, accurate AF.

Not Alex being completely distracted by the sight of Henry!

Amy and Alex's moments are so GOOD! I really love the casting for Amy!!

IMHO all of Amy and Alex’s scenes should become viral memes, they are all so good!!

This entire RED ROOM sequence is so epic with Alex trying to decide how he should be standing when Henry comes in, to the ending when Amy barges in and Henry starts looking at the books so intently and whatever the hell Alex is trying to do. Oh god!

Like Stonehenge!!! (IYKYK)

Poor maypoles. I really love this scene. There is a reason we got a teaser for it, their chemistry in this one is off the charts!!!

This kiss is my absolute favourite no wait isn't the bicep kiss my favourite but this one is up there. It's so good. The way he pushes Alex and kisses his smile and then stares at him. Ugh so so so good! This teaser might have come close to the trailer in how many times I watched it and you may remember that the trailer came way earlier.

Oh god, Henry is so goddamn happy and SMUG as he says, "Yeah, agreed". He literally goes through every emotion under the Sun in this movie.

Wait a minute! WAIT A MINUTE! I didn't realise this the first time around but as Henry stands in the doorway he seems to be taking a mental picture of Alex and HOTDAMN. Fodder for the spank bank apparently.

The cafe scene is so good. The banter, the eye contact, the flirting, the blushing!!!

"And I thought Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz was a mouthful." "He is."

Oh God! So good!!

"Only momentarily", that scene is so angsty. When Henry flinches it is its own goddamn scene!

I really like the "I'm so not playing this cool right now" moment. His apprehension is so delicious. I'm sorry Alex but it is and when he just puts his head down on Henry's shoulder in defeat. So good!

Let's talk about the sex scene! It is better than I remembered. I really like the kiss they share after Henry tells him that most people are wrong about him. And the thing with the hands. Listen I read a post about it being an old Hollywood thing but man if this is an old Hollywood trick it was masterfully employed. I just loved their hands and how Alex's hand is going down to meet his (imitating penetration) and then how Henry's hand opens up (imitating release) followed by the withdrawal of Alex's hand. This is genius why did people stop doing this! Also, Nick's expressions in the penetration scene are so goddamn... WOW. I don't know how to describe them but holy shit that is some explicit stuff. But what I think I love the most regarding this scene is how intimate it feels like the camera almost feels like an intrusion on a very very private moment because the scene itself seems to depict an intimacy between these two characters that is beyond just sex.

Also, RIGID. IYKYK!

I have got to give it to Taylor he really held his own in this scene with Uma Thurman. Like WOW!

Okay, wait there is another scene with Alex and his parents which I completely blanked out but it still leaves me with the same sentiment regarding the state of his parent's marriage.

Say it with me! Happy Henry is my serotonin!

Zahra really lays into Alex and Henry. "Little Lord Fuckleroy!" WTH! Henry's expression at the end of it all is so good!

This scene between Alex and Ellen is so heartwarming. I think it might be their best scene together. I love how there is this implication that things aren't right as Ellen picks up the phone but then it's undercut by the fact that she is only ordering pizza. I love how Alex's uncertainty over his mother reacting negatively is undercut by her acceptance.

The moment on the lake is probably my favourite part of this movie because it highlights the fundamental difference in Alex and Henry's positions.

Henry's situation isn't time-dependent or a for-now problem it is a forever thing and Nick's expressions in this scene are heartbreaking. But, despite where it ends up going I really love their interactions as the scene starts. Alex and Henry are so happy and touchy-feely. I just love the intimacy of this moment even though it leads to heartbreak.

Also, Henry jumping into the lake to escape a love confession is a whole-ass mood.

So someone pointed out that the transition from Henry's bedroom to the V&A is a bit iffy and it is. It totally is. I also don't know if I get what point Henry is trying to make with the whole trading one prison for another thing but the ending still makes the whole rift come together. I really want to know how this is handled in the book because I need clarification on the minutiae of this scene and how it came to be.

We have seen Henry and Alex in the same bed atleast three times now and this third time is the best. I love how Alex is holding Henry's wrist and how Henry smiles his little smile.

Henry is really conflicted at this tarmac, isn't he? And, things are just going to get worse.

I really like Alex's speech and how it's intercut with scenes of Henry literally trying to make himself smaller followed by scenes between Alex and Heney that we haven't seen so far. I especially like the last scene in the woods. Did I mention happy Henry is my serotonin?!

I really love Zahra's expressions in this scene. Zahra and Alex have some of the best scenes. These two really play very well off of one another.

The scene when Alex calls Henry baby. I remember reading someone say that they wanted this thing to be a whole ass thing and it was. It was a thing. I love how they utilised this endearment to further this moment.

This piano scene is so beautiful. These two really love each other.

I really like how Alex picks up Henry's nervous habit of fiddling with his ring.

So, we are here on election night and I just love the scene in the hallway with Alex and Henry and that hug. It's so damn cute and wholesome.

I really like the ending of the movie. It's kind of a nice allusion to Henry and Alex having a home together.

I really also love the end credits with the actors' names because in the end you have Nick and Taylor and you can see them playing with their pinkies. This scene is actually in the movie it's only that when it appears in the movie you are distracted by everything happening with the King. But, it is positively the cutest thing ever.

Also, the end credit scene. "Do you think anyone noticed?" You betcha Alex we did!!

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb spoilers #henry fox mountchristen windsor #alex claremont diaz #also for me henry is going to remain #henry george edward james fox mountchristen windsor #because i really don't want to mess up my tagging #myposts

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firsttransfootman · 2 years ago

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Okay, I know I wrote in my description that I'm currently in Shadow and Bone phase. But my first post here just needs to be about my first love - The Walking Dead. And because I'm nerd, I need to show this here.

So...if you also was watching TWD episode by episode every week when it was released, you for sure remember the break between seasons and half season. Always around 4 months and of course, there were a lot of leaks, photos from drones and rumors.

It was the first quarter of 2017 (omg it was 6 years ago) and we got this leak. I couldn't find it on the internet and on my phone I only got the Spanish version. Basically it means "In the 13 episode we will get a reveal that Paul "Jesus" Rovia is homosexual". In the show it was actually changed and we got a reveal in episode 14, bcs of the switch between 13 and 14 episodes (for people who don't remember that were 2 episodes which were both happening at the same time but in two different places and which was first doesn't really matter).

So it's around a month or two before the premiere of season 7B. I'm 15 and I can't stop thinking about what they are going to do. I write some propositions and I'm gonna share them now with you guys. Some of them contain minor spoilers from the comic books.

1 . Somebody is gonna fall from him. I was 15, in denial that I'm mostly gay and just thought "It's Tom Payne, everybody finds him super attractive, right?". So, in my mind, some character would just develop a crush on him or fall in love. Of course, female character, maybe some dramatic kiss scene when he needs to take a step back and say "I'm sorry, but it's not gonna work". I didn't have anybody particular in mind for this. but it was still an option.

2. Similar to the first one but just looking for comfort. I started reading more comics. and if somebody didn't read comics, we got a lot more friends with benefits and "lovers" (meaning only bed lovers, not really relationships). Michonne was literally trying to sleep with every black guy in comics. So I was thinking maybe Sasha or Maggie would need some comfort after what Negan did and he would just be there for them. Even if they didn't try to sleep with him, maybe some cuddling and him saying this just to be sure they don't want anything more. Maybe before this some typical TV scenes after which people ship them a little bit or something.

3. Some gay comfort scene with Daryl, Aaron, Eric or four of them. If anybody don't know this - there are rumors that Daryl was supposed to be gay and reveal of it was planned for season 3 or something around but they resigned of this concept (probably gonna write more about this someday). Anyway, I was thinking about a couple of options here:

3.1. Jesus having amazing gay radar and just goes to talk with Daryl in casual acting like it's obvious. He would panic and, you know, be grumpy about that OR which I actually think would actually be the best way - also act like this is basic knowledge. People would be so freaking mad.

3.2. Some deep conversation between him and Daryl, their backstory, of course, mostly Paul doing the talking and some sentences like "I don't know why I'm saying this to you . We don't really know each other".

3.3. Some fluff comfort scene with Aaron and Eric, maybe even play it as a joke with their iconic sentence from a comic book. So in the comics, Aaron, after Eric died, says something about them being their last gays in the world. Like can you imagine a scene like that:

J: "So you live in this house?"

A: "Yeah, almost from the start."

E: "Two last gays in the world."

J: "So I would be third."

A: ...

E: ...

J: ...

D: "Forth!"

T: "Why people always forget lesbians?"

4. Alex! Yeah, for people who didn't read comics or did it some time ago and don't remember Alex is Jesus' lover and nurse in Hilltop. In the comics, we got reveal in the way that when Paul is in Hilltop, Alex comes to his room and asks him to cuddle and read with him. With time, it's clear that Alex wanted something more and Paul just didn't feel it. They eventually split apart, Alex got a boyfriend and hopefully happy ever after. Anyway, this would be cool. Some one-sided love, an amazing example of the fact that being gay doesn't mean somebody would fall for every guy and it's a good example of grey side of Jesus bcs he really isn't honest with Alex and doesn't treat him like he should. Also, we would get a nurse, which would be cool bcs in the show I sometimes feel like they forgot that doctors aren't the only people who work in healthcare. Like paramedics and nurses exist.

5. Like literally anything other than what we get. Don't get me wrong - this scene with Maggie is cute, but because it's the only scene about that, I needed something more. If he eventually got a romantic or bed partner I wouldn't say anything, but after he died people all over the internet literally arguing that he wasn't gay on a TV show bcs nobody remembers this scene. It was a pre-credits scene which you could really easily skip and you didn't know you had missed anything.

I think they know they have Aaron and Eric so they don't want to have another gay couple (so Alex wasn't an option) and want this to be quiet. It was just a preparation for the future Aaron and Paul, which we never get. It's really sad bcs after this, Paul was literally cut off the series, being in a couple of episodes per season to the point when actor just don't wanna be part of it anymore (and I can't blame him). Even after that, they didn't have enough courage to make him and Aaron officially a couple of lovers. We only got suggestions and baits but nothing official.

I would really like to read a fanfiction about any of the options which I wrote above. In the meantime, have an amazing weekend and to the next!

#the walkind dead #paul jesus rovia #paul jesus monroe #gay men #coming out #alternative scene #long post #daryl dixon #jesus x daryl #jesus x aaron #aaron x eric #tom payne #little rant #nerdsplaining #lgbtq #queerbaiting

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tjreidwrites · 1 year ago

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Movie reviews for spooky season !

I remember feeling bad for Danny in ‘The Shining’. My first time watching The Shining, a Stanley Kubrick film, I was about thirteen years old then. I remember sympathizing almost to the point of tears for him. All he wanted to do was enjoy this huge lonely hotel that his parents made him go to, and by the end of the trip his father is trying to kill him with an axe. The haunted Overlook hotel left its mark on Danny to say the least.

The movie starts off a few years after The Shining ends. Opening with a nightmare scene of Danny terrorized by his experiences at the Overlook. I was surprised how much of the movie used new actors/actresses to play reprised characters. I liked the decision. Alex Essoe plays Wendy Torrance In these bits, I wouldn't have minded more she was amazing in the role. Her voice was a spot on impression of Shelley Duvall (original Wendy). Dick Hallorann was played by Carl Lumbly. He to was beat for beat like the original Hallorann, Scatman Crothers. We see Dick Hallorann make a very impressive monologue to Danny in the beginning of the film. Not only does he eerily remind you of the original character, he explains the plot and gives exposition in a way we can respect, because as the audience we understand young Danny needs to hear these things from Dick. If not for Danny’s shining angel, I believe he would have been a goner early into life.

We skip ahead to a much older Danny Torrance played by Ewan McGregor. We learn quickly that after his mother died in 1999, he lost himself to drinking and drugs as well as bar fights. We see a very violent one that shows no doubt Danny has been in his fair share of fist fights. It becomes clear he doesn't have much regard for anything. He’s haunted by his ‘shining’ ability, both a blessing and a curse for Danny.

After not listening to a vision of Dick Hallorann after a long night of binging cocaine, Danny makes the questionable (at best) move of leaving a toddler boy next to his unconscious mother who looks like she could just be sleeping, but also rather pale and still. Whether its fate or divine purpose Danny soon finds himself in New Hampshire where he settles down in a small town there, with help from his new best friend, Billy.

One of my favorite moments in this film is when Danny stumbles upon the dying man and the ‘grim reaper’ cat at the end of the bed. We learn here that when Danny is in touch with his ‘shine’ he has an uncanny ability to comfort those who are about to pass away. He talks to this man telepathically which calms him down as he says, ‘ you are exactly where you need to be.” Eight years go by as Danny works as an orderly at the local hospice. Staying sober and regaining purpose in his life by helping those who need some reassurance before they pass on to whats after.

While Danny enjoys the day to day with a clear head, Rose the Hat and her crew of...people? They are not quite human. They feed on steam. Steam is what people with the shining (like Danny) have inside them. Rose and the gang are attracted to steam the same way people are addicted to drugs or need food. This results in a good reason why there aren't more people with the shine that know about each others existence. Not only do Rose and her decibels kill those who shine, they aren't eating well and need more. Before they literally turn to dust.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Mike Flanagan helms the director chair well. He wasn't afraid to take chances and it paid off. By the third act of the film we are at the overlook hotel revisiting some memories from the shining. Even though some of that felt like fan service, Flanagan’s choices made it work. The end of the movie ends the same way the first shining book ends, wrapping the two films up in a bow. Doctor Sleep truly feels like a sequel to the movie, and the book.

Casual fans of ‘The Shining’ might not love this movie. For me, it was great because it broadened the idea and opened up a new world of possibilities. It gave Danny Torrence a chance at a new life, and even though it wasn't smooth, it sure as hell was interesting. The score was good, and the editing and cinematography hit all the right notes as far as being its own thing and also being a sequel to a Kubrick film.

#book blog #writing #new writers corner #movie write up #movie reaction #movie critique #movie review #film addict #short film #stephen king #the shining #doctor sleep #spooky season #halloween movie #happy halloweeeeeeen #halloween #fiction #writers on tumblr

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wikiangela · 2 years ago

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thoughts on rwrb as I was watching:

under the cut bc spoilers lol

(also, I was gonna reread the book before watching but i didn't manage, so I don't remember a whole lot lol maybe for once I won't be biased when it comes to a book adaptation haha)

damn i miss June

Taylor as Alex is just such perfection, I love him already and I'm not even 10 minutes in - just purely Alex vibes through and through lol

Nicholas as Henry is amazing too, the casting is really so good

Zahra is already stealing the show sns 😂

the initial animosity and the overall dynamic between Alex and Henry is just hilarious and I'm loving it lmao

they cut the cornetto scene??? wasn't there promo with it?? whyyy did they cut it, it was so iconic wtf 😭

wait what?? aren't Alex's parents divorced in the book?? I got so confused I had to go make sure I wasn't making it up lol (after finishing the movie I get it, having him there wouldn't impact the story in any way whatsoever haha)

omg the texting!! and the phone conversations!!! loving it!!

I'm loving how their relationship progresses rn, as they just get to know each other, it's so fun to see

the chemistry between Alex and Henry jfc, the LOOKS, they haven't even kissed yet and I'm already feral over them lmao

aaaaah, the new year's party and the KISS!!! that whole convo!!! screaming!!!

I love Nora so much, she's amazing and so cool, and I love her relationship with Alex! (still missing June and our White House Trio tho 💔)

who tf is Miguel, I don't like his vibe sns

the way Henry grabs Alex's hair when they're kissing omg 😩🥵

my god they are so smitten already, just the looks between them feel intimate lmao

oh my god the sex scene!!! I felt like I was invading their privacy lol, like, it was sooo intimate - the chemistry between those two is really something, and omg the HANDS 😭 "most people are" 😭 why do I wanna cry during a sex scene 😂😂😂

I adore Ellen's accent, it's so pleasant

Henry calling Alex "dear" has me weak every single time 😩

"technically I'm the spare" pls Henry is so fucking funny and sassy, I love him 😂😂😂

"the B in LGBTQ is not a silent letter" CRYING 😭❤️ istg the bi rep in media lately is so good and so validating and I love it so much 😭 and the way Alex was so hesitant and could barely say "I'm bisexual" to Henry, and now he's laughing and casually telling his mom "I'm bi" 😭 so happy for him but also so jealous, I want this 😭😂😂😂

"you need to figure out if you feel forever about him" one of my fave lines from the book tbh, I love this so much

Ellen is the coolest mom lmao

I miss June lol

the karaoke!!! did Alex just realize he in fact feels forever about him 😩 or at least that he's in love?? god 😭 and it was literally all in his face, so good, give Taylor all the awards, he's amazing

"it's like there's a rope attached to my chest and it's pulling me towards you" 😭 and Henry's face oh no we're getting to the "break up" point 😭

also, both those actors are just so talented, you can see every single emotion in their faces jfc

"what difference would it make if I did" baby nooo I'm crying

the argument, the museum scene, "I can't help falling in love with you" the dancing, the way they're so soft with each other, and so in love - I am in tears

"history, huh?" 😩 I LOVE THEM

noooo the emails 😭 I knew this would happen but omg nooo

Alex's speech with the montage of how awful things are for Henry are bringing me to tears again - and the ending montage was so cute omg

Alex is so in love jfc it's literally radiating off the screen lol

Zahra is just amazing lmao - "you might be lousy at keeping secrets but I'm not" 😂 I'm in love with her 😂

"I'm white and upper-class so my affection comes with strings" again, he's sooo funny 😂😂

the crowd under the palace!! Henry's reaction!! I'm sobbing!!

crying, sobbing, screaming rn, I loved this movie so fucking much

okay, so final thoughts:

it was great, I loved it, I enjoyed it, so much of it was just perfect, the casting, the chemistry, the development of their relationship - amazing

obvi they had to cut a lot bc limited time etc but I'm still bitter about June and the cornetto scene lol - I saw people say that it should've been a limited series, and I lowkey agree (plus the emails! obvi it's a different medium, and there were a few, but with how big impact they had on the story at the end, a series could devote more time to them fr)

I also saw some people say that the pacing felt rushed but i didn't feel that tbh, it was great

overall, immediate impression: fucking loved it, I cried, I laughed, it kept my attention the entire time (which is difficult lately lol) and now I really wanna reread the book even more haha

it was a fantastic queer romcom, I still wanna cry over it - there were quite a few changes to the book, which always kinda sucks, but as someone usually lowkey critical of adaptations bc I can never get over the changes lol, this one won me over pretty early on, it was just such a great watch, definitely gonna rewatch at some point - maybe after I finally reread the book 😂

also, Taylor and Nicholas need to get all the awards for the best on-screen couple or chemistry or whatever the fuck there is, bc jfc they did amazingly 🔥🔥😂

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #rwrb spoilers #spoilers #thoughts while watching

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foeyayshippingweakness · 2 years ago

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(#) people you want to get to know better

I saw it on the (handwavy gesture) timeline thanks to @saltysatellite804 so I'm gonna do it with my usual lack of brevity :)

1) three ships:

1. I also have many a ship so I'll go with the one I brainrotted really hard for over the last few years, yalex (yassen gregorovich/alex rider) my beloved from the series alex rider! [assassin with a soft spot/extremely reluctant teen spy] dynamic, there's a shit ton of parallels between them, the metaphorical ghost that is alex's dad haunting the both of them, lots of angst-hurt/comfort potential, some infamous lines from the book that is nothing short of describing yassen in unneccesary detail or a literal love confession, I don't take concrit, thank you! thanks to the tv series there's been more fics but I would definitely still categorize it as a rarepair. somehow there still feels like there's such a wealth of excellent writing though!

2. next is adayu (adachi tohru/narukami yu) from the hit game persona 4 or persona 4 golden. [super nuanced jaded cop that goes too far/new in town protag who gains friends as a bit of a butterfly effect from said antag's actions] dynamic, yin-yang opposite sides of the same coin or two roads diverged mirrored equals, and definitely the darker accomplice!yu ending which leads to a lot of creative headcanons and whatnot. also a rarepair that within the last 3 years got a couple of excellent new longfics thanks to the various ports! I have an active discord server for the pairing with about 60-ish people total so we're going strong >:3c

3. finally I'll go with the ship that was the first "fandom" environment I participated in, eobarry (eobard thawne/barry allen) in all media forms, honestly. ngl I was kind of... young then cough so I tried not to be perceived as much as possible... I respect past!fel's enthusiasm but that's about it LOL. simple yet delicious [obsessed antag who is ready to ruin protag's life at a moment's notice/heart of gold protag who messes up... sometimes] dynamic that I need to get back into in order to describe it further. as you can tell, I'm all about the "but they're just opposite sides of the same coin" trope because this one's literally the flash and the reverse flash. from what I remember, I adored eowells but was always craving for more OG thawne in the tv series. in fact, I scoured through the recent flash movie trailer like a goddamn madman in hopes of catching a glimpse of the reverse flash, but no dice. did a little bit of ranting about it here and there on various platforms but since there's visible elements of change in the trailer such as kara instead of kal-el or how barry actually talks to his alt!self and doesn't knock him the fuck out or phase him out of existence, there's a chance they're gonna pull the whole barry vs evil!barry shtick again and I'm going to have to have to write self-cest. also again. rooting for suprise thawne in the theater when I go and watch it to reignite this possible flame, yeah?

2) first ever ship - it's not something I actually remember because it was that long ago. I can, however, tell you that the first three ship fic I wrote were hetalia character/reader-insert fics over on ff dot net about eight years ago. they didn't even last half a year before I wiped them from existence LOL but I've not deleted anything after that ‘cause I not longer care to

3) last song - it's still pulled up right now on my device, heh. it's shadow from the album "face the sun" by the kpop group seventeen. it's a gorgeous song, and if you look up the lyrics, they definitely hit too. about accepting the flaws in yourself, fears, shadows, etc etc

4) last movie - I actually rewatched the animated "flashpoint" movie recently because of the new flash trailer, ha. still can't get over thawne walking out of the shadows mid-movie stirring a mug of (?) so casually jsdfhsdkjfs

5) currently reading - like any other mentally well person, I have over 150 ao3 tabs open, so I'll choose the one that's most recent and relevent. the fic's called "something rich and strange" that's (the distortion/martin blackwood) for the magnus archives. take care to read the tags if you click into the fic^^

6) currently watching - not watching anything at all that can't be finished in one sitting because I've been so busy. the only thing I can think of is my once per week saturday blue lock episode. blue lock's a really well animated and cool-looking hardcore soccer anime that I would say is a totally different genre from something like haikyuu. it's about growth and egocentrism and super fun to watch; it's in-progress but there's over 12 episodes out already

7) currently consuming - the last thing I ate was some pani puri and naan >:P

8) currently craving - you don't understand how badly I need to see that flash movie. I need a flash that's a new flavor from the CW's and I also desperate crave for eobard thawne's entire ass character to exist again. if we're talking food, it's a bit too cold for me day after day so a heart and body warming meal of hot pot with lots of greens and root veggies, mushrooms, fish balls with roe, slices of beef and other meats or seafood, various tofus, and a delicious spicy soup base sounds so good right about now but I'd have to pester my roommate to drive me somewhere to grab it... maybe next week heh! another thing might be, hmm, dragon age 4? get in my mouth right now, dreadwolf.

lastly, the (totally optional) tag line: @suzie-shooter, @that1qb, @lastlymatt, @aurastiel, @spicavenius, @kelbrid, @weavingmemories

#what's funner than cramming 20 different medias into one tumblr post #mm im cold and sleepy...#tag you’re it #do it or don’t it’s whatever (meh)

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ripicarush · 2 years ago

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i want to share with yall my little thought about how Alex and Nigel's lives would probably have turned out if they didnt met.

i will try to express my thoughts the best i can, but english isnt my first language, so it can be a little tricky. also, remember that its just my feelings and thoughts towards that and feel free to correct me if i twisted some facts from the film:]]]]

so first, nigel

i think its a very simple guess. because i feel like he would simply find someone else to be in alex's position. he was so psychotically obsessed with symbols, associations and metaphors that he would find someone who fit his narration even just because of a small thing (for example how we see in the last scene that alex talked to kid in the train because he spotted history book in his hands). he would end up killing someone either way, he just needed that "activator"

and, alex

i was carried away by my fantasy in this one, and its pretty much just something that i think would have happened. i see that a lot of people just straight up ignored the fact that alex was a coward and a bully because of an later impact of nigel being psycho mess that made us view alex as an innocent victim.

but now i want us to focus on that part and remember that this guy in the beginning spotted this "new weird kid" (nigel) and casually decided to knock him out of conciousness, kidnap him and later he aggressively stuck nigel's head out SPEEDING train. he wasnt that innocent, and we know it. he probably did it to others too. i guess if he had never met nigel, he would continue to bully others and trouble his father, obviosuly. but we saw how far and dangerous he took his bullying, so i think that he would end up killing someone. however, he wouldnt do that on purpose. being honest, he was just a pussy who acted out and liked to physically hurt others just to show his father how "rebelious and bad" he is, but he was too scared to actually kill someone. i think that one time he would take his bullying too far causing someone's death by accident

#alex forbes #like minds #like minds 2006 #nigel colbie x alex forbes #murderous intent #nigel colbie

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halothenthehorns · 7 months ago

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Chapter 11: I TAKE THE WORST BATH EVER

Percy took the book from Alex with a significant look at Annabeth. "Hopefully I can get through this one without someone snatching it away from me."

"I was doing your head a favor seaweed brain, don't want it to overheat," she grinned.

"Oh, you think I can't finish a chapter without you," he crossed his arms, crushing his finger in the pages of the book without care. "I've probably read more than you have owl breath."

"Ha," Alex cheered softly under her breath Percy had remembered that one. Magnus tapped her on the shoulder and whispered softly, "are we supposed to let them keep going?" He only managed to remember the sign for supposed to off the top of his head.

"Eh, I don't see why not," she shrugged.

"You've probably been skipping whole paragraphs and summarizing from memory, it doesn't count!" Annabeth lobbed back.

"Ehhem," Thalia did clear her throat though with an amused smile and ruin their fun. "Percy, if you don't want to read, I'm sure Annabeth will for you."

"Hey, no, what," Percy stammered as he held the book. "I can read fine Thalia!"

"I question it too though," she smirked.

Percy strolled casually back to his seat between the two girls and read the chapter title, enunciating every syllable as if practicing for the first time. It did not help his situation all it caused was a chorus of snickers around the room, Alex even adding in a baby voice, "Forget your rubber duckie there?"

It was kind of nice, Percy shook his head, that no matter what shit he went through, at least someone got a kick out of his misery.

As he tried to properly get started, Annabeth covered his hand with hers. Just there, leaving her overlapping fingers on his while he held the book comfortably. She was so warm he wondered if she had a sunburn or had been carrying around lumps of coal. The truth was he didn't care why she was, he just smiled as he read.

My sword reappeared in my pocket.

Yeah, great timing. Now I could attack the walls all I wanted. My cell had no bars, no windows, not even a door. The skeletal guards shoved me straight through a wall, and it became solid behind me.

"Kinda cool?" Jason offered. "How many solid walls have you gone through without breaking them."

"You're about to find out," Percy rolled his eyes. He hoped Jason was as resistant as the Kool-Aid jar guy, he'd be a little sorry if it actually hurt him.

I wasn't sure if the room was airtight. Probably. Hades's dungeon was meant for dead people, and they don't breathe.

"Why would Hades endungeon dead people?" Magnus looked at him strangely. "He's got the fields of punishment specifically for that."

"Hades special punishment for certain ones to keep them right under his feet," Thalia shivered. "I'm over here praying we don't hear who Percy's neighbors are."

So forget fifty or sixty years. I'd be dead in fifty or sixty minutes.

Nico winced at Percy once again thinking he was going to die any minute, and now it was all his fault. "I'm sorry," he said again, hoping Percy knew he really never meant it to come to this.

'I'm sorry for trusting you,' was still the first thought that crossed Percy's mind, but he sighed. Nico really hadn't done anything unforgivable, and to be fair, he'd been sitting through far worse torture to scrape together his past too with bubblegum and blonde hair. 'It's not the first thought that matters in the end, it's the one you act on,' his mother had once told him kindly as she dabbed at his bleeding lip one to many days after school. 'That's what matters Percy. I'm happy you told him to shut up first, that's who I want you to be next time.' He'd never quite managed to live up to that advice, but he kept trying. "I'm sorry too, I was pretty harsh."

"Well one of you should definitely be sorryier," Thalia kept to herself who she thought that should be, she was trying to be mature and not reignite an argument that wouldn't lead anywhere good; even if she did understand Percy's anger all to well. "But if we just let you two go on like this all day I'll die of boredom."

"Tempting," Percy nodded. "Nico, I'm sorrier- ouch," Thalia had jabbed him in his liver. Or his pancreas. One of those organs that hurt a lot when her fingers hit it!

Annabeth looked rather impressed about it too, wondering to herself if it was some combination of him letting his guard down around someone he trusted to feel it so much and Thalia's stronger than average strength as he looked at her gray eyes in betrayal before moving on.

Meanwhile, if Hades wasn't lying, some big trap was going to be sprung in New York by the end of the day, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

I sat on the cold stone floor, feeling miserable.

I don't remember dozing off. Then again, it must've been about seven in the morning, mortal time, and I'd been through a lot.

"Understatement," Thalia mock whispered.

Nobody even had the heart to play that off with her. It was just to true.

I dreamed I was on the porch of Rachel's beach house in St. Thomas.

"Just for that extra kick in the rear of the life you could have been having," Magnus said in sympathy.

"I feel like if I ever tried to skip out on such a luxury as being trapped in Hades dungeon I'd be hit by a car or something for divine retribution," Percy scowled.

Annabeth shivered in revulsion of such an idea that really could happen to him any day. She'd have to hose him down just to hope to save his life for starters before this curse kept him safe.

The sun was rising over the Caribbean. Dozens of wooded islands dotted the sea, and white sails cut across the water. The smell of salt air made me wonder if I would ever see the ocean again.

Alex was now imagining some convoluted way of Percy getting out of his current predicament by just pulling the ocean water right through the Underworld and flooding his cell along with Hades's entire kingdom in a fit of rage. It was probably a tad delusional, but pretty satisfying all things considered imagining the god of death dripping wet and calling Percy the worst plumber ever.

Rachel's parents sat at the patio table while a personal chef fixed them omelets. Mr. Dare was dressed in a white linen suit. He was reading The Wall Street Journal. The lady across the table was probably Mrs. Dare, though all I could see of her were hot pink fingernails and the cover of Condé Nast Traveler.

Why she'd be reading about vacations while she was on vacation, I wasn't sure.

"She's got to make sure she's listed somewhere as being on the hottest vacation," Thalia said scathingly. "Oh, no, she's already planning the next one, or, or, she's looking to buy another island."

"I feel like if I had that much money I'd do something stupid, like try to buy all the soda companies out and install free drink machines in schools," Percy grinned.

"Yeah!" Thalia said in delight. "Atomic Bomb's for the masses!" They high-fived over their insane drink where they mixed all the fountain sodas together while the other couldn't watch and then dared each other to taste what all had been mixed.

"At least you'd be bringing happiness to children of the world," Annabeth chuckled.

Rachel stood at the porch railing and sighed. She wore Bermuda shorts and her Van Gogh T-shirt.

"Isn't that the guy that cut his ear off?" Will asked.

Percy laughed in delight and told him, "she gets so mad that's the only thing most people know him for. Don't get her started on Prisoner's Round, she'll chew your ear off."

(Yeah, Rachel was trying to teach me about art, but don't get too impressed. I only remembered the dude's name because he cut his ear off.)

Will laughed right along with him now, hoping to bring it up next time he saw her at Camp...assuming he ever saw her again.

I wondered if she was thinking about me, and how much it sucked that I wasn't with them on vacation. I know that's what I was thinking.

Then the scene changed. I was in St. Louis, standing downtown under the Arch.

Annabeth sighed, squeezing Percy's hand in hers. She wanted to ask if he'd ever been tempted to hold Rachle's hand while she'd been in here. She wanted to demand why Percy could dream of her in her swimming suit in a better life when he was at his lowest.

She stubbornly brushed it aside though, her worry for where Rachel actually was outweighing those small details. She'd rather have her in here, where they knew she was actually safe, jealousy and all.

I'd been there before.

In fact, I'd almost fallen to my death there before.

"We really need to take you on a cross-country trip and stop to commemorate all the places you've nearly died. We can bring stickers," Jason said with a painful sounding laugh.

"Sounds like the perfect thing to do the second I get my license," Percy chuckled.

Over the city, a thunderstorm boiled—a wall of absolute black with lightning streaking across the sky.

A few blocks away, swarms of emergency vehicles gathered with their lights flashing. A column of dust rose from a mound of rubble, which I realized was a collapsed skyscraper.

A nearby reporter was yelling into her microphone: "Officials are describing this as a structural failure, Dan, though no one seems to know if it is related to the storm conditions."

Wind whipped her hair. The temperature was dropping rapidly, like ten degrees just since I'd been standing there.

"Thankfully, the building had been abandoned for demolition," she said. "But police have evacuated all nearby buildings for fear the collapse might trigger—"

She faltered as a mighty groan cut through the sky. A blast of lightning hit the center of the darkness. The entire city shook. The air glowed, and every hair on my body stood up. The blast was so powerful I knew it could only be one thing: Zeus's master bolt. It should have vaporized its target, but the dark cloud only staggered backward. A smoky fist appeared out of the clouds. It smashed another tower, and the whole thing collapsed like children's blocks.

The reporter screamed. People ran through the streets. Emergency lights flashed. I saw a streak of silver in the sky—a chariot pulled by reindeer, but it wasn't Santa Claus driving. It was Artemis, riding the storm, shooting shafts of moonlight into the darkness. A fiery golden comet crossed her path . . . maybe her brother Apollo.

One thing was clear: Typhon had made it to the Mississippi River. He was halfway across the U.S., leaving destruction in his wake, and the gods were barely slowing him down.

The mountain of darkness loomed above me. A foot the size of Yankee Stadium was about to smash me when a voice hissed, "Percy!"

Percy was shivering nonstop in his seat by then, like he should have a cold and be sniffling, and they couldn't blame him. Jason had always imagined these dreams as just Percy observing these events, but to suddenly imagine him just standing there, helpless to watch, was the worst thing he could do to him.

I lunged out blindly. Before I was fully awake, I had Nico pinned to the floor of the cell with the edge of my sword at his throat.

Magnus couldn't help but wince at the sheer violence of that action. That kind of stuff probably happened all the time at camp. When kids grew up with their first instinct being to draw a weapon, to see everyone you passed on the street as a threat, this was the inevitable outcome.

Percy pressed his hand to his mouth in horror at what he'd done to him. He looked at his own hands and really hated what he was capable of. What he'd need more of to take out Kronos. Not the kind of take out Nico had apparently wanted to do with him at one point.

Will was squeezing and releasing Nico's shoulder like he was a new pressure cuff as he closed his eyes and clearly swallowed hard against anything he wanted to say about that. Percy was supposed to protect Nico. He wished that had prevailed, but he'd be happy to pick up where his distracted ass left off when he ran into the sunset saving the world.

"Want . . . to . . . rescue," he choked.

Anger woke me up fast. "Oh, yeah? And why should I trust you?"

"No . . . choice?" he gagged.

I wished he hadn't said something logical like that. I let him go.

"Nico's now two for two, winning those logical arguments," Alex said calmly enough, honestly hoping to avoid another fight starting. She liked Nico and Percy to much to pick sides, even if it was pretty tempting to call Oceanus back in here on his terms and strangle him, he'd have to stop and take time to fill them in on the plan. It was just to much to do when right now they all needed a breather.

Nico curled into a ball and made retching sounds while his throat recovered. Finally he got to his feet, eyeing my sword warily. His own blade was sheathed. I suppose if he'd wanted to kill me, he could've done it while I slept. Still, I didn't trust him.

"And why the hell not?" Will tried not to ask through gritted teeth. He forced a smile and really tried to shake off his wavering anger and annoyance. "I get you woke up on the wrong side of the cell Percy, but you're being a tad dramatic."

"Only a tad?" Percy raised an unamused brow. "I've never been a tad anything, maybe I should up my game?"

"Percy, stop instigating Will," Thalia still felt like an over exhausted babysitter as she looked at Annabeth, who was being no help as she sat frowning at the book like nothing else was happening.

"Relax man," Percy rolled his eyes, clearly ignoring Thalia. "I didn't feel any bad sense when I met Nico in here, I obviously forgave him." He said while watching Nico, who was sitting in uncomfortable silence. Percy hadn't actually felt anything to intense upon meeting Nico other than a sense of knowing him, just like Thalia. He honestly wished he had, he'd obviously screwed up in his past by never growing any closer with Nico than he had Thalia, who was off roaming the world half the year. At least she was with friends, her own family. It seemed Nico likely hadn't found that before this catastrophe, and Percy still felt personally responsible he hadn't managed to integrate Nico into camp better, considering his disastrous attempts to go it alone had gone.

"We have to get out of here," he said.

"Why?" I said. "Does your dad want to talk to me again?"

"I'd really hope he would just use Nico to summon you if he wanted to talk though," Annabeth said in exhaustion. "Better than the furies who would just rip you limb from limb and deliver you that way."

"Hades might be a little upset if they did that," Percy mock agreed, "he'd have to talk to each piece of me, and you know none of me would be listening, he'd have to repeat himself a million times. This is better."

Nico managed a laugh, a subdued one, but it rattled loose whatever tension had been left in the room from this ordeal.

He winced. "Percy, I swear on the River Styx, I didn't know what he was planning."

"You know what your dad is like!"

Apparently not as well as he thought he did, Nico winced. That was three consecutive times in Percy's life he'd been duped by someone obviously not with him in mind, granted one of which Percy and Thalia also helped, just far more reluctantly. He really didn't know what he was supposed to do to stop being such a useless idiot.

Percy was still watching him beat himself up over there, and couldn't just sit there. "Look, you obviously knew what you were doing was wrong by not telling me!" He still couldn't help the anger bleeding into his tone. "Just, next time, tell me what's going on Nico, please!"

"I promise," Nico nodded, really meeting his eyes. "I'm sick of always being a problem to you."

"You're not a problem to me Nico," Percy sighed. "You're, just, really naive or something, or trusting, I don't know. Stop hanging around people who get you in trouble." He groaned he sounded like a school counselor.

Nico frowned, because he wasn't going to stop. He still wanted a connection with his dad, he'd still keep visiting gods and that ranch and places Percy probably wouldn't approve of for his own fascination of the world and hopes the places he'd visited in the past weren't just the death and decay he'd left them in.

He glanced at Will. Percy clearly wouldn't want to come and still wouldn't approve, but he wasn't sure he cared anymore, even if a part of him would always crave Percy's approval. Will was already smiling right back.

"He tricked me. He promised—" Nico held up his hands. "Look . . . right now, we need to leave. I put the guards to sleep, but it won't last."

I wanted to strangle him again. Unfortunately, he was right.

"Is this how you feel all the time?" Nico asked Annabeth like every word was sapping more strength from him as this dragged on.

"Pretty similar, yeah," Annabeth grudgingly nodded. "Some days I'd rather build a temple out of spaghetti than try getting him to agree I'm right."

Percy did not like the sudden implication being offered of how similar Nico and Annabeth were and decided he needed to move on from this conversation very loudly.

We didn't have time to argue, and I couldn't escape on my own. He pointed at the wall. A whole section vanished, revealing a corridor.

"Come on." Nico led the way.

I wished I had Annabeth's invisibility hat, but as it turned out, I didn't need it. Every time we came to a skeleton guard, Nico just pointed at it, and its glowing eyes dimmed. Unfortunately, the more Nico did it, the more tired he seemed. We walked through a maze of corridors filled with guards. By the time we reached a kitchen staffed by skeletal cooks and servants, I was practically carrying Nico. He managed to put all the dead to sleep but nearly passed out himself. I dragged him out of the servants' entrance and into the Fields of Asphodel.

Will's heart softened like a gooey marshmallow at a campfire. It didn't matter how angry Percy really had been. He'd just stepped in and helped support him no matter how many times he'd called him a creep. Nex person who complained Percy shouldn't sing along to 'Friendship Saved Pythias', he'd duck tape their mouth shut.

I almost felt relieved until I heard the sound of bronze gongs high in the castle.

"Alarms," Nico murmured sleepily.

"What do we do?"

"What were you hoping he was going to say?" Magnus looked around at Percy in concern. "We should just chill here with a cup of tea, my dad will totally understand."

"Maybe with a little less sarcasm, but yeah Magnus, I would like that," Percy groaned.

He yawned then frowned like he was trying to remember. "How about . . . run?"

"Nico, with the best life advice over here," Jason snorted.

"He could replace Chiron if we're not careful," Thalia chuckled.

"You guys are so hilarious," Nico rolled his eyes affectionately, a very new feeling he hadn't grown tired of.

Running with a drowsy child of Hades was more like doing a three-legged race with a life-size rag doll.

"I could've renamed you Scrump right then," Percy groused, mock rubbing his shoulder as if he was heavier than the actual literal weight of the sky. "I'm pretty sure bugs have laid eggs in your ear at least once!"*

He got a lot of blank stares, and he felt only a tad guilty once again realizing his childhood was still leagues better than half these guys as he'd spent afternoons watching movies with his mom at least sparingly, so he read slightly louder than was necessary.

I lugged him along, holding my sword in front of me. The spirits of the dead made way like the Celestial bronze was a blazing fire.

Will really wanted to suggest next time they just start with that, but even Percy might not have been able to defeat every minion of Hades before they regrew and Nico would have had to do his thing anyways. He just sighed, again, at realizing Nico's powers affected him so badly.

"Could you do that shadow trick now, if we wanted to sneak in and out of somewhere?" Alex asked.

Nico grinned. He really, probably shouldn't have answered like that, but it was sub-par compared to the chaos Alex would wrought with it, so he did anyways. "Not to do anything to crazy. I can only hold my breath so long, and I haven't been able to practice as much as I'd like."

"We'll work on it," Alex chuckled, though Nico got the disturbing idea of Alex telling Percy to drown him until he could indefinitely before he shook it off with the mild comfort he did need slightly less oxygen intake than the average demigod thanks to his dad.

The sound of gongs rolled across the fields. Ahead loomed the walls of Erebos, but the longer we walked, the farther away they seemed. I was about to collapse from exhaustion when I heard a familiar "WOOOOOF!"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of nowhere and ran circles around us, ready to play.

The eight shouts of delight for her always popping up when Percy needed her should have caused more alarm than it did, but if that Ocean Titan had anything to say about it, he could to Mrs. O'Leary himself.

"Good girl.'" I said. "Can you give us a ride to the Styx?"

The word Styx got her excited. She probably thought I meant sticks.

"You still owe her and Cerberus so much playtime," Alex nodded. Percy had a feeling Alex was going to follow him around and remind him of that for the rest of his life, possibly engrave it on his tombstone. Unless he committed at least twelve hours a day to this apparent overlap, or invented a stick throwing machine.

She jumped a few times, chased her tail just to teach it who was boss, and then calmed down enough for me to push Nico onto her back. I climb aboard, and she raced toward the gates. She leaped straight over the EZ-DEATH line, sending guards sprawling and causing more alarms to blare. Cerberus barked, but he sounded more excited than angry, like: Can I play too?

Alex would have been the perfect person to be reading this part, Magnus grinned. The enthusiasm and chaos she put into every word that never left anyone in doubt Percy was having the time of his life running away on an adrenaline rush and would probably be back for seconds next week given his luck Percy was sort of lacking as he tried to stay upbeat, but mostly sounded very done.

Fortunately, he didn't follow us, and Mrs. O'Leary kept running. She didn't stop until we were far upriver and the fires of Erebos had disappeared in the murk.

Nico slid off Mrs. O'Leary's back and crumpled in a heap on the black sand.

Nico mock rung out his jacket. "You think your sand gets everywhere? I was finding that stuff literally still clinging to my skin for weeks."

"We all know not to have a beach day in the Underworld Nico, I promise," Percy shrugged.

"Besides, the umbrella's would clash," Alex nodded seriously.

I took out a square of ambrosia—part of the emergency god-food I always kept with me. It was a little bashed up, but Nico chewed it.

"Uh," he mumbled. "Better."

"Your powers drain you too much," I noted.

"Thanks for the update," Nico said with a mild frown. He loved being reminded as many times as possible he was so much weaker and bad at this than Percy. He sighed and let the grumpy thought go. "I honestly don't know why. I feel like I was cursed by some other god, since it's not that bad with you two."

"It's possible, I wouldn't put it past Persephone," Percy agreed in concern. "Or just the way you learned might have screwed you over in the long run."

Nico rolled his eyes. Percy would never let go of the fact that he'd never gone to camp.

"Minos probably wasn't the best teacher, I doubt he really wanted to help," Thalia nodded at Percy.

Nico froze, his mind itching uncomfortably for a moment before he retorted in anger, "he didn't teach me everything I can do!"

"He probably didn't teach you everything you shouldn't do either," Annabeth said simply. "From what I've heard, you always seem to go all out, and passing out isn't all the rest you might need."

Nico tried not to glower at them, none of that sounded like useful advice, but the annoying truth was they weren't wrong either. He'd managed to figure everything out for himself or at the beginning with that ghost. It's not like Percy and Thalia had guides for their powers, they'd figured out their own limits and pushed from there. Maybe it hadn't helped by Minos telling him he didn't have any.

He nodded sleepily. "With great power . . . comes great need to take a nap. Wake me up later."

"Was that a Spider-Man reference?" Will yelped in delight.

"Yeah," Nico grinned. "I like sneaking into those, those ones with cars all over."

"Drive-ins?" Will said in surprise, he'd only heard about those as old-school dates.

"Yeah," Nico nodded, "I hid underneath this minivan that had a whole group of kids to watch. They kept the volume decent, not ear ringing like those huge theaters, and one kid dropped a box of chocolate out the window he didn't want to get out for." Nico's smile was far to happy for describing something so sad. "Anyways, the kids kept talking over the movie telling fun facts, but they got real quiet during that quote and I could tell why, I got shivers," he held up his jacket coated arm with a fond smile like he'd known he was hearing a piece of history. "Did you know he was the first teenage superhero who wasn't a sidekick? And, and that those webs coming out of his wrists he makes himself in the comics? I want to find out what happened and how he lost one of his abilities if I can."

Percy wasn't sure if he should keep reading or get the kid a blanket if that was the highlight of his summer while he'd been having the best times of his life with Rachel having milk-snorting competitions and she kept trying to buy him singing fish that wouldn't shut up about hound dogs as gag gifts.

Nico seemed done talking though. He seemed to have realized they'd gotten completely off topic and was blushing slightly, looking from the book to the floor.

"Whoa, zombie dude." I caught him before he could pass out again.

Not his favorite nickname, Nico internally groaned, but also Percy's warm hands catching him woke him up faster than any godly food ever could. He'd felt more goosebumps all over than a hundred movies could do to him, he'd become suddenly hyper-aware of everything as Percy's green eyes studied him, the way his mouth still ticked in anger, the sudden overpowering scent of the salty ocean, the very distant sounds of that alarm in tune with his heart.

"We're at the river. You need to tell me what to do."

I fed him the last of my ambrosia, which was a little dangerous. The stuff can heal demigods, but it can also burn us to ashes if we eat too much. Fortunately, it seemed to do the trick. Nico shook his head a few times and struggled to his feet.

He'd have told his father to shove it to get out of those warm, steady hands and be able to calm his racing heart, Nico shook his head at his past self. Now Percy probably couldn't stand the idea of touching him without fearing it would somehow attract more feelings.

"My father will be coming soon," he said. "We should hurry."

The River Styx's current swirled with strange objects—broken toys, ripped-up college diplomas, wilted homecoming corsages—all the dreams people had thrown away as they'd passed from life into death. Looking at the black water, I could think of about three million places I'd rather swim.

"Active volcano has to be one of them," Alex said with confidence.

"It was in the lower thousands," Percy nodded, "right beside quicksand."

"So . . . I just jump in?"

Annabeth looked very much like someone who wanted to swat him in the face with a rolled-up newspaper. "No Percy, you do not just jump in, leap in!, to the River Styx with a cannonball!"

"Not even a swan dive?" He asked with an amused grin. "I bet Nico would give me a fair score since there's no diving board."

"He would not," Nico frowned.

"You're lucky Nico's there to explain to your insane, impulsive, ideas about preparation," she finished in a long exhausted sigh he was actually still alive against all odds.

"You have to prepare yourself first," Nico said, "or the river will destroy you. It will burn away your body and soul."

"Sounds fun," I muttered.

"This is no joke," Nico warned.

One of the many, many times Nico had a love hate relationship with Percy's ability to laugh in the face of death. He could probably rank about three million of his own.

"There is only one way to stay anchored to your mortal life. You have to . . ."

He glanced behind me and his eyes widened. I turned and found myself face-to-face with a Greek warrior.

For a second I thought he was Ares, because this guy looked exactly like the god of war—tall and buff, with a cruel scarred face and closely shaved black hair. He wore a white tunic and bronze armor. He held a plumed war helm under his arm. But his eyes were human—pale green like a shallow sea—and a bloody arrow stuck out of his left calf, just above the ankle.

Even Magnus had heard of this guy, his name was a common enough phrase, but the description still managed to freak him out plenty. "Who is Achilles a child of? Do all demigods get stuck in the way they die?" Nico had said Beckendorf was happy somewhere around there waiting on someone, but now all he could imagine was his body in flames aboard the next cruise ship Percy would try to invade.

"I presume he only appears there in spirit, like a recorded message," Annabeth shook her head, "he's most likely happy somewhere in Elysium, or if he tried for rebirth, the myths don't say. His parentage is just Percy's perception of him, he's actually the child of Peleus and Thetis-"

"He's the child of a dragon?" Magnus yelped, going paler as he expected the guy to be hiding some minotaur hybridization going on if he got angry.

"We named our guardian after the king of Phthia, he was a hero who-"

Percy probably would have let her keep going back five generations and then gone into the guy's mother before he snapped out of his love daze of just staring at her. Thalia probably would have let her too, just because she was not looking forward to another word of this as she slouched more in her seat and pulled out an arrow to start jabbing her ripped jeans. Jason definitely would have let her too because he was having the time of his life, the little nerd. Magnus wasn't exactly engrossed, but he wasn't going to shut her down either as she told an epic story she clearly enjoyed. Will had probably only ever told one person to shut up in his life, and the consequences hadn't been great.

Alex exchanged a look with Nico. Guess they'd have to be the mature ones. How lame. "And then he turned into an invisible cat and started terrorizing neighboring kingdoms!" Alex bluntly interrupted. She felt a little bad for it, but it had to be done.

"That's not-" Annabeth looked around in confusion.

"One story at a time guys," Nico calmly reminded.

"And if there's not at least one talking cat in every story I get bored," Alex shrugged.

"I haven't had a talking cat show up in my life yet," Percy tempted fate, now of all times.

"Don't underestimate the power of my imagination," was Alex's only ominous answer to that.

I stunk at Greek names, but even I knew the greatest warrior of all time, who had died from a wounded heel.

"Achilles," I said.

The ghost nodded. "I warned the other one not to follow my path. Now I will warn you."

"Luke? You spoke with Luke?"

"Do not do this," he said. "It will make you powerful. But it will also make you weak. Your prowess in combat will be beyond any mortal's, but your weaknesses, your failings will increase as well."

Thalia resisted the urge to pull her hood over her head and sink even farther back into her poof. What had Luke's response been to being warned away? Had he claimed he was doing this for victory and glory against the gods? Had he still been insisting he was doing it for them? Either justification made her to sick to care, and yet she still desperately wanted to know.

"You mean I'll have a bad heel?" I said. "Couldn't I just, like, wear something besides sandals? No offense."

Thalia took it out on Percy. "What makes you think if you encased your foot in concrete it still wouldn't be easy for the most basic of monsters to break!"

Percy was unphased. "I like to think I keep them distracted enough it'll just be a mild work around."

"How about when I rip your face off?" She tried to fight off a smile with a scowl.

"Come at me you darned dirty Huntress," Percy chuckled.

Nico understood it was a reference more from Percy's tone than getting why he'd call her that, but he was happy to see he also wasn't the only one who didn't get it as Percy loudly kept reading past any more depressing faces to get to that awful bath with way to much enthusiasm.

He stared down at his bloody foot. "The heel is only my physical weakness, demigod. My mother, Thetis, held me there when she dipped me in the Styx.

"How old was he when his mom did that?" Alex asked in disgust.

"An infant," Annabeth frowned in agreement, "there was a whole prophecy around this that I would have gotten to."

"You would have gotten to the point when Percy gets his shit together," Nico scoffed.

"I have a book with you in it mister, and I'm not afraid to use misquotes," Percy rolled his eyes.

Nico swallowed in horror what Percy could say had come out of his mouth and quickly sat back in his seat.

What really killed me was my own arrogance.

"Well I at least don't have that," Percy mock brushed sweat off his brow. "Crisis averted guys, I think I'm safe!"

He got some mild laughter, but it wasn't really funny. It was slowly becoming apparent to the three not in the know just what exactly Percy was capable of, what he'd done to himself back then in order to be on the same playing field as a Titan. What he'd committed himself to being, just shy of a god.

Beware! Turn back!"

He meant it. I could hear the regret and bitterness in his voice. He was honestly trying to save me from a terrible fate.

And not a lot of people did that for him, Annabeth bit back a sigh. There were just to many gods, to many monsters, to many people who needed something from him, even she wasn't guiltless of needing him as a partner. He could have walked away from this feat of daring, and nobody could have called him selfish for it.

Then again, Luke had been here, and he hadn't turned back.

"That wasn't as motivating as you might think Perce," Jason grimaced as he studied his hands, his tattoo. The things he could have done and would never know about haunted him every other fleeting feeling that came and went from a life he couldn't remember, but apparently shared quite a bit with Percy.

That's why Luke had been able to host the spirit of Kronos without his body disintegrating. This is how he'd prepared himself, and why he seemed impossible to kill. He had bathed in the River Styx and taken on the powers of the greatest mortal hero, Achilles. He was invincible.

Annabeth shivered like ice had just been dumped into her veins. The idea of what he'd gone through by himself had to make her the most worthless hero to ever pretend to be as such. Nico might not be her first pick, but at least Percy had somebody to go through this with! Luke had asked her to, begged her to...and she'd slammed the door in his face.

She wondered if Janus had been laughing at her.

The prophecy couldn't have worked out any other way, she still kept trying to soothe herself months later, but it still sounded like she was lying to herself.

"I have to," I said. "Otherwise I don't stand a chance."

Achilles lowered his head. "Let the gods witness I tried. Hero, if you must do this, concentrate on your mortal point. Imagine one spot of your body that will remain vulnerable. This is the point where your soul will anchor your body to the world. It will be your greatest weakness, but also your only hope. No man may be completely invulnerable. Lose sight of what keeps you mortal, and the River Styx will burn you to ashes. You will cease to exist."

Percy felt like he had a pretty good idea of which spot he'd chosen, as he rubbed the side of his head for the twinge of pain and ignored how his back felt like it had fire ants all along his spine. Particularly the part where Annaebth's nails had recently dug in. The amount of times he'd slammed himself into his seat and felt, an odd sensation, just there. Like a bean shifted around and pinged him in just that spot. It was never something he'd really paid much attention to.

"I don't suppose you could tell me Luke's mortal point?"

"What, I had to ask?" Percy grinned to Annabeth's face.

"Yeah, but, Percy," she sighed in exhaustion at still wondering how he was alive. How on earth had he managed to focus on one thing down in that river to still be alive?! She was about to find out and still found it hard to believe.

He scowled. "Prepare yourself, foolish boy. Whether you survive this or not, you have sealed your doom!"

"Nice chap," Thalia nodded to herself. "Hope he gets lots of tributes and thanks from others he warned away."

"I'll get started on a campfire song for him when we get back," Will chuckled.

With that happy thought, he vanished.

"Percy," Nico said, "maybe he's right."

"This was your idea."

"Which makes it every bit okay for him to admit this was a bad idea, as opposed to other nosy parties," Will grinned.

"I swear he's huffing laughing gas," Percy told Annabeth in mild concern.

"Nah, he's been like that since he got to camp," Annabeth shrugged. "The Stolls had a bet going if he was dropped on his head or something."

Will kept smiling like he hadn't heard a word. Percy wasn't entirely ruling out the Stolls joke. They might have been the one to do it and never admitted it.

"I know, but now that we're here—"

"Just wait on the shore. If anything happens to me . . . Well, maybe Hades will get his wish, and you'll be the child of the prophecy after all."

He didn't look pleased about that, but I didn't care.

Nico shook his head slowly. He could have spent a year trying to describe how much he hadn't been pleased about that! He'd felt like he was watching Bianca abandon him again without a care as Percy hadn't looked back. He'd felt like this was one entire huge mistake on his part and he'd only done it to try and spend time with Percy, expecting him to never go through with it. He'd felt so proud and in awe of this hero he'd never be, always stepping up to every challenge just like Nico knew he would.

And that was just the first few annoyingly contradictory thoughts. He hadn't even begun to think back then what kind of reception he'd get at camp if Juniper had happened to mention the last person Percy was ever seen with.

Before I could change my mind,

Percy barely took a breath before he decided to share one of the most intimate parts of himself, like he had been all along without much care. The truth was, he'd felt like any of them could have killed him and never known the difference until the weapon wouldn't work. No matter what feeling he'd had sitting along side them, he'd never felt like he was more than them.

I concentrated on the small of my back—a tiny point just opposite my navel. It was well defended when I wore my armor. It would be hard to hit by accident, and few enemies would aim for it on purpose. No place was perfect, but this seemed right to me, and a lot more dignified than, like, my armpit or something.

"Okay, wait, just," Alex finally managed to say while waving her hand through her muffled laughter. "There's a lot to process there, just, give me a second"

"No," Percy rolled his eyes, entirely joking. He just knew Alex would have something to say about that part.

"I'm still kind of stuck on the, hard to hit when wearing armor part," Jason admitted while Alex was still trying to collect herself. "I can count on one hand the amount of times you've worn armor, and they were all playing capture the flag. Otherwise, you never seem to get the chance." Why he never brought it on quests was sort of understandable, it would just slow him down in most cases when Percy fought so all over the place and he healed relatively quickly with water available, but still. During the greatest battle of his life didn't seem the best place to suddenly be trying to work around unpracticed techniques.

The spot was news to Thalia, and it of course spurred her into suggesting, "we should get you, like, one of those orange traffic cones and strap it to your left arm, that way people will aim there first."

"Okay, okay, I'm good now," Alex finally managed to catch her breath from laughing at imagining Percy getting stabbed in the armpit as his one vulnerable mortal spot left...which Percy couldn't find as funny for some reason. It made his head hurt. Alex still had to get one last breath before she could say, "you picked a great spot Percy!"

"Thanks," Percy said in surprise. He didn't think he'd ever heard Alex compliment someone before.

Alex sounded sincere too, but she still had an odd smirk on her face that made Percy feel like he was missing something as Magnus and Alex exchanged a look.

Did Percy really not see the irony? Magnus thought for himself as he shrugged and looked away. Achilles had just warned it would not only make him more powerful, but his weaknesses too. Percy's major weakness was his trust in others and his willingness to do anything for them...and now his literal one weak spot was getting stabbed in the back which he only exposed to those he trusted. This could possibly end very badly if he'd ever shared word of this with anyone before them.

Annabeth shook her head at these guys getting a laugh out of this while her hand twitched to cover that spot on him, possibly sew her hand there permanently.

I pictured a string, a bungee cord connecting me to the world from the small of my back. And I stepped into the river.

Imagine jumping into a pit of boiling acid. Now multiply that pain times fifty. You still won't be close to understanding what it felt like to swim in the Styx.

"Better or worse than the lava?" Jason asked clincially.

"On a scale of one to ten doc? It hurt! Don't recommend!" Percy scoffed.

I planned to walk in slow and courageous like a real hero.

"Percy, taking his dramatics all the way to the bank," Alex snorted.

Will at least laughed at the pun, and the callback.

As soon as the water touched my legs, my muscles turned to jelly and I fell face-first into the current.

I submerged completely. For the first time in my life, I couldn't breathe underwater. I finally understood the panic of drowning.

Thalia winced, and then turned a glare on Percy. It really was too common to him he didn't even blink, because that was a scary face. "I feel like you're mocking me! What is it with you nearly dying in liquid lately?"

"Trust me Thalia, when I'm mocking you, I make sure you know," Percy said. It wasn't an experience he'd ever wish for again, he swallowed hard and rubbed at his throat. The burning hadn't just been on every woven inch of his skin like Athena herself was practicing her newest weave on his entire body, it had gone deeper, to a burning in his lungs. Worse than choking, worse than fear holding his breath, it was a kind of inescapable menace that would not let him breathe he'd never known he was capable of being afraid of until it was to late.

Every nerve in my body burned. I was dissolving in the water. I saw faces—Rachel, Grover, Tyson, my mother—but they faded as soon as they appeared.

"Percy," my mom said. "I give you my blessing."

"Be safe, brother!" Tyson pleaded.

"Enchiladas!" Grover said. I wasn't sure where that came from, but it didn't seem to help much.

I was losing the fight.

"You are so lucky I wasn't there to kick your ass the second you got out of there," Annabeth's voice was tense, cracking with stress. She didn't care she was holding his hand so tight she was getting a cramp, because he was holding right back as he studied every press of their skin together to keep the air coming in. To remind his brain and eyes he wasn't stuck in there now.

The pain was too much. My hands and feet were melting into the water, my soul was being ripped from my body. I couldn't remember who I was. The pain of Kronos's scythe had been nothing compared to this.

The cord, a familiar voice said. Remember your lifeline, dummy!

"I was wondering when you were going to show up!" Thalia nodded, her face a little to pale to really be joking, but smiling at Annabeth all the same like a proud big sister. "No wonder he asked about you before we even cracked open his first memory." She wasn't surprised in the slightest it was Annabeth who had pulled him free of that death. The question still haunted her; who had Luke seen? What had pulled him out of that river of unforgiving loss? Her? Annabeth? Kronos?

"What?" Annabeth blinked fuzzily at her, then Percy, interrupting Thalia's train of thought as well as she always had.

Percy wasn't even blushing, he just smiled casually at her. "Yeah, I uh, you were the only memory I had when I woke up in here. Everything else only came back because, well," he gestured to the multicolored books.

Now Annabeth was blushing. Her mouth fell open in an adorable O shape, Percy grinned as he watched her. The red in her cheeks made the plump skin pink, it was creeping all the way down her neck. He didn't see why she was so surprised. It wasn't his mom or Rachel he'd longed to have on this hectic mess of his life this whole time.

Suddenly there was a tug in my lower back. The current pulled at me, but it wasn't carrying me away anymore. I imagined the string in my back keeping me tied to the shore.

"Hold on, Seaweed Brain." It was Annabeth's voice, much clearer now. "You're not getting away from me that easily."

The cord strengthened.

I could see Annabeth now—standing barefoot above me on the canoe lake pier. I'd fallen out of my canoe. That was it. She was reaching out her hand to haul me up, and she was trying not to laugh. She wore her orange camp T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was tucked up in her Yankees cap, which was strange because that should have made her invisible.

"You are such an idiot sometimes." She smiled. "Come on. Take my hand."

Memories came flooding back to me—sharper and more colorful. I stopped dissolving. My name was Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth's hand.

It wasn't even a 'real memory' Percy was getting back, as he touched his belly button in stunned silence as he took it all in. He read that passage again, three times in a row, as he felt such a headrush like she'd kissed him again for the first time. It might not have ever happened, that specific thing his mind had made up, but it was the most real memory he'd ever get back now. The rest didn't matter. What Kronos had tried and failed to do was an unimportant side note now.

He looked over at Annabth's stunned face and grinned.

Percy had grown up so much from that drooling little twelve year old. It was the only thing her mind would grasp on, like someone had just sprung a test on her and demanded the right answer. All she could think was sneaking into that nursing room in her cap as Chiron stepped out to have a word with Argus. Seeing the dried drool on his chin and picking up the bowl of pudding as he began to awaken.

All she'd wanted from him was answers. A way to get out of camp. A child of Zeus was there to get her out on her quest like the very one who had led her in. She'd been planning their victory and how to get that bolt back before she even met him.

Then she met him.

Reading against his memories the other night had felt like trying to see double, like reading with a concussion (which she had plenty of experience trying.) There was no set moment for him where he'd decided that she was tolerable and trustworthy and the best friend he'd ever had and his lifeline!

They were still holding hands, of course. For a moment, she let herself believe they'd never have to stop.

Suddenly I burst out of the river. I collapsed on the sand, and Nico scrambled back in surprise.

'Fylgja,' Alex wasn't too surprised at the word that came to mind as she kept watching Percy read and Annabeth stare at him with the most loving face no artist could ever perfectly capture, it was to deep to fully engrave into a still life, no matter how hard they tried. Soulmates. There was a Greek myth too she'd come across while trying to learn about her own, how all people had been a kind of two-for-one before Zeus split them in jealousy. It wasn't anything she'd ever put much stock in before she flipped the page, to hokey for her worldview.

She found herself glancing at Magnus. She wanted to share another look at these two, this room they'd got stuck in, being a literal whole other world apart from their personal Ragnarok in the making.

Instead she felt like a wrecking ball had been flung into her at the usual sweet, dopy smile on his face she'd been growing to enjoy amped up to twenty. Magnus was genuinely happy for his cousin, over there blushing and wringing her hands, then running them through her hair as she tried to stammer to Percy he meant that much to her too.

Alex turned sharply away before that wrecking ball could swing back around like a possessed boomerang, but her heart thudding painfully in her chest wasn't adrenaline. She knew it was to late. She just wouldn't go through this again.

"Are you okay?" he stammered. "Your skin. Oh, gods. You're hurt!"

My arms were bright red. I felt like every inch of my body had been broiled over a slow flame.

I looked around for Annabeth, though I knew she wasn't here. It had seemed so real.

He'd come shooting out of there like he had a bad sunburn and the most adorably bewildered look on his face like a lost puppy, only emphasized when his dog had come over and gave him a gentle lick. Percy's thoughts finally explained away why he'd had been squinting around as if he'd never seen the place before, why he'd looked right through Nico as usual while he'd been beating himself up over the fact that he'd just killed Percy.

Nico turned away without interest to linger on that, for once, as he turned to Will and whispered, "so, did you see that Spiderman movie?" It was still so weird and an odd rush to have a conversation that didn't involve Percy, or saving the world, or his creepy death powers.

"That one and the sequel, we have them on a VHS in the Big House," Will nodded. "Chiron's got a box of about a dozen. The Star Wars ones are my favorite. I think Chiron likes those super hero movies that have schlocky happy endings. I'd love to figure out how to hunt down some comics too though to see what else could be out there, but I've never even braved going into the city, um, again after all, well this."

He waved awkwardly at the book with a shy smile, expecting Nico to roll his eyes and proclaim himself an expert on street travel. He could probably brag about having tried every style of pizza right from the source or something equally cool.

"I get that," Nico nodded as Percy finally shook himself out of his stooper and tried to keep going. Simple as that. Will still felt a bit like a coward and meant to make a hasty promise he'd like to try...but honestly he wasn't sure if he was ready for that himself. He didn't know how close he'd get to the Williamsburg Bridge before he'd have a panic attack. Being down here was as far as he'd traveled from Camp since then, and it had long since started wearing on him.

"I'm fine . . . I think." The color of my skin turned back to normal. The pain subsided. Mrs. O'Leary came up and sniffed me with concern. Apparently I smelled really interesting.

She'd wined in the back of her throat as her enormous nose nudged him, Percy frowned in remembrance. He'd tried to tell her it was okay, but the words had sounded garbled on his throat as he looked up at her big confused black eyes, her tail low beneath her legs. He wondered if he just smelled interesting, or strange, or different. He wondered if he'd smelled something like Deadelus in his foreign body and she thought she was about to lose another friend.

"Do you feel stronger?" Nico asked.

Before I could decide what I felt, a voice boomed, "THERE!"

An army of the dead marched toward us.

At least he said us, Nico noticed with interest. Percy didn't distrust him and hate him so much he didn't still count him as some kind of backup.

"I'm going to kill your dad," Annabeth sighed, with nobody in doubt who she meant. She said that way to casually too. She really was way to much like Percy, Jason shivered at the idea of saying something as wily as that.

Nico just nodded like this didn't surprise him. He knew she didn't mean it...probably, but she still wasn't happy about this either.

A hundred skeletal Roman legionnaires led the way with shields and spears. Behind them came an equal number of British redcoats with bayonets fixed. In the middle of the host, Hades himself rode a black-and-gold chariot pulled by nightmare horses, their eyes and manes smoldering with fire.

"Impressive," Alex tugged on his her with mild disinterest though. "Is that what he plans on holding Kronos back with though? Bunch of things that only have a spine but no guts?"

"Haha," Will chuckled.

"Like I said, Kronos would have crushed him, delusional, godly, idiot he was," Percy fell off into grumbles of annoyance, which wasn't leading to great listing material for them until he fixed himself in vaguely more detailed enunciation.

"You will not escape me this time, Percy Jackson!" Hades bellowed. "Destroy him!"

"Father, no!" Nico shouted, but it was too late.

"You get credit for trying," Thalia sighed.

"Thanks," Nico still said in surprise. He wouldn't have thought someone who cared so much about Percy would even give him that again so soon.

The front line of Roman zombies lowered their spears and advanced.

Mrs. O'Leary growled and got ready to pounce. Maybe that's what set me off. I didn't want them hurting my dog.

Nico had rarely seen her eyes burn red like they had. She'd looked so much like the kind of hellhound he'd seen all over the place in the labyrinth it had stunned him into silence for a moment, remembering what she really was capable of, much like her owner.

Of course it was that, Will nodded without a drop of surprise. The slightest thing could cause Percy to go into attack mode, just like Achilles had warned, just like they'd been living through in here. If Percy felt like anybody he cared about was in danger, there wouldn't be a trace left.

Plus, I was tired of Hades being a big bully. If I was going to die, I might as well go down fighting.

"That's one hell of a way to test if, 'it worked,'" Magnus went from rubbing his temples at the CGI army playing in his head of all those weapons of the dead facing Percy, sitting casually in front of him and probably not dead, to lifting his fingers and using quotation marks on Percy with a deadpan stare.

Percy spread his arms wide in triumph, but his smile seemed plenty confused like he had no more clue how he'd managed to pull it off.

I yelled, and the River Styx exploded. A black tidal wave smashed into the legionnaires. Spears and shields flew everywhere. Roman zombies began to dissolve, smoke coming off their bronze helmets.

The redcoats lowered their bayonets, but I didn't wait for them. I charged.

It was the stupidest thing I've ever done.

"In a long, long, long, long line of stupid," Alex agreed with nothing but pride and confidence. Lucky for him, Percy was sitting right there. Percy was rubbing his heart and didn't feel that great about his never ending near deadly stunts. With any luck, this would be the last. Wait. Never mind. Kronos. That was the whole point of dealing with this.

A hundred muskets fired at me, point blank. All of them missed.

"Missed," Jason said with a hungry look in his eyes on the book. "No, Percy, you've deflected bullets before. I don't think missed, is the right word there."

Percy took Riptide in his hand, the first time he'd done so since that disastrous war council when Annabeth had convinced him it wasn't needed, the longest he'd ever gone in here without having it in his grasp honestly. He studied the plain black pen and shrugged as he pocketed it again, his thumb to busy stroking Annabeth's to care much; meanwhile Annabeth was mouthing the word 'deflected' with a concerned look around nobody felt up to explaining in detail lest it cause her to go into another rampage on long dead ghosts.

I crashed into their line and started hacking with Riptide. Bayonets jabbed. Swords slashed. Guns reloaded and fired. Nothing touched me.

I whirled through the ranks, slashing redcoats to dust, one after the other. My mind went on autopilot: stab, dodge, cut, deflect, roll. Riptide was no longer a sword. It was an arc of pure destruction.

Nico's own imagination and wildest dreams couldn't have conjured up such a feat as Percy had performed down there. He'd fought like a demon, he'd been a blur of movement and Nico had never felt such a powerful surge of mingled longing and fear upon watching him. This nutjob had nearly killed him. This guy called him a traitor, when he had moves like that all along and his sister had still died? All the river had done was amplify what had always been inside him. This guy was a god-slayer who had swept Nico off his feet before he even knew what all that entailed.

He wondered how his dad would feel if he put a stained glass image of this up somewhere in his castle.

I broke through the enemy line and leaped into the black chariot. Hades raised his staff. A bolt of dark energy shot toward me, but I deflected it off my blade and slammed into him. The god and I both tumbled out of the chariot.

"What is it with you and chariot jacking?" Will had such a torn look on his face, like he was fighting the urge not to throw offerings at Percy's feet and laugh at the level of insanity he'd just heard. He'd seen it briefly in action, he'd heard mightly tales. This was probably as close as he'd get to living the experience, and he was entirely okay with that.

"Making them get off their high horse," Percy nodded like Will had said something perfectly normal other than Percy's second instance of dethroning gods.

The next thing I knew, my knee was planted on Hades's chest. I was holding the collar of his royal robes in one fist, and the tip of my sword was poised right over his face.

Percy tried to ignore the squirming of his stomach as his body still remembered holding Nico down and nearly choking him, gods knew how many other kids he'd scared senseless in camp over the years just by kicking butt in the arena or capture the flag.

He kept trying to tell himself he'd had to do this, he'd had to make himself like this where defeating one of the eldest gods was now practically easy and something he could do as mindlessly as eat. A necessary evil. Like his mom having Gabe in their lives, or his dad avoiding him until he needed something.

It wasn't making him feel better, it was just a fact.

Silence. The army did nothing to defend their master. I glanced back and realized why. There was nothing left of them but weapons in the sand and piles of smoking, empty uniforms. I had destroyed them all.

That was the kind of power now in Kronos's hands, Jason grimly understood. Why he hadn't marched out of the sea and demolished camp the moment he'd come out of the Styx Jason didn't know, but it made a fear clamp so tight in him he expected to be constipated for weeks.

This? This really was just another in a long list of insane things Percy had done. Like Annabeth still hadn't stopped yammering about her favorite Greek hero, except he was right here muttering something about getting a snack in between sentences like they hadn't just had a break while the book of his life sat casually on his knee and he held hands with his girlfriend. The real question was, what was waiting for them above when Percy got all caught up.

Hades swallowed. "Now, Jackson, listen here. . . ."

He was immortal. There was no way I could kill him, but gods can be wounded. I knew that firsthand, and I figured a sword in the face wouldn't feel too good.

"Just because I'm a nice person," I snarled, "I'll let you go. But first, tell me about that trap!"

Hades melted into nothing, leaving me holding empty black robes.

"Ares didn't leave you a spoil of war," Magnus stammered like his brain was processing the idea of getting one of those from a god! Like, that was an actual, thing, Percy had just done. The guy across the room!

"Ares is a sore loser, Hades is a little above him I guess," Percy shrugged without much care why.

I cursed and got to my feet, breathing heavily. Now that the danger was over, I realized how tired I was. Every muscle in my body ached. I looked down at my clothes. They were slashed to pieces and full of bullet holes, but I was fine. Not a mark on me.

Nico's mouth hung open. "You just . . . with a sword . . . you just—"

"I think the river thing worked," I said.

"Thanks for the update man, really needed that," Jason snorted.

"Just want to make sure you're all keeping up, since my reading skills are so poor apparently," Percy said with 'A Look' at Annabeth.

She batted her eyes innocently, and said in a sugary sweet voice, "You're doing great sweetie, almost done with your part!"

His stomach swooped with joy at the mock encouragement. He squeezed her hand and smirked at her sarcasm before moving on casually.

"Oh gee," he said sarcastically. "You think?"

Mrs. O'Leary barked happily and wagged her tail. She bounded around, sniffing empty uniforms and hunting for bones. I lifted Hades's robe. I could still see the tormented faces shimmering in the fabric.

I walked to the edge of the river. "Be free."

I dropped the robe in the water and watched as it swirled away, dissolving in the current.

That was somehow an even bigger sacrifice than the Nemean Lion's coat had been, Thalia smiled at Percy, and he hadn't even made it as one. Just Percy, casually helping even damned souls without a second thought instead of pausing for even a second to wonder what powers he might also have with that godly bit of robe.

"Go back to your father," I told Nico. "Tell him he owes me for letting him go.

"Because that'll go great I'm sure!" Alex chuckled in excitement which fury was going to get a one way trip to the surface world through a new geyser when Hades ever heard Percy's name again.

"Not so much," Nico muttered quietly enough only she heard, causing her grin to somehow flicker with extra excitement for a moment, and then fade in dread as she frowned at Nico intensely why he'd know that in such a way. Gods, Hades hadn't imprisoned Nico for his part in all this had he? Percy was going to be the least of that Underdoof's problems if so.

Find out what's going to happen to Mount Olympus and convince him to help."

Percy stared intensely at Nico for a long time. Nico braced himself and felt the need to throw Will to the ground and cover him if Percy got too zealous struggling to not remember that this had worked, against all odds he and his father had actually managed the impossible and done just this to help-

Percy glanced at Annabeth and shook his head like a fly was annoying him before he kept reading. Nico silently cussed out that old Titan in his head they'd been dealing with this crap all along when she was all it had taken for them to get through this without nearly dying!

Nico stared at me. "I . . . I can't. He'll hate me now. I mean . . . even more."

Will looked to Nico with nothing but concern and sadness in his eyes. He clearly wanted to ask how that was going now a days.

Nico bit down on his lip hard to stop himself flinging his whole heart into Will's shoulder and admitting it had its ups and downs. His dad still compared him to Bianca, but now that he'd managed to get his own Cabin in camp there were some days where he even smiled at Nico and complimented him on his mild in comparison successes before he went back to pretending he didn't exist, lest he see the ghost of Maria Di Angelo in him.

"You have to," I said. "You owe me too."

His ears turned red. "Percy, I told you I was sorry. Please . . . let me come with you. I want to fight."

"Oh, we know you can fight," Annabeth's tone was light enough, still a bit guarded. "The true measure of a king is how well you can negotiate though," she said with a thinly veiled smile. She wasn't really mocking him, but his ghost king title was all she really knew of him too aside from what Percy told her.

"You'll be more help down here."

"You mean you don't trust me anymore," he said miserably.

Percy wanted to deny that, but the truth was he wasn't one hundred percent sure about what Nico would be willing to do anymore, not enough to bring him back to camp. If Hades promised him ghost time with his mom or his sister, who would he sell out next?

Nico still looked sad, under Will's arm. His brown eyes on the ground, not bothering to look at him like he was hoping that had changed. Percy wanted it to though.

"Hey, when this is over," Percy tried to say like he wasn't forcing out every word okay-ish. "I'd like to hear if you found out more." He really meant that too. He did still want to help.

"Thanks," Nico looked around at him, smiling in surprise. Truthfully he didn't know if there was anything left to learn, but he had no problems telling Percy what there was. He might like a little more closure on Bianca's story. Thalia too. Return the gift he'd had forced upon him at any rate.

I didn't answer. I didn't know what I meant. I was too stunned by what I'd just done in battle to think clearly.

"Just go back to your father," I said, trying not to sound too harsh. "Work on him. You're the only person who might be able to get him to listen."

"That's a depressing thought." Nico sighed.

"Well nobody else is clearly even going to bother trying," Magnus rolled his eyes hard. "Not the Goddess of Cereal, and certainly not his grumpy wife. You might be all that's left Nico, but that just means you're also the only hope for it, which tends to get the job done."

Nico chuckled. He didn't want to give anything away about Magnus being right, but he worried at times like this a little of his father's madness had rubbed off on him when he agreed with stuff like that.

"All right. I'll do my best. Besides, he's still hiding something from me about my mom. Maybe I can find out what."

Nico bit back a sigh it still hadn't been as much as he would have liked. He knew her name now, her face, how and why she'd died, but it never felt like enough. Why couldn't he have a book with all of his memories back? One's with a life before that first hotel got turned into smithereens, with happy memories he didn't have to wake up from, or taunting dreams he never knew were real.

He felt trapped in his own Greek myth. Far from being the hero of course, but a life lesson somewhere in his tale about asking for more than he deserved. He'd walked away from his tidbits of knowledge with his sanity intact and left free to roam to his heart's content. Maybe it was time to put it all away, stop chasing more leads in the ghost's whispers of Tartarus and Jason's camp and try to find something new to be happy with. Maybe he could break the cycle of tragedy like Percy managed if he just found someone to be happy with without looking for more trouble.

Though it didn't seem to be getting Percy out of much trouble lately.

"Good luck. Now Mrs. O'Leary and I have to go."

"Where?" Nico said.

I looked at the cave entrance and thought about the long climb back to the world of the living. "To get this war started. It's time I found Luke."

Annabeth had been leaning on Percy's shoulder at the last paragraph, mock mouthing the words along with him with a mischievous smile, but he only got a heartbeat to smile with her when he looked up at the last word to see it all vanish from her face like someone was snatching her away all over again.

She looked like she was about to call him a coward, or worse as she grabbed the book out of his hands hastily. Her thick blonde hair fell across her face, hiding it from sight as she held the red object in both hands securely.

Percy didn't understand what in Tartarus he was supposed to do as he threw his hands up and would have rather been trapped on a merry-go-round than this.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*You cannot convince me Lilo and Stich isn't Percy's favorite childhood movie. He would've empathized with her so much with their imaginations leaving them as outsiders, and then she gets the coolest best friend ever. Stitch is blue, destructive, and with a heart of gold. There is a secret fanfiction story hidden in Percy's head of Stitch's ship landing in New York and konking Gabe on the head and then the two being best friends forever and I will not be writing it.

But do let me know what movie you imagine Percy sitting around watching. Which would he want to watch with Annabeth first?

#pjo #Percy Jackson #HDYSG #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #Annabeth Chase #Magnus Chase #Alex Fierro #nico di angelo #will solace

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frost-queen · 3 years ago

Text

Stuck to you (Reader x Enoch O’connor)

Requested by: Anon, Forever tag: @missmelodramatic, @theletterhart, @alex--awesome--22, @elllie-does-the-posts, @floatlosers, @queen-of-books, @merlieve, @glimmering-darling-dolly, @denkisclown, @automaticbakeryfreakshoe, @meyocoko, @bubblybrianna, @october-leaves

“Does everyone still remember the plan?” – said Jacob, looking at each and everyone. – “I want miss Peregrine.” – cried Claire out. Jacob swallowed nervously as you knelt down beside her. – “Come now Claire. We will get Miss P back, I promise.” – spoke you to her to reassure her. Your fingers going through her ponytails. Claire sniffed loud, clutching onto her doll tighter. – “We are prepared.” – interfered Emma with a tiny smile. Enoch puffed, crossing his arms. – “Prepared?” – laughed he out, like it was a joke. You got up, slapping him against his arm. – “We’ll be as ready as we can be.” – answered you, Enoch rubbing his arm whilst looking betrayed at you. Rolling your eyes, you gave him little attention. – “I only said we aren’t prepared.” – mumbled Enoch to you. You sighed, clearly having to bicker with him about it. – “And I am telling you we are ready to give all we’ve got.” – muttered you back between a clenched jaw.

Enoch bopped his head to the side, copying your words with a childish undertone. You glared at him, giving him an even harder slap against his arm. – “Au! What was that for?” – called he out. – “Do I really need to tell you, O’Connor?” – replied you, moving your hands to your hips. – “Don’t call me that… I don’t like it when you call me that.” – spoke Enoch softly to you. You raised your hand to slap him again as Emma clapped loud in her hands. – “Please, can we not do this right now.” – Enoch and you shared a look, seizing the bickering. Nudging him one more time, you wanted to let him know who was in charge.

Enoch stuck his tongue out to you, making you laugh quietly. He curled up a smile as well, moving his arm around your waist. – “So the plan.” – said Jacob to change the subject. He knelt down, everyone following his lead. Millard gave Jacob a stick, making him frown briefly at it. – “In case you need it.” – said he. Jacob shrugged his shoulders, holding tight onto the stick. – “Alright, Miss Peregrine is being held somewhere in here.” – He drew a circle in the snow to visualize it. – “Told you.” – whispered Millard in your ear, making you roll your eyes. – “Miss Peregrine!” – cried Claire out at the mention of her name, moving her doll closer to her face. – “Honestly Claire, if you are going to cry every time someone mentions Miss P, we are going to be here for a long time.” – sighed Enoch out.

You moved your upper body a bit up, giving him a playful slap against his head. – “Au!” – called he out, rubbing the area. – “I’m just saying…” – mumbled he out. – “Don’t worry Claire, we will get Miss P back!” – reassured Bronwyn her, giving her a grand smile. – “Right… we just have to get to her alive.” – spoke Hugh out, some bees circling around his head. – “Don’t say that!” – Fiona quickly covered up her ears in a panic. Emma sighed loud, pinching her nose. – “No one is going to die.” – stated she. – “But we could.” – answered Enoch, seeing your hand already in the air. – “Alright, alright, I didn’t say anything.” – added he quickly, ducking a bit away from your hand. – “Can we stick to the plan?” – begged Jacob, knowing they were losing precious time.

Jacob went over the plan again in a haste, visualizing things with his stick. All of you then got up, standing in groups. Horace and Millard returned with some weapons or at least things to defend yourself with. You smiled, leaning down to grab a pitchfork. – “Nicely.” – commented you, holding the pitchfork in your hands. – “I think not.” – the pitchfork got taken away from you. – “Hey!” – called you out, seeing that Enoch had taken your pitchfork. – “You won’t be needing that.” – casually said he, admiring the weapon. – “How am I supposed to defend myself?” – questioned you angry. Enoch chuckled, putting on his charming smile. – “You have me.” – crossing your arms, turned you away from his smug face. – “Oh, come on Y/n.” – came Enoch pleading, taking a hold of your elbow. – “You know I can protect you.” – you still didn’t gave in, looking away from him.

“Y/n.” – said he again, tugging on your elbow. Enoch sighed when you still ignored him. He let go of you, picking something up. – “How about this?” – spoke he out, getting your attention. You turned around, looking at the weapon in the palm of his hand. – “A fork?” – shrieked you out. – “You want me to defend myself with a… fork!” – called you out, stomping your foot on the ground. – “Alright, alright.” – responded Enoch, ducking down to avoid any upcoming slaps from you. You pushed his hand away, taking another look at the remaining weapons for yourself. You picked up a pipe, showing it to Enoch.

He got a bit frightened by how you were admiring it, a sneaky grin on your lips. Jacob rallied everyone up. He looked at everyone, swallowing worried. He knew he should give everyone some big speech or so, perhaps even say goodbye just in case, but he was afraid. He was afraid his words weren’t good enough. He thought saying something would make it worse. Looking at Emma, made him be sure of one thing. She touched his arm, slowly nodding. – “For Miss Peregrine.” – said he. – “For Miss Peregrine!” – called you all out, holding your weapons up in the air. You followed Enoch, Bronwyn, the twins, and Olive inside the funhouse. Enoch took the lead, shushing everyone. You lowered yourself to stay out of plain sight. Olive ended the group, looking curiously around.

Enoch paused near some large object, kneeling behind it. He turned around, whispering. – “The twins and Bronwyn need to get up there.” – he pointed at the balcony. Enoch then looked behind the object, seeing two wights close by. They were standing in the arena, standing guard. – “We need a diversion.” – stated he. They needed to clear them off so that Hugh, Horace, Fiona, and Millard had a chance to get to the room in the back where presumably Miss P would be. Jacob and Emma had taken Barron on their account, leading him away from all of this. – “I can start a fire?” – suggested Olive.

Enoch nodded, allowing her to crawl closer to him. She removed her gloves, handing them carefully to Enoch. Her hands lighted up in seconds, shooting a fire blast at something near them. It caught fire, sending the lady with a monkey tail shrieking. Enoch looked back at you with a slight worriedness in his eyes. You looked back at him, nodding slowly. Olive took her gloves, tugging them away as she wouldn’t be needing them right now. Enoch, Olive, and you jumped up, getting the attention of the wights. The man with sharp blue frozen eyes and the lady with a monkey tail, hissed at the three of you. Olive already warmed her hands up as you held on tight to your pipe. Enoch exhaled deep, holding his pitchfork up. The three of you screamed it out, running up to them. Giving the twins and Bronwyn a chance to get to safety.

Enoch clashed with the man, holding his pitchfork out. He had taken a hold of it, pushing Enoch back. Enoch stumbled to the ground, the pitchfork still in his hands. Olive grabbed the lady by her shoulders, her hands glowing. The lady started screeching in pain, her flesh hissing away. Her tail started to sway around hysterical, whipping Olive. You held your pipe up, ready to punch the man with it. He took a hold of it, glaring at you with his ice-cold eyes. You kept struggling trying to get the pipe free from his grip. The pipe started to freeze over, making you let go of it in a last second to avoid your hands being frozen to it.

Enoch had jumped up to his feet again, calling it out as he pushed the pitchfork horizontal against the man’s chest. It caught him by surprise, making him stumble backwards. Olive received a slash from the lady’s monkey tail, sending her to the ground. The lady jumped on top of Olive, holding her down. Olive called it out, moving her head from side to side as the lady’s tail kept coming in her face. You gritted your teeth, picking up the now frozen pipe. You ran over to her, smashing it against her head. The pipe shattered into pieces as the lady received the blow. She tumbled down, you jumping on top of her. With your bare hands, decided you to bring in the heavy material. You wrapped your hands around her neck, clenching your jaw. – “This is for Miss P!” – called you out, pressing your fingers deeper into her skin.

A storm began to swirl around you, sending your hair dancing. Olive got up, holding her arm in front of her face, the wind blowing strongly against her. – “Y/n!” – called she out. In the eye of the storm where you were was it not so bad. Olive jumped to the side as the storm you had created had send objects flying around. You kept squeezing her throat shut, wanting her death for kidnapping Miss Peregrine. You were so focused on her that you were caught off guard. You gasped, your head leaning back as her tail had wrapped itself around your throat.

You grasped for air; the storm gone in a split second. Moving your hand to the tail around your neck, tried you to get it off. The lady grinned, tightening her grip around your neck. Staring into her blank eyes, got it harder to breath. – “Y/n!” – shouted Enoch out, looking over his shoulder to you. – “Olive!” – called he out. Olive nodded, coming to run over to him. Enoch gave the man one last push with his pitchfork before running in the opposite direction. Olive lighted up her hands, showing them to the man. He grinned, ready to fight her. Your fingers were tingling as you slowly let them drop to your side. Unable to fight her anymore. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, feeling lightheaded. Enoch stuck his pitchfork into her leg, making her release her grip on you. Her monkey tail released from around you, sending your body falling.

Enoch dropped his pitchfork, catching you before you could hit the ground. – “Y/n?” – called he out, touching your cheek. He looked worried and scared for a sign of live inside of you. – “Please…” – whispered he out. Your eyes widened, calling out a scream. Enoch got startled. You were wide awake, catching your breath while you felt the pain clearly. You sat up straight, moving your trembling hands to your leg. The lady had stuck Enoch’s pitchfork in your leg. Enoch pulled it out of you, getting up. He kicked her with the end of the pitchfork. He then stabbed her in her tail, sending her crying.

The lady ran on all four, away from them. – “Come on.” – called Enoch out, moving your arm over his shoulder. He helped you up, supporting you. You tried to walk as best as you could on your feet, slightly dragging it on the ground. Enoch hurried with you behind a large made-up elephant. Above him, heard he the lady laugh loud, swinging around like an acrobat. He seated you down behind the elephant, examining your leg. – “I’m so sorry Y/n.” – said he, ripping a piece of your dress. He bound it around your leg, tying a knot. You called it out in pain. At least that held off the bleeding. – “Enoch…” – breathed you out, taking a hold of his sweater. He knew what you were going to ask of him. – “I can’t leave you here!” – grunted he out. – “Enoch! Olive needs you!” – called you out, tugging on his sweater. – “You need me too!” – replied he, pushing his fist beside him on the ground.

You touched his cheek, breathing deep from the pain. – “I’ll be fine… Olive can’t take them alone…” – Enoch knew you were right, but he didn’t want to leave you. – “Y/n I…” – started he, seeing you shake your head. He sighed deep, knowing he had to leave your side. – “For Miss P.” – breathed you out. Enoch nodded, repeating your words. He then got up as you pulled him back down. Grabbing him by his sweater, pulled you him closer. Pressing your lips against his, you wanted to kiss him goodbye. Just in case. Enoch pulled away with a smirking smile.

He then ran around the elephant, suddenly having a great idea. He took one of the hearts he always carried, placing it in the elephant. It came to live as you freaked out by the sudden movement. The elephant went straight over to the man. Enoch took you by the arm, pulling you up. – “Still not leaving you!" – insisted he, letting you support on him. He saw the elephant knock over the man, Olive clapping in cheerfulness. You felt warm, sweat forming on your forehead. Enoch touched your forehead brief, feeling how warm it was getting. – “Stay awake Y/n.” – said he, making you hum loud. Enoch pulled back, suddenly seeing something fall before his feet. It took him a moment to see what or who it was. It was the wight with the monkey tail. Broken into stone pieces. Enoch looked up to the balcony, seeing the twins and Bronwyn.

Bronwyn waved at him, sending a smile on his face. The elephant crushed the man, stomping his foot on top of him. Olive who had been touched by his ice, warmed herself up quickly. She then came running over to the two of you. – “Y/n are you alright?” – asked she, gasping at the state of you. – “I’ll live.” – said you, cringing at a sting of pain. Bronwyn and the twins had made their way down, coming out of their hide-out. – “I need to take Y/n outside, think you can manage in here?” – Bronwyn nodded firmly. – “Leave it up to me!” – Enoch turned around with you, helping you back outside. Outside was it colder. Enoch seated you carefully down on the steps of the funhouse. You leaned against him whilst he stuck his hands in the snow for some seconds.

He then moved his cold hands to your cheek, to cool you down. – “You really scared me back there.” – said he, sticking his hand back in the snow. – “I’m a tough one to kill.” – replied you with a painful chuckle. Enoch’s cool hands felt like heaven to you. – “I had nothing to worry since you were there to protect me.” – Enoch chuckled, moving his arm better around you. He turned his head, kissing the side of your head. – “Don’t leave me yet Y/n.” – whispered he out. – “I’m here till the end of our days.” – answered you, snuggling closer to him.

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