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[rahultistabene]

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[she-walks-on-starlight]

If I Can't Hold You

a/n: I've had this idea floating around my head for DAYS and finally managed to write something out of it, enjoy - ✨

Pairing: Agatha x Rio (mentioned)

Warnings: grief, some slight flirting, angst, mentions of murder/harm (past)

Summary: Agatha hears Lorna's version of The Ballad for the very first time. It awakens a lot of memories and feelings. Angst. All the angst.

Word Count: 1.7k

The record store was busy, the Saturday afternoon bringing a crowd of eager teenagers, lovestruck couples on dates and hungry music fans chasing their next album to obsess over.

Agatha ran her thumb over several covers, none of them grabbing her attention. She, as always, pointedly ignored the store clerk's clumsy attempts to flirt with her and recommend which records to purchase. Rolling her eyes as he tried to catch her eye, she pushed further into the store.

As she examined a copy of Talking Heads:77, perusing the slightly worn record cover and wondering if the record inside was scratched, she could hear the telltale sound of a record being loaded onto a turntable. She glanced up to the other store clerk smiling gently at her as she changed the records over. This one was cute, and a nice distraction for Agatha whenever she was working. Agatha made a mental note to ask her out when she checked out, it had been too long since she'd entertained herself.

The music filtered pleasantly through the air, some patrons glancing up, others tapping their feet along to the beat and some nodding in approval towards the young store clerk. It took a while for Agatha to recognise the band, but soon enough the female voice wandered to her and it was unmistakable: Lorna Wu.

She rolled her eyes as she overheard two teen girls nearby gushing about Lorna's music and her rising stardom with her band the Coral Shore.

She'd tried to entice Lorna down the ‘Witches Road’ before, quite a few years ago now, briefly remembering the dimly lit, grungy dive bar and the smell of stale beer that clung to her skin as she'd staggered into the cramped bathroom. Reapplying her lipstick until she looked as breathtaking as she should, she'd heard a low humming coming from that bathroom stall, the unmistakable tune that always wrapped around her heart like barbed wire.

“Down, down, down the road…”

It was melodic, lilting, Lorna's voice almost teasing as she sang softly under her breath. Agatha recalled freezing, staring at the pretty, young Asian woman that left the stall and washed her hands next to her. She was still humming the damn tune of the Witches' Ballad when she finally noticed Agatha's eyes on her, piercing and analytical.

Wiping her hands on her flared jeans, she'd arched an eyebrow at Agatha.

“Something I can help you with?”

Agatha remembered grinning, wide like the Cheshire Cat, as she relaxed into her role. She'd sidled up to Lorna, complimenting her beauty and her singing ability.

“I'm something of a-” She'd lowered her voice conspiratorially “student of the…ballad”

To emphasise her point, she allowed some of her purple to flicker between her fingers, making sure Lorna saw. She’d watched with glee as Lorna's fingers had subconsciously mimicked Agatha's movement, a fiery yellow twine of magic sparking there.

Lorna's voice pulled her focus back to her. “You've been down the Road?”

Agatha smirked, flicking her hair dramatically. “Why, of course! I'm one of the oldest and most powerful witches around, honey.”

Oh, how Lorna's eyes had shone. It was clear she'd wanted to see the Road, to fulfil the song that she clearly knew well and Agatha could practically taste the heat of her magic as it would fill her veins. Her fingers had itched, anticipation thrumming under her skin as she thought of the two other witches she had ready on standby, eager for her to return with the rest of their ‘coven’.

They'd exited the bathroom together, with Agatha spinning more tall tales about her time on the Road, and the spoils that could await them all. As Lorna straightened her top, and fluffed up her hair, Agatha had been so sure that it was a done deal.

But Lorna had apparently not been so easy to sway, gently caressing her belly with a fond, faraway look in her eye. She'd glanced back at a young man at the bar who waved at her goofily and smiled at them both warmly as he beckoned them to join him.

“Sorry, but…not this time. But hey, find me in a couple years maybe?”

Agatha’s eyes had fallen to Lorna's stomach again, her own twisting with familiarity as she cottoned on to Lorna's circumstances. She'd merely nodded, unable to summon words, and watched as Lorna joined her boyfriend at the bar, accepting a glass of orange juice from him as he kissed her sweetly.

Fuck.

Had she really been so far gone that she'd been willing to drag a pregnant woman down for her power?

Agatha shook herself out of the memory. No. Agatha Harkness held little to no morals but she'd been better that day. She'd been careful since, too, making sure none of the witches she lured away were with child or had them waiting for her to come home. With Agatha Harkness, there was no coming home.

She approached the counter, making sure to hold eye contact with the female store clerk, ignoring the wounded puppy eyes the male store clerk made at her before skulking off to restock something, muttering under his breath. As the girl rang up her purchase, Agatha flicked her head towards the turntable.

“Lorna Wu and the Coral Shore, huh?’

The girl blushed, the freckles on her nose somehow even more pronounced. “Yeah, I think she's really neat. Plus their new song, like, speaks to me.”

Agatha raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What song would that be, sweet girl?”

She watched as the girl squeezed her thighs together at her attention, pleased she could still fluster with the slightest comment.

“Y-yeah…oh, it's playing now!”

Agatha strained her hearing, something old and ugly seeping into her gut as the familiar lyrics paired with a more upbeat tune trilled from the record. She felt cold, perhaps shocked. How could Lorna do this? Turn something that was supposed to speak of legend, of a tradition held close by witches all around, something that tethered them all together by hope and ambition. She didn't pause to consider her own hypocrisy.

“Can I purchase that record?”

The girl faltered at Agatha's abrupt tone, but relaxed when Agatha managed a smile at her.

“Sure, let me wrap it up for you.”

Agatha left the store in a hurry, with two records in tow and no phone number. There was always next time, she told herself.

Reaching the apartment she was currently renting, she went straight to her turntable and pulled out the record with shaking hands. Lorna's face on the record's cover, so serene and poised, almost made her blood boil. Using the Witches Road for selfish gain was her game, not Lorna's.

The music started again, light guitar and piano accompanying the song that Agatha had bonded to her very soul.

“Down, down, down the Road, down the Witches’ Road…”

She sat down, letting the song wash over her, determined for once to listen and allow it to fill her heart with its pure intention, just as when the song had first come to be. As the song, faster paced than she was used to, continued to play, she closed her eyes and, for the first time in a long time, allowed herself to think of Nicky.

She imagined that he would like this version, dancing around with quickened steps as the guitar and drums picked up. She could see his tawny, brown hair, she could remember how it smelled of crushed autumn leaves and sweet summer grass from his many escapades into the woods. She could hear his melodic laughter, see the way his soft brown eyes, so like that of the gentle deer he liked to track and chase, would sparkle with mischief when they played together or when he'd gotten away with something.

The music began to swell, a crescendo building as the drums and piano demanded her attention.

“If I can't reach you,

let my song teach you,

all you need to keep our love alive!”

Lorna's voice, strong, powerful and maternal. It broke through Agatha's reverie, and seemed to hit her with force, a thousand memories of Nicky, her and Nicky, Nicky and Rio all flooding through her mind at once. A choked sob escaped from Agatha's throat, a sound that had been trapped deep within for an age. The words seeped into her skin, a forlorn wish that her love had been enough to keep Nicky with her always clawing itself from her heart and settling into her chest.

“If I can't hold you,

remember what I told you,

it's the only way we survive!”

More tears flowed as Agatha sank to the floor. She rubbed at her chest, the feeling overwhelming her. Surviving had been everything to her, once. The drive to win against all odds. Was she surviving, truly surviving? Did surviving mean anything without Nicky?

She could feel Nicky against her, his little chest rising and falling as he'd sleep in her arms, his ponytail tickling her nose when she pulled him close. His rough, calloused hands that he'd always somehow find an excuse to place in hers, swinging them as they sang together.

She'd give anything, everything, to hold him again, to hear him sing the song she'd tainted into a lie. She dared not to sing it as he once had, refusing to ruin the purest thing he had been able to leave in this world. Now, thanks to Lorna, Nicky's song would be known all over the world.

The record scratched, the song over. Agatha bowed her head, almost begging for a note or a whisper of her son's voice to be somehow hidden within the silence that now enveloped her. Rising, she reverently took the record and placed it back in the sleeve, before putting it away at the back of her large collection. She was certain that she would not be listening to it again anytime soon. If she wanted a painful rehashing of the past, she'd find a way to summon Rio.

It was a lie, to herself more than anything.

Whenever she'd managed to destroy yet another coven, there would always be the high of their stolen power coursing through her body and emboldening her magic. However, with every high, there must be a low and Agatha Harkness was no stranger to the darkness, the worthlessness, the hopelessness that always shadowed her following a siphoning. Those were the moments that she tortured herself with thoughts of her lost son, disappointed and ashamed, his face twisted in disgust with her.

It was those moments that Lorna Wu and the Coral Shore’s ‘Ballad of the Witches Road’ would find itself on the turntable, playing softly next to the sobbing remnant of the witch that was Agatha Harkness.

[snowsays]

ok Keeper fans, I want yall to give me all your headcanons about Sophie and her friends (including Stina) that might fit a human au

the brainrot is real and I'm writing fanfiction for the first time in 12 years and it's a human, college au (tho the setting isn't exact, they're gonna visit Everglen and the college is gonna be Foxfire but other than that I think I'm gonna leave it up to imagination if this is a world where the elven cities exist as human cities, like a random human city called Eternalia, or if they don't exist at all). It's sokeefe, with maybe some dexiana in the background. I have some ideas but I need more info to fully pad their characters (imagine two hands filling a Sophie Foster stuffie)

For Sophie I'm keeping her fashion sense mostly t-shirts, jeans and sneakers. Not super baggy but also not form-fitting. Kinda like, baggy tshirt tucked into straigh leg jeans vibes. Not super colorful either. She still doesn't feel comfortable standing out.

I remember in book 1 she was listening to rock so pls recommend rock bands (I'm more of a vibe girly so I'll listen to whatever has a good sound and dont follow many artists/bands themselves so I only know like the 70s-80s classics and some random songs I think are cool, like Seven Nation Army and How Far We've Come), but I dont want to make her feel like a pick-me/im-not-like-other-girls so I kinda want to make her like pop too. And I already decided she likes the Deadpool movies (bc Amy has an X-Men tshirt in Nightfall, and Sophie makes a Rogue reference), but also romcoms. Also I'm thinking her and Stina would be in college to become vets

Biana is ofc a girly girl, I'm imagining mostly skirts and dresses, some jeans every once in a while, but also very stylish, idk about shoes tho, pretty sure in canon she wears heeled boots everywhere, but irl heels are tiring so...maybe sandals? I also imagine her as more of a pop girly with an edgy side in both music and movies, bc in canon she's not a damsel in distress, so I'm imagining she's an Olivia Rodrigo fan (not saying that Olivia is edgy...idk if she's edgy, I like her music but I wouldnt dare define it, she just popped into my head, as I said, I dont follow artists that much), and she would like both romcoms and action/spies movies (bc vanisher). I'm not sure about her major, I read a fanfic where she was a fashion designer and I like that, I was also thinking maybe art bc I just read a post that talked about how she painted over Tam's mom's painting in Nightfall. I know in the US she could do both but idk

As for the boys...I have no idea. I'm thinking Dex as a mechanical ingenieer (the spanish, french and english are all mixing in my brain and completely jumbled that word, sorry if its written completely wrong) bc ofc, technopath. Keefe as an art student, also he likes Deadpool too, and both beer and fruity drinks, and he still has Mrs Stinkbottom but I have nothing else on him, besides keeping his daddy and mommy issues ofc. Fitz I have no idea.

The rest of the gang I'm not sure if it's going to appear (I'm still trying to think if I should give Fitz a partner, and who would it be in that case), Tam might be mentioned tho, as the quiet fourth roommate of Dex, Keefe and Fitz, who doesnt like to mingle at parties much. But I'll be thankful for any headcanons you can give me of any member of the gang. Or facts that could be useful in a human au

This was longer than I expected, I'm sorry

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 19: WE GET HELP FROM A THIEF

"Percy, Percy, Percy," Jason shook his head in sorrow as Percy reluctantly read the new title. "First the buying off of your friends, now this! Gods, two days without your mom awake and look what a delinquent you've turned into! What moral compass?!"

"Saving Rachel first," Percy reminded firmly. "Finding out what she stole afterwards."

"Fine," Jason nodded, "but if it turns out she reneged on her father's deal and stole that helicopter, I'm not asking permission for what happens next."

"A heart attack?" Alex asked in mock concern. "You can't lie and tell me those crisp pants don't have a problem with a little rule-breaking."

"I-" Jason opened, then closed his mouth in confusion as he stared down at his tan jeans and pressed purple shirt. The golden letters might be faded, but the laurels gave him a sense of warmth, and the shirt felt very lived in. It was an, odd combination of clothing that gave him no comeback other than his sense of being a tad outraged and a little to curious to find out what this all was about. Gods he hoped he made sense to himself when he got his own memories back.

Here's my definition of not fun.

"The opposite of riding a hellhound Percy, we know," Nico rolled his eyes.

"Shush and let the narrator talk," Percy seemed way to smug to be double-speaking for some reason. Probably because it made Annabeth roll her eyes like that.

Fly a pegasus toward an out-of-control helicopter.

"Oh, is that all it takes," Alex nodded as if some great mystery had finally been resolved. "Thanks, Perce, I'll mark that down so you don't have to come do that one with me."

"Alex-" Percy started, then stopped. Nope. He would not question any of that. He liked having his sanity intact.

If Guido had been any less of a fancy flier, we would've been chopped to confetti.

Nico couldn't help but imagine the feathers flying everywhere, the blood, how Percy would have survived by falling back to the ground spending the entirety of his life somehow blaming himself for a pegasus's inability to do this task.

He snapped out of it when Percy kept reading and Annabeth casually had her ankle hooked back around him while leaning against Thalia, making him glad for the bajilionth time it was only Percy's thoughts that ever got put on display. Even getting all of his memories back wouldn't be worth that.

I could hear Rachel screaming inside. For some reason, she hadn't fallen asleep, but I could see the pilot slumped over the controls, pitching back and forth as the helicopter wobbled toward the side of an office building.

"Ideas?" I asked Annabeth.

"You're going to have to take Guido and get out," she said.

"What are you going to do?"

In response, she said, "Hyah!" and Guido went into a nosedive.

"Duck!" Annabeth yelled.

"That's it huh? That's your entire plan? To duck! Gosh, and they call you the smart one!" Magnus was rambling, and he knew it, but his mouth was moving like word vomit as he pictured her heading for a careening helicopter and not being the invulnerable one! Was Percy going to summon a cloud and land it there?! He had no idea what was going on!

"I had a plan," Annabeth insisted with a sigh he was doubting her.

"And it was a good one too, we all lived didn't we," Percy said with confidence that really didn't soothe Magnus's current living nightmare of his very killable cousin once again jumping into a very killable situation and thinking this was normal!

We passed so close to the rotors I felt the force of the blades ripping at my hair. We zipped along the side of the helicopter, and Annabeth grabbed the door.

That's when things went wrong.

"This whole situation is wrong," Magnus groaned into his hands. How had the pilot even gotten so close without turning away like all other mortals?! Was it possible to wrap Annabeth in chainmail for the rest of her life?! He even accepted Percy's hand would get stuck in the process didn't care!

Guido's wing slammed against the helicopter. He plummeted straight down with me on his back, leaving Annabeth dangling from the side of the aircraft. I was so terrified I could barely think, but as Guido spiraled I caught a glimpse of Rachel pulling Annabeth inside the copter.

"She's awake?!" The three shouted in a concerning display that nobody could be mad for because it was funnier that that was the part they caught on. Not the part where Rachel reached out of a moving helicopter to pull Annabeth inside. That bit was clearly obvious.

"Hang in there!" I yelled at Guido.

"He dosen't have hands to be hanging onto anything Percy," Thalia frowned at him. She was so glad she'd missed this catastrophe, even if the results had been punching Travis when he'd told her this later because she'd thought he was joking about that at a time like this.

"Yes, thank you for that Thalia, don't know how I got through this one without you," Percy sighed.

My wing, he moaned. It's busted.

"You can do it!" I desperately tried to remember what Silena used to tell us in pegasus-riding lessons.

Percy didn't understand the painful jolt he felt throughout himself as he read that. His attention still wanted to be on the helicopter, he was forcing himself to help Guido so the poor pegasus didn't get even more injured, his heart was pounding crazy fast because he once again needed to be everywhere at once, all of that made sense.

But still, something in that bothered him as he caught his breath and pressed on.

"Just relax the wing. Extend it and glide."

We fell like a rock

"Everything falls like a rock, even winged creatures," Jason nodded with confidence.

"Feathers don't," Percy sighed as he waved his hand across his face at the malayee of white he'd been getting in his face during that spiral.

Jason nodded as he took in the visual, but still there was a plummeting feeling in his stomach and he brushed his messy hair out of his eyes like it was bothering him for some reason. Just the hint of a memory, more of a feeling than anything, but he glanced at Thalia with interest as he tried to connect some dots there that still had several missing spots.

—straight toward the pavement three hundred feet below. At the last moment Guido extended his wings. I saw the faces of centaurs gaping up at us.

"It's a bird, it's a plane," Thalia nodded, "ah shit, it's just Percy about to die again."

"Glad you weren't there," Percy huffed, "you would have used me as target practice."

"Please," she scoffed, "as big as you two are, not even a challenge."

Then we pulled out of our dive, sailed fifty feet, and tumbled onto the pavement—pegasus over demigod.

"What a strange recipe," Will gazed at the book in concern. "Might be to much salt in that."

"Ha, ha, ha," Percy said dryly, probably ruining it further. He hoped he burnt that joke to a crisp.

Ow! Guido moaned. My legs. My head. My wings.

Chiron galloped over with his medical pouch and began working on the pegasus.

I got to my feet.

Magnus wasn't so cavalier about Percy just shaking off the fact that he should have broken every bone in his body and maybe popped a few organs, but he was clearly the only one, as usual. That curse might make Percy invulnerable on the outside, but he was pretty sure the guy still needed his head examined for something else.

When I looked up, my heart crawled into my throat. The helicopter was only a few seconds away from slamming into the side of the building.

Magnus felt the urge to come over and start prodding his cousin to make sure she wasn't a ghost. He really wasn't sure if he should find that idea all that ridiculous anymore.

Then miraculously the helicopter righted itself. It spun in a circle and hovered. Very slowly, it began to descend.

All eyes were on Annabeth. Several of them had their mouths open. Percy's mind swiveled back to running from Circe's island with her in that white dress and thinking how ridiculous it was he couldn't fly a fighter jet out of there and how Annabeth might have been able to and just hadn't wanted to show off.

It seemed to take forever, but finally the helicopter thudded to a landing in the middle of Fifth Avenue. I looked through the windshield and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Annabeth was at the controls.

"Well," Alex said slowly but confidently. "I didn't really expect Kelli to appear out of nowhere in a sudden redemption arc, so that seems the only option left."

"When did you learn to fly a helicopter?" Magnus demanded with mingled concern and awe. Imagining Uncle Fredrick getting into some really interesting bonding time on the weekends or camp having some bizarre training Percy hadn't heard of yet.

"I explain to Percy," she promised, "but it was basically just giving it my best shot."

"Has anyone told you you're awesome lately?" Percy grinned as he gazed at her. She always did the most amazing things, even saving people's lives who she didn't really like.

Annabeth grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Every day with him felt awesome.

I ran forward as the rotors spun to a stop. Rachel opened the side door and dragged out the pilot.

"Think I'd leave him in there actually," Will muttered. Might be mildly safer than on the street where the other civilians were still trying to be cleared out in the sparse bit of spare time they had.

Rachel was still dressed like she was on vacation, in beach shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals. Her hair was tangled and her face was green from the helicopter ride.

"So, she's obviously having a great time," Nico said in sympathy.

"I've accepted that's just how everybody feels when they jump into Percy's life," Jason already said with a resigned sigh. He could have done a whole color coordinated project by now on how the son of the sea managed to do that to everyone he met at least once.

Annabeth climbed out last.

I stared at her in awe. "I didn't know you could fly a helicopter."

"Neither did I until I did," she was actually blushing a bit at so many people staring at her. The centaurs and other bystanders had just moved on from this.

"I told you guys learning to do it on the way down was the best way to go!" Alex cheered.

Annabeth looked pleased at proving some past point of Alex's even if she was lacking the context.

"Neither did I," she said. "My dad's crazy into aviation. Plus, Daedalus had some notes on flying machines. I just took my best guess on the controls."

"That's not how that should work. That's not how any of this should work," Magnus groaned into his hands, again. Just because his mom was into nature didn't mean he went around eating whatever mushrooms he found with immunity!

"It is when you're dealing with a genius," Percy said with pride.

"You saved my life," Rachel said.

Annabeth flexed her bad shoulder.

"Talk about a literal thorn in your side?" Thalia nodded in understanding.

"Sure felt that way," but Annabeth's smile was affectionate and sad now for the anger coursing through her at saving the mortal girl's life who was now her friend. Gods what a mixed bag of emotions this book was.

"Yeah, well . . . let's not make a habit of it. What are you doing here, Dare? Don't you know better than to fly into a war zone?"

"You just asked a girl why she dared fly into a war zone like that's not your MO Chase," Alex sniffed.

Annabeth opened, then closed her mouth without bothering to argue the point.

"I—" Rachel glanced at me. "I had to be here. I knew Percy was in trouble."

"Got that right," Annabeth grumbled. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some injured friends I've got to tend to. Glad you could stop by, Rachel."

Jason mock shivered as if the cold icy tone of her voice had reverberated through time. Nico felt a lot of sympathy for Rachel, he'd been on the receiving end of that tone and it took someone with a lot of guts to not jump back into that helicopter and turn it around.

"Annabeth—" I called.

She stormed off.

Rachel plopped down on the curb and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to ... I always mess things up."

It was kind of hard to argue with her, though I was glad she was safe.

"Percy!" Will tried hard to make that sound scolding for mentally kicking her while she was down, but it came out a little to much like he was holding back a laugh. Gods this boy couldn't stay mad at Annabeth for anything.

I looked in the direction Annabeth had gone, but she'd disappeared into the crowd. I couldn't believe what she'd just done—saved Rachel's life, landed a helicopter, and walked away like it was no big deal.

"Where is my poster with fireworks!" Alex groaned.

"Burnt to ashes, the camera got my bad side," she chuckled.

"It's okay," I told Rachel, though my words sounded hollow.

"And I bet Rachel heard it," Magnus sighed, resisting the urge to cover his face again. He'd never claim to be the most socially apt person in the room, but gods Percy was no great shakes at hiding his thoughts, and he clearly wanted to go after Annabeth but was staying for his friend.

"Wouldn't surprise me. She has ears," Will agreed with a sad sigh for her. He wished he could hand out popsicles or something for moments like this without it being super obvious what he was doing.

"So what's the message you wanted to deliver?"

She frowned. "How did you know about that?"

"A dream."

Rachel didn't look surprised. She tugged at her beach shorts. They were covered in drawings, which wasn't unusual for her, but these symbols I recognized: Greek letters, pictures from camp beads, sketches of monsters and faces of gods. I didn't understand how Rachel could have known about some of that. She'd never been to Olympus or Camp Half-Blood.

She'd never done any of that before she started drawing pictures of the future either, Jason frowned as a memory tried to tug its way to the surface while being held under by the heavy weight of his mind.

...something about toys? Plush animals...stuffing? No. None of it made a lick of sense.

"I've been seeing things too," she muttered. "I mean, not just through the Mist. This is different. I've been drawing pictures, writing lines—"

"In Ancient Greek," I said. "Do you know what they say?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I was hoping . . . well, if you had gone with us on vacation, I was hoping you could have helped me figure out what's happening to me."

She looked at me pleadingly.

"Well that was a shipwrecked mission before it started," Percy said with an anxious look down at the black and white words. He couldn't fathom how Rachel had thought he had a clue, he barely managed to keep up with the problems in his own life!

"Oh I don't know," Annabeth brushed the gray bangs out of her eyes as she smiled at him, "you're usually my go to person for that too, can't be mad at her for it."

Percy looked around at her with a bemused smile. He clearly thought she was just saying that in some kind of apology for her past attitude, but she meant it from as deep down as she could. Percy might not have an answer, but he was still the most reliable person she'd ever think to ask.

Her face was sunburned from the beach. Her nose was peeling. I couldn't get over the shock that she was here in person. She'd forced her family to cut short their vacation, agreed to go to a horrible school, and flown a helicopter into a monster battle just to see me. In her own way, she was as brave as Annabeth.

Annabeth bit down on her lip hard to try and stop the flare of jealousy from rearing its head. Gods, she'd always known Percy could have, maybe even should have chosen to be with the mortal girl. Someone he effortlessly had fun with and matched him like she never would. Now she found even he agreed!

Percy gave her an apologetic smile and a wink. It made her heart flutter just like always. She sighed and took his hand, trying to take comfort in the fact that he instantly threaded their fingers together. That this latest thought bubble came in with comparing Rachel to her, saying they both had one of the most important attributes she knew he valued. In the flow chart she could have penciled in comparing the two, at least this was at the top of both...

But what was happening to her with these visions really freaked me out.

"You say that like those two sentences should have a pause between them," Alex shook her head in dismay. "Her bravery to show up there because those visions are freaking you out are one in the same Percy."

"I'd rather they weren't," Percy said in a hollow voice. Rachel could see into his world enough he never felt crazy, but was a whole other planet away in the mortal world and gave him a foot in it. He could tell her things he couldn't even tell his mom because he wasn't afraid of making Rachel scared. What if the opposite was happening? What if he was dragging her down into his life and she turned out like May Castellan?

The notion was giving him such a splitting headache the book was starting to blur in his hands, the words on the page fighting him for the first time until Annabeth squeezed his hand. The room steadied. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd been causing that literally or it had just been in his head.

Maybe it was something that happened to all mortals who could see through the Mist. But my mom had never talked about anything like that. And Hestia's words about Luke's mom kept coming back to me: May Castellan went too far. She tried to see too much.

Percy was jittering around in his seat like he needed to use the bathroom, bad. A voice that sounded like it was coming from a long ways away was telling him to calm down and stop trying to focus on this, but he couldn't figure out how. His friend was in danger. He needed to figure out how she got out of this, if he was supposed to help or step back from her life or-

"Percy," Annabeth's voice finally broke through and it caught his attention at last, as she was always bound to do. He'd swear she could interrupt any thought.

"Rachel," I said, "I wish I knew. Maybe we should ask Chiron—"

She flinched like she'd gotten an electric shock. "Percy, something is about to happen. A trick that ends in death."

"From, Chiron?!" Magnus yelped as he rubbed the side of his neck. He felt like he had whiplash from the wild speed of everything progressing.

"I don't know!" Percy spluttered before he blasted on reading without giving anyone else a chance to respond. There were to many deaths happening around him, he didn't know how he felt about another being confirmed by Rachel Elizabeth Dare and he didn't have time to process it!

"What do you mean? Whose death?"

"I don't know." She looked around nervously. "Don't you feel it?"

"Is that the message you wanted to tell me?"

"No." She hesitated. "I'm sorry. I'm not making sense, but that thought just came to me. The message I wrote on the beach was different. It had your name in it."

"Wait, back up," Jason said it in such a firm way Percy scowled on principle and wanted to read faster before he mentally checked himself. "She wanted you to go on vacation to talk about something, had the message in the sand and needed to tell you that right away, but now a trick that ends in death is the most recent update going on here?! There's two other things?"

"That was a terrible summary of this situation Jason," Percy huffed, "you took longer explaining that than Rachel's been talking!" He was probably exaggerating a bit and clearly annoyed at himself for indulging in this making it take longer.

"Perseus," I remembered. "In Ancient Greek."

Rachel nodded. "I don't know its meaning. But I know it's important. You have to hear it. It said, Perseus, you are not the hero."

Percy froze. Jason would have been a tad more resentful that now he could have talked as much as he'd like if he could think of anything to say, but his mind was just as blank at that.

I stared at her like she'd just slapped me. "You came thousands of miles to tell me I'm not the hero?"

"The, journey's more important than the destination?" Magnus said hesitantly, feeling very much like he'd had the rug pulled out from under him as much as Percy did. There was no way Percy had spent the past years of his life with everyone telling him this was his moment, only for his mortal friend to swoop in and say otherwise.

On the other hand, something freaky was happening with Rachel that was elevating her to a status way beyond his understanding. He did not take her word lightly right now, even if it scared the piss out of him if she was now destined to turn out like May Castellan in her future if this kept up.

"It's important," she insisted. "It will affect what you do."

"Not the hero of the prophecy?" I asked. "Not the hero who defeats Kronos? What do you mean?"

"Are they not, one in the same?" Alex asked blankly. This was about to get really confusing and off the rails, wasn't it? Her kind of story to be honest.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry, Percy. That's all I know. I had to tell you because—"

"Well!" Chiron cantered over. "This must be Miss Dare."

I wanted to yell at him to go away, but of course I couldn't.

"And why not?" Percy had the robust sense Thalia would have with no regrets. Sometimes he envied her that.

I tried to get my emotions under control. I felt like I had another personal hurricane swirling around me.

"I feel like if you did, neither of them would tell you," Jason said.

"I feel like if he did Annabeth would be turning green with jealousy," Will muttered. No way would she be glossing over Percy making hurricanes appear just because Rachel was around when that had never happened for her.

"Chiron, Rachel Dare," I said. "Rachel, this is my teacher Chiron."

"Hello," Rachel said glumly. She didn't look at all surprised that Chiron was a centaur.

"Got to wonder how many of those guys she's just seen chilling on her travels," Nico nodded. It wasn't exactly common, but by no means rare either.

"You are not asleep, Miss Dare," he noticed. "And yet you are mortal?"

"I'm mortal," she agreed, like it was a depressing thought.

Annabeth winced as she heard herself at seven, telling her little brother 'I'm not normal like you' in a tiny voice. They'd been to young to understand, to do more than hug her and promise they loved her anyways before their mother had called them out to the park where she wasn't allowed.

"The pilot fell asleep as soon as we passed the river. I don't know why I didn't. I just knew I had to be here, to warn Percy."

"Warn Percy?"

"She's been seeing things," I said. "Writing lines and making drawings."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Tell me."

She told him the same things she'd told me.

Chiron stroked his beard. "Miss Dare . . . perhaps we should talk."

"Chiron," I blurted. I had a sudden terrible image of Camp Half-Blood in the 1990s, and May Castellan's scream coming from that attic.

"Bad 90's do's aside hopefully," Magnus muttered nervously.

"You . . . you'll help Rachel, right? I mean, you'll warn her that she's got to be careful with this stuff. Not go too far."

The obvious answer was, 'well duh Percy! He's an adult and a teacher and of course he'll steer her in the right direction that benefits her!'

The problem was, nobody said that to him. In fact, several of them grimaced as they looked right at Percy. Chiron was the leader of a group of kids, a trainer who had long since learned that heroes were going to follow their own path no matter what advice he gave them, like May Castellan before who had ignored everyone as she took on her role.

His tail flicked like it does when he's anxious.

Which was not a yes! Percy sighed and held tight to the idea that at least Rachel was alive and okay last time he'd seen her. He might still be able to fix something that had gone wrong...

"Yes, Percy. I will do my best to understand what is happening and advise Miss Dare, but this may take some time. Meanwhile, you should rest. We've moved your parents' car to safety. The enemy seems to be staying put for now. We've set up bunks in the Empire State Building. Get some sleep."

"You and everyone you love is in danger, again, happens once a year. Sweet dreams!" Thalia nodded. She couldn't even pack that much sarcasm into it.

Percy still frowned and wished he could throw her life in her face every once in a while. Stinking Hunters and their stinking adventures that didn't have books shoved in everyone else's face!

"Everybody keeps telling me to sleep," I grumbled. "I don't need sleep."

Annabeth frowned at him so deeply, he instantly felt bad. He responded by redirecting, "okay, but so do you!"

"I know," she groaned, no more pleased to hear those words than he ever was.

Chiron managed a smile. "Have you looked at yourself recently, Percy?"

"He has not stopped to check out his reflection, no," Will nodded. "Whoever tried to spread the rumor saying he was a secret love-child of Aprhodite really does owe me ten bucks."

"Thanks," Percy said blankly.

"The last time Percy looked at himself on a mission was in Calypso's cave," Jason nodded to himself, "and before that Circe's island. Why would Chiron think he has a track record of being vain?"

Percy gave him a sour frown for the snide hidden comment he didn't check his hair in the mirror every day before he left his cabin. Jason's little smirk proved that little remark wasn't all in his favor at any rate.

I glanced down at my clothes, which were scorched, burned, sliced, and tattered from my night of constant battles.

"Sounds like a miracle they were even still hanging on," Alex chuckled before giving Annabeth an obvious wink.

She blushed and quickly looked away, brushing her hair into her face, but not quite fast enough to hide her smile too.

"I look like death," I admitted. "But you think I can sleep after what just happened?"

"You slept through a dragon attack once!" Magnus exclaimed. "Sleeping and eating are at the bottom of your list of problems Percy!"

"Well when you put it like that, I sound lazy," Percy shrugged.

"You may be invulnerable in combat," Chiron chided, "but that only makes your body tire faster. I remember Achilles. Whenever that lad wasn't fighting, he was sleeping. He must've taken twenty naps a day.

"A nap is minimum thirty minutes," Percy looked so hurt for the poor lad. "That means he's barely awake for three or four hours a day! You have to actually wake up at some point for it to be considered a nap!"

They weren't entirely sure if his outrage came from to much sleep or not enough sleep until he looked at Nico and grousd, "Where's my Styx contract?! I want a refund! I refuse to be that inactive, I'll go nuts the few bits of time I get awake!"

"I think it's only a recommendation on how much you've been fighting seaweed brain," Annabeth said patiently. "You haven't been sleeping that much in here have you?" Glory, they'd still be on the first book if so.

"No," Percy nodded in relief.

Nico was smiling in surprise Annabeth actually stopped Percy from yelling at him. This was a good day!

You, Percy, need your rest. You may be our only hope."

Percy was clearly not in the mood for this and opened his mouth with a clear smart ass remark in place about that before Annabeth gently squeezed his hand and he reminded himself Chiron wasn't in here to hear it.

...Maybe he did need a nap, or a snack at minimum.

I wanted to complain that I wasn't their only hope, according to Rachel, I wasn't even the hero. But the look in Chiron's eyes made it clear he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Is he going to crack you over the head with heavier and heavier objects until you finally feel it and pass out? Or is he going to slip something into your food?" Alex asked with keen interest.

"I vote the first, I want to see him lift a manhole cover and that helicopter and slam them down on Percy," Thalia cackled.

Annabeth's tiny little grimace only made them laugh harder, and yet struck fear in Magnus because nobody denied he could do either! How many kids had he roofied to enforce naptime?!

"Sure," I grumbled. "Talk."

"Grumpy Percy," Thalia cooed as if to a fussy toddler. "Off to bed without a snack and not allowed to stay up past bedtime."

"If he ever tried that with you, you'd blow up the building out of spite," Percy scowled.

Thalia shrugged and didn't bother to deny it.

I trudged toward the Empire State Building. When I glanced back, Rachel and Chiron were walking together in earnest conversation, like they were discussing funeral arrangements.

"Is that not an appropriate thing to discuss after a helicopter nearly crashed?" Will asked blankly.

"You're not allowed to participate in this anymore Will," Percy scowled.

"Just try and stop him," Nico rolled his eyes. Percy clearly had no idea how stubborn he could be.

Inside the lobby, I found an empty bunk and collapsed, sure that I would never be able to sleep. A second later, my eyes closed.

In my dreams, I was back in Hades's garden. The lord of the dead paced up and down, holding his ears while Nico followed him, waving his arms.

Alex threw her head back and laughed. The kind of gasping right from her gut at such an awesome mental image.

"You have to!" Nico insisted.

Demeter and Persephone sat behind them at the breakfast table. Both of the goddesses looked bored.

Alex obviously couldn't breathe and it somehow just got worse. Magnus cautiously patted her shoulder.

"Percy no longer holds the trophy for most annoying demigod," Jason nodded in surprise. "Nico's over here battling him."

"I'll engrave him a trophy if it'll get me some peace," Percy sounded a tad reluctant though, like he wasn't sure how he felt about that. Alex was still giggling underneath them too which only had the others smiling at something that probably wasn't going to turn out to be funny.

Demeter poured shredded wheat into four huge bowls.

"At least you were invited to breakfast?" Will said blankly. He wanted to think that was a good thing, but clearly it wasn't going well.

"I wouldn't say invited when I was poofed in there," Nico sniffed. He hoped his father didn't think he'd be back allowed out of his room and not have something to say about it.

Persephone was magically changing the flower arrangement on the table, turning the blossoms from red to yellow to polka-dotted.

"I don't have to do anything!" Hades's eyes blazed. "I'm a god!"

"Can a god just stop doing their godly thing?" Percy asked in surprise. "Can Hades just decide to stop letting people into the Underworld? What would happen if my dad stopped...being the ocean?"

"I'm sure they can, but like, it might create an infinite loop of draining them because their godly thing doesn't exist anymore and then they'll lose power because they can't turn their own domain back on," Alex's eyes lit with excitement at the chaotic question.

Percy opened his mouth with intrigue and Annabeth quickly cut them off before their questions became potential plans. Those two got on like a house on fire and it was vaguely terrifying.

At least Percy easily allowed himself to switch back to Nico telling off Hades, something he'd gladly like to do himself.

"Father," Nico said, "if Olympus falls, your own palace's safety doesn't matter. You'll fade too."

"I am not an Olympian!" he growled. "My family has made that quite clear."

"You are,'' Nico said. "Whether you like it or not."

Alex felt ruffled. She never liked definitive statements. To be locked into something. Her first instinct was to chew Nico out and tell him not to put his father in a box like that.

She stood on that principle and would have engaged Nico on that even if it did help Percy in the long run, but chose not to because that felt like something that she didn't want to try and cram in around Percy's ongoing life.

"You saw what they did to your mother," Hades said. "Zeus killed her. And you would have me help them? They deserve what they get!"

Percy honestly felt that. It surprised him a bit to be so empathetic with this god, of all of them, but the amount of times he'd felt the same wasn't easy to ignore.

And Annabeth heard that in Percy's voice as he read it, and it made something in her quiver with unease how often that thought must have driven Luke.

Persephone sighed. She walked her fingers across the table, absently turning the silverware into roses. "Could we please not talk about that woman?"

Will made a huffy noise and should have felt more disturbed how often he wanted to strangle goddesses down here.

"You know what would help this boy?" Demeter mused. "Farming."

"How to help him hate the world and the slow passage of time and breaking your back for barely any payoff?" Thalia's scowl somehow deepend with each thing she listed.

"Not a fan of farming huh?" Magnus said without much surprise but mild hurt.

"Don't sweat it," she smirked, popping the hood of her jacket, both in answer to him and in explanation.

Persephone rolled her eyes. "Mother—"

"Six months behind a plow. Excellent character building."

"I mean," Annabeth said with a faint smile at Magnus still looking a little pouty and Thalia rolling her eyes. "I see both," she chuckled. If you worked hard for something and really earned it, somehow the reward felt better.

On the flip side, they should be gifted more without effort! Life was hard enough! She'd had more than one mental rant in her head to Hermes about him not gifting them all random presents just for the shit they put up with.

Nico stepped in front of his father, forcing Hades to face him. "My mother understood about family. That's why she didn't want to leave us. You can't just abandon your family because they did something horrible. You've done horrible things to them too."

Will squeezed Nico's arm tight with loving pride for saying that right to his dad's face, and then the feeling just kept growing so he started to chuckle and held his other hand up for a high five.

Nico immiedtily returned it with a proud smile, with the wild feeling of being accepted he hoped never wore off.

"Maria died!" Hades reminded him.

"You can't just cut yourself off from the other gods!"

"Good on you, don't let him redirect the problem," Magnus said with nothing but sympathy in his tone as he nodded at him. To much personal experience had told him that if he only focused on being the child with a dead mother would get him nowhere, especially not out of his sleeping bag.

"I've done very well at it for thousands of years."

"And has that made you feel any better?" Nico demanded. "Has that curse on the Oracle helped you at all? Holding grudges is a fatal flaw. Bianca warned me about that, and she was right."

Thalia grinned at him in delight. For taking his sister's words to such heart, for reminding a god they weren't infallible. It was truly sad how much Nico had been through to get to this moment, but she felt a misplaced pride for Bianca's little brother she wished she could convey that wouldn't come across as overstepping.

"Bianca would be proud," Jason said with simple confidence.

"I don't know I'd go that far," Nico shook his head. He knew exactly two things about her. She'd wanted to get away from him, and she'd still loved him anyways. She'd seemed to have some deep love for Artemis in her brief time as a hunter, though he wondered if that wasn't misplaced affection for fulfilling her desire. How Bianca would react to him shoving this in his father's face he didn't want to guess.

"I have a good feeling," Jason insisted anyways as he grinned at his big sister who was smiling back.

Bianca and her did seem to have a lot in common. Even if it wasn't a sound guess, Nico was starting to get the idea it was okay to go on your gut sometimes.

"For demigods! I am immortal, all-powerful! I would not help the other gods if they begged me, if Percy Jackson himself pleaded—"

Percy had a constipated look on his face. He really didn't like the image of groveling to Hades for help, even the fate of the world didn't feel worth that...but there had certainly been that moment when he'd seen Annabeth, hurt and bleeding at his feat.. maybe it wasn't the worst idea to be on at least this gods good side. He said it wouldn't work, but gods were fickle and just the attempt-

"Come back to me seaweed brain," Annabeth giggled as she shook his hand hard enough to jiggle his whole arm.

He flashed her a grin of agreement, but there was something lingering in his eyes that surprised her. It wasn't full-blown repulsion at any rate.

"You're just as much of an outcast as I am!" Nico yelled. "Stop being angry about it and do something helpful for once. That's the only way they'll respect you!"

Alex pressed her lips together tight to hide a twitching smile of understanding. Will looked a little hurt, and baffled at this somehow being Nico's goal in life right now, but honestly, she understood. Love was something they all instinctively wanted in their life, of course, but if you went to long without you started lowering your expectations. Respect was the only thing Nico had learned he could get from his ghostly minions, he probably couldn't fathom expecting more at that time.

Hades's palm filled with black fire.

"Go ahead," Nico said. "Blast me. That's just what the other gods would expect from you. Prove them right."

"Gods, now there's two of them," Annabeth moaned as she put her face in her hands.

"Yeah," Will agreed, digging deep to stop himself doing the same as he willed himself to accept this was how Nico was and how many times he'd kiss him before Nico no longer had a death wish. He might have to start comparing notes with her.

"Yes, please," Demeter complained. "Shut him up."

"I think the plant goddess just dropped to one of my least favorite goddesses," Magnus scowled at such carelessness. Could a god be used for mulch? That felt like to good for her.

Persephone sighed. "Oh, I don't know. I would rather fight in the war than eat another bowl of cereal. This is boring."

Hades roared in anger. His fireball hit a silver tree right next to Nico, melting it into a pool of liquid metal.

And the son of Hades didn't flinch, Percy alone knew as he looked around at him in concern. No matter how many times he'd faced death, Percy hadn't exactly gone out with the kind of quiet, angry acceptance that had been there as the fire passed inches from his face, the silver pooling around his boots before he blinked.

Sure he could have froze, but it seemed unlikely with the way he'd been able to fight the few times Percy had seen him.

This felt, like somthing else. Something Percy had no idea how to ask about.

And my dream changed.

I was standing outside the United Nations, about a mile northeast of the Empire State Building. The Titan army had set up camp all around the UN complex. The flagpoles were hung with horrible trophies—helmets and armor pieces from defeated campers.

Percy grimaced like he wished he had that omega axe back to stab each enemy with who dared do such a thing. Tossing them back off that bridge would just be the bonus.

All along First Avenue, giants sharpened their axes. Telkhines repaired armor at makeshift forges.

Kronos himself paced at the top of the plaza, swinging his scythe so his dracaenae bodyguards stayed way back. Ethan Nakamura and Prometheus stood nearby, out of slicing range. Ethan was fidgeting with his shield straps, but Prometheus looked as calm and collected as ever in his tuxedo.

"You know, it's probably because of that tux he's always so smug and calm," Alex lamented with a sigh.

She probably took that phrase, 'the clothes make the man' a little more seriously than the average person, but none of them were going to argue the point either.

"So you're saying we should rip it off him?" Magnus asked blankly.

She gave him a devilish smirk. "If that's something you think will work, I'm game to try."

Percy hastily read on from Magnus's red face at the implication.

"I hate this place," Kronos growled.

Glossing over the uncomfortable idea he'd moved out of Medusa's place to be able to hover even more over their every decision, Jason made a face of particular dislike for that for some reason as he grumbled, "sounds to me like he's hated every place he's been. Maybe he just needs a nice cabin in the woods to live out his time in grumpy silence."

"I'll build him a swamp and everything if he'll go for it," Percy agreed.

"United Nations. As if mankind could ever unite. Remind me to tear down this building after we destroy Olympus."

Alex had to fight very hard to swallow a laugh of agreement for him and mostly got away with it.

"Yes, lord." Prometheus smiled as if his master's anger amused him.

"That's called a death wish, something I'm not surprised Percy can easily read," Thalia nodded.

"I had to be good at something if not vowles," Percy shrugged.

"Shall we tear down the stables in Central Park too? I know how much horses can annoy you."

"Now he's actively giving him awful advice!" Annabeth scowled. "Some Titan of wisdom." Her disdain made them all pretty glad her mom wasn't in here to nodd along imposingly. None of them wanted to know what they'd do to prove Athena's superiority on the matter.

"Don't mock me, Prometheus! Those cursed centaurs will be sorry they interfered. I will feed them to the hellhounds, starting with that son of mine—that weakling Chiron."

"He says that like they're not all his sons?" Magnus asked in surprise. Weren't they all related?

"I bet it's one of those, when he's being annoyed he's his mom's son kind of thing," Percy shrugged.

Prometheus shrugged. "That weakling destroyed an entire legion of telkhines with his arrows."

"Wow, it took Percy using a whole volcano to manage the same," Nico said drolly. "I think maybe you over did it."

"It's a possibility Nico, but I already knew I could learn a lot more from Chiron than I've managed," he agreed.

Kronos swung his scythe and cut a flagpole in half. The national colors of Brazil toppled into the army, squashing a dracaena.

"What did Brazil do to him?" Will asked mildly. "I mean yeah, a Brazilian wax sounds painful, but that was a bit harsh."

"I'm a tad concerned that that's the first thing you thought of from there," Annabeth sighed, "Oscar Niemeyer has this style he used to-"

"Oscar Myer's from Brazil?" Percy asked.

"Not hotdogs Percy, get your mind off your stomach!" Jason tried to shush him and keep Annabeth going all at once, but that only seemed to make Percy lose interest in this altogether as he kept reading.

"We will destroy them!" Kronos roared. "It is time to unleash the drakon. Nakamura, you will do this."

Magnus instantly decided he didn't want to know what a drakon was. It was just to close in letters to dragon to be a good thing even before Kronos had one. Maybe, just this once, it would be a tiny lizard the size of his hand that would just crawl up to Percy's shoe and start nibbling on his good sneakers or something.

"Y-yes, lord. At sunset?"

"No," Kronos said. "Immediately. The defenders of Olympus are badly wounded. They will not expect a quick attack. Besides, we know this drakon they cannot beat."

Ethan looked confused. "My lord?"

"Never you mind, Nakamura. Just do my bidding. I want Olympus in ruins by the time Typhon reaches New York. We will break the gods utterly!"

"But, my lord," Ethan said. "Your regeneration."

Kronos pointed at Ethan, and the demigod froze.

"Does it seem," Kronos hissed, "that I need to regenerate?"

Ethan didn't respond. Kind of hard to do when you're immobilized in time.

"Sounds like he's just not creative enough to try," Alex sniffed. "Seems like a one trick pony to me. Now about destroying those stables..."

"I don't think Kronos is creative enough to follow this one Alex," Magnus chuckled. "Nice try though."

Annabeth wanted to laugh along, nod and make jokes about a horse dragging him back to Tartarus, but even now she couldn't stomach it quite right unless she imagined them as ghostly horses only there to rip Kronos away from Luke at last. Percy would probably just make some joke about flesh-eating horses doing the trick before moving on anyway.

Kronos snapped his fingers and Ethan collapsed.

"Soon," the Titan growled, "this form will be unnecessary. I will not rest with victory so close. Now, go!"

Ethan scrambled away.

"This is dangerous, my lord," Prometheus warned. "Do not be hasty."

"Hasty? After festering for three thousand years in the depths of Tartarus, you call me hasty?

"Um, yeah, but it's totally understandable man," Thalia said in mock simpering kindness. "Try going to long without eating a burger and you just inhale the thing, barely tasting it! You grabbed the first idiot who said yes to you and are rushing into your demise! Clearly hasty is involved!"

Annabeth bit back the urge to reach around Percy and shove her off her cushion. Didn't she hear that she was talking about Luke as much as Kronos when she said things like demise! It's like Thalia had really wanted him dead!

I will slice Percy Jackson into a thousand pieces."

"I'm not entirely sure you could even slice him into two pieces," Jason corrected clinically. "The spot on his back is only on the one side, he'd only be able to rip it off I guess, and that would be two pieces."

"Jason is officially fired from talking for the rest of this," Percy huffed. Next time he turned his back he'd probably pop up with one of those creepy circle-drawing instruments to get measurements and everything.

Jason pouted and looked minimally apologetic for suggesting the center of his back should be ripped out, so Percy reluctantly amended, "for the rest of this chapter."

"Ignore him Jace, he knows better than to pretend he could shut anyone up," Thalia rolled her eyes when Jason still looked a little reluctant.

"I wasn't saying Kronos should do it," Jason quickly agreed. "Just that it wasn't practical."

"Because that's better," Percy chuckled all the same.

"Thrice you've fought him," Prometheus pointed out. "And yet you've always said it is beneath the dignity of a Titan to fight a mere mortal. I wonder if your mortal host is influencing you, weakening your judgment."

Annabeth's breath caught in her throat, the hope, the fluttering smile she was trying to hide.

It was a lot for Percy to take. She'd been angry at this guy seconds ago, now she was latching onto his idea.

It at least gave him the modicum of hope every time she lashed out an opinion didn't mean she clung to it.

Kronos turned his golden eyes on the other Titan. "You call me weak?"

"No, my lord. I only meant—"

"Are your loyalties divided?" Kronos asked. "Perhaps you miss your old friends, the gods. Would you like to join them?"

Prometheus paled. "I misspoke, my lord. Your orders will be carried out." He turned to the armies and shouted, "PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

'Kronos was a hasty fool,' Annabeth agreed with Thalia all the same even if she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Ignoring all counsel, acting as if his win was inevitable despite never having been able to beat Percy outright. It gave her a warm flash to think Prometheus was right, Luke had been in there all along, if not as strong a presence as his blue eyes would allow. The idea gave her a nasty sense of pleasure as she imagined Luke scheming under the surface to thwart him as Kronos had once manipulated his own mind. Whispering to Kronos to do one thing, knowing the Titan lord would do the opposite.

The troops began to stir.

From somewhere behind the UN compound, an angry roar shook the city—the sound of a drakon waking. The noise was so horrible it woke me, and I realized I could still hear it from a mile away.

Grover stood next to me, looking nervous. "What was that?"

"They're coming," I told him. "And we're in trouble."

"And what did Grover eat when you told him that?" Magnus asked with resignation, only imagining how many shirts that guy went through.

"I think it was part of that hotdog cart actually," Percy shrugged, not able to identify the steal any better. At least it explained his earlier craving.

The Hephaestus cabin was out of Greek fire. The Apollo cabin and the Hunters were scrounging for arrows. Most of us had already ingested so much ambrosia and nectar we didn't dare take any more.

We had sixteen campers, fifteen Hunters, and half a dozen satyrs left in fighting shape.

There had always been the possibility that Kronos could win this just by sheer numbers of the monsters at his disposal, and that seemed to be spiraling into this more and more as Percy's voice dragged a little bit on each word. It was clear he was growing restless, hopeless, to get to what the true conclusion was before he'd rally himself again as he looked at Annabeth.

He just couldn't believe she'd be so calm and stoic about this if they'd lost this day, lost everyone and everything but each other. He just had to keep living through this endless swirl of deja vu until he got there.

The rest had taken refuge on Olympus. The Party Ponies tried to form ranks, but they staggered and giggled and they all smelled like root beer.

"Heavy on the root, apparently," Will muttered.

Nico snorted in surprise, he knew Will wasn't that naive.

The Texans were head-butting the Coloradoans.

Jason leaned forward with clear interest, clearly planning out a spreadsheet in his head of how each state interacted with each other, full of complicated tables and cross-flow charts. It looked exhausting, constantly having that kind of attention span.

The Missouri branch was arguing with Illinois. The chances were pretty good the whole army would end up fighting each other rather than the enemy.

"Civil War II?" Alex said with disinterest. "This isn't over that whole, make pot legal thing is it? Bit anticlimactic after the last one."

"Let's focus on one fight at a time," Annabeth reminded in exhaustion, even if this one was happening amidst theirs.

Chiron trotted up with Rachel on his back. I felt a twinge of annoyance because Chiron rarely gave anyone a ride, and never a mortal.

"Perhaps it's just because there are no mortals at your camp," Alex offered with a cheeky smirk. "For all you know, he has a preference to let them and just never shared."

"I didn't see May Castellan getting a ride," Percy rolled his eyes.

"You didn't get to see the whole day either," she shrugged without concern for her brilliant idea.

"Your friend here has some useful insights, Percy," he said.

Rachel blushed. "Just some things I saw in my head."

"That's what all insights are," Annabeth couldn't help but grumble on reflex just hearing her name.

"I see things inside my head too and I don't call them insights," Percy said with his typical grin, at least getting a chuckle out of the others.

"A drakon," Chiron said.

"A Lydian drakon, to be exact. The oldest and most dangerous kind."

"Because, it doesn't like to kill people?" Magnus asked without any hope.

He just got a few sad little looks and some sadder smiles still.

I stared at her. "How did you know that?"

"I'm not sure," Rachel admitted. "But this drakon has a particular fate. It will be killed by a child of Ares."

"Oh great! We've got a fresh batch of those somewhere!" Thalia mock dug through her pockets like she lost a cookie.

Annabeth crossed her arms. "How can you possibly know that?"

"I just saw it. I can't explain."

"Well, let's hope you're wrong," I said. "Because we're a little short on children of Ares. . . ." A horrible thought occurred to me, and I cursed in Ancient Greek.

"It's always so rude when this thing glosses over use of another language," Nico chuckled.

"I'm buying a swear jar the moment I get home," Will said on instinct to that.

"It's your money," Nico shrugged without concern.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"The spy," I told her. "Kronos said, We know they cannot beat this drakon. The spy has been keeping him updated. Kronos knows the Ares cabin isn't with us. He intentionally picked a monster we can't kill."

"You can't kill," Jason couldn't help but correct. He only had a vague feeling what a drakon was and still felt confident Percy was the only one crazy enough who'd like to try.

"Not that it's going to stop him giving it his all," Thalia chuckled.

Thalia scowled. "If I ever catch your spy, he's going to be very sorry.

Alex felt an internal twitch of distaste, Thalia using male pronouns. Obviously the Huntress had a bias, but she worried it would get Thalia into trouble if she started underestimating the underhandedness of one gender.

Maybe we could send another messenger to camp—"

"I've already done it," Chiron said. "Blackjack is on his way.

"He sent a horse to talk sense into the jackass? There are so very many ways I can laugh at this," but Magnus's heart clearly wasn't in it from the start.

But if Silena wasn't able to convince Clarisse, I doubt Blackjack will be able—"

"To talk to her," Annabeth couldn't help but say the more obvious part of that problem.

"Maybe he was hoping Blackjack would just scoop down and drag her there and her cabin would follow," Percy said, but he didn't really believe that. She might hurt his horse if he tried.

A roar shook the ground. It sounded very close.

"Rachel," I said, "get inside the building."

"I want to stay."

A shadow blotted out the sun. Across the street, the drakon slithered down the side of a skyscraper. It roared, and a thousand windows shattered.

A very, very tiny dragon with an usually loud roar, Magnus tried one last time in vain to convince his brain.

He could even feel his brain sending him waves of pity now for continuing this delusion.

"On second thought," Rachel said in a small voice, "I'll be inside."

"Well, I can't say she doesn't have a bright idea every now and then," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"She? It was my idea," Percy sighed. "One might even call it a brilliant insight!"

"One who is not a blonde," she shook her head with a smirk while Percy grumbled a bit more she was not cutting him a break today. It was very distracting from his usual headache. He should thank her later.

Let me explain:

"Please do not," Magnus groaned.

Alex was aggressively-passive-aggressively soothing his nerves by kicking him and signing at him to chill. Drakons probably couldn't swim down here.

there are dragons, and then there are drakons.

Drakons are several millennia older than dragons, and much larger. They look like giant serpents.

Most don't have wings. Most don't breathe fire (though some do). All are poisonous. All are immensely strong, with scales harder than titanium. Their eyes can paralyze you; not the turn-you~to-stone Medusatype paralysis, but the oh~my~gods-that~big~snake~is~going~to~eat~me type of paralysis, which is just as bad.

Alex wiped a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth. She ached to transform, to test the limits if she could do that. Gods did she miss the feeling of fluidity that came with shapeshifting at whim.

Somebody, some God, was going to pay for taking this away from her.

We have drakon-fighting classes at camp, but there is no way to prepare yourself for a two-hundred-foot-long serpent as thick as a school bus slithering down the side of a building, its yellow eyes like searchlights and its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants.

"I'd love to hear more about those classes," Jason grinned.

"Does Will get inside a paper mache' drakon and chase the kids around?" Alex chuckled.

"Pretty close," Percy agreed. "We take these weird fuzzy-string-noodle-bean things with googly eyes and a whole bunch of them, tie 'um all together, and we all pick a color. Then once it's this huge mass we put it on the Big House like somebody TP'd it, and we throw javelins and waterballons at it."

"Cabin that knocks off the most of their color 'killed it'," Annabeth nodded.

Jason looked demonstrably disappointed at how fun that sounded, though Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look as they weren't sure if that was more disappointment in their practice or that he couldn't join in.

It almost made me long for the flying pig.

"Oh, I'm sure we can find you another one Percy," Magnus told him with a disturbing kind of calm. "And another Minotaur too, hey, why not even bring the flesh-eating horses back! We'll build you your own zoo of monsters Perce!"

"Guys, I think we broke Magnus," Percy chuckled.

"Eh, was bound to happen eventually," Alex grinned.

Annabeth however gave her cousin an understanding grin, and he nodded back. These two constantly playing off the monster attacks was just how they accepted it all. She knew he needed just a second to breathe in this new thing like she so often wished for.

Meanwhile, the enemy army advanced down Fifth Avenue. We'd done our best to push cars out of the way to keep the mortals safe, but that just made it easier for our enemies to approach.

'There was just no winning,' Jason repressed a shiver as the thought flickered in his mind. He did not like that this idea swam so easily just under the surface of his thoughts, what it could connect to aside from this.

The Party Ponies swished their tails nervously. Chiron galloped up and down their ranks, shouting encouragement to stand tough and think about victory and root beer, but I figured any second they would panic and run.

Annabeth had more faith in them. Perhaps just prolonged association with Chiron gave her more hope for their skill, or she'd seen them charge in once more than Percy upon the ship as well meant that their wavering resolve to fight was fleeting but impactful.

"I'll take the drakon." My voice came out as a timid squeak.

Magnus had rarely looked so pleased in here, but he did so now as he grinned at Percy. Not a smirk, not laughing, but a pleased grin like he finally felt like he wasn't the only one who would have possibly weaped on sight.

Percy gave him a nod of agreement. He really would rather fight pool noodles at camp than be out here with his life in danger. He just played it off better.

Then I yelled louder: "I'LL TAKE THE DRAKON! Everyone else, hold the line against the army!"

"Oh, is that all?" Thalia made sure he heard her this time as she'd pulled her hunting knives ready. "Anything else come to mind Percy?"

"I wouldn't mind if someone brought me a rootbear float right about then," Percy agreed. "Heard the centaurs talking about it way to much."

"It's not my fault if Annabeth went off your regular feeding schedule," Thalia rolled her eyes.

Annabeth stood next to me. She had pulled her owl helmet low over her face, but I could tell her eyes were red.

Percy felt wretched he'd made her cry. Then he got angry at Annabeth. It wasn't his fault Rachel had shown up when she did! Why did she have to freak out about that every time he needed her help!

Then he really looked at her again in here at got frustrated with himself. He knew she'd had a really miserable life where practically everybody let her down, and he wanted to be the exception. To prove to her that he was the one person who would put her first. He knew she already trusted him, he just had to think up some way to prove he could be the most trustful.

"Will you help me?" I asked.

"That's what I do," she said miserably. "I help my friends."

Percy groaned and felt the urge to rip his hair out. She'd made it sound like a miserable chore helping him!

I felt like a complete jerk. I wanted to pull her aside and explain that I didn't mean for Rachel to be here, that it wasn't my idea, but we had no time.

"It wouldn't have helped anyway," Annabeth said sullenly as she watched him beat himself up over this. "I was so confused Percy, I don't think anybody could have said the right words at that time." She paused and smiled and said the one thing she was sure would help. "Not even Luke."

That did bring a smile to his face, and she smiled she was able to do that when he clearly needed it.

"Go invisible," I said. "Look for weak links in its armor while I keep it busy. Just be careful."

"Sure. Careful. What isn't careful about scaling a giant snake looking for places some other fool had once tried to peel a scale off," Magnus nodded in a broken seesaw kind of way.

"Just like the lava walls at camp," she agreed.

I whistled. "Mrs. O'Leary, heel!"

"ROOOF!" My hellhound leaped over a line of centaurs and gave me a kiss that smelled suspiciously of pepperoni pizza.

"Awww, she just wanted to share!" Alex said in delight.

"I've finally found a standard when it comes to food," Percy sighed as he waved his hand in front of his nose. "Nowhere near my dog's mouth."

"Congrats man, had to happen eventually," Jason said as if in personal relief for his diet.

While Alex and Magnus exchanged a look and then just as quickly looked away, neither of them willing to acknowledge that stealing food people would give to stray dogs wasn't the lowest option they'd ever fallen to.

I drew my sword and we charged the monster.

The drakon was three stories above us, slithering sideways along the building as it sized up our forces.

Wherever it looked, centaurs froze in fear.

From the north, the enemy army crashed into the Party Ponies, and our lines broke. The drakon lashed out, swallowing three Californian centaurs in one gulp before I could even get close.

Of course backup had only meant more death on the horizon, Will hated the bleak thought. The parade of dead centaurs that might have saved their camp from being down to single digits when this was all over. The mass memorial they'd done for all those unnamed but lost had included a gallon of root beer, despite Mr. D's previous banishment of anything other than Diet Coke being allowed in camp.

Mrs. O'Leary launched herself through the air—a deadly black shadow with teeth and claws.

Normally, a pouncing hellhound is a terrifying sight, but next to the drakon, Mrs. O'Leary looked like a child's night-night doll.

Magnus made a pretty good impression of a squeaky toy you'd give a dog. Why couldn't the too big but sweet dog he was grappling to get the hang of be the worst?! Why did he now have to imagine wanting the dog to win the fight! While picturing her looking small as a flea on this monstrosity! What was this cruel world?!

Her claws raked harmlessly off the drakon's scales. She bit the monster's throat but couldn't make a dent. Her weight, however, was enough to knock the drakon off the side of the building. It flailed awkwardly and crashed to the sidewalk, hellhound and serpent twisting and thrashing. The drakon tried to bite Mrs. O'Leary, but she was too close to the serpent's mouth. Poison spewed everywhere, melting centaurs into dust along with quite a few monsters, but Mrs. O'Leary weaved around the serpent's head, scratching and biting.

Alex cheered, bouncing in her seat like a trampoline and fist-pumping the air. She'd never bothered going to sporting events or anything in the past, but she understood why people did it now. It just felt good to shout at the top of your lungs for your side to win even if it didn't do a lick of good.

"YAAAH!" I plunged Riptide deep into the monster's left eye. The spotlight went dark. The drakon hissed and reared back to strike, but I rolled aside.

Magnus was breathing a little easier, a little faster than normal. Not that he'd ever claim to finally being adjusted to all this mess. It was just a tad easier picturing other dark-haired heroes he'd read about, who always won the fight in the end and came out triumphant too. Percy had managed to do that all this time, maybe it wasn't so crazy to hope he'd keep going that all the way to the end.

It bit a swimming-pool-size chunk out of the pavement. It turned toward me with its good eye, and I focused on its teeth so I wouldn't get paralyzed. Mrs. O'Leary did her best to cause a distraction. She leaped onto the serpent's head and scratched and growled like a really angry black wig.

"I heard a thing once that you could drown lice in maple syrup and hear their tiny screams," Will offered. "Perhaps George's slightly scarier older brother would like some tips," he finished in a smaller and smaller voice. Picturing this massive behemoth from his nightmares whining about wanting rats was basically the only reason he wasn't trying to curl inside Nico's jacket right now.

"You get the marmalade man, I'll try anything," Percy sighed.

"And if that doesn't work out, we can dump it all into that new swimming pool he carved out and have a different kind of fun," Alex agreed.

"I'll push you into a vat of maple syrup any time you like Alex," Nico cackled.

"Yes! Best friend ever!" She whooped all the louder, so much so it probably should have started growing Percy levels of loud, but nobody really had the heart to to try and keep her quiet.

The rest of the battle wasn't going well. The centaurs had panicked under the onslaught of giants and demons. An occasional orange camp T-shirt appeared in the sea of fighting, but quickly disappeared.

Will struggled to swallow for a few painful moments as he now vividly remembered how often Micheal had complained about having nothing to wear but his camp shirts, particularly on nights of capture the flag. It made them such visible targets.

Arrows screamed. Fire exploded in waves across both armies, but the action was moving across the street to the entrance of the Empire State Building. We were losing ground.

Suddenly Annabeth materialized on the drakon's back. Her invisibility cap rolled off her head as she drove her bronze knife between a chink in the serpent's scales.

The drakon roared. It coiled around, knocking Annabeth off its back.

I reached her just as she hit the ground. I dragged her out of the way as the serpent rolled, crushing a lamppost right where she'd been.

Magnus was starting to get a nervous twitch that was gaining a life of its own as he kept realizing how many times Annabeth had nearly died, he was starting to lose count! He was sure he could ask Jason for an exact number, and he wasn't sure which disturbed him more.

"Thanks," she said.

"I told you to be careful!"

"Yeah, well, DUCK!"

"That's a strange way to say thank you. Is it Turkish? No, no, Portuguese?" Percy chuckled.

"It's shut your trap, a language I invented just for you," she grinned.

"What a terrifying thought, the gods will be speaking it in no time," Percy shrugged before moving on.

It was her turn to save me.

Magnus at least got a good laugh out of that, enough to make Percy and Annabeth exchange loving grins. They knew they were the main source of the poor guy's constant consternation in here, but it was nice they could alleviate some of that too with something so backbone to their life.

She tackled me as the monster's teeth snapped above my head. Mrs. O'Leary body-slammed the drakon's face to get its attention, and we rolled out of the way.

Meanwhile

"Is that your new anyways?" Jason rolled his eyes. "Kind of weird for you to switch it up so late in the game."

"I wish I could have meanwhiled half the crap I went through," Percy huffed. "Meanwhile, Grover was eating nachos and chilling waiting on me to rescue him in comfort and style! Meanwhile, Thalia was learning to play the banjo!"

"Pass," she frowned.

"Fine, live with your demons, I tried," Percy shrugged.

our allies had retreated to the doors of the Empire State Building. The entire enemy army was surrounding them.

We were out of options. No more help was coming. Annabeth and I would have to retreat before we were cut off from Mount Olympus.

It wasn't lifeless, per say, Nico would know that tone, but there was a listless...hopeless tone to Percy's voice he could barely wrap his head around. Percy had been kicked, beaten down, and pushed to his limits multiple times before he'd ever sounded this defeated.

Percy just needed a win. A flat victory without some catastrophe immediately following.

... Annabeth being in here was probably the closest he was going to get any time soon.

Then I heard a rumbling in the south. It wasn't a sound you hear much in New York, but I recognized it immediately: chariot wheels.

A girl's voice yelled, "ARES!"

Jason lit up like a flare, he just knew Clarisse's duty to her people would overrule her hurt pride! He knew she had it in her all along!

He was the only one.

Magnus and Alex exchanged actual disbelieving looks. Another trick from Kronos? Nico's newest idea to help by taking possession of someone? It just seemed, pretty wild of her to have changed her mind even after Micheal had offered the chariot back! What could Silena have said to finally make her come around?

Hopefully they'd get to hear the full explanation soon, because this was the peak in the Bizaro Mountain path.

And a dozen war chariots charged into battle. Each flew a red banner with the symbol of the wild boar's head.

Jason made a face at them bothering to take the time to put up decorations while riding to their rescue, but hey, if it had made them get there a little faster to show off, couldn't complain to much. It did gender a sense of comradery he supposed...

Alex was beaming with pride and nodding along for them making sure everyone knew their aesthetics.

Each was pulled by a team of skeletal horses with manes of fire. A total of thirty fresh warriors, armor gleaming and eyes full of hate, lowered their lances as one—making a bristling wall of death.

"The children of Ares!" Annabeth said in amazement. "How did Rachel know?"

Magnus sat up very straight in his seat as something occurred to him. Kronos had used this drakon because of some ancient Greek proverb or whatever about it having to be killed by a child of Ares, same as Rachel had declared. Was it possible there was no spy in camp at all? But that Kronos had somehow got his hands on some poor mortal child with gifted eyes? Watching them for years!

I didn't have an answer. But leading the charge was a girl in familiar red armor, her face covered by a boar's-head helm. She held aloft a spear that crackled with electricity. Clarisse herself had come to the rescue. While half her chariots charged the monster army, Clarisse led the other six straight for the drakon.

Annabeth shook her head at herself. How could she ever have guessed what was coming? It was such a, Clarisse thing to do, something so insane only Percy would also be guilty of that action. How those two hadn't gotten along better she looked back and wasn't quite sure.

The serpent reared back and managed to throw off Mrs. O'Leary. My poor pet hit the side of the building with a yelp.

"Kick its scaly ass girl!" Alex declared with a predatory smile.

'She did not,' Percy winced at his gut reaction to those words. Something...something of this was wrong...he could feel it in every word coming out of his mouth, every time he said Clarisse's name...

Annabeth placed her hand on his shoulder. It was the kind of comfort that offered only support, no judgment for his stupid, useless mind never being able to grasp a simple concept like thank you.

I ran to help her, but the serpent had already zeroed in on the new threat. Even with only one eye, its glare was enough to paralyze two chariot drivers. They veered into a line of cars. The other four chariots kept charging. The monster bared its fangs to strike and got a mouthful of Celestial bronze javelins.

"EEESSSSS!!!!!" it screamed, which is probably drakon for OWWWW!

"Cool to hear you've been taking parseltongue lessons from Grover," Magnus said as he tried not to cover up his mouth in horror at the idea of a bunch of tiny humans stabbing the inside of his mouth with toothpicks.

Percy just gave him a blank look and decided he didn't want to know. He still wouldn't claim to be fluent in English.

"Ares, to me!" Clarisse screamed. Her voice sounded shriller than usual, but I guess that wasn't surprising given what she was fighting.

Jason's smug smile finally wavered in a bit of confusion upon that descriptor. Clarisse's voice had never once been shown to get higher, no matter how stressed. He'd expect it to get lower, gruffer as she took command. He might have been projecting a little to hard on her and probably needed some serious psychoanalysis...and maybe a separate talk about why he saw so much of himself in a girl...

Across the street, the arrival of six chariots gave the Party Ponies new hope. They rallied at the doors of the Empire State Building, and the enemy army was momentarily thrown into confusion.

"Sounds like it doesn't take much," Alex was still leering at Mrs. O'Leary having gotten hurt so bad and was vividly imagining all manner of distraction she'd like to do. Using their heads for bowling for starters and watching with glee as they disintegrated.

Meanwhile, Clarisse's chariots circled the drakon. Lances broke against the monster's skin. Skeletal horses breathed fire and whinnied. Two more chariots overturned, but the warriors simply leaped to their feet, drew their swords, and went to work. They hacked at chinks in the creature's scales. They dodged poison spray like they'd been training for this all their lives, which of course they had.

Thalia rubbed at the back of her neck awkwardly. Now didn't seem a nice time to mention they'd practiced with hoses, albeit Percy the one spraying them with totalitarian glee. Those kids were just doing the bravest damned job, if not the best one, for her to be condescending about it right now. She was more jealous than anything she hadn't the chance to shoot one more arrow into this stupid thing's other eye.

No one could say the Ares campers weren't brave.

"I don't think anybody's said that actually," Nico agreed.

Travis had once, and Will was still surprised he'd lived through it.

Clarisse was right there in front, stabbing her spear at the drakon's face, trying to put out its other eye. But as I watched, things started to go wrong. The drakon snapped up one Ares camper in a gulp. It knocked aside another and sprayed poison on a third, who retreated in a panic, his armor melting.

"We have to help," Annabeth said.

The fact that Percy hadn't leaped in to help was the only thing to prove to them how stunned he'd been by this turn of events. It only reinforced to Magnus and Alex how...amiss something felt, but for no good reason.

She was right. I'd just been standing there frozen in amazement. Mrs. O'Leary tried to get up but yelped again. One of her paws was bleeding.

If Sally had been awake, Magnus instantly would have suggested reuniting those two. Will certainly had his hands full. It was possible one of the injured party ponies sitting out could limp over to attend to her- his thoughts stopped cold as he realized what he'd been doing. Trying to cobble together ideas in actual concern, for a dog. An enormous wolf-shaped beast with her own glowing eyes!

He studied his hands in fascination, he'd swear they were glowing, just a faint bit, like he was about to explode from such a shift in viewpoint. Today really was just full of surprises.

"Stay back, girl," I told her. "You've done enough already."

Annabeth and I jumped onto the monster's back and ran toward its head, trying to draw its attention away from Clarisse.

Her cabinmates threw javelins, most of which broke, but some lodged in the monster's teeth. It snapped its jaws together until its mouth was a mess of green blood, yellow foamy poison, and splintered weapons.

Alex's mind was churning with distress at her lack of ability to do anything. Start forming a mold of this, get a really big shovel to help smack it over the head, gods even just to stop and take a breath and capture the mental image. She loved snakes, she wanted to rip this ones scales off one by one. There was a lot going on!

"You can do it!" I screamed at Clarisse. "A child of Ares is destined to kill it!"

'That should have bolstered her,' Annabeth nodded to herself. 'She'd always been proud of her father, for reasons beyond me.' Instead 'Clarisse had seemed surprised to hear such a thing, looking away from her target. She wasn't holding the spear quite as loose as she normally would, as if it were spontaneously a bit bigger in her hands.

All of these things, of course, were only clear as she looked back.

Through her war helmet, I could only see her eyes—but I could tell something was wrong. Her blue eyes shone with fear. Clarisse never looked like that. And she didn't have blue eyes.

"You've never mentioned her eye color, actually," Jason said, mostly to himself it seemed as his stomach swooped unpleasantly. He usually pictured her with brown eyes, perhaps with hints of hazel or amber...then he realized he wasn't trying to picture Clarisse's face at all, but someone else's. It was maddening as he tried to untangle his thoughts that had somehow mashed together himself, some unknown girl, and this daughter of Ares.

"ARES!" she shouted, in that strangely shrill voice. She leveled her spear and charged the drakon.

"No," I muttered. "WAIT!"

But the monster looked down at her—almost in contempt—and spit poison directly in her face.

The words to describe something like that felt small in comparison to the surge of feeling Percy had gotten upon watching. The anger, the fear, the regret.

'Not again,' the words had whispered somewhere in his mind as Bianca and Zoe, Beckendorf and Micheal studied him with their judgemental, ghostly eyes. 'She'd been wearing a helmet, it would have taken the brunt of the damage! Nothing a little ambrosia wouldn't fix, this hadn't happened again!'

She screamed and fell.

"Clarisse!" Annabeth jumped off the monster's back and ran to help, while the other Ares campers tried to defend their fallen counselor. I drove Riptide between two of the creature's scales and managed to turn its attention on me.

I got thrown but I landed on my feet. "C'MON, you stupid worm! Look at me!"

For the next several minutes, all I saw were teeth. I retreated and dodged poison, but I couldn't hurt the thing.

This was, a surprise, the longer Magnus thought about it. Percy had just broken a bridge! He'd weakened a Titan and then slaughtered a giant flying pig with nary a sigh. But a big snake? He couldn't punch it in the nose? Stab it in the roof of its mouth, especially because none of those teeth were a danger to his arm.

This was what, day three of a never-ending battle though? Everybody kept warning Percy of how exhausted he'd grow the longer he kept this up. Even in here, a week of sporadically using his powers and using more energy to control them than anything left him looking exhausted after a full night's sleep.

It was quite sad to hear now, of all times, Percy's battling starting to slow as Kronos's only grew by the hour.

At the edge of my vision, I saw a flying chariot land on Fifth Avenue.

Then someone ran toward us. A girl's voice, shaken with grief, cried, "NO! Curse you, WHY?"

I dared to glance over, but what I saw made no sense. Clarisse was lying on the ground where she'd fallen. Her armor smoked with poison. Annabeth and the Ares campers were trying to unfasten her helmet. And kneeling next to them, her face blotchy with tears, was a girl in camp clothes. It was . . . Clarisse.

Alex's mouth was just left hanging open before she could even begin to make an evil doppelganger joke. Magnus felt like his brain was lagging behind again, to slow to keep up with these half-god kids even when death and grief was one of the few things he most easily understood of their everyday life.

Jason, though, felt a stirring of something that didn't feel like surprise. No, it felt more refined, slowly kindling to life. 'History had a way of repeating itself,' Nico had reminded several times...and Jason had a feeling he'd read this story before as the dust settled in his mind of understanding why Silena had done such a thing.

With Beckendorf gone, she'd been a wreck. She'd needed to do something, fix a mistake she might not be responsible for, but one in her power to correct. When she'd charged off promising Percy she'd help, boy did that girl go to any lengths to do so.

My head spun. Why hadn't I noticed before? The girl in Clarisse's armor was much thinner, not as tall. But why would someone pretend to be Clarisse?

'Halloween joke gone very wrong?' But Alex sighed and didn't bother with the joke. It wasn't right, hearing in detail another brutal outcome of this war, of a teenager just trying to step up and do the impossible.

I was so stunned, the drakon almost snapped me in half. I dodged and the beast buried its head in a brick wall.

'Where it could stay,' Thalia thought with vengeance. That thing was good for one use only, Clarisse had finally gone into battle without looking over her shoulder to see if her dad was watching, and she'd earned his respect for it at last. The cost was just too high.

"WHY?" The real Clarisse demanded, holding the other girl in her arms while the campers struggled to remove the poison-corroded helmet.

Chris Rodriguez ran over from the flying chariot. He and Clarisse must've ridden it here from camp, chasing the Ares campers, who'd mistakenly been following the other girl, thinking she was Clarisse. But it still made no sense.

Percy waited for the laughter, for someone to tell him how slow he was on the uptake. He felt, as usual, the last pick, the idiot always having to be explained his own life story to.

They didn't. From what he could guess, at least Magnus also hadn't a clue what was going on, and he didn't have the best poker face to hide it. Well that was at least a small relief, if someone as sharp as Annabeth's cousin wasn't a mile ahead of him.

The drakon tugged its head from the brick wall and screamed in rage.

No one needed a translator for that either. Will had felt the whole building shake with its outrage, and his usual steady hands had shook terribly as memories of Lee blurred together with horrible visions of what happened to Micheal underneath that horrible hissing. Like every gas main in the city had broke at once, like the scales were wrapping around him, chafing every inch of his skin until he couldn't breathe.

He was probably holding Nico's hand too tight, but he never protested as Will kept stroking the smooth patterns of his warm skin to chase it all away, maybe for good at last.

"Look out!" Chris warned.

Instead of turning toward me, the drakon whirled toward the sound of Chris's voice. It bared its fangs at the group of demigods.

The real Clarisse looked up at the drakon, her face filled with absolute hate. I'd seen a look that intense only once before. Her father, Ares, had worn the same expression when I'd fought him in single combat.

When he'd cursed Percy's blade after his stupid ankle was stabbed, Thalia's smile looked cruel as she recalled, because it wasn't the greatest of memories to invoke, not with the end results. Somehow the war gods input, even his childrens, always had to go hand in hand with death even to assure a victory.

Still, there was no grudge against Clarisse for her father's blood rushing through. No amount of pamphlets waved in her face would have worked, not after this day. She'd snapped out of one kind of love for another when she'd felt Chris was in danger. She had no choice but to admire that, even if she wasn't so sure she'd ever feel the same way again.

"YOU WANT DEATH?" Clarisse screamed at the drakon.

Not even Alex had the split second to bother with a defense that this could just be an animal. Could be a peaceful dwelling snake safely asleep before Kronos had woken it up. It had killed to much already not to be asking for death in return.

"WELL, COME ON!"

She grabbed her spear from the fallen girl. With no armor or shield, she charged the drakon.

I tried to close the distance to help, but Clarisse was faster. She leaped aside as the monster struck, pulverizing the ground in front of her. Then she jumped onto the creature's head. As it reared up, she drove her electric spear into its good eye with so much force it shattered the shaft, releasing all of the magic weapon's power.

Electricity arced across the creature's head, causing its whole body to shudder. Clarisse jumped free, rolling safely to the sidewalk as smoke boiled from the drakon's mouth. The drakon's flesh dissolved, and it collapsed into a hollow scaly tunnel of armor.

That. That was what a part of each of them had been expecting Percy to do all along.

Everyone except Percy.

He'd stood numb in the street, even his Styx heightened abilities hadn't moved so fast as to take out its remaining eye, the slithering king had just been to fast for him. Clarisse had done it like nothing, leaving him in her dust. She probably could have dragged him along the way and shoved his head in that thing's mouth like another toilet all over again.

The prophecy nagged in his mind again, like he really had heard the Oracle's piercing voice carving the words into his brain. 'Cursed blade'...Riptide had failed time and again to do any damage to this thing what Clarisse's spear had done with the same blow. 'Hero's soul'...why did everyone keep thinking he was the great child of the prophecy when a hero was supposed to save them, not sit back and watch? Just because Nico and Thalia hadn't had some non-important birthday really shouldn't disqualify them...

The rest of us stared at Clarisse in awe. I had never seen anyone take down such a huge monster single-handedly. But Clarisse didn't seem to care. She ran back to the wounded girl who'd stolen her armor.

Finally Annabeth managed to remove the girl's helmet. We all gathered around: the Ares campers, Chris, Clarisse, Annabeth, and me. The battle still raged along Fifth Avenue, but for that moment nothing existed except our small circle and the fallen girl.

Her features, once beautiful, were badly burned from poison. I could tell that no amount of nectar or ambrosia would save her.

Something is about to happen. Rachel's words rang in my ears. A trick that ends in death.

Now I knew what she meant, and I knew who had led the Ares cabin into battle.

I looked down at the dying face of Silena Beauregard.

'Help from a thief,' Percy's brain still felt like it was moving through that pool of syrup as he stared down at the words. Silena, who had stolen Clarisse's armor.

Alex made no call-back jab at Jason for his lack of reaction, nobody demanded to be handed the book next to merrily skip on past this.

So Percy remained where he was, cradling the blood-red spine as broken images, memories clammered to be seen. Silena's death had not matched her beauty, but then nothing could, not even the best-built pyre. Her hair and eyes would shimmer different colors, almost as if a shapeshifter at times, perhaps a small extension of her mother's gift to be the most gorgeous girl around and match all of their appearances only to be the best of them all. He could still remember the first time he'd met her, blonde braid over one shoulder, eyes a shimmering silver in the high sun, but painstakingly beautiful make up that somehow still matched the orange camp shirt and cut off jean shorts.

She'd always been taller than him, of course, but one of the nicest girls he'd ever met from the Aphrodite cabin. He'd probably have fallen off Blackjack a dozen times if not for her tutelage. She passed out those chocolates at camp with the kind of smile that felt more like a reward than the sweet for being included.

There was a flicker of silver lingering in his mind he couldn't shake as he looked around at Annabeth's dark gray eyes for some kind of explanation. Why hadn't it all stopped there? Why wouldn't the world ever grind to a halt and realize it was missing a passenger?

Annabeth waited until she was sure he was ready before she took the book for herself, with no good answer for him any more than their parents could offer.

[femmefatalevibe]

Do you have any femme fatale outfits and hairstyles for more casual everyday wear

Hi love! Some ideas are below. Hope this helps xx

Everyday Femme Fatale Outfit Ideas:

(Vegan) leather jacket, trench, blazer with a crisp black tee shirt, and black straight-leg or bootcut jeans

Cashmere turtleneck with straight-leg leather trousers

Black wool or satin blazer with matching black trousers and a lac-trim cami underneath

Scoop neck, fitted sweater dress, tights, and flat or kitten-heeled knee-high boots

Black satin blouse and straight-leg black jeans

Wool, satin, or leather bomber jacket and a matching straigh-cut mini skirt, tights, and flat boots

Faux fur jacket or coat, long-sleeve tee, and a straight-leg or bootcut jeans

Everyday Femme Fatale Hairstyles:

Down with face-framing layers (shoulder to nipple length)

Low ponytail with a small strand of hair pulled out in the front on each side to frame the face

A high, slick-back ponytail

A side braid ponytail with small strands of hair pulled out in the front on each side to frame the face

Half up, half down and slick straight hair with a glossy black clip to secure the hair

[even-more-than-before]

jsut had a drem where I as playing endless mode and none of the specimens looked/acted right

specimen 3 had a little crown wit a red jewel on his head and also kinda looked like a mixture between himself and worm eel

bekka was legit just wearing a black t-shirt and jeans instead of her normal dress and didnt even damage me when I ran into her. the t-shirt said something along the lines of "I <3 VIDEO GAMES"

and tirsiak's room was straigh up just a boss room where you had to just bonk her on the head over and over again with a plastic mallet as she chased you around. The room was about the size of like, a large closet and tirsiak would jump on boxes and shelves and shit. i think she also said "Haha, little bitch can't even fight!" to me when i jumped on a box before she immediately jumped at me which scared me shitless in the dream

the dream ended like rigt after i defeated tirsiak

[russellsppttemplates]

Hey girlie! i don't wanna come across pushy or overbearing, but i have a prompt idea written on my phone that i was supposed to sent to you for a long time, but i have no idea if i ever did! Remember when Pierre was fresh out of announcing his Alpine contract and was going around the globe for media dutty? so its round that time centered... Y/N is still working remotelly while accompaning Pierre all over the globe in his after season adventures, but that leaves her exhausted to the point where her body is showing. She keeps downplaying her tiredness, and sometimes she'll' hide a headache or some dizziness because of lack of sleep, looking foward to the holidays. When it's finally time to reunite with his family for the holidays and she's done with her work, she ends up crashing: first day at Pascale and Jean's house she sleeps something like 12 hours straigh leaving everyone worried 'bout her. Pascale,Jean and Piere watch her like hawks after she confesses how much it was affectng her, and she ends up being "scolded" by mama and papa Gasly in a loving way because she's not taking care of herself. I love the idea of her having people to fight for her, even of its against her own bad habits!

(Unless my tumblr had an issue, this is the first time you're sending this request! And don't worry, it's not pushy or anything, you can always send me asks, and if they're repeated, I'll sort that out 😉)

Thank you for your submission!

You can now read You need some down time here!

I hope you enjoy it! ✨️🤍

[tshureih]

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[cloudyskies712]

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[cowboysfan216]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Straigh Leg Jeans.

[daltonc16]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Old navy original skinny jean dark blue demin wash size 14 short vintage straigh.

[cc1959sworld]

Check out this listing I just found on Poshmark: Cato Premium Jean Skirt mini Womens Size 12 Blue Dark Wash Denim Straigh….

[becca-leigh]

𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗖 𝗘𝗡𝗩𝗬.

✧ Anime - Attack on Titan.

✧ Pairing - Eren Jaeger x Reader [Fem Bodied].

✧ Word Count - 7.3k

✧ Contains - 18+, Oral sex, Unprotected sex, BDSM (Ice play, Wax play, Whipping, Gagging and Blindfolding).

✧ Synopsis - Jealousy was a trait that Eren couldn’t suppress when it came to a pretty girl like you, but you enjoyed his reaction more than you should.

✧ Prompt - ‘Don’t make me take you home and punish you.’

Watchful eyes stalked your every move whilst you chatted happily to Jean, burning into the side of your face as a soft giggle escaped your glossy lips. He was jealous, but with no reason. You were his. You made that clear the moment you committed to him, but yet, watching you laugh at something Jean had said made his veins course with bitterness. The mere sight of you with another man made Eren clench his teeth, his expression pinching. His usually bright, emerald green eyes had darkened acrimoniously.

Jealousy is often correlated to the colour green - green with envy, so they say. That’s not to confuse jealousy with envy. Eren’s feelings at the sight of you conversing with Jean ran deeper than jealousy. He was envious. Envious of Jean’s attributes - what he had that Eren didn’t. A long-running rivalry between the two left them both competing to be the best, and Eren was in the lead, because he had you. So, why did his heart still swarm with resentment whenever he saw you with him?

Jean placed his hand on your forearm, rubbing small circles on your bare skin. Your eyes scanned around the room, eager to catch sight of your possessive boyfriend, before they finally landed on a face filled with enmity. A small smirk toyed at your lips knowing he’d been eyeing you from across the room the whole time, before you turned your attention back to Jean and moved a little closer to him. Bratty move. Truthfully, you had no interest in what Jean was speaking about, you simply relished in the idea of what Eren would do to you later having seen you being touched by his rival. Pushing his buttons - seeing how far you could push him before he snapped - was your pastime. It was cruel, maybe even a little sadistic, but you didn’t care. Thoughts plagued your head, imagining all the ways Eren will punish you because you had ‘purposely taunted him at the party, and used his enemy against him’. You’d heard it all before. This wasn’t the first time, and undoubtedly, it wouldn’t be the last. Before you could think on it even further, a deep voice pulled you out of your thoughts, making Jean halt his sentence about God-knows-what.

“Jean,” Eren greeted, rather calmly, “mind if I steal my girl back? You’re boring her.” His tone was commanding rather than questioning.

Jean rolled his eyes, removing his hand from your arm before responding. “We’re having a conversation, actually. I don’t think I’m boring anyone.” He stated matter-of-factly. Oh, Jean. Eren was right, he was boring you.

The corners of Eren’s lips twitched at Jean’s reply, knowing damn well you’d zoned out of the conversation a while back. “Cute. Anyway, I need her. I’m sure you can spare her for 5 minutes, Jean-boy.” Before Jean could criticise Eren over the nickname, you’d been pulled away from the conversation with a harsh tug on your hand by your boyfriend. Out of earshot from anyone, Eren turned to face you with a look of disgust plastered on his pretty face.

“What the fuck are you playing at, (Y/N)? There’s a shit-tonne of people at this party, and you choose to strike up a conversation with Kirstein? His dirty hand was all over your arm, too.” Eren spat, pure hatred lacing his voice. He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth as he looked at you with impatience, waiting for your bullshit reply. When you didn’t give him one, he lowered his head to your ear before continuing.

“Don’t make me take you home and punish you.”

His tone was low and husky, dripping with nothing but desire. His teeth nipped at your ear lobe before he pulled away, standing up straight and looking you dead in the eye. Jesus, if looks could kill.

You cleared your throat before replying. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing, Eren. You don’t think I do it on purpose for that exact reason?” His eyes widened slightly at your boldness, simultaneously hating and loving the fact that you used Jean for your own personal gain. Eren placed a gentle hand in the spot on your arm where Jean’s was, rubbing it back and forth as if he was dusting you off.

“As long as you remember that you’re mine, I don’t care what you do. Just don’t let Jean lay even a finger on you.” He paused, studying your face for a reaction, before lifting your chin with his pointer finger. “I mean it, sweetheart. Your actions have consequences, and you know that, so be careful.”

—♡—

Eren wasn’t pleased. You’d had a few drinks, but by no means were you even tipsy, just a little more confident. He’d let you go after your conversation and watched as you made your way to the drinks counter situated in Connie’s kitchen. The same place Jean happened to be standing. Great. A few people attempted to make conversation with Eren, but gave up after receiving half-hearted replies. His attention was elsewhere, too focused on ensuring you didn’t make any stupid decisions with your newfound confidence. Granted, you had stuck to his word about not letting Jean touch you, as you kept a respectable distance between you both. But, as established earlier, even seeing you with another man was enough to get a reaction out of him. Was it toxic? A little. However, you’d never given Eren a reason not to trust you, and he appreciated that. On that note, he was just about to tear his eyes away from you and Jean when-

Jean Kirstein kissed you on the cheek.

Fuck that. Eren’s envy had returned, only this time, it was accompanied by murderous thoughts. ‘What’s the best way to bury a body?’, he thought, briskly making his way over to the both of you. He felt hot with anger.

The distance between you and Jean increased as Eren pulled you back by your waist, his face flushed slightly, and his eyes burning holes into Jean. Jean simply smirked, knowing he’d got a reaction out of riling Eren up.

Eren moved you to stand behind him, his arm across your front. “The fuck, Kirstein? Got a thing for girls who are taken?” Eren rhetorically asked.

“Not girls, just this one.” Jean nodded his head towards you, before returning his smug gaze back to Eren.

Eren scoffed. “I didn’t realise you were so fucking thick. (Y/N)’s mine.” Your heart raced at his possessiveness, and my God, did you fucking love it.

“I only kissed her on the cheek, Jaeger. No need to overreact. Bit possessive, don’t you think?” Jean bat back rather bluntly, pausing for a moment. “Or are you just that jealous of me?” Ah. There it is. Jean’s massive ego yearned to hear Eren admit his obvious jealousy, but that’s the last thing he’d ever do.

Eren chuckled darkly, his gaze turning to you and then back to Jean. “Pathetic question, Jean. I see no reason to be jealous of someone who looks like they belong in the stables.” Jean’s face fell, despite hearing similar horse-related insults on a regular basis. “I think you’ve stolen enough of my girl’s time for tonight, hm? Mikasa looks lonely, go and entertain her with your bullshit instead.” Eren moved his hand down to grab yours, pulling you past Jean and towards the exit, whilst taking his phone out of his pocket and ordering an Uber back to your shared apartment. An apologetic look was sent Jean’s way, but really, you weren’t sorry at all.

Once outside in the chilly Winter air, Eren diverted his attention from his phone to you, pocketing it before speaking. “Are you serious? I thought I made myself clear when I said not to let him touch you.” His breath could be seen in the light beaming down from the lamppost, and his soft, loose strands of hair that had fallen from his messy bun blew in the zephyr. He was gorgeous.

“I didn’t know he was going to do that, I swear. I was distracted.” You spoke honestly, Eren’s expression softening slightly at your words. Your love-filled orbs met his own, your lips pulled into a thin line knowing that he was still pissed at you.

Eren licked his lips, his tongue piercing momentarily becoming visible before he cleared his throat. “I’m still annoyed. And I stand by what I said earlier, too. Bad girls get punished, my love. And quite frankly,” he took a step closer to you, his tall figure shadowing yours, “you’ve been naughty tonight. Do I need to remind you who can fuck you better than anyone else?” A darkness filled his eyes, making you shudder slightly with anticipation, before you replied:

“Remind me.”

—♡—

The Uber drive back seemed to last longer than usual due to the sexual tension surrounding you and Eren. He sat in the back, with you in the middle seat, his hand firmly gripping your thigh. His hand trailed higher up your inner thigh, his fingertips dancing along your skin as he squeezed the supple flesh. What a tease. Eren knew your weaknesses and he played on them well. He knew damn well this simple teasing was soaking your cunt, and he observed as you clenched your thighs shut, prohibiting him from entering dangerous territory.

“Just wait.” You murmured sternly, hoping the driver wouldn’t be able to hear you over the quiet hum of music emitting from the radio.

Eren chuckled softly, turning his head to you. “Oh? Are you giving me orders?”

“No, just... not right now, just wait. Please.” The quiet plea left your lips, your eyes anxiously darting up to the rear-view mirror to ensure the driver couldn’t see your flustered state.

“Fine,” he reluctantly stated, moving his lips closer to your ear, “but only because I wouldn’t want to put on a free show for our driver.” His voice was laced with venom, his hot breath sending a shiver down your spine. “Plus, you’d make a mess of his car seats, wouldn’t you, pretty girl?”

“Y-yes.” You quietly agreed. In all honesty, you were hoping to put an end to the conversation as the ache between your legs was beginning to grow.

Eren patted your thigh in praise before removing his hand completely, resting it in his own lap. “That’s my good girl.” He whispered. That simple praise erupted butterflies in your tummy. God, you loved when he called you that.

After your taster session for what was to come tonight - or, so you thought - the rest of the drive seemed to pass by quicker. Before long, the car halted to a stop outside of your apartment complex, with Eren already opening the door, eager to not waste any time. You politely thanked the driver before climbing out onto the curb behind Eren, sliding your smaller hand into his larger one and leading him up the stairs, all the way to your door.

Eren unlocked the door before you could even begin searching for your keys, kicking it open with his foot and signalling for you to go through with a head nod. He was being unusually calm, and rather quiet too - 2 facts that scared you, considering you’d seemed to majorly piss him off with your bratty antics towards Jean. The door clicked shut as he began to slide his jacket off, throwing it over the back of the sofa, his eyes maintaining stern eye contact with you. He was glaring at you, almost with... disgust? Oh. Oh.

Eren approached you carefully, discerning the way you were slightly trembling with nerves. He scoffed at this. “I did warn you, darling, that your actions have consequences, and yet,” he began in a low, provoking tone, “you still allowed Jean to touch you. It’s almost like you didn’t listen to a word I said, hm? Do you enjoy being an incompetent brat?”

“I- I told you, I-” You stammered. Embarrassing as fuck.

“You- you- you, what?” Eren mocked your pathetic attempts of forming a coherent sentence, a deep chuckle escaping his plump lips at your weakness. “Come on, spit it out, slut. You had plenty to say back there to our good friend Jean-boy.” He pointed behind him with his thumb.

You gulped. His jade green eyes were blackened with pure lust. He was getting off to breaking you down like this, and you fucking loved it. “I told you, he got me when I was distracted I- it’s not like I provoked him.” You sounded frustrated. ‘It was just a kiss on the cheek, stop being a whiny little bitch, Jaeger’, you thought, but you didn’t dare speak those words.

“I bet you think I’m being a little bitch, hm?” Huh?! It was like this man could speak your thoughts. “Maybe. But I made myself clear, and you disobeyed that. I think that alone deserves punishment.” He reached a hand out to lift your chin up. “What do you think, baby?”

“Yes, I deserve to be punished. Please. I’ll do anything.” You looked up at him with puppy-dog eyes, yearning to please the man you loved.

“Anything? God, you really are a desperate little cockslut, aren’t you? Already begging for me like a needy little whore.” Eren spat. “Go to the bedroom and wait patiently for me. I need to do something.” He ushered you out of the living room, heading towards the kitchen as you went in the opposite direction.

Swinging the bedroom door open, you began stripping from your skirt and t-shirt, the clothes feeling almost suffocating under the weight of your boyfriend’s words. You could hear him rummaging through drawers, and at one point it sounded like the ice dispenser was in use. ‘What the hell is he doing?’, you thought, but sooner shrugged it off. Your clothes were strewn across the room, leaving you in your matching lace underwear. You thanked your lucky stars you hadn’t opted for your usual comfy, somewhat granny-looking knickers that night.

Your wandering eyes travelled elsewhere, gazing upon the box that sat atop of the wardrobe. You wondered if he’d be making use of that box tonight; it had been a while, after all, and you were being punished. Eren’s footsteps echoing down the hallway broke you out of your train of thought as he arrived at the door, stopping momentarily at the doorframe to eye your figure up and down with a playful smirk. He lowered his eyes down to the contents in his hands. Confusion shadowed your face at his smirk, until you followed his gaze down to his hands, where he held a bowl of ice, a lighter, and a candle. The smirk made sense now.

“Huh? What the fuck is all that?” Your voice wavered.

His smirk only grew. “Don’t be stupid, you know exactly what all of this is for. You asked me to remind you who fucked you like no one else, did you not?”

“Yeah, but-” Eren interrupted you.

“But, what? You thought I was just gonna fuck you senseless and be done with it? Your innocence is adorable, sweetheart. No,” he entered the room fully before continuing, “what I am going to do is make this the most memorable night of your life.” He placed the ice bowl down on the bedside table, lighting the candle and putting that down on your dresser, away from the ice.

Eren brushed past you, stood in front of the wardrobe and reached up slightly to grab the box, his shirt riding up and exposing his tanned, toned abs. The box was planted at the edge of the bed before his attention returned to you.

“Lie down on the centre of the bed. It’s time I taught you a lesson on how not to act around other men.” His voice was stern, making you obey immediately, doing exactly as he asked. Perfect, you were submitting to him with ease. This shouldn’t be too difficult.

Eren lifted the lid off the box, pulling out its contents and admiring each one, before settling on a belt restraint and a blindfold for now. He moved to straddle your waist, bringing your hands together in front of him before wrapping the belt around them tightly. He ran a finger under the belt to check it was comfortable, secured it, and moved to pick up the blindfold. You stayed silent the whole time, watching him as he set about tying you up, before he held the blindfold up to your eyes with a questioning look. You nodded with consent, but he needed to hear it.

“Use your words, pretty baby. I still need to know you’re okay with this.” Eren spoke softly, patiently awaiting your response.

“I am. I want this, please, Eren.” He nodded gently before wrapping the silk fabric over your eyes. It was cool to the touch, a substantial contrast to the heat emitting from your cheeks. A firm knot was tied at the back of your head, before you felt Eren remove his weight off you, walking over to the dresser and picking up the candle. By now, melted wax sat afloat the hardened wax at the bottom, perfect for temperature play. He resumed his position, straddling your waist. You could feel his evident bulge as he leant forward.

Eren delicately traced a finger over the valley of your tits, running it along the underwire of your bra. “This might shock you, but the pain will subside. Just trust me, yeah?” You nodded. You knew you’d put all your trust in him, allowing him to do as he pleased with your body, as if you were some kind of fuck doll.

Eren shifted his weight upright, and you felt a sharp sting on your tummy, making you wince. He had poured a small amount onto the soft area, almost testing the waters, watching as the wax hardened against your heated skin. The bowl of ice was brought to your side as Eren placed 2 ice cubes: one between your tits, and one on the spot where the wax was to help lift the pain. In all honesty, you liked the burning sensation provided by the wax. It was foreign, and it turned you on more.

“You’re being so good for me, aren’t you, my little whore? So eager to please me, hm?” The ice cubes formed puddles on your skin as they slowly melted, your skin burning up more with Eren’s seductive words. He shuffled his weight down your thighs, looping his finger around the waistband of your thong and pulling it away from your soaked pussy. He relished in the sight of you laying before him, being an obedient little girl, letting him do as he desired.

“Fuck, you’re soaked. All for me?” Eren commented, dropping small beads of wax down your torso as he spoke. You wiggled slightly at the pain, a sharp intake of breath being sucked into your plushy lips. Your bottom lip found residence between your teeth as Eren soothingly ran an ice cube up and down your waist, leaving it there to melt. He pulled your thong away just enough to expose your throbbing clit to the cold air, before he tipped the candle and watched as a single globule of wax dropped directly onto your clit.

You hissed. “Shit! God, that hurts so fucking bad, Eren! What the fuck?!” Your back arched at the stinging pain on your most sensitive bud, whilst Eren simply chuckled mercilessly at your pain.

“Don’t be a wimp. Relax.” An ice cube was carefully being held against your clit, soothing and numbing the pain instantly. You had bitten your bottom lip so hard that you drew blood, the familiar metallic taste filling your mouth. A sadistic part of you wanted him to do it again, enjoying the feeling of the pain he was inflicting upon you as part of your punishment.

“Eren? Can you take the blindfold off me? I want you to do it again, but I want to watch.” His eyes widened at your request. He knew secretly that you would enjoy this, so it begs the question: was this really punishment at all?

Eren leaned forward, undoing the tight knot and allowing the silk to pool at your neck, before sitting back on his haunches. Your mascara had smeared slightly from your watery eyes, and my God, did he love the sight.

“Oh yeah? You want to watch me do-” he pulled your thong away again, this time your half-lidded eyes observing as a small drop of wax pooled at the rim, “-this?” He finished his question as a small drop of wax landed on your aching bundle of nerves.

“God, yes. Fuuuck.” You threw your head back at the pleasure and squeezed your eyes shut, your pornographic moans drawn out as the wax continued to burn you. Eren smirked, before dropping an ice cube down your thong and releasing it, lazily allowing the coldness to do its magic without his assistance. He made a mental note to do this with you again.

You reluctantly peeled your eyes open when you felt Eren shift his weight off the bed, admiring him as he pulled his t-shirt over his head by the back of the neck. His messy bun become even more messy, with loose strands falling everywhere, but the dishevelled look suited him. Next were his jeans, which were tugged down, exposing the restrained tent in his boxers. Eren made his way back over to the edge of the bed, ushering you to do the same.

“Stand up.” He ordered nonchalantly, undoing your makeshift handcuffs before harshly grabbing your body and pulling your back to his chest. His hot breath tickled your ear as he lowered his head to your neck, placing delicate, featherlight kisses to your sweet spots. You groaned at the sensation, feeling him tug your hands behind your back and rekindle the belt restraint. He pushed your shoulders down with force, shoving you onto your knees at the edge of the bed, before he removed his boxers and sat down. His girthy length sprung free, lightly hitting his abdomen, the tip flamed an angry red and oozing with pre-cum. Your eyes expanded hungrily at the sight, drool pooling at the corner of your lips.

“I’m in control,” he stated, eyeing your desperate expression, “you just let me use that pretty mouth of yours how I please, yeah?” You nodded, positioning yourself in between his spread legs. Your hands were restrained, so all you could do was open your mouth and wait.

Eren’s hand found a solid grip in your hair, forming a makeshift ponytail as he lowered your head down to his throbbing cock. Fuck, he couldn’t wait to see your pretty lips wrapped so tightly around his length, gagging as you struggled to take it all in your tight throat. “Spit.” He demanded, watching as you gathered spit in your mouth before dropping it down onto the tip. His free hand ran his thumb over his slit, spreading the concoction of pre-cum and spit down his shaft, pumping himself a few times. You opened your mouth again, your tongue lolling out slightly, showing your willingness to let him corrupt your mouth.

Eren tapped his tip against your lips, salty pre-cum spilling out of the tip as you wrapped your lips tightly around the head. He allowed you to suck on it, earning a groan from him, before he patted your cheek, signalling for you to open up. You hollowed out your cheeks, and with his grip on your hair, he thrusted his hips upward into your mouth. His tip instantly hit the back of your throat and your eyes welled with tears.

“Mhm fuck, so tight. Finally putting that mouth of yours to good use.” He moaned, fucking your throat with no mercy. The way his dick was hitting the back of your throat, mixed with the lack of air entering your lungs, made your head go dizzy. Eren threw his head back at the sight, mascara running down your face as he pushed your head down further. You choked around him, the noises and constricting of your throat sending vibrations down his cock.

Fuck, he wasn’t going to last like this.

Eventually, he granted you a breath of air as he pulled your head up, observing the mess he’d made of your beautiful face. You panted, your throat aching from his relentless fucking, but you were determined to behave yourself. You looked up at him through tear-coated lashes, your eyes begging for him to resume.

“Such a good fucking whore for me, aren’t you, (Y/N)? You gonna let me cum in your mouth? Yeah?” His voice was croaky, tightening his grip on your hair as he pushed your head back down to his cock.

“Y-yeah, please cum in my mouth, Eren.” He smiled at your good behaviour, lifting his hips up to meet your lips once more. Forcefully, he thrusted his cock back into your mouth, squeezing his eyes shut as your pretty lips wrapped tightly around him. What a sight.

“F-fuck, right there. Holy s-shit.” Eren’s body shuddered at the feeling as you gagged on his length, tears dropping down onto his thighs. You looked so helpless, letting him fuck your mouth like this. You were his good little slut. A few more thrusts and that tightening knot in his stomach would break. You hollowed your cheeks further, humming when his dick hit the back of your throat, creating those vibrations that drove him insane.

“Oh fuck, (Y/N), I’m gonna fucking cum. Holy shit. Such a- such a good girl, fuuuck.” Tears prickled his own lash line, threatening to spill the more he fucked your throat. His vision started going white, the knot in his tummy growing tighter until it snapped. Thick, white seeds of his cum spurted into your mouth, with Eren releasing a long moan. A string of babbling moans and your name left his pretty lips, his head thrown back and eyes squeezed shut, with a light flush dusting his tanned cheeks. His dick throbbed in your mouth as he released, and he pulled his hand out of your hair, giving you control back. You swallowed the salty cum, before you pulled your mouth off his dick with a ‘pop’. Eren thumbed a drop of cum that rested on the corner of your mouth and pushed it between your lips, allowing you to suck on it. His breathing was erratic as he panted, relaxing as his body came down from his high. Your throat hurt, but you knew you’d behaved well.

Eren released your hands once again, your wrists feeling the effects of the tight bondage, before he chuckled weakly. “You were such a good girl for me, baby. I think you deserve a reward, hm?” You nodded gently, watching as Eren moved his full body onto the bed, lying on his back. ”Take those off for me.” He pointed to your thong, and you hooked your thumbs around the sparse lace, tugging it down your legs. He patted his groin area, encouraging you to come and straddle him as he sat up, your naked cunt situated against the shaft of his semi-hard cock.

Eren wrapped his arms around you gently, his soft actions entirely opposite to how he was mercilessly fucking your throat a mere 2 minutes ago. You lowered your head and placed a chaste kiss on his lips, the first one of the night, before deepening it, lightly gripping onto his hair. He kissed you back with as much passion, his tongue entering your mouth and swirling it with your own. Your hips subconsciously began to rock against his, causing you both to gasp into the kiss, as Eren reached around your back and expertly undid the clasp of your bra. The kiss was broken when you pulled away, allowing him to pull the bra off your body, chucking it aside and admiring the sight in front of him. His hands moved up to cup both of your tits, his thumbs circling the nipples and watching as the buds hardened under his touch. Eren placed a sweet kiss on each one, before lying back down, his head hitting the soft pillow.

He signalled towards his lips before placing his hands on your ass, edging you forward. “Come on, my love. Let me get a taste of you, yeah?” He demanded, his tone sultry. He licked his lips to moisten them as you scooted forward, your cunt hovering above his lips. Eren roughly yanked you down, harshly forcing your dripping pussy to make contact with his lips. He immediately began running his tongue between your folds, eliciting soft gasps of pleasure from your lips.

“O-oh fuck, Eren, just like that.” One of your hands gripped tightly onto the headboard, the other making its way to Eren’s hair, tugging on it as he fucked your hole with his tongue. His tongue bar felt cold against your warm cunt, adding to the mix of sensations, building up the fuzzy feeling in your tummy. The sight of Eren below you like this was enough to make you cum.

Eren removed a hand from your ass and his tongue from your opening. He ran his fingers through your wet folds, positioning them at your entrance before slipping them in with ease. The feeling of his fingers entering you made you shudder, the moans emitting from your lips growing louder. His tongue found residence at your clit as he began flicking it lightly, kitten licking it. The metal against your cunt was only adding to the budding pleasure, spurring you to grind your hips against his face for more friction. Eren lay his tongue flat, allowing you to grind on it as you pleased.

The knot in your tummy began to tighten rapidly, threatening to break with a few more licks of his tongue and thrusts from his fingers. His fingers hit that plushy spot deep inside you repeatedly, with Eren making a ‘come-hither’ motion to press against your g-spot.

“Oh my God.” You drew out, gripping his hair tightly. The sensation of you tugging on Eren’s hair made him moan, the vibrations directly against your throbbing clit. “Shit, I-I can’t, I’m gonna cum, Eren. Fuck!” Your moans sounded more like cries of pleasure, desperate for a release. Your impending orgasm felt like a breath you were holding, and yearning to exhale. In other words, it was intense and invigorating.

A pornographic moan escaped your lips as you came, your slick dripping onto Eren’s fingers. White-hot pleasure overwhelmed your senses, your eyes squeezing shut with delicate tears slipping down your burning cheeks. Eren halted his movements as not to overstimulate you, removing his fingers from your sopping cunt as you hovered yourself from his face, moving to the side. He brought his cum-soaked fingers to his lips, sucking on them whilst maintaining eye contact with you. Your erratic breathing began to slow, Eren’s eyes never leaving yours as he sat up. He turned his attention to the box, pulling out more items.

A whip and a gag now lay in his hands. They were new, and yet to be used. He picked up the belt restraint from before too, holding the items in front of you as your worried eyes flicked between them all. Eren chuckled darkly, moving to stand off the bed.

He ushered you to the edge of the bed, before he tapped your cheek, silent permission for you to open your mouth. You complied, Eren placing the ball in your mouth and fastening the buckle at the back of your head. Drool spilled from the corners of your lips at the new feeling, your mouth over-salivating. He lay the whip beside you, before harshly pushing you to lay flat against the bed. Your legs clamped shut as Eren knelt before you.

“Open your legs, pretty. Don’t be cruel.” You parted your legs slowly, his hungry eyes trailing over the expanse of your body, settling on your dripping cunt. Cum seeped onto your thighs and the base of your ass, threatening to coat the bedsheets underneath. “What a mess you’re making.” Eren spat, slapping your clit repeatedly, eliciting lewd, wet sounds. You squealed at the feeling, not able to say anything as he slapped your pussy in punishment. This only added to the mess, making his actions prove futile and go against their aim. The slaps were harsh, not one bit light-handed, a sharp sting left behind on your bud.

Eren shuffled forward, his knees resting against the soft underside of your thighs. He tapped his dick against your cunt, rubbing the tip through your folds to transfer your wetness onto him, before reaching to hover over you. He roughly grabbed both your wrists, pinning them above your head and bounding them with the belt restraint yet again, sitting back on his haunches once content with the comfortability of the belt. Eren’s hand found its way to your cheek, slapping it. Not too harsh, but not lightly, either. Your head turned to the side, a handprint staining your cheek. Your eyes widened at your boyfriend’s actions as you turned back to look at him, noticing the way his jade green eyes had darkened with lust.

“I’m gonna fuck you so hard, you’re gonna regret messing with Jean like that, you pathetic little slut.” Eren spat with gritted teeth, tapping his dick against your cunt again, sliding his tip lower until it met your hole. He harshly thrusted in, giving you no time to adjust to his size. A groan left his lips as your tight opening sucked him in, making it hard for him to move. You moaned against the ball gag, your back arching at the feeling of Eren fully sheathed inside you.

“No one... can fuck you... like this.” Eren stated with each thrust, his teeth gritted at the way your walls hugged his thick girth. He fucked you with rough thrusts, the tip of his dick kissing your cervix with each one. Your eyes brimmed with tears that freely spilled down your cheeks at the overwhelming pleasure. He laughed venomously, loving the fact you were crying for him. Only he could do this to you.

Skin slapping sounds filled the room as he fucked you deeply, your muffled moans against the gag spurring him on more. He lifted a hand up, pressing down against your abdomen, groaning when he felt it. “You feel that, baby? That’s how deep I am. Fuck, so deep.” Pushing his palms down on the back of your thighs, he lifted them up and against your chest, his dick hitting impossibly deeper inside you. He slammed into you harder, stars clouding your vision at the immense pleasure.

“Such a desperate little bitch, hm? You gonna cum all over my cock? Come on, I know you want to.” Eren taunted, snaking a hand up to your breasts, rolling a nipple between his fingers. The pinching sensation, along with him slamming into you, made you cum with white-hot pleasure. Your back arched, gagged moans leaving your lips.

Eren pressed a thumb against your sensitive bud, rubbing circles around it. You wanted to tell him it was too sensitive, but he was determined to make you cum again. You wriggled your hips, with Eren smirking at the fact he was overstimulating you. He removed his other hand off your thigh, moving it up to your neck, squeezing with his fingertips. His choking wasn’t hard enough to restrict air flow, but it made your head go dizzy, a light faintness washing over you.

He spat down onto your clit, slapping it a few times before continuing to rub it. You could feel another orgasm building, your wrists pulling on the restraint. There were a number of different feelings overpowering your senses, making it hard for you to keep composure. Eren removed his hand from your throat, lifting your hips to allow a slightly different angle. That was enough to push you over the edge, your cum coating his dick a second time. Your cunt tightened around him, almost making him cum, but he held out. He wasn’t done with you yet.

Eren pulled out, hauling your weak body up. He undid the clasp at the back of your head, pulling the gag from your mouth, and loosened the one at your wrists. You rubbed the marks the belt restraint left, sighing as your head felt woozy from pleasure.

“On your knees, facing that way, and put your ass in the air.” He pointed in the direction of the mirror, and you obeyed immediately. You arched your back, pointing your ass high up in the air, your cunt oozing large amounts of cum. Your face pressed into the bed below, your body limp. The bed dipped behind you as Eren knelt between your legs, looking at you through the mirror.

“You’re going to watch me fuck you, got it?” He commanded, retying your wrists behind your back. “I’ve given you the pleasure of talking this time, since you can’t seem to shut the fuck up. So desperate for me, like a bitch in heat. Aren’t you, my little cumslut?” You simply nodded, but Eren pulled you up by your throat, making you whine.

“Answer me, fuck toy.” His hot breath fanned your ear, your body now pressed against his chest.

“Yes- yes, I am. Please, Eren.” You pleaded weakly. Eren scoffed.

“Begging for me? Pathetic.” He released you, your front hitting the mattress. Grabbing the whip, he harshly whipped your ass a few times, pleasure-filled pain coursing through your veins. Every whip made you whimper mercilessly.

The tip of his dick prodded at your opening, before he roughly thrusted in, bottoming out almost immediately. Eren began to thrust in and out of you, his pelvis hitting your ass each time, with his hands gripping your restrained wrists for support. He threw his head back at the feeling of your walls clamping around him, a thin coating of sweat covering his toned body. He looked down at you, seeing your eyes squeezed shut. Anger filled his senses after he’d told you to watch him fucking you, and you were currently disobeying.

Pulling on your hair, he yanked you up forcefully, your hazed expression now one of shock. “I fucking told you to watch me fuck you, didn’t I? You disobedient little shit.” Eren insulted, keeping your body upright as he roughly pounded into you. You watched him in the mirror, his eyes glued to the bouncing of your tits with every movement. This position allowed Eren to hit every spot perfectly, the urge to cum approaching fast.

“Eren, I- I’m gonna cum.” You moaned, his hand moving to your throat to hold your trembling body upright. Until then, he stopped.

You whimpered as Eren pulled out, tears coating your cheeks as you were close to cumming. “What? You didn’t think I was going to let you cum that easily, did you?” One of his hands roamed your body as he spoke, his fingertips brushing your aching clit. “You have to beg for what you want, pretty baby.”

Your cheeks burned up with humiliation before you took a deep breath. “Please Eren, please let me cum. I promise I’ll be good, but I need to cum for you so bad. I can’t hold it anymore.” You whined, hoping your desperate pleas would be enough. You looked at Eren through the mirror, gauging his reaction.

Eren smiled, moving his cock back to your opening, pushing himself in. “That’s my good girl.” He complimented, pushing his fingers against your clit as he resumed forcefully pounding into you, his dick hitting your g-spot in the most delicate way. The prominent veins on his shaft stroked your walls perfectly. After a minute, your orgasm began to build up once again, with Eren able to sense you were on the brink of release. ‘Maybe just once more’, he thought.

Your moans grew desperate, and with Eren pulling on your hair roughly, you were about to cum. Just a few more thrusts until your release, he stopped all movements, again. You groaned in frustration, your bottom lip pulled between your teeth. Eren chuckled at your frustration.

“Please stop teasing me.” You quivered, angling your head back to rest tiredly against his shoulder. Eren pulled your lip down and opened your mouth, before he gathered spit in his own, dropping it down onto your tongue. He observed the way it rested there, until you swallowed it, looking at Eren with doe-eyes.

“I think you’ve been good enough. I’ll let you cum next time, darling.” With that, Eren continued his movements, slamming into your cunt with more force than before. He was chasing his own high as well as yours, desperate to make you both reach them. His fingers expertly moved against your clit, the cord in your tummy close to snapping. Your body felt different, your skin warm to the touch.

Eren peppered light kisses down your neck and onto your shoulder, groaning against you. His own knot was becoming unbearably tight. “Fuck, I’m close. Let me fuck a baby into you, yeah? Show everyone you’re mine.” Eren groaned, his hand holding your head back against him by your jaw.

“F-fuck, yes, Eren. Breed me like the bitch I am, please.” You babbled, struggling to form a coherent sentence. Your heart began to race, your thighs trembling. The sensation in your tummy was starting to overwhelm you, and you desperately needed to cum.

“Need to cum so- so bad, Eren.”

“I- I know, pretty girl. Cum with me, yeah?” His moans were filling the room, a sweet melody to your ears. You loved how vocal he was.

You nodded enthusiastically, turning your head to the side to watch Eren pounding into your cunt with no mercy. Loose strands of hair stuck to his forehead, his strong arms holding your shaking body up. He looked so gorgeous.

“Oh God, I- fuck, I’m cumming.” Eren stated breathlessly, his dick twitching inside you. The feeling of your pussy tightening around him was too much. Your cord snapped, pleasure riding through your body as you came, cum squirting from your cunt as you moaned loudly. Eren released, thick spurts of his seed coating your walls, filling you up entirely. He sighed heavily when he came, mumbles of your name escaping his lips. Both of you panted against one another as Eren undid your belt restraint, allowing you to hold yourself up. You collapsed onto your hands, your body aching from tonight’s antics.

Eren sat back, watching as a concoction of his cum and your own began to spill from your hole, dripping onto the bedsheets below. He felt satisfied, jealousy no longer clouding his brain. He climbed off the bed, moving to the en suite bathroom as you regained a steady heart rate. A minute later, he returned, holding a wet rag and began to clean you up, careful not to hurt you. Eren knew you’d be sore for a few days.

Once he finished cleaning you up, gently caressing your ass whilst he did so, he packed away the contents of the box, moving it to the floor. He crawled round to where you now lay, lying on his back next to you, brushing a few strands of hair away from your forehead. Your tired gaze met his, a small smile on each of your faces.

“You and your pathetic envy, Eren.” You mumbled, giggling lightly.

Eren giggled back. “I’m sorry, my love. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good, sweetheart.” You shifted your head to lay on Eren’s chest, his arms snaking around you to hold you tight.

Eren did get jealous easily, but it showed you how much he truly loved you. You were his, and he was proud of that. As he kissed your forehead, cuddling you to his chest, you felt content with your relationship, and wouldn’t change a thing.

It was a love better than you could have ever imagined.

(A/N): The length of this is ridiculous lmao.

I hope you enjoyed! <3

Next One-Shot: Armin Arlert. ෆ 

[loubatas-art]

[Image ID: a digital drawing of a pokémon trainer character with pink hair and surrounded by their team made of a Gengar, an Aegislash, a Cofagrigus, a Polteageist, a Froslass and a Phantump.] Something that has been idling in a corner of my head for a while now (since spring 2019 I think) After watching a video about ghost pokémons with a friend, we realised there were a lot of ghost pokémons who, at some point in the series, were either hinted or straigh-up confirmed to be souls of the dead. And that’s how I got the idea of a trainer with a 100% ghost type team who were actually their deceased family

F U N

[Image ID: a close-up on the trainer character from the first drawing. They are thin with white skin, pink wavy hair and gold eyes. They’re wearing a white-shirt with a “ghosts in various pastel colors” pattern, a black hooded vest, a half-glove on their right hand, blue jeans and dark blue and green sneakers. They are holding a pokéball upside down Text on the image says : Dany - They/them (with a little nonbinary flag besides) - 15 years old - From Lavender Town - Running away from Kanto Social Services End image ID]

I tried to mix the game’s style with my own and that’s horrendous, never doing that again thank you very much Oh yeah I do plan to draw some of their adventures in the future, like a fun side project

I do like how the pokémons turned out though

[Image ID : a close up of three of the pokémons from the first drawing. The Cofagrigus is named Grandma and wearing a blue-green shawl, a bit burned on the side, her face mask represents an elder woman smiling peacefully with closed eyes. The Polteageist, Dad, is haunting a white teapot with a Yamper drawn on it. He is wearing a small teacup on his head to replace the missing lid of the teapot. The Gengar, Mom, is wearing a gold earring with a pearl-like stone embedded in it. End image ID]

[Image ID: a close-up on the last three pokémons of the team from the first drawing. Aegislash, whose name is Big Brother Gaius, is wearing a blue scarf with a burned end. Froslass, Big Sister Ashley, also wear a slightly burned sash, and a gold hairpin. Little Brother Jack is holding a small and slightly burned plushie that could be either a Pikachu or a Mimikyu End image ID]