#ATHENA IS NEVER GOING TO LET FRANK LIVE THIS DOWN | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

umbran6 · 3 years

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Hogwarts Houses for the Heroes of Olympus, Apollo, and Meg.

I’ve seen a lot of people do this, so I thought I should do this and explain as to why I wanted them there. Spoilers are abound through Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo as I explain my reasoning.

Percy Jackson: Hufflepuff. Look, I know a lot of people place him in Gryffindor. That’s a reasonable outcome one can reach, considering his feats could be considered immensely brave. However, Percy has often participated in his quests out of a sense of loyalty towards those he loves, whether it’s his mom (The Lightning Thief), Camp Half-Blood (The Sea of Monsters), Annabeth (Both The Titan’s Curse and Battle of The Labyrinth), and in The Last Olympian, all of them. What really pins him in place is when he willingly fallis to Tartarus alongside Annabeth by the ending of The Mark of Athena, which is a remarkable yet insane feat of both love and loyalty. He also has a work ethic, which is revealed during The Tower of Nero. Rather than just go straight to New Rome and live a happy life, he went to a hellish military school just so he could graduate from there with a high school diploma. If that’s not a work ethic, I don’t know what is. Loyalty and work ethic are key Hufflepuff traits, and Percy has shown all of them.

Annabeth Chase: Slytherin. Annabeth has often shown a lot of intelligence, but also a lot of resourcefulness and cunning during her time in the series. She literally tricked both Arachne and Nyx in what were impossible situations, and her goals are extremely ambitious, with her wanting to become an architect so she could build something that could last a thousand years. She also has a lot of Ravenclaw traits, to the point she repeated Odysseus and listened to the Sirens so she could learn what she desired the most. However, that was only once, and most often she used the knowledge she was given in resourceful and cunning ways, such as during the Last Olympian where she used the statues from Daedalus as a way to defend Manhattan. Needless to say, in my opinion she is a Slytherin first and Ravenclaw second.

Jason Grace: It’s quite tricky, considering we don’t get to see any key defining traits, but I have decided to put him in Gryffindor. Jason’s shown plenty of bravery, fighting Giants and Titans during his quest, but he also has honor and chivalry, which he shows during Blood of Olympus, and later on, The Burning Maze. Specifically, in the scene where he makes a deal with Kymopoleia, promising to make shrines not only to her, but to all of the hundreds of minor gods of Greek Mythology. As we later see during The Burning Maze, Jason was completely willing to honor such a deal, working on the shrines even while he was living the closest thing to a normal life one could achieve as a demigod. And of course, we can’t ignore the fact that he was brave to fight Caligula just so his friends could escape.

Piper Mclean: Slytherin. This is because during most of the time we’ve seen her, Piper fights dirty. She doesn’t stab a monster in the dagger, but charmspeaks the monster and stabs him in the back while he’s distracted. When claiming the position as Cabin Counselor in the Aphrodite Cabin during The Lost Hero from Drew, Piper uses the rules against her to get the position, rather than straight-up fighting her at the very beginning. Furthermore, rather than fight Khione upfront during the House of Hades, she bides her time and stalls the goddess until she can find a way to win. Though she has some traits that could go along with the other Houses, Slytherin tends to stand out the best. The only way she isn’t Slytherin in terms of traits is that she lacks ambition — we never see her have a higher goal beyond the quest, or any plans for what she’s going to do after everything’s done. Overall, she’s Slytherin through her actions, not her words, ironically.

Frank Zhang: Gryffindor. This is because Frank performs a lot of actions that are by any standard, brave, and often selfless and self-sacrificial. Specifically, a lot of the sacrifices he performs throughout the series. In Son of Neptune, he was willing to be the distraction against the Laestrygonians so that Percy and Hazel could start their escape plan. He was literally willing to burn his own life force (his stick) so that Thanatos could break free despite the very large risk it posed to him. He even stood in the way of a Giant, pushing him all the way to the Canadian border. And as we learn in The Tyrant’s Tomb, he was willing to repeat his sacrifice if it meant Caligula and Commodus were killed. Frank is a Gryffindor through and through, though he does have some minor Ravenclaw traits such as his use of tactics against his opponents, way of making plans, or recalling ancient Roman history.

Hazel Levesque: Once again, this was another difficult one. Mainly because Hazel is split right down to the middle between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. On one hand, she was so loyal to her mother that despite the fact that the lady got them into this mess, Hazel willingly sacrificed Elysium so her mom wasn’t punished. On the other hand, she was also willing to sacrifice herself so Alcyoneus couldn’t rise again despite the fact that it would lead to her and her mom’s death. Finally, I decided she deserved to go to Gryffindor, because of the fact that she willingly went towards the quest to rescue Thanatos in The Son of Neptune despite the fact that it was very likely that the god of Death would take her back to the Underworld. That takes immense amounts of bravery, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but she’s also putting herself at immense risk of being dragged down to the Underworld.

There are some Slytherin traits, such as when she made a plan to trick Sciron during the House of Hades, or the plan to trap Nike. However, Hazel’s a lot more defined by her bravery and empathy, which are more Gryffindor traits. If she had more ambition, a big goal after the quest it could be understood, but overall her Gryffindor traits are more prominent. For example, let’s compare how she got to Praetor and Octavian got to Praetor, and later on, Pontifex Maximus. Octavian often used a lot of word-twisting and dirty tactics to get his position, and only got there because Reyna left her post so she could help Jason. In comparison, the legion willingly raised her on a shield and collectively voted her into the position due to her bravery during the fight against Tarquin in The Tyrant’s Tomb.

Leo Valdez: There have been arguments over where he should go. All of them want him in one house or the other, but the most convincing ones were either having him in Slytherin, or in Ravenclaw. And I can definitely agree with both — Leo has shown immense amounts of intelligence and cunning throughout the series. He’s also intelligent in the sense that he created the Argo II, multiple weapons, the Holographic Scrolls, and even Buford.

However, after looking through his actions, I found that he leans more towards Slytherin. Although his façade of cheerfulness and humor was used to disguise trauma, he also used said humor to make himself appealing towards bullies so they didn’t beat him up. He often used his cunning to morph himself to social situations such as his façade as a jokester to look less threatening in comparison to others.

During the times we see him fight, he’s also the one to not only play it smart, but also using tactics and dirty tricks, rather than focusing on swordplay or his own fire powers. The only time we see him go ham with his pyrokinesis is when he’s fighting Khione during The Lost Hero. Furthermore, in The Mark of Athena, rather than straight-up fight the nymphs and Narcissus to get the celestial bronze he needed to make repairs, he uses himself as a distraction and has Hazel manipulate the bronze in a place where she can’t be seen, which is a plan that needs a lot of manipulation of the opposing parties.

What finally acted as the nail in the coffin for me was his plan to defeat Gaea during Blood of Olympus. It involved a lot of manipulation of both enemies and allies, and in the ended it succeeded so brilliantly that everybody got what they wanted, with none of them being aware of the plan until Frank and Hazel explained it, and they were the very few people in the know regarding Leo’s sacrifice. Developing such a plan takes immense amounts of cunning and ambition, which are both Slytherin traits. Although he may be chaotic, mischievous, and annoying, Leo is the guy you don’t realize is a Slytherin until it’s too late.

Nico di Angelo: The thing about a guy who was pretty much a loner throughout most of his time in the series is that it’s hard to tell what values he has. Ergo, we should look at his actions rather than his own words. Nico, although mainly dominated by his naïveté during his younger years, has shown himself to be extremely brave. For example, there was him openly defying his father by saving Percy from his imprisonment, and later actively convincing Hades to stop his vow of neutrality and fight alongside the Olympians in The Last Olympian. Finally, there’s his excursion to Tartarus and later his willingness to transport the Athena Parthenos during Blood of Olympus. Nico willingly went there to see if the Doors of Death were over there, and later transported the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood even if it meant he would fade into the shadows forever. All feats are insanely brave, and therefore I argue that he should go to Gryffindor.

Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano: Hufflepuff. Most of Reyna’s actions aren’t inspired by bravery, honor, or chivalry, though from a certain point of view they are brave. Reyna often performs most of her actions out of loyalty for those she cares about, almost in a Percy-ish kind of way. Her interrogation and cold nature towards Percy in Son of Neptune? Suspicion that he would be a threat to Camp Jupiter. She metaphorically fought against Octavian’s power advances because she knew his own ambitions wouldn’t help New Rome. Willingness to cooperate with the Greeks before the Eidolons screwed up everything? She believed that it was best for New Rome. Willingness to brave the Mare Nostrum all by herself? Both her loyalty to Jason and that she believed that waging war against Camp Half-Blood was not the best for the legion. Her loyalty and ethic just make her a shoe-in for Hufflepuff.

Apollo/Lester Papadopoulos: Oh boy, he’s kind of at an in-between when it comes what house he should be in. If we were talking about him pre-Lesterfication, I would honestly say Hufflepuff, but he takes a good chunk of those traits and turned them into a darker way. He defeated Python because the snake monster had chased his mother off of Delphi. He alongside Artemis murdered Niobe’s kids because the goddess insulted Leto by saying she was better than her. When Asclepius is murdered by Zeus, he retaliates by murdering the Cyclopes who made the weapons. And finally, he punishes those who broke their vows He shows loyalty, but in a lot of darker ways that we don’t expect. He’s got Hufflepuff morals, but they’re in a darker, more warped way than we expect.

If we’re looking at him post-Lesterfication, I would still say Hufflepuff, but now he does it in a brighter way and is also more Gryffindor. He was more willing to sacrifice himself if it meant saving those he cared about, such as when he willingly tried to kill himself during The Burning Maze if it meant Caligula would stop holding his friends hostage. He was also willing to commit more honorable gestures such as bringing Jason’s body to New Rome during The Tyrant’s Tomb. He was even willing to own up to his mistakes right in front of a god who had every right to hate him if it meant Meg and Reyna could be spared. He’s still a Hufflepuff, but he’s a more idealistic and less warped version of the values he had before he became Lester.

Meg: In a way, she’s pretty much like Apollo. She’s a Hufflepuff, but in all the wrong ways at first. We see this in The Dark Prophecy when its clear that during that time, she was more loyal to Nero of all people rather than her fellow campers, to the point of accepting Nero’s gaslighting if it meant she could see the positive view of him. However, she’s also loyal to Apollo and her father, which we see in The Burning Maze because the main reason she guns for Caligula is because she often compares him to The Beast aspect of Nero, the person who killed her dad. She in the end is also willing to accept and finish her father’s legacy, planting the seeds that eventually become the Meliai. Tower of Nero is when she gains the will to stand up to Nero after support from Apollo and her friends, and is later on seen taking care of the other children Nero abused. In the end, she’s a Hufflepuff despite the fact that she may not look like it.

Now, before you guys getting up in arms about there being no Ravenclaws, in my opinion the house is a lot more knowledge-focused, whether its discovering more knowledge, but also using it in a more academic and experimental way. Considering we don’t see this attitude or its corresponding values too much during the stories that we see since they’re more save-the-world mission focused. While Slytherin does have an intelligence-centric value such as cunning, its more focused on using such intelligence to manipulate and trick others, while Ravenclaw uses such intelligence in the discovery for knowledge.

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phantaloon-books · 4 years

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Things about Tower of Nero that I want to highlight to remember them forever:

Lu being an absolute badass woman, I just love her too much

Piper McClean being canon wlw, she was actually kissing another girl, we really fell in love in october

Chaos being canonically female (just chaos being mentioned as a deity rather than what's below tartarus)

nobody DIED, like no one on the good side at least?? yes plenty of beings have died throughout TOA, but nobody died in TON?? so many died in TLO and BOO, I expected to mourn someone and I didn't have too??! it made me so happy

solangelo. that's it. solangelo makes me happy.

will being incredibly supportive of nico, and instead of stopping him, going with him on dangerous adventures because he doesn't want to leave him alone. also them treating Nico's PTSD for what it is

WILL SOLACE CANONICALLY GLOWS IN THE DARK. HE'S A GLOWSTICK BABY.

also will just appearing at the gates of the throne room, glowing in rage because someone touched his boyfriend (and tried to kill his dad), and him just marching through everyone (everyone else letting him), just to pick up his hurt precious boyfriend and take care of him.

meg McCaffrey got her happy ending. she's baby, she deserves her family and her happy ending. also Lu being the mother and the 12 children being siblings?? that's one hell of a way to tell nero to fuck off and right his mistakes. we love meg.

dionysus being the best olympian after apollo. the duo content we needed, and now will never get

nico mentioning bob and how he wants to go look for him, because he can still be in tartarus

rachel still being a Total badass and hitting people in the eye with her blue hairbrush thus being iconic

meg acting as lester's anchor and only reason why he didn't let go of the ledge, not falling into chaos, is top tier 'reasons why I cried reading', because if you think about it, Meg is the first ever friend apollo ever had, and them being best friends is everything to me

also apollo choosing to go looking as lester rather than apollo because lester feels like home is on top tier 'reasons why I cried reading' too

again, the only thing apollo did in the end (once he was god again) that could be described as 'godly' was be in several places at once, fly his chariot, and get meg her unicorn

but apollo shooting fucking fire out of his hands is crazy asf, it was so cool. he really got amazing godly powers this book.

rick being bold enough to showcase abusive parenting knowing that a huge porcentage of his readers are minors, helping many realize that they could be in abusive households, and giving them a tool to reach out for help

apollo defeating nero was so satisfactory, because you realize in the end, that nero wasn't really a monster, he was monstrous, but still very much human (if only with some godly power), and pretty useless once he couldn't hide behind props and weapons, his being wasn't powerful, he was just under layers of protection

the jackson/blofis scene was so warm and loving, they really are willing to put their family in danger, baby estelle in danger, to help 'percy's friends' even tho she knew percy didn't like apollo, but she still takes in everyone who needs help, and paul being a loving and accepting husband

sally working on her SECOND novel, she really is having her best life

none of the big heroes from other series having protagonism, besides nico and will, instead giving the other kids from camp halfblood their chance to show they're just as worthy as the "heroes of olympus"

(still I would have loved to see a scene with everyone else, like the heroes of olympus guys, fighting together one last time, just for nostalgia's sake - I legit hoped to see percy and annabeth arriving with chiron in triumvirate tower, but yeah)

the arrow of dodona may have been a dumb, cringey, and slightly ridiculous thing at first, and I personally rolled my eyes everytime it said anything, but it knew what would happen from the start, and without its sacrifice, apollo would have achieved nothing. we stan one arrow

nico wearing a white cowboy hat. idky but it makes my heart swell with joy. he a gay cowboy

y'all know I love Apollo's arch, and I just gotta point this out. his trials, his time as lester, started with him falling to earth, and ended with him getting up after purposely throwing himself off the earth, towards tartarus, almost falling to chaos. that's really clever writing.

the olympians watching over him, and some actually being concerned for him rather than his progress.

poseidon not really giving a fuck about the world or council meetings anymore because percy's not there anymore

athena being the only one apart from artemis who trusted apollo could do it makes me warm fsr

lester deciding that the best way to retell his adventures is by singing is hilarious to me, he really thinks it'll solve everything

Grover not telling percy and annabeth jason died seems so funny to me, he really said "nah it doesn't matter much, field trip, yes"

"hey man" my heart broke in twenty million pieces. like I don't know where I expected to see jason. but that wasn't it. and it hurt me as much as it hurt apollo man.

(also I kinda hoped we would see nico summon his spirit or smth, but I'm actually happy nico realized that jason went by his own choice, and he was in peace, so he decided not to summon him, because it was alright. that hurt too)

kinda love how lester passes out after literally every battle. it reminds you that even tho he's apollo, his body isn't. I'm sure we all would pass out too if we did a quarter of what lester did in the span of 4 days. his body isn't made to endure that, it doesn't even have a halfblood endurance, it's a weak mortal body

the trogs were fucking hilarious. their screeches and grrs, idk there's something ridiculous and so childish about them, it's so fun

really happy that apollo never had a /real/ love interest (reyna doesn't count), cause that wasn't what his story was about. instead he got to make so many friends, and have quality time with them and his children, it's amazing

apollo being thankful people were telling him he'd grown, and was more human, because he realized that was the best thing he could have learned from his time as a mortal

also him saying fuck you man to zeus and his speech, like "no asshole dad, I did learn, I'm not going to see this as punishment, it was a great time in which bad things happened but I enjoyed it." yes, we love apollo not letting zeus win

getting to see what everyone will do now. nico and will figuring out rachel's prophecy, probs saving bob. rachel living her best life away from her parents. leo doing what leo does, always helping those who have no one else. the hunters' open storyline about this fox, possibly hinting at content? piper settling down in a quiet life is what she deserves tbh, she's earned quiet life with a cute gf, wish her the best. Frank and hazel being the best praetors, and I bet they will continue to be so. And annabeth and percy, who chose their happiness over all, at last

kinda wish we got to see someone still really miss jason after apollo becomes god again tho lmao like apollo missed jason more than the others, nico and piper being the exception. I mean, leo is fine and dandy, hazel and frank are okay, percy and annabeth are done mourning... I just we got to see any of them really mourning, rather than reading they mourned. it would have made it feel more emotional

the last conversation and the last words in general. "the sun always comes back" and "we're friends now. call on me. I'll be there for you" that shit got me sobbing my heart out. rick really managed to do right by the books and end it like he should have, unlike BOO. he took what made TLO good and used a similar formula. it's very different from "and for once I didn't look back", but it still fills you with warmth and the feeling that even though it's over, it's okay.

I'm just really emotional, this is all I can think about, but you bet I'm gonna add more when I remember

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in-2004-fandoms-and-counting · 3 years

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AU where Nico dies (don't hate me pls I'm sorry I love Nico and ship the hell out of Solangelo, this is just to allow for some dark AUs) transporting the Athena Parthenos in BoO.

(Sorry it's such a long post) Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, revered praetor and peace-loving daughter of Bellona, loses the ability to share strength. Now, when she uses her power, she saps your energy, draws on your bravery, and poisons your mind with horrific images. Nico's death has allowed suppressed traits to resurface and overwhelm all her progress since San Juan all those years ago. She picks fights. She becomes a dictator in all but name, abolishing the Senate and making War Games a lot more "realistic": weekly funerals become commonplace, words are spoken under breaths, and terror resides in the heart of every New Roman. And so, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano turns her brilliant mind and poisonous power to Gaea's aid. Gleeson Hedge doesn't seem more than a broken satyr at first glance, his smiles never sincere, his voice never loud, his bat never raised. But when he slips off into the wilderness, he does not sit quietly among the trees and reflect. He whispers into the trees' leaves, his twisted words echoing the bitterness that now consumes his being. He has been tricked too many times: Pan, forcing thousands of satyrs to lose their lives in their quest to find him when he was alive all along; Clarisse, who never tried to connect with nature or understand his own ties to the natural world, who teaches his child the game of death while Mellie watches, fading away, unable to fight back; the gods, who, in their promise of protection, conveniently ignored the nature spirits. He is bitterest about Nico's death: about all he could have done, about what the kid should have done. The glint in his eyes scares even the worst monster that Tartarus could send. But it is Gaea he turns his allegiance to. It is Gaea who promises that he will always be good enough for her. And so, Gleeson Hedge turns nature back to its true mother: Gaea. Hazel Levesque is not someone you want as an enemy. Her golden eyes, gold like the masks of the judges of the dead, seem to see everything. Her powers grow stronger, but now she is able to control them. One glance, and she can cause an entire legion to scream and writhe in agony as she manipulates the iron in their blood, twists their shining armour, forces weapons to turn on their handlers. She stops wearing normal, mortal clothes, and now she wears flowing dresses of molten gold and bronze that no spear could pierce nor hand touch. She calls on the remnants of metal in the cave in Resurrection Bay to rise, and rise they do, twisting and weaving together at her command to form a cathedral-like vault with a solid Stygian iron throne. At the front of her temple lies a chasm from which her first creation arises, complete and healed, at last. Alcyoneus clambers out of the pit, back with his mother's life and Hazel's burning desire for destruction. And so, after seventy years, Hazel Levesque joins forces with Gaea of her own free will. Frank Zhang's arrows are no longer aimed at Tartarus's monsters, but at the people he once considered friends. The ruins of the Zhang family mansion become a shrine to Gaea, the ancient walls falling in blissful happiness into the Earth Mother's embrace. Frank returns often with fresh skulls, unfailingly whole - his arrow pierces cleanly through the eye every time. His piece of firewood safe in Gaea's belly, protected where no flame could reach, he is unstoppable. His shapeshifting causes unforseen problems with the allies' plans, it's very hard to plan how to fight a lion when he could turn into a swarm of bees at any moment. He is the ultimate spy, a literal fly on the wall, and for once, he feels needed. He feels worth something. He feels as though he is good enough, something the gods could never give. All the gods ever did for Frank, he realises bitterly, is take. His mother. His grandmother. His self-confidence. His chance for a stable, loving family. Nico. And so, Frank Zhang finds a different kind of family, one that will not let him down, in Gaea. Piper McLean never wanted to be a tragic love story; that was purely for her mother's entertainment. She

cuts her hair short. She kills Gaea's enemies on sight. Her charmspeak forces even her old family, Camp Half-Blood, to turn against each other, brother against brother, sister against sister, until bodies litter the strawberry fields and the Big House crumbles to smouldering ashes. The gods have her no love. Their boundaries mean nothing to her any more. Her love extends to her favourite mother, her boyfriend, the rest of the Seven, Grover, Reyna and Hedge. Beyond that, it is poison. Gaea takes her hands, looks into her eyes, and tells Piper that she is more than the spawn of an unfaithful, air-headed immortal, more than the damsel in distress. She tells Piper that she is who she decides to be. And Piper agrees. Gaea gives her the opportunity to be out of others' shadows. Piper McLean takes the chance and joins with Gaea, her charmspeak almost her most dangerous feature, second only to her unbridled wrath when Nico's death is mentioned.

Jason Grace owes fealty to only one eternal goddess now. He scours the Underworld with Hazel and Frank, relentless like the wolves he was brought up with. He knows no bounds, his destruction barely controllable by even Piper and her charmspeak. He has obliterated entire cities, counties, even an entire nation. He feels no regret, no remorse, no nagging guilt. He seeks out and electrocutes homophobes as his powers grow in complexity, along with his ability to control them. No matter how much they scream, the same two words shoot from Jason's scarred lips like the lightning bolts he commands: for Nico. As the darkness inside him grows, the son of Jupiter advances on Olympus, eyes and hands blazing, to destroy his father, as one of Gaea's allies, as one of Gaea's found children. Jason Grace vows by Nico's soul and Gaea's love to destroy the gods who shamelessly abandoned them.

Percy Jackson has been close to the darkness before. As just one examole, he's controlled poison to choke the goddess of misery at the edge of Chaos. But now, Annabeth's words at the time - some things aren't meant to be controlled - strike differently. Percy doesn't follow rules any more. That brooding, troublemaking face now alludes to his new form: gone is the class clown, here is something more akin to a devil. Like Hazel, he has made hundreds of people and monsters shriek in pain as he controls their blood, contorting their bodies into unnatural forms and snapping necks with a mere snap of his fingers. If Nico's death is mentioned around the pair of them - Hazel and Percy - both turn on the individual, eyes smouldering with the deceitfully cool ashes of the fire of grief, and slowly unleash their wrath. Percy cannot be controlled. He wants revenge. Part of him wishes he had never given his mother the head of Medusa to kill Smelly Gabe; it tore him to pieces when he made the fluid in her head seep out of her eyes. But she wouldn't stop begging him to leave Gaea. She had to go. She was no longer loving him as he knew he deserved. Now, Percy Jackson takes his support from the mother he should have accepted long ago: Gaea.

Annabeth Chase did not accept powers from her new mother, her better mother. She chose to use her mind as her weapon and Gaea respected that. Gaea gave her the resources she needed to wreak havoc on mortals and immortals alike. Now, instead of studying for a stupid internship in a misogynistic, capitalist society, Annabeth unleashes her fury, her grief, her mind on the world. The gods deserve to pay for what happened to Nico. The demigods need to feel her grief. The mortals started this stupid cycle of overwork and inadequate pay. Annabeth is ready to work with the mother that respects her, that loves her, that nurtures her as she deserves. And work she does. Plan after plan is developed, improved, redrafted, mocked up, redeveloped, and finally executed with clinical precision. Her mind becomes what her enemies most fear, even above her reputation: first child of Athena in millennia to reach Arachne, retriever of the Athena Parthenos, survivor of Tartarus. And she laughs, laughs in a maniacal way that makes you want to take a step back as she strides towards you, grey eyes alight with an unnatural glint as you realise that she knows everything about you and she knows how this will end. She will not let herself or her friends die. She refuses to let another situation like Nico's death happen again. So, Annabeth Chase takes Gaea's resources and turns them into a mass genocide, executed with her new mother's blessing.

Grover Underwood leads the nature spirits now. He commands dryads to extend their unstoppable tendrils through the paths that Gaea forms for them, deep in the earth, then sending them exploding through the surface and reclaiming all that was torn from them under the pretence of friendship. His empathy link with Percy allows him some degree of control, both over the son of Poseidon and over naiads. Grover is betrayed and bitterly disappointed in Pan, in the gods, in demigods, in mortals, in Nico. And so, he turns nature back home with Gleeson Hedge. The hauntingly beautiful whistling of his pipes lures demigods, mortals, even gods to their doom. Apollo is the first to fall, trapped by the music of the satyr whose horns now make him seem diabolical as he dances in the flames. Grover Underwood finds his roots in Gaea and his revenge in destruction.

Leo Valdez wants to burn the world to ashes. There's not a moment he's not on fire, his hair smouldering, his skin aglow. At his feet lies Hera, trussed up like a rodeo calf, bound by the power of the guardian Leo knows he deserved as a child. There is no Piper with her charmspeak to free the ex-queen; at least, Piper is by Leo's side as he blasts her with his searing flames. There's a smile on Leo's face that rivals even Annabeth's as he torches cities, razes acres and lights up the sky with plumes of smoke and columns of fire. His reasoning feels etched into his heart: the gods let Nico die. The gods let us down one time too many. And so he lets the flames go. Gaea stands behind him, her hand on his shoulder, proud and respectful. She knows that he secretly enjoyed starting the war with New Rome. He has fire powers; it's only natural, and that Octavian is enough to drive anyone mad. So, Leo Valdez finally makes his peace with Gaea.

Will Solace goes out like a light as the news of his beloved's death is announced. He lies, broken and silent, in Gaea's arms, tears streaming down his face. He stirs only for Nico's name, and his eyes turn slowly to whoever dared say it. He reaches out an arm, eyes turning black, leaching all the colour from the surroundings as his whisper echoes: there is no hope. Behind him stands Gaea, a tear of her own on her earthen cheek. She feels his pain, raw and fresh. But she takes some of it onto herself. Will Solace shares his grief with Gaea now.

And so they stand, eyes alight and expressions dark and triumphant, by the side of the goddess who did not want to let Nico die.

Gaea smiles.

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paunchsalazar · 4 years

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hey!! i loved your hoo playlist! can you explain more or less where which book begins and ends? or just your thought process behind picking the songs?

omg hi!! this is going to be really long I’m so sorry... I vaguely broke them up by book and sorta character/event/theme, it’s not super strict or anything but that was the logic!

I kinda imagine it playing out like a movie or tv series.. and so some of these kinda play over a scene or transition to the credits in my head? some more than others! otherwise it’s like punny titles or just songs that remind of plot points!

Lost Hero

- Goodbye Stranger - for Jason, since he has no idea what’s going on lol

- Teenage Dream - for the three of them, but mostly Piper!

You think I'm pretty without any makeup on You think I'm funny when I tell the punch line wrong

- Parachute - kinda Jason and Piper, I think as she realizes their relationship isn’t quite what it seems? (and just playing with his flying lol!)

- Metal Guru - Leo!

- Pretty Girl - Piper, I was imagining this when she clashes with Drew/learns about the Aphrodite cabin

And I could be a pretty girl Shut up when you want me to And I could be a pretty girl Won't ever make you blue And I could be a pretty girl I'll lose myself in you

- The Sky’s The Limit - when the three of them take off on Festus

- Snowqueen Of Texas - this was for Khione lol

I'm on my knees, your majesty; Snowqueen, save a cold kiss for me I'm on my knees your majesty

- Sweet Talkin’ Woman - this is book-wide but it’s for Piper’s charmspeak!

- Are You Gonna Be My Girl - is sorta general but I was imagining it when Jason and Piper kinda decide to be together/give it another go

- It’s Not Unusual - I think this was sorta the entire book/wider series but I just think it’s cute and fun and a Guardians of the Galaxy type end credits song? And just them accepting their very bizarre situation

Son of Neptune + Mark of Athena

I put these together because there wasn’t really a set bookend in my head!

- Hello Stranger - finally reuniting with Percy! (and I wanted the Percy and Jason songs to mirror each other)

Hello stranger (Ooh) It seems so good to see you back again How long has it been? (Ooh it seems like a mighty long time)

- Diamonds - Hazel

- Don’t Go Breaking My Heart - Frank trusting Hazel with the wood, also Percy + Annabeth, everyone really

Don't go breaking my heart You take the weight off of me Oh, honey when you knock on my door Ooh, I gave you my key

- Beautiful Soul - I literally don’t know why I added this I just wanted an excuse to add a Jesse McCartney song (which feels so tonally correct to me?) but also I think it’s Frank liking Hazel in spite of her big secret and Percy loving Annabeth

- Pocketful of Rainbows - encountering Iris!

I don't worry Whenever skies are gray above Got a pocketful of rainbows Got a heart full of love

- Am I The Same Girl - Annabeth’s POV upon reunion!

Why don´t you stop And look me over Am I the same girl you used to know?

Why don´t you stop And think it over Am I the same girl who knew your soul?

- Bizarre Love Triangle - Frank, Hazel, and Leo

- Treasure - Hazel again + the literal treasure?

Pretty girl, pretty girl, pretty girl you should be smiling (you should be smiling) A girl like you should never look so blue (blue) You're everything I see in my dreams I wouldn't say that to you if it wasn't true

- The Sweet Escape - off on the Argo II

- Okay Okay - to Italy! and I just think Italian disco is so fun

- On An Evening in Roma - walking around Rome, seeing all its history

Though there's grinning and mandolining in sunny Italy The beginning has just begun when the sun goes down So please meet me in the plaza near your casa I am only one and that is one too few On an evening in Roma Don't know what the country's coming to But in Rome do as the Romans do Will you on an evening in Roma

- Stuck on the puzzle - Annabeth + the Mark of Athena

- Coca Cola - I was imagining the pirates+sacrifice to Dionysus/ his appearance

- Edge of Seventeen - I think Annabeth remarks to herself something like am I really going to die at 17? so this is for her and all the kids just on the cusp of being 17

And the days go by, like a strand in the wind In the web that is my own, I begin again Said to my friend, baby (everything stopped) Nothin' else mattered

- Landslide - when everything goes wrong and they start falling to Tartarus

Oh, mirror in the sky What is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changin' 'Cause I've built my life around you But time makes you bolder Even children get older And I'm getting older too

House of Hades + Blood of Olympus

these are more thematic I think? but a few moments in particular

- Head Over Heels - falling down...

I made a fire, and watching it burn Thought of your future With one foot in the past, now just how long will it last?

Something happens and I'm head over heels I never find out until I'm head over heels Something happens and I'm head over heels Ah, don't take my heart, don't break my heart Don't, don't, don't throw it away

- You and Me - Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus

If the stars don't shine If the moon won't rise If I never see the setting sun again You won't hear me cry as I testify Please believe me boy you know I would I lie As long as there is you and me

- Don’t Worry Baby - Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus, on the shore of the river

Well it's been building up inside of me For oh I don't know how long I don't know why But I keep thinking Something's bound to go wrong

But she looks in my eyes And makes me realize And she says "don't worry, baby"

- It’s Only A Paper Moon - the mist and Hazel starting to understand it

You smile, the bubble has a rainbow in it Say, it's only a paper moon Sailing over a cardboard sea But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me

- Money, Money, Money - Hazel + Pluto

Money, money, money Must be funny In the rich man's world

- Magic - the whole story, but particularly with the presence of Hecate

- Summer Wind - Jason harnessing the winds!

The summer wind came blowin' in from across the sea It lingered there, to touch your hair and walk with me All summer long we sang a song and then we strolled that golden sand Two sweethearts and the summer wind

- Mala Femmina - the return of Khione

- Would You? - Leo and Calypso

Well, you know she took my hand And we walked away And I can't understand why she would stay Would you like to fall in love with me?

- Love is Like a Fire - Leo and also Frank

- Don’t Wanna Fight - Percy and Annabeth

Take from my hand Put in your hands The fruit of all my grief Lying down ain't easy When everyone is pleasing I can't get no relief Living ain't no fun The constant dedication Keeping the water and power on There ain't nobody left Why can't I catch my breath? I'm gonna work myself to death

- Love Really Hurts With You - Leo after leaving Calypso’s island

- What Makes the Sunset - Percy and Annabeth (and by extension Bob and Damasen)

What makes the sunset? What makes the moonrise? What makes the tide remember to hide and why does it soon rise? What makes a star fall? Where does it fall to? Why does its flight make us stop in the night and wish as we all do?

- Dedicated to the One I Love - everybody, but an ode to Bob and Damasen (their goodbye made me cry!)

While I'm far away from you my baby I know it's hard for you my baby Because it's hard for me my baby And the darkest hour is just before dawn

Each night before you go to bed my baby Whisper a little prayer for me my baby And tell all the stars above This is dedicated to the one I love

- Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus, I was thinking about this post-curses and them being so done with everything

Good times for a change See, the luck I've had Can make a good man Turn bad

So please, please, please Let me, let me, let me Let me get what I want This time

- Lonely Boy - Nico

- Fantasy - indulging all their visions... the mist, etc.

- Stupid Cupid - Nico and Cupid (of course)

Stupid Cupid you're a real mean guy (stupid Cupid) I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly (stupid Cupid) I'm in love and it's a crying shame (stupid Cupid) And I know that you're the one to blame (stupid Cupid)

Hey hey, set me free Stupid Cupid stop picking on me

- Suzanne - still Nico, looking over at the couple (sorry... all the mopey songs)

- Dream A Little Dream of Me - dreams... also Percy’s wishes of the future

Stars shining bright above you Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you" Birds singing in the sycamore tree Dream a little dream of me

- Our Day Will Come - I think Annabeth says a line almost like this? somewhere at the end of HOH, I think when they’ve just gotten out of Tartarus and are all sitting together, like haven’t they had enough? won’t their day finally come?

Our day will come If we just wait a while No tears for us Think love and wear a smile Our dreams have magic because We'll always stay In love this way

- Call Me - all of them! also Nico and Reyna, just being there for each other

Tell me and I'll be around Now don't forget me 'cause if you let me I will always stay by you You've got to trust me, that's how it must be

- Nobody - Nico... oh buddy

Venus, planet of love Was destroyed by global warming Did its people want too much too? Did its people want too much?

And I don't want your pity I just want somebody near me Guess I'm a coward I just want to feel alright

- I’m a Believer - Jason and Piper

I thought love was only true in fairy tales Meant for someone else but not for me Love was out to get me That's the way it seemed Disappointment haunted all my dreams Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer Not a trace of doubt in my mind

- Summertime - Piper singing and it being the end of summer

- Happy Trails - more singing ( I want to include the songs actually mentioned!)

- The End of the World - the big battle!!

Why does the sun go on shining? Why does the sea rush to shore? Don't they know it's the end of the world? 'Cause you don't love me any more

- Too Late To Turn Back Now - departing with Festus (I think Leo almost says this too!)

- Here Comes The Sun - day comes, the Athena Parthenos is back

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here

- Walking On Sunshine - Will Solace

- Evil Woman - Gaea fight

Evil woman, how you done me wrong But now you're tryin' to wail a different song Ha, ha, funny, how you broke me up You made the wine, now you drink a cup I came runnin' every time you cried Thought I saw love smilin' in your eyes Ha, ha, very nice to know That you ain't got no place left to go

- Seven Wonders - the seven! also traveling the world... making it this far

If I live to see the seven wonders I'll make a path to the rainbow's end I'll never live to match the beauty again The rainbow's edge

- This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) - to me this is just after Annabeth and Percy’s kiss, shots of everyone back to camp, wides of people running around, new cabins under construction, the sun is shining, the camera pulls out

Loving you is some kind of wonderful Because you showed me just how much you care You've given me the thrill of a lifetime And made me believe you've got more thrills to spare, oh!

- Love Makes the World Go Round - like the end credits! last pov with Piper, love makes it all happen

Without love flowers wouldn't grow in the spring And without spring, yeah the birdies just couldnt sing Everybody needs love to watch the twinkling stars above It makes a boy and girl, Say they feel so fine, now

#SORRY I REALLY WASTED A LOT OF TIME ON IT #percy jackson #pjo #hoo #heroes of olympus #piper mclean #annabeth chase #jason grace #leo valdez #hazel levesque #frank zhang #Anonymous

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seattlesea · 4 years

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The Poor Character Developments in the Heroes of Olympus Series

Rick Riordan doesn’t know how to write character arcs ✨

-Percy. What arc did he even have? From The Last Olympian to The Son of Neptune it seems like he just got more arrogant and douchey, and this is never explained or expanded on. The readers don’t know why he suddenly got so arrogant. His pride got out of control and he was doing things he knew he couldn’t do but jumped into anyway like attacking a giant head-on alone. He was reckless in PJO, but every time he always had a plan. In HoO he just turned careless. He even put other demigods’ lives at risk at times and honestly didn’t do much throughout the series. He was just kind of there, not really contributing to anything and only involved when the book needed comedic relief or to remind the readers that ‘Hey, Percy is super cool and powerful’. As for his arc, he didn’t change at all. He just got annoying and way too self-involved and vain. I mean- he was literally in front of Hercules, the man who broke Zoë Nightshade’s heart- the girl who literally sacrificed herself for Percy- and he didn’t even say or do anything? He didn’t even mention Zoë or think about her at all. All he was worried about was how ‘big-shot Jason’ got to meet the all-famous Hercules and he didn’t. And this never changed. Percy’s character arc was completely flat cause he never learned from his lessons or mistakes. Even when in Tartarus and was reminded of all the people that he lost during the Second Titan War, how he forgot about Calypso on her island for over two years, and how he left Bob the Titan alone in the Underworld, he didn’t make any move to change. After that scene, he completely forgot to even mention them again.

-Annabeth. Same thing with Annabeth, except her realism was ripped from her. She was well-written in PJO with actual flaws and weaknesses, relationships outside of her romantic one with Percy, a very important and crucial role, fighting bravely, etc., but in HoO, she- just like Percy- was pretty much dead weight, and she became extremely weak. The only thing she really accomplished was following the Mark of Athena and getting the Athena Parthenos, but she still had to be saved by everyone else, and honestly any other demigod could’ve done it way faster. Nico literally could’ve just shadow-travelled to the statue then shadow-travelled it back out. The only times she fought (which was very few times) she was always with another demigod, and the two-three times she actually fought she always had to be saved, by a newbie, especially. In the Temple of Fear, Piper ‘toughened’ her up and saved her three times from the giant Mimas, and when caught by the giants, Piper was the one to save Annabeth (again). She couldn’t do anything by herself without others having to save or help her. And she also became very dull. She didn’t have any more of her pride, short temper, care, ferocity, etc. All she was was a Percy fangirl. Everything was about him and him only. This also didn’t change. We didn’t see any improvement or alterations to her personality whatsoever.

-Jason. The majority of the fandom doesn’t like Jason- which is understandable- but they hate on him for the wrong reasons. They dislike him cause he was ‘boring’ despite him actually having multiple distinct personality traits. They just think he didn’t have any personality cause his traits weren’t directly commented on like the other characters’ were (which is actually bad writing, readers should be able to interpret a character’s personality without it being stated to them by other characters). And he even had a sense of humor. His character arc though...fell short. But! He could’ve had an amazing character arc, Riordan just focused on the wrong parts. Riordan’s take on Jason’s character arc was deciding if he was more ‘Greek or Roman’ and then deciding he was both. But...that makes no sense, cause that’s just stereotyping every single Greek and every single Roman. The fandom says that the Romans are the cruel, harsh, and merciless ones, but what about Hazel? Or Frank? Or Reyna? Or the fact that they immediately accepted Nico while Camp Half-Blood outcasted and even ostracized him? And they say that the Greeks are the fun, cool, relaxed ones, but what about Percy, the only character to canonically torture? Or Annabeth, the unfriendly bossy one? Or Thalia, the merciless, ambitious hunter? Or Piper, the prejudiced manipulator? So really, Jason’s character arc made no sense. It was written to be Jason going from ‘always following the rules and following expectations because of his godly parent’ to ‘doing whatever he wants’, but the fandom forgets that Camp Jupiter is the one who doesn’t care about godly parent, Camp Half-Blood does, cause Camp Jupiter has demigods live in barracks for the sole purpose of demigods without family members not having to live alone while Camp Half-Blood separates cabins and tables by parentage and immediately set Percy to high standards after he was claimed. Besides, does Camp Jupiter have harpies that literally kill demigods if they’re out past curfew? Plus, Jason was breaking multiple rules before his character arc anyways- leaving Camp Jupiter, sailing across the Mediterranean Sea, etc.

-Piper. Oh boy. Where to start with this one. I’ve already gone over how her horribly-portrayed backstory ruined the chances of a good character arc, but now let’s discuss the character arc she actually had. And the best way to describe it is ‘tell not show’. The main idea for Piper’s character arc was that she felt insecure about herself and useless and that she gained confidence in herself and her powers, but that’s not actually what happened, because starting from The Lost Hero, Piper showed multiple narcissistic tendencies that showed that she had a huge ego and placed herself on a pedestal she did nothing to earn or deserve. This is first shown with femininity- Piper immediately thinks that she’s better and above any girl if they so much as wear lip gloss or a dress, which is a sign of an obvious ego: thinking you’re better than everyone else (or in her case, a certain group of people) before getting to know them first. It’s also shown when her and Annabeth are looking for a weapon for Piper and when suggested that she doesn’t choose a dagger cause she’s a newbie, Piper retaliates with “But you use a dagger”...aka thinking she’s already on Annabeth’s level and that she can do whatever Annabeth can despite being a newbie. It’s not hypocrisy if Annabeth has been training for over nine years. Another example would be in The Mark of Athena- "Piper's eyes flashed defiantly, like anything Reyna could do, she could do". Like, no, she can’t, cause Reyna has been training her whole life and Piper doesn’t even know her. Piper shows multiple signs of having a very high opinion of herself, including degrading others (especially other women) for her own sake, thinking she can do what anyone else can, thinking she’s better than everyone else, constantly fussing over her appearance, thinking she deserves everything she’s gotten and that she deserves more without earning it, etc., so her entire character arc wasn’t even there. She just went from quiet about her narcissism to openly expressing it. She never grew from her horrible traits and habits, never realized she was wrong by jumping all over Jason while he was amnesiac, etc., and the whole ‘feeling of uselessness’ was brought up once then never expanded on or mentioned ever again, and nor was her internalized misogyny and fiery hatred towards femininity (which wasn’t even explained). Riordan should’ve used the ‘snobby rich girl learns to be kinder and more modest’ or expanded on the fact that Piper almost killed her friends multiple times. In Katoptris, she saw Jason with gold eyes in Kansas then said ‘Let’s go to Kansas!’ She saw her, Jason, and Percy literally drowning and legit said ‘Let’s go drown!’ without telling them about what she actually saw in her dagger. She saw her and Annabeth exploring some ruins and said ‘Let’s go!’ despite knowing the visions were deadly. She put all of her friends in multiple, life-threatening situations and never felt guilty and wasn’t even called out on it, because no one said if the visions in Katoptris were fate- something you can’t avoid- or destiny- something you can choose and change.

-Frank. Frank’s character arc was clear, but it happened in the wrong way. The main idea of his development was that he was insecure about his appearance then gained confidence from it, but he did only after he magically gained rippling abs and muscle. He only felt good about himself once he lost all his fat as if that’s not obvious lookism, fatphobia, and fat shaming (thanks, Riordan). Frank should’ve learned to love himself despite his flab and appearance and learned that it didn’t matter what he looked like cause he would still be a hero either way. He should’ve shown the readers that ‘Hey, I don’t care what I look like, cause appearance doesn’t matter, whether you choose to do the right thing or not does’, but it was wasted for fat shaming every single reader who was insecure about their weight and didn’t or couldn’t get skinnier and telling them that they should be insecure about themselves because they don’t look like Frank. Is it really so hard for society to believe that a lot of people who aren’t stick-thin are happy and confident about their body?

-Hazel. Honestly, her character arc was one of the most confusing ones, cause she didn’t have anything to drive or even start one. Her backstory is tragic, yes, but there isn’t anything in it that she has to learn to change from cause all of that was resolved when she took down Alcyoneus and Gaea. The only thing I can think of is learning to break away from toxic people even if they’re your family or friend or cause you don’t want to hurt their feelings, but Hazel didn’t struggle with relationships at all. She wasn’t even introduced to any toxic people besides Octavian, and she already hated him. Her transition from the racist and segregated days to the modern world could’ve been really good material for a character arc along with internalized racism- she of all people (someone born and raised in segregation who was taught to hate herself and her skin tone) would grow up thinking that there was something wrong with her because of her dark skin tone and- especially after meeting so many different people of different ethnic groups and skin colors- could’ve learned to love herself and learn that skin tone doesn’t define you (which also would’ve been a perfect lesson for younger readers). Another thing that puzzled me about her ‘development’ was her powers. Her Mist control powers are cool, but what would’ve been cooler was if she was reluctant to use them because she wouldn’t want to twist the minds of people just like Gaea did to her mom. Her gem and metal control powers could’ve been expanded on but they were barely mentioned after The Son of Neptune. As for her curse, that...made absolutely no sense. Her curse was honestly just dead weight. It wasn’t even that one thing that had a lot of potential, it didn’t even have potential, cause what would she ever use it for? It was just used to make her backstory sadder, but it was never mentioned again or even explained. The only thing it could’ve been used for (and what I was hoping would happen) was if one her friends or allies took one of her cursed jewels and died because of it. The one thing I was really hoping to see in her character arc was from the quote she said to Hecate after Hecate gave her the three paths to choose from- “I’m not choosing one of your paths. I’m making my own.” This really sparked my interest because almost everything Hazel had gone through was forced onto her by others without her consent. She didn’t choose to be born into racism and segregation. She didn’t choose to be cursed. She didn’t choose to be used as a pawn by Gaea through her mother. She didn’t choose to almost raise a giant and nearly bring upon the apocalypse. She didn’t choose to use her curse against others and move to multiple places. She didn’t choose to be brought back to life. She didn’t choose to be brought to Camp Jupiter and thrown into an army. She didn’t choose to be a part of the Seven and face the same woman who used her and had her mother possessed years ago. The only two choices she made herself- destroying the island and Alcyoneus and sacrificing Elysium so her mother wouldn’t go to the Fields of Punishment- and she and her mother died because of it and she went to Asphodel for years. I was really hoping to see Hazel break free from others always making decisions for her and learn to make her own choices, but that never happened.

-Leo: His character arc was also very confusing, but because it was all over the place. Riordan kept switching up Leo’s internal problems; forgetting about one of them and jumping to another, jumping to three different others, and then going back to the first one a few chapters later. It was so confusing. And then- in the end- he focused on the worst problem Leo had- not finding a love interest. I mean, who exactly focuses on whether or not they have a girlfriend while in the middle of a war and fighting to survive again? I liked Leo’s other problems- guilt over and blaming himself for his mother’s death, seeing his fire powers as a curse instead of a gift, forcing himself to hide his pain with humor instead of opening up to people, running away from all his problems, and his abandonment issues and constant fear of being left out and alone, but they were all replaced with ‘He felt like the seventh wheel’ (cause yes, Riordan, if you don’t have a love interest, you are immediately lesser than anyone who does, obviously). Leo got over his mother’s death in The Lost Hero- which, great- but after that nothing too memorable changed about his character. He never even used or mentioned his fire powers after The Lost Hero, he continued to hide all his pain with humor, hide his emotions from other people, and never learned to open up to others about his pain and trauma, he never learned to stop running away from his powers (shown by when he faked his own death without bothering to talk to the others about feeling left out), and his abandonment issues and fears were never expanded on, he just ran into the arms of a girl who verbally abused and constantly insulted him AKA ran to the person who gave him attention, even if it was the bad kind of attention, as if that’s not something emotionally scarred people and people with abandonment issues do, and he never grew from accepting unfair hate and criticism.

-Nico. His character development was actually pretty good. From going to an energetic, cheerful, and playful kid to becoming a quiet, closed-off, and independent teen who struggled with depression and feeling alone and like he didn’t belong, to finding comfort in his family and friends (especially Reyna, Hazel, and Will) and learning to accept himself for who he was (as a son of Hades and as gay) and how to confide in others about his struggles, problems, and trauma and finally letting people in after being do dubious of people after Percy broke his promise to protect Bianca, he found out that King Minos was using him, and almost all of Camp Half-Blood excluded and ignored him. After being alone for most of his life, by the end of The Blood of Olympus, he has two homes (as stated by Reyna), is comfortable with people hugging him, allowed people to take care of and help him, decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter instead of isolating himself, made a bunch of new friends that helped him through his struggles, and he even showed multiple signs of healing from his depression and anxiety. His character development was pretty well-written. But, there was one thing wrong with it that kind of ruined the rest- his love life. Nico had an incredible character arc that could’ve taught multiple valuable lessons to younger readers, but most of it was ditched after he came out as gay in The House of Hades. Throughout all of his point of views in The Blood of Olympus, Nico never thought about any of his past trauma or struggles, Bianca, his new family and friends, etc. Pretty much all he thought about was finding out how to come out to the others and Percy. And while mustering the courage to come out is a huge deal and is great material for a character arc, Riordan never actually utilized it. Nico telling Reyna he was gay was really touching (best duo) and telling Percy he had a crush on him was great, but after that, his entire character was about his attraction towards Will (which was way too rushed, but that’s for another rant), and it got pretty annoying cause it made it obvious that Riordan only confirmed him gay for publicity by trying to shove it in the reader’s faces as if every gay person needs to have a boyfriend to validate and prove their sexuality. Riordan should’ve stayed on track with Nico’s original character arc.

-Reyna. THE BEST CHARACTER ARC. Hers was actually really good. She started off trying to do everything on her own because she believed that she had to be strong enough to do things by herself without help from others to learning that it’s okay to ask for help. She also started off with the (quite serious and traumatizing) problem of bottling all her emotions because she believed that she always had to put on a strong, brave face for others without showing any signs of weakness to learning that it’s okay to express your emotions and confide in others (and again, that it’s okay to ask for help). This was mostly evident after she met Nico, which (in my opinion) kick-started her motivation to change because once she saw how much Nico needed help and giving him that support and comfort, realized that everyone is allowed to ask for help and started confiding in Nico as well. I like how she stayed strict and serious cause she has a formal job- a job that’s equivalent to an American’s president, that is- so she’s supposed to be serious, and she’s only strict cause she wants to protect her people. Though I do hate when people misjudge her as ‘cold-hearted’ or ‘cruel’ because Reyna is actually one of the kindest and most selfless characters in the series. Even Pegasus (the immortal lord of the pegasi) was ‘touched’ by Reyna’s ‘compassion’ towards Scipio (he didn’t even say that to Percy about Blackjack), and it’s pretty obvious she cares deeply about her family, friends, and people. And overall, her character arc was easily the best-written one in HoO. But then Riordan- just like he does with most things in this series- completely trashed her character arc just so he could have the opportunity to make fun of wlw readers who thought Reyna and Thalia would be a good couple by making her leave everything behind for the Hunters of Artemis just cause she ‘couldn’t find a love interest’ as if joining the Hunters is the only option for single female demigods instead of just...living a normal demigod life without a partner without leaving everything they know and love behind for no reason other than their shitty love life.

#heroes of olympus #percy jackson #character arc #character development #rick riordan #annabeth chase #jason grace #frank zhang #hazel levesque #leo valdez #reyna ramirez arellano #reyna avila ramirez arellano #nico di angelo #piper mclean

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findingnemo19 · 3 years

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Because of Seaweed (Percabeth AU)

A percabeth AU fanfic. That I had originally made because my friend didn't believe my writing was good, and now he's refusing to read the damn thing. Oh well. You guys will read it. That's more than enough. And, Shout out to my friend, Isha. She helped me with the plot to this fic. For this (mortal) AU, Malcolm is 2 years younger than Annabeth. Annabeth and Malcolm are Athena and Fredrick’s kids. Summary: Annabeth froze. She’s heard the 8 words multiple times in a teasing voice from her brother and her friends. She’s replayed the time she’d meet her soulmate in her head multiple times in multiple different ways. But never had she thought her soulmate would manage to get seaweed on one of her favorite books.

Read on AO3

She matured early, according to her parents.

Since Annabeth was 8, she hated the idea of “soulmates”. Why does she have to spend her life with someone? Why does she have to fall in love with someone? And why isn’t it her choice?

Of course, her parents tried explaining it to her, ( “It is your choice. The soulmate idea is like… telling the future.”) but she wouldn’t have any of it.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the fateful 10th birthday of Annabeth’s rolled around. Most people would wake up on their 10th birthday, immediately looking at the inside of their dominant hand wrist. Annabeth on the other hand avoided even letting that side of her right hand in her line of sight until her dad came back from work right before dinner.

Both her parents and her 8yo brother, Malcolm, were fed up with Annabeth delaying to look at the words her soulmate will tell her. Rolling her eyes at this, she turned her wrist over, “‘ You’re more worried about your book rather than yourself? ’” She recited the words slowly to herself, the bold cursive writing, murder on her dyslexic eyes. “‘ You’re more worried about your book rather than yourself?’ ” She spoke more clearly, looking up at her family around the dining table. “That’s what it says.”

Athena let a teasing smile across her face as Annabeth’s father and brother burst out in laughter. “Fitting. Very, very fitting.” Annabeth scowled at her mom, “Be quiet.” she grumbled. Stabbing her fork in her noodles she took a bite, stuffing her face with food.

->->->->->

She’s in middle school, and maybe she’s stopped absolutely loathing the soulmate idea. Not that she’s 100% ok with Fate deciding her relationship or anything. But maybe she didn’t hate it.

Plus, the 8th-grade halls are (oddly enough) filled with people asking each other out, and then arguing over the fact that “YOU’RE NOT MY SOULMATE.”

Apart from that, at least Annabeth has friends now. (Read: Piper, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna.) And thank whatever god is up there, her friends aren’t the annoying 8th graders fighting over soulmates in the hallways.

She’s happy and content. Apart from the assload of homework she gets, content. Content with her family, her friends, her classmates, and teachers-

(Ok maybe she wants to stab that “Caleb” guy in the eye with a very sharp pencil if he says anything about Annabeth being “a dumb blond” one more time. And her Science teacher. If he says “Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” one more goddamned time-)

->->->->->

Annabeth unlocked the door to her house, wincing a little in reaction to the yelling between her parents from the inside. She shook her head, stepping inside, praying that her parents aren’t near the stairs so she wouldn’t have to face that. God must have decided to be nice to the blond-haired girl, because her parents were arguing in the living room, and couldn’t even see the staircase from there.

No. It’s not out of the ordinary for her parents to fight. They’ve been doing it almost every day now. However, Annabeth hasn’t been able to understand why they fight. But they do and it bothers her. Let a girl and her brother in high school get some rest, would you?

About an hour later, she was typing up an essay that she completely forgot about, that's due the next day, when there was a loud sound from downstairs, the sound of someone running up the wooden staircase, and a frantic knock on her bedroom door. Confused and slightly concerned, she said, “Come in!”

As the door opened, Annabeth pushed her chair back across the wooden floor, cringing at the sound. “Malcolm?” Annabeth stood up as her brother shut and locked the bedroom door behind him. “What happened?”

Malcolm rolled his eyes, sitting down gingerly on Annabeth’s (for once unmade) bed. “I went downstairs to ask mom a question about homework, started talking before getting down the stairs, and she threw a plate- I wouldn’t say at me but pretty much at me.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows in shock. “That's- that’s new,” she muttered under her breath.

Her brother scoffed, “No shit, Sherlock.”

Annabeth chuckled with no humor, saving her word document before sitting down next to the blonde-haired boy. “You ok though?”

Malcolm rolled his eyes fondly, “Yeah I’m fine, Beth.”

“Good.” A beat of silence passed between them before, “You could’ve just asked me for help instead of going to mom.”

He pondered this, “I guess.”

Annabeth chuckled, flopping down back on her bed, covering her eyes with her arm, “I’m tired.”

Malcolm fell into an almost imitated position, staring up at the ceiling, “Of what?”

Annabeth sighed, “Everything. It’s so stressful. Homework, essays, finals coming up, college applications, our parents fighting practically 24-by-7. It’s just too much-” Her voice cracked and she silenced herself.

“Yeah, I get it. Ninth isn’t much easier. Oh god, I forgot to tell you. Remember Calissa? From middle school?”

Annabeth nodded, “Mhm. The middle school ‘Bitch Girl.’ Why?”

“She asked me out today.”

Annabeth took her arm off her eyes and sat up looking at her brother with an unreadable expression. “ What?”

“Whoa, whoa Annie. Don’t go all “protective older sister” on me. I’m 15, I can handle this stuff myself .” Malcolm sat up as well. “I told her I’d think about it.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms at her chest, “You’d think about it? Malcolm this is the same girl who bullied 75% of your middle school. Including you. Are you-”

“Beth. Breathe. I’ll say no. I just said that at the moment.”

Annabeth scoffed, getting up from the bed and walking to her desk. “You better say no.” Malcolm hummed in response, getting up from the bed and leaving the room.

The sound of a ceramic cup breaking made Annabeth flinch (don’t ask how she knows what it was. She’s a little clumsy ok?). She bit her lip, turning to face the half-closed door, “Malcolm?”

“Yeah?” her brother’s muffled voice answered.

“Work in my room.”

->->->->->

Annabeth loved reading at the beach. The light wind messing up her hair, the random, delicate spray of water refreshing her; it was calming, relaxing, soothing...As long as she was a solid 30 feet away from the surfers.

Yet today was a different day, for Annabeth had actually come down to the beach with her brother and Calissa. Turns out, Malcolm ended up saying yes to go out with Calissa because he hasn’t “actually dated anybody.” So great.

To get her mind off things, she had decided to bring a book down to the beach like she always did. Picking up “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” for the 7th time in her life, she opened the book to where she left off.

She was engrossed in her book when she heard the loud splash before she felt the water. Gasping, she stood up, facing a boy only slightly taller than her, maybe the same age. He had raven hair, which was splattered across his face from the ocean water. His eyes were a startling sea green color. Annabeth, with all the people she knew, had never come across someone with that color of green eyes.

Shaking her head slightly to get the seaweed out of her hair (and maybe that slight trance the guy in front of her left her in.) Picking up her book from the ground where it fell she winced, “What the hell!? You got seaweed on my book, damn it.”

She saw the guy in front of her rolling his eyes. “You care more about your book than yourself?”

Annabeth froze. She’s heard the 8 words multiple times in a teasing voice from her brother and her friends. She’s replayed the time she’d meet her soulmate in her head multiple times in multiple different ways. But never had she thought her soulmate would manage to get seaweed on one of her favorite books.

“Well shit.” She heard from in front of her.

Laughing humorlessly she ran her hand through her hair, “yeah shit.”

“Annie!” Annabeth looked over to her right, seeing her brother and Calissa walking over to them. “Found your soulmate?”

“Malcolm. Were you spying on me? You’re on a date, aren’t you?”

“We got bored.”

The raven-haired boy in front of her chuckled. “Annie.?”

“It’s a nickname.” She snapped. “That I will not allow you to call me.” Annabeth sighed, putting her hand out in front of her. “Annabeth Chase.”

The guy smiled, slipping his hand in Annabeth’s. “Percy Jackson.” Percy Jackson. Jackson. She recognized the name. Percy must’ve read her expression, for he laughed and said, “Yes, Sally Jackson’s son.”

Annabeth’s eyes widened, “Oh my god, her writing is beautiful. Her characters are so well written. The way she carries the series, oh my god it’s incredible!”

Percy laughed. From beside Annabeth, Malcolm gave Percy a look, “She's a little obsessed with Sally Jackson’s books.”

“A little?” Percy asked, teasing.

Annabeth glared at him, “Whatever.” My soulmate is Sally Jackson’s son. Oh my god.

Percy cleared his throat, “Uh. Sorry about the seaweed and everything. I lost control for a bit.”

Annabeth hummed absent-mindedly, wrinkling her nose in annoyance at the realization that her book was covered in saltwater and seaweed and she probably won't be able to save it. “Well, one of my favorite books is now soaked but I guess I’ll forgive you.” She then added, “But only because you're the son of one of my favorite authors.”

Percy laughed lightly, “Not surprising. All my friends love my mom more than me.” Percy reached his hand out and brushed off a piece of seaweed from Annabeth’s hair. Suddenly, it seemed like she forgot how to breathe. Annabeth saw Percy’s eyes search her face, his hand delicately resting on her cheek.

Too soon, Percy pulled back, and Annabeth wasn't sure why that bothered her. He glanced at the setting sun, “I should get going before my mom gets worried.”

Annabeth blinked, “Uh yeah, yeah ok.”

Percy smiled, turning, grabbing his surfboard from the ground, and yelled to some people in the distance, “Hey, Thalia! Jace, Neeks, we gotta go.”

“Don't call me that, Jackson!”

Annabeth smiled. “Hey, uh, Percy?”

Percy looked back at her, a smile still on his face, “Yeah?”

“Could I- Could I have your number?” Wincing, as she worried she might’ve stepped over a line.

Percy’s smile only grew, “Of course.”

->->->->->

She was happy. More than happy. In the past two years, a lot happened.

A few weeks after the beach incident, Annabeth had called Percy, asking to go out on a date, because, “we’re soulmates anyway, might as well.” He agreed. 2 weeks and 4 dates later, they had their first kiss. Under a street light that was already dying out, with a leaf or two, landing on Annabeth’s head, which Percy teased her about for weeks. ( “It was just a leaf Annabeth.” “We were kissing. Can you blame me for getting startled?” “No one’s blaming you. I’m just teasing you, Wise Girl.” “Yeah, I can tell, Seaweed Brain.” )

Oh and the nicknames. They’re stupid because they’re cliché. ( “But clichés are only clichés because they work, sweetie.” “Sure, Mrs. Jackson.” “Sally.” )

And Percy’s mother is a gem, and so is his half-sister, Estelle Blofis. Apparently, Percy’s parents are divorced, and Percy’s mother remarried, to an English teacher, Paul Blofis. Percy’s friends are great too. Thalia, Nico, and Annabeth immediately hit it off. Percy met Annabeth’s friends as well, at some point, and she found it cute how nervous he was.

Also, she got accepted to Queens College. And better yet, so did her boyfriend.

->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->

Thanks for reading!!

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night-fallz · 3 years

Text

A Slow process

Percy wanted to believe that the fates have finally gotten bored of her. However, she was quickly proven wrong when her life only continued to get worse. Overwhelmed with grief and despair, all Percy wants is to erase the godly DNA from her genes and forget it as a whole. She wants a break from the gods. A break from the demigods. And a break from the mythological world as a whole. Sadly, she never got what she wanted before. So why would this time be any different?

A few days after the war, Percy is suddenly thrown into the non-pit version of hell. Surrounded with manipulation and toxicity, she tries to run away from it all. But it doesn't work. She's faced with a choice, go back to her father's kingdom or join the Young Justice team.

- -

(A female Percy Jackson and Young Justice fanfic crossover.)

⚠️ I will be covering triggering topics like... ⚠️

- Drug Abuse

- Addiction

- Self-harm

- Suicide

- Verbal & Physical abuse

- Sexual harassment

Note: It might take a while for Percy and the Young Justice team to meet. But don't worry, they will.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ao3 // Wattpad

Chapter 1

Persephone Jackson felt like she could not breathe. They’ve been fighting for hours and the giants still haven’t shown up. And considering that the gods haven’t appeared to help them fight their battles, she couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Where the hades were they?

Fuck, her whole body was aching with pain and the headache she got a few minutes ago (probably due to dehydration) was not helping.

Her legs and arms could stop working any second. They were running out of time. Where were the gods? They did not risk their lives to travel all the way to Greece just so they could stay cuddled up on Olympus.

Percy was getting slower. She was tired. A glance at the battlefield showed that the rest of the seven were getting affected too.

The ground began to rumble. Percy forced herself to conserve any energy she had left.

The giants have finally arrived with another army of monsters. Percy hoped that this was going to be the final battle but it was unlikely.

After defeating the giants, they'll still have to fight Earth itself, Gaea.

Luckily for them, the gods have finally managed to grace them with their presence. Percy suddenly felt her energy rush back to her. She glanced up at the sky. It was raining.

While Percy was thankful for the water, it would probably do more harm than good during the battle. The demigods weren’t water-resistant like her.

As if knowing what she was thinking, her father snapped his fingers and suddenly the rest of the seven weren’t soaked with water anymore. It was still raining but the water just avoided them.

The demigods waited for the army to run up to them, wanting to conserve as much energy as they could before they realized that they weren’t as tired as they were before. They glanced at their respective parents in surprise, giving them a silent thank you before they got ready for the fight of their lives.

Percy was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. It was like she had her Achilles Heel again, nothing could touch her. The rain continued to supply her with energy as well as giving her more power to use. She was playing a dangerous dance, her sword was slashing and stabbing monsters left and right, as she made a whirlpool of water and made it go the opposite direction she was heading, right where Hazel was.

Hazel sent her a thankful smile as they fought together, back to back as they made their way towards Annabeth.

Percy couldn’t help but be relieved when she saw the grey-eyed girl. Her wise girl was okay. Fighting next to Annabeth reminded Percy of the Titan War.

They survived that, so they have to survive this as well.

Percy sent another whirlpool of water in the direction that Piper was. “Remind me to thank your dad for the small boost of power he gave us.” she heard her girlfriend whisper.

Percy nodded, “But first we have to survive, okay?”

Annabeth nodded in agreement. “Okay.”

Jason flew down to where their group, holding Leo in his arms and Frank quickly followed, changing back to his human form.

The Seven were all back to back. Ready to defend each other’s blind spots.

Hazel snapped her fingers, making a majority of the monsters confused. This gave Piper the opportunity to charmspeak the monsters.

Her soft, angelic voice echoed through the battlefield, appealing to their enemy’s ears. “You don’t wanna fight us. You wanna leave the seven of us alone. Instead, you want to get revenge on the ones that have wronged you. Isn’t that why you sided with Earth? For revenge?”

Piper glanced at Hazel and Hazel nodded, closing her eyes in concentration as the snap of her finger seemed to echo in every monster’s mind.

It worked. A majority of the monsters were fighting each other. This gave us a moment to catch our breath.

Percy glanced up at the sky. Rain was still falling and the remaining monsters were soaked. She had an idea.

“Jason,” she whispered. “Shock them.”

His blue eyes looked at me with confusion before nodding, understanding what the demigoddess wanted him to do.

If there was one thing Percy learned during science class, it was that water and electricity do not go well together.

Jason’s sent a shockwave towards the final group of monsters heading out, causing them to evaporate in golden dust.

She glanced to where my father was. They were just standing there, watching us.

Did they not learn anything from the last war?

Did they even help other than agreeing to give the rest of the seven my father’s temporary blessing?

Percy felt the ground rumbling again. The giants have finally arrived.

She smelt the ocean next to me and knew that my father and his family had finally decided to help.

With the gods on their side, the demigods knew they wouldn’t lose this battle. Percy fought harder than she ever fought before. She matched the giant from toe to toe and after a few minutes, Percy finally got the opening she was looking for and slashed Polybotes’s chest with Riptide. She nodded at her dad as he held up his trident, sending a steaming, hot pressurized bolt of water in the place where Percy slashed him. Polybotes wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

She finally got a chance to look at the battlefield and she tried not to flinch in shock.

It wasn’t looking good. So far, Percy and her father were the only ones who’ve killed their respective giant.

Her father stood next to her, “So, who are we helping first?”

Percy tried not to look shocked at the fact that he was gonna stay in help and managed to steadily say, “Let’s help Athena and Annabeth first. With me and Annabeth fighting together, we can help Piper defeat Periboia. And if you and Lady Athena decide to stay, then all of us will be able to have a bigger chance of surviving.”

Percy turned away from her father so that she couldn’t see how her father reacted with her silent jab at him. Instead, she ran to where her girlfriend was, ready to help her fight Enceladus.

Percy tried to use the water to hold the giant’s legs so that Annabeth wouldn’t get stepped on.

The water was getting harder to control. She wouldn’t be able to hold it any longer. Suddenly, Percy noticed that she wasn't using up as much energy anymore. It was like the water had gotten easier in control.

She glanced up and saw her father with a confident glint in his eyes. She muttered a thank you and let the water she was controlling go, leaving her fate up to her dads.

Together, Annabeth and Percy charged. Percy lifted Annabeth with water so that the blonde girl could temporarily confuse the giant.

Thank gods, for Annnabeth’s aim. She managed to throw her new drakon-bone sword at his eye, making him stumble.

Her father let go of the water he was controlling, causing the Enceladus to fall on his butt. This gave Athena the opening to stab him right in the chest.

He exploded in golden dust.

She inspected the battlefield again and couldn’t help but sigh in relief. They were winning.

Leo and Hephaestus managed to defeat Otis by using fire to burn him alive.

That’s one less giant to worry about. Three down, three more to go.

She turned to her dad and Lady Athena, “Go help Jason and King Zeus, they’ll need all the help they can get when fighting Porphyrion. I’ll help Piper defeat Periboia.” She turned to Annabeth, “Go help Leo and Lord Hephaestus with Ephialtes.”

Annabeth nodded, “When this is over, you better be alive Seaweed Brain.”

Percy couldn’t help but give her girlfriend a small smile, one that she returned before running to where Leo was.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Athena disappear in a flurry of owls and saw her father dissolved in mist.

She took a deep breath and ran to help her sister in all but blood. Aphrodite was floating around them on a small white cloud, throwing rose petals in the giantess’s murky brown eyes effectively making her blind for a few seconds.

Percy blocked a strike that could’ve killed Piper, “Need a hand?”

Piper nodded, “Yes please.”

Aphrodite noticed Percy and yelled out some nice encouragement, “Kill this ugly dumpster wanna-be, girls.” Doves came from out of nowhere and clawed on the giantess, “I’m gonna need to wash my eyes with bleach after this battle. I’ve never seen anyone as hideous as her.”

The giantess growled in frustration, “WATCH WHAT YOU SAY, YOU LITTLE BIT-“

While the giantess yelled at Aphrodite, Percy and Piper slit the giantess’s stomach open with their respective weapon, leaving the bane of Aphrodite at the mercy of doves.

Percy noticed that there was only one more giant left to beat. The bane of Zeus, Porphyrion.

Percy was running out of energy. Luckily, every giant except one has been beaten.

Unluckily, it was the strongest giant.

Aphrodite flashed Piper and Percy on her cloud, allowing both Piper and Percy to catch their breaths for a few seconds.

While Zeus and Jason looked like they haven’t slept in a month, Porphyrion stood tall, looking like he just woke up from a nice nap.

“Oh gods,” Piper muttered worriedly, looking at Jason. “This isn’t good.”

Percy studied Jason more intently. He was covered in blood due to all the cuts he had all over him yet not a drop had fallen on the ground. Jason tried to stand tall but the giant only laughed. “This is the great son of Jupiter?” his words echoed through Percy’s skull. “Pathetic.”

Jason charged towards the giant but he only smacked the blue-eyed boy away. Before Jason could hit the ruins, Percy raised her hand, cushioning his fall with the water.

Zeus looked at her with gratitude and while having her a subtle nod.

Percy jumped off the cloud, allowing the wind to carry her next to her uncle and as if they rehearsed it, they charged.

The rest followed. Athena and Annabeth were distracting the giants as Aphrodite summoned more doves to claw the giant. When she deemed that there were enough doves, she threw rose petals at the giant’s eyes. Trying to get him temporarily blinded.

Percy stared at the giant's feet and yelled to her father, “HIS FEET, WRAP IT IN WATER.”

Poseidon followed her instructions and she turned to Zeus. “Throw a lightning bolt and aim it on the water. That should shock him for a few minutes and that’s enough time for us to kill him.”

Her uncle nodded, pointing a finger at the giant's feet. Porphyrion groaned in pain as the demigods charged.

But of course, something had to go wrong. As they charged, Porphyrion somehow got enough energy to throw a broken piece of a building towards them. Percy dodged it but Hazel wasn’t as lucky.

It was silent for a few seconds before Hazel’s blood-curdling screams filled the air. Percy bit back a cry. A person that she could proudly call her younger sister was gone.

Blinded by anger, Frank turned to an eagle and flew with the speed that could make Hermes jealous.

But charging in like that was a mistake.

And Frank paid for it.

It didn’t matter how fast Frank tried to attack the giant. All Porphyrion had to do was hold his arm up, to catch Frank in his hand, and crush his fist, effectively breaking all of Frank’s bones and killing him in the process.

He slowly opened his crushed fist, as if teasing them. After a few torturous seconds, he dropped a pale, limp eagle as Frank’s blood dripped into the floor.

The ground rumbled. They haven’t been fighting Porphyrion for five minutes yet two people are already dead. And Gaea could awake at any second. She had the two sacrifices she needed. The blood of a male and female demigod.

It was like Percy’s brain was working against her. As she attacked the giant, the noises around her became muffled before quickly becoming inaudible. All Percy could hear were Hazel’s painful screams and the sound of Frank’s body being crushed.

It shouldn’t have been possible, Percy’s brain tried to argue. Frank couldn’t have died until his stick was nothing but ashes.

Percy quickly shook that thought out of her head. She can figure everything out when the bane of Zeus has been defeated.

Minutes have passed and Percy finally saw an opening. She mustered up all the energy she had left and made a giant slit on the giant's stomach, covering her with even more gold dust.

Without wasting another second, Poseidon sent a stream of pressurized water on the wound, causing Porphyrion to yell in frustration, “IF YOU END UP KILLING ME, I’LL TAKE AT LEAST ONE OF YOU WITH ME!”

From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Zeus was preparing to send a bolt of lightning to the giant but before the lightning hit Porphyrion, he reached out his arm, trying to grab the closest demigod next to him.

It felt like Percy was fighting Kronos again. Everything was in slow motion except for the moves of her enemy.

She began to run forward but her moves began to get sluggish. “NO!” Percy managed to yell, realizing who the giant had grabbed. “ANNABETH!”

It was too late. Annabeth let out a scream full of pain and it continuously echoed throughout Percy’s skull.

Porphyrion exploded in golden dust, forcing Annabeth’s body to slam against the rough concrete.

Percy quickly ran towards Annabeth’s motionless body, stumbling forward as she kneeled next. Her usual tanned skin was now sickly pale, covered with burns. Her stormy grey eyes seemed to tell Percy all the suffering that she went through.

She cradled as much of Annabeth’s body as she could, not being bothered with all the blood that Percy was exposing her tattered shirt to.

Annabeth was gone.

And she didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

Percy felt the ground shake underneath her. Before she forced herself to get up, Percy closed Annabeth’s eyes as a final sign of respect to her girlfriend.

Percy felt the ground shake again. Although this time it was more violent, knocking down the old temples.

Piper’s usual bright eyes were full of tears, causing Percy to realize that she was crying as well.

Percy turned to Leo who was wiping away any stray tear that left his eye. His cracked voice seemed to echo through Athena as he whispered, “There’s only four of us left. Piper needs to charmspeak her, I’m the fire. And,” His eyes drifted to Jason’s body. “You guys have to make the storm.”

“Where are the gods?”

Piper and Leo glanced at each other. “They left. Right after we defeated Porphyrion the gods vanished.”

“Like poof.” Leo sadly added.

They lost three of the best demigods of this generation by fighting against Porphyrion, how could the gods expect them to defeat Gaea with no help? Or at least without all the demigods dying in the process?

“Uhm- guys,” Piper’s voice snapped Percy out of her thoughts. “We better get ready.”

Leo and Percy turned to where Piper’s eyes were focusing. The dirt seemed like it was rising, forming the shape of a female.

“Gaea,” Percy whispered. “Do you guys remember the plan?”

They nodded hesitantly as they made their way to Jason’s body, which was still in a cocoon of water. Percy lifted her hand and slowly made the water evaporate.

Piper hesitated before she whispered a shaky, yet firm command. “Wake up!”

Jason’s eyes opened and he groaned, What happened?”

“She’s awake.” Percy ignored his question, “Do you remember the plan?”

Jason nodded, trying to stand up before he quickly fell again. “I can’t stand,” he whispered in shock.

Percy tried to stay strong. “It’s okay,” she tried to soothe. “When we win this, I’ll force Apollo to heal you.” Jason gave her a grateful grin, “Do you think you have enough energy to fly all of us up?”

Jason shook his head, “I only have enough energy to fly two people up and if I have to carry her up as well, then maybe I can carry one person.” He grimaced. “Although that might be pushing my luck.”

“That’s not good. And we know that gods chose to sit this battle out.” Percy let out an ear-piercing whistle before muttering a small, “Hopefully that’ll work.”

Two pegasi formed in front of them. “That’s never happened before,” Leo mentioned.

Percy nodded in agreement. The gods sent us, Blackjack transmitted in Percy’s head. They said the ancient laws forbid them from helping any more than they already did.

Percy forced herself not to roll her eyes. What a bunch of bullshit. Instead, she faced her friends, “Piper and I will take Blackjack. Leo, will you be alright with Spade?”

Leo turned to the white Pegasi and nodded. “Aye, aye ma’am.”

Percy and the others exchanged grins. Even in the most dire situation, you could count on Leo to make a joke. She turned to Jason. “Whatever you do, make sure she isn’t touching the ground.”

Jason nodded. “We got this. We can win.”

Percy didn’t know whether he was that confident in his abilities to win or if he was trying to convince himself.

It was probably the latter.

Percy turned to Piper who’s been quiet so far. “You ready?” she asked.

“Yep.” Piper played with her torn shirt, “It’s just a lot of pressure.”

Percy understood what she meant. So she grabbed Piper and Leo’s arm, tugging them closer to Jason and herself. “Group hug.” Her voice was hoarse and it cracked. She was thankful that they ignored it and just melted into the hug. “I love you guys.” She reminded them. “I’m so lucky that I got to meet all of you.”

One by one, the rest of them repeated her gesture. Deep down, they all knew that this was their way of saying goodbye. Just in case they didn’t make it out.

Percy helped Piper up on Blackjack and she gave Jason a final glance before instructing her pegasi to fly to where Gaea resided.

On the mound of dirt, Percy saw a figure standing.

Gaea had such delicate features on her face that it would’ve made her seem innocent. She had honey brown hair that framed her face, bringing out her dangerous green eyes.

Her voice was sickly sweet as she said, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Yeah, well. We’re here.” Percy heard Leo sarcastically say, “So, you ready to lose?”

“Leo Valdez.”

“That’s my name.” Leo cheekily grinned, “Don’t wear it out.”

Gaea continued like she didn’t hear the elfish boy, “Out of everyone who died today, I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

Even though Percy knew Leo was trying not to let that bother him, it did. And from the smirk on Gaea’s face, she knew it as well.

Before things could further escalate, Percy yelled “NOW!”

The winds around them picked up forcing the pegasi to fly higher, in order to not get caught.

Percy felt the winds twisting around, forming a tornado underneath the primordial.

Leo tried to distract Gaea by hurling insults at her. “HEY POTTY SLUDGE, OVER HERE!”

The goddess ignored Leo until Piper finally spoke up, her kaleidoscope eyes glowing. “Gaea,” her voice was commanding. “You want to listen to me.”

“SILENCE!”

“You are weary.” Piper’s voice was full of sympathy, “You are so, so tired.”

“LIES!” Gaea yelled.

Leo gave up on insulting the goddess, instead threw fire at the goddess. Distracting her from the tornado forming below her feet.

With Gaea’s attention on Leo, Percy began to assist Jason in lifting Gaea higher. She summoned water, slowly adding it to his hurricane.

Gaea began to rise higher. And they followed.

“YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME.” Gaea’s form turned to dirt but the water that Percy added caught it before it reached the ground. Seemingly giving up on trying to go through the water, Gaea re-formed back to a human. “I AM ETERNAL!” she cried

“ETERNALLY ANNOYING!” Leo yelled as he urged Spade higher.

“Get me closer.” Piper urged Percy, “I need to be next to her.”

“The fire and the wind-“ Percy tried to argue.

“I know.”

Percy sighed knowing there was no talking Piper out of this as she moved in until they were right next to Gaea.

“FOOLISH DEMIGODS!” her face contorted into Annabeth, causing both Piper and Percy to hesitate for a brief second.

“Millennia of sorrow.” Piper told the goddess, her voice dripping with pity, “Your husband, he was abusive wasn’t he?”

The goddess started to nod before stopping when she noticed what she was doing, “LIES!”

Piper continued, seemingly unfazed. “You know, you did the right thing.” Gaea turned to Piper shocked, stopping all her attacks. “Cutting him into tiny pieces so that he can never hurt you again. After all, you just wanted to keep your kids safe, right?”

Percy’s eyes met Leo’s. She concentrated, forcing rain to slowly fall from the sky again. Percy made sure not to let the rain touch Gaea so that all her attention would stay on Piper.

Leo’s eyes were tight shut and Percy felt the air becoming warm. You could still hear the rain hitting the pavement in the background. Put together, the two of them just made the atmosphere perfect for sleeping.

Everything was relying on Piper now.

“All that pain. All that suffering.” Piper’s voice was soothing. “It’s no wonder you’re so tired.”

Gaea snapped out of the trance she was in. “I-YOU DO NOT-“

Piper pretended not to hear her and continued. “You want one thing.” Piper’s words made Percy’s bone shake, “Just one small thing. You’re just so tired of all the stupid and arrogant gods and demigods getting in the way.” Piper lowered her voice. As if telling the goddess a secret, “YOU—WANT—SLEEP.”

“NO!” the goddess groaned. “NO!”

Before Gaea’s body went limp, she held out her arm.

Piper quickly turned to Percy, “We only have a few minutes. My charmspeak won’t- AGHHH”

A thorny vine was creeping up Piper’s leg, trying to drag her down.

“Piper!” Percy screamed, “Give me your hand.”

“I- It’s too late.” Piper gasped in pain, the thorns twisted their way into her leg.

“No, it’s not.” Percy tried to argue, grasping Piper’s hand tighter.“ We can’t lose you too.” she turned to Leo. “Can you try to burn the vine?”

Even from afar, Percy could see Leo’s eyes tearing up. “No.” He whispered. “If I do, I might burn up her whole body.”

“Percy.” her attention went back to one of her closest friends. “Let me go.”

Percy felt the tears falling from her eyes as she shook her head. “NO!” she cried. “I can't! Not you too.”

Piper’s eyes were filled with determination as they met hers. “Don’t let our sacrifices go to waste.” She took in a deep breath. “Percy, let me go.”

Without hesitation, she let go. When Percy realized what happened, she tried to reach for Piper’s hand.

But it was too late.

That’s when she noticed Jason flying towards his girlfriend.

He could save her.

Jason forced the winds to carry his body to Piper’s. He managed to grab onto her waist, but the winds failed him and gave the vines a chance to wrap their thorns around him as well. They held onto each other as the thorns twisted into their body, tearing them into shreds.

“No.” Percy said in disbelief, “No!”

She felt Leo fly next to her. “Come on, Percy.” He gently urged. “We still have to defeat her. Piper’s right. We can’t let their deaths be in vain.”

Percy could only nod, she turned to Leo. He looked like he was made of fire. Realizing what he was about to do, she grabbed his arm. Not caring that it might burn her. “Leo, you can’t.” her voice was cracking, “You can’t leave me.”

“I’m sorry, Percy.” He patted Blackjack. “Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid, okay?”

I’ll try. She heard Blackjack’s voice in her head.

“I’m sorry, Perce.” he gave her a regretful smile. “Just make sure to keep her in the air and trust me.”

Without another glance, Leo threw himself onto the unsuspecting goddess.

Blackjack tried to fly as far away as he could but as soon as Percy heard a high-pitched scream, she used all her leftover energy and dissolved her body into mist.

Gaea began to brightly glow so Percy grabbed Leo’s arm, covered his eyes, and vapor traveled them out before the primordial could explode in golden light.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leo woke up and slowly stood as he tried to get rid of as much dust and ash as he could. He stumbled forward to the silent battlefield.

As Leo looked around, he finally noticed how bloody everything was. It felt like he crashed onto a cemented wall as his memories from the battle came flooding back.

Oh gods, he wanted to cry. They’re dead. They’re all gone.

Except for Percy. His mind argued. The two of them were the only ones left.

“PERCY!” he shouted. “ARE YOU HERE?” Leo continued to walk, his scratchy voice cutting the silence that the former battlefield was just enveloped in. “PERCY!”

A few minutes passed and Leo started to lose hope.

What if she’s dead? his mind whispered.

Stop it. He tried to argue, he couldn’t think like that.

Why? His head continued to taunt. If she’s dead, it’s gonna be all your fault. She saved you. She’s only dead because she saved you.

“No, no, no,” Leo whispered, pulling his hair. “NO! Stop it.” He screamed. “It’s not my fault.”

“Deep breaths.” He heard a familiar voice whisper. “In and out.”

He followed the voice's directions and his eyesight cleared up. “Percy!” he practically flew to her in order to give her a hug. “You’re okay,” he assured himself. “You’re okay.”

“Yeah, but...” her voice trailed off and Leo noticed that she was holding something or rather someone. “He’s not.”

Percy was holding a deformed eagle. Its whole body was crushed, “Is that Frank?” He couldn’t believe it, “How is he still alive?”

“His stick.” Percy reminded him. “It didn’t burn.” no one said anything for a while. “Leo,” Percy’s voice faltered. “There’s only three of us left alive.”

“Yeah?” Leo questioned, thinking that it was obvious.

“No, I mean-“ Percy stammered, “A few years ago, Chiron told me that the number three was sacred to the Greek world.”

Leo suddenly understood what she was implying. The three of them alive marked the end of their quest.

They won. But at what cost?

All of a sudden, a small stick- the size of his pinky finger appeared in Percy’s hand. It seems that even the gods pitied the son of Mars.

He watched as her eyes stared at the only thing keeping Frank alive, contemplating what to do.

They didn’t want Frank to go.

He was the only other person who understood what the both of them went through.

They were the last three demigods who survived Gaea but looking at him, Leo knew it would be selfish to keep Frank alive. Every bone he had was crushed.

He spent the last few hours of his life in so much pain. And there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t talk. Nothing. The least they could do was take him out of his misery.

Leo knew that Percy realized that as well when she hesitantly handed the stick to Leo, “Do it.”

And Leo did.

They could only watch as both the stick and their friend disintegrated into ashes.

Frank didn’t die in the hands of their enemy. Instead, he gladly died in the hands of the last, two trusted members of the seven.

As Percy and Leo watched Frank’s ashes disappear into the wind, they hoped that the souls of each demigod that died in this war made it to Elysium, where they can live in peace. They deserved it.

They said nothing for a while. The air was filled with a comfortable silence as they figured out what to do next.

“Do you have enough energy to get us back to the Argo II?” Leo abruptly asked.

“I think so.” Percy’s voice sounded so tired that Leo regretted asking her. After all, she did most of the heavy lifting in their fight against the giants. It was honestly scary. She fought with the precision of a goddess, it didn’t help that she had the looks of one as well. “Hold on tight.”

Leo felt his body dissolve before getting back together again. His mind felt dizzy as his feet touched the solid ground.

When his head cleared up, he noticed the familiar walls of his ship. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

It was all over.

Percy moved near him, “What are you gonna do now?”

“I fixed Festus and I plan on using him to find Calypso. She’s on an island called-“

“Ogygia.” Percy frowned, “I met her once but after the second titan war, I used one of my wishes to get her free.”

“The gods suck.” Leo bluntly stated, “After the last giant was defeated they disappeared. Athena didn’t even check on Annabeth!” Percy nodded, “They did the bare necessity and then they left without even a goodbye.”

“You’re right,” she whispered. “If you find Calypso, tell her I said that I was sorry. I really believed that the gods let her free.”

“She’ll forgive you.” He assured, “And it’s not your fault anyway. And Percy?” She faced him, “I’m probably not gonna go back to camp. There are just too many memories and I can’t handle that right now.”

Percy nodded in agreement. “I get what you mean. I just want a break from the godly world. I don’t want to see any mythological creatures again. And if we head back to camp, the gods are just gonna give us another quest.”

They shared a look of agreement. There was always another quest.

“I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to, so let’s just try to make ourselves look as presentable as possible. Then we can head on our separate ways.” He advised.

Percy closed the distance between them and gave him another hug. This wasn’t goodbye, they would see each other again. “Make sure you stay safe. If you ever need help, just IM me. It doesn’t matter if they’re watching, I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

Leo found himself saying “I will.” before they both went to their respective rooms.

Leo quickly grabbed his belongings, stopping in the Med Bay filling up a random backpack he found with all the supplies he needed.

He made sure that his belt was still on his waist and that it wasn’t loose. If worse came to worse, he could summon almost anything he needed.

With a final glance at the direction Percy went, Leo pressed a few buttons on the suitcase on his desk before throwing it out into the air.

“Come on, Festus!” Leo called out, “The faster we get out of here, the better.”

Festus lowered his body, giving Leo a chance to climb up. After making sure that all their supplies wouldn’t fall, Festus lifted them onto the sky, flying towards the unknown.

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zahneundklauen-retired · 3 years

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Lead And I Will Follow || Ariana and Alcher

TIMING: Sometime after Alcher got back from dreamland (Current-ish) PARTIES: @letsbenditlikebennett and @zahneundklauen SUMMARY: Alcher and Ariana discuss what the future might hold and how the present might unfold. CONTENT: None!

It was hard to know, now, what was real and what wasn’t. And while Alcher hadn’t seen Klaus since she’d “woken up”-- but oh did she wish to, oh how she wanted to-- she still wasn’t sure she could truly trust anything she was seeing. Was this bench real? Was the farm real? Was the figure coming up the drive real? Her sense had never failed her before, but she hadn’t even realized who it was until she could see them in front of her. Ariana. But even reaching out to touch the girl couldn’t prove she was real, could it? And so Alcher waited, watching her with tired eyes. The bags that had grown under them showed off the lack of sleep the older wolf was getting, and the creaking of her joints reminded her of how long it had been since she’d changed. She felt stiff, solid, frozen. Her head always hurt. Her chest felt empty. She hadn’t told a soul what had happened in that dream world, the shame wrought inside of her like a poison-- not even Ulfric. She wanted to be strong for her new pack, but how could she remember her love for them when she could not feel her old family’s? Blinking away the thoughts, she stood up from her spot on the bench outside to greet the young pup. “It’s good to see you,” she said with a ghostly smile, “it’s been a while. Have you reconsidered living here at all?”

The farm had quickly begun to feel like a second home of sorts. It wasn’t quite a cabin in the woods, but Ariana found she felt at ease there all the same. It was definitely more spacious than her apartment and Alcher and Ulf always seemed more than happy to have her there. In theory, moving in would have been easy, but as it stood, she realized Alcher didn’t even really know about Celeste let alone Athena. Or her friendship with Rio and Kaden. Then again, had they not had a good talk after everything with Adam? It was hard for her to wrap her head around. This living squarely in between two worlds wasn't easy, especially when she was in a spiral of doubting her own ability to truly help anyone. Her own worries seemed to slip away as she made her way up to the farm. Alcher... did not look good. If she was going to be frank about it, she might even say Alcher looked like shit. Her limbs and eyes both seemed heavy. It even took her longer than normal to acknowledge who was approaching when she was normally so sharp. Just in time, Alcher was up to greet her and Ariana offered a smile. “It’s good to see you too,” she said with a slightly quirked brow, “I haven’t. The place looks great and I love you guys, but I couldn’t imagine leaving Athena. It’s… well different kind of love and all. Doesn’t mean I won’t be by all the time.” She gave Alcher a slight nudge, but still couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t quite right. “How are you doing? You look… tired.”

“Ah, yes, your new, er--” Alcher started, but lately she’d been forgetting more and more English words. It was supposed to be a simple one. “Freundin, partner.” That was what Ulfric had told her she and him were, and it had warmed her heart. She hoped Ariana felt the same with her Athena. “I take it she is treating you well, then? And you her?” she motioned for Ariana to come sit with her, sliding an arm around her shoulders. The height difference between them seemed less so now when her body hung her so heavy she slouched. As they sat, Alcher moved with great effort, leaning back with a sigh of relief once she was down again. Usually her body healed quickly, but she supposed super healing didn’t apply to a body that was damaged in another realm. Perhaps the ink that had swallowed them was still in her lungs, her heart, her veins. “I am...dealing,” she answered. It was the only answer she had. Perhaps Ariana was not even real, and Alcher was simply having another conversation with her own consciousness. She shook the thought away and reached out to squeeze Ariana’s hand, grounding herself in this reality. “I can not really begin to describe what happened, it’s as if it was really just a dream…” her voice tapered off as her eyes glossed over slightly. A beat later and she blinked, coming back to herself. “It was not without consequence, though. But,” she turned to look at Ariana, “I am home and I am alive, and that counts for something.” It had to, otherwise everything she’d sacrificed would be for nothing.

“Freudin,” Ariana repeated slowly, “Girlfriend, but partner also works. More general and suits everyone, you know?” There was still something about any of the words that excited her still. While they had settled into a comfortable routine together, there was a certain magic to it all. How even her heaviest moments seemed lighter somehow. “Yes, we’re treating each other well. Supporting each other and all that. It’s been nice.” There was only a slight hint of a blush on her cheeks that faded just as quickly as her head tilted. Alcher’s response was arguably more of a nonanswer that left her wanting answers. It was likely that Alcher didn’t want to put any problems on her, but she couldn’t help but wonder. Couldn’t help but want to help before that familiar sinking feeling rose up in her. Help. Something she longed so much to give yet whenever she tried, she only seemed to make things worse. No, this wasn’t about her and wasn’t time to sink back into those darker feelings that kept creeping back to the surface no matter how hard she tried to push past them and remind herself that trying was always worth the pain. “Dealing,” she said slowly as she tried to formulate how to approach this, “A dream? Can you try… to, you know, describe it?” Whatever had Alcher in this state, she definitely wanted to know about it though she wished she realized something was up sooner. Alcher was always so quick to offer help to her, it felt like that should go both ways. “It does count, for a lot, but so does whatever you went through.”

“Good,” Alcher said, patting Ariana’s leg, “good. You deserve someone who can make you happy like that. As long as she’s treating you well.” Her voice trailed off a moment, as if she were contemplating something. “That’s all that matters.” She turned her head to look at Ariana and wondered if, perhaps, she’d completely lost it, and this version of the girl was a conjuring of her own imagination. How would she be able to tell? Sure, she could smell Ariana, and hear the sound of her voice, and even see the blurry shape of her figure beside her, but if her senses could have been tricked once before, why not again? She simply let out a breath and closed her eyes, trying to remember as best she could. “I promise you, Ariana, I am not trying to...minimize what I went through, but it is not your responsibility to pick me up from it,” she opened her eyes to look at her again. “I want to be the best I can be for you and while that may take some time to get back to, I will get there. You need just look out for you and make sure you are doing your best.” She would not want to look so weak as to need to lean on her pups. No, she had Ulfric for her more immediate needs, and others for her more difficult ones.

“I’m inclined to agree with you, but I think most people deserve someone like that in their life,” Ariana agreed with a slight shrug. Hell, a little bit of love could make a hell of a lot of a difference for most. Alcher may have had her own thoughts on that, but it was hard to gauge. Where Ariana was an open book, Alcher seemed to keep her troubles close to her heart. She trusted Alcher, she had earned that much, but she wished she’d show a bit of vulnerability. Wolves had the pack so no one had to be strong all the time. There was a slight frown on her face as Alcher spoke and she looked down at her lap momentarily to refrain from letting out a sigh. “It’s not about whether it’s my responsibility. I care about you. If there’s anything I can do to help, I want to do it,” she explained earnestly. If she really thought about it, she could understand Alcher’s tendency to be a bit more reserved with her troubles, but emotion ruled and she found herself pressing for that trust she put in the older wolf to be returned. “You already are,” she insisted, “It’s not- your best isn’t something that stays the same, okay? It’s always changing and right now you’re at your best given whatever you’ve gone through. Maybe I can’t change what happened, but I can be here now. And pr- assure that I’m staying out of trouble on my end. But we’re wolves, we’re here for each other. It’s kind of our thing.” She reached to give Alcher’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. Maybe she was pushing too hard, but after everything Alcher had done for her, the least she could do was offer some support.

“Hmmmm…” Alcher hummed quietly, contemplating. “Yes, most people do.” She wondered if she did. She wondered if she deserved what she did have. If she couldn’t even protect her family, how could she protect a pack? Were any of the packs she’d helped better off now? Was Cain’s pack doing okay? She wondered if they would welcome her back. She wondered if they missed her. She missed them, sometimes. Her mind came back to the little wolf sitting next to her and she blinked. She frowned, furrowed her brow. “I...would not even know what to ask of you, Ariana,” she admitted quietly, “because I do not know what I need.” For the first time in her life, she had no idea what she needed. There was no vengeance left, no stain on her past, no family to hold. There was just-- this. A farm, a pack, a partner. She wanted a family. So, perhaps, she did know what she needed. “You’ve always been so strong, Ariana,” she said then, turning to look at her. She appreciated the gentle touch, the reassuring stare. “The others look up to you, you know. They’ll need your help. I can only give them so much.” She would give them her entire body, soul and mind and all, if they asked. “RIght now I think I need you to...be there for them, while I can’t. I want this place to be...a home for them. I’d like to think it could be full one day.” She turned her wistful gaze out onto the land that stretched towards the horizon, and the treeline. “Ulfric wants that, too.”

Ariana found she admired Alcher’s quiet strength. The way she carried herself always had a hint of pride to it. Life hadn’t been easy for either of them, but if Alcher persevered through it all, maybe she could too. Even on the days she wasn’t so sure she could. It was evident the elder wolf still carried pain close to her heart. Maybe it wasn’t something she felt inclined to share, but in its way, it made Alcher easier to relate to. Even this wolf, who in her mind had been relentlessly fierce and almost untouchable, had moments of vulnerability. Even if they weren’t shared with her, it was a good reminder to stay strong. To keep pushing. “That’s okay,” she responded gently, “It’s not always easy figuring out what you need. But for what it’s worth, I’m here and I care.” Ariana decided being there was what she could do. Alcher was so determined to help wolves all around the world, so she could be here. She could be strong. She could help Luis and Damien even if the latter fought tooth and nail to keep her at arm’s length. She found herself looking up as Alcher spoke of her strength and how the others looked up to her. It was nice to hear. “You are too-- strong that is,” she said easily, “And I’ll do my best for the others, too. I think Luis could use somewhere to call home. Hell, I bet if Damien pulled his head out of his ass for all of thirty seconds, he’d like that, too.” There was a bit of a laugh as she spoke of Damien. Annoying him had become a bit of a hobby for her, but she had the feeling she was getting under his skin. It made that dream they shared that much more achievable. She smiled softly. “I think one day, we’ll all be here together roasting meat over an open fire and just… laughing. Singing. Enjoying ourselves. And that’s because of you and Ulf.”

“It is worth so much,” Alcher reassured Ariana, giving her a pat on the hand. And it was. She would not lie about that, even to make a pup feel better. Ariana was so much stronger than the rest of them, her resolve so unshaken. She knew the girl had been through a lot, but it showed, and she proved herself time and time again that she had a good head between her shoulders. Her only fault laid with the humans and hunters she so desperately protected. But Alcher didn’t have the energy-- nor the will-- the fight that battle right now. It could come later, when she was better. When things were back to normal. If that ever happened. “Luis is...so lost,” she sighed. The poor boy was going to run himself to death if he kept thinking his wolf was a disease that he could find a cure for. She was touched, though, that he tried so hard to connect with her. Damien, on the other hand, was left to his own devices. While she cared for all wolves, she could see the hate inside of him that would drive his path, and she could do nothing but offer him her guidance if he so wanted it. He was old enough to make his own choices. “I hope so, too,” she said, pulling her thoughts back to the present. “I think I’d like that.” She looked out across the farm and saw, in a momentary lapse, her brothers running free and wild across a field of lush green. Rolling, playing, laughing. She felt nothing for it, and emptier for that. “If you find something important, Ariana, hold onto it. Tighter than anything else. Okay?”

The reassuring gesture left Ariana feeling a little better about everything. She still worried for Alcher and whatever it is that she may have gone through recently, but better than most, she knew there was no changing the past. Sometimes just being there for people you cared for had to be enough even if you wanted to give them the world. There was a soft grin on her face as Alcher patted her hand. The breeze that picked up around them perfectly mirrored the gentleness of the moment and carried with it the smell of new life coming into bloom. As nice as this moment was, Ariana found she did worry for Luis and she wasn’t quite sure how she was supposed to help him. Nearly every time she spoke to him, she found herself confused and it seemed he managed to find so much trouble. “He is,” she said softly, “I’m not really sure how to help him. All of this is so new to him and White Crest is so well… White Crest. It’s good he at least believes what he is now, I just think acceptance and becoming one with the wolf side himself will take time.” She was able to gather that Luis didn’t really want to hurt anyone. Maybe showing him how she went through life could help. “What do you normally do to help new wolves get a good grip on all of this,” she asked, genuinely curious. Alcher probably knew better than anyone how to help new wolves. After all, travelling and helping packs was her life’s work. If she could pick up on some of what Alcher had to offer, she could help, too. And they’d be closer to that nice barbecue day together on the farm. “I thought you would,” she responded with a small smile before her face settled into a relaxed yet thoughtful glance out at the field. She nodded slowly, “I will. I think-- Well, we both know how easy the people we love can slip out of reach forever. But I’ll hold on to what’s important to me, always. And that includes you, Ulf, Luis, and even Damien.”

The breeze was nice. Alcher closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the feeling for a moment, as she listened to Ariana’s words, and thought on them. The truth was that she had not encountered anyone as lost as Luis. There had been many, lost to rage, or sorrow, or pain-- but never to the point of this. She was still deciding what was best. She wanted to take him in and hold him until he understood, and another part of her wanted to force him to face himself, his wolf, and embrace it, just like her father had made her and her brothers do. But that sentiment was....cold. An echo in her chest. “I’ve found the best way is to just...show them what you can. Show them that their wolf is not a monster. We are simply-- part of the ecosystem and we are at the top of the food chain. Our rage and our power does not have to be used to maim, and it can be controlled. But I think most of us are just...searching for peace, and it is a hard thing to achieve when a beast crawls in your chest.” She looked over at Ariana. “Perhaps he just needs someone who understands him more. We were both born as we are, but he lived a very human life up until his bite. I just do not...know who might be able to give him that.” Alcher reached up to rub her head, a sudden throb working its way across her temples. Sleepless nights had turned into painful afternoons. “Good things are never really gone, if we keep them in our hearts,” she mumbled. Her heart was cold and empty now, the good of her family taken by a creature who made empty promises.

Even when it was apparent things were not completely okay, Ariana found there to be something peaceful about sitting on the porch of the farm with Alcher. This space really felt like it could be a safe haven for the wolves. As the breeze swayed blades of grass, she could picture all of them running free out here. She could see them working with newer wolves to help them learn control. On summer days, she could see them out here barbecuing far too much meat and laughing away. She held on hope that they’d all see those good times together sooner rather than later. Her focus shifted back to Alcher as she took in every word. From the moment she’d met him, Ariana felt protective of Luis. He’d been so lost as to what he was and so sure he was sick. “That makes sense. I can definitely try to show him more and work with him on learning to embrace being a wolf. I think maybe acceptance plays into that, both the control and the peace. The way he talked about it was like it’s a disease,” she said slowly as she tried to wrap her head around some ideas. Maybe sparring out in the forest or meditation or something could help. Focusing in on her breathing had always helped her, but her wolflike nature was ingrained in her personality, she was never fighting herself or her instincts. And she also knew Alcher was right, they’d never really be able to understand his struggle. They were born this way and didn’t hate what they were because they’d never known anything else. “I try to understand, but I know I can’t. Maybe we’ll meet another new wolf who could relate to him better. I think Damien was bitten, but he’s not exactly the friendliest guy around.” Ariana could understand that, wanting to be understood. She let out a soft sigh and leaned back her seat. A lot of good things lived on in her heart, but they sure as hell felt gone. It was a nice sentiment though so she nodded, “As long as we carry them with us.”

The breeze brought the scent of the forest around them to Alcher’s head and she felt a relief she hadn’t in a long time. It was a relief to know she had Ariana by her side, and it was a relief to know she had this place. It was her sanctuary, just like her home in Germany had been. She’d been searching for one for so long now. Had she even realized that, until this moment? She couldn’t be sure. “I think he might feel more at peace with someone closer to his age. I fear I might...intimidate him,” she admitted quietly, “but at least he knows, now, what he truly is. He poisons himself with our bane, though, and I wish there was a way to stop him from that. Perhaps with time, with demonstration.” She looked back over to Ariana. “I am sorry to place this burden on you, Ariana, but I believe you can be a great leader, one day.” She reached out to gently tuck some of her hair behind her ear. “A pack would be lucky to have you at its head.”

It was funny how something Ariana had always wanted could leave her feeling so uncertain. While the smells and sounds of the forest that surrounded the farm brought her a sense of ease, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was really the one to help or lead. All she knew was trying felt worlds better than leaving people she cared for hanging. “I think you may be right. I think age-wise we can relate well and I enjoy his music. I don’t love that he uses the wolfsbane, but I think it gives him a sense of control. Maybe not real control, but I believe he can get there,” she said thoughtfully. The next part was a little more tricky. Befriending hunters and even loving a select few of them either made her the best fit for leading or the worst. She was sure plenty of wolves would challenge her ideals just as she was sure many hunters would too. They all deserved some peace though. “Hm,” she sighed as she thought it over, “Thank you… and it’s not a burden. I think leading means being there for people you care about and that’s never something I’d consider a burden.” The gesture from Alcher left her feeling a bit warmer and less wary of everything they all faced. “No matter who is leading, I’ll always try to help other wolves in need,” she said more confidently this time and hoped that it ensured Alcher the wolves in White Crest would be well looked after even if she hoped that didn’t mean Alcher would make her way to another town soon.

Ariana’s words nearly matched the same ones Alcher had said to her mother over three decades ago. Her mind tried to latch onto the memory, trying to remember why it had mattered so much. But it left nothing, only the burning ache that had replaced all of it. She closed her eyes and breathed in again, washing the memory away. She had new ones to create. “You’ll make a great leader,” she reiterated, patting her hand gently. She looked back out across the farm again and turned to Ariana. “How about we go for a run? We haven’t done that for a while. I can show you how far the property stretches and we can decide the best place to have our future barbeque.”

#chatzy #chatzy: ariana #lead and i will follow #ariana #wickedswriting

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thisissirius · 4 years

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because @hearteyesforbuck told me i should post it

you have (1) voicemail eddie/buck, angst with no happy ending lalala a sequel to @hearteyesforbuck‘s you have (1) missed call and yes, it’s exactly what you think it is

Okay, Chim says.

Take care of Maddie, from Bobby.

I’ll stay at the hospital in case Eddie comes, Hen’s sent.

Frank writes. Writes more. Writes even more. Eddie’s life is reduced to a spiral notebook with peeling Hello Kitty stickers on the front. Eddie wonders if they’re a gift from Frank’s daughter. Maybe a niece? Sister?

-------------

If Eddie took his phone—

If Eddie let Buck stay—

If, if, if.

-------------

“If he let me drive him to work like I kept saying,” Eddie says, angry.

Mimi and Kitty are staring at Eddie, smudged with dirt, part of Kitt’s face curling over. Frank shifts the book on his knee, Mimi disappears into the curve of Frank’s jacket. “Would that help?”

“I don’t know, Frank, I think he’d be alive.”

-------------

Eddie doesn’t know what he’s expecting when he diverts from the station, heading straight for the hospital, but it’s not this;

Hen, eyes red-rimmed and defeated, saying, “I’m sorry.”

A bag of belongings in her hand that Maddie won’t, can’t, is afraid to take.

As if Eddie’s able to function instead of feeling this cold, dark emptiness well up inside of his chest.

“No,” Eddie says.

-------------

No, he says to Frank, and goes with it for a very, very long time.

-------------

Chris folds in on himself.

Eddie’s heard it before in the books Buck likes (liked) to pretend he doesn’t (didn’t) love. It’s a stupid description and he’s always laughed, burying his face in Buck’s shoulder, and telling Buck to fuck off and read some good literature—

“He won’t talk to me,” Eddie says.

“Eddie,” Frank says gently.

“I can’t even help my own son through the grief I can’t let myself feel.”

“Because you’re angry.”

“Damn fucking right I’m angry,” Eddie snaps.

-------------

“Who leaves a fucking message,” Eddie waves his phone in Frank’s face, “telling someone they love them as the last thing they do?”

-------------

Someone who’s got nothing left to lose.

-------------

Chris is curled up on the couch.

Eddie stares at his face, slack with sleep, tear tracks drying on his cheeks. Athena’s hands are running through his hair, saying something to Bobby that Eddie can’t hear.

The kitchen is the safest place in Eddie’s house; it’s empty but for crumb-littered plates, discarded napkins, and half-empty bottles. Stumbling out of the back door, Eddie makes it to his dying bushes and throws up what little food he’s managed to eat.

A hand rests on his back and he jerks away, snarls at Chim to, “get the fuck away from me.”

“Eddie,” Maddie says, stricken.

“What?” Eddie stalks away from them, hands clenched into fists. There’s nowhere to go, it’s a fucking yard, but he stalks to the end anyway. He hates this, fucking hates it.

“He wouldn’t want this for you—”

“Well,” Eddie snaps, turning and looking Maddie in the eye, “he sure as shit didn’t leave that in a message for me.”

Maddie’s eyes widen, her face shifting into confusion and despair.

“Edmundo Diaz,” Abuela says, crossing the yard with a thunderous look on her face. There’s a trickle of others from the house, everyone spilling into his yard, all dressed in black, looking solemn, ruining his grass and his solitude and his grief.

“Stop it,” Eddie breathes. “Stop it, just stop.”

-------------

“I don’t want to go to his funeral.”

Frank raises an eyebrow. “Yet you’re hosting.”

“Who else was going to? Maddie and Chim don’t have the space, and Buck practically,” Eddie cuts himself off, stares at a point above Frank’s left shoulder. “Thought he lived in my house.”

How does that make you feel, someone else might say.

It’s okay to not want that, he remembers his mom saying.

“The fact that you want makes this worse?”

Eddie’s never hated Frank more.

-------------

“Clear the yard,” Bobby says.

“Time to go,” Hen says, voice carrying over the din.

“Is Dad okay?” Christopher’s words drift over the yard.

“I don’t know,” Eddie starts, shaking.

Maddie touches his face, thumb stroking over his cheek. “Eddie—”

“He left me a message,” Eddie gasps. “Said he—he loves me and then—”

“Fuck,” Chimney whispers.

Leaning in, Maddie brushes a kiss over his hairline. Eddie doesn’t deserve it, he doesn’t know what to do, how to feel, can’t be what Christopher needs because he, “can’t do this.”

“You can,” Maddie whispers. “We can. Together.”

Eddie looks her in the eye. “What’s wrong with me that I don’t get to keep the people I love?”

-------------

The Hello Kitty stickers have almost completely peeled. Mimi’s missing a head, and Kitty’s handbag is restuck to the bottom of the notebook.

“How’s Chris?” Frank asks.

Eddie shrugs, swallows thickly. “Sad. Clingy. Missing Buck.”

Frank’s eyes are kind. “And you?”

“I loved him,” Eddie says. He picks at a loose thread on his hoodie. It’s Buck’s hoodie. “He’s not here anymore.”

The notebook slides to the table. “You never say died. Or dead. Dying.”

Eddie bites at the inside of his cheek, fighting the tears burning his eyes. Why does Frank always do this? Strip away the anger and the emptiness and just leave the feelings Eddie doesn’t want to face?

“You’re not pretending he’s still alive,” Frank says.

“Think Bobby might have me taken off duty indefinitely,” Eddie points out. “The only reason I’m still here is that he needs you to sign off on me returning.”

-------------

The plot is colourful.

Probably not intentionally; so many flowers and plants and notes taped to sticks.

Eddie feels sick.

Crouching down in front of the headstone, Eddie looks everywhere but at the name.

“Chris is gonna visit this weekend.” There’s a lump in Eddie’s throat that he can’t shift. He closes his eyes, breathes out slowly. Finally, he lifts his eyes.

Evan Buckley. Beloved brother, friend, firefighter.

Choking on a sob, Eddie runs his fingers over Buck’s name. “I hate you for leaving me.”

-------------

There’s no notebook.

Eddie frowns as he takes a seat. “You’re not writing today.”

“I don’t think there’s a need,” Frank says. “How do you feel?”

Like my best friend’s dead.

“Chris has stopped crying,” Eddie says instead. He licks at his bottom lip. “He did his last project on Buck. Keeps saying he’s gonna make Buck proud by doing everything he and Buck planned together—”

“How do you feel,” Frank says again.

Eddie shuts his mouth abruptly. Opens his mouth. Closes it. Says, “Buck’s dead.”

“Yes,” Frank agrees, “he is.”

“He left me behind,” Eddie continues. “I thought I had—that we’d—I’ll never get that and I’m angry and hurt but not, not at Buck.”

Frank nods, and Eddie doesn’t think he’s imagining the pride shining in his expression. “I’ve signed you back for work.”

“I almost didn’t want to,” Eddie admits, clenching his hands into fists. “I don’t know if it’s—being there without Buck hurts.”

“What would you do instead?”

Eddie’s startled. “You don’t think I should go back?”

Frank smiles gently. “It’s your life, Eddie. Your choices.”

“I think I choose,” Eddie says, pauses, “to take my time choosing.”

-------------

“I love you too,” Eddie whispers, resting a bouquet against the headstone.

#buddie #buddie fic #911 #eddie diaz #evan buckley #fic by me #otp: i forgive you #character death #OOPS

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lukecastellandeservedbetter · 4 years

Text

19. Time To Sea A God

Read the others!: Masterlist

“Luke! Luke!” Someone was shaking Luke hurriedly, pulling him out of the peaceful sleep.

Luke’s eyes flashed open and his hand found the sword by his bed as he flew at whoever was trying to wake him up.

“Woah! It’s just me!”

Luke’s eyes focused on Jason, who he held against the floor. “Oh. Shit, sorry,” He apologized, getting up, helping Jason up sheepishly. “I thought you were an intruder or something.”

“I probably should’ve figured out a better way to wake you up,” Jason chuckled, dusting his clothes off. “Those are some wicked reflexes man.”

“Well when you’re on the run for over half your life, you pick up a thing or two.” He chuckled and tossed the sword onto the bed, stretching. “What’s going on?”

Jason looked hesitant. “It’s Percy and Annabeth.”

“What about them?” Luke immediately straightened up, his hands already reaching for the sword, as well as the long dagger from the Roman camp.

“They’re missing, we can’t find them anywhere.” Jason told him, wincing.

Luke grabbed the weapons. “Lead the way.” He said in a low voice, his mind already racing with the worst scenarios.

They all gathered together and made a plan- split up, check every inch of the ship and meet back in the mess hall as soon as they were done. Luke was anxious and maybe talked too fast as they devised a plan, but Jason managed to remain calm and practically translate what Luke was saying.

Luke and Frank took the lower deck, Frank turning into a mouse as he darted into the control room to see if they were in there, promising to check the extra weapons room after. Luke continued on to the stables, opening the door quickly and quietly.

He breathed a sigh of relief seeing the two teens curled up in the hay, before immediately feeling annoyed and exasperated.

“You two are in big trouble.” He announced, rousing the two demigods out of slumber.

Percy and Annabeth both looked over to Luke, who didn’t look happy at all. “Luke… it’s not what it…” He was blushing, trailing off.

“Dude, everyone thinks you’ve been kidnapped or something. Again.” He told him. “We’ve been searching all over for you.”

“We didn’t do anything,” Annabeth dismissed him. “We just fell asleep.”

“And kissed a little.” Percy added, to which Annabeth turned a glare to him.

“Not helping.” She hissed.

“Well get your asses up and get to the mess hall. Everyone’s worried, and I personally don’t want Coach Hedge using my head for target practice.” He rolled his eyes, sheathing his swords. “And next time you two want a romantic getaway, please leave a note or something?” He told them, heading out and up the stairs.

Naturally, the Coach went ballistic on them, calling them out, telling the two that they were irresponsible. It was amusing to see the short satyr go off on the two teens that were both taller than him, and Luke could see Percy trying to hold in his laughter.

Jason diffused the situation, reminding the group they had work to do.

Percy recounted his dream as the eight demigods sat around the table, reminding Luke of the councillor meetings back at Camp Half-Blood, with the Harpies bringing everyone snacks consisting of crackers and Cheez Wiz and the occasional cookie if they were lucky enough.

Luke thought about the son of Hades. It was clever to always keep some of the pomegranate seeds on him. Nico was a very clever demigod, and Luke hoped that the clever plan would keep Nico alive long enough for the group to figure out how to save him.

Luke was quiet as Jason and Leo started questioning Nico’s loyalties. Nico went back and forth between the camps, to check in at Camp Half-Blood and check in on Hazel respectfully, without mentioning one to the other. Luke watched Hazel with growing concern as she became more and more distraught before she finally ran off. He frowned and sat up, before turning to look at the guys. “What’s wrong with you?” He raised his eyebrow.

“What’s wrong with me?” Jason asked incredulously. “I’m just being cautious.”

“Nico obviously knew about how demigods from both camps don’t get along.” Luke pointed out. “Nico… he’s a good kid. A little lost sometimes, but you can’t really blame him.” Luke frowned. “He was just trying to keep his sister safe.”

“I should go talk to her.” Frank said, going to stand.

“Let her calm down,” Piper said softly. “I’ll check on her later.”

Frank grumbled in protest but ultimately slumped in his seat.

A loud noise sounded throughout the room.

“That’s Festus.” Leo piped up. “Where do we need to land?”

Everyone looked to Percy who looked a little uncomfortable with the attention. “I don’t know,” He winced. “Somewhere high up, central. I don’t think the Mist will be able to cover an entire warship.”

“Roger.” Leo nodded and headed up the stairs.

“When we land, I’ll scout around Atlanta.” Percy told the crew. “Frank, I could use your help.”

Luke looked to Frank, who seemed less than willing, claiming he was tired of being a flying taxi system, until Percy assured him that it was for the Poseidon heritage he apparently had.

Hedge jumped all over Percy, who had tried inviting Annabeth along, and claimed that the daughter of Athena was grounded, and instead invited himself along on the quest.

Luke tried not to laugh, hiding his amused smile behind his hand. He patted Percy’s shoulder and got up. “Good luck man,” He chuckled and headed off to find the heartbroken daughter of Pluto.

He found her in the stables, looking through the glass hatch miserably.

“Hey kiddo,” He said quietly, taking a seat next to her.

She didn’t acknowledge him verbally, simply rested her head on his shoulder and cried.

Luke wrapped a brotherly arm around the small and fragile girl, his heart aching for her. Hazel was as fierce as she was kind, and he knew it must have been difficult to learn about Nico, and how he was bait. And especially difficult hearing the Praetor she looked up to insinuating that Nico might not be worth saving since he kept so many secrets.

Luke let her cry as long as she needed to. He had gotten plenty of practice to be the shoulder to cry on, helping young demigods in the Hermes cabin after particularly bad nightmares, or embarrassments in training, or just the overall exhaustion or anger or pain about not being claimed. He discovered the best thing to do was just be there, so they knew they weren’t alone.

“We’ll get Nico back,” He promised her quietly.

“Do you think he’s really a traitor?” She sniffled. “For not telling either camp about the other?”

Luke was quiet for a moment. “No,” He said finally. “I think he was smart. I think he’s already lost a sister and couldn’t stand to lose another one. He knew the Camps never got along, he wouldn’t risk another war that could get you killed.” He frowned. “I think Jason in particular wasn’t trying to hurt you, or Nico, I think he was just trying to be cautious- he doesn’t want to put anyone’s lives in danger.”

“And Leo?” She asked bitterly.

“I don’t think Leo was trying to be cruel either.” He admitted. “I think Leo just doesn’t have a filter. I don’t think Leo could be cruel, it’s not in his nature.”

Hazel nodded and wiped her eyes, sitting back up. “We will get to Nico in time, right? Those seeds… they won’t last much longer.”

“I promise we’re going to get your brother back.” Luke told her, determined to keep this one. “My father helped free Ares when he was trapped in the jar you know.”

“Really?” She asked, surprised.

Luke nodded and recounted the tale of Hermes and Artemis going to save Ares, who had been captured and stuffed into a similar jar by the same twin giants. He put a little bit of dramatics into it, rewarded by a tearful smile and giggles from Hazel, who seemed a little more at ease with the situation.

“So you see? We’ll be fine, breaking into things is my specialty.” He grinned and nudged her. “C’mon, let’s get you something to drink.” He stood up, offering his hand, pulling her up easily.

“After that can we work on some swordplay?” She asked him curiously.

Luke nodded. “Yeah sure, we’ll get you nice and trained up to kick some Giant butt.” He chuckled and led her into the mess hall with a weight in his heart.

He hoped to the gods he could save this kid, for Hazel’s sake.

#Luke Castellan's Second Chance #luke castellan #percy jackson #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #pjo #Heroes of Olympus #hoo

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greekgeek21 · 3 years

Text

Percy Jackson & The Avengers: Convergence - some badass demigod training!!

Hello, and welcome back to...my horrible explanation for being absent! Coming up on this episode, you'll see me explain that I had my first 2 lacrosse games of the season and was left with bruised ribs. If anyone ever says that women's lax isn't a real sport cuz there isn't contact, you can tell them that someone from a fanfic website said they had bruised ribs from playing.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. We're starting to get some actual plot movement I think so have fun with that. Honestly, I kinda forgot what happened in here so...yeah. Please comment, like, follow, and reblog! Stay safe & happy reading!

- your author

Ω ♆ Ω

Percy and Annabeth woke up to the sound of a startled shout. Frank's startled shout, to be specific. They both shot up right away, their battle instincts kicking in, but Frank had seen enough.

"Seriously guys!? Again?" he exclaimed.

"Nothing happened!" Annabeth reassured, "We just fell asleep!"

"We did kiss a little," Percy muttered, and Annabeth shot him a death glare.

"Not. Helping," she whispered scathingly.

A sense of complete déjà vu washed over Percy. Except this time, the rest of the Seven were standing in the doorway, watching on with various amused expressions on their faces.

"Oh, this is perfect. Coach Hedge is gonna love this," Leo smiled in maniacal glee.

"No, Leo," Piper ordered, "You're not going to do that. Instead, we are going to get this meeting over with so I can get some sleep."

"Aw...you ruin all my fun!" he exclaimed.

"Someone's gotta do it when Calypso isn't here," Piper said.

It was true. Calypso and Piper are probably the only ones who could actually control Leo. Calypso because of Leo's fear of losing her or just general fear of her, and Piper because of her charmspeak.

"Ok! That's enough. We're getting sidetracked. We need to start this meeting." Jason clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

He gave Percy a meaningful look; one which said to 'take it from here.' So Percy did.

"Um, well, Annabeth and I wanted to talk to you guys about what's been going on. We need to come to an agreement on what we are allowed to say and do with the Avengers. I don't think we should show them the full extent of our powers because it seemed like those spies were looking for a reason to lock us up," he started, "And I'm not particularly fond of being put in a cell. How about you?"

"Yeah. And we need to figure out a way to deal with the bombings without them figuring us out. The mortals seemed pretty Hades-bent on releasing the big secret, and that never bodes well for people like us. I know that we need their help, but I don't trust them." Annabeth said.

"We can just say we were born with the powers, and have no idea why. I mean, it's technically true," Jason offered.

The others all nodded in agreement.

"Ok, now what about the pattern? What is it?" Piper asked.

"All of the places are big parts of the Greek and Roman world. Brooklyn Bridge is near Manhattan, the home of the Gods, Portland: Mt. St. Helens, where Typon used to be held, LA: entrance to Hades, Long Island: Camp Half-blood, and San Francisco: Camp Jupiter," Annabeth answered.

"Woah," Jason whispered, shocked.

"Yeah, but that's not our biggest concern. We also need to figure out how to hide our identities from the world while we're fighting with the Avengers," Annabeth said.

Everyone else there hadn't even thought of that. It comes in real handy to have a daughter of Athena around sometimes. Ok, not sometimes, all the time. All of them would be really dead without her quick thinking and planning.

"Um, I could try to see if the Aphrodite cabin could cook something up?" Piper suggested, "But most of them are still getting used to fighting, so they won't really know what to make. They need help with the designs."

Leo shot up from where he had slumped down into the desk chair, "I can help! Well, the Hephaestus cabin can. We can help design it so it's battle-ready."

"Good. We'll need those soon, I think. I have a feeling that we're going to have a lead soon, so we need to be ready when it comes. This is just one quest, so there is no need for people to think we're some kind of superheroes," Annabeth said.

"Aw! But I already had a name picked out!" Leo exclaimed.

He looked like he was about to let them in on his superhero name, but Annabeth held up a hand with a glare that clearly said to not speak unless he wanted to lose some very important parts of him. That kept him quiet, for sure.

"Is that all?" Frank asked, towering over them all.

"For now, yes. Remember, say the absolute minimum and stick to twisting the truth. If you reveal any new information without the others knowing, call a meeting to let us know," Annabeth confirmed, nodding her head.

"Great, now I can go back to sleep," Percy said, pulling Annabeth back down with him.

The others filed out soon after that, already hearing Percy's soft snores as they left and returned to their respective rooms. Ok, so Jason and Piper stayed in the same room like Percy and Annabeth did, but nothing happened. It was just nice to be in the arms of someone who cares about you, you know?

Ω ♆ Ω

"Up and at 'em, kiddos! It's training day!" Tony gleefully exclaimed over the speakers that Percy was absolutely sure he did not see in his room.

Percy groaned when he saw what time it was: 6:00 AM. He knew he wasn't allowed to (and that it was wrong, of course), but he wanted to kill Tony so badly in that moment. It would be quick! Nobody would suffer!

But, alas, he had to actually work with the man-child. It might not come off like it, but Percy takes war very seriously, and this was starting to feel like a war. Or at least, it would become one if they didn't stop it soon. And to do that, they needed the Avengers, apparently.

That was the only reason that he followed Annabeth in getting up and ready for the day. He took a little longer than Annabeth, but at 6:30 AM, they were stepping out of his room. They saw that the others were slowly doing the same. They were all tired. There weren't any big dream incidents, but that doesn't mean that staying up until midnight and then waking up at six in the morning won't do something to you. Even Leo looked exhausted, with big puffy eyes from rubbing them in an attempt to wake himself up quicker. If Leo Valdez was tired, then you knew that it was too early for this.

Also, you have to remember that they'reteenagers. Teenagers aren't meant to be up super early- it's a scientific fact, Percy thinks. Annabeth once told him something about their melatonin not releasing until later at night, so they could stay up and sleep in later.

What? Percy pays attention to what she's saying sometimes.

"I hate Tony," Piper grumbled, practically falling asleep on Jason.

"You and us all, chica," Leo mumbled before letting out a huge yawn.

"What did he say was going on? Training?" Jason asked, looking over at Annabeth for answers because she seemed the most awake of the group.

"Yep. Training, whatever that entails. I don't know, so be prepared for anything. I really hope it has nothing to do with electronics, but knowing our luck, and how Tony has been so far, it will, so just try not to get too close," she answered.

Leo tiredly saluted her, "Yes, ma'm."

Hazel rolled her eyes, "Come on, Repair Boy."

She grabbed his arm and started leading the way towards the living room, which was their best guess at where the Avengers were.

As they were walking, they were interrupted by the disembodied voice of JARVIS, "Excuse me, but I was told to direct you to the training room, where the Avengers are currently assembled and waiting for you. Shall I proceed?"

All of the demigods were still really weirded-out by the AI, and there was no way it was ending soon. It's just a reminder that they were currently in a building basically composed entirely of technology, one of their greatest liabilities. Liabilities were a dangerous thing in their lives.

"Yes..." Percy answered hesitantly, unsure where to look.

"Then please follow the arrows projected on the ground, sir," JARVIS said.

Sure enough, there were large white arrows pointing them away from the living room, so they followed them. It was about a two minute walk to the elevators, where they were told to go to the 60th floor, which was apparently one whole training room by itself.

Ω ♆ Ω

"So let me get this straight, you guys want us to...play a video game?" Frank asked, gesturing to the giant room around them.

The Seven were quickly ushered by the Avengers into a big room with a bunch of white, padded tiles all around them as soon as they had reached the training floor. There was only a viewing window and an exit that disappeared when the door was closed. Then, Tony explained what they were going to be doing. None of them really understood it yet.

"No! I want you to fight the LMDs! The robots! They will simulate different levels of skill to evaluate your skills. Understand?" Tony punctuated each word, quickly losing any sense of patience he had started with.

"Yeah. We got it," Annabeth sighed.

Ok, she was sure she was the only one of them who realized that they were about to break one of the rules they established last night on the first day. They were about to fight robots. TECHNOLOGY.

This should go well, Annabeth thought.

Steve interrupted before Tony could make a snarky comment, "Good. We'll start with fighting separately and then together as a group. Afterwards, we'll see how you work with different weapons."

"Aye aye, Cap," Leo joked.

"Leo, focus. We're about to fight ROBOTS." Annabeth tried to get the son of Hephaestus to understand the severity of the situation. "You have a back-up plan, right?"

He could talk to machines. Robots were machines. Therefore, he should be able to get them out of this mess if anything went wrong.

He gave her a nod of understanding, and Annabeth settled back into her natural stance rather than her tense one. Well, she's always tensed for battle. At least in her natural one it's less obvious.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Tony asked over the intercom.

"Uncle Leo will go first, right?" Percy joked, referencing to one of Leo's favorite nicknames for himself.

"Sure! I just need to know how much damage I'm allowed to do," Leo said, looking up at the Avengers.

Annabeth was shocked that he had even thought to ask that, and apparently the Avengers were, too.

"Um, just let go. There's nothing you can do to break this room. I designed it myself," Tony answered, still arrogant even through his confusion.

"Come on out, the rest of you," Natasha instructed.

Once the rest of the demigods had exited the room and stood next to the Avengers at the viewing window, Tony pressed a button on a screen that made a compartment in the walls of the room open up, revealing a row of floating LMDs.

"Now, I'm going to start you at Level 2, okay? It gets harder as you move up. The LMDs should stay the same form throughout every level, though. Ready?" Tony said.

Leo pulled his war hammer from his magical toolbelt and lit it and his arms on fire, "Ready."

Tony had to shake himself out of his shock before he pressed the start button, but when he did, every one of the mortal heroes had sat on the edge of their metaphorical seats, eager to see just how powerful these kids could be.

Plus, the kid had just pulled a giant war hammer from his normally-sized toolbelt, and then proceeded to light himself and the hammer on fire. They were bound to be curious after that display.

They knew the very basics of the young heroes' abilities, but most of that stuff was based on just what they had been told. Actual, visible proof is what they wanted.

All at once, the LMDs transformed into the Avengers minus the Hulk. Repeat, they changed into the Avengers. Leo had to fight a copy of the Avengers, alone.

Percy was freaking out inside. Sure, he trusted his friend, but Leo was a joker, and he tended to not understand how serious things were. In this case, he hoped that didn't happen.

"This should be interesting," Natasha remarked.

"No, this should be terrible. Tony, you never told me you were using this setting," Bruce said, rushing up to the other scientist, "He's just a kid."

"I think they've made it clear they aren't just kids, Jolly Green. It's fine. If they wanted to be treated like the rest of us, then they need to pass this test," Tony said.

Bruce looked like he wanted to say a lot more, but Jason stepped up to stop him, "He'll be fine, Dr. Banner. Leo may not look it, but he's powerful and he's smart. He can handle this."

Jason looked so sure of himself that it was enough to convince the doctor that it would be okay.

In truth, Jason had no idea how this program worked. There was a good chance that Leo did not, in fact, have this handled.

While this was being discussed, Leo had already started to fight the Iron Man LMD. He was currently alternating between swinging his hammer at it and firing balls of fire. The LMD had only been hit a couple of times because it kept maneuvering around the attacks by flying away.

It was getting tiresome, and Leo wanted it to be over with. So, he dropped his hammer and set a determined look on his face, glaring up at the robot.

The Seven were grinning, already figuring out what was happening, while the Avengers were just plain confused. What was the kid gonna do? Glare them to death?

Then, Leo started grinning and they knew it was all over.

He crouched down onto the ground and placed a hand on the floor, closing his eyes in concentration. The LMDs seemed to be as confused as their originals.

Three seconds passed before Leo's grin grew even more, and then he spoke a single word, "Stop."

And they did. Every single LMD lost their form and fell to the ground, limp and unmoving. Leo stood up, dusted his pants off, and turned to the viewing window to see his teammate's reactions.

They were priceless.

"That's how you do it," he said, "Am I done?"

Tony literally shook himself out of his stupor, "Yeah, sure. I need to reboot the LMDs."

When Leo came through the door, the rest of the demigods crowded him, patting him on the back and laughing at his dramatics.

"What was that?" Natasha demanded, breaking through the teens to tower over Leo's elf-like form.

Okay, maybe tower isn't the right word. She was taller than him, but not by much. Natasha was just very intimidating.

"Uh...fighting?" Leo tried.

Natasha's glare hardened, "You know that's not what I mean. What did you do to make the LMDs stop attacking?"

Leo glanced at Annabeth, who nodded in consent, "I talked to them."

"You did what?!" Tony exclaimed.

"I talked to them. They were pretty boring, to be honest, but I was able to shut them down," he answered.

Tony let out an incredulous laugh, "That's not possible! You can't just TALK to machines!"

"He can, and he did," Piper said, smiling proudly at her best friend.

"But–" Tony's voice died out.

"How come you never told us of this ability?" Natasha asked.

"You never asked," Percy answered simply, not liking her interrogatory tone at all.

The spy looked like she wanted to continue the conversation, but Clint whispered something in her ear and she stepped back with one last glare.

"Welp! That was fun! Who's next?" Tony clapped his hands.

Everyone turned to see that he had gotten the LMDs back online and back in the Avengers' form.

Piper sighed and started to walk to the door, "I guess I'll go next."

Before she could enter, Steve asked, "What weapon are you going to use? Your powers won't work on the robots."

Piper smirked at him over her shoulder before pulling Katoptris from its sheath on her thigh. Apparently, the Avengers had yet to fully break through the Mist, and they could not see her having that strapped there this entire time. But when she pulled it out, they seemed to finally be able to see it for what it truly was. It makes you wonder what they thought was there before. A ruler, maybe?

"I've got this," she stated before slipping into the training room.

Ω ♆ Ω

It was obvious Piper had been taking more lessons on dagger-fighting with Annabeth. As soon as the first person attacked, she was slashing and stabbing like crazy. Her lithe form was swisting out of the way of punches from Steve's copy, while Clint's arrows were shooting at her from behind.

Tony had clearly upped the level of difficulty after seeing what Leo could do.

Piper ducked under one of the arrows, and then shot back up to land a finishing blow to the center of LMD-Steve's chest. Then, she ripped Katoptris out of the robot and turned to throw it at Clint's copy, which just barely managed to avoid getting stabbed.

She was running on pure adrenaline now. It was best to imagine these opponents as monsters. Sure, when they actually fought humans, they would need to not kill, but these were just robots.

Cilnt's robot shot it's last arrow, and it exploded right before her face, stunning her into stillness. In that couple of seconds it took for her to recenter herself, Natasha's copy jumped onto her back for a chokehold. Piper struggled, but the LMD had been designed to know all of Natasha's known skills, and it was working. The Iron Man LMD landed and shot a stunning shot at her chest: the final straw for Piper to finally surrender.

She knew they wouldn't kill her, but she was not in the mood to be knocked-out. It left you with a massive headache.

So she tapped out.

"Ok ok, I'm done. I'm done," She panted as she was released, rubbing her neck.

Piper was not happy about having to surrender, but it seemed like the Avengers had been thoroughly impressed with her skill with such a small weapon.

"I'll do next," Annabeth declared, high-fiving Piper on her way out.

"Good luck," Piper said.

"Don't need it," Annabeth responded, pulling out her drakon-bone sword.

Out in the control room, Tony said, "Is that a bone?!"

"It's whatever you want it to be," Hazel grinned, manipulating the Mist just a bit.

"You scare me sometimes, Miss Metal Detector," Leo muttered, glancing at Annabeth's sword, which had shifted into a machete.

He wasn't sure whether to be impressed by Hazel's skill, or weirded-out by Tony's brain.

"Make sure to move to difficulty up a bit," Percy told Tony, "She'll be insulted otherwise."

The billionaire seemed to be getting used to the teens' weird ways because he didn't even flinch when he heard that, and instead moved to comply.

"And...here we go," Tony said over the intercom, "Good luck, Annie."

"My name is Annabeth!" she shouted before going into the fight.

In this level, every single one of them attacked at once. Annabeth back-bended under Steve's copy's punch, and then kicked up into LMD-Natasha's face. After, she turned and sliced the Iron Man armor on the side, just under the armpit. She had picked that as a point of weakness before she had even stepped into the building.

"She's good," Natasha relented, watching as the daughter of Athena thrusted her sword into Steve's robot foot.

Seeing that Clint's LMD copy was not going to get any closer to her, Annabeth pulled out a hidden dagger and threw it in a perfect line to hit it in the center of its forehead. Then, she turned and blocked a punch from Natasha's robot, who had recovered from the face-hit. The spy copy used the Iron Man LMD to jump up and wrap her legs around Annabeth's neck, trying to do a scissor hold, which failed because Annabeth rolled forward, slamming Natasha's head into the ground. The left a big enough dent that the LMD wasn't getting back up.

That only left Iron Man to deal with.

She settled into a fighting stance, but didn't attack, choosing to wait for her opponent to make the first blow.

Percy was grinning. This was what they needed: a good way to blow off steam without it possibly ending with one of them dead.

"What is she waiting for?" Steve asked.

"She's playing with it. It's fun for her," Jason answered, "It's Annabeth."

Finally, the robot got impatient and attacked. It sent a stun blast at her, which Annabeth quickly avoided. After, she ran up to the wall, kicked off of it, and jumped up to drag the Iron Man LMD down to the ground, where she sat down on it and landed a few punches. But she quickly realized punching wasn't doing much good.

"Judo flip! Do the judo flip!" Leo exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.

When it wasn't him being the one attacked by Annabeth, it was super entertaining.

Annabeth sighed, but a smile was pulling at the edges of her lips. She hauled Iron Man up, who was still recovering from being slammed down to the ground, and got a good hold on it's arm. Then, she flipped it over her shoulder with an ease that only came from years of experience.

With a huge smile on her lips, and a last glance at her carnage, Annabeth walked back out to the control room.

"How was that for a kid?" She asked Natasha.

"Not bad," she got for an answer.

Ω ♆ Ω

Jason, Hazel, and Frank's individual tests went-by pretty quickly. Jason electrocuted all of the robots, rendering them immobile.

After that, and with another new batch of LMDs, Hazel used her Spatha to slice and cut through the robots. In the end, it proved too hard for her to do it with just a sword, so she pulled a chunk of the wall out and smashed it against the LMDs until they were in many different pieces.

Frank ended up having to forfeit, but not before getting every single Avengers copy but Steve down. Steve ended up having him in a chokehold that was just too difficult to get out of. And Frank had already transformed into many animals, so he wasn't sure if he could've changed back if he had transformed again.

If it wasn't obvious, Percy was avoiding doing his turn. He was trying to stay in the corner, and out of the notice of any of the adults. However, that wasn't possible with two spies in the room. They notice everything.

"Percy? Your turn," Natasha said.

So much for that plan.

Percy hesitated, "Um...about that, I don't think I should go."

Natasha raised her eyebrows in mock-surprise, but it was actually Steve who spoke, "You have to go, son. In order to work well together, we need to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. This will never work without you doing this."

"Plus, we promise it's completely safe," Bruce added in.

Percy sighed, admitting that he wasn't going to be able to worm his way out of this one. Instead of fighting, he turned to whisper to Annabeth, "Don't let me get out of control."

Annabeth gave him a sad look, "Percy, I know you have control. I trust you. You just need to trust yourself. You would never hurt us. I know that for certain."

The Avengers were watching this interaction like hawks, but the other demigods were averting their attention. This happened sometimes, Percy and Annabeth going into their own world that only they could understand, and it was best to just let them be. Plus, privacy is a real thing people. The moment seemed almost too intimate for them to interrupt.

Percy still seemed to be having trouble believing Annabeth's statements, but he went into the training room without another protest. His shoulders were sagging in defeat, and he seemed to be folding in on himself. He was never one for attention, but that was a bit much in Leo's mind.

However, Leo and the rest of the Seven didn't have a full grasp on just how uncomfortable Percy as with using his powers now. They didn't know what happened in "that place."

"Are you ready, Percy?" Tony asked, readying the LMDs again.

"Yeah, I guess," Percy answered.

Annabeth was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, "Just breathe, Perce," she whispered under her breath, "You can do this."

She had to put on a brave face for her boyfriend, but she truly was terrified of Percy's potential. She had seen it first-hand in their trip underground, and it was nothing to be underestimated. The Avengers didn't know what powers they were playing with here. She only hoped that her insistent trust she was putting in Percy was going to amount to truth.

"We'll start you on Level 5? Based on what your friends can do, I think this will be a good start," Steve asked.

"Sure," Percy responded, bringing Riptide from his pocket.

"What's he going to do with a pen?" Bruce whispered to Clint.

The Seven all smiled at each other. Little did the mortals know, that pen was definitely not just a pen. It was always amusing when people saw what Riptide truly was for the first time.

"Alright. Here we go," Tony said, starting the simulation.

Percy closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and popped the cap off of his pen. Opening his eyes, you could tell something had shifted in him. He was in his natural element now, and nobody could stop him from achieving his goal.

That goal just so happened to be mutilating some billionaire's robots.

"Let's have some fun," Percy said, charging the first LMD.

He was a flurry of motion. His fighting style was a mix from Greek, Roman, and modern martial arts that he had learned from Annabeth. He'd kick one adversary just to turn and thrust his sword into another one trying to attack him from behind.

"He's amazing," Bruce said in wonder, mesmerized by Percy's skill.

The son of Poseidon was relying only on his hand-to-hand and swordsmanship skills, rather than his powers, but that barely slowed him down. If the mortals wanted a display of his competence, then he would give them one.

Annabeth had a proud smile on her face as she watched Percy judo flip Natasha's robot over his shoulder and slammed it hard enough to the ground that it "died," ending his fight.

That had gone well, considering Percy's worries.

However, he knew better than to let his guard down just yet. As all demigods know, life never gives any breaks. That, and the Fates are cruel.

Ω ♆ Ω

"Ok, guys. Let's take a lunch break, and then we'll do some more training, but this time, with only abilities," Steve said.

Percy had put his sword away, and was not standing in the viewing room with the rest of the heroes, mortal and demigod alike. All of the teens looked and felt exhausted, so it was a given to take a break.

"Got it, boss," Leo saluted, turning and exiting the room, heading no doubt in the direction of the kitchen.

"I guess that means we're leaving," Percy laughed. A real, genuine laugh.

It made Annabeth smile larger than she had in a long time. Improvement is always good.

Soon, everyone was gathered around the kitchen and living room area. Percy and Leo were scavenging for food while the Avengers and the rest of the Seven talked. So far, the hunt was not going as planned.

"Tony! Are you seriously telling me you're a billionaire, and you can't afford some decent Cheerios?!" Percy yelled.

"Yeah! Who goes grocery shopping around here?" Leo exclaimed, holding up the near-empty jug of milk.

The Avengers all looked at each other in confusion, "Who DOES go grocery shopping?" Bruce asked.

"Pepper, sometimes, I think. She must've been busy this week," Tony answered, "We can just order some Chinese or something for now."

"That should work, but if you're going to house these boys," Annabeth pointed to Percy, Leo, Jason, and Frank, "You're going to need a lot more food around at all times. Their appetites could rival that of an elephant."

Hazel let out a tiny laugh, realizing Annabeth's little pun about Frank. She received a small smirk in response.

"Teenagers," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes, "Always hungry."

"Now wait a second, Tony, I remember seeing you eat an entire large pizza by yourself just a couple weeks ago," Natasha remarked, smirking at her teammate.

Tony only glared in response, and then he told JARVIS to order lunch.

"Well, while we're waiting, I'll explain what our next exercise is," Steve said, "Basically, we're going to see and document your powers, but in a more controlled environment. You won't be fighting anything, but this will be more focused on precision than quantity. We need to know your full capabilities so that we know where to put you in a fight. Is that okay?"

He was asking their permission as more of a courtesy than an actual question, obviously, but the demigods still nodded their heads in confirmation. It wasn't like they couldn't leave at any time if things ever got too out-of-control.

Or at least, that's what they told themselves. In all honesty, nobody trusted each other yet. They could be shot down by the Avengers if they tried to run away, for all they knew, and that's what the scariest thing was. Neither group really KNEW the other group's intentions, only what they had told each other.

Everyone was walking on thin ice, whether it was known to them or not.

Ω ♆ Ω

I hope you liked it! Remember, this is also on FF, Ao3, Inkitt, Webnovel, and Wattpad.

other chapters :)

#pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #Percy Jackson and the avengers #mcu #marvel #the avengers #the seven #demigod #fanfic #wattpad #writing #ao3 #inkitt #superhero #webnovel

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inthishousewestanpercyjackson · 4 years

Text

The End, Sort Of

So I don’t often write fics, I just have other original WIPs to work on, but as much as I loved the Tower of Nero, I though it needed a little of this.

Percy Jackson arrived at camp that afternoon with Annabeth Chase and Estelle Blofis. I saluted his choice of companions, even if one of them scared me. I’ll let you decide which.

Campers swarmed the trio - old-timers to greet them, newbies to fawn over the baby. Meg was vanished from my side shadow-travel-style and reappeared at the head of the newbie group. Estelle seemed to like the attention. She squealed with joy at the chorus of baby-talk.

As soon as the crowd dispersed, Annabeth raced off toward the Big House without explanation. Meg, persistent as ever, lingered by the baby. Soon, she and Percy started up the hill to the pavilion.

“You’re looking very Lester,” Percy observed as he sat down at the Poseidon table, presumably out of habit. When Meg sat down next to him (ahem, Estelle), I moved to join them.

“I assure you, I am very Apollo,” I replied. “Where did Annabeth go?”

“She needed to talk to Chiron.” Percy sat back against the table with a satisfied sigh. “It’s good to be back.”

“Bad road trip?”

His eyes brightened. “No, it was great. But...Camp Half-Blood, you know?”

I nodded my agreement.

“So.” Percy squished Estelle’s belly a few times to make her giggle, much to our collective delight. “What’s the story? How did the quest go?”

How did the quest go. Meg and I exchanged a look that included everything from stumbling into camp six months ago to watching the last of the Triumvirate shrivel to ashes in the tower of Nero.

We told him the story. Sometime around the battle of the Waystation, Annabeth Chase entered the pavilion. She joined Percy soundlessly, sliding onto the bench next to him. Meg, who had never met Annabeth, tipped her head so far to the side I thought it might topple off. Annabeth struck the perfect balance between a smile and a threat, which seemed to satisfy Meg. She went back to playing with Estelle, rocking back and forth cross-legged on the bench.

Meg let me tell most of the tale. I suspected she was waiting to chime in with the embarrassing parts I “forgot” but I disappointed her. I “forgot” nothing; I was humble that way.

The difficult part was Jason Grace. From their time at Camp Jupiter, I suspected the two demigods already knew, but Percy’s face turned stony as I described that worst of nights. Annabeth turned away until I finished. Perhaps she didn’t want us to see her tears.

“I should’ve been there,” Percy said quietly. “I said no. I should’ve come with you.”

“Percy.” Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder, her eyes red.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” I assured him. “Jason was as strong as they come. Caligula was as evil as they come. They were evenly matched. You would only have gotten yourself killed as well.”

Percy didn’t respond. Estelle seemed to notice her brother’s grief. She reached for his face, cooing. Percy smiled faintly and lifted her to eye-level. “I did get to meet you.”

“And Jason would’ve wanted that,” Annabeth said. She leaned against his shoulder and Percy leaned back, an ever-so-slight agreement to put the matter of guilt to rest. But I wondered if it would truly be that easy.

Tentatively, I continued onto our time at Camp Jupiter and the emperors’ defeat at the hands of Frank Zhang. At last, I spoke of the tower of Nero and Python’s fall into Chaos.

When I finished, Percy whistled. “That’s a hard fall.”

“Very,” I agreed.

He looked at Meg. “Meg? You’re one of the bravest people I know.”

Meg blushed and responded typically. “Had to do it.”

“Doesn’t make it any less brave.”

Annabeth considered both of us, her expression unreadable. Finally, she asked, “What now, Apollo? Now that you’re a god again…”

She stopped, but her tone implied, Will things be better?

Better because a trio of evil Roman emperors no longer ruled the world? Yes. Better because prophetic power had been restored? Yes. But I got the feeling that wasn’t what she meant. She wanted to know how I intended to keep my promise to Jason.

“Being human is hard,” I declared.

Meg snorted and kicked her red high-tops off the bench, narrowly missing Estelle’s head. Estelle groped after the red shoes with her little fists. Meg apologized for that near-decapitation by sticking her tongue out side-to-side, which made Estelle burst into a new fit of giggles. “Being a demigod is harder.”

“Let’s say both,” I concurred.

Percy laughed. He adjusted Estelle on his lap, letting her take hold of his index finger and promptly stick it in her mouth. Percy looked at Meg and I with some measure of solemnity, despite his finger’s current status as a chew-toy.

“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood,” he said. “But…”

His eyes trailed over the distant Long Island Sound, the cabin green, the Athena Parthenos holding vigil beside Thalia’s pine tree on Half-Blood Hill. From the pavilion, we could see the camp in motion: swords flashing in the sunlight, the moaning of monsters in the forest, demigods training and horsing around like any regular summer campers.

Percy’s gaze finally landed on Annabeth. He kissed her cheek and smiled. “But it’s worth it.”

I appraised my young friend in a new light. In a brief flash, I remembered how, at the end of the Titan War, my father had offered immortality to the son of Poseidon. I myself had not paid much attention to all the good-feeling, gift-giving that took place, but I did remember clearly the determination on Percy Jackson’s face when he said no. Instead, he wanted to live out his short mortal life, and he wanted us gods to pay more attention to our demigod children. He made us promise to change.

Now I wondered how well we had kept that oath in the two years since we made it. Perhaps Styx held us all under her thumb.

And Jackson’s choice - at the time I couldn’t have begun to understand it. Now, though, after witnessing the goodness and heroism mortality had to offer...I could comprehend that the suffering was worth it.

“Yes,” I said softly. I sighed. “To answer your question, Annabeth, I’m not sure how much will change. I will do my best - which, I have to say, isn’t very much, but it’s certainly better than it once was. I will remember. And I will attempt to help my fellow Olympians.”

Meg punched my shoulder. “And me? Piano lessons, remember?”

“Of course,” I replied, rubbing my side. Unfortunately, I could not spare the world from the horrors of Meg McCaffery at the keyboard, but I said I would do my best. That’s all I could do. My time as a mortal had taught me nothing if not that.

Percy’s grin vanished at the sound of Estelle’s sudden fussing and squirming. Percy deftly checked her diaper and threw his head back. “Woah. That’s a problem.”

He and Annabeth looked at each other. “Not it,” they said at the same time.

Percy sighed heavily in surrender. Oh, the woes of being a big brother. Of course, gratefully, I never had to change my sister’s diaper.

Percy cast another sweeping gaze at the whole of Camp Half-Blood. Then he stood, laying Estelle over his shoulder. “It seems like this place is in good hands.”

He gave me a fist bump. Dare I say, I thought I saw something akin to pride in his eyes, similar to the look Rachel had worn when she saw how I cared about others. Oh, these hero types. There was much we could learn from them. I was humbled.

Annabeth nodded respectfully to me. Meg hugged her, which seemed like a jump from the brief stand-off earlier, but what did I know? Meg was nothing if not unpredictable.

Percy ruffled Meg’s dark hair, which left it only slightly messier than it had been before. Meg didn’t seem to mind. She waved bye-bye at baby Estelle.

Then the three of them started down the hill. They didn’t look back.

Tower of Nero fic @inthishousewestanpercyjackson

#tower of nero #percy jackson #apollo #trials of apollo #tower of nero fic

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