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jflashandclash · 5 years

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Tales from Mount Othrys

Say “NO” to Cruise Ships IV

Axel lunged.

As he suspected, Julian deflected Axel’s sword with ease. What Axel didn’t expect was how quickly the javelin tip redirected to his chest.

The sharpened gold jammed into Axel’s leather armor.

His little brother screamed somewhere nearby.

Axel didn’t feel pain as the muscles in Julian’s arm tensed. Axel stumbled backwards, almost slipping on the mounds of dust.

Five seconds and you were almost skewered. Exactly how I wanted this fight to start, Axel thought.

He retreated. His heartbeat thudded when he saw the javelin slide out of his armor. There was no blood on the tip. That had been too close. Reflexively, he grabbed the empty hole with his hand.

He needed to close the distance between he and the praetor. When Lapis, his little sister, had beat the snot out of Ajax in Soulcalibur, the range of a weapon mattered. Julian’s weapon was long-range. Axel needed to get close to level the playing field.

Unfortunately, every muscle in his body said to stay far away and have a nice chat from opposite sides of the cage, maybe about how he’d whip his little brother if he lived through this.

Julian warily examined the tip of his javelin. “Tyche doesn’t favor me,” he muttered. “You really aren’t a demigod.” His gaze shifted upward, flicking around the different weapons dangling above them.

Axel didn’t know why Julian seemed to think he needed a different one, but Axel took the distraction.

Ignoring his mounting panic and the way his head thundered with his pulse, Axel dashed forward. His foot dug into the wood of the stage. The screams of the crowd faded into a din. All he had to do was shove the javelin out of the way. Then he could close the distance and—

Axel positioned his sword in front of him.

The leather hilt vibrated under his grip. It should have cued him in that something was wrong, but Julian’s movement was so fast that Axel didn’t see the maneuver. One moment, he was raising his sword to close the distance. The next, Julian must have batted the tip of his sword away. It was aimed at the floor, exposing him. He could only watch as the tip of Julian’s javelin sank into his dominate forearm.

And did no damage.

Like the bullets had phased through the monsters, the golden metal went in and through Axel like a mirage.

Axel withdrew. His breath switched to pants. He clasped his sword hand with his free one, waiting for blood to gush out or a bone to ache. Had that really happened? There was no blood. No pain.

The screaming of the crowd came back into focus.

Axel felt dizzy.

“What a dodge from the newcomer!” Jack shrieked. Somewhere in Axel’s peripheral, the redhead jumped.

Julian grunted. “Damn it. You appear to have me at quite a disadvantage.” His eyes darted from weapon to weapon dangling above, before settling back on Axel. That gaze dripped of pity. “Double sorry now. I wanted to give you a quick death, but if none of my metal is going to cut you, I’m going to have to beat you to death with the butt of my pilum.”

Beat you to death.

Axel tightened his fingers around the sword hilt. His hand was fine. “None of my metal will cut you.” Focus on that part, would you?

But his brain wouldn’t. His eyes felt moist at the thought of who he’d seen beaten to death. His breath threatened to get out of control.

Axel emitted a growl. No. I’m not going to be a victim. I’m not letting anyone else in my family be a victim.

This sword strategy wasn’t working. Julian was too quick with a pilum and could predict Axel’s sword movements.

There had to be something Axel could do that Julian couldn’t predict, something that Axel was skillful enough to pull off and close the distance. He had been a performer; he could do what he, Ajax, and the Tumbling Six had perfected: tumbling.

Axel let instinct take over.

This was not a game. This was not a performance. That didn’t mean it couldn’t look good.

He sprinted forward, positioning his sword like he had for the last two swipes. As he suspected, Julian repeated his prior process. He parried Axel’s blade and repositioned his javelin so Axel would run right into it. This time, though, Julian waited an extra moment to reposition, as Axel hoped. The metal seemed to do no damage, so Julian needed him closer, to hit him with the wood, two feet further down the javelin.

When Axel felt his sword vibrate with Julian’s parry, Axel let go of the hilt. He leaned forward, dropped, and tucked into a roll past Julian’s legs.

As he also suspected, Julian slammed the wooden shaft of the pilum into Axel’s side. An audible crack shook his body as one of Axel’s ribs broke mid-roll. Calculated risk.

That was his cue that he had rolled close enough, and his cue to where Julian’s weapon was.

Like Axel was reaching for a prop mid-tumble, he shot his hand out. He smashed his palm against the spike in Julian’s calf, imbedding it further.

Julian grunted.

Axel heard Julian thump to one knee at the same time that Axel finished his roll. Now, Axel couldn’t waste his momentum. The next two seconds were vital.

Once Axel’s feet touched the dusty stage, he sprang upward with as much power as he could put into the jump, extending his hands towards the cage’s ceiling to snatch—

Pain flared in Axel’s chest. The way he’d stretched out his torso and gasped—it felt like someone dug a spade into his rib. The world blurred.

No. Focus! He wanted to scream. Focus on the match—not the rib—not the—

His fingers wrapped around the hilt of a dangling dagger. The icy chill of the dagger’s hilt reminded him of what he had to do.

The rope holding the dagger snapped under Axel’s weight.

While coming back down, he twisted, making his side flare white-hot. Each breath felt like he was inhaling flames.

Julian will be prone. Pin him. Dagger to throat. Say you want him as a prisoner of war. You can both live. Figure out escape later.

Julian had partially recovered from the pain in his calf. He had pivoted his pilum so Axel would impale himself upon falling. Axel clasped the wood with his free hand, using the shaft to aim his fall on top of the praetor. Sword fighting? Unfamiliar territory to Axel. Doing acrobats with moving poles and ropes? Routine.

As Axel hoped, he crashed into Julian. Without having his second leg functional for balance, Julian tumbled backwards onto the ground.

Julian released the pilum and flopped onto his back. Axel landed with his knees on either side of the praetor.

Axel tried to jab the blade at Julian’s neck. Before Axel could get the dagger within six inches of Julian’s throat, the praetor grabbed Axel’s wrist. The man’s callused, scarred fingers looked large enough to crush Axel’s whole hand.[1]

Julian reached his other hand down to his leg—

Axel didn’t have time to dodge the spike. Julian withdrew the six-inch black barb from his calf and jabbed towards Axel’s chest.

Axel did all he could: he twisted.

Someone tried to shriek. Had it been him? There wasn’t enough air in his lungs to make the full sound. He couldn’t tell if it was from the burning in his broken ribs, or the new, horrific pain searing his stomach.

The blow had landed.

Whichever it was, Julian’s stab knocked Axel back, far enough that Julian could lift his functional leg and plant a solid foot on Axel’s chest. Like a cartoon, Axel felt himself lift off the ground.

Sound whirred to a hollow squeal. Sight blotched into colorful, brilliant orbs. Any sense of gravity vanished.

Awareness didn’t return until something cold collided with Axel’s back. He clutched it with his hands and slipped his feet against the curves—the bars—the bars of the cage. They must have skidded closer to the cage’s edge, where the dome was lower. Either that or Julian could kick a man ten feet into the air. What had they called him? Son of Mars?

Weakness made all Axel’s limbs tremble, threatening to shake his hold. Each breath was ragged, spiking pain in his ribs and stomach. A throbbing made his ribcage feel like it was cracking more with every movement and like a little piece of his stomach would slither out if left unattended. His head spun. Below, he could see red droplets drip down to splash Julian, who was rising to his feet.

Droplets. Axel’s blood.

The spike could hurt Axel.

Axel didn’t understand the difference between the spike and the pilum, but Julian had a weapon that could kill him.

Axel wanted to touch his stomach, to see what the wound was like, but he feared letting go of one bar would send him tumbling down, where the praetor could slit his throat.

Through a maddening din of noise, Axel could only discern one thing: Ajax, his little brother, shouted at him in a sobbed mix of Spanish, Mayan, and English. “Axel! Axel, you’re awesome! You’re the strongest! You promised you’d protect me and—and--you’re better than this! Are you going to let this coatimundi’s butt break you the way Dad wants to?! I know you’re not!”

The pain dulled alongside the other noises and smells of the stage. A sweat droplet lingered on his lip before slowly cascading down.

Last time Axel broke his ribs—when their papá broke them and Axel’s arm with a cane—Axel had gotten back up without realizing how much pain he was in.

This couldn’t be the end of someone—someone else. If I die, they’ll send Ajax in and Julian will kill him too.

Axel clenched his jaw. He thought about the days after their dad found them, the way Ajax, choking back tears, snuck into Axel’s room with handmade crafts and sketches of their old home and terribly devised jokes, anything that might make Axel smile again. Ajax promised that he’d never stop trying to make him laugh, no matter how bad it got.

Axel would never stop trying to keep Ajax safe, no matter how bad it got.

Julian palmed the spike in his hand. He could barely move on his single functional leg and definitely not quickly. This was someone’s lover, someone’s proud son, an entire troop’s loved leader.

Axel let instinct take over.

There were several weapons dangling from the ropes in front of Axel.

With as much strength as he could muster, Axel lunged off the cage bars. One rope had snapped when he put all his weight on them, but three—

Held. Only one of Axel’s arms would respond. The side with the injured ribs dangled uselessly. He only needed one arm to work.

He swung behind Julian—

—dug his heels into the cage’s bars on the other side, released the ropes—

—and pounced down at Julian’s exposed back. The praetor couldn’t turn fast enough. Axel accepted that Julian would get another stab in. He would have to worry about that later. For now, he had to land on Julian’s back, hoping Julian thought Axel had no apparent weapons—

Axel’s feet smashed into the praetor’s back as his claws dug into the praetor’s shoulders.

All thoughts crashed to a halt when he used the last weapon he had: Axel sank his teeth into the back of the praetor’s neck.

Something popped under his jaw. There was an audible crunch.

Blood went everywhere: up his nose, down his throat, into his eyes. For a moment, that’s all there was. Just the reek of iron and the inability to breath.

Then, they were falling. Something massive smashed Axel into the dusty ground.

Julian wasn’t moving.

Axel choked. He reeled back, trying to disentangle himself from the limp body. Clawing his way out felt hopeless. The thing was too massive, too heavy. One of his arms wouldn’t respond. He couldn’t breathe.

Someone pulled the body back, releasing him.

Axel tried to roll away. Instead, he was on all fours, spilling the contents of his stomach onto the dusty stage. Pain clenched him with each retch of red-tinted bile. It felt like someone was kicking him in the ribs every time he breathed and upchucked. One of his arms wouldn’t move to push him further away from the vomit.

The stage lights felt hot. People were screaming. Cheering? Chanting his name?

Blearily, Axel moved to look around, but his body didn’t want to respond. All he could see was the back of Praetor Julian Kouadio’s mangled skull and brain matter. A man never to return to the arms of his lover. A son never to inspire pride in his parents again. A leader unable to protect his troops.

There was nothing left for Axel to throw up. The pain in his chest was so intense, the world felt light. Had he been stabbed again? How bad was the first wound? He had to get up, to get Ajax out of here, but, he couldn’t feel anything to make his body move, anything but the sensation of sinking his teeth—

Axel hiccupped back his emotions, spiking another wave of pain, nausea, and wooziness. Focus on Ajax. Move.

Someone had knelt down beside him. Some desperate, childish whisper in the back of his mind said, Tío Frasco?

But, Uncle Frasco was like Julian. He would never be there to support his family again.

The person’s laugh was just as infectious and jovial. A caring hand gently took Axel’s chin, raising it. He felt a cloth brush away some of the vomit and blood.

It was that lanky, maniac redhead. Jack dabbed the ends of his shirt against Axel’s face, like a father brushing away stray pudding for a child. “Kid!” he cheered, “I’m going to make you into a star!”

The redhead pulled at one of Axel’s arms. Axel choked back a cry. More pain exploded in his torso. His vision was tunneling. He felt a surge of vertigo when Jack dragged him to his feet for a victory bow. More blood dripped to clot and intermix with the dust of the stage. More screams and cheers.

Then the stage lights vanished. A curtain had dropped and the noises muffled.

When Jack gently lowered him, Axel collapsed back to his knees, then his side. The world fuzzed in and out. His breath was shallow and spittle sputtered down his cheek.

Axel could hear the snap of latex gloves as Jack slipped some on. Jack took a pair of scissor out of a kit on his belt and began to snip away the ends of Axel’s shirt. The whole time, he was still blathering, “—new home! You’re going to do so well here! I’ll make sure of it. It’s going to be so exciting. I’ll make sure you and your little—”

“Ajax,” Axel whispered.

Jack nodded.

Someone stumble-sprinted to Axel’s side. Hands grabbed his. Familiar sobs made his rasps easier. “Axel! You asshole! You weren’t supposed to get injured while being a badass!”

“… wash your mouth out with sand…” Axel said, unable to get all the words out. He tried to give Ajax a comforting smile, but could only repress a scream of pain.

Jack had jerked something from his side.

If Axel could still vomit, he would have. The six-inch spike was slathered in blood. Jack tossed it behind him carelessly.

The panic in his little brother’s hazel and brown eyes made Axel’s condition clear: Axel was dying.

His little brother’s tears felt cool against Axel’s forehead. Ajax must have pulled Axel’s head onto his lap. “You can’t—you can’t go like Uncle Frasco and Aunt Nilley. I—I won’t—I won’t let you. You’re only here because—”

“Oh, he’s not going anywhere,” Jack said. The older boy put a comforting hand on Ajax’s shoulder. Then, he reached back for Axel’s torso. “I’m adopting both of you, and I can’t very well adopt a corpse. You see, I just found out—oh, sorry Axel, this is going to hurt a lot. I need to find the tip of the spike before I heal you. It broke off. Anyway, I just found out Flynn and I can’t have children unless we adopt, and you two—”

Axel couldn’t hear the next sentence. Someone had pressed something between his teeth. He wheezed and shrieked into it as Jack must have fished his fingers inside Axel’s stomach wound, like someone was prodding him with heated coils, stretching his skin and organs. Pain made the world go white. There wasn’t enough air.

When Axel could think again, an angelic voice lifted his consciousness to drift in a gentle breeze, easing all of the searing agony. Maybe this was it. Maybe he was losing the fight. But, he couldn’t. He wasn’t going to leave Ajax. He promised to protect him.

The song cut short. Aches spread through Axel’s stomach. He inhaled, relieved at the agony it brought. Unless death left him with the same pains as life, then he was still here. Axel wasn’t ready for a trip to paradise or Xibalba.

“See! He’s doing just fine. There’s a refreshing breath, right? That should stabilize you, my boy. My boys? Can I call you my boys? Oh! I can’t wait to tell Flynn! We’ll have to get you a room adjourning ours—I’m sure we can make that work. Luke will think it’s a great idea—”

None of that made sense. Axel blinked the crusty tears from his eyes. Above him, his little brother sobbed with a smile.

“Axel, can you speak? Your stomach wounds are closed! It’s—it’s a miracle! This guy just preformed a miracle!”

“I’m whipping you when we get home,” Axel said. This time, there was no pain with the breath, just a dull ache. He flexed his fingers and toes. Everything moved, though not much. He felt like he hadn’t slept in three days.

Jack grinned broadly. “You are home!” His smile fell and he waved a bloody, latex-covered finger in Axel’s face. “But no whipping your little brother. This is a house of God, and I don’t condone that behavior.”

Axel rolled his eyes. “The nuns at our primary school would disagree,” he wheezed.

Ajax choked out a laugh, squeezing Axel’s fingers again. His little brother didn’t seem to realize that Axel definitely meant it: he was going to hurt him when Axel managed to stand again.

“Then they haven’t heard the good word of Kronos!” Jack cheered.

Of course. Not only had Ajax found them a cult. He found them a psychotic religious cult. “Why couldn’t you have just run away to the arcade? Or joined a street gang?” Axel said. He rolled his head away.

On the other side of the cage, the bear-man had lifted the praetor’s body.

Axel’s heartbeat raced. “No!” Although there wasn’t any more pain with his breathes, his voice still came out weak. “Drop him!” Axel rasped, “That’s—Julian is mine!”

That’s all he could think of. Despite that, the bear man pretended not to hear him.

“Hey!” Jack said. The redhead stood and folded his arms. “If my son wants to eat his prey, than he has every right to. You put that body down right this second, Agrius.”

The taste of vomit and blood was still too fresh in Axel’s mouth. Eat his prey. That was exactly what Axel wanted to avoid.

The bear man whirled towards Jack and snarled. He dropped Julian’s body, letting it thump disrespectfully to the ground. Watching the limbs flop without any control was terrifying.

Agrius stormed up to the lanky announcer. The beast towered over him.

Jack’s body began to tremble, but he didn’t back down.

“I just had to let the brats of Poseidon go and that runt of Athena. You’re lucky I don’t eat you!” the bear man yelled.

Jack glared. “Agrius, we talked about this. Remember? You can’t go around threatening to eat every demigod you see. Why don’t we talk about this during our night-time circle ups? We can repeat the calming mantra together. Or do we need to get Luke or Flynn involved?”

The bear man flinched at the last name. He huffed, turned, and stormed off, muttering about “wasted meat.”

Jack relaxed.

Although Agrius was gone, Axel couldn’t get his heart rate to slow.

Axel tried to get up or, at least, to drag himself towards the crumpled heap of Julian’s body. All he accomplished was a grunt of exertion. “Ajax,” Axel said, “Bring me one of Julian’s medals.”

Ajax didn’t ask questions. He nodded his head, brushed some tears and snot off his face, and scurried across the stage.

This wasn’t something Axel wanted his little brother to do—to loot around a corpse. But, Axel could feel a sense of panic mounting in his chest. He didn’t want to kill people the way their father did, like lives meant nothing, like he’d forget about them as soon as the dead person became a name checked off a list.

He wanted some part of the person that Axel could cling to as a memorial; a physical piece that Axel could look at every night and remember Praetor Julian Kouadio of New Rome had a lover named Ari, a mother that had high expectations for him, and a Cohort that Julian cared about. That was all Axel knew about this man and all he could cling to until he delivered the message to the Third Cohort.

Axel swallowed, thinking about what he’d taken from all of those people.

Within a few seconds, Ajax scurried back over, offering Axel a leather crisscross of straps that dangled with at least nine medals.

“Oh! A trophy,” Jack said, kneeling down beside Axel. “I took a trophy from my first kill too.”

The redhead shook his wrist out to show off an intricately braided and knotted metal wire around his wrist.

Axel shook his head. “It’s not a trophy!” he snapped, horrified at the thought. He took the medals from his teary-eyed little brother. The gold felt icy; the leather, rough.

Jack held up his hands. “It’s okay, kid!”

But, what he said wasn’t. Axel’s fingers trembled. One hand clutched the bottom half of the medals to his chest. The other held the top medals up for examination. There was a repoussed bull running on the largest circlet of metal. Julian’s blood speckled the design.

What have I done? Axel thought, trembling.

“I want to remember those that die in order for me to survive,” Axel whispered, his voice threatening to crack.

A sense of instability made Axel dizzy. He and Ajax really weren’t going back to their father’s. He had no idea why there were bear men or snake women here. Some random kid, only a few years Axel’s senior, wanted to “adopt” them and keep them on this cruise ship going God knows where, inhabited by some crazy Kronos cult members that pinned demigods against each other as an initiation ceremony. Their real home wasn’t much better. If anything it was worse, and—if Axel did drag Ajax back—they’d both be whipped and beaten for weeks for running away.

But, Axel couldn’t leave Lapis, Kouta, and Hiro there by themselves.

Tears threatened to choke Axel when he thought about saving all his siblings, dragging them back to their real home with Chiich, their grandmother, and her boyfriend. If they went there, their father would find them and drag them all back to California.

Don’t, Axel scolded himself, You don’t deserve to cry. You couldn’t help when papá took us the first time. You don’t get to cry until you’re strong enough to make sure it never happens again. And you need to take care of Ajax.

Axel clenched his jaw. Right now, he couldn’t do anything to take care of Ajax. All he could do was try to make idle threats to assure Ajax’s safety before he drifted off to sleep. He tried to look fierce as he glared at Jack. “What are you going to do with us?”

Jack grinned. “I’m going to make sure you get cleaned up, rested a little, then the two of you are going to meet your wonderful, new mother, and we’re all going for celebratory donuts!”

A nervous smile crept on Ajax’s face, one that made Axel groan. His little brother was too easily won over with the promise of sweets. Axel, meanwhile, realized something about their presumed new caretaker: this guy was off his rocker.

At the time, there was nothing Axel could do about any of it. Not knowing if they would be safe or bear-man-food when he woke up, Axel drifted out of consciousness.

*******

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! (I’m sorry I’m running so far behind this week T.T It’s been murder—er—but not the Jack or Axel kind—eh whatever. Take it as you will). Stay tuned next week for Flynn’s short: Surprised Parenthood.

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footnote:

[1] Mel betanote, “He’s like a kitten fighting a bear.” Jack, “Axel would be SO indignant at this. And then I’d have to pet his ears and coo, ‘it’s okay. One day, you’ll grow up to be a fierce jaguar!’ And then he’d bite me.”

#Tales from Mount Othrys #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #Heroes of Olympus #fanfiction #PJO #HOO #TFMO #Axel #Julian #Ajax #Jack #Jack dropping inappropriate surprises on his girlfriend #As you'll see later-she doesn't understand why he couldn't have just suggested a dog #for real bro-baby steps

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jflashandclash · 8 years

Text

Blood of a Mayan

Thirty-Two: Axel

This Gives “Keep Your Mouth Shut” a WHOLE Other Meaning

Warning: More adult and violence and blababla. Read at your own discretion.

Axel wanted the muzzle caging his fangs to dissolve more than he’d ever wanted anything before. His face was pressed into Santiago’s shoulder. It would be so easy to end it here.

Pax sobbed once aloud.

Santiago pulled away. He gave them a critical smile. Gently, Santiago placed his free hand on Pax’s face.

Pax went still.

“There’s no room for wilting flowers here Ajax. Smile and wipe away your tears.” As he spoke, Santiago rubbed the watery streaks from under Pax’s eyes.

Pax swallowed, choked, and smiled. “Yes, father.”

Santiago released him and threw his hands open in a grand gesture. “Today is a day of celebration! My strongest cubs have returned—” Those seated pounded their fists into the dinner table in applause. Axel could guarantee that Marvin was a half-second late. “Furthermore, I shall rejoin my beloved goddess today! And we have new guests. Please, step forward and state your ancestry.”

At the words state your ancestry, Axel had to withhold a flinch. Santiago was debating on whether or not they were royal war prisoners. If there was one tradition Santiago did like to uphold, it was sacrificing royal war prisoners.

Hiro dragged Calex forward first. Although blurry eyed and leaning heavily on the tinier boy for support, he managed to raise his chin, seeming to realize this was something important. “I—I’m Calex Rupin McKenzie.”

“And your parents?” Santiago patiently requested. His hands had settled back onto the top of his cane.

“I’m the son of Tiwa McKenzie and Eros,” Calex stated.

Hiro rolled his eyes and exhaled dramatically, dragging Calex over to the table. He shoved Calex in front of the blue ice cream sundae, in the middle of the table.

Santiago grinned. “Welcome Calex, son of Eros and Tiwa.”

Axel’s muscles clenched. Santiago was looking at them as war prisoners.

Hiro and Lapis brought the others forward one at a time, all with similar announcements, Santiago properly welcoming each of them with their parent’s titles.

Merry still looked calm and disoriented, mumbling, “Maari Blythe, the bodacious daughter of Shreya Blythe and the God of Theater and Religious Ecstasy and not caring after 5:00.”

There were giggles from the table behind them.

Euna seemed more inattentive as usual, glancing around, but not at the other members of Santiago’s entourage. At the tables. “Uh—Euna Song, my dad’s—”

“Gods, you’re bad at this,” Joey interrupted. She stood tall beside Euna, despite being several inches shorter. “We’re daughters of Demeter and Song Hyun-Woo. I’m Song JooYeon.”

Euna scowled at her little sister as Lapis directed them over to the table. Lapis chuckled. “You’re cute Grass Hippie,” she said.

Kally was pushed forward next. “I—um—Kalypso Kassand, daughter of… of… Lorna Kassand and Apollo.”

Axel could hear the discomfort of announcing Apollo as her dad. Kally flinched when Santiago laughed.

“Kassand? As in Kassandra?” Santiago asked, his smile growing.

“Dad—” Pax pleaded.

“Quiet,” Santiago whispered.

Pax silenced and paled.

“And a connection to Apollo…” Santiago mused. “Oh, my poor flower. You should ask Ajax the story of his namesake. Welcome Kaylpso Kassand, daughter of Apollo and Lorna.” He motioned a hand towards the smaller table.

Kally glanced at Pax in alarm before Lapis sat her at the seat with cherry ice cream.

Santiago nodded and turned back to Axel, Pax, and Kouta. “Now, before we begin…” Santiago raised his eyebrows at Kouta. “You shot your brother.”

“He started it,” Kouta grumbled. “He bit me.”

“Boys,” Santiago said. There were some chuckles from the larger table. “How are we ever going to get a good Christmas photo with all these slings?” He gestured behind his throne. On the wall, Axel knew there was a family photo, one taken days after Santiago had captured them. In that photo, Axel’s other arm was in a sling.

“Maybe we could all wear matching ones,” Santiago joked.

“You celebrate Christmas?” Kally whispered. She must not have realized she had spoken aloud. She immediately went red and covered her mouth.

“We’re Catholics, Red,” Lapis said. “Among other things.”

This appeared too much for Kally to process as she glanced around at their hedonistic alter in bafflement.

“Axel, Ajax, you may go sit with your friends for the ice cream social. I’ll need Ajax’s and someone else’s assistance in a minute. Hiroyuki, Kouta, and Lapis, play nice with your brother’s toys,” Santiago said.

Axel wanted to snarl at him. Somewhere in him knew that Santiago had hoped Axel would collapse during the conversation. The throbbing in his shoulder was now difficult to ignore, but Axel tried not to look too relieved at the thought of sitting down.

Axel’s chocolate sundae was placed between Pax’s and Lapis’s seats, across from Calex. Hiro plopped down on Pax’s other side, across from Euna. He dumped an oblong, striped beach towel between him and Euna. Axel sighed. He doubted Hiro even knew what Backbiter was.

Euna was already halfway through her ice cream. Axel had to admire her unwavering appetite, though he supposed they hadn’t eaten in over a day. Her face had healed completely, earning some suspicious glances from Hiro. Every so many bites, she’d pause, shake her head, then resume eating.

Joey, across from Pax, frowned at her strawberry ice cream. “Uh, Mr. Pax? How did you know our favorite flavors?” she asked.

“Santiago is fine dear. Lapis and Hiroyuki have been following you since that River Styx incident. Hiroyuki was wise enough to take note of what kind of Kool-Aid you wanted at the blacksmith’s shack, because he knows that food is the most important way to get to anyone’s heart,” he said.

Hiro winked at Joey. He raised his hands to sign but Pax quickly shoved them back down. Axel would have to thank Pax for that later.

Dumb didn’t properly describe Axel’s feelings. He should have smelled Hiro and Lapis. He’d been so obsessed over getting Backbiter, he’d completely lost awareness of his surroundings. Xibalba, he’d even trained Lapis how to stalk people and vehicles without being detected. His absentmindedness was pathetic.

“We’ve been paralleling each other for longer than either of us realized,” Santiago continued. “I hope you’ve enjoyed all those quests we set up for you.”

The seven of them stopped looking at—or eating in Euna’s case—the ice cream to stare at Santiago.

“What was it that Atë said to you? About how gods can’t mess with other Olympians, but heroes… heroes can go anywhere,” Santiago’s handsome smile grew to crinkle the wrinkles around his eyes. “Well, here are your heroes.”

He nodded towards Lapis, Kouta, and Hiro. Hiro bowed as deep as he could from his seat. Lapis glared at Santiago, clearly already bored with whatever speech he had prepared. Kouta smirked and puffed his chest out as best he could with his injured shoulder.

“Huh,” Merry murmured. That summarized the reaction from the group. Calex and Merry were too out of it to comment much further. Kally had gone pale. Joey glanced over to make eye contact with Euna, but Euna was considering her ice cream, still shaking her head every few seconds.

Axel slumped into his seat, trying to ignore the pain that shot through his shoulder and the exhaustion blurring his gaze. Everything? Their father had planned everything?

That couldn’t be right—he knew Pax had gotten the original idea from—

“We were the ones who tricked Artemis and Apollo into hunting the Teumessian Fox, who set Athena and Poseidon against one another for a museum, who sent Hephaestus a fake postcard from his wife and her lover, who started an argument between Zeus and Hera, who released rats into Harmonia’s[1] bed—”

“That had nothing to do with any of this,” Lapis whispered to Axel. “He just hates Harmonia and wanted to flirt with Ajaxapax’s mom”

“—and I personally knocked over the grains in Hemera’s kitchen,” Santiago finished with a crazed smile.

Joey’s jaw dropped in irritation and she set her ice cream spoon back into the dish. She glared across the table at Pax, who looked near tears again. “Your big, evil father is a practical prankster?” She huffed the pink bangs out of her face. “Gods, you make SO much more sense now.”

Santiago gave a heartfelt laugh. “Oh, my dear, it was for so much more than that. I needed some of the more attentive deities distracted. In particular, I needed Hemera focused on frivolous matters so I could set up a trap for that lovely, primordial Goddess of Day. What better a heart to eat than that of a goddess whose powers have weakened from lack of use, but are so raw and pure.”

“You captured Hemera?” Kally asked. Her eyes widened and shot to the Golden Net on Lapis’s shoulder. Axel wondered if Lapis could ever untangle from that.

Santiago shook his head at the net. “There is more than one way to capture a god, little flower. I gave her to Ajax’s mother for safe keeping, but she’ll return Hemera to me at sunrise.”

“To… eat her heart?” she whispered.

Santiago’s plot for ascension became clear to Axel. A lump formed in his stomach.

“There are two parts to this plan. A Greek one, and a more traditional one. My children have been gathering pieces of the first, to contribute to my empire’s rise to fame.” He gestured towards the larger table and the guests sitting there. Another gaggle of laughter erupted from the occupants.

Santiago stepped away from his throne to walk alongside the sputtering black fire. He walked slowly, purposefully. Axel knew it was partially to cover a slight limp in his left leg. Frasco said they’d been playing in the jungle as children and Santiago had fallen from a tree. Frasco had also told other renditions of the story where Santiago had been cursed by an ancient stone “for being a coatimundi’s butt.”[2]

“I spent my childhood in poverty—” Santiago began.

“Ah-Puch[3] save us,” Lapis grumbled. Hiro rolled his eyes and Kouta slumped back into his seat. Pax sat up in excitement.

“This is it,” Pax whispered.

“—and struggled to build up my own company, a pharmaceutical distribution company, something respectable by title and power. We help people. We happen to provide trazodone, alprazolam, lorazepam, diazepam, and clonazeplam--among others—to hundreds of thousands of troubled individuals around the world.”

Across from Axel, Calex frowned in confusion. “Antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds,” Calex murmured.

“Very good, Mr. McKenzie,” Santiago said. He tapped his cane against the stone floor. “It’s why Hiroyuki had ready access to what you ingested.”

Calex shook his head. Axel could tell from the strained look on Calex’s face that he was trying to keep focus; he knew something was wrong but couldn’t fight the effects of the drug. “B—But Mandrax[4] isn’t legal—” he said.

“Not in every part of the world,” Santiago agreed. “But we provide to many countries. How do you know so much?”

“My mum is a nurse...” Calex trailed off, but kept eye contact with Santiago. Axel clenched his jaw. After Nilley had died, it took Axel months to refer to her in the past tense. In Calex’s current state, he had to wonder if his friend even remembered his mother was dead.

“Ah, an excellent occupation for Tiwa. She’ll be able to witness first hand what’s about to happen over the next few days,” Santiago said. He paced closer to their group, standing alongside the pithos alter. “We’ve been crafting a new drug to replace those drugs. This one will take maybe… 24—36 hours to take effect. We wanted the delay. This will function closer to amphetamines, lysergic acid, or phencyclidline, to increase paranoia, agitation, disassociation, and aggression.”

Calex’s frown deepened. “Those are… really bad drugs. That’s… that’s PCP and LSD. That’s going to make—”

“—a lot of very vulnerable people violently aggressive and paranoid,” Santiago finished. He smiled at the pithos. “ But that wasn’t quite enough for me. That would only make them feel invulnerable. I wanted to give people who took my drug temporary godly invulnerability while having something burn them on the inside, to give them more reason to murder those around them.”

“So you’re using water from the River Styx?” Kally asked. She looked queasy. Axel wondered how many of her friends were on antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. “Won’t that… kill mortals?”

Santiago shrugged. “We’ve been testing it. A small enough doses boiled into the medication—” He waved his hand to the boiling black fire. “—unlikely. You must understand, little flower, Dionysus ascended because he made something wonderful out of the blood of a dying friend. Then he made a cult to follow it. He moved the masses with madness. I plan to follow in his footsteps.”

Merry opened her mouth. Axel was glad Kally immediately put a hand over it to muffle her.

“That’s the Greek part of the plan. I already have my worshipers. The first shipment of the improved medication goes out in the morning once this is done brewing,” Santiago continued with a small smile at the two them. “According to more standard traditions, the second part of my plan involves my little Discordian followers giving me a sacrifice at dawn: Hemera. And then I’m going to eat her heart. And you brought me the blade to make a godly sacrifice possible.” He gestured towards the towel between Hiro and Euna.

Pax shuddered and whispered, “Dear Python. Take note: this is how you do a good evil monologue… albeit with an overtly complicated plot.”

Axel could tell Pax’s little moment of bravado was an act. Tears were rimming his eyes.

“So… so Mom set us up?” Pax blubbered. “Sh—she told us to get the sword and Golden Net to come after you. She—she—” Pax gulped like this was the worst part. “—makes plans!”

Santiago chuckled and made a motion to the table behind them. Winry and the man from before must have reentered. They stood behind Axel and Hiro. Axel wished he could think clearly. Between having Winry behind him and the muzzle strapped across his mouth, he felt more trapped.

“No, Ajax. Your mother never picks sides,” Santiago said with a smile. “She gave us the same amount of information. She told us to go after the same things. I’ll bet she even let you spy on one of my conversations with her, just like she let me spy on one of her conversations with you.”

Pax shrugged sheepishly, glancing between Winry and the other man. Winry gave him a comforting wink.

“Your mother just puts bombs on the field and giggles as they go off. I recognized what she was doing before you did, though I didn’t know you’d be trying to bring order to the gods. It does explain what she was talking about when she said she gave you high ratings and hot peppers on RateMyDemiGod.com. It must have been to keep you busy.”

That took a moment to sink in, but even Axel had to grumble, “Augh,” at the thought of Pax’s mom giving him hot bars. He could picture Hemera scrolling through some weird god website with pictures of him and his brother doing acrobatics. AND Hephaestus probably had done the same thing, furious to see Aphrodite had upvoted them.

“She’ll be here at dawn to deliver Hemera to my worshipers and celebrate with us,” Santiago said. “You can ask her then. You see, we used something else to capture Hemera and handed the goddess over for safe keeping. That way, when my Queen gets here, I can invite her to take me as her official consort.”

Santiago tenderly stroked the pithos. Since it was just a pithos, it treated the caress with indifference. Santiago shrugged and turned back to face them. “If she refuses, I’ll capture her with the Golden Net, kill her with the blade, and take her place as a God of Turmoil.”

“Dad!” Pax cried.

Santiago put a hand up for silence. “You’ll understand when you’re older, son. Love does funny things to you.”

Joey folded her arms and glared over at Pax and Axel. She mouthed the words, What is wrong with your family?

Hiro put his thumbs out, crossed his hands overtop each other, flattened them so they were palm up, and uncrossed them. The ASL symbol for: everything.

After the evening’s events, Axel couldn’t really contradict the assessment.

“So, you get the gist. Distribute the new drug to the unwary, eat a primordial goddess’s heart, marry my Queen, and ascend as a god myself. An excellent dinner show for all of you,” Santiago said. He lowered his hand to place both hands overtop the cane. “Dionysus had one last ingredient that I’m missing, but instead of a satyr’s blood… I think I want a few drops of something a little more chaotic.”

As he said it, the color drained out of Pax’s face. Winry and the other man grabbed either of his arms and flipped his chair as they picked him up.

“¡Ay! ¡No otra ves!” Pax screamed and kicked. His combat boot nailed the ice cream dish, splattering the Reese’s sundae all over Joey. “¡No Papá! ¡Basta!”[5]

Axel tried to stand up and almost blacked out. He collapsed back into his chair, feeling Kouta’s fingers grip his bullet wound. The room went white temporarily as Axel struggled to maintain consciousness.

“He’s just being a baby,” Kouta snarled.

Axel didn’t care. This was a mockery of their heritage and an insult to their gods.

When Axel could steady his breathing enough to focus, he could see Santiago had pulled something off his neck. It was an honorary necklace, a string of obsidian thorns. He withdrew a scroll of parchment from his vest and dropped it at his feet.

Winry and the other lackey struggled to drag Pax in front of their father. Once Pax was level with Santiago, he went still, legs dangling uselessly above the floor.

Kally’s hand had slipped under the table, likely into her messenger bag. She breathed heavily, but glanced at Axel for affirmation to attack.

Joey scowled at Hiro, who tapped on the table with a dart. Euna shook her head, seeming as unaware of the situation as Merry or Calex.

Santiago slammed his cane into a crack in the floor so it could free stand. He leisurely took off his jacket to hang it on the cane and carefully rolled each sleeve up past his elbows. Once done, he straightened his posture and smiled.

Pax stared at him in silent terror.

“Ajax,” Santiago cooed, brushing his son’s cheek with a finger. “Stick out your tongue.”

“Don’t you usually tell me not to stick out my tongue? It’s rude and—”

“Ajax, I only do this because I love you,” Santiago assured him with that calming, charming smile.

Pax choked back a sob. “If this is love, I don’t want to be loved—!” Pax’s shout blurred to incoherent whimpers as Santiago pinched Pax’s mouth open.

Autosacrifice. Axel remembered the first time Frasco taught the Pax children to use their birth right of Mopan royalty. Frasco used it for cheap circus tricks to make people laugh. He’d given them red Kool-Aid to practice with. Axel had used it in Kronos’s army, to become the monster of the Labyrinth with Hecate’s help. Most properly, it was supposed to be used to call upon the Vision Serpent. But it had to be done to oneself, hence auto, and it had to be willing.

This was heresy.

Although Axel couldn’t see Santiago’s fingers at work, he could hear Pax squeal as Santiago pulled the string of thorns through Pax’s tongue. He could hear drops of Pax’s blood as they dripped off Santiago’s elbows onto the piece of parchment. He could see Kally’s hand go over her mouth in horror and how Joey recoiled with a, “Augh!”

Pax’s boots squeaked as the tips barely touched the surface of the floor. He writhed.

Axel shook his head at Joey and Kally. They couldn’t do anything.

But Joey Song didn’t listen. She stood up. “Stop!” she snapped. “That’s…. disgusting. And Kally is eating red ice cream and you shouldn’t hurt your son like that!”

Hiro glanced at their father, waiting for an order to dart her. Lapis sighed. “Well, if that isn’t an understatement. You should see what happens to us when we forget to take out the trash,” she grumbled.

Santiago pulled the last thorn through without any indication of hearing Joey. Once done, he hummed softly, picking the parchment off the ground. Just as methodic as how he’d rolled up his sleeves, he wiped as much of the blood on his hands and arms onto the parchment as possible. Then he dabbed up the blood sputtering down Pax’s chin.

Pax coughed, spitting red speckles on Santiago’s grey shirt. He tried to sob, but this only made him cough more.

“Thank you, Ajax,” Santiago said with genuine gratitude. He kissed Pax’s forehead—a gesture he only did when he was very proud—and motioned him away.

Winry and the lackey carried Pax back to his seat. Blood still streamed down his chin. The lackey released him and righted Pax’s chair. As soon as they sat him in his seat, Pax curled into a ball and leaned into Axel’s shoulder.

Axel didn’t even have the strength to wrap an arm around his shoulder. Instead, he leaned his head down on top of Pax’s, furious with himself. He’d promised Pax this would never happen again.

Without waiting for permission, Kally stumbled to her feet and dashed around the table. She’d already withdrawn a small med kit from her messenger bag. Axel could have kissed her for how she took Pax’s hand, hugged him, then scrambled to grab the right medical supplies.

While Kally tended to Pax’s tongue, Joey hadn’t sat down. She stood there, scowling at Santiago. Axel hoped Euna would reprimand her, but Euna had her head in her hands, muttering to herself. Axel wanted to shout at Joey that she needed to stand down. Now was not the time.

But Santiago was already turning his attention to her. He gave her a roguish smile. Instead of putting his jacket back on, he slung it over one shoulder and picked up his cane. He calmly answered, “Miss Song, my son has the most powerful blood out of any of us. I’ve almost ascended to godhood before, it was right when I met my dear Mistress of Chaos. And that’s when Pax was born, more god than mortal. So his blood will make the most powerful sacrifice. Plus, by using his blood, it will increase his chances of godhood later.”

She snorted. “Oh, because your blood is too weak? And you’re too much of a coward to do…” She gestured vaguely at him. “Do…. Gross stuff with your tongue? You assault a—a puppy.”

Although Pax couldn’t get the words out with his injured tongue and Kally’s fingers in his mouth, Axel knew his whines were meant to say, I am small but mighty!

Santiago laughed.

The members at the table behind them all went, “oooooOOOOOoooo.”

Axel could hear Marvin mutter, “Oh, this is gonna be good.”

Axel tried to clear his throat to tell Joey to sit down, but his voice came out like a whisper. His body wouldn’t react like he wanted it to—he’d pushed too hard. Now, he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“I said I would require an assistant Miss JooYeon Song. Would you like to volunteer?” Santiago asked and motioned to his side. “It’s the most rewarding position in the temple. “

“An assistant?” Joey snapped. She stormed around the table and towards Santiago. Her hand jammed into her pocket. Axel had an exhausted moment of hope. Had she snuck some walnuts into her pocket? Had Santiago accidentally armed some of his prisoners?

Maybe Joey could escape through the top of the temple. He hadn’t thought about it—but she could make a tree. How would they get everyone out though? Something was clearly wrong with Euna, Pax was demoralized, and there was no way Kally could take Calex and Merry up a tree on her own.

Once Joey leveled with Santiago to stand between the pithos and the fire, Santiago chuckled again. “You remind me of my late Haruko,” he said.

Hiro flinched at the first name of his mother.

Although Axel couldn’t see Joey’s face, he could see her shoulders go rigid. He could envision her snarl now of, I’m Korean, not Japanese, you blind jerk.

Santiago lifted the hand holding the cane and reddened rag, offering out the piece of parchment soaked in blood. “My plans culminate on this, my darling. What would you say if I left its fate up to you.”

Axel could see what Santiago was doing. He’d done this to Axel multiple times before. But Joey was younger than Axel and hadn’t dealt with this kind of manipulation. She took the bait.

Joey snatched the paper and tossed it into the boiling black flames beside her.

Exactly where Santiago had hoped.

As soon as the Royal Mopan blood touched the blaze, it sputtered a brilliant turquoise, casting a cooling hue around the entire throne room. The torches that lined the walls popped and crackled, puffing into darkness. The pressure dropped in the room and Axel could feel his ears pop.

Joey had been pulling something round from her pocket, but, as the flames exploded beside her, she screamed and flinched.

Santiago chuckled and released his jacket. It fluttered to the floor. He snatched her hand, withdrawing the walnuts therein.

Joey didn’t look at him. She gawked at the flames. The monster from her nightmares that had been plaguing her for months.

Axel tried to shout at her to run, but his voice still wouldn’t work. It took all of his strength to keep his head in position to see what was happening. The most rewarding position in the temple. Axel felt stupid for missing it. There were two ways to go straight to paradise and Santiago had meant that as the reward.

“It’s almost perfect, isn’t it JooYeon?” Santiago laughed, marveling at the boiling mix of the River Styx, drugs, and Pax family blood. “But I think it’s missing something.”

Something in his voice broke Joey’s paralysis. Her wide eyes met his and he released his cane to take both of her hands. Santiago’s roguish grin widened. He leaned down to her ear. Even with Axel’s ears straining, he could barely hear his father’s enticing whisper over the roar of the flames, “It needs more… body.”

Joey tried to wrench back. She went to kick Santiago in the smartest place she could, but he’d anticipated her move. As soon as she went off balance to attack him, he shoved her backwards into the flames.[6]

Thank you for reading! One more chapter to go! Has any of this been surprising for anyone? I know there was foreshadowing but was... at least 200 pages ago. Regardless, I hope you're still enjoying! Er.... um.... well, even if you're probably a bit mad at me right now >>''

[1] Goddess of Harmony and Concord. NOT Hemera, the primordial goddess of day. Two different goddesses.

[2] These are Coatimundi. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/77/0a/0e/770a0e9bf266d63e99e6b01c96c0716c.jpg

Now you have another cute animal to “aw” at ^.^

[3] A Mayan god of death (among other things…)

[4] Methaqualone. Also known as White Pipe. To be far, it’s stronger than how I’m portraying it. Merry and Calex should be falling over more often. (Also, it isn’t an antidepressant. It was originally marketed as a sleep aid before they realized it was dangerous.)

[5] Translation: “Not again! No Dad—Stop/Enough!”

[6] Sooooo, in the original version of this story, Joey’s heart was cut out in old school Mayan fashion as you would with a noble sacrifice. I thought that might have been *ehem* a little too violent for this book… so…. Ta-da! Homage to a great movie instead.

#Blood of a Mayan #Traitors of Olympus #PJO #HOO #fanfiction #ONE MORE CHAPTER!!!!!#Then attrition of peace :D

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