#if anything it would make more sense if percy was black

[darkesttiimelines]

this whole percy jackson reboot thing really grinds my gears because i remember the backlash jkr got over hermione being cast as black in the plays- when her physical description in the books could easily suggest that she was black.

annabeth, on the other hand, has been described as blonde. so. many. times. it is a significant component of her personality (not being taken seriously due to the blonde stereotype) but then here comes spineless riordan, defending annabeth being cast as black. (and being celebrated for it.)

[anxiousnerdwritings]

For the love of Merlin please give me Percy Wesley x older!Potter!sister — the ultimate yandere

Percy who is determined and headstrong stepping onto the Hogwarts Express for the very first time and taking one look at the pretty girl with dark hair and green eyes and a scar on her face that she’s baring proudly, just as he’s baring his second hand robes proudly, and deciding that that’s the one he wants before even getting her name

Introducing himself with confidence and is pleased to be met with a beaming smile, no judgement present

Molly would be horrified hearing Percy is in Slytherin

Her most rule following, intelligent and sophisticated son a snake??? Not understanding why until Charlie breaks out into a fit of laughter and sputters something about Percy following a pretty girl into the house and Molly whips around looking like she wants to smack sense into him because he’s obviously lost his mind and he just raises his brows and is like “yes but it’s Potter!Reader soooooo” and she has to compose herself

He’s determine to become everything his family isn’t, everything his father isn’t, making a silent promise to be better and to take care of their family that way Arthur Weasley just couldn’t

It’s funny though cause she’s already rich. Having money isn’t a driving factor for a relationship, she just wants to be seen and loved.

Yesssss, I love it!!!! But hear me out though; Yan!poly Percy Weasley and Oliver Wood with Older!sibling!Potter!Reader👀🤗. Thoughts??

Percy would totally have a much darker streak, mainly cause his darling is always ending up it shitty situations or having to deal with shitty people so he’s gotta compensate somehow to be able to help/protect her. Not to mention he’s gotta be slick to move his way up in life to be at the point he feels he can thoroughly provide for his darling and their future family.

Also, I totally see him being an absolute fucking simp for Potter!Reader, you can’t tell me otherwise. And he takes such pride in it too. Boy loves his darling so much and so early on that he is utterly willing to do absolutely whatever for them at any given second, whether she asks him to or not. After older!sister!Potter!Reader comes into Percy’s life, his whole world revolves around her and only her. She and their future together is his top priority and it makes him only strive all the harder in his education and later in his career. Everything he does and will do is for the two of them, no one else.

I just can’t help but to imagine how totally stressed out Percy is during the whole Prisoner of Azkaban plot. Like, mans is out on the hunt for Sirius Black himself to ensure his darling stays safe and sound. He would completely forbid Potter!Reader from leaving their dorm whatsoever, especially without him. His head would be on a swivel with how much he’s looking over both his and his darling’s shoulders. Not to mention also needing to keep an eye out on Harry too cause Merlin forbid anything happens to him.

Not to mention, Percy would always come in clutch for his darling when it came to them getting into trouble. He’ll cover for them as much as he possibly can too. Doing the same for Harry too, albeit a bit more reluctantly.

I love the idea of Percy and Potter!Reader moving in together after they graduate, like right after. Percy has been waiting for this moment for so long, just him and his darling and no more being at the Burrow. I could see him moving into Grimmauld Place with the Reader, Harry and Sirius, cause you know Sirius wasn’t gonna part so easily with the Reader let alone let the two move in together right away. Besides, Percy probably may as well have already moved in with how much he was over there. Or I could see Petunia giving the house on Spinner’s End to the Reader as a graduation gift/cause it belongs to her now (or the Reader just fucking breaks into it and moves in herself cause it is hers and Harry’s after all) and the Reader of course takes Harry with her to live there, cause you know damn well older!sister!Potter!Reader promised him when she first started attending Hogwarts that the second she graduated they would never have to go home to the Dursley’s ever again. Percy ends up moving in shortly after, or he’s already been moved in having taken to setting everything up while his darling got Harry and whatever things they needed.

I also could see Percy visiting the Dursley home a lot. Vernon and Petunia actually quite enjoy him and his company, he’s prim and proper, but most importantly he doesn’t come off as being anything remotely ‘unordinary’. Meanwhile, you know damn well he spent countless sleepless nights memorizing muggle related things to come off as ‘normal’ as possible to his darling’s aunt and uncle. Vernon especially takes to Percy given their bonding over talks about career plans. Percy particularly earns Vernon’s good graces when he mentions his want for an ‘office job’ and moving his way up the workplace latter when he eventually does get said job.

But let’s be honest, Percy is only trying to make nice with his darling’s family, he absolutely detests them and wishes nothing but hardship for the people who have made his darling and her brother’s lives hell. The look of utter horror and disdain when Percy sees the way the Reader and Harry live, he vows in that moment that he will do everything in his power to take his darling away from the abusive and neglectful situation they’ve been forced to endure and to give them everything they deserve and more. After that, I think Percy’s respect for/trust in Dumbledore would be nonexistent. Like, how fucking dare you to know about the situation my darling and her brother have grown up in and continue to let it take place. The situation you willingly handed them into. Percy would totally have mad beef with Albus, to the point where he just flat out calls and refers to Dumbledore as Albus, saying it with nothing but seething disgust. No more Sir, Professor or Headmaster. I think it would be Percy’s first true heel turn from being the respectful, rule abiding boy he was.

[connabeth]

rick really woke up and said "what if i give the people what they want for once" and gave us grumpy black cat introvert percy and sunshine golden retriever extrovert annabeth we never knew we needed

also no one's talking about how percy made friends with annabeth's college's security guard (Florence or smthn?) so he's the only one allowed to walk in her campus anytime?

also I found a typo in the third chapter where dave was accidentally called paul which I found really funny

1) i’m glad this series is doing justice to annabeth’s personality because she spent so much of pjo & hoo caught in an inner turmoil of hurt and uncertainty and self-loathing and insecurity and fear given the circumstances of luke’s betrayal and percy’s imminent death. in spite of it all, she was still a bastion of hope and light throughout those books, but she deserves to be silly and unburdened by the weight of the world now that she has percy back and there’s no big prophecy (unresolved trauma aside). i think, in her mind, even though new, crazy things keep being thrown at them and she most certainly deals with a latent fear of losing percy at any moment, she’s resolute and confident that they can overcome anything that gets in their way of their dream of going to college and finding peace together because she feels that invigorated and wants it that bad. even if greco-egyptian gods or a triple goddess or a mortal apollo pop up throughout their senior year. i feel like she’s giving herself the freedom to just let go, breathe, be sure everything will be okay in the end, and just be excited about things without drowning in worry for once, which i love. she deserves to feel that childlike enthusiasm she was deprived of for so long. her confidence that they’ll be okay extends to percy being able to complete all his classwork and applications, which in turn reinforces his determination.

2) as for percy, he’s definitely the more outwardly insecure out of the two, mainly because of how his academic prowess pales in comparison to hers and the fact that he feels he doesn’t deserve her and she’s way better than him. percy thinking her SODNYC friends perceive him in the same critical light obviously isn’t helping. it’s evident in the way he’s amazed when he looks at her, disbelieving for a second that she’s his girlfriend, and how he observes her interaction with others more similar to her, feeling like an outsider who can’t understand that part of her brain the way her friends can. it’s even more abundantly clear when he believes “She would always succeed whether I was around or not,” which in theory is a sweet sentiment to have about your very capable girlfriend, but academic and social success aside, she needs him as much as he needs her and she’d see no point in being in california without him. but his insecurities and easy jealousy prevent him from fully understanding this even if he innately knows it’s a universal truth that they’re meant to be together. however, all this being said, percy’s characterization in wottg so far is a little…weird. in order for you to literally pee your pants, something must scare you or catch you off guard really, really bad. so while it makes sense for him to fear a powerful goddess, wetting his boxers seems like an extreme reaction. i know rick was probably just trying to insert immature humor, but the implications are not what he was going for considering this is the boy who didn’t have that reaction staring down titans and giants and nyx and tartarus himself. so forgive me if i think it’s a little insane that percy having such a visceral reaction to a goddess 13 year old hazel fared well against is out of character, even after taking into consideration his fear of not receiving and completing the remaining quests on time. it makes sense for him to be nervous and on edge, given the quiet of the past month, but that amount of fear towards a deity who’s not the most scary thing he’s faced down is an interesting choice since rick isn’t known for realistic depictions of PTSD and that likely isn’t the intention here. it’s also curious how it’s implied even a goddess as primordial as aphrodite caves in to hecate…

3) florence is the goat and i love percy making random friends to help his cause. he doesn’t go out of his way to befriend others in the mortal world unless they approach him first or there’s an opportunity there. and the fact that annabeth can a casually ask her friend to cover for her being gone from her dorm for several days makes me think this is far from the first time she’s snuck out for prolonged periods of time👀

4) this is an INSANE typo to have in a book because clearly not a single person proofread it and it doesn’t surprise me that it got past rick, but becky and several rounds of editors and everyone else in his circle who’s read the book not picking up on it prior to publication is wild. rick is too eager to have his self-insert be everywhere and it shows💀

[dandelion-blues]

#7 What if...

Kronos was a somewhat good grandpa?

Percy couldn't say he was relieved when Luke took that knife to himself, there was too much pain in death for that to be the case.

But nonetheless, in that deep seated exhaustion that wove in his very bones, Percy just wanted everything to be over.

Then, as Luke lay dying, his bright blue eyes seared into Percy and made him promise to not forget about the demigods, to make the gods be better.

Percy knew his job wasn’t yet done, because as Luke took his last breath, the shadows overtook the throne room. The hearth just mere embers, and a magical laugh echoed around the chambers.

Annabeth was crying over Luke’s corpse and didn't seem to notice anything wrong in her grief, but Percy did. He always noticed, even though Annabeth would most likely disagree.  She does call him Seaweed Brain after all. But just because Percy doesn't speak up about what he notices doesn’t mean he's dumb.

It's why, when his instincts screamed at him, he raised his sword just as a great metal scythe came sweeping down at him.

“Oh, grandson. I long since outgrow that boy's body, but you fought brilliantly. But now I am back at full power, you will not be able to stop me as you are. Still, for you to not only sense my strike, but stop it… I knew you were special. You really should have joined my side,” Kronos says, his words like honey, as he presses his scythe down upon Percy’s sword. Golden cracks were seeping from Kronos’ bronze skin, showing his divinity leaking through.

Percy snarled, his green eyes blazing with fury, “I'd rather die!”

And Percy looked over to Annabeth for help, but she was not moving, her tears frozen in time on her cheeks.

Percy froze in fear, his heart pounding. Kronos was no longer in Luke's body and his powers restricted. Kronos had his own body now, and his abilities were restored.

However, Percy’s freezing was a fatal mistake, as Kronos pressed on with more force forcing Percy’s sword from his hand.

Percy looked up, his eyes wide in fear as he stared in Kronos golden orbs.

Except as Percy’s sword came clanging to the ground and Kronos swung his scythe. The titan leveled the blade just against his throat.

Kronos croons, “Don’t worry grandson. I couldn’t possibly kill you when I see so much of myself and Rhea in your eyes.”

Percy startles and flinches as Kronos touches Percy’s face gently, pulling black strands behind his ears.

“Hmm?” Kronos hums, “Don’t worry you’ll understand in time. For now just sleep, and we’ll celebrate later when I discipline my kids.”

“Stop-” Percy says, but then he feels a pinch on the back of his neck, and everything fades to black.

The last thing he hears is Kronos’ voice comforting him…

~~~

Kronos at first hated all these mortal pests that had the blood of gods in their veins.

Mortals weren’t worthy of such a gift.

Unfortunately, Kronos needed to play along with the pests' plans in order to revive.

However, how he started to view these pests, or rather just one pest, changed when he met the son of his Poseidon, his grandson, Perseus Jackson.

Perseus was different then the other pests - demigods. He was just twelve when Kronos first slipped in his dreams, and already Pereus was powerful, defiant, but then Kronos saw his eyes, Rhea's eyes. Kronos could barely stomach it when he swallowed Poseidon, his son with Rhea's eyes.

But now it seems that another inherited her eyes. The one who would be the doom or savior of Olympus. And should die when he was sixteen.

No, this one would not be the one to fulfill the prophecy. He couldn't be.

Kronos sent the boy nightmares, hoping he would pray to his father. That Poseidon would scue the boy. Except that never happened.

And so the next thing that Kronos could do was set his vessel to poison the daughter of Zeus, so a quest would be sent and the Golden Fleece would be retrieved to not only help heal him, but the daughter of Zeus as well, so she would be the one to fulfill the prophecy.

Of course, everything went downhill from there and that daughter of Zeus ran away from the prophecy and gave it to his grandson.

Huh? When did Kronos start thinking of Perseus as his grandson? From the moment he saw Rhea's eyes.

And after his grandson saved Artemis and by holding Atlas’ weight the gods voted to kill his grandson!

As if he hasn't already saved them and proven himself before!

It made Kronos resolve to tear Olympus down all the more.

And so, even as he had to fight his grandson to do so, he would, for Perseus for power.

Of course no one but Kronos himself knew that he would never mortally injure the boy. It's why when his scythe, which is said to suck the life from one's soul, struck, Perseus was merely fatigued.

And Kronos regularly asked for updates on how Perseus is doing from that daughter of Aphrodite.

It's how he found out Perseus’ powers were growing every day, he was long on his way to ascending.

Oh, and how that daughter of Athena was trying to shackle his grandson to mortality by seducing Perseus of all things. As if that girl would ever be good enough for his grandson! She, he always calls him stupid, and tests him at every opportunity. No! Kronos would not stand for that!

Then, the final battle came. Unfortunately his spy turned traitor and died, but it didn't matter because the battle lines were drawn. And Perseus was practically glowing in his divinity.

It would be soon!

Perseus made his choice, but it was too late to stop Kronos, for he was already healed.

And Kronos fought Perseus one on one. The boy didn't even notice that he glowed, his veins golden. Too fueled by anger to stop and think why he could still move when Kronos stopped time, and that daughter of Athena did not.

Unfortunately, when he noticed that time was stopped all around him, the boy froze, and Kronos took the advantage.

And when Kronos saw the wide eyed fear in those green eyes he reassured him that he would not kill him. How could he, when he came to care for the boy?

However, Perseus startles and flinches as Kronos goes to comfort the boy by face gently, pulling black strands behind his ears.

“Hmm?” Kronos hums, knowing the boy is too brainwashed by the gods and too young to understand, “Don’t worry you’ll understand in time. For now just sleep, and we’ll celebrate later when I discipline my kids.”

“Stop-” Perseus says, but Kronos swiftly pinches a nerve on the boy's neck, and the boy slumps forward into his open arms.

Kronos whispers to his grandson comfortably and holds him like a little one to his chest, “Don't worry, I'll take care of you, my grandson.”

Notes:

Whelp! At least Kronos doesn't want Percy to die. Maybe he'll even do alright with being the new prince of the Titans.

First - Previous - Next "What if...?"

[punkeropercyjackson]

The way Percy Jackson in the Pjo/Hoo books is like........legitimately black-coded.Stay with me on this,the leadup to this post is what made decide to make it

He's a New Yorker from El Barrio.He's seen as a troublemaker on sight because 'he looks like it' and that's kinda the whole point of his character-He never means to do anything wrong,everybody just judges him his whole life because he looks 'scary' but in the pov chapters by others,there's nothing about him that's actually intimidating or would cause alarm unless you count the rbf and itself is a phenomenom i also deal with as an audhd black person who never learned how to mask because i don't fall under any autistic stereotypes on top of the blackness so i had to self-diagnose(with proper research).This happens to other Half-Bloods but Percy is emphasized as a special case,he gets it even worse and we're TOLD it's because of his looks multiple times.His looks include 'a mediterrean complexion',an umbrella term for brown skin and his shade is never stated and his hair is longer than average for a guy explicitly too and the texture isn't given either.Hazel Levesque,the first monoracial darkskin black fem mc in the franchise,said Percy has 'the good looks of a roman god' and that's an unrealistic description from a 40s New Orleans girl to give a white boy fullstop but she described Nico di Angelo as 'a scrawny white boy' and Jason Grace's,Annabeth's Chase's and other explicitly white characters' races are stated by her too but never Percy's.By ANY character,in a whole SAGA he started!And Percy used white as a descriptor too,in Sea of Monsters when he said he hates rich white boys.Again,white characters in the franchise don't use that descriptor unless it's for irony comedy!!

The SECOND Percy met Hazel,he rode for her harder than anyone else ever,including her so called boyfriend who is nonblack.When Octavian was being a creepy misogynoirist and picking on her for being a younger black girl,Percy scared him into leaving her alone with his 'natural intimidation' and is extremely caring towards and tender to her throught all their interactions.This is because Percy is canonically punk and no,i don't mean a sk*ter,i mean he lives it up to all the requirements for being a part of punk culture and i did the downlow on that(linked in the notes)and that only adds to it because of course a black punk dude would instantly and nonstop back up a lil darkskin black girl in trouble no matter what.He looks exactly like Poseidon,the god of the sea,the caribbean and Sally raised him in the ways of the sea because she grew up the same way and was passing it down to him,not because of Poseidon

Percy as a character was created to defy stereotypes,he's the og troubled but good kid rep.He's poor but because his mom had so many relatives die at such a young age she couldn't end up any other way and he already feels guilt over his dad being a deadbeat because he's 'playing into the stereotype'.He has a way better understanding of gender and racial dynamics than the stated white boys do and certain very pick me-ish white girls in the verse too and is commented and proven to not be traditionally masculine or to quote my little sister figure 'not in the white way if that makes sense'.He's also a genius but constantly called stupid by everyone and just takes it as opposed to Annabeth,who is objectively less smart than him and the whitest girl in the whole books by a longshot and was realistically treated as a gift for it due to the more extreme ableism of neurodivergents who aren't 'good enough'

Percy is a mama's boy who respects women and disrespects men,was a bully beater and never stopped until he became an adult no matter how many schools he got kicked out of-6 at 12 alone,takes on the Team Dad role to make up for Poseidon's abandonment and for every kid he meets who dosen't have a dad either,has the cocky asf and audacious attitude literally only black men can pull off,his sense of humor strikes very familiarly and dinstictively to me as a homecountry raised afro-dominicana and this is free liscense on my part but i can't help but make the connections of Hazel's dad being a roman god,Percy pseudo-adopting Hazel and Hazel saying Percy looks like a roman god.Percy's foil in every way down to their looks(*hint hint*)is Luke Castellan

Luke's a cishet allistic blue eyed blonde white older man who's constantly described as conventionally attractive who grew up in a fantasy world to shelter him where he was worshipped yet humanized and didn't have any overly bad experiences by demigod standards but went on one bad quest and turned into a fullblown fascist as he groomed the demigods he'd nurtured beforehand into his child army with propaganda he NEVER made due on in FOUR WHOLE YEARS of doing a war and bringing about the end of the world for self-vindication only,including an irl cryptofash dogwhistle('destroying society to build it from the ground up')and is also racist(targeted boys of color as seen with Chris Rodriguez and Ethan Nakamura but left Travis and Connor Stoll alone despite being closer to them)and a serial pedophile(had shippy undertones with Annabeth,Silena Beauregard,Thalia Grace and Kelli only and Kelli has no canon age but she passes as a 14 year old Percy's classmate with no mentions of age apperance changing).A key part to all this is that Luke thinks he was martyrd by the gods the way Percy actually was and it's all Luke's fault yet he calls PERCY too naive the same he's literally doing it to him

And finally,the leadup:In The Kane Chronicles,a spinoff,short story crossovering with Pjo Percy says Sadie Kane looks like if he had a daughter with Annabeth.Sadie Kane is canonically a black dad white mom kid.Yeah i know it's Rick being racist and she was whitewashed in all her official arts but in the books,the kids at her school are misogynoiristic against her and bully her due to clocking as 'the mixed race girl' on sight.Sadie is canonically not white passing,just lightfeatured and looks black enough that you can easily tell her heritage.This implies Percy is black,specifically afrolatino with the El Barrio upbringing and sea/caribbean heritage.It has no contradiction in canon and the covers and graphic novels can't be counted on since they lightwash Hazel big time.Wether you like it or not,Percy Jackson was written as black-coded.And completely accidentally made way more respectfully written than the intentional black characters because Rick Riordan should be hunted for sport.It's giving that post about autistic-coded characters.I think Percy's full name is actually Perseo Isadore Jackson

[aroaceleovaldez]

in your most recent tyson post, you said something about leo being distinctly autistic-coded and I was wondering if you could elaborate on that? it sounds really interesting (sorry if you've already posted something on this, I couldn't find anything though)

Of course! I do have a specific tag for talking about Leo's autistic-coding/traits - [here], and [one for Nico as well].

The main aspects with Leo being autistic-coded actually have a lot to do with Nico being autistic-coded, because it's the comparisons between the two that most clearly indicate Leo is autistic-coded rather than it just being his ADHD or etc.

So with Nico being autistic-coded, it's very clear in the Titan's Curse that he's intended to be autistic. First, the first series has a repeating pattern of secondary characters being very distinctly neurodivergent-coded in different ways (Annabeth's adhd/dyslexia, Tyson's down syndrome-coding, Nico's autism-coding). With Nico's introduction, he's pretty stereotypically autistic and we're given a lot of descriptors about him that are notably not attributed to him being ADHD, like it would be for other demigod characters. He doesn't register social cues such as people getting annoyed at him, he's asking/making inappropriate or impolite questions/comments, he gets particularly upset about change (such as Bianca joining the Hunt) and generally gets emotional, and one of his most notable traits he's introduced with is the fact that he has a special interest (MythoMagic) - and we're shown that this special interest particularly colors how Nico navigates the world. While ADHD has hyperfixations, we don't really get much acknowledgement of hyperfixations with demigods usually - Annabeth gets a little, but most others don't and it's not nearly as focused-in on as Nico's is.

Then as the series continues we see these traits stick with him and him start to show or voice more traits that similarly indicate he's autistic: He regularly mentions how he doesn't understand living people and prefers the company of the dead (social issues). He has more notable stims than other demigods (twisting his ring, fiddling with bones, etc). He's indicated to have strong sensory preferences (usually wearing mostly black/aversion to bright colors, usually wearing layers/his coat, multiple times he's described as wearing loose/baggy clothing or clothes too big for him). He has specific comfort items (his ring, likely his jacket(s) as well). We later get even more information about his special interests (Mythomagic/mythology/history and an older interest in pirates - the latter he specifically notes likely heavily influenced his feelings towards Percy). He struggles with emotions and facial expressions and tone. He struggles particularly with ostracism and feeling like he doesn't fit in and has something distinctly different about him from the people around him (who notably, all have ADHD, which indicates it isn't the ADHD that's making him feel that way), and other characters regularly describe him as being off-putting because of his strange behaviors - again, different from specific ADHD traits they recognize. And that last point is kind of notable because we have Hazel and Bianca for comparison - we know people are off-put by both Nico and Hazel because of being children of Hades/Pluto and their powers/aura, but other characters get past that general feeling of discomfort way faster with Hazel. And even after characters get past the death stuff with Nico, there's a second thing that they aren't moving past that isn't a factor with Hazel (Nico's autism).

So that brings us to Leo - Leo is paralleled to Nico a lot. And there's some very specific traits about him that we know are autistic-coding because of how they're used with Nico: He similarly struggles with social cues/etc, and in a very similar parallel to Nico describes how he prefers the company of machines to people because machines make more sense to him. He has similar types of clothing/sensory preferences (again some stuff with layers but also - pockets! He likes having pockets and things to put stuff in! He's even introduced as having a jacket with lots of pockets), and he has a distinct special interest (machinery) that we specifically know heavily influences how he views and navigates the world (constantly comparing things to machinery, describing things with machinery metaphors/terminology, etc etc). He even describes his entire general worldview to Hazel and it's a machine metaphor. He also similarly struggles with ostracization like Nico does, the only difference being that Leo specifically puts on a persona to compensate for areas he knows he's lacking in and very explicitly describes it as a means to make people like him, because without it he normally struggles to fit in (He's masking!). We also see notes of characters describing that similar discomfort with Leo's behaviors that they do with Nico, except without the aura of death this time. And when we're in Leo's POVs we see a very stark difference between his masking and his actual personality/behaviors such as his internal dialogues or how he behaves when he's alone. Also, like Nico, he stims more than other demigods, though for Leo it's more attributed to his ADHD. Leo also, more often than most, similarly struggles with tone and reading the room, such as making misplaced jokes/comments or etc.

But yeah! It's really interesting. Also it's just a fun thing that ADHD/dyslexia and autism have comorbidity, so it makes sense that we see demigods who are also autistic. It's also really fun to look at how other characters are coded in the series, what coding looks like in the riordanverse specifically (usually it's tied into the mythological stuff - like Chiron being in a wheelchair but he's actually a centaur, Grover being introduced as having a muscular disease but he's actually a satyr, demigods having adhd/dyslexia, Tyson being coded as having down syndrome but he's a cyclops, etc etc - it's a lot of specific metaphor stuff that I've talked about a bit before), and to look at how characters are compared to one another.

[lilislegacy]

i know ive asked you this million times but what do u think the sexualities of all the heroes of olympus characters are

i’m sorry i’ve ignored this question whenever you’ve sent it 🫣 to be honest, i’m scared of offending people lol. but i guess i’ll give my thoughts. just know that i respect all opinions and i love reading posts that have versions and opinions that differ from my own

to me, percy and annabeth are both pretty dam straight. it’s just how i’ve always perceived their characters, you know? and canonically, they’ve only been romantically attracted to opposite sexes

frank, the sweetie, is a bit young to say, but he’s most likely straight in my mind.

tbh i’m not even gonna say anything about hazel because she’s way too young for me to even think about it seriously. she also grew up in a time where it wasn’t a choice, so it’s hard to say how she would adapt to more modern times.

jason is probably straight, but it’s hard to say. given his upbringing and memory loss, i can’t be too sure about him. but i can totally see him being bi. that said, i don’t see him dating percy or leo (although i do love seeing those posts lol) because i think the two of them are like brothers to jason, but i can see him with a guy. so in conclusion, he’s probably straight, but also i can see him being bi.

my girl piper is definitely not straight lol, so she’s probably bi or pan or something like that.

and then there’s leo… LOL. leo is hard. i used to think he was super straight, but over time ive grown to see him being pan but with more attraction to women. leo just kinda gives the vibes of being interested in anyone if they’re attractive enough and have a personality he likes. his type could very well be “anyone with a pulse”

now remember, this is how i view them canonically. according to the books. when it comes to the fandom, i love reading all different versions of them, regardless of sexuality, physical looks, perspectives, etc. it’s just like how when i imagine percy and annabeth, i picture their 17-18 year old selves, with percy having black hair and green eyes and annabeth having blonde hair and grey eyes. BUT that doesn’t mean their tv show actors, or art of them looking different, are any less percy and annabeth. (cause i adore leah and walker.) does that make sense?? i hope it makes sense lol

[pumpkinbxtch]

MY LAST REQUEST 😭 I feel so bad requesting right away AGAIN but I loved your response so much I want more. I CRAVE more of it PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP MAKE A PT2 DO ANYTHING WITH THE PART 2 SLIGHTLY ANGSTY AND FLUFFY PLSPLS 😭🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️ TYSM AGAIN LIKE YOURE LITERALLY THE BEST ur single handily fueling my obsession rn this will be my last one for a while TRUST unless you say otherwise, I don’t wanna overwhelm you ❤️💔

• ° . ☆ “Free coupons, take one and cry all afternoon ” II

— apollo x mortal!reader

part i

summary: part ii, you need to read it, the link is above. run, go warnings: none a/n: really forgive me, haha. I wanted to do something very nice but, well, you'll read what I did. I don't know, forgive me 😔 I couldn't control myself HAHA Still I hope you enjoy it.

Lester was about to throw up the burger, or well, the two bites he had taken. No misunderstanding, it was good.

But you continued to check that they were well taken care of; Giving him pretty smiles and walking near him with that lavender smell of yours. Shit, he wanted to be close to you.

They were too many of you, so they had to join several tables and, among the place that was about to explode, they stood out.

A very lively table, Apollo assumed.

Percy played with his soda making swirls telepathically, Leo put his hand in and undid it, it was funny until the son of Poseidon realized that the drink was disgustingly tampered with. He didn't take a sip again. The other boys laughed.

The girls were talking and laughing and pushing each other, including Meg.

Nico picked at Percy's fries and sipped on Will's soda. Living his best life, Apollo thought.

He liked the idea of being with them and being able to take care of them (even though they beat them to the times they had saved his ass) he could now return the favor.

Oh, if only you could see it. You would be happy. You told him in almost all your lives that he was guilty of being self-centered.

Apollo found himself struggling with the thoughts of him, you weren't dead. You were in front of him.

You passed the door to the counter, holding a tray in each hand. That image flashed in his mind, transporting him back to when you used to walk around with two vases on your shoulders, dancing among the people. Some chains hanging from your neck and the jewelry clashed. You have always been beautiful. Whatever way you came back to him; Boy, girl, you were always beautiful.

— LESTER! —He jumped out of the seat and collided with Jason's shoulder.

— All good?

No, he wanted to be with you.

— The girl over there is talking to you, — Will said with a worried look for his father.

He looked up and spotted you behind the cash register. He made his way towards you without hesitation.

—Mr. Lester, I see that you didn't wait two seconds to use those coupons.— You said with a smile on your lips. Some strands of hair were sticking out from under the cap you were wearing.

—We were hungry.

Idiot, couldn't he think of a better line?

You let out a laugh, and he leaned slightly on the bar, his stomach wouldn't leave him alone.

You leaned over the bar, closing the distance between you. The boy smelled like sunshine and some kind of sweet scent, totally pleasing to your sense of smell. Strangely, you wanted to be even closer to him, like a little impulse to be with him alone, to hug him. Were you attracted to him? But it seemed like a joke, they had only met by chance. You cleared your throat.

— Everything's alright there? — You pointed with your eyes to the table where the rest of his friends and sister were. Although this one had nothing in common with him.

You looked at him. The blonde curls mixed with the black ones making a particular blend, you wondered if it was something genetic and his blue eyes, you had seen them. You were sure.

He touched your shoulder excessively softly, as if he was afraid of breaking you.

— Excuse me?

You let out a laugh and straightened up. Again he was a little further away and you didn't like the feeling.

—I didn't hear you, sorry. Did you say?

Lester smiled.

— It's all good. If we make too much noise, we can leave.

You denied without thinking, almost as an act of desperation. You and he chatted a little more, and you told him to sit down so he could finish his meal.

Walked into the kitchen and cursed under your breath. It was inevitable, he would have to leave at some point. What if you asked for his number? The thought made you bite your lip, and you squeezed your eyes shut.

You felt stupid. Would you look like that in front of him?

You gave him the coupons you had collected to go out with your friends for half a month, just for the sake of it? You never talked to strangers on the street, but Lester didn't seem like a stranger to you.

Apollo returned to the table and ate a chip without much enthusiasm.

Rachel glanced at Piper.

— Any problem? — Frank said drinking soda from the straw.

The god shook his head and sighed. He felt useless, helpless because he wanted to be with you, but he couldn't find a way. Maybe he could ask you for your number. Yeah! Or not?

— I think it's better that you eat. —Rachel said. As if she could guess his thoughts. Or maybe yes? He looked up and took the burger in her hands, after examining it, he handed it to the son of Hades. Nico ate it almost in an instant. And he got up again to go with you.

— Excuse me!

— Tell me — A waiter served him. Apollo felt stupid, so he ended up ordering ice cream.

He returned with the cone in his hand and a pout on his mouth.

Piper hid her giggle behind the paper menu.

The thoughts of asking for his number also didn't leave you alone, but every time you tried to approach him, something simply interrupted you.

You quickened your pace towards him. You cursed the fact that Lester's back was turned, and an arm stopped your path.

— Miss…

Again. You ended up in the kitchen, mumbling and grimacing.

Apollo also couldn't find you at any time that you could speak. He slammed his hand on the table and bumped his forehead against the plastic surface. It seemed like a joke!

Rachel shook her head slightly and stroked her head.

—Hey, Apollo.

He denied rubbing his face on the table.

Everyone wanted to ask, but the redhead put a finger on her lips.

— Apollo

— It's not Apollo, it's Lester

She understood, things weren't going well, but it was inevitable. Rachel got down to Apollo's level.

— Try it one more time, if you hate this, try it as many times as necessary. But know that you tried everything.

The god's blue eyes peered through his hair, and stood up with a sigh.

Everyone at the table pretended not to have heard, they played dumb talking about the weather.

And he tried again.

and he failed again.

You didn't feel any different, you felt like everything had been so easy until you got it into your head that you needed to be with him. You looked through the delivery window and noticed that his table was almost empty, you had worked in food chains for so long to know that they were about to leave the place. Your soul felt a despair that at the same time seemed meaningless to you.

You looked for a pen and paper, a sheet they use for receipt notes.

You wrote your number and a note: call me!, and you doodled a heart. Inexplicably, you also drew a sun. If you couldn't get close, someone else could.

—Brenda!

Your coworker stopped her pace and raised her chin. She just had a tray in her hand, perfect. You walked over to her quickly.

— Deliver this to table seven.

She nodded.

Apollo was already feeling hopeless, he drank Piper's drink and talked to her friends. During the conversation, your coworker handed the note on a small tray. Rachel looked at the paper and waited for Apollo to take it.

He did, and while he was laughing about something Frank had told him, he crumpled it up and threw the ball of paper into the metal trash can.

The redhead didn't say anything, she knew what was happening. She knew that even if she went to the boat and gave the paper to her friend, it would be something else.

The food was finished, and the rest had been pleasant.

Then everyone rose from their chairs.

Apollo looked again at the same window through which you had been spying on him, until at that same moment it was your turn to throw out the trash.

And that's how things ended.

Apollo walked away from the place, and you didn't see him leave. Both felt their spirits on the ground, their stomachs full of anxiety. It was strange, it was fleeting. But when things didn't have to happen, it was that simple. They just wouldn't happen.

At least, not in this life of yours.

Every chance with Apollo would wither, corrode, perish. It didn't matter how much they tried or struggled.

It was not going to work. At that moment, you were destined to meet but not to stay together, not even for a full day.

And how cruel because there was so much he wanted to show you.

But not now, but until 100 years later.

[rewritingcanon]

roxanne and hugo headcanons please 🤲🏿

NYEHEHEHEHE OKAY 😋

roxanne:

perfect mix between angelina and george looks-wise. she’s got her mum’s complexion, hair, eye colour, naturally straight teeth and crazy metabolism, but her smile is her dad’s, her eye shape is her dad’s, her hands are long and spindly like her dad’s, and she flaps them around constantly when she’s being dramatic and talking. she also laughs like him. but funnily enough shes shorter than both her parents and she has no idea why.

people think fred and james are the new pranksters because of their namesakes but dont let this fool you. roxanne claims title over this

no for real she is a menace and she is more fred weasley than her brother. which sometimes pisses him off but you can rarely stay mad at her even if she is a shit.

great quidditch player. is a beater. daydreams about hitting her opps with her bat during history of magic class as a preventative from falling asleep

hoards fake tattoos. LOVES THEM. like she’ll never get a real tattoo, but she loves the fake ones

laughs at men who confess their love to her but takes the women who confess to her seriously (she’s not into girls she just respects them more)

pranks her dad the most. then her dad pranks her. fred and angelina… run for cover…

had a situationship with some transfer from durmstrang and literally never lived it down from fred

only got close with rose at hogwarts. shes a year younger than rose and she’s shocked to find out she’s secretly likeable

her favourite uncle is percy— yeah you would never guess. but she loves hanging with people who act like they have a small stick up their butt— it’s more rewarding when she wrangles a laugh out of them. plus percy spoils her the most and she has a sneaking suspicion she is secretly is favourite niece.

people pay her to prank their opps. shes like a clown hitman.

exercised for like a week and got abs from it. everyone is upset. also. is a gym bro. probably the master herder of all the gym bros.

made a secret trolls account to troll people. thought she was so smart for mashing the two concepts together.

ate playdough when she was a kid and was disappointed with how it tasted.

master jinxer. for real, cover your ankles if you’re an opp

opps in general tremble

never fought much with her parents, which is really fucking strange. maybe its because fred fought with angelina and george a lot so roxanne sought unconsciously to balance that out, but she just never thought anything was that serious enough to fight over

but she DOES have fights with fred. sometimes they scrap in the middle of the common room and the reason will be because she chucked a piece of paper at him or something. then two seconds later after she’s got bruises up her legs and he’s literally got a black eye, they’re showing each other their memes.

she’s extremely close with both parents but her best friend is literally her mum and when she gets a letter from her mum at dinner at hogwarts she’ll shamelessly start celebrating and cheering.

“look guys my mummy replied to me!!” “didnt she literally write to you yesterday?”

had pink hair for a moment in time in fifth year and pretended it was on purpose (she meant for it to be red whoops)

hugo:

looks a lot like ron except has his mums bushy brown hair (because thats canon… i know.. crazy…). very freckley and has a deeper complexion but not like his mum’s (yea hes lightskin 💪). built short like his mum though, and rose makes fun of him until he wakes up randomly one morning and hes 6ft.

personality wise hes a mix between his parents. hes a lot like ron in the sense that hes made of dry humour and loyalty to his friends, but like hermione in that he gets exasperated easily and also possesses undying loyalty. now that i think about it, hugo is just extremely loyal

definition of little freak. you know how as the line of cousins gets younger and younger and the youngest of them all is always just a weirdo? yeah, hugo is the youngest.

has a butt indentation on his bed from sitting on it and playing roblox all day. wont move from bed until he gets banned on the servers and is forced to touch grass

but when he touches grass he is all for the grass. rose has his ass on life360 and suddenly hes taken a train up to bumfuck nowhere to go on a spontaneous nature hike. suddenly he’s signed up to a chess club and queen gambits his way to the top spot. suddenly hes in a random protest and he doesnt even know what hes there for he just likes the energy

is called “snotty rat boy” in rose’s contacts

basically is a punching bag for all older siblings but is numb to the abuse and just accepts it (its all well-meaning and full of love)

is aroace but LOVES valentines. he goes all out to get cards for all his friends and family and makes them little trinkets (he can’t buy them anything bcuz hes a broke baby and has too much pride to ask his mum for money only to get her something thats worth less) and plans platonic dates and gets very offended when they have to cancel to spend time with their actual romantic partners. he once rang his mate up to ask for a refund for his time (he was joking but hugo is dramatic as hell and needs to feel loved at all times or else he will literally die)

is the main character of a cartoon network show. i just dont know what..

ipad kid vibes

cant cook anything but really good homemade pizza for some strange reason???

confirmed he was aroace when he was playing truth or dare with his gryffindor buddies (because hugo is definitely a gryffindor) late at night and got dared to french kiss some guy. after he had to flee the scene and brush his teeth out to get that gross taste away, and yeah, he had his suspicions beforehand but this basically confirmed it. and every time he recalls the feeling of kissing someone like That he gets this thousand yard stare on him… one would think hes having war flashbacks….

despite not wanting to get married like That, he wants to be a dad when hes older. He has a list of baby names on his notes app (or wizard equivalent), but they’re all shitty things you would name an oc or a sim, not a real person. shit like “ebony” or “crystal” or “axel.” he showed his list to lily luna once and she laughed and called them stripper names so he got mad and kept it very secretive from then on.

genius chess player. wizard beth harmon who?

is a vegan. it started as a joint pack with hermione (ron and rose said “fuck no”) but hermione caved after six months because she cant stay away from coffee. hugo persisted though

is the only one allowed to ruthlessly rip into and bully the shit out of rose. im not kidding, her parents cant even do it. theyre too scared. meanwhile hugo will walk past her in the hallway and say “oh you look uggo today” with a deadass straight face

thinks about moving out one day and having his own family and thinks about rose moving out and having her own family and how that family will be her primary family and he will be secondary family and how they will have to leave their parents one day— he instantly breaks down into tears. hes just a baby bird guyz plz!!!

does not have any parent hes closer to. ron spoils him more but also scolds him more. hermione rewards him less but lets him get away with more. it balances out.

very close with lily luna so when rose and albus had their falling out they just gossiped about it the entire time. lily would tell him how albus cried for three hours straight during lunch and hugo would tell her how rose started to fixate on their shower and started deep cleaning it the muggle way at four in the morning like she was possessed

is james’ godbrother but keeps forgetting it 💀

not bad at quidditch but never took a huge liking to it. likes watching more than playing and just agrees with whatever his dad’s opinions are on the teams (indoctrination)

able to cast a patronus before rose learned which had her tweak out a lot.

ive written tonnes…. so i will leave it there lol

[livingmydreamlife5555]

MHA Dr #3

Name: Apollo Kamiyama

Birthday: January 24th

Height: 5'7"

Appearance: Low-key just a pretty boy. Imma add some art breeder photos at the bottom for more visuals of like my facial features. I combined multiple ones into a few that I liked. But yeah, I'm really pretty and I have freckles and curly hair 😻😻 me and midoriya twinning 🫶🏾🫶🏾 scripted that I remind people of the actual God Apollo if he was a human on Earth

Backstory: This one is a very interesting backstory lol. Long story short, my parents were devoted worshippers of the Greek gods. To show their devotion, they allowed the gods to bless me, aka their first child. So I have the blessings of the gods, like Percy Jackson type blessings, as if I were their child. They named me Apollo in honor of the first god they worked with. But that's not all 😏. They wanted me to become one of the greatest heroes. I was born with no quirk, so they gave me an advanced version of my parents quirks with some blessings of course. And that's how you get the gamer system, but the version from the web novel "Solo Leveling". I was born in Nigeria, but moved to America and did school there. I moved to Japan to do highschool at UA of course 💪🏾💪🏾. Don't know if imma actually script siblings, I already have some here 😭

Quirk: My life is mostly like a RPG player. I have quests I receive from the 12 gods themselves and some others. I can do anything a RPG player can do. The gods can open gates like in the webnovel solo leveling which the Gods open the gates to help me get stronger, with mythical greek monsters too. After my first gate, which the Gods use to test me, I get the skill shadow extraction, like from solo leveling. Anytime I defeat a monster, I can resurrect them to join my army under my command. In the original they are black and blue, but I scripted them to white and gold. The gates that the gods spawn can only be seen by me, and if I want others to see them then they could. The blessings I got from the gods show up as passive skills in my system (This whole quirk makes more sense if you read up on the main character's power).

Voice claim: Probably more higher than I sound in my other realities. I scripted something around Kenma Asmodeus (obey me), and Milo thatch combined. Just soft, pretty and angelic. "I sound like a beautiful tune from the instruments that the God Apollo would perfectly play" quite literally from my script

Extra info-

here are all the blessings and what they actually do (I don't get them all at once. There are six I get first, then I get the rest later on. They can grow from there too)

Zeus ⚡- power to control all elements (I start with the 4 basics, before moving into Lightning, metal, etc.)

Hera 🦚 - blessed with a loving relationship in my family

Poseidon 🔱 - power to breath underwater and and summon water beings on command

Hades 💀 - (couldn't really decide on one from him. But just something not over the top.)

Aphrodite 🦪 - the gift of absolute beauty and power to uncover the emotions hidden deep in one's soul

Apollo ☀️ - blessed with the voice of an angel and the powers of healing. My smile is like a beacon of light and shall illuminate the darkest of nights and usher hope for anyone.

Artemis 🌙 - blessed with the instincts of the best hunter, when needed. I shall radiate with calming light, soothing the ones around me.

Athena 🫒 - blessed with the gift of knowledge and learning capabilities. I can solve any puzzles and learn anything very quickly.

Hephaestus ⚒️ - blessed with the ability to forge anything with the right materials. I know how to use any weapon.

Hestia 🔥 - blessed with the burning desire to bring justice and gifted with the eternal flame.

Hermes 🪽 - blessed with the ability to tell if a person is pure of heart and tell if they are lying. I have the movements of water and can build up to the speed of light.

Demeter 🌿 - blessed with the power to control plant life and animals. Anywhere I go, the place shall prosper

Dionysus 🍷 - blessed with the ability to create anything only when in need. I can always find food

Ares ⚔️ - blessed with the power to solve any crisis and instill chaos when needed.

i have a more androgynous beauty in this Dr. Got a lot of beauty from Aphrodite of course 🙏🏾

I can also communicate with the gods as well and they come like little inboxes in my gamer systems.

I might script that we are rich, but just depends on how I'm feeling.

I have the same skills from the other drs obviously.

Welp that's it for this reality. This is also a really good way to reconnect with myself in my other realities too. Below are the art breeder pics of me. One more to gooo

-Honey out 🍯🍯🍯

[remusbuzzcutt]

oh oracle eva…spare some more thoughts on jily as percabeth i beseech you

sigh i am not good at this help but like for one the dynamics are SO SO SO similar. to me, jily weren’t necessarily friends at the start of their hogwarts years, but i wouldn’t go as far to call them “rivals”. percabeth is the same like they weren’t friends but they trusted each other enough. like acquaintances? AND THE SLOWBURN. slowburn was my first love.

james is so percy coded it’s UNREAL. breaking the scale even. percy’s sense of humour? james. percy’s love for his mother? james. (i’m not going to mention fleamont here because i love him) the way percy talks/thinks about annabeth? james. “the world was collapsing and the only thing that really mattered to me was that she was alive.” need i say more? i will anyway because THIS, “she’d always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful,” is exactly how i see jily. i don’t think james would continuously ask lily out or make his feelings obvious, but he would PINE. he would admire her from afar and not even realise his feelings until they basically smacked him in the face. he would love her in silence, in such a heavy way that he ACHED for her. my james potter wouldn’t admit his feelings straight away, he’d be absolutely be miserable in them knowing she didn’t feel the same. i kinda rambled here and strayed away from percabeth but please tell me somebody agrees.

and LILY. she’s smart, but lethal. this woman literally fought a war as a teenager. she wouldn’t hesitate to call anyone out on their bullshit, she’s bossy (though not to an annoying degree), but she’s so caring. like annabeth, she’d do ANYTHING for the people she loves. annabeth took a knife for percy and lily fucking DIED for her son. not enough people talk about that?? i disagree with the fandom’s characterisation of her to some degree because my girl is not soft. she’s sarcastic and has SUCH an attitude i’m sorry. just imagine her face when somebody lacks common sense. YK THAT SILENT JUDGING FACE? LILY. all her attitude covers her internal struggles because she feels like she has to be tough and composed. this is mainly me talking about lily’s character but i really link this to annabeth. don’t get me started on the family issues. lily was the black sheep of the family and so was annabeth. people really overlook this in BOTH of their cases because going through that obviously is going to effect you some, no?

there’s so much more but my mind blanks whenever i have to explain stuff and it pisses me off so much so you’ll just have to accept this 😪🥰 i’m also not good at explaining things properly so my reasoning is probably not making sense but humour me plz 😝

[delcakoo]

son of hades!riki watching femreader!daughter of apollo heal/comfort and later on cutely playing with little toddler campers to cheer them up and falls more in love w her bc of how good she is w kids

(its percy jackson themed, i hope im making sense😭 basically the reader has healing powers)

OH HELL YEAH PERCY JACKSON AA i dont even know anything ab the actual series, but i have read fics with its concept and ITS SUCH A COOL IDEA 🫶🫶 i had to do a bit research and it says hades kids can shadow travel and have earth powers..? hope thats correct jshdjd this was so fun to write, ty for the req anon <3 !! SOFT HOUR REQS ARE CLOSED !!

11:14AM — it was the hades’ kids turn to babysit the younger campers.

riki found kids a bit annoying, much too troubling and loud for his taste. but he couldn’t deny that the little boy he was assigned to supervise for the day was more than adorable.

his name was mingyu, a hermes kid with black curly hair filled and big brown boba eyes, his cheeky smile growing whenever riki swung their intertwined hands back and forth.

the little boy stopped suddenly along the camps pathway, looking up at riki with a big grin, “hyung! watch this!”

like most young hermes kids, mingyu was eager to show off his oustanding stealth and speed, zooming in circles at a breakneck speed. he was almost a blur to riki, moving so fast to the point that the older male’s eyes could barely keep up with his figure.

he chuckles, “woah, you’re even faster than hyung!” feeling playful, riki decides to put his own powers to use; manipulating a couple earthy platforms into the air, replicating a mini parkour park for the boy. “bet you cant get up there,” he taunts.

perhaps he shouldn’t have done that.

feeling challenged, mingyu rushes up to the rocks, pouncing higher with each one, the little boy cheers, laughing proudly with each jump. “more, hyung! make more!”

the hades boy gulps, hands moving in panic as he tries to keep up with the child who’s now jumping to each platform right as they’ve been formed. riki didn’t use his geokinesis often; evident in how slow it took him to develop each new rock. “h-hey kid, slow down! i can’t—“

it was too late; mingyu’s already jumped into the open air, expecting riki to place a rock beneath him, only to find nothing as he falls all the way down to the ground. immediately, the little boy bursts into tears, staring down at his legs that were painfully scratched up and bleeding.

“shit,” riki curses, rushing over to kneel before the younger. “hey, it’s alright gyu, i’ll take you to the medical cabin right now, okay?”

the walk to the meds was one full of terrible, heart wrenching guilt; riki having to carry the poor boy bridal style with tears and blood still running down his skin. right as he was about to open the cabin door, you had already pulled it open.

riki’s heart nearly began thumping out of his chest. he’d interacted with you a couple times here and there, always noticing little, endearing details about you, like the way you sometimes hit the person next to you from you laughing too hard, or how your tongue would poke out of your cheek whenever you were frustrated. he found you charming, it was unfortunate he’d be meeting you again in such a way. “y/n—“

“riki!” you scold, quickly taking mingyu from his hold, “what the hell did you do?!”

he gulps, quickly following you as you set the hermes boy down on the closest bed. you were rushing around the room in a hurry, picking a few wipes to clean the child’s wounds. “i- we were playing around, and then he fell! it was an accident though, i promise!”

riki was only feeling more guilty about the fact that he’d nearly forgot about mingyu’s injuries; much too busy admiring you despite the glare you send his way while you wipe up the boy’s blood.

“i’ll deal with you later,” you sigh, throwing the wipe into the trash. like a switch, your expression morphs into one of gentleness as you smile down at mingyu comfortingly. “okay baby, this is going to feel a bit strange, but just focus on me, okay?”

he sniffles, closing his own eyes nervously. “mkay, noona.”

“so mingyu, what’s your favourite animal?”

“umm.. i like tigers..” while he’s distracted you take a deep breath, muttering something as you place your hands over his scrapes. “but.. but i also like lions..” riki just watches in amazement, lips parted as the injuries begin to miraculously close up. mingyu is too busy talking about lions, hands fidgeting with each other anxiously.

suddenly, you open your eyes with a big smile, “look at that, you’re all better!”

riki isn’t fully aware of what happens after that, all he knows is that he is absolutely, undoubtedly in love with you. he faintly sees mingyu spring up from the bed happily, giving you a big, grateful kiss on the cheek.

his dad wouldn’t mind him going for an apollo kid, right?

i’m sorry if things are unnacurate, again i dont know much about percy jackson <\3 this was super fun anyway sjnddjn i hope i did ur idea justice anonnieee >:)

[lotus-flower-writes-history]

The Unofficial Black History Book

Huey P. Newton (1942-1989)

'The Revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.' - Huey Newton

This is his story.

Huey Percy Newton was born on February 17th, 1942, in Monroe, Louisiana. The youngest of seven children to Armelia Johnson and Walter Newton, he was named after former Governor of Louisiana, Huey Long.

His family relocated to Oakland, California, in search of better economic opportunities in 1945. His family struggled financially and frequently relocated, but he never went hungry or homeless.

Growing up in Oakland, Newton recalled his white teachers making him feel ashamed for being African-American, despite never being taught anything useful. In his Autobiography, ‘Revolutionary Suicide’, he wrote – “Was made to feel ashamed of being black. During those long years in Oakland Public Schools, I did not have one teacher who taught me anything relevant to my own life or experience. Not one instructor ever awoke in me a desire to learn more or to question or to explore the worlds of literature, science, and history. All they did was try to rob me of the sense of my own uniqueness and worth, and in the process nearly killed my urge to inquire.” 

He also had a troubled childhood; he was arrested several times as a teenager for gun possession and vandalism.

Huey was illiterate when he graduated from high school, but he taught himself to read and write by studying poetry before enrolling at Merritt College. 

During his time there, he supported himself by breaking into homes in Oakland and Berkeley Hills and committing other minor offenses. He also attended Oakland College and San Francisco Law School, ostensibly to improve his criminal skills.

He joined Pi Beta Sigma Fraternity while still a student at Merritt College and met Bobby Seale, a political activist and engineer. Huey also fought for curriculum diversification, the hiring of more black instructors, and involvement in local political activities in the Bay Area. 

In addition, he was exposed to a rising tide of Black Nationalism and briefly joined the Afro-American Association, where he studied Frantz Fanon, Che Guevara, Mao Zedong, E. Franklin Frazier, James Baldwin, Karl Marx, and Vladimir Lenin.

Huey had adopted a Marxist/Leninist viewpoint in which he saw the black community as an internal colony ruled by outside forces such as white businessmen, City Hall, and the police. In October 1966, he and Bobby Seale founded The Black Panther Party for self-defense, believing that the black working class needed to seize control of the institutions that most affected their community.

It was a coin toss that resulted in Newton becoming defense minister and Seale becoming chairman of the Black Panther Party. Newton’s job as the Minister of Defense and main leader of the Black Panther Party was to write in the Ten-Point Program, the founding document of the Party, and he demanded that blacks need the “Power to determine the destiny of our Black Community”. It would allow blacks to gain “Land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace.”

The Panthers took advantage of a California law allowing people to carry non-concealed weapons and established armed patrols that monitored police activity in the Black Community. 

One of the main points of focus for the Black Panther Party was the right to self-defense. Newton believed and preached that sometimes violence, or even the threat of violence, is required to achieve one's goals. 

Members of the Black Panther Party once stormed the California Legislature while fully armed in order to protest the outcome of a gun bill.

Newton also established the Free Breakfast for Children Program, martial arts training for teenagers, and educational programs for children from low-income families. 

The Black Panthers believed that in the Black struggle for justice, violence or the potential for violence may be necessary.

 The Black Panthers had chapters in several major cities and over 2,000 members. Members became involved in several shoot-outs after being harassed by police.

On October 28, 1967, the Panthers and the police exchanged gunfire in Oakland. Huey was injured in the crossfire, and while recovering in the hospital, he was charged with killing an Oakland police officer, John Frey. 

He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter the following year.

Huey was regarded as a political prisoner, and the Panthers organized a 'Free Huey' campaign led by Panther Party Minister Eldridge Cleaver. And Charles R. Geary, a well-known attorney who was in charge of Newton’s legal defense.

Newton was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in 1968 and sentenced to 2-15 years in prison. However, the California Appellate Court ordered a new trial in May 1970. The conviction was reversed on appeal, the case was dismissed by the California Supreme Court, and Huey was acquitted.

Huey renounced political violence after being released from prison. Over a six-year period, 24 Black Panther members were killed in gunfights with the police. Another member, George Jackson, was killed in August 1971 while serving time in San Quentin Prison.

The Black Panther Party, under the leadership of Newton, gained international support. This was most evident in 1970 when Newton was invited to visit China. Large crowds greeted him enthusiastically, holding copies of "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung," as well as signs supporting the Panther Party and criticizing US imperialism.

In the early 1970s, Newton's leadership of the Black Panther Party contributed to its demise. He oversaw a number of purges of Party members, the most famous of which was in 1971 when he expelled Eldridge Cleaver in what became known as the Newton-Cleaver split over the party's primary function.

Newton wanted the party to be solely focused on serving African-American communities, whereas Cleaver believed the party should be focused on developing relationships with international revolutionary movements. The schism resulted in violence between the factions and the deaths of several Black Panther members. The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) was one of several factions that had broken away from the main party.

Then, in 1974, Newton was accused of assaulting a 17-year-old prostitute named Kathleen Smith, who later died, raising the charge to murder. Instead of facing trial, Huey fled to Cuba with his girlfriend at the time, where he remained for three years. The key witness in the trial was Crystal Gray. And three Black Panther members attempted to assassinate her before she gave her testimony.

Huey returned to the States in 1976 to stand trial but denied any involvement. The jury was deadlocked, and Newton was eventually acquitted after two mistrials.

In 1978, he enrolled in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned his Doctorate in 1980.

"War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America," his dissertation, was later turned into a book.

On charges of embezzling Panther Party funds, Huey P. Newton was sentenced to 6 months in prison followed by 18 months on probation in 1982.

On August 22, 1989, Newton was assassinated by a member of the BGF, named Tyrone Robinson.

Huey was 46 years old at the time of his assassination. Robinson was convicted of Huey’s murder in 1991 and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. 

His wife, Fredricka Newton, carried on his legacy. 'Revolutionary Suicide,' his autobiography, was first published in 1973 and then republished in 1995.

Huey Newton was not perfect, but he did fight to protect the rights of the Black Community. The rights that we're still fighting for today.

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Previous

Ruby Bridges

Next

Henry "Box" Brown

___

My Sources

[robin1729]

living in the moment ft. my dad

I have always had my head in the clouds, a little bit? I have spent my entire life lost in stories. It started with those magazines they have for kids. Champak, Magic Pot, Tinkle. Then it moved to novels for kids. Secret Seven, Famous Five, anything Enid Blyton really. Then Fantasy. Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl. Then as we grew older, the classics. Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Black Beauty. I was the kid who always had his nose in a book. In our substitute periods, my friends would be calling my name and I simply wouldn't hear them because that's how engrossed I was. I would be walking down the stairs with my head in a book and people would warn me that I am going to fall, and I would tell them (with a bit of pretentious snobbiness, I have to admit) that I had been doing this shit since I was 6.

Then came college, and like a lot of people I shifted to shows and movies. How I met your mother, Parks and Recreation, New girl. The same thing happened. My eyes were now always glued to my phone screen. I watched with so much concentration and watched the same things so many times I ended up memorising entire 9 season long shows. I started narrating movies dialogue-by-dialogue in front of my friends.

My dad didn't help either. He had to see every movie that came out. If too many movies came out in a month, he would bring pirated CDs for 50 rupees each and we would watch them on our tv. He would randomly come in his car in the evenings when me and my brother would be playing with our friends, roll down his windows, and say "Get in the car, we are going to the theater." Our friends would watch with childish jealousy as we just randomly up and went to see a movie. We wouldn't even check what was in the theaters that week. We would just get there and sit for whatever was starting in the next 15 minutes. I have seen so many sequels without watching the original?

Somewhere in all of this, I think I lost some sense of reality. I would be writing novels in my head. And no, not just outlines. I would be sitting on the dining table, writing them in my head sentence-by-sentence as I ate my food, mouthing dialogues that my characters would speak in the way they would speak them and not realise what I was doing until my brother pointed it out. That must have been creepy for him, to say the least. Suddenly I am 23 and life is more complicated than in any book, show, or movie I had ever read or seen. People on LinkedIn talking about the best investments and wanting to build careers and customer service strategies and I find it so hard to care sometimes??

Why can't I just be happy that my friend Hagrid has come back from Azkaban where he was wrongfully imprisoned for being the heir of Slytherin and that Gryffindor has won the house cup again? But noooo, I have to make excel sheets, and powerpoint presentations, and think of the best way to automate our processes. The real world is so, so boring.

My dad, somehow though, lives in both these worlds. He still watches every hindi movie and show that comes out. But never gets too attached. He really just watches them for simple entertainment and then doesn't get obsessed??? what a maniac?? He doesn't even remember plots of movies he saw two weeks back. And I remember movies I saw when I was 15 like I saw them yesterday. Whenever we talk, I want to talk about astronomy, and philosophy. About how tiny and insignificant we are in space and time, about thought experiments. And he never has anything to say about any of those things. He just nods and listens. "I don't really think about this stuff," he says. He has experienced way more stories than I have, and yet his head stays on the ground. If it's not something that affects him here and now, in the real world, he doesn't wanna hear about it. Who cares if wormholes can exist or not, when it's not affecting his life in any way?

And like, I get it. Life already throws so many things in your way; why add to it, right? He keeps his head clear, focuses only on the present, and on what is directly in front of him. A simple man. And on some level, I admire that. And I have been trying to be like that. But I don't want to lose my passion for stories, for things like the universe and different theories of ethics.

There's this very young businesswoman and internet personality I admire, and she is a great speaker. She always comes across as very confident and very sure of herself. And she was asked in an event how she deals with any failures or setbacks. And she said that she has learnt to regulate her emotions, so that she doesn't get too happy when something goes her way, and she doesn't get too sad when something doesn't.

Isn't that... kind of sad? It broke my heart, to be honest. I wanna be madly happy when something goes my way, dude. I wanna party and feel like I am on top of the world and that I am invincible. Moderating your emotions sounds like dulling the human experience.

Like always, I don't know what the answer is. But right now I am a little tired of feeling too much, of thinking too much. So I am going to try my dad's approach for a while, and let you know how it goes.

[dark-elf-writes]

Harry as a weapon being taught to be human inbetween by Tenya and Teddy. Tenya who holds his hands and kisses his scars (forehead, hand, arm, all the scars he can find).

Class 1A seeing this broken pile of teens, who came from a war where nothing changed in the end. 1A who swears to make it right in their own world. (Not all do. Mineta is removed early after Harry uses his money to payback the donation the boy’s family made so the board wouldn’t fuss. Bakugou who sneers at everyone and won’t see the broken teens as anything but failures. Who fights for himself like another blond Harry remembers who had the same money and entitlement issues.)

Hizashi loving the nephew they never met until now. Who curses out Dumbledore with a bottle of scotch and the warmth of old friends around them.

Touya and Percy working together to rip down Endeavour. Aided by Molly who snarls her anger. She’s been unable to help Harry (in her darker dreams she wondered why she’d suddenly forgotten about the bars. Why it only came back when Dumbledore died. She was scared to know why she’d brushed it aside. She won’t let it happen again). Molly who storms Natsuo’s dorm to give him a sweater, who hugs Fuyumi. Who meets Rei with a smile (and a cloak borrowed from Harry. Rei goes missing three days later after a visit from her husband. Fleur just so happens to have her aunt visit after)

Arthur works with Nezu and flourishes. His mind and skill clicks with the small mammal who finds delight in these wizards. Arthur who discovers a boy forced to spy and opens his arms to the child. Who loves and accepts.

Geroge who finds hope in Tensei and later finds his own mark shining (only half because his twin was always part of him). Mount Lady who smiles and struts but who also has been trying more. Who saw a boy run in to save another while she did nothing and feels the sting. Who settles her shoulders, deciding she would fight back (who fights with Midnight as part of their PR but both go to a bar to bitch about it after) Mt Ldy who sees her soulmate, and decides to truly change to prove herself.

Neville who left a grandmother whom never saw him and a family who hurt him. Neville who finds his way as a UA student. As a leader.

UA is happy to open its doors as a magical school, Nezu cheerfully talking with Minerva who decided ‘fuck it’ when most of the children she cared about left. She followed after lighting Dumbledore’s portrait on fire.

Harry who forgot what it was not to be a freak or the Boy-Who-Lived. Even those closest to him turned him into a symbol in the end. A banner. He was the figurehead of their war and the man who was born to save them. Born to die for them. They try to understand but it’s hard to break six plus years of indoctrination. Harry can’t blame them for it. He’s having a hard time breaking it himself. It’s easier with Tenya being so far removed from the wizarding world. Who only sees Harry as his Soulmate rather than as a Symbol. He treats Harry so gently, so kindly, and pulls him back from that edge he was forced to walk so long. That he would still walk to keep those he cares about safe.

All, or well most with a few notable exceptions, of 1-A are just as caring to their newest classmates. The Refugees Ginny dubs their little group with a laugh full of pain and black humor. They are refugees in a sense. Survivors of a war that they won but still somehow lost in the end. The few that stood up to fight. The children that coated their hands in blood when most adults offered them up like lambs for the slaughter. 1-A can’t understand really but they are trying to. It is worlds beyond what any of them have received before.

Hizashi is another example of that gentleness, and one that understands far more than 1-A even if they still dont understand all of it. They have been a hero for years now. They know the kind of toll that it takes on the willing adults that go into it with support and training. They can only imagine what it would do to unwilling children forced to become someone more than what they are so young. To do so with only each other at their backs to count on. They offer companionship (as much as they want to bundle Harry away from the world and protect him, to parent him even, it is far too late for that now. They will never forgive the people that made them miss that chance.) offer a listening ear offer a bottle of their best alcohol when Harry finally finally allows himself to get angry about what was done to him. They teach him every curse word they know and he hurls all of them at a dead man. They hold him when he breaks mourning dozens of deaths including his own. They sit with him through the nightmares, running their fingers through his hair and humming to try and keep them at bay. They should have been able to do this before. They whisper their own curses long after Harry has fallen asleep that neither of them had the chance until so much had been lost.

Molly who will never forgive herself for what she let happen to his babies, all of them even those not hers by name, right under her nose. Who has been nursing nightmares and migraines after the war that didn’t come from the battles and trauma. That overlay her memories of a kind if timid boy to show her bruises and too knobby wrists and her children yelling at her about bars on bedroom windows. She doesn’t want to think about why these are coming now. She already knows. So she throws herself into helping her newest son, whether the boy knows he is already a Weasley or not. Into helping his siblings. Into helping his mother. She failed her children for so long and she will not do so again.

Arthur who feels as if a fog he hadn’t even noticed was lifted around the same time Mollys nightmares started. Who is able to focus to notice more. Who still loves to tinker and build things but can now pay more attention to his children to the world around him to the scars that still sit prominently on his face. He is the one that notices the spy, eyes clear and mind sharp for the first time in what feels like decades. He is the one that pulls him into the fold and swears to protect him in the way he never could for Harry. He had failed his children too. It is not something he will allow to happen again.

Neville who steps into the role of leader of their little group of refugees knowing deep down that it would kill Harry Ron or Hermione to do so. He had been a leader for a year anyway, had kept those still in Hogwarts as safe as he could for as long as he could. Far more names would have been on the memorial if he had not. It’s not hard for him to do. It is something he can endure with a smile, as much as any of them smiled now. If he was honest with himself he sort of liked it. It isn’t anything he would have thought he would be good at before. It’s nice to prove that part of himself that sounds far too much like his grandmother wrong.

Nezu doesn’t even hesitate to open a new department of UA for his newest collection of pups. Doesn’t hesitate to welcome Minerva with open arms when she comes looking for them with sharp eyes and sharper claws wrapped tightly around her wand. She was willing to fight her way through to them. Nezu opens the doors and offers her a position teaching them once again instead.

[white-wolf-buckaroo]

Chapter 5: I Plunge to my Death

This episode is what I call the 'turning point' of the show where Percy really discovers what he's capable of, and also the end of the first half of the first season! Can't believe we're already here. Hope you enjoy it!

Word count: 7500 ish

Warnings: Does the Chimera count?

Fic masterlist here!

The soothing rattle of the train put Emily to sleep almost instantly when they went to bed. She was exhausted, even if it had only been the first days of their quest.

They were back on track now, on their way to Los Angeles still in time for the solstice. They would complete the quest, and avoid a war between the gods. Yep, everything would be great.

Except her sleep that night: she was still shaken up from their visit to Aunty Em’s place, not as much because of fighting multiple monsters the same day (she was more than prepared for that), but because of their conversation with Medusa. Emily knew that not all monsters were brainless or soulless creatures, but having an actual talk with someone as the gorgon, who had been around for ages, and had different opinions than the ones Emily was used to hearing, had certainly been an experience.

Medusa’s words resonated in her head during her sleep: The gods want you to believe that they are infallible. But they only want what all bullies want: they want us to blame ourselves for their own shortcomings.

Emily hadn’t seen her father in years. Well, except in the official ceremonies like the winter solstice, when they visited Olympus. But she hadn’t spoken to him in years. Still, she thought of him every day when making her offerings, even though she knew he probably didn’t think of her maybe more than once a month, if he ever did. He was the one who had left, after all. He didn’t want anything else to do with her anymore.

It killed her not to know the reasoning behind his actions. What seemed more logical to her, is that it had been her fault. That’s why she trained to be better, and better and better every single day. Not to make him see he was wrong for abandoning her… but to demonstrate that she was worthy of his love.

She woke up earlier than expected, heart racing after her overthinking thought didn’t let her be even during her sleep – it was still dark outside. Above them was a pitch black sky, from what she could see from her place on the floor (after the flying shoes incident they had let Grover take one of the bunkbeds, and both Percy and Emily had lost against Annabeth on rock, paper, scissors, so the both of them were on mattresses on the floor). There were also stars shining above them, almost flying by with the train’s fast pace.

It was a relief that, wherever she would go, she could always look up to the sky and find the same stars she stared at every night at camp.

She realized then that Percy and Annabeth were awake too, because they were talking. Maybe she had woken up because of them; she could, and would, definitely blame them.

“… I gotta say, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me”

“What doesn’t make sense to you?”

“The way you guys all talk” answered Percy “The way the gods want us to think… Gotta burn an offering to get a parent’s attention. Gotta beat up on Clarisse just to get my father to admit he’s my father. It isn’t supposed to work that way” he sighed, defeated “People who are close to you aren’t supposed to treat you that way”

The thing is, the gods weren’t close to their children. Demigods wanted them to be, sure, but they just… weren’t. That’s the sad truth behind it, and the reason why things worked like they did in their world.

Emily listened to Annabeth telling Percy how she ran away when she was seven, a story she had heard many times, years ago for the first time. Emily knew that Annabeth missed her father, but that her insecurities wouldn’t let her give in to his pleadings to come back to him.

If Emily still had her mother, she would leave camp half-blood to be with her in a heartbeat.

“It isn’t the gods who think that way” replied Annabeth, to Percy’s previous comment “It’s everybody. But at least with the gods you know the rules: show them respect and they’ll be in your corner no matter what”

“The gods didn’t help us when we were at Medusa’s, though”

“Gods can’t interfere”

Both Percy and Annabeth looked over at Emily when she talked, surprised that she was awake.

“What do you mean?” asked Percy.

“This is a quest. We have to get this done by ourselves. If we can’t deal with small problems like a monster getting in our way… well, then we shouldn’t be on a mission in the first place”

“A monster doesn’t seem like a small problem to me but okay, whatever you say” Percy shrugged “But still, we are kids. They are our parents. Dads and Moms are supposed to protect their children”

“The gods do… in their own way” Emily was staring at the ceiling, rather than at Percy, engrossed in her mind “Athena gifted Annabeth her invisibility cap. Your father transmitted to you the ability to heal when you are in contact with water. They care for you guys”

Percy took in her words, noticing she hadn’t mentioned herself nor her dad. He didn’t know what her relationship to Ares was like, but he did remember Medusa saying that the god had cared for his child, in past tense, but not in present tense. He did know how her relationship to Clarisse was, and some others of the Ares cabin from what he had seen at camp. He liked Emily because she wasn’t as brute as them, but he also knew that there was a lot about her he didn’t know yet – she was still a daughter of the God of War.

He wanted to ask her more about it, but he didn’t know how to be tactful. So he just blatantly did:

“What about your dad? Ares?”

“What about him?” she didn’t sound very keen on talking about that topic.

“Has he gotten you anything like Annabeth’s mom for her?”

“Yeah, he did. Some weapons, like my throwing knife. It’s been… years, though, since he’s gifted me anything. The last thing… was his ring. I guess that was his goodbye” she grasped at it with her fingers over her chest, biting her lip; it was attached to her camp necklace, ever since the day she had received it from him. She didn’t want to dwell in her feelings too much, so she quickly forced herself to recover “He also got me some emotional traumas, like for the most of us. The usual for the God of War”

Above them, on the upper mattress of the bunk, Grover groaned while he woke up, totally displeased to do so.

“You awake?” asked Percy.

“I am now, thanks”

“You okay?”

“He’s super grouchy when he doesn’t get enough sleep”

Grover mimicked Annabeth doing a high pitched voice, groaning again.

“Wow” replied Percy, unimpressed. That was a side of Grover he hadn’t seen yet.

“You’ve never been on the road with him before” said Annabeth “A little different than a froofy boarding school, isn’t it?”

“Who’s froofy? You’re froofy!” complained Grover, words slurred with sleep “… What’s froofy?”

“I think you need to eat, Grover” suggested Emily, holding back a smile. She shouldn’t be amused by his torture… but she kind of was enjoying this too much.

Grover did eat a lot at breakfast; at dawn, after they couldn’t sleep anymore, they had all gotten dressed and had made it out of their wagon. The train didn’t have a five star meal restaurant, but some apple juice, bread, fruit and cookies, which was more than enough for three demigods and a satyr – well, maybe not so much for Grover, but he got all the grapes in exchange for the sausages he didn’t want.

“Seems like Apollo is driving around fast today” mumbled Emily, watching how the sky outside the train was quickly turning lighter colours, with the sun almost up in the sky “If he decided to make the sun rise later than it should… we’d have more time to complete our quest, right? ‘Cause of the solstice”

“In two days we will reach Los Angeles, there is still plenty of time before our deadline to reach the Underworld”

“Can I ask a dumb question?”

Annabeth, Emily and Grover all looked at Percy with an eyebrow raised, unsure about what he was about to say.

“It’s like you need me to make fun of you” commented Annabeth, across from him. She was sitting with Grover, whereas Emily was with Percy.

“Annie, be nice”

“Shoot” added Grover, to Percy.

“I’ve never been to Los Angeles before. I’m guessing neither of you have been to Los Angeles as well… So, how will we have any idea where we’re going?”

“No idea” answered Grover. Great “But that’s like step thirty-seven, and we’re still on step four. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there”

Emily knew by Percy’s face that he still wasn’t convinced.

“Follow-up stupid question” ah, there it was.

“Dude” muttered Annabeth.

“The Oracle… it said ‘And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end’. Back in Jersey I told you the Oracle said this quest would fail. And no one’s mentioned it since. Seems like… something we ought to be taking a little more seriously, don’t you think?”

“Don’t think too much about what the Oracle said” Emily bit her lip, thoughtful “She’s super wise and stuff, but her premonitions are also super tricky. They’re more like… guidelines, but not something to be followed by step by step. Relax about it”

“Sounds easier said than done” Percy huffed, turning to look outside of the window… when he saw something that caught his eye “Hey… are those…?”

“Centaurs”

A family of four, riding through the field on the right side of the train. Wild, and free.

“No one even knows they’re there”

“Chiron taught us that there used to be herds of them, everywhere” explained Emily, watching the family of centaurs move into the distance “Now… not so many”

“What happened to them?”

“Humans” mumbled the satyr, bitterly “A few thousand years ago… the God of the Wild, Pan, disappeared. And ever since, without Pan to protect the natural world, humans have been trying really hard to chip away at it”

“The bravest satyrs volunteer to become Searchers” added Annabeth “To try to find Pan. None have ever returned”

“Your uncle… the one we found at Medusa’s, Ferdinand” Percy quickly connected the dots, for once “He was a Searcher?”

Grover nodded, sadly. Annabeth and Emily looked at him with pity, like Percy.

“The Oracle didn’t say the quest would fail” Annabeth wasn’t done with that conversation yet, apparently “ ‘Fail to save what matters most’ could mean a lot of things. It’s what Emily said: this is how prophecies work. That’s how fate works. It could mean a lot of things. The harder you work to understand, the harder it gets to understand. Sometimes you’ve just gotta’ let it come to you when it’s ready”

And then, they were interrupted:

“Excuse me” they looked up, seeing one of the train’s security guards next to them “Can I see your tickets, please?”

“Why?” asked Emily, defensive, as Annabeth took them out of her backpack and handed them to the security guard. He didn’t answer her, though.

“You’re in cabin 17B?” he asked this time, and they nodded “You’re gonna have to come with me”

“Excuse me?” Emily knew she had a problem with holding her tongue, but she was working on it. Most times “We’ve done nothing wrong”

“Please, follow me”

Annabeth shot her friend a look that screamed ‘shut up’, and they all obeyed the man, following him back to the wagon were the cabins were. There was a loud noise of wind whooshing, that they didn’t recall hearing before when they left to get breakfast. When the security guard stopped at their cabin, they noticed the door was open, they understood where all of the wind was coming from: their window was shattered, there was glass everywhere, the beds they had made were now undone, and all their stuff was upside down. Emily’s eyes also caught a mark near the ceiling, above the now demolished window in the wooden panel: four equidistant lines, four claw marks.

“You wanna explain?”

As much as they defended themselves to the officer, he didn’t listen to them. On top of that, he even had a witness who apparently said she had hear the window smash followed by children’s voices. Both Emily and Annabeth looked at the woman the officer was pointing at: she was talking to another security guard, giving her statement on what she had heard. Percy complained behind them to the officer, while they assessed the woman: she was tall, lean, well dressed. Her face was pretty thin, her jawline and her cheekbones prominent.

Emily thought she looked like the typical suburban mom who got into other people’s business. Then again, she hadn’t been outside camp in a very long time, so she didn’t really know where that thought came from.

“Are we under arrest?”

The officer didn’t like Annabeth’s tone. He liked it even less when she repeated the question.

Now they were under arrest.

They held them back at the breakfast wagon, the four of them sitting at the same table as before again. Emily glanced at the ‘witness’ who was still giving her statement, now to the officer that had arrested them, while the other security guard watched them.

“So… We’re just killing time until we find out that guy’s like a werewolf or something, right?”

Grover, Emily and Annabeth glanced at the security officer talking to the witness, who looked back at them at the same time, and then they turned back to Percy.

“Doesn’t seem like a werewolf to me”

“More like a grouchy man with a superiority complex” mumbled Emily.

“Emi, not helpful” scolded Annabeth.

“Come on, look at us. Look at me!” she made what she called ‘a cute face’; she was a cute kid so it wasn’t that hard “Who could ever think I could harm anyone? Or shatter a window like that?”

“You definitely are capable of that. Not saying you would” answered Grover, immediately correcting himself “But you can”

“Well, that’s my perfect cover”

“We’re losing focus” reprimanded Annabeth “But I’m with you, he doesn’t seem like a monster”

“Then what’s going on here then? Why would anyone tear our room apart?”

“Maybe they were looking for something” suggested, Grover, looking at Percy.

“But we don’t have anything”

“The people who think you stole Zeus’s master bolt might disagree”

“But it’s like Percy said, we don’t have it”

“Exactly. They’re not gonna find something we don’t have”

“We need to get out of this before we get delayed”

Annabeth was interrupted, this time by the woman who claimed had heard them shatter the window and put their room upside down. The witness tapped her on the shoulder, acting concerned, and asked them if she could sit across from them. She even got the security guard who was watching them to walk away, saying she thought she was making them nervous.

Emily thought the woman had no right to seem this nice when she was acting so suspiciously.

She had a bag with her, with a pet inside. It was closed, but the thing was trembling so much it made the whole bag shiver; it made Emily kinda nervous.

“You poor dears must be scared” the woman told them, smiling oh too warmly “Your parents aren’t here, aren’t they? You poor things… But don’t worry. I’m a mom. I know what it’s like” she shushed her pet, tapping the bag lightly before turning back to the three demigods and the satyr again “I want you to know… I don’t actually think that you made that mess back there. I just wanted a moment alone with you. There are some things I need you to understand-“

“You have something on your jacket” Grover interrupted her, signalling to her right shoulder. All of them looked at that spot, seeing small pieces of something shiny “It looks like… glass” the woman’s smile was becoming more unsettling every passing second “No one smashed out the windows from inside our cabin. Someone smashed them in, from the outside”

The pet inside the woman’s bag began grunting, whimpering for her, and she turned back to it, kneeling before the back talking to the animal:

“Yes sweetheart, I know, I know… You’re impatient” the animal sniffed again “Oh… But we’re almost there” she stood up then again, turning to the heroes “This isn’t your fault” her tone had switched to a much more serious one, less sweet “But sadly, you’re going to have to bear the burden of your parents’ mistakes today”

“Listen, lady” said Percy, next to Emily on their bench “I don’t know who you are, but I think I know what you are”

A pain in the ass, though Emily.

“We’ve run across a few monsters like you and we’ve sent them all packing”

“Monsters like me?” the woman scoffed “Well… Of course they’re like me. They were my children”

It all made sense then.

Well, to all except Percy. But Annabeth, Emily and Grover knew then who they had standing before them:

“The Mother of Monsters” mumbled Grover, afraid.

“Echidna”

The pet, or more like the monster, inside the woman’s bag, began growling again, harsher this time. Its mother shushed it, but they felt like it wouldn’t stay calm much longer.

“Monster is such an odd word” Echidna sounded like the typical teacher who tried to lecture her students about something “Considering my grandmother is your great-grandmother” she said to Percy, looking then at the girls “And your great-great grandmother. This has always been a family story” she shrugged “But… to my eye, the demigod is the more dangerous creature. Disruptive. Violent. If I exist for anything… It is to stand in the way of monsters, like you”

The four of them were starting to feel something unsettling in their stomachs when the monster growled again.

“My little one here… She’s just a pup now, bless her heart” explained the Mother of Monsters “Today… you will be her prey” she looked at them expectantly, excited “Are you afraid yet?” they were, but they wouldn’t show it “Oh, it’s alright. Fear is natural. It’s also essential to the hunt. Your fear, your doubt, your confusion…” the monster growled louder as she chuckled “I needed you to understand what was happening, so that she could track the scent. So she could… learn, and grow, because… that’s what a good mother does for her children. Not that you would know”

The monster stilled, but the bag’s zip began opening from the inside.

Emily felt a nervous feeling growing inside her stomach, and her heartbeat picking up. This wasn’t good.

They heard one final growl, and the bag opened.

“You should run now”

A giant claw leapt out of the bag right at them. Emily ducked immediately, her senses sharpened from years of training, but Percy wasn’t that fast, and so when Emily was out of the way the claw went straight into his left shoulder.

The claw itself was attached to a long tail that backtracked once it had stabbed one of them, and before it could attack again Annabeth jumped right on it, dagger in hand; with all the force she could muster she stabbed the monster’s tail with her weapon, hopefully hurting it enough to slow it down in its hunt for them.

“Go!” she screamed to them.

Emily, Grover and Percy ran to the nearest exit, Annabeth following swiftly behind them. The security guards yelled for them to stay put, while Echidna tended to her hurt child. The heroes ran as fast as they could to the next wagons.

The train was slowly stopping; they had only made it to St. Louis.

Annabeth stayed a few steps behind to block one of the doors, although they knew it wasn’t to much use; only by its tail, they knew that the monster that was chasing them was huge. At least the door would hold back the security guards.

“Percy!” Grover tore a stinger out of his left shoulder, where the monster had gotten to him.

“What is that?” asked the blonde, nervous.

“What kind of monsters have stingers?” asked now Emily, frantic.

“I don’t know, I mean… nothing good probably”

Percy felt okay, at least for now. He didn’t really feel any pain, but maybe it was because he was so full of adrenaline and fear for the monster chasing them. Something huge rattled the wagons behind them; it was getting close.

“We gotta move!”

The train stopped right on time for them to jump off to the rails. They put a few meters between them and the train, and then they looked back, trying to locate the monster. It was nowhere in sight.

“Why isn’t it chasing us?”

“Echidna said whatever she was hiding in that carrier, it’s young” explained Annabeth.

“What do you mean by that?” Percy didn’t understand.

“It’s still a pup, so it will stay close to it’s mother. She’ll tell the monster where to go, teaching it to hunt. In this case, hunt us”

“We aren’t gonna be able to outrun them for very long”

The began to move outside of the train station, trying to put distance between them and the Mother of Monsters and her child.

“We don’t need to” refuted Annabeth “We just need a safe place to hole up”

“And prepare ourselves to fight” added Emily.

“Some safe place. Okay…” Percy was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had been stabbed by a monster with an hopefully not poisonous stinger, although if he paid attention to the wound, he could feel it starting to get itchy. He hoped the feeling was only in his head “Any ideas where we might find one of those? Any of you ever been to St. Louis?”

“I know a place” answered Annabeth; her and Emily were walking between the two boys as they made their way through an ally “A sanctuary, dedicated to Athena, built by one of her demigod children a long time ago”

“There is an Athenian temple hidden somewhere in the middle of downtown St. Louis?” wondered Grover, incredulous.

“Yes… Except it’s not all that hidden”

They ran as fast as they could trying at the same time to not draw too much attention to them. Emily trusted her friend blindly, but she hoped they wouldn’t take too long to get to her Athenian temple.

Annabeth led them to a huge square, right below the arch of St. Louis:

“This is the temple?”

“A monument to Athena” she nodded “It’s six-hundred and thirty feet wide, six-hundred and thirty feet tall, both to within an inch. It’s got no internal support! Each side is balanced perfectly against the other. The arch is held up by symmetry. It’s held up by math! It’s…-“

“A safe place for us?” interrupted Emily. She knew how Annabeth could get when it came to architecture.

“It is” she confirmed, as they made their way in “Another cool fact is that it’s also earthquake proved, so Poseidon can’t ruin it”

“Nice” mumbled the god’s son.

They made their way through a group of kids who were visiting the monument, blending in. Emily glared at them when they stared at them passing through, hand on her dagger in case someone turned out to be a monster waiting to attack them; if they were regular mortals, the mist would make sure they didn’t see or get hurt by the blade anyways.

They stopped in front of an exhibition about hunting in the past, where there was a skull of a buffalo next to an old shotgun. Grover became upset seeing it, sad look on his face while Annabeth tried to remind him of the true meaning of the temple, who it was really for, not what the humans tried to make it about.

“I’m gonna go look for new train tickets” Grover looked at a picture on a wall where there was a picture of two huntsmen shooting down a buffalo, and Emily could see the sorrow in his eyes from where she was standing behind Annabeth, next to Percy “Just because we’re prey doesn’t mean we gotta be helpless”

He left then to the ticket stand, leaving the three demigods alone.

“He doesn’t like it… when people mess with animals” Percy tried to defend his behaviour, knowing that Grover didn’t mean to sound harsh. He was only upset.

“Yeah… We know” sighed Annabeth; Emily noticed that see seemed upset now too, but not with Grover. Probably more with herself “I shouldn’t have snapped at him… I just… I know”

Percy sighed too, looking at the two girls a bit uncomfortably. Until that moment, Grover had always been there to have someone to talk to or lean on to; he hadn’t been alone with the other two demigods yet. He had to try to break the ice somehow, because he was getting extremely uncomfortable with the silence.

“So… this is your mom’s place?” he asked Annabeth “Wonder if she’s around” Emily was about to tell him it didn’t work like that, but then he did the worst impression of a posh woman she had ever heard “Be right down! Just going to the potty!”

Emily let out a laugh and Annabeth smiled. Percy seemed more at ease then.

“Nice”

“I have a gift” he shrugged. He certainly did “I guess you were right, by the way. We needed a safe place and… you mom had one waiting. Pretty lucky we happened to be in the right city for it”

“Luck or fate?”

There was a heavy feeling on all of their shoulders, which was actually the usual for demigods; were their lived truly theirs, or was everything already written and thought through? Was destiny really real, fate and everything, or did they have some free range? Being children of gods wasn’t easy.

“I know you think it’s all just in my head” Annabeth began walking around, trying to distract herself, and the other two followed “That… That I tell myself my mother cares because it’s easier that way”

“I didn’t say that”

“Me neither”

“I know you haven’t” Annabeth looked to the ground, now feeling insecure, sharing her thoughts and feelings “But… I know it’s probably like that. What you really think”

“Look, I’ve only been a demigod since… last Saturday” truly, Percy was extremely new to their world “You shouldn’t listen to me. And Emily here, she’s your best friend. I mean I don’t know you guys that much but you seem pretty tight, aren’t you? I couldn’t imagine you thinking stuff like that about the other”

Annabeth knew so, under the doubts that had gotten to her, she did. Emily smiled at her reassuringly.

“You know… this is my mother’s place. But a temple, is a temple” she looked around, and then back at her friends “Maybe you could say hi to your dads while we’re here”

Percy shook his head, just as Emily, both of them rejecting the idea.

“He wouldn’t like it if I prayed to him in an Athenian temple” said Emily, still shaking her head totally dismissing the idea of doing it “And… I wouldn’t even know what to say”

That was a lie. Kind of. She had a few things she definitely wanted to tell him, preferably yell at him, but she also knew she probably would end up dead after undergoing his wrath. So she chose to better shut her mouth.

“I know” Annabeth held her friends hand, squeezing it softly. She turned to Percy then “What about you?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea”

“What could it hurt?” insisted, the daughter of Athena.

“Your thing with your mom… I get it. It’s different. It works for you. But my father… I don’t want anything from him. He’s had his chances” he seemed defeated, although he pretended to be okay with it. Emily could see through it, and Annabeth probably too, but Emily felt his words deeper in her being; she knew what it was like to have a father who never showed up. At least Annabeth got signs of recognition from Athena from time to time… but Percy and Emily? Nothing “Honestly, you guys have done more for me in the past few days than my father has done in my entire life. And if I have to stick with someone, I…”

“Careful” warned Annabeth, face serious “I think you were about to call us friends” she smiled at him, and he smiled back “Somewhere around here the Oracle is laughing at us, but you know… Wow! Percy!”

Both girls caught him in surprise when the boy fell forward all of a sudden, pace pale and sweaty. They sat him on the ground, Emily checking him over right as Grover rushed back to them having seen Percy fall.

“What happened?!”

“I think… I think those stinger things…”

“Were poisonous?” guessed Emily, seeing him struggle to form words. She was kneeling beside him, and he nodded weakly, his blue glossy eyes glancing into her own amber ones.

“I have an idea” Annabeth rushed Grover and Emily, telling them to help her get Percy back up “Come, help me!”

And that’s how a few moments later everybody outside walking around the square in front of the Getaway arch, could see three kids sitting inside the fountain splashing a fourth one with the water, completely drenching him.

The water had healed him back at camp, so it should help with the poison too. At least, they hoped so. Percy didn’t look good. He was pale, even more than when he first collapsed, he had bags under his bloodshot eyes, he was starting to get a fever, and he was breathing heavily while he was still sweating. The water was helping him get some forces back, but he was still sick. Too sick.

“I think… I think it’s working” he muttered, getting water splashed straight into his mouth. Annabeth looked at him worried, just as Grover and Emily. He tried to stand up, but he slipped right back onto his butt, gasping “… Or not”

“Maybe it needs to be naturally running water for Poseidon to be able to heal him” wondered Annabeth out loud, thoughts racing in her mind at speed limit.

“Should we throw him in the river?”

“No!”

“Yes!”

Before they could make up their minds, the frantic horn of a car in the distance distracted them, followed by a loud crash. They perked up to the street, and saw a car being thrown and flipped in the air. People screamed when the car crashed, the windows shattering adding to the noise, and the heroes knew exactly what it meant.

“We need to get back inside. Now!”

“No, no, we need to keep trying to heal him” insisted Grover, splashing more water on Percy.

“This isn’t working, and she’s coming!”

“We can’t fight Echidna and her monster, not like this” said Emily, helping Annabeth to get Percy back up “We can find more water inside in a bathroom, from a sink or something”

“Please don’t dunk my head in a toilet” muttered Percy, but he was ignored.

“Will that be enough?”

“It’ll have to be. Come on!”

They looked back to the street once again, and a shiver ran up all of their spines: there was Echidna, making her way towards them walking slowly. They could see her creepy smile, once sweet, and it gave them chills even from a distance.

“Okay, look” Annabeth’s voice revealed how nervous she was, even if she was trying to hide it “We’ll take Percy inside, and we’ll go to the temple’s altar, all the way up”

“What’s that gonna do to us?” Grover didn’t understand what she meant.

“We’re gonna get to the altar, and we’re going to ask my mom for help”

Her friends looked at her in disbelief, recalling the moment she had told them they couldn’t ask for help, because heroes were supposed to overcome their troubles on their own when they were on a quest.

“I thought we didn’t ask for help” said Percy, still sitting in the fountain, completely drenched.

Annabeth didn’t answer. She resumed her attempt to pick him up, and with Emily’s and Grover’s help they managed, walking him to the entrance of the monument as fast as they could. She stopped then, looking back at the Mother of Monsters, frowning.

“Annabeth we have to go!” urged Emily.

“Didn’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

She had heard something. Whispers carried by the wind. Her friends hadn’t.

“Nothing. Come on!”

There were still school groups and regular visitors in the exhibition of the monument, all of them turning to look at them when they practically carried Percy inside towards one of the elevators. They had to make their way up to the very top before it was too late.

“She spoke to you didn’t she?” muttered Percy towards Annabeth, once they had made it inside an elevator. The four of them were alone, sitting in a circle around each other waiting for the doors to close. He was panting heavily, too tired to actually be talking that fast, but the adrenaline he had was still helping out for a bit “Alecto did that with me back in the museum in New York. When she first shew herself to me as a monster. What did she say?”

Annabeth didn’t answer. Emily followed her line of sight seeing a look of surprise and fear in her features, and outside, standing by a railing, they saw Echidna, followed by the terrifying shadow of a monster with horns.

“What is she doing here?!”

“She wasn’t supposed to be able to enter this place!”

“Was that the Chimera?”

Again, they all turned to Annabeth, except Grover, who kept on rambling about the Chimera and wondering out loud how the monster had even gotten inside the temple.

Really, how was that possible?

“Annabeth?”

Her look was set on the floor, features now tense and sorrow at the same time. It took Percy and Emily a few attempts to get her attention back to them:

“What did Echidna say to you?”

Annabeth sighed, and then she rose her chin up, her expression getting harder now.

“She said my impertinence wounded my mother’s pride. And that that will be my doom”

“Impertinence? What kind of-“

Percy realized what she meant mid-phrase. So did Emily.

“Medusa’s head”

“I embarrassed my mother” stated the girl.

“But I’m the one who sent it to Olympus!” replied Percy.

“And I helped” added Emily.

“And I signed the note!” Percy couldn’t see how this was fair. It wasn’t.

“And I went along with it” Annabeth shut both of her. She also saw how this was totally wrong, but she was trying to keep her head cool “It embarrassed her. Now, she’s angry”

Athena wanted to punish the ones responsible for getting on her pride, and she didn’t seem to care that she was putting her own daughter in danger to do that. If was Echidna told Annabeth was true, then Athena actually wanted to punish her too, for something she hadn’t done, only allowed. So much to modern parenting.

“Guys… What are we gonna do?” Grover hadn’t spoken since he had seen the Chimera (hopefully not the actual Chimera, but any other monster wouldn’t be any better, to be honest). Now he looked terrified, glancing at the numbers above the elevator doors signalling that they were close to reaching the end of the ride.

“She isn’t gonna help us when we get to the top to save Percy” replied Annabeth, referring to her mother.

“No! I meant, what are we gonna do about Echidna and Chimera?”

“We don’t really know if it’s the Chimera” mumbled Emily, nervously “She’s the Mother of Monsters, she has other children. Maybe it’s the Nemean Lion”

“The Nemean Lion is actually Echidna’s grandchild. The Chimera is the Nemean Lion’s mother”

“And still, would that be any better?!”

Emily glanced at Grover and shook her head.

“No, I guess not”

“They’re gonna be right behind us” insisted the satyr.

They reached the top too fast for their liking. The elevator bell dinged, and the doors opened revealing the final staircase that would lead them to the observatory platform at the highest point of the arch.

“We’re not gonna have much time” spoke up Annabeth, walking out the first after making sure there was no monster waiting for them. Emily and Grover walked behind her, helping a groaning Percy “They’ll be up here any minute. And if my mother isn’t going to protect us, then we’ll just have to fight it out up here”

The platform at the top of the arch had a curvy floor and small windows on the also curvy walls to look outside and appreciate the views from up there. It was also packed with people, chatting amongst themselves unaware of the imminent danger they would be facing any other second.

They had to get all the mortals out of there; there was only so much the mist could hide from them. A fight against the Mother of Monsters and her pup wouldn’t be easy to camouflage.  Annabeth thought fast, and pulled the fire alarm next to the entrance. It got an immediate response from everybody, and an automated voice spoke from the ceiling alerting the visitors to leave.

“You guys follow them down” Annabeth turned back to them, hurrying them towards the group of people who were lining up to leave.

“What?”

“Are you mental?”

“We’re not splitting up!”

“Guys, come on!” Annabeth rushed them, pulling on Grover’s arm to get him to move, but on the other side of Percy, who was held up by Emily and the satyr, she refused to move “Emily, move”

“You’re crazy if you think we’re leaving you here” she couldn’t believe Annabeth was asking that of her “I’m not going anywhere without you!”

“We’re all getting out of here” added Percy. He was starting to look like a corpse; the poison was spreading faster “Together”

“We won’t make it!” the daughter of Athena kept on pushing them towards the exit as she kept talking “The Chimera is the demigod killer. Someone has to stay back to slow her down and buy everyone some time”

Gotta say, she did have guts for a twelve year old.

“Then I’m staying with you” insisted Emily, once they had reached the door where all the mortals were leaving.

“You have to go with them, to protect them” replied her friend, signalling to the two boys. This wasn’t any easier on her; she was willing to sacrifice herself for them, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t terrified of the thought of dying, and leaving everyone she loved behind “You’re the best fighter I know. You’ll be able to keep them safe, and complete the quest” she hugged Emily when the girl moved forward to embrace her, but she had to push her back before they’d start crying. They were running out of time “Now help Percy down the stairs, and get to the river. And then don’t stop… Not until you get to Hades. Not till you have the bolt, do you hear me?”

Emily was starting to feel nauseous. Her best friend was sacrificing herself to get them more time to complete the quest. To avoid the war. To get them out of there alive.

“Annie no…” she mumbles, but Annabeth shushed her. All the training they had gone through couldn’t have prepared them emotionally for a moment like this, but they were both warriors. As much as it hurt, they knew it was the right thing to do.

There was noise on the other end of the platform. Something heavy was walking up the staircase they had just been on a few minutes ago.

“Okay, go!”

“Wait!”

Percy stopped her from sealing the door, looking into her eyes. He reached to his pocket, letting go of Emily, and he took out a pen. His magical pen.

He took off the cap, and then pen turned into his sword, Riptide. He flipped it over, blade hanging towards the floor, and he reached his arm out towards Annabeth handing her the sword.

“Take this” he urged “Please”

Annabeth set her gaze on the sword, then back to him, and she nodded.

But when her hand reached for the handle, Percy let go of Grover as well, and taking advantage of the ongoing motion and the element of surprise, he switched places with Annabeth having her stand between Emily and Grover, who were too stunned to react. Percy looked back at them for a second before closing the door to the platform, effectively locking them out.

Instantly they began to bang the door with their palms and fists, calling out for him desperately. He was sick, weak from the poison spreading through his system. He was in no condition to fight.

He knew that as well.

“Percy no!” screamed Annabeth “Don’t do this! They’ll kill you!”

“Poseidon’s never helped me before” he said. They heard his voice through the door, as he was leaning against it for support. He was panting, weakness taking over him “He wasn’t gonna start now”

“Percy!”

“Percy no!”

“I would’ve never made it to Hades” he added, in a defeated voice. They could barely hear him anymore “But you can… And now you will”

A roar distracted him, making him glance back to the entrance of the platform. Fear took over him, but also adrenaline. Mostly fear, to be fair.

Grover, Annabeth and Emily heard the roar too, and they glanced at the door as if they could see the platform behind it, imagining Percy facing the monster and Echidna. It was his final hour, and there was nothing they could do help him.

Once the monster killed Percy, they could go on with their quest; they wanted him because everybody thought he was the lightning thief. His friends knew he wasn’t, though.

Because that’s what they were, the four of them: friends.

“No, no, no, no, no, no”

Grover tried opening the door again, but it was to no use. They all stepped back when they heard a loud roar, and something heavy hitting the floor and rolling around.

“Please, no” muttered Emily, hearing the monster roar again. This time, the roar was followed by a horrifying shriek, and even from there they could sense the heat of the fire being thrown at Percy.

There was no doubt now: he was fighting the Chimera.

Then they heard the sound of metal shrieking, and then suddenly the roaring of wind, just as back in the train. Another roar from the monster was followed by a scream, Percy’s scream.

Then there was silence.

The monster stopped growling, there was no other sound from Percy… just the wind whooshing, and some metal creaks here and there. As if by magic, they managed to open the door; the danger had passed, and the lock gave away.

“Percy!”

They rushed to the platform, but the three heroes stopped when they saw a huge hole in the middle of the floor; that was what had made that horrible metallic sound a few seconds ago.

Echidna and the Chimera were gone. But so was Percy.

“Percy?”

He didn’t answer. Emily looked around the platform, but he was nowhere in sight. Annabeth and Grover looked for him too, hoping to see him hanging by one of the metal bars of that hole, but he wasn’t there.

“Is he…?”

“He can’t” stated Annabeth “He can’t have…”

But she couldn’t know. Had the Chimera really killed Percy?

“Guys” muttered Grover; he was on the verge of a breakdown. He couldn’t have lost his best friend “Look”

He pointed over to the other side of the platform, at the other end of the huge hole; there, on the floor, was Riptide. Its blade was stained with blood, so that meant Percy had hurt the monster.

Suddenly, the sword vanished; a second ago it was there, and now it was not.

“Where did it go?”

“It’s magical” Annabeth stared at the spot where the sword had been, barely blinking “It returns to it’s owner when it gets lost. It went back to Percy”

“So he could still be alive!” Emily felt like she could breath again a bit better.

“We have to go find him”

“But the other door is still unlocked” pointed out, Grover “And he didn’t walk past us”

That left only one other way out. The three of them glanced to the hole in the floor in front of them, massive, big, and with a six hundred thirty feet fall underneath it. If he had fallen from the arch…

“The monster’s gone” Annabeth was trying to keep her cool, but she was terrified of the possibility that Percy could have… she didn’t even want to think of it “Let’s get out of here and find Percy. He has to be down there… somewhere. He has to be alive”

They prayed to the gods he was.

----

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