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[nightingale-prompts]

Batboy is back baby!

First | Previous | Next

(Back to the regularly scheduled idiots)

Life was not quite back to normal. Danny's lack of wings meant he didn't hang from the ceiling anymore. He also started eating less, he wasn't as much of a fiend for fruits anymore. The white fur collar he had started shedding until there was only a thin layer left.

Danny slept most of the day only moving to new spots occasionally. He would choose the most inconvenient spots as well. Like the roof.

One such day Danny was sleeping soundly in the midday sun when a portal opened behind him. A hand grabbed Danny by the ankle back onto the Ghost Zone. He only managed a single yelp before he was face to face with Clockwork.

"What part of come back do you not understand?" He scolded holding the boy in the palm of his hand.

Danny rolled over in the icy blue hand and sighed. He didn't bother looking up at "Kronos" in his titan form. He knew that it meant that his mentor was in a very bad mood.

"Now look at you. You have bearly staved off going into stasis. You are not fully formed yet young man and can't survive in the physical realm without an energy source. What have you been feeding on other than your own energy reserves?!" He lectured before another voice cut in.

"Go easy on him my love. Let me." Nocturne soothed taking Danny into his hands.

Danny was thankful for a moment before realizing that Nocturne's head was that of a ram which meant he was also mad.

Its very easy to read the emotions of god-level entities. The more imposing and non-humanoid the worse they feel.

"Daniel...what did I tell you to do late time we spoke?" Nocturne's red eyes narrowed, and his horizontal pupils shrank.

Danny knew this was a trap.

"Speak boy." Nocturne ordered.

"To return-"

"To return to the realms!" Nocturne bleated "And yet you stubbornly remained. Now look, you are practically wilting away! You are still a millennia too young to be this reckless. I should ban you from the physical realm. Putting you in a dream bubble for a century would teach you a lesson."

Danny knew that this was a bluff. Nocturne was a huge softie and never went through with a punishment. Clockwork on the other hand never made false promises.

" No, my Lamb. We shouldn't. Not yet at least." Clockwork sighed "For now we should concern ourselves with helping him recover."

Danny sighed with relief as the Titans let him go for now.

He had to leave a note for Dick that he would be at his homeworld for a few days. Clockwork also left a note to assure Dick that Danny was in good hands and is also being grounded.

Recovery by ghost standards was similar to humans.

Ambient ectoplasm could heal with enough time but it's by no means fast. It would take years for Danny to get back to his old self. When Danny first came back after being torn open the recovery was painfully slow without proper care. If Clockwork hadn't stepped in then Danny would still be in that state.

The first step is food. Despite what you'd think ghosts eat. They all have to eat something to survive, but they all just have their favorite foods.

Nocturne was a desire eater.

Clockwork by nature ate everything

Danny himself is a fear eater.

Fear eaters are the most common among ghosts.

But these are abstract foods.

Physical foods also exist. Ghosts cultivate foods of their own.

Danny's favorites are a bowl of Ice Scream with Ambrosia chunks, neck-tarine lemonade, the devil's eggs, and candied meal worms.

It sure beats eating honeyed dates, bread, and cheese with Clockwork and Nocturne. But a growing ghost has to eat alter food to grow in power.

So Danny can only eat offerings until further notice.

Clockwork also sent Danny to do tasks and training.

"You need to steel your mind. Your perception of yourself is too flimsy. The more you believe yourself to be small or a child the more your body becomes so. The more negative emotions you direct at yourself the worst you will appear." Clockwork droned on and on showing Danny complex diagrams about how to properly use his powers.

The time ghost had been firm about not teaching Danny any new abilities until he got this down.

Danny was not enthusiastic. He bearly made it though the first lecture on this.

"Give him a break. How about letting me show him some examples?" Nocturne said entering the room with a tray of tea. "Come with me. We'll go to the menagerie."

For the next few days, Danny was given a crash course on biology and mental conditioning. He practiced changing his form as quickly as possible and accurately copying. Nocturne was strict but fair. Nocturne was actually one of the best when it came to shifting.

On the last day, Danny hugged his mentors goodbye for now. Clockwork made sure to fasten a talisman around Danny's neck that would keep them in contact and help Danny control his power better so he didn't lose too much energy. Nocturne handed Danny a bag of golden Ambrosia for the road.

And like that, Danny was back home. Recharged and ready.

****

Dick tried not to be worried about Danny. He understood that since he wasn't entirely human he had to recover differently. But you can't blame him for feeling anxious.

Going missing once was problem enough.

When he returned to the apartment the first thing to greet him when he opened the door was something fuzzy flying at his face.

That fuzzy thing was a squeaking sliver bat that had somehow go in the house.

Dick peeled it off his face as the bat gleefully chirped at him.

"How did you get in little guy? Did Damian hide you in here?" Dick said as the Bat climbed up his suit.

Suddenly a heavy weight pressed down on him as the albino bat turned into Danny. Dick toppled to the floor.

"Dad!! Look! I finally did it! I flew!" Danny said leaning over Dick and smiling from ear to ear. His blue eyes flashed green.

Dick was stunned silent as he took in the last few seconds.

Did Danny call him dad?

[dameronspector]

Willow

(A Pjo and Mcu!AU)

Pairing: Bob Reynolds x Fem!ExAvenger!Reader

Chapter Summary: You are were an Avenger. But before becoming an Avenger, you were a demigod— were half human, half god—rescued and trained by Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. You were only 15, then. Fast forward 10 years later, here you were, with the three people that you looked up to, and who had saved your life, being dead. Leaving you alone and too old to go back to your camp. That left you with no choice but to pick up odd, free agent work to keep your life going with the support of your remaining family. What happens when you meet a meek, vulnerable yet the most powerful man who made you relive your worst traumas?

Warnings: No Bob in this chapter, world building + character background, Mentions of Injuries, Blood, Demons, Monsters, Canon Typical Violence, Depression, Death of a parent, Insecurities, Isolation, Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of Found Family content, CW+IW+Endgame timeline, Reader has magical abilities of the goddess Hecate (eg: necromancy, pyrokinesis, hypnokinesis, dark magic, etc. you can find the rest on rioridanwiki!), that’s all i think!

**this is a work of fiction. I don't own any of these characters and I have made some changes to fit the storyline better and because it's an AU. I have taken all the information from google and riordanwiki. Incase I have gotten anything wrong, please let me know!**

AN: oh i am so IN for this pjo x mcu crossover like... this is literally my childhood and adulthood mixed in one. But im also nervous omg. Also, the title is inspired by the lyirc: 'life was a willow and it bent right to your wind' from Willow by Taylor Swift. (Btw, my godly parent, as per riordanverse, is Apollo, which is yours?😁)

PS: let's assume civil war took place after the reader was recruited.

Look, you didn't plan to abandon your camp.

But when your godly mother is Hecate, you inherit the misfortune of having night empowerment, that is, your magic was the strongest at night and the weakest during the day, which is why you were left powerless when Luke betrayed the camp and joined Kronos, poisoning Thalia's Tree. This weakened the borders and allowed monsters and demons of all kinds to target Camp Half-Blood. It's even more difficult when you were not allowed to use your godly powers in front of the whole world even if the mist would protect you. On top of it, Chiron had strict schedules and rules for your trainings so that meant no excessive or exhaustive training exercises combined with your 15 year old self, you had to heavily rely on your magic, which would often drain you if you used it incorrectly or without proper preparations.

As Hecate's daughter, you preferred solitude and so did the rest of your siblings. But that didn't mean you weren't protective over each other. In fact, you were fiercely protective, and you joined the fight to defend your cabin and your camp from the demons unleashed by Kronos. Since you were an older demi-god, it was your job to look after, and protect, the younger ones as well. And you did exactly that. In an attempt to save one of the newly claimed demi-gods, Percy Jackson, you ended up throwing him out of the way and stood way too close to the camp's border.

"Percy, stay back!", you shouted at him while using your magic to turn one of the demons into a pile of ash and golden ichor. It was nearing sunset, so you could slowly feel your powers coming back to you, but still felt your body shutting down gradually because of the overuse of your powers.

Percy was a very stubborn and reckless kid, you realized that the moment he went head to head with Clarisse La Rue. And when he got claimed by Poseidon himself, you understood where he got that hero complex from. Nevertheless, you found yourself feeling protective over him, especially since Grover and Chiron themselves vouched for him. You had taken it upon yourself to protect him, Chiron's words of worry echoing in your mind.

You had lost your father in an unfortunate accident when you were just 10 years old and that's when Hecate had officially claimed you, protecting you and guiding you to the camp. Having no family in the mortal world, you easily grew attached to your fellow campers. Which lead to you protecting them even if it costed you your life.

On top of it, you stayed up at night everyday, wishing you’d get a chance to say goodbye to your father, at least once. Wishing you’d lead a normal life. You knew how different you were from your half siblings, how it took you time to perfect your magic. All of this made you insecure of yourself, blaming yourself for any shortcomings. Chiron tried to reassure you time and time again, but the mind was a tricky place to get out of.

Percy was grunting and using all his might to fight back the angry Minotaur, his sword glinting in the yellow-orange hue of the sky. His shoes scuffed against the ground, the Minotaur using its huge obsidian black horns to push him back, Percy’s dirty blonde curls shaking violently, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. There was chaos everywhere, sounds of weapons clanking against each other and hums of magic and spells that came from the enchanted cabins, groans and roars of the creatures and a faint smell of smoke coming from somewhere behind you.

"I'm fine!", Percy called back in his breathless voice, his chest heaving with the effort. You finished off the demon that was fighting you and joined Percy, casting a protection spell, a purple bubble of your powers surround you and resist against the Minotaur. Suddenly, a Fury startled you and latched onto your back, a pained groan leaving your mouth. It lead to you breaking the protective shield around Percy, your attention diverted to the Fury.

The Furies were attacking you relentlessly, leaving scratch marks against your arms and back. You managed to conjure a spell and hurl it at them, when you heard a shout of pain. You turned your head to see that Percy was on his back while the Minotaur approached him, nostrils flaring in anger and Percy still trying to come to his bearings. Luckily, someone shot arrows to distract the Furies and you stood up quickly, your head spinning and knees weak. You rushed over and stood in front of Percy, faintly hearing Annabeth's distressed call for him to get up.

Your ears were ringing and all you could see were the Minotaur's glowing eyes and flaring nostrils, it's muscles tensed before it charged and you quickly shoved Percy down the hill before casting a spell as a barrier between you and the Minotaur.

You could see Annabeth cradling Percy against her and you sighed in relief, your eyesight turning blurry because of the exhaustion and unshed tears when the Minotaur managed to charge, pushing you out of the camp border. A choked gasp left your mouth and you could just see Annabeth's mouth open in a scream before you passed through a mist and entered the outside world. You fell on your back, the hard ground hurting your ribs, before promptly passing out.

-

When you came to, your saw a white ceiling above you and a persistent beeping on your right. The harsh light hurt your eyes, which made you close them while letting out a pained wince.

"Hey, it's okay..", a calm and composed voice muttered next to you, your eyebrows furrowing in confusion because it didn't sound anything like Chiron or Mr D. Slowly opening your lids, you turned your head to the left and saw that a huge, muscular man was sitting next to you. He had cropped blonde hair, light blue eyes, and was wearing a grey t-shirt underneath a leather jacket, his hands pressed against the railing of your bed. You felt like you had seen him somewhere before, but you couldn't recall it.

Licking your dry and chapped lips, you finally spoke up, "W-Who are you? Where's Chiron?"

The man's face shifted in confusion, "Chiron? I'm sorry, I don't know who that is but--I'm Steve. Steve Rogers."

That's when it clicked you, your eyes widened in realisation, "You—oh my gods, you are Captain America...", you let out in a breathy whisper and the man-Captain America, smiled shyly.

Of course you know who he was. An advantage of being a demi-god was that you had to be aware of what was going on in the world. So obviously, you were all aware (and fans) of the Avengers. You and Grover always fought about who was that strongest Avenger—Hulk or Thor (he was Team Hulk, you were Team Thor. #demigodssupporteachother or whatever.) And you'd be lying if you said half of the kids in your camp didn't have a crush on Steve or Thor.

Which is why, him sitting so close to you was sending you, and your heart, into a frenzy, the monitor on your right beeping louder and Steve furrowed his brows in concern.

"Are you okay? Should I call a nurse-"

Your cheeks warmed in embarrassment, "No! No, I-I am okay. Thanks. How...how did I get here? Where are we?", you stammered, still a little out of it. You could make out faint memories of asking Percy to stay back and facing a Minotaur, but everything was a blur after that.

"Well, we are at the Avengers Compound. We found you near the woods at Montauk beach. Thankfully, we were doing some recon stuff and Tony informed us about a heat signature. When we got off to check it out, you were lying unconscious with a few cuts on your body. How did you even get there? It's pretty far away from civilisation", Steve asked you in confusion.

You froze. Although it would've been just another Tuesday for him, you remembered your 'oath' as a demi-god—act normal and unassuming in front of the world outside the camp. So you decided to lie for now.

"Uh- it's...it's a long story. Can we discuss it later?", you asked him hesitantly, hoping he'd believe you.

Steve nodded before helping you sit up and handed you a glass of water. You accepted it gratefully and took a few soothing sips.

"That's alright. We'll probably debrief you later. You should rest, you have a few cuts and bruised ribs. The doctor will come to check on you soon. Do you wanna contact somebody at home...?"

You froze. Since you had travelled all the way across from one end of New York to the other, you assumed that the fight must've simmered down by now. You needed to contact Chiron and inform him about your whereabouts as soon as possible.

"Uh-yes. Do you mind giving me a phone? I must've lost mine somewhere..."

Steve nodded and fished out his own cell, before leaving the room to give you some privacy.

You let out a sigh of relief after the door shut and put his phone aside, casting a mist with your powers and focusing intently to call upon Chiron. It took some time to conjure it in your exhausted state, the mist disappearing and your hands shaking after a while.

After trying for the fourth time, you finally made the connection.

"(Name)? Where are you?", Chiron's aged and worried face shimmered in the rainbow.

"Chiron! Oh gods, I'm so sorry. The Minotaur pushed me out of the borders and, you're not gonna believe this, The Avengers saved me. I'm at the Avengers Compound, right now", you explained to him and his face shifted in understanding before he let out a sigh.

"That's quite far away. When are you coming back? Are you alright?"

"I'm okay. A few cuts and bruised ribs. I- Chiron, they're gonna debrief me. What do I tell them? It's not exactly believable to say that a 15 year old came to this remote beach alone and passed out in the woods."

"Well...they're the Avengers, right? This is probably not a big deal for them. What do you think?", Chiron asked curiously.

You pursed your lips, already having made up your mind about what to do.

"I think...I think I'm gonna tell them."

Chiron gave you a knowing smile, as if he could already see what was going to go down, but he didn't stop you. He never did. He was always a very supportive and anchoring presence in all of your lives.

-

2 days later you were discharged, arms and legs bandaged and a few bandages scattered across your back.

Steve escorted you to the debrief room, where you met Natasha Romanoff and Tony Stark, who smirked at the perpetual look of awe and wonder on your face. You almost laughed at their laid back looks and how they looked ordinary out of their supersuits. Almost, because your hands were shaking at the fact that you were standing in front of literal superheroes.

You were absently picking at your chipped black nail polish when Tony addressed you.

"So...(Name)? Right?", Tony began. You nodded and he read something on a tablet before speaking up, "Apart from your father and your early school life, I couldn't find any information on you. Why's that?", he stared at you in scrutiny while Steve and Natasha sat next to him, observing.

You cleared your throat and wrung your hands together in nervousness. Not only were you sitting in front of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but also you were going to talk about your real identity. You just hoped they wouldn't arrest you or worse.

"Well—Before I say anything, you have to promise you won’t rat me out", you stated and the three of them hesitated before agreeing to your condition, Tony squinting his eyes in judgement.

You sighed, "I am...not completely human. I'm a demi-god. Demi-titan actually, but yeah.”

The three of them whipped their eyes to look at you, their faces frozen in shock. How was this unassuming, docile, 15 year old girl, a demi god? And how did nobody find out about this?

"I'm sorry, what?", Tony blurted out and Natasha put a hand on his arm.

"Wait, how does nobody know about this? And why should we believe you?", she questioned you sternly.

You pursed your lips before opening up your palm in front of you, a small flame hovered on it, your eyes glowing purple.

"Whoa", Steve murmured in surprise, Natasha staring at you in wonder and Tony's eyes widened in disbelief. You slowly closed your palm and extinguished the flame, your eye colour returning back to normal, hands inside the pocket of the Stark-issued jacket that they had provided you.

"You can't speak of this to anyone. In fact, whatever I'm about to tell you, none of you can ever mention this to anybody. Or you will risk multiple lives. And I mean it", you informed them in a solemn tone and they understood the gravity of your words.

All of them dutifully nodded their heads and asked you to begin, Tony activating a privacy shutdown around the room.

So you began. You told them about your father who died in a car crash and how the Greek Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft, Hecate, had claimed you. That's when you had found out that you were her daughter, her and your father being lovers. Their faces were slack with surprise, the fact that greek gods and goddesses actually existed as the same time as them was unbelievable to them and you smirked at that. You had managed to shock the Avengers themselves.

You told them how Hecate showed you the way to the camp and you spent the next 5 years of your life there, under the guidance of a centaur named Chiron and the god Dionysus. You told them about the attack, how you were thrown outside the camp's borders and that's why you landed in the woods, making sure to not reveal the exact location of the camp. You also told them about your powers, what you can do with your magic, how much can you handle and how it is the strongest at night and dark places and the weakest during the day.

"I-Wow. This is a lot. You are a lot. I have a lot of questions", Tony replied and leaned his head against his hands.

You shrugged, "I really can't tell you anything more than this. I can't risk my family's life. Please, may I go now?"

All of them exchanged looks and asked you to step out for sometime, before calling you back in after 15 minutes.

"(Name)...look. We...have someone like you on our team now. Her name is Wanda Maximoff. Both of you share the same powers, minus the godly parent thing. You'd be an useful asset to the team and she’d help you train. Plus, we'd protect you in return. No more ending up in random woods, no more fighting demons and what not", Tony proposed and you froze.

"What?", you asked in disbelief. Did he really just ask you if you wanted to leave behind your old life and start this one like you knew any of them personally?

“I can’t just leave my home and be an Avenger!”, you said incredulously.

Natasha and Steve sighed before Natasha spoke up, “Look, I get it. It’s not exactly easy to just join us and there’s probably complications that we can’t even imagine. But, think about it. You’d get a place to stay, protection, and appropriate training. You’re only 15, (Name), don’t you think you should be going to school instead of having to constantly look over your shoulder? I know why you went to the camp. It’s so that you don’t end up lonely. I get that, trust me”, she tried to reason and you felt your stomach twist in indignation.

“I’m sorry? I’m not gonna let you sit there and guilt trip me like that, Ms. Romanoff. Let’s not act like you guys live any better lives than we do. And I do go to school, by the way”, you said heatedly, your eyes glowing a muted purple, feeling defensive over your home. Natasha and Steve were silent for a moment while Tony was too busy typing something in the tablet.

You clenched your fists and let out a breath, calming yourself down, “Now, if you’re done, I’d like to leave”, you conceded before standing up and leaving the room in a haste.

“Wait—(Name)!”, Tony’s voice called out and you reluctantly stopped, turning around in irritation.

“Sit down for a moment, will you?”, he requested you and sat down on the sofa outside the room. You grumbled and sat opposite him on the cushioned chair.

Tony began by holding out his hands to placate you, “Listen. We’re not trying to guilt-trip you. I swear. You’ve got potential, kid. And I know how difficult it must’ve been for you to navigate after your father’s death. I get that, I’ve been there. You’re just 15. And we can help you. You mentioned a name—Chiron, right? I assume he's your camp counselor or something?"

You gave him a hesitant nod.

"Why don’t you talk about this with him?”, he offered.

You paused for a moment, mulling over his words. You swallowed in nervousness before replying, “Okay.”

Tony pulled out his phone but you stopped him, “Uh- we can’t use mobile phones. Alerts the monsters and all that.”

Tony made a face, his eyes wrinkling behind his tinted glasses, “How do you talk to people, then?”

You gave him a smirk and conjured a mist, both of your hands splayed out in front of you, before closing your eyes and calling out to Chiron.

“What the fuck?”, Tony muttered next to you and you opened your eyes, seeing Chiron in the rainbow covered mist.

“Chiron…h-how’s everything there? Is everybody alright?”, you asked him tentatively, your leg moving up and down in anxiety, worried about your fellow campers and your siblings.

Chiron sighed in exhaustion, “I won’t lie to you and say it’s alright. Many of the kids, your cabin included, are injured. Grover, the nymphs and the Apollo cabin are tending to all of them. The camp…it’s a mess. Part of our stables is completely burnt, Thalia was barely saved, the hill is covered in small fires, dining area is destroyed…and since the borders are yet to be closed, it’s going to take a while to rebuild.”

Your chest ached, you didn’t want to pile this up on the old man right now. He was already going through a lot.

“Just say it, (Name)”, Chiron quipped. You snapped your head up to look at him. Of course Chiron already sensed you wanted to share something. On your left, Tony was staring at you and Chiron closely—with wonder and something else shimmering in his eyes.

“This is Tony Stark, you know him. Iron Man and Billionaire”, you introduced them before Tony slid in close to you and waved at Chiron. You swallowed before deciding to just bite the bullet, “Chiron, they’ve proposed that I join the team”, you let out in a breath and lowered your eyes in shame.

“Okay. What have you decided?”, Chiron’s calm voice asked you.

You stuttered, “I’m-”, but you knew your answer.

You wanted to get away from the camp for the past 3 years. The place reminding you too much of your father and how you were lesser than the others. How you stuck out like a sore thumb.

But even if you joined the Avengers, you’d still stand out. You’d have to constantly hold back and be careful to avoid hurting others, stay focused and train harder to gain control over yourself and avoid contact altogether, to save them from the monsters that would follow your scent.

But you wanted to do this. The thrill of attending school without getting distracted by some Greek mythological creature following you and finally leaving the camp to try and lead a mundane life was too strong to ignore. You steeled yourself and looked at Chiron.

“I’m doing this, Chiron. I’m sorry”, you could see Tony’s eyes widen next to you and Chiron’s understanding smile.

Chiron was the next thing to a father that you had. His progressive and supportive energy kept you going for the 5 years that you spent in the camp. You would always be grateful for his wisdom and protection.

You felt your eyes tear up before Chiron instructed, “Don’t apologise, my child. You can come to the camp tomorrow. We’ll see you then. Take care.”

You gave him a wet smile and broke the connection, staring at your hands in intense concentration. A few quiet moments passed before Tony nudged you lightly, garnering your attention. You turned your head to the side to look at him with tearful eyes.

“You did good. We’ll discuss the rest when you come back tomorrow, hm?”, he murmured.

You simply nodded in agreement.

-

You went back to the camp to meet your family for the last time. Bidding farewell to your siblings and your favourite trio—Annabeth, Grover and Percy—along with Chiron and Mr. D. It was a tearful goodbye, Grover and Annabeth crying and Percy trying his best to stifle his. When you went to hug him, he begrudgingly returned it, murmuring into your shoulder that he was upset at you.

You cried harder at that.

After gathering all your stuff from the cabin and bidding everyone goodbye, they walked you to the camp’s borders. Chiron asked you to make a small promise to him, that while you would lead a double life now, you’d try your best to keep this part of it hidden, which meant no sudden iris messages or surprise visits. You vehemently agreed, reassuring him that you’d do anything to protect them and him promising his support to you, anytime.

And then you left. For your new life. As the Demi-God Avenger.

-

"Well, this is your room, I tried my best to design it to suit you, but if you want any changes, just let me know or shout out to FRIDAY."

"FRIDAY?", you asked in confusion.

Tony smirked in that classic manner of his, "FRIDAY, welcome our newest member."

"Of course, boss. Welcome to the Avengers Compound, Miss (Name). This would be your room and if you need anything, you can just call out my name. I'll assist you at any time."

You jumped when you heard the dismembered voice. It was coming from the entire room, it seemed. Now, you were used to hearing voices out of thin air, but this? The fact that this was achieved without magic was so fascinating to you.

"Whoa...", you breathed out in disbelief, your mouth falling open in awe and your eyes flitting around the entire room.

Tony chuckled next to you, "Yeah, I know. Anyways, settle down and you can join us for lunch or order somethin', if you want. I'll be busy in a meeting and Natasha has gone for an assignment. Steve must be in the gym or the library and it's your lucky day because Bruce is in the labs as well. So, if you need anything, you can go to those two, yeah?"

You nodded absently, and he took your leave. Looking around the room, you took notice of how Tony had personalised it for you.

The room was painted in a terracotta colour, a huge bed in the middle on your left side that was covered in a cream coloured bedsheet, purple coloured duvet, a mountain of cream, purple and yellow coloured pillows. Next to the bed were two side tables, both of them a dark mahogany wood, the one closest to you had a beautiful moon lamp on it. There was a desk lined by the wall in front of the bed, it was in the same dark mahogany wood as the side tables, a purple coloured chair placed in front of it. The bed's left side had an in-the-wall book shelf, and next to it was a huge floor-to-ceiling length window that sprawled across the wall, it was covered in glass and had a sliding door to give you access to the lush green lawn of the compound. The window swathed the room in a golden hue of the afternoon sun, the view of the sun peeking through the trees and leaves moving in the slight breeze putting you at ease right away.

You took in a deep breath, the scent of a lavender candle tickling your nose and you felt like this was home. Your eyes welled up with tears at that.

You see, as the child of a minor goddess, you and your siblings did not have your own cabin. You had to share with the Hermes kids who shared with other minor gods' kids and it was chaotic. You never had a chance to have a place of your own. The fact that Tony, a man you had just met, had done this just to make you feel at home and even allowed you to make any changes as you desire, was everything to you. You'd be forever grateful for how he took you in and let you live at his place as if you always belonged.

You decided to spend the whole day in your room, unpacking your stuff and arranging it. There was a door on the right of the desk that was most likely the bathroom. You opened it and were shocked at the sight in front of you--the bathroom was huge, with a large bathtub and a shower cubicle on the left. You didn't notice it at first, but as soon as you entered, there was another door on the right which lead into the closet, which was substantially big enough for you. After arranging your clothes in it and taking in your room once more, you decided to walk out and thank Tony for all of this.

Tony just waved you off, stopping your attempts at thanking him, telling you to feel at home and pull up your socks for the training, instead. After having dinner with them and introducing yourself to Bruce, you went back to your room and just crashed, falling asleep immediately for the first time in your life.

-

2016

It's been a whole year since you became an Avenger and moved into the compound. You had settled in quite well, making a friend in Wanda who trained you everyday to control your powers (which, you were sure, that Hecate must have rolled her eyes at), and had a dysfunctional family of superheroes now, being extremely close to all of them. Even if that was the case, you were the closest to Natasha, Tony and Steve--the three people who had given you this life. Soon you met Vision, Rhodey, Clint and Sam, and you got along with all of them quite well except Clint, whom you found a little annoying.

You were still undergoing training, so Tony put you on schedules with Natasha, who taught her widow techniques to you and Steve, who taught you how to make proper use of your body's natural strength. Sam was another great sparring partner, his flexibility and agility as a gymnast and athlete was fascinating to you and he was fun to talk to, always cracking jokes and treating you to lunch later.

You were the unofficial baby of the group so they all took turns to be protective over you and babysit you (you'd be lying if you said you didn't like that.) All of them were fond of how smart and polite you were, but at the same time fearful of your powers and did everything to avoid upsetting you as any tumultuous emotion caused you to lose control, destroying anything around you. You had accidentally burnt down a part of the kitchen when Clint wouldn't stop annoying you, a purple burst of irritation blazing the entire right side of the kitchen, narrowly missing the gas pipes.

Clint was banned from talking to you after that incident.

As for the school part, you did attend school and made new friends there as well- Peter Parker, Ned Leeds and MJ. You were an year older than them, but the school required you to retake your classes so you had to start in the same grade as them. This was your little bubble, the three of them keeping you company everyday and Aunt May spoiling you to her heart's content. You loved how motherly and caring she was, always looking forward to the days she'd invite you over for lunch or dinner or when you and Ned went to Peter's for a movie night.

Safe to say, you had settled in like you always belonged here. No interference from any titans or demons or gods, enjoying your mundane life with your new family and friends. You had gotten inspired to change your room as well-- your godly gifts also included being an amazing interior designer and innovator--so you turned your bed into a four poster with beige curtains hanging from it, an enchanted sky ceiling that showed you the constellations any time that you want, your bathroom was transformed into half covered by dark, moody purple tiles and you had casted a spell to increased the size of your room, turning it into a gym, or a kitchen, or a garden, if you had one of those days where the commotion in the compound became too much. Everyone was freaked out by the way you could transform things into whatever you wished to but they got over it soon, watching you in wonder and requesting the same for their rooms (which you politely declined because using too much of your powers exhausted you.)

-

Imagine the whiplash when a few months later, your family was arguing over some papers, had split into two, had asked you to pick a side, and were now fighting against each other in the middle of an airport.

Steve had told you about his best friend, Bucky, when you came across an article of them on the internet. Now, you knew who he was and what happened to him, but hearing it from Steve, who had lived to see what happened, was an experience and it gave you the real story instead of the gossip-y and juicy stories squeezed out by media outlets. When you saw the news that Bucky had assassinated King T’Chaka, it was a shock. You didn’t believe he could’ve done that. In fact, you didn’t blame Bucky for whatever he did for most of his life.

But when that man in the footage looked eerily familiar to Bucky, who was going to listen to a 16 year old new recruit?

Tony and Steve argued. Steve, Sam and Natasha broke the law for Bucky and were branded as criminals. The rest of them picked sides. Tony supporting the accords, Steve being against it. And your family broke apart. Now you must be wondering, what did you do?

You opted out. It went against your morals and your affection for the team. The betrayal you felt, when Wanda chose to broke out of the compound and join Steve, was something serious. You hadn’t expected that to happen and you surely hadn’t expected for Clint to be an even bigger asshole and convince Wanda to break out. You argued with the two of them but they did not give you a chance to placate, leaving in a haste while Wanda put Vision six feet under ground when he tried to stop her. If she could do that to Vision, whom she liked, you didn't want to imagine what she could've done to you.

Rhodey had asked you for a last time, whether you wanted to join them or not. You strongly opposed, stating that you’d stay in the compound or at a friend’s. After Wanda left, you were originally going to stay back but then you received May’s call, that Peter had left for a study tour and you straightened up in alarm. There was no study tour. You packed up an overnight bag and left for Queens, choosing to spend the night with May instead.

Come morning, May was rightfully worried as Peter’s phone wasn’t working anymore and he didn’t answer any of her calls or texts. You were proper annoyed. You just had a hunch that he was at the airport, but when you summoned a connection through the mist—it was confirmed. There he was, in Tony’s private jet, on his way to Germany.

See, you always found his excuses for missing out on stuff dumb, the nervousness and lies practically bleeding through his clothes and body. But you chose to humour him, not wanting to stress him out. But there he was, sitting in the jet, in a fucking Spider-Man suit. As if that’s not a big deal.

You were worried you’d scare May off by accidentally blasting out your powers, so you decided to meditate instead. You stayed with her for the whole day, keeping her company and distracting her. And the next day, you received an alert on your watch from FRIDAY that everyone had returned. You hastily took May’s leave and arrived at the compound to find out—a whole chunk of your family was missing, Tony was sporting a black eye and a broken arm, and him and Natasha looking at you with grim faces.

“What the hell happened?”, you muttered carefully, the compound’s common area was way too quiet.

Tony looked away in guilt, Natasha looked at you in concern.

“Hey…are you okay?”, she asked tentatively, as if preparing you for the worst.

“Nat, I asked you something. What the hell happened? Where is everyone?”, your voice wavered, a lump lodged in your throat.

Tony shook his head, avoiding your eyes at all costs while Nat let out a tired sigh.

“Well, to cut the story short—Steve, Clint, Sam and Bucky are in the raft. They are declared as criminals of the state”, your eyes widened in shock, “Wanda and Vision are on the run. Don’t know where they are right now.”

“What the fuck? Tony? What—and what happened to you? Where’s Rhodey? What even happened between you all?”, you growled, irritated with Tony’s non-verbal stance.

Tony took a deep breath before finally meeting your eye, his black eye making it difficult for him to focus without wincing.

“Rhodey…got shot out of the sky. Paralysed from the lower spine and below. He’s getting operated on right now. Might— Will need prosthetics. And uh-I fought with Cap and Barnes”, his voice was low and heavy with guilt, like he was already blaming himself for everything.

Your eyes widened, “What”, you breathed out, “How—what the fuck even happened, how did it escalate so badly? Huh?”, your voice rose in anger, eyes lightly glowing a muted purple, a purple-blue flame simmering at your fingertips.

Natasha held up her hands to placate you, “Hey—kid, it’s okay. I know this is a lot—”

“Of fucking course, it’s a lot! What were you guys thinking? All of this over a piece of fucking paper? And now—now most of them are on the run, are wanted as criminals and in the hospital? And Tony—”, you pointed a finger at him, “what was Peter doing there?!”

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise, “How—”

“Yeah. He’s my friend. And my classmate. And I have powers that help me track down someone who’s miles away from me”, the flame at your fingertips was slowly engulfing your hand, your eyes turning a brighter purple now. Natasha came close to you, her hand slowly settling on your shoulders in support.

Tony swallowed, his face shifting in pain, “I’m sorry. I’m really—I don’t know what to say, kid. What’s happened, happened. We—I fucked up. I’ll…I’ll try fixing it”, his eyes turned glassy by the end of that sentence and he turned back, walking away from you and Natasha.

You gritted your teeth and clenched your hands into tight fists, your eyes glowing a brighter purple now. The lights started flickering, a few scattered objects and frames shaking, Natasha looked at you in shock and fear.

“Hey-hey, hey, come on. Look at me—(Name), come on. Don’t do this. It’ll be alright. I got you, sweetheart”, Natasha said in a gentle voice, wrapping you in her safe arms. You closed your eyes in resignation, hands relaxing, the common area going back to normal, and you leaned into Natasha, a few tears slipping from your eyes.

You weren’t afraid of being alone, no. But you were human. And somehow, you were that one defective child of Hecate that craved for human connection. You had already lost your blood family. You had to leave behind your half family. And now? Now your found family was broken too. And slowly, your brain started working overtime to convince you that maybe, maybe you were the problem.

-

2018

2 years since your family broke up. 3 since you became an Avenger.

A lot had changed since then.

You grew up, of course. You were 18 and you were a trained Avenger now. Which meant you could assist the rest of them on missions.

But it was of no use because Steve, Sam, Bucky, Wanda, Vision, Clint—they were all still estranged from the rest of you. You found out about Scott, who was put on house arrest along with Clint. You found out that Bucky was in Wakanda, undergoing treatment for his arm and the trigger words. You were really happy when you found out about that. Natasha was also on the run with Steve and Sam. You didn’t know where they went, originally. Rhodey had recovered, his new prosthetics helping him move around easily.

Steve and Tony had made up, for the most of it. Steve sent a letter and a burner phone for Tony to call him on, which felt awfully similar to an exes to lovers thing. You also found out that Steve had lied about Bucky killing Tony’s parents. That one gave you a massive shock. You couldn’t believe that Steve could do something stupid and...immoral like that. And suddenly, you understood Tony’s anger towards him and Bucky.

But he had already forgiven Steve and the others, that much was clear. It was clear to you the moment you saw him in the sling and black eye 2 years ago, his shoulders drawn in like a small child, and you sensed it immediately on him. That was the thing about Tony, he was quick to take all the blame on him and forgive others in his own begrudging and annoying way.

Then you confronted Peter about his superhero activities.

He stuttered his way through the confession and you eventually stopped grilling him, taking pity on his poor face that was red with nervousness, and decided to let him in your secret. He was positively buzzing then, unable to wrap his head around the fact that his best friend was a "fucking--demi-god/demi-titan, whatever, oh my god!" (his words, not yours.) He even made you show your powers to him, ooh-ing at every single spell that you cast in Latin and Greek and the purple shimmer of your magic.

You decided to train yourself harder, wanting to be prepared the next time your help is required in any mission. Practicing with the book of spells and witchcraft that your mother, Hecate, had gifted you after a quest, with your room shut out from the outside world, the smells of burning incense and herbs permeating your bones and every corner of the room. Tony would be freaked out at your training rituals but you assured him that it was just for concentration purposes.

Chiron would contact you every now and then, you would chat with him, Annabeth, Grover and Percy and that would make you feel lighter. They kept you entertained and updated about the stuff happening around the camp or in their lives, with Grover--being your favourite gossiper--subtly hinting at Percy and Annabeth getting closer to admitting their very obvious crushes on each other. That made you happy and sad at the same time because you couldn’t witness that first hand.

You even introduced them to Tony and Peter. Tony and Annabeth had a long nerdy conversation, after which Tony told you that he was greatly impressed and asked if he could give her an internship, while Grover and Percy had a great time exchanging memes and pop culture with Peter.

It was pretty mundane for these two years. You gelled in with Pepper and Happy, becoming an unofficial member of the Stark family along with Peter, who was also an intern at Stark industries now, you kept an eye on Steve and the others, just to reassure yourself that they were okay, although Wanda was keeping you out, wanting to stay hidden for longer and Bucky was still undergoing his treatment. Sometimes you'd see him step out of his hut and feed the sheep, play with the kids, take walks with Princess Shuri minus his metallic arm, but most importantly—you were happy to see that he looked healthy.

-

But then came the ugly purple giant and his army of equally nasty alien soldiers and ruined your life. You went to space with Tony, he was fully against it but you insisted, because your powers could actually be helpful against an extraterrestrial. You fought along side Tony, Peter and the Guardians. You even came close to removing the godforsaken gauntlet from Thanos' hand.

But then it suddenly ended. Time stopped. And everyone started disappearing.

Peter disappeared into a pile of ash right in front of you and Tony, departing with a quiet 'I'm Sorry' and you waited for the same to happen to you, but it never came. You leaned back against the debris of the fallen moon, your blown wide in a state of shock, hands shaking violently while Tony tried to bring you back to life.

You were stuck in that space ship with him and Nebula for god knows how long. Tony's cheeks were hollowed, skin pale, movements slower and you couldn't bear to watch that. You weren't doing any better. You had gone quiet and sluggish, half heartedly listening to Tony and Nebula playing a game of paper football. He fed you the remaining rations, forcing you to eat but eventually he lost his own energy, filming one last message in the helmet of his Iron suit and leaned back into the pilot seat in exhaustion. You had passed out long back, falling unconscious with hunger and the lack of energy or hope.

-

You opened your eyes to a white ceiling, eyes straining against the curtain of exhaustion and confusion, your body weak and limp on the soft bed. You noticed a figure move in the corner of your eye and notice a mop of blonde hair, the whole scene giving you a sense of deja vu, and then you heard his voice.

"Kid?", your eyes flew open. Steve was sitting next to you. Alive. It's been 2 years since you saw him. Your eyes welled up with tears and he laid an empathetic hand on your shoulder, thumb rubbing it gently to soothe you.

"W-where are the others..", you managed to get out and his face turned solemn.

"Nat, Clint, Scott, Rhodey, Bruce--they're all here. The rest..", he trailed off and shook his head. It was enough to make you aware of the situation, swallowing harshly against the lump in your throat as you froze.

Your chest ached as you realised-- you had lost half of your family once again.

-

2023

It's been 5 years since the snap. 5 years since you lost your family again and 5 years of you wallowing in your sorrows, your magic slowly inching towards a darker side. All that anger, sadness and frustration was simmering beneath your blood, ready to unleash at any moment.

Steve and Natasha kept you close, keeping a vigilant eye on you--almost helicopter parenting you--which was funny, because you were 23 years old now. Tony had retired. Completely given up. He had chosen a secluded cabin and shifted there after his and Pepper's marriage. You were glad he took the decision. But a part of you felt angry, because you couldn't have that luxury and you couldn't check on Camp Half-Blood either, the fear of attracting more monsters making you paranoid.

So you simply sat back and observed, waiting for the right moment to strike back, your magic pulsing beneath your veins, waiting to be released.

-

Slowly, people started joining--Thor came back extremely depressed with a talking raccoon who was a part of the Guardians' team, then there was Carol Danvers, who was cool and looked every bit of the leader that she is, and suddenly it was a full house again.

You, Steve, Natasha and Scott had gone to convince Tony to help out when Bruce's (or Professor Hulk's, honestly that was a little scary to you) attempts at making a time machine failed miserably. When you reached the cabin, you stopped dead in your tracks at the visual.

Tony and Pepper had a daughter now, the sight of him cuddled up with her making your eyes well up with tears, wishing you had the same. It was difficult to convince him, naturally, with him having a family now.

"I'm really happy for you, Tony", you whispered and gave him a soft smile, waving a hand to Morgan who shyly returned it before running back inside, "But please, think about it. It's been five years", you requested him and he pursed his lips, the gray in his hair catching the light and his brown eyes glassy with emotion. You knew he would join you. You knew you were asking a lot from him, that he wouldn't sleep peacefully if he did this.

And he did do it. He made time travel possible. And he remade the gauntlet. Only Tony Stark could make it happen. All of you, joined by Clint, went back in time, to gather those stones. And Clint returned without Natasha. It took Tony and Steve together to calm you down before you destroyed the entire set up. You didn't even get time to recover from it when the entire compound collapsed. It was infiltrated and attacked by Thanos and his army again.

You had exhausted yourself thoroughly, casting spells left and right to protect someone or to kill an alien. You protected Clint when he had the gauntlet in his hand, you protected Nebula when she was attacking another alien, you conjured a spell to create the Empousai, who sucked the blood out of the aliens, you used your pyrokinetic powers to light up anything on fire and deflect attacks, you even tried to use your time manipulation powers to reverse the events but the stones and Thanos' power was too strong, him using the power stone to fling you across the field where you dropped down harshly, knocking against the hard ground violently.

That's when you saw, felt and heard, the buzz of a million spirals in the field, the magic of the mystical arts, cast by Strange, Wong and their supporters and you faintly made out blurry figures whizz past you. Suddenly a strong hand clamped around your arm, pulling you up slowly and letting you lean against them, your eyes flying open in surprise when you saw that it was Bucky.

This meant that everyone was back. Bucky handed you over to Tony, who helped you sit up and you heard a thwip above you, hands helping the two of you stand up, the field around you was engulfed in chaos and sounds of pain and fighting. When the person started speaking, you and Tony snapped your heads up to stare at Peter.

Your best friend, Peter. Tony's son, Peter.

The two of you were crying, listening to Peter's nerdy ramble with fond attention before Tony wrapped him up in a hug, Peter quieting down and returning the hug, his eyes closed in contentment and he grabbed your arm to pull you in, the three of you embracing each other in silence.

-

You thought everything was okay now. You thought it was over and all of you could go home, try to mend each other again, when suddenly a bright light blinded you, your concentration breaking and hands coming up to cover your face. When the light faded away, you noticed that it was too quiet.

Everyone had stopped fighting, looking at each other helplessly, trying to figure what just happened when you heard a sound of metal against metal, a body dragging down a piece of debris. You whipped your head to the side to see--Tony. His right side was charred and gray, like he had walked through a wild fire, his eyes were blank, body language sluggish and exhausted.

You felt it--His heartbeat was slower. His breathing too thin. You could feel his soul fighting to stay alive, and you fell to your knees, Steve's arms coming around you to keep you grounded, your eyes brimmed with tears and face damp with them as you saw Rhodey, Pepper and Peter say their goodbyes to Tony.

Peter was held back by Rhodey, his body shaking violently with sobs, Pepper was murmuring something and every single person standing around them had tears in their eyes. You crawled over to Tony, placing a careful hand on his cold forehead, and you whispered a soothing spell, one that would lessen his pain in his last moments.

"Thank you for everything, T", you whispered wetly, his blank eyes shining with tears as he tried to move his head to look at you and abruptly stood up, crying into Steve's shoulder for god knows how long.

-

As if losing two of the most important people in your life wasn't enough, right after Tony's funeral ended, Steve decided to leave you.

He left you, Sam and Bucky behind, without any warning. Well, you assumed Bucky knew but Steve had still betrayed you and Sam. He left the shield behind with Sam, passing the mantle of Captain America to him. You felt proud but empty, unable to celebrate as you were shaking with annoyance at Steve's nonchalance and ignorance.

"Take care and don't underestimate yourself. You still have a family", he told you and gestured towards the two men standing at the end of the grassy path, the wrinkles and white hair making him look like a stranger.

In a way, he was a stranger. This wasn't the same Steve Rogers that you knew. You had walked away furiously, your chest hurting with the pain and frustration. Sam and Bucky watched you leave helplessly, the three of you caught in the same dilemma.

First it was your dad. Then it was Natasha. Then Tony. And now Steve.

Your life had completely uprooted itself and you weren't the same anymore. So as Hecate and fate would have it, you went back to your old friend: isolation.

-

2024

Yeah alright, you had said you would isolate yourself blah blah blah.

But turns out, you can’t resist Sam Wilson, with his big brown eyes and gentle voice working overtime to convince you. He had been the one to coax you out of your depressed state and the dingy apartment that you lived in (that wasn’t dingy at all on the inside, but the exterior helped you to stay undercover. Sam lost his mind when he discovered that you could do the decor stuff too.)

You’d been out of service for a whole year, choosing to keep to yourself, keeping your head down, leaving your apartment only to go for grocery runs or food—that’s all. You didn’t contact anybody, didn’t take up any assignments, didn’t use your magic for saving-the-world-purposes-nothing. You felt like an empty shell of your previous self and there was an ever lasting ache in your heart, your mind constantly sending signals that something—someone was missing.

But when Sam came knocking on your door, scolding you for being off the grid and so difficult to track, he managed to convince you to join him and Bucky for a small party at Sam’s hometown.

You refused, shutting him down quickly. He observed you closely with the eyes of a soldier then--taking in your black sweats, dark blue oversized hoodie dwarfing your body, the bags under your eyes, the smell of lavender and herbs that seemed to stick to you, the dim yet large ambience of your home, the constant fidgeting with your hands--and he let out a big sigh, his heart squeezing with empathy for you.

In way you reminded him of Bucky, who was nothing less than a wounded animal in the initial days. That’s what you looked like.

He then tried to break you by telling you that Bucky wanted you to come, knowing you had wanted to talk to him for a long time, and you perked up at that, reluctantly agreeing to his invitation and also because you couldn't say no to Sam's big-eyed-kicked-puppy-look anymore.

You went to Louisiana with him and joined his family’s cookout. Sam encouraged you to dress up and you did it for him, making yourself presentable after months--wearing a striped blue and white shirt, paired with your most comfortable pair of jeans, your favourite shoes, a brown handbag that Natasha had gifted you, your hair pulled up in a neat hairstyle and your face touched up with light concealer (those eye bags were serious.)

When you got there, the entire place was bustling with happy families and deliciously smelling meals. You eventually spotted Bucky, noticing that his hair was shorter now, and he was playing with 2 teenaged boys. That brought a tiny smirk to your face, happy yet surprised to see him so free and excited like this. Bucky spotted you and ran over, shocked to see you. He tackled you in a hug, a surprised squeal leaving your mouth before you returned the gesture. Sam’s sister and his nephews welcomed you with opened arms, making you forget your pain and suffering for sometime.

That night, you hugged Sam close and cried into his shoulder, him reassuring you that he’d stick around and that he wanted you to work with them. After Sam went to bed, you sat by the dock and looked at the water, the moonlight making it sparkle and Bucky joined you, the two of you chatting for a while before he extended his hand for a possible friendship and acquaintance, and you hesitantly but happily accepted.

This is how you began your new journey, with your new family.

Chapter 2

-

AN: whewwww this was a lot! I'm sorry if this was rushed but there's so much content i wanna fit in it and a lot of characters too! i hope you understand <3 i hope i did justice to the characters and the original material!! Please like and reblog and let me know your thoughts.🥹

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[satoshy12]

To forget the past is hard. Even if you try to ignore it.

Clockwork is Kronos.

Clockwork is visited by his ex-wife Rhea and she discuss their children and Kronos' disregard for them. Clockwork reveals that he thinks of them, with only a picture of Hestia and a large family portrait of Danny and Dani, while Rhea questions his intentions. They argue again.

++

Kronos, or Clockwork as he was now known, stood at his desk and adjusted his staff, knowing that someone would be visiting him in his home. The ticking of clocks filled the air of his lair in the Ghost Zone, he found it comforting as always. He turned slightly at the sound of a portal opening and sighed as the familiar figure stepped through. He had seen her coming and knew it. 

It was Titaness Rhea, his ex-wife, once Queen of the Titans, standing with an air of regal composure that eons of separation had not eroded. Her presence seemed to fill the room, her aura a subtle blend of authority and warmth. 

Clockwork stifled a groan. While he appreciated her rare visits, they always came with strings attached. What part of him that had changed and didn't need to see her all the time, or at all, didn't she understand?

"Clockwork," Rhea began, using his adopted name with strained politeness. She was still not used to calling him that, but she respected that he wanted to be called that. She crossed her arms and gave him a measured look. "It's been a while."

He turned to face her fully, his ghost tail now flying as he looked at her, hands clasped behind his back. "Indeed. I hope this is a fleeting visit, Rhea. I do have a schedule to keep."

Rhea's lips twitched, not quite a smile. "When is that not your excuse? Still, I wanted to see you. To talk." 

"About what?" he asked, though he already knew the answer. He hoped she would understand that he didn't want to talk about their children and their descendants. The less he thought about them, the better. 

"Our children," Rhea said, her tone pointed. "You've ignored them. Again."

Clockwork raised a brow, feigning confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I've kept her in my mind. I even have a picture of one of them right here."

He gestured to his desk, where a very small but neatly framed photograph of Hestia rested; she wasn't looking at the camera as she worked at her hearth. He took the picture from one of his portals. Rhea followed his hand, her expression unimpressed. She can't believe he only had one picture of Hestia.

Rhea glanced at her ex-husband and wondered why she ever thought he cared. Even if he wasn't crazy anymore. 

Then she pointed behind him, to the huge family portrait that dominated the wall behind his desk. 

It was impossible to miss: a large painting, almost three metres high, showing Clockwork sitting on a chair in the centre, flanked by Danny Fenton and Ellie Fenton. The two half-ghosts stood confidently beside him, their expressions radiant with joy, and Clockwork also had a smile on his face. It had been so hard to get them both to behave the way the painter had painted the picture, so many hours. They couldn't sit still. But he liked the way it was going. 

"You were saying?" Rhea asked dryly.

Clockwork looked back at the portrait, then shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, as if talking about the weather. "Danny and Ellie are my apprentices. I look after them, guide them, teach them. So to speak. Not my children."

Rhea's brow furrowed, her patience waning. "And when exactly were you going to tell me about them? Or were you going to continue pretending I didn't exist for them? Or let me meet them."

Clockwork sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Rhea, we know how things turned out with the other five. I can handle this duo on my own. And Danny is a great hero, as is Ellie at the moment. Really great students."

The mention of their children - Hades, Hera, Poseidon, Zeus, Demeter and Hestia - hung heavily in the air. The bitter history of betrayal, war and broken family ties was not something any of them wanted to revisit. Or that Kronos wanted to talk about, let alone with his wife.

Still, Rhea glared at him, her anger simmering beneath the surface.

"You don't just start like that," she snapped. "Blaming me for how they got out! While praising the ones you took care of, how great heroes they are!"

Clockwork's tone became defensive. "I gave them stability, training and helped them find a purpose. Isn't that enough? Or would you rather I eat them? Or be given to me to eat."

Rhea's eyes flashed. "Don't you dare put that on me. You were the one who..."

"Yes, yes, I know," Clockwork interrupted, his voice uncharacteristically sharp. "The great betrayal I gave you, the swallowing of children, the rebellion of Zeus, how you hid the boy. We're past that, Rhea. I have moved on from the past. Perhaps you should too.

The argument spiralled from there, as it always did. Words turned to accusations, accusations turned to frustration. Rhea's voice grew louder, while Clockwork's remained icy, but no less cutting. The air in the cave grew heavy with tension, time itself seemed to slow under the weight of their unresolved grievances.

Finally, Rhea threw up her hands. "You are unbearable, Kronos!"

Clockwork stiffened at the use of his old name. "And you are implacable, Rhea."

Rhea took one last look at her husband and the painting behind him. Before she left.

"Silence at last. I really should not bet with my own powers whether she will visit or not."

[localfandomenjoyer]

Yknow changing the hymm to Demeter to Kronos wouldn’t be that hard

Especially with Kronos having the agriculture stuff and time would be perfect for the passing of seasons

and there’s also already the fact that Poseidon has some kind of distance relations/cult ties to Persephone and Demeters og cults?

Agreed. Somebody who governs time and agriculture is the perfect representation of the seasons. When you think about it, there's a lot potential for fluffing out the myth of Kronos in relation to how his presence altered the world.

For instance, consider how humans told time before clocks. The sky. Who did Kronos overthrow? His father, who was the physical embodiment of the sky. In the Kronide AU, I'm going to credit Kronos for making the sky into what is essentially one gigantic clock, with repetitive, consistent cycles that can be predicted and used to mark time. Others may govern the sun and moon, but Kronos governs the yearly schedule they stick too.

[tearsstained]

Tell me that you love me again - Luke Castellan Headcanons

Headcanons of how Luke Castellan fell in love with the ridiculed Hades kid based on the song 'Again' by Noah Cyrus

POC friendly, plus size friendly, gender neutral, Hades!Reader, can either be read as Disney Luke or book Luke.

Content warnings: Not proof read, angst, Stoll brothers, alcohol (mentioned), Lukes betrayal, Reader going on a quest, the master bolt quest, strangers to friends to dating, virginity lose (mentioned), sex (mentioned), death/sacrifice, war (mentioned), Kronos (mentioned), spoilers for the Last Olympians, Lukes death, Percy Jackson (mentioned), song lyrics used, songfic.

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"You just made the worst mistake."

"And you'll regret it, darling."

Luke! Who was known as the camp's golden boy and admired by everyone for his charm and talent.

Luke! Who never really had any romantic interests and no experience with love.

Luke! Who despite having girls flocking to him daily, never dated because he never found anyone intriguing enough to think about.

Luke! Who had only heard of you through other campers and never really paid a thought to you until he saw you.

Luke! Who met you randomly on a Thursday afternoon when you were chilling out with the Stoll brothers.

Luke! Who was captivated by your beauty when he first saw you and mistaked you for an Aphrodite kid.

Luke! Who discovered that Travis and Connor are your only friends.

Luke! Who made the worst mistake by asking the Stoll's about you.

Luke! Who then got bombarded with questions and poking assumptions by T&C.

Luke! Who eventually admitted to being interested in getting to know you and got absolutely blackmailed by it.

"Cause once you give and then you take."

"You'll only end up wanting."

Luke! Who made a deal with the brothers that if they introduce him to you, he'll let them bring proper alcohol into camp for bonfire nights.

Luke! Who was unrealistically determined to know you.

Luke! Who became obsessed with the thought of you despite barely knowing you.

Luke! Who finally met you at a bonfire night after being taunted by your presence in the Hermes cabin.

Luke! Who never got enough time to talk to you.

Luke! Who felt teased by your short meeting and only wanted more.

Luke! Who searched for you all around camp the next day but never found you once.

Luke! Who continued searching for you throughout the next several weeks just to only see you at the mess hall where you couldn't talk.

Luke! Who begged the Stoll brothers to tell him your schedule or where you hang out at.

Luke! Who only got a "deal's over, can't tell." in response.

"Was everything hard enough?"

"Cause one day you'll wake up."

"And then you'll say."

Luke! Who found you on your own at the docks before asking if he could join you.

Luke! Who internally freaked out when you accepted but played it off.

Luke! Who got to know you more and became friends on that dock.

Luke! Who genuinely laughed at every dark joke you said that would scare most people.

Luke! Who kept meeting up with you whenever you were both free at the dock, claiming it was 'our spot' now.

Luke! Who offered to teach you how to swim and help improve your sword fighting skills.

Luke! Who started joining in on your little hangouts with Travis and Connor in the Hermes cabin.

Luke! Who started meeting up with you in the Hades cabin and began having sleepovers together secretly.

Luke! Who slowly but surely became one of your best friends.

Luke! Who became too attached to you.

“I wanna be your lover."

"I don't wanna be your friend.”

Luke! Who had a painfully noticeable crush on you but somehow you didn't see it.

Luke! Who started hanging out with you a lot more and built a much stronger connection with you then Travis and Connor had.

Luke! Who got jealous when you were with T&C but tried to remind himself that you aren't together and can hangout with whoever.

Luke! Who defended your name when other campers were talking about how weird you were and how they believed you were the lighting thief - when in reality it was him.

Luke! Who heard from the Stolls' that you liked him but thought he didn't like you back.

Luke! Who then arranged a sleepover in your cabin and asked you out that night.

"You don't know what you got 'til it's gone, my dear."

"So tell me that you love me again."

Luke! Who cherished every moment with you because he knew he'd have to go soon.

Luke! Who wanted to hide you away from the upcoming war none of the campers knew of but couldn't.

Luke! Who kept acting normal, even when Percy Jackson arrived.

Luke! Who showed Percy around and built a big brother relationship with him.

Luke! Who was the first to bow when Percy was claimed as Poseidon's son.

Luke! Who heard from Percy that you were also forced to go on the quest to retrieve the Masters Bolt (that he stole) due to being a child of Hades.

Luke! Who has never been so disappointed of not being chosen to go on a quest before until now.

Luke! Who begged Chiron to go as well to protect you from the set up danger he knew of but was continuously denied.

Luke! Who told you he loved you for the first time before you left.

"Baby, I'll hold my breath."

"You don't know what you got 'til it's gone, my dear."

"So tell me that you love me again."

Luke! Who dreamed of you every night and prayed you were okay every day.

Luke! Who realized how deeply in love he was with you and wanted to recruit you to Kronos army so you could be together without worrying.

Luke! Who could only hope you would return to camp unharmed.

Luke! Who was ecstatic when the four of you came back mostly unharmed but also realized his cover would be blown soon.

Luke! Who harboured your last night together before he was revealed.

"Again, babe, again."

"Again, babe, again."

"You don't know what you got 'til it's gone, my dear."

"So tell me that you love me again."

Luke! Who couldn't stop repeating the three words he only told you once before

Luke! Who seemed oddly clingy but you brushed it off as making up for missed time.

Luke! Who was almost in tears several times while kissing all over your body and repeating those three words to you.

Luke! Who took your virginity that night since he knew he might never see you again.

Luke! Who worshipped you all night and was so gentle with you.

Luke! Who broke your heart the next day.

"Ooh, she's screaming in my head."

"Ooh, I left her where I slept."

"Somewhere, I can't escape from, I'm running from myself."

"Somewhere in between in love and broken, I'm in hell."

Luke! Who felt horrible for betraying you like this but wanted to get revenge on the gods.

Luke! Who offered to protect you if you joined him, only to end up getting denied and screamed at.

Luke! Who couldn't turn back now that he outted himself, so he went through the portal alone.

Luke! Who was haunted by your face every night and day.

Luke! Who never stopped loving you, even if you were on different sides.

"Saying I wanna be your lover, I don't wanna be your friend."

"You don't know what you got 'til it's gone my dear."

"So tell me that you love me again."

Luke! Who replayed every memory of you together in his head during the days now that he's away from you.

Luke! Who missed you severely but couldn't go back to camp now.

Luke! Who was happy with getting his revenge but regretted it as well.

Luke! Who thought of those harsh words you yelled at him that night and how he just wanted to hear you say 'I love you' again.

Luke! Who desired a future with you but could only fantasize about it.

Luke! Who knew you hated him but still kept loving you.

"You'll leave when the clock hits ten."

"You don't know what you got 'til it's gone, my dear."

"So tell me that you love me again."

Luke! Who despite not seeing you for years, instantly recognized you when he saw you with Percy and Annabeth.

Luke! Who just wanted to stop Kronos to prove himself to you even if it meant dying.

Luke! Who just wanted you to love him again, even a little bit.

Luke! Who sacrificed himself to end Kronos just for you to know that he regrets it and wishes things were still normal like at camp all those years ago.

Luke! Who died for your unreciprocated love.

[serafilms]

song 53! magic (one direction) + percy jackson requested by @isabelboo (2023 spotify wrapped event)

you, you’ve got this spell on me, i don’t know what to believe, kissed you once now i can’t leave

Percy isn’t really sure how or when it started, but he’s pretty sure you’ve put some kind of curse on him.

His thoughts are consumed by you day and night. His vision tunnels in on you every time you’re around. Whenever you talk to him, all he can do is think of your lips. It’s excruciating. It’s nauseating. And it’s definitely affecting his daily activities, he thinks as he sits, dazed in the infirmary, with a stab wound (a very minor one!) in his side.

It has to be some kind of magic, he thinks, because he’s never felt like this. Maybe some voodoo? Maybe a trick by Hecate as vengeance for defeating the Titans. Maybe you’ve been slipping him potions in his food. It could be anything, and Percy is not as well-versed in magic knowledge as some other people at camp, so he has no idea.

But he finds himself always looking for you, asking after you. He finds himself trailing after you always, and depressed when you’re not around.

The strangest part is that nobody else seems to notice anything out of the ordinary, and he’s too afraid to ask them about it.

He mentioned something about it to Annabeth once, but she merely waved him off.

(“It’s like I can only think of Y/N,” he said.

Annabeth looked over her notes distractedly. “Uh huh, yeah, that’s great, Percy. Hey, since you’re not being any help here, would you mind getting Y/N so they can help me finish the Capture the Flag plans?”

Percy blinked. “Okay?”)

He thinks it must have started somewhere between all the times you held his hand to lead him somewhere, or the times he stood behind you to help correct your sword fighting posture, or the times you touched his hands and arms to correct his archery posture. He always ended up blushing furiously after each of those ordeals.

Or maybe it started that time he kissed you. Although, technically, you’d kissed him first (on the cheek, nothing crazy!) before he went off to face Kronos.

But then again, Percy had been the one to kiss you on the lips when he found you again after.

(“Percy!”

He heard the call of his name, registered your voice, and his head was already whipping around to find you. He found you, a strained look on your face as you hobbled towards him, and Percy rushed towards you.

No sooner had you steadied yourself by holding onto his forearms than he had leaned forwards and kissed you on the lips.)

But Percy couldn’t help it! He’d just been so worried about you, and so relieved to find you alive. He thinks maybe during one of those kisses you transferred your evil little spell.

Still, he hoped that kiss might have meant something to you, more than friendship, but you hadn’t gotten the chance to talk about it, since you’d collapsed on your broken ankle right after.

Even until now, you two have never really discussed what you are, or what the kiss/es entail for your future relationship. Because magic spell or not, Percy’s endless thoughts about you have him planning out your future (however much of it you can plan for two demigods who face certain death before their prime). An apartment in New York, close enough to his mom and Paul but not so close that it’s overbearing, college and planning schedules to match up, weekends out with your friends laughing and eating and watching movies and doing normal teenager things.

That’s all he wants. But he’ll settle for the lingering touches and smiles he gets from you for now.

But this curse, spell, whatever (because gods forbid Percy Jackson admit he’s in love with you before he’s sure you’re in love with him. They kissed you, Percy! What more do you need, for Zeus’ sake) is seriously becoming a problem, because somebody explain to him how from 30 feet away, Percy managed to see an Ares camper headed straight for you and make it over the battlefield in time to intercept it. With his own abdomen.

It was a stupid mistake, he acknowledges now. He’s been through countless battles, and he knows he could’ve incapacitated the camper from behind, or just knocked the spear out of his hand or something. But something about seeing you in danger just sets alight a fire in his mind that burns through any rational thought, leaving only an urge to stop you from getting hurt.

A little inconvenient now that he’s wincing on an infirmary bed with his side burning up. But at least you’re okay. And oh, look! It’s you! He’s not sure if he’s hallucinating now, or if you’re really standing in front of him.

“Seaweed brain,” you say, sniffling.

Okay, definitely you.

“Hey Y/N,” Percy says meekly. His side still feels like it’s on fire but his heart feels warmer with you here.

You take his hand and his heart aches at the tears in your eyes. “Hey, I’m fine,” he assures, ignoring the fact that he is definitely not fine.

“You’re an idiot, is what you are.”

“Yeah, that too.”

You look at him, at the ridiculous little smile he’s giving you to reassure you, at the bandages around his waist, and his hand in yours, and you lurch forwards and press your lips to his.

Percy jolts in surprise and feels his abdomen screaming at him from the movement, but kisses back nonetheless, feeling your lips on his once more and your tongue graze his bottom one.

When you pull back, he stares at you in a daze. If kissing is how you kept this spell on him, he is okay with being under it forever.

“You’re ridiculous, Percy Jackson,” you say, “but I love you.”

He swears his heart has never felt this warm. “I love you too.”

(“Sorry,” Leo says, looking rather gobsmacked, “they weren’t already dating?”

“Leo!” Piper throws her hands up in exasperation.

He smacks his cheeseburger back down on his plate and stares at the faces of his friends. Jason and Frank also look rather miffed, but the girls are all rolling their eyes. “Excuse me for being surprised! They’ve known each other since they were, what, 13?”

“12, actually,” answers Annabeth.

“12! When Percy woke up on the other side of America, the only name he could remember was Y/N’s, right?”

“Correct,” says Frank.

“And we spent ages on the Argo II, during which they got caught in the stables—“

“They were just talking,” says Hazel.

“—and they fell into Tartarus together! Because he refused to let go of her hand! They literally went all the way to hell, all the way through hell, and back out, together!”

Nobody says a word, all looking at Leo.

“You’re telling me,” Leo says, breathing very intensely as though he just found out that his pet dog has been run over, “that during that entire time, neither of them asked each other out?”

“Nope,” says Annabeth matter-of-factly, “and he also kissed Y/N on his 16th birthday.”

“Man,” Jason sighs, “talk about slow burn.”)

[idiot-gone]

Pjo Characters as things my friends have said it 3

Percy: "I fell.....Again"

Leo: "LETS COMMIT ARSON"

Demigods: "I WAS HAVING NOGHTMARES"

Annabeth: "It's called the guardian of the gals"

Nico: "Bro I forgot to fix my sleep schedule"

Hazel: "I ain't got no glow up"

Kronos: "I'm in your walls"

Zeus: "I wouldn't call them "crushes" but like obsessions sure"

Chiron: "Are any of them good w social cues"

Reyna: "I'm going to cry"

[unhealthysky]

In an alternative universe, we would’ve had the gods acting like camp counselor and deal with their children like The office or Abbot Elementary but more serious

It would’ve been a sick reveal if Percy came to camp and all these gods were the leader and counselors of each cabin. Not every god is there and most are minor gods.

They each have a number like normal, but there are little subtle signs in the cabin to show who it belongs to. And some campers got into different cabins because the counselor that “found” them got close to them and it would be sad to shove them to another cabin, yes that child has similar powers as me but it’s just a coincidence. They call me mom/dad because they’re just children that miss their parents🥺

Quests still exist and children still die but that would’ve made the driving force of the conflict more interesting. Luke would’ve been frustrated that his siblings are still dying but the gods didn’t do anything about it. Yet it could be referenced that an uprising happened before but most of their children were wiped out and that loss still traumatizes them.

The uprising could’ve been when they tied Zeus to a chair but there was a loop hole. He promised that he would be a good leader to the other gods and their children present but there are dead so it doesn’t apply anymore. The gods could face a dilemma of doing it again but losing these children now for a new future for kids they might not even want to have down the line? Yes he’s a good leader to allow the gods to see and train their kids but he’s still a leader that send kids to die because you train them so they should be able to survive without you. He makes it a rule for the gods to not be present for a quest just to lend items, or assistance like blessing, or something small.

Of course most gods break that rule but it comes at a cost. I feel like a swear on the River Styx would severely injured a god, not permanently but enough to put them out for a good season. They would have to hide or come up with an excuse ( I hurt myself on vacation 😮‍💨) and another god would take their place in camp or in the counsel. All of them are on a schedule to be there for like two or three seasons of a year and some immortals like Hercules show up like substitute teachers because a counselor got “sick” .

Ares could’ve been the god to introduce Percy to the rest of the camp and explain things. It would’ve made an impact on Percy, kind man that looks mean but loves his kids and he would’ve stayed at his cabin instead. It would insulted Poseidon so bad it would have him claim Percy and let it be known that he broke a rule.

Luke still would’ve been a lighting thief but it was out of frustration which grew from Kronos influence but the other gods found out and were trying to deal with it. Yet Zeus found out and thought it was Percy which would’ve lead him to do the quest. The gods planted it in his backpack but they still were trying to figure out a plan on how to get him out of this but Percy thought they’re were blaming him and ran off. Just pure chaos… almost like Eris was a part of it :)

Ares would asked Zeus to spare Percy on the plane to want to fight him due to Poseidon and his history. Sighting the Romans as well as the reason it has to be in New York. Zeus would let him and he still would’ve lost but it would have affected Percy. The counselor that trained you is a god that now claims to want you dead and planted the lighting in your bag but he still lost on purpose and apologized to you, yet your dad was the reason for you going on the quest to begin with 🥺

Ares would’ve faced some consequence but Zeus and Poseidon would’ve let it go because he’s too soft as a father and he’s ego driven enough to fight him by the sea. He wouldn’t have been a counselor next summer but oh I wanted to take Clarisse and some of my kids on vacation but oh Percy just happened to pass by my ship. Now I have to take him “hostage” because of my ego, I fed him and somehow helped them get the Golden Fleece, darn it 😪

Aphrodite maybe would’ve been the first counselor supervising on the first quest because you don’t want Percy running away, you know how tricky these kids are 🤭. Also love for his mother was a driven factor for him to go on this quest no? Ares would’ve been the second, Artemis the third, Dionysus the fourth, and the last one would’ve been Athena.

[chubbybunny25]

here's another Nicobaster AU for Nicobaster Weekend 2025 DAY 3: God Swap / Enemies to Lovers. (in collab with @frostyblustar)

₊°｡❆ SNOW DUO ⋆⁺₊❅.

(a godswap concept ft. khione!alabaster and demeter!nico)

check out the moodboards here >> NICO | ALABASTER

@drksanctuary ^^

Set somewhere in HOO.. Khione sends her son, Alabaster, to Camp Half-Blood, to recruit demigods for the upcoming war with Gaea. There he meets Nico, a son of Demeter. Unlike most children of Demeter, Nico has been gifted the powers of his mother's rage—the opposite of spring.

Nico's (angsty) backstory goes something like losing control of his powers when he was younger, which usually causes extreme weather conditions in the 1930's and in no time, people got a hint that it was Nico causing the "curse" in their place. The villagers were able to kill Maria and Bianca. (Nico and Bianca were conceived in a plant thingy btw. They were twins, one born of the warmth, the other born of the cold.)

Because of the tragedy, Demeter asks Hades for help so Nico is still kept in the Lotus Hotel until the goddess needs his help in the war with Kronos.

Alabaster's dad died of madness when Al was 7 (something about being involved too much with Khione's voice—remember her voice was what caused Zeus to close down Olympus in HOO). So Khione keeps her son and he grows up in the castle.

That's why, Nico in this AU is a bit more edgy, while Al looks up to his mother so much and does everything for her approval.

As for the colors, Alabaster wears mostly white or light-colored clothes here as a sign of some sort of a perfect child his mother raised him to be (the rings on his fingers kind of symbolize restrained elegance), while Nico keeps his black aesthetic (sometimes he wears gray), to distance himself from the typical associations with his parentage.

Inevitably, they become closer while in CHB cos of their powers. The dynamic is something like Al tries to follow all the rules while he's there so others won't realize his true motives, while Nico is a bit of a rebel, whom Al tries to "save" i.e. reminding him of the camp schedule.

Later, Nico has fun teaching Al to "break the rules" by sneaking out and the son Khione gets more comfortable and learns to let go. While Nico learns to put his guard down, Alabaster learns to be his own person.

But ofc, conflict happens when everything comes to light, uncovering Khione's role in the whole Gaea thing, Nico finding out Al's initial intentions, and Alabaster getting conflicted whether he'll uphold his mom's wishes or fight against her.

[oditeksolutionsyaass]

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[icouldntthinkofabetternamesook]

what if Jason was always greek and Percy was always roman?

Ultimately Jason and Percy are not the camps counterparts. Annabeth and Jason are, with Reyna and Percy filling the same role in their narratives. It is then Reyna and Annabeth who hold down their respective camps greek/roman-ness. As such they cannot be switched and Percy and Jason represent their respective sides to the other.

this scenario comes down to the questions 'would Thalia runaway if Jason was still with her?' and 'who would Jason pick to be third in his quest for the lightning bolt?'. For the first question I don't think Thalia would have gone on the run with a 5 year old and thus met Luke and Annabeth in the first place. For the second Jason would probably pick Luke and Annabeth to come with him on his quest which immediately means he cannot get the good end.

Kronos was always unsatisfied with Luke as a host. If Luke got infected and then brought Kronos back to camp in dreams, Kronos and Luke are both giving their full attention to converting Jason to their side. Kronos uses brute force, Luke uses affection and persuasion. Jason has spent years sleeping alone in the Zeus cabin after Thalia got turned into a tree by Zeus and almost killed by hades, unable to leave as he lives under constant threat. Jason joins Kronos. Luke, Jason and Ares steal the master bolt and the helm of darkness to start a war between the gods. They succeed. Hades opens the doors of death as he threatened, essentially starting a zombie apocalypse, Zeus and Poseidon are at each other's throats. Jason tries to convince Annabeth to come with them and maybe succeeds if it's both her brothers asking but more likely she is either held against her will or runs away. Hopefully she runs into either the hunters or New Rome. Hazel comes back with the rest of the flood of the dead on earth and is mostly just keeping an eye on Leo.

Of course by this point Luke regrets everything and is only still on the titans side to look after Jason. I imagine the two of them take the princess andromeda to find the Golden Fleece to wake up Thalia. 

One of a few things could happen with Percy. He gets to Camp Jupiter and has a horrible time unless they let his mom move in. Neptune takes him and Sally to his kingdom under the sea to train him as a weapon/protect him from Zeus. Either of the two above fail and Luke asks him to join the titans, unofficially as Annabeths bodyguard because no matter what side she's on he wants her to be safe.

If the lighting thief happens the same year it did for Percy and Hazel is alive again from the doors of death she's the oldest child of the big three on the board and one no one is watching yet. If they wait till Jason is the same age as Percy was she and Percy are about the same age, Percy having maybe a few months on her. She would turn 14 in December and he would in August. in this scenario, Hazel becomes the child of the prophecy and I would read that series.

The first question is going to take you way farther off the tracks. If Thalia doesn't runaway and meet Luke and Annabeth, what happens?  Thalia and Jason probably go to camp early and safely while Grover gets his searchers license way ahead of schedule and hopefully doesn't die on the cyclops island. Camp doesn't have a protective barrier and Thalia might have to go on a quest to justify her existence to Hades, even if theirs no Kronos to make it the lightning thief. Happiest option is Thalia going through a discount version of Percy's adventures. She eventually leaves Jason behind to join the hunt, Jason and Nico would have a lot to talk about and either Jason and Annabeth meet up at an architecture class years later when everything is fine or things wind up back on track, Jason trying to fill Percy's role with debatable success. 

That leaves the question of what would Luke and Annabeth do without Thalia. If Luke doesn't become host of Kronos his mom is less crazy and he stays home long enough to be picked up by a satyr. Athena has no one to lead Annabeth to when she runs away and Fredrick finds her and starts family therapy. 

But that's boring.

Luke still runs away and finds Annabeth but without Thalia there is no way for him to get the cursed dagger from Hal Green. He doesn't think he can look after a child, returns her home and Fredrick either forcibly adopts Luke or sends him in the direction of Camp Half Blood or let's something slip about the Norse pantheon and Luke fucks off to Boston. I think in that last version Luke goes to college and joins child protective services.

Luke could take in Annabeth and get them to camp and get everything back on track, but it's not likely, and kinda boring. Personally I think it would be interesting for them to stumb into the labyrinth and getting adopted by Dedalus. I just think that would be neat. Could you imagine Luke and Annabeth raised in the labyrinth? They would be so cool. Steampunk, halfway monsters, apart from the olympians and mortals, brilliant and deadly. Wildcards in whatever war of the gods comes about.

The easiest way to get everything on track would be for Thalia to go to Hal Greens place on a starter quest and just pick them up. It would leave their little family rather distant. Luke wouldn't care enough to be wooed by Kronos. Which would still leave Jason as the perfect target but now he would be doing it alone. That's actually worse then having Luke flutter trying to protect him.

Percy Jackson is a story about breaking cycles of abuse and tragedy, about the abusive families and forefathers that shape us, and about how with love trust and incredible violence we can break out of those cycles of abuse to make a better world. To use traditional poetry terms, it is a tragedy told through the frame of an epic, the illiad as framing for the house of Atreus. Luke, Thalia and Annabeth all play Helen, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Iphigenia. It is their personal relationships that drive the conflict. Percy, as an outsider to their dynamic, can impact its direction and ultimately is given the choice to break the cycle. If Jason is in Percy's place he cannot break that cycle as he is too enmeshed in the family structure. If you change the dynamic at the heart of the tale you find something completely different.

Percy would be having a very bad time overall as a roman, and I think Hazel ultimately comes out as the prophecy child thanks to the flood of the dead after the lightning thief quest fails.

[the-pjo-archive]

Working a little something

“Kronos is going to remake the world, we won’t be shunned anymore with him in charge” Nemesis’ eyes flashed with something between confidence and challenge “my children are always picked on, never the heroes. But you, Ethan, I sense that you will be the one to break that cycle. Join Kronos, let me guide you to greatness, I will help you bring justice to the world.” Ethan let the words set in, he hated camp, he hated Chiron, he felt like he stuck out here and his schedule almost never lined up with Drew’s in the years he’d been here. But what would it mean to leave, possibly forever? He might not fit in but at least he could see Drew when they had free time… then again she wasn’t treated fairly here either, she might have a cabin to belong to but everyone made fun of Aphrodite kids; maybe in this new world he could give her a place by his side where neither of them would be picked on. 

[fated-normal-767]

It is a little funny how Ares describes Kronos’s roll as standing around looking pretty when she’s clearly aware that he holds some amount of power because well . A role like Oulixes’s kind of necessitates it .

Oh absolutely and she does know he has power but the power Kronos thinks he has (oulixes’ role) is not what he actually has. what he actually has in that context is the capacity to make ares’ life distinctly worse in really casual ways by just. Being there. Like he can’t realistically force anything bad to happen because ares is his boss pretty much but he could’ve changed up ares’ schedule just enough so that she couldn’t look after shimmer or she had to go days without sleeping or she’d just really really struggle with it all . However Kronos only partially understands this.

[tsarisfanfiction]

Truth Comes Out of His Well (Chapter 5)

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Lee Fletcher, Kronos, Apollo, Apollo Cabin (and many more) As always, @stereden is responsible for the accompanying podfic! << Chapter 4 Listen to chapter 5 on AO3

It repeated.

Lee lost track of how many times Kronos came in, a group of demigods in tow, and tried to force him into playing his twisted version of two truths and a lie, ending with the finale of a cacophony of lies so intense that he was left a trembling, sobbing wreck.  It was usually the same demigods – some faces came and went, but Reuben, Aquila and Claudia were staples, and Lee suspected that they would continue to be first in line for anything that involved tormenting him for as long as Kronos allowed.

Given that Lee had, somehow, yet to break and answer Kronos – not that he knew how he was still holding out, when he was reaching the point that he was having to fight off panic the moment a group descended on him – he was pretty certain the titan would keep letting them.

They were the worst for feeding him; Lee dreaded seeing any of the trio walk in with food, because they all but forced him to eat it.  If it was Kronos, he tended to release Lee’s wrists and let him feed himself in peace, which had the added benefit of being able to cradle his aching, constantly in pain, wrists and murmur a hymn to relieve their suffering even a little.

It was a dichotomy of kindness against the torture he orchestrated the rest of the time.

If there was a regular schedule to any of the visits – food, torture, being shoved into a little bathroom adjoining the room to use the toilet and sometimes clean up some of the ever-building cave grime, too – then Lee couldn’t track it.  He hadn’t seen the sun since the battle, couldn’t even feel the faintest hint of his father’s warmth, and that left him utterly disorientated when it came to time.  He was under no illusions that Kronos wasn’t doing it on purpose – the titan of time would have intimate knowledge in how to ruin timekeeping, if he wasn’t just simply manipulating time to further disorient Lee.

When he wasn’t being tortured, either by Kronos or by the overzealous hatred Marcus’ friends threw at him, though, Lee somehow found himself being bored.  He couldn’t do anything, spending almost all his time firmly secured to the cave wall, and it felt like he was left to stew in his own company with no distractions for hours on end.  It felt ridiculous, to be suffering from boredom in his situation.

Could he even call it suffering when it was the alternative to personal attention from a titan determined to break him, and getting closer and closer with every session, if Lee was honest?  He didn’t know how he’d held on so long already; he had no idea how he was going to keep holding on, just the knowledge that he had to, no matter how impossible a task it was starting to feel like.

He hadn’t known it was possible to be simultaneously bored and scared.

The door stayed open the whole time.  Lee had seen it shift once, when a demigod had leaned against it, so he knew it could close, but Kronos had never bothered to shut him in.  Given that Lee was still no closer to finding his way out of the manacles than he had been when he’d first woken up, it was obvious why.

He still couldn’t see much of the corridor, though, and the foot traffic passing his room – he wanted to call it a cell but did it really count as one when the door never shut? – had increased, so it was difficult to tell when someone was coming in to see him rather than just walking past to whatever it was they did when they weren’t tormenting him.

Movement out of the corner of his eyes drew his attention to his newest visitor, striding in through the open doorway.  The torches hadn’t been changed in a while and were starting to burn low, enough to cast their face in shadow until they got close enough.

It was an Asian looking guy, similar in age to Lee at a guess, with an eyepatch covering his left eye.  His face was familiar, although Lee didn’t remember the eye patch and couldn’t place him.

“Hello, Lee,” he said.  He wasn’t carrying any food, and while so far the physical torture had been mostly incidental – Lee’s wrists were taking the brunt of that – Lee was also relieved to note that the sword stayed in its sheath as the demigod sat cross-legged on the floor in front of him.

He was also confused, because normally demigods only came in without Kronos if it was feeding time.

“Remember me?” the other demigod continued.  “I was at camp, for a few summers.”

That explained the familiarity, and Lee wracked his brain.  It had to have been someone that had left a few years ago – the eyepatch was definitely a new addition, but he was pretty sure he’d recognise them regardless if it had been recent.  He studied the rest of his face, taking in the clear Asian heritage and racing through all the Asian kids at camp that had not come back one year.

“Ethan?” he asked, hesitantly, and the boy’s face twisted into some sort of a smile, although it wasn’t a happy one.

“That’s me,” he confirmed.  “The eyepatch throw you off?”

“It didn’t help,” Lee admitted, trying to remember what else he knew about Ethan.  He’d left camp before the war had even started, before Luke’s betrayal, even, another case of an unclaimed kid deciding they’d had enough of being unwanted even in the camp that was supposed to be a home to them and leaving.  Lee had always understood it, if only theoretically.  He’d not got far enough into the foster system to ever feel that way personally.

He could also begrudgingly understand why an unclaimed, resentful kid would join Kronos.  Chris had been another one, perhaps worse because everyone had known he was a Hermes kid – he had the same looks, the same skills – and he’d lived in his parent’s cabin and still was never claimed.  The final straw for him had clearly been when he’d been passed over for head counsellor in favour of the younger, less experienced Stolls purely because they’d been claimed and he hadn’t been.  Lee didn’t think he would’ve been able to say no to helping the other boy even if he hadn’t understood that, but it had certainly helped him throw himself whole-heartedly into trying to help Clarisse restore his sanity.

He’d always been able to see why someone that hadn’t been helped by a system would be drawn to the possibility of change.  That made sense, a case of grass looking greener on the other side even though Lee fully believed that Kronos would be no better for them than the current system.  It was the others he didn’t understand at all, Luke, Alana and the others who had been claimed and raised as a child of their particular godly parent.  How could they turn their backs and think joining Kronos was better?

“Was it treated properly?” he asked Ethan, eyes fixed on the patch.  Eye trauma was nasty, he’d seen it before, in nasty camp accidents.

Ethan shrugged.  “Nothing left to treat,” he said dismissively.  “My mother took it.”

“Your mother?” Lee asked, and his voice came out a little strangled.  He didn’t remember Ethan’s mortal parental situation – it had to have been good enough for him to only live at camp during the summer – but the way he said it, like his eye had just vanished, sounded a lot like…

“Yeah,” Ethan said, a little bitterly.  “She claimed me in the end.  Told me I would rebalance the world, and took my eye in exchange.  An eye for an eye and all that.”

“Nemesis?” Lee asked hoarsely.  It sounded like the sort of thing the goddess of vengeance would do or say – but to her own child?

Maybe he understood why Ethan was still on Kronos’ side.

“Nemesis,” Ethan confirmed.  “I don’t understand you, Lee.”

Lee blinked, confused at the sudden declaration.  “What don’t you understand?” he asked.

The son of Nemesis gestured at their surroundings.  “This,” he said.  “You could be comfortable.  You have something Kronos wants.  All you need to do is give it to him and you’d be out of here and at his right hand.  It’s a position many of us would kill for, but you’re refusing at every turn.  Are you that loyal to the gods?  Why?”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” Lee asked.  “I don’t understand how Kronos winning would be better than what we have at the moment.”

The laugh that Ethan let out was dark and humourless.  “Of course you don’t,” he said.  “Perfect child of Apollo, claimed the moment you enter camp and lavished with praise and love from everyone.  Why wouldn’t you want to keep things that way?”  His remaining eye sent a look st Lee that went right through him, serious and even a little pitying, underneath the dismissiveness.  “You’re living a pretty little lie, Lee.  At least my mother was upfront about it.”

“Upfront about what?” Lee asked, confused.  The resentment for Apollo kids also made some sort of sense – Lee knew they had the best relationship with their godly parent barring only, possibly, Dionysus’ kids, whose father actually lived in camp with them – but the thing about living a lie?  That didn’t.  Lee had been a camper for ten years, he could sense lies and he’d never sensed he was living a lie.

“The cost of being a demigod,” Ethan told him bluntly.  He gestured at his eye.  “There’s always a price to pay, Lee.  Look at yourself.  Apollo gave you a power – one that’s powerful, too, no wonder you always hid it – but what’s that done for you?  Chained up in a cave, regularly driven over the brink of panic because it’s so easily turned against you.”  He scoffed.  “Apollo hurts his children, punishes them for the things he gave them, but over and over again, you all fall for it until it’s too late.”

“Apollo doesn’t,” Lee snapped.

“Doesn’t he?” Ethan challenged.  “Did Luke ever tell you about Hal?”

The name was wholly unfamiliar.  “Who’s Hal?” he asked, cautiously.

Ethan shifted in place, looking for all the world like he was sitting back around the campfire at camp, ready to tell a story.  The faint flickering of the torchlight played with the shadows on his face, making them eat up the black eyepatch whole.  “Evidence of Apollo’s cruelty to his own children,” he said.  “Luke met him, once.  He’s told the story several times since this war began, because camp has always held your father up as the pinnacle of parental godhood.  We all know you Apollo kids think you have it good, that he’s a reason why the gods should be allowed to continue with their pathetic attempts at using and abusing mortals under the guise of parenting.  He’s not.”

A story.  Luke had come up with some sort of story to demonise Apollo.  It shouldn’t have felt like a betrayal – in the grand scheme of all the things his former friend had done, it logically ranked low – but somehow it did.

“Hal was a son of Apollo that could see the future,” Ethan continued.  “But he wasn’t allowed to act on it, no matter what he saw.  He saved a girl’s life, because what monster asks someone to stand aside and do nothing when someone is going to die?  Apollo cursed him for it, for using the same power that he had given him in the first place.  Hal lost his voice, was imprisoned in a house surrounded by monsters that killed anyone that came near and spoke his own thoughts out loud to him, and was left there to suffer until he died.  Luke and Thalia tried to save him and almost got killed in the process – and they failed, too.  Hal still died, thanks to the curse his own father put on him.”

His eye glittered in the torchlight.

“I know you know I’m telling the truth,” he said, and he was right – there hadn’t been a single hint of a lie.  “If he did that to one son with a powerful ability he gave, what will he do to you, Lee?”

Ethan wasn’t lying, but it didn’t work like that.  Ethan believed what Luke told him, but that didn’t mean Luke hadn’t lied to Ethan.  It was a lie wrapped up like a truth, the way retold stories could be, but Lee hadn’t let on that part of how his ability worked to Luke, so Kronos didn’t know, which meant Ethan and the other demigods didn’t know, either.

They just knew that if they said something true, Lee would know, and didn’t realise how personal truth could be.

Lee wasn’t about to give that clarifier away, though, even if it meant letting Ethan continue operating under such an awful view of his own father.  Apollo would never do that to them.  Lee had never even met an Apollo kid that had inherited any serious degree of prophecy, or even much beyond occasional dreams – and they all knew that the dreams came from Apollo, anyway.

“I’m not a prophet,” he said, instead.  “Or an oracle."

Ethan shot him a look that was part disgusted, part cloying pity.

“You’re blind, is what you are,” he replied.  “I might be down an eye but you’re the one that can’t see.”  He shook his head.  “Are you really going to keep torturing yourself for the gods?  They don’t care, Lee.  Apollo doesn’t even need to step in with you, you’re doing his job for him, sitting down here and not taking all the chances you’re being given to save yourself.  You could be free of all of this, Lee.”

“I’d be free if you got me out of these chains,” Lee muttered, before looking Ethan in the eye.  “I’m not giving in,” he told him.  “Kronos can keep trying and maybe he will break me, eventually, but I’m not giving in.  I won’t give in.  I can’t.”

“Why?” Ethan pushed, and he sounded almost a little despairing.  He hadn’t been a cruel boy, Lee remembered.  Quiet and a little sullen, fed up of being ignored by his godly parent, but not cruel.  He was trying to help Lee; Lee wasn’t blind enough to miss it, but the help he was offering wasn’t help at all.  Not for Lee.  “Why are you putting yourself through this, Lee?  The gods aren’t worth it, and I can’t believe you don’t know that, somewhere inside.  You’ve seen me, the other unclaimed kids at camp.  I never pegged you as someone cruel enough to think that what we’re going through is good, even if you’re too blind to see what your own father is doing.  Why?”

That was the easiest question Lee had been asked since he’d arrived.

“Because I have people to protect,” he said.  “This isn’t about me, Ethan.  It was never about me.”

“You can protect them better if you’re at Kronos’ side!” Ethan exclaimed.  “How is this protecting them?”

“Because Kronos doesn’t protect anyone,” Lee said firmly.  He could see Chris, babbling and insensate and flinching away from even the most gentle of healing touches.  “What you see in Apollo, I see in Kronos, Ethan.  I won’t join him.  Not willingly.  Not ever.”

Ethan sighed.  “You’re delusional, Lee,” he said, but he pulled himself to his feet again.  “He’ll break you, you know.  You should forget about other people and think about yourself.  No-one would blame you for protecting yourself.”

Lee gave him a small, tired, smile.  “I would.”

The torchlight had all but faded away, burning down to embers, and now that Ethan had stood up, his face was impossible to see.  He left without another word, leaving Lee alone as the torches sputtered and died out.

Chapter 6>>>

[jankwritten]

jasico bingo challenge: crossover

Nico tries extra hard to keep his ears still as the humans descend to the surface. 

His suspicion is reasonable, even if Leader keeps snapping at him to reel his emotions in. Nico might be young, but he isn’t naive. He’s heard whispers throughout the universe of what humans do to each other, do to their planet, for the sake of greed and power. 

In his not so humble opinion, humans and Galra are not different in the slightest. If humanity had even a sliver of the technology that exists this far out in the cosmos, Nico’s positive they’d have two empires to overthrow. 

Tucked near the back of the group (likely to hide his obvious opposition to this alliance), Nico can only kind of hear what the human donning black armor says to Leader on his approach. His handshake looks solid enough. 

“That’s the one who was captured,” Hazel whispers to him, always flanking his side. Her fingers curl around his forearm, digging in. “He’s dangerous. Titan Slayer.” 

Nico can’t stop his ears from swiveling flat. He wishes he had the facade of his mask to hide behind, so he could bare his teeth in displeasure. 

He knows of the Titan Slayer. One of the only survivors of Kronos’s coliseum. A being so wholly destructive, so eager for blood, he was rumored to feast on the remains of those he slayed. 

“I thought he’d be taller,” Nico mutters back. 

Hazel snorts, just loud enough that Leader’s right-hand woman turns on her heel and stakes them with an evil eye. 

The Paladins, so called defenders of the universe, are the sort of lively that Nico associates with space madness. A chaos created by a mind untethered. The one dressed in red sticks by the Titan Slayer and speaks to him so fast, Nico’s translators can hardly keep up. The one in green and the one in yellow monitor the edges of the room, observing from a distance, occasionally peeling apart some piece of technology that they then stitch back together before someone of importance catches them. The blue one is the friendliest to the Blades, though it doesn’t earn her much, in Nico’s books. She speaks as if they’re all equals here. It puts his teeth on edge. 

“Quit your brooding,” Melinoe says. She tugs once on Nico’s hood, then wraps her arm around him when he’s off balance, holding him hostage to her side. “You don’t have to like them, but you have to respect them.” 

“Do I?” Nico mutters, bitter. What have these Paladins done to earn his respect, aside from endangering some of their most vital members, threatening their whole network of undercover agents within the Empire? 

“If you ever want to be off base again you do,” Melinoe says. She flashes her teeth at him and nips not-so-playfully at his ear. “Your choice, kitling.” 

“Don’t call me that.” 

“I call you whatever I like.” 

Nico’s ears flatten down as he slumps, folding his arms across his chest, glaring daggers in the opposite direction. 

Melinoe’s laugh is more of a bark, hard and ringing. 

As the base lights begin to dim in preparation for the sleep-sequence, Nico escapes the still ongoing welcome celebration for the more secluded decks. He’s sure his disappearance will be noted, but Leader can’t hold it against him if his excuse is habit and schedule. Nico has hardly slept well a day in his life, but he always goes to bed on time. 

This cycle, he taps into one of the common areas and slouches onto the plush cushioning arranged by whomever used the room last. He doesn’t want to go to his own room yet, worn out as he is. He needs to keep an eye out. It seems everyone else is swept up in the revelry of their guests, but Nico isn’t fooled. 

In the common area, he’ll be able to hear unfamiliar, human footfalls coming or going. He can remain on his guard in an open area. His room would just feel claustrophobic. 

Arranging himself so the entrance remain within sight, Nico finally allows himself to relax just the slightest bit into the comfortable cradle of cushion. 

He snaps awake to the sound of the doors wooshing shut. 

The Titan Slayer blinks at him. “Oh,” he says, in that strange, human tone. “Sorry. I- didn’t know, uhm, someone was here.” 

Nico bristles, unable to keep himself from going on the offensive. His shoulder hike, and he bares his teeth. 

“I’ll just go,” The Titan Slayer says. He puts his hands up. “My bad.” 

“You are sneaking,” Nico hisses, rising to his feet. He’s still in his armor. If he needs to, he can yank his hood on and strike fast, strike hard. Strike first. 

“I was just trying to find some water.” The Titan Slayer keeps his hands up, perhaps a defense? “I’ll go back to my quarters.” 

“I will follow,” Nico says. The Titan Slayer’s eyes widen slightly, as if shocked. Nico wants so badly to bare his teeth. “To make sure you find your way.” 

The human lowers his hands, finally. He tips his head forward in a nod not dissimilar to those given in respect to commanders, generals. “I’d appreciate that,” The Titan Slayer says. 

Though he takes the long way, there are no deviations from the path the paladin leads back to the guest quarters - a sliver of space set up with cots, furnished just enough to feel better than nothing. 

Nico watches from the doorway as the Titan Slayer pads near-silently to the empty cot across the room, between two of the others. The yellow and blue, Nico thinks. They look smaller without armor. 

The Titan Slayer looks up at him. If he’s surprised to see Nico still there, he does not say. Instead, in the otherwise silent space, he murmurs, “I look forward to working with you. I don’t believe I caught your name?” 

The translator catches for a moment over the word name, though the translation suits Nico fine. A name is not a title. There is not much to giving it. 

“Nico,” he says, gruff and short. 

The Titan Slayer smiles, that strange, bare human expression. “I’m Jason,” he says. “It’s nice to meet you, Nico.” 

Nico narrows his eyes suspiciously, parsing apart the tone, the word choice. To meet under these circumstances is not nice. What games do the humans play with their words? To lie so blatantly? 

“We will see,” Nico says. He steps backward through the still-open doorway, refusing to look away from the Titan Slayer. Jason. Danger. 

The door hisses shut.