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kookie-doughs · 3 years

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Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything is now ruined.

Chapter 22: Then It Ended

As soon as we came, Annabeth ang Grover tackled me. We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so of course everybody treated us as if we'd won some reality-TV contest. According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls— Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. She punched him and told him to shut up. Percy being the son of Poseidon, he didn't have any cabin mates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

As I was still unclaimed, Hermes cabin had made me one. (Just... IDK go crazy with your shroud IG) It was fun to burn. As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, Percy and I was surrounded by my Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past." The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told me they'd never forgive us for disgracing their dad. That was okay with me. Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brats didn't get themselves killed and now they'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday...." Going back to the cabin I finally had time to talk to Luke. Who just expressed his relief of me being fine, and how he was scared when Annabeth told everyone about me. No wonder everyone was so shocked seeing me come back with Percy. On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors. As Annabeth, Percy and I were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell us good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human. "I'm off," he said. "I just came to say ... well, you know." I tried to feel happy for him. After all, it wasn't every day a satyr got permission to go look for the great god Pan. But it was hard saying good-bye. I'd only known Grover a year, yet he was my oldest friend. Annabeth and I gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on. I asked him where he was going to search first. "Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan ..." "We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?" "Yeah." "And you remembered your reed pipes?" "Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat." But he didn't really sound annoyed. He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway. "Well," he said, "wish me luck." He gave Annabeth and I another hug. He clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes. Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware. "Hey, Grover," Percy called. He turned at the edge of the woods. "Wherever you're going—I hope they make good enchiladas." Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him. "We'll see him again," Annabeth said. July passed. I spent my daysplanning out strategies with Luke for capture-the-flag and making alliances with the other cabins to keep the banner out of Ares's hands. I got to the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting scorched by lava. From time to time, Percy and I would walk past the Big House, he'd glance up at the attic windows, and think about the Oracle.

I tried to convince him that its prophecy had come to completion. "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned." "Been there, done that—even though the traitor god had turned out to be Ares rather than Hades." "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned." "Check. One master bolt delivered. One helm of darkness back on Hades." "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend." Percy recited. "Ares had pretended to be our friend, then betrayed us. That must be what the Oracle meant.... Or maybe Nereid?"

"And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end." He sighed. "I had failed to save my mom and lost you..."

"So why are you still uneasy?" The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. The campers had one last meal together. We burned part of our dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads. Percy and I got our own leather necklace, and when I saw the bead for my first summer. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.

"This is so beautiful..." I smiled to Percy. "The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares's cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. I'm not sure I'd ever felt as happy or sad as I did at that moment. I'd finally found a family, people who cared about me and thought I'd done something right. And in the morning, most of them would be leaving for the year. * * * The next morning, Luke called me. He gave me a paper, telling me to fill it out, and asked me to meet him as soon as I could. I knew Dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong: Dear (WRONG NAME) , If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit. Have a nice day! Mr. D (Dionysus) Camp Director, Olympian Council #12 That's another thing about ADHD. Deadlines just aren't real to me until I'm staring one in the face. Summer was over, and I still don't know what to do. I had no where to go to. The only option I had was Percy's or maybe Hades was not joking about inviting me back to the Underworld. Sighing I decided to just meet Luke before filling it for second opinions. The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their Gucci suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport. I was walking around looking for Luke. I jumped when I felt someone tap me from behind. I instinctively unsheathed my knife and turned only to see Luke with his hands raised.

"Whoa! Calm down just me." He laughed.

"Kinda weird seeing someone laugh at a knife pointed at them." I smirked sheathing my knife.

"I only laugh since its you." He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Are you done with everything?"

"Not really. I don't know whether to leave or not yet. That's why I came. Help me?" I asked him.

He turned to me and to the forest. "How about you hear me out about something... important and private... then decide?" He gestured towards the forest.

"Not planning on killing me are you?" I squinted at him.

He gasped. "Not you. Never. I would never hurt you."

I let him lead me to a shrouded area of the forest.

"How serious is this thing that you can't let anyone see? I am blindly trusting you here Luke." I laughed nervously. But when he didn't reply I felt something was off. "Luke, okay this isn't cool. How deep into the forest do we have to go?"

"Y/N remember when you said... You want to be the person I trust...? How you promised to help me?"

"Luke?" He took my hand and pulled me sharply. I winced at how hard he pulled me. "That hurts! Let me go!"

He snapped back and let go of my wrist. "I-I'm sorry... Y/N..."

As much as I knew I had to leave, I couldn't I was worried about him. I reluctantly placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's happening?"

"I did it..." I said and sat on the ground. "I swear I didn't mean to get you hurt. But, I confess to everything. I stole bolt and helm, I summoned the hound, I gave Percy the cursed shoes... And just now, I tried to kill Percy Jackson." He looked at me with empty eyes.

I shot up and looked at him in emotions I couldn't put in words. "W-Wh---" I wanted to leave and check on Percy. But once again, seeing him right now... I need to stay with him. "Why are you telling me this...?"

"Join me... please?" his voice was weak. He sounded vulnerable. "Let's serve my Lord together..."

"L-Luke... no. I-I can't do that!" I took his shoulder, "Y-You should stay with me instead. How about that, huh? L-Let's explain to Chiron and the others... come on please. I could help you!"

Nothing was working.

"Come with me..." He muttered.

"Luke, I won't join you. You have to change your mind. You can't do this."

"I can't change my mind."

"I can help you with that? How about you go with me huh? I could spend all my time doing this and that. Please, just change your mind."

He didn't reply for a while until he whispered, "Promise me."

"Promise you what?"

"You'll stay with me."

"What? Luke I wo--"

"You won't join... Just...don't stay here for the year... and stay with me."

"I-If I stay with you... what would that mean?"

"Yo-You... might change my mind."

"I'll go." I replied with no hesitation. "I'll leave camp for the year. And I'll find my parent to prove to you that Gods and Goddess aren't all bad. We'll find my parent together."

"I do my lord's bidding--"

"You can still do it. If you want to. But whatever happens... stays only between us. I'll stay with you until I change your mind. And I'll bring you back to camp."

"I would never do anything to ruin your trust in me." He knelt down. It was kinda awkward but hey... "I need you."

Worry not hero. We shall stay.

"Please..."

We'll meet again. Wait for us, we shall join you soon. Now leave.

I had no idea what happened since when I came to Luke was gone and there was no sign of him anywhere. How were we going to st---

We will meet him once we leave. Now go as our hero needs us.

I suddenly remembered Percy's state that Luke had told me about. So I ran. I ran to the Big House

***

Percy finally opened his eyes. He was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, his right hand bandaged like a club. Argus stood guard in the corner. Annabeth and I sat next to Percy, I was holding his nectar glass and she was dabbing a washcloth on his forehead.

"Here we are again," Percy said. "You idiot," Annabeth said, "You were green and turning gray when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing..." "Now, now," Chiron's voice said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit." He was sitting near the foot of the bed in human form. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved." "Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened." Between sips of nectar, he told them the story.

I bit my lip trying to keep what happened between Luke and I private. It was a risky move that would not be approved by anyone after all. The room was quiet for a long time. "I can't believe that Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him.... He was never the same after his quest."

Percy was looking at me as if checking what was my reaction to his story. "This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once." "Luke is out there right now," Percy said. "I have to go after him." Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods—" "Won't even talk about Kronos," Percy snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!" "Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready." "Chiron... your prophecy from the Oracle... it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? Y/N? And Annabeth?" Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place—" "You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?" His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..." Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows. "All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!" He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing." "We can't just sit back and do nothing," He said. "We will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come." "Assuming I live that long." Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice...." I got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all his willpower not to advise me. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision." "I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you." He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear... whenever you're ready, they're here." "Who's here?" Percy asked. Nobody answered. Chiron rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time. Annabeth studied the floor. "What's wrong?" Percy asked her. "Nothing. I ... just took your advice about something. You ... um ... need anything?" "Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside." "Percy, that isn't a good idea." Percy slid his legs out of bed. Annabeth and I caught him before he could crumple to the floor.

I said, "I told you ..." "I'm fine," He insisted.

He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on me. Argus followed us outside, but he kept his distance. By the time we reached the porch, his face was beaded with sweat. But we had managed to make it all the way to the railing. It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun. "What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked us. "I don't know." Percy replied. "I got the feeling Chiron wanted me to stay year-round, to put in more individual training time, but I'm not sure that's what I want. I also don't want to leave you both with Clarisse only." Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy." He stared at her. "You mean, to your dad's?" She pointed toward the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted—two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had gotten from Waterland in Denver. "I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided... we'd give it another try." "That took guts." She pursed her lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least ... not without sending me an Iris-message? Both of you?" Percy managed a smile. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."

"You already know my plans."

"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?" "Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."

She held out her hand. Percy shook it. She gave me a hug. "Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told Percy. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too, Wise Girl."

Then turned to me, "Good luck on your own quest Droopy."

"Of course Peabody." We watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be lead over the crest and into the mortal world. "I made my decision." Percy said. "What's yours?"

"I'll be leaving camp... I'm going to look for my parent..." He looked at me in shock. "I'll be back next summer," I promised him. "I'll survive until then."

"Alone?"

I smiled at him.

"Don't you want to stay with us? Mom said---"

"I want to find my parent. I need to. I'll be fine Percy."

I helped Percy to his cabin so he could pack and went to mine. To my surprise I see a middle-aged man with an athletic figure slim and fit with salt-and-pepper hair, and a very familiar sly grin. He had bags at his foot.

"Delivery for Y/N L/N."

"Uhm..."

"Hermes." He said.

I froze and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Personally packed. As a thank you for what you're about to do." He smiled softly and handed me the bags.

"H-Huh...?"

"For helping Luke."

"I..."

Don't forget her mail!

Ooh! And tell her to bring us snacks next time we meet since it'll be often now!

No it wouldn't be often! She'll be with Luke!

"Both of you keep quiet." Pulling out a mail he handed it to me. "Luke... prayed to me telling me about your plan. He asked me to help you. I don't know what or why he did it. But I know he'll change thanks to you. So do guide him."

"Sorry you lost me at the talking air..." I blinked.

Hermes laughed and showed a caduceus. "It's just George and Martha."

"Hi?"

Hello!

"I just wanted to let you know. No god or goddess could see you. No matter how hard they tried. So your secrets.. are really secrets. Good luck on your travel."

Next time we meet you should have snacks.

Then he vanished.

Staring at the letter on my hand, I was stunned seeing it was from... my mom and dad.

Sweetie,

You've made quite a friend here.

-Mom and Dad.

I immediately knew where to look. I hurriedly took my bags not bothering to check the contents. I ran to Percy's cabin and helped him out so we could leave.

Percy got a cab and looked at me worriedly.

"I'll write you. Stay safe Arthur Curry." I ruffled his hair and watched him go.

I didn't know where to go so I just went to the first secluded area I saw.

"You have more stuffs than when you arrived." I heard someone behind me.

"You prayed to your dad. I hope he knows how to pack." I sighed turning to him. Turning around I barely made out Luke from the few days I last saw him. "You okay?"

"Do you know where to look first?"

Call upon our hound.

I whistled, I don't know why. But when I did, D/N came out of the blue. Luke looked at me and my dear dog, who was probably bigger than the hound he'd summon back then. "How do feel about L.A?" I said riding on D/N and making space behind me for Luke.

~~~END OF BOOK 1~~~

Previous | Book 1 Masterlist | Series Masterlist

END OF BOOK ONE!!! THANK YOU FOR READING YLATHB I HOPE YOU ENJOY!! I'LL PUBLISH BOOK 2 WHEN I'M DONE OR EVEN AT LEAST HAVE WRITTEN 5 CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK 2 ;))

I HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!!

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stanning-reyna · 3 years

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Her Future - A dark Annabeth fic

Chapter 2

Annabeth started to notice just how many campers would stare at her throughout the day. Mealtimes were the worst, when everyone was gathered together and she could see all the heads turn to look at the child of Athena sitting at the Poseidon table.

Percy and her had been inseparable since the fall. Hedge, Chiron, and even Mr. D knew it was best to let them both sleep in the Poseidon cabin, eat meals together, and do pretty much anything at camp as a team. It was rare to catch Annabeth anywhere without him, her recent meeting with Thalia being the exception.

Of course she told Percy about her plans. He was the only one to know for a long time, until Annabeth had a more concrete process in mind that she could convince others of.

“Do you think I’m losing it?” she asked him one night on the Argo II.

He looked at her with those beautiful sea green eyes and troublemaker smile that she had come to adore and replied, “Not at all. Crazy people never wonder if they’re crazy.” She smiled softly into his chest. Annabeth knew that he may just be telling her what she wanted to hear, but that didn’t bother her. Knowing Percy’s on her side was all the comfort she needed.

The rest of her free time that summer had been spent planning. Annabeth knew she had been distant from her friends and siblings, but quite frankly she didn’t think it mattered. It would be worth it in the end.

Every time Annabeth thought of the future, her future, she felt a giddy happiness. She couldn’t help it- the excitement bubbled up inside her, intoxicating her like a drug. The idea that something so violent shouldn’t make her so elated only crossed her mind every once in a while. She managed to ignore the concern most of the time.

“Annabeth, I’m sorry, but you won’t be allowed to lead a team in capture the flag anymore,” Chiron said when she had taken a seat in the Big House. He had called for her down early that morning.

“Excuse me? I’m the best strategist camp has; my team won the game last night in record time,” Annabeth responded, her eyes forming a cold, hard glare at the centaur.

“And that resulted in a record number of injuries. A camper is dead. This isn’t your first warning, and now other campers are demanding that you be banned from the game.”

Annabeth was stunned. Sure, last night had turned out a little more violent than usual, but she had won. Wasn’t the point of practicing battle like this to learn that you must do whatever it takes to be successful? She had too many friends that died gruesome deaths fighting for their cause. How was this one camper any different from all of them?

Percy spoke up from his seat next to her. “It’s not Annabeth’s fault what happened to Cecil. He volunteered for the job.” Chiron’s gaze was shifting between the two of them. He looked concerned, though Annabeth had no clue why.

“You shouldn’t be making a plan that involves that kind of risk in the first place,” he said, his attention returning solely to Annabeth. What risk? She wanted to ask. There was nothing uncertain about whether or not Cecil was going to die. It was a part of her plan from the start, not some mishap, but telling Chiron that probably wouldn’t change his mind on the subject.

“You will no longer be allowed to play capture the flag, and that’s final.”

Annabeth wanted to argue with him, to scream that he was wrong, but he got up from the table and was out the door before she could get a word in. Annabeth didn’t understand it. Why was she being punished for doing what she’s been trained for her whole life?

Percy grabbed her hand under the table and squeezed it. “I’m sorry about this,” was all he said.

AN: I’m not sure if you want commentary but you’re gonna get it. What I’m trying to get across with Annabeth being banned from capture the flag for her dangerous plans is that she’s become desensitized to death. She’s seen so much of it in her life that she hardly views it as an extreme anymore and therefore is not opposed to using it as a device for success. This mindset is what I think of as dark Annabeth. She isn’t causing people pain for fun or just because, she’s doing it because of her trauma which makes it difficult for her to process injuries and death as something that should be avoided. Anyway, all chapters will be under ‘Her Future Annabeth’ tag. Thanks for reading!

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toffrox · 4 years

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The Nico di Angelo Protection Squad

Read on Ao3

Summary:

Will must have known what Jason was doing, Jason was certain.

But at every move Jason made, Will simply took it in his stride. Sometimes he even had an understanding look in his eye like 'it's ok, I'm hitting on your little brother, I get it' or he'd back off for a little while with an easy shrug like 'whatever, I'm not relying on this one moment to make my move, I respect Nico's friend time'.

Jason wasn't sure whether to be infuriated or impressed.

He tried to explain this to Percy.

"Oh, no." Percy shook his head. "We are not backing down this easy." He grinned and held up a single golden drachma. "Time to call in an intimidation expert."

When rumours about Nico and Will start to spread around camp, Percy and Jason attempt to intimidate him. It doesn't go as planned.

Percy

It wasn't long after the end of the war against Gaia when the rumours started. Maybe two weeks, or three, at the most.

Even to Percy, oblivious as he usually was, they did not come as a surprise.

He was in the Athena cabin, dropping by to steal Annabeth away for a few hours, when he first heard them.

Jess and Daniel were sitting on the front steps, deep in the last couple of moves of a chess match when Percy entered the cabin. By the time he and Annabeth were leaving, they were resetting the board and gossiping idly.

"-no way they have a chance with Solace," Jess was saying. "He's totally got it bad for Nico."

"Nico?" Daniel said skeptically. "di Angelo?"

"Obviously." Jess huffed. "What other Nico is there at camp? Besides, have you seen those two together? They're as bad as-"

Annabeth tugged impatiently on Percy's hand, jerking his attention away. He threw her an incredulous glance as they stumbled across the green together, heading to the beach.

"Did you hear that?" Percy asked.

"Hear what?" said Annabeth, not looking back, still pulling him along.

"What Jess said. About Nico and Will Solace!"

"Not really. Was she saying that they need to hurry up and make out already?"

Percy spluttered in response.

"What? Are you surprised?" Annabeth shot him a look over her shoulder like, surely he couldn't be that stupid. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Well, no! Obviously not." Percy clarified. "Of course they would be adorable together. I just didn't realise it was like - camp gossip, already."

Annabeth shrugged. "The rumour mill works fast."

Percy sped up to a jog for a couple of steps so that they were walking towards the sea side by side.

"Should we be worried?" he asked.

Annabeth frowned at him, half amused, half puzzled.

"Why would we be worried?"

"I dunno, I just…" Percy scratched the back of his neck. "Nico doesn't really like being the centre of attention and like… Don't you think it's a little soon for them to be getting into a relationship?"

Annabeth barked out a laugh. "That is so none of our business, Seaweed Brain."

"What do you mean?" Percy complained. "I'm just looking out for him!"

Annabeth smirked and gave his hand another little tug. "You worry too much, Jackson. Leave the poor kid alone."

As she spoke, she reached up to tug her hair out of its ponytail, probably knowing that would distract him. It was irritatingly effective. She stopped walking for a moment to lean up and press her lips to his jaw.

Maybe she was right. He should stop worrying.

Except that a few days later, the worry crept back.

He and Nico were sitting at the Hades table together. Jason had already had breakfast since he'd been up early to go for a run, so it was just the two of them eating.

They were midway through the meal when a pair of Aphrodite campers breezed passed them. They were chattering excitedly, probably unaware of how loud they were being.

"Did you see them practicing archery together yesterday?" one of them was saying. "So. Cute."

"Oh my Gods, you have no idea. He is always finding excuses to ask for help in the infirmary just so they can spend more time together."

Percy watched Nico's shoulders stiffen and his eyes widen as they both realised who the Aphrodite kids were talking about.

Nico's head snapped up and he met Percy's eyes with something like panic. Percy tried to act casual, even as the blush overtook Nico's cheeks.

"It has been pretty busy in the infirmary lately." Percy blurted, attempting to absolve Nico of some of his mortification.

Instead, Nico's blush only deepened and he scowled down at his breakfast. He scoffed down the rest of his meal as hastily as he could and then stormed back to the Hades cabin without another word.

Percy's stomach sank.

"I just think that maybe we should talk to him, is all!" Percy was saying later that day. He was sat on one of the unused bunks in Cabin One, arms spread out in front of him as he tried to talk Jason onto his side. Jason sat on his chair, which he'd flipped around so his forearms were resting on the back.

"And say what?" Jason asked. "It's not his fault Aphrodite campers gossip."

"Duh." Percy agreed. "But like, don't you think we should be making sure that he knows that this kind of thing might freak Nico out? He probably doesn't realise that Nico's not ready for a relationship."

"Dude. What are you talking about? How do you even know that?"

"I just-" Percy sputtered helplessly. "I dunno. I just think we should say something!"

"Percy." Jason sighed. "We are not giving Will Solace a shovel talk. You are being ridiculous."

Percy huffed.

Looks like this is going to be a solo endeavour, then.

He had been so sure that Jason would be on his side.

Will

It was late in the summer and a slow week for camp injuries. Will pattered around the infirmary, making beds. He was the only one on duty that afternoon.

At around 3o'clock, he got an unexpected visitor.

"Oh, hey Percy." He called, smiling up at the son of Poseidon.

Percy stood in the infirmary doorway. He had a strange look on his face, like he was mad about something. His black hair was getting shaggy and his sea green eyes were darker than usual. He wore a raggedy looking camp t-shirt and swim trunks and Riptide was hanging at his waist in sword form.

Sword form? That was odd.

Will's smile turned curious.

"Hello, Will." Percy returned his greeting, oddly formal.

"How's it going?" Will asked cheerily and Percy's eyes narrowed in suspicion. There was a pause. "Are… you alright?"

He kept his tone light, waiting patiently for Percy to find his words.

"I'm fine." Percy shrugged dismissively. "I just came by to…" He glanced around the infirmary, shoulders relaxing when he found it was only the two of them. "I actually came by to talk to you about something…" Percy made his way into the room, gaining confidence. "About Nico."

"Oh."

Will felt a thrill of nerves run through him.

Not out of any kind of guilt. Instead he found himself trying not to blush at the way his heart thudded at the mention of Nico's name.

Oh Gods. Percy knew about Will's feelings for Nico. Or he'd heard the rumours and was coming here to tell him Nico wasn't interested.

The tips of Will's fingers burned with mortification at the thought.

Calm down. The rational part of his brain cut over his rapidly spiralling train of thought. If you freak out and he doesn't actually know about your massive, embarrassing crush then the fact that you're having a panic attack about it will make it super freaking obvious.

He forced his limbs to stay casual and hopped up onto the bed he had just fixed up.

"Sure." He said, voice still as breezy as he could manage. He gestured for the bed opposite him. "We can talk."

Percy kept his eyes narrowed as he glanced at the bed and then back to Will. He took a seat.

There was a long silence.

"Sooo, what about Nico did you want to talk about?" Will asked. He hoped that didn't come out too snarky.

Percy raised one eyebrow and then seemed to psych himself up. He straightened his back and adjusted his sword, looking broader than he usually did.

"Well." Percy cleared his throat. "I've been hearing some rumours about you guys."

"Right." Will said carefully. He waited for Percy to clarify. This seemed to annoy Percy a little. Will smiled, hoping to ease the tension.

"Right. And er- I guess I just wondered… if there's any truth to them? To the rumours, I mean."

Percy watched Will's face so intently that Will couldn't help but feel a silent laugh tug at the corner of his mouth.

"What rumours are you talking about exactly?" He asked, still ever so casual.

Percy looked irritated.

Ok, don't overdo it, Solace.

"If you mean the ones about us being a couple then-" Will shrugged. "We're just friends."

"Right." Percy said again. "But do you maybe wish that you were more than friends?"

Will's heart thudded.

Casual. Keep it casual.

"Sure." Will smiled. "I mean, Nico's awesome. Right?"

Percy remained suspicious. Will wasn't deterred.

"I wasn't planning on making any moves though."

"You weren't?" Percy blinked.

Will laughed. "Of course not. I don't think he'd be comfortable with that considering how much other campers have been gossiping about it." As he spoke Will raised one pointed eyebrow. Percy had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Right. Ok." He said. He nodded himself, like he was trying to reassure himself of something, then puffed himself up like he had done at the start of the conversation and put one hand on Riptide again. "Well. Good. I agree."

Will's eyes rested on Percy's sword hand for a second. He smirked.

There was another silence, in which Percy attempted to stare him down. Will just tilted his head in a question.

"Is that all?" He asked.

"Um." Percy jumped up, looking a little deflated. "Yeah. Sure. That's all."

Will grinned and jumped to his feet too.

"Ok, cool. Well, see you round, Percy." He reached out to clap Percy on the shoulder and then turned his back, heading to the infirmary storage to get another set of fresh sheets.

Once he finally he heard Percy leave behind him, he let out a long breath and ran a hand through his hair.

Ok, so Percy Jackson knows about your crush on Nico di Angelo. It's not that big of a deal.

He tried to get his heartbeat under control as he snatched up a pile of linen and returned to the infirmary floor. He tried not to think about how nothing Percy said implied that Nico might feel the same way. He tried to feel relieved that at least Percy hadn't told him that Nico was sick of spending time in the infirmary.

He felt a shy smile creep onto his face as he thought about Nico. He thought about how embarrassed Nico got whenever another camper made a comment about them. He thought about the cute way his eyebrows knit together in confusion when someone complimented him. He thought about silky ink-black hair and shattered glass eyes.

He sighed wistfully into the empty infirmary.

Gods, Solace. You need to get a grip.

Jason

Percy barged into Cabin One, Riptide in one hand and the other hand carding through his hair in frustration.

"Impossible! He is the worst!"

Jason glanced up from where he was laying on his bunk, letting the book he was reading fall closed onto his chest.

"What?" He frowned at Percy, who was now pacing distractedly around his cabin.

Jason checked the statue of Zeus warily, hoping the sudden appearance of an enraged son of Poseidon wouldn't result in another indoor thunderstorm.

"That guy is impossible!" Percy said through gritted teeth.

"What guy? What are we talking about?" Jason asked, sitting up.

"Will Solace!" Percy cried out right at the moment he pivoted, still pacing. "I went to the infirmary to tell him he needed to quit flirting with Nico-"

"You did what?!" Jason's eyebrows flew up.

"-But then I couldn't even get the proper words out because he was so friendly and reasonable!"

Percy capped Riptide back into ballpoint pen and shoved it in his pocket, looking thoroughly pissed off that Will Solace had had the nerve to be a decent person. Jason stared at him, nonplussed.

"Percy, you do realise you sound insane right now, right?" Jason said dryly.

Percy glared at him.

"What did you even say to him?" Jason asked.

"Well I asked him if the rumours about him having a thing for Nico was true." Percy said, ignoring Jason's eye roll. "And he said yes. But then before I could say anything else he said he wasn't planning on making any moves because he knows that the rumours make Nico uncomfortable and he thinks Nico is awesome."

Jason couldn't help but smirk at the utterly disgusted look on Percy's face as he recounted Will's words. This earned him another glare from Percy.

"Hey, don't laugh!" He complained. Jason tried his best not to.

"Why don't you ask Annabeth to talk to him?" Jason suggested.

Both he and Percy knew that Annabeth was the most feared person at camp.

"She won't talk to me about it." Percy grumbled. "Says it's none of my business."

"It is none of your business." Jason agreed. Percy glared at him again.

"But she also says she doesn't need to talk to him, because she says he's smart enough not to be an idiot about a camp rumour!"

"She's right about that too." said Jason. "Look, I told you not to talk to him. Will's a nice guy. Everyone likes him. I don't get why you're so worried."

Percy's eyes narrowed.

"I'm telling you, man. This is not a good thing." He insisted. "I went in there trying to express how I was worried about Nico, and instead he just laughed at me and I looked like a total dork."

"I mean, in Will's defence, you are a total dork." Jason pointed out.

Percy simply shook his head gravely.

"You wait. This can only mean bad things for us."

Over the next couple of weeks, as summer wound to a close, Jason continued to be unworried both by the rumours swirling around Will and Nico, and Percy's suspicious glances.

Every time Will and Nico arrived at the dining pavilion together, prompting heads to duck together and whispers to erupt at the Apollo and Aphrodite tables. Every time Nico blushed when Will waved at him at the campfire or called to him across the green in the mornings. Jason always heard a voice in his head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Piper that said 'Will's a decent guy. And Nico can handle himself' or, 'This is cute. Nico deserves a friend like Will'.

It wasn't until after most of the summer campers had gone back to school and the Fall year-rounder season began that Jason began to see exactly where Percy was coming from.

Percy and Annabeth had returned to the city for school, both staying with Sally and Paul. Piper and Jason were staying at camp for a couple more weeks before heading out to search for Leo together.

In the quiet of the Fall season at camp, Nico and Jason had formed a daily routine together.

Jason woke up, went on a run, showered. Then he dropped by Cabin Thirteen and if Nico was awake they went to breakfast together. They trained together with the Ares cabin and whoever else wanted spar practice for most of the morning. Then lunch. Then, in the afternoon they'd split off for some kind of camp activity. Jason usually used that time to do research for his temples. Nico often hung out with Piper or helped the Athena cabin run mythology class. Lately, he'd been spending that time in the infirmary instead, helping the Apollo kids on duty.

And Will Solace was always on duty.

It was around the third or fourth day in a row that Nico arrived at dinner with Will and ate with Jason only to promptly leave the Zeus table and rejoin Will to spend the whole evening in the Apollo cabin that Jason started to realise that maybe this whole rumour thing wasn't just a rumour anymore. And that maybe Will's promise to Percy that he wasn't going to make a move had been forgotten.

Sometimes Piper noticed Jason watching the two of them walking together or planning a project on the deck of the Apollo cabin or sitting together at the campfire. She rolled her eyes at him, but never said anything.

One night, Jason was walking back to his cabin after an evening catch up with Thalia at the Iris cabin fountain when he spotted Will and Nico walking across the green together. Jason paused where he stood, in the shadow of the Hypnos cabin, so they wouldn't see him. It looked like Will was walking Nico back to his cabin for the night.

When they arrived at the steps to Cabin Thirteen, Jason noted how close together they were standing. At one point, Will reached out and put his hand on Nico's arm and Jason was shocked that Nico didn't pull back.

Nico leaned forward slightly to say something and Will tilted his head inward to listen, then threw it back in a laugh. Nico was grinning.

Jason saw Will give Nico a hug goodnight and then retreat across the green to Cabin Seven. Nico hesitated in the doorway of his cabin, watching Will leave.

Jason stood in the shadow of the Hypnos cabin, blinking dumbly for several minutes after Nico had disappeared behind the Hades cabin door.

His rational brain warred with a familiar protective instinct.

Nico seemed so smitten with Will. But why hadn't he said anything to Jason? Or talked about it with Piper, even? Why did he always change the subject whenever Will came up, even in the most innocent context?

Will clearly still had feelings for Nico, as he had confessed to Percy several weeks ago now. But why was he walking Nico home at night and inviting him to come and help in the infirmary all the time if he wasn't planning on acting on his crush?

Jason knew Nico could take care of himself. And he knew Will was a nice guy. And he knew that Nico deserved to be happy and loved.

And yet he couldn't shake the feeling that this was a risk.

'I'm telling you. This can only mean bad things.' Percy's words rang in Jason's ear.

From that moment, Jason resolved to be more attentive and more firm whenever he was around Will.

The next morning, Jason passed Will on his morning run. Will was just coming back from a hike with his siblings, fresh-faced and sunny as always.

As Jason passed the three Apollo kids he threw Will his best wolf-glare. Will raised his hand in a cheery wave, as if he hadn't even noticed.

At breakfast, Jason stared Will down across the pavilion. He was laughing and chatting with Kayla about something. He didn't look up once.

"Are you ok?" Nico asked. Jason nodded grumpily.

At the end of the meal Will jogged over and to chat with Nico. Nico's face lit up as they talked. Before he left, Will threw Jason a friendly grin.

"Hey, Jason." he said, before inviting Nico to hang in the infirmary with him that night.

At the next campfire, Jason made sure to be there early. He tugged Piper along to sit with Nico, taking Will's usual spot. Piper eyed him suspiciously.

When Will arrived, Jason watched him carefully, searching for a sign of disappointment that his seat had been taken.

Instead, Will barely seemed to notice. He gave Jason and Piper a breezy smile, then took up a seat beside Cecil and Connor, chatting with them. When Nico craned round to look for Will, he flashed him a quick smile too but didn't stop his conversation with the Hermes campers.

For some reason this comparative lack of attention to Nico made Jason even madder than the constant attention.

At Friday's head counsellor meeting, Jason was irritable. He shot down Will's admittedly good ideas for a new rota on music and archery training.

Jason could hear the pettiness in his voice as he spoke, but instead of arguing, Will just shrugged.

"Fair enough." He said easily.

Like it was no big deal at all.

That afternoon, Percy arrived at camp. He was planning to stay the night.

When he, Jason and Nico hit the arena to spar together, Jason noticed that Will dropped by to watch. He noticed how Will paid more attention to the matches Nico was in and cheered whenever Nico won.

Percy locked eyes with Jason at one point and Jason realised that Percy had noticed it too.

"You were totally right!" Jason said at dinner that night. Nico had left already with Will and the rest of the Apollo cabin for a music night in their cabin.

Percy looked at Jason in surprise.

"About what?"

"About Will!" Jason cried. "I've been trying to intimidate him all week because it seems like he's totally going to make a move on Nico, but it's like he's just ignoring me!"

Percy's mouth dropped open.

"I knew it!" He gasped. "See, I told you!"

"I know, I know." Jason dropped his head in his hands. "I just didn't get it when you said."

The thing was, Jason knew deep down that his actions to try and intimidate Will were immature. Especially without having talked to Nico about it. Except that Will's reaction didn't match up that way.

When Will grinned or waved at him after Jason glared or snapped, it wasn't malicious and it wasn't taunting. It wasn't ignorant either. Will must know what Jason was doing, Jason was certain. But at every move Jason made, Will simply took it in his stride. Sometimes he even had an understanding look in his eye like 'it's ok, I'm hitting on your little brother, I get it' or he'd back off for a little while with an easy shrug like 'whatever, I'm not relying on this one moment to make my move, I respect Nico's friend time'.

Jason wasn't sure whether to be infuriated or impressed.

He tried to explain this to Percy. Percy shook his head.

"Oh, no." Percy insisted. "We are not backing down this easy."

A curious gleam appeared in Percy's eyes. Determined and mischievous.

"So what do we do?" Jason asked.

Percy withdrew something from his pocket and held it up for Jason to see. It was a golden drachma. Percy grinned.

"We consult an intimidation expert."

Reyna

Reyna was hanging out in the Praetor's rec room when the Iris message came through.

Jason and Percy were sat on what looked like a bunk in the Poseidon cabin, their arms crossed and expressions serious.

Reyna straightened up immediately and frowned at them, alert and ready. "Hey guys. What's going on?"

"We need your advice." Percy said without preamble. Jason nodded.

"It's about Nico." Jason added.

Reyna quirked an eyebrow. Her battle instincts relaxed somewhat and she eased herself into a bean bag chair.

"Ok. I'm listening." she said.

The two boys exchanged a look, as if they hadn't thought this far ahead. After some kind of silent conversation, Jason took the lead.

"So we think that Nico might have a crush. On one of the campers here." He began.

Reyna blinked.

Ok. So that was… not what she was expecting.

Her mind ran quickly over the last couple of catch ups she'd had with Nico, scanning their interactions for new names Nico might have mentioned.

"It's Will Solace." Percy said, before she could land on that answer herself. "He's the head of the Apollo cabin."

"Right. That makes sense." Reyna said. When Jason and Percy looked at her quizzically, Reyna shrugged. "Nico never shuts up about him."

"Really?" Jason appeared momentarily distracted from his explanation of the problem. He leaned forward eagerly. "What does he say?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes at them. "Are you two trying to get gossip out of me? I didn't realise I was on the phone to two sons of Venus."

Jason and Percy exchanged highly insulted looks, which Reyna generously decided she would never mention to Piper.

"Why is Nico's crush on Will Solace a problem?" Reyna asked. "Does he not like Nico back?"

Reyna's stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought. From the stuff Nico had told her about how great Will was and the time they had started spending together, it certainly didn't sound like this crush was unreciprocated. But then again, Reyna had seen Nico's memories of his crush on Percy, and those early days had been plenty filled with romantic daydreams too. She hated to think that Nico might be in for another long stint of falling for a friend who didn't love him back.

Her uncertainty didn't last long however. Percy had scoffed at her suggestion and Jason was shaking his head.

"Oh no, he likes Nico. He likes Nico a lot. If anything we have the opposite problem." He said gravely.

"Your problem is… Nico has a crush on someone… and he likes Nico back?" she said slowly.

Percy nodded. "Exactly."

Reyna found her eyebrow quirking up once more. "I don't see the issue here."

Jason rubbed his palm against his face, knocking his glances askew and looking even more frazzled by whatever it is that was worrying him.

"The issue is that Will Solace is impossible!" He cried out in exasperation. Percy nodded again and threw himself onto his back on the bunk behind them in commiseration. Reyna tried not to laugh. She was still intensely confused.

"I thought that Will was pretty popular at camp?" She said. Her own memories of Will were positive. She remembered a warm smile and expert commanding of both the Greek and Roman medics, seamlessly coordinating the end of the battle against Gaia into a healing and rescue operation. She'd spent a bit of time with Frank in the infirmary after the battle and remembered being impressed with how calm and cheerful he had been with his patients, even though he must have been dead on his feet.

She also knew that Annabeth spoke very highly of him. That and Nico practically gushed about how nice he was whenever it came up.

Percy and Jason either did not seem to have these memories, or they did have them and they were somehow making all of this worse. Percy scowled and Jason's mouth twisted in distaste.

"He is popular." Percy growled out. "Obviously. He's impossible not to like!"

"Ok, so why is that a bad thing?" Reyna asked.

"Because he's been flirting with Nico!" Jason burst out, finally getting to the heart of the problem. "And everyone at camp is like egging them on which obviously makes Nico super uncomfortable, but then when we've tried to talk to Will about it he just ends up acting all reasonable."

Reyna frowned. Again.

"Reasonable." She repeated.

"Yeah!" Percy said, as if being reasonable was the very worst thing you could be.

"So uh… What exactly did you need my help with?" Reyna questioned.

Jason scooted forwards on his chair, all business.

"We need you to help us try and intimidate him." He said, clasping his hands together.

"Intimidate him?"

"Yes." Percy said eagerly. "We need someone to get through to him. Who better than Nico's toughest and most scary friend?"

"Thanks?" Reyna quipped.

"You're welcome." Percy said sincerely.

"You guys, why would I need to intimidate someone who is universally liked and who Nico also likes?"

"Because." Jason said, shaking one finger slightly manically in the manner of someone about to explain a conspiracy theory. "Because Nico is our friend. And he's been through a lot. Especially when it comes to his crushes-" He paused here to throw Percy a look, at which Percy had the decency to look guilty, "- and Will doesn't know that. And he said that he wasn't going to make a move on Nico when he clearly is!"

"Yeah!" Percy chipped in. "And we care about him so we need to warn him that if he does anything to hurt Nico we are going to kick his ass!"

It took a lot of physical restraint for Reyna to not roll her eyes.

"Jason, Nico is just as powerful as either of you. And way more powerful than me." She said. "Couldn't he just kick Will's ass himself?"

Jason shook his head and wagged his finger at her again. "Would he, though?" he said.

Reyna's first instinct was to laugh. But then she thought about it properly.

When Nico got hurt by monsters, or by assholes like Bryce Lawrence or Octavian, then sure, his tendency was to kick some ass…

But when Nico got hurt by people he cared about, well… He tended to blame himself. If Will Solace hurt him, it didn't seem all that unlikely that Nico might convince himself that he deserved to be treated that way.

After all, that's what he had convinced himself of in the past. That's what he was still trying to un-convince himself of…

Percy and Jason must have seen the shift of attitude in her face because they were both straightening up hopefully.

"Ok." She said slowly. "Ok, I see your problem. So what's so difficult about talking to Will about it?"

Percy leaned in eagerly. "Seriously, Reyna, this guy is literally impossible to psych out. Every time we've tried he either ignores us or laughs it off. He's like a wizard." Percy shook his head with a kind of starstruck look that Reyna had only seen on him when talking about Annabeth in combat. She fought another urge to laugh.

Jason wasn't laughing. He looked at Reyna through the Iris message with startling earnestness. Reyna pictured Will Solace in her mind and tried to conjure up everything she knew about him and other people she knew like him.

"Ok." She said, deep in thought. "Ok. Let me think on it. And the next time there's a visit from Camp Half Blood, I'll help you."

The next visit from Camp Half Blood turned out to be only ten days later.

Reyna, Frank and Hazel stood at the entrance to Camp Jupiter ready to greet them. When Hazel cried out and ran forward to wrap Nico in a hug, Reyna's eyes zeroed in on the blond kid who stood just behind Nico.

He didn't seem as relaxed as he usually did, which Reyna took as a good sign. But it could just be that this was his first visit to a new place.

Reyna and Frank greeted Chiron and the other campers. Almost all the year rounders were here, along with Percy and Annabeth who had tagged along to have their monthly Argo II reunion.

The trip had been arranged with Chiron to show the Greeks how things worked at Camp Jupiter, so for much of the first half of the day, Reyna found herself stuck firmly in Praetor mode. She and Frank sat with Chiron, Annabeth and Grover (the East coast's designated leader figures) at the welcome feast in the mess hall. Then, they led the entire camp on a highlights tour around Camp Jupiter.

The whole time, Reyna had one eye on Nico. He was usually wedged in at either Hazel or Will's side. In both cases he seemed relaxed and happy. Reyna did not miss the stolen smiles that Will kept throwing Nico's way, or the way he almost glowed whenever Nico laughed. At one of these moments, Reyna looked up to see Jason catching her eye. He nodded gravely.

Reyna knew she should be happy to see Nico so happy. And she was. Really...

But she couldn't get Jason's words from their chat ten days ago out of her head.

She watched the way that Will bantered with Hazel over the feast, making Hazel throw her head back with laughter, utterly charmed. She watched the way this made Nico grin dopily at Will over his cup. On Nico's other side, Percy narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

It should have been funny. And honestly, Reyna really did like Will. She fully intended for them to be good friends, eventually. But she needed to have a more serious conversation with him first.

After the camp tour, Frank announced that he'd be conducting a more thorough tour of the barracks and armoury. The Ares kids eagerly agreed and Kayla bounced along at Frank's side, enquiring hopefully if he could include a swing-by of the archery range.

Reyna turned to Will then, locking eyes with Jason and sharing a knowing glance before she did so.

"Will, would you like to see our infirmary set up?" She asked.

If her overly formal tone bothered Will, he didn't show it. His eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Definitely!" He agreed.

"I'll come." Nico piped up from beside him.

"No, Nico, you should go with Jason." Reyna said firmly. "He said he'd show the others Temple Hill."

Nico frowned. "But I've already seen Temple Hill."

Reyna scrambled for a reasonable excuse to give him.

"I uhhh, wanted your opinion on the placement of some new Underworld God shrines." Jason cut in hastily.

Nico's frown deepened. Reyna forced a fake smile which prompted him to throw her a deeply suspicious look.

"Right, well we'll meet you at the gates to the city later then!" She said in a falsely authoritative tone. Nico scowled.

Reyna turned to Will, who looked perplexed.

"Ready, Solace?"

Will, bless him, smiled at her. "Sure." He shrugged.

In the infirmary, Reyna found it tricky to maintain her resolve.

As Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Piper and of course Nico had all pointed out to her, Will Solace was infuriatingly nice.

Will's smile was like sunshine personified. Which, she supposed, he basically was.

When they arrived, Will greeted his Roman half-siblings warmly. Rather than attempt to maintain the authority he had commanded in the Camp Half Blood infirmary, he quickly shifted into a polite and inquisitive guest, asking lots of intelligent questions and complimenting their storage systems.

He was excited to meet Pranjal again, the son of Asclepius and the head of Camp Jupiter's infirmary. Pranjal explained to Reyna that Will had been told by Apollo that he shared many of the powers of Asclepius, which was quite rare for a child of Apollo.

"Had to be some benefits to completely missing out on any music or archery talents." Will quipped.

Annoyingly, Reyna suspected that even this comment was simply Will being humble. At one point when one of the Apollo legacies threw a bottle of unicorn draught over for Will to inspect, he caught it in one hand effortlessly and later threw it back across the room without even looking. His aim was perfect.

He chatted to the Apollo and Asclepius children and legacies about Apollo himself and whether anyone had heard from him. When he talked about his father, Reyna saw genuine worry and care in his eyes. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen from a demigod towards their godly parent.

When Will spoke to Reyna he was cheery and unaffected by her military posture or Praetor's regalia.

Usually Reyna liked it when campers treated her like everyone else, rather than revering her in her position. But she couldn't help but think that in this particular scenario a little reverence would have been to her advantage.

They walked up the road to New Rome together, just the two of them, and Reyna picked her moment.

"Listen, Will." She said sternly. She drew herself up to her full height and straightened her cloak. Will was walking beside her, completely at ease. His body language did not change when Reyna adjusted her tone. "I was talking to Jason over Iris message last week." She began.

"Ah, is this about Nico?" Will asked. His eyes sparkled knowingly. He reminded Reyna of one of the older legacies that ran an intro to self-defence class for new campers: always one step ahead of everyone, but never flaunting his power.

"I-" Reyna scowled at him. "Yeah. It is actually."

Will laughed, though Reyna didn't miss his blush.

"Jason's been giving me his wolf stare for like a month now. I figured he'd maybe talk to you about it." Will spoke as if he was talking about the weather, or a camp chore schedule. "It's ok." Will chuckled. "Go ahead and give me the speech."

Reyna opened and closed her mouth, then steeled her resolve, refocusing. She wasn't going to let him psych her out.

"Look, I know you're not an idiot, Solace." She said brusquely. "And neither is Percy or Jason. They know you've been messing with them."

Will had the nerve to look curious at that.

"But I am not messing around here." She pressed on. "Nico is the bravest kid I know. Possibly one of the bravest demigods ever."

She glared full force at Will, daring him to respond. Will's face remained smooth and calm.

"I agree." He said softly, eyes not leaving Reyna's face.

"He doesn't trust easily." Reyna continued. "But you, with all your healing and diplomacy, have convinced him to trust you. And, I'm not saying you're not trustworthy. Obviously, the kids at Camp Half Blood all respect you. And I'm not saying that Nico can't make his own decisions, because we both know what he'd do to us if either of us tried to suggest that to him." Here, Will let slip an amused smile, looking a little lovesick in a way that further sharpened Reyna's focus. "But Solace, listen."

She stopped walking and grabbed Will's shoulder with one hand. Will was strong but Reyna turned him around to face her easily. She took a step closer. She was taller than him, just, and used the full weight of her Praetor authority as she locked eyes with him.

"You don't understand yet how much it means to have Nico di Angelo trust you. But if you're lucky, one day you will."

Will seemed to let that sink in. He still didn't look intimidated, though he was listening intently.

"Now, I'm not telling you what to do, Solace. But I am telling you this." Reyna ramped up the ferocity in her stare, channeling her training with Lupa as best as she could. "If you do anything- if you make one move that proves to me that you're not deserving of that trust. If you make one mistake and you hurt him, then Nico won't be the only one with an intimate knowledge of the Underworld. You got that?"

Will's eyes widened as she spoke. He leaned away ever so slightly. And for one glorious moment, Reyna thought she had succeeded.

And then, that sunshine sparkle returned to his clear blue eyes.

And Will Solace laughed.

The way he was was smiling at her… He looked almost fond.

"I can see why Nico likes you." He said warmly. His arm and shoulder was relaxed in Reyna's grip.

Reyna's jaw dropped even as she tried to scowl at him.

"You think this is funny, Solace?" She growled.

Will shook his head, still laughing. "No, no, of course not." He assured her. "I believe that you'll hurt me. I just really don't think you've got anything to worry about."

He looked so sure, so innocent, so smitten with Nico. It pissed Reyna off.

She glared at him again and stuck out one foot, pushing against the back of Will's calf and knocking him off balance. He cried out but Reyna maintained her grip on his arm so he didn't tumble to the ground with too much force.

Even so, he was on the ground. He looked around, disoriented, from his newfound horizontal position. Reyna towered over him.

"I told you I wasn't messing around." She said, one hand on her dagger hilt. Will instantly raised his hands in surrender, though his smile did not waver.

"I know, I know, I believe you!" He said quickly. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, but let Reyna maintain her position standing over him. His grin slowly softened. "Listen, you're a really good friend. But I promise, I'm not messing with you."

Reyna maintained her glare. Will remained unaffected.

"Seriously, Reyna. The last thing in the world I would ever do is hurt Nico. Swear it on the Styx and everything. Or on the Tiber, or whatever body of water it is that you make oaths to over here." His mouth twitched at the joke.

Reyna's resolve was slipping, though she was still annoyed that her intimidation tactic was proving so ineffective.

Will seemed to understand her dilemma. He leaned backwards, giving Reyna even more height on him, and held out one hand in a truce.

"I'll make you a deal." He said confidently. "If I ever hurt Nico, I'll report straight to you to get what's coming to me. I'll even swing by Hazel, Percy and Jason afterwards too, as a bonus."

Infuriatingly, he winked.

Despite it all, Reyna felt her frustration reluctantly ebb away. She leant forward to clasp Will's hand, hauling him up to his feet as she did so.

"Throw in a report to Annabeth, Solace, and you've got yourself a deal." She smirked.

At that, a kind of worry passed ever so briefly over Will's face. Reyna felt a brief stab of competitiveness.

Damn you, Chase.

Before she could think on that any further, the moment had gone. Will was smiling his sunny grin at her and firmly shaking their clasped hands.

Later that day, Percy and Jason joined Reyna where she was sitting with a mug of her favourite hot chocolate.

"How'd it go?" Jason asked quietly. He glanced surreptitiously around them to make sure no one was watching.

Reyna let out a sigh. Together, they watched Nico and Will chatting animatedly, walking alongside a thoroughly bemused Frank Zhang.

"I think it's time we gave it up, boys." She said, finally admitting defeat. "You were right. Will Solace is impossible not to like."

#super long oneshot #FanFiction WIP #headcanon #Nico di Angelo protection squad #Nico di Angelo #Will solace #Pining #will solace pining #solangelo #will and nico #nico and reyna friendship #nico and percy friendship #jason and percy friendship #jercy vibes though i won't lie #nico and jason friendship #will solace is a sweetheart #nico has good friends

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aknosde · 4 years

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Okay, you know earlier this week when I dropped a paragraph of a fic? I actually finished it, and the end isn’t the best so I’m posting it here and not on AO3.

Loneliness - (featuring my HoH Percy and Clarisse head cannons)

TW for attempted self harm and a generally bad mental space

Percy’s never really had a mentor. When he was young he was put in a few organizations as a mentee. The type of organizations that are supposed to make things easier on kids like him, brown and black kids with “authority problems”. They never really clicked though, sometimes it was him, a lot of the time it was the supposed mentor. He had never cared much, it’s not like they could help him in a way that mattered.

Then there was Luke. Luke who was tall and strong and quick and really, really, really good with a sword. Maybe some of it was a crush, but he had never met someone who he was so encapsulated by. Luke was cool, intelligent, and good looking. He was everything Percy ever wanted and ever wanted to be.

Luke left a bitter taste in Percy’s mouth and a scar on his hand and a distaste for soda. Luke left Percy with an even quicker brain and a knot in his stomach that turned into a murder plot for his stepfather. He drew Percy in time and time again with a hatred that was laced with unrequited love and left Annabeth with blood stains on her dagger and both of them with salt stains on their cheeks and the taste of ash on their tongues.

After Luke was Beckendorf. Granted Percy had had a bit of a crush on him too. Beckendorf was pure, not in the way some white campers might call Hazel innocent. He was just kind, and genuine, and warm. Percy looked up at Beckendorf, big, strong, brave, caring, and he thought this, this is something I could do. I might not be able to be a big hero, but I can do this. I want this.

Beckendorf left Percy with no body for the shroud to cover. He left Percy with inside jokes that would never again be completed and a desire in his brain to constantly be in the forges and to keep as far away from them as possible. Beckendorf left a hole in Percy’s heart that was filled by blood and guilt. Percy looks at the acid scars on his foot with a longing for the time when Beckendorf was taken by giant ants.

And after Beckendorf there was no one. Suddenly Percy was one of the oldest campers. A war veteran. Supposedly the strongest demigod alive. He wasn’t just a counselor now, of his cabin that was solely him, he was a senior counselor. Jake Mason sat in Beck’s seat and Percy cried because suddenly he was alone.

He shouldn’t feel alone. When Annabeth holds his hand while they wait for breakfast he shouldn’t feel alone. When Grover makes enchiladas in the kitchen of the Big House and they eat them together in a field Percy shouldn’t feel alone. When Nico comes running into Percy’s cabin telling Percy that Mythomagic is apparently run by demigods and that they made a card of Nico he shouldn’t feel alone.

It only gets worse when he’s back at home. His mom goes through their normal post-quest routine. She gives him time and space and love. She takes him to the doctor’s. His old prescriptions get refilled, adderall, meperidine. Sally tries again to find a demigod therapist, to no avail. They don’t celebrate his birthday this year.

He’s at Goode without Rachel and he has no other friends. He’s never really been good at that, the whole friend thing, and now it’s practically impossible finding someone who isn’t uneasy around him. He sits in the back of his physics class and eats alone at lunch and sleeps in Paul’s office during breaks.

A teacher hands him back an essay and there’s a paperclip in the corner keeping all the pages together. There is a B+ on it with a smiley face, and Percy takes the paper clip and sharpens it and tries to scratch his skin. It doesn’t do anything. His skin still won’t break, there is just a faint redness. Only after scratching away mindlessly for weeks does he realize that he’s writing words. Last words. “Go!” “Don’t let it happen again.” “Tell him I’m sorry.”

He can fill up his schedule with school and homework and swim and skating and basketball. He can wake up in the morning and eat breakfast and take adderall and carry around the other small orange bottle waiting for his skin to revolt against him. He feels disgusting and empty. Like a demon in a suit of skin that used to be Percy. He misses two years ago when the war wasn’t looming over head, when he and Annabeth and Silena and Beck would all hang out, when he and Clarisse had weekly midnight basketball games.

Grover knows. Grover’s gotta know. For one thing, there’s the empathy link. And Grover is calling multiple times a week, and he always asks how Percy is, if he’s alright. Percy lies “I’m all good man, don’t worry. How’s work?” Then Grover goes off on a tangent about pollution or some shit he saw a human do and the way he purses his lips when he’s worried doesn’t come back until they’re hanging up.

He hates it, the lying. He’s only told lies to protect others, when he doesn’t have enough information yet, when he needs to save them. Now he is lying for himself. How fucking selfish does he have to be? But he’s so lonely, and he can’t bare to lose anyone else. It feels like the smallest step out of line will make his world crumble.

So he lies. He lies his ass off, and he doesn’t know if he’s good at it, but he could be. When Annabeth comes over one weekend, all the way from California, and she asks about the pill bottle rattling in his pocket he says that it’s adderall and she turns back to the tv. When his mom asks if he’s made new friends he says yes, and proceeds to tell a mortal version of something that he and Beck did last year.

One day Rachel comes into the city to visit her parents. They’re sitting on a bench in Central Park and he takes the paperclip out of his coat pocket and goes to work on his wrist while they talk. It’s habit by now. Rachel stops in the middle of her sentence and gently pries the paperclip from his hands and in its place she leaves a blue eyeliner pencil.

Soon his arms are covered in names and words and horrifically beautiful drawings. Blue pigment against brown skin and pink scars, all swirling together. The pencil runs out quickly, but a week later, just as he’s about to take the paperclip back out, an envelope arrives. Sitting in the bottom is a new pencil of blue eyeliner. Percy throws the paperclip in the trash.

By Thanksgiving break Percy isn’t feeling good exactly, he’s feeling mildly better. Loneliness still hits him, in pangs. He’ll be walking to lunch and he’ll have to jump in the canoe lake because he can’t handle it, and swimming is a good excuse for missing a meal.

He wakes up early in the morning and sits in Rachel’s cave waiting for her to wake up. She makes hot chocolate and points out drawings she particularly likes, and then he’ll wash his arms off ready to begin again.

Days are filled with meetings. Meetings with Chiron and meetings with other counselors, trying to make up for being away at school. When he’s not in meetings he trains. Sometimes himself, but a lot of newer or younger campers. The disarming technique he teaches throws him back to Luke and he gives the campers a five minute break hoping the feeling leaves.

Evenings are being tossed between one person and another. Racing up the climbing wall with Annabeth and laughing at the top and sitting there for way too long. Stopping by the Aphrodite cabin where Drew will catch him up on everything he’s missed being away or being busy. He sits on the floor of the Hades cabin trying for the fifth time to understand Mythomagic.

Every night since he’s gotten back Clarisse raps on his door at two in the morning and they play one v. one on the basketball court until they end up on their backs under the stars. There’s rarely any talking. It’s dark outside and Clarisse has left her hearing aids in her cabin and he’s left his back in Manhattan. Not like he ever uses them in public.

He’s still lonely.

Maybe Clarisse can read his mind because she taps his leg and they sit up facing each other. He can just barely see her fingers in the moonlight.

“Sometimes people can be lonely not because they are alone but because they miss someone. You have a lot of people to miss.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” He signs back.

“Oh be quiet punk.”

They both break into laughter then, before she continues.

“Miss them. As much as you fucking want. I was in love with Silena, and she died, and Drew is a bitch about it, but she has a right to be.”

Percy is struck again by how similar he and Clarisse are, their lives and their feelings and their actions. The only difference is that Clarisse grants herself the freedom to do what she wants, and he’s scared to death of doing that himself.

“But, and do not ever tell anybody I told you this, a lot of people would miss you. You can pull away and feel lonely but you can’t disappear. Annabeth needs you, Rachel needs you, Nico and Will and Drew need you. And gods fucking dammit, I need you.”

Clarisse stands and pulls him up behind her. They part ways, heading back to their cabins. Percy mulls her words over in his head as he finally drifts into sleep, his body completely and utterly exhausted. Suddenly there is a blue-gold light, and he remembers Annabeth, and then everything is dark and there’s the smell of pine.

#chart writes #percy jackson #pjo fic #clarisse la rue #max.txt #fic: loneliness

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my-random-ocs · 3 years

Text

Rise Up Chapter 2: We Fight Demon Scorpions

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x OC (eventually)

Warnings: Angst, weapons, betrayal

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The next morning, the buzz at breakfast faded into the background as I attempted to wake up. I never really managed to fall back asleep after my nightmare.

A nudge against my shoulder made me jump, and I turned to see Silena sending me a worried look. “You okay?” She asked.

I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. I zoned back into the breakfast announcements. Apparently at around three this morning, an Aethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders at camp. I was so distracted by my nightmare and tossing and turning that I hadn’t even noticed. The magical boundaries kept the monster out, but it stalked along the border, looking for weak spots in our defenses. It didn’t go away until Lee Fletcher, the Apollo cabin’s head counselor, led his siblings in pursuit. After shooting a few dozen arrows into its armor, it finally got the message and left.

“It’s still out there,” Lee was warning us. “Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. Its eyes-” He cut himself off, shuddering.

“You did well Lee,” Chiron said, patting him on the shoulder. “Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before.”

“Aye,” Quintus said from his seat at the head table. “And it will happen again. More and more frequently.”

Wow, how helpful.

The campers murmured amongst themselves.

Everyone knew that Luke was planning an invasion into camp. Most of us expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. Our attendance was down, and that definitely didn’t help. When I started about four years ago, there had been over one hundred. Now there were only a little over eighty. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had straight up disappeared.

“This is a good reason for new war games,” Quintus said. I didn’t love the glint in his eyes. “We’ll see how you all do with that tonight.”

“Yes…” Chiron said. “Well, enough announcements. “Let us bless this meal and eat.” He raised his goblet. “To the gods!”

We all raised our glasses and repeated the blessing.

I grabbed my plate, stood, and led my siblings to the brazier. “Aphrodite,” I whispered, tossing a hash brown into the fire. Mitchell showed Lacy what to do as I prayed to my mother. “Help me with Luke, and Grover, and protecting Amara…”

There was so much to list that I could have gone on all morning, but I headed back to my seat.

After a few minutes, I noticed that Grover was eating with Percy. Suddenly, my fork was halfway to my mouth when I felt somebody lift me by my shirt and take me to the Poseidon table. She plopped me down next to Grover and I swallowed my breakfast while Annabeth slid into the bench next to Percy.

“I’ll tell you what it’s about,” Annabeth said. “The Labyrinth.”

“Oh, okay, so we’re talking about this now,” I realized.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Percy told Annabeth. Campers weren’t allowed to switch tables. I wasn’t sure what the punishment was for switching, because it’s never happened. If Mr. D had been here, Annabeth and I would have been in big trouble, but he wasn’t here. Chiron apparently had already left. Quintus was still sitting at the head table, but didn’t say anything.

“We need to talk,” Annabeth insisted.

“But the rules-”

“Look, Grover is in trouble,” Annabeth interrupted. “There’s only way we can figure to help him. It’s the Labyrinth. That’s what Clarisse, Zia, and I have been investigating.”

“The Labyrinth isn’t in Crete anymore,” I continued. “Like a lot of ancient Greece myth stuff, it’s moved to America. Or, in this case, under America.”

“So… is the Labyrinth part of the Underworld?” Percy asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Well, there may be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld,” Annabeth corrected. “I’m not sure. But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin. It’s been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth.”

“If you don’t get lost,” Grover grumbled helpfully. “And die a horrible death.”

“There has to be a way,” I told him. Again. We’ve had this conversation more than a few times over the past few months. “Clarisse made it out.”

“Barely!” He countered. “And the other guy-”

“He was driven insane,” Annabeth interrupted. “He didn’t die.”

“Oh, joy,” Grover said sarcastically. “That makes me feel much better.”

“Whoa,” Percy said. “Back up. What’s this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?”

I glanced over at the Ares table. Clarisse eyed us like she knew what we were talking about, but as soon as we made eye contact, she quickly focused on her plate.

I lowered my voice as I turned back to Percy. “Last winter,” I started, “Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron.”

“I remember,” he said. “It was secret.”

I nodded. “It was a secret because she found Chris Rodriguez.”

“The guy from the Hermes cabin?”

Chris was a son of Hermes who had come to camp before I had. He was about a year older than I was, and used to be friends with Nisha and I, until he left camp soon after Luke did. Last summer, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and I had found him on Luke’s war/cruise ship, the Princess Andromeda.

“Yeah,” Annabeth confirmed. “Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona, near Clarisse’s mom’s house.”

“What do you mean he just appeared?” Percy asked.

“A few weeks after we got back from our quest,” I said, “Chris was found wandering around in the desert, in a hundred and twenty degrees, in full Greek armor, ranting about string.”

“String,” Percy said.

“He’d been driven completely insane,” Annabeth said. “Clarisse brought him back to her mom’s house so the mortals wouldn’t institutionalize him. She tried to nurse him back to health.”

“Chiron even came out and questioned him,” I added. “But it didn’t do much good. The only thing we were able to figure out is that Luke’s men have been exploring the Labyrinth.”

“Okay,” Percy said, trying to take all of this in. “Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?”

“We weren’t sure,” I said. “That’s why Clarisse went scouting. Chiron kept things quiet because he didn’t want to start a panic. The only reason he involved me was because… well, it’s Luke.”

“And he involved me because the Labyrinth has always been one of my favorite subjects,” Annabeth said. “The architecture involved…” Her expression turned a little dreamy. “The builder, Daedalus, was a genius. But the point is, the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed.”

“Except it’s a maze, right?” Percy asked.

“Full of horrible traps,” Grover added. “Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters.”

“But not if you had Ariadne’s string,” Annabeth countered. “In the old days, Ariadne’s string guided Theseus out of the maze. It was a navigation instrument of some kind, invented by Daedalus. And Chris Rodriguez was mumbling about string.”

“So Luke is trying to find Ariadne’s string,” Percy said. “Why? What’s he planning?”

“I wish I knew,” I answered. “At first, we thought he wanted to use the maze to invade camp, but that wouldn’t make sense. The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan, so Luke wouldn’t be anywhere near our borders, let alone be able to get past them. Clarisse explored a little ways into the Labyrinth, but it was really dangerous. She had some close calls. Annabeth and I researched everything we could about Daedalus, but it didn’t help much. We can’t figure out what Luke is planning, but we know that the Labyrinth might be the solution to Grover’s problem.”

Percy blinked in confusion. “You think Pan is underground?”

“It would explain why he’s been impossible to find,” Annabeth said.

Grover shuddered. “Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!”

“But,” Annabeth said, “the Labyrinth can lead you anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, to trick you and kill you-”

“- But if you can make the Labyrinth work for you-” I continued.

“It could lead you to the Wild god,” Percy finished.

“I can’t do it,” Grover insisted, clutching his stomach. “Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up my silverware.”

“Grover, it may be your last chance,” Annabeth said. “The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance!”

A throat clearing gained our attention, and my head swiveled to the head table, where Quintus was staring pointedly at us. I had a feeling he didn’t want to make a scene, but Annabeth and I were pushing it by staying at the Poseidon table for this long.

“We’ll talk later,” Annabeth said. She squeezed Percy’s arm. “Convince him, will you?”

Annabeth got up and went back to her table.

“It’s going to be okay, Grover,” I tried to reassure him. “We’ll figure it out.”

He just stared dejectedly at the table. I stood up and returned to my breakfast with Cabin Ten.

____________

That night after dinner, Quintus had us put on armor like we were going to play capture the flag, but the camp’s mood seemed more serious than that. At some point today, the crates from the arena had disappeared, and I had a bad feeling that whatever was in them was now running around in the woods.

Quintus stood up at the head table. “Right,” he said. “Gather ‘round.”

I found Ethan in the crowd and went to stand between him and Silena.

He was dressed in black leather and bronze. Mrs. O’Leary bounced around him happily, looking for food scraps to eat, then came right up to me.

I grinned, scratching behind her ears.

“You will be in teams of two,” Quintus announced. Immediately, everyone started moving around to get to their friends, he shouted, “Which have already been chosen.”

Everyone groaned.

“Your goal is simple,” Quintus continued. “Collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course… you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive.”

The crowd muttered excitedly.

“Lot more exciting than capture the flag,” Ethan grinned.

“Tell me about it,” I agreed. The goal seemed simple. Most of us had killed monsters before- that’s what we trained for.

“I will now announce your partners,” Quintus said. “There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining.”

“Arooof!” Mrs. O’Leary howled. She moved from my side to bury her face in a plate of leftover pizza.

Quintus took out a scroll and started reading off names.

Silena was paired up with Beckendorf, and she couldn’t hide her smile. I nudged her shoulder with mine, smirking. She shoved me playfully, both of us grinning. See, Silena had a crush on Beckendorf that neither of them would do anything about, and hoped they would soon, because it was super annoying how they wouldn’t tell each other how they felt.

Travis and Connor Stoll were paired up, which wasn’t a surprise. They did everything together. Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher. Percy and Annabeth were together. Grover and Tyson were paired together, which neither looked very happy about.

Then my name was called. “Ghaziyah Banerjee and Ethan Nakamura!” Ethan and I grinned at each other, and high fived.

“They don’t want to give anyone a fighting chance?” Ethan joked. Both of us were great sword fighters, and always rocked capture the flag when Aphrodite and Hermes were allied. I couldn’t wait to see how this would turn out.

____________

The actual game itself wasn’t important. Ethan and I almost beat Clarisse and Travis, but Grover and Tyson had a little issue. In order to make sure they didn’t accidentally kill each other, we missed the box with the laurel that would have made us win.

Luckily, Ethan wasn’t mad.

As I started taking off my armor, Ethan shuffled around nervously. “You okay?” I asked, undoing the straps of my breastplate.

“Yeah, I just-” He stopped. “I need to talk to you.”

I furrowed my brows. “About what?”

Ethan took a deep breath, then said all at once, “I wanted to leave camp.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “You-”

“I wanted to leave,” Ethan continued, “and join Luke’s army. But I don’t anymore.”

My mind was reeling. “You wanted to leave?” I asked, unable to keep the hurt and confusion out of my voice.

Ethan nodded, looking ashamed. “I did. I have a lot of anger toward the gods- you know that. And when I met Luke, so did he. The gods don’t pay enough attention to their kids, and he was really the only one doing something about it. But I realize… that he isn’t going about it the right way. I’ve decided to stay.”

“You have?” I asked, my hopes raising slightly.

“Yeah. I just- you’re my best friend in the world,” he said. “You’re the only one who actually accepts that my mother is Nemesis. You’re basically my little sister. The last thing I want is to mess that up.”

I processed everything Ethan just said, finally whispering, “So… you’re staying?”

Ethan nodded, beginning to smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m staying.”

I grinned, squealing happily, and gave my best friend a bear hug, causing him to laugh.

“Hate to break up the fun,” a voice called, causing me to pull back. I turned to see Clarisse. “But we have a problem.”

I tensed, placing my hand on my sword. “What’s wrong?”

“Percy and Annabeth are missing.”

I would love to say I didn’t freak out.

Truthfully, I just about had a heart attack.

The whole camp, including Chiron, searched the entire woods.

After about an hour, I was on the verge of a panic attack when we heard shouts that they had been found.

Ethan and I followed the voices to Zeus’ Fist.

“Thank the gods!” I exclaimed, launching myself into Annabeth’s arms, causing her to stumble back from the force. Before she could react, I pulled away and hugged Percy tight. “Where were you two?”

“We’ve been looking forever,” Clarisse added as I pulled away, examining my friends for injuries.

“But we were only gone a few minutes,” Percy protested, confused at my outburst.

“Only a few minutes?” I repeated. “What, did you time travel?”

Chiron trotted up, followed by Grover and Tyson.

“Percy!” Tyson cried. “You are okay?”

“We’re fine,” Percy said. “We fell in a hole.”

We stared at him, confused, then looked at Annabeth.

“Honest!” Percy insisted. “There were three scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks. But we were only gone a minute.”

“You’ve been missing for almost an hour,” Chiron said. “The game is over.”

“Yeah,” Grover mumbled. “We would’ve won, but a Cyclops sat on me.”

“Was an accident!” Tyson protested, then sneezed.

I would have laughed if I wasn’t so confused.

“A hole?” Clarisse asked suspiciously.

Annabeth turned to our mentor. “Chiron, maybe we should talk about this at the Big House.”

Suddenly, it clicked, and I looked at Clarisse, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion. “Oh, my gods,” I said in amazement, my eyes widening. “You found it, didn’t you?”

Annabeth bit her lip. “I- Yeah. Yeah, we did.”

About fifty campers started asking questions at once, but Chiron raised his hand, quieting everyone. “Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place.” He eyes the boulders like he just noticed something wrong with them. “All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past!”

There was a lot of complaining, but the campers made their way back to the cabins.

“This explains a lot,” Clarisse said. “It explains what Luke is after.”

“Wait a second,” Percy said. “What do you mean? What did we find?”

Annabeth turned to Percy, worry clear on her face. “An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of camp.”

After that, Clarisse, Percy, and Clarisse headed back to their cabins, and I followed. It was difficult wrangling a bunch of eleven- to sixteen-year-olds together for bedtime. And I thought living with a one-year-old was difficult.

I turned toward the cabins, and I noticed Ethan was still there, a little ways away. He looked like he heard everything, but I wasn’t too worried. I smiled, pretending nothing was wrong.

“Come on, let’s head back,” I said happily.

He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

I couldn’t read his expression, and it made me nervous.

We stopped as we reached our cabins. “Good night, Ethan,” I said quietly.

“‘Night, Zia,” he responded, and we went our separate ways.

#rise up #zia banerjee #teen wolf #teen wolf oc #pjo #pjo oc

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dyde21 · 7 years

Text

Limits

So this short one shot is a combination of a venting piece, and something that was inspired because @solbabydraws always makes me want to draw Percy Jackson stuff. It feels like sometimes people in the fandom (Not Solbaby! Just other writers I’ve read) and people in general seem to forget that Percy (And pretty much all guys, trust me) also appreciate kind words and can be sensitive. It’s okay to not always be tough folks, and that’s coming from a guy who gets through most of his problems by just toughing it out. We all need to hear kind words sometimes. Sometimes teasing can get to people, even if it’s light hearted. (It’s certainly getting old for me at work sometimes...) Ironically this is also released on MentalHealthAwareness day so there’s that too. Anyway, sorry for the mini rant, enjoy!

XxXxXxXxX

Glaring at his pencil, Percy wondered how mad Annabeth would be if he snapped her mechanical pencil in half. Knowing her however, he figured it wouldn't be worth the scowl and bickering for a few seconds of tension relief.

Setting down the pencil onto his “extra homework” he dropped his head onto the table to avoid the temptation of causing property damage for Annabeth. If he wasn't so utterly in love with Annabeth, there was no way he would be doing extra homework during their summer vacation. Not even the gods could have convinced him of this task.

They were preparing to finish their senior year, then go to college together. However, Annabeth had warned that Percy needed to be on top of the ball to ensure there were no academic problems that could interfere. Of course, Percy had already used up all his strikes, and them some, so it was really down to the line. Annabeth had been helping him, and promised to make it up to him later for studying so hard now.

Of course Annabeth had been the best studying partner. Bringing him snacks occasionally, explaining things in her wonderful confident, yet patient tone. Not to mention the brief study breaks that usually ended out in make-out sessions.

Annabeth had some other tasks to attend to for the day, leaving Percy to study and work on the next section of the workbook on his own. Promising to bring him a treat when she was free later, she had the utmost confidence in her boyfriend that he could finish the work.

Percy had also been pretty confident that he could do it alone. At least until his day had decided to spiral progressively downwards. Raising his head slightly, he let it drop with a soft thud on the table. Repeating the action, he thought back to what had started this hellish day.

Now normally Percy could run with the best when it came to light-hearted teasing. Usually he could only manage a few minutes before some quip was said between his girlfriend and himself. But there was always a point, always a day when it can be too much. A time when for once he just wanted to have some peace and quiet with friends, and not worry about shrugging off light-hearted remarks.

It wasn't quite clear when his day had started going down hill. It could have been the morning when he had attended the mandatory archery lessons. It was a well known fact, and warning, that Percy was prolifically bad with archery. Like, they scheduled Percy with as few Archery classes as they could because Annabeth, Chiron, and Will had all failed to properly teach him. Even Thalia had struggled to help him much, and she literally used a bow for a living.

Usually Percy didn't mind the occasional joke about his skill with a bow. He knew he had strengths elsewhere. Wherever he struggled with a bow, he made up with a sword. At least he liked to think he did.

But that didn't mean Percy wasn't also annoyed that he couldn't be counted on for long range, and that he wasn't worried about being unable to help a friend who needed it with a bow. He had been blessed once on the farm, but he wouldn't count on help from hera again.

So when he found himself on the archery range, on the far end with his bow drawn, the last thing he wanted was attention. He heard the call to aim and fire, and when he pulled the string back he heard a distinct lack of arrows being fired. Looking over, he saw all the younger campers had held up a shield between themselves and him, and were giggling to each other.

Biting his lip slightly, Percy forced a smile to his face as he fired his arrow and let out a short laugh to the other campers. He knew it was just a joke, a little prank played on him by some of the younger campers. Finishing the rest of his quiver, Percy quickly gathered his arrows and had left. He knew he shouldn't let it get to him, he just needed a breather. He had also failed to notice the angry looking blonde that had approached the young campers as he left.

The second event that had gotten to him had been during lunch. He had been eating alone at his table as usual, since his half-brother was currently with his dad, when a a group of Apollo kids had walked by. In jest they had started singing “Mr. Lonely”. Percy just laughed, shooing them off, but when he went back to his meal his shoulders drooped slightly. It was true. He hated eating lunch alone, but it was the camp rules. Sometimes Annabeth broke them, but for the most part he'd just eat his meal quickly. Besides, seeing all the other tables full of half-siblings chatting always made him feel even more isolated. But that was the price of being a kid of the Big 3.

Standing up, he dumped his half-eaten meal and exited the hall, unaware of the storm gray eyes following him, before they shifted to the Apollo kids from before.

The final straw of the day had been in lake. They had set up some lanes for some swimming training, and Percy had been swimming laps for a while. Now it was true the water gave Percy strength, and it kept him strong, but Percy had always loved water. He was practicing swimming without using his powers, figuring it was always a good idea to be prepared in case he had to swim through water out of his control again, like the sea of monsters. Percy realized Annabeth must be rubbing off on him if he was starting to plan ahead.

The lake was supposed to be Percy's domain. It's where he excelled, where he guided others, and where he could go to relax. It was his little safe haven at camp, and others usually knew it.

Walking out of the lake after a long time of swimming laps, he yawned and threw a towel over his shoulder, drying off some of the excess water. While normally he'd just emerge from the lake as dry as he entered, there was something off about finishing swimming bone dry, so he would will himself to get when practicing, just for the sake of feeling “normal” for once.

As he leaned against a tree, drinking water he couldn't help but overhear near by gossip.

“I don't know why he's swimming laps. He can just control the water.”

“He's probably just showing off.”

“I doubt he swam any of those laps. Just bragging about his powers to the new kids.”

Percy opened his mouth to retort, but just closed it as his shoulders drooped. He had worked hard on his swimming. Sure it came naturally, but he put in the same amount of effort, if not more, into learning to swim properly. It was his favorite work out, and he certainly wasn't showing off. It was just when Percy felt the most relaxed. Away from Annabeth at least.

Finding his desire to swim extinguished, he sulked away from the lake to go shower and change. A blonde holding a pair of Popsicle stormed over to the giggling campers who watched Percy leave, her stormy gray eyes hiding a fury within them.

So, finding the day increasingly frustrating, Percy had resulted to getting an early start on the extra homework. He had planned on starting it later that night, closer to when Annabeth would be free but now it seemed like the only place he could hope for peace.

A short while later and Percy found himself at his current situation, gently thumping his head on the table as he just wanted the day to be over and to hug Annabeth until he forgot his frustrations. Stopping the thudding, he sighed and raised his head. Annabeth was counting on him to get through his homework. He refused to let her down.

Digging back into his homework, he put all the focus his ADD mind could manage into it. About an hour later, he found himself half way through the worksheet. Closing his eyes and rubbing his temples, he took a deep breath. He could do thi-

“Almost there.”

He jumped at the sudden voice, his hand flying to his pocket and reaching for riptide.

Opening his eyes, he saw him staring at a pair of gray eyes that were similar to his favorite pair of gray eyes, not quite them.

“James... right?” Percy said after a moment, trying to remember the name of the camper. It was one of the kids in the Athena cabin. One of the ones that had joined while he was on one of his quests so he had missed their introduction.

“Yeah.” The boy answered dismissively, grabbing Percy's sheet and studying it with a similar look that Annabeth often wore. But it looked... wrong somehow.

“Numbers 2, 3, and 5 are wrong.” He said simply, dropping the page back on the table. “3 isn't close. I'd start over.” He offered.

Percy's jaw clenched. The kid was arrogant, but probably right. Also, Percy had a sense that the kid wasn't trying to be a dick, but just lacked tact. He was also younger than him, so Percy tried to let it go.

“I was wondering what kind of guy Annabeth was dating. Everyone talked about you, and she rejects any guy who had talked to her, but she's with you.” He mumbled, as if he was talking over a difficult problem by himself.

Percy shook his head. “I'm very lucky.” He muttered. It was true, at times he found it amazing that he ended up dating his best friend. Of course they had been through enough for him to realize the feeling was mutual, but it didn't stop the creeping doubts that were always on the edge of his mind.

James just let out a noncommittal hum, still analyzing Percy.

Trying to ignore him, Percy went back to the second question trying to piece together where he went wrong.

“I guess it's a good thing you’re cool, huh? You're a little dumber than I expected Annabeth's boyfriend to be though. I guess opposites attract.” He said in a witty tone.

Percy froze, his head drooping. Right. He was the dumb one. That's why he had to study during summer camp. Doubt crept into his mind, maybe Annabeth was also annoyed with his struggle to understand this material? May-

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?” Annabeth's voice cut through the quiet of the study area like a knife.

Annabeth stormed through the study room, her stormy gray eyes hiding a storm that could put zeus to shame. Several heads snapped up at the sudden outburst, but seeing Annabeth they were all left speechless. Annabeth was the last person to be too loud in a study hall. Well, aside from if she was with Percy and they were in an uncontrollable giggle fit.

That, and the fact that Annabeth looked furious.

Percy looked at Annabeth, surprised and a little intimidated. James meanwhile still looked unimpressed.

“What?” He asked, sitting up properly, raising an eyebrow at his older half-sister.

“What in hades name did you just say about my boyfriend?” She repeated, crossing her arms, subconsciously standing between Percy and James.

James laughed slightly. “Chill sis. I just said he's dumber than I expected. I mean come on, it's not like he's the smartest guy at camp. But I get it, he's cute and good with a sword. Everyone has different tastes.”

Percy saw Annabeth's hand twitch and he reached out and grabbed it, as they both instinctively intertwined their fingers. Secretly Percy was just hoping to avoid letting Annabeth deck her brother, which she looked like she was one remark away from it.

Annabeth glanced down at their intertwined fingers, smiling softly before she looked Percy in the eyes. Instantly she could see right through the smile he was forcing on. She could see how tired and frustrated he was, and a molten rod of anger pierced her chest. She turned back to James.

“Don't you dare say anything like that again. You don't know the first thing about Percy. Percy is far smarter than you think. He lead the camp in a war. He's saved my life more times than I count, this entire camp wouldn't be here if he was dumb. If you think knowing textbook knowledge, or classical battle strategy is the only way to be smart than maybe you should be studying instead.”

James flushed red. “You're just saying that just because you two are dating.” He countered.

Percy squeezed her hand gently. “Annabeth... it's... it's not worth it.”

Annabeth turned to stare at him, reading into the subtext of his statement. “Yes, you are worth it.” She affirmed, turning back to James. “If you really think I'm just saying that because he's my boyfriend, than you don't know me either. Seaweed brain's will always be full of kelp to me, but it is still far better than yours ever will be.”

With that, she gathered up Percy's things and grabbed his hand, leading him out of the study hall and back towards his cabin.

Percy just let himself be towed along, words failing for him once.

Annabeth still seemed furious as she stormed across the grounds, campers clearing out of their way.

Pushing open Percy's door, she practicing shoved him on the bed as dropped his bag on the floor before climbing onto his lap. Lacing her hands behind his neck, she stared him directly in the eye.

“Hi.” She muttered after a moment, a blush creeping up to her cheeks now that the adrenaline and frustration was leaving her body.

“Hi.” Percy said, utterly confused but not exactly complaining.

“You know I think you're smart right? Like... before we started dating, I did.”

Percy rested his hands on her hips, a smile creeping on his face. “I... I think I do.”

Annabeth just leaned forward and kissed him.

After kissing for a few moments she pulled back, resting her forehead against his. “I'm serious. You're smart. And wonderful. And yes, you're hot too.” She said with a slight smirk.

Percy just stared at her, feeling a warmth building in his chest. Annoyingly, he could feel tears threatening the corners of his eyes. How could she always see through him? Know exactly what he needed to hear?

Annabeth just gave him a gentle smile, climbing off his lap and shifting further down the bed. Pulling on Percy, she got him to lay down with his head resting her lap. She began to gently play with his hair. She could practically feel the tension melt off his body in waves. She saw his muscles slowly relax as she continued playing with the hair.

Percy closed his eyes, listening to her words and letting them sink in as she gently spoke.

“By the way, I heard those campers earlier too. I know how hard you've been working on your archery, and you really have improved. Maybe we can work on it more, but you've gotten a lot better!”

She continued. “I'm sorry we can't sit together at camp more. Trust me, I do miss sitting next to you as well. It's just camp rules. I'll try to find more time to grab a snack with you though.” She promised gently, already tweaking her schedule in her mind. Truth be told, Annabeth had really been missing hanging out with Percy as much recently as well. They were always either studying or training, they never had as much time to just relax near each other.

Her fist clenched in his hair, before she felt him flinch and she quickly muttered an apology as she leaned down and kissed his head before smoothing out the hair.

“Don't you dare listen to those kids at the lake either. I know how hard you've been practicing swimming. I pay attention seaweed brain. Your butterfly stroke has been getting much better, and your diving is also much cleaner.” She praised honestly. It wasn't too often she would see her boyfriend working hard on something aside from training at camp, or anything when it came to his mom, but she respected the effort he put into his swimming. The thought of those kids ignorantly talking bad about him made her blood boil.

“Yes, I think you're hot seaweed brain, but I promise you I'm not just saying this cause we're dating. I'm saying this because you the smart, hard working, wonderful guy I fell in love with.” She finished, unable to fight the blush that filled her cheeks. She wasn't always the most openly affectionate person, but whenever she started praising Percy, she usually found it hard to stop.

Percy was just quiet for a moment, before he hugged her tightly around the waist. “Thank you Annabeth. I... I think I needed to hear that.” He confessed meekly.

Annabeth just kissed the top of his head again. “We all do sometimes, Percy. It's okay. I'll always be here for you when you do.”

Percy just smirked and crawled up the bed, sharing a proper kiss with her. A little while later after some more kissing and quiet cuddling, Annabeth had decided they should finish the homework he had started earlier. She hated interrupting his studying, but the campers had made her furious today, and her boyfriend's mental state was the more pressing issue in her mind. But now that those issues were resolved it was back to studying.

Looking over his answers, she paused. Thinking about over when Percy had said her half-brother had pointed out, she laughed.

“By the way, you actually got 3 right.” She gave him a quick celebratory kiss before she settled in next to him, already starting to explain the rest of what was tripping him up.

Percy just did his best to listen to her explanation, a smile plastered on his face. At times he could feel tired, but Annabeth always managed to fix his mood. He knew as long as she was at his side, he could take on the world. Shaking his head, he realized he was too far gone. He didn't have to be that smart to realize how in love with this girl he was.

#pjo #percabeth #percy jackson #annabeth chase #I feel like people forget #Percy hates being called dumb #and annabeth is territorial of her friends #according to chiron #She literally punched a bully after one day of seeing him pick on percy #fanfic #venting #fluff?#Kinda?

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significant-what · 7 years

Note

#70

70. “This is why I fell in love with you.”

Nico likes to think they’re being discreet.

They’re a far cry from Jason and Piper; Will doesn’t spend half of his free time from infirmary following Nico around just in case there’d be an available fifteen minute time slot for them to make out in the armory; Nico definitely doesn’t spend half of every meal to ogle at Will across the dining pavilion; they don’t hold hands on their way to their cabins after the camp fire.

And they’re so not Percy and Annabeth, thank the gods; people don’t make bets on when they will be caught making out during capture the flag; Chiron hasn’t once had to give them a serious talk about why two campers are not allowed alone in a cabin; they do bicker like an old married couple, but it’s not in the sickly sweet way that makes you wonder if you should be listening or not.

They’re not even like Frank and Hazel; Nico doesn’t blush beet red when Will smiles at him; Will doesn’t bring him flowers on their one month anniversary; they don’t sit so close at the camp fire that they think people can’t see them holding hands.

It’s not like they’re hiding their relationship entirely. They just think that some things should stay private. Plus, it’s kind of fun to watch the Athena campers and most of other cabins too fawn over Will and try to flirt with him. Nico has even encouraged a newbie or two to ask Will out just so he can watch Will struggle coming up with a polite way to refuse.

(Why he doesn’t just outright say he’s dating someone is beyond Nico, but it’s okay. This makes it more fun anyway.)

So yeah, Nico thinks they’re being pretty discreet with the way they aren’t all over each other and simply keep physical contact either purely medical or behind closed doors.

It’s no one else’s business, after all, the way Will kisses Nico like he’s going to break any second, and how Nico rolls his eyes and bites his lower lip in turn. No one needs to know how Nico wants to be held late at night, with his head on Will’s chest and Will’s hand in his hair. Who even cares that when Nico runs his hands through the soft hairs at the nape of Will’s neck, Will lets out a sigh that’s almost indecent?

However, it is kind of surprising to realize that no one seems to even know that they’re dating at all.

It’s like watching a dam break.

“Come on, Nico, you’ve got to eat at least some greens.” It’s an ongoing argument between them, on every single meal; Will trying to get Nico to eat his salad and Nico refusing for the first maybe thirty-six times before giving up and eating half.

This time Nico gives in on the thirty-second. He rolls his eyes, pics up a piece with his fingers and flaps it in front of Will’s face like the child he is. “Fine. Lettuce die, then, from eating too healthy food.”

Will looks absolutely delighted about the pun, and Nico wants to roll his eyes again.

“You’re such a dork”, Will grins, poking Nico’s cheek as he chews on the salad (that’s actually not half bad but there’s no way he’ll ever admit that to Will). “Your jokes are just as bad as mine!”

“Like that shirt?” Kayla asks from across the table and looks meaningly at Will’s shirt. It has a picture of a bone on it, and next to it the text I found this humerus.

“That shirt is legit funny”, Nico says as a matter of factly and stuffs his mouth full of salad before Will can complain again.

But no, Will looks almost proud. His eyes shine as he looks at Nico, and if they were somewhere else Nico is sure they’d be kissing right about now.

“See?” Will says pointedly and the smile sets firmly on his lips. “This is why I fell in love with you.”

Nico snorts. “I thought it was my charms.”

“Your humor is part of your charms, sunshine.”

Nico shakes his head and turns his attention back to his plate. It takes him a good thirty seconds to realize that the whole Apollo table has become quiet, that every single head is turned to him and Will, like they’ve done something worth gaping at.

“What?” he asks, confused, and really, this should have been his first clue.

Austin chokes on air. “What do you mean what? I mean”, he lets out a shocked laugh, and it sounds actually kind of maniac, “did that just actually happen?”

“Did what happen?” Oh, good, so Will is just as clueless as he is. That’s awfully helpful.

“Did you just confess you’re in love with Nico?”

Will looks even more confused now. “Well, I mean, it’s not like he didn’t know already. Right?” He turns to look at Nico, like he isn’t even sure anymore, and Nico gives him a very reassuring eyeroll.

The others are still baffled, if not even more so now. “Wait, he knows?”

Nico looks at the girl who’s name he has yet to remember like she’s being slow on purpose. “Yeah, well, I should hope that I know how my boyfriend feels about me, don’t you think?”

His sassy tone doesn’t seem to work this time. No, what people cling on are his actual words.

“He’s your boyfriend?”

“You’re dating? Since when?”

“Wait, what? When did this happen?”

It’s hard to tell who is more baffled, Nico and Will or all of Will’s siblings. Yes, Nico has thought they’re being rather discreet, but never in a million years would he have thought that the rest of the Apollo kids didn’t know of their brother dating him. Isn’t that, like, grade A camp gossip? Who dates who et cetera?

“Uhm”, Will clears his throat, and his forehead has that cute wrinkle on it like every time he’s confused. He looks at Nico, as if asking for help. “Since like… I don’t know, September, maybe? Depends on how you look at it I guess.”

“You’ve been together for five months and you didn’t tell anyone?”

Nico thinks for a second. “I do think it’s actually closer to six.”

If Kayla’s looks could kill… “That is so not the point here and you know it, di Angelo!”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think it needed saying”, Will explains. All the attention is making them both really anxious; Nico briefly wonders how much trouble he’s get to if he just shadow travelled away. “I haven’t been exactly quiet about how much I like Nico. And he’s been sitting at our table for months already.”

“Yeah, but the talking doesn’t really mean you’d do something about it.

“And you said Nico had a permission from Chiron, because of the zombies.”

Nico sighs and looks at his plate, the chopped pieces of lettuce suddenly looking so much more appealing than this conversation. “This is going to be a long day.”

(last one for tonight, will do more tomorrow. hit me with prompts)

#solangelo #solangelo fanfiction #nico di angelo #will solace #fic prompt #soft solangelo is the best solangelo #and for once it's almost canon compliant #won't you look at that #hit me with that gay shit

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kookie-doughs · 4 years

Text

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 8: I Really Hate Water

The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur. Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth and sometimes Luke, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache. The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. I had struck around with Percy the whole time unless it was dinner time or night where I spent with Luke. Chiron tried to teach Percy and I archery, and we found out pretty quick he wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail. It was hilarious. While I on the other hand, could compete against Merida and Hawkeye with wining in favor of me. Foot racing? He sucked. The wood-nymph instructors and I left him in the dust. I told him not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. But I guess, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree. And wrestling? Forget it. Every time he got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize him. Luckily I took some martial arts class back then and stood some chance against her. "There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble. The only thing he really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur I guess. But hey, He's better at canoeing than me. I don't even know how I drowned all the time. Percy had to save me a couple of times. I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching us, trying to decide who our Olympian parent was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I was as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. I have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork, luckily I didn't have Dionysus's way with vine plants. Luke told me Percy might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I got the feeling he was just trying to make him feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either. Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real parent. Nothing came. I tried not to think too much about my mom and dad, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save them, to bring them back.... Even D/N would do...

I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my parent, whoever they were, make a phone appear? Thursday afternoon, three days after we'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good. The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me. We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be Percy's partner, since this was his first time. And then my turn after his, so I had to train with another kid from the cabin. "Good luck," one of the campers told us. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years." "Maybe he'll go easy on me," Percy said. The camper snorted. By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea. I turned to talk to Percy and he had done the same. "Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo." I wanted to try going against Luke as well. I wasn't confident with my skills. The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in his shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used Percy for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon. "This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of his hand. "Now in real time," he said, after Percy had retrieved his weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?" He nodded, and Luke came after him. After a while of clashing, Percy tried the disarming maneuver. His blade hit the base of Luke's and he twisted. Clang. Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his undefended chest. The other campers were silent. He lowered his sword. "Um, sorry." For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak. I had a huge grin on my face. I had no idea why, but I was proud. I was so close on giving him an encore and all that. "Sorry?" Luke's scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!" I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted. This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor. After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?" Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword... ." My time with Luke wasn't as amazing as Percy's was but I wasn't that bad. Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover and Percy at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. Percy and I's shirts had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off our forearms. We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, I was resting my back on Percy's since I felt like any moment they'd drown me. Percy then ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D. His face turned a sickly shade of yellow. "Fine," he said. "Just great." "So your career's still on track?" He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?" "Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask. "He just said you had big plans, you know... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?" Percy said. Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete." "Well, that's not so bad, right?" "Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?" "Of course I'd want you along!" Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving... Must be nice to have a useful skill." I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. Percy and him talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins. "Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad." "Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?" Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos." "Zeus, Poseidon, Hades." "Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what." "Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld." "Uh-huh." "But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." "No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that." "Why though? What would children of Hades do then? How would they fend themselves?" "I-I don't know... Its not my idea not adding Hades!" He shrieked as if he was at fault and felt guilty. "But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" Percy changed the subject. Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx." Thunder boomed.. . . . . .. I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make." Grover nodded. "And the brothers kept their word—no kids?" Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia... well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter." "But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault." Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill." He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where we'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill." I stared at the pine in the distance. The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. "Grover," Percy said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?" "Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini." "And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?" "No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking—" "No," Percy said. "I was just wondering. So... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?" I looked over to him warily. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems." "And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special." Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were—you know—you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?" I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than us. "What about me?" They looked at me. "Chiron said you didn't know I was a half-blood..." "We didn't. When you didn't forget who... Mrs Dodds was. We thought you just saw through the mist. Then when I saw you with Percy that night... and your parents aware of me and the camp. I assumed you were... a half-blood." "How about now? What do I smell like?" He looked at me gingerly then at Percy, "Nothing. You smell too human. Even for a very minor god. That's why there are plenty of satyrs then are confused as to why there's a human here. That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. At last, it was time for capture the flag. When the plates were cleared away, the horn sounded and we all stood at our tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?" "Yeah." "Ares and Athena always lead the teams?" "Not always," he said. "But often." "So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?" He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one." "Whose side are we on?" He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And Percy's going to help." The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet. Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble. "Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxide shields coated in metal. "Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?" Luke looked at me and laughed. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. Do you want to be border patrol with Percy or come with me?" I smiled at him, "Tempting offer but I think I'll stay with Percy." "Your lost." He smirked then ruffled my hair. I went over to Percy who was holding a shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. Our helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes. "Looking at real good." I laughed. He frowned at me. "Like you look that different." "I am sporting this helmet just fine excuse you." I said picking up a dagger from the table. Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!" We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north. Percy and I managed to catch up with Annabeth without him tripping over my equipment. "Hey." She kept marching. "So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?" Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something. "Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?" "Border patrol, whatever that means." "It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan." She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust. "Okay," he mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team." "I don't want to be near the creek." I said anxiously. "Maybe I should just go with Luke..." Percy then took my hand. "Since when have I ever let you drown? Don't worry. I'll be there for you." He smiled. With a pout and a worried look I stuck out my pinky said, "Promise me." "I swear I will never let you drown. I will save you with all I can." He swore connecting our pinkies. "Everyone knows pinky promises are better than Styx." We laughed and made our way to our station not letting go of each other's hands. It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed us next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball. There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right? Far away, the horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory. I lied down on the ground. "This is so boring." "Stand up, who knows when an enemy will show up." He scolded pulling me up. "I don't know... I think I'd rather shrivel and die." I shrugged. "Plus I know I got a knight in shining helmet to save me." "I mean yeah of course you do." "Luke's like few meters away after all." I smirked. He turned to me with a frown and a 'not funny' face. Which made me laugh. Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. I stood up and Percy pulled me behind him as he raised his shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me. Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating. On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark. "Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed. Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made me feel any better. They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run and leave Percy. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin with no more than 9 inch dagger and Percy Jackson. I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded me and Percy, while Clarisse thrust at us with her spear. Percy's shield deflected the point. My hair stood on end. "Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric." Percy groaned and I pulled him back. Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt. They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing. "Y/N!!" Percy yelled but he had a sword pointed at his throat. "Give her a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab her hair." I managed to get to my feet. I raised my dagger, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now my arm numb. "Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared." "The flag is that way, let her go!" Percy told her. "Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guys who made our cabin look stupid." "You do that without my help," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. Someone took a hold of Percy so the sword was no longer pointed at him. Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise arm, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-ke-babbed. As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut. Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time. "No maiming," I managed to say. "Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege." "Y/N!! I will kill you all!!" He was thrashing around. "Let her go! She can't swim!!" "It's fun seeing your girlfriend suffer ain't it?" Clarisse laughed. The guy finally pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash. They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. I was sinking. I couldn't breathe. The water was pulling me for what felt like 10 meters deep. Blood were coming out at every wound I had. I was loosing consciousness. Help me. Please... -With Percy- Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get you, but you weren't there. "Hey, she's missing?" One of the cabinmate said. "What? It's like 3 meters deep. She's just there." Clarisse scoffed. "I's telling you she's can't swim! Water pulls her down! I will kill you if she doesn't survive!" Percy managed to get power from somewhere and got out of the hold. He knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water. Then he jumped down. Hoping to see you somewhere. Muttering your name over and over in hopes to catch you. Save us He heard from his right. When he turned he finally saw you at the bottom. He swam with all could and got a hold of you. To haul you up. Finally surfacing, Percy panted and laid you of the ground. Pumping your chest. When the water finally came out of your mouth. Percy turned to glare at the people. Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. He slammed one in the face with his shield and used his sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, he caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig. "Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!" She probably would've said worse, but Percy smacked her between the eyes with his sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek. -Back to you- Coughing myself awake. Water came out of my mouth. "Percy..." I called. He turned so fast that I was surprised his neck didn't snap. "Y/N!" He ran to me and pulled me in a hug. I couldn't move, I felt tired and weak. "I want to sleep." I could feel my wounds stinging. Cold air hitting it. I felt sore despite barely moving. Then I heard yelling, elated screams, we both turned and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse. "A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick." They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the horn. The game was over. We'd won. Percy carried me still with an angry expression and tense body. I wanted to reassure him but I knew it wouldn't work. Luke looked over and saw us. I could see his sudden shift of emotion. He wanted to approach but he was surrounded by every cabin. We then heard Annabeth's voice, right next to us in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero." I wanted to turn to see her but I couldn't. I could barely keep my eyes open. "Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head. She was now in front of us. I felt Percy tense up once more. "You set us up, You put us here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out." Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan." "Because of you, Y/N is like this." The venom in his voice were obvious. "I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help." "I didn't. But Y/N did! And what did you do?! She could've died!" Percy was shaking. I could feel it. "Calm..." I managed to whimper. "What's that?" Annabeth pointed at Percy's neck. "A sword cut, obviously." "No. It was a sword cut. Look at it." The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared. "I—I don't get it," Percy said. Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at our feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy." "What—" "Just do it." He came out of the creek and immediately I could feel myself better. Percy almost fell over, but I managed to hold him. "I got you." I panted. "Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want... I assumed it would be Zeus... ." Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest. The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!" Annabeth drew her sword. I drew my dagger and pushed Percy behind me. There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers. It was looking straight at me. Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, Y/N, run!" She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, I was pushed aside as Percy stumbled backward and its razor-sharp claws ripping through his armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. "Stop that!!" I screamed and somehow managed to grab her. She turned to me sharply and stared me down. As if she was waiting for the perfect opportunity to jump me. It approached me and settled down at my feet, sitting down as if she was an obedient dog. She watched as I catch my breath. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet. By some miracle, I was still alive, and wasn't even hurt. I instantly turned to look uat Percy. His chest wet, and I knew it was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned him into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat. Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim. "Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to... How did..." "Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp." Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone. Clarisse yelled, "It's all Y/N's fault! Y/N summoned it!" "Be quiet, child," Chiron told her. We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared. "You're wounded," Annabeth told Percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water." "I'm okay." "No, you're not, Y/N get him to the water," she said. "Chiron, watch this." "No... She doesn't do well in water..." Percy choked. I carefully swung his arm around my shoulders and without thinking twice, I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around us. Instantly, I felt weak. I could feel the pulling me down. Some of the campers gasped. Percy who could barely stand few minutes ago got a hold of me. I could feel my consciousness loosing once again. "Look, I—I don't know why," Percy said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry... But I need to get out of here. Y/N---" But they weren't watching Percy's wounds heal. They were staring at something above our head. "Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um..." By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident. "Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good." "It is determined," Chiron announced. All around us, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it. "My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered. "Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earth shaker, Storm bringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God." Percy looked down at me. I wasn't sure what but I had the feeling it was somewhere along the lines, 'I am the reason you drown every time you step on water.' "You're claimed..." I managed to squeak. Percy stepped out of the water. "Congratulations." I smiled weakly.

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UwU Here's another chapter I am sorry for some holes in the story -kookie-doughs

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#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson X Reader #Percy Jackson X Y/N #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #luke castellan #Luke castellan x reader #Y/N L/N #Y/N L/N and the halfbloods #X Reader #Lightning thief #Book 1 #Chapter 8 #Fanfiction #fanfictions

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