#piper was in literal sobs of anguish

[kermitthesog]

spoilers hehehehehhhe (pjo + toa deaths)

literally stop. literally stop. stop. stop. stop. i can’t. I was just reminded of how there literally is no main character privilege in pjo other than for percy, annabeth and idk grover? LIKE STOP. you cannot trust rick riordan like other authors because guess what? One of the main characters? Like in the Titan’s Curse with Zoe? nope. dead. Luke? No returning to the good side, no! had to kill himself to stop kronos. Dead. STOP IT. Jason, who was there for a whole series? dead! Silena who was there the whole series and was a secret spy for kronos but redeemed herself by sacrificing herself? oh yeah also dead. Beckondorf who was also there the whole series and helped percy so much? oh you liked him? that’s funny. dead. And yeah you could argue that, at least in that particular series, that character might not be a “main” character, but come on.

it just hurts so much more when you’ve gotten a backstory, personality, fears, motivations, growth, even a redemption arc of a character and you have to watch (well, read) them die. and when that character was so well loved by the other characters and the audience. when the character dies and you have to endure everybody’s reactions. when you cry because someone is screaming out in pain for them like piper for jason, screaming he’s not dead. when they describe their anguish like clarisse with silena. when a character has to walk away after the other sacrificed themselves like percy and beckondorf. when they have to cope with them being forever gone.

i cannot deal with the fact that there are so many deaths of important people. and they still weigh so heavily on everyone else. they made an impact. want some examples?

Zoe: percy still thinks about her.

Luke: he made an everlasting impact on everyone who met him or fought against him.

Jason: the whole rest of the series after the burning maze, apollo/lester dedicates his actions to jason and promises to be human like jason had pleaded for.

Beckondorf + Silena: Are fought for in the end during the final battle against kronos.

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: I'm looking forward to read what you guys think of this one -Danny Words: 1,533 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Haunted' -by Taylor Swift

XXIV: I Use the Power of Love (Goes Wrong Too)

When they reach the bottom, Annabeth is staring down a ridge in the middle of the cave. Percy pulls her away from it and hugs her. Annabeth sobs against his chest. 

"It's okay, we're together," he eases her.

"Annie," Ara reaches for her T-Rex. "Your leg..."

Ara gets to work quickly while Leo follows her instructions and takes the Athena Parthenos. Hazel and Piper come down with Nico as well, and Ara wants to yell at them to go back, but she keeps it quiet, they're trying to help them get out of there faster.

"Your leg," Piper crouches next to Ara. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"

Annabeth starts telling them about her quest, and Ara half-listens, her heartbeat so loud she can barely focus on fixing up Annabeth's ankle. Jason joins them while Leo lifts the statue into the ship.

"Gods of Olympus," he says, listening to the final parts of Annabeth's story. "You did all that alone. With a broken ankle."

"Well... some of it with a broken ankle."

"You made Arachne weave her own trap?" Percy smirks. "I knew you were good, but Holy Hera—Annabeth, you did it. Generations of Athena kids tried and failed. You found the Athena Parthenos!"

"Yeah, good job—now eat," Ara places a piece of ambrosia in Annabeth's mouth. "How're you feeling?"

"My ankle isn't throbbing anymore," she gives Ara a teary but grateful look. "Mike would be proud."

"You have no idea..." Ara strokes Annabeth's cheek, pulling most of the anguish out with her empath touch. "Percy, help me get her out of here."

"On it."

"We have to take her with us to Greece," Annabeth points at the Athena. "The statue is powerful. Something about it will help us stop the giants."

"The giants' bane stands gold and pale," Hazel hums. "Won with pain from a woven jail... It was Arachne's jail. You tricked her into weaving it."

"What about you guys?" Annabeth looks around, still covered in cobwebs that she doesn't seem to mind at the moment. "What happened with the giants?"

"You can talk about that on the ship," Ara urges them. "Get up!"

Percy pulls Annabeth to her feet. "Maybe you can talk some sense into Ara, she's been—"

The floor cracks, reminding the group they're not in a safe place. Jason takes Piper back to the ship, and Hazel holds Nico. "This floor won't last! The rest of us should get to the ladder."

"Great idea," Ara replies. "Nico and you first. Percy—take Annabeth."

"What about you?" He frowns.

"I'll be right behind you," she lies.

"Do you promise?" Her brother presses.

Ara can't, of course, and she doesn't get the chance to, because Annabeth gets yanked away from them screaming. 

"Annabeth!"

The cobwebs are dragging her down, probably stuck to some debris that's fallen into the pit. Ara pulls Almighty out of her pocket and runs to her friend.

"You catch her!" She yells at Percy.

The boy throws himself and grabs Annabeth's hand, Ara slashes across the floor and cuts the cobwebs, but her sword cuts through the ground as well, making it more unstable. The girls lock eyes, and Annabeth sees right through her just like Lily would. Her expression shifts into one of pure panic. 

"Ara—"

"Leave." Ara sprints towards the pit and Annabeth, charged with adrenaline, gets up and runs, seemingly not in pain as she quickly catches up to Ara. Both girls hear Percy scream at them to come back.

It happens extremely fast. Annabeth seizes Ara's backpack and yanks her back, the girl falls sideways and her elbow explodes in pain, leaving her unable to move for a second... and a second is all it takes for things to go south, quite literally. Annabeth screams, and Ara rolls over just in time to see her and Percy slip out of sight. 

"NO!" She rashly crawls to the edge.

Percy and Annabeth had always been there to protect her, and she'd always been thankful for that... but she should've never let them get used to it, cause it has led to this: her brother holding onto a ledge, where Ara cannot save him. 

The boy is holding Annabeth with his other hand, and Ara realizes the girl is hugging the T-Rex, the strap must've broken when Annabeth pulled her out of danger.

"You should've left!" Ara desperately tries to reach her brother even though Percy is more than ten feet below. "You never listen to me!"

Percy screams back, sounding as scared as her. "Why didn't you listen?"

Deep down, she believed Annabeth and Percy's love had limits, she convinced herself that even if they cared about her, their resolve would break and they would back off just like Lily did. This is not how she wanted to find out she was wrong.

Nico speaks next to her, sounding shaken. "What did you do?"

Ara whimpers with frustration, none of them should've been there.

"Percy, let me go," Annabeth speaks hoarsely. "You can't pull me up."

"Never," Percy growls. His eyes go back to Ara and Nico. "The other side! We'll see you there. Understand?" 

Nico's face gets even paler than it already was. "But—"

"Lead them there!" Percy urges him. "Promise me!"

"I—I will," Nico gulps.

Ara's knuckles are white from holding onto the edge. This is not how it was supposed to go. It was her sacrifice to make... "No." Nemesis speaks in her head. "You don't value yourself, which makes you a poor sacrifice. These two, they are your offerings."

Ara's commitment to the cause runs deep, she's willing to give up her life with Leo, but only because it's her the one stepping out. She doesn't want others to be taken so she can remain. Percy and Annabeth should have never been hers to give away like this. It's unfair, as all her life has been.

Percy starts to slip, and the chamber crumbles down faster, none of them is going to survive if they stay there. "The T-Rex!" Ara shouts. "It's got supplies and my blessing! Love will keep you safe!"

Those words saved Percy's life once, they can do it again. Her brother's eyes burn with anger and something else she doesn't recognize, he realizes Ara had prepared for the fall and it doesn't make him feel better. 

That look being the last one he will ever give her is not an option, it would haunt her more than Mike's words.

Her brother's hand loses its grip, and Ara lets out something like a scream and a sob, but so broken it doesn't even sound human.

"GET UP!" Nico yells, pulling her to her feet and dragging her away with the last bit of strength he's got in him.

I always thought having a real family was better than having half-siblings. I imagined it'd be an unbreakable bond, affection with no limits. I feel that way about Percy most times, but right now, I want to trip him down the amphitheater steps.

"Ara!"

I give a start. Mike's sweating profusely, and he does not appreciate it when I ignore training. I look at him, then back at my brother.

"What is it?" He follows my line of vision.

I speak without tearing my eyes away from Percy, currently taking a break from climbing the lava wall. "Five minutes."

"What?"

"Takes him five minutes to climb the whole thing."

Michael rolls his eyes. "Well, it's Percy."

That's the response I get whenever I say my brother can do something better. "It's Percy". I know he's strong and skilled, but I've been in this camp for longer than him, I train more, so why are my efforts still not enough to compare to him?

"Age, gender, godly parent," I pout. "Why do those things set us apart? We have similar experiences, and he might have control over water, but—"

"It's more than that," Mike interrupts me. "There are things that big-three kids get since birth because they get targeted more than us. He heals faster, he moves faster—"

"I don't heal slowly," I argue.

"Percy could get stabbed and keep going for an entire hour before he even starts to feel dizzy. You'd be out of the fight in five minutes. Lily and I know you can be sneaky, but Percy doesn't even need to."

That last sentence irritates me. I don't want to hide and run, I've been hiding and running from every monster for the last three years.

Beckendorf joins Percy while I think of this, both look like all demigods should: Athletic, handsome, and powerful. I'll be fourteen in a week, and I'm bruised, calloused, sweaty, and tired. I'm not like them at all, nowhere near their level.

"Whatever," I mutter, picking up my sword.

Mike sighs. "Don't dwell on it, bug. One day you'll be the daughter of Olympus and you'll be stronger than all of us. It won't matter if you were born with power or not, you'll have it either way."

"I know," I reply, adopting a fighting stance.

I don't know if my friend can tell, but I mimic Percy's movements when I fight. I try not to because they don't work for me, but I can't help it. 

I keep saying that. "I try not to", whenever I think about Percy. I try, but I can't stop. Being close to someone like him, and knowing what a great hero he is, it's easy to flick the switch and resent him for the reasons I liked him at the start.

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

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[astrababyy]

Anyone remember that episode in Charmed where there was that demon that could feed on people’s resentment, anger, and hatred to grow stronger and bring it out to cause chaos? Well, imagine if Eris, goddess of discord and strife can do that. Imagine if the Seven ran into her and she fed on the frustration and anger that came from Reyna and Annabeth and the two girls just attack Percy and Jason for leaving them behind.

Imagine if Reyna was sobbing, screaming, and punching Jason because she was so angry that she’d spent so long searching for him and he turns up completely fine, with a new girlfriend and best friend, and not even wanting to stay at Camp Jupiter anymore.

Imagine her being so angry for leaving her behind, stressed, confused, worried, and angry and when he comes back he’s got a completely new life. Without her.

Imagine if she fed on the resentment inside Nico Di Angelo and he just couldn’t handle it and everything went out of control and I-

Imagine if she fed on the feelings of Hazel Levesque and she’d just screaming at Nico about how she’s not someone’s replacement and how he had no right to treat her like she was.

Imagine if she fed in Leo’s resentment and frustration and he wouldn’t even be able to take it because all his guilt, pain, anguish, loneliness, and confusion would come rushing to the surface and he’d just break down sobbing because he can’t. Take. It.

Imagine if she fed on the confusion and frustration of Jason Grace and he didn’t know who he was. He didn’t know where to go, where to stay, what to do. He didn’t know who was the leader anymore and who wasn’t. He life had been ripped away from him and now, for once in his life, he didn’t know what to do.

Imagine if she fed on the frustration and pain Piper felt at being constantly misunderstood by everyone, even her own dad and she just kept shaking her head, streams of tears coming down her face, mumbling about how they didn’t understand. Mumbling about how no one understands.

Imagine if she fed on the anger, confusion, and resentment of Frank Zhang because his father took so long to claim him. Because he was angry at his mother for leaving him. Because he was tired of people judging him.

Imagine if Eris kept growing stronger and stronger and stronger and was almost as powerful as any Olympian at this point.

Imagine if she ended up screwing it all up and feeding off the anger and resentment Percy Jackson had buried inside him without realizing that most of his anger and resentment was most likely directed towards the gods and that he’d attack her.

Imagine if she had no idea just how much resentment Percy had inside him and this was right after Tartarus.

Imagine that, in his anger, Percy finds so many new powers because he always learns new abilities when he just lets go.

Imagine if he literally tore her in half because he was so fucking angry.

Imagine if everyone else on board the Argo II claim they looked away when it happened and all they heard were terrified, agonized screams coming from Eris and maniacal laughter coming from Percy.

Imagine that when it died down, they looked up and saw Percy walking back, his clothes and body splattered with the golden ichor of the gods and a dark, satisfied smile on his face.

Just imagine.

[thejoydaily-blog]

Article by John Piper

Founder & Teacher, desiringGod.org

As his death approached, Jesus became increasingly focused on stabilizing the joy of his disciples in the face of the looming crisis. He deals with two main threats to their joy in John 16:4–24. First, he is leaving them and going to the Father. Second, he is going to die soon. Both seem to undermine lasting joy.

In answering their perplexity, Jesus speaks in a way that reaches across the centuries to stabilize our own tottering joy. This is not incidental. It is what he meant to do: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

1. Your Sorrow Will Be Short

First, he is leaving them. This is not good news in their ears. “Now I am going to him who sent me. . . . Because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart” (John 16:5–6). This sorrow is owing to love and ignorance. To love: because their joy is in him. To ignorance: because they have no idea how his physical absence could be to their advantage.

So Jesus seeks to solidify their joy in his absence not by diminishing the love, but by removing the ignorance. He says, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). Among the many reasons this is to their advantage, the main one is that the Spirit is going to make the glory of Jesus more real. Yes, more real than if he were there in the flesh: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. . . . He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine” (John 16:13–15).

“Yes, there will be tribulation. But the world that makes us so sorrowful will not have the last word.”TweetShare on Facebook

This is breathtaking. Do we see what this means to the disciples and to us? How many Christians today say, “If only I could have been there and seen him face-to-face!” Or: “If only I could have a vision of Jesus as he really was in history — something tangible!”

Such longings betray a grave ignorance of the advantages we have, precisely because Jesus died, rose again, and is not here in bodily form, but present by his Spirit. The Helper, the Spirit of truth, that the Father sends is the Spirit of the risen Christ. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). When the Spirit comes, Jesus comes. And this presence, he says, is better than the bodily presence of his earthly days.

To have the Spirit of Christ at work in us, glorifying the risen Christ and making real for us all that the Father is for us in him and in his triumph over death — this is a wonder vastly superior to what the disciples knew in their lifetime. There is no greater glory than the glory of God in the face of the risen Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). The fuller we are of the Holy Spirit, the more clearly we see and enjoy this glory.

That is the first way Jesus sought to stabilize their joy in these last, dark hours before his death. Though there is a long-term departure coming, he will be with them in a way better than if his earthly stay were extended indefinitely.

2. Real Sorrow for a Little While

The second way Jesus stabilizes their joy is just as remarkable. His disciples thought they heard him correctly when he said, “I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer” (John 16:10). This departure, they understood to be for a long time, probably their lifetime.

But suddenly Jesus said these unexpected words: “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me” (John 16:16). Now they are confused. He had said, “I go to the Father.” He had said that in his place he would send the Spirit of truth. He had not spoken of a quick turnaround. So they began to question, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about” (John 16:18).

Every time Jesus had tried to explain to the disciples that his pathway to the Father was through horrific crucifixion, they had been resistant or baffled. “They did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:32). But this is what he would now address. They do not yet grasp how great will be the threat to their joy in the next three days. If their joy is to be stable and lasting, he must prepare them for this.

“To have the Spirit of Christ at work in us is a wonder vastly superior to what the disciples knew in their lifetime.”TweetShare on Facebook

He does so by warning them that sorrow is on the way. He does not try to stabilize their joy by telling them their life will be without sorrow. On the contrary, the sorrow will be intense. And it is coming very soon — in just “a little while.” So he says, “A little while, and you will see me no longer.” This is the source of their sorrow. What he does not say directly is: “You won’t see me because I am going to be dead.” But that is what he means. He calls his indirect words “figures of speech” (John 16:25).

The way he makes the realism of their sorrow serve the stability of their joy is first by saying that the sorrow will be short (“ . . . again a little while, and you will see me”), and then by contrasting their sorrow with three things: (1) the joy of the world, (2) their own future joy, and (3) the joy of a mother after giving birth.

1. Real Sorrow Compared to Immortal Joy

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.” (John 16:20)

Why does Jesus say this in the final hours of their sorrows? Because hard things are less likely to rock your world if you know they are coming. This is Jesus’s way of saying: The world is going to rub salt into the wound of your sorrow at my death. Through your heaving sobs, you will hear the scoffing voices, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” (Luke 23:35)

The disciples need to know this. It is part of God’s design for their deliverance. Herod’s mocking game of dress-ups with Jesus was part of the everlasting plan (Acts 4:27–28). This “rejoicing” of the world at the death of Jesus did not take Jesus off guard. He knew the miseries of his dying would be compounded by merciless ridicule. “The world will rejoice.”

The disciples need to know this. Knowing it does not make them less liable to sorrow. But it does make them less vulnerable in sorrow. Now they know that even the scoffing joy of the killers is part of God’s plan. And Jesus is saying to them: Though it is sure, it will be short.

2. Their Own Future Joy

“You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (John 16:20)

This is Jesus’s interpretation of the saying they found so baffling: “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me” (John 16:16). In a few hours, he would die and be buried. They would see him no longer, and they will be sorrowful. Intensely sorrowful. Then in three days, they would see him. “Again a little while, and you will see me.” And “your sorrow will turn into joy” (John 16:20).

“The pain of Jesus on the cross did not just precede the new rejoicing. It produced it.”TweetShare on Facebook

On the other side of my death, he says, is my resurrection. On the other side of your sorrow is your joy. When you see the horrors tomorrow morning, don’t forget that I have told you this. Let your love for me break your heart with sorrows. But do not let your ignorance break your hope.

The rejoicing of the world will be suddenly altered. What made the world happy and you sad will be no more. I will be alive. They will have failed. It is you, not they, who will be rejoicing now. Your sorrow must come, just like my death must come. But you will no more remain in sorrow than I will remain in the tomb.

3. A Mother After Giving Birth

“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (John 16:21)

There is more going on in this “figure of speech” than the obvious fact that the joy of birth follows the pains of labor. That is true and significant. First pain, then joy. It will be true for Jesus and the disciples in the next three days.

But labor pains don’t just precede a child; they produce a child. It’s not as though there are labor pains, and then right on schedule a stork flies through the window with a baby. The baby doesn’t just come behind the labor pains. The baby comes by means of the labor pains.

So it is with this new joy on the other side of Jesus’s death. The labor pains of the mother in this “figure of speech” refer not just to the disappearance of Jesus (“you will see me no longer”), but to the distresses of Jesus. Not just to his parting, but to his pain. Therefore, the joy on the other side is not just coming behind that pain; it is coming by means of it. The pain of Jesus on the cross did not just precede the new rejoicing; it produced it.

Jesus emphasizes this by the wording he uses in verse 20. He says, “Your sorrow will turn into joy.” He does not say your sorrow “will be replaced withjoy,” but literally “will become joy.” Henry Alford puts it like this: “Not merely changed for joy, but changed into so as itself to become — so that the very matter of grief shall become matter of joy; as Christ’s Cross of shame has become the glory of the Christian, Galatians 6:14” (Greek New Testament, vol. 1, 870).

“The baby doesn’t just come behind the labor pains. The baby comes by means of the labor pains.”TweetShare on Facebook

From where we stand on this side of the cross and the resurrection, how the agonies of the cross actually become our joy is more plain. The sufferings of Christ remove our sin and God’s wrath, and bring us to God and joy. “Christ also suffered once for sins . . . that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18), and “in your presence there is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). “Through him [that is, his sufferings] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2).

So when Jesus says that after the birth of a child, a mother “no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world,” he means that the labor pains have been transformed from remembered anguish into bringers of joy. So it is with Jesus’s sorrows and their effects on the disciples. Jesus wanted them to know this ahead of time to stabilize their joy: All this sorrow “will turn into joy” (John 16:20).

There is one more stunning thing Jesus says about their joy that should make them stable enough to weather the coming storm of Good Friday. The child born to this woman in the “figure of speech” represents Jesus after the resurrection. And Jesus, after the resurrection, could never die. “Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again” (Romans 6:9). When the labor pains of death give birth to life, that life is immortal.

This means that the joy Jesus promises is immortal joy. “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). This indestructible joy is because “I will see you again.” I will rise from the dead. I will be alive and with you, by my Spirit, forever. Your joy cannot be taken from you because I will not be taken from you. I am your joy (John 15:11; 17:13). “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).

No One Can Take This Joy

We can scarcely hear too often that it was better for us that Jesus leave us and go to the Father. “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).

To be sure, the Holy Spirit — the Helper — was active in the world before Jesus went to the Father. But one thing he never did before the resurrection of Jesus: he never glorified the risen Lord of the universe! Now this is his main work in the world. “He will glorify me!” (John 16:14). He does it daily, and he does it sovereignly, in all the children of God. Whenever we see the glory of Christ, here’s why: “This comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Without this, we would all make shipwreck of our faith.

By means of this Christ-exalting work, the Spirit fulfills the promise of Jesus that no one will take our joy from us (John 16:22). Think of that! The skeptics and scoffers cannot take your joy. The doctor with the biopsy report cannot take your joy. Your adulterous spouse cannot take your joy. Your straying children cannot take your joy. The political climate, and global terror, and school shootings, and racial injustice, and financial disaster, and unemployment, and theological controversies, and unfulfilled dreams, and the memories of your own failure — they cannot take your joy. No one can.

“I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). Meaning: I will rise from the dead. I will verify this by looking you in the face. Then I will go to the Father. Then we will pour out my Spirit on you. And until I come again, my Spirit will make my glory so real to you that no one will take your joy from you.

Not Only Joy

Jesus does not promise only joy. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Take heart indeed! How can we not! Not only has he overcome the world — and hell and the devil and death — but he remains with us and in us like a mighty warrior against all our foes. “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

“You see more of him now by his Spirit in his word than the disciples did during his earthly life.”TweetShare on Facebook

So, yes, there will be tribulation. Sorrows of so many kinds in this fallen world we can’t count them. But the world that makes us so sorrowful will not have the last word. Therefore, the watchword of the Christian in this world is “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Through every grief, we are being kept by the power of the Helper. Therefore, “you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6).

You may be tempted to cry out, “Oh, that I could go back and see him as he was in the flesh!” But remember, you see more of him now by his Spirit in his word than the disciples did during his earthly life. And you will see him again. But not the way he was. His face will be “like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:16). Take heart from Peter’s words: “Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and glorified” (1 Peter 1:8–9). This is the joy that cannot be taken from you.