This is a oneshot story of Percy and Annabeth's son. Hope you like it! I sure don't! :)
"Behold!" Leo cried, as he shed the cover. "Festus 2.0! Made by the evil genius himself, Leo Valdez."
"Cool," cried the three-year-old boy in Percy's arms. "It's big!"
Leo grinned in pleasure, "You know it baby Jackson!"
"How many more of these dragons are you gonna make, Valdez?" Percy asked, making Cast laugh.
"Enough to torch New England, Aquaman," Leo winked.
Cast cocked his head to the side, "You wanna torch New England?"
Jason and Nico snickered at Cast as Leo shook his head. "Nah-ah. I don't have a problem with the place. Just a metaphor little guy."
Cast looked more confused. "Best let your mother explain," Percy whispered, ruffling the boy's blond hair. Nico walked forward and examined the bronze dragon.
"I don't see any difference, Leo," He said, looking at it in distaste.
Leo rolled his eyes. "The wings, Death Breath. The wings have changed."
"Oh," Nico said, crossing his arms. "So you'll change the wings but you won't make a black dragon. Where's my stygian steed, Valdez!?"
"I don't have time for collecting all the stygian iron in the world," Leo answered. "That'll take forever."
Nico pouted and shrugged, "Fine." He walked back to Jason and muttered, "It would've been cool, though."
"Is this all you wanted to show us, Valdez?" Jason asked.
"Why is everyone calling me by my last name?" Leo questioned.
"Cause you are the mad genius," Cast tried to explain.
"Evil genius to you, el niño pequeño," Leo corrected. "And I guess Valdez works. So Jason, back to your question. No! It isn't at all. I have more to show you in my Leo Lab."
"Leo Lab?" Percy asked.
"Sounds good doesn't it?" Leo asked.
Percy rolled his eyes, "Sounds more like sharp blades and your little wildfires. Something that could potentially kill my son."
"C'mon!" Leo froze, thought for a moment then continued in a matter-of-fact tone, "There aren't that many fires."
"I'm not interested," Nico shrugged. "I can take care of the little guy while you're gone. You can count on me."
Percy seemed skeptical and then said, "Fine. Make sure he's safe?"
"Not even a question," Nico grinned taking the little boy from Percy, who ruffled Cast's hair.
"I'll be back soon, okay?"
"Okay!" Cast said with a grin.
"And we're off!" Leo called as Jason and Percy followed him through a door to the workshop. Nico carried Cast to the built-in living room and sat down with him.
Nico tried making Cast laugh, looked for things they could play with and kept him as far away from the door as possible. After a few minutes, Coach Hedge and his son - Chuck - came in. Chuck was eleven in human years but his satyr years? About five.
"Howdy, Coach," Nico saluted the satyr.
"What are we? From the wild west?" Hedge asked. Nico rolled his eyes and started talking to the satyr, while Chuck and Cast played with the blocks together. It was about a couple minutes in when Cast saw something trot outside the window.
"You see that?" Cast asked Chuck.
Chuck looked out the window. "Nope. Even though…" He sniffed the air and looked uncomfortable. "Something doesn't smell good."
Cast looked back at the door and said, "I wonder what's taking Papa so long."
Chuck shrugged, trying to spell his name in the blocks. "I dunno."
Cast looked at the door of Bunker 9, to Nico. "Wanna go see what that was?"
Chuck shook his head vigorously. "Uh-uh. I don't like following not known things."
"Papa told me stories that following the unknown leads to the known," Cast said. "Pretty common knowledge. He said that was the source of most of his adventures."
Chuck shook his head, "No. I'm not going."
"Suit yourself," Cast shrugged. "I wanna see what that was."
Chuck looked a bit uncomfortable but just mumbled, "Okay." As Cast snuck past Nico to go find the monster.
"I'm pretty sure you just showed us that," Percy said.
Leo shook his head. "No. This is completely different. See this lever," he pointed under the metal beetle's wing. "Launch five of these and they can cause an explosion! Can kill any monster."
Percy grinned. "I like that better."
"Since when were you Mr. Explosion guy?" Jason asked.
"I have my interests, bro," Percy said. "Now are you done, Leo? Annabeth's gonna be home soon and she's gonna expect to see Cast there."
"So soon?" Leo asked.
Percy shrugged. "She was let off earlier today."
"Okay," Leo said. "That was all anyways."
The three of them retreated back to the Festus 2.0 room. As soon as they got there, Nico and Hedge were grinning at them.
"Hey, Percy!" Nico said cheerfully. "Cool stuff, huh?"
"What are you hiding?" Jason asked.
"Nothing!" Hedge and Nico cried in unison.
Percy sighed, "I don't have time for this. I need to get Cast and go."
Nico paled even more than usual and said, "Percy, I…" he started fidgeting until her blurted. "I lost Cast."
So far, Cast found nothing interesting. Nothing as big as he saw from Bunker 9 anyways. He sighed, deciding that he should go back to Papa. But then he saw something behind a couple of trees. He snuck forward and peeked down a hill.
There was something Cast has never seen in his life. A half man, half bull, wearing worn out armor.
It was snuffling through the grass. Looking for something? Cast didn't know.
Before he knew it, he tripped over his own feet and tumbled down the hill. He fell with a thud, and when he looked up, the monster was sniffing him out.
"Cast!" Percy yelled. Jason, Hedge, Nico, Leo, Chuck and him have been looking all over the place for Cast. Still, there was no sign.
"Cast! Come on, little guy!" Leo called. "Where are you?"
Jason came back down looking grim. "Still no sight of him. He's far in."
Chuck cried, still holding his father's hand. "I - I'm sorry, Uncle Percy. H-he left before I c-could stop him! He saw something and…"
Percy tried to smile at the little satyr. "It's okay Chuck. It wasn't your fault." Nico looked guilty and Percy glared at him. "Nico. Don't you dare blame yourself."
"I was supposed to look after him," Nico said. "I- I promised you."
His last words were a whisper and Percy understood why. He pulled Nico along and said, "It isn't your fault, Nico. We'll find him. He's gonna be okay, I-I'm sure."
The six adults walked through the woods, looking for the green-eyed boy. Leo looked for any sign of where he was, making them end up near a river or boulder. Nico shadow traveled all through the forest to try and find him. Jason flew into the air, trying to scout from the skies but always came down looking grim. The two satyrs were trying to sniff out his scent.
Percy felt useless. Not being able to do anything but try to call him.
They looked for so long that a few of them were starting to lose hope. The sun was already setting and Percy didn't wanna think on what Annabeth would do if he came home without Cast.
"Papa!"
Percy spun around and saw Cast. Trapped between two trees by a minotaur.
"Cast!" Percy ran over. And...
His heart stopped.
Everything became a blur. The minotaur bore down on Cast and his scream was silent. Percy didn't remember uncapping Riptide. He didn't remember the blinding rage as the monster…
He couldn't think. He remembers a faint memory of Jason and Nico trying to pull him away from his son. Trying to tell him he couldn't come back. He faintly remembers Nico's distraught expression as he said, "His life force left."
He didn't remember crying or being dragged back to Camp Half-Blood. Voices filled his head. A couple of girls asking what's wrong, a few of his friends asking about what happened. A couple of nymphs looked at them in pity.
Percy didn't even remember walking home.
Annabeth ran toward him, smiling. "Where were you?" She pulled away from the hug and took in his appearance. "Percy…"
Percy hugged her and started crying. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Annabeth didn't seem to understand until she realized someone wasn't with him.
"Percy," She whispered, dreading the answer already. "Where's Cast?"
Percy cried harder.
"He's dead."
Plot twist? Expected? Tell me in the reviews. And by the way, tell me what you think of the Percabeth son.
-Aquatic Decendants
