The Result of Two Love-dogs
It was a normal day at Camp Half-Blood. Well as normal as a camp for ADHD and dyslexic demigods can be. The satyrs, Demeter and Dionysus kids were out in the strawberry fields growing the plants. The Ares kids were sharpening their weapons while watching the Apollo kids play volleyball. Connor and Travis were grinning mischievously on top of the Hermes cabin while watching the Aphrodite kids putting on makeup. Obviously they were pulling a prank.
Percy sighed as he sat by the lake and gazed into the water at the naiads weaving baskets below. The war had ended a few months back and the signs of any sort of battle were almost gone. But one thing was bugging him. Mrs O'Leary. She hadn't been seen by anyone since the war. Most people believed she was dead, but Percy adamantly refused to accept it. He was sure she wasn't dead. Whatever others thought.
He was startled out of his thoughts as a shadow grew behind him and solidified into Nico di Angelo. Percy jumped about a foot in the air.
"Gods, Nico. Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" He yelled. Nico looked unamused.
"Not now Percy. We have a problem."
"Errrrr. A problem."
"Yes that's what I just said Sherlock," Nico replied.
"Sherlock?"
"Gods, have you never read the classic book by Arthur Conan-Doyle?" Nico asked. Percy shook his head. "Or even watched the TV series?"
"TV series."
"Your starting to sound like the ghosts of Asphodel Percy," Nico scolded. "Stop copying me."
"Ghosts of-" Percy trailed of when he saw Nico's expression. "I mean, errrr...what was it you wanted to talk about? A problem?"
Nico ground his teeth, "yes, now come on."
Without waiting for a reply he grabbed Percy's hand and pulled him into the shadows.
- Line Break -
Percy cheered as the shadow travel spat him out on the banks of the river Lethe. It had been too long since he'd shadow travelled- wait LETHE.
"AAAAAAAAARGH," Percy screamed as he scrambled away from it. He'd had a bad experience with amnesia.
Nico groaned from beside him, "stop being a baby Percy. You wouldn't get wet if you fell in that river and therefore would not lose your memories. Remember, you tested it when that little fiasco about dads sword happened."
"Well I'd rather not have my memories wiped again," pouted Percy. "That was a rather painful few weeks. Or was it months? I lost track."
Nico groaned again. Why did Percy have to be so damn annoying? And why were they beside the Lethe? This was almost the opposite of where he wanted to end up.
"Okay Percy. We're in the wrong place so you need to take hold of my hand," Nico said.
"Where were we supposed to end up, China?" Laughed Percy.
"Ha, ha Percy, that was an accident and it was my first try, now come on." Nico grabbed Percy and they melted into shadow...
...and came out in front of the gates of the Underworld to find...
"I don't know whether to be happy or something else," breathed Percy.
"Told you we have a problem," Nico replied.
In front of them was Mrs O'Leary sitting next to Cerberus with about sixteen puppies in front of them. Problem? Yeah, you could say that. Chaos? Definitely.
Ghosts were going haywire. Most of the puppies were snapping at them while Cerberus looked at them adoringly. There were two three-headed puppies that were growling menacingly at the spirits, about six of them were mini hellhounds that chased their own tails and sat with their tongue lolling out of their mouths before running and playfully nipping the panicking ghosts. Many more showed different genes of their parents. Some were nasty hellhounds whereas some were nice three-headed ones. Some were a mixture of both. There was even one that had four heads and one that had two.
"Dad went ballistic when he found out," Nico said tiredly. "He's closed down the Underworld until a time of further notice. Basically Charon is not allowed to ferry any souls down - not that he did anyway - and no souls are allowed to be reborn for a while."
Percy was still gawking at the mass of rolling fur and claws. He shook his head, "How in the name of your dad did they have kids? And how are they here? Aren't puppies born with their eyes closed? Or did I mishear Annabeth?"
"As close as I can figure," Nico started. "Mrs O'Leary conceived them during the time you disappeared for eight months. Because she is larger than normal dogs the pregnancy lasted longer. She must have given birth a few months later. I assume just after my dad dumped the paperwork for the Physicians Cure on me. I hate when people come back from being dead. Not that I didn't want him to be alive but- never mind. The next few months she was probably caring for them in the underworld in secret. That's why she went off the radar and Cerberus has been disappearing while my dad wasn't looking. To visit the pups."
"But," Percy gestured wildly with his hands. "There are so many!"
"Bigger dog, more puppies," Nico answered. "The only question now is, what do we do with them?"
Percy looked at them carefully, "I suppose we take them back to camp. They might even help us defend it when the time arises, like Mrs O'Leary does."
Nico looked dubious, "it's a good idea..." He trailed off as a ghost tried to sneak past the dogs. Two growling, nasty three-headed puppies jumped in front of it and scared it off. "I think those two might be a bit too rough though. I think we should give them as a peace offering to my dad as his palace guards."
"Good idea," agreed Percy. "Ummm, after we've done that it might be better if we tell Chiron first. I don't want to deal with the campers waving swords at hyper Cerberus and hellhound puppies. That would not go down too well."
- Page Break -
After a lot of growling, almost losing fingers and deadly claws, Percy and Nico managed to get the designated puppies to Hades. Which resulted in screaming, Nico managing to swear colourfully in Greek, English, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, French and was that Chinese? How in the world does he know that many languages? Getting of track here... Well long story short Persephone turned him into daisies, Hades decided he liked the dogs when they tried to kill Percy and Demeter fussed that Percy didn't eat enough cereal.
After a long hour of chaos Nico and Percy managed escape, Nico still tinted green from the chlorophyll and Percy fuming about the two crazy puppies.
Nico shadow travelled to the gates to collect the puppies and Mrs O'Leary to go back to camp. Percy climbed onto her with ten of the puppies while Nico grabbed the remaining four and travelled back to camp.
- Page Break -
About a week after Percy and Nico returned to camp with the puppies (Chiron was not happy with that but gave in after the two-headed one stole his heart. Argus however adopted the four-headed one. Do not get on his bad side) the puppies had grown the size of Great Danes.
There are definitely too many to look after thought Percy as he sat in the stands of the training ring. He was interrupted by an excited Nico who stumbled out the shadows.
"Percy!" he shouted. "Great news! I gave one of the three-headed dogs to this giant guy in England. He said he was interested in unusual creatures and could handle one. Don't know why he named it 'Fluffy' and carried around a pink umbrella. Weirdo."
"Great," Percy said. "Which dog was it?"
"It was the one that calms down when you play it music. Must've picked it up from something Cerberus told him about Orpheus. Don't ask me how. I also gave him that runt hellhound. The one that looks like a boarhound? Looks really fierce but is scared of flys? That one. Why he would buy two dogs at once is beyond me..."
"Yes!" Cheered Percy. "We got rid of two and only have twelve left."
Nico coughed, "eight. We gave four to Camp Jupiter, remember. Actually is that six because Chiron adopted one and so did Argus? Never mind. At least we are a few down right?"
"Yeah," Percy said. "Soon we'll have our own race of tamed hellhounds with extra heads."
Nico laughed. It was a good time to be a demigod. The war was put behind and now they had their own guard dogs. Perfect.
The End
This is the end. I had a random idea and this is the result. This is my first fanfic so I'm relatively new to this whole 'fangirl' business. I would love some reviews and critics are welcome. Also I know next to nothing about Beta's and stuff so yeah.
I actually researched some stuff here. Apparently dogs are pregnant for 58-68 days, but thought that since hellhounds are bigger it probably lasts longer. Persephone is in the Underworld at the moment since this story is set a few months after Blood of Olympus.
Virtual cookies to anyone who can tell me where the reference was. I own nothing. Not even the cover image.
Star, xoxo