*Author's Note: This doesn't feel like a second FanFiction to me, but rather something written that goes along with my first.
I believe that a few of my original characters (other than my main) deserve their own background story.
It's not really a parallel FanFic, nor is it a prequel, so I'm guessing that I'm just making this a short story that can be read without reading my original FanFiction.
This story will contain shorter chapters (compared to my first story).
Also, please check out my first FanFic, A Time For An Heir. I would really appreciate it.
And don't forget to review.
-Olo Eopia03
Chapter 1: Second at Being First
The heavy burden came down hard on her shoulders as her concentration faltered for the third time. The mass of water felt as though it weighed more than a ton.
Splash.
The little girl groaned in anger and frustration as she felt the water droplets drip down her pale face. Elli threw up her hands, finally realizing she had been defeated (again) like so many other times before this.
Why did it have to be so hard?
"Come on. Try again," A calm and gentle voice called out from several feet to the right where Elli stood. "You've almost got it." Chiron continued. They'd spent almost two hours working on this, and even the centaur was starting to lose his patience.
Elli felt like she had already lost hers.
"Remind me again why I agreed to do this," Elli said as she tried to keep her voice level. She respected Chiron, no doubt, but sometimes she felt as though she was being trained until she could die of exhaustion... And yet her mentor would not allow her to rest for the shortest moment.
'It was your fault in the first place to ask him to train you hard.' Elli thought, arguing silently with herself.
'But I never thought it was going to be-'
'Excuses...'
'Oh, shut up,'
Great... Now she was starting to get deranged just by talking to herself.
She looked over to see that the centaur's brow was furrowed and that his face was beginning to show some signs of exhaustion as well.
The two of them were at the lake, located not far from the heart of Camp Half-Blood. The lake's quite a spectacular place to be in, no matter what time of day it was. The surface seemed to sparkle right in front of your eyes, and sometimes you wished that you could stay there for a longer moment. The fertile soil seeped through, meeting the lush green and short-trimmed grass that swayed along the wind. The trees that surrounded it stood there peacefully, with an occasional tree nymph running around. But the beautiful scenery didn't stop Elli's frustration from rising. She felt like she just wanted to stomp back to her cabin and forget about the training session that was happening right now. The lesson was starting to make her go crazy with exhaustion.
"You wanted to do this because of Percy, Elli."
Then she remembered.
Perseus Jackson. First demigod son of Poseidon. Legendary hero of the Titan War. Known as one of the most powerful demigods in his time before he even reached adulthood. Even after seven decades, he still is honored as though he was one of the twelve Olympian gods.
And then there was Elli Fugino. First and only daughter of Poseidon. Achievements other than getting to Camp Half-Blood alive at a ridiculously young age?
So far, nothing.
Now that she thought about it as she tried again to conjure up another fifteen-foot wave in silence, it really also was for her own good of protecting herself. Apparently, it didn't matter who she was inside, or whether she was just eight years old. All that did matter was that she happened to come second.
Everyone expects me to do great and maybe even better things just because Percy Jackson saved the world.
The towering wave of water rose higher from the lake... Higher... The weight on her shoulders were increasing tenfold as her arms began to tremble... Higher... Almos-
"Ugh!" Elli cried out again as the wave splashed down again, soaking her from her jet black hair to her socks. Elli didn't care whether or not she was wet; she can always dry herself later is she willed herself to.
Why can't she do it? Elli heard Chiron sigh.
"C-"
"I was concentrating, Chiron!" Elli yelled out in exasperation as she looked over to see the centaur gazing into her eyes with the same patience and kindness he had always shown to Elli. Immediately, Elli's face changed into an apologetic expression.
"It's okay, Elli. I understand," Chiron said gently before Elli could say anything. "Class dismissed."
Not wanting to cause anymore hurt, Elli nodded in gratitude and instantly dashed back into the woods, heading in the direction of where the Big House stood.
She'd woken up two hours before the crack of dawn to do this when nobody was at the lake, and still now almost everyone was in their own selected cabins, snoozing around as much as they could before the conch shell sounded. By the time Elli arrived in front of her cabin, she was completely dry.
Well, there were some perks to becoming a child of one of the Big Three, after all.
Finally surviving a full year at Camp Half-Blood, Elli immediately recognized what she could do... and what she couldn't do.
Numero Uno: never ever play with the archery bows during class. Not long ago there was an accident of a flaming arrow that flew right into the armory, scattering and almost burning most of the weapons. The originally target just happened to be fifty feet away or so...
Lesson Number Two: Wrestling? If you want to die, sure. Elli was smaller and younger than most kids, and having even a short fighting session with the Ares kids would surely kill her. She could barely walk around properly with thirty-pound armor weighing on her shoulders (and that was the lightest set). Elli shuddered. The last time she tried it, she had been under a headlock for more than forty-five minutes...
There were a lot more things she couldn't do, but sword fighting was almost the only thing that was immediately out of question. Chiron already saw that she had some natural talent in her, but that could only happen if she could even lift the blade or she could stop accidentally flinging it away a few feet while fighting. The swords were either too heavy (which was what happened in most cases) or too light. Chiron promised that he would see the Hephaestus kids to that or even request a favor to Olympus.
Other than that, it was controlling water. That was easy, unless you have to go really in depth into what you're doing.
Apparently, it was so obvious to everyone...
Yeah, leave it to the almighty Percy Jackson to decide my fate!
"Look, she looks just like him, too! Black hair and sea-green eyes!"
"I want you for my capture the flag team!-"
Everyone wants me to be as great as him!
Not that Elli disrespected the legendary hero. More then anything, she really wanted to be just as great as him. But she didn't want to be compared to. Elli wanted to shine in her own way.
Elli sighed as she stared expectantly at the Big House that towered over her. She didn't feel like eating breakfast at all. If there was one thing Percy could stand that she couldn't, it was definitely eating alone with no one there to talk to. It almost made her want to move back to the Hermes cabin... She wished there wouldn't be different tables that separated demigods apart... Did Percy feel the same way? If onl-
"Wah!" Elli squealed as she felt a sudden and startling jerk on her shoulders. Someone had jumped from behind her, causing Elli to stagger sideways and almost ram into a tree nymph that stood nearby.
Almost immediately there was a burst of soft giggles as the nymph huffed and dashed out of sight. Even before turning around to face the person who had playfully shoved her, Elli already knew who it was.
Melanie Robinson wasn't your typical kind of prankster, but sometimes a child of Hecate has the right personality of having fun with their own magic. The older girl had a dirty blond ponytail that bounced up and down whenever she did...basically anything. It always gave her that exciting, enthusiastic aura around her. Her hazel colored eyes gleamed on her freckled face; it was the kind of face that Elli had always knew and seen almost every day at Camp Half-Blood. Luckily, Elli was only two years younger (which is a relief since the majority of the people at camp can range from being a young teenager all the way to people almost reaching eighteen), and it was nice to have someone around her age to be around. Even at the most merry of times Melanie had the ability of acting more hyper and joyous than Elli.
"What are you doing here up so early, Melanie?" Elli asked as she couldn't help but let a bewildered grin escape from her lips. It was good to be back from all that intense training. Even though only a few people had repeatedly treated Elli as though she were some different demigod (which she was, apparently,), there were at least a few who saw through all that and took Elli in for who she really was. Melanie was one of them.
"I knew you were already out and about," Melanie said, returning the grin, "but Ken wanted me to come out and do something for him. You know, he's always thinking up new crazy and silly ideas, from dancing strawberries to who knows what! It's always the Hermes kids. Next, I bet he's going to start influencing even the undetermined children in that cabin!"
"Well, you know what they always say. Child of Hermes strikes again!" Elli said with a laugh. As the two walked over to the Hermes cabin, other children were already starting to walk around and get ready for the new day ahead of them.
{* * *}
All the way across camp, away from the two friends that were chattering happily as they walked, Chiron had just received a letter from Hermes. Perhaps the god had been too busy to come by and say something. This shouldn't be that important. The envelop was sealed on the back with a gold seal showing a miniature image of the Empire State Building. The paper was really crumpled and dirty, looking as though it had been through a lot just to get here. Flicking it open, he read the letter:
Chiron-
You don't have much time.
Bad news just arose. Hera is angry.
She knows one of you stole them.
The apple.
They are looking for you...
-Hermes