Okay, I admit, someone took my idea already... But don't worry, I already PMed him, so hopefully no copyright-thingies will be issued.
Magnus had to admit, being with his cousin Annabeth was awkward enough. But with her boyfriend and Samirah Al-Abbas too, uh, maybe he shouldn't have come. They were in New York, where they claimed to be the 'center of power were if they died they'd be found right away'. But honestly, to Magnus, the people on the streets were big enough to kill him already. Especially on his way to Percy's apartment. And wasn't Boston the center of power where they were most connected to the gods?
And apparently, he was going to lose a bet, too.
Sam and Magnus had told the couple that they had a really weird life, but when Annabeth told them that their story was WAY worse, the bet was on. So, they exchanged stories...
"Okay, so let me get this straight, Magnus," Percy started with tears of laughter in his eyes. Magnus scowled. "You died, some Hulk picked you up and deposited you in this hotel called Valaha, then your dwarf friend won a battle because Sam bit him on the nose. You went to a wolf, changed his ropes, shot some giants, and then the doomsday was over."
Magnus was irked how fast his life was summarized. "One, it isn't Hulk, it's a Valkyrie, and second of all, the hotel is called Valhalla, not Valaha. Sam is a daughter of Loki, she shape-shifted to bite him on the nose. I bet you guys can't shift."
"What are you going to bet? Twenty bucks?" Annabeth smirked.
"We can't, but we both have our own powers. I'm a son of Poseidon, the ruler of the sea, so I don't have to get wet, I can breathe underwater, create air bubbles, control the waves, and basically manipulate the water. Every fish recognizes me. Annabeth~" Percy was punched on the shoulder.
"Let him be more stunned later," Annabeth smirked. Percy slowly nodded, although Annabeth couldn't really control anything, but at least she still had brains.
"So, Sam, anything to add?" Percy tapped her on the shoulder.
"I used to be a Valkyrie. I was the one who got Magnus and sent him to Valhalla, and then got banished. Her voice was surprisingly cold. "You may laugh at us, but you do not see the darkness at its extent."
"You'll see our darkness for sure," Percy said bitterly. "I fell into hell before, fought more than two wars, and got poisoned in hell, almost died in hell, drank fire water..."
"Which hell?" Sam asked. Then she found two pairs of eyes staring at her. "Oh, sorry, we have nine worlds, remember? With the world tree Yggdrasil? That we climbed to jump into another world?"
"Right..." Percy smiled, the fakes in it conspicuous.
"You really don't know, do you?" Magnus narrowed his eyes.
"Uh, of course I do! I was paying very close attention!" Even if he was telling the truth, everyone could tell he exaggerated it a lot. Very close attention? Annabeth would've been more likely.
"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth grumbled. Percy seemed to shrink.
"Well, time for our story!" Percy grinned. "You're about to pay us a whole day's meal!' Annabeth grinned, too. She sat on the stack of books that she brought here. The only reason why Percy disliked those books was because he had to carry them here...unfortunately...
"Okay, start, I guess..." Magnus nervously told them, as if he could just see the hole in his budget.
"Well, let's start with me. I'm a daughter of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. I ran away from my home, and then was found by Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan, who were the daughter of Zeus, lord of the sky and king of gods, and son of Hermes, god of messages, thievery, and a bunch of other things. I, er, attacked them with a hammer... Anyway, I was brought to Camp Half-Blood, a camp where most demigods go to. At least, where most Greek demigods go to. I met Chiron, and I was put in the Athena Cabin. Then, few years later, Percy came," Annabeth started.
"Gosh, it's already starting to confuse me," Magnus muttered.
What do you mean by 'At least, where most Greek demigods go to'?" Sam asked.
"There are also Roman demigods," Percy explained. "They have a camp in San Francisco, Camp Jupiter. I went there for a little bit..." He showed them his SPQR brand on his arm.
"SEAWEED BRAIN, EIGHT MONTHS IS NOT A LITTLE BIT!" Annabeth yelled into his ear. Percy covered his ears and tried avoiding becoming deaf. "GOT IT?" Percy muttered a sheepish yes, and told her to continue if she wanted those meals.
"Um, why was he at the camp?" Magnus asked.
"You'll see later during my story," Percy jabbed a thumb at his own chest, and grinned.
"Gosh, you guys even have separate stories," Magnus looked dissuaded in winning the bet. More like going to be serving them as their servants for the rest of his life as an einherji.
"Anyway, when Percy came, I knew it was finally time. For what I won't tell you, but it was finally time. First he had to go on a quest because everyone thought that Hades stole the lightning bolt." Annabeth pulled out a book from under her and started to flip randomly through the pages.
"Um, who's Hades?" Magnus raised his hand.
"Hades is the god of the underworld, basically. He's the god of the dead, shadows, blah blah blah," Percy told him. "And...that's why he gets angry at us a lot...because we usually curse 'What in Hades'..."
"Can I?" Annabeth cleared her throat.
"Yes," Magnus and Sam spoke in unison. Inside, Annabeth felt a laugh bubble. Soon, they would probably be a couple...wait, no. If she remembered correctly...that Sam already had a boyfriend...
"Okay, so, anyway, we went on a quest, almost got frozen to stone by Medusa, and then we got the Lightning Bolt, returned it to Zeus, and the his first quest was over. Then the second year Thalia's Pine got poisoned~"
"Is Thalia's pine a tree made in the memory of your friend Thalia?" Magnus interupted. Annabeth seemed to look down and lose her usual glimmer in her eyes. Percy seemed to lose concentration. Even the sky seemed to darken.
"No...she almost died bringing me back...her father made her into a pine so as to keep her spirit alive...then she became alive alive at the end..."
"Oh." Magnus looked away in embarrassment.
"Well, so we went to a cave and there was a giant Cyclopes in there...he had the Golden Fleece, which could cure anything, supposedly...and so after I put on my invisible hat and made him think I was Nobody, like the old myth, then we cured Thalia~Thalia's Pine."
"The Cyclopes was my half-brother..." Percy grumbled.
"What is a Cyclopes, anyway?" Magnus inquired. "And why would he be related to you?"
"A Cyclopes is a one-eyed monster that are usually much taller than average people...like mortals...and the reason all Cyclopes are my half-brothers is because Poseidon was the father to all of them. And, since I'm the son of Poseidon..."
"They're related to you," Magnus finished for him.
"Basically," Percy shrugged.
Annabeth cleared her throat. "If you would please let me finish..."
"Oh, yes, go along," Magnus replied diplomatically in a French accent. "I was just curious, plain curious." He burst out in laughter at himself, Percy joining in. Sam and Annabeth locked eyes and a message was conveyed: Boys.
"A-ny-way," Annabeth drawled, "We went on another quest to do numerous amounts of stuff…like stuff…most of it happened with Percy, I wasn't really the one who was in trouble or really even involved, so I'll just sort of skip this quest. You'll hear about it from Percy. The next quest..."
"I thought I did a lot..." Magnus muttered and shook his head.
"The next quest, we tried to stop Luke and his army...oh, did I forget to mention? Luke turned evil somewhere during those quests. But...he was a hero in the end. Anyway, he and his army were trying to invade Camp Half-Blood, through my favorite architect Daedalus's labyrinth, so we stopped them They were also seeking Ariadne's string, but we convinced Daedalus to not give it to him. Percy and I had our..." Annabeth stopped abruptly, fire blossoming on her cheeks, and changed her path of thoughts. "Um, we went into a volcano and then stopped these monsters, not going to get into detail because you guys are already learning too much. And then we parted ways..."
"Uh, could you finish that sentence you stopped at?" Sam smirked.
"Oh, uh, which sentence?" Annabeth tried to feign dumbness.
"You forgot? I thought you never forgot anything?" Sam raised an eyebrow. Annabeth looked cornered.
"It's none of your business!" She barked, and resumed her story. "Then I realized that the volcano had erupted, and Percy was still inside. Two weeks later, he came to shore unharmed. And that was right during his shroud burning, too..." She heard Percy muttering,
"Was it really two weeks? I thought it was just three or four days..." And it dawned on Annabeth, finally.
"Percy."
"Yes?"
"Did you, by any chance, land on Calypso's Island? Tell me!"
"Uh, um, uh..."
"I won't get mad or anything!"
"Uh...yes..."
"Now THAT explains it," She sighed with relief.
"Is she always like this?" Magnus leaned over and whispered to the petrified Percy.
"Yes..."
By the time Annabeth was done telling her story, Magnus was running around, fiddling with his sword pendant and muttering words going along the lines of "No, I'm going to go bankrupt" or "does she really talk that much?"
"And...it's my turn," Percy announced.
"No! Lord Percy, you don't have to talk anymore! I know we'll have to pay you!" Magnus got on the ground and begged.
"Well...fine," Percy tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, just a little bit."
"NO!" Magnus wailed, his eyes scrunching up and his mouth tugged downward in a serious pout.
"Oh yes," Percy exclaimed with glee. Sam just shrugged.
"Please no please no please no PLEASE NO!" Magnus ran around like a terrorist was bombing the apartment and there were bombs raining down. Even Sam had to laugh.
"Well...hm, I'll tell you the part where it get's weird. The part where Hera makes us go to opposite camps..."
"Onwy tat?" Magnus looked at him with the puppy eyes that he had earned a free meal with.
"Yeah," Percy agreed. "Because I'm starving."
And so...he told his tale.
"One day, I woke with some snake ladies hot on my trail. One was campaigning, but whatever. Anyway, that was around the time I went missing in Camp Half-Blood. I ended up bringing Hera across a river, that dissolved my Achilles Heel. Then, I became a Roman Praetor. The beginning was harsh, though. Anyway, their praetor that I had filled in for had also gotten a missing stamp. He ended up at CHB, which we just call Camp Half-Blood in shorter terms. So..."
He explained his tale.
"Taxi!" Percy waved toward the yellow bug just about to speed pass them. It came to an abrupt halt, and the driver stepped out. He was a buff guy, with shoulder-length greasy hair, one small eye and a scar running from his eyebrow to his chin.
"Come in," He growled in a low voice. Uneasily, they sat in. "Where to?" He queried.
"Uh, to that famous restaurant down south," Percy said, trying to brighten up the gloomy and dark air. "You know, the one where they have the amazing food where you can dye it any color you want..."
"Yes, I know," He replied in the same menacing, deep voice.
"Just like you to go there...everything will be blue on your plate," Magnus grumbled, with a snort not even long enough to last a second, because the next thing that his brain accounted was a shimmering, glinting blade stubbed against his throat.
"What!?" The three gasped as Magnus stared wide-eyed at the glimmering metal that could officially send him to Helheim. "Y~You're not a driver, are you?" Annabeth stared confidently up at the man.
"No, of course I am," He replied with a malicious grin. "No whispering on my car, brat. Unless you want to see your head on the floor." He spat at Magnus. Magnus nodded furiously, but not so vigorously as to penetrate himself. The blade was sheathed.
"I won't, I promise," He gasped.
"You have been warned..." He growled before resuming his eye on the road. Those were the last words before silence swallowed the taxi whole. The whole crew stayed, not wanting to die.
"Uh, Mr. Driver?" Annabeth glanced around with the look in her eye translating as "I have a plan. Just be quiet." The boys and Sam did a slight nod. If Annabeth had been looking at them, she would've seen Percy with his pen doing the jumping jacks on his hand, Sam's mouth twitching with some magic ready, and Magnus with his pendant in his hand.
"Yes?" His deep voice took on a slightly more mellow tone. He hadn't seemed to notice the weapons that were practically buzzing.
"Well, I was wondering if you knew any mythology. Like maybe, the most common, Greek, or maybe Norse, or Roman..." She faltered when she saw the malevolent look hidden within his dark blue eyes.
"None of your business," He replied, and stopped the taxi. "You're here."
Let's just say the foursome was happy to get off the car.
A nice one-shot for the end of Thanksgiving break! Back to school now, sadly...
