Backup Plan: Phase 2: Pt. 1

Behold, the second part of my magnum opus.

You've all waited long enough, and so here it is.

Disclaimer: Percy Jackson is owned by Rick Riordan, and Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto

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Manhattan, New York

Penthouse in the Upper East Side

Evening of the fourth day from the twins' sixteenth birthday

Persephone laid alone in her room, on top of her bed. She was wearing soccer shorts and a t-shirt, her usual lounge wear, reminiscing and thinking about the past twenty months. Further down the bed was an opened envelope filled with pictures, and in her hand, the one that wasn't laying across her forehead, was one of those pictures. Her beloved cloak was hanging on the bedpost.

Looking at the cloak drew Persephone's thoughts to her time in high school. She was bullied, of course, for wearing the garb of the Akatsuki, being the subject of many pet names like weeb, weeb-girl, Weebone—a play on the last three letters of her name—and the school weeb. It was funny to her that they called her a weeb, yet all of them knew that her cloak came from an anime, but anyway.

She also scared people by wearing her cloak. Its long sleeves hid her entire arm, it high collar hid her lower face, and its color, that deep black, the clouds red as blood, the white pristine as a bleached bone, created an air around her that, to the ones that didn't bully her or make fun of her, made people feel threatened. In addition to being called an anime nerd, she was also called school shooter.

Her quiet demeanor and seemingly antisocial nature didn't help, but there were only two kinds of people for her to interact with: those who scorned her, and those who ran from her. Hard to be social in a climate like that.

Anyway, due to her silent demeanor, lack of friends, poor grades because of her dyslexia preventing her from reading and her ADHD keeping her from sitting still long enough to pay attention (the former of which got her sent down to the special room with all the other problem children for tests, and earned her more bullying for not being able to read, the latter of which got her sent out into the hallway for disrupting class, which got her a reputation as an annoying idiot) Persephone had been assigned to mandatory counseling as a preventative measure to anything "unscrupulous or unfortunate."

Bleh.

She had also been called into the principal's office multiple times to discuss her cloak, as where it didn't necessarily violate any dress code policies, as it went well past her knees, covered her shoulders, didn't expose excess amounts of skin, and was even in school colors (Goode's mascot being the Goode Raider, a black-and-red clad sharpshooter copied right from Texas Tech) it made people "uncomfortable."

However, Paul proved to be Persephone's lifeline in the school, being her shoulder to cry on when needed, her room to hang out in when she was free, and an expert over school laws. He came to her defense in the dress code episode, citing that others discomfort was not ground enough to make a student alter their wardrobe.

The principal then tried to spin a story about how the collar kept her face from being seen by the cameras, and that if something happened, they would be able to differentiate between her and some assailant, and he didn't want that to happen, and that he was only looking out for her, blah blah blah…Persephone fixed the issue by signing a paper that said she would keep her cloak unbuttoned to her collar bones at all times while on campus.

The principal hadn't liked it, at all, for the sole purpose that he wasn't getting exactly what he wanted the way he wanted it, but that was just tough.

Now, two months into the first semester, her face had always been covered by the collar. With it unbuttoned, and her demigoddess beauty exposed for all to see, she had to start beating away the boys with a stick. The single jocks tried their luck first, thinking that with their awesome bodies and status as a football player, they wouldn't be rejected.

They were. Flatly. Hands down.

Of course, even though they might have been single, the jocks still had their loyal fanbases of harpies…the human kind. Those harpies were experts of the rumor mill, and they got it circulating like something going out of style. To Persephone's memory, she had sex with ten different football players, all of which were proud to admit it, six different basketball players, all proudly owning up to it, and one of the most acne-ridden computer geeks in the school. He was scared to death of the concept.

Persephone was also pregnant right now, at the onset of her sophomore year, with the babies of seven different boys, and her cloak had been used to hide her baby bump.

Cue overdramatic eyeroll.

Of course, the teachers still had jobs to do and duties to perform and responsibilities to uphold, and Persephone, despite all the negativity around her and her bad reputation, was still a student of Goode High School, and that meant that she was as protected from bullies as anyone else was.

Whether or not the teachers liked it, they were called upon to root out the source of these rumors, and nip them.

Nip them they did.

The rumors might have weakly persisted to the current day, but the starters of the rumors were punished with varying sentences. Of course, it had the spiral effect of the punished feeling their misfortunes were directly because of Persephone, and so they sought to direct their ire, only to receive more punishment because of it, which generated more ire, which generated more desire for venting, and then authorities were brought in to investigate a leak.

A leak that said potential murder.

Apparently, in the group of girls trying to destroy Persephone on a social level, one of them had grown sick of it, correctly feeling that planning a humiliation so great it could potentially kill someone, was the utmost kind of wrong, and so she snitched. The fucking FBI showed up with warrants for arrests, and arrests there were.

All the girls besides the snitch, who remained anonymous as per her request, were in psychiatric wards.

The school cracked down harder still.

All the athletes who had "sex" with Persephone were brought in and grilled, and when the obvious finally spilled from them, they were made to sign confessions of their lie. The school was even going to hold an assembly in which all these boys would stand before the student body and tell the truth, publicly humiliating themselves, and their colleges would be contacted, scholarships revoked and admittance declined, but Persephone had stepped in at that point, her compassion taking hold.

Through her alone, the only thing boys had to do was sign their confessions, confessions that were then sealed, and the matter dropped. The boys were shocked of course, their cores touched. Persephone brought them all into the conference office and shut the door, and told them she was tired of all the lies and unneeded strife, and that she just wanted to enjoy high school.

That seemed enough to cow them all, but to make sure they stopped in their advances, Persephone came out to them. To prove her claim, she showed them her favorite picture of her Annabeth: them at the end of a pier, the beautiful ocean sparkling behind them, smiling and touching cheeks.

The jocks were floored, floored that the hottest girl in school (news to Persephone) was actually gay—and taken, too. She had been scared then, fearing that she had just made a huge mistake, but something changed in those young men that day.

Not a word was said about the nightmare, or her being gay. In fact, almost nothing was said at all. The rumors all but stopped, though a few still persisted, which was why she was apparently pregnant and in labor, and when she passed in the halls, the sneers were less frequent and some people even said a passing "hey."

That was how everything prior to Spring Break ended.

It was strange. Something that big, teen girls plotting murder, a contingent of hopeful athletes being made to sign oaths, FBI involvement, bullying to that large a scale…it should've garnered mass media attention, and Persephone should've been all over the news again, but it didn't happen. As far as America was concerned, it had never happened.

Like some higher power was keeping it quiet.

Sally, of course, had been terrifyingly livid throughout the whole ordeal, performing her motherly duties well, but she was calmed when the whole thing had blown over. Persephone was just glad that her little brother hadn't been present for any of this, elsewise there would've been bodies.

Annabeth had somehow caught wind of the turmoil, and she transferred from her high school in California all the way to Manhattan as Spring Break ended. The action gave Persephone the push she needed to get through finals and graduate from a freshman to a sophomore, though neither girl dared come out to the student body.

The last thing either of them needed or wanted was for some extremist to try and kill them for not being straight.

Funny enough, though, when rumors of them being gay did start to pop up, they died off fairly quickly. Something about the school's top athletes not believing for a second that girls that hot wouldn't want to be with a stud of a man.

Whenever Persephone saw one of those top athletes, she made sure to give him a nod.

When summer came, Annabeth had flown back to California to spend some time with her dad, as Frederick was still trying to get used to the fact that his son had been turned into a girl and wanted to stay that way. The stepmother didn't see what the problem was, as she had always thought Annabeth had been a girl, as did the little boys.

Annabeth was using the Mist on them to avoid more strife than what there already was.

It was funny, really, the Mist. Persephone knew how to use it now, having asked Chiron for lessons, lessons that the centaur provided. If she had wanted, Persephone could've snapped her fingers and made all of the bullying vanish, all of the rumors disappear, all of her mortal enemies into her best friends…but she didn't. It didn't sit well with her, bending someone's will like that, playing with people's heads like that.

Even with the promise of ease and friendship, Persephone hadn't used the Mist, something that Annabeth still wanted to debate with her.

A knock at Persephone's door grounded the girl back to reality, and she practically flew to hide the envelope with the pictures, and the picture in her hand.

"Just a minute!" she called, buying time.

The door opened anyway, just as Persephone hid the envelope under her pillow. Her breathing was fast and her face was red, and she was already trying to think of a lie to get her mom to leave, but all her worry was for not.

The grinning face of a California girl stood in Persephone's doorway.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth greeted.

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"So, what'cha hiding there?"

Persephone flushed like a cherry as she was both caught, and as Annabeth slid on top of her, straddling her. She reached around her girlfriend's head, under her pillow, and pulled out the envelope, the one loose photo on top. Annabeth whistled appreciatively.

"I am sexy."

As demigods could not use cellphones, they could not send text messages to each other, nor could they send photos. Not the new way, anyway. No, if demigods wanted to send pictures across distances, they had to have the film processed and mailed away. That's exactly what Annabeth did. She went above and beyond, dropping ten bucks to get the film handled, and another ten bucks for a book of stamps, and a hundred bucks for the camera…just to send nudes.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Annabeth went through a very convoluted, very costly process to send her girlfriend lewd photos of herself. Of course, she used the Mist to keep the film processor from seeing anything they weren't supposed to.

Now, just why would Annabeth do such a thing? Well…

Early June

"I want to have sex with you," the blonde said seriously.

Persephone's face glowed scarlet. "E-Excuse me?"

"I want. To have sex. With you."

The sea princess squeaked. "W-We're a little y-young for t-that, a-aren't we…?"

"Not really," Annabeth shrugged casually. "Millions of teens are having sex before they're eighteen."

"That doesn't mean we're going to!"

"Sure, it does. Besides, don't act like you've never wanted to."

"I haven't!"

Annabeth inspected her nails. "Swear that on the Styx."

Persephone hesitated.

"Thought so," Annabeth said smugly. "Oh, relax. I wasn't talking about right now."

The daughter of Poseidon's tension visibly deflated. "You weren't?"

"Of course not. Do you have any idea what you like and don't like? Any idea of how to do it?"

"I-I didn't think two girls could h-have s-s-s-se…se-se…seeee…"

"Sex?" Annabeth supplied.

"Y-Yeah…that…" Persephone bowed her head to where her hair hid most of her vermillion visage.

"Of course two girls can have sex—and I know that because I've done my research, so don't panic."

"Research?"

"PornHub."

Persephone turned so red that steam began to slowly drift from her head.

"You are such a cinnamon roll, Seaweed Brain."

"Don't call me that," she huffed.

"Well, you are. Anyway," Annabeth enunciated to cut off Persephone's protest, "I'll be leaving for California tomorrow, and I'll send you some pictures to experiment with?"

"…what am I going to be doing with pictures?" Seph asked suspiciously yet vacantly.

"Masturbating to them, duh."

And here's where Persephone truly showed how much of a cinnamon roll she was. "Masturbating…? Is that…is that…isn't that, like, something Artemis uses to hunt things…?"

Annabeth stared blankly at her girlfriend for the longest time, trying to figure out how she came to that conclusion, before it clicked in her own head. Masturbate. Master bait. Like a bait that was the master of all baits.

"No, Seph. Masturbating is when you use a sex toy, your own fingers, or a surface to stimulate your genitals until you orgasm."

"O-Oh…don't…don't call it that…"

"Don't call what that?"

"The M-word…please, don't call it that…I don't like it. It sounds gross."

Annabeth then saw an opportunity to have a little bit of harmless fun. "Okay. We'll call it 'fingering yourself.'"

"No!" Seph squeaked.

"Persephone's happy time," Annabeth grinned.

"Not that either!"

"Persephone's sex education."

"Ah! No!"

"Finger-lickin' good times!"

Persephone fell onto her side, hiding her face behind her hands.

Annabeth's grin became more lucid. "We'll just say your private time, then. How about that?"

A hand moved just a little, and an innocent little green eye looked into Annabeth's grey one. Persephone nodded once, then hid her face again. Her breathing evened out, and the daughter of Athena realized that her girlfriend had fallen asleep.

'She's cute when she sleeps…'

Annabeth crawled onto the bed, being gentle not to wake the sleeping princess, and got behind her, becoming the big spoon for the afternoon.

…

True to her word, Annabeth sent nude photos of herself to Persephone not even a week later, with the full expectation that Seph would go through the photos, and masturbate to the ones she liked, discovering pleasures, discovering pleasing things. That way, when they next met before Persephone's sixteenth birthday, she would be ready for some quality "fun time."

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"So?" Annabeth grinned at the squirming princess beneath her. "Which ones were your favorite?"

And that's when the intuitive daughter of Athena noticed something was very, very wrong. Persephone didn't flush, or sputter, or brighten and spill her dirty secrets. Her eyes lost their luster, her mouth set into a nervous frown, and the muscles in her face all settled into a look of apprehension, but not apprehension in saying something disappointing, but something else…

"I…I…I need to-"

Annabeth pinned the girl to the bed. "Persephone Jackson, I swear on the River Styx that if you say 'I need to poop,' I will physically hold you here until you do poop in your pants."

The sea princess gasped, but Annabeth's hard grey eyes remained unyielding. Realizing this was a losing battle, Persephone told the truth.

"I tried," she whispered. "I tried so hard. I looked at all of them…I dropped my pants and underwear, and I tried doing what you said…rub it a little, make it w-wet, and then insert, but…"

Persephone looked at Annabeth with pained eyes, and Annabeth got up, pulling Persephone up with her until they were both sitting on the bed.

"What's been going on, Persephone?"

"…"

The blonde blinked. "Sorry? I didn't catch that."

Persephone had been so quiet in her answer that Annabeth, a half-blood with better hearing than a human, a half-blood sitting less than two feet away, couldn't hear it.

"…Aphrodite," she said louder, but barely above a whisper.

Annabeth stared. Of course, she remembered the desert, what the late Love Goddess had done, and how Persephone had withdrawn deep into herself, confiding only in her brother for a long time before opening up. However, Annabeth been of the mind that such a thing was behind them now, just a bad memory. Apparently not.

"Every time I tried…I saw Percy. I felt him…inside, outside…" Persephone looked at Annabeth, suddenly hysterical. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT'S LIKE!? TRYING TO MASTURBATE SO YOU AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND CAN HAVE SEX, ONLY TO HAVE THE STUPID LOVE GODDESS' CURSE MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR LITTLE BROTHER HAS HIS THING IN YOUR BUTT!?"

Annabeth didn't know what to say to that, other than a simple "no," so she grabbed Persephone, pulling her into a hug. She didn't break down into sobs like Annabeth thought, nor did she bring her own arms around Annabeth. "We'll get through it," the blonde offered. "We've gotten through a lot worse."

"Yeah, because sexual PTSD is just like fighting the god of war or sailing through the Sea of Monsters or holding the sky."

Annabeth's mouth tightened. She didn't have a response, so she tried to move forward with the plan she had made all the way back at the end of Spring Break.

"Let's try it right now," she said.

"Try what?" Persephone pulled back.

"Sex," Annabeth supplied. "You're not going to get over your PTSD by not facing it."

Persephone just stared, and the blonde leaned in to get things started with a kiss. The sea princess pushed her away, but Annabeth didn't give up, and it turned into a struggle, Persephone keeping her girlfriend from getting into her pants. The struggle got heated, with the daughter of Athena forcing her upper body down, and the daughter of Poseidon locking her arms, her superior strength keeping the blonde away, until Annabeth snaked her arms between Persephone's and forced them apart.

Gravity took hold, and Annabeth's lips crashed down onto Persephone's, and she began to…almost hungrily, almost desperately…kiss Persephone, like she was afraid the sea princess would disappear forever.

Not at all liking this, Persephone used her strength, superior to both humans and regular demigods, and literally throw Annabeth across her room. Sally and Paul must have left for their date already, because the loud bang of the blonde's body against the wall didn't make anyone come running up the stairs to her room and bust down her door in a frantic game of twenty questions.

Persephone wiped the saliva from her mouth and glared. "What the hell!?"

Annabeth staggered to her feet, her back literally damaged. Spinal bruising most likely. "You threw me!"

"You were raping my mouth! While we're at it, what it is with you!? Sending these!?" she brandished a handful of photos. "That's not like you! So what the hell is with you suddenly, pervert!?"

Annabeth grimaced, trying to think of a lie to get her out of this.

"Well!?"

The gears continued to grind, trying to come up with something.

"Well!?"

Sweat broke out across Annabeth's forehead as her eyes darted about.

This time she spoke in Ancient Greek, her eyes flashing bright green. "Well?" her voice thundered.

And Annabeth spilled her painful truth. "Because I'm afraid!"

Silence pervaded for two seconds before she continued. "I'm afraid. There, I said it. Me, the smartest child of Athena of the current age is afraid."

Seph blinked, her anger evaporated. "Afraid of what?"

Annabeth scowled at the ground, intent on not saying. But, she had already that much, so she might as well go all the way.

"I'm afraid of you dying, Persephone. I'm afraid you're going to die before I can give you everything I am. Your sixteenth birthday is coming up, the day you're supposed to make that choice that'll kill you, and-and-and…I can't bear the thought of living another day without knowing that I gave you the greatest gift that's within my power to give you."

Persephone, being Persephone, interpreted that as thus: "So…you're in such a hurry to get your hands down my pants…because you think I'm going to die in four days…? Annabeth, that is the stupidest thing you've ever done."

Persephone laughed, a joyous, melodious tinkling bell-like sound that had no hints of derision in it. It was so pure and innocent that Annabeth smiled, uneasily, but it was a smile.

"I don't think your body and making love to me is the greatest gift you can give me, but since you're thinking with your heart on that one, I'm not going to argue with you, but I will say this: I'm not going to die on my birthday."

Annabeth turned skeptical. "What makes you so sure?"

Persephone smiled, so calmly and confidently it raised the blonde's spirits. "Percy's coming, and there's no way he's gonna let me die."

Annabeth's spirits promptly died. A shadow crossed her face, and Persephone saw it. "Alright, out with it. We're having this much of a heart to heart, you might as well tell me what your problem with my little brother is."

And Annabeth came out with it. "My problem? My problem is the same as everyone's problem with him: he's a monster. You saw all the things he did, blowing up that town, slaughtering those prisoners and those guards, killing that kid, not to mention everything he did here, destroying Mt. Diablo, making all of us hostages—" she brandished her wrist, the one where Shin'en's Sealing Jutsu was faintly visible— "and what he did to Drew, basically sewing her mouth to a dildo."

"Don't act like you cared what happened to Drew."

"They had to get Hecate to undo whatever thing he did."

"And?"

"And-" Annabeth really didn't have an argument. "I didn't like Drew, no one really did, but what happened to her was uncalled for. She almost starved to death, and as much as no one liked her, no one wanted her to die."

"Fair enough. Any other arguments?"

"He's killed hundreds of people."

"So, that's why he's a monster? He's killed people?"

"Yes!" Annabeth almost shouted, not comprehending why Persephone wasn't seeing what the same thing she was.

The daughter of Poseidon looked at the blonde. "Chiron taught us that…that human lives are precious and shouldn't be wasted, that humans should be forgiven for their actions, and protected from the mythological threat at all costs…" Persephone trailed off, still sitting on her bed, Annabeth still nursing the bruises on her back.

"Did I ever tell you about my stepdad?" the sea princess asked suddenly.

Annabeth glanced off to the side and looked back at Persephone, the body-language equivalent of 'uh, yeah, stupid.'

"I've met Paul, yes."

"No, no…my other stepdad, Gabe Ugliano?"

"Gabe Ugliano…Smelly Gabe? That Gabe?"

"Yeah, that Gabe, the asshole jerk who, while he never beat me or my mom, and he never touched us, was still a bastard."

"Um, besides that…no, you don't talk about him much."

"Then it goes without saying that I never told you how his story ended….Annabeth, you call my brother a monster because of the blood on his hands, and if that's what your reasoning is…" Persephone smiled sadly, and where Annabeth was already piecing it together, she still remained quiet for what was coming.

"We got back from the Shinobi World, and everyone wanted to kill my brother, which made me all moody as I'm sure you remember. I was bad, Annabeth. I was going to kill Clarisse that day, I really was, and I wouldn't have cared if I did. Anyway, Mom picked me up, and I learned Gabe was still around. Not only that, I learned that he had been hitting my mom. So, with my mindset what it was, I decided it was time for Gabe to go."

Annabeth gasped. "No…you didn't…"

Persephone continued to smile that melancholy smile. "He was trying to have sex with Mom that night, and it made what I did easier, both mentally and physically. I focused my powers on the racing water in his body, using my hatred and my anger to give myself an edge, and—" she shrugged— "I killed him. Autopsy ruled it as heart attack. Too much activity for his weight."

Annabeth stared at the sea princess in shock.

"So, whenever you call my brother a monster because he's a killer, just remember that I'm a monster too."

The blonde continued to stare, open mouth trembling. Everything Annabeth knew as right, everything she had been taught by Chiron, flipped on its head by the confession of the most beautiful girl on the planet…her girl. Her girlfriend. Her Persephone.

A murderer.

Just like her brother.

"I-It can't be," Annabeth whispered. "It can't…you're not like him."

"I was. You noticed the change in me after that dream, where he told me to return to the light. So I returned, but I still have my shadow behind me."

Annabeth just stared, mind blank as fresh canvas.

And Persephone smiled sadly still. "I guess this means we're not together anymore, huh? Since I'm everything my brother is, and you hate my brother. It's okay, I guess. It was bound to happen. Me, the daughter of Poseidon, being gay with the daughter of Athena; one of our parents would have broken us up either way. Still, it was fun while it lasted. You are, and always will be, my first love. Thank you for all the great memories, Annabeth Chase."

Persephone slid off her bed, and headed for her door. She had a mission tonight, with Beckendorf, to plant a bomb on a boat. Before she reached the threshold to the hallway, she was grabbed from behind and the next thing she knew was that her lips were being taken in the most loving manner she could ever remember.

Annabeth pulled back, grey eyes swimming with tears. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Seaweed Brain."

"Oh, thank the gods," Persephone sighed in relief. "Whew, for a minute there I thought I had gone overboard and actually pushed you away for real."

"Nope," Annabeth grinned. "Still here, and always will be. Where were you going anyway?"

"Hook up with Beckendorf and go blow up the Princess Andromeda."

"Oh, I thought you were going to go do some—wait, WHAT!?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think you were going to be here so soon."

Annabeth wanted to argue, desperately, but something made her hold her tongue, probably the realization that there was nothing she could say or do to stop Persephone from going off with Beckendorf, and asking what their plan was would probably bring tears to her eyes at how stupid it was. So, Annabeth just gave Seph another kiss and said, "Good luck. I'll be at Camp Half-Blood, prepping the army."

The sea princess nodded. "I love you."

"I know."

Persephone stuck her tongue out, and then vanished in a swirl of vapor, leaving Annabeth slack-jawed in the bedroom.

"Since when can you do that!?"

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Shinobi World

In a village of metal buildings that scraped against the sky, rain poured with endless fervor as the heavens mourned for the future. The tallest building of this crying city bore strange sculptures: demonic faces with mouths opened, tongues extended. The faces were attached to the tops of building, and sitting in the tongue of the ugliest, meanest demonic visage, was a young man in a black cloak with red clouds.

His face was hidden in shadow, but his red eyes blazed brightly in the gloom. He uttered two words, and then he vanished with the flash of lightning.

"It's time."

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Well, the mission had not gone as planned, with Persephone and Beckendorf ending up captured, and the explosive Greek fire questionably armed. Brought before the Titan King, both demigods were caught in the grasp of mixed emotions.

It was Luke.

But it was Kronos.

Those golden eyes glittered.

"Ah, granddaughter, and great-grandson. I've been expecting you for weeks now, though this is certainly not the welcome I had planned. You must forgive me, Persephone, but I imagined your sweet sixteen to be grander than this…and to take place four days from now. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men, as they say. Now," Kronos lost his mirth, becoming serious, "usually I would show you the error of my children's ways and attempt to convince you to join my side, using oaths on the Styx to prove the sincerity of my promises, but neither of you are the ones I wish to discuss this with.

"I'll ask only once," the Titan's eyes glowed with a soft undertone as he stared deep into Persephone's soul, "where. Is. Your brother?"

"Heck if I know. And if I did know, I wouldn't tell you."

"If you don't know, then that means he hasn't contacted you, and if he hasn't contacted you, then that means he hasn't arrived yet. Pity. I wanted to celebrate my grandtwins' birthdays at the same time. Looks like I'll just have to settle with you."

Kronos hefted his scythe, seemingly about to kill both Persephone and Charles in a single swing, but Ethan Nakamura pointed.

"Sir! The fog!"

All eyes turned to the fog, and suddenly did silence claim the world. The fog was eerie, moving fast, moving against the wind, and its light grey color, like frostbite, stood out against the black of the night sky. The fog rolled over the Princess Andromeda, and suddenly did it become cold. Port windows froze over and shattered one by one. The railing became covered in a layer of ice, making any who were touching it recoil as if burned, or rapidly move away to avoid such pain. Weapons, whether of wood or metal, frosted, making all hands lose their arms, aside from Kronos. Visibility was altered, entities standing at any more than fifteen feet away becoming indistinct blurs. Breathe steamed against the air, and there was much shivering in this sudden cold.

Against it all, however, Persephone was grinning, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. 'He's here.'

In the silence of the fog, the flicking open of a cigarette lighter and the minute hiss of its flame were like the roaring of a cannon and explosion of a missile. Everyone turned to the source of the sound, and they saw a young man shrouded in gloom, a small bit of his face illuminated by the flame of his cigarette, his eyes glowing like quasars from Hell.

"Hey, Seph," Shin'en said. "Happy birthday."

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I feel really excited about this.

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