Hello people of fanficiton! So after the HOH I have gotten some really good idea plots but I really want to finish all the Shipping Week promps. I know I haven't exactly been up to date but better late than never... So, I present to you, Gear!
Also, just a side note: I will warn you that the last paragraph is pretty sad...
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
"See the new boy Silena?" Silena, age ten, looked up. "Yes Trish." She said absently flipping the pages of the latest volume of Demigod Beat, not even bothering to look up from the pages.
"Silena!"
"Sorry." The girl looked up at her older sister.
"You were saying?"
"That's James and Charles Beckendorf, Charles is around your age and Jame is fifteen."
"I know who James Beckendork is." Demigod Beat had once again captured Trish's sister.
"Silena!" Trish decided to ignore the "dork" comment.
This time the ten year old rolled her eyes with little patience.
"What? I want to find out what happens in the story of Io and Zeus."
Trish rolled her eyes. "So thousand years ago, now pay attention! Please be nice to Charles, I want James to ask me to Winter Dance but he probably won't do it if you and Charles don't get along.
"Whatever."
"So? Go talk to him!"
Silena dejectedly threw the magazine at Trish's face and stalked to go talk to the new boy.
Age 10-
"Silena and Charles, pair up!" the sword instructor called. Silena wrinkled her nose as she put a hand on her dagger; she hated fighting opponents bigger than she was.
"I said pair up Beauregard!"
"Sorry." She muttered, walking across the arena to stand in front of him. He was nervously fiddling with a gear; and the look he gave her made her unsettled.
"What?" She finally demanded.
He wouldn't meet her eye as he looked down.
"I hate fighting opponents smaller than me." he muttered.
Age 11-
"He was killed by a quick strike by an unknown monster." Chiron announced gravely.
Silena put a comforting hand on Beckendorf's shoulder. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
Curse the woods.
Silena would have held Bekendorf's hand, if it wasn't holding a gear.
Age 11-
The clang of swords rang out as the duo circled each other.
"Not bad for an Aphro' girl" he admitted.
The girl had time to say "Mom is so going to get you for that!" before his sword came down and she parried, but too late. He held her at sword point.
"Not bad, not bad." He said, clucking his tongue, trying to sound like Chrion.
"Just take me to the jail already!"
"Fine."
The rest of the way there, he dragged her with one of his calloused hands over hers. The other hand would have secured her too, but Beckendorf's hand somehow made it's way into his pocket and pulled out a gear.
And that's why Silena's team one that night, because you should never, ever, fiddle with a gear while dragging a prisoner.
Age 12-
"You coming into the woods?" Silena demanded, then regretted the words as soon as she said them.
James. Unknown monster attack. Died suddenly. Search party. Too late.
Suddenly the easy going smile was gone and he shook his head, he wasn't ever going into the woods unless it was Capture-the-Flag, because there you had people around you; he wasn't going to risks his life over some dare. He went back to his cabin, trying not to seem purposeful. But Silena knew what he was getting. A gear.
Age 13-
"Poseidon didn't steal the bolt!" Someone to the left of Silena shouted. Silena tried to scan the crowd, hoping that he wouldn't be in it but sure enough, he was.
No, no, no!
Why did his Hades of a cabin have to back Zeus?
Why did her cabin have to back Poseidon?
What if he thought that she was a bad person?
What if he hated her because of two stupid god's argument?
Why did her sister have to convince her to join the 'peaceful' protest that Poseidon didn't steal the bolt?
He looked her, straight in the eye as if he read her thoughts, and held up a gear, and Silena knew his cabin mates hadn't turned him against her.
Age 14-
They had border patrol together. Trish had insisted one of them go and Silena had volunteered. Apparently, Trish had 'accidentally' told Oliver to send a Hephaestus camper.
It was no accident.
"Do you think another bull will attack?" Silena asked her partner.
He shrugged, not even bothering to stop messing with the well-worn gear.
He was nervous, though he wasn't going to show it, Silena concluded.
"Lot of help you'll be." She grumbled, making a side braid in her hair.
He turned so she couldn't see his smile.
But Silena didn't want to see it anyways, because as she finished the braid and touched the slight lump on her sleeve, the charm of Kronos sent a chill up her spine.
What was she thinking?
She wished she had a gear.
Age 15-
What do you want to be?
She had always wondered that. When she was younger she wanted to be a model, then an actress, then a singer, then a nail painter, then a hair dresser... The list went on and on and on. But she knew what he wanted to be.
He wanted to be the one who was shy, but strong. The one who always stood up for others. the gear worker. The blacksmith. Not a spy. Never a spy.
She needed a gear. Something to connect her to the mortal world when everything else was a crazy labyrinth in life.
Age 15-
Curse hellhounds.
Curse Kronos.
Curse Luke.
Curse the labyrinth.
Trish Philia was gone. Gone.
It was an ugly nasty word.
Hellhound. From the back. Unexpected. Right by Silena. Shock. Dagger. Dust. Gone.
Her boyfriend put a hand on her shoulder and she was thrown six years back. She reached for his hand and held it, the gear making an imprint. But she didn't care.
Age 17-
It seemed like a cruel twist of fate. She could barely hold herself together. The links that surrounded him started to smoke and she turned away. It was all wrong. Because he didn't have a gear...
And neither did she.
She needed a gear. Something to connect her to the mortal world when everything else was a crazy labyrinth in life.
Age 17-
It was the words one day that sent Clarisse halting, almost making the hot chocolate spill over the rim of the cup.
"If I die, make sure my shroud has a gear."
"Shhhh." Clarisse tried her best to comfort, but will was hard.
She was the one used to delivering the pain, and laughing at the comfort that followed after.
"That won't happen Silena." Clarisse said at last, patting her hand.
The designer smoke drifted up into the wind. But if you smelled and listened closely, you could almost smell the scent of the forges and hear thousands of memories that whipped around space.
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
She was going to be a model, then an actress, then a singer, then a nail painter, then a hair dresser... But the moment she threw that magazine at her older sister, she let go of all those things.
Because she became Silena, the one who's life was changed because of a gear.
