Author's note:
HEY GUYS! I'M BACK, YAY!
I am extremely happy right now, and kinda proud too, of getting through my terrible semester long writer's block. After Hurricane Irma, this story somewhat died for me, and I wasn't able to think up a good plot. Depressing, but true. Then, a couple weeks ago, I was going through my account and GUESS WHAT?
I HAVE 350 FREAKING VIEWS ON THE FANFICTION.
WHAT.
THE.
HECK.
Thank you soooo much guys! You have given me so much support, and enough inspiration to keep on writing this story, along with a couple others, hehe...
Are any of you from:
-The Voltron: Legendary Defender Fandom?
-LOTR Fandom?
-Sword Art Online Fandom?
-Miraculous Ladybug Fandom?
If so, you guys are in for a wild ride for what I have planned for you.
Tori: "Ok, ok, you've had your fun, my turn for the spotlight. xxiceandflamesxx does not own the Heroes of Olympus series, nor its characters, except the plot of this fanfiction and her original characters."
...
Nico sighed as he watched Selene be given a tour by Tori Felix, one of Annabeth Chase's sisters. He didn't really want to be spending his time at CHB babysitting an unpredictable demigod, but he didn't really have much of a choice
-Flashback-
The 15-year-old Child of Hades didn't really socialize with anyone outside of the 7, Reyna and undead zombies. Who would want to be friends with the emo kid that radiated death? So it came as a surprise to everyone that Nico sauntered into camp, carrying a young unconscious girl in his arms AND a shunned misfit at his heels. A crowd of curious half-bloods surrounded him, including Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper, who had come to CHB during spring break. All the attention gave Nico an unwanted headache.
"Who's the cutie? If she isn't yours, man, sign me up for a date with her!" Leo Valdez whistled heartily, earning a glare from Calypso, his girlfriend.
Nico's pale face flushed, and he subconsciously tightened his grip on the unconscious girl.
"Uh...I-"
"Leo, don't be ridiculous. You have Calypso to swoon over, remember?" Piper Mclean scolded him playfully, punching him lightly in the arm. Her beautiful multicolored eyes sparkled mischievously as her siblings, as true sons and daughters of Aphrodite started spreading rumors of the Nico x unconscious girl ship.
"What have you been up to, Nico?" said his friend and Piper's boyfriend, Jason Grace. He put a hand on Nico's shoulder, and Nico, not used to touch, flinched.
He was about to sneak away from all the attention, when the Apollo cabin pushed through the crowds, Will Solace in the lead with a first aid kit.
"Alright, the show's over, give the girl her space!" Will yelled over excited mutters. The son of Apollo examined Selene carefully and gingerly took her from Nico's grasp, the latter somewhat unwillingly letting go.
He watched him walk away with her, then turned towards his friends. Claire started to push through curious demigods, not wanting to deal with people, but a strong hand grasped her arm, properly stopping her. She looked up to see Chiron the albino centaur, the heroes' mentor and friend, staring gravely down at them.
"Where did you find them, Nico?" Chiron asked.
"Cleveland, Ohio. Selene Fairweather is the girl who I brought in. She helped me after I had a little….. accident shadow traveling. She broke her leg fighting Cyclopes."
"We have satyrs stationed all across the United States, mostly in big cities like Cleveland. Why couldn't they have sensed them sooner? Especially if what the Hecate cabin says is true." Annabeth Chase wondered.
"We've been looking for you for months! Where have you been?!" Percy asked Claire, oblivious to the fact that that was the question she was most likely to avoid.
"If you must know kelp face, it would be somewhere where none of your little demigod prodding noses would find me until death breath here had to bring me along." she huffed, struggling out of the centaur's grip and marching away.
"But that's impossible. Unless… all this is connected with the rumors that have been circling around… Nico, how did your accident happen?" Annabeth queried.
"I was in the Underworld returning to CHB when something interfered with my will, sucking me into Cleveland."
Annabeth shared a silent conversation with Chiron as if they knew exactly what had happened.
"Maybe its connected to the prophecy as well." Jason offered.
Nico shivered. His younger self would have been thrilled if a prophecy involved him, but now it made him downright terrified. The situation was intriguing, but he'd rather stay in his cabin than getting sucked into another crazy quest with weird monsters and him getting turned into a vegetable (long story).
"Let's not jump to any conclusions. For now, I want you four to monitor her. If she truly is the child of the prophecy, we could be entering into very serious matters which we all want to avoid. Report to me if anything happens." Chiron said gravely, ending the meeting temporarily.
-Flashback end-
Bored, he began to listen in on Annabeth, Tori and Selene's conversation.
"Hey Selene." Annabeth examined Selene skeptically, like trying to read a book in an alien language.
"You're Percy's girlfriend." Selene deadpanned, making Annabeth smile.
Nico rolled his eyes. Sometimes she could be as bad as Percy, saying stupid things and stating the obvious.
"Yep, that's me. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."
"Annabeth, have you seen a friend of mine recently? Her name is Claire Evergreen and-"
"You're friends with her?" Tori said, wrinkling her nose.
"Tori! Claire never told you, did she?"
"Told….. told me what?"
"Claire has a bad history with Camp Half-Blood. She's a daughter of a nymph from an order of prestigious nature spirits, which is pretty uncommon, even here. She was chased here by her mother's sister, who wanted revenge on her, due to the fact that according to the laws of the nymphs, she never should have been born. She stayed here for about two weeks, then disappeared, but not before completely destroying the Demeter cabin with renegade weeds. Nobody ever knew why. We've been searching for her for months until Nico found you and her."
Nico noticed that Selene had an excellent poker face.
"She never told about this. I never even knew I was a demigod until I got here. I wasn't chased by monsters or had anything out of the ordinary happened to me."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Wait-"
Selene's eyes widened and she froze momentarily as a look of determination flashed through her eyes before she took off, grabbing a sword from the weapons shed outside and rushing into the woods.
"Where the heck are you going?" Tori yelled as she sprinted after her.
Annabeth sighed and looked straight at Nico and nodded as if she knew he was there the whole time, which of course she did. He nodded back and melted into the shadows. He reappeared on a branch of a pine tree, close to a small cliff jutting straight out from the forest, a little way from camp. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he watched her approach warily a vaguely human-shaped bush. Raising her sword, she cut away at the vines with unexpected grace until all that was left was a forlorn looking Claire who looked as if was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. They exchanged a couple muttered words before they hugged, which somewhat surprised him. Selene didn't strike him as a very social person. He didn't know her very well, but he discerned from the steel facade she put on that she hid a shattered childhood. Similar to what he himself had been through….
Suddenly the branch supporting him snapped, and he fell, crashing down onto the grass. As he opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with an angry female demigod.
"Why have you been following me?" Selene asked, deadly quiet.
Nico struggled to his feet. He had grown tremendously since the war against the Earth Mother, but even though she was a good couple of inches shorter than he was, that didn't make her any less intimidating.
"Uh…. I was in the neighborhood?" he said haltingly. He cursed internally.
"Since when do I get agitated from a girl's stare? Even Annabeth isn't this… threatening….." he thought to himself.
Selene's eyes narrowed and her lips formed a thin line. Claire stood behind her, with a laughing expression that said: "I will dance over your grave once this girl is done with you." Nico decided (quite wisely actually) that it was best to avoid the situation entirely, so as he was about to walk away, Selene closed the distance between them and got into his face, clenching her teeth. Her breath smelled like mint and chocolate. Her hands, which were holding onto the collar of his aviator's jacket, shook with anger, and was that fear?
"You will tell me why you have been following me the entire day, or else I will send you personally back to Tartarus. Wasn't very fun the first time you went, huh?" she whispered.
"Oh, you did not just- How did you-"
"Selene!" Tori ran over to them panting. She cocked an eyebrow towards Nico, but he shook his head brusquely, knowing what she was thinking.
"Why'd you run off Selene? We haven't finished the tour yet, and our lunch break is in a couple of minutes." Tori coughed. She glared at Claire and Nico pointedly.
"Something told me I was needed here. Now let's go, I'm hungry." Selene said shortly, dragging a snickering Claire with her.
Nico was furious and he knew that he'd have to have a good talk to her later, but he also knew yelling at her wouldn't get him anywhere, so he let her go. He resolved to avoid her for the rest of the day, letting Annabeth keep track of her instead. Other than the strange way she knew he was stalking her, she showed no signs of anything out of the ordinary. Well, except that she did have quite a talent for using a sword, which she attributed to intense hours training in fencing at her high school
...
Selene woke up to the sun shining, birds singing, and two mischievous hazel eyes staring at her. Which made her bump her head the second time that week, this time against the roof of the Hermes cabin from her top bunk.
"Whoooo, what, where, pegasus said what?" Selene yelled groggily, making the other Hermes campers snicker.
The girl, who was looking down at her from her perch of the next bunk over, giggled.
"Morning Sunshine, and welcome to the Hermes Cabin!"
Selene moaned and sunk back down into the covers. She was NOT a very good morning person. While she disciplined herself to get up at 6:30 every day for school and 5:30 weekends for work. If anything interrupted her sleep, she would never get up. She could already tell the day was going to be rough. Then again, most of her days sucked. Not a very positive outlook on life.
She stuffed the pillow in her face, blocking out the light as she tried to go back to sleep. The girl watching her, Ali Russel, was a very pretty daughter of Hermes, with brown wavy hair, said mischievous hazel eyes and cute freckles. Her ears were slightly pointed, and she wore a sweet expression of eternal brooding. With looks to match her wit, she attracted as much male related attention as any Aphrodite camper. She and the Stoll brother had done their best to make Selene feel at home at the Hermes cabin, which included a pie in the face and an unexpected shower.
Suddenly, a foghorn blared in Selene's drowsy ears. Her heart jumped into her throat, and she threw back the covers, jumped down to the floor and took on a defensive stance. Her eyes blazed and she felt a tug in the pit of her stomach. Abruptly, the lights in the cabin went out and the game system stationed at the Stoll's bunk started sparking and catching on fire. Ali looked at her, eyes wide and foghorn in hand.
"I'm up." Selene deadpanned.
...
After that minor incident, apparently, all of CHB's power was busted. The Hephaestus cabin tried to restore the power, but even with Leo's genius, they were unable to restore it until two weeks later, long after Selene had left camp. This earned Selene a ton of murderous glares from air condition-deprived demigods during breakfast, but these hardly phased her, although she did wonder if the power leaving was her fault or a freak accident. She didn't have much time to think about it, as she was currently clambering up the lava wall as the entire Hermes cabin watched her. She figured out pretty quick that the lava was real, and burned poor unsuspecting demigods. During the morning training activities though, she was able to narrow down her list of godly parent to be's:
Apollo? Nope, stunk at archery.
Poseidon? Although she absolutely rocked pegasus riding, as she had ridden horses before and was not afraid of heights, she couldn't speak with them, so that was a no.
Ares? She did fairly well at wrestling and self-defense, but just no. Definite no.
Dionysus? Flunked strawberry growing, so check that off.
Hades? Still can't raise a skeleton, and definitely didn't feel a sisterly bond with Nico. Nuh-uh.
Minor gods? Phobos, Deimos, Janus, Morpheus? No, nope, nein, just no. Maybe Alexiares or Anicetus….. Orcus, not a Roman, bent on revenge or a sadist either!
So that narrowed it down to Zeus, Hermes, and Hephaestus. Probably not Zeus, as the pact of the Big Three wasn't canceled until recently. She thought up this mental list during lunch as she ate a quiet slice of pepperoni pizza- or at least quiet on her part. The Hermes campers were anything but quiet with ongoing prank wars and Coke being splashed onto anyone who dared get close to them. Being the newbie (and having a private conversation with the Stoll brothers), she was able to eat in relative peace. Except for the occasional greeting from a friendly demigod and death glares (quite literally) from Death breath himself, she was left in relative peace to gather her scrambled thoughts together, fangirl and glare back at him before Chiron made an announcement.
"Now, I know many of you are troubled from the recent power outage, (cue in the glares), but to get your mind off the sweltering heat ( A/N: I lived in Long Island for a little while and I know for a fact that without a good air conditioning, you're going to be miserable for the rest of your stay) me and the senior counselors have provided you all with an enticing activity this afternoon, all chores canceled."
Excited gasps and whispers surrounded Selene. Even she was a little curious as to what they had planned. Chiron threw a small scroll from within a leather satchel he was carrying down onto the Dionysus table. It displayed a glowing blue holographical map of the camp, which Selene knew was Tori's latest invention.
"I'm not into building like Leo, more into inventing and experimenting. More so an analytical engineer (with amazing fashion sense) than a car mechanic." Tori explained previously during the tour.
"There will be teams of three chosen at random." Chiron continued, " Each person will have to cross a terrain (land, air or sea) and it's natural and supernatural obstacles to get to the other person- without knowing their exact location. If they meet another person from another team, they must fight against each other unless they forfeit. The starting line for those crossing land is at the stream, while the finish line for those crossing the air is at the two hills at the mouth of long island sound at the edge of the camp and the sea. Each person must be carrying a baton, which they must pass on to the next contestant and it must cross the finish line if the person wants to finish the race."
"So it's a relay race?!" a younger Nike camper squealed.
"Yes, Penny." Chiron answered patiently. Penny shrieked happily and high-fived her sisters.
"We will begin in 15 minutes, the teams and the team positions will be announced at the stream."
Murmurs of anticipation filled the pavilion as campers scarfed down the remnants of their lunches and filed out to prepare. Selene crammed the last of her pizza in her mouth then followed the Stolls to the Hephaestus armory. There she was fitted by Leo into an intricate bronze breastplate with leather straps, arm and shin guards, a war helm and a three-foot-long celestial bronze sword with a simple black leather grip. It felt bulkier than the more graceful aluminum rapier she was used to and it felt somewhat unbalanced in her hand protected by her black leather fingerless gloves. Well, it was better to be armed than to be pulverized defenseless by an angry demigod who knew exactly what they were doing. When she had reached the creek, most of the campers were already there (except of course for the Aphrodite campers, which always had to be fashionably late) and Chiron was already listing off teams of three. Selene kept her usual poker face, but her hand fidgeted nervously with the strap of her arm guard. Hundreds of scenarios flashed through her mind depicting her getting crushed by an Ares camper when a hand gripped her shoulder. She jumped up three feet into the air and turned around, punching whoever touched her. Fortunately, that person dodged.
"Woahh, chill, it's good to see you too."
"Oh, sorry Claire." Selene tried to stay serious, but a small smile tugged at the edges of her mouth.
The half nymph was dressed for battle, with the traditional bronze armor, a camo long-sleeved shirt, jean shorts, black combat boots and gloves like Selene. Unlike her, she had dual knives strapped to her belt.
"You ready for this?"
"Ready as I'll ever be. Hopefully, I can keep up with the veterans."
"Relax. With all the new recruits that have been coming in, most of the people here are new, like you. And don't worry, we'll get you a different sword later." Claire noted as she saw Selene swing her sword unhappily, nearly plowing down some of the younger Apollo campers.
"The next team will be Claire Evergreen, earth, Ali Russel, sea, Selene Fairweather, air."
Selene nodded as she received her coordinates. All the other scenarios she had thought up of had a lower chance of success, and she trusted in Claire and Ali, and their fighting skills, so they seemed like a good team.
"Alright girls, we got this." Ali said, grabbing their shoulders and smiling widely. Selene had the irresistible urge to smile, something she hadn't felt since…
"Alright contestants, to your stations!" Chiron stated.
...
Selene's black leather boots crunched through the forest, following the coordinates that showed her the spot she was supposed to start from. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she failed to notice a person calling her until that person literally yelled in her face.
"Hello! Anybody there? You're Selene, right? The girl who defeated the cyclopes with Nico di Angelo?"
Said girl gazed, startled, at the girl in front of her, whom she vaguely remembered to be Katie Robin, a Hecate camper and the lieutenant of the senior Hecate counselor, Lou Anne. She was shorter than Selene, perhaps a year younger than her, with strawberry blond hair tinted with purple, pale blue eyes and freckles.
"Yeah, I'm Selene. Why, what's it to you?"
"I want you to back off from Di Angelo. One of my sisters has got her eye on him for a while, and I don't intend for a newbie like you to take him away from her."
"Me, with Nico? Ha."
"Haven't you noticed how he looks at you? Or are you just oblivious."
"That's not possible, you got the wrong person. Tell your sister that she can take him and her terrible taste in men away from me. I already have enough issues to deal with, I don't need your problems or hers on my list." Selene deadpanned. Katie's eyes narrowed.
"You know, to make an enemy of the Hecate cabin is a bad move for a novice like yourself."
"I may be a newbie, but don't underestimate what I can do."
"Well aren't you a hotshot? One of my powers as a daughter of Hecate is the power of manipulating the Mist. I can show you what you want to see, or your worst nightmare."
"Scary, really scary."
"You will be scared when I humiliate you in front of every demigod at camp."
"Fat chance."
"We'll see about that." Katie walked away with a brooding smirk.
...
Selene hated the tension of waiting. She was stationed on the small cliff where she and Claire had met the day before. A roan pegasus with a white flower shaped mark at the cheek, nicknamed Daisy, was grazing nearby. Her booted foot tapped nervously on the dirt as she swung her blade a couple of times, trying and failing miserably to get used to the heavy bronze. Just wasn't the same as an aluminum rapier. She was tense, for although she told herself the girl's words hadn't fazed her, she knew Katie had struck a nerve. What if she did know her worst fear?
"HEY SELENEEEEE, DOWN HERE!" Ali's panicked voice yelled from the sea below.
Selene scampered towards the edge of the cliff and helped the frantic daughter of Hermes onto dry land. A frustrated roar was heard in the distance, along with a crunch of a destroyed kayak. Dripping wet, she gave Selene a thin wand of bronze.
"We're still in the game, go go GO !" she panted.
Selene took off, boots pounding madly against the dirt. When she reached the pegasus, she swung her leg around Daisy's flank and hoisted herself up.
"Let's go Daisy!" she yelled, and the pegasus soared.
Selene was always terrible at maps, roads and a general sense of direction back at home. Her mother, who worked as a flight attendant while she studied for her pilot's license, always loved that sort of stuff. So she was a little worried about getting to the finish line, especially through all those clouds. What was strange though, is that there were voices whispering in her ears telling her which was the fastest way to get there, without bumping into any of the specifically powerful contestants. She didn't really give them much thought as she urged Daisy to go faster.
After crossing a particularly tricky set of twin demigods (dang, those Apollo kids had good aim), Selene could see the two hills encircling the lake. Above it were two pegasi; their two riders holding up a red ribbon finish line. Whooping, Selene bent down low on Daisy's neck, letting the wind whip around her hair. It got closer, closer and-
"Thought you could win, yes?"
Dang, that girl was good.
Katie smiled pityingly towards her from her pegasus mount, a couple feet above Selene. Whisps of flickering silver smoke swirled around her frame, making her feel mysterious, and definitely more powerful. The winds surrounding Selene became agitated and restless, swirling around her and making her hair blow in her face and into her mouth. Great. Selene lifter her sword defensively as an aggressive growl grew in her throat, but in her mind she was doubtful. What in the world would a sword and gut determination do against the Mist? Not much...
The shorter girl lifted her arms and the mist swirled around them both, blocking Selene's line of vision. Her right hand tightened on the black leather grip of the sword as the voices whispering in her ears suddenly grew silent. Daisy's ears flipped back and she snorted in derision. Abruptly, a sword cut through the haze, along with a piercing laugh. Selene parried quickly, her reflexes acting swiftly and her muscles strong. While she hadn't trained under these circumstances, she was experienced enough to be able to respond to the attacks. The bad thing was-
"Thwack!"
Yup, she wouldn't be able to see them coming. Great. So it came down to hearing and old-fashioned instinct. As the sword attacks kept coming, Selene's movements were fluid and intense. Block, parry, parry, slice, cut, lunge, it was all familiar to her. After some time she heard the heavy pants of a tired Katie, but then again, she was tired too. She would have to end it quickly before she reached her limit. Thinking quickly, she blocked the last strike with more force, pushing the younger girl back. With a cry, she lunged, aiming the butt of her blade at what she thought was Katie's head to knock her out and push her off the pegasus and down to the aids below. It was a risky move, as it would leave her wide open, but it was her only chance. As the blade pierced the mist, it dissipated completely, the point of it coming to an abrupt stop.
There in front of her was... him.
But...but... how did he find her? How did he always manage to find her?
That one moment of doubt was her downfall. His face disappeared, revealing a triumphant Katie, who with an armored fist, punched her off her pegasus and left her to fall down to the ground below.
...
HAHAHAHAHA CLIFFHANGER! I'M SO EVIL!
Selene: "You're so mean, I could've beaten this girl to a pulp if you would've let me."
Nico: "Ehhh, I'm actually with her on this one. The cliffhanger was necessary if you were to have any character development. I like it. Besides, you wouldn't have been able to beat her anyway, she was too strong and you were out of practice."
Selene: "NICO!"
Nico: (while running away) "BYE PEEPS! DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW, FAVORITE AND REVIEW!"