This chap isn't funny like the others but when I started writing it, it became a symbol of something much deeper and I don't know if you'll catch it but if you don't, there's an explanation at the bottom.

~Melissa L.


Leo

"Okay, let's go!" Leo announced.

"Leo, don't you think this is a bit much?" Percy asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the leash bookbags were one thing, but did you really have to tie us to you?" Jason asked. Leo didn't want to take any more chances. After the last time of going to the mall, Hazel ended up brainwashed which made Leo go through a mob of crazed fans and ultimately, Percy got brainwashed as well. He had gotten some rope, tied it to his waist and had done the same to the kids. It was the only way to make sure they stay out of trouble.

"There is no other way, guys. It's not that bad," Leo tried to cheer them up since they looked like they had experience being tied and didn't like it.

"Where are we going?" Hazel asked.

"Back to the mall."

"But...the girls," Jason said and shuddered. Percy and Nico joined him.

"don't worry, I'll protect you from any cootie infested girl." Leo told them and they walked to the mall one more time.


They quickly walked past the 1D store, although Hazel and Percy wanted to go inside. Leo managed to pull them away from the horrifying store.

"Are we there yet?" Nico complained.

"Almost." Leo answered.

"But you said that, like, five minutes ago."

"we're here!" Leo pointed at the huge store. The kids stared in amazement.

"Wow, it's so..." Percy trailed off.

"What is it?" Hazel asked, confused.

"Well, remember when Drew didn't let you play with the doll she had?" Hazel nodded. "I thought you guys should have a toy of your own. Or a companion if you want." They still looked confused. "Let's go inside Build-A Bear Workshop."

Percy

Okay, the store was very big. There were a lot of little outfits. Percy wondered if they were for little people and they were getting it as a pet. It turned out that you made a stuffed animal and dressed it up to take home. At first, Percy, along with Jason and Nico, wasn't very excited about the whole thing. Not Hazel, she practically wriggled out the rope and ran inside to look for her perfect fluffy friend.

"Good thing I put chips on you so I know where you all are," Leo muttered.

"Chipped?" Jason asked.

"What? I said nothing," Leo quickly lied.

"We know you're a bad liar, Leo," Nico said.

"Okay, you got me," Leo surrendered, "But can you blame me. There's four of you and one of me. I didn't implant it on you though. It's on your clothes. You can't see or feel it because it's really tiny." Leo untied the ropes. "Anyway, go make yourself a friend. I'll make one, too." Leo left, leaving the boys unsure of what to do.

"This is dumb," Nico commented as they walked around the store.

"Let's just try it," Jason urged them, although Percy didn't want to either. Jason walked off but came back shortly with something behind him. "Perce, I think I found the perfect friend for you."

"What is it," Percy asked, cautious. Knowing Jason, it was probably a doll.

"I found a horse."

"Oh really?" Suspicion left Percy's mind as he held out his hands, " Is it a blue horse?"

"Yep!" Jason dropped a stuffed horse in his hands alright, but it was definitely not what he was hoping for.

"What the heck is this?" The horse was light blue, had a rainbow colored mane and tail, a horn sticking out of it's forehead, and a rainbow tattoo almost on its butt cheek.

"It's Rainbow Dash! A My Little Pony!" Jason said as he and Nico erupted in laughter. Percy threw the hideous excuse for a horse at Jason.

"Very funny," Percy rolled his eyes, "I'm making a stuffed animal. He's going to be amazingly awesomer than yours." Percy huffed in determination and went off to find a furry pal.

Jason

"Well, what now?" Nico asked Jason.

"Make a friend, literally," Jason shrugged. "Let's make ours totally cool. I can already imagine Hazel's. That stuffed animal is going to be so girly-fied."

"True. I'm getting a brown bear," Nico said, "With a black jacket. Dark blue jeans, chains. Oh, and shades. That'll be cool." Nico seemed to get excited about the idea.

"Sounds like your kind of friend. I don't know what mines is going to be yet." Jason wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do for his.

"Maybe it can be all roman like. Romans are strict. Yours can wear a battle armor and when it's not fighting stuffed monsters, it can wear a purple shirt or a toga." Nico suggested.

"Wow, that's a great idea. Thanks Nico!" Jason grinned. He and Nico parted ways and went to look for what they wanted. Jason didn't want to have a bear, though. He wanted something more...loyal. The first animal that came to mind was Lupa, a wolf. Yeah, a wolf sounds good to me, Jason said as he continued on his search for mini armor and a stuffed black wolf.

Hazel

Hazel couldn't resist to run all over, grabbing every cute stuffed animal in the store. It was so hard to choose from. She didn't know what she wanted, A dog? A bear? A cat? How about a Hello Kitty? Hazel was so overwhelmed by the cuteness. She wanted to just take the whole store with her but she knew that Leo wouldn't let her. Besides, she wouldn't be able to play with all of them if she had the chance. Then she saw the most beautiful little dress with ruffles and sparkles jumbled in a pile of other outfits that were on clearance. Even better, it was purple, her favorite color. She didn't know on what animal it would fit but she wasn't letting go of the pretty outfit. She tried it on a cute butterscotch-colored bear, but it wouldn't go through the neck hole.

Okay, that takes out bears, she thought. Hazel kept searching for the mysterious animal but every time she tried one, it wouldn't quite fit. She started getting frustrated. It's not fair! This is the only dress that I really like, Hazel whined internally. After wasting 20 minutes, she sat on the floor to rest. She had gone all over the stupid store and she hadn't found one that fit. A teenage boy in a greenish vest with a nametag, noticed Hazel and went to see what was wrong.

"Um, sweetie? Are you lost?" He asked me. Hazel saw that his name was Dan.

"I can't find any stuffed animal to fit with this pretty dress," Hazel explained and handed Dan the tiny gown. Dan examined it for a second.

"I could look in the back for you, if you want," he said. Hazel nodded vigorously. If there was an animal that could fit that dress, Hazel was taking it no matter what. She followed Dan to a pair of large doors that had a sign that said 'Employees Only'.

"Stay here and I'll see what I can find," Dan instructed her. He opened the doors and Hazel could see, for a brief second, big metal machinery that seemed to unload big boxes full of fluff, bears, etc. Hazel waited as patiently as she could, but her ADHD started acting up and she started pacing until Dan came back.

"I'm not sure you want this one, honey. It was a custom made animal for someone, but at the last minute, they decided not to buy it. The dress was also made for the stuffed animal," Dan explained, "I'm not sure how this dress got in the store but we were going to throw the sheep away."

He handed her a sort of worn stuffed sheep. It was white with dust all over it. The sewn smile was starting to come off a bit from one of the edge. Hazel ran her hand through the dusty fur. It wasn't quite as soft as it would've been when it was new yet she didn't really care. Maybe it was that Hazel liked the cute little purple lace around the sheep's neck or maybe the thought of this cute toy being thrown away was too much for her to bear. She smiled at the stuffed sheep. The sheep had been rejected and just needed someone to play with it.

"Sorry for taking up your time," Dan said, "Here, I'll just take it back." He started reaching for it.

"No, it's okay," Hazel pressed it to her chest, protectively, "I'll take her." Dan looked at her confused but merely shrugged.

"Okay. You know. I saw a tiara in there. Want me to get it for you?"

"Yeah, thanks." She said. She wondered if there were any cute slippers to go with her new friend's dress.

Percy

What kind of friend would I want? Percy asked himself as he looked around the shelves for the kind of animal that he wanted his furry friend to be. A bear wasn't what he really wanted. Percy liked dogs so he went with that. Of course there were a lot of stuffed dogs to choose from. He wasn't picky about friends. If they didn't kill him, then they were cool in his opinion. He kept glancing around, still not sure which to choose.

A girl, maybe a little older than him, started looking for a dog, too. She grabbed a caramel colored dog. Percy thought that it was nice. The top of it's head was a darker brown than the rest of him. The girl examined the dog closer, wrinkled her nose and threw it over her shoulder.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked her as he went to pick it up.

"It's got a white stain on the back. It shouldn't be on sale if it's defective," She hissed at me. This girl has an attitude. "Besides, look at all these nice one. Who'd want to buy that?"

"I will," Percy said.

"Ha. Whatever. Have that thing if you want, but I'm getting myself an adorable one like," she picked up one that looked like a golden retriever, "This one." She flipped her black hair and stalked off. Percy looked at the small stain on the dog's back. It wasn't that noticeable. Besides, so what if it was a little different from the rest of the dogs. I'm buying this one, he thought. In the back of his mind, he vaguely remembered as he was growing up, he never had real friends because they knew he was different. They didn't pay much attention to him. Percy wasn't really paying much attention to the thoughts as he looked for a nice outfit for his new friend.

Jason

Where are all the wolves, Jason asked himself. He was walking down the aisle of cats and up ahead he saw just what he was looking for. A black wolf was carelessly tossed in a pile of bears. He started walking up to it when a little boy, around Hazel's or Nico's age, started reaching for the stuffed wolf that Jason wanted. Jason stopped walking towards it because the little boy got there first. Jason noticed that the little boy couldn't reach the shelf. Jason walked up to the boy, grabbed the wolf and handed it to him. He noticed that the wolf had a small bow on the top of its head.

The little boy smiled widely, "Thanks. My sister is going to be so happy. She loves wolves."

"That's nice."

"Yeah, she joined the Hunters of Artemis and since they come once in a while, I thought to get her a present." The little boy's smile slowly turned into a flat line. "I haven't seen her in a while."

Jason felt a small pang of sadness. "I have a sister that joined too." Jason tells him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I miss her," Jason didn't want to show it, but he felt happy at the time when Thalia had been taking care of them. Now that she was gone, it wasn't the same. He still had Percy, Nico, Hazel, and even Leo, but it still wasn't the same.

"I hope Emily likes the wolf. I'll name her Izzy."

"Wait, did you just say Emily?" Jason asked. He knew one Emily in the Hunters. She wasn't too fond of Team Leo. She hated them.

"Yeah. Do you know her?"

"No, just asking." The boy swayed from side to side.

"Well, thanks again for the help. Bye." The boy waved at Jason and ran. Jason stood there for a moment looking at the place where the she wolf had been and noticed there was a stuffed black paw coming out from it. Jason pulled it out and it turned out to be a black wolf, just like the one the little boy took, except this one was little smaller and didn't have a bow.

"I guess that was your big sister, huh?" He asked the wolf. It didn't respond. "Don't worry, me and my friends will take care of you until you see her again." He told it. "You'll have to wait for the Hunters to come back, though. You heard that little boy, he's giving your big sis to Emily." He smiled at the stuffed animal, feeling relieved that Percy wasn't here to hear him talk to an inanimate object and call him crazy.

Nico

Nico knew exactly what he was looking for. he had already found a black shirt, the black jacket, a pair of jeans with plastic chains hanging from them, the shades. All he needed was the bear.

He was heading to the bear section when he saw a guy with a greenish vest push a cart of gray bears. There were not that many, maybe 20.

"Uh, sir. What are you doing with those?" Nico asked. He couldn't help but wonder. He had been through most of this store and hadn't seen a single gray bear until now.

"I'm getting rid of these bears. The manager wanted to know if anyone would buy one but no one did. Gray isn't the most huggable color in the world." The guy said. Nico felt like this was disturbingly familiar to him, but he didn't know why. Why judge the bear because it's not a common color? He asked himself. He picked one up from the cart and was surprised with the softness of the bear. Nico hadn't felt a softer stuffed animal in this whole store. People didn't even give it a chance, Nico continued, I bet it's just as huggable as any of the rest. So what if there were only a few? People are so mean sometimes.

"I'll take one," Nico told the guy.

"Really? I mean, we're about to throw these away and recycle the stuffing," the guy explained. "Are you sure you don't want another?"

"No, I like this one," Nico said a little harsh.

"Suit yourself," and the guy continued on his way with the rest of those bears that would be destroyed. At least I saved one of them, Nico thought. Don't worry little bear, I'll give you a chance and I know my friends will too. Nico found a chair and sat down to dress the gray bear.

Leo

Leo just went for a simple bear. When I was a little kid, I wore overalls. My mom said I looked really cute and I had to admit, I rocked those clothes. I got my bear some faded denim overalls, a maroon shirt, brown work boots, a yellow construction hat and a tool belt. Of course, my tool belt was still better but his was the second best. Leo looked at the clock on his wrist. The screen showed four dots grouped together near the front of the store. Good, Leo thought, I don't have to go chase after them. He made his way to the kids. They all had their bears and were showing them to each other. Nico's was a gray bear that was dressed like one of those bad boys in the movies. The gray suited the bear's outfit well. Jason's was a black wolf in battle armor with everyday clothes underneath it. Hazel's was a sheep princess. Percy's was a dog dressed in a blue hoodie and cammo shorts and white sneakers with Percy holding a small skateboard in his hand.

"Well, looks like you all got a lot of things," Leo said.

"Hey Leo. Like your bear," Hazel said.

"Yeah, it looks like you," Jason added.

"You could be brothers," Percy joked.

"He should join Team Leo," Leo agreed, "In fact, all of your stuffed animals should join our team."

"Yeah!" They cheered.

"But first, we have to pay for them."


"500 Drachmas," Leo continued to mutter all the way home.

"We're so sorry Leo," Hazel told him, "We didn't know it would be a lot of money."

"Nah, it's okay," Leo shrugged it off, "Just don't expect too much from me until I earn all that back."

"I'm so glad I got Romana," Hazel hugged her sheep. "That's Roman in Latin."

"I called mine Bob," Percy said, "I don't really know why, but I put Bob the Third."

"Mines is named Al, short for-" Nico was interrupted by Percy.

"Alejandro?"

"No, Alfred."

"Alfred? Why did you name him like that?" Jason asked.

"I don't know. I'm not good with names, okay?"

"My wolf's name is Justinian, but you guys can call him Justin." Jason said.

"Does this have anything to do with Rome?" Leo asked.

"Yep. Son of Mars. He was the last great emperor. He always got council from his wife, who turned out to be a daughter of Bellona."

"Mini me over here is Antonio." Leo said, gesturing at his bear.

"Ah, you named him after Marc Anthony, a ruler of the Roman Empire?" Jason asked.

"No, I just like that name..."


Hope you liked this chap. The way they find their 'furry friends' has something to do by how they had been in life.

Hazel- The sheep was custom made like Hazel's mom asked Pluto to make Hazel a certain way. After a while the Person buying the sheep, regretted the decision and left it while Marie endured the consequences and Hazel felt neglected.

Percy-The dog was different from the rest, like Percy was in school. He was probably picked on a lot until he met Grover.

Jason-He grew up separated from his sister that he misses and hopes that they see each other again.

Nico-The small group of gray bears represent the children of Hades. There weren't many and they were never really welcomed just like Nico wasn't welcomed for being the son of Hades. People judge him too quickly.

Leo-He was being Leo and decided that he wanted to have a bear that looked like a construction worker. He's as simple as that. Anyway, sorry for the long chap.

~Melissa L.