Percy
Percy was having a very different dream. Other than his supremely awkward nap in the big house the day before, it had been the first time in much too long that he had gotten any sleep. So naturally his dreams were about as disconcerting and restless as they could get. It started with acid. Not the fun kind, but the kind that strips your flesh from your bones and pulls you to pieces as you slowly disintegrate while screaming in excruciating pain. He couldn't breathe and he finally knew what it would be like to drown. Just as he was about to pass out, from pain or under oxygenation or a mix of the two, an image started to break through the haze, one that was simultaneously familiar and terrifying.
Percy woke up to a body looming over him. He jolted up, shoving the creature away. There was a thud as his would be assailant hit the floor. He rolled out and over , pinning them to the ground. He didn't even need Riptide, it was too easy. That's when he noticed the dainty frame.
"What the hell, Annabeth?" He quickly backed off of her as she sat up, he could just make out her glare in the dim moonlight from his window.
"Where is it?" She snapped, making a little puffing noise as she blew her hair out of her face.
"Annabeth it's three o'clock in the morning." He was seriously wondering if she had a mental break during the middle of the night. He's not sure if causing a breakdown fit the bill for helping her reform but he might just take it. Hey, he caused an emotion other than blind fury in the hag, shouldn't that count for something?
"It's not Ann-" She started to complain in an exasperated tone, but quickly moved on, "you know what, it doesn't even matter, where's the shroud?" There was an urgency in her tone that was only matched by the panic at trying to sleep in Tyson's bed. Unfortunately, shrouds were ridiculously common in the last few days, and he had no freaking clue what she was talking about.
"Excuse me?" It wasn't as if she had a right to any of the shrouds, she was the reason they were dead, that didn't exactly qualify her to be the closest companion or recipient.
"Did you burn it? I swear I'll turn you into glue!" As impressive as that threat was, he was really getting angry now.
"Which shroud?" He finally snapped, done with her, and this conversation and pretty much everything.
"Luke's" She snapped back, her voice rising, and her eyes starting to glimmer. She might as well have punched him in the gut. He had tried not to think about Luke and how he died, he hadn't even considered the shroud, who would speak, who it would be given to. Other than Annabeth, it probably would've gone to him, despite their issues.
"I don't know, it hasn't been burned, Chiron probably has it." She stood up then, already looking towards the door. "You can ask him in the morning." She either didn't hear him, or didn't care, because she took off, flying out of his door, presumably to the big house. As far as he was concerned, she couldn't escape, and if she did anything too crazy, the harpies would catch her. It was way too early in the morning to care.
….
Raven
Splotches of red had begun to show up on the clean wood of the Big House's door by the time Chiron answered it. Raven almost fell through the entryway when it was pulled open. The Centaur in front of her didn't seem surprised. In fact, he seemed bored. He folded his hands in front of his pensively, much more focused on his hands then the girl in front of him.
"I want Luke's shroud." She gasped. His lack of response was frustrating and not because she expected him to care about her, because he didn't. He definitely didn't, but because she had a goal, and it wasn't this.
"Why do you feel like you have a claim to it?" He asked coolly, still not looking up at her. There was no leftover sleep in his expression or posture, and she wondered briefly how long it had been since the centaur actually slept.
"I am the only person in the world with a right to that shroud and we both know it." Her voice shook against her will, and she dug her nails into her palms to head them off. Talking to her old mentor physically hurt, her chest contracted with a mixture of longing and anger, and since she was on this new route of admitting the shit she didn't want to think about to herself, she could even acknowledge the feeling of regret hanging over her like a wet rag.
"Why the sudden interest?" He asked watching her without any traces of compassion. She almost felt like this was a job interview.
"I have a right to it." She repeated, she was still dazed, and in her rush, it was all she could think of.
"Why would you think there is a shroud?" He asked curiously. He was tried much too hard for the "wise old teacher" image, honestly the centaur was a joke.
"There's a shroud for every demigod." She snapped, getting frustrated at the circular nature of the conversation.
"Not for the ones we lost before death or fell out of grace." He said with same philosophical lies he always regurgitated. He left everything up to his interpretation so he could make you feel like he was just following rules.
"Luke was a hero." Her hands shook slightly as she forced herself to say his name, to face the fact that Luke would always be in the past tense now and there was nothing she could do, nothing except stop these traitors from ruining his legacy.
"That I know better than anyone." The centaur said with his all-knowing finality, and quietly stepped backwards farther into the house.
"So give me the shroud." She pushed just a little bit more, feeling him start to bend. He nodded silently before turning away from her and moving to a shelf in the living room. He carefully slid out the folded orange cotton fabric and placed it in her outstretched arms.
"I suggest you wait before doing anything with it. You'd be surprised at how different things may seem in the future." With that parting bit of advice, Chiron retreated quietly.
She stepped back, looking down at the fabric and forcing herself to take a few deep breaths. She glanced at the blood splatted on the door curiously, and then realized her hands were throbbing due to the punishment she had inflicted on them, splitting her skin on the wood. Yes, she'd wait, she'd wait until she got out of this hell, and found the others. Then she'd give Luke the honor he deserved.
…
Percy
Percy's second round of sleep was anything but peaceful. Thankfully enough, he wasn't burning. At least not literally. Oh no, he just had to deal with the very real possibility of bursting into flames while at the mercy of Thalia Grace's death glare.
"Um, hi?" He asked curiously. He didn't normally dream of Thalia, and as far as he knew, she wasn't a god, or dead. She stood in the midst of a dark fog, glaring at him with her arms crossed, and hip out. She angrily tapped her signature combat boot on the ground in front of him as if she was pissed he had kept her waiting.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She growled, stalking towards him with murder in her eyes.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, you're going to have to get much more specific than that." He stayed cool, despite the nearly overwhelming desire to curl up into a ball and pretend not to exist. He didn't care about the Titans, Thalia definitely took home the award for most likely to make others literally vomit from fear.
"Annabeth Chase?" She hissed, her voice low and dangerous. Thankfully, this was something he had an excuse for, so he just shrugged.
"Yeah, it's a thing, I had no idea." This answer didn't seem to satisfy her at all. She took a deep breath, set her shoulders and opened her mouth to launch into what would no doubt be an unending lists of objections and warnings.
"Well-" He knew that tone better than he should and he knew he had to shut that down very quickly. It seemed that a distraction might be his best and only option.
"Wait, before you start yelling at me because I doubt I'll be able to speak once you start, how, exactly, are you here? Neither of us are dead or gods so you shouldn't be able to be here right now." He hoped she wasn't dead, because that would be very inconvenient.
"There are some benefits to this gig, but that is not the point. Why didn't you tell me that you took Annabeth as your prize?" He thought she would sound a lot more appalled than hurt, but she honestly looked like she was simply disappointed in him.
"I didn't take anyone, okay? It's just another thing they've dropped into my lap." The stress leaked into his tone, but it didn't really matter with Thalia, if anyone understood that frustration, it was the lightning queen. He was very done with having to explain this to everyone though.
"Artemis is pissed." She sighed, shaking out her black fringe. "You should know that there is a very real possibility that she will recruit her as soon as she can." Something in Percy bristled at the implication, that he was somehow incapable. Even though this particular duty sucked, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to do it, and do a hell of a good job too.
"And Artemis can take her the minute we de-brainwash her, but for now, she needs someone to keep an eye on her. I wouldn't trust her with a bow anywhere near any other human beings." He cringed at the idea of the witch rampaging through the country, firing arrows at everything that moved. There was a heavy pause as Thalia processed and figured out what to say next.
"So, how is she?" She couldn't look at him when she asked the question, and for a moment she saw a flicker of vulnerability that he hadn't seen from her in a long time.
"She's very different Thalia." He tried to say it as gently as possible, but Thalia still clenched her hands into fists and stared down at her shoes.
"You didn't know her before, she was always very mature." She sounded so sure of these facts, as if it was the only thing she could afford to focus on. Annabeth seemed to do the same thing. It seemed he would have to be a little harsher to convince her of the truth.
"You know how I know she's different? It's all she talks about. She even goes by a different name now."He found himself speaking quieter, even if there was no way anyone could hear him. There was a feeling of conspiracy when talking about Annabeth this way.
"Really?" Thalia finally looked up, surprise covering what was obviously pain.
"She calls herself Raven and she's not the little girl that you and Grover ran around with." That was still a strange idea to him, he couldn't imagine how the four of them had gotten along for any length of time.
"So he told you?" Thalia sounded surprised, and it made him wonder for a moment if anyone really knew about how close Thalia and Annabeth had been.
"Yeah, she's killed people Thalia." It seemed like a point that was too important for her to ignore.
"Not directly." Thalia had a little too much hope in that tone.
"That's comforting." He rolled his eyes at her, Thalia might technically be older, but she was taking a very naive approach. Splitting hairs wasn't exactly useful in this scenario.
"Both of us have killed people Percy." She reminded him, as if he was the one that was off.
"No innocents." That had been a rule he had followed religiously, and one he was still clinging to now.
"Nobody's innocent Percy, all of us are way too messed up for that. She made mistakes but Luke was the one making decisions. And Kronos was manipulating him. There are a lot of levels to it Percy."
"We all make our own choices. We chose right." The were very few issues that were black and white to him, and this was one of them. A little nagging voice in the back of his mind whispered about Luke, and the end, but he shoved that down quickly.
"We both had our moments of doubt about that. I'm sure they thought they were making the right choice too." He didn't know when Thalia became the queen of perfect understanding and forgiveness but he wasn't a fan.
"Whatever." The "Mother Teresa" at the end of his scoff was heavily implied.
"Speaking of choices, do I need to call your mom?" She said, all saint-like traces gone as she stared him down.
"WHAT?" He balked, why in the name of hell would Thalia Grace need to call his mother.
"To remind you how to properly treat a girl?" There was a very pointed expression that accompanied her tone and he started to get more and more offended at the repeated implication that his hormones ruled his decision making skills.
"I'm not a rapist." He felt like that was not a phrase he should have to rely on all the time, but it was quickly becoming one of his go-to's.
"I know, but you should be aware. I don't care what she's calling herself nowadays, if you hurt her, you will answer to me." The threat didn't seem like it was a "just in case."
"I don't think that you need to worry about that. She can handle herself and she will." He could only imagine what Annabeth would do if he made a move, something told him it would be much more significant than just a simple "no." He'd likely lose favorable parts of his anatomy.
"With no consequences?" Thalia tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, issuing the challenge like a question.
"Absolutely none. I'm really getting irritated with everyone implying that they need to set all these rules to guarantee that I'm not a despicable human being. I'm a good person. I've proven that over and over again. Why does that credibility go out the window with this girl?" He groaned and ran his hands through his hair. Everyone seemed to think he was completely at the mercy of his primal urges.
"Because our world is messed up as it. We're just trying to make sure that you don't forget your roots." Thalia sighed, as if he was already spiraling off the edge in a Justin Bieber like collapse.
"Trust me, I remember, it's not like I can forget." He slumped a little, he could only imagine how nice that would be, to forget everything, have a fresh start.
"Good, because we're going to be dropping in soon." She smiled a little, as if this was a good thing rather than a massive disruption.
"How soon?" Everything always went crazy whenever the hunters came by, and something told him that this time would be no exception.
"Who knows, Artemis's idea of time is a little warped."
"Well then, we'll just keep an eye out." He sighed, nothing like the impending threat of a generally resentful goddess to keep him on his toes.
"Sounds like a plan." Thalia sighed, and the dream seemed to fade as the even the fog disappeared into black.
Raven
When she walked into the cabin, the door slammed loudly behind her. But it's not like she really cared. Luckily enough for Jackson, he seemed to be a heavy sleepier, because he just grumbled and continued to make grumbling noises into his pillow. She wouldn't have pegged him for a sleep talker, but the world is full of many surprises.
She glanced at the little corner she had been fitfully sleeping in before and her back twitched at the thought. So sleep was out of the question. She glanced outside again, noticing the way the sky was lightening slightly. She guessed it was as good a time as any to start the day.
She needed to remind herself who she was and the best way to do it was going for a run. She pulled on her trusty sneakers, yanked on a pair of the more modest shorts from Cabin Eight, and took off. She wasn't stupid, that's for sure, and she definitely didn't want to have the charm on her shoulder flip out for thinking she's trying to escape, so she didn't head for the hill, instead she jogged towards the woods.
Generally, going into the woods alone was the equivalent of a death sentence, and an eight year old Annabeth would have had an emotional breakdown at the thought but she had spent the last five years surrounded by monsters. She knew there were much scarier things than what lived in the trees.
Her shoulder didn't react as she jogged through the paths, making her way using winding animal trails and camper made-paths, so as far as she was concerned, she was in the clear. Still, the rhythmic sprint of running was a great high. Her legs ached beautifully with exertion and her body thrummed one senseless note in perfect harmony. She steadily pounded her way through the dirt, stepping over tree roots and dodging rocks. Before, running had been just a part of her obsession to be ready for anything, but now it was purely about not thinking. Raven knew that of course, but it didn't make it any less satisfying. Unfortunately, a girl could only run so long before she had to stop and let the world catch up.
The trees broke and she bounded into the real world. The lava wall was just in front of her, and something pulled at the deepest part of her gut. She remembered sitting at the top of that wall with Luke for the first time, his hushed words promising something better, a world untouched by the gods and their poisonous influence. He said he had waited for her to be ready so that they could go, but they had to leave the next morning. She remembered waking up at two in the morning, grabbing her backpack and slipping out the door. She remember having to remind herself not to look back as she came to the top of Thalia's hill.
Memories sucked because they smacked her in the face out of no where, and then there was no way out, she was just stuck there, thinking, even when she would have killed not to. Of course, it would have been easier for her if a walking, talking memory hadn't chosen that moment to materialize and ambush her.
"Annabeth?" He called out quietly as he approached her. She tensed, feeling herself rocket back to lying half asleep in Cabin Six, hearing him call for her. He used to sleep right below her, and sometimes they'd stay up all night whispering to each other. He was everything that a brother should've been, except he picked the wrong side.
"What do you want Malcolm?" She flinched with him when her cold tone registered. It had been too long and at this point, it just sucked.
"Where have you been all this time?" Desperation dripped from his tone, and she almost wanted to scream at him. How could he be so naïve? It wasn't as if she had ever tried to hide the side she picked. She fought on the bridge, how could he never have seen her?
"Where do you think?" She snapped coarsely, rolling her shoulders and trying to ignore the way his eyes went to the tattoo on her shoulder.
"So it was true then, what they've all been saying, you really were with him." She wasn't sure if Malcolm meant Luke or Kronos, but either was true, sometimes both. She nodded, determined to not shrink away from her choices. They were what was right and if someone disagreed with her, it was either their own ignorance or the gods' persuasion. Malcolm stared at her for a moment, his own slate gray eyes seeming unshakable whiles hers had always seemed tumultuous. She envied him for that. He cleared his throat and seemed to decide something. His eyes burned as he caught her eye.
"I thought you were dead, you know." He snapped. She couldn't look at his stony expression and stared down at his feet for a moment.
"I'm not a little girl, Malcolm. I made the right choice." For some reason the more times she kept saying that, the more confusing it was getting.
"Really you're sure about these choices?" He sounded skeptical, as if he had any right to question anything.
"I've already made them, now I'm just following through with them." She crossed her arms over her chest, something about the way he was looking at her made he feel vulnerable. Whatever he said, it was clear he didn't really believe she could be the enemy, no matter how true it was. He was still acting as if he had found a long lost sister and not encountered a prisoner of war. That was one thing Luke didn't mess up, they weren't kids, they were soldiers, and they thought like soldiers.
"You might be certain of these choices, but I'm still going to watch out for you," Malcolm was clearly living in his deluded fantasy but that could only benefit her in the long run. Maybe it was better for Jackson's disciples to live in their distant little bubble.
They stood silently for a moment before Malcolm started walking back towards the rest of camp and Raven followed hesitantly.
"So, I guess camp has changed some since the last time you we're here." She looked out at the strawberry fields, the beaches, the cabins, Thalia's hill, but also at the ever changing cast of characters, there were lots of faces missing. Some of whom she knew had come to her side, and some of whom she knew had died in the fighting over the last few days. She turned back towards Malcolm and shrugged.
"Some things have changed," As if on cue, she spotted a beautiful brunette frolicking out of the Aphrodite cabin. She hadn't been there when Raven had been being groomed, and something told her that wasn't a happy coincidence. "But others are exactly the same." Oh yes, Raven needed to have a chat with Silena Beauregard.
A/N: Hey guys, this is a long one and I'm actually pretty proud of it. Please hit me up a review with your thoughts. What do you like about this? What do you hate about it? What do you think Silena is doing? Do you think Raven and Malcolm will be able to rebuild their friendship?