I updated quickly! Have I earned y'alls forgiveness, yet? No? Okay… Understandable… I'll keep trying, though!
Anywho, I know chapter 13 was rather short and left off with two cliffhangers, so without further ado ...
The waves crashed rhythmically along the shore as Percy sat just beyond their reach, staring out at the horizon. He had thought about going for a swim but after his drowning incident back in the Ancient Lands, Percy had been a little more wary of water.
The young adult sat on the sand with his legs pulled up to his chest before wrapping his arms tightly around them.
While the waves created a gentle background noise, the son of Poseidon's thoughts drifted off to his past few summers at Camp Half-Blood. All he could have ever wished for was a normal summer at camp, no earth shattering prophecies and no gods trying to kill him. Was that too much to ask for?
Apparently, it was.
His friends were either dying or getting seriously injured… Or they were trying to kill him.
For the hundredth time in his life, Percy Jackson wished that he could just snap his fingers and be a normal kid. Living with his mother, going to community college, with no monsters, and no more prophecies. He wanted his world-ending problems to consist of acne and college exams.
He continued to stare dejectedly out at sea for about half an hour before someone approached him.
"Hey, Sharkboy," came the deep voice of the one who had intruded on Percy's alone time.
The demigod glanced behind him to see the flannel-wearing dork of a hunter standing a few feet away. When the hunter sat down beside him, Percy released his legs so that they could stretch out on the shore.
"Is it already five p.m.?" the boy asked quietly.
"No," the man answered gruffly. "But, figured we should get all this out of the way as quickly as possible. What do you think?"
Percy nodded to no one in particular.
Despite this agreement, the two remained silent for another minute, both lost in their pasts.
Finally, Percy turned to face the older Winchester. "Who are you? I mean, who are you really? Why are you here? And what do you want to do in or with Camp Half-Blood?"
"I'm just Dean Winchester. My father trained me at a young age to fight and kill monsters like hellhounds or wendigos. Sometimes, my brother and I kill gods, but only when they're killing innocent people," Dean started. "We thought some of the things in the newspapers in this area were interesting and decided to check it out. That's, honestly, the only reason we're here. Though, I'm pretty sure some asshat gods had a hand in orchestrating all this. I don't want to do anything with this camp. Growing up, this would have been heaven to me."
Percy stared at the man that had cheated him at sword fighting earlier, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not.
The man gave the son of Poseidon a sideways glance and a sad smile before staring out at the ocean, again.
"Y'know what would be great right about now?" Dean asked. When Percy quirked eyebrow, the hunter continued, "A beer."
The demigod laughed aloud at the hunter.
"Can't get you a beer, but how's a soda sound?" Percy offered.
Dean shrugged his shoulders at the offer and stood to follow Percy to the sodas.
The two walked in relative silence as they made their way towards the Hermes cabin. The tension between the two had lessened but not completely faded. Percy was still wary of the hunter, for fear of letting his guard down and getting stabbed in the back.
In an attempt to lessen the tension, Percy started asking questions. "So, how does one train to be a hunter?"
The dejected scoff that answered his question told the son of Poseidon more than he had anticipated. Maybe these hunters weren't just ordinary humans. The way the older Winchester seemed to age at the very idea of answering such a careless question, showed Percy just how serious the man's childhood had been.
Having gotten his answer, Percy hadn't expected to receive a verbal response.
"You program yourself to be a mindless soldier."
The man trudged ahead of Percy as if that would help him block out the memories. Percy let the man lead them in silence, knowing fully well how it was to have an abnormal childhood.
(***)
Will Solace had been forced away from the infirmary by his siblings and Nico. Apparently, he was too much of a mother hen about Nico.
The boy couldn't help it. Nico was just so accident prone and Will didn't want to lose his new boyfriend because of some hellhound.
Speaking of which, why hadn't they been able to see the hellhound in the forest?
And who the Hades was that douche nozzle that sent Fido after his boyfriend?
His frustration and anger only grew as he realized how little he could do to help Nico and how cowardly he had been during the attack. All he could do was heal, he was no use in a fight. What good was he to Nico if he couldn't even stop a hellhound?
As the son of Apollo wandered aimlessly through camp, he stumbled upon the Stoll brothers.
Travis and Connor were setting up some sort of magical contraption behind their cabin.
"Hey, guys," Will whispered. He knew the Hermes cabin leaders well enough to know that they didn't want to be caught.
Connor barely glanced up at him. "Hey, Solace. Wanna help us out?"
"Sure! This a prank for those hunters?"
The evil glint in the brothers' eyes were a definite 'yes'.
The three settled into finishing up the contraption, which was supposed to covered one of the Winchesters in magical purple glitter. With Will's help, the prank included nursery rhymes and a bit of chicken feathers to go with the sparkles.
Just as the three finished up, they caught sight of a rather downcast Winchester heading their way with the legendary Perceus Jackson not far behind.
The brothers shared a look. They weren't going to use the prank on this Winchester, not when he looked so miserable. The guy might have tried to kill their dad once, but they couldn't bring themselves to pull the prank on puppy-like hunter.
"I think I saw the big oaf one near the Athena cabin," Travis offered.
Will vaguely wondered what had caused such a shift in the normally cocky Winchester, but quickly forgot about it when the Stoll brothers ran off after Sam.
Eventually, the three of them found Sam Winchester relaxing in the Athena cabin. From what they could hear, from where they were hiding outside the cabin, Sam and Annabeth were going over Bible verses.
"Didn't know Annabeth was thinking about going to Christianity," Travis joked.
The brothers looked like two kids on Christmas morning, about to unwrap their presents.
"Shouldn't we get Annabeth out first?" Will asked out of genuine concern.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Connor assured him.
Travis continued, "We've got it rigged so it'll only attach to a Winchester."
Will was still uncertain, as the brothers' pranks tended to backfire quite often. But before he could stop them, the Stolls were already putting the prank into motion. Travis leapt to his feet to open the door only to close it the second Connor tossed the contraption inside.
Merely seconds after the door closed, the windows of the cabin were lit up by a purple light.
The three culprits had just finished high-fiving each other when the door opened to reveal a very peeved and sparkly chicken. As the three backed away from the cabin the angry chicken opened its mouth and screamed, "HICKORY DICKORY DOCK!"
It took all they had not to burst into laughter right then and there.
The now confused chicken started spouting all sorts of different nursery rhymes that the three pranksters were certain would have been curse words had Will not added a lot Apollo magic to their magical blend.
However, all the fun was over when Annabeth stepped out.
"Travis, Connor, and William," Annabeth said slowly. "You boys are in so much trouble."
With the prank over and the scary daughter of Athena on their tails, the three ran as fast as they could away from the scene of the crime, laughing the entire way.
First: Do not get used to me updating this quickly! This is mostly just to make up for the long wait and the short chapter before this.
Second: I know the whole Castiel issue has not been resolved, yet. It will be in the next chapter, I promise!
Third: Have I been forgiven, yet?
Thank you all for reading and I will update as soon as possible!