A/N: I have successfully leveled up my Scions of the Seventh Dawn up to fifty. Crystal Quests are very useful.
So, I now have a tumblr. Same username as on here. I've just started the thing, but I'll be posting random things there for all my stories
Published: 6/4/2018
Warnings: None
Chapter 28
He'd Kill his Own Mother for a Gil…
Poseidon's face twisted.
"I'm sorry. I just must have misheard you. I could have sworn that you stated you wanted to go right to Camp Half-Blood. Right to my brother's doorstep, directly, but I must have heard wrong, Esperkin. I must have, for my brother could see such a thing as a deceleration of war, as he is very dramatic, and drop a Lightning Bolt on your head."
Tina continued to smile benevolently at him. Poseidon twitched. This girl was not taking him seriously. Worse, still, if she kept this up she was liable to her Percy killed right alongside her!
"You heard correctly, My Lord. And, do not fear. I can assure you, I will not be detected. I will be discreet, and I shall be quick. Your brother shall be none the wiser." Tina assured him.
Poseidon was not assured. No matter what distraction had been mustered, Camp Half Blood was always under watch. Pretend as they might, the Olympians did care for their children, no matter what pretense they put up in defense.
Elsewhere, Hera strode purposefully towards her husband's throne room, a wide assortment of toys and knick knacks held in her arms. Hestia owed her for this one. She really, really did.
"You cannot be serious." Poseidon shook his head.
Tina continued smiling.
"I assure you, My Lord, I am not. And, I can prove to you here and now that I can slip in as close as need be while not being detected." Tina spoke confidently.
Poseidon arched a single eyebrow.
"Oh? Very well then, Tina Branford. If you are so confident, then-"
"Boo."
Poseidon jumped, twisting around, his trident appearing in hand. The oceans roared with their master's fright as Poseidon lashed out wildly.
Twin daggers blocked his attack before a foot smashed into the side of the Sea God's head, sending him sprawling. Poseidon was not one to be so easily outdone, however, twisting and keeping his footing. Feet planted firmly on the ground, Poseidon lifted his trident, glaring up.
Sabin once more looked posed to attack. Poseidon was reminded of a bear, or perhaps a tiger. Or maybe both.
The children had fallen silent, jaws dropped in awe.
Sally… Looked like she wanted to murder him. Again. Yikes.
Tina Branford looked smug.
And, finally, the newcomer twirled his two knives, whistling to himself.
"I can assure you, Lord Poseidon, we are perfectly capable of going about unseen. After all, you didn't detect me this entire time, and I've been trailing behind Tina this entire time." The mysterious stranger spoke.
Clad in dark blues and purples, his face masked, red eyes glaring at Poseidon from underneath a ninja's cowl, the man looked cool and collected.
Poseidon was instantly reminded of Hermes. He wouldn't be surprised if this was some rouge demigod of the messenger god either. Hermes always did like his adventures.
"Who are you?" Poseidon demanded.
The man took a bow, eyes never breaking the lock they had on Poseidon.
"Who am I, you ask? From the deepest shadows of hell, from the abyss itself, from the very corner of all creation, I-"
"Hi, Uncle Clyde!" Sora greeted, waving cheerfully. The boy didn't seem to have any setting other than cheerful, now that Poseidon thought about it.
The ninja twitched, rising from his bow and shooting Sora a betrayed look.
Sabin snorted.
"As you can see, Lord Poseidon, we have things very much under control." Tina declared victoriously. Poseidon couldn't help but grumble.
Thalia Grace flexed her fingers.
She had very few moments like this. Very few moments where she was herself. Where her mind wandered. Where she wasn't a part of that tree. Where she wasn't locked in its roots, in its embrace, frozen eternally.
It came, the same way the dreams had come. She hadn't had them every night. Not even every other night. No. They were few and far between, scattered across the weeks. They were even rarer now, for whatever reason.
Rarer, but there. Not that she ever saw anyone. No. Instead, she'd wake on this beach, alone. No company. No one at all. Just her and the shores and her tree, planted among the sands, looking so out of place.
Or rather, that was the usual case.
Many a time had Thalia hoped one of her siblings would appear here as well. Many a time, she had hoped, but had gotten nothing from it. Now, though, there was a significant difference.
A significant difference in the form of two eyes, gazing out at her from a face she had always seen sleeping.
Ventus had very unusual eyes. He had an even more unusual form, something Thalia was not familiar with when the boy was asleep. One eye glowed a malevolent gold. The other glimmered like a sapphire in the sunlight.
"You… You're Thalia. The lost one."
Thalia arched an eyebrow. Lost one, huh?
"If I'm lost," she spoke, eyes trailing down the other's form, from the light shining on his right half to the dark tendrils bleeding from his left, "what in the Hades are you?"
Thalia always took pleasure in using her uncles name as a swear word. It had probably gotten her killed, really, now that she thought about it, but meh. Any small little thing to annoy Hades was good in her book.
To this, Ventus laughed.
For a moment, his eyes gained back focus. They looked at her with such recognition that Thalia wondered if she knew him. If she'd met him before, once, in a past life. Or even in this one, really.
"Us? We are the remnant." Ventus answered. Ah. Yeah. That. Ventus didn't refer to himself in third person. Always with the 'we's'. Then again, he did look like someone had taken and angel and a demon and mashed them together. For a moment, Thalia was reminded of one of those stupid cartoons her brother used to like before he'd been taken.
Something with cards and monsters and duels?
Yuhiga or something?
Whatever. The name didn't matter. Ventus, though, reminded her of one of the monsters. Or rather, a trap card, as Jason had once explained to her with all the patience of a three year old who had somehow mastered the 'you're so stupid, I know so much more than you do' tone.
Idly, Thalia wondered if Ventus had the same ability s the card, able to flip the morality of others, even if only for a moment. That thought alone had her weary of the other.
"We are not what matters. What matters is… She has awoken, again, in this era."
That caused Thalia pause.
"She?"
Those mismatched eyes glazed over for a second. Ventus staggered backwards, hands gripping at his head.
"She… Her… The Mark… Beware the Girl with the Golden Eyes, for she will bare The Mark. Beware the Crimson Huntress, for she will bathe this world in blood. Beware the Fated Day, for its advent is upon us. Beware the Child of Hearts, for he will sacrifice the world if it means those he loves get to live a moment longer."
Ventus, it seemed, enjoyed spouting random influxes of information. Random influxes of information that, quite frankly, were more confusing than an Oracle's riddles.
Ventus' head snapped open, off into the distance, seemingly sensing something. Something, or someone. Thalia took a cautious step back.
Then, the boy's face broke into a smile.
"She's here. I failed her, you know. I failed, I failed, I failed. That's okay. She gets it. She failed too. My old friend." Ventus muttered, seemingly to himself before turning back to Thalia. "Old friend wants to see you. I'll help you. Let me help you see her."
With those words, Ventus took a step forward, arm lifting up towards Thalia. Alarmed, the daughter of Zeus took a step back.
"Wait, what? Hey, back away buddy if you know what's good for y-"
Ventus moved faster than his sickly complexion would warrant, hand latching onto Thalia's shoulder before the entire world spun, violently.
"Now, remember children, I can't stay long. And, if this works, neither can she."
Jason personally did not give a flying fuck about the time frame. All he cared about was the possibility of Sora's mom being able to deliver.
Because, if she could actually do it, Jason would literally worship the ground that woman walked on, period. Jason was perfectly willing to forsake his pantheon if she could.
Up on Olympus, Juno resisted the urge to hiss out in annoyance as Jupiter's face scrunched, twisting his head to gaze off elsewhere. Cupping his chin in her hand, Juno forced her husbands attention back to her.
Distracting the King of Gods was no easy feat, and Jason Grace better learn to keep his thoughts in check if he knew what was good for him.
Okay. Maybe that was going a bit too far, but still.
Poseidon had refused to come along. He'd claimed the mission was suicide, trailing off without another word. Tina Branford was not a woman to be derailed by such silly words, however, and had stated she had a perfectly functioning back up plan.
A back up plan which turned out to be a dark clad ninja that had, apparently, trailed behind her and Sora the entire way here. Trailed, and had not for a moment been detected by Poseidon.
The man, who insisted his name was Shadow no matter what Sora said otherwise, had elected to stay behind. Or so he had said. Jason wouldn't be surprised if the ninja was literally walking among them.
That was one assassin Jason never wanted to get on the bad side of. You can't beat what you can't detect and, if even a god had trouble doing that, well…
Finally they reached their destination. There, standing upon the hill that marked the border to Camp Half Blood, was Thalia's tree.
Jason's heart clenched.
Thalia…
Tina stepped forward, hand raised towards the bark. Her fingers trailed along the wood, eyes falling shut. Then, her hand glowed, ethereal and purple. For a second, Jason could have sworn he saw fur on the limb before it vanished.
Tina reached out… And pulled.
Thalia Grace came stumbling right out, falling to her knees in a gasp. Tina herself backed away, eyes wide. Thalia looked up in surprise, shocked by the turn of events.
"Who… Are yo-"
"Thals!"
"Sis!"
"Sparky!"
"Raichu!"
Thalia's face scrunched at the last one. Before she could do or say anything, however, the girl was tackled by a horde of Demigods.
Smiling, Tina backed away before turning towards Sabin and Sally.
"I must depart. I'll be waiting for you all back at the apartment. I can't stay much longer without drawing attention." Tina spoke. Sabin nodded to her, a wordless declaration that he would watch the kids.
Tina smiled at him, nodding to Sally before moving to depart. A hand on her shoulder stopped her. Looking back, she was met with Sally's gaze.
"I… Thank you. You've given me hope. That's not something I've felt in a very long time."
Tina resisted the urge to curse every Olympian from here to the Colosseum. Instead, Tina just gave another nod, this time accompanied by a smile.
Sally accepted it, letting go. Tina turned to depart.
Which is of course when someone caught them. On the bright side, said catcher was not, in fact, a deity but, all things considered, it might turn out just as bad.
"Tha- Thalia?" a voice hiccuped.
All eyes turned.
Annabeth Chase was staring right at them, her face pale and shocked.
Annabeth often visited Thalia's tree whenever she was feeling down. Or, whenever she felt the need to let out a story, really. Whenever she wanted someone to talk to, but talking to everyone at camp would be awkward. Whenever she wanted to feel safe and protected.
Talking to the grave of a dead best friend isn't an entirely foreign concept. It's done all the time. Kakashi Hatake, for example, practically lived next to the Memorial Stone, if only so he could pay his respects.
In much the same way, Annabeth liked to come to Thalia's Tree to talk to her. Thalia couldn't really respond, but that was okay.
Annabeth would tell her all sorts of things. About her day, about what she had done, about what was going on it Camp. All those tiny details Thalia was forced to miss out after her forced Florafication, Annabeth would treat the other to.
Sometimes, Annabeth liked to imagine that Thalia could hear her, but that was silly. Thalia was a Demigod, not a tree nymph, and there was nothing the other could hear. Not within that barkened prison.
Still, this was something Annabeth did regularly. So regularly that no one really blinked anymore when she went here, not even Luke. So much so that usually, Annabeth had the area to herself because no one really wanted to get in the way of a grieving daughter of Athena that could make your life utterly hell if you posed her off.
Which was why Annabeth was surprised when she saw strangers at her tree. If she was surprised at that, it was nothing, absolutely nothing, when one of the strangers practically reached into the tree and pulled Thalia straight out, literally dragging her right out of the damn thing.
The stranger then had the gall to turn to leave. No explanation, no reason given. Only Thalia, being besieged by an army of children that tackled her in a wild group hug of giggles and tears.
Annabeth took a step forward
"Tha- Thalia?" she hiccuped. With that, Annabeth raised a single hand to her cheek. Crying. She was crying. It…
Annabeth couldn't remember the last time she had cried.
Thalia looked up. For a single, terrible moment there was nothing. No recognition, no acknowledgement, nothing at all.
Then, Thalia's face broke into a stunned expression.
"Annie? Oh my gods, you- you got so big! When did you get so big?!" Thalia practically screeched.
"Hey! I got bigger too." A boy said, moving slightly away from Thalia, arms crossed as a pout adorned his face. Tanned skin, dark haired, with sea green eyes, Annabeth couldn't help but think that he looked pretty. Well. For a boy.
Pretty, and a brat if she ever saw one.
Thalia rolled her eyes, smacking the boy in the shoulder.
"You're both wrong. The one who grew the most was Nico." A blond boy said, motioned absently to a dark haired boy with olive skin. Said boy shot the blond a glare that would have had most people running for the hills.
The blond grinned.
Wha- What on earth was-
Annabeth did the only logical thing she could do in said situation. Perhaps if she had been older, her response would have been different. As it was, Annabeth was only nine, and this? This was a bit too much, all at once.
Annabeth swayed, falling face first as she passed out, right then and there.
A/N: Alternatively known as the chapter in which Poseidon is trolled, Ventus spouts archaic plot points left and right, and Annabeth is finally introduced annnd, for once, that was not a spontaneous intro and I actually did plan that one beforehand
