Hey y'all, so I'm a few hours lateeeeeeee sorryyyyyyyy! But yeah, I hope you enjoy the chappie, and, let's get onto answering reviews:
Multi Fandom Geekerello - AAHHHH you're too kind! I honestly wished there was a better word for thank you times a hundred because I feel like I need that for you! Oh, and it's all good, I can't expect you to be up that late haha and if you were to be, well, I'd be a bit worried :)
Da surviver - Yes, peace is definitely something we need, and I think honestly, everyone wants it. It's just a matter of whether or not we believe it's possible, and whether or not we do something to make it happen. I believe it can happen, and I want to spread that hope around :) And thank you for being understanding of all the delays T^T Also, you'll probably be able to guess what Jason's Intent is from this chap. :)
flyingzuzu14 - Thanks! It means a lot :)
ENJOY!
Chapter Twenty - A Day And A Half
Percy grumbled a bit as he looked into his book bag, frowning. I have so much homework, he thought as he sighed in defeat before zipping the pack closed and swinging it onto his back as he walked toward Corind Park. He had been held back for a while after school since his teachers wanted to talk to him about what he's missed, so he told the others to go ahead first.
Percy hummed a bit. He felt disappointed, since he hadn't had the chance to walk anywhere with friends before, ever since the one time a couple years back.
He shook his head of those thoughts as the entrance of the park came into view. The park itself was well kept and popular. The field was green and wide with slight and small hills on either sides. He wondered if that was naturally the shape of the land, or it it was made to look like that by humans.
There were nice trees (flashback to Apollo's tree lecture) scattered around the whole area, and there were two playgrounds at the center where small kids hung out.
Percy smiled when he saw the younger children playing around. They looked...happy.
Percy blinked. There was a strange feeling in him as the kids smiled and laughed, eyes sparkling like everything around them were a part of paradise, and the evils in the world were like unneeded worries carried away by the breeze.
That's nice, Percy thought with a soft smile.
"Percy!"
Percy blinked as he turned around, surprised to find that the one who called his name out was Annabeth Chase. The large grin on his face was inevitable as he waved, spotting the group of friends under the same tree as last time when he first saw them at the park.
"Hey!" Percy called back as he jogged toward them. When he arrived he took a seat next to Grover who he fistbumped with. "Hey, G-Man."
"Hey, Percy," the boy replied with his own grin.
"Seems legit," Thalia said, chewing on what was probably a piece of gum. Percy raised an eyebrow at that. She pointed at him. "You're late."
Percy pouted. "Hey, I told you guys I would be! Not my fault I missed all that school."
"Actually, it sorta, slightly is," Piper commented.
Percy gasped in shock. "Et tu, Brute!?"
"Woah, Percy knows Julius Caesar quotes?" Jason asked jokingly. "Who knew he payed attention in English."
Percy maturely stuck his tongue out at the blonde, blowing a raspberry making everyone laugh.
Annabeth sighed as she shook her head. "I'm surrounded by idiots."
"But we're your idiots," Percy replied back with a grin, and from the slight widening of Annabeth's stormy eyes, she hadn't expected that, but she smiled and huffed a bit, as if annoyed but by looking into her eyes, Percy could tell she felt a sense of endearment.
"Yes," she agreed. "You guys are my idiots."
"That's right," Luke said. "We certainly are your idiots."
The group of friends laughed, though Percy kept a wary eye on Luke, left hand clenched behind his leg, hidden but shaking a bit. Percy smiled along with all the others, but he wondered when Luke would reveal himself, if he would ever, and when Percy could stop pretending like everything was fine around him.
His thoughts were interrupted by Annabeth, and her voice, veiled happiness lingering beneath the words, was like a beautiful bird call in the midst of a quiet and dark morning. Look at me, Apollo. I'm comparing everything to nature now.
"Alright, alright, enough of the idiot talk," the gray eyed girl said with a business like tone. "Let's get to the plan." She pulled out a piece of paper, to which Percy thought, How extra, but then realized, Oh wait, that's really useful.
After laying it out in the center of the small, lopsided circle of friends they made, Percy could see Team One, Team Two, Team Three, Team Four written out next to each other. The group of friends made an 'oo' sound, as if they were looking at something fabulous, which, perhaps, they sort of were. With a pencil, Annabeth pointed at the words.
"Stage one of the plan will be carried out by Team One, stage two by team two, etc." she explained while everyone nodded. "Now, I'll explain stage one: Making sure the Jacksons are safe.
"Someone will need to call the police, and to avoid questioning on the matter because that's more than we want, call through an unidentifiable number, or a public one, for example a public phone booth."
"Uh," Percy interrupted, raising his hand as if in class. Annabeth looked at him, and for a moment, Percy thought Annabeth really was a teacher. "Where in the world are we going to find a phone booth?"
"Upper West-side," Annabeth answered immediately. The group looked at her with wide eyes. She waved it off with a hand and said, "There are exactly four phone booths left in New York City, and all of which are situated in Upper West Side. I have the address for all four, and it should be easy to get to with bus.
"Now, continuing:
"With this, someone will file a report, in a rushed manner as if running out of time, so there isn't much time to say anything else and makes the situation seem urgent. This report will be a simple and blunt 'This apartment and its residents are in danger. Please keep them safe. They'll be attacked soon.'
"The 'soon' will make them send out patrols to wait outside in anticipation, maybe even take the Jacksons with them for their safety and search the apartment. Worst that'll happen is that they think it to be mass scale and they evacuate the whole building, but either case, Percy's family will be safe.
"So for Team One, this will probably consist of only one person, and for this person, I nominate Piper.
"She's a relatively good actor, thanks to her dad, and her convincing voice is all that much more useful in this kind of situation." Annabeth looked at Piper for confirmation on her part.
A grin split on the girl's face. "Sounds like my kind of job," she said, eyes determined. As an afterthought that earned a few chuckles, she added, "Though, I suppose I won't be stealing anything this time around."
"Right," Annabeth continued. "Now, onto Stage two: Making sure the police make it to the Jackson residence and everything is going as planned.
"This is more of a double checking role that Piper wouldn't be able to do since she'd take too long to get there from Upper West Side. Simply relay the message to everyone in the groupchat that the police are there and in place or not. If for some reason, they aren't, that's where person number two comes in and makes a fuss.
"This is one of the riskier parts and hopefully it doesn't come to this, but this person will have to make some noise in the area. Piper can call the police again from a different booth by then, and warn them, while someone more local is for sure to report the incident. Whatever that incident may be, make it loud, annoying, noticeable, but nothing so terrible that you'll get yourself in jail or get lumped together with criminals.
"I recommend Grover for the double checking, and Thalia for the backup noise."
Grover nodded his head sheepishly. "As much as I'd like to do more, I think I'll do well as a double checker."
Thalia slapped her thigh with an excited grin, electric eyes shining. "I'm slightly hopin' I'm needed for this - sounds exciting." Percy laughed at that as Jason shook his head at his sister's antics.
"Great," Annabeth said. "That'll be Team Two." Percy found himself smiling because, Damn, she's amazing. "Now onto stage three: the main event: Percy and the Timeless." She turned to Percy and all he could think was Oh schist. Those orbs that held storms in them, thundering and moving and everchanging, were suddenly looking at him, and he saw so many things as he stared into those storms.
One was trust.
"Percy; you will try to get out of the situation peacefully and without conflict. It never hurts to try for non-violence. You'll stall as much as possible. Keep your phone on vibrate and in your pocket. When stages one and two are complete and the police are stationed at your place, I'll be the one to spam you with messages, so when you feel your phone buzzing like h*ll, that's when you can rest assured, your family's safe.
"And from there, it's all you." Percy nodded slowly, jaw clenched but feeling determined. He was scared, heck yeah, but he was trained, and he knew he would be able to make it through. He did survive the oobleck off pure will, so why not this too?
Another thing Percy saw in Annabeth's eyes was worry.
She continued, not breaking eye contact, and he dare not himself. "The most plausible outcome, however, is a fight, and when that happens, you'll have to fight to survive, not to win, but to get out of there alive. You'll do your best to stall, make noise enough to alert people in the neighborhood, and drag the fight outside where everyone else is." Annabeth breathed and Percy gulped.
"But when you get outside, you'll have to Release your Intent, and look as much like a victim as possible."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Percy muttered a bit as he nodded.
The last thing that hid behind those storm clouds was assurance.
And Percy couldn't help but feel his anxieties disappear for a bit at the sight of it.
Annabeth was silent for a moment, before she said, "And then comes stage four: wrapping everything up, hopefully with Timeless in cuffs and in police cars being carted off to jail.
"Jason, Luke, and I will go to my house under the guise that we're hanging out and just picking up some stuff. We'll come out and walk around the area, splitting up and surrounding the place around Percy's house to watch for when he comes out with the Timeless hot on his tail. If the noise from the inside hasn't caused any alert to people, us three will point it out to passerby's:
"We'll point and say 'Doesn't that sound like trouble?' 'Shouldn't we call the police?' And make sure the windows in your house are open, Perce, because that way, the flashes of light will be visible, and one of us will be able to say 'Doesn't that look like a lot of Summoning?' 'What if it's a Medium?'
"And when you're out and it doesn't seem like the police haven't been contacted at all, one of us will call, and even if we're taken in for questioning, we'll be in for questioning simply because we were bystanders noticing something was wrong. Nothing too complicated.
"And that's that. From there we can only hope everything goes smoothly," Annabeth finished. Percy and her eye contact finally broke off, and Percy looked down at the now not so empty sheet of paper. Under Team One, it had Piper's name. Under Two's was Grover and Thalia. Three was Percy and Four was Annabeth, Jason, and Luke.
Luke whistled in admiration. "Dang, Annie, that's one fail safe plan right there."
Annabeth shook her head, and as her eyes flickered over to Luke, Percy noticed by mere chance the slight look of betrayal flash through her face. "No, it's not fail-safe, but it's all we've got."
Piper spoke up. "What about Apollo? Why isn't he able to help at all?"
Annabeth shrugged, looking helpless. "I contacted him, but he told me he would be busy that day, which I find strange."
"It is, isn't it," Luke commented, looking thoughtful as a dark look flashed across his eyes for a brief second. "What else, I wonder, could be so important that his own cousin's life takes secondary priority?" He turned to Percy as if waiting for some kind of answer, or at least reaction to it. "You'd think he didn't care much."
Percy took it in stride. You wanna go, Luke? he thought, gritting his teeth slightly. He breathed before shrugging and grinning a bit. "I don't know much about Apollo, but I'm sure he's got other stuff to do. I heard it's a war, so there's bound to be battles elsewhere; not like I'm the center of the world.
"And if Apollo didn't care much, then I doubt he would have devoted so much time to spend on training me." For a moment, it was a tense staring contest between the sandy blonde and the jet black haired teens. Luke's eyes were slightly narrowed, as if in confusion and trying to figure out something about Percy's demeanor. Percy was grinning but his gaze was hard, sea green eyes looking like a sea under a dark sky.
Luke seemed to come to a conclusion of some sort and he shrugged. "Good points," he said. He turned to the rest of the group of whom were looking slightly perplexed at the strange exchange. Luke smiled, the scar on his face twisting as Percy felt a shiver run down his spine. "Well then, let's celebrate this day of reunion, shall we? Dinner's on me."
The group gave cheers, some of which were hesitant, as Percy tightened his fist still behind his leg.
Great, Percy thought, before his grin became genuine with a slight hint of devious. Guess I'm eating a lot then. Better pay up, jerk.
o)0(o - Linebreak
Dinner was great, and Percy couldn't help but feel satisfied with the slightly horrified look Luke had on his face when he saw the check. He had it coming though, Percy thought.
Everyone came out of the restaurant, stuffed and full to the brim with pure happiness that food is, and parted their separate ways. While Piper kissed Jason goodbye and walked away, Jason told Thalia he wanted to stay back a bit, to which she huffed and said 'Alright, but I'm not waiting for you; you ain't a baby anymore and I'm tired so I'mma get home and snooze.' Jason had simply nodded while Percy snorted and when Grover left after, it was Annabeth, Jason, Luke and Percy left.
The silence as they stood outside the restaurant was deafeningly tense.
The one to break the silence was Luke. "Did I do something wrong?" Percy nearly did a double take, caught off guard by the sudden bluntness of the question. Of course, it wasn't as blunt as it would have been had he said 'Do you guys know I'm the traitor,' but it was still unexpected.
"I - what?" Annabeth asked, feigning incredulity but in her eyes was a slight panic and hurt.
Luke was silent for a moment, observing Annabeth for a moment before sighing. "No, nothing." He looked at the three of them and said with a small smile, "I don't know why, but I feel like I need to say this to you three the most, since you guys seem to be the most stressed out, but I'm here for you guys. Always will be." He turned to Annabeth, and Percy felt himself bristle, slightly at the smile he gave her.
"Trust me." Annabeth looked back at Luke, silent, eyes and face effectively veiling any emotion that she must have been feeling as she nodded.
"Okay," she said, her voice firm and unwavering. Since when was she so good at lying? Or was she telling the truth? Percy wondered absent mindedly as Luke's grin grew. He turned to Jason next, as if looking for his affirmation as well. Percy looked at Jason, and the guy looked at Luke blankly.
"I..." he hesitated, before seemingly making up his mind and saying, looking straight into the other blonde boy's eyes. "Alright. I'll trust you." And then it was Percy's turn, and he knew, the moment Luke looked at Percy, that he was doomed, because when they made eye contact, Percy choked on his own saliva.
"Gah," he coughed, putting a finger up in a wait a moment gesture, as he regained control of his lungs. "Sor - bleh - ry." Percy took a deep breath before looking up at Luke and saying intelligently, "Uh..."
Blackjack's sarcastic snort was heard in his head as Riptide said Say 'no.'
Well, that's helpful, Percy thought before looking Luke in his eyes. The other's boy's eyes were sky blue, like Apollo's yet they seemed so...different.
It was jagged, like sharp glass shards that glittered and looked nice, but if Percy were to get too close, he'd find himself bleeding. How ironic, because isn't that indeed what Luke was? Glass shards that looked nice like crystals, yet when Percy trusted him and went closer, he came back with a bleeding that he wasn't sure would heal.
It hurt to think the guy standing in front of him was a traitor.
Percy's silence was far too long, clearly, since Luke's face fell. "You don't trust me," he said quietly, softly like snow and yet for some reason, it was colder than ice.
Like heck he would, you-
Blackjack? Percy asked the pegasus internally.
Yeah, boss?
Please kindly shut up for a moment.
Behind Luke, Percy could see Annabeth and Jason's eyes widen in panic, but before the two could say anything, Percy said:
"I don't." Jason's reaction consisted of a jaw drop and golf ball like eyes so comical that Percy would have laughed if it were another situation. Percy looked away, eyes toward the ground, letting his fringes cover his eyes.
Luke listened silently. "I don't trust you, Luke. I can't trust anyone. Not after my past friends abandoned me. You..." Percy gulped before continuing quietly. "You kinda look like my friend back then. It just...my trust's been broken before, man, I can't just heal snip and snap, real quick and act like I don't have trauma from it."
Percy turned his eyes up and stared Luke right in the eye, mouth in a firm line. "But you're different from my friend back then," Percy said. Riptide's said so before, that Luke was different. Luke's heart can be changed. It can be. And maybe...he could still trust the guy.
"Prove to me that you can be trusted, Luke, prove to me that you're different." Percy offered a grin, and though he wasn't sure whether or not it looked genuine or strained, Percy believed his next words. "I'll trust that you're different. Just do me a solid and make it real."
Luke stared at Percy, and for a moment, it seemed like Luke didn't believe it, but when Luke smiled, and his eyes seemed to glitter for a moment, the worry was washed away. "Thanks, man," Luke said. He grinned reassuringly. "I...I'll make it real. I'll prove to you I'm on your side." And frankly, Percy could tell, somehow, that Luke was telling the truth.
"Awesome."
And with that, Luke walked away, waving at the three with a grin and as soon as the trio watched the lone blonde get smaller in the distance, they released breaths they were all holding, and Percy wondered how their faces weren't purple from holding those breaths in for so long.
"Well that was scary," Jason remarked.
No kidding, Blackjack agreed as Riptide hummed in a form of agreement.
"I second that sentiment," Annabeth agreed with a frown before she turned to Percy. "You...didn't seem like you were lying when you said you trust him."
Percy shook his head, gazing a bit at where Luke was before saying, "Nah, I don't trust him, but Riptide said that Luke is different from my past friends who betrayed me. And I trust Riptide's word in that Luke is different." He turned to Annabeth, before commenting, "You didn't seem to be lying either."
Annabeth's eyes widened at being caught, but she sighed resignedly. "I was lying. I don't trust him, but...that doesn't mean I don't want to. He's still the older brother that saved me when I was seven years old, so it's just...hard." Percy's heart squeezed at the defeated look in Annabeth, and he realized that yeah, as much as it hurt Percy, it must have hurt Annabeth ten times more.
As silence reigned again, Percy decided it was due time for a change to a happier subject.
"So, how's it going with your Intents?"
The change was immediate, as Jason's face brightened drastically, and Annabeth, glorious Annabeth, seemed to become as vibrant as the now setting sun, casting weird shadows everywhere but casting colors elsewhere.
Jason grinned. "Tempest is really annoying," he said.
"And Athena is pretty nice to have around," Annabeth added, smiling. "She actually helped a bit with the plan. Though she can be a bit annoying sometimes."
Percy smiled, genuinely happy for his friends. "That's pretty awesome. Oh, and I heard we're training together tomorrow when Apollo comes back from whatever he's doing?"
"Yeah," Jason nodded as he crossed his arms over his chest. "But after hearing about your training session, I'm a bit nervous." Percy laughed as Annabeth made a sound of agreement.
"Well, you better not chicken out," he said jokingly as Jason punched him in the shoulder.
"Nah, man, never." He looked wistfully at the stars that were appearing above them, light and faded in the still lighted sky, but visible, though barely. "After facing my Intent, man, I think I can face anything."
"I wouldn't say that so quickly, Superman," Percy remarked. "You've never experienced the horrors of oobleck quite yet." Jason laughed as Annabeth shook her head with a smile.
"I bet you were stupid and forgot that oobleck hardens under pressure," Annabeth said.
"Oh come on, give me some slack," Percy whined. "Oobleck is hard to deal with, I'm telling ya!"
"Right," Annabeth said with a raised brow and a smirk before saying, "Well, enough of that; we should discuss the real plan." The real plan? Percy thought, intrigued.
"Oh, wait, then what's the plan you just made?"
"It's partially real, but Jason's and my parts are made up slightly," Annabeth said. She nodded to Jason who started to explain.
"We're going to be in the same team with Luke, that's for sure, but that's mainly because we want to keep an eye on him. The both of us will in fact do what we said we would do, but we will also be back up, because, chances are, you're probably going to need it." Percy hummed before pointing randomly in their general direction.
"And by 'back up,' you mean..."
"We'll jump in in the fight with our own Intents," Annabeth said resolutely.
"And get yourself majorly involved and possible turn Timeless heads your directions?" Percy summed up sarcastically with an extremely prominent frown.
Annabeth sighed at Percy's face. "Oh, come on, Seaweed Brain, we thought this through more than you think," she said. At that, Percy perked up.
"Yeah," Jason agreed, adding, "For Annabeth's case, she's going to be back up's back up, meaning I'm gonna head in first, but if we both can't match up to the enemy for some reason, that's when Annabeth's Intent'll swoop in." Percy was about to protest that, wait a minute, Jason is still turning Timeless heads, but Jason cut him off with a raised hand.
"Hear me out, Perce," he said. "I'm part of the family that's been involved in the war for generations, so I'd get involved eventually, so it's an inevitable thing I catch the attention of the Timeless." Jason paused, so as to let it sink in for Percy. It didn't sit well, but it made sense, and with a reluctant nod and a frown, Percy gestured for Jason to continue.
Instead, Annabeth did. "Now there are three main roles in Team Four: Luke is the joker. We don't know what's going to happen with him. He's the unknown. Jason and I are both two types of back up.
"Jason and I will both be doing what we're supposed to, bringing people's attentions to your house and the ruckus, but Jason will be close by. If you need back up, flash an SOS, or make a sound in that pattern. Jason'll be hanging around close enough to see or hear it. That's when he'll rush to your aid."
"I'll be your Superman," Jason joked quickly before chuckling as Percy snickered at that. Annabeth just huffed a bit before continuing.
"And me," she said, gesturing to herself. "I'll be doing the heavy lifting with regard to spreading the message that the police should be called, and I'm essentially the one that'll be making sure the police are called one hundred percent. But if within five minutes you're not out, I'll start to make moves of my own, but don't worry, Percy," she said as Percy had opened his mouth to protest again. "This is the worst case scenario, and from what Apollo says, it seems like that worst case scenario won't be a likely one."
"Still..." Percy trailed off as the two blondes looked at him with identical looks in their eyes. Percy sighed in defeat. These two... He saw determination, but not just that, but will. He could see it strong and pulsing, like a living thing that shone through their eyes, the windows to their Spirits. He smiled. "Alright, fine. Guess I'll put my trust in you guys, since there doesn't seem to be any way for me to change your minds."
"That's right," Jason said with his own grin as Annabeth gasped.
"Wow, Seaweed brain is right for once!" she giggled a bit uncharacteristically when Percy pouted.
"Oh come on," he whined, though his mouth couldn't help but find itself in a state of suspended smiling. "My poor brain has been made fun of far too long. It's time for a revolution! Come on, brain, let's fight back against these two brainiacs!" The trio laughed, and Percy couldn't help but want nothing more than that moment to continue.
Of laughter and bright eyes like everything around them was paradise. Like all the terrors that lie in their future were nothing but unneeded worries carried away by the wind.
A moment where they could be children enjoying life purely.
"Ahem," someone cleared their throat behind Percy. He turned around to find one of the restaurant employees looking at them with a slightly disgruntled look. The trio stared at the man. "Uh, can you three move out of the way of the door?"
It took a moment to buffer before the words were comprehended by the three as they immediately said their sorry's and excuse me's and jumped out of the way. They looked at each other for a moment before bursting out in laughter again. Percy noticed the stars were as beautiful as the happiness that his friends made. He wouldn't always see that happiness, but it'll always be there anyway, and when he does see it, it's breathtaking.
He almost didn't mind that it was one and a half more days till the fateful Sunday.
A day and a half more.
o)0(o - Linebreak
Apollo stretched his arms, shoulders popping as he continued to walk away from the building behind him. It was a convenience store, open 24 hours, and brightly lit from the inside. He held the phone to his ear as he listened to the ringing sound resounding in the night. His Intents were quiet as the man on the other side picked up.
"Who is this?" a voice responded, so terrible like nails scratching along sheets of metal.
Apollo smiled. "Ah, grandfather! How have you been?"
I've got a day and a half more.
Yert. That's that.
Well, anyway, I don't know if you caught it, but the children in the park paralleled with Percy, Annabeth, and Jason laughing their heads off in front of the restaurant like annoying teenagers they are. XD Point of that was that youth isn't a time in our lives, but rather a mindset, and we all have the child in us. That's a paraphrase of a quote that I don't know who said, but I heard it somewhere and I was like "sounds legit."
And also "see through children's eyes" (song title) because everything is just that much purer and better when you do. :)
Well, hope you enjoyed, and again, sorry for the lateness, but yeah.
Have the best days!